Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck.
So, work begins.
Sorry for the complete proofreading disaster that was my last chapter.
I didn't have anywhere near the time that I wanted. I'll be going back to fix it.
We have the rest of Nemesis with the opening for Marlin.
I'd like to thank the excellent Nevr for agreeing to beta my chapters.
Sarah lay in bed thinking, she held her left arm up again, the bracelet flashed in the moonlight. She wished she had a healthier friendship dynamic with… anyone really. She'd love to call someone and just ask them outright, "How do you tell when you're in love?"
She kept coming back to the thought, that nothing in her life prepared her for Chuck Bartowski, her orderly mission-oriented existence had completely fallen apart, and she found herself loving every single minute of this new world. Sarah thought back to the dinner with Chuck and his sister, her heart practically ached at the memory. She wanted that, so very badly.
She meant everything she'd said to Bryce, she had given everything that the CIA had asked for and more. She wanted that to be her reward, she was happy with them.
Sarah sighed and rolled over, a murmur came from the other side of the bed, "I can hear you thinking, what's wrong?"
She smiled softly, "Nothing, Chuck. Just can't sleep. It happens, even to super heroines." She loved the small feeling of invincibility she got whenever he called her that.
He rolled over and looked at her, the sleepy haze hadn't quite faded.
She quietly said, "Shh, go back to sleep. I didn't mean to wake you."
"S'okay, you seem stressed, is something bothering you?"
"No, not at all. Like I said, just can't sleep," she deflected.
Chuck reached for her, "Com'ere," his voice was heavy with sleep.
He pulled her into a hug, she felt her tension fading as she snuggled into his embrace, before she realized it she had drifted off to sleep.
She woke up the next morning, a few minutes before Chuck's alarm would go off and jolt her out of her sleep. She hated that alarm.
The Constellation team, now expanded, were in the process of preparing for the download of the data set. Without the Cipher this would be a onetime action, but Beckman was insistent, she wanted the tool out and being used against Fulcrum, Sarah preferred the "Rot" moniker that Chuck and Rob had used. Perseus was staunchly against the test, but if she was honest with herself, his objections seemed slightly less strenuous than when it had been Chuck being considered.
Bryce would be joining the team, she hated the idea, she knew her threats hadn't done much more than bruise his ego. The same confidence and bravado that made him an excellent spy also made him unable to understand when people were being serious, he'd learn though.
It was a weekend, normally she would have spent it going over mission reports and preparing for the next week, but she needed to work through this puzzle. She needed a friend, she'd only met Ellie a few days ago, and even though they'd gotten along well, it would be a bit before she'd consider the older woman a friend.
She'd call Carina, if nothing else, she could take the opposite of her advice, or maybe it would be one of the times that she was actually helpful and serious.
Chuck was going to meet with Rob today, they'd probably talk about Larkin being a part of their team. She envied Chuck, he had so many friends, even that strange man that called himself his "Heterosexual Life Partner."
She had Chuck, and though he always tried to be impartial when he gave her advice, she didn't think that walking up to him and saying, "How do I know when I'm in love with you?" would be the best.
She decided to go to the shooting range, that always helped her process things.
"… and now he's going to be joining the team," Chuck looked morose as he finished explaining everything to Rob, they were sitting in his old NSA office
"Huh, I thought if I went insane there would have been a more distinct sign, but here we are. I'm going to check and see if we're awash in avian bacon." Rob leaned his head back on his hands and balanced on the chair.
"What a mess, what are you more worried about, Walker or Larkin being on the team?"
"Can't it be both? She asked me to trust her, and I do, it's irrational, I know it's irrational, but it's Bryce you know? He already slept with the woman who was going to be my fiancé, what's to say that-"
"Look, can I be honest with you? I've worked with Walker; I would consider us on friendly terms insofar as she is capable of the concept." Chuck shot him a look; he raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Okay, let me say this, I have never seen her interact with anyone the way that she does with you. No one suspected the Sarah Walker you know even existed. What I'm trying to say is she adores you, man."
Rob stood up and paced a bit, "As for Larkin, I have no idea what Beckman is thinking, this is too big of a risk, yeah Larkin's story checks out, but I'll be honest I would rather we not use this thing at all and especially not with him. If I had my way, we'd throw him down the same deep dark hole we threw Noriega into and seal it up behind us."
Chuck replied, "Fair, but my opinions on him are not likely to be objective."
Rob looked back at him, "Okay, let's talk about what we can affect, Walker and the way you react to Larkin. Every day you don't punch him in the face should be celebrated, as far as I'm concerned. As for Walker, you have to trust her. Frankly speaking, I'd be worried about her hurting him rather him seducing her. But here's the number, talk it over with the shrink, he may have some better insights for you than I do."
The two parted ways after some more conversation.
She loved the range, she was great with knives, but there was something about shooting that she loved. No closer to her answer, she worked through yet another magazine, she'd have to give her gun one hell of a cleaning after this was done.
It was evening by the time she got out, an idea hit her, and she texted him. She ran home and changed, she found a perfectly cut black dress in her closet, it left just enough to the imagination while being classy.
She drove to the bar and knocked back a drink quickly, the bartender had another one ready for her instantly. She sipped this one, she thought about how the CATS would party, she'd held her own against them when it came to that, there were nightclubs in Rio that would never let any of them in again.
Carina would be heartbroken at her two-drink limit tonight, she'd insist that there was something wrong with her. Zondra… Zondra probably would have understood, but thoughts of the other woman always got her down. Amy would insist that she take a guy home and see if she still felt that way about Chuck in the morning.
A guy approached her and offered to buy her a drink, she politely declined, as the men wandered over she kept declining. One man insisted on paying for the drink she'd already ordered, she happily declined that too.
She saw Chuck walk in, he was in a button down, tie and jeans. Her heart skipped a beat, she waved him over with a bright smile.
"Officially speaking, we haven't been on a date in a bit. Just us, nothing else going on. So I thought we'd have one tonight," she told him. His look of joy told her everything. As the night went on they'd gone from dancing to just swaying in place, their arms around each other and she just let herself revel in the pure contentment.
She had told Bryce that she was going to make Chuck feel like he was the center of her world, this was a good first step.
What they did together after they got back to his apartment was a great second step.
Bryce sat in his cell, they were going to begin the process tomorrow, implanting the data set.
