Interlude 1

What the *BLEEP* is Going On?

A/N

Hi, I'm the Narrator. Here's a couple things you may need to know, or maybe the past 6 chapters were just so convoluted you can't follow anything anymore.

In all seriousness though, I know that there's been "a lot" to deal with these past 6 chapters, and I thought it would be prudent to distill the information we have down into one single document, a refresher so you don't have to reread the whole story every time a new chapter comes out, just to understand what's up with the Intersect project or whatever. Because when Beckman tells Robin one thing about the Intersect, Julia another, and Betelgeuse tells Julia and Robin some stuff about the project too, and those expositions are scattered across four different chapters… as much as I think these four separate interactions are realistic in context, I completely understand that it's not easy to follow.

I don't intend this document to have info about "what happens next", but I very well may drop some lore, or drop some hints, or ("accidentally") give some small things away; so even if you consider yourself an expert on the yarn I'm spinning, this document may very well be worth a read. I would say, however, that if you haven't read the chapters before it at least once, please consider reading them first; there are spoilers in this document, and it's never as fun to unceremoniously reveal secrets.

This document will have two sections: the first will be a simulated "FAQ" (where I come up with the questions lol) to cover the major plot points; the second will be a "character profile" for each of the major players we've seen so far. The latter part may be especially interesting because I will be making explicit some implicit concepts alluded to throughout the story so far.

Before I continue, I really want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all those who have continued to read my story. I hit a milestone with Chapter 6: 1000 views. Obviously, those aren't unique readers, but the fact that so many people continue to read past chapter 1 is mind-boggling to me. I didn't really think I could get that kind of traction: this is the first story I've ever shared (which might be obvious given how clunky the writing gets lol). I turned 25 today; I spent 17 of my years aspiring to write, but never having the courage to actually share anything. Until now. And y'all have been so kind and so honest. It really means more than I can express.

FAQ

What/who are the Guardians?

The Guardians, from what we know so far, are a cabal within the CIA who are driving the current Intersect project. They want to use the Intersect for more nefarious purposes than the original CIA goal – but that does not mean the CIA's current goal for the Intersect is pure. We were hinted in chapter 5 that the Guardians were involved as far back as 2012, and that Chuck was a former Guardian himself. This is all true; however, that does not mean Chuck was apprised of the Guardian's true intentions. What he knew is for the reader to find out later.

What is the actual goal of this Intersect project?

The CIA has a goal; the Guardians have another, more nefarious one. I'm afraid I can't reveal the truth yet – it would spoil way too much. All we know now is the following: both the CIA and Guardians want to modify the Intersect to be capable of use by the masses. Betelgeuse believes the CIA wants to use this modification for general "mind control" type stuff, but perhaps it's actually just the Guardians who want that? We will have to wait and see. The next chapter will elucidate more on this, as well as why the Guardians are in the CIA in the first place.

What is Beckman's role within the Guardians?

The Guardians, despite integrating with the CIA, have a completely separate command structure. Beckman, the CIA Director herself, is a lowly "Junior Agent"; she infiltrated the Guardians as a secret agent in 2012 (this is again hinted at in chapter 5, and I don't mind giving it away explicitly). Since then, she has struggled to retain her position, with other Guardians highly suspicious of her (no doubt given her patriotic and loyal reputation). In fact, the only reason she's alive right now is because of her relationship with their Chairman, the leader of the cabal himself.

Who is Chairman Shaw?

President of the United States and Guardian Chairman Martin Shaw is Daniel Shaw's elder brother. Much is yet to be revealed, and I'll keep my cards close to my chest on this one, but you can read his Character Profile below to know more.

Why are the Bartowskis underground?

We know from Betelgeuse's expositions that he understands the current Intersect project's goal as implanting intel into the general public – interpreted by him as mind control. He may or may not know about the Guardian cabal, but he's convinced this usage is corrupt and dystopian. How he knows this info, and other details about the Bartowskis' motivation, is currently under wraps for good reason – but you can guess that it must have something to do with the fact that Chuck is hinted in chapter 5 to be a former Guardian himself.

Who are Julia's parents?

Not yet known – by the reader at least :P. We thought it might be Charah – or at least that she was a Bartowski – but the DNA test Betelgeuse took proved that hypothesis incorrect (and no, this is not some sort of "oops I accidentally grabbed the cat's hair" trope :) ).

How is Stephen Bartowski still alive?!

Read the next chapter when it comes out :)

What happened to Chuck?

In 2012, he rejoined the US Government with the help of then-General Beckman, working presumably on the new Intersect. There was a very brief hint in chapter 5 that he joined because of *something* that happened with Sarah. We do not yet know if Sarah remembered Chuck, but we will eventually find that out.

