A/N Thanks again for all those who have read, reviewed and alerted this story. It has surprised me how much enjoyment they add to this experience.

Thanks to BDaddyDL for helping me push threw a bit of a block on this chapter. Thanks to atcDave for starting me on this path and for offering his help as well. Thanks to Esardi for his read through and his investment in this story. They have all made this better I can assure you.

I do not own Chuck because if I did the one person getting the most screen time outside the big three would be Ellie.

Chapter 5

The Orientation

Milan

01:22 CET

Chuck arrived in Milan at 1am after his 9 hour flight from DC. Agent Watkins had accompanied him from LA to DC, stayed with him for the 2 hour layover and then on to the flight to Milan. At no point was Chuck allowed to be alone. Watkins even followed him to the mens room at the airports as well and stood just outside the First Class lavatory every time Chuck used the facilities on board the plane.

This was the life of a spy. Here Chuck was in one of the most exciting cities in Europe and all he could see were the areas from the airport to the Central Train Station at the Piazza Duca d'Aosta. The station was beautiful as having been originally built in 1864. Chuck had never really seen anything that old. Most everything he was used to around Burbank was built after the Eisenhower administration. It was a beautiful site but that was going to be the highlight of Chuck Bartowski's visit to the fashion capital of Europe..

It was well after midnight and the nightlife in Milan was something he was never going to experience. He had the stamp in his passport but never really saw any of it.

His thoughts as they had through most of the trip led him back to Sarah. He would have loved to have shared a few days in Milan with her, especially during Fashion Week, She would have been right at home here. Hell she was more beautiful than any runway model he had ever seen and Sarah Walker and Milan Fashion Week was a match made in Designer heaven.

Chuck and Agent Watkins were scheduled to leave at 07:30 for St. Moritz aboard the Bernina Express. The twelve and a half hour train ride goes through the Bernina Pass from Tirano in northern Italy to the beautiful city of St Moritz. From there they would travel just down the valley to Zuoz. The views were indescribable. The mountains, the valleys, the glaciers, the aqua blue waters of the glacial melt were something Chuck had only dreamed about seeing. Yet here he was in one of the most magnificent places on the planet and all he felt was loneliness, unease and pain. He was a prisoner on the greatest journey of his life. He had no idea what to expect and he had no appreciation of the spectacular views that were just outside the window of this magnificent train.

If only Sarah were here. It would be the highlight of his life. He could share in the youthful joy of experiencing something so incredible with the person he most wanted to share everything with. He would ramble on about how glaciers are formed, how they travel at certain speeds down the valley carving out ravines and providing life giving water to the areas downstream. He would talk about how 10,000 years ago those glaciers covered all of Europe in the last Ice Age. How wholly mammoths roamed throughout Europe and provided the humans with food, shelter and clothing. Nothing was wasted like it is in the world we live in today.

All the while Sarah would be looking at him thoroughly enthralled by the joy of life she saw in him. How she, Sarah Walker super spy, was for the first time seeing the beauty around her and relishing in the wonder in Chuck's eyes. He would open her to things she never thought she could even imagine. How Chuck's love of science and nature gave him a view of life she had never known in her world of deceit, power and lies.

But all of this was not to be. Chuck felt none of that joy, none of that wonder and more empty than he had ever felt before. The love of his life was six thousand miles away and he was just six inches from a man that was most likely told to terminate him if he ran. He just looked at the beauty of the Morteratsch Glacier and felt nothing. All because he had downloaded the 2.0 and was now on his way to be trained not by his partners of the last 2 years but by complete strangers. He was all alone in one of the most amazing places on earth and didn't feel anything but worry and heartache.

After arriving in St Moritz Agent Watkins and trainee Carmichael picked up their rental car for the 15 km journey to Zuoz. The CIA training facility was located in an annex to the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz boarding school. They shared some facilities but the section that Chuck was destined to spend however long it took to turn him into Mitchell's super weapon was hidden deep beneath the school's heating and maintenance facilities buildings. This would allow for the few Agents who came to either train or be trained each year to come and go and not cause any concern to the schools students and faculty. It also kept down any noise from arms training to be heard above. The Board of Directors didn't want to know where the 2.5 million dollar check came from every year. They just thought, or wanted to think, that it was a successful alumnus who wanted to remain anonymous. The Head of the School and a very few select personnel were aware of the CIA facility. A few medical staff worked for both facilities with the school providing a very acceptable cover.