Why hadn't Orion taken the data, what had gone wrong?
Well, it would make him more effective, he'd be the ultimate spy. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with General Beckman at the airfield shortly after his plane had landed.
"Welcome Agent Larkin, we're happy to see you."
"Let's skip the formalities General, why me?"
"I don't understand."
"General you know that Chuck had a much higher retention score than I did."
Beckman looked frustrated, "Agent Larkin, for all of your failings. Of which there are many, you have always been the consummate professional and willing to do what's needed. Mr. Bartowski, on the other hand was determined to not be strong enough to handle the data set."
"But I am?"
"Agent Larkin, do you think I would be coming to you if I had literally any other option?"
"Fine, but I want a one on one, before the installation, with him."
So, Chuck wasn't strong enough to handle the data, interesting.
When he saw Chuck, he'd warn him about Sarah.
He wasn't sure what her angle was, was she playing Chuck?
What was the deal with that charm bracelet?
What about their time together as the Andersons?
What about Cabo?
He was certain that she loved him, she'd given every indication that she had.
Was that just a role she played?
Sarah Walker was an enigma, one he was going to have to figure out, he needed to keep Chuck safe from her.
How do you cook an omelet? This shouldn't be this hard. She stared at the mess she'd made of his kitchen. She had the apron, she had the cookbook, she just needed the successful omelet.
Okay, she'd never cooked for anyone before. Well, she'd never cooked for anyone before and intended for them to survive the experience, her kitchen would need so many things before people would describe it as "sparse."
It's an omelet: eggs, chives, cheese, mushrooms and spinach, well, that was the idea, in theory. In practice it was more a mess of things that happened to be in eggs.
Sighing she tried again. The timing had to be perfect, she added the ingredients again.
Perfection! Finally. She'd successfully made an omelet, she wanted to dance. Sarah Walker, breakfast maker!
She poured some of the orange juice she'd found in his fridge and smiled. She tidied up, no one needed to know about the failures. By the time Chuck came out of the bathroom she was certain she'd hid the evidence successfully.
His eyes brightened as she served him the successful omelet on a plate. She forgot the dusting of cayenne pepper, she grabbed the bottle and put just a hint of it on.
Chuck looked like he was enjoying breakfast, maybe she was cut out for this after all. She ate her oatmeal and enjoyed the moment.
The knock on the door dragged Chuck out of his reverie, seeing Sarah flitting around his kitchen and making breakfast had been…
He was in love with her, he knew it, it was a struggle not to say it this morning, he didn't want to scare her off. But seeing her so happily domestic gave him hope that they could have a life together.
It was early on a Sunday, he hoped whoever interrupted their time together had a good reason.
Chuck went to open it.
Rob waited for the door to open, he hoped Chuck was coping with the situation, delivering the message gave him the opportunity to check in on the younger man.
Frankly having Larkin on the team would have frustrated Rob, he could only imagine what it would be like for Chuck. He didn't understand why Chuck was certain that Walker would even indulge Larkin's flirting, Rob was convinced it would end in pain for Larkin. Frankly, he wanted to see the outcome of that fight. It would partially make up for the destroyed substation.
"Rob, you need to come over for a movie night or something, I'm beginning to think that you only know where my apartment is when there's a disaster or something dire."
He smiled and stepped inside.
Sarah had cooked Chuck breakfast. Sarah Walker, The Ice Queen, The Enforcer, had cooked breakfast for him in a cute apron. The next time Chuck got insecure; he was going to smack him. He wasn't allowed to smack a subordinate, but he was certain if he explained the situation to HR they would excuse him, if he found the right HR rep, they may help out.
Sarah's expression was a very clear, "Say what you need to, and get the hell out of here." He was tempted to see how long he could stay but decided that teasing the assassin was a terrible idea.
"Hey, sorry to drop in on you like this, we've been told stay off the phones."
"No worries, what's up?" Chuck replied.
"Beckman wants you there tomorrow for the installation."
Chuck was shocked, "What? Why?"
"She didn't say, she just made it an order."
Chuck frowned. "Maybe she's hoping to get a two for one deal. Get me and him implanted."
He looked over Chuck's shoulder, "No, she's not that stupid, she might just be hoping that your curiosity will be piqued, or maybe she's just reminding us she is still a General. Either way, you'll be there tomorrow."
Chuck tensed until Sarah chimed in, "Oh, I'll go with you then."
Good, she got the unspoken message. She'd make sure nothing happened, he pitied anyone who got in her way.
With the message delivered, he departed.
Though she couldn't fault Rob, his message threatened to cast a shadow over the day.
She thought quietly and looked over at her nerd, "Hey Chuck, let's watch that show you were telling me about, Stargate? Or maybe we could go for a walk?"
Nothing was taking her boyfriend away from her. Nothing.
They hadn't asked for any of her weapons, this was her favorite secret facility thus far.
Perseus had escorted them around and they met several of the new staff properly. A new Pisces had been hired, he was their new Visual Encoding specialist, they'd also met a few new faces, Cassiopeia and Andromeda.
At the end of the tour Perseus sighed, "Per General Beckman's orders, Agent Larkin wants to talk with Mr. Bartowski before the procedure begins."
He led Chuck to a room and opened the door. "Sorry Agent Walker, the request was just for Mr. Bartowski." Sarah looked like she wanted to object, but something in his expression made her pause.
After closing the door, he nodded for her to follow him. "The room is an observation room, we have cameras. I don't appreciate being strong-armed, nor do I appreciate being ordered to perform human experiments that I am not comfortable with." He flipped on all the cameras, "Aquarius filled me in, Agent Larkin has done enough harm. I assume you'll want privacy for this." She nodded and watched the screens.
Bryce was speaking, "How'd you end up at the NSA of all places?"
"Simple, I had no other choice, it was NSA or BuyMore. At least the NSA offers a pension."
"This wasn't the life that you were meant to lead you know? You-"
"I should have been at Roark, Microsoft, Apple, I should have been at some Silicon Valley startup. I should have been semi-retired now like half our class." Chuck's voice isn't bitter, it's just matter-of-fact.
"Chuck, that was never going to happen, you were too important, they'd have found some lever against you and Omaha would have changed you."
"You know, you might be right, but here's the thing. It would have been my choice, Bryce. Not yours."
