Chuck vs. Where Loyalty Lies

Here's another new chapter for you folks. The impending rescue is close at hand kids. One more chapter and it's showtimes. Hold on to your seats! Its going down now and intensity has turned way up so strap on your seat belts kids. Anyways, I think you'll enjoy it. Enjoy the read peeps.

Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment please leave a comment for this one as well. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy the read.

I don't own Chuck but I hope there's a movie.

Heroes Fade Away

XXX

Eddie emerges from the broken down entrance where the remaining protection detail have positioned themselves. His face expresses a combination of disappointment and dejection. He then stops a few feet from the doorway inevitably turning around staring back at the same doorway he just stepped through. Afterwards, he shakes his head leading him to reach up placing his dark shades over his eyes in order to shield them from the bright rays above. In his mind, he should have what he is owed to him by now and it's pissing him off knowing that he isn't on a plane to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

True, he has done all the grunt work by carefully and not to mention meticulously plotted, as we all as planned every step in a very manipulative way. He even accounted for any alternative measures in case his tested didn't pan out like the car bomb. In any case, as much as he is seething concerning not being able to attain his big payoff he rest in the fact that he'll soon receive what he's fervently been waiting for with utmost patient. In a sense, it's like a dog salivating for his long awaited bone that has been waved in front of his face.

To him, he so wants to chomp down on his long awaited bone and scamper away with it never to see his partners again. Good riddance he thinks to himself. The quicker Dr. Mueller MIB neuralyzes Bartowski turning him a shell of former self, he can soak up the sun in an exotic local with a island beauty by his side or several island beauties with the money he has. It's that particular thought that graces a smile on his lips. Unfortunately, his future fantasies subsequently end due to his overwhelming urge for a cigarette.

In that instance, he reaches into his right front pocket inevitably fishing out the semi crumpled up carton. After taking a brief moment to retrieve the one remaining cigarette in the pack, he quickly crumples it up in his hand throws it to the side along with the rest of the debris located on top step of the front entrance. As the cigarette hangs from his lips in a James Dean sort of way, he begins patting himself down starting down at his front pants pockets, then to his back pockets, and finally ending up at his front shirt pocket.

"Just my luck." he whispered to himself.

It's at that point, the eldest Haschal sibling looks up and begins assessing the 4 remaining protection detail as to who is most likely to have a lighter on their person. Granted, all 4 of them are hulking masses of humanity that could quite possibly have their own zip code. Yet, one of them might be a nicotine addict like himself. His attention first turns to the rather large bald gentlemen to his right standing on the corner of the front step entrance. He's truly an intimidating figure evident by the visible scar running down the right side of his face.

He decides to not ask him after witnessing him spit off to the side a dark liquid, which would be chewing tobacco. A disgusting vice he thinks to himself. His brief disdain and disgust expressed on his face is cringe worthy but it quickly fades as he turns his head towards the man standing in driver's side shadow of the S.U.V. that The Belgian and Dr. Muellers arrived in. Sadly, he wouldn't be of any help as he notices on the ground by his feet strewn about are the remnants of sunflower seed shells. It's at that point, he looks up to see him spitting out a few like any baseball player without the use of his hands. Skill level: professional. Two down, two more to go he thinks to himself. It doesn't take him long for his eyes to avert to the man standing next to him. Luckily, it's one of Zondra's men.

Of course, when it comes to Zondra's men there really hasn't been any camaraderie between them. Far from it. In his viewpoint, he's mainly been seen as the street rat Aladdin to the high and mighty palace guards minus the whole marrying Princess Jasmine deal. However, despite that they've forged a reasonably cohesive working bond in order to get the job done in Santa Monica. Truth be told, they're not going to accept each other on Facebook or follow one another on twitter or anything like that. In any case, he shakes those thoughts out of his head and steps forward about to ask for a light when he notices something.

What he notices is that he too is smoking but in an entirely different way. From his standpoint, there isn't any smoke whatsoever leading him to come to the conclusion he is attempting to quit smoking by using one of those e-cigarettes. Tragic he thinks to himself. His attention turns to last man just off to his right down at the foot of the stair situated behind the equipment truck with his back to him. A smile then appears on his lips because he sees smoke rising giving him 100% certainty that he is a fellow smoker.

It doesn't take long for Eddie to head in his direction. After descending down the concrete steps, he approaches his associate inevitably standing by his right side. He knows that striking up a conversation isn't the sort of thing called up on here so as he stands there with a cigarette hanging from his bottom lip he makes a quick request.

"Got a light?"

