Chapter 26: The Game Night Part 1

California, Malibu, Malibu Beach Inn, January 25th, 2008

Chuck winced but kept walking. Ellie was smart. She wouldn't make a scene and endanger their cover in public. She would let him have it, from both barrels, in private. Ellie knew how to keep grudges. Morgan could tell you all about it.

But he had a mission. And Adams was kind of heavy. And the lighter Chuck had taken from him might be holding an NSA Incinerator charge that would turn him, Adams and everyone else within a few yards to ashes if it went off.

So he hurried towards the exit, almost colliding with Casey, who was carrying Boucher. Now, if everything had gone according to plan, then Casey would have been driving a fake ambulance to 'take the two unconscious victims to the hospital'. But with Casey having been needed in the hotel…

There was the ambulance! Sarah, wearing a paramedic's jacket, was driving! Chuck beamed at her.

"Be glad that she reacted quickly to your harebrained stunt," Casey grumbled next to him as they rushed over to the ambulance.

"I had no choice," Chuck retorted through clenched teeth. "I had to do something." Ellie and Devon's lives had been at stake.

The NSA agent scoffed. "Next time, don't act on your own."

But it had worked out perfectly. Chuck swallowed the obvious retort, though, as Casey dropped Boucher into the ambulance, then pushed Adams on top of him. "I'll handle things from here on," he snapped and bound men's wrists. "Get out and play the happy couple again, Walker!"

Chuck held the door while Sarah handed the jacket to Casey and climbed out. "Grouchy, is he?" Chuck muttered after the ambulance had left.

Sarah made a sort-of-agreeing noise, which wasn't really agreeing.

"I'm just saying," Chuck went on, "that it worked. No one but the bad guys got hurt. And we got all our objectives."

"We were lucky," Sarah replied as she took his arm. "But it could have gone wrong."

"How?"

"If we hadn't been close enough to Boucher, or if Adams had been closer to the exit and had managed to escape in the confusion. Or if his lighter had gone off."

"Uh. Right, the lighter. I kind of need to disarm it, still," Chuck admitted.

"I thought so," Sarah replied. "That's why we're not going back to the hotel yet."

"Ah." Right. Smart. "But won't that endanger our cover?" he asked.

"A couple sitting at the beach, recovering from the shock, and the man fiddling with his lighter?"

"Right." He cleared his throat. "But, uh… shouldn't you keep your distance? If I, uh, make a mistake?" And blow myself up?

"That would look weird," she said. In a lower voice, she added: "I trust you."

"No pressure," he replied. But he was smiling.

They found a secluded nook - a bench surrounded by bushes. At least, Chuck thought as he took out the lighter and a set of tools, no civilians would be hurt if I mess up. And he'd escape Ellie's lecture.

He chuckled at that. Then he got to work. According to the lighter's schematics, the detonator was triggered by opening the case the obvious way. But there was a hidden latch on the front, which would reveal a tiny switch to disarm the charge. He wet his lips, then pressed down on the spot in front and flipped the switch.

Nothing happened.

Releasing the breath he had been holding, he opened the lighter, then took a look at the inside. "Ah… they modified it. There's an additional module wired to the memory." He took out another tool and studied the connections. "Probably… yes, it's an encryption module." Clever - a mini-router to encrypt the data, inaccessible from the software side. Unless you knew it was there, and bypassed it, or used it to access the memory, you wouldn't get usable data.

He pressed his lips together as he mulled it over. "Never try to solve a hardware problem with a software patch," he mumbled, then started to connect his phone to the encryption module.

It took him ten minutes, but he managed to crack the module's bios and download the data from the lighter's memory. A quick check revealed the schematics and production notes. Whew. "We've got it," he told Sarah.

"Great." She smiled at him, then gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Let's go back to the hotel, then."

"Ah… shouldn't we drop off the data, first?" he replied.

"We can hand it over to Bane," she told him, standing and pulling on his hand. "You've done enough."

He nodded and let her pull him up. He had, hadn't he?

And, he realised, halfway to the hotel, he had done most of it without the Intersect triggering.

