Here's the next chapter! It's been about nearly a week since I've updated this story, and now things are getting a bit more interesting.
One: Casey's still stuck in a closet.
Two: Lara is/will be suffering from a draft that she had no idea she inhaled.
Three: Chuck is on the verge of freaking out.
Four: Jeff and Lester are hoping that Lara is not the same Casey's girlfriend Lara.
and Five: Fulcrum is planning something evil... very evil...
Please R&R!
Disclaimer: Chuck (c) Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak
: I Turn to You (c) Christina Aguilera
Claimer: Idea, story, etc. (c) me
Chapter Six: Round Two: Complications Arise
Lara's golden eyes fluttered open, seeing Sarah and Chuck in front of her, watching her worriedly.
"Lara, are you okay?" Chuck inquired, worry filling his voice.
She blinked, breathing in deeply. "U-Uh, yeah, I think so. W-What happened?" she asked quietly.
"You said that you couldn't breathe, and then we heard you collapse," Sarah informed, "Do you have any idea what happened?"
"No idea," her fellow CIA agent answered, "I-I don't hurt as bad now. I'm not quite sure what happened, only that after I walked off stage I began to feel woozy. Then my head hurt and the world spun around me. I felt like my lungs were constricting and I could no longer breathe. Then I felt my world go black, and darkness overtook me. How long have I been out?"
Chuck checked his digital communicator watch. "About 7 minutes. They're about to announce the contestants moving onto the next round," he announced, helping her up, "Good timing, eh? Are you ready?"
She nodded. "I-I think so. W-Where's John?" she asked.
"He went off to investigate," Sarah informed, "Weird, I haven't heard anything from him since you passed out."
Her golden eyes glimmered with concern. "I hope he's okay," she murmured before turning to Chuck, "Come on. Let's go see what the results are."
He nodded gravely and they headed towards one side of the stage as all of the contestants went out to get their results.
James Wilson stood up from his place on the judges' panel and announced in a loud voice, "Thank you all for your wonderful performances. We've decided to make a change in the schedule, and cut down the numbers to the top 5. Following we will cut to the final 3, and from there, choose our winner. Now, the top 5 performers are; Erica Stanford, Christopher Reynolds, Lara Clark, Miranda Laurens, and Jared Lark. Congratulations to those five and thank you to the rest of you who didn't make it for your courage to perform in front of this crowd. As for the top 5, the order in which you will be performing in is, Miranda, Christopher, Jared, Lara, and Erica. We will take a quick 5 minute concession for you all to get ready. Good luck!"
The five walked off stage with Chuck and Lara immediately went back to the dressing room to change into another dress.
"Yep, as we expected," Sarah said to Chuck, "Lara made it to the top 5. Not that big of a shocker if you ask me."
"Well, after her performance, I guess not," Chuck agreed. Then his eyes widened. "Hey, wait a second, I just realized something. Casey was missing," he said.
"He went to go investigate, remember?" she retorted.
"But he wouldn't miss the results of his girlfriend's performance, would he?" the human Intersect pointed out, "Something must have happened to him. Should we go look for him?"
"Let's wait until Lara comes back in a few minutes. She might have a better idea on what's going on," Sarah suggested, "By the way, how many of the top 5 are Fulcrum agents?"
"Three of them are working undercover for them," Chuck answered positively, "Erica Stanford, Miranda Laurens, and Jared Lark. I think Chris Reynolds is just one unlucky Burbank citizen. And of course, Lara is with us."
"I hope Lara's not having any problems in the dressing room," she said quietly, a sigh escaping her.
Of course, she just had to be wrong.
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A loud 'thwack' echoed in the room as Lara was viciously thrown against the wall, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. They had locked Chris inside his changing room. She looked up at the three Fulcrum agents who were beating her mercilessly and wiped blood away from her. Her dress was pure black, had spaghetti straps and the dress fanned out into waves from her waist down, reaching just below her knees. She knew she couldn't fight back without drawing up a crowd, who were mostly Fulcrum agents, and allowed herself to get beat up.
"You're lucky that this dress is black or else the blood would show," Lara commented crudely.
Erica Stanford punched her across the face, causing the CIA agent to collapse onto her side, groaning slightly in pain. "D-Did James set you up to do this? Or did Jason just wanted to warn me to back off?" she guessed.
"Quiet!" Miranda snarled, kicking her hard in the stomach, causing her to cough up some blood, "CIA scum!"
"Yeah, we heard you scratched up our boss Jason real well," Jared hissed. Then he looked at his fellow Fulcrum agents and said, "Come on, let's go. I think the competition is going to start up soon. We'll just let the host know that Clark might not be coming."
As they were leaving, Lara heard Miranda asking, "So did the boss say who the Intersect was?"
"No," Jared replied, "Both he and James refused to say who it was."
