Don't own Chuck
Trapped in a room with no means of escape that was where Wheelwright left Chuck, Sarah and Mary. In the middle of the table was a syringe with a brownish liquid inside. Sarah picked up the syringe and handed it to Chuck then pointed to a camera mounted high in the corner. Chuck nodded his head and she leaped on the table using it as a sort of trampoline to grab hold of the camera. With her full weight she ripped it from its base.
"Good work," said Chuck as Sarah landed. He kissed her passionately with tears in his eyes. "Okay we can work now without being seen or heard."
"Chuck, don't worry Casey will be here soon. Are you feeling okay?" asked Sarah as he took his shoe off. His kiss and tears seemed odd.
"Chuck, I don't want the syringe you two decide who is going to take it. I'm sorry I slapped you back there but I had to so I wouldn't break cover."
"I know... at least you didn't shoot me this time," said Chuck as he pulled out the two self-injecting syringes. "When you smell the roses inject yourselves." He caught their looks. "I noticed the smell in the lab, Rosa damascena or Damask Rose. It's the fragrance Wheelwright chose for his gas and it's grown here in Bulgaria."
"Sweetie, are you sure about this," said Sarah. She didn't have a good feeling about the syringe. "I mean with the way you feel about needles. I don't mind giving myself a shot."
"Sarah's right, you can give it to me and take mine, I don't mind either," said Mary as she offered hers and held out her hand.
"No this is the way it's got to be. We all have to face our fears sooner or later," said Chuck as they heard the hissing sound of gas being pumped then the strong sweet smell of rose. "Now," yelled Chuck as he kissed Sarah taking her hand and making sure she injected herself. He looked over at his mother and Mary had done the same then he threw his syringe on the floor. It broke in a million pieces.
"No! Chuck why," said Sarah as Chuck dropped to the floor already he could feel something going on inside him as the room began to spin.
"Not antitoxin, atroxium pure. No Sarah," he yelled as he held his hand over her stomach. In his head she'd been shot. Mom why? Why did you do it?"
"Why did I do what Chuck?" said Mary as she looked over at Sarah. They were both worried about him.
"Chuck, you're hallucinating it's all in your head. Fight it, please hold on," said Sarah as she held him. Suddenly the room rocked like there was an earthquake and the door cracked open. "Come on we need to get you out of here," said Sarah as she and Mary grabbed hold of him dragging him out.
"No we've got to run," yelled Chuck as they climbed out of the lab, the sound of gunfire and flames of the burning buildings frightened him. He started to fight them to get away. Mary knocked him out.
"Sarah, please don't tell him I did that he'll never let me live it down," said Mary but it wasn't Sarah she had to worry about as Casey appeared with a cigar in his mouth.
"I've heard of tough love but I didn't know it came with a jab and a right hook. Can one of you ladies tell me what's going on?"
"We were gassed and Chuck gave us the antitoxin. He didn't have any for himself," said Sarah as Casey picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.
"Then we need to get you guys back to your helicopter. You need to get him to the flagship ASAP Dr. Dreyfus can fix him up." said Casey, as he made double time across the courtyard and laid Chuck in the back. "Don't worry everything will be all right."
"John, I hope you're right but Chuck had a bad feeling about this mission and it looks like he was right," said Sarah trying to hold back the tear.
"This isn't your fault, you do know that? This is no one's fault except that lunatic Wheelwright and his commie friends."
"Colonel, that other helicopter is taking off," radioed the Lieutenant. "We're not going to be able to stop it."
"Sarah that other chopper is getting away..."
"Like hell they are. John you coming or staying," said Sarah as she jumped on board yanking Mary in behind her.
"The General is yelling in my ear. I'm to stay here with my men we'll mop up then rendezvous up later. Keep me posted." With that he pulled down the side hatch. Sarah fired up the chopper and took off.
"Keep Chuck comfortable back there," yelled Sarah. "Under one of the seats back there Chuck left his tranq gun when he wakes up shoot him. I know what I'm saying Mary."
"Why aren't you heading straight for the ship? We need to get Chuck to a Doctor, revenge can wait," said Mary as Chuck started to come around. He let out a loud scream.
"For God sake tranq him," yelled Sarah then she hear the sound of his tranq gun going off. "Mary if there's an antitoxin it's in London," she said as she tried to hold back the tears.