What shocked her about all this was how even the conversation was. There wasn't any shouting. They just were… talking.
Chuck looked hurt, "Why'd you sleep with Jill? I get keeping me safe from Omaha… But… Jill, I was going to marry her… you knew this. Fuck's sake Bryce, I talked with you about the ring I was going to get."
Bryce looked a bit pained, "Look… we didn't mean for it to happen, you wouldn't know this, but… everyone loved you, man. The guys in the frat, the girls you tutored, hell even the staff loved you. I was basically persona non grata for the last few months. Jill was the only one who would talk with me. We got drunk at a party, I was wallowing in my misery, she was sympathetic and then… well. It happened."
"You know, "It happened" sounds a lot like, "mistakes were made," you're acting like you had no agency there, when you were the only one who did."
"Fairs fair Chuck, I fucked up there, badly."
"So, what, you wanted to talk with me… to clear the air before the installation?"
"No, look Chuck, I get that I have no right to do this, especially after everything. But please trust me, I only ever looked out for you."
Chuck looked intrigued. He made a go on motion.
"Look, you're dating Sarah, right?"
"I really am not sure what business this is of yours, but yes. I am." Chuck's tone was clipped.
"She's just as bad for you as Omaha would have been, I'm not sure why she's using-"
"Really, you're going to go there. "Sarah is using me," sure, that's why she's in the hospital next to me waiting until I wake up, that's why she tolerates TV shows and movies I know she probably can barely stand, oh and definitely that's why she spends the time with me outside of work, because she needs access to me. Never mind the fact that if she really needed access, all she'd have to do is file a request and I'd be dispatched as operational support." Chuck scoffed, "Are you even hearing yourself right now? As for the rest, I highly doubt she's interested in me just to learn more about Star Wars and Stargate, nothing classified there."
"Chuck, she convinced me that she was in love with me." Sarah's heart froze, oh, Larkin was dead. It's a pity she didn't know more about technology, she could have made it seem like the implantation killed him. Maybe Perseus would help her out, he was no fan of Larkin.
Bryce continued, "Look, she and I tore our way across Europe, we were the perfect spy couple, every night in bed together. Every day a new mission."
The camera was a high enough resolution to pick up Chuck's flinch when Bryce mentioned that they'd been in bed together. Maybe Casey would loan her a rifle, if she filled Casey in, maybe he'd just shoot Larkin in the name of team dynamics and move on.
Bryce looked at him. "And yet after all that, you know what happened a few days ago?"
Chuck's sarcasm came through clearly, "You knocked me out and left me on the parking lot?"
Bryce ignored it, "I found her in my hotel room." Chuck couldn't help himself, he leaned in,
"She beat the hell out of me, tied me up and threatened me. Threw knives at my head and told me that you were her reward, she had on this bracelet that she was treating like an engagement ring. If you believe nothing else. Please believe me, Chuck, she's not stable. I learned that night everything Sarah Walker does is an act, I'd hate for you to find out that the way that I did, her next assignment may have her threatening your life."
Chuck looked at him, his voice rising until it was a shout, "You unbelievable prick, you seriously expect me to just… what… walk away from the woman I love based on your word? How the fuck did you envision this conversation occurring?" Chuck's voice took on a mocking edge, "Hey Chuck, sorry about fucking you over and sleeping with your almost fiancé, you should leave your current girlfriend for reasons I can't explain, if that's not enough, she's crazy!" Chuck paused, "I assume in your world I've had a lobotomy or something and I agree? On your fucking word? If you told me right now that the sky was blue, I'd need two peer reviewed sources before I'd consider it."
Chuck loved her? Joy flooded her body and overwhelmed her, everything seemed brighter. Chuck loved her. She felt a bit like a voyeur finding out the way she did, but Chuck loved her.
Chuck moved to leave when Bryce said, "She's not a nerd, she's a spy. Her idea of fun is rock climbing, surfing, shooting and other activities. You two have next to nothing in common. What about her says that she really wants to watch Star Wars and talk tech?
What's more likely, that she actually cares about you and all these things that she's never bothered to watch before? Or that she's being told to get close to you and she knows it's a quick and easy way to get to you?"
She watched the screen, effective argument hampered by poor execution, 6/10 points. She would have phrased things differently, played on different insecurities, she was glad Bryce wasn't as good as he thought he was.
Chuck replied, "The fact that she has? I mean, she may be putting up with it for my sake, but there's a lot she's done that you wouldn't do if it was just a cover."
"Like?"
"You think I'm going to tell you? Seriously?! By the way, I figured she'd threatened you while I was knocked out. She insisted you'd be professional about us dating, there was no possible way she could have assured that without a threat. How do you think she'll react when I tell her about this conversation? Good luck in there, we'll see you when you're out."
Chuck left the room, Chuck Bartowski loved her, she'd have to hurt Bryce, but Chuck loved her.
Perseus came and got her, he said as they saw Chuck approach, "I hope the security of the facility meets with your expectations Agent Walker."
"Yes, well done to everyone here."
Chuck looked… tired and drained. She held him. Chuck loved her. Perseus seemed to pick up on his mood and started talking technical details, Chuck got lost in the conversation, Sarah smiled to herself, she was in love with Chuck. She needed to tell him tonight, before anything else could happen.
Perseus led them to the center of the facility, it was a white room, she started listening to their conversation again.
"Pisces, the original, determined that as long as the human eye can see the monitor, the brain will process the information subconsciously, so we can actually speed up the data transfer if we use more monitors. We've determined the optimal placement of the subject to be right here." Perseus stood at a spot near the center.
"What happens if you have multiple subjects?"
"Each one of the walls can activate as needed, but we'd only do that for a large group, up to seven can be served from one wall.
"Wow. That's… impressive."
"Thank you," Perseus looked pensive, "You know, you remind me a lot of Orion, different background of course, but you remind me a lot of him."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he always wanted to understand everything, every detail mattered to him, and he could recall it too. The rest of us focused on our specialties, he was… well he was remarkable."
"What was his name?"
"Oh, Orion, as far as we were concerned, back then everything was so secret we all used the codenames way more strictly than we do now and we never saw each other, we had guards to make sure that we were isolated.
