Don't own Chuck
Mary hid under the broken truck when a second truck arrived to pick up the workers. She waited for it to load up then leave before she came out. Waiting for the right moment she ran to a pier building that housed the steam plant that provided high pressure steam to the submarine from the pier. She did a quick survey of the building to see how many workers or guards there were. To her amazement a plant so important and there was only one worker who just walked around taking readings.
"Everything is normal here," Mary heard the man radio in. He then set out making another tour of reading gauges and logging them on his clipboard. His job was to make sure everything ran smoothly inside the steam plant and up until now they had.
She slipped up behind him and as he was taking down a reading. He pecked at the dial; humidity had built up inside making it was difficult to see.
"Come on why are you always such a bear to read," he said as he tried to get the water drops to run down the face with little luck. "If you keep this up I'm going to have you replaced."
"I wouldn't do that. Here let me help you," said Mary as she bounced his head off it. There was a loud metallic ping and steam shot out the gauge and the glass cleaned up. "See I told you I could help. You just needed to get up closer if you're going to see the numbers properly." The man dropped to the ground and as he hit his clipboard did too scattering papers everywhere.
"Okay let's see if I remember how to do this," she said to herself as she shut down all the exhaust steam valves so that the pressure built up inside the plant.
"Oh yes, there we go. Just like riding a bike," she said as she saw the needles begin to rise and it didn't take long for them to jump into the red. Alarms started to sound as rivets started to pop and pipes began to rupture. Steam filled the facility like a white fog and it became like a sauna inside. Mary ran out and had just cleared the building when there was a loud explosion knocking her off her feet but she couldn't afford to stay down. She forced herself up and ran for cover.
"What the hell is going on," she heard some of the submarine crew yell as they ran topside to see the steam plant roof lift off the building then come crashing back down. The whole building collapse back on itself but by then Mary was gone in the shadows.
"Our steam," yelled Petr the Captain Lieutenant. He ran aft to the hoses that ran onboard to find them limp. "Get some men and go into the reactor room. They need to start the plant going. We have to keep it on or the reactor will seize up."
"But we can't. The person who knew how to do that was Vlad our reactor officer. All the other reactor engineers are with the old Captain."
"Crap, well then there's only one thing to do grab a couple of men with weapons and come with me," said Petr as he radioed in and talked with Frank. They all met at the holding cell but what they didn't see was Mary, she met them over there too. Frank was the first one in followed by the Captain Lieutenant. They went straight to the Captain and cut straight to the chase.
"I'll get straight into it, Captain, we need you to order your engineers to go back to work," said Frank. "I'm willing to improve your diet and throw in a bottle or two of vodka if you like but I need those men back to work. This is the carrot don't make me use the stick."
"Really and why is that? Did something go wrong? You're finding running a nuclear powered submarine isn't as easy as it looks?"
"We don't have time for this," said Petr. "We lost steam from the pier which means if the reactor core cools…"
"I know exactly what it means. I've got twice the years of service you've got but my loyalties have never wavered not like yours. As far as I'm concerned you all can go to hell that's my answer and if you want I'd be more than happy to plot you a course."
"How about I execute everyone I don't need starting with you. The only people I need are the engineers. The rest of you are just added baggage."
"You do what you've got to do but I'm not going to help you," said the Captain. Frank pulled his weapon and pointed it at the Captain. The Captain looked down the barrel and didn't blink.
"Wait," said the General as she scrambled to get in between. "You can't make him give that order. Can't you see he's got principles? If you do pull that trigger none of his men will follow you and if they do you'd better have enough guards to watch every one of them all the time. The wrong wrench in the wrong piece of machinery and you'll be sitting on the bottom of the Ocean forever."
"I'll go but only if you leave the rest of my shipmates alone and give them what you promised something good to eat and vodka," said one of the Chiefs. "Sir, I can't let you sacrifice yourself for us. I'll need to take a couple men with me."
