Chuck verses Piranha
Chuck lay in bed going over the last couple of months in his mind. Sarah kissing him in front of the "Bryce Bomb" confused the hell out of him, at the time. At the time he had wondered… was that real or… ? Given that he thought they were going to die, and assumed she did too, he figured that the kiss was real. But was it just her getting one last kiss before dying and his were the most convenient lips, or did it actually have to do with him? Now, he's pretty sure it was just a last kiss. She claimed it was a mistake and would never happen again, and he had come to believe her. Sure she liked him, but… With all that has gone on since, he was pretty sure he knew how she felt… or didn't feel as the case may be. Seeing her kiss Bryce in his room during Thanksgiving dinner, kind of made it all pretty clear. The clincher was the mission at the Von Hayes party.
After the buildup of the Beta Intersect going live and the promise of Chuck being released from his obligations, then having his hopes dashed again by the destruction of the intersect computer and Graham's death… well… then seeing Sarah and Bryce together… nobody is that good an actress. It was obvious that they were the perfect spy couple and that Chuck was just a mission to Sarah. Then to top it off, his 'buddy' Bryce tells him that she's just acting… that Sarah Walker doesn't have feelings for him and that he is just a mission.
He was confused, but he knew one thing, he couldn't trust anything any of them told him about this, especially Sarah. It was an act… she was just playing him. Wait now… that's not exactly true. She has never really led him on, she's always told him they could not be together, that this was all just a cover. He just never really believed her… until now… now he believed. Not only didn't 'they' have a future, 'they' had no present. She seemed to like him well enough. They were friends. They had fun together and all that, but in the end, he was just an asset to her. He could trust her with his life… but not his heart. Hell, he should be used to this. It seemed to be his lot in life to love women who wouldn't, couldn't or didn't love him back. Hell, even his parents didn't love him enough to hang around. Well… so be it. He was sick and tired of being used, played and bullied. It was time for Piranha to come out to play. Between the intersect and Pirahna, Chuck figured he could give his handlers and the puppet masters some surprises.
Over the next week, Chuck found every camera and microphone that the NSA had put into his life. His room had like four cameras alone, never mind the rest of the apartment. Even the bathrooms had audio pickups, though he probably should be grateful they didn't put in any cameras. Next step was to hack into Casey's computer. That was child's play for Chuck. He set up loops on the cameras in his room and he had a simple on/off switch with a timer on his computer to enable the loop when he wanted to. He could go to bed and when he heard a beep from his computer the loop was active. He then could get up and be free of monitoring. Usually he would work on his computer for a couple of hours then go back to bed.
It took almost a month, but between hacking into government databases and the dark web, he got everything he needed. He found things he really didn't want to find and he found things that made him physically ill. Missions kept interrupting his work, so it took longer than it should have, but finally he was done. It was amazing what existed out on the dark web.
Sarah lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. Chuck was getting more and more distant, emotionally, and it was beginning to scare her. Why was it scaring her? Chuck was not pestering her about her past or making inappropriate romantic gestures. He was acting like they were just handler and asset. Was he giving up on them? Giving up on her? She was just getting to the point where she was ready to admit she had feelings… not necessarily feelings toward him… just feelings… and he was pulling away. What had changed? Ever since Bryce had visited, Chuck had been different. Wait… could Chuck have seen them? Could that be it? Then with the Von Hayes mission… did Bryce say something to Chuck? Knowing Bryce, she was certain he did. Did Chuck think that she had real feelings for Bryce? How could he think that? Easily, she admitted to herself. She had done nothing but push Chuck away and he knew about her past with Bryce. She'd been giving Chuck mixed signals for over a year… if he had seen Bryce kiss her, and her kiss him back… and then the way they were acting on the Von Hayes mission… well shit, no wonder he was pulling away. He was probably sick and tired of all the push pull bullshit. He had finally reached the end of his rope and found a noose.