Zondra's associate stands there, not saying a word. All he does is stare at him as he takes a drag from his own cigarette. The intimidating figure's eyebrows furrow all the while continuing to stand there in silence. For Eddie, what seemed like an eternity, the man of few words reaches up fishing out of his vest pocket a book of matches. He then flips it over to him to which the eldest Haschal sibling catches it but not before fumbling with it to the point of narrowly dropping it to the ground below. After holding it up to show his successful catch, said associate speaks.

"Keep it." he stated in a gravelly tone.

Eddie doesn't say a word. Instead, he gives a slight head nod then steps forward expressing a sheepish smile. He then disappears out of sight making his way up the streets walking past the vehicles in order to enjoy the indulgence of a pleasurable smoke by himself in peace and quiet. He's going to need it not knowing the peace and quiet will soon be replaced by utter chaos.

XXX

"It's not true." he said shaking his head. The tone of his voice is trembling with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty.

Chuck expresses absolute utter disbelief in his eyes. The sheer shock of it all leaves him numb so much so tears are forming. As they do, the wrist tags with his wife and child's name held in the palm of his hands. In a way, they feel incredibly heavy as if they're giant weights causing him to struggle to keep them lifted in the air. To him, they might as well be as his own fault that he wasn't able to make it on time because of his own selfishness.

"It is." Ellie softly responded.

The eldest Bartowski sibling steps forward in front of Chuck. She then reaches up with her right finger in order to left his head by his chin in order to be eye to eye with him. A mixture of pained disappointment expressed on her face as she shakes her head towards him.

"Your selfishness caused this. This wouldn't have happened if you would have just given them what they wanted little brother." she explained. Ellie reaches up with her left hand pointing at the two wrist bands with her left finger.

He continues to shake his head in disbelief. In that instance, he takes a step back and in doing so his legs nearly go out from under him but catches himself from falling to the floor. So many thoughts are running ramped within his mind. Each one of them jumbled together into one ball of mental scrabble that for right now is impossible to form any words that make any kind of sense. Chuck can only return his attention to the two wrist tags currently being held in his hands. While doing so, Ellie continues on.

"All Sarah kept asking is why?"

In that instance, Chuck peers up upon hearing that. "Why?"

Ellie nods. It's at that point, she steps to her right then continues on slowly walking clock wise around Chuck. "Why? Why would the man she loves let her down when she needed him the most?" she said.

"No." replied Chuck shaking his head. In his mind, he's refusing to accept that knowing he's always been there for her no matter what. "I have never let Sarah down, especially with our baby on the way." he firmly retorted. A tone of defiance in his voice.

"You did." Ellie quickly replied. She briefly stops making sure to get Chuck to look at her. "Chuck, how many promises have you made to Sarah? I'm thinking many." She briefly pauses then continues on standing there with her arms crossed. "Of those countless promises how many have you broken?"

Chuck is momentarily silent then replies to her query. "I haven't broken any of them. I'm a man of my word. I'm a good man. A man you've always been proud of. You know that sis."

To him, he doesn't fully understand why Ellie is doing this to him. Is she punishing him for all the times he's annoyed her in the past growing up as kids. True, he was a hyperactive and not to mention rambunctious child to where he was most definitely hard to handle at times. However, he knew that she was his big sister and they have been close since the death of their mom. Even closer with the death of their dad. In his mind, it's like a trial by jury and she's cross examining him like in the movie A Few Good Men. She's Tom Cruise and he's Nicholson's character. In any case, his thoughts are broken by the sound of Ellie's voice continuing on.

"Your word cost the life of Sarah and my niece or nephew. Now we'll never know because of how selfish of a man you've become." she angrily stated.

"I am not selfish!" he angrily spitted out.

The eldest Bartowski siblin's right brow arches. "You're not? Then why are you keeping the truth from me." Ellie calmly added taking a step forward.

A perplexed expression appears on his face after hearing that. He slowly turns around as he now tightly grips the wrists tags in his right hand down by his side. His eyes locked with the elder Bartowski sibling. "What truth?"

"You want to save everybody. News flash…you can't save everybody. You couldn't save your friends. Remember Polaski. Your friend was killed by Shaw. Your fault. You were too late. By the way what were you doing?"

The impact of what Ellie said momentarily stunned Chuck to his core. After a few seconds he responds. "I…"he breathed out.

Ellie suddenly stops. The anger in her voice clearly heard. "What was that?"

"I was down in Polaski's secret man cave playing with his sword." he painfully recalled back.