"You realize Chief this could be seen as treason. Are you willing to accept the consequences your actions could bring?"
"I am Sir but everyone in here is family and family takes care of family," said the Chief as he and two men were led out.
"Well that little melodrama was taken care of peacefully enough. I guess I ought to say thank you General," said Frank as he turned and started to leave but the Captain stopped him.
"Wait the reactor officer, Vlad; he was one of the traitors. What happened to him? He should be able to start the plant for you without my men."
"He and one of the Argentinians had a disagreement… He didn't fare so well. Oh and just to let you know General the Tooth Fairy should be here this evening or tomorrow for you. I'd get some rest if I were you, you'll need it." Frank left and door slammed shut.
"What's going on?" asked the Captain. "This is your agent's doings and what did he mean about the Tooth Fairy? The way he said it, it didn't sound pleasant."
"The Tooth Fairy is an infamous interrogator who's famous for yanking out the teeth of her victims to get information."
Outside the building…
Frank sent the Chief and his men off with the guard detail from the sub but held Petr and Marcus there afterwards to talk. They all were shivering in the cold night wind but this was a meeting that had to be held.
"Petr," said Frank. This was the first person someone addressed him by his name and not his title or rank, Captain Lieutenant. "Petr you and your people were at the steam plant shortly after the explosion. I need to know if you think it was an accident."
"I don't know it could've been. I warned those other two that they needed more people in the facility. One person to maintain it was too few especially if things went crazy and it seems they did. Why are you thinking sabotage?"
"I don't know it just seems odd your people and the Argentinians go at each other's throats then your man appears dead after that things start happening."
"Well as long as we're addressing the elephant in the room," said Marcus. "I've got some info on that man you shot this afternoon Petr. I found out a little while ago he was never set foot onboard your boat."
"If that's true how did Vlad's lighter end up in his pocket?" said Petr. He tried to justify why he might have killed an innocent man.
"I don't know other than it might have been planted because I have ten witnesses that say he had a box accidently dropped on his feet and stayed with the truck."
"Let's keep that between us for right now. We still need the Argentinians to finish dismantling the plane and stowing it away on your sub. After they're done they'll become a liability. Petr, I want you to tell your people to keep an eye out for anything or anyone acting suspicious. Once the Tooth Fairy gets here we can leave but until then Marcus I want extra patrols.
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Chuck and Casey were on the balcony talking with Silvia and when Chuck put his arm around her because she started crying that was a red flag for Sarah. She made a beeline heading for the balcony doors. Devon was with girls at the buffet table when he saw Sarah cut across the room so he signalled for Ellie to come over to give him a hand.
"What's going on outside? I just saw someone go out who looked like she was about to kill someone. I didn't bring my medical kit should I send for it?""
"You men can be so blind sometimes. If anyone falls off the balcony she deserves it. Not every woman who cries is your responsibility."
"What am I supposed to say to that it's in our DNA," said Devon as Clara started to sniffle. "Oh what is it honey do you want something else?"
"It does work," said Clara to Sam as they started to ran off giggling. "Now it's your turn to try. Let's find someone you can try it out on."
"Hold up there Lone Ranger and Tonto," said Devon as he grabbed them. "That's called a mark and no one is trying anything on anyone else or we're going home." Sam looked at him with sad little eyes.
"We're sorry Uncle Devon," she said as her eyes watered and she started wringing her hands oscillating side to side. "We promise to behave."
"Don't worry about it sweetie just be good," said Devon as he let go of them. "There's ice cream at the end of the buffet table. You can go get yourselves more." Sam pulled Devon down and gave him a kiss on the cheek then they turned and ran.
"You're better at this than I am. How do you do it?" said Clara but Sam just busted out in laughter and shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know but what matters is we're getting ice cream after your mother told us no more," said Sam as they busted out laughing again.
"Why the little…" Devon started to say but Ellie cut him off.
