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.
Not the Ideal Holiday, Part 2
A groan emanates from the corner of a brightly lit room and a man with bandages strapped over the entire left side of his body sits up. He shields his eyes from the glare, unaccustomed to the brightness of the surgical lamp standing above him, but manages to make out several men standing around him, some of them in surgical gowns and some of them in suits. The 'doctors' look happy, and start to congratulate each other, but are silenced by several bullets in the back of the head. Their limp corpses are dragged out, undoubtedly to be incinerated, thinks the man.
"Who?" He manages to croak through a dry thoat. The men in the suits smile.
"We are the Ring, Agent Shaw, we are on your side. You are probably wondering what has happened to you." Shaw nods, and the man continues. "After you were shot by Agent Carmichael, we were able to retrieve and heal you. You were brought here to assist us in our next venture." He gestures behind him, showing Shaw the completed Ring Intersect 2.0. "Now, Daniel, let's get a move on. The CIA won't collapse by itself, you know."
The four stumble into the town, checking a barn for any people before entering. Daine stifles another cough, tastes blood in his mouth and spits it out discreetly, but Chuck catches sight of this and runs over. "Hey - you've been coughing for ages and that inhaler isn't helping at all now. We can slow down and wait for you to rest."
"I'm fine," mumbles Daine, and wipes the blood off his lips with his hand. "And anyways, I don't want to slow down our progress which, as it is now, is pretty small."
Casey inspects the electrical cable bundle at his feet, and after a moment's inspection he pulls out a phoneline, which he wires up to his phone and starts tapping. "Put me through to the French Embassy in Moscow," he says down the phone. "No, I don't want your premium package, just put me through – hey! Don't you dare hang up! Dammit!" He grunts and ends the call.
"Any luck?" asks Sarah, who is staring with a concerned look at Chuck. He is trying to help Daine but is just getting swatted away.
"Stupid operator is apparently more interested in trying to harass me into buying his phone service. We're going to have to find someone else to take us closer to our targets."
"Casey, who was the guy who you were trying to call?" asks Chuck. "A certain Frenchman I met a while back in a mission in Marseille. Former cyber spook and field agent for French intelligence – now retired and working for himself, running an organisation which trades around intel." "Well," says a slightly tired sounding Sarah, "if we're going to be here for a while, let's set up temporary camp. I'll take-" She yawns. "first-" Another yawn. "watch."
"Don't be stupid, Walker," grunts Casey. "You need some rest. Don't need you falling asleep and getting us all killed. I'll take first watch." Sarah starts to object, but is stopped by another yawn and gives in, letting Chuck drag her off to a comfortable looking sleeping bag. She gets to her own one and Chuck looks at her with his puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, all right," whispers she in her boyfriend's ear, "You win. Fortunately, I did come prepared." With that, she slides out of the sleeping bag and pulls out a double-person one. The couple wriggle into it and snuggle up to one another.
Casey gives a grunt of slight disgust and pulls over a chair, which he sits on, and starts to hum the American national anthem. He looks at Daine, who is still awake and wheezing, and walks over to him. "You okay, Reynolds?"
"Give me a moment." The man wheezes for a little longer and then stops. "I'm okay now. What's up?"
"Your situation isn't getting better and you're becoming a liability." Casey says. Daine smiles crookedly. "I know that."
"I can arrange for you to sit this one out here, get you picked up after we're finished."
Daine replies, "I'm well aware that I'm slowing down the whole team, maybe could even compromise the mission. But without one of its members, this team will never succeed." The Colonel gives out a 'I hope you're thinking straight' grunt and sits back down on his chair, starting to hum again when suddenly the phone rings. The both of them stare at it, and Casey picks it up slowly and answers. "Who is this?" he asks.
"Well, Colonel," replies a lightly accented voice. "Who do you think could trace your call to a barn in the middle of a snowy Siberian wasteland?"
"You devil. You have no idea how gut-wrenching it's been stuck here with my new team," grunts Casey. "I need to call in a favour."
"I don't think that time where helping you as of the current situation may be a good idea." A pause. "But to hell with it - it's been too long without excitement in my life. What can this humble Frenchman do for you today?"