But when they arrived at the hotel, where the fire had been put out in the meantime and firemen were still walking around in the cordoned-off restaurant, he realised something else: They would be blaming him for the fire.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, January 26th, 2008

"Come on, Chuck! It's not so bad."

Chuck frowned at Sarah. It was bad. Really bad. "They threw us out! And they're still billing us for the rooms - and the fire!" He crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair.

"Well… you did start the fire," she pointed out as she added another peeled orange to the blender.

"Barely any damage was done," he replied. "A table, some scorch marks on the floor, a broken chair…"

"Dozens of guests fleeing in a panic? Trampling each other?"

He winced. "Technically, that's not damage done to the hotel."

"Well, the CIA will pay the damages," she said as she turned the blender on.

"It was a necessary sacrifice," he said.

"I'm sure the general will agree. Here!" She poured half the juice into a glass and put it down on the table in front of him.

"Thanks." He took a sip. "Was that sarcasm?" If the CIA docked his pay for this, then things could get a little tight, money-wise.

"No. She understands making the call in the field."

"She does?" He blinked as he grabbed a slice of toast. "It's just that Casey wasn't of the understanding." He coughed but didn't correct himself. Stanford had taken care of his 'Sunnydale-ism' for the most part, but, sometimes, they still crept up.

"Casey is always critical of everything," she told him.

"With the exception of Our Lord and Saviour, Ronald Reagan."

That made her laugh. "But you did good, Chuck. And Ellie and Devon are enjoying their weekend."

"Unless Aphrodesia is trying to use them to replace us," Chuck said. "Speaking of - what about Bones?"

"What about her?" Sarah asked.

"Shouldn't we be doing something about her? I mean… she's trying to blackmail Ralph or something. It's not as if I care about Aphrodesia's marriage, not really, but Bones is a spy, so…" Chuck shrugged.

"The CIA will keep an eye on the situation. Bane's still there, too."

"Ah." He blinked. "Won't our cover be in danger if Fulcrum looks into the incident?"

"That's why it's a cover," she told him. "If needed, we can replace it."

"Oh." He hoped that they wouldn't have to - he had grown fond of Charles Carmichael, suave man of means.

"Besides," she went on, "you won't have to face Ellie for two more days."

He grimaced, and she giggled. That was a faint consolation. But, perhaps, Ellie would have calmed down a little until Sunday evening. And pigs might fly. "Well, all that doesn't change the fact that we're kind of stuck here since we're supposed to be at the training weekend. Although Los Angeles is so large, the odds of us encountering anyone who might recognise us are rather low."

"Well, that's true. Although I was thinking of a few ways to pass the time indoors…" Sarah said, grinning at him.

He blinked. She was wearing that short bathrobe, he realised. And probably not much else, he added when she bent a little towards him, smiling. "Ah." He wet his lips. "Right."

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, January 27th, 2008

Looking out of the window, Chuck rubbed his aching shoulder. Sarah hadn't just had that particular 'something else' in mind, yesterday. They'd also done some sparring. And working out.

And the Intersect not only didn't consider dying from exhaustion a danger that would make it trigger, but it also didn't grant stamina or muscle tone. Both had to be earned the hard way - a way Chuck had just started to travel down. Or up - he wasn't the best with metaphors when he had sore muscles and was dreading his sister's return.

Which was weird to begin with. He wasn't a teenager any more. He wasn't a failure any more, either. He was a spy - sort of. An intelligence asset. An analyst, at least - or the CIA would like him to become one. He was a future Watcher. Watcher-spy. He had his own life and his own future.

But Ellie was his older sister. And would remain his older sister for the rest of their lives.

Which was also kind of threatening, now that he thought about it.

No, he would tell her that it hadn't been his fault, just a coincidence. And that everything had been under control until the poisoner had appeared in the restaurant…

No. He needed a better story. And - he winced as he looked out of the window - he needed it right now since Ellie and Devon had just arrived.

They weren't headed to Chuck and Ellie's apartment, though - he watched them enter their own, first. Both were smiling and looking happy, which made him smile as well. It seemed his plan had worked - and Ellie seemed to have calmed down over the weekend as well.