"Don't worry hun we learn about your DNA early," said Ellie as they watched the girls operate the waiter serving the ice cream into giving them extra scoops. "Let me handle this before two people end up with stomach aches.
Out on the balcony Sarah was about to deal with someone else who was manipulating Chuck's DNA. That was her job and her job only. She was about to let the other party involved know that.
"Can someone tell me what's going on out here?" said Sarah as she charged out looking at Chuck for an explanation. "Well I'm waiting?"
"Oh Sarah there you are. We need to get back to the vault and contact Langley. I may know where to look for the General's plane or where we should start looking."
"Chuck, I don't have to remind you who this woman is. You shouldn't trust everything she says. Especially when she's selling them with crocodile tears."
"I think I'm aware of that…" Chuck started to say but Sarah cut him off.
"You know you'd be more believable if you took your arm off her." Chuck looked down and became tongue tied.
"What? I wasn't… no you don't understand I was getting her to talk and… well I'll prove it when we find the General and my mom."
"Hey you guys you do know I'm standing right here. Your mother Chuck, come on I thought Jill told me your mother bailed on you when you were little."
"There's a lot that has changed since Stanford," said Chuck as he had a flashback to when he went to talk to Jill outside their sorority house. Shari told him Jill was dating Bryce and to get over it so he left and as he was leaving he met Silvia who laughed at him and called him a loser. That image was painfully stamped in his head.
"Chuck if your mother was on the plane what is she a hostess or what a CIA spy or something. Maybe she was in deep undercover when she went MIA? Or maybe she just had to get away from you?"
"Something like that," said Chuck. "You know the more you talk the more I question myself why am I helping you?"
"Because of my sparkling personality and the satellite codes I know. I want full immunity in writing before I say anything more."
"Oh Chuck don't tell me you made a deal with the devil. Let me tell Ellie and Devon to watch Sam for us and I'll be right with you," said Sarah but Chuck stopped her.
"No we're just going to the vault and move some satellites around. I'm going to have to call Langley and this is going to be just a lot of foot work. You can stay here with Sam and enjoy the party then when you get in you know where you can find me."
"I better find you alone," she whispered in his ear then kissed him but really kissed him sucking the air out of his lungs.
"Yuck," said Casey. "I think I'm going to be sick. You know they have rooms down below for that type of activity so the rest of us don't risk heaving."
"You took the words out of my mouth," said Silvia. "Can we please get the show on the road already?"
"I'm going to bookmark this," said Chuck. "We can pick up where we left off when we meet back at the embassy."
"Come on Chuck we've got the free world to save," said Casey as he grabbed Chuck and pushed him back into the conference room then took him to the elevator. They were followed by Silvia who got into the elevator with them.
"By the way where am I sleeping tonight? You can't expect me to sleep in detention. Besides now I'm going to need a guard twenty-four seven."
Luckily for Silvia, Sarah didn't hear what she just asked because if she had she wouldn't need the elevator. Sarah wandered around the floor looking for Devon, Ellie and the girls but she didn't see anyone. As she was searching she accidently bumped into Mike.
"Hey I thought I just saw your husband and the Colonel leave with Dr. Martin. Where are they headed for?"
"They're going back to the vault to do some urgent work. You wouldn't happen to have seen the rest of our party? I can't seem to find them."
"I believe I saw them around the restrooms. They're behind the buffet tables down the corridor off to the right. What kind of urgent work did they have to do? Is it something I need to make the Ambassador aware of?"
"I don't know but I'll find out later. If it's something you or your Ambassador needs to know I'll make sure you get filled in but right now I need to run and find my family." Sarah's spidey senses as Chuck called them went off… did she find Mike or did he find her? He was the RSO so he needed to know what was going on in his AOR but his primary responsibility was the security and safety of the Embassy. Maybe he viewed them as a threat whatever it was she shoved it to the back of her head when she got to the restrooms.
"Devon, why are you standing outside the women's restroom? Are you standing guard or something? Is Ellie inside and is she all right?"