The Colonel's lips quirk, smiling for a nanosecond, before reverting back to an impassive mask. "I need a CIA-standard reconnaissance van with all the usual observational equipment. I also need some heavy duty explosives and firearms – can you provide all that?"
"Of course, Mr. Casey – it'll be there very shortly. Bonne chance, mon ami – et faites attention." The line went dead.
Chuck opens his eyes, finding himself lying down on the ground in his Burbank apartment. He tries to get up but, his legs weak for some unknown reason, only manages to prop himself against the sofa. He peers out of a window and notices it is raining and that there are two people standing outside – one of them is holding a gun to the other person's back.
"Hey!" shouts Chuck. "Put down the gun and let that person go!" He pulls himself up, leaning against the sofa arm for support and struggles over to the door, which he opens. Limping outside, he is suddenly blinded by a bright light shining on the two strangers, and when he is able to see again, he recognises the twisted face of Daniel Shaw and a sobbing Sarah Walker.
"Hello, Chuck," says the renegade CIA agent with a sadistic smile on his face. He twists Sarah's arm harder and she gives off an involuntary gasp of pain. "Surprised to see me?"
Chuck stares back in disbelief as he struggles to find the right words. "I shot you on the bridge – you fell into the river – how?"
"Use your brain, Chuck," he replies. "Use the Intersect." And then, placing the barrel of the gun to Sarah's temple, he gives off a short laugh. "You're so weak. Always going on about protecting the ones you love but you can't even save this pathetic little CIA doll."
Before Chuck can do anything, Shaw pulls the trigger and the light in the blonde CIA agent's eyes goes out in an instant. Dropping Sarah's lifeless body to the ground, he points the gun at Chuck. "Goodbye." The last thing Chuck feels is a sharp excruciating pain in his chest and then everything goes black.
Sarah is woken up from a considerably restful sleep by her boyfriend and she turns around to see what the problem is, finding him in convulsions and in a cold sweat. Her training immediately kicks in, and she immediately gets out of the sleeping bag, dragging Chuck out with her.
"Casey!" she shouts, getting the attention of the burly NSA agent who runs over. They rest Chuck's head on a makeshift pillow and Sarah tries to wake him. "Chuck! I need you to wake up now!" She continues in a lower voice, whispering in his ear. "Please. I need you."
Slowly, her boyfriend's body stops jerking around and his breathing returns to normal. Sarah sighs in relief, cradling his head in her lap and stroking his brown curls out of his eyes and back into their usual position. She looks down hopefully at Chuck, whose eyelids flutter open.
"Hello, beautiful," he says sleepily. "Looks like an angel decided to come down from heaven for my wake-up call." This causes Sarah to blush slightly and the Colonel to grunt in mock (hopefully) disgust, walking away and muttering to himself what sounded like "moron and his stupid false alarms." Chuck remains lying down, until the memories of his dream crash back into his consciousness, and he snaps up to a sitting position, somewhat startling his girlfriend.
"Sarah, are you all right?" he asks.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" she replies, staring at Chuck oddly. "Anyways, I should be asking you that question - you were convulsing in your sleep just now. You have no idea how worried I was."
"Hey, I'm okay – just a bad dream, that's all." He pulls her into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms protectively around her. She rests her head against his chest, hearing the reassuring rhythm of his heartbeat, and sighs in contentment.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Charles Irving Bartowski."
The quiet was shattered by the loud rumble of trucks rolling by and stopping. The four of them immediately took positions behind crates, looking over them at the front and back entrance. The door creaks as it is pushed open, and a middle-aged, around fifty or so, gentleman wearing a dapper, probably tailored, strolls in, with a silver suitcase in hand. His features are well-defined – he has a strong jawline and his brown hair is combed back. A pair of circle rimmed glasses perch on his nose.
"Mr. Casey," says the man in a loud voice. "You can come out now – your ride has arrived."
Chuck looks over to Casey and mouths, "Do you know this guy?" Casey nods, getting up and climbing over the crate. He walks over to the man and shakes his hand.