I never saw him face to face unfortunately, plenty of notes, many voicemails, never face to face." He looked wistful, "There were six of us, me, Orion, Pisces, Hercules, Draco, and Cygnus. Our job was to build a much better data processing engine, we realized that the human mind was an optimal one, we just needed to tap into it." He looked around, "From such humble beginnings to this, you should have seen the original facility that Agent Larkin destroyed. It was much larger," He looked at his watch. "Well, unfortunately we need to get started."
Sarah took her Chuck's hand, I love him, she followed Perseus. She loved Chuck; her whole body was humming in delight.
They walked into an observation room and watched as Perseus strapped Bryce in and attached medical leads to him. As each lead was attached, different monitors came alive with data that meant something, Cassiopeia was adjusting something based on the feedback she was receiving.
There was a big progress bar on the highest monitor. "INTERSECT DOWNLOAD: 0%"
Perseus walked into the room, "Okay, Agent Larkin is ready. Lower the security shades."
Two layers of shades lowered over the window, the cameras facing the monitors had their feeds cut.
Andromeda started going through a check list:
"Confirm all cameras facing the monitors have been cut."
"Confirmed."
"Confirm Security Shades lowered?"
"Confirmed."
"Apply polarization filters."
The images start to look washed out. "Applied."
"Okay, safety measures in place, Perseus, will you do the honors?"
"Begin INTERSECT installation."
Perseus hit a key, and the new Pisces looked over at them, "You know the process will take about an hour and a half. It'll be boring, you can hit our breakroom if you want. We'll come and get you when it's about to finish."
They left and found the breakroom; Sarah grabbed a cup of coffee for Chuck and took a cup of tea for herself.
"You know, he tried to convince me that you were just dating me as some bizarre assignment."
"Chuck, you don't have to-"
"No, this is what we do, we talk with each other. He told me that you were as bad for me as Omaha would have been."
Chuck looked at her, "He said that you hunted him down and threw knives at his head after beating him."
Sarah could feel herself blush, "I may have used a few throwing knives to make a point, it seems he didn't listen to it."
Sarah's expression turned awkward, "Chuck, in the interest of being honest, I should tell you. I was in an observation room; I heard your entire conversation."
That surprised him, "Why?"
"I was worried he'd hurt you, but all I saw in there was my amazing boyfriend smacking Bryce Larkin down. You didn't need me to protect you, and I'm sorry I invaded your privacy."
"So… you heard everything?"
"I was planning on making it more romantic tonight, but I love you too Chuck Bartowski. And I love those TV shows and movies, I'm not just tolerating them, I actually enjoy them with you, don't ever stop showing them to me, okay?"
She lay the wrist with the bracelet on the table, "This is the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me. Chuck, I can't even begin to tell you how this makes me feel, I wish I was better at expressing myself, I love you."
She'd say it a million times.
Casey walked into the break room; Larkin was being implanted with the data. What the hell was Beckman thinking?
He saw Bartowski and Walker talking in the corner, she was looking at him like a lovesick teenager. He caught her eye, he expected her to look more professional after seeing him, instead she kept making doe eyes at Bartowski.
Lady feelings. Ugh. He walked out.
Perseus walked towards the break room, the download was almost complete, Security would find Major Casey.
Mr. Bartowski was so much like Orion, he and Orion had a strange friendship, insofar as you could have a friendship with someone you hadn't met.
When he had issues with the project, he'd go through old notes and see a footnote or a scribble in the margin that would lead him down the right path. How far would they be if Orion hadn't disappeared? How much progress could they have made? Orion would have handled Beckman, he knew that. The other man had a knack for making problems simply melt away.
The original team, they'd all been… Titans.
Hercules was long dead now.
Draco was in hospice.
Cygnus had retired to spend time with his grandkids. They had tried to coax him out of retirement, but he'd simply told them to go away, he was too old to be bothered.
The new team looked up to him the way he had looked up to the original team. Was Orion ever this unsure of himself?
Once the original project had been shelved, that was the end, they had all gone their separate ways.
When Beckman and Graham had reached out, he had been teaching. Pisces, the original, why they'd reassigned the codename instead of picking a new one he didn't know, had been working at the NSA on something unrelated, and then they were told that the two of them should rebuild the INTERSECT itself.
Hercules's Cipher proved to up to the task, he mentally thanked his old friend, the man had come from Sandia, with a mad vision like the rest of them, but he'd made it work. An Artificial Brain. Sandia was recreating the Cipher on his original designs.
When Beckman had told him that Agent Larkin would be getting the data set, he'd been angry. Not because the project wasn't ready, well not entirely, in theory now that the data set was recovered. It could be implanted, but how dare Larkin be the recipient of the work of those titans, had he cared that he was destroying the last remnants of an old friend when he'd blown up the lab?
How many hours of work all vanished in a fireball? He took a deep breath to calm himself. There was always that sense of loss while he worked, he wasn't a leader, not like Orion. That was one of the things that he was comfortable with, his position in life. He was a good second in command, but Orion had been the visionary.
He saw Agent Walker and Mr. Bartowski quietly talking, they were holding hands across the table, she had on a soft shy smile and a light blush, her eyes were dancing with affection and joy. He gently cleared his throat, Mr. Bartowski jumped in his chair. Agent Walker just glanced at him, so she'd known he was there, she didn't want to interrupt her moment. He couldn't blame her.
The two followed him back to the monitoring station, the big monitor showed "INTERSECT DOWNLOAD: 99%"
"We've estimated that there's only," at this Major Casey came in, "A few moments left."
His breath caught as he saw "INTERSECT DOWNLOAD: COMPLETE."
The polarized cameras confirmed that the monitors were off, they ran into the room.
Agent Larkin was almost catatonic.
Chuck looked over at Perseus, he seemed hesitant to check on Bryce. Finally, the man snapped out of his shock.
Chuck asked him, "Don't we need the cards to test him?"
Perseus's reply was quiet, "No the cards were developed by the original Pisces, Orion had a better way of doing things, but it would only work if we were present in person, sadly at the moment I am the only one who can do it. We're working on getting the identities of the new staff in the next version."
He stood square in front of Bryce, "Look at me, Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose, Chin. Confirm. I am Perseus. Neural Architect. Validate me. Passphrase." At this the man sighed, "I fight for the users."
Chuck started at the phrase; Sarah looked at him curiously. Perseus just looked at him with amusement, "You really are like Orion, you're a fan of the movie then?"