Now what? Well what could happen? Chuck could continue to pull back and their relationship could become totally professional. Was that so bad? When the mission was over she could just leave… try to forget him. Yeah… like there was any way in the world she could forget Chuck Bartowski. When the mission was over… ummmm… How would this mission end? She had never gotten any kind of indication that there was a way to get the intersect out of Chuck, so when they got the new computer version going, what happens to Chuck? She really didn't want to think about that. She knew damn right well what happened to assets that had outlived their usefulness. Termination. She didn't want to think about living without Chuck. Yes, it would be life… but she didn't think she'd call it living. Oh my God… she did have feelings for Chuck, and it scared the hell out of her. Now what did she do?
Sarah and Casey sat in Castle waiting for the video link. Three beeps and then Beckman was on.
"Good afternoon team."
"Good afternoon General." They responded in unison.
Everyone sat and waited, looking at each other. Finally Beckman broke the silence.
"You asked for a meeting. What do you have?"
"We didn't ask for this meeting, General… you did."
"No I didn't." The three looked at each other confused. The door at the top of the stairs opened and Chuck entered.
"Actually, I scheduled this meeting." He said, as he descended the stairs and stood where he could see all three.
"You people have dictated my life for almost two years and it stops today. I am more than happy to work with you 'For the greater good', but I will have a say in my life."
Beckman looked at Sarah and Casey. "Is he drunk? Call me when he's sober." She reached for the disconnect but before she could, Chuck pressed a key on his phone.
"I'm sorry General, but you need to stay for a while."
Beckman hit the disconnect button and nothing happened. She hit it twice more and still nothing happened. Finally she looked up and stared daggers at Chuck.
"Now that I have your attention… I have sent each of you an e-mail. Your e-mail contains a portion of a larger document… the portions pertaining to each of you. This document is just to demonstrate my abilities. Please take a moment and read your e-mails." Chuck went and sat at the table, waiting. Quickly, Beckman began to sputter and gasp.
"Where did you get this information… you… what… where…?" Suddenly Beckman froze. She looked up at Chuck, looked over at Casey, then back at Chuck. "You're willing to work with us… even after this?"
Chuck scowled back "Do I have a lot of choice? I do want some assurances it will not happen again… and I'll need better medical coverage because it makes me sick every time I think about it… but like I said, what choice do I have."
Sarah looked from Chuck to Gen. Beckman to Casey. Something was up. Casey was staring at the floor, refusing to look at her or Chuck. She managed to catch Chuck's eye and what she saw scared her. Chuck was a trusting soul and what she saw was distrust and despair.
"Now… this can go a couple of ways." Chuck looked Beckman straight in the eye. "You people started this with your incompetence. I did not ask for the Intersect, but I have it. You didn't ask for my cooperation, you demand my compliance. As I said, I am more than willing to work with you 'for the greater good', but I will have a say… so let's get down to it. You can continue to treat me as an asset, put my ass in a bunker, force me to unwillingly work for you as a slave… and terminate me when you are done with me. You can guess how much cooperation you are going to get from me with that approach. Or… we try a different way. You treat me as an analyst… okay an analyst in training then… I get a job and a regular paycheck and I work with you using my native talents as well as the Intersect. As you can see from this document my native talents are not inconsequential. I will work willingly, diligently, to the utmost of my abilities. Instead of handlers, I get a bodyguard or a security team if you want, whatever. I'd prefer staying in Burbank, but if you can convince me it's absolutely necessary, I can relocate to DC or elsewhere." Chuck stopped speaking and stared at the screen.
Beckman glared for thirty seconds, then slowly her countenance began to soften. She did often feel bad for the kid. Especially, that order… it was the stupidest thing she had ever signed. She was eternally grateful that Sarah showed up when she did. This was forced upon him… he had done nothing to deserve the hand he had been dealt… just the opposite actually. He was a truly good man, one of the few Beckman had ever come across, in her line of work. Why not put him on as an IT specialist and analyst? By all accounts he'll do a bang up job at both, intersect or not. Not that she'd ever tell him that.
"I still think you're more trouble than you're worth, but it's worth a try. NSA doesn't have much of a presence in LA."