Chuck was in one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. He just hoped he would get to see the light of day sometime during his stay here. He knew however that he either passed his training, flunked out or he would be leaving here in a box. Those were his only options. But he was determined to pass his training and become a full agent and put his team back together. He knew that at the end of this mission, Sarah Walker would be waiting and he would move heaven and earth to get there.

CIA Training Facility

Zuoz, Switzerland

21:30 CET

"Mr. Carmichael why don't get some rest you've had a long journey and you have an orientation meeting scheduled for 08:00 tomorrow morning."

"Thank you Agent Watkins, I am rather tired and I'd like to get settled in and finally get some sleep."

"Ok. Breakfast is at 07:00 so I'll be by at 06:00 to wake you. Tomorrow will be an orientation meeting followed by a physical and then some testing. Once all the medical testing comes back you will begin your formal training. After tomorrow it will be 05:00 to begin your workout routine."

"Will you be here the whole time Agent Watkins?"

"No, once I have handed you over to the Agent in Charge I will have completed my mission."

"Ok, well thanks for everything, I guess"

"Good luck, Mr. Carmichael"

Chuck walked over to the too small cot in his room and flopped exhausted onto his back. Tomorrow he would try to assess how he could develop the plan to contact Sarah and then figure out how to survive this facility and get back to her as fast as he could.

Castle

05:00 pm Pacific

Sarah Walker looked around the now darkened facility that had been her base of operations for the last year of her 2 year stay in Burbank She thought of all that had gone on here. The mission briefings, the after mission debriefings, her daily workouts but mostly she thought about Chuck and all that had happened here for him and for them. She thought about Bryce's return the second time and how she had let her feelings for Chuck get in the way of that mission. How Chuck had broken up with her again just as she was about to tell him she was going to use those feelings to protect him better than anyone else could.

She thought about watching the surveillance of Chuck with Jill and how much that hurt her. Then she had sat right over there in front of the now dark and empty monitor wall when she and Casey found out that Jill was Fulcrum.

She thought about that misguided kiss with Cole and how much seeing her obvious attraction and reaction to him must have hurt Chuck. But she also thought about how Cole had been the honorable man and backed away when he saw what she was still fighting to deny herself, that she was very much in love with Chuck Bartowski.

She thought about Agent Forrest and the 49B and how she had come so close to being reassigned. But they had proven that their feelings for each other could be an "asset to the asset". So why when they had done everything right and proved the strength of their team was far beyond what they could accomplish as individuals were they now being broken up and this facility mothballed?

'Chuck, I hope you are ok. Casey is on his way to Stuttgart. But we need to come back here. We need to put this team back together and rebuild Castle into an even better facility. A place where we can be together as partners again and help bring down The Ring once and for all.'

"Mitchell, you're gonna fall. I promise you that. And when you do Chuck, Casey and I will be standing above you watching you do down."

Then Agent Sarah Walker walked up the stairs of Castle for what she hoped wasn't the final time, got into her Porsche and headed to her hotel room to await confirmation of her temporary assignment to the DEA.

Mitchell Townhouse Georgetown

9:30 pm Eastern

As he looked around his posh brownstone home Fred Mitchell was beaming. He had successfully grabbed control of The Intersect Project all the while Brigadier General Diane Beckman just sat back and watched it happen. She had nothing. No response, no alternative and now no Bartowski. He was 6 stories down below a massive boiler in the Swiss Alps. His only concession to her was to have one of her agents on site in Zuoz to monitor Bartowski's training for the NSA. Officially they were still partners in the project and it would have to wait till he was named permanent Director before he could eliminate that concession but as they were just going to observe things he could live with it.

But his biggest gamble had paid off handsomely. He knew that breaking up an extremely successful team like this team in Burbank was risky. His superiors were all about results in the final analysis but it was something that had to be done. He would always be fourth on their list of allegiances. Their team, their country, Beckman and then he bringing up the rear. He needed them dissolved to deprogram The Intersect and then mold his loyalty to him and him alone.

