Friday, 21st

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"Alright everyone... There's a new IT advisory from Nerd Herd central," Chuck announced.

The Nerd Herders on staff this morning gathered around the help desk.

Chuck flipped passed the cover sheet.

"It says we have a new virus coming out today. Looks like they're expecting it'll bring in moderate volume. It's the..."

Chuck stopped reading and started laughing to himself.

Lester wanted in on the joke. "What? What is it?"

Chuck forced himself to try and read his way through, "It says it's 'The Worlds Most Interesting Bomb', by a 'Kurt Hectic'."

Anna's authoritative voice cut through their mild laughter. "It's nothing," she said from her seat on the help desk counter. "Kurt's all show, he's got no real skills on his own. Max you have to watch out for."

Everyone watched Anna intently.

Chuck was the first to speak up. "How - how do you ....?"

"Don't ask," she interjected.

The awkward pause that followed suggested everyone was listening to her advice.

"Okayyyyyy, well, uh, since we're not going to be getting much in today, and since it looks like no one's got any assignments, we should be pretty good."

An ominous voice corrected him. "Not so fast Chuck! I have a FRESH assignment."

Chuck turned to the voice addressing him. "Harry, you don't work for the Nerd Herd."

"No, but I work for the greater good of the Buy More." Harry Tang glared at the group as a whole. "I don't expect that anyone here understands that now, do they?"

He ceremoniously placed the Nerd Herd request form on the desk in front of them.

Addressing them in his threatening tone he said, "Maybe you would all understand that if you had a taste of Tang every morning."

Harry left in silence. Even the usually quick witted Anna had been left without a comeback.

She hopped down from the help desk, and walked away to go search for her missing wit.

Lester picked up the order and skimmed it. "Noooooo!" he yelled painfully.

This time it was Chuck's turn to ask, "What is it?"

"Dragon Martial Arts -- revisit."

Jeff visibly mirrored Lester's pain.

"C'mon guys," Chuck said reading the request form, "it's just a wireless install and setup. How hard could it be? Besides, it isn't like this is the first time you've been called back on an install."

"Wait, you guys aren't nervous are you?"

Lester spoke up to defend himself. "Surely you can't be serious... it's just that... they have wave after wave of the same problems!"

Jeff raised his hand. "I've been nervous lots of times."

Lester turned back to his coworker. "You know what it's like. I'm not going back there by myself."

Jeff thought about it for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Okay, but only if I get to be Jimmy this time."

"No way Jeffery, we decided it last time - you are most definitely Bimmy. I am meant to be Jimmy."

The glow from Jeff's eyes faded. "Okay, fine. I'm in."

As they reluctantly turned away from the help desk, Chuck chimed in with one last jab at the duo.

"Just wanna wish you both good luck, we're all counting on you!"

Chuck sat down, leaned back in his chair, and stretched his arms.

"Well... I guess that takes care of everything then," he said to himself.

If what Anna knew was right, today would be slow after all.

With the business of work-related activities safely out the way, Morgan suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

He pulled up a chair next to Chuck at the Nerd Herd desk.

"Hey Chuck, how's it goin?"

"Too early to know so far buddy, just have to see how it goes."

"Okay."

"Yep."

The quietness that followed was as spiritually deep as the level of discussion from before.

Chuck finally disrupted the silence.

"Hey, Morgan, you ever think about having a plan?"

"Of course I do," Morgan replied without needing to think about it, "I like to call it my 'mission strategy'."

Chuck rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about real life here."

"Man, life on the battlefield is as real as it gets!"

Morgan waited to see if he would get the reaction out of Chuck he had hoped for.

He didn't. "Okay, what's all this stuff about a plan? Talk to uncle Morgan, what's up?"

"It's just the last couple of days..."

Chuck was having trouble putting his thoughts into words that he thought his friend would follow. He cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"Ellie thinks I'm letting my life go nowhere. That it's because I don't have a plan... and that I'm just sitting here at the Buy More stuck in neutral."

The more that Chuck got his words out, the faster he spoke.

"And she even gave me a book on how to write a five year plan."

Morgan watched as Chuck hesitated mid-panic. "Wow dude. Really wow. That's crazy. You told her she's wrong right?"

"Yeah, kinda. I mean there are plenty of people out there that are successful and who don't need five year plans."

Morgan replied by nodding and shrugging at the same time. He wasn't sure if Chuck was paying attention to his reaction anyway.