"Yeah."
At this he turned back to Bryce, "Validate Integrity, perform health check."
Bryce's voice was toneless, he stared ahead blankly. "Intersect version. 0.5, Health assessment in progress. Host has suffered 1.3% degradation due to data download. 89% retention rate. Host functioning nominally."
"Excellent, well. For good or for ill, we have our human host. Exit diagnostic mode."
Bryce looked up at them, his eyes rolled and suddenly he said, "Why do I know everything about you except for your name?"
Perseus looked amused, "Our names were kept out of the data set. Secret project remember?"
When Bryce looked at Sarah he looked confused, "Why don't I get more data about you?"
"You're already familiar with Agent Walker, unless there's a visual prompt to give you additional data it won't let you access the data set. That way you're not accessing the data every time you see someone, would be inconvenient no?"
Chuck saw him look around, "Well, I guess I'm hosting everything."
Perseus replied, "Yes, and you'll spend the next week here being tested by us."
General Beckman was notified of the successful completion, she insisted on being present. Chuck and Sarah took the opportunity to leave.
Chuck smiled at her as they entered his apartment, the minute they left the Constellation facility Sarah had completely switched from professional Agent to fun and flirty girlfriend. While Bryce was being tested, they were officially off duty.
"Hey Sarah, we have two options, we could take the original flight back on Wednesday and go that way, or we could buy tickets last minute tonight, and spend an extra few days in Burbank."
"Let's get the tickets tonight," She grabbed his phone and called the Travel Desk and asked for their flights to be changed to earlier. Chuck started packing to go back, he couldn't wait to see everyone again. Sarah couldn't wait either.
The Travel Desk had found them an overnight flight on American Airlines, their flight got in at 5 am, since it was a personal trip, they paid for the hotel. Chuck knew of a small Courtyard by Ellie's apartment. They landed and drove straight there and fell asleep.
It was noon by the time they woke up. Sarah slipped out of bed to shower. She wanted to be ready, Chuck was taking her to one of his favorite spots. An arcade, she hadn't been in one since she was a child.
Then Morgan was joining them for a game night at Ellie's place. She laughed at herself, it was truly beyond belief. She was a child con-artist that grew up into the embodiment of a nation's wrath and she was looking forward to a game night.
She heard Chuck stir in the bed, maybe they could be late to the arcade…
The arcade had been a blast, she discovered a deep love for House of the Dead, they'd have to play it again. Chuck had almost held his own against her when it came to the number of zombies killed. She smiled as she remembered playing skee ball with him, she had completely dominated at that, teasing him as she called out each shot. She had expected the feelings to normalize now that she'd said she was in love with him.
They didn't, if anything they kept growing, getting more intense by the day. After a few more games, she'd crushed him at racing, he'd returned the favor in the flight sim.
They finished the afternoon with a walk, Chuck bought her ice cream and they'd just enjoyed each other. She gave him a kiss, he teasingly smiled and said, "Mmm, Rocky Road might be my new favorite flavor."
She giggled, she loved this, she loved him.
They made it to Ellie's with a few minutes to spare, Chuck was worried about being late, he was excited to see everyone again.
Also being late meant more time that Morgan and Ellie spent alone, that was always a bit of a risk. She might decide that she was done with the bearded one.
Chuck knocked on the door and Devon opened it, "CHUCKSTER!" He felt the wind get knocked out by the back pat and hug combo Awesome had just inflicted on him.
Sarah was laughing, he loved that sound. With Awesome's enthusiastic greeting out of the way they went inside. Sarah put the bottle of wine that they'd bought on the way over on top of the table.
After Morgan arrived, they took out a few games, Sarah looked at a game called "Know Ya!" Ellie noticed her attention, "Oh, that's a personal history trivia game, if you know the answer you get the point, if you don't you learn whatever it is."
Chuck noticed her subtle interest after the explanation, "Hey sis, let's play it, it's been a while."
He was looking at Ellie and missed her grateful look.
The deck was shuffled, Chuck drew first and laughed. "Okay, what's my favorite flavor of ice-cream?" Sarah giggled and missed the chance to raise her hand to answer. Morgan responded, "Oh well, first it's Mint Chocolate Chip." What followed was a list of 33 flavors by preference.
Chuck felt exasperated with Morgan, until he saw Sarah's teasing glint as she raised her hand. "Nope, it's Rocky Road."
Morgan looked like he wanted to laugh at her, "Wow, you think it's Rocky Road? Really?"
He smiled at the memory, "Nope, she's right buddy."
Morgan looked shocked. "Since when do you like Rocky Road?!"
Sarah gave a salacious smirk; she was clearly having fun with this. "Well…"
Ellie cut in, "No, no thank you. Nope, that's my brother. Sarah gets the point, and we move on."
Chuck laughed as Devon fist bumped him.
Morgan drew a card, "What was my worst date?"
Ellie didn't even raise her hand, "My pillow that you took to the prom."
Sarah gave him a confused look. "No, she's serious, I was there."
Her look didn't get less confused.
"Well Ellie, it in fact was not."
Chuck sighed, "Was it when Kelly told you to meet her in the classroom after school then locked you in for the weekend?"
Morgan nodded. "Chuck gets the point."
Ellie drew a card, "Oh jeez, first sexual encounter. (Current Partner)."
Chuck felt like melting into the couch from sheer embarrassment, it couldn't get worse.
"In the supply closet after we met in class."
Nope. He was wrong it could get worse.
Ellie was bright red too, "Point Devon, moving on."
Sarah's turn was up. "When was I the most scared?" her voice got soft at the end.
Chuck cringed internally; crap the answer was probably when she was fighting thugs in Istanbul. Or hell, fast roping into a volcano to save someone or something equally cool. That was the problem with a superhero ninja girlfriend, how was he supposed to answer this? Everyone looked lost.
Ellie's voice cut through the silence, "So, you have to tell us now!"
Sarah took a deep breath, "A few weeks ago, Chuck got hurt, it wasn't bad, but the situation we were in meant that I was terrified for him. That was the most scared I've been."
Ellie's cheerful demeanor vanished, "What? What happened?!"
Chuck cut in, "Oh I was working in a remote area and the branch I was on broke under me, I sliced my leg open pretty badly and needed stitches. Sarah had to drag me all the way back to the Ranger station. I'm fine sis, seriously."