So he took the chance and it worked. Colonel John Casey was headed off to a military base somewhere in Germany before being shipped to probably Afghanistan with his unit. But what occupied his mind most, among other things, was the thought that he was now in command of Agent Sarah Walker. He was her boss and he could assign her to whatever task he wanted. And boy there were some tasks he wanted her to perform very, very badly. But unfortunately those would have to wait. She was just a fringe benefit of him being named permanent Director. For his plan to work with her he had to somehow gain at least some sense of loyalty and duty to serve him. He had failed miserably in his advances back in Panama City. He had underestimated her. A mistake he vowed to never make again. She and that red headed bitch Carina Miller had made a fool of him and he was determined to get back at both of them. This was going to be sweet revenge and it was going to take time so it could be savored. He needed her completely under his control for a long, long time.

So Fred Miller sat back in his leather reclining desk chair, reached over for his glass of Chivas and admired his newly decorated library. He wondered what Agent Walker would look like sitting on the corner of his antique writing desk while she began to unbutton her blouse.

"This calls for a cigar"

But before he could get to his humidor to grab a Cohiba, his cell phone rang.

'Back to you in a second Agent Walker but keep doing what you are doing' He fantasized.

"Mitchell, Secure"

"Tompkins, secure"

Assistant Administrator Larry Tompkins was Chief of Intelligence for the DEA. A career law enforcement guy who had spent the first twelve years of his career in the Bronx involved in every aspect of drug enforcement. He had been with the DEA in Washington for the past eighteen years. He had worked tirelessly and had been responsible for dismantling much of the drug trafficking hierarchy in Southeast Asia. The war in Afghanistan had moved much of the heroin and opium trafficking back to Thailand and Laos and under Tompkins watch their operations were now pretty much dismantled. He knew full well they would sprout back up elsewhere and that in part was the reason for the call.

"Larry, to what do I one this pleasure?"

"Sorry to be calling so late Acting Director"

"Please, Larry we have known each other for over 10 years, I keep telling you call me Fred"

"Fine."

"What can I do for you, Larry?"

"Act.. umm Fred, I have a request I'd like to make on behalf of our Agency. We have received word that a certain Agent under your command has just completed a long term assignment and would be heading back to Washington."

"Continue."

"Fred, you are aware of our Agent Carina Miller are you not?"

"Yes we have met a few times"

"Good well it seems that your Agent, Sarah Walker and she were members of an elite team of female agents a few years ago."

"Yes, the success of the Cat Squad was legendary until the team had a falling out internally"

"Well we are aware of what happened but those issues were never between Agents Walker and Miller. We at the DEA would like to formally request that you temporarily assign Agent Walker to work with us and Agent Miller to head up our task force in Marseille"

"Much of the drug trafficking that came through Afganistan and Thailand has now moved to Iran and Libya. This traffic then travels through Marseille and off to other western nations. We feel that reuniting Agents Walker and Miller will help us a great deal in infiltrating their operation there. Having two female agents go undercover allows for backup as you are well aware of the difficulties females can have on these types of missions."

Mitchell leaned back in his chair once again and pondered the request. Sure he had just gotten control of Walker back but partnering her back up with the redheaded Miller might make his other goals easier. After loaning Walker to the DEA for while they would have to return the favor with Miller when he asked for her "services" later on.

"So you would like me to re-assign Agent Walker to Marseille for how long?"

"Probably for no more than 6 months. Besides there is a certain matter of a particular diamond that Agent Miller was supposed to hand over to us a year and a half ago when she had worked with Agent Walker last that somehow ended up in a Fedex box on Director Graham's desk. We had plans for that diamond and we think this is only fair under the circumstances."

"Well that was done under the prior Director so I feel no obligation there, but I have a counter proposal."

"I'm listening"

"I will grant you your request but at the end of her assignment I'd like the favor returned. We could use Agent Miller along with Agent Walker together again on a few missions that we are preparing for that I expect will be ready for their "special talents" at that time"

"Very well, I guess we can make this arrangement mutually beneficial, Fred"

"Thanks Larry, I couldn't agree more"

"I'll send the paperwork over tomorrow. Have her on the first flight to DC in the morning. We will brief her when she arrives and get her headed to Marseille."