A blip appeared on her radar screen they were a few miles out but she was closing then they appeared. Sarah activated the fire control radar she wanted them to know they were in her crosshairs. They tried to shake her off and made a desperate plea over the radio but she wasn't listening. She lifted the red cap covers on the B-8V20 missiles firing two. The Falcon exploded and just for good measure she opened up firing 12.7 mm rounds from her Yak-B Gatling gun peppering the debris. She turned the Mi-24 around and headed back out to sea then switch on the radio.
"Agent down, Agent down," she radioed as she began to cry. Mary came forward and took the head set then went back to Chuck.
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Back in Langley everyone held their breath as they overheard the conversations from Sarah's comms then afterwards when a pillow of smoke came out of the bunker the General was on the edge of her seat. Casey set off his explosives around compound. When the armory went chaos erupted as people scattered. The Colonel's snipers on the ridge started dropping targets that looked like they were going to give opposition. The members of the SEAL team fanned out moving across the compound towards the farmhouse clearing a path for the Colonel.
"Colonel, tell me what's going on," radioed Beckman she had a split screen going with a view from above and from their Go-cameras but the whole thing looked chaotic.
"The compound is almost all ours," said Casey. "I see the rest coming out of the lab. What the...?" He looked over and the General watch Mary deck Chuck. Then she heard the rest.
"Colonel get Chuck out of there I'll call the Mount Whitney and have them standing by." But as she was talking to Casey she heard the Lieutenant radio him about the Polish Falcon.
"Colonel, that other helicopter is taking off," radioed the Lieutenant. "We're not going to be able to stop it." Then she heard Sarah in Casey's comm.
"Negative, tell her to go to the Flagship," said the General as she turned to the Major. "What's the status of our drones?"
"General, the Bulgarians sent them home. They're out of position right now we can bring them back on line but they made sure they were on the wrong side far enough away from the Falcon that we can't catch up."
"Belay my last, don't try and stop her," radioed the General. They heard the sound of the chopper taking off and saw it lift off then disappear off screen. Shortly afterward, Sarah's voice game over the airways.
"Agent down, Agent down," they heard Sarah radio in. It hit home what had happened when they heard her crying then there was a crackling sound and Mary came on the line.
"Target eliminated returning to nest. Have medical staff standing by," radioed Mary her voice cracked because of static and emotion. "Diane..."
"I know Mary. I know we'll do our best. You can count on it," said Beckman the she turned to her aide. "Major, I want you to review all the footage of the assault. For a crack para-military organization they imploded like a house of cards."
"We overwhelmed them with surprise and might" said the Major but he caught the General's disapproving look. "Right I'll get on it. Is there anything in particular I'm looking for?"
"I want to identify everyone that boarded that Falcon as best as we can. Use facial recognition or whatever else means you can find just I want to confirm our perps were on that chopper."
"Yes ma'am, I'll get on it right away," said the Major. He went off to one of the workstations to get the downloads so he could begin the tedious job of isolating frames."
"Colonel Casey," radioed the General. "I want you to commandeer two vehicles. One I want you to leave for the SEAL team then after you've made sure the lab is destroyed..."
"I don't have to," radioed Casey back. "Chuck set off a C-4 charge in the lab and the concrete structure held the explosion inside gutting most of the inside. Right now there's a raging fire inside from the gas they used. They were lucky to get out at all. The inside right now is like a kiln to give you an idea of how hot it is the metal door for the lab door has melted."
"Good then we won't need a decon team. I need for you to find the wreckage of the Falcon and see if you can figure out how men and who was on board."
"They had three canisters of gas," interrupted Mary. "John, Wheelwright made three canisters of gas so you need to be careful at the crash site. Diane, it's useless to look there we nailed them with two missiles then strafed them with cannon fire."
"A little bit of over kill."
"If I was still with Alexei I'd be going after all their relatives, friends and pets which I haven't ruled out yet."
"Colonel, get all your people together. Gather as much intel as you can carry then make it to the pickup point. The Bulgarians will be sending a response team soon and I don't want anything that can be traced back to us."
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Underneath the Manor house in a tunnel that ran in the opposite direction Stojon and Frank were making good their escape. Behind them was Anton who was carrying Stanley and Popov who had a case with the canisters. This particular tunnel opened up and was actually wide enough to drive in. Parked underground not far from the house was an old Mercedes. They could hear the explosions above and the ground shook as debris started to fall in on them.
