"Chuck! Chuck!"

It felt like his mind was rising from thick mud, his ascent to reality slow and painful.

Or maybe that was just the radiating pain in his abdomen.

"Chuck, wake up!"

Suddenly, he recognized that voice as Ellie's, and he felt a strange sense of deja vu, from the last time he woke from a drug-induced sleep, when he'd been in the hospital. But the doctors definitely hadn't used chloroform.

Chloroform.

Memories crashed into him, and his eyes snapped open.

Fulcrum.

Ellie.

"Ellie!" he gasped.

He was lying on cold concrete. His eyes snapped open, the room blurring slowly into view.

He was in a room no bigger than a large closet. Cement floor, walls and ceiling screamed of underground. There was a single door across from him. No windows.

Chuck's gaze stopped immediately on Ellie, who was on her knees a few feet away. "Ellie!" He jerked up, ignoring the pain in his midsection from the bullet wound, but was suddenly yanked back with a painful tug on his wrist.

He looked, seeing a pair of handcuffs around his left wrist, securing him to a lone, vertical pipe against the side of this wall. His heart pounding, he looked helplessly at Ellie, who was out of reach from him by a few feet. Now he could see that Ellie was secured to the wall in the same way.

The sight of her like that hurt.

Tears were in her eyes, and some of her makeup had run. "Chuck," she choked out.

"Are you okay?" asked Chuck breathlessly, the urge to run to her, protect her, get her the hell out of here, was overwhelming.

She looked at him incredulously. "Okay?! No, I am not okay!" she exclaimed in a choked whisper. "We were just kidnapped by crazy people!"

It was unnerving to see Ellie so afraid; Chuck could count on one hand the amount of times he's seen her look the way she did now. And the last time he saw it was the day their father never came home.

Chuck jerked on the handcuffs, but they didn't budge. He knew he should have asked Sarah or Casey for a crash course in lockpicking.

Why did the CIA and NSA never think it was a good idea to train him somehow?!

His heart raced.

He needed to get them out of here.

Dammit, where were Sarah and Casey when he needed them?

If something happened to her…

He couldn't even entertain the thought.

The door suddenly opened.

The Fulcrum agent—Barlowe, Chuck recalled with a horribly sinking feeling— smiled at the sight of them. "Have you made yourselves comfortable?"

Chuck jerked to his feet, and Ellie did the same. The cuffs kept them within a foot of the wall, but allowed them to reach their full height, connected to identical vertical pipes that led to the ceiling.

The door shut behind Barlowe, and he held a gun in his hand.

Chuck swallowed.

Hard.

Fear like none other raced through him.

Ellie.

"Please, just let her go," said Chuck, desperate fear consuming him. "It's me you want—"

"Chuck!" exclaimed Ellie. To Barlowe, she said, "You have the wrong people. I'm just a doctor, and my brother just fixes computers—"

Barlowe's eyes flicked to Chuck, a smile playing at his lips. "Yes, he does have quite the cover story going."

"It's not—" began Ellie, but Barlowe cut her off.

"Oh," said Barlowe, amusement twisting his smile. "She doesn't know."

"Just let her go," repeated Chuck, but his words were just a whisper.

To Ellie, he said, "Your brother is a government asset working undercover for the CIA." Chuck's blood ran cold.

"You're crazy!" said Ellie.

"Ellie—" began Chuck, terrified she'd provoke the man into hurting her.

Heaving an irritated sigh, Barlowe looked at Chuck. "I've been meaning to talk to you for a long time," he said with a dangerous lift of his brow. "We learned you were roommates with Bryce Larkin, as well as part of the team involved in retrieving the cipher for the new Intersect." Something sinister in his eyes, Barlowe approached Chuck, the gun loosely held in his hand like a casual threat. Chuck felt himself back into the wall. Barlowe smiled at his fear, and said, "I thought we could get some information out of you. However," he said, the change in his voice something far more than just sinister, "after seeing just how nuts the CIA and the NSA went to keep you alive and protected after you were shot by my agent?" That sick smile grew, and horrible, cold dread began trailing down Chuck's spine. "I think you know more than just information about the Intersect. I think," he said, as Chuck could hardly breathe, "that you know the information… in the Intersect."

Chuck went rigid.

Barlowe raised a brow dangerously. "It's you, isn't it?"

"Th-That's preposterous," said Chuck, barely having found his voice around the fear. "I'm just an analyst—"

Barlowe suddenly stepped away from Chuck, and instead, approached Ellie.

Chuck's heart stopped.

Ellie backed into the wall, and Barlowe suddenly pressed the muzzle of his gun to her forehead.

A tear fell down Ellie's cheek, a small sound escaping her, and Chuck felt his chest burn. "Ellie!" He jerked toward her, but the cuffs held him back. He yanked hard enough to feel them cut, his heart beating furiously. He felt utterly helpless. "Don't," he whispered desperately. "Please, don't hurt her, I'll do whatever you want, just don't—"

"I'm going to ask you a question." interrupted Barlowe, turning to look at Chuck, but the gun never left Ellie's forehead. "Answer it correctly, and she lives."

Ellie let out a terrified gasp.