"Nice doing business with you as always Larry, tell the Mrs. I said hello. I hope to see you both at that fundraiser dinner next month."

"Thank you, Fred. I expect we will be there but I always just wait for Marsha to tell me where and when we make an appearance. Always a pleasure talking to you."

Fred Mitchell hung up the phone and got lost in his thoughts once again.

"I may have to wait 6 months but I'm damn sure it's going to be worth it. Now where was I? Oh yes."

'Well hello Carina, glad you could join us why don't you sit here on the desk next to Sarah and give her a hand. She seems to be having some trouble with those pesky buttons.'

Administrator Tompkins set his phone down and shook his head. "How the hell did that man become Acting Director of the CIA? God help us!" He looked back at his phone and then sent off a brief text.

Done. I guess this makes us even, Diane.

Zuoz, Switzerland

08:00 CET

Agent Watkins escorted Chuck to a small conference room that was across the hall from the dining and kitchen area he had had breakfast in. He said his goodbyes and left. Chuck had not slept well at all and had been in desperate need of coffee. After he had had a few hours sleep that was more collapsing from exhaustion than actual sleep he had woken up to his mind racing with anxiety about what was going to happen today. He had no idea what to expect as he had been given no instruction and no information about what to expect. Actually he had had virtually no communication with anyone except for the few necessary sentences from Agent Watkins telling him what he needed to know for their journey. But to be honest Chuck was in no mood for conversation anyway especially with his escort, bodyguard, prison guard, assassin or whatever Agent Watkins role was at the moment. But here he found himself brought to a drab, lifeless, gray conference room and told to sit and wait till he was told differently. Chuck looked around the room using some of the spy skills he had picked up watching Sarah and Casey for the past 2 years.

Chuck scanned the room for possible exits, lighting, HVAC ducts as well as any technology that would possibly allow him to communicate to the outside world. But he saw nothing. No Ethernet, no cable TV, even no old school landline phone jacks. All he saw were four video cameras spread throughout the room with a fifth on the ceiling looking down on the conference table he was seated at.

What he did see next to the only other door in the conference room was an obvious one-way mirror. He had seen enough of them in Castle to know what they were. The ceiling was mad of concrete with some small HVAC ducts, too small for his 6'3" frame to utilize. There were no ceiling tiles, just the concrete of the floor above he suspected. So there was no escape route there.

At this point he saw nothing he could use but filed it all into a special section of his brain that he hoped would eventually contain a way to communicate with Sarah.

Conference Room

08:10 CET

Chuck was beginning to wonder if they forgot about him. It was not like the CIA or NSA to ever be late. You could set your watch by when General Beckman appeared on the screens in Castle's conference area. But here he was, exhausted, stressed and alone. Agent Watkins had led him to the room but had left shortly thereafter. Outside of the cook he saw in the back of the kitchen area, he had been the only other person he had seen at the facility since he arrived late last night. If he was their "prize" student, why were they keeping him waiting? Were they testing him? Were they behind the glass looking to see if he reacted in any way? Had they noticed his ever so spy like reconnaissance he had made in this non-descript box underground?

All Chuck could do was wait. He just hoped it wouldn't be much longer.

Conference Room

08:43 CET

Chuck was just completing his eleventh lap of the conference table when suddenly he heard a noise outside the door that was opposite the one he had entered and next to the one-way mirror. He went back to his seat and turned around to see a tall statuesque brunette woman in her early to mid thirties. Her air was cut just above her shoulders swept back from the front and pulled back to the crown of her head with small gold clips speckled with small green stones. She was dressed in a gray business suit, white blouse with her skirt hemmed just an inch higher than was probably law office proper. She had green eyes that you could see clearly through her gold wire-rimmed glasses. In her arm was a small manila folder with 2 loose leaf binders sitting on top. She nodded and extended her hand signaling Chuck to sit opposite her. She was professional, attractive and given the right clothes and makeup one could say beautiful. But as Chuck had found out most all of the females in the CIA fit that bill. With the love of his life the top of the heap.

"Mr. Carmichael, first let me apologize for keeping you waiting. I was unavoidably detained with some last minute details regarding your training."

