Chapter 6: Take me back to the start

September 09th, 2012, 1:30am: Burbank: Chuck POV

I could see Fury start to lean in to the camera staring at me with a worried expression, then he said "Red room? Are you absolutely positive it was them?"

I looked him straight in the eyes and said "yes, sir. Agent Casey was able to identify that the helicopter they were using had a red hour glass on the side, and if I remember correctly, that is the red room emblem." I could start to see that Fury was getting very worried about the current situation.

Fury sighed and asked chuck "where you at least able to identify what the 0-8-4 was before it was taken?". I gave Fury a sympathetic smirk

"yes, we were able to identify the 0-8-4. It seemed to be an orb with Asgardian markings on it. I would suggest consulting with Thor on what it could be." Fury nodded and then told me "I'll be sure to do that the next time he's on earth."

Before Fury could turn the monitor off, I looked at him and asked "Permission to speak freely sir?"

Fury looked at me and then leaned back into his chair and said "permission granted"

"if it is red room, don't you think we should bring in agents Barton and Romanoff on this opsense those two have the most experience with the organization?"

Fury sighed and said "I'm sorry Chuck but I can't spare them both at the moment."

"And why is that?"

Fury then leaned forward and said in a very stern voice "Because I have Barton on a special assignment with agent Morse at the moment and I can't spare Romanoff for two reasons. Reason number one being because I have her and Captain Rogers running strike ops together. And reason number two is because me, you, and Barton know what she is like whenever someone mentions the red room."

I had to agree with Fury that Natasha would probably not be happy if she were to find out that red room was still out there in the world. I remember the last time someone mentioned red room to Nat. That particular agent was stuck on medical leave for about eight months with one broken leg, a dislocated shoulder, seven broken ribs, all ten fingers broken, a bruised voice box, and both eyes poked out. After remembering about that particular agent I couldn't help but grimace

"poor agent Callahan" Fury gave me a sympathetic look and said "yeah, he's still in recovory after that debacle"

I sighed "okay, but what do we do if we encounter the red room again?" Fury seemed to contemplate my question

"if you do encounter red room again then I will send in Barton and Romanoff if they're available. But as for now, sit tight until another mission comes up for you and your team" I swore under my breath and told fury

"yes, sir."

After that Fury signed off for the rest of the day. I then went to the locker room in castle to take a shower and change into my civilian clothes. After I had gotten changed I went up the stairs that lead from castle to the orange, orange and went to the parking lot where my car was. I started the car and drove my way out of the parking lot. As I was driving my phone began to ring, and as I picked up my phone I couldn't keep the smirk off of my face when I saw that it was NATASHA calling.

"Hey Nat! how are the missions with cap going?"

I heard Nat sigh "it's going ok; he is still having a hard time adjusting to 2012 though."

I couldn't help but smile "Hey, look on the bright side though! At least he has a handle on the basics of the twenty-first century! Like using a computer, or cell phones, and the all-powerful Netflix." I could hear Nat laugh at my comment

"yeah, I guess you're right."

I could feel that something was off about Natasha. So I decided to ask her what was wrong.

"Nat, I maybe on the other side of the united states but I can tell something is bothering you so what's wrong?"

she was silent for a moment "I think I might be emotionally compromised" It was little weird for me to hear those words come out of Natasha's mouth so I decided to find out some more information.

"Who has emotionally compromised you?"

she was silent again until I heard her utter something that I didn't hear. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch that?"

she sighed yet again and she said a little louder "Captain Rogers"

I was honestly surprised to hear that Nat has a thing for cap "you have a thing for Captain America huh? Clint is going to have a field day when he hears that!"

I could feel Natasha glare at me through the phone "if he ever hears about it then you will wake up in Siberia with nothing but the clothes on your back" I couldn't tell if Natasha was joking or not so I decided to play it on the safe side.

"you know I was just kidding Nat"

I heard Natasha scoff at my comment over the line "sure you were; it's actually why I called, I need your advice on the situation."

I couldn't help but smile when I heard Nat say that she needed my help. "I would be happy to help Nat, what do you need help with?" she then asked "How would you suggest I handle the situation?"

"If you really like him, and I mean like you see yourself being with him for the rest of your life then I suggest that you just be honest with him and tell him how you feel about him." I heard Nat sigh again

"you and Clint know that I'm not good when it comes to expressing my feelings"

I had to agree with her when it came to that. Whenever she would try to express her feelings she would either ignore the person or put up her emotional barriers.

"sorry Natasha but that's all of the advice I've got right now."

She was silent for a few minutes before she responded "ok, thanks for the advice I guess; hey I've got to go, tell Ellie, Devon and the others that I said hi" I smiled once again

"ok I will, you and cap stay safe ok?" she said ok and then hung up just as I was pulling up to Echo park.

As I got out of my car, I headed straight for my apartment so that I could rest after today's long mission. And as I entered the apartment and sat down on the couch I couldn't help but think back to when Fury first took me back to the triskelion and when I first met Clint, Phil, and Natasha.

