Chapter 34: The Fallout Part 3

California, Burbank, Buy More, February 14th, 2008

Oh my God! The Chameleon was stalking Caridad! Chuck gasped. Fulcrum was tracking the Slayer. Slayers, in this case.

But why? Did they know about the Supernatural? Or - Chuck gasped again - did they think this was the CIA's secret project?

Either way, he had to inform the others. Including the Council.

And without getting tailed by the Chameleon.

"Chuck? What's wrong?"

Uh oh. Caridad was looking at him with a frown. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Is that scent fresh? Is the guy still around?"

She sniffed again. "No. It's not fresh."

That didn't mean that they weren't under observation, of course - Fulcrum hadn't sent just the Chameleon. And Chuck hadn't identified the other spies with the agent. "We need to discuss this. Spy stuff," he whispered.

"Oh." He could see her eyes light up. Of course, for a Slayer, this was good news.

Whether it was good news for everyone else remained to be seen.

California, Burbank, The Castle, February 14th, 2008

"...and it seems that Fulcrum's following Caridad, probably Vi as well." Chuck nodded and sat down.

"Damn," Casey spat, baring his teeth.

"This is bad," Sarah agreed. "If Fulcrum is aware of the Supernatural - or, worse, involved in it, then they are far more dangerous than we thought."

"On the other hand," Bane pointed out, "if they think the Slayers are a top-secret CIA team, then they are unlikely to suspect that Chuck's the Intersect."

Casey sneered at her. "It also means that they'll go after the Slayers and your boytoy, Bane."

Morgan jerked and opened his mouth, Chuck saw. Before his friend could protest - or agree, Chuck couldn't tell - Caridad scoffed. "So? We can kick their asses back to Langley!"

Vi nodded. "Now that we know they're enemy spies, we'll deal with them. Easy." She grinned widely.

"It would behove you not to underestimate our enemy," Phil admonished them. "Overconfidence is an often fatal weakness."

Caridad ducked her head a little, but Vi frowned. "I'm not underestimating them, but what can they do? We wait until we spot them again, then we sneak up on them and knock them out."

"Whether they actually are aware of the supernatural or not, we have to assume that they are now aware of your superhuman abilities," Phil replied. "And since they are experienced agents, they will take appropriate measures. They certainly won't underestimate you."

"Why would they be aware of the Slayers' abilities?" Bane asked.

Phil smiled a little ruefully. "I'm afraid that on a hunt, Slayers tend to be a little less than perfectly inconspicuous."

Vi had the grace to blush, though Caridad frowned. "I didn't jump any fence last night!"

"You just climbed them as fast as others could run the distance on the ground," Vi whispered - loud enough so everyone present could hear it.

"Shut up!" Caridad hissed back. "You were the one who had to jump out of the second floor!"

Phil's equally loud sigh silenced both.

Morgan cleared his throat. "But what will Fulcrum do? Will they try to kidnap them? Or kidnap their friends and family?"

"Probably the latter," Sarah said. "I doubt that they are set up to capture a Slayer."

"That's their style. Threaten your family to make you betray your country. As soon as you do, they've got you," Casey said.

"So, even though they think that I'm just a normal tech guy, they're still going to come after me?" Chuck winced. He could do without that sort of irony.

Casey chuckled. The agent obviously appreciated dark humour. As long, Chuck added to himself, someone else was the butt of the joke.

"Not just you," Sarah said. "They might come after Morgan, Phil, probably Ellie as well."

Damn. Chuck gritted his teeth. If they went after Ellie and Devon… they were working at the hospital. Protecting them would be very difficult.

"We shall have to take appropriate countermeasures," Phil said, as calmly as if he were discussing the weather.

The stereotypical stiff-upper-lip, Chuck thought. Of course, given their situation, Chuck wouldn't mind being able to do the same.

He still had to inform Dad of this new development, after all. And Dad would certainly get involved since Ellie was in danger. And Ellie's reaction...