Her gaze told him this would not be the last he heard of it.
Sarah at least looked sheepish bringing it up.
The game went on until they hit the last one, Chuck drew it, "Who's my nemesis."
"Bryce Larkin," there was no doubt in Sarah's voice.
"Point Sarah."
Sarah was laughing at a story Ellie was telling about a younger Chuck, apparently he decided that a cape was all that was necessary to fly, and he'd attempted to fly off of the roof. Ellie had pulled him inside before he hurt himself.
That hunger that Sarah had felt last time returned, she wanted to know everything about Chuck. The game hadn't done much more than whet her appetite for information on her boyfriend.
Seeing Morgan slip into the kitchen for another grape soda she followed.
"Morgan?"
He jumped, "You're really sneaky."
"So, I've been told, you and Chuck have been friends forever, right?"
"Yep, Best Friends."
The way he said that made her feel like there should be a tiered approach to friendship, the closest she'd come to "Best Friends" was Carina. She needed healthier relationships.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? He's Chuck, the-"
"No, sorry that was phrased wrong, I meant what made you become best friends?"
Morgan looked like he wasn't going to reply, "Why do you want to know?"
"I l-,… Chuck's wonderful, I want to know more about him, when I ask him about growing up he tells me all the cool stuff that he did, the moments that people helped him, but he never… he never brags about himself. I want to know more about those moments he'll never tell me."
Morgan looked at her pensively, "The brag moments huh?"
"Yeah, help a girl out?"
"We were probably 10, Chuck's mom had taken off by then, his dad… his dad was a good guy, but a terrible father. You know Ellie had to remind him to pay taxes one year, it was right before he left. Anyways, Chuck's mom had taken off, mine was working three jobs to keep us fed and housed. And this bully, Carl Rheeson, he was picking on me. He wouldn't stop. Chuck steps in, and Carl decides to taunt him, saying stuff like his mom left because she couldn't stand to look at him anymore."
At that sentence Sarah feels a flash of rage. Morgan doesn't notice, "So Chuck refuses to back down, Carl decides to just skip the verbal taunting and beat the hell out of Chuck. Chuck refuses to go down or throw a swing in his defense. We had a zero-tolerance policy, well, in theory anyways. A teacher came out to see what was going on, finds Chuck bloodied and hauled Carl off to the Administration and sent Chuck to the nurse."
Morgan takes a swig of the soda, "So, Carl's parents were pretty important around here, in fact they still are. They own a few businesses, the definition of "Pillar of the Community," against us, two kids with barely any parental involvement, I don't think Chuck's dad knew it happened and my mom just couldn't make it. We weren't from the nicer side of the area. So, the story changed, suddenly it was Chuck who taunted Carl and Carl bravely defended himself.
Chuck caught a lot of heat because he stood up for me. There were a few grocery stores that the Rheeson's were involved in that Chuck wasn't welcome at anymore, that was difficult, they owned the ones that we had easy access to. I mean how could I not be best friends with the guy?"
Sarah contemplated rigging an accident for the Rheeson's, she decided against it, too messy. Just bother the IRS Criminal Investigations Department and see what turned up.
If not, there was always FinCEN. They could make someone's day worse.
"Thanks Morgan," she's shocked to find her voice is choked up. Little Chuck the hero.
"Hey what are you guys talking about in here?" Chuck's head is poked through the entry way, he had a big smile on his face. She was about to reply when Morgan says, "Oh you know, just telling her you're my best friend, normal stuff."
Chuck's head disappeared, Morgan held out a fist, she bumped it. He was a strange man, but a good friend.
Thanksgiving was here before she knew it, it was wonderful sitting at the table watching as all the delicious food was brought out. She tried to help Ellie to be met with a smack to her knuckles by the wooden spoon the older woman was holding. "You are a guest, go, sit. Send my brother and my boyfriend in from wherever they're hiding."
Sarah looked for them, she saw them outside, she quietly opened the door and heard, "Look, Chuck. I wish I knew you better, I really do. You're awesome man, you really are. Honestly sometimes we get along more than my actual brothers and I do."
Devon was nervous.
"I want to get your permission to marry your sister," he pulled out a ring, "It's a family ring. I need you to hold it until I can actually pop the question. She's like a shark man, she'd sniff it out in a heartbeat."
Chuck looked touched, "Yeah.. Of.. Of course, man, you have it, and I'd love to."
They hugged, Sarah waited a beat before saying, "Hey guys, Ellie wants you inside."
They both went in and helped Ellie. Casey landed 30 minutes ago; he would be there within the hour. She wanted to see Casey interact with the elder Bartowski, that would be amusing.
Dinner that night was fantastic, full of laughter and love. Casey had brought a pie.
The only wrinkle had been Anna, Morgan's date, she was a bit standoffish and had made a few sarcastic comments about Ellie.
The decision was made, as she drove the two of them back to their hotel. She was going to have this; nothing would help anyone who stood in her way.
They had to fly back on Sunday, that gave her two more days to soak up as much family and Chuck stories as she could. Morgan had been a surprising ally in that area, he'd tell her all the fun things the two of them got up to from his perspective.
She took a drive with Casey to the substation, there was an urgent message waiting for her, not for the first time she was irritated with government security, Chuck was with Morgan at the arcade, she'd join them once she was done.
When she and Casey pulled in and logged into the secure machine, there was an email from Bryce. "Just went over footage from night I knocked Chuck out. Delgado had an observer. Be aware. Tried to call, your phone is going straight to voicemail."
Shit, shit, shit. They'd compromised her phone, sometimes government paranoia made sense, she thought to herself ruefully. She took it out of the PED locker and tossed it in a faraday box, told the nearest person to make sure that it got to Rob Joyce that day or there would be hell to pay. The man scurried off.
She took Casey's keys and drove off to the arcade. Delgado's men wouldn't dare go near her, not without overwhelming force, they would grab Chuck.
She pulled into the arcade and ran out of the car, Chuck and Morgan were nowhere to be found. She had a new deep fear sitting in her chest.
She heard a familiar voice, Morgan. She took off at a dead sprint.
"Woah, Sarah -"
"Where's Chuck?!"
"What? He's," Morgan looked around… Sarah quickly scanned the room, There! House of the Dead. She ran up to the tall nerd. "I love you; I love you, I love you." He was solid, he was safe.