-Flashback-

September 08th, 2003: Chucks POV

I was sitting in the back of a blacked out SUV with Nick Fury on our way to a shield base called the Triskelion. As we were sitting there I decided to ask fury some questions "um, excuse me Mr. fury?"

Nick then looked at me and said "please Mr. Bartowski, call me Nick."

I shook my head to acknowledge that I would call him by nick. "ok Nick, why would a super-secret spy organization want a mere nerd that was just kicked out of Stanford on their payroll?"

Fury just smirked at me "Chuck, I have chosen you to be a part of S.H..I.E.L.D because I think you could do a lot of things that could help people" I just looked at him "and what makes you say that?"

Fury just stared at me and said "for two reasons. The first being because of your history as the piranha"

I just looked dumbfounded at him and he just smirked at me as he continued "also it's because of your family history"

I then just gave him a really confused look "my family history?" Fury then continued to say "yes mister bartowski, you and your family have been a part of a bigger universe, you just haven't noticed it yet"

I then decided to ask "what do you mean by that?" and he gave me some of the answers to that question.

"tell me what do you remember about your grandfather?" I thought that was a bit of an odd question to ask but I answered it anyways. "he was a scientist back in the 1940s" he then nodded his head and said "you are right about that, but what he worked on is what makes him important in this conversation. He worked on a top secret project called Project Rebirth." I shook my head to show that I didn't know what he was talking about. "project rebirth was the allies key to winning world war two, and its goal was to make super soldiers. And your grandfather worked alongside Dr. Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark to create the one and only super soldier, you may have read about him in your middle school or high school history classes." I sat there for a minute try and remember who he might be talking about. Then it dawned on me

"you're talking about Captain America right?" nick then nodded his head in approval "yes I am talking about Captain America" I couldn't help but be surprised by that revelation. "wow! My grandfather help made Captain America?"

Fury nodded his "yes". I just had to ask him "ok, is there anything else about my family I should know about?" fury then told me something I never expected. "both your mother and your father are agents for the C.I.A." and that was something I definitely wasn't expecting.

"What do you mean that my mom and dad are agents for the C.I.A.?" I asked in a frantic tone. And fury answered once again while he was handing me a file. "your mom was one of the C.I.A.'s best field agents and your father was one of their best analysts". As he said that I began to look through the files he handed me. The file was mainly about something called The Intersect Project.

"Hey Nick, what is this Intersect project?" Fury looked at me and told me "The Intersect project was created in the mid to late 1980's, its main goal was to be a stock pile of information that could be uploaded into a person's head. But it was brought back after the terrorist attack on September 11th"

"is it even possible to upload something like that into a person's head?" Nick Fury smirked at me and said. "that answer and many more will be answered if you accept my offer to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

I felt the SUV stop and as stepped out of the vehicle, I couldn't help but awestruck at the building that stood before me

"Mr. Bartowski, I welcome you to the Triskelion." I look at the building that standing in front of me. As we were walking he was explaining to me what S.H.I.E.L.D. was.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for 'Strategic. Homeland. Intervention. Enforcement. Logistics. Division.' And it was formed by Peggy Carter and Howard Stark in the early 1950s." is what he told me as we were walking through what appeared to be a large hub that was filled with agents going who knows where.

We then entered the elevator and fury then spoke to the elevator! "43rd floor" then the elevator actually spoke back! "unauthorized personnel in elevator" I was starting to worry but fury helped me out "director override: Fury, Nicholas J" "Override Accepted" and then I felt the elevator start to move up.

"so what would I be doing if decided to join S.H.I.E.L.D.?" was the question that I decided to ask. And he answered in kind. "we would train you to be a field agent. And sense you are practically a savant when it comes to anything technical we wouldn't need to train you in that field." Fury then sat down and hit a button on the phone that was sitting on his desk

"Can someone send Agents Barton, Romanoff, and Coulson to my office?" he then looked over to me "please sit down , we will be having some quests joining us shortly."

I then sat down in the chair that was sitting in front of Furys desk and waited for about thirty minutes until two men and a women walked into his office. The first guy was balding with dark hair and looked to be in his early forties and he was wearing a nice business suit. The other guy had short blond hair and he looked like he was in his early thirties and was wearing a dark purple shirt with a black leather jacket and a pair of combat pants and he also had small bandage over his nose. The woman looked like she was in her mid-twenties and she had long red hair and was wearing a red shirt and a tan leather jacket.

Nick then stood up and gestured for me stand up as well.

"Mr. Bartowski, I would like to introduce you to Agents Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff. They will be the ones who train you if you decide to join S.H.I.E.L.D." the first one to shake my hand was Phil.

"it's good to meet you mister Bartowski, I'm Phil Coulson I was actually the one that notified Director Fury of your location. And I do hope you do join our cause." Phil seemed like he was a nice guy but he also had this dangerous look in his eye.

"Hi, I'm Clint and this is my best friend Natasha" clint had this mischievous look on his face while the latter had this stone faced expression.

"don't mind Natasha, she is still cautious when it comes to new people." At that I just gave her a small wave.