Then Ellie stepped out of her apartment and came straight towards his apartment. And she wasn't smiling any more. Drat.

He was at the door before her, opening it with a smile. "Ellie! You're back!"

"Yes," she replied, glaring at him. "And we've got something to talk about."

"Uh…" So she was holding a grudge. "What do you mean?"

His sister huffed as she walked - marched - past him into the living room. "Hello, Sarah."

"Hi, Ellie!" Sarah wasn't as enthusiastic as she sounded, Chuck knew. On the other hand, she wasn't as anxious as himself, since this was his fault. Or so she claimed.

"Ellie wants to talk," he said.

"With both of you," his sister added.

"Ah."

Chuck shot a tight smile at Sarah as he sat down on the couch. No escape for her, either. Now… he had to take the initiative. "It was all a coincidence, Sis. We only received the mission in Malibu after I had already booked your stay," Chuck blurted out.

Ellie, who had started to pace, stopped and looked at him. "I know, Chuck."

"You know? I mean, yes… I mean, good?" he babbled.

"Yes. Sending us to a hotel where you were on a mission would have been reckless and stupid. And you're not stupid," Ellie explained.

He could hear the 'but you're reckless' as plain as if she had said it but he nodded in agreement anyway.

"However, setting fire to the restaurant? What were you thinking? Did you consider the effect a panic would have, or what would happen if the fire spread out of control?" Now she was glaring at him. "Why would you do such a thing? And don't tell me that it was an accident; I know you're not that clumsy."

"Uh… it was an emergency," he replied. "I needed a distraction." And he wasn't actually clumsy.

"And arson was the first thing that came to mind?"

Well… fire solved a lot of demon-y problems. And setting fire to something was a classic distraction in many novels and a few TV series, too. 'Kill it with fire' was almost the default solution among the Scoobies. Right after 'cut off its head' and 'beat it up'.

"Chuck!" she snapped. "Did you consider what you'd cause? What if someone would have had a heart attack? Or smoke poisoning?"

He hunched a little. "I panicked," he admitted. "But…"

"The waiter with the dessert cart was planning to poison people," Sarah cut in.

"What?" Ellie's eyes widened. She wouldn't have forgotten that she had ordered dessert as well.

"He was an assassin sent to silence a witness," Sarah went on. It wasn't quite correct, but it wasn't exactly a lie, either.

"And he was planning to poison everyone?"

"Possibly. We foiled one attempt already," Chuck said, "and he wasn't known for caring too much about collateral damage."

"If multiple people had died, it would have made it harder for the police to pin down the actual target," Sarah added.

"But you already knew he was an assassin, didn't you? Why didn't you stop him before the whole..." She waved her hand with a frown, obviously searching the right word. "...thing."

"Well… yes. But we thought he was still in his room," Chuck replied. "We were planning to arrest him later. So it wouldn't cause an incident and make people panic."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at him again, but he met them with his without flinching. Much. He was telling the truth, after all. "And why did you have to do this, and not someone else? Sarah, Casey?"

Chuck blinked. How could he answer that without revealing classified information and without making his whole team look reckless?

"We had to deal with the assassin and his accomplice," Sarah told Ellie. "That left Chuck for the distraction."

Ellie wasn't happy, but she seemed to accept that. Telling her that he had dealt with the 'accomplice' wouldn't go over well, Chuck was sure. And neither would pointing out that she hadn't wanted to cancel the trip. Ellie was a great sister, but she didn't like admitting a mistake.

"So… apart from that, how did you like the weekend?" Chuck asked, smiling brightly at her.

"Apart from the fire, and the fact that the restaurant was out of commission for the rest of the weekend?"

"Yes?" Chuck kept smiling.

Ellie gave him another look - she didn't like his way of dealing with her sarcasm. "It was surprisingly enjoyable. Apart from worrying about my brother becoming an arsonist. But I don't think I want to spend my honeymoon there."

He nodded, more than a little relieved. "I understand. Sorry."