"Sarah? What's wrong?"
"We need to go to the office, now."
Chuck froze at her tone, "Okay. Yeah, let's go."
Morgan finally ambled up, "Hey guy-"
Chuck cut him off, "Tree emergency buddy, I gotta run. I'll see you later."
Sarah dragged him to the car, took his phone and put him in the passenger seat. Casey had bought three new burner phones.
"Guys, someone want to fill me in?"
"They compromised our phones, they shut mine down, I think they were sending a grab team for you."
Chuck's expression hardened. He took the burner phones from Casey.
"Wait, don't activate these yet, if they're on near a compromised phone the adversary may be able to track them using the carrier and location services."
Sarah drove them back to the substation at breakneck speed. Chuck looked at the phones and was poking at one pensively.
"Shit."
Never a good thing to hear from the resident cyber specialist, it had the same impact as watching an EOD tech run screaming into the night.
The pulled into the substation, Chuck actually beat her out of the car and ran inside. The phones were placed in the same Faraday box hers was in. The transport for it hadn't arrived yet. Chuck ran into a secure room, she followed him.
"Rob, our phones were compromised, prep a forensics team and lab. I want to do a deep dive on these things yesterday."
"Sending the orders now. See you soon."
"Sarah, we need transport to Meade, ASAP. I'm going to faraday box everything in the car, just to make sure we don't have any other listeners."
Sarah nodded, she sent one of the local guards with him. Casey went to the armory.
She walked to the Administration office and suddenly the speakers blared, "Attention, Attention in the facility. Gunfire has been reported, officer down." She didn't stop to listen to the rest, she sprinted back out again.
She was never letting Chuck out of her sight again.
By the time the guards mobilized, Chuck was gone and the man she'd sent to keep him safe was dead. There was a phone on the ground, attached was a post-it with her name on it. The chain link fence that separated the parking lot was run over by whatever vehicle they'd used in their snatch and grab.
Casey came out with a rifle, good.
She opened the phone and heard, "Hello Agent Walker."
Sarah took a deep breath. Chuck would need his super heroine, with that thought she calmly replied, "Hello Delgado."
"Walker! I don't often get to gloat; I hope you'll indulge me. I knew the minute that Bartowski, oh he's unconscious by the way, the minute he knew that your phones were compromised, he'd try and get to a forensics lab and prep them for analysis. Such a good little TAO operator," he continued, "What I want, is what I ordered Agent Larkin to retrieve. I want that data set, and you're going to get it for me.
If you try and trace this phone number, I'll kill Bartowski. Use any of the clever phone tools, and I'll kill him.
Keep this phone on you, in 24 hours I'll send a team to retrieve you, you know the drill, anything happens to my team or my data, Bartowski dies."
Ah, good. 24 hours.
She closed the phone and tossed it in the faraday box that one of the guards brought up.
"Casey, get the number off of that phone, let's find out where he is."
Rob was called, a tactical team was on its way to LA. The number Delgado had used was still connecting to towers, either it was a trap, or Delgado was taunting them. She was leaning towards trap, it's what she had done in the past.
Hmm. There's a thought. She needed a bug, and she needed a mockup of the data set. Benign but still looked realistic. Perseus didn't have a solution but started work on one. MCAS Miramar was testing an ANGEL FIRE equipped plane, it found itself over LA rather quickly circling over the last known area.
Casey was in the room with her, she needed to hold it together for 24 hours, this was a lot easier when you didn't care about the life in question. On the other hand, she was extra motivated to find Chuck. She could consider the implications of this after she waterboarded Delgado until the Pacific ran dry.
She had a burst transmitter sewn into her clothes, there was a chance that they'd have electronic jamming, so she needed to be careful, she'd have to manually enable it, but that was a risk worth taking. She didn't expect that the plane would find anything. Agents were being dispatched to grab footage from the surrounding area, there was always a possibility they'd get lucky.
When she ran ops like this, she'd have another car for the victim to the transferred to. Bait phones were commonplace, what was it Chuck said about the cellphones? That if you gathered the location data from the carrier and you found a burner phone you could get what other phones were nearby. Delgado might not know that; she didn't know that until now. There's a reason ops had teams.
She called Rob, the phone's location history was gathered from the carrier, the phones were off, but the E911 chips were still beaconing. They found three phones that were likely within the same area. Two of those three phones were still near each other. Well. She was going to visit that one, and Casey was going to check out the lone phone.
She changed into her black Kevlar mission outfit, knives were slid into holsters and her extra magazines were loaded.
She looked in the mirror, it'd been a bit since she last saw herself like this. Ready to deal death at a moment's notice. The mission to Alahi's compound had been infiltration, no combat necessary and they'd been ambushed by Einerson.
She looked herself in the eye.
Hello again, Enforcer. Time to come out.
She drove to the location and scouted it out. It was a quiet abandoned industrial park, the kind of area she would have picked. Thankfully, they hadn't done as much prep work as she would have.
One thing she wished they covered more, guys standing outside with rifles, even in an abandoned area at night stand out.
Two guards, she tried to use the thermals to look inside, she could make out one body in a chair. Found her Chuck. One guy hit the body in the chair. Found her victim. There were maybe two more inside the building.
5-man team, one maybe Delgado. About all that could fit into a decent sized van.
Okay, time to exfil, call for support and then she could secure the building.
Well, as far as plans went, she'd done more with less. Like Pakistan.
Silencers were too loud, this meant close in knife work.
She slipped back to her car and notified Casey.
The guards were alert and watchful.
She bypassed them by going to the next building's roof and rappelling down. One knife found itself in the throat of the lead guard. The other turned and raised his weapon, he was well trained, she noted idly. He didn't stop to check on his friend or even question what happened. Another knife took care of him. She evaluated all the possible points of entry, unfortunately they hadn't left windows open, and there wasn't an easy way to get up to the roof.
Hmm. They probably had a tripwire on the door. She would. If this was a prepared position, they could have done a lot more. She mentally flipped a coin, if this was a prepared position, they wouldn't have had guards outside.
Just cameras.
Temporary detention just needed to avoid being detected until it wasn't necessary anymore. Guards were counterproductive to that. She sighed internally, why couldn't Delgado be an amateur?
