I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.

This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old.

Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well.

The Fall of Fulcrum

x-x-x-x-x

The much anticipated mission to capture a Fulcrum Elder was underway. Chuck and Casey were in Casey's Crown Vic following Sarah's Porsche from a safe distance. Casey had the audio from Sarah's wire patched into the car radio meaning they could both hear what was going on.

Casey turned to Chuck. "Why are you so jumpy?" he snapped. "Would you settle down? You're making me nervous."

"I'm worried about Sarah," Chuck admitted. "I hope this works. Without a wire, she's going to be completely on her own. We'll have no way to know what is happening. I also didn't realize that she was going to be on her own with Jim Smith until we can get there."

"Don't worry about Walker," Casey replied. "The wire is the main issue. I hope this works too. I have to say, it's a long shot. Smith is a non-issue. She can handle him and be bored doing it. Worst case, she'll just have to play a little scrabble."

Casey smiled as he saw the look on Chuck's face. "Come on Bartowski," he teased. "It's only going to be an hour… or two. They're only going to have time for two games of scrabble. Three tops. You said yourself that she's very good at it. I'm not sure how good of a player Smith is. Maybe she'll have to do most of the work for a few games."

Casey was clearly enjoying his revenge. "You know," he continued. "I was sort of pissed that you went on and on today about how good a scrabble player Walker is. But now that I know, it makes me feel a lot better about the mission. A lot better. Thank you for that." He looked at Chuck's face.

Yup, it never got old.

x-x-x-x-x

"Show time," Sarah said as she parked the car, knowing that the guys would hear her over the wire.

Chuck turned to Casey and smiled.

Casey could only shake his head sadly. "Yes," he growled. "I know. Show time. It's an expression we use. Get over it."

Sarah knocked on the door of their hotel room. After a moment, Smith answered the door. "Sarah?" he asked in a shocked whisper. "I thought we were going to meet outside?"

Sarah fought the urge to laugh at the look of shock on his face. She turned on her megawatt smile. It was time to get this guy to turn off his brain. "Well, Jim," she said. "There's been a slight change in plans. Can I come in?"

Carina was standing there waiting. "Hi, Blondie," she said with her own megawatt smile. "I've been expecting you. Are we ready to do this?"

Smith looked anxiously between the two smiling faces. Something was up. He just wasn't sure what exactly. He was clearly confused. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Jim," Sarah said calmly. "Carina knows about tonight."

This was not good. Smith maybe didn't know Carina all that well… they had only been together for a few weeks… but so overtly planning on cheating on her with her best friend couldn't be something she'd take well. "She knows?" he asked with a gulp. "Are… are you pissed? I can explain."

Pissed didn't even come close. Carina was a hothead to begin with. Her partner turning out to be a traitor was enough to set her over the edge. The fact that it had the brass questioning her own loyalty, putting her stellar career in jeopardy, only served to double down on her fury. Her new hookup attempting to cheat on her behind her back only piled on. Good luck explaining that. The competitive thing of losing a man to Sarah was also in there someplace. Sarah had to do some serious talking last night to keep her from shooting him and claiming it was an accident. It wouldn't be the first time.

But actually, this turned into a great opportunity. They all knew that there was no way for Sarah to get into a meeting with a Fulcrum Elder wearing a wire. It would be foolish to try. These guys weren't stupid. If they had followed the original plan, standard procedure dictated that, at a minimum, she'd get strip searched. If they found a wire… there would be no way to explain it. Things could get very messy. There was only one way… if they thought that she had already been searched. And that's where Carina came in.

"Relax, Jim," Sarah said with a smile. "Everything's great. I just don't think you understand how close Carina and I are. We were recruited together. We went through training together. We were partners for years. We decided that if I'm going to join your organization, then Carina will too."

Carina grinned as she stepped over to Sarah and put her arms around her waist. "Tell him the good part," she said. "Being deep undercover is very lonely. We learned that there are other things we like to do together too."

Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the look on his face. "That's right, Jim," she said as she leaned over and kissed Carina's forehead. "We do things together all the time. There are certain things that a woman simply does better. We have gotten very good at it."

Carina set the hook. "We want to go to the meeting together," she said. "We want to join your organization together. And then we want to come back here and give you everything that you deserve together."

"You'd like that Jim?" Sarah asked in her most seductive voice. "Wouldn't you?"

Smith wasn't sure that he wasn't being played. He nodded cautiously.