"Devon knows this great hotel on Hawaii, though," she added with a toothy smile.

Chuck managed not to wince as he agreed. At least, she hadn't asked why the CIA hadn't ordered them to cancel their weekend.

"That also reminds me: The hotel's silverware was lovely, but Devon thinks it would clash with the decor at our wedding. What do you think?"

Now Chuck did wince. As did Sarah.

California, Burbank, Buy More, January 28th, 2008

"Another day, another Monday." Chuck blinked. "I think that this didn't come out right."

Morgan, leaning against the Nerd Herd desk next to Chuck, yawned, "I think you got the gist right, Garfield."

Chuck's friend looked more tired than usual for a Monday morning, Chuck realised. And they hadn't stayed up late playing Call of Duty, either. Come to think of, when was the last time that they had played Call of Duty late at night? Or at all? He couldn't remember. "Did we grow old?" he said.

"What?"

"I can't remember the last time we played games all night long," Chuck replied.

"Oh, that's easy, that was…" Morgan trailed off, then blinked at Chuck. "I can't remember, either!"

"Someone must have messed with your minds!" Lester appeared behind them, almost making Chuck jump and shriek. As he turned, the Nerd Herder went on: "Probably a curse. Dark magic."

"Yes, a curse called growing up," Chuck retorted. "Be real: Why would anyone wipe our Call of Duty memories?"

"So they can sell you the latest Medal of Honour?" Lester pointed out.

"That came out last year," Morgan said. "And it's currently in the discount bin." Someone had ordered a few too many copies.

"Exactly," Jeff said, as if that made sense.

"I somehow doubt that Electronic Arts would use magic to improve their sales," Chuck said.

"Well… it would explain a few things…" Morgan trailed off at Chuck's glare.

It was too early for this kind of paranoia. Besides, if Electronic Arts were dabbling in the dark arts, Willow would have found out already. Or Andrew. "Don't you two have calls to answer?" he pointedly asked the two. "If not then I've got a client who wants his home entertainment system integrated with his new computer and console…"

"Oh, we have this urgent house call! Very urgent!"

Both vanished with a speed that would have impressed Caridad. Chuck shook his head at the sight. Speaking of Caridad… "Demon trouble?" he asked in a low voice. That would explain why Morgan was so tired.

"What?" Morgan looked surprised.

"Are you dealing with a Council problem?" Chuck clarified. "You look like you haven't had enough sleep."

"Oh. No, no." His friend grinned. "I stayed up a little longer than usual, if you get my drift."

Chuck didn't. Then he did. Bane. "Ah."

"Yes." Morgan shook his head, his grin vanishing. "Looks like Aphrodesia married a cheater."

"Yes." And, apparently, Bane was talking about her missions with Morgan. Although, in this case, it might also have been a way to gather more information about Aphrodesia. It was hard to tell with spies.

"Well, I'd say it's karma, but that would seem petty," Morgan went on. After a moment, he added: "Like her."

Chuck had to laugh at that, even though he felt bad about it. "At least she'll get his money in the divorce." Unless the CIA decided to meddle. He sighed and changed the subject. "We haven't really had a game night lately, have we?"

"No, we haven't," his friend agreed. "Do you think Sarah and Kirsten would like one?"

"Uh…" Even if Sarah liked to play video games - which she didn't, at least not seriously - the odds that she wanted to spend her free time with Bane were… low. Really low.

"Right." Morgan nodded. "You know what we should do?"

"No?"

"Game night. Here at the Buy More. Home entertainment display room. Like we used to! We could hold a tourney!"

"Didn't we stop that after someone broke a flatscreen when they forgot to secure the Wii controller?" Chuck raised his eyebrows. Big Mike hadn't been amused. Not at all.

"Well, I've learned that lesson. It won't happen again. But think about it - we make it an employee event! Team building! Attendance is strictly voluntarily, of course." Morgan's enthusiasm seemed to grow with each sentence. "I bet you could sell this to Big Mike as a result of your weekend!"

cover story for being absent. "Whoa!" Chuck held up his hands. "You know Big Mike. He's not big on letting us use the store for such things."