Soon enough, the three undercover Fulcrum agents were out of earshot, and Lara groaned in pain as she tried to move. Damn... she thought, I'm in trouble here if I can't make it outta here for the next round. I wonder if James even knows about this. Probably not though, I don't think Jason would want to get into trouble with him. Ugh... I hope someone finds me soon. Either that or...
She grabbed hold of the tiny communicator attached to her dress and raised it to her lips, whispering quietly, "G-Guys? I need a hand here, if t-that would be great. I just received a beating from Erica, Jared and Miranda. Sure, I'm in slight pain, but that's only because Miranda's hard-toed heels connected with my stomach."
"Are you okay?!" Chuck immediately asked.
"Well... if you guys would just come here then I'd be a whole lot better," she replied, wincing slightly as she sat up, her back resting against the wall, "Sarah, maybe only you should come. It would seem too suspicious if Chuck came with you for absolutely no reason. You could make more of an excuse that you were going to see whether me and Chris were all set cause we didn't arrive yet. Oh, by the way, they locked Chris inside his dressing room, so if you could get him out, that would be great."
"I'm on my way," Sarah informed quietly.
"Where's Casey?" Lara inquired, "He hasn't said a word at all. Casey, if you're there Sweetheart, where are you?"
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Poor John Casey was locked inside the broom closet, his hands tied behind his back and a gag in his mouth. Luckily for him, the two idiots who locked him in there really sucked at tying knots that would hold well, not to mention forgot to remove his communicator watch and his earpiece.
The NSA agent easily slipped out of the knots around his hands, removed the gag from his mouth, and spoke quietly into his communicator after hearing the whole conversation between Lara, Chuck and Sarah. "Lara, you there?" he asked.
"Casey," she breathed in relief, "Where are you?"
"Locked inside a broom closet. When I went investigating I discovered two Fulcrum agents lounging about and I listened into their conversation. Once I break in there with my gun, I get knocked out by some dirty slime ball," he explained, "Are you okay? I overheard what happened."
"Well... I look fine, but I feel terrible," she answered, "Can you get out? Or do you need help?"
"Nah, I can probably get myself outta here in no time. Be careful, Lara," he warned, "Things are getting a little more hostile. I'll see you soon."
He stood up and pressed his ear against the door, making sure that there weren't any Fulcrum agents outside. To his disapproval, there were two.
Probably the two idiots who sucked at tying knots, Casey thought, grinning as he drew his firearm, this is gonna be fun.
In an instant, he broke the door down and whacked both of the agents on the back of the head, knocking them out. Then he dragged their limp bodies into the broom closet and tied them up, gagging them as well. He finished by tying a tight knot and grunting, "Now that's how you tie a proper knot."
Following that, he hurriedly made his way to the competitors' dressing room, more than slightly concerned about his girlfriend.
Casey ran into the dressing room, gun poised in case there were Fulcrum agents in the room at the time. He immediately holstered his gun after seeing Lara sat up against the wall, her eyes closed and Sarah using a cold wet cloth to wipe away the blood on her mouth. He kneeled down beside his lover and touched her cheek, where a small bruise was beginning to form.
The NSA major turned to Sarah. "Is she okay?" he inquired.
She opened her golden eyes and looked at him. "I'm okay," she responded, her voice dry before she cleared it, "Ahem, r-really, Casey, I'm okay."
He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, careful not to hurt her further. He pulled away after tasting the blood still on her lips. "Lara, what happened?" he demanded, his voice lower and more threatening.
She coughed, hacking up a bit more blood and it streamed down her lips.
"Lara!" Sarah exclaimed as Casey snatched the wet cloth from her and immediately began to wipe away the blood. Then he pulled her tightly against his shoulder, keeping her close.
"Lara, you're less than okay. You're hurt," he stated.
She tried to pull away from him, trying to stand up. "But I-I've g-got to g-go o-out there a-and protect the Intersect. I-I can't let Fulcrum w-win," she breathed. But her knees broke from under her due to the previous abuse they received. Casey caught her and held her up.
"You're not okay, Lara," he protested, "You're hurt. You can't continue with this. We'll just get Bartowski out of here and blow up the place. I can get a NSA air force team assembled and-"
"No!" she broke off, "M-My first day here in Burbank, I just can't go down this easily. Something's wrong with me, I've gotten... weaker. Damn... I can't just give up now. Its okay, Casey, Sarah, I can do this. Trust me."
Sarah forced a grin. "You can be pretty stubborn sometimes," she commented, "but maybe that's from just hanging out with Casey too long."
The major groaned and rolled his eyes. "Uh huh, right…" he replied sarcastically, "So now I'm the stubborn one? I'm so sorry I can't just follow orders."
"And my orders are to protect the Intersect," Lara grunted, "But how can I if I can't keep up my cover? I've got to protect him. If I can't even do a simple mission like that, then how can I dare to call myself a CIA agent. It's okay, Casey. You can let go of me. I can do this, I have to." She looked at him with desperate eyes.
He sighed in defeat and slowly released her. When she managed to maintain her balance, he looked at her with worried eyes. "Be careful, Lara, and good luck," he said.