Damn, this was a mess.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, February 14th, 2008

"Ellie's not happy about having to have a bodyguard," Sarah heard Chuck say as soon as the door closed behind him.

Elie wasn't happy about a lot of things, Sarah knew. With - usually - good reasons, of course. But this wasn't Chuck's fault, so it wasn't fair that he had to take the brunt of his sister's anger. On the other hand, who else could've told Ellie and Devon? "But she accepted it?" she asked as she entered the living room, carrying a tray with a few snacks.

"Yes. Grudgingly. At least Devon's more sensible." Chuck sighed as he sat down on the couch.

"They're not used to such things," Sarah pointed out as she put the tray down on the coffee table.

"Oh!" His face lit up as he grabbed a few of the cookies. "My favourites!"

"I know," she told him with a smile. "Consider it an apology for having you face your sister by yourself."

"Oh. You didn't have to," he replied. "This is, in a warped way, a family matter, after all. If not for Dad's plan, and my own involvement, Ellie wouldn't be in this situation."

"And your father's preplanned payments," she added.

"Yeah." He munched another cookie. "It's a mess, though. Bane will be wondering how Fulcrum noticed the Slayers."

"That'll be answered once we 'find' the financial data your father planted." It would actually work out better, this way - an answer to a question you were asking yourself was better received than some information out of the blue.

"Yes. If everything works as planned." He sighed again.

"You don't think that'll happen."

"We haven't been lucky lately," he told her. "Well, we were lucky in the fight. Fights," he corrected himself. But that that happened? That Dubois broke into the apartment? That was bad luck."

"That doesn't mean that it'll keep happening. That's not how it works," Sarah pointed out.

"Unless you're cursed," Chuck retorted.

What? "Cursed?"

He nodded. "Yes. Wishing someone bad luck is a common curse."

"You think we've been cursed?" What could be done about that?

"No, no, it was just a thought." He raised his hands. "If we were under a curse, I don't think we'd have survived the fight. Those curses tend to go very bad very quickly. At least the ones I've heard about."

She felt relieved. Being cursed would have…

He went on, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm no expert, though. I would have to ask Morgan."

"Do it. It won't hurt, at least."

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I'm sure it's nothing, though."

"Better safe than sorry."

"Right." He nodded. She noticed that he was chewing on his lower lip.

"Is there something else?" she asked.

"Well, kinda." He took a deep breath. "Bane."

"What about her?" she asked, deliberately not crossing her arms. That would have made her look defensive.

"Well… do you think she's in love with Morgan?"

Of course not! Bane was a trained honeytrap. The spy wouldn't fall for her mark. But Chuck looked so earnest. So hopeful. "I don't know," Sarah told him. "But even if she loves him, the question is: Would she choose him - and us - over the CIA?" And would they take the risk of being wrong about her?

"Ah." She saw him slump a little.

She leaned a little closer towards him. "Do you think Morgan has fallen for her?".

He clenched his jaws. "He says that he knows that she's a spy. That he knows what he's doing."

"You don't believe him," she stated.

He closed his eyes. "She's a very beautiful woman, and he's… Well, he hasn't been very lucky in love. He's vulnerable."

Sarah nodded. Grimes would be an easy mark. And Bane knew that, of course.

"It would be great if…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "This is such a mess."

Sarah nodded again. Yes, it was a mess. But they would sort it out. One way or the other.

California, Burbank, The Castle, February 16th, 2008

"I've gone over the financial data the FBI has recovered," Bane announced as soon as Chuck and Sarah entered the base's main room.

"Oh?" Chuck managed to say. Despite knowing this would - should - happen, he had a little trouble faking his reaction.

Sarah, on the other hand, naturally had no such trouble. She nodded as she smoothly took a seat at the table and asked: "What did you find out?"

"Gonzàlez was the one behind the payment to Chuck's sister," Bane replied.

"Oh." Surprise and puzzlement, Chuck told himself. "But… why? And how?"

