Summary: Sarah searches for the location of Chuck. Casey plans his mission to Seattle. We pick up at one of the points of the rescue already talked about, and much more in ch. 21: Her Revenge on Seattle
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck. If you are the one that DOES own Chuck, come on, how about a season 3? Pretty please?
A/N: Alright, sorry for the delay guys. I've felt like crap pretty much all week. Stupid pollen. I think pollen is Fulcrum…just saying. Since this is the first thing I've published since the finale (season only hopefully), I guess I should say R.I.P. Bryce. Damn, that kind of threw a wrench in both of my stories. Oh well, what are ya gonna do? Anyway, the finale DID give me a pretty good way to go with this story however. I won't give anything away, but I will say that the new version of the Intersect leaves a lot of options open. I've tried the past two chapters to cut back on the flashing forward. I really wanted to make sure you guys know what is going on at the present time. In this chapter, we will eventually pick up where chapter 19 began…the rescue. Okay, so I guess that's about all for right now. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your feedback! Please enjoy Bryce and Jill vs Chuck and Sarah chapter 21: Her Revenge on Seattle.
Awesome Awards: Also, if you haven't yet, it's still not too late to go nominate your favorite authors and stories for the Awesome Awards over on the TWoP Kicked Us Out…forum on this site. I won't beg for nominations, and quite frankly I think there are too many authors far and above my superior to even fathom such, but if someone WERE to nominate me…I'm just saying I'd be honored. But if it is for me or someone else doesn't matter, just go support the people that write these stories! Thanks.
Warning: Okay, fair warning…the end of this chapter is kind of sad. Okay, it's really sad. Don't lose hope yet though ladies and gents!
Encore Suites at Wynn
Las Vegas, NV
Thursday November 19, 2009
11:45 PM PST
Sarah had been working non-stop on the code she'd discovered in the text sent to Bernie. She'd searched through every intelligence data base in the world…twice. There was nobody in any of them with the names Travis Blue or Sandy Owens. She'd tried every cipher she could think of to decrypt the message with no luck. She'd even tried anagrams of the message and could scarcely make anything resembling a coherent thought, much less the location of a secret holding facility.
Sarah sighed in frustration and rested her head in her hands. She allowed h weary eyes to close just for a moment. When the moment was over however, Sarah found herself no longer sitting at the table in the common area of the suite. She was laying in the bed she and Chuck had shared while they were here.
Dammit, I must have fallen asleep. Casey probably brought me in here. He's a good partner, but I really don't need him looking out for me like a big brother or something.
Sarah was stirred from her musings as she felt a presence shift in the bed next to her. Startled to attention, she reached over to pull the covers from around the offending presence. She couldn't believe the sight before her. The person sharing the bed with her was Chuck. How did he get here? Did he escape and come back to me?
Sarah shook Chuck awake. He turned his sleepy eyes up to the blonde woman and smiled up at her. It was the most beautiful sight Sarah had ever seen.
"Good morning Beautiful," he greeted her.
Tears began to pool in her eyes as she looked down at the man she feared she'd lost forever. Taking another moment to bask in the feeling of waking up next to the love of her life, she knew that nothing that would ever happen could make her any happier than she was at this very moment.
Lunging at the lanky, curly headed nerd, Sarah encased him in a firm and possessive embrace. She buried her face into his bare chest and began to sob openly. Her tears had been commonplace over the past few days, but for this first time in that span, she cried out of joy.
"I-I thought I'd never see you again. I was so scared Chuck. Tell me you'll never leave me like that again." She looked up at him. Her eyes were still red with tears, but still they pleaded for his reassurance. "Tell me Chuck!"
"Sarah, you have nothing to worry about. I'm never leaving your side again. I love you." He held her in a comforting hug. Craning his neck downward, he lightly kissed her on the top of her head.
"I love you too Chuck." Sarah pulled her way up to his lips and crashed her own mouth against his. The couple kissed for several minutes before finally pulling back. Chuck merely gazed into the eyes of his girlfriend, his love for her burning from his brown orbs.