"My name is Agent Andrea Saunders. I will be overseeing your training here at this facility." With the formal greeting she reached out her hand and Chuck gently accepted with a short courteous shake.

"The first item we need to do today is a complete physical. We need to know the kind of shape you are in, any mobility issues, health concerns so that we can tailor your training to meet your particular body type and degree of fitness. We want to make sure we don't over stress you or cause injury these first few days here. However your training will ramp up very quickly and you will be expected to be in top aerobic and physical conditioning when you leave this facility."

"Agent Saunders, may I ask a few questions?"

"Mr. Carmichael there will be time for that after you have had your physical"

"Well its about the physical, ..will I be expected to give blood?"

"Of course, we will be doing a complete blood workup on you."

"Ahh ok" Chuck hesitated.

"Is there a problem Mr. Carmichael?"

"Well let's just say needles and I have a mutual understanding. I stay away from them and they stay away from me. This arrangement has been mutually beneficial for both of us over the years."

"Well Mr Carmichael if you are going to be an agent we will have to cure you of that 'arrangement'. It is a weakness that could be used against you."

"I see. Well it was fun while it lasted." Chuck said with a small nervous chuckle.

"Also if I may Agent Saunders, please call me Chuck."

"I'm sorry Mr. Carmichael, but that kind of familiarity is not looked at kindly here. You are my trainee and I am your superior. Our "arrangement" goes no further." She added stone faced.

"Understood." Chuck responded with a bit of resignation.

Agent Saunders slid one of the two binders over to Chuck."In this binder is your schedule for the next 2 weeks. I need you to learn it, follow it and do not under any circumstances share it with anyone else you come in contact with. You are to speak when spoken to by your instructors but beyond that all conversations are forbidden. If you have questions, comments or concerns you may address them to me but no one else. Do you understand?"

"Well I guess the torture training has already begun." Chuck muttered a little too loud.

"Excuse me Mr. Carmichael did you say anything?"

"No just dying to get started. Oh that's probably not a good choice of words now is it." Chuck looked up at the brunette hoping for some form of human response but Agent Saunders expression was as flat and gray as the walls of the conference room. I guess humor will not be part of the curriculum. He thought.

"Please come this way and I will escort you to the medical area and we can begin your physical."

"Ok, if we must" again nothing from the iron maiden.

Medical lab

11:47 CET

Chuck Bartowski hadn't been poked, prodded, man handled or been in such general distress from a Doctor's visit since the time he came home from the BuyMore early one day when Ellie was doing her internship at Westside Medical and needed to practice her examination skills for an evaluation the next day. His aversion to those sharp pointy pieces of misery had not reared its ugly head yet as it seemed like the blood work would probably be the last of his humiliations.

The Doctor doing the examination seemed like he could have been trained at the John Casey School of Bedside Manners. There were more than a couple of instances where he thought he heard either a grunt, a huff or even the word "moron" or the German equivalent.

He was cold, deliberate, not gentle but typically German efficient as he even got in a half hour cardiac stress test before noon.

As Chuck had been surveying the clinic during the exam he caught site of a few things that may be helpful to him. There was computer mounted on a mobile console that seemed to have connection to a server but no Ethernet cable. So Chuck assumed that meant there was wifi in the facility. That was a plus.

There were many items that Sarah or Casey would have been very comfortable with as weapons though Chuck had his doubts about his level of expertise with such implements of destruction. But he filed all of this away in his little facility folder in his brain for later use.

One thing that Chuck did notice that seemed a bit out of place from what he had observed was there seemed to be another one-way mirror in the examination room as well. So even physicals and medical treatments would be done under the gaze of whoever it was "behind the curtain".

The Doctor finished and without a word simply left by the door he had come in earlier. He left no instructions nor did he say what or who was coming in next.

After a few minutes there was a small knock on the door that startled him slightly as it was the first real acknowledgement of common courtesy since the morning had begun. The door opened and a petite older blonde woman in her early fifties stepped into the room. She was a very elegant and polished woman and Chuck could tell that in her younger days there would have been many a guy's head snapped in her direction. She was still extremely attractive but in her twenties she must have been stunning.

She was wearing a lab coat, stethoscope, and wheeling a cart with test tubes and red rubber stoppers that Chuck knew all too well were going to be used with the weapons of misery he feared most.