Casey, leaning against the wall, scoffed. "You're a nerd washed out from Stanford for cheating - according to your files. Perfect recruiting material for a drug lord in need of IT support."

"Yes," Bane agreed, glancing - or frowning - at Casey. "And helping your family is a common approach. That's how the cartels foster goodwill among the population in their home country."

"Uh. So he thought I'd become a criminal if he paid Ellie money?" Chuck played dumb. "'Here's some money, no join me and support my drug empire'?"

"He probably would have been a little more subtle about it," Sarah pointed out as Casey snorted.

"Yes," Bane said. "Hire you for legitimate reasons at first - that's how he heard of you - and then gradually subvert you."

"Also helps with ferreting out moles," Casey added. "The DEA wouldn't be able to place a man in Chuck's position."

"But they could try to recruit such a prospect as a mole," Bane pointed out.

"They could, but the recruit wouldn't be trained for it," Sarah retorted, "and therefore more prone to making mistakes."

Chuck imagined being pressured by the DEA to infiltrate a drug lord's organisation. Like, two years ago. He winced. That would have been a disaster. No training, no skills, and pressure from the government… Although, but for the Intersect, it wasn't so different from what had happened to him. Sort of, though - he wouldn't have met Sarah.

He shook his head and focused on the situation at hand, not hypothetical disasters. "So… what does that mean for us?"

"It means we know how Fulcrum found the Slayers," Casey growled. "They went through you."

Chuck winced again. He knew that it was staged, but Casey didn't have to be so mean about it.

"It's not your fault," Sarah told him, frowning at the NSA agent.

"It's not," Bane agreed. "Everyone missed Gonzàlez's interest in you."

Chuck glanced at her. Was that just some general criticism that none of the spies had spotted this in advance? Or did she suspect something, and this was a subtle hint that she had seen through their plan? Or an attempt to get a reaction?

Casey sneered at her. "He wasn't under surveillance. But we didn't look up every client whose phone he repaired."

Hey! Chuck did a lot more than repairing phones - which was a difficult job, anyway.

"They would've had to look up his records in Stanford," Bane pointed out.

"That likely happened before he received the Intersect," Sarah replied. "Gonzàlez liked to play the long game."

Bane nodded, but Chuck couldn't help suspecting that she wasn't convinced.

Damn.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, February 16th, 2008

"So, the CIA knows about the link to Gonzàlez now?" Vi asked from where she was raiding their fridge.

"Yes," Chuck replied, wondering if he should go and try to save the leftover casserole from yesterday - he had hoped to eat that one. But to go between a Slayer and what food they considered theirs? There were easier ways to commit suicide.

"Just as planned?" She grinned then started to make a sandwich that even Big Mike would baulk at.

"More or less." Chuck couldn't mention his suspicion about Bane. Casey would want to kill her, and if they tried to test the spy, and things went wrong as they had with Dubois… But what if Bane suspected, and informed the general? Could he risk Dad? And what about Morgan?

"Is something wrong?" Vi asked, frowning at him.

Slayers. Never distracted by food when you needed them to be. "Just feeling a little guilty about everything," he lied.

Fortunately, she nodded and went back to chewing her way through what looked like a two-feet-long sub. "Don't worry," she said between bites, "We're handling it. Caridad's got Ellie covered, and I'm here."

"Aren't you supposed to go on patrol?"

"It's not yet late enough for the bloodsuckers to come out," she replied, finishing her meal. "And, technically, I'm lying in ambush."

"Ambush?" What?

"Well, if they are tracking Caridad, they'll come here, right?" She grinned. "And once they do, we can get them!"

Chuck hadn't heard of that. And he doubted that Sarah had - or she would be here with them, not at The Castle handling more spy work. This sounded like a Slayer plan - simple, direct and impulsive. And that usually wasn't a good plan when facing spies.

"They will expect that," he said.

"But they won't expect us," Vi said. "We can track them by scent." She tapped her nose with her index finger.