Sarah exchanged a look with her fellow CIA agent and she nodded. "Good luck, Lara. I know you'll do great," she said, "By the way, I've already let Chris out of the dressing room." Then she left back towards the stage.
Casey wrapped an arm around Lara's waist and pulled her close to him, pressing his mouth tightly against hers before pressing his forehead against hers. "I really care for you, you know," he said quietly.
She chuckled. "You're not one to say 'I love you', are you?" she retorted, "But you know I love you too." Then she followed in Sarah's direction and left the NSA major all by himself.
He took the other way out of the room so that he could re-exit back into the public opera hall so he could watch Lara's performance while at the same time ensure that no Fulcrum agents tried to assassinate Chuck. Jared was just finishing up his performance on stage and Casey glared at him furiously, knowing that he was one of the three Fulcrum agents that beat up on his girlfriend.
You are going to pay for what you did to my Lara, he thought threateningly, Wait a sec; did I just think my Lara? Damn, that woman is taking a toll on me.
Chuck re-entered onto front stage and had a big grin on his face. Casey knew that it was completely not real and he was scared out of his wits. "A-And now, next up, back on stage, singing 'I Turn to You', Ms. Lara Clark!" The Intersect declared.
"Oh yeah, mama's back in the house!" Jeff shouted from the audience, though it was drowned out by applause.
Morgan grabbed onto his arm cautiously. "You know John would kill you if he heard you say that," he warned.
"Yeah, well guess what? John isn't here," Lester retorted hotly, "He probably has no idea that she would come here and perform on her first night in Burbank. If he saw her looking like this he'd probably be drooling all over her."
"Casey isn't like that," Morgan said thoughtfully, "In this situation I think he'd be more of a 'back-off-losers-she's-mine' kinda guy."
Lara stepped back out into the spotlight, a small smile gracing her face. But Casey saw in her eyes fatigue and a deep pain; he knew things were getting rough on her.
"When I'm lost in the rain,
In your eyes I know I'll find the light,
To light my way, when I'm scared losing ground,
When my world is going crazy you can turn it all around,
And when I'm down you're there pushing me to the top,
You're always there giving me all you've got.
For a shield, from the storm, for a friend, for a love,
To keep me safe and warm, I turn to you.
For the strength to be strong, for the will to carry on,
For everything you do I turn to you."
Instantly John Casey could sense something was wrong. He could tell that some of Lara's vocals were strained. Maybe, no, certainly she was lying about her condition. But, regrettably, there was nothing he could do now, nothing except watch.
"For the arms to be my shelter through all the rain,
For truth that will never change for someone to lean on
But for a heart I can rely on through anything
For the one who I can run to oh I turn to you.
For a shield, from the storm, for a friend, for a love,
To keep me safe and warm, I turn to you.
For the strength, to be strong, for the will to carry on,
For everything you do, for everything that's true,
For everything you do, for everything that's true,
I turn to you."
Wow, so she lasted the whole song after all, Casey thought cheerfully, grinning, Maybe she just naturally couldn't reach those notes, or she could but was strained. I don't blame her; those are pretty hard notes to hit. I know I wouldn't be able to, even with my entire choir boy practising. Damn I love that woman.
Lara took a shaky breath and curtsied. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and she put a hand on her forehead, suddenly seeing the crowd as invisible. Immediately Casey began to head backstage at the sight of her weakening.
James Wilson looked at the CIA agent with slightly worried eyes. "Ms. Clark, are you alright?" he inquired.
She sighed and looked back at the Fulcrum agent. "Y-Yes, I-I think I'm alright. Thank you for your concern," she replied shakily.
Much to her discomfort, he sighed in relief, "Very well then, as for your performance, it was spectacular. I can see that you've practiced a lot in order to reach that stunning range. You've done an excellent job on your performance, Ms. Clark."
"Thank you," Lara replied before walking off stage. She received glares and evil smiles from Erica, Miranda and Jared, and a nod from Christopher, signalling that she did a good job. She walked back towards the Dressing Room through the hallway, her head a bit dizzy, but she ran into a certain Fulcrum agent.
"Jason, what do you want?" she hissed, not very ferociously.
He grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, but she was too weak to retaliate. He leaned in and let his lips brush her exposed neck before whispering into her ear, "Revenge. But not without having a little fun first."
Damn it, Casey, where are you? Lara thought as she tried to push him away, "Let. Me. Go." She mumbled; her eyes slipping closed, feeling his sharp fingernails dig into her already bruised skin.
"Too bad your boyfriend isn't here to witness this," Jason chuckled quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed her neck.
Casey... Please... Lara thought, praying in her heart that he would come for her, Where are you when I need you?
Oohh... Cliffy! Hope you've liked it so far!
Is Casey going to arrive in time to save her? Or will she fall prey to Jason's scheming, devious, and REVENGE-FILLED mind (aka, or will she die?).
PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL UPDATE AS SOON AS I CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!