"We need to hurry up," said Stojon. "Now tell me wasn't it a good idea to send your helicopter ahead of us."
"I have to admit it was but it was also expensive," said Frank a bit nervous as dust fell from the ceiling. "I think we need to hurry and get out of here."
"Give Stanley another sedative then toss him in the trunk," said Stojon. "Popov be careful with those canisters, put them in the back." Popov put them in the back then helped Anton hold Wheelwright. They sat him on the lip of the trunk while Anton gave him the injection then they let he drop inside.
"Oops, sorry about that," said Anton when his head made a metallic ping then he made a small groan as he bumped his head. They both laughed. "I thought you had him."
"I thought you did," said Popov laughing. There was a louder explosion above them and this time a few rocks fell.
"Cut the crap and get in," said Stojon no longer fooling around. "If you don't hurry up we're going to leave you."
Popov got in the driver's seat while Anton rode shotgun. He put the key in the ignition and it turned right on over then they drove out down the tunnel. Once they got out they drove past Ruse getting on the A2 and set their direction towards Sofia the capital.
"Let me out here I'll call my people for a pick up. Stojon we'll be watching if you can pull this off we'll be in touch but if you fail we'll be coming to collect our merchandise."
"Sounds like you don't want to get your hands dirty," said Popov. "If you want a piece of the pie you should get a little flour on you."
"Shut up Popov," said Stojon. "You have to excuse him he's a good man but he likes to shoot his mouth off too much and usually when he should keep it closed."
"No problem, I understand your man's frustration but Hydra is above national disputes. We have no flag, not nation so we have no boundaries, not national confines we are everywhere all the time. We are the thing that goes thump in the night."
"Pull off there," said Stojon pointing to a phone booth near the side of the road. Popov signaled then move over dropping Frank off outside the booth.
"Like I said I'll be in touch," said Frank as he got out. He pulled out his phone as the car sped away. "Boss I have some news for you..."
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The Mi-23 was met by Morgan, Alex and medical personnel on board along with the Sixth Fleet Surgeon and Dr. Dreyfus. They got Chuck off the chopper then ran him straight down to sickbay where they could hook him up to an EKG and an EEG. The machines proved what Dr. Dreyfus was afraid of which was although Chuck looked unconscious his subconscious was still at work.
"Oh Morgan, Alex what am I going to do?" asked Sarah desperately. Mary put her arm around her to try and comfort her.
"If you're asking us then we're all in..." Morgan started to say but Alex elbowed him. "Right... Don't worry this is nothing like when Chuck almost lost his mind to the Belgian and we... well you ran off to Thailand to rescue him. We know where's at, he's right here and I'm sure the Doctors' going to have good news for us," said Morgan as they looked over at the Surgeon and Dr. Dreyfus talking to each other.
"I hope you're right I shouldn't have insisted on going with him. This is my fault for not staying with the chopper."
"Nonsense we heard and saw in ops what happened. You had no choice and even if you hadn't gone the SEALs would've been discovered on the chopper."
"Alex is right. Chuck wouldn't want to see you like this so stop beating yourself up. You did what you thought was right and that's all that what matters," said Mary. "Here comes the doctors maybe they'll tell us something good."
"Well he's stable for now we've got him in a pharmacological induced coma but I don't know if he's going to stay this way or get better. But you have to be prepared that he might get worse," said the Surgeon. "I'll let Dr. Dreyfus explain more. I'm going to make arrangements to medevac him to Ramstein. LRMC is our largest medical facility outside of the U.S. they'll be able to take good care of him there."
"Thanks, Doc I appreciate everything you're doing for him," said Sarah as he patted her on the shoulder trying to reassure her.
"I wish I had more to tell you but the truth is this is the first time I've seen anything like this. But Dr. Dreyfus is very hopeful. Right I need to go, if you'll excuse me," said the Surgeon as he left.
"You heard the Surgeon," said Dr. Dreyfus. "I wish I could tell you something different but I can't. I've been on the phone with Section Chief Barker and he's been in contact with Sir Reginald. They're trying to make another dose of antitoxin but it will take time. I'm hoping by the time we get him to Germany they'll have it made and we can meet them half way. But until then I'm keeping him under."