Chuck let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. OMG… she's actually going to go for it. "Um… what about a cover job as a FBI analyst in the LA office. I do some work for them but most of my time is spent analyzing intel you send me and helping whatever teams are in the field. To anybody looking, I'm just a low level FBI analyst or IT Tech or something. For security you can assign agents just out of the Farm and tell them this is a training assignment… or use FBI… whatever."
"Actually, Mr. Bartowski… this sounds very promising. I like it. Let me review this and see what my people can come up with. Agent Walker… Major Casey… this will probably mean the end of your assignments. Please start wrapping things up. We'll leave Castle open but you two can prepare to leave. Mr. Bartowski… I will be in touch."
Chuck just stood. He couldn't believe he had pulled it off. He had figured the odds were about even she'd just toss him in a bunker for the rest of his natural life. He had even put a failsafe in place that if he didn't disable would send the document he had mentioned to Ellie, explaining everything and giving her evidence. If they were actually willing to go with his plan… well it won't be his regular life, but it will at least approach normal… hell it probably will be better than before all this started. At least he won't have Casey watching his every move and now Sarah can get back to what she loves… being a real spy.
Casey made some comment about doing a final inventory of the armory and fled. Sarah stood mute, looking like she'd just been tased. Chuck turned to her.
"Sarah, now you can go back to what you love… spying and Bryce. I wish for you what I've always wanted for you… happiness. No more babysitting the asset… no more boresville… you can get back to real spying… back to the Anderson's. Good luck and God speed. Oh… and just so you know… I love you. Always have… always will. I realize that probably doesn't mean all that much to you, you probably have men telling you that all the time, but I just want you to know that you are loved… truly loved. Now I will do my utmost to forget… well I can't ever forget you, so I'll try to forget that I love you." With that Chuck headed up the stairs. He stopped just as he was reaching for the door and turned to look down on Sarah.
"Um… one thing… please say good-bye before you leave. To me and to Ellie." With a final sad smile he turned and left.
Sarah couldn't believe it… what the hell just happened. In a daze, she sat. Chuck loves her, he loves her so much he is willing to let her go so she can be happy. No… not just willing… actively arraigning for her to go. To go to what he thinks will make her happy… spying and Bryce. How many men would do that? He'll be safe, so why not go back to spying? Go back to Bryce? Go back to Bryce… that's a joke. She knew now that she had never really 'been' with Bryce, and after being with Chuck… even in a 'cover' relationship, she could never settle for a relationship with Bryce, or any other pretty boy agent. She knows what love looks like now, what friendship means, even what a family really is. For the first time in her life, she is loved. So, what now? Could she go back to 'the greater good'? Would the greater good love her? Keep her warm at night? But telling Chuck that she… what… what does she tell Chuck? She is terrified… terrified of her feelings… of commitment… of actually having to be herself and not some cover given to her by the CIA. What the hell does she do now? Could she actually leave the CIA to be with Chuck? No… she couldn't do it… the CIA was all she knew, it was her life. But could she honestly be with Chuck and stay in the CIA? Did she deserve Chuck? Didn't he merit better than her?
Three days later, Gen. Beckman calls a teleconference.
"Good afternoon team. Agent Walker… Major Casey… Analyst Bartowski."
"Uh… what? Analyst? Analyst Bartowski?"
"Yes, Mr. Bartowski. As of this moment, you are an Analyst for the NSA, as a matter of fact you are a Senior Analyst. This gets complicated so please try to follow. You will have a cover on top of a cover. Top layer is you work for the US Postal Service as a senior IT support Tech. That is your public cover, what you can tell your friends, acquaintances or people you meet. You will be housed in offices in one of twelve different US Postal buildings in the LA area, moving each month or so. However, you will not report to anyone in the local area. Your 'boss' is in DC, so you will be free to come and go as you like. Now, to the intelligence community, that is just a cover, and you are an analyst assigned to Team Spider. This is an actual interagency project dealing with the internet. With a hacker background we've created for you, this will seem a natural assignment for you. Your cover is that you are a hacker, Buccaneer by name, we 'picked up' and is now working for us. Team Spider attempts to keep the internet safe and clean, tracking, capturing, or turning hackers, defeating malware, yada, yada, yada. You will actually do some work for Team Spider, but that is a cover for your real job, analyzing intel for the NSA. The difference between you and any other analyst is of course, the intersect. Your 'hacker' background and inclusion to Team Spider explains the need for security to the intelligence community. As a senior IT Tech for the Postal Service, you also rate an assistant, which explains to the general public why you have someone hanging around. That assistant will actually be an Agent, either NSA or CIA, who will be your bodyguard. He or she will pick you up in the morning, drop you off after work and be with you constantly during the day. After work and weekends, there will be a US Marshall team watching over you. You start your new job Monday morning… please take the weekend off. Oh… your first Marshalls team will meet you in the Orange Orange as you leave today."