Carina went for the jugular. "We have to make sure she isn't wearing a wire," she said. "I think that standard operating procedure would be a strip search. It will save time when we get there if you've already performed it. Don't you agree?"

One thing that Sarah had to give Carina. The girl was an expert in taking people's clothes off. Sarah never even felt her zipped being lowered. But her dress was suddenly pooled on the floor. One thing was for sure, there was no place to hide a wire. At least her high beams weren't on. That was a Chuck only thing. "Wait a minute," she said. "Carina might be wearing a wire too. She also needs to be searched." Sarah maybe wasn't as experienced in these things as Carina was, but she quickly enough had her friend's dress similarly pooled at her feet. "Any questions?"

Carina turned to Smith. "Isn't she beautiful?" she asked. "You're in for a real treat tonight. She's a tiger in these situations. I can't wait to get back here and get started. Can we get going?"

Smith found himself looking at two of the most beautiful women in the world, standing there in only stockings and heels. They both did a slow turn to give him the full view. Certainly there was no wire anyplace… just lots of skin. "Wow," he said as he looked back and forth between Sarah and Carina. "Hell yes. Let's get going."

Inside the car, Casey and Chuck were roaring with laughter. "That poor bastard," Casey said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "He thinks that he died and went to heaven. He doesn't have a clue that they're palming each other's wires. If he's lucky tonight, he'll get killed. Lord help him if those two get him back in that room later. If I get a clean shot tonight, I just might put him out of his misery."

Chuck was laughing hard. Sarah had warned him last night that something like this was going to happen. Okay, this creep was seeing her naked. That was a view that, hopefully sometime in the future, would be reserved only for him. But he had to admit, it was very effective. Smith's thoughts were now consumed with getting a closer look. Sarah wasn't bashful about men seeing her without clothes, in fact she seemed to enjoy the power it brought. If this was the worst thing that happened tonight, he'd be lucky. And he knew Sarah well enough to know that she would make sure that he paid dearly for the view… soon. "Casey," he said.

"I'm not big on seeing anybody suffer. But this I have to see."

x-x-x-x-x

Casey and Chuck again followed the Porsche from a safe distance. There was no need to get close since they were tracking the GPS signal in her car. While they watched, the Porsche stopped and parked in front of a three story commercial office building. They couldn't help but notice that the parking lot was surprising full for this time of night. Casey parked the car on the other side of the parking lot in a spot that afforded a strategic view of the main and side entrances. By the time they were in position, Sarah, Carina, and Smith had already entered the building.

Casey and Chuck were listening to Sarah's wire while Casey phoned in the location. For some time there had been nothing but small talk. The plan had hit pay dirt. Smith's boasting assurance that they had already been strip searched got them out of a repeat.

Suddenly came a man's voice. "Mr. Jones will see you now."

"Carina Miller, Sarah Walker, I'd like you to meet Steve Jones," Smith said.

As soon as heard the name, Chuck flashed. "Casey," he said. "Steve Jones is the Fulcrum Elder. He is also a two star general."

Casey looked at Chuck sadly. "The Intersect is a wonderful thing," he said. "But I don't need it to tell you about General Jones. I served under him in 1993. He was the commanding officer of the air base I was assigned to. I would have never figured him to be Fulcrum. This is very bad news. It explains a lot. Fulcrum has contacts very high in the military. That's why they always know everything about our plans."

Chuck couldn't keep the concern from his voice. "Do they know about Sarah?" he asked. "She is a sitting duck."

Casey was already on the horn with Beckman. He covered his mic for a second. "I don't think so," he replied. "There are only a handful of people who know about the Intersect project. Jones isn't that high up the food chain. If they knew about you, they would have grabbed you months ago. The problem is, if they checked up on Walker. Why is such a top agent on what looks like such a nothing assignment? We don't want them asking themselves that."

At least Jones appeared friendly. "Sarah Walker, no kidding?" he said as he shook Sarah's hand. "Carina, Sarah, it's very nice to meet you. Mr. Smith, will you please wait outside while I talk with these lovely ladies?"

It wasn't really a request. "Yes, sir," Smith said and left the room.

Sarah and Carina were sitting in a room across the desk from a known Fulcrum Elder.

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they had pulled into the parking lot, Casey and Chuck began to notice activity. Cars were coming and going far too frequently for an office building at this time of the night. Chuck finally got a good look at one of the men walking into the building. He immediately flashed." "Casey," he said after the flash was over. "That guy is Fulcrum."