He was a former Guardian, until he "flamed out" and, it is hinted, vanished on December 24, 2013. He was thought to be 'Betelgeuse', the orchestrator of the disappearances of Intersect candidates, until it was just revealed that 'Betelgeuse' is his father Stephen. It is also hinted that Beckman considers herself responsible for *something* which she called a "betrayal" of Chuck.

P.S.

If you have any questions I haven't covered, feel free to PM me or add them in a review. Obviously I won't reveal anything that's not understood from the first 6 chapters yet, but if I miss anything, I'm happy to cover it. I may even amend this guide if I get a lot of the same question I just accidentally missed.

Character Profiles

Julia Howard

Julia's a Caltech student in her first year who has been obsessed with finding her true parents since she found out she was adopted. She's an Intersect candidate, which genetically means she's related to one of the few families who have successfully uploaded the Intersect in the show, or potentially a yet-unknown family who happens to have the rare genetic mutation required of a successful Intersect candidate. She is not a Bartowski, however.

Not much is known (yet) of her life before the story started, but she does love her adoptive mother. She is hinted to be quite intelligent - after all, she's attending Caltech. She's between 18 and 24 years old (no age directly given), and she has a government skepticism typical of a liberal college student.

Robin Miller

Robin's a 20-year-old CIA agent who spent the last 4 years as an analyst before being thrust into the field at the request of some creep who quickly got himself killed. We learned in chapter 3 that she spent her formative years searching for her parents (from whom she was separated at an early age); the CIA allowed her to issue a search on a database they maintained, which taught her that her parents had died shortly after she was born.

Despite little formal training, she's understood to be quite intelligent herself, having been recruited to the CIA at 16. She loves forensics, but also puzzle-solving – a fact that aligns with Julia's personality. However, she also serves as Julia's foil in the political department, exhibiting strong loyalty toward her government and "ends-justify-the-means" attitude (as far as we know, at least). She is also loyal to her asset, and potentially a little naïve as well.

Beckman

We all know who Beckman was in Chuck. Since then, she's spent nearly 20 years working undercover for the Guardians, trying to accomplish "something" that involves taking them down. The specifics will be elucidated in the next chapter, but we were hinted in chapter 5 that she brought Chuck in as a Guardian as well (presumably undercover), and we know at some point she entered a relationship with Chairman Shaw, which kept her alive while this hunt for Intersect candidates dragged on. She remains loyal to the US.

Emotionally, what I've been trying to put together for the Director is the idea that her emotional rock is crumbling. We know she was a strong General who rarely showed her human side on Chuck, but all the stress and danger and frustration in the past two decades has really broken her down. Now we see emotional outbursts of all sorts: vengeance, passion, terror, etc. We also see a fear of death in the Director. Perhaps she's afraid of dying before taking down the Guardians; perhaps she's desperate to correct the mistakes she's made; or perhaps she's just a 70-year-old afraid of falling asleep and not waking up. Probably all three of these are motivations.

Betelgeuse Stephen Bartowski

Orchestrator of the disappearances of members of the Bartowski family, as well as the Nobles and Dunwoodys (the two Gretas in Chuck season 4 who had Intersect uploads), distant Shaws (obviously not the Chairman), and the Winterbottoms too (obviously, it was Chuck who disappeared Hartley and Vivian, but the CIA doesn't know that). This is known through both his own admission and Beckman's exposition in chapter 5, but why she never mentioned the Grimes' or whatever Sarah's real last name was before 'Bartowski', you might ask? You'll find that out later :)

By Scott Bakula's age, Stephen must be around 78 during the events of this story. So the fact that he was able to disappear all these people and keep them away is extra impressive in my opinion. Personality-wise, we see a little bit of vanity toward his own intelligence in chapter 6, but also a lot of loyalty to his family and, frankly, to "the greater good," given how passionate he is about stopping this Intersect project. One wonders if maybe he feels a little guilty over his role in the project as well.

Martin Shaw

Not much is known about him – yet. He's the Chairman of the Guardians and POTUS, he's in a relationship with Beckman, and he wants to avenge his brother Daniel. Those latter two points, you can imagine, pretty much violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

The Guardians are losing faith in him, as well. How much longer he can stay in this limbo between them and Beckman…. I can't say any more, but you can imagine he's dealing with a lot of turmoil.

A/N

I think that pretty much covers what I can say so far. Please reach out if this is unsatisfactory or you have any other questions. Hope I didn't accidentally give too much away :)

Thanks again for reading!