AN: Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed (or favorite or alerted.) I really do appreciate not only the favorable comments, but the constructive criticism as well. Hopefully this chapter is a bit easier to follow.
Somethings you might want to know:
During one chapter of Do Over I referred to Chuck and Sarah having Orange Juice at the Eiffel Tower after a mission.
In C.A.T. Squad it was revealed that Augustos Gaez was the nemesis of the squad and that he had both a factory in Brazil and a habit of throwing a Carnival celebration in Rio each year.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck or Vertigo Comics.
Chuck and Sarah versus The Imperfect Mirrors Part II
January 2004
"Look at that view." Chuck said, slightly in awe. He leaned a little bit over the railing staring out over the city and took another bite of his croissant. When they'd been paired up as partners it had begun to feel as if there was a huge gap that had developed between them. Chuck was still charming in his own awkward way. Sarah suspected Chuck would have to actively try not to be charming. But the tone had changed from flirtation to professional. Or as close to professional as Chuck could manage. Until this morning. He had come into her room and woken her up after only four hours asleep and insisted that they needed to have breakfast at the Eiffel Towers.
She had thought he had meant eating at one of the café's in its shadow. Then he had brought them up to the base of the structure and bought them tickets to go up one of the staircases. The first level where the small, almost fast food like bakery Chuck had plotted out as their breakfast spot wasn't accessible by elevator.
Tired and hungry, she had been what she considered understandably grumpy as they walked up. Chuck, however, had seemed unnaturally awake despite the fact he had been on the stake out just as long as she had. He told her recited facts about the tower, and about Paris. Some sounded like they came straight out of a guidebook. Other's like he had found them out the hard way. He may not be flirty, but he was talking to her like a friend. She could work with being friends. Even if it meant she had to ignore the way her stomach flipped when he flashed her a smile. Of course, all those warm butterfly feelings didn't mean she wasn't going to give him heck for waking her up.
"Nice, yes. Worth having you drag me out of bed after an all night stack out and climb the Eiffel Towers so you can look at it while eating a fast-food croissant? No." Sarah said grumpily. Chuck just flashed her a huge grin.
"But it's the Eiffel Tower Sarah, and not just a croissant. Orange Juice too. Here." He turned towards her tilting the cup towards her to taste. She gave him a glare, but her resolve to be mad at him was already weakening. When he gave her another hesitant smile it collapsed. She still made sure to make a show of rolling her eyes before taking a sip, but it really was very good.
"Plus, it's good for our cover. Mademoiselle Bolivier is supposed to be showing her French Canadian boyfriend around town. What tourist goes to Paris and doesn't go to the Eiffel tower?" He told her. She gave him another glare.
"Come on." He began walking towards the center of the platform and beckoned her to follow. "Let's get you your own orange Juice."
XXX
Their mission was to gather information on a woman named Paola Denitov. For almost a week Sarah and Chuck had been observing and evaluating Denitov's routine, as Mademoiselle Bolivier, and her boyfriend. Denitov's favorite dinner spot was a little place called Le Barracao situated on Rue Oberkampf in the 11th. Every night she had left her apartment at 9:30 and headed there with a different dinner companion only to return alone between 2 and 3 AM. They had had dinner there for a couple of the nights, and at places along the way on others, but tonight, they were having a romantic dinner and a bottle of Bordeaux at a restaurant with a good, if discrete, view of her apartment building. They were planning to take advantage of Denitov's absence to search her apartment. With any luck they would be able to find what they needed and be heading back to Washington before tomorrow night.
Chuck held her hands in his on top of the table. Any other male agent would have used their cover as a couple to stick his tongue down her throat. As Chuck stared across at her, pretending that he adored her, she almost thought it would have been better. At least then she'd get to kiss him.
Pulling her hand back she reached into her bag for her compact. A screen replaced the mirror, allowing her to zoom in on the apartment door for a better view.