That was a good point. But… "What if they do expect that?" Slayers usually weren't exactly subtle when they were hunting.

"What can they do? Cover up their scents with perfume? We'll just track the perfume, then." Vi grinned again, finishing her sandwich from hell.

"Well… they could lead you to an area saturated with the same scent," Chuck said. "That would make it harder to track them - you would have to check for scents all around the edge, and you still wouldn't know if a particular scent was the one you wanted." He blinked. "Or they could get into a car and simply drive away."

"Then I'll follow them in my car."

She had a car? "Did you train to follow someone without getting noticed?" Chuck asked. He knew how Slayers tended to drive, after all. Doing a hundred miles per hour or more on a highway while weaving between the slower cars like a hummingbird on acid was many things - terrifying first came to mind - but inconspicuous it wasn't.

Vi pouted, and Chuck relaxed a little. It seemed that even the Slayer realised that things weren't as simple as she wanted them to be. Then she grinned. "Oh, I've got the solution! Casey's trained for that kind of driving, right?"

"Uh…"

"I'll go ask him!"

And she was out of the door. Great. Caridad wouldn't like this. At all.

California, Burbank, Buy More, February 18th, 2008

"...and she goes and tells me not to worry, she's got it handled! Can you imagine that? And the idiot didn't tell her off, but went along with it! They're now 'guarding' Ellie and Devon while at work! In Casey's car!"

No, Caridad really didn't like that Vi had recruited Casey as a driver. Even though it made sense. "Well, Vi's just a visitor, so she doesn't have to worry about her day job or cover story," Chuck started to explain.

"A visitor who's overstayed her welcome," Caridad interrupted him with a snarl.

"Uh…" He wasn't going to touch that subject with a ten-foot pole. "Anyway, you've got an excuse to be in this area, working at the Wienerlicious, so you're the logical choice to guard the Buy More without raising any suspicions."

"That doesn't mean Casey needed to go with her!" Caridad stomped her foot, and Chuck wondered how she avoided breaking her shoes - or the floor.

"Well… someone who can tail a car is needed to be with her," Chuck pointed out. "And he'll be missed the least by an enemy spy - what with Sarah being my girlfriend and Kirsten going out with Morgan." That earned him another glare, though he didn't quite know what for. "Anyway," he went on, "perhaps…" He trailed off at her expression.

She looked like she was about to gag. He sniffed the air, but couldn't smell anything. Wait… a faint odour… something chemical. Growing stronger. What could that be?

His phone rang. Morgan's ringtone. "Yes?"

"Chuck! There's a chemical spill somewhere! The ventilation system is spreading it!"

Damn! It had to be Fulcrum. But would they go as far as poisoning an entire store? He didn't think so. But could he risk being wring? "We have to evacuate the store," he told Morgan.

"Are you sure?"

The customers had noticed it already - he could see a few holding their noses and looking around. "Yes." He grabbed the microphone and selected the channel for announcements. "Dear customers, due to some technical difficulties, we need to evacuate the Buy More. Please leave the store in an orderly fashion. There is no..."

A man dropped, convulsing, in the middle of the hallway, and people started to scream. He gasped - then held a hand in front of his nose and mouth. What if this was poison? Nerve gas? Wasn't that supposed to be odourless?

But there was a panic starting. He had to do something! There were children among the customers! "Caridad! Help the customers! Get the kids out! Keep them from being trampled!"

As he rushed towards the fallen man, he spotted foam around his mouth. But no one else had collapsed, so it couldn't be nerve gas, could it? Perhaps a seizure?

In any case, he had to get the man out of the store and to a paramedic or doctor before the crowd trampled over him.

Chuck dodged a screaming woman running past him and was almost trampled by a man large enough to outmass Chuck and Casey put together yet still quite nimble. Then he had to climb over a toppled display, scaring away a group of teenagers trying to loot it, before he reached the man on the ground.

"Sir? Can you understand me?" he yelled to be heard over the screaming and crying all around them as he crouched down to check the man's vitals. "Sir?"