"That's why you need to be the one to bring it up and blame it on Buy More Corporate policies!" Morgan beamed at him.

Chuck didn't want to bug Big Mike about this. If anything went wrong - and something would; he knew their staff - Chuck would get the blame. Even though it was actually a good idea. The home entertainment display room was being used by the staff anyway, so making it an official event wouldn't exactly do any harm. And spending a night playing games… Chuck realised that he had been missing this, now that he was thinking about it. But to bother Big Mike…

He blinked. He was risking his life as a spy (in training, at least) and preparing to join the Council so he could risk his life fighting demons. As a spy. And he was preparing to fool the CIA so his dad could rejoin his and Ellie's life. Big Mike was a store manager. Not a spy, assassin or demon. Chuck could handle him.

He nodded. "I'll do it."

"Yes!"

California, Burbank, Wienerlicious, January 28th, 2008

"...and he said that it was OK." Chuck shook his head. "I thought I'd have to argue a lot more. But, apparently, 'Buy More Corporate thinks this is a good idea' are the magic words for Big Mike." 'Thank you' and 'please' certainly weren't magic words for Big Mike. Or words he used.

"So now you're going to hold a 'game night' and charge it to the store?" Sarah seemed amused as she placed their usual drinks on the table.

"We're holding a team building event, thank you very much," Chuck replied with a grin and in his best 'assistant manager' tone.

Sarah laughed at that. "Well, I guess it'll be fun."

Of course it would be fun! And Sarah would… Oh. "You have to come too!" Chuck blurted out.

"I'm not a Buy More employee," Sarah pointed out.

"It'll be a family occasion. Including significant others. Like a company picnic!"

"That'd be a lot of people."

"Oh, no. Most of our employees don't have a family. At least not one they like." Chuck shook his head. "That'll add, at most, half a dozen to a dozen people."

Sarah frowned for a moment. "How many people do you expect in total?"

"About half a dozen serious gamers and probably a dozen casual gamers," Chuck told her.

"'Serious gamers'?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Yes." He ignored her scepticism. "People who can play competitively."

"Ah." She nodded, but he had the impression that she didn't quite understand the hardcore online gamer scene. But he also knew that this wasn't the time to try to educate her about it. "That's quite a big event."

"Oh, yes. But it won't be as big as say a company picnic, where everyone brings their extended family so they can eat on the company's dime," Chuck said, then blinked. "Oh. I think that's the real reason Big Mike approved this. The event will be much cheaper than a picnic."

Sarah chuckled. "It seems the conman got conned."

He frowned at her, but that only made her more amused. "Well, it'll be fun, anyway," he said. And that was what was important. "We have enough consoles and TVs to have a real match, like an old school LAN party."

She opened her mouth, presumably to ask what a LAN party was, but suddenly tensed and narrowed her eyes, looking past him at the door. He glanced over his shoulder. Oh. There was a redhead coming towards the store. And she looked vaguely familiar...

Jeans and top a little too fashionable for the area, shoes a little too sturdy for the ensemble, but, most importantly, the woman moved as if she was stalking someone. Sarah knew the attitude - that was a Slayer coming their way. Or something as dangerous. At least it couldn't be a vampire.

"Hi!" the Slayer smiled at them, then looked around, taking in the store and briefly locking eyes with Bane behind the counter before heading towards Sarah and Chuck.

"Uh, hi… Vi, right?" Chuck said, confirming Sarah's guess.

"You remembered!" The Slayer beamed at him. "Rona bet me you wouldn't."

"Rona?" Chuck looked lost.

"Even better! You remembered me and not her!" Without asking, 'Vi' grabbed a chair and sat down at their table.

"Uh…" Belatedly, Chuck looked at Sarah. "This is Vi, a Slayer. We met during the, uh, Wolfram and Hart apocalypse. Vi, this is Sarah Walker, and she's Kirsten Bane."

"Pleasure," Sarah lied.

"Hi" Bane waved with a smile.

