Chuck Versus a Man called Crescent
This is my first story arc guys so be cool…..
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, but I do own the characters I create. No-one steals Crescent from me, oh no no they don't.
Troubled Waters
Chuck feels ill. Not only may his sister find out that he is a spy with about a million people who want to kill him, but he may be killed by the scariest man alive – the one called Crescent. Earlier in Castle, when he had flashed, Chuck had seen all of his 'contracts'. One in Sierra Leone, where the mysterious man had killed a warlord and eliminated his entire command in under half an hour; one in China, where he had infiltrated a triad, transferred all the money from its different bank accounts into his own untraceable one and walked away without them touching a hair on his head; one in Cuba, one in Africa, the list went on.
The Porsche pulled up in and stopped in a side alley close to a gallery, and Casey screeched to a halt behind them in the van.
"Why are we stopping here?" complains Chuck. "Out of all the places which we could park, we have to park here, in-" His foot lands a puddle of what looks suspiciously like vomit, and his face turns green.
"This is the best spot to make our escape in case things get hairy, moron," barks Casey through the earpiece. "And now, if you don't mind switching off your wussy nerdy side, we have an international criminal to catch."
Looking offended, Chuck attempts to wipe the gloop of his shoe, finishes and takes Sarah's hand, walking to the grand entrance, where a large number of guests are already gathering. He spots the ever-enthusiastic Ellie and Devon and starts to panic again.
"Sarah, I know what the General said about getting that intel with any methods necessary, but how are we supposed to do that with Ellie and Awesome on our backs?" Chuck asks.
The blonde CIA agent pats her boyfriend on the arm. "Don't worry, sweetie," she says reassuringly, "there's so many people here they probably won't be able to find us, and if they do, you can distract them whilst Casey and I deal with Crescent."
Chuck looks a little better and confident, and with that, they stroll past the splendid doorway and into a date with destiny in the form of a man called Crescent.
Casey looks at the schematics for the gallery building, scanning it for any other possible hidden spots and exits. Damn, he thinks, I should be out there kicking some assassin ass. This is no way for a guy like me to spend an afternoon. Sipping his black and bitter coffee, he continues looking, until an alarm starts flashing on one of the screens. The Colonel grins and contacts Chuck and Sarah.
"Listen up, moron, just picked up something from the back entrance," grunts Casey. "Keep your eyes out for any late arrivals entering the gallery and see if you can identify Crescent."
Just as Casey says this, Chuck hears his name being called out, and turns to find his brother-in-law, Devon Woodcomb MD, standing in front of him, and he does not look happy.
"Chuck," Devon asks, "Are you on a mission right now?"
"Of course not Awesome!" bumbles Chuck, signaling madly with his hands for Sarah to say something. "I'm just here to enjoy the wonderful paintings!"
"Then why did you sign in as Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael? That's your spy alias, isn't it?" questions Devon. "This spy business is so frickin' dangerous and you brought it here with you?"
"Um, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. You see, normally when I go out I use my alias so I don't draw attention to the actual me and you guys. Isn't that right, Sarah darling?"
"Yes, Devon, there's no need to worry," the blonde says. "We are here purely on a social basis; I mean, who here would actually be an international criminal?"
Devon, looking unconvinced, points at one man standing in an extremely conspicuous area – right in the middle of the crowd. He's tall, around six foot four, and is well built. His facial features seem Chinese, but this is contrasted with his chestnut brown hair. He looks normal, but tucked under his belt is the unmistakable shape of a gun. Chuck turns and flashes, his eyes fluttering as the huge amount of information reveals itself. For a second, Chuck stands there stunned, but turns around with somewhat of a forced smile on his face.
"No Awesome," says Chuck in a weirdly high voice, "no flash there; he's just an ordinary guy who likes to do normal things. He definitely is not a murdering assassin."
Devon visibly relaxes, and after questioning Chuck for another minute or so, goes off to find Ellie. Chuck turns to Sarah looking panicky and pulls her closer.
"Sarah," whispers Chuck into her ear, "can you see the guy Awesome just pointed at? The guy in the jeans and wearing the sunglasses? That's him!"
"I see him Chuck," his girlfriend whispers back. "Casey, we have our guy. Does he have any backup?"
"No. He must be pretty confident," replies Casey. "Walker, you go get him, numb nut, you stay here and keep your family occupied." Chuck starts to object, but he is cut off. "Moron, do you remember what happens normally when you go in by yourself?"