He grabbed the man's shoulder, reaching for his neck to check for a pulse, when, suddenly, the man rolled around, and Chuck saw that he was holding something in his hand.

Then pain filled him, and he collapsed, convulsing.

Taser, he realised, right before everything went dark.

California, Burbank, Wienerlicious, February 18th, 2008

"Chuck's not answering his phone!" Sarah grabbed the pistol from the concealed compartment under the register and vaulted over the counter. She saw people running out of the Buy More - an evacuation?

"Morgan's on the phone," Bane yelled after her. "Someone released a chemical inside."

She glanced over her shoulder as she stuffed the pistol into her waistband - it wasn't much, but it would hide it from casual glances. "Poison?"

"He doesn't think so," Bane replied.

That didn't mean anything; Grimes wasn't exactly an expert for poison. Unless it was related to demons. Probably. Sarah grabbed a gas mask anyway.

By the time she reached the entrance of the store, Chuck still hadn't answered his phone and hadn't appeared on their encrypted radio channel, either. Worse - the people rushing out of the store were screaming about poison gas.

Sarah hesitated a moment, which allowed Bane to catch up. Poison gas. Would Fulcrum go as far? Even if they wanted to blame terrorists through their moles in the CIA and NSA, this might be too much. But if this was a nerve gas...

But Chuck was inside and needed help. "Cover the main entrance!" she snapped. "I'll go through the side entrance."

"Copy."

Sarah was running before she heard Bane's answer. A chemical attack, a panicking crowd… what was Fulcrum's game? Was this an attack on the entire team, a distraction, or an attempt to make them drop their cover?

If so, she was playing into their hands - but she had to get to Chuck. If there was a chemical attack… a gas mask wouldn't do much against nerve gas. And Chuck would…

She forced the thought away as she rounded the corner. Staff members were rushing out of the side entrance. Jeff and Lester in the front. She stopped them with a glare. "Where's Chuck?"

"Chuck? We haven't seen him."

"He gave the order to evacuate."

"He was at the Nerd Herd desk," Anna said.

That meant the closest exit would have been the main entrance. She clicked her radio - hopefully, Anna would think that her headset was connected to a phone - and called Bane. "Did Chuck leave the building?"

"I didn't see him."

If Chuck had left, he'd rush to establish communication.

Sarah entered the building.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Anna called after her.

"She's going for Chuck," Sarah heard Lester reply before the door fell shut behind her.

She raced through the maze-like backstage section, past the main 'break room', until she reached the store section. There was the Nerd Herd desk. No Chuck. She pulled the mask on and started searching. Most of the customers had left - she could see about a dozen or so, mostly teenagers, plundering the store.

But no Chuck. Where was he? "Where did the smell originate?" she asked.

"Morgan says in the central area."

The food court. But it was deserted.

"The fire brigade and the police have arrived," Bane reported.

Sarah muttered a curse. If she stayed, they'd take her in for questioning. And if they found her gun… She heard footsteps coming towards her and ducked, taking cover behind a taco stand. If that was an enemy spy...

"It's me, Sarah!"

Caridad? Sarah checked. Yes, that was the Slayer. She stood, hiding her pistol again.

"Chuck went to help a convulsing guy," Caridad told her, pointing at an empty spot. "Right there. He told me to save the kids," she added.

Sarah nodded. "Chuck would do that."

"If I had stayed…" Caridad shook her head, then knelt down at the spot she had indicated. "The chemical is throwing off his scent."

"Ah." Had Fulcrum counted on that? Or was that just a coincidence? "We need to leave," she told the Slayer. "The police is coming."

"Alright. Out the back?"

"Through the basement," Sarah told her. "Possible chemical attack? They'll cordon it off right away."

"Great."

They ran back to the staff area, Caridad making it look like a jog. "Where's your radio?" Sarah asked.

"One of the kids I was carrying ripped it off, and I couldn't drop them to pick it up."