"Target's on the move." She told Chuck, placing the device back into her bag. He took her hand again and gazed at her. The gaze shifted as soon as Denitov was a few feet past. Afterwards Chuck had quickly paid their bill, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her flush against him. They looked, or at least they hoped they looked, like a young couple eager to find someplace for a bit of private time, and perhaps willing to sacrifice privacy for it being close. Despite his friendliness earlier, Chuck still felt slightly tense against her, as if he wasn't quite comfortable with how close she was.
They turned into the small dark alley, on the side of Denitov's building. Staring up, she counted the balconies until her eyes reached Denitov's floor then shot the grappling hook up and began to climb. Denitov hadn't left anything in the open. All Sarah found on her desk was a used airline ticket and a receipt for lingerie from Chantal Thomass dated yesterday.
She and Chuck split up and began riffling through the apartment. Yet again, Chuck demonstrated just how different he was from what she expected of a male agent. While only an amateur, theoretically, would think hiding something in an obvious location like an underwear drawer, there was a chance that Denitov either was that green, or was experienced enough to use that perception for her own ends. If you know that someone will skip looking under the bed in favor of more subtle hiding spaces, under the bed suddenly becomes the best hiding space of all.
Most guys Sarah knew, Agent or not, would have started with the underwear drawer. Chuck started by tapping on the walls and examining the paintings. Which was unneeded confirmation of her and the butterflies in her stomach's faith in him. It also meant she had to search the underwear drawer. She did feel a slightly pique of jealousy as she pawed through a collection of La Perla that she would never be able to amass herself outside of a mission. Even with hazard pay and overtime, her government paycheck was more or less eaten up by basic expenses and the money she was putting into savings for the Porsche she wanted.
"Sarah, I think I've found something." Chuck called quietly form across the front room. Sarah shoved all the underthings back into the drawer. She also may have positioned a couple of them so that the next time Denitov opened the drawer the overpriced piece of lace and silk would tear. Just maybe.
When she walked over to Chuck, he was carefully removing one of the room's paintings off the wall. Behind it was a safe. Sarah offered up the device they had been given to crack one, but Chuck deferred. She wasn't entirely sure how he did it, but her partner had an odd knack for cracking the combinations to safes often even faster than the gadgets designed to do so. After just a moment, he opened the door to the safe.
"There's only an envelope." He said with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. Outside the window Sarah heard a car door. She glanced out from between the curtains to see Denitov had cut her evening short, and that tonight she had brought back more than enough company.
"Grab it, Denitov's back and she brought a few friends." She told Chuck urgently.
"We must have tripped a sensor." He murmured as he stuffed the envelope into his suit pocket. Sarah began to feel nervous as he closed the safe door and replaced the painting, but Denitov had only made it as far as the door by the time they jumped off the balcony one after the other, using the grappling hooks and rope to slow their decent.
She couldn't help but be angry at herself for not realizing there would be an alarm. She was even more so when she realized that, for a week's worth of surveillance all they had gotten was an extremely close call and an empty envelope with a broken seal on the back stamped with the word "Buchette".
August 26, 2008
Chuck's t-shirt stuck to his chest with sweat. The guard Casey had interrogated revealed that Blaine was scheduled to go to a meeting at the statue The Redeemer outside of Rio de Janeiro. Rio, unlike their last South American vacation spot, didn't seem to care it was supposed to be winter. By the point in the day when they had started the 220 step climb to the statute's base, it was already hot and humid.
"That Guard had better have been telling the truth." Casey grumbled from a few steps below. "I don't give this amount of cardio away without bullets and a fresh target at the end of the line." Chuck sucked in his lips. He decided to hold in all of the jokes Casey's statement had spawned inside his head. He did share an amused looked with Sarah though.
Sarah's method of trying to beat the heat was to wear as little as possible without actually donning the bikini Casey had joked she should bring. He didn't know how, but somehow she made slightly disheveled and covered in sweat look good. She looked like her skin was glistening in the sun .
They trudged up the stairs having a slightly out of breath conversation until they reached the last few feet of stairs. There, at the top was strung a closed for repairs sign. In front of it stood Blaine with two armed guards, the Ring agent he had seen earlier and Paola Denitov.