"Hi!" The Slayer sniffed the air. "Oh, that smells delicious. Could I have a couple hot dogs? Xander said you made the best."

"Of course," Sarah replied, mentally counting how much that would set the back as she looked at Bane. The spy should know how much a Slayer ate from Caridad's visits.

"On it!" Bane imitated an eager employee perfectly. Too perfectly, Sarah thought - no one was that chipper in the morning.

"Thanks!" Vi nodded, then leaned forward. "So..."

"You've got our order," Sarah cut her off, glancing towards Bane for a moment.

Vi pouted for a moment, then nodded again. "Yes. Should have expected that, huh? You're spies, after all." She pulled out a small package. "Here!"

"Thank you," Chuck said, smiling. "We've been waiting for it."

"Yep. That's why we sent a courier. Well, that and I wanted to visit L.A.," Vi said as Sarah pocketed the package.

A few minutes later, the Slayer was stuffing her face with half a dozen hot dogs. Sarah hoped that the IDs would measure up. But even if Bane wasn't present, she couldn't check the quality of the fake IDs. As important - or more - than the quality of the forgery would be the electronic data trail. And she couldn't check those in the store. Nor could she use The Castle's facilities, not without alerting the CIA on her queries. She'd have to do that at home - and probably ask Orion to check them as well.

Vi said something that didn't make it past the two sausages in her mouth, then swallowed. "So, what's up in Los Angeles?"

"Technically, we're in Burbank," Chuck told her.

The Slayer snorted at that. "You sound like Andrew when you do that."

Chuck looked insulted at that, Sarah noticed. Unsurprisingly - she had heard stories about the man before. "Hey!" he said.

Vi, though giggled. "Just joking."

Yeah, right. Sarah knew about that excuse. But before she could change the subject, she spotted another figure coming towards the store. Grimes. And he looked like he had something to confess.

"Hi, Kirsten! Hi, Chuck. Hi, Sarah!" Grimes announced as he entered. He couldn't be more obvious than if he tried, in Sarah's opinion.

"Morgan? We were just talking thirty minutes ago." Even Chuck had noticed it.

"Ah, yes." Grimes nodded, then cleared his throat.

"Morgan?"

"Well, do you remember the game night event?"

"We just talked about it." Chuck narrowed his eyes, Sarah noticed.

"Yes. It's going to be a little bigger than first planned." Grimes's smile looked fixed on his face.

"A little bigger?"

"We're holding a game tournament for the entire Buy More Southern California Division."

"We what?" Chuck got up. "Morgan!"

"It wasn't my fault! You know the Buy More Net?"

"Buy More Net? Do you mean the online chatroom you use?"

"Err, yes. Anyway, I kind of told the other Buy More employees - employees of other stores, I mean - about our game night." Grimes winced under Chuck's glare.

"You bragged," Chuck said in a flat tone.

"A little. So… someone must have tattled, since Big Mike got a call, and, well..."

Chuck closed his eyes, sighing. "And now we have to hold a tournament for half a dozen stores. Great."

Sarah shook her head. Something that would have been a nice diversion for Chuck - doing something he loved - just turned into a huge project. Work, in other words.

"I've got good news, too, though!" Grimes piped up.

"Yes?" Chuck, understandably, sounded rather sceptically.

"Wienerlicious will be our caterer!"

She was supposed to spend the game night making and serving hot dogs?

"So, you two can officially attend!" Grimes went on, nodding several times.

They could refuse the contract. Although that would threaten their cover - someone might wonder why a small store would refuse such an opportunity. Damn.

Sarah would make Grimes pay for this.

Uh-oh. That was Sarah's 'I'm going to kill you' smile. And it was aimed at Morgan! Chuck had to intervene before something happened. "And did we get our budget increased as well?"

"Oh, yes," Morgan replied. "Big Mike ensured that. Straight from Corporate."

Which meant if the event wasn't a success, someone would discover that it wasn't actually a Buy More Corporate idea, as Chuck had insinuated to Big Mike. And that would mean Chuck would end up as the scapegoat. Great.