Seriously? Well, Fulcrum wouldn't have been able to plan that, at least. But if the police found it… well, they'd have to replace the network anyway, Fulcrum could have compromised it if they got Chuck.

She hit the radio again before they entered the basement. "Track Chuck's watch."

"Copy."

"You can track his watch?" Caridad asked.

"There's a homing beacon built in."

"Why didn't you track him right away?"

"It doesn't work well within such a building," Sarah told her. "I would have to get very close to find him inside here."

"Ah."

California, Burbank, The Castle, February 18th, 2008

"Chuck's beacon isn't sending a signal," Sarah heard Bane inform her as soon as she and Caridad entered the base.

Sarah nodded. She had to stay calm. Chuck needed her at her best. "They either destroyed the watch or have him in a shielded area." Or both. That's what she'd have done.

"Yes. We've got a copy of the surveillance records before the police sealed them. The convulsing man was a trap - tasered Chuck and dragged him off," Bane went on as the footage started to play on the screen.

Had Fulcrum counted on Chuck rushing to help the man? Had they studied him so much? Or were they just expecting to get close to him like that because he was the assistant manager? "Did you get a picture of their car?"

"Yes, but it was probably stolen - the plates belong to a delivery service," Bane replied.

"We need that van," Caridad said. "If I can get the scent of the kidnappers, I can find them."

The Slayer wasn't really planning to search Los Angeles with her nose, was she? But if she knew the kidnappers' scents, she could identify them, should they appear again. "Yes," Sarah agreed.

"Alright. Let's see where it pops up."

And they could only hope that the kidnappers planned to use Chuck as leverage against Caridad and Vi. If they knew that Chuck was the Intersect, all would be lost.

California, Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, February 18th, 2008

The van was where Orion had found it with a little - or a lot of - hacking: Properly parked inside a garage, the fees paid in advance. The odds that it was a trap were low - car thieves getting blown up tended to attract police attention Fulcrum wouldn't want, especially with the 'chemical attack' reports still outnumbering the 'chemical spill' reports in the news. And they had checked for surveillance devices and ambushes.

Sitting in her own car, Sarah still eyed the vehicle very cautiously. Chuck's kidnapping had shown that you couldn't afford to underestimate Fulcrum. Something she wished the Slayers had learned without Chuck going missing. Or would learn - Sarah wasn't sure whether the two Slayers had realised that they couldn't just rush off as soon as they got the scent of the enemy.

"So… is it safe?" Grimes asked next to her

"I don't sense anything," Caridad said from the back.

"And no one is hiding in a car according to the pictures we took with the thermal thingie," Vi added. "Let's go before the trail grows cold. Colder."

Sarah frowned. It made sense that both Slayers would be here, to pick up the enemy's scent. And someone would have to keep guarding Ellie, which meant Casey in this case. And Bane had to stay in the Base, to handle the General. And to staff Wienerlicious, if it was needed to keep up appearances or to answer the police's questions. She didn't really mind being outnumbered by the Council, either - it was for Chuck, after all.

But she would have preferred Phil to Morgan. If only the older Watcher had been available instead of being off to Sunnydale for some 'reading' or other linked to a Slayer mission.

She pressed her lips together and focused on the mission, Chuck needed help. After another look around the garage - there were no cameras; one reason Fulcrum had dropped off the car here, she thought - and nodded. "Let's go. But be careful."

"Always!" Vi replied - but both Slayers were already sprinting towards the van.

"They are remarkably patient, given the circumstances," Grimes offered, unasked, as they followed the two at a less superhuman pace.

Sarah nodded, though she was sure that this was temporary, due to Caridad feeling guilty about Chuck having been kidnapped 'under our noses'. Still, she would take what she could get in this case.

By the time they reached the van, Caridad had already opened it - with more skill than Sarah had expected - and both Slayers were literally sniffing the interior.

"Chuck definitely was in here," Caridad stated. "His smell is all over the back."

"Is there any blood?" Sarah couldn't see any, but she didn't have supernatural senses.