"So, trap?" Chuck asked rhetorically.
"I guess you really are the brains of the bunch Agent Carmicheal." Blaine attempted to banter. "You three are bit late to see the statue, but you are in time for something every tourist to Rio should do. A helicopter ride over the city. Or, in your case, out of the city."
"You do realize that mad scientists only do the dramatic monologue in the movies, don't you Blaine?" Chuck told him. Blaine glared at him, and Sarah reached up and grabbed Chuck's arm, pulling him back slightly as if preparing to shield him.
He wasn't going to try anything stupid, and he didn't want to start off this whole being a prisoner thing on the wrong foot. It tended to be irritating even on the right foot. But for some reason he wasn't entirely sure of, Blaine annoyed him. He'd like to say it was because he was a traitor, and had made them chase him half-way across the world already, but Chuck had begun to find him irritating even before he had followed him onto the monorail roof.
"Hell Denitov." Sarah said beside him. Her tone was just a bit too dry. Ironically it seemed that Paola was one person that more or less irrationally irritated Sarah. He supposed that should have meant that the two criminals really were a good match.
"Call me Paola, Mademoiselle Bolivier. Yes, I guess we'll always have Paris." Paola responded. "I'm a bit surprised you two are still together. Congratulations."
"That's enough for now ladies." Blaine interrupted. "Rest assured, there will be more than enough time for catching each other up on times old and new during our trip. But we need to get going."
Blaine's goons patted all three of them down, removing all the weapons they had hidden one by one. When Blaine was satisfied that they were unarmed, the two gunmen herded them into the helicopter. Chuck was a bit stumped as to what Blaine had planned for them. If he had wanted simply to kill them, he wouldn't have had to fly them into the middle of the jungle. Chuck couldn't imagine why Blaine would take the risk of bringing three Agents into the middle of his plans, let alone create a complicated trap to do it. Perhaps his jibes towards Blaine were more accurate than he thought, and when Blaine had decided to act out his villainous scheme, he had cast himself as a Bondesque Villain. Despite the uncertainty, and possible upcoming death, the view from the helicopter was beautiful. So was the air conditioning.
As soon as they touched down, Blaine had them file off the helicopter between the now increased group of armed guards. They made their way through the jungle for a few minutes before Blaine stopped in front of a giant tree, with some sort of electronic pad stuck into it.
"The Amazon basin is home to a greater variety of life than any place on the planet." Blaine said, holding his arms out and gesturing as if he was giving a lecture in front of a class, rather than a group of hostages. "The perfect place for the world's most cutting edge biological laboratory, wouldn't you agree?"
"Personally I'd go with somewhere with electricity, but that's just me." Chuck said. Blaine continued speaking as if Chuck hadn't spoken at all.
"But the majority of the life in the jungle is in the canopy." Blaine pushed one of the buttons on the console and suddenly the ground beneath them began to move upwards very quickly. The hidden elevator stopped at the tree tops, revealing several buildings built on stilts. The guards quickly ushered them towards one of the buildings. Inside, lining the walls of the one of the rooms were various jungle animals in cages. As they walked, Chuck could hear Sarah goading Paola behind him.
"Must be tough for you cooped up here in the hinterlands, Paola. I recall your being rather fond of Paris and all its wonders."
"Yes, you seemed to enjoy the city as well. But who could blame you? After all you were in love. I'm so glad for you that the rumors of Charles' death were untrue. I'm sure there are many other people who would be happy to hear the news as well." Worried that the not too subtle threat might provoke Sarah into doing something stupid, Chuck reached back and pulled Sarah closer to him as she glared at Paola.
The guards pushed them into a small metal lined cell. Matching benches ran along three of the sides while the fourth was the cell's sliding door, made of glass. Chuck sat one of the benches beside Sarah. In the climate controlled cell, he was finally able to wrap his arm around her without becoming even more gross and sweaty.