"Sarah?"
"Yes, Chuck?"
"Sarah…wake up Sarah! Sarah!" Sarah jumped awake as she felt herself being shaken. Quickly taking in her surroundings, she realized she'd been at the table all along. Her notes from trying to break the Fulcrum code were still scattered in front of her. Jill was speaking to her. Worst of all, it had all been a dream. Chuck was still being held prisoner, or even worse, he could be…
No, don't even think that. He's alive and he's waiting on you to come save him.
Honestly, Sarah would have been content to stay inside of that dream forever. Looking at the woman who'd woken her from her slumber along with the fantasy, the blonde was hard pressed to restrain her homicidal thoughts toward the doctor of bio-chemistry.
"What do you want Jill?" The disdain for the other woman at the moment was quite evident in Sarah's words.
"Why the hell didn't you tell anyone else about this code?" Oh crap, she's been looking through my stuff.
Sarah shot quickly to her feet and began haphazardly gathering up the papers she'd had scattered all over the table. "I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own!"
"Obviously not! I've looked through your notes and you're not even close!" Jill wouldn't shy away from her counterpart this time. She finally had one up on Sarah Walker and she was certainly going to bask in the glory of knowing just that.
Sarah held her work possessively to her chest, an air of indignation briefly flickering across her countenance. "And just what the hell would you know Jill? I think I've been doing this a little longer than you, scientist."
Jill blew out an exasperated breathe. "I know that I just figured out the code in ten minutes while you were stumped by it for more than a day."
"You know what it means?" Despite her current ill temper toward the condescending brunette, Sarah was too excited by the possibility of finding Chuck to respond harshly.
"Sarah, you were thinking way to deep on this. It's not a cipher. It's not real names. It's certainly not an anagram. The 'G' it is signed with indicates it is a guardsman. They are not known for being overly intelligent and all of those options would be over their head." Jill had softened her tone some. After all, the two women were in this boat together regardless of their feelings toward one another.
"So how did you figure it out?" I guess you can learn something from anyone.
"Sarah, maybe next time, try at least running it through IMDb first. Honestly, we could be on our way by now."
Sarah looked confused. "You mean the movie thing?" Sarah had a hard time believing it could be a simple movie reference.
"Yes, Sarah, the Internet Movie Database. Travis Blue and Sandy Owens are characters from a movie called Wagon Master from 1950. It was filmed in Moab, Utah and set in Southwest Utah. Moab is our likely destination, although we should keep an open mind about all of the southwest part of the state. Seriously, you're a great agent and all, but leave the puzzles to the nerds. And since Chuck's not back yet, I'm your best option." Jill turned her Mac Book around so Sarah could see the information for herself.
Sarah's face showed utter exuberance at the prospect of finding Chuck. Almost immediately however, a dark thought entered her mind and her joy subsided. "Jill, if it could be anywhere in southwest Utah, we could be looking for weeks. There's no way they'll survive that long." She wanted to cry again as her body was overtaken by the dregs of defeat.
"Sarah, didn't we pick up a trace on Chuck's GPS the day they were taken?"
Sarah nodded her head, but her look of grief didn't dissipate. "We did, be we agreed that even the dumbest of guards would think to search them for tracking devices. Whatever we saw was meant to take us off course."
Jill knew her idea still had legs however. "That's true, but if we go back and trace the route it traveled with the intel we have now, we may be able to rule out that option completely. If it is in Utah however, we have a place to start."
Jill had a point. Sarah didn't really want to admit that Jill had a point, but she did. "Okay, Jill. We'll see what we can find, but I doubt it's going to help." That's right; don't let her get too full of herself Walker.
Going over to the tracking equipment, they pulled up Chuck's GPS tracking device. Nothing currently showed, but upon pulling a history, the last known location was in…Moab, Utah. Eureka! Sarah thought. Then it dawned on her that she never used the word 'eureka.' I've been spending far too much time with nerds. That said, I hope I get some more time with a certain nerd very soon.