Chuck couldn't breathe.

"What," said Barlowe, eyes drilling into Chuck, "is Harvest Run?"

It struck him in an instant.

Details of the mission.

Agent profiles.

Dozens of confidential files, sinking into his memory like he wrote them himself.

Chuck shut his eyes, the flash heavier, longer, deeper than most.

He kept his eyes shut even after it ended.

Dread was consuming him, realizing what the man wanted.

Somehow, Barlowe knew that information was in the Intersect. And if Chuck answered him, he was confirming that he was, in fact, the Intersect.

But if he didn't…

Ellie.

His mind was made up instantly.

Opening his eyes, defeat rolling through him heavily, Chuck met Barlowe's narrowed eyes. And taking a shuddering breath, Chuck reluctantly answered his question.

"It was the initiation mission that formed the deviated branch of the CIA to fight tomorrow's battles today," said Chuck hollowly. "Fulcrum."

Barlowe's lips curled with a smile that was both wicked and awed. "It is you," he breathed.

Chuck tried not to feel the fear seizing his chest, only focusing on the gun still to his sister's head. "You said you wouldn't hurt her," he said through a tight voice.

Barlowe turned his gaze back to Ellie, who was staring at Chuck, eyes wide, the expression torn between a look of utter shock and terror that rolled another tear down her cheek.

Barlowe hesitated, the gun still to Ellie's head.

Then, he said, "Fine."

He removed the gun.

Chuck breathed out in relief.

"A human Intersect," said Barlowe with that ugly smile, staring at Chuck with that terrifying sense of awe. "Incredible. And as the one to bring you in, I'll be granted whatever rank I please." He opened the door, turning back to say, "We'll have you shipped out to the main facility by morning. You're still my little secret. I'm not risking anyone bringing you in but myself. And then, every Fulcrum agent will know who the Intersect is. You will have nowhere to run from us, handlers or not." He nodded his head to Ellie, who was still staring at Chuck as if he was a ghost. "I will keep your sister alive; she'll even get to come. It seems like the easiest way to get you to cooperate. At least… for now." He shook the gun for emphasis, and Chuck felt his eyes burn.

With that, Barlowe left, the door slamming shut behind them, leaving them in terrifying, chilled silence.

The moment the door shut, Chuck jerked against the chain. "Ellie! Are you okay?!" he asked desperately, pulling against the cuffs so hard his wrist nearly bled.

Ellie leaned against the wall, shutting her eyes. She nodded hollowly, looking nothing short of traumatized by the gun.

Chuck has never felt more pain in his life than now.

They needed to get out of here. He pulled and jerked, but the chain simply wouldn't give.

Chuck dropped his hand in defeat, helplessness coursing through him.

"How did you know that?"

Chuck snapped his gaze back to hers.

She was looking at him, eyes still filled with that shock from before. Her voice hollow, she asked, "How did you know?"

Chuck's chest tightened. "Ellie…"

"Chuck, what the hell is going on?" she demanded, tears back in her eyes.

Chuck screwed his eyes shut.

Full disclosure.

Chuck took a breath, hesitantly meeting her eyes. "Because… because it's… true," he said painfully. He breathed out. "I… I'm a government asset and I work with the CIA and the NSA. We're here because of me." Before she could say anything, he braced himself and said, "I… I wasn't injured by a knife last week," Chuck went on heavily, speaking the words he'd tried so hard to keep from her all week. "I couldn't let you see it because… I was… shot," he admitted, the words so quiet they were almost a whisper. "An agent who works for… for these people, he cornered me at the Buy More, and… well, he..." Taking another breath, he lifted the bottom of his shirt, and pulled the bandage aside.

Ellie's eyes widened.

Even feet away, she could see it clearly.

Chuck saw the recognition in her eyes.

She tore her gaze from the wound, back to Chuck's eyes.

Utter disbelief shone in her eyes.

Chuck dropped his shirt, his chest tight.

"You—" began Ellie hollowly. "It's true?"

Chuck swallowed.

Nodded.

If possible, her eyes widened with more disbelief. "You're—what? A spy?!" she said incredulously.

"Y-Yeah," mumbled Chuck hollowly. "More or less…"

She shook her head a little, shutting her eyes with overwhelm. "How… how is that—how is that even possible?" she asked, looking at him.

"It wasn't by choice," said Chuck quickly, desperately. "I… I sort of… fell into it."

"How do you fall into being a spy?!" exclaimed Ellie, tears back in her eyes.

"It… it started about a year ago–" began Chuck, but Ellie cut him off.

"A year?!" echoed Ellie. "A year? You've been a spy for a year?" The disbelief and incredulity deepened in her eyes.

"It… it started on my twenty-eighth birthday," said Chuck, stumbling through the words. "I… I got an email from Bryce—"

"Bryce?" echoed Ellie. Her eyes flicked to the door, then back to Chuck, and Chuck remembered that Barlowe mentioned Bryce. "Wait… what does Bryce have to do with all of this?"