"Agent Walker… Major Casey… I have decided that instead of disbanding we will expand your team. Agent Walker, you are promoted to Senior Agent… you will be the lead of Team LA. The team will consist of yourself, Major Casey, and Senior Analyst Bartowski. You will also be assigned additional agents, as many as four as needed, and four special operations capable troopers for a field team. Senior Agent Walker and the other agents will be the field operatives and Major Casey and the troopers will be security for Castle, overwatch for the field agents and fire power when needed. Whenever the Field team is deployed, Mr. Bartowski will support them… um… that is you, from Castle, working comms and doing on the spot analysis."
"The Orange Orange will be closed. Your cover will be a media company called Interaction Media, Inc. We'll give you a bunch of fictitious clients. A NSA team will be in over the weekend to renovate the upstairs space into offices for IMI. You will still all be based out of Burbank, but expect a lot of overseas travel. I am placing an executive jet and cargo plane at your permanent disposal. Any questions? Good." With that the screen went blank, then lit with the NSA logo.
"She still doesn't know how to say good-bye." Chuck smirked. "Well… I guess this is it. From the sounds of it, we won't be seeing much of each other from now on, so… um… good luck, and happy trails." Chuck turned and looked at Sarah for a long moment, almost like he was waiting for her to say something. When she stood stoic, her agent mask firmly in place, his shoulders slumped just a touch, and he headed up the stairs. He turned at the top of the stairs to gaze down on them for a second, waved and left.
"Just like that… you're going to let him go?"
"What are you talking about Casey?"
"You're not going to say anything to him? Give him some idea how you really feel? You know he thinks you don't really care about him."
"How I feel? I thought you were the one telling me that Agents don't feel? Or at least shouldn't feel."
"Of course agents feel. We're not robots. Yes, they hammer into us in training that we can't feel for anyone, can't care about anyone, especially people we are working with. They tell us that it would hinder our effectiveness… could even get us killed. You know as well as I do that's all bullshit. I'm military… I know about working on a team. You care about your team… it's why we fight as hard as we do, because of caring about the people around us. So, all that 'fellings get you hurt' is bullshit.
Look… we give up a lot to do what we do. Some of us are cut out for it and some of us aren't. Some of us choose it and some of us have it forced on us." Casey stopped and looked at her, then looked at the door at the top of the stairs. "But every now and then, one of us gets a chance… a chance at a real life, a life with someone who knows us, what we do, what we are capable of doing… and loves us anyway."
Softly "Casey… he could never really love me… if he knew what I've done… my past… and not just the CIA… before that. He could never love me."
Casey's look told her she was a moron before he said the word. "And I thought he was the moron. Did that e-mail he sent us the other day tell you nothing? With what's in his head? You idiot… of course he knows… he knows EVERYTHING. Do you know what was in my e-mail? For one thing… my real name. The name that is on my birth certificate. Also, an exhaustive list of ALL my kills… ALL of them… he didn't miss a single one. And…" Casey stopped and looked at the floor, then the walls, the ceiling, anywhere but at Walker. "… he told me the name of my daughter. I didn't even know that I had a daughter. He knows EVERYTHING. He even knows about…" Casey clammed up and stood staring at the floor.
"Casey… what does he know. What were you, Chuck and Beckman referring to the other day?"