Chuck sighed before he continued thinking out loud. "You know, I used to have a plan... I was gonna graduate... become a successful software entrepreneur... be with Jill... and now..." His voice changed from defeated to disappointed. "Now I'm here... at the Buy More."

Morgan's ears perked up when he heard 'Jill'. He thought it would be better for Chuck if he changed the topic to something that didn't include talking about Jill.

"Don't worry dude, you don't need a five year plan."

"That's what I think, " Chuck said trying to convince himself. "I mean, A LOT can happen in five years. How can you plan that far ahead anyway? I never would have thought back then that my best friend at Stanford would've stabbed me in the back, ruined my future, and slept with my girlfriend."

"I know what you mean Chuck - but look at me! I don't let it get to me."

Chuck looked at Morgan in disbelief, failing to hide his doubtful tone. "Oh you know, do you?"

"Sure I do," Morgan said trying to sound offended, "I NEVER thought I'd grow up in a future where Han shot second!"

"But I made peace with it see?" Morgan smiled broadly for extra effect.

"Uh huh. This is helpful." Chuck began staring at the ceiling.

"C'mon Chuck, your life didn't turn out so bad. Let's just look at the pluses okay?"

Morgan started counting on his fingers. "One, we get to work together every day."

"Two, you don't have some kind of job that's all stressful that you end up dreading."

"Three, being at the Buy More we don't have any obligations so we get to do whatever we want."

"Four, we have plenty of free time after work to enjoy the finer games in life."

"And five," Morgan said holding his arms out widely, "we have access to all of this! Yeah?!?"

Chuck sighed while thinking about what his best friend was suggesting. Morgan did have a talent of finding the positive points in a situation.

"I guess so, buddy. Thanks." he said smiling weakly.

"No problem, that's what friends are for right?"

"Right."

"Now, if you'll excuse me I have some work to get done."

"Wait Morgan, what did you just say? It kind of sounded like you said 'work to get done'."

"Yeah, you know, work - like the daily minimum."

Chuck found it amusing that there was even a daily minimum.

"Big Mike wants me to put some tape down in front of a display."

Chuck remained speechless, but now visibly confused.

"Dude, I don't know, some weird promo thing."

"Okay Morgan, but don't turn all 'employee of the month' on me alright?"

"Roger that..."

Chuck leaned back in his chair again and resumed staring at the ceiling.

"Morgan's right", Chuck thought.

He could have it much worse. There were definitely those who would love to have the kind of freedoms that he took for granted daily.

Not everyone is lucky enough to get to go to work with people that you actually enjoy working with. Not everyone got the chance while at work to have fun joking around with their best friend regularly.

It wasn't like he had to worry about making any super-serious decisions - at least not the kind of decisions that affected the rest of people's lives or the fate of mankind.

And in sort of a way, he and Morgan did actually get paid playing video games while on duty.

It was also hard for Chuck to deny the appeal of the home theater room setup - or the steady stream of early-access to the next hottest tech products.

The kind of wonderful life he had at the Buy More was the kind that would be almost impossible to assign a proper value to. Not everything could be bought off the shelf for a price.

Chuck felt a responsibility pang that brought his eyes back to his present situation.

The phone he was babysitting showed that no one had called in yet.

He checked the Nerd Herd support system - nothing there either.

Anna being right about the virus was both a good thing and a bad thing.

On the good side, people weren't down and suffering. On the bad side, he had nothing to do and was suffering.

Were stretches of dead time like this doing nothing really supposed to be his ultimate fate? Ellie had tried to gently tell him that this would be the kind of thing he would have to expect as long as he remained at the Buy More.

Chuck felt Charles Carmichael look at him with disappointment. Chuck was pretty sure Charles would never sit around like this.

Instead, Charles was probably on his way to buy yet another sports car, or jet-set off to some exotic location around the world he had never been, or just to do his usual 'something' that was otherwise revolutionary.

It always felt good to daydream about being in Charles Carmichael's shoes. Chuck felt Charles Carmichael had it all.

It was hard to imagine that he and Chuck at some point had the same history.

"Things could've been so different. But now, it's just Chuck Bartowski sitting at the Buy More." he thought.

What could he really do now at this point? What options were really left? All of the chances he had, all of the opportunities he had, and all of the perfect timing he had back then were all long gone.

It wasn't like he could somehow find and convince Jill that he wasn't the liar that she thought he was.