"Hey!" retorts Chuck, "that was before the Intersect 2.0! I am now perfectly capable of looking aft-" The blonde CIA agent tugs on his sleeve and Chuck looks at her. "What's the problem?"
"I can't see him," replies Sarah, now sounding a little worried. "Casey, can you see him anywhere?" No response.
Back in the van, all of the equipment Casey is using to monitor the situation in the gallery malfunctions; the video and audio feeds disappear, leaving behind the drone of static. The Colonel looks in disbelief until he realises the problem.
"Dammit! They've been made!" he shouted, throwing down his headset and pulling open the door of the van. He jumps out, and as he does so, he pulls out his own pistol, a SIG Sauer P229, heading for the back entrance.
In the gallery, Sarah is getting a bad feeling. Not only has their extremely dangerous target disappeared from under her nose, but she still has not found intel which could endanger the lives of Chuck and everyone he cared about. She looks around, but suddenly she stops in her tracks.
"Chuck," Sarah nudges her boyfriend. "We have a problem."
"What is it?" he says, turning around, and finds himself staring down the barrel of a Glock 18c.
"Nice of you to join the party." says the man holding the gun. "I think you already know who I am. My name is Crescent."
The Colonel grunts as he is pinned down by gunfire coming from behind a truck parked behind the building. He checks his gun. Damn, he thinks, I only have a few rounds left. The moron and his girlfriend better get outta there quick otherwise I'll be the one who kills them. He pops around the side of the wall providing him with cover and squeezes off another two rounds.
One of the hostiles drops, giving Casey a brief lull in the barrage of bullets to run to behind some crates closer to his assailants and fire off the last rounds in his gun. Another one hits the ground, the bullet puncturing a hole through the skin and flesh into the heart. The rest of the gunmen continue to fire whilst moving closer to where Casey is hiding.
"Come out and surrender Colonel! It's over!" shouts the apparent team leader. "You're surrounded and out of ammo. You've got no other choice."
Casey gives out a barking laugh. "If you think I'm alone without any backup, then think again. Once my team is finished with your asshole of a boss, they're going to kick your ass."
"Unlikely, Colonel." Casey jumps out and attempts to take them out in hand-to-hand combat, but the combined force of their team overpowers him and a heavy blow lands on the back of his head, sending him into a deep unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, Chuck and Sarah are being forced to move into the warehouse area of the gallery by Crescent, who is holding them at gunpoint.
"I'm pleasantly surprised you fell into my trap so easily." comments the assassin. "I would have thought they were more careful when trying to find me. I expected a lot more from the legendary Intersect team."
"What trap?" asks Chuck, and ignoring Sarah's look which clearly said SHUT UP, he continues. "I thought you were here to exchange intel on the Intersect with-"
"A cunning ruse." states Crescent. "The intel is non-existent, but its purpose has been accomplished. It has brought me you – the last existing Intersect 2.0, and I know many people who would willingly pay in the millions for the information in your head. Also, this is a way for me to show that I do not like to be double crossed."
"Wha-" Chuck starts to talk, but Sarah's look, which is now threatening a very painfull death, causes him to shut up. He looks sheepishly at Sarah. "I'm just curious…."
"And curious you should be too Agent Walker," says Crescent. "Don't you want to know what really happened on the bridge in Paris? Not even a little bit?"
"What are you talking about?" asks Sarah, sounding a little confused. "Chuck? What's he talking about?"
"Ahhhh," Their captor smiles. "He hasn't told you, has he? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your boyfriend here didn't shoot Shaw. I did, under a contract from your own very organisation – the CIA. They told me to kill him, I did, and now they're trying to cover up their tracks. The Agency wouldn't look good if they were seen to be dealing with me."
Sarah froze at the news. Your boyfriend didn't shoot Shaw, Crescent had said. She shakes her head. It doesn't matter. He put his life on the line when he went up against that monster and that's all that matters. He would do anything to save me, even if it cost him his life. Despite this, a small gnawing feeling develops. Chuck had lied to her.
"Devon," asks his impatient wife, "have you seen Chuck and Sarah? They said they were coming but I can't find them anywhere?"
"I'm sure they have an explanation," Devon replied. "Maybe they're just doing what couples do on romantic dates." Privately, he thought, They better have a good reason.
The back entrance was kicked in and the gunmen barge in, carrying Casey by the arms. They drag him to where the other members of Team Bartowski are standing and dr
op him there. He slumps over, and Chuck catches a glimpse of a nasty looking bruise on the back of his teammate's head.