"Doesn't smell like it," Vi replied as she opened the driver's door and started to smell the seat. "Cheap aftershave," she complained. "Between the chemical stench and this, I can barely make out the real scent."

Was that planned, or just the result of a good spy using an aftershave appropriate to their cover? There was no way to tell. "'Barely'?" Sarah asked.

"I've got their scent. Well, his scent."

Caridad pushed her head over the seat's backrest and nodded. "Male, yes."

While they tried to pick up the scent of the other spies in the van, Sarah turned to Grimes. "Anything?"

"Err…" He looked up. "There's no sign of magic, as far as I can tell." He shrugged. "Unless they've got a really sneaky mage with them, that means there's no magic involved."

Sarah didn't quite share the man's estimate of his own skills, but the two Slayers backed him up, 'not smelling any magic either', as Caridad put it. It was good news, of a sort. If Fulcrum had access to such magic… "Can we track him?"

"Oh, yes. Once Phil's back we can do a tracking ritual - we've got blood samples of Chuck."

Once more, she pressed her lips together. The idea that you could be tracked by a spell like that… It might save Chuck's life, but Sarah still had reservations about handing out samples of her own. Though she doubted that she'd have a choice once they were officially working for the Council. "Anything else? Discarded syringe? Cigarette stub? DNA samples?"

"Nothing," Grimes told her.

"Not even a hair out of place here," Caridad added.

That was unfortunate. Fulcrum spies were professionals, but no one was perfect.

Caridad and Vi left the van and started sniffing the ground. Like bloodhounds, Sarah thought - not that she would ever say that out loud.

"This way," Caridad declared about a minute later.

The scent trail led them to an empty parking field on the same floor, about twenty yards down the line. "The trail ends here," Vi said.

Sarah nodded. "We'll need to get the records of the car parked here before." A quick text informed Orion, and five minutes later, she received the records. "A rental," she summed up. "One without a tracking device, though."

"Ambush at the rental firm?" Caridad asked with a bright expression.

"There are dozens of locations in Los Angeles alone where they can return the car," Sarah told the Slayer. They'd have to get very lucky to catch the kidnappers - or one of them - like that.

And Sarah didn't think their recent string of bad luck had ended yet.

California, Burbank, The Castle, February 18th, 2008

"Can you find him? Or do we need more of his stuff? If we do, just say the word, and I'll get more. Won't take long."

Sarah rolled her eyes - though with her back to Caridad. The Slayer had been pestering Brown-Smythe almost non-stop since the Watcher had returned. She must be feeling really guilty for letting Chuck be kidnapped under her watch.

Not entirely unjustified, of course, in Sarah's decidedly unbiased opinion. If Caridad had stayed with Chuck, Fulcrum wouldn't have managed to take him. And the kids she had evacuated would have been fine. Probably.

She sighed. That had been so Chuck. Brave, selfless, and without thinking things through.

"I do think that we have all the materials we need, so you can refrain from pilfering more of Chuck's belongings, dear," the Watcher replied - as patiently, or at least appearing so, as he had the first time Caridad had asked.

"Then what's the hold-up?" the Slayer demanded, before flinching. "Sorry, I mean…" She shrugged, lips pressed together.

"I'm not as talented in the arts as others," Brown-Smythe replied, "so I have to compensate with thorough preparations."

"It's still faster than calling Willow," Grimes added without looking up from where he was drawing chalk lines on the base's floor.

"Not to mention that Miss Rosenberg might not be available - as distressing as Chuck's kidnapping is, it's unlikely to be the sole current crisis," the older Watcher replied. "Hand me the white candles, please."

The Slayer moved so quickly, Sarah almost expected to hear a sonic boom. She could understand the feeling, of course - she hated waiting, helplessly, uselessly, while others worked to rescue Chuck.

She had to be calm, though, and couldn't let her anxiety show. She was in charge, after all, with Casey still guarding Ellie and Devon. Well, there was Bane, but the other spy understood things. At least as far as the spy side was concerned - she was eyeing the growing circle on the floor with a guarded expression.