On top of that, she had made it quite clear that she was leaving him. There had been no ambiguity in that...

Chuck sighed.

With the kind of money he made here at the Buy More there wasn't nearly enough for him to try and start his own software business. And from what he saw around the Buy More, no one was qualified enough to share his dream.

That meant he'd have to get a real job somewhere else, which he also couldn't do since he didn't have his degree from Stanford.

"It's like I'm stuck," he nearly said with frustration.

Chuck admitted to himself that Ellie's words bothered him they way they did because deep down he knew she was somewhat right.

He shook his head thinking about her insistence on Chuck's five year plan.

The best he could come up with was a three year plan:

'Year One: Find a way to go back in time and completely change my life'

'Year Two: ?'

'Year Three: Profit!'

He considered the possibility of finding success though publishing his own life planning book.

He shouldn't have to be left sitting here thinking like this about five year plans, or what had gone wrong in his life. His life could have been perfect.

What had he done to Bryce to justify what he did to him? Bryce knew that Chuck had only been able to attend Stanford because of his academic scholarship. It was a scholarship he had worked hard through high school to earn.

If Bryce hadn't ruined his life, that scholarship would've carried him through graduation. He would have had the career in software that he always wanted.

At the very least he would've had his own car, his own place, and the former friends that lost faith in him for cheating.

He would still have Jill.

It was amazing how different things were without her.

When he started at Stanford, he had been a bit disorganized his first couple of years. He was almost obsessed with his dream of making his own software games. He struggled to balance that dream with his coursework.

The more time he spent with Jill though, the better things got. He felt like he had more focus.

Eventually his grades even improved to the point where he regularly ranked towards the top of his class' scores.

Afterwards, it became clear just how much she had changed his life. He felt it was hard for him to function like he once had.

He wanted to be mad at her. After all, she did stab him in the back too.

Chuck knew he couldn't hate her like that.

He hoped she wasn't still together with Bryce - he hoped instead she was out there thinking of him.

If anything, he truly hoped she wouldn't see him sitting here at the Nerd Herd desk. There had already been way too many disappointed looks from those who obviously thought he had become a failure.

He sighed loudly.

After leaving Stanford, Chuck had given a name to his pain - and it was Bryce Larkin.

Chuck might have struggled coming up with just the right words to say if he ever met Jill again, but he had plenty to say to Bryce.

When he felt this way, he wanted to yell. He wanted to get everything off of his chest at the top of his lungs for once and for all, and hear how Bryce had to answer for himself.

"BARTOWSKI!" Chuck nearly fell out of his seat.

He got up and quickly walked over to the source of the audible anger.

"Yes Big Mike?"

"What does this look like to you Bartowski?" he said pointing.

Chuck looked down at the floor. "Uh, it looks like an S..."

He tilted his head. A familiar shape appeared to him. "...and a more different S." Chuck smiled.

Big Mike wasn't smiling back. "It's supposed to be a path to Buy More savings!"

"Sorry..." Chuck said awkwardly pointing at Morgan's art. "It just looks kinda like the beginning shape of the 'Burninator'."

"I don't care what it is - tell Morgan I'm gonna 'burninate' his ass if he doesn't get back here and fix this."

Chuck furrowed his brow. Why did he think Big Mike would get that? One of his coworkers probably, but not his boss.

Unlike one of his coworkers, Big Mike was expecting a response from him.

"Right," Chuck said apologetically, "I'll just find Morgan."

He stuck his head up and started looking around. "Where is Morgan?"

---------------

Morgan looked deeply into her eyes.

"Anna", he said with a serious tone.

"You know that this thing here means more to me than anything."

He paused before continuing to bare his soul.

"I need you."

"I can't go on knowing that you're not there."

"Fine Morgan!" Anna said visibly annoyed. "Take the sniper rifle, I'll cover you."

"Thanks! You're the best." He picked up his controller and slid his headset mic back down into position.

"Alright, listen up everybody! We are going in there and we're gonna win this one. Those LargeMart fiends may think they're giants in their own little world, but we are taking that world away from them! Are we ready?!? Let's do this!"

Anna watched as Morgan delivered his usual "inspirational" battle monologue. She picked up her controller.

"Morgan," she began with a menacing smile, "I don't want the world, I just want YOUR half."

The look of horror on his face made her smile even more.

----------------

Bryce didn't like how he felt right now.

Being concerned like this and having the slightest hint of worry spoke volumes about his ability to be a spy.