"Ellie's perfectly fine but there are two little bunnies inside with tummy aches. They found out that feminine charms can get them into trouble sometimes and when the gas tank is full it's full."
"What are you talking about?" said Sarah as she went in to see what the matter was. Both girls were inside sitting on the counter between the sinks. Each had tears in their eyes and holding their stomachs. As soon as she walked in Sam held her arms out to Sarah so she'd hold her.
"Oh little bunny's not feeling well," said Sarah as she picked Sam up. Sam nodded her head then buried it in her shoulder.
"They tried to eat all the ice cream in Costa Gravas and then some," said Ellie as Clara jumped off the counter and ran to the toilet to heave. "I'd be careful if I were you. Vomit over the back of that dress won't look too attractive nor will it be easy to get out."
"Well I hope you girls learned your lesson," said Sarah trying to use a stern voice but she couldn't and she ended up kissing Sam even though she carried the lingering odour of vomit. "I think we can call this an evening and go back to the Embassy."
"Sarah, do you think it'll be okay if we go back to Chicago now? The ceremony is over along with the coup so there really isn't any reason left for us to stay. I mean we wouldn't want to leave until after you've done your second blood test but after that there's really no reason for us to stay here."
"I don't see why not but you should talk this over with Chuck first," said Sarah. She didn't know if Chuck wanted Ellie to know about their mother so she avoided saying anything. Hopefully with the intel he got from Silvia they'd know where she and the general were so they could organise some sort of rescue mission.
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Back on the Submarine when the Chief and his two men arrived things were critical in the reactor room. Alarms were sounding there were flashing red lights. The first think they noticed was they weren't sweating that was a bad sign. The Chief sent his mean off to do their tasks as he operated the main console.
"Come on baby make me sweat. There we go come on," yelled the Chief as he watched gauges. "Come on honey you've never let me down before let's not start now."
It was as if the reactor could hear him and knew his voice. Slowly the temperature levels rose on the reactor as the machine started to hum at first reluctantly but then like breaking a wild horse it was done.
"Good job old gal," said the Chief then turned to his men. "The Old Man would be proud of you," he said as the reactor came on line and was fully operational.
"Chief report," said the Captain Lieutenant. The Chief ignored him at first but he asked again and this time he shoved him.
"Hey, hands off traitor or we'll go around right here," said the Chief as he pushed back. "The reactor is working or can't you see that? We're going to go to a three section watch each of us taking eight hours so my men will need food and sleep."
"And you expect me to let you go to your racks and sleep? I don't hardly think so. We'll put cot in here for you and your men to sleep on so if there's an emergency you'll be here to solve it and don't get any smart ideas because if anything happens to the reactor we'll take it out on your friends in holding."
"They were your friends too once or have you forgotten that? But I guess that doesn't mean anything to someone like you or the rest of your band of traitors?"
"What I know is I'm being paid a lot of money to give someone a ride. Nice to have principles but they don't put food on the table or pay my rent?"
"I don't see any of your people starving and your pay is better than mine. As far as a house there's nothing wrong with base housing. I think it's call living within your means and being happy with it. Have you forgotten the oath you swore when you put on that uniform?"
"I've taken a lot of oaths and as far as being happy with what you've got. Is it wrong to want more, that's called ambition…"
"Ambition is good when it drives us to be better people, to do our jobs better but not when it makes us sell out our family, friends, country… our souls. There's a line and you've gone over it and the problem is you didn't even see it when you crossed it."
"Those are nice words for a Machinist Chief…"
"What can I say; I spend a lot of time thinking while I'm working. A machine never lies unlike present company."
"Funny, you know Vlad is dead and so his share is free to fall into your pockets if you join us. We've got room for one more and the sum is remarkable."
"I've already got a job, send me a few of your traitors and I'll teach them how to run the reactor then were finished. If you don't understand my answer it's go to hell."