"And there we go! It is in Moab! Now we just have to find a way to get in there."
"Jill, let's do that in the morning. We can get better satellite imaging of the compound and try to plan a tactical invasion that actually has a chance of working." The truth was, Sarah was exhausted and knew that she needed rest to reach the top of her game. And Chuck would need her absolute best if he had a chance of getting out of that place alive.
"You're right." Jill could tell that the other agent needed rest. The poor woman hadn't slept at all really since their men had been taken. "We'll get sleep and get the plan rolling in the morning."
It was the most amicable conversation the two women could ever really remember having between themselves. Maybe they would work out alright as a team after all.
Fulcrum Holding Facility
Moab, Utah
Friday November 20, 2009
4:03 AM MST
Chuck was awoken by the feel of cold steel slashing into his side. He cried out in pain as blood began to seep from the gash now carved into his torso. The Fulcrum guardsman in front of his bore a sadistic grin at the pain of the bound agent.
"Rise and shine CIA." The man laughed manically at the nerd's misfortune. "You know, agent, you have been no help at all to us. Now I'm going to get breakfast. Why don't you hang around here and wait on me." The guardsman thought his little quip was quite hilarious. Chuck disagreed. And I thought Casey was the master of horrible puns, Chuck thought wryly, glancing up at the chains that held him from the ceiling.
Chuck held in his hands -or more aptly his mouth- however what may be the key to getting them out of this dungeon. The tracking device that he'd ingested back at the Fulcrum Headquarters had been regurgitated after his last torture session. Luckily for Chuck, his teeth had held the small device in, and now was his chance. It was a long shot but if he could just…
Chuck spit at the laughing man in front of him. Sure enough, the small device the nerd had held in his own mouth found the gaping oral cavity of the Fulcrum guardsman. In his shock, the man swallowed the new presence in his maw. Phase one completed, Chuck thought.
The guardsman beat him quite fervently for this disgusting act, but it didn't matter. The trap was set.
Walking out of the interrogation room, the guardsman informed his superior he needed to run out to get some mouthwash. The other man completely understood.
Encore Suites at Wynn
Las Vegas, NV
Friday November 20, 2009
6:00 AM PST
Casey walked into the command center set up in the suite at Encore. There was a briefing with the General in thirty minutes, and he really needed to present his superior with the op-specs he'd devised. He'd really felt bad for his partner. She'd been working herself ragged trying to come up with some clue as to the location of Bartowski. So far, he knew she'd only come up empty and had been getting more and more depressed. Walker would more than likely require months of psychoanalysis after this ordeal. He'd lost someone once too. He knew the toll it took on an agent. It's why they were trained to never fall in love.
Pouring himself a tall cup of coffee, the NSA agent walked over to the table at the center of their makeshift base. Something on the screen in front of him caught his eye before he could begin going through his paperwork however. There was a moving dot…That's Bartowski's tracking. Why would they have that pulled up unless…
Suddenly Casey knew what he had to do. If Walker had pulled up what everyone had agreed was a dead lead, then she must have found new information to make it relevant. Pulling out his phone, he dialed a contact he had in the Utah Highway Patrol. As the phone rang, he pulled up a trace on the movement on the satellite imaging. Sure enough, he picked up the sight of a car moving briskly down the highway. Then the other end of the phone was answered.
"This is Young."
"Lloyd, it's John Casey-"
"Casey? Is it really you? What do'ya need this time ya' old dog?!"
"Listen, Lloyd, this is really important. I need one of your guys to pick something up for me."
"Whatever you need, you know I got your back Major."
Two Hours Later…
The briefing had gone by without much fanfare. He hadn't mentioned what he'd found out about Chuck and Bryce's location, and not surprisingly, Walker had kept a lid on it as well. No use bringing the General up to speed until they had solid evidence about where everything was. Casey stood to get up from the table when he felt his phone begin to vibrate.
"Casey secure."
"Alright, good. Where? We'll get there in a hurry." And Casey ended the call.