"It's just a spell," Sarah told her.

"I know."

Sarah nodded. She knew what the other spy was thinking. "That's part of the reason for the secrecy," she told her. "Imagine if the agency and our enemies used magic."

"Who says they don't?" Bane shot back. "There are a lot of secret projects, and I can't see the Russians or the Chinese not taking such an opportunity."

"They learned their lesson after a few near-apocalypses in the Cold War," Vi suddenly cut in from behind them.

Sarah managed not to jerk, but Bane gasped. The Slayer had snuck up on them, perhaps even without meaning to, Sarah knew.

"That the leaders were more than a little paranoid helped, of course - they didn't trust witches to begin with," Vi went on. "So, there's a sort of gentlemen's agreement about these sort of things. It's not perfect but works well enough. Until it doesn't, and we have to clean up another cabal or two."

"How reassuring," Bane said in a flat voice.

"Don't worry - the Council got the big stuff handled." Vi beamed at them.

Sarah did worry, though. But right now, Chuck was far more important. They had to find him - as quickly as possible. Who knew what Fulcrum was doing to him?

Unknown Location, Unknown Time and Date

They were torturing Sarah. She had surrendered after they had threatened to kill him, and now they were torturing her. And it was all his fault. If he hadn't been kidnapped, if he hadn't been the Intersect, she would have been safe.

And he couldn't do anything. He couldn't even activate the Intersect to make them stop hurting her. He was useless. Worse than useless. He was...

Chuck woke up with a gasp. A nightmare. Just a nightmare. A familiar one, too. He sighed, then realised that it was far too dark for his room, and that he couldn't move.

Then he remembered. The chemical attack. The man convulsing. The taser.

Oh my Gosh! He had been kidnapped. By Fulcrum. They knew he was the Intersect! No!

He pulled on his bounds, trying to break them, but to no avail. Of course they would be prepared for that. Stupid. And they had taken his watch, so his friends wouldn't be able to locate him.

He had to calm down. He didn't know if they knew he was the Intersect. They could have kidnapped him merely to extort the Slayers. Which wasn't really any better, though. In fact, that would be quite close to his nightmare.

No. This wouldn't happen. He just had to stay calm. The others would save him. He just had to hold out until they came. He could do that. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do. Or could do anything but wait,

In the darkness. While tied to a bed. At least it was a bed, and not some metal slab with a laser pointed at him. Or a rack. Or…

He really had to calm down and stop letting his imagination run wild. What was the special training POWs were supposed to go through? Before they became POWs, of course. Improvise, adapt, overcome? No, those were the marines.

Stay calm. That was the first thing. Panicking wouldn't help.

Suddenly, lights blinded him, and he shrieked.

"Good evening, Mr Bartowski."

Chuck blinked, as his eyes started to adjust. That was a man's voice. Smooth, but… something else, too. "Uh…"

"How eloquent." He heard the man chuckle.

His vision cleared and he saw a middle-aged man, slim, sitting in a chair about two yards away from his bed. They were in a rather bare room - just his bed, the chair, and… was that a bucket in the corner? Raw concrete, like a basement. Or a bunker. Or some ugly architectural trend.

"Uh… who are you?" Chuck asked bad guys liked to talk, right?

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

He blinked again. What?

The man laughed. "I always wanted to say that."

Oh God - he had been kidnapped by a crazy spy. That was bad.

Chuck swallowed. "Uh… why did you kidnap me? If you need some tech support, there are much easier ways to get help. Our rates are very reasonable."

The man laughed again. "You do not disappoint - I love a man with a sense of humour." Suddenly, he grew serious. Dead serious - Chuck shivered at the man's expression. "It's a decent attempt at keeping your cover, but entirely pointless, Mr Bartowski. We know exactly who you are. And what has been done to you."

Chuck paled. They knew. They knew he was the Intersect!