Fury then spoke up "Chuck I hate to do this to you on the spot but what is your decision?" I then turned to him with a questioning look.

"don't I at least get a couple of days to decide?" fury then gave me a sympathetic look

"I'm afraid not Chuck" I thought it over in my head for a few seconds before I asked a few questions

"before I give you an answer, I want to ask a few questions" fury then nodded and sat back down

"ok then shoot"

"my first question is will I have to lie about this to my sister?" surprisingly the answer I was looking for came from Clint. "no you won't have to lie to your sister about being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, but you can't tell her anything that is related to missions."

I took some comfort in knowing that I won't have to lie to my sister. "ok that's good to know. And my second question is, are my parents still involved with the spy life?"

Fury and Coulson looked at each other for a moment and fury gave Coulson a nod "yes, your mother is still an agent but we don't know where she is and your father is off the grid because both the C.I.A and N.S.A have been looking for him."

That was some of the most shocking news I have ever heard. Too learn that both mine and Ellies mom is sill an agent and that our dad was running from the very government he helped. How would Ellie react to this information? "do you know where they are at" was my last question.

"we have some of our best agents and analysts looking for them but it seems that they are the best when it comes to hiding" Coulson said

I sat there and thought of my options

"ok. I will join S.H.I.E.L.D but on certain conditions." I said

"what are your conditions?" fury asked with a tone of curiosity. I then took a deep breath and told them my conditions. "first being you let me have some roll in tracking down my parents." Coulson nodded his head "I think that can be arranged." And I took another breath and said "also I want my friend Morgan to be trained as a S.H.I.E.L.D analyst." Both fury and Coulson were quite for a bit, and Clint and Natasha just shrugged at each other.

Coulson was the first to speak up. "I think we can work something out when it comes to Mr. grimes."

I nodded my head again and told them my last request. "and my last condition is that none of my family or friends will be mentioned at all in my file." Fury then nodded and said "that can be arranged."

I sighed in relief and stood up out of my seat. Fury then did the same and extend his left hand "so what do you say chuck? Do you want to be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent?"

I looked at the hand that was extended in front of me for a few moments and then accepted the hand shake "when do I start?"

-Back to the present-

After I was done remembering probably one of the most important times in my life, I decided to see if there were any new leads to any of my open cases. I was hoping that there would be a break through on my search for the infamous Winter Soldier. Some of my colleagues in S.H.I.E.L.D think that I am obsessed when it comes to searching for the mysterious assassin.

My train of thought was broken when I heard someone knock on my door. I got up and answered the door and I was honestly surprised at who it was that was here.

"Bryce? What can I do for you?" I could tell Bryce was nervous about something. "is it all right if we talk?" is what Bryce asked.

"uh sure come on in, can I get you anything to drink?" Bryce then looked at me and said "uh no thanks."

"so what was it you were wanting to talk about?"

"well I came here hoping we could somehow repair our friendship."

"if I remember correctly you were the one that burned bridges." I said coolly. Bryce sighed and said "I know that and I will always regret that decision for the rest of my life." I stared at him for a few minutes and told him "I guess we could be friends again, but just because we're friends again doesn't mean I trust you."

"understandable." Bryce said.

Bryce then noticed the file on my coffee table and picked it up to examine it. "what's this" Bryce asked.

"that is one of my old case file that I occasionally look into every now and then. And considering I practically had to beg to get most of these unfinished, unexplainable cases I always keep my eye on them to see if anything comes up." I told him

"unexplainable?" he asked

"yep" I replied as I sat back down onto my couch.

"so what are you like Fox Mulder?" Bryce asked with a smirk on his face

I gave Bryce a smirk of my own and said "if I said yes would you think I'm spooky?". Bryce then just laughed at my joke. I was beginning to think that maybe there was a chance that we could be friends again. After Bryce's laughter died down he asked "so what is this case about?"

"it's about an assassin that I have been chasing down for the past five years."

"What can you tell me about him?" Bryce asked curiously. "his code name is The Winter Soldier. This guy has been credited with over two dozen assassinations over past fifty years." Bryce arched his eye brows and said "he sounds like a ghost story."

"he practically is. The only other thing that I know about him is that he preferably uses a sniper rifle that coincidently has no rifle make and it uses soviet slugs."

Bryce whistled and said "yeah, I can see how it might be hard to track an assassin that way."

"yeah, I usually follow any lead I can get no matter how small it is." I said.

"maybe I can help you."

I arched my eyebrow and asked "how?"

"I can dig around in the C.I.A database to see if they have any intel on him." Bryce said.

"it would be much appreciated Bryce, thank you." I said with a smile on my face

Bryce grinned at me and said "that's what friends are for right?" Bryce then decided to ask another question, "why are you so adamant about finding this guy?"

"because he killed a very good friend of mine and I want to find this guy and figure out who he works for." I said in a somber tone.

"don't worry, we'll find him and get justice for your friend." Bryce assured me as he got up out of the chair and was heading toward the door.

"I hope you're right Bryce." I said as Bryce left my apartment.

End of Chapter 6