After a long couple of moments, hesitantly… "A termination order."
"WHAT?"
"When the beta intersect computer was coming on line, I was ordered to terminate Chuck. When you knocked on the door and told him Graham was dead, I was hiding in the hallway with a silenced pistol."
Sarah voice got hard… and extremely scary. "So if I had showed up 5 minutes later…?"
"It wouldn't have mattered… I couldn't pull the damn trigger. I'd already been standing there for ten minutes. I was just glad you gave me a good damn excuse not to…"
"So he got to you too."
Casey just stood looking at the floor. "Yeah. Now… that's more words than I've used at one time since… my commissioning oath." With that he hustled out of the room.
Again Sarah stood immobile. She had never read the e-mail he had sent. Could he really know about her and still love her? Casey certainly thought so. Really? Chuck knew about the termination order and was still willing to work with them, so anything was possible.
Maybe she could have it all. Chuck was an analyst now… an employee of the NSA. Dating across agency lines was not normal but certainly didn't break any rules. Plus, they were on the same team. Could she actually date Chuck and remain an Agent… a Senior Agent? She started getting excited… this could actually happen. If she loved Chuck! Could she love? What was love? For the first time in her life she actually cared about someone. Someone who loved her. OMG. But was this love? Her knees became weak and she flopped down into a chair. She could actually do it… she couldn't wait to tell Chuck. He'd be so happy. Wait… what did she tell Chuck? Would he believe her? No… he thought she'd been playing him for a couple of years. He'd figure that this was just another play by Beckman to keep him in line. Oh my God… this wasn't happening. She could finally have someone and she had screwed it up. Well the job had screwed it up. Also, she knew he would ask the one question she didn't want to answer… what happens when the assignment is over? Will she stay, or at least stay in touch? Or will she say good-bye and never see Chuck again? Maybe she should just ask for a reassignment now. That would probably be better for everyone involved.
-O-
Chuck had gone to his spot on the beach to think. It was really happening… he would get a semblance of his life back. A real job, using his talents and education. He sat for hours, accepting his new reality... a reality without Sarah. At least before he had a 'cover' relationship with her. He could spend time with her, hold her, talk… now… Chuck made it back to his apartment only spotting his security team twice and the first time was when they introduced themselves. As he entered the apartment, he realized something was different. As he checked around, he found that all the cameras and microphones that Casey had installed for surveillance were gone. He went and checked his room. There was one camera and mic left. His TV beeped three times then popped on and when he looked, Gen. Beckman was on the screen.
"Good evening Analyst Bartowski. As you can see all the surveillance equipment is gone. All that is left is this communication gear and security devices. Oh… by the way… Major Casey found your hack into his system, but only while he was taking out the equipment. He is not pleased. Oh… he is not angry with you… I think he's actually kind of proud of you about that. He's not pleased with himself for letting you get away with doing it in the first place. He probably won't ask, but I would appreciate it if you would volunteer to show him how you did it and teach him how to keep it from happening again."
"Not a problem, ma'am. As a matter of fact, I wrote a white paper on that and other weaknesses in your NSA system which I'll send to you and him. I… um… hac… um… I mean I got into your main frame a month ago and my backdoor is still there. The report explains it all for your tech people."
"sigh Thank you Chuck. You should have an e-mail explaining where your first office is and what you will need for equipment. Let me know what you don't have at Castle and we'll get it to you. To the Postal Service you are Charles Bartowski, but to the members of Team Spider, you are Charles Carmichael, who, like you, is a graduate of Stanford."
"Excuse me? I'm not a graduate of Stanford!"
"Yes, you are. We arraigned for your expulsion to be reversed and you have been awarded your degree. It was the CIA's fault in the first place, I felt it was proper to fix it. Now, as for the reason for this call. I have been concerned with your health, given the intersect and what it might be doing to you. Our scientists are not entirely sure what effect it will have on the host… that is you. I wanted to arrange expert care for you there in Burbank and have someone work with you on understanding the intersect." She hit a key on her cell phone.
There was a knock at the door. Chuck looked inquisitively at the General. "Well… answer the door Chuck."