Then another flash hit Chuck. Then another, and another, and another. They were coming so frequently that Casey was becoming concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Stop looking at them."

Chuck wasn't okay. But it had nothing to do with the effects of flashing. "These guys are all Fulcrum," he said. "I just counted twelve of them enter that building in the last five minutes. This isn't just a meeting place. This must be headquarters. Sarah is in big trouble. We have to go get her."

Casey knew that he had to calm him down. "Relax," he said. "Our backup is in route. I'll call in the cavalry."

Casey had an open link to both Beckman and Larkin. He keyed his mic.

"General, we have a situation."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Smith left the room, Sarah turned her megawatt smile towards Jones. Her mind was racing. This guy knowing her name was very bad news. There was only one way to play that. A denial would be pointless… and probably fatal. Her only hope was that he hadn't actually looked at her file recently. The good news was that it was sealed. Fortunately, Chuck had, well, not taught her how to play dumb. She already knew the technique. But he had reinforced it lately. "Have you heard of me?" she asked.

Jones laughed out loud. "You're kidding, right?" he asked. "The famous Sarah Walker? I'm sure that almost everyone in the intelligence community has heard of you. And Agent Miller, you've also had a fine career. You're both more beautiful than I'd been told, and that's saying something. I'm looking forward to seeing more of you."

The double entendre was pretty predictable. Surely he was already planning on seeing much more of them, maybe yet tonight. Sarah's spy instincts were ringing off the charts. But there was only one way to play this. "Thank you, sir," she replied. "That is most flattering. I think I can speak for Agent Miller when I say that we're also looking forward to you seeing more of us." Two could play the double entendre game. So overtly flirting with this guy might backfire. It might get him aggressive. If he wanted to see more of them right here in his office, they weren't in any position to refuse. They would have to be very careful to hide each other's wires just like they had done with Smith earlier. But it was a risk that she felt was worth it. "This is a great honor for us."

Jones got more serious. "Let's put some cards on the table," he said. "Agent Walker, you're perhaps the very last agent I would expect to be sitting here. Why would you want to join Fulcrum?"

This was rapidly getting serious. Flirting aside, his admitting that he was Fulcrum had just crossed a Rubicon. It was now either sell this to him, or they wouldn't be leaving… at least not alive. She didn't know what specifics he knew about her career or what Smith had told him. Those stories didn't exactly mesh. No matter what happened, she couldn't draw any attention to Chuck. "First," Sarah began. "Maybe I was famous once. But in this business, famous people make enemies. Sometimes, those enemies become management. My career hasn't gone so well lately."

"So I've heard," Jones said. "It's sad that they would throw away such a talent."

Sarah breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had obviously talked to Smith. Her bluff had worked. He bought it. "It is," she agreed. "If you know about me, you must know that I'm insanely intense. I've had this growing feeling for a long time that we're heading in the wrong direction. That's getting unbearable."

Carina stepped in for support. "We've talked about this for hours upon hours," she said. "Sir, I'm not going to try and deceive you. This was a tough decision for us. We didn't make it lightly. But the fact is that we've lost our edge. We're letting politicians drive us into the ground. The United States is the only superpower and yet we don't act like it. We play second fiddle to pussy organizations like NATO and the United Nations. We finally decided that it was time that we got on the right side of that battle."

Jones was plainly impressed. "I agree completely," he said. "You said that very well. What would you be willing to do for Fulcrum?"

It was time to ratchet up the flirting again. "Sir," Sarah said. "We've always done anything that was required to fulfill a mission. Assigning those missions is above our pay grade. We never question orders. Our job is to do what we're told, right, Carina?"

"Yes, sir," Carina agreed. "Anything."

Jones's grin turned predatory. "And you wouldn't mind proving that?" he asked.

Sarah again breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had just snatched up the bait. For the first time, she felt like she had the upper hand. "Of course, sir," she said snappily. "You're right to be skeptical. We always knew that we would have to prove ourselves. Try us."

"I'm going to do just that," Jones said. "We have a very important contact. He supplies us with heroin from Afghanistan. We use the profits from the sale of this product to fund our activities worldwide. We need to keep an eye on this contact. We also need to keep him happy. I'm sure that the two of you can keep him very, very happy. Would you accept this assignment?"