Turning to his partner, a big grin spread across the agent's face. "Walker, would you care to take a ride with me?"
"Casey, I…umm, kind of have some plans for this morning. If it could wait…" She let her voice trail off. She'd put off her continued search for her boyfriend last night and didn't think it would be wise to delay it any further.
"Walker, I really need you on this one." Something about his tone told Sarah that she needed to go with the man. What is he not telling me? Only one way to find out.
"Alright, let's go then." The two long time partners walked out of the door leaving Jill and Anna to themselves. It was not a comfortable situation for the two women who knew practically nothing about each other.
"Sooo…" Anna drawled, casting her eyes away from Jill.
Yep," Jill responded averting her own gaze.
McCarran International Airport
Las Vegas, NV
Friday November 20, 2009
9:33 AM PST
"Casey, would you just tell me what he hell we're doing here. I honestly have something I need to be taking care of." She couldn't believe he was keeping her from looking for Chuck by dragging her to an airport for God knows what.
"Walker, just trust me. You're going to want to see this." Casey actually sounded excited. It was rare that he got excited about…well, anything really.
The two continued through a long corridor, before ending at a plain white door guarded by a man in battle fatigues holding an MP-5. Casey showed credentials and gave a password and the two were allowed to enter.
"So now can you tell me Casey?" Sarah was getting a little more than irritated with her partner's evasive behavior.
"See that guy in there?" Casey pointed to the man in the interrogation chamber he'd led them to. Sarah peered through the window and nodded; a confused look was still on her face. "Chuck's tracking device was found on him. We think he knows where they're being held."
Now the confused look was gone. A storm was brewing behind the blue eyes of the blonde assassin. "He knows where my Chuck is?" Her voice sounded even more dangerous than her expression looked.
"Uh-huh," Casey supplied with a nod. At his admission, Sarah burst through the door to the room, going face to face with the man that held the information she held most important in the world. He was the only thing keeping her from getting to the man she loved. This Fulcrum member was an obstacle. Agent Sarah Walker had ways of dealing with obstacles.
Forty-five minutes later, Agent Walker emerged from an interrogation room covered in the blood of someone else for the second time this week. People will learn one day not to fuck with my boyfriend, she'd thought as she walked out.
"So, you get anything before you offed the guy?" Casey was not nearly as shocked by his partner's actions this time around. He was a quick study. The Bernie situation had taught him at least one thing: Sarah Walker will do serious damage to anyone that can be considered any threat to Bartowski. That was good information to have.
"Yeah, I got it. Jill and I are going to Moab. Need me to pick anything up?"
"How about an Intersect and a douche-bag?" Casey was rather proud of himself for that line. And it was that line that caused Sarah to laugh for the first time since Chuck's disappearance. She could relax a little now. She knew where Chuck was. She knew he was safe. And most of all, Sarah knew she was going to save him. It's what she did.
Sarah and Jill's Tactical Vehicle
15 Minutes Away from Fulcrum Base in Moab
Sunday November 22, 2009
1:16 AM MST
The group had decided to execute both operations simultaneously. To run one before the other would risk tipping off the other location. In Sarah's case, it would cause the guards holding Chuck and Bryce to kill them. In Casey and Anna's case, it would cause the Fulcrum leaders to flee their location. They needed to take down these guys in one fell swoop.
The anxiety had built during the travel to the Utah town. As they were approaching their target, it grew even more. Sarah hadn't felt this nervous about a mission since…she didn't think she'd ever been this nervous about a mission. I've never had something so important to me on the line. Before she could think about it any more however, he phone began vibrating. It was Casey.
"Walker, secure."
"You got them?" Sarah turned to the other people in the vehicle. "Casey and Anna did it. Ken Adams along with six other high ranking Fulcrum members including the remaining Elder is dead." There was rejoicing from others in the car, but Sarah had her own problems to deal with.
"Wait. What was that Casey?"