Chuck opened the door to a smiling Ellie and Devon, who entered and closed the door. "Chuck, meet Team LA's medical staff. Your sister and her fiancé have agreed to join the team and have been completely read in to this entire project. Keep in mind that they don't have Agent Walkers security clearance, never mind yours, but they are cleared for knowledge of the intersect. This actually is the perfect answer to our problem. Not only is your sister a Neurologist, but also an ER attending, and Dr. Woodcomb is a surgeon in case any of the team is wounded."
"They've been read in on everything?"
"Yes Chuck… no secrets any longer. Now I'm sure you all have a lot to talk about. Analyst Bartowski, I will be in touch."
After the General had signed off, the three went out to the living room.
"First let me say… kudo's Chuckman… good job." Captain Awesome offered a high five, which Chuck accepted. Chuck looked at Ellie sadly.
"Ellie… I'm so sorry about having to lie to you about all this."
"Chuck… stop… don't worry about it. The General explained the whole arrangement and was pretty adamant that NONE of this was your doing, it was all thrust upon you by that asshole Larkin and dictated by the CIA and NSA." Ellie's visage took on a melancholy look. "So you and Sarah… the whole thing was a fake?"
"Well… not the whole thing. But it was definitely one sided."
"Are you sure Chuck? I've seen the way she looks at you. Sometimes when she thinks nobody's looking…"
"Come on Ellie. We all know she is so far out of my league that I can't even hear the cheering from her stadium. Oh, I think she likes me well enough… and we have fun. But if… when… the CIA reassigns her, she'll be gone. I just hope she says good-bye. No, the best thing for me is to forget that I love her, if that's possible."
Ellie's sad eyes told the story… but… "All right… let's leave that subject for now. Let's talk about the intersect. The NSA has sent me everything they have from the original team and all the work that has been done to date. I'm very surprised to find that none of the researchers, either from the original team or the current team, are neurologists, most aren't even doctors. I've already found several glaring issues and I think the programming needs work. You and I have a lot of work to do. Here's how I think we should begin…"
For the rest of Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday, Ellie, Devon and Chuck, worked on understanding the intersect from all sides… the medical point of view, the engineering point of view and the programming point of view. They went over all the notes and observations from the scientists, and made their own notes. By Sunday afternoon they were bushed, but were already beginning to make significant headway in understanding the intersect. They were all very excited about the possibilities the intersect provided and at the same time worried about both what it was doing to Chuck and the consequences of this technology to society.
Finally, around seven Sunday night they called a halt. Ellie and Devon went to their bedroom for some snuggle time and Chuck went to his room intending to play some video games to give his brain some down time. As soon as Chuck walked into his room, his TV beeped three times then came on with the NSA logo. Several minutes later, General Beckman came up on the screen. She was dressed in a house coat, her hair was unmade and she had a glass in her hand with ice and two fingers of an amber liquid in it. From the background, it was evident she was at home.
Slightly slurring her words, Beckman said… "Chu.. Chuck. Um… um… I… I want to… no… I NEED to talk… burp… talk to you. I need to apologize… Graham made me… well he talked me into… Casey couldn't do it anyway… he tried to cover it uh… burp… up, editing the video, but I've seen the raw footage… he stood in that hallway for… for a… good ten minutes. He could have taken the shot anytime." She stopped talking for a moment and took a rather healthy sip.
"What I'm trying to say is… it will never happen again… I promise that as long as I'm in charge of this project, there will never be another termination order. You're a good man Chuck Bartowski… don't ever change. Good night." With that the screen went back to the NSA logo then the TV shut off. Chuck stood for several moments, trying to decide if he should be relieved, worried or amused. Amused won. He certainly hoped she'd remember her promise in the morning. He went over to his PC to make a backup of the recording of this… this… what was this… well it wasn't exactly a discussion… I guess you could call it a ramble by Gen. Beckman. He didn't really think he would need evidence any longer, but just to be on the safe side, he recorded everything… had been since he started his little revolution. Time to get some sleep. Tomorrow was the first day of the new paradigm.