"Start talking." Casey ordered abruptly. "How do you two know Paola?"
"We ran into her on a mission a few years ago in Paris. It was when Chuck and I were partnered after he graduated from the Farm."
"What was the mission?" Casey asked.
"Classified." Sarah said, crossing her arms over her chest. The gesture looked slightly more awkward then Chuck thought she meant it to be since his arm was still around her waist.
"Excuse you?" Casey said.
"You know the drill, Casey." Sarah countered.
"You have got to be kidding me, Walker! We are trapped in the jungle with a man that carries the single most important collection of American intelligence in his head. Tell me everything you know. Now!"
"Sarah, it's not like we can't trust Casey." He said gently. He wasn't sure but he suspected her reluctance stemmed more from a bit of embarrassment over the mission's failure than any actual concerns for protocol. Sarah gave a sigh and gestured for him to speak. They began alternating telling (and sometimes retelling) the events leading up to leaping off that balcony with only an empty envelope to show for almost a week's worth of work.
"The only thing in or on the envelope was a broken seal marked with the word "Buchette." Sarah concluded. To Chuck's surprise, the word immediately caused him to flash.
When he came out of it, Sarah and Casey were turned towards him, waiting for him to speak.
"I didn't have the Intersect with the information when we went on the mission." He explained, hoping that Sarah would understand that what he had just flashed on had only been in the new intersect. "Buchette was the code name for a program sponsored by French-based Interpol in late 2003 to co-opt certain high-level scientists in rogue countries and neutralize controversial areas of emerging technology and research."
"In English Bartowski." Casey told him.
"Bribe scientists to work for Interpol instead of bad men. Get scientists to stop working on big scary tech for bad men. Take away all information on big scary tech."
"Thank you Bartowski." Casey said dryly.
"There was a problem though." Chuck told him.
"Why am I not surprised." Casey mumbled.
"The French neglected to destroy documents related to the neutralized technology."
"Of course they did." Chuck heard Casey groan.
"A Russian free-agent managed to steal the tech cache and was never found. Meaning some rampant technology could be out there somewhere,"
"That's quite a story, Agent Carmichael." Blaine interrupted as he stepped in front of their cell. "Maybe not entirely accurate, but interesting nonetheless. Paola isn't Russian, of course. More at home here in the tropics. "
Chuck's stomach dropped. The moment he had flashed he had realize that what he and Sarah had found in Paris most likely meant Paola was the person who had stolen the tech from the French. But he had held out some hope that she may have only found the envelope, unlikely as it was. While Chuck tried not to imagine the nightmare the Ring now having technology so potentially dangerous France hadn't even tried to reverse engineer it before storing it away, Blaine kept speaking.
"I can't seem to pin you down Carmichael. Your intel on Buchette, is a little too thorough. The French knew one part of it, The CIA something entirely different. Not sure how you managed to put them both together." Blaine said, in a tone that reminded Chuck eerily of Ellie when she talked about her first frog dissection. Blaine then wordlessly walked off, with Paola trailing behind, leaving the three of them alone in their cell.
XXX
It took a while to find a way to lie comfortably on the narrow benches. It probably wouldn't have taken quite so long if Chuck hadn't kept moving slightly to make sure that Sarah would be able to use him as a pillow. A part of her thought she should be offended he thought he had to protect her like that. If it was anyone else she probably would have. Most of her just thought his chivalry was sweet, and was glad that she didn't have to lay her head on the cold hard bench. Casey grumbled a bit about their efforts, despite the fact that, contrary to his complaints, they weren't doing anything even approaching naughty, eventually he had just turned over to face the wall and fallen asleep himself.
She wasn't entirely sure how long they had been asleep when Denitov yelled at them to wake up through the cell's glass door.
"What the Hell is going on?" Casey grumbled.
"Paola." Sarah answered him. "We can't trust her, Casey." She warned.