"He was recruited into the CIA in our junior year at Stanford," said Chuck, words tumbling out. "I—I didn't know until recently. But he sent me this email out of nowhere. And I opened it, and…" Chuck hesitated, remembering the moment that, more times than he can count, wished he'd simply deleted it. "There were all these… pictures. They were… different, though. They were encoded with secrets. If you see them, then whatever information was stored in the photo gets… like… branded into your memory. I saw thousands of them," said Chuck hollowly. "The next thing I knew, I was remembering things that I shouldn't have known." He hesitated, somehow feeling like this part of his life has been far longer than just a year. "I only learned later that all those secrets were government secrets," Chuck went on, voice defeated. "Bryce stole them from the CIA, destroyed the computer and sent them to me. Now… I'm the only person in the world who knows all these secrets within the CIA and the NSA." He took a breath. "That computer is called the Intersect. And… it's me."

Ellie stared at him in utter shock.

"Right after it happened," said Chuck, "the CIA and NSA sent agents to find where Bryce sent the secrets and they found out it was me. I've been stuck in this world ever since, as an asset until they can figure out how to get it out of me."

They were both silent for a moment.

When Ellie looked back at him, tears were once again in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, voice laced with hurt.

But there was an emotion Chuck hadn't been able to read in her eyes.

He saw it clearly now.

Betrayal.

He felt sick.

"I couldn't," he said desperately. "If I did, you would have been in danger. I… I couldn't tell anyone."

Ellie held his gaze, letting his words sink in. A different kind of hurt colored her eyes. "You've had to keep it to yourself? All this time?" she asked in a small voice.

Chuck felt the loneliness of that fact seep into his chest.

He nodded.

Slowly, Ellie sank to the ground, her handcuff chain clinking on the pipe. She pulled her knees to her chest, looking more than a little overwhelmed with the information.

Chuck followed, sitting against his own wall, wishing he could reach her, hug her, something.

Finally, after all this time, his secret was out.

Chuck couldn't even count how many times he's wanted to tell her the truth, to get the disappointment with his job and his life out of her eyes.

But he would give anything for her to not have found out like this.

After a moment, Ellie met his eyes. "So Sarah doesn't even know?"

Chuck hesitated.

"Uh…" Chuck cautiously met Ellie's waiting gaze. "Well, um, Sarah… Sarah's um…" He winced. "Sarah's one of my… handlers," he said awkwardly.

If Ellie had looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to her expression now.

"Sarah?!" she echoed in utter shock. "Sarah is a spy?"

"For the CIA," said Chuck, face still drawn in a wince.

Ellie looked utterly speechless.

"My other handler is… Casey," said Chuck hesitantly.

Ellie's brows shot up. "Casey? John Casey? Creepy, stalker, our neighbor John Casey?!"

"They've been watching and protecting my every move ever since I got the Intersect," said Chuck. "The deal was that I had to help them on missions, too. Since I know all of their secrets, I can ID agents, like… the one who took us. I… the information comes to me in a sort of… flash," he said, still feeling the lingering headache from the last one. "The people that took us—they're called Fulcrum. It's this corrupt branch of the CIA… they want the Intersect just as much as the CIA and NSA do." Chuck sighed, pain and hopelessness twisting his chest. "It's all my fault that we're here, Ellie. I'm so sorry."

"But you said that your… handlers…" She said awkwardly, seeming unable to say their names in this context, "watch your every move. So… are they… coming to save us?" she asked with a horribly hopeful look in her eyes.

Chuck winced. "Well… that's just it. Back home, I asked Sarah to leave us alone, and… she left." He was still kicking himself for that. "Even with the security footage, I don't know if they managed to follow the van to where we are. Fulcrum took my watch off at the house, and that and my phone are the only GPS Sarah and Casey have on me." He knocked his head against the wall with frustration. "Ellie, I'm so sorry," he said, eyes burning. "I never meant to drag you into this. I never, ever meant to hurt you. And even when I was trying to protect you, I hurt you." His eyes shut at the memory of a few days ago. "Like this week—I'm sorry I yelled at you, I… I didn't know what to do," he said, shutting his eyes. "And every time I canceled plans with you for some mission that I couldn't tell you about—" began Chuck.

"I'm sorry," interrupted Ellie suddenly, a tear falling down her cheek. "Chuck, if I had known—" She shut her eyes. "I made you feel like you were the worst brother in the world." She opened her eyes. "All the times you told me to just let it go… I'm the worst sister in the world."

"Ellie," said Chuck, pained. "You are… you are everything to me." A tear burned down his cheek. "I meant what I said at home. I need you in my life."

"I do, too," she said, another tear sliding down her cheek before she wiped it away. She hugged her knees.

Chuck took a breath, holding onto as much hope as he could. "But Casey and Sarah are the best," he said. "If anyone can save us… it's them."

a/n: next chapter we'll get an Ellie POV, and see how she's doing with quite the information overload. ;) I think there'll be about 3 or so more chapters of the story, plenty more brother-sister bonding (as well as some Charah of course!)

*apologies if you read this chapter right when I posted it - it took me about a half an hour to realize I posted a section in this chapter that wasn't supposed to be there. I had to take it out or the story wouldn't make sense. It'll come later though lol. my bad lol xD

Next update will be probably about a week or so :)

~cosette141