"Excuse me sir, I'm here to draw some blood for the lab." She said in perfect English but with a noticeable German accent.

"Yea I've been hoping you forgot about me." Chuck responded trying to hide his nerves but not really succeeding.

"Sorry."

"Wow actual human kindness. I was beginning to think they plugged in all of you guys at night in some back room down the hall." Chuck said with just a slight hint of sarcasm.

The woman chuckled ever so slightly but Chuck caught it.

"I'm Chuck by the way. I know I'm not supposed to talk to you unless you ask me a question but as we are about to become blood brothers so to speak I figured I should introduce myself." Talking to beautiful women wasn't the only place that his babbling reared its head.

"I'm Ursula. I guess if I'm going to be poking holes in you the least I could do was give you the name of the person that is probably going to make you faint"

"That obvious?"

"Yes. I've been doing this for almost 30 years and I can tell someone who doesn't like needles virtually immediately."

"But I'll let you in on a little secret." Ursula leaned in a little closer. "Most people don't like them so you are in good company."

Chuck smiled a small honest smile for the first time since Sarah stepped through the Morgan door and out of his life. … 'temporarily' he reminded himself.

Well at least someone here is human. He thought.

"Ok Chuck I'm going to need you to look at that eye chart on the wall…"

"Hi yo!" Chuck realized that the eye chart was just a distraction a little too late.

"Ahh gotcha. I just need to fill a few more of these viles and we'll be done."

"Hey why don't you take a couple of quarts, I might need them later."

Ursula frowned just a bit. She had given far too many Agents blood transfusions over the years here.

"Sorry, sensitive subject for the medical staff at a facility like this I'm sure."

Ursula quickly put her professional face back on and cleaned up the area where she removed the needle in his right inner elbow, then covered it with some gauze and tape.

"Fold your arm up for a few minutes and then after lunch you can remove the gauze."

"Ok Chuck, I'm done here. You can finish getting dressed again and go across the hall for lunch."

"Thank you Ursula. I feel like we've really bonded here today with my blood and all."

Ursula smiled ever so slightly back at Chuck. "Good Luck Chuck. Terrible movie by the way"

Chuck let out a laugh and replied,"Agreed. It's a cross I bear sadly."

The woman had finished labeling all the vials and turned to head out the door.

"Ursula?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For treating me like a human being"

"You're welcome"

She turned and was gone.

Carmichael Room

21:15 CET

Chuck finally got the chance to look around his bunkroom for the first time since he woke up at 06:00 this morning. The room was a plain non-descript room with a single cot like bed, small closet, sink, mirror and small dresser. He had been hoping to find some communications connectivity here but there was nothing. Just a single power outlet near the sink and a single ceiling lighting fixture. He did notice a surveillance camera hidden in the smoke detector on the ceiling. But nothing here would fit his needs. The only possibility was the fact that there was wifi in the complex. He had learned that from the medical examination room earlier. There were computers there for medical purposes but he would need to find a way to get in there undetected and considering the number of cameras he had seen everywhere that would be difficult.

Chuck was exhausted. After his orientation and physical he had been given lunch in the small cafeteria and then was sent to the gymnasium where Agent Saunders had made him do a 5 mile run on the track. He completed it in about 45 minutes which he though wasn't too bad but Saunders was displeased.

"How the hell are you even being considered for training if you can't do low eight minute miles? What would happen if you had to run 20 miles to escape a terrorist coming after you with valuable intel?" She had yelled at him following his run while he had collapsed just after the finish line.

"This is the last time you will do this run this slow. Do you hear me? Or do I have to run with you tomorrow to show you what a real agent can do?"

After the 5 mile run he showered and went to his first weapons class. Here he was shown various throwing knives, 'Sarah would love these' he thought. He was shown various handguns as well as sniper rifles, some with laser targeting modifications. Things he was rather uncomfortable handling and Agent Saunders clearly saw his weakness.

"Mr. Carmichael do you have a problem with firearms?"

"Well yes. I have never been allowed to handle any prior to this unless it was by accident and usually it didn't end well."

"Well that changes as of today. You will have to become proficient at all of theses weapons and techniques. You must complete your marksmanship test before you can ever be considered an Agent."