"Listen to me. The people Blaine's working for. I'm afraid of them. They have Blaine putting something together, something big, but he won't tell me what. He won't tell me anything anymore. And the questions they're asking. The way they're studying Blaine's equipment. He doesn't see it, but I know that as soon as he finishes their project they're going to kill us and just take it. "She told them.
"I don't trust you any more than you most likely trust me, but I know you, and right now, I still trust you more than them. I'll cut to the chase. I'm getting you out of here. Go. Now." She told them as she swiped her card through the electronic lock. The door opened with a hydraulic sound. Sarah still didn't trust Denitov. She was more or less convinced that this was some sort of trap. But it was a trap that got them out of this cell, which made it better than just sitting here. And it might even lead them to wherever Denitov had stashed the technology she hadn't turned over to Hecht. Glancing over to Chuck and Casey, she saw that they had come to a similar conclusion. All four of them began running out of the containment area following Denitov's lead.
"This way, around the next corner. We'll cut through the lab." Denitov yelled back at them as they approached the end of one of the corridors. "Agent Casey, take this." To Sarah's surprise, Denitov tossed Casey a gun. She herself had already grabbed a knife along the way.
Denitov slide her card and the door opened revealing a gray room lined with monkey filled cages.
"What goes on in here?" Chuck yelled to Denitov.
"I was hoping you could tell me." Chuck slowed down a moment, looking at the cages, before speeding back up to meet them as they reached the door.
Once they exited the final door, they found themselves running straight into the jungle.
"Casey, company." Chuck yelled towards their partner as they ran. Sarah glanced back and saw that a leopard was coming up behind them. Casey shot at it using the gun Denitov had given to him as they all began to run even faster.
"Up ahead. Maybe it's a way out of here." Sarah said, gesturing towards a small break in the foliage.
"Paola, you've been living here, don't you know the way out?" Chuck asked from slightly behind her.
"I didn't get out much." Denitov said, more than a little out of breath. Running through the small opening she had indicated they all stopped short and froze. In front of them stood almost every predator she could imagine lived in this jungle, and a few she wasn't sure did. They were all standing there, in wait, looking more like some sort of carnivore diorama then an actually rain forest scene.
"Through here. There's another way out. Hurry." Paola said, pointing to a barely perceivable trail.
"Oh, now she remembers." She thought she heard Chuck mumble.
"You have to trust me. But whatever you do," Paola told them before cutting off abruptly. They all froze again. They were standing on the edge of a sheer cliff. Below them was a long drop to the river below.
"Don't look down." Sarah said, finishing Paola warning. Sarah wasn't afraid of height, but even she felt a little dizzy as she contemplated what they were about to do. She looked toward Chuck. He gave her a tense smile and held out his hand. She took it and gave him a little squeeze. Then she took a deep breath and they both jumped.
They hit the water fairly hard, causing her to lose Chuck's hand. She kicked her way to the surface, gasping for breath. Her first thought was to look for Chuck, and saw him a few feet away doing the same. They both then looked and saw that Casey and Paola were emerging from the water as well. Paola began swimming towards a boat that was approaching them. Paola pulled herself up onto the boat with the help of two men in black t-shirts and pants. Chuck offered Sarah a little push and she pulled herself onto the boat before turning and helping him up in turn. Casey climbed aboard last.
Paola began speaking to the two men in Portuguese. Despite her former nemesis Augustos Gaez being based, at least partially, in Brazil, she had never had to learn the language. She looked towards Chuck. He was soaking wet from the unplanned swim and his clothes were plastered to his skin so that they looked more like they were painted on. Judging by the way he seemed distracted, she suspected what she was wearing was now similarly revealing. When she nodded, subtly towards Paola, however, he did understand her meaning and walked up beside her. He linked their arms and leaned down so that only she could hear him, as he made the familiar face that meant he had flashed.
"She's telling them that we're one of them now." He said, pausing slightly. "She thinks that Blaine will be coming after us any minute." He stopped again listening. "She's says they need to hurry if we're going to make the helicopter out of Sao Paulo." Sarah glanced off into the now setting sun. Somehow she didn't think that Paola was going to be flying them home.