Upon hearing that Ellie shakes his head in disappointment. "Polaski's death could have been avoided if you weren't playing around with a sword. Do you know how dangerous that is handling a weapon like that. Your selfish need to play the hero all the time. See right there. No matter how grown up you see yourself little brother…" She continues to walk slowly circling Chuck within the row of clear maternity bins. "…you're always going to be an immature little kid in my eyes."

The youngest Bartowski sibling glares at Ellie standing a few feet away from him. "You're wrong. You weren't there so you don't know." he replied pointing with his left finger.

"Yes. I wasn't there. However, I do know this."

"What?"

Ellie inevitably makes her way back to where she stands in front of Chuck once again. The two stand face to face with the youngest Bartowski sibling still tightly gripping the two wrist tags in his right hand.

"Heroes fade way."

XXX

Team B carefully and quickly make a hard right ducking one by one into the shadowy alleyway making sure not to be seen or heard. Bryce, weapon trained forward in a crouched position, makes sure they weren't spotted or alerted anyone of their presence. After all 4 individuals are safe, he ducks in himself then takes a peek around the left corner of the alleyway to take one more quick assessment of the area ahead of them. In doing so, he spots the upper torso of a figure approaching. Instantly, he raises his weapon in order to look through the scope and after a few moments he ducks back into the alleyway regrouping with the rest of his teammates just a few feet down.

"What's the SITREP Bryce?" whispered Sarah. All 5 individuals are in a couched position. They are huddled in the alleyway in a circle near the wall.

"1 armed and smoking a cigarette with the possibility of additional unfriendlies."

"So we take him and whoever out. I'm itching for a fight." Carina smirked. "Plus, I want to break in a new knife I just purchased." the red headed vixen added.

For Morgan and Ellie, witnessing the smirk on Carina's face shows how truly crazy the red headed agent truly is. The sheer eagerness in wanting to be in a firefight gives the two of them a small insight as to the mentality of what an agent like her thrives on. To the bearded little man, its scary but at the same time an attractive quality if you're a guy who has a death wish if you're thinking about dating her. Thankfully, he didn't further pursue her knowing full well he is now in a much stable relationship with a level headed women who has priorities in order.

As for Ellie, she's given another glimpse into the world of Carina Miller. Her first glimpse was at the café where she talked to her concerning a life with a possibility of hanging it all up and settling down. Plus starting a family. After hearing her response, it literally took her by complete surprise how she was so cavalier about continuing the spy life. How, in her own words, it's fun and she wouldn't give it all up for a husband, kids, and not to mention a normal stable home life. Of course, when it comes to Carina she isn't the type of woman who would want normal unlike Sarah she thinks to herself. Her thoughts concerning Sarah's bestie would be broken by the sound of Morgan's voice.

"What about a more stealthy approach. I think this calls for more Call of Duty and less Red Sonja." Morgan stated in a low whisper. His brief attention on Carina is then averted towards the rest of the group.

"I agree." nodded the blonde beauty. "Use of force only as a last resort. As much as I want to take everyone out involved with the abduction of Chuck with a bullet to the head…" firmly whispered Sarah. Her eyes narrowed and showing absolute intensity. "…we got to do this as quiet as possible."

"That's no fun." replied a disappointed Carina. Her bottom lip protruding like a little girl not realizing she isn't getting what she wants.

Once again Ellie can only express stunned amazement concerning Carina's eagerness to as they say engage the targets. Her thoughts abruptly end when Bryce chimes in.

"Remember why we're here Carina. You know what's at stake." he retorted.

For Carina, she really does know what's at stake. The happiness of her best friend and future of the Bartowski family. True, she never has been too keen on falling in love or setting down roots in one place because it's not her style. Yet, she secretly lived vicariously through her blonde counterpart as she has witnessed or heard in the past through word of mouth how content her life has been. Of course, she would much rather have the party life style and not to mention danger that lurks around every corner type situation. It's what she has been accustomed to and knows nothing else like it.

In her mind, she will quite possibly end up dying as a DEA Agent. A blaze of glory by way of jumping out of plane after thwarting a nefarious evil mark hell bent on taking down a government or country. Her parachute wouldn't open or may end up being disabled due to bullet holes. Thinking about it, her final act would be her either calling Sarah or simply texting her with her own Carina like flare and in her own words say it's been fun. Goodbyes aren't her style. In any case, she shakes those particular thoughts out of her head and responds to the former partner of her best friend.

"I do know. Just keeping you on your toes." she grinned.

It's at that point Ellie chimes in after being reassured by Carina her head is in the right place. "So what's the plan?"

"Clearly…" said Sarah. "…going through the front isn't an option. So, we head to the back. Once we reach inside, Ellie and Morgan will follow me in order to free Casey."

"And Travis?" Morgan chimed in.