Sarah grinned. How predictable was that? At least he wasn't going to insist that they get naked here in his office… not yet anyway. Fucking some mark into submission was a common test with these men. It was doubtful that this guy was as he represented, probably some underling who he was rewarding… but it did jive with what Chuck's flash told him about Smith. Jones probably wasn't convinced yet, but it really didn't matter. Once they were out of this building alive, this was over. Maybe ratchet up the flirting another notch. It couldn't hurt, right? So she leaned forward and followed his eyes. She made no attempt to hide that she was giving him a look down her dress at the impressive cleavage on display, and he made no attempt to hide that he was taking full advantage. "Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir," Sarah said. "This is something that we're very good at. We won't let you or the contact down."

Jones smiled. "Report back here tomorrow at oh eight hundred," he said. "Smith will go with you. You're not to leave his sight until you return. Be prepared to be gone for as long as a month or two. Pack evening wear and anything else you'll need to make this man happy. You'll receive the full briefing tomorrow. Any questions?"

"No, sir," Sarah and Carina replied together.

"You're dismissed."

x-x-x-x-x

When they left the office, Smith was waiting for them. "How did it go?" he asked anxiously.

Sarah grinned at him. This was still a tense situation, but it was also almost over. "Perfectly," she said. "We have to report back here tomorrow morning ready to leave on an assignment. We're not to leave your sight until then."

Carina threw a log on the fire. "Jim," she said. "As long as we can't leave your sight anyway, let's take advantage. I hope you're ready for a wild night. We made a promise. It's time to take you home and get you what you deserve."

Smith made zero effort to hide his anticipation. He practically dragged Sarah and Carina to the car. As soon as Sarah had the car out of sight, Bryce's task force sprang into action. They quickly surrounded the building with an overwhelming force. Then with amazing precision they entered and began rounding up prisoners. As instructed, Casey and Chuck waited in the car and watched for possible escapees. Fortunately, the task force was very efficient and they didn't see anyone. Except for some random gunshots from agents who wouldn't be taken alive, the building was calm.

This was officially over.

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they were back in the hotel room, Smith started rubbing his hands. "I can't wait for this," he exclaimed.

Sarah exchanged a knowing grin with Carina. The bulge in his pants said very plainly that he wasn't lying. "We've been looking forward to this too," she said.

Carina was forced to agree with her friend. "Just as much as you have," she added.

Sarah decided to have a little sport. "What do you want to do first?" she asked as she placed her head on Carina's shoulder.

Smith really didn't know what to say. There were so many wonderful choices. "Why don't you surprise me?" he asked lustfully.

That got the girls laughing out loud. "That sounds like a good idea," Carina said as she landed her favorite fighting move, a vicious kick to his groin. "Surprised?"

"I really hope that you like surprises," Sarah agreed. She delivered her own roundhouse kick to the side of Smith's head.

Smith fell to his knees and then prone on the floor.

Carina stepped up to the semi-conscious heap. "Congratulations," she said. "Now you've had us both together. I told you that she was a tiger in these situations. You can boast all about it to everyone in prison. Too bad, I doubt they will be impressed. You just got everything you deserved… just like we promised."

Sarah, not very gently, jerked his hands behind his back and slapped on the cuffs. "Well, Jim," she said. "Was it good for you?"

Carina turned to her friend and they both started laughing. "I love that kick," she said. "It's new, isn't it?"

"Thanks," Sarah replied. "It's pretty new. Seems like I've been using it a lot lately."

Carina went to the cupboard and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. Ever since the CAT days, it had been a tradition that they celebrate a successful mission with a toast.

Just as they were setting down their glasses, Casey and Chuck burst into the room. "Agent Walker," Chuck teased. "It's good to see you safe."

Normally, Sarah would have been more reserved in front of Casey. But this wasn't the time to be reserved. She threw her arms around Chuck. "I'm not Agent Walker," she protested. "She had to leave. I just look like her. My name is Sarah."

Chuck wrapped his arms around Sarah and held her tight. "Hi, Sarah," he said. "I've been worried about you."

Sarah turned to Casey. "How was our asset tonight?" she teased. "Any issues?"

Casey was in far too good of a mood to be snarky, even seeing them so overtly getting overly friendly. "Not really," he replied. "He would let out the occasional jealous sob. He was as annoying as usual. But, other than that, no complaints. Let's wrap this up and get out of here."

"I have a feeling that Beckman is going to be pleased."

x-x-x-x-x