To say the rest of the classes went any better would be a lie. All in all it was a disastrous first day. Agent Saunders was his only trainer for the day and he thought that a bit odd but maybe that was because he was a "special" trainee.

But when he thought about that fact something dawned on him. Ever since he and Sarah had said their goodbyes he had not flashed even once. Nothing on the journey but what concerned him most was the fact that he had not flashed on Agent Saunders, the cook that prepared his meals, the Doctor who examined him or Ursula the nurse who had taken his blood work and the only person who actually spoke with him politely or at all.

Was the Intersect malfunctioning? He should have at least flashed on Agent Saunders CIA file as it seemed highly likely that everyone here was in the 2.0 download. What worried him even more was that when he was to begin hand to hand combat training tomorrow at 10:00. Was it going to function then or would he be a sitting duck getting pummeled by the Amazon Agent from hell that was training him or some other goon she sent in to pulverize him? Could he count on it to assist him with the skills he needed like it did in the Intersect Room or would it fail him and his whole reason for being here be for naught?

The 2.0 was a different animal and it was still so new to him he had no idea how or when it would function. if at all. He had learned over the prior two years a good understanding of what triggered the earlier version. But so far other than the threat in the Intersect Room when Sarah and Casey were captured by The Ring and the flash on Mitchell's file when he was with them both again in Castle, there was nothing. And with no flashes he had very little data to figure out what caused it to react or in this case maybe shut down.

Hopefully he just needed a good night sleep. He was exhausted and so his body collapsed on the too short bed and he hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

As Chuck faded off into sleep his last thoughts were of Sarah. How much he loved her and the fact that she loved him. Those thoughts gave him the calmness to quiet his nerves enough and succumb to sleep soon after his head hit the pillow.

Tomorrow was going to be another tough day.

Andrea Saunders Office

23:30 CET

"Mitchell secure"

"Saunders secure"

"Andrea, I take it our prize student has arrived?"

"Yes Acting Director. He arrived late last night. He has completed his physical and has begun his first set of workouts"

"and?"

"Sir, he is in fairly decent shape. But his stamina is lacking. I don't think he has spent much time in the gym or on the track. But he has some potential. Though I must admit he is definitely a step down from Agent Larkin." in more ways than one. She thought with a bit of a lustful smirk.

"Well unfortunately he is the candidate we have and he must be ready for full and active duty within six months time. But remember Agent Saunders I don't mean just physically, he must be broken and then rebuilt. He must also be broken of all of his old attachments and loyalties. He is not under any circumstances to have any communication with the outside world. I want him completely isolated, alone and feeling like his team has betrayed him and moved on. Especially Agent Walker. I believe she is the key to Mr. Carmichael unlocking the killing machine inside. She has been protecting him and holding him back from his destiny, from the Intersect's destiny. Plus once we have gotten him to turn on her, she will become the Agent I and the CIA need her to be once again."

"Understood, you can count on me, sir"

"I'm planning on it Andrea. But just so you know I will not look kindly on any failures here. I have an office down the hall planned for you once I am named permanent Director. Then maybe we can finally have that dinner you owe me after Mexico City."

"Yes sir. I'm looking forward to it" 'In your dreams pervert. That one time was one too many.'

"Keep me posted. Also when Beckman's Agent arrives tomorrow, keep him up to date with as little info as possible. I don't want that bitch having any reason to try and undermine the plan. I need her back on her heels for as long as possible."

"Consider it done sir."

After she was certain the line was clear she opened a secret compartment behind the top drawer of her desk and pulled out another more oddly shaped phone. She pressed the single button on its face.

When the line connected she calmly said "Secondary target's here. Primary target was terminated….. Yes sir, understood." and the line went dead.

A/N2 Got some business things this week. Chapter 6 is started and plotted out in my head so I hope to still have it out by the weekend. I'm trying to do 3 chapters every 2 weeks but we will see if I can maintain it.

A/N3 BTW if you ever get the incredible luck to take the train from Tirano to St Moritz, do it. It is the most amazing train ride I have ever experienced or ever will for that matter. Also back in her early twenties, Ursula really was stunning and I bet she still is! ;)