Sarah is momentarily silent then gives her response. "Maybe." All 4 individuals stare at her knowing they need all the help they can muster at this point. "Ok, I'll think about."

"What about you two?" wondered the little bearded man.

"Don't worry about us. I have a plan." Bryce nodded. It's at this point, he unzips the dark duffle bag and takes out some rope and 2 carabiners.

A perplexed expression washes over Ellie's face. "You're climbing up the building?"

"Not exactly." replied Bryce shaking his head.

"I think I know where's he's going with this." Sarah responded.

"Would you fill me in then." chimed in a confused Morgan.

After a brief moment of silence Carina speaks up. "What Bryce is saying…" she started. "…we're going to make our way up to the roof and then repel down to the 4th floor."

"You're half right." firmly nodded Bryce. He continues. "My plan is to repel down on one side of the alleyway while Carina repels down the other. That way we take them by surprise on both sides." he thoroughly explained.

Bryce waits as all 4 individuals mull over Bryce's plan in their heads. After what seems like an eternity Ellie speaks up.

"Give me your word Chuck will be safe." she stated. Her eyes staring intently at him.

The married man and husband returns the intent stare back to her. The momentary silence would inevitably end with his response. "I give you my word El."

It doesn't take long for Ellie to stand up after his response. "Let's go then."

The eldest Bartowski sibling steps back then turns around moving towards the back end of the alleyway. This leads the remaining individuals to stand up while transfixed on the woman heading down the shadowy alleyway. After a brief moment, Sarah turns to her 3 remaining teammates in front of her.

"You heard the woman…" Sarah takes a step back. "…let's go." She added with a faint grin. The blonde and pregnant beauty follows suit after Ellie with Morgan and Carina. Bryce would do the same but not before taking a brief look behind him then takes off after the rest of Team B.

XXX

"I never claimed to be a hero." Chuck replied. "I did what I felt was right." he added shaking his head.

"You see right there…"Ellie steps forward firmly points at her little brother with her right finger. "…you can't help yourself can you."

"What?"

"Wanting to do the right thing. You're holier than though attitude. That is the reason why you're so selfish."

Chuck lowers his head mulling over what Ellie just said. While doing so, he shakes his head then lifts it in order to look her straight in the eyes. "Is it selfish to help people knowing it's the right thing do. Damn the consequences. If it is, then I'm guilty of it sis."

"You are guilty. That's one thing you actually told the truth about."

Ellie turns around staring into the dark abyss on the other side of the glass. As she does, the light around them begins to slowly dim to which Chuck notices.

"What's going on? Why is the room slowly getting darker." he said looking up and all around.

Ellie is briefly silent. Afterwards, she turns around and leans back against with her back against the large observing window. She crosses her arms and continues on. "Like I said, heroes fade away. All the people you've saved. The lives you've changed. They don't mean anything now. You're going to be a mere afterthought."

"No…"Chuck defiantly shakes his head clearly disagreeing with what Ellie stated. "…I'm not."

For the former nerd leader, he doesn't know why the one person who has always had his back since they were little kids is presently tearing him down. To tear down his accomplishments regarding all that he's been able to accomplish in the spy world is something to be truly proud of he thinks to himself. In his mind, not once did he think of himself as a hero. To him, he was merely a guy who does the right thing even if it meant putting his own life in danger. Does he deserved the praise yes. However, he hasn't let it go to his head and to call him selfish is just plain insulting. Truth be told, the one person who is responsible for not letting it all the platitudes go to his head is the person standing in front of him. Ellie Bartowski.

Chuck's sister could only express a hint of laughter after hearing his response. "You're so in denial little brother. Face it…" she said pushing herself forward away from the large observing window. "…you were just a sad, pathetic nobody before you became a spy. You'll still be a sad, pathetic nobody when this is all over. Soon, you'll just fade away into the darkness." she said peering up and all around waving her right hand in the air. Her tone expresses sheer amusement. Those words make a significant impact on Chuck. While standing there, he's speechless and all he can do at the moment is lift up his right hand, open it, and stare at the two wrist tags in his hand.

As Chuck lays there on the chair slowly losing himself, he's being keenly observed by The Belgian, Dr. Mueller, Rashid, Zondra and 3 members of protection detail. Two from The Belgian and 1 from Zondra's. Yet, little do they know Sarah, Ellie, and Morgan have entered into the building by way of the back broken down entrance heading for Travis and Casey. As for Carina and Bryce, they are carefully, as well as cautiously scaling up the back making sure they don't alert the others located in the front.

XXX

NOTE: SORRY FOR THE DELAY. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? PLEASE REVIEW!