She heard an anguished scream. Well. That made her choice clear, she quietly opened the door and hopped inside, taking care to jump over the location a tripwire might be. She slipped behind a pillar; a guy had just punched Chuck.
He was bleeding. She needed to be calm, not give into her instincts to kill them all. Animals fought by instinct; she fought intelligently.
She heard Delgado's voice, "Tell me, where is the data set?"
"I gave it to your mother."
Another hit. She was going to have to teach Chuck to taunt better, and break Delgado's hands.
"Listen, I know that Walker is going to miss the deadline, she's not going to risk the data for you. So why not make it easier on yourself?"
"You know, when she gets here, she's going to hurt all of you, in creative ways."
"Get it through your head Bartowski, she's not coming for the likes of you."
Oh, Chuck did know her. She checked her knives and her gun, two guards plus Delgado. The guards were facing outward. Good.
One knife found itself in the guard's eye, he was down. The other found itself in Delgado's leg. The last guard turned around and found her aiming her pistol at him, she fired twice, he fell over dead.
Delgado was well trained and recovered quicker than she expected, his weapon was out, and he fired at her, two bullets missed, one hit her vest and knocked the wind out of her for a moment as she took cover. She gathered her thoughts, Delgado needed to be brought in alive, he had too much information. She heard him stagger towards her position, he didn't want to exacerbate the knife wound. She waited until he was close enough and sprung out at him, his movement was just a hair too slow, she was inside his guard, two hits to his head and he stumbled back dazed. Sarah knocked him off balance and he fell on the ground. His gun clattered out of reach; he went for a hidden blade in his boot. She crushed his hand, for good measure she crushed the other hand too.
Delgado was screaming in pain; his hands were a bloody mess. She frisked him and disposed of his weapons, she then secured him and went to check on Chuck, he was badly beaten. There was a trail of blood coming from a cut on his face and the bruises looked painful. Sarah turned, Delgado was struggling, still bound, towards where she'd thrown his gun, she stepped forward to intercept him when she heard vehicles pulling up outside, she went to draw her weapon when multiple men stormed inside. Casey's men secured the area, and the medic came to check Chuck over.
Delgado was restrained and they took him for treatment and interrogation, she had wanted to handle that herself.
She got in the back of the ambulance with Chuck and held his hand. He slipped unconscious with a quiet, "Knew you'd save me, love you."
The ambulance took them to the nearest hospital, once he was checked over and the injuries were diagnosed, they would transfer him to a secure facility, for his safety Chuck was taken to an isolated ward under a fake name. Once the adrenaline faded, she felt the impact of the bullet, Casey noticed her wincing and had her checked over before he would let her check on Chuck, her injuries were just some deep bruises. Delgado had been a good shot for a man with a knife in his leg.
Thankfully, Chuck only had a minor concussion, bruises, and a few lacerations from the beating. She'd have to be careful where she held him, but he would be okay. The phones were off to NSA, one of Chuck's peers would tear through them.
It could have been a lot worse for him. The doctors hooked him up to painkillers and told her when he came around, he'd be disoriented at first. Casey walked in and handed her a burger, she noted it didn't have pickles. He stood outside to give them privacy.
As she ate, she thought about her boyfriend, she saw him stir.
His eyes opened in confusion, and he looked at her, "Where am I?"
"LA General"
"You look like Vicky Vale… who are you?" his voice was tinged with confusion.
She laughed internally, "Your girlfriend, Chuck," disoriented indeed.
"Oh, I'm really lucky," he said with awe as he dozed off again.
She smiled softly and ran her fingers though his hair. "No Chuck, I'm the lucky one." Also, who was Vicky Vale?
Sarah uncomfortably fell asleep in the chair; her instincts woke her the moment Chuck started moving.
She preempted him, "You're at the hospital. Delgado is being interrogated right now."
"Sarah, did you sleep all night in that chair?" Chuck asked with concern.
"It's only been a few hours, but yeah, I wanted to be here when you woke up again."
"Again?" He asked in confusion.
"Yeah, you woke up a bit ago, told me I looked like Vicky Vale, called yourself lucky to be dating me and then fell asleep."
"I did not…"
"How else would I know the name? Who is Vicky Vale anyways, an ex?" there was a teasing tone to her voice.
"No, she's from Batman. Not an ex, she's a charact-"
Sarah kissed him, she made sure to keep it gentle. "I'm glad you're okay. I was teasing you," she said with a small laugh. "Love you, Chuck."
Appendix:
ANGEL FIRE – WAMI platform designed to track everything. Evolved from CONSTANT HAWK.
I wanted Chuck to have it out with Bryce, I feel like canon-Chuck was just too forgiving. There should have been a bit of a blow out between them. Here they've fought, Bryce is still taking what he thinks are the best actions, damn the consequences. Bryce warning Chuck about what he views as an instability is definitely within character here. (In my opinion at least)
Bryce thinks Sarah loves him; Bryce is disabused of that notion. Violently. With pointy things. Bryce decides that means that Sarah is clearly crazy, instead of experiencing love for the first time and being overwhelmed by it.
Know Ya! was the game that they played when Morgan was jealous/competitive with Sarah. Here it went from that to them bonding over Chuck.
I let Chuck have a good Thanksgiving, but things are going to get complicated fast.
So, yeah there's a reason TEMPEST, PED Lockers, and SCIFs are a thing. Don't talk about things outside of them and even if your phone is compromised, you don't have a spillage.
Delgado went out disappointingly in the show. Here, not so much. He was built up into a big bad guy, so we get a big bad guy, competent and trained by the CIA. He just had the misfortune of going up against our favorite ninja.
There's no need for Lizzie the Pita girl planting bugs as a merc, but we have good guy infrastructure compromised by someone. I blended the two episodes. After the next chapter will be a nice fluffy interlude.
I never cared for the, "They're coming for you/your loved ones." message right as the bad guys show up. But bad guys setting a trap and knowing where you'll be? Priceless.
E911 chips aren't turned off when you turn off the phone.
Also, Silencers don't silence. They mask the sound so that it's harder to hear where it's coming from rather than just not hearing it. For that you'd need something like the DeLisle Carbine but given that there are less than a handful of those left in the world, it'd be hard to justify giving one to Sarah. There were repros made, but that was in 2011. Anyone who knows firearms history better than I do, let me know if they're still around. I do computer things, not guns.