"Good to see you again, Nicolas," says Casey. "I'd like you to meet the rest of my team. Walker! Carmichael! Reynolds! Get over here!" the Colonel shouts over his shoulder.
At the sound of Casey's voice, the other three members of Team Bartowski clamber out from behind their hiding place and gather around the man, who smiles and nods his head in greeting.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet your team, Mr. Casey. I've heard much about them, especially Mr. Carmichael here. We have you to thank for taking down Fulcrum and the Ring, although I expect the latter is why you are here."
"You know about our mission?" inquires Chuck.
Nicolas nods. "Such things don't get past me – I'm called the Eye in the Sky for a reason." Placing the suitcase on a crate and flicking it open, he pulls out a thick file, from which he takes out a photo of the four men. "These are the men you are looking for, no?" Continuing, he flicks through the file and takes out a small wad of paper held together by a paper clip. "I thought I might do some snooping on your behalf, and after a while on their servers, I came up with the usual things – floor plan for the complex they're staying in, rosters for the armed guard there, etcetera. But I also found something extremely sensitive in nature." He hesitates, and looks at each member of the team very slowly. "What security clearance do you have?" he asks.
"Level Six," Chuck replies.
"Then that's good enough. What I am about to tell you must not ever be traced back to me, understand? It's too dangerous," says Nicolas, producing a small domed circular object from the suitcase, pressing a button on the side of it and placing it on the ground. He then takes out a keypad, which he presses a code into. "I received this intel about a week ago from a mole in the Ring, and it appears that they have managed to construct an extremely powerful computer called the Intersect." He steps back as it projects a holographic image of the Ring Intersect 2.0. "Where it is, I don't know, but I do know one thing – these people must not be allowed to have this technology."
Team Bartowski stand in shock as the image of the Intersect room rotates around in the air. Casey and Sarah swear under their breath. The silence is then broken by Daine, who coughs loudly, and Nicolas snaps back into attention.
"Anyways, let's get going. If we go at full speed, we'll get there by nightfall."
"Who said you were coming with us, Nicolas?"
"I'm not going to stand idly by and let you have all the fun, old friend. It's been a long time, but I know I can still beat a trained marine at target practice."
Several hours later, a black non-descript van pulls up on the side of a woodland and the doors slide open. Three figures, all dressed in black, step out and run for cover behind the trees, narrowly avoiding a searchlight.
"Eagle Nest, this is Hatchling Alpha, we're proceeding into the woods, five hundred metres to entrance," whispers Casey, keeping low and running towards what appears to be an armor plated outpost.
"Hatchling Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, radio silence from now until outpost is secure. Report when coast is clear. Over," replies Sarah. She mentally sighs, wondering why she is stuck inside the van instead of outside infiltrating the base, and groans quietly in boredom.
"Hey, it's not that bad, at least you won't get shot," says Daine nonchalantly. "As far as I'm concerned, this is Beckman's way of trying to get me killed without having to do it herself – good thing I'm in the van then."
Sarah ignores him and they sit in silence until the radio bleeps. "Hatchling Alpha to Eagle Nest. We've captured the outpost – get over here."
Daine takes of the brakes and presses the pedal gently, easing the van through the trees and stopping it again beside the outpost. He slides the doors open and heads around to the boot, from which he pulls out two large suitcases. Sarah follows him also carrying equipment, which they hand to Casey, Nicolas and Chuck.
"Thanks, honey," says Chuck and gives his girlfriend a small peck on the lips. She smiles and hugs him tightly.
"You be careful, dammit. Promise me you won't do anything overly stupid."
"I'll do my best," he responds with a grin on his face. He turns to Daine. "Hey, Daine, look after her for me, okay? Anything happens to her and I'll hold you responsible."
"Don't worry, Chuck – now get out there and complete the mission and we can all go home without a scratch."
The three armor clad agents slip off in the darkness, leaving the blonde CIA agent and the assassin-turned asset by themselves.
Damn, it's been just over two months since I updated and so here's Chapter Seven. Not really much happens in here, you'll have to wait for Chapter Eight – Not an Ideal Holiday, Part 3.
BTW Chuck's dream is a result of the Intersect starting to overload, how it does eventually become more serious will be revealed next time.