For his own sake, as well as for the mission's, he did his best not to show it.

Nevertheless, he had spent far too many days since Sunday trying to uncover some element of Fulcrum's plot.

It frustrated him greatly how unsuccessful he had been.

Each day that Bryce wasted was another day that Chuck's odds were increasing to become included in the mission.

He still felt reluctant involving Chuck.

They hadn't parted on the best of terms, and he was unsure how Chuck would suddenly react to seeing him out of the blue.

Bryce needed to make sure that whatever he may need to send him, that it wouldn't get immediately deleted. He also knew if Fulcrum intercepted his message, they couldn't know that it contained the information that they were after.

For reasons like these he had turned to a friend within the CIA technical operations group.

David Lightman was someone he felt he could trust, but not quite enough to include him on his mission. David had grown up around telecommunications and after becoming involved with the government, had gone on to stand out as a security and encryptions expert.

After the usual smalltalk, Bryce had gotten down to business.

"Hey, I need a favor. I've got a little project I need your help with."

David loved working on quirky projects. It was this trait Bryce knew he could count on. David's face had perked up at his suggestion.

"My anniversary's coming up with my girlfriend and I thought I'd do something fun and different."

David looked a little puzzled at how he might be involved in this. "Go on..."

"I want to tell her what she means to me, but I'm still working on it you know. I'm thinking maybe something written, some old photos from when we first became partners, some music playing, or something - I haven't decided yet."

"Would it be possible to have something I can work on from my PDA - so that when I do finish, I can send it to her all wrapped up in a bundle?"

David visibly lost a bit of his energy. "Well, yeah... any email program can pretty much do that."

Bryce stepped up his enthusiasm.

"No. Not just an attachment. I want to be able to send it out, and watch the look on her face as she gets it! So I need to send a lot of data really fast."

He began to gesture with his hands to make it look like he was thinking out loud. "Ooh! It would be great if I could make it personalized too. So that when she gets the email and opens the attachment that something comes up on her screen. It would be some kind of inside joke or something that only we would get, so when she types in what she used to say to me, she gets all the stuff I sent her!"

"Yeah, I see where you're going..." David was back in the game. "A data pinata... That's cool! You know how you want it to look yet?" he asked smiling.

"Maybe she could type it in like from one of those old text-based games. I've got some things in mind, but nothing final. I'll decide for sure what to use when I narrow down the rest of what I'll send her."

David was on the edge of his seat. "Alright! The old 'shall we play a game' seduction... Nice choice! Uh, what else?"

Bryce was in the home stretch. "You know, I'd love for it to get to her inbox without getting filtered out to her junkmail. I've had pretty good luck with the CIA transfer system. Any chance we could borrow the encryption from that?"

"Sure! Sure! Easy!"

"Thanks. When could I come by and pick it up?"

"I'll have it done later tonight. Is that soon enough?"

Bryce smiled at him reassuringly. "David, that's perfect."

"Bryce?" David asked with a suddenly serious tone in his voice.

Bryce's defensive instinct went on alert.

"You mind if I use something like this for my new girlfriend too?"

Bryce relaxed. "Hey David, go for it."

It was now 23:45 and Bryce waited for the elevator. The halls and offices were empty and silent.

He looked down at his PDA. David had had done a good job. He made everything easy to use and fully last-minute customizable.

He hoped it would be enough.

"Bryce!"

He wheeled quickly around to the voice behind him.

"I thought we understood that we are working together as a team."

Bryce looked around. He and Tommy were the only two present.

Tommy continued, "Cowen... Cowen is a scout for talent."

"We have already found you and your... talent."

"I almost feel disappointed Bryce that I didn't make myself clear the first time."

"Here," said Tommy as he handed him a folder, "it looks like our team has some new competition."

The elevator doors opened. Tommy stepped in and pressed a button for another floor.

"Don't worry Bryce, I'll see you soon enough."

This is getting worse, Bryce thought. He had hoped to be several steps ahead of agents like Tommy, and now they were getting even further ahead of him.

He opened up the folder. Inside were several NSA documents about their plans to improve security around several sensitive locations.

The operation was being led by a Major John Casey. Included were photos and a mission history from Major Casey's personnel file.

This must be the 'new competition' Tommy had been referring to.

Bryce closed the folder.

He would have to watch his back now from two teams on this mission - and that would mean learning as much as he could about Major Casey.