Well, it wasn't as if he needed the job. Not any more. But still… He sighed and focused on the task at hand "Well, we'll need to find another date with so many attendants. And we'll have to organise more consoles and screens." They should be able to find some cheap ones among the returns from the Christmas sales. And there were the ones they hadn't been able to sell at all, not even with a huge rebate.

"Ah, don't worry about that. You don't have the reschedule - we already agreed to keep the date," Morgan told him. "This Saturday is fine for everyone."

Chuck closed his eyes. They had less than five days to plan and prepare all of this? He should let Sarah kill Morgan.

California, Burbank, Buy More, January 28th, 2008

"Alright, guys!" Chuck announced as he entered the store. "Huddle!"

The staff gathered around him, in some cases leaving customers in the middle of a sale. He usually would correct that, but this was an emergency.

"You've heard about the game night tournament."

"Hell yeah!" Lester yelled. "We're going to crush them!"

Everyone else joined in with remarkable enthusiasm, whooping and stomping their feet.

"We're going to organise this," Chuck told them.

He narrowed his eyes. "So… Jeff, Lester. We need about three dozen additional consoles and TV screens." They nodded, smiling. Until Chuck added: "Don't break the law."

Chuck looked at Morgan. "We need more game copies. Check with the game companies if they want to sponsor this, No pirating!"

"Yes, sir!" Morgan saluted.

"Anna, check with the building manager. We need the central food court for that. There isn't enough room anywhere else in the store."

"Aye-aye, sir!"

"Burt, get us enough tables and chairs from the furniture section. Comfortable gaming chairs. And no sabotage!"

The heavy-set man nodded rather reluctantly. And Jeff and Lester were 'subtly' glancing at him.

Chuck glared at both of them. "I mean it - no sabotage. We're going to win this fair and square. Casey!" The NSA agent glared at him. "Keep an eye on them. No shady stuff!" Casey smiled in response, and the rest of the staff shuddered. Chuck felt a little intimidated himself, but continued. He had a task to finish.

"Carlos! Make sure that parking space is available for the other teams. Enlarge the staff section temporarily. On Saturday evening, not earlier," he added, to avoid confusion. Some of the staff needed very clear instructions. And very close supervision.

"Everyone else, back to your posts!"

They scattered. Chuck nodded. He had probably forgotten a few details, but they could be handled. The big tasks had been distributed. This should work. Hopefully. Now he had to talk to Big Mike about the budget. He turned - and almost walked into Vi. When - and how - had she sneaked up on him?

"That sounds like a great event!" she said, grinning. "Caridad's working for Wienerlicious, right? Can't wait to see her making hot dogs!"

Chuck blinked. He had forgotten about that particular detail. Caridad might not mind working the hot dog stand - it was free food, as far as the Slayer was concerned - but with another, rival Slayer watching? Probably teasing?

That could be trouble.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, January 28th, 2008

"Chuck?"

Chuck looked up from his half-written memo to Buy More Corporate about how a console tournament would be a great way to strengthen both employee motivation as well as brand identity. "Yes?"

"The IDs check out" Sarah announced as she closed her laptop.

"Ah." Chuck hadn't expected anything else, but it was good to get confirmation. Even if, all things considered, the IDs had come at a rather inopportune time, what with the blasted tournament about to take place. Provided Chuck didn't mess up. "So… when do we start that mission?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" That was, like, way too quick. He was busy with work, after all. So busy, he was working at home.

"We'll establish a presence there," Sarah explained. "We can keep working in Burbank - it'll add to our cover story if we're seen to commute to work. As long as we're not tailed."

"Ah." That sounded OK.

"I do have to organise a huge catering job, after all," she added with narrowed eyes.

That sounded bad. "Uh… sorry."

Instead of telling him that it wasn't his fault, she rolled her eyes in response.

That was even worse. "I'm really sorry," he said. "I didn't think it would spiral out of control like this. That was Morgan's fault."

"Yes."

Uh-oh. "Please don't kill him!"

She snorted, which was a good sign. "I'm not going to."

"Good."

"But I'll need a favour from you," she added.

"Sure! Anything!" He beamed at her.