Casey's Suburban
In Route to Las Vegas
Sunday November 22, 2009
12:22 PM PST
"I said you need to pull out. Two Reapers have been deployed to blow the facility. It was too dangerous. You know they're probably gone anyway Walker. Even if they're not…"
"So you would just leave them behind Casey? Why would they do this? Why can't we have the chance to save him?" The emotion in Sarah's pained words was evident even through the phone. Casey knew she didn't need instruction right now, she needed a friend. He wasn't sure that was a hat he had in his bag, but it was worth a shot.
"Sarah, you have to turn around. You know Chuck would want you to be safe. You have to turn around or you'll be dead too. So will all the men you have with you. So will Roberts." I think that was friendly, come on now Walker, make the right decision.
"I can't Casey. I love him." In her mind, that was all the argument that was needed.
"I know you-"
"No you don't! You don't know anything Casey! If I don't try to save him…I could never live with myself." And Sarah disconnected the call. She appreciated what her partner was trying to do, but she was going to get to Chuck. She would save him. Tonight was supposed to be the start of their life together. He was not going to miss that.
Sarah and Jill's Tactical Vehicle
10 Minutes Away from Fulcrum Base in Moab
Sunday November 22, 2009
1:21 AM MST
"Predators?" Jill asked with a guarded tone.
"Reapers," Sarah responded. The somber tenor her voice had taken put the situation into perspective.
Jill sighed. All this way…she'd really thought they had a chance to save them. Sometimes she really hated the government they worked for. Why would they give up on two people who had given so much to the 'greater good' so quickly? A sad thought came to mind for Jill. She decided to share it with the other woman.
"You know, it's a shame Chuck and Bryce aren't here. They could probably find a way to gain control of those UAV's. They were always geniuses with that stuff. Back at Stanford-"Jill's trip down memory lane was cut off, as her speech had given the blond an idea.
"Maybe they could, Jill. But I know who can!" Scrolling through her contact, Sarah found a number she had almost forgotten she had. Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up! You have to be there! Then the other line was answered.
"Mr. Bartowski? It's Sarah."
"Alright, fine, Dad." That Bartowski charm never fails does it?
"Listen…Dad…Chuck's in trouble…Reapers have been deployed to destroy the location he's at. I've got the coordinates for you. Do you think you could-" Before Sarah could finish her request, she saw the most horrible sight she'd ever seen. The Reapers had bombed the complex. The entire place went up in a giant fireball.
Sarah dropped the phone from her ear. "We were too late." Tears and uncontrollable sobs began to burst forth from the blonde. "I'm sorry Chuck, I wasn't good enough," she choked out through her wails of grief. It felt as if someone had literally ripped her very heart from her chest and was now holding it in front of her for her to see. The only thing she could compare it to was when she witnessed what she'd thought was Chuck blowing up in a Herder. This time, he wouldn't be stepping up from behind her holding a remote control however.
She looked next to her at the scientist who appeared to be in just as much pain as she was. The shock was evident on the brunette doctor's face, and so were the tears and anguish. The two women locked eyes, sharing an unspoken understanding of what they'd both just lost. The two women embraced one another as they cried.
"Chuck…" Sarah called out in a whisper. She couldn't believe she'd never see her Chuck again.
A/N: Are Chuck and Bryce really gone or did they find a way out before the complex was destroyed? That is really the biggest question…anything else pales in comparison, and you'll have your answer in the next, and what will most likely be the penultimate chapter of Bryce and Jill vs Chuck and Sarah.
Thank you again everyone for giving me a read. I really appreciate the support I've gotten since I began this story. It has really been just fantastic. I always appreciate your feedback, so hit that little review button down there and let me know what you thought of this chapter…and the story as a whole. That really helps me know whether or not I'm doing right by everyone. Again, I will ask that you go over to the forum and nominate your favorite authors and stories for the Awesome Awards. It's a great way to show that you really care about getting quality stories here at the ff Chuck…type…area. Okay, couldn't find a better way to put that. In any case, I'll end this like usual, you guys are AWESOME. Peace.