"Agents," said the COS as he walked into sickbay. "First of all I'm sorry to hear about your fellow Agent..."
"You mean my husband," corrected Sarah. "I'm sorry for interrupting. I'm just... well please you were saying."
"No, I'm sorry I understand but I need for all of you to come with me to Operations. General Beckman is on the horn for you. Agent Carmichael, she said she realized you probably wouldn't want to come but she needs you there."
"You all go I'll stay here with him," said Morgan. "She won't miss me. In fact she'll be happy I'm not there so go ahead and go."
"That's not true Morgan. You're every bit apart of this team as any of us are if not more. You're actually the senior member you've know Chuck the longest."
"And I'm Chuck's Doctor so I say none of you need to stay," said Dr. Dreyfus. "I'm kicking you all out. He's in a deep coma so it doesn't matter who's here let him rest. Captain, take them with you please." Sarah kissed him on the forehead then caressed his cheek. Mary finally pulled her away.
"Come on the Doctor's right we need to let him rest. I was in a coma once Stephen brought me an antidote to bring me around but I didn't remember a thing while I was out," said Mary as they followed the COS through the ship.
"Oh Mary, what am I going to tell Sam. She's old enough to understand something is wrong. I should call her..."
"No you shouldn't, at least not yet, you need to shield her from all the ugliness we have to deal with for as long as possible. If she needs to be told something, tell her he's asleep like in Sleeping Beauty. When he's ready you'll kiss him and he'll wake up," said Mary as they made their way to Ops.
"Sarah, listen to Mary," said Morgan. "What can you or Sam do right now other than worry. I don't think you want to traumatize for life."
"No of course not but if she finds out I knew and I didn't tell her or worse I lied she'll hate me for the rest of her life. I'm screwed either way I go."
"Listen," said Mary as they walked into Ops behind the COS. "Sam isn't even three yet she has plenty of years to come to hate you for a lot of things like abandoning them before they were ten or shooting them or missing their kid's birthday. There's a lot of things that she can hate you for but you know as long as she's around someday she might forgive you."
"There you are finally," said General Beckman from the monitor thumping on her desk with raised eyebrow.
"I'm sorry if we kept you waiting," said Sarah, "but we were kind of busy down in sickbay as you might imagine." Sarah was in no mood to take crap not even from the General.
"You're right I'm sorry. Dr. Dreyfus has been keeping me abreast of Chuck's condition and I'm sorry. I'm even more sorry that I have to ask you Sarah to go back out on mission."
"What? No way I'm sorry but this time you've got to get someone else. My husband is lying down in sickbay. No one can tell me what's going to happen to him and you want me to abandon him. Are you crazy?" The monitor went to a split screen with Casey on the other half.
"Sarah, you need to listen to her. I wish there was another way but we need you. The Bulgarians have grounded all our aircraft and we need to take my team to Sofia right away."
"I don't understand? You need to get to Sofia and you want me to do what drive a taxi while Chuck is in sickbay. You've both mad."
"No, this is the problem Stojon and his lieutenants weren't on the helicopter you downed. We did facial recognition of sat images we took and the Colonel's men found another tunnel that led out. We suspect he got away."
"My God he's got three canisters of atroxium with him," said Sarah as she realized the ramification of what the General was telling her.
"He's headed for the parliament building," said Mary. "That's what Anton told me. Stojon is planning on wiping out their whole government in a regime change. He plans on pinning the plot on us and using Wheelwright as a patsy. I noticed hidden cameras in the lab I thought they were surveillance but what if they were there to learn now to manufacture the atroxium?"
"What you're saying makes sense. Contrary to some advice I was given," said the General as she looked over at the Major. "The Bulgarians lodged a complaint with the United Nations stating that the CIA was operating covert operations in their country. Their Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured our State Department that this was just a formality but what if it isn't. What if this is the first step in Stojon's plan to topple the current government? I'm sorry Sarah the only means we have to get to the capital in time is if we use your Russian Mi-24 but the only person who can fly it on the Flagship is you."
"How are you getting Chuck out?" asked Sarah seemingly oblivious to what Beckman had just said. She had to know Chuck was going to be taken care of.
"We're going to take him out through Romania. He'll travel through Constanța then to Germany from there but I need you on that chopper Sarah."
"Okay, I'll go," barked Sarah yelling louder than she realized. "This is what Chuck would want. Never let the bad guy get away."