"Make sure that Morgan supervises Vi, so she doesn't start trouble with Caridad during the event."

"Uh…" She was frowning again, he noticed, so he hastily agree. "Sure!"

Chuck hoped he hadn't just agreed to get Morgan maimed in a Slayer fight. Perhaps he had to talk to Phil about this. Watchers were supposed to handle such things, right? On the other hand, Morgan was training to become a full-fledged Watcher...

Damn, this was a mess.

California, Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, January 29th, 2008

"And here we have the kitchen. It's brand new, hardly used by the previous tenant, and sports the latest generation of kitchen aids and appliances. Check out the stove here, Mrs Black!"

Chuck kept a bland, polite smile on his face as he followed Mr John 'Call me Jack' Barnes into the kitchen. They had to play their role, he was well aware of that, but Barnes had a rather annoying manner. And rather patriarchal views, too.

"Oh, Charles is the cook in our little family," Sarah told the man.

Chuck glared at her behind the man's back, then smiled." Oh, yes. Sarah barely manages to boil water for tea." Smiling at Barnes became easier after seeing her reaction to that.

"Ah." Barnes wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Mr Black, check this out! Electric induction - the latest generation. And both a microwave and a stove!"

"Great." Chuck was tempted to demonstrate that being the cook of the family didn't mean you were a good cook, but he had teased Sarah already, and they were on a mission. "It did receive excellent results in the latest tests." He had read the Buy More reports, after all.

"Oh, yes, it did! This apartment is a marvel of progress! And you won't have to commute far at all, Mr Black!"

And his phrases were vintage sixties. Well, they were almost done with the tour, and then they could agree to rent it without appearing too eager.

California, Burbank, The Castle, January 29th, 2008

"So this is your secret base!" Vi exclaimed as she looked around with obvious interest. "We need something like that back in England!" Sarah was about to subtly ask what the Council had in England - gathering information was always useful - when the Slayer glanced at Caridad and added: "And it even has catering!"

Caridad, who was still wearing her Wienerlicious uniform, glared at the other Slayer. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing!" Vi was quick to reply with an altogether too-innocent smile. "I love that there's enough food at hand without having to cook myself or listen to complaints about my appetite."

Caridad frowned but seemed to accept that. "It's not exactly free," she said.

"Buffy said it was free!"

"That was during a mission to stop an apocalypse," Caridad replied. "You're just a tourist."

"I'm hunting demons, too!" Vi wasn't smiling any more, Sarah noticed. "I've already got a vampire today."

"A tourist, yes. Like on a safari. Or a poacher!" Caridad scoffed.

Sarah could almost feel the tension in the air as the two Slayers faced each other.

"Uh…" Chuck spoke up. "So, did you see the armoury yet?"

"Oh, the armoury!" And in an instant, Vi turned from a superpowered predator about to attack another of her kind into a gushing fangirl. "Faith told me about it! A bit light on blades, though, right?"

"Casey's been rectifying that," Sarah told her. "We've got swords and axes in addition to knives now."

"Ah, yes. Where's Casey? I didn't get to meet him in the store. And I've heard so much about him."

Chuck paled, Sarah saw. She wasn't quite as obvious with her reaction, but she shared the feeling. Caridad and Casey still hadn't sorted things out between the two of them. And that...

"Oh, really?" Caridad snarled and stepped up to Vi, showing a chair out of the way and into the wall with enough force to dent it. "What did you hear?"

"That he's a great guy," Vi replied with bared teeth.

If they came to blows in the middle of the base here, with expensive and easily breakable equipment surrounding them...

"Uh…" Chuck mumbled.

She had to intervene. Sarah cleared her throat and stepped up. "Have you seen our sparring room?"

The two Slayers' eyes lit up.

"Well… at least they got it out of their system?" Chuck said half an hour later as he was looking around in the utterly wrecked room.

Sarah glared at him. The repair costs, and the need to do the repairs in secret, wouldn't please the general at all.

"It was your idea? And you saved the rest of the base?"

He was blaming her for this? She glared harder at him.