Deciding that the situation is going to get worse, Chuck speaks up. "Look," he says, "I'm the one you want – let my friends go. They aren't part of your plan."
"Why would I lose myself an extra bit of profit? The Colonel here has picked up quite a lot of enemies in his career, and undoubtedly they would give almost anything to get their hands on him. Same applies to Agent Walker here." The sound of a phone ringing emanates from his pocket, and with an "Excuse me.", Crescent turns away, apparently conversing with a buyer. He signals his team to take the agents to the truck.
The gunmen force the two CIA agents to drag the unconscious NSA agent to the truck. As heavy as a boulder, Chuck thought. It would be good if I had a tractor beam like in Star Trek – then I would have to carry this heavy lug. Realising that his current chain of thought wasn't really appropriate for the situation, Chuck discontinued it, and Team Bartowski was shut inside a holding cell in the back of a truck. He looked at his girlfriend. Outwardly, she looked mainly okay, but he could tell from her body posture that she felt hurt. "Sarah," he began, "I'm sorry I lied to you about Shaw, but trust me, I really wanted to tell you, I just didn't want to put you through all that pain again."
"It's okay, Chuck," sighed Sarah. "You risked your life for me, and that's all that I care about. Killing Shaw was never part of this – it's even better now that I know it wasn't you, it means you're still yourself."
"Thanks for being so understanding," replies Chuck, sounding relieved. Sarah feels a twinge of guilt because of her small distrust of him. "Any ideas on how to get out of here?"
The blonde CIA agent looks around as Casey awakes with a grunt. "Damn it, Bartowski! How hard is it to find a guy and knock him out? Next time we go on a mission – you're staying in the van doing surveillance!"
"Look Casey!" Chuck responds angrily, "if you don't have anything to contribute besides your usual snide comments, shut up! Right now we are locked up in a cell and most probably going to be shipped off to our individual hells, and I can't think of anything!"
Casey is a little shocked from the moron's outburst. Normally Chuck would have been too intimidated by his overwhelming size and strength, but now it seems that Chuck is at the end of his patience. "Calm down, Bartowski. It won't be hard to break outta here. Our guards will be giving us a little help."
"What?" asks Sarah. Casey nods. "When we were getting transferred to this cell, I heard them talking about when to double cross our target. When they make their move, their concentration will be shifted, so that's when we'll move. I want to bust some heads."
"How very much like you Colonel." says Crescent. "I've just gotten in touch with a certain General Martinez of the Costa Gravan army, and he wouldn't like anything better than to see you suffer."
"Too bad you won't be there to claim the reward." The team leader and the rest of the gunmen load their M4s with new clips and the bolts on the rifles click into place. "Step out slowly, all of you, and don't try any funny business."
"I would have thought as much." The assassin laughs. "I knew I should have made this a solo op."
"Too late now, isn't it?" the team leader says. "I have to appreciate you as an employer though. No-one usually pays before we provide our services, and now with the money we'll get from these government agents we'll be rich."
The gunmen drag Crescent away from the others, throw him to the ground and one of them points his M4 at his head. "Seeing that you've served your purpose, I don't need you anymore,' says the team leader. "Shoot him."
All of a sudden the man holding the gun to Crescent's head is flipped over and kicked in the head, knocking him out stone cold. The assassin quickly takes out another two with a flurry of punches to the chest and a roundhouse kick smashing into their temples, whilst the rest of the captors run for cover.
"Go go go!" shouts Casey, and he, Chuck and Sarah escape and hide. "Okay, this fight is going to get ugly. Numb nut, you go back to the van and contact the General, Walker, you're with me."
Ignoring the objections of the moron, the Colonel shoves him unceremoniously away from the fighting and smashes an incoming attacker in the jaw, creating a resounding crack and incapacitating him. Casey pulls out the attacker's sidearm, a USP, and loads it.
"Go, moron!" he shouts as he returns fire. "Walker, I could use some help here!"
"Go Chuck," whispers Sarah into his ear. "Sarah, I can look after myself, I've got the Intersect 2.0, I can help y-"
The blonde puts up her most pleading expression. Herr boyfriend hesistates, but then he nods. "Stay safe." he says. "For me."
The blonde hugs him, and then runs off to join the burly NSA agent in attempting to neutralise the enemy team and capture the target. Chuck runs off to the van, his heart pounding in his chest as he thinks of the danger the love of his life is in.
Okay, that was chapter 3! How was it? Please review! Chapter 4 will probably take a little more time to be put up, too much work to do.
PS Could those who keep posting super negative reviews please try and tone it down. This is my first story.