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 an Ideal Holiday, Part 3
Yawning, Daine leans back on his chair and looks over at his CIA agent/companion, who notices him staring and ignores him. He smirks and starts humming softly. A air of boredom hangs in the van.
"You know, you are a very beautiful woman," he starts, and Sarah rolls her eyes. She shoots him an angry glare, which he seems to have missed, as he continues to talk. "I'm not trying to hit on you or anything, but I'm curious as to why you – Langston Graham's wildcard enforcer – decided to shack up with a dime-a-dozen computer geek?"
The blonde CIA agent flares up immediately after the quite obvious insult. "What do you think you have that he hasn't?" she retorts. "If anything, he's a better person than you are – he's kind, caring and he makes me smile and feel good about myself even after all the horrible things I've done in my life."
She continues. "You know what – I know what you remind me of. Just another dime-a-dozen spy – no feelings, no emotions, no thoughts of your own – you just do what you're told without thinking. Let me tell you something – Chuck helped me become more, and even though my life isn't perfect, I can still feel normal after a day's work."
The asset gives off a short laugh. "So he makes you feel normal, eh? Just like everybody else in the world – living out their dreams happily without a care about the horrors that are right round the corner. The world isn't that kind of place, woman, and it isn't very forgiving either."
He stifles a cough with his hand and finds it specked with drops of blood. Reaching for the inhaler, he takes a breath of it. The two ignore each other but sparks are still flying between the both of them. All of a sudden, Daine sits up straight as a bolt.
"Do you hear that?" he says in a low voice. The whooshing noise gets considerably louder. "Shit!" he swears and, kicking open the van door, throws his companion out first before running out himself. Behind them, a streak of flame hits the van and it explodes in a ball of fire, throwing the two off their feet.
"What the hell was that?" whispers Chuck to his team mates whilst tapping on a door panel.
"Whatever it was, it didn't sound good," replies Casey. "We'd better get this done quickly – get the damn door open, Bartowski!"
"Okay, okay, just chill, almost there," snaps back the nerd. The door slides open and he stands up looking triumphant. "Voila! Who's your daddy?" The Colonel grunts and brushes past him, followed by the Frenchman. Rolling his eyes, he follows them in.
The hallway is decorated stylishly with ornate furnishings and bright lights. Portraits of long-dead Russian tsars hang from the walls.
Nicolas whistles. "Wouldn't I like to get my hands on some of these works of art," he whispers. "Most of these are very rare and expensive – and stolen, I'm guessing. Anyways, if we want to get them, we're going to have to hurry. They'll be leaving their meeting soon, and we'll lose the chance to get all of them at the same time."
The three spies head down the corridor and take a right turn, moving stealthily and quickly. Casey holds up his left hand and slows to a halt by a junction with another corridor, flattening himself against the wall. A guard walks around the corner and the Colonel grabs him around the throat and squeezes tightly on the neck until he stops writhing.
"Was that really necessary, Casey?" mouths Chuck with anger. "He didn't even see us!"
"Just because he didn't see us just now, doesn't mean he isn't going to see us later when we're trying to get outta here. Now zip it." Casey pulls off a vent cover and shoves the body into the duct after removing his keycard and radio. Replacing the cover, they continue.
"Was he like this back when you worked with him in Marseille?" asks Chuck quietly.
The Frenchman chuckles and replies, "If he was like how he was back in France, there'd be a trail of dead bodies behind us instead of just the one. If anything, he's gotten softer –don't worry, I know Casey – he won't overdo it."
Reaching thick wooden double doors, they stop. The Colonel checks his rifle and Nicolas flicks open a suit case, revealing a M32 MGL grenade launcher, which he pulls out and loads with HE rounds. He nods at Casey, who pulls the pin out a flashbang and rolls the grenade through a small opening of the doors. Kicking the doors open after the explosion, Casey readies himself, only to find an empty room.
"What the.." he says as the others follow him in. Seeing a card lying on the table, he picks it up and reads it. "Sorry, but your targets are in a different castle," he says. "Crap, they know we're here, we walked right into a trap! Eagle Nest, this is Hatchling Alpha! Get out of here, they know we're here!" Hearing no response, he swears again and the doors slam shut. Gas slowly fills the room and they desperately look for a way out, but collapse onto the floor, unconscious.
Devon cycles furiously away on his cycling machine as his wife, the indomitable Eleanor Faye Bartowski, paces around their apartment, talking animatedly to herself and looking very, very angry.
"I saw Chuck. Shooting a gun. Chuck. Gun. Chuck. Gun." She plops herself down on the sofa, repeating the words like a mantra whilst wringing her hands. She does this for a while longer and then swivels around, looking at her husband with an annoyed expression.
"How can you possibly be working out in this current situation? Aren't you worried at all about what Chuck's up to?" After saying this, Ellie jumps back on her feet and rushes over to Devon and stares at him suspiciously. "If you're not freaking out right now that means you know something – am I right?"
Devon looks nervously at her as she advances closer and closer. "Look, babe, I don't know what Chuck's doing, but I'm sure he has a good explanation for all this." He flashes her a smile, which fades immediately under Ellie's fiery stare.
"Don't give me that 'he has a good explanation for this' talk – you know something I want to know and you're going to tell me right now," she retorts, jabbing his chest with her finger. "Spill the beans, mister."
Her husband pauses and starts to speak, but the words catch in his throat and he mouths wordlessly at a less-than-pleased-and-positively-enraged Ellie. She continues jabbing him, causing him to run. They end up chasing each other around the apartment until she manages to corner him.
Devon sighs loudly. "I can't tell you, honey. I want to, but I just – I can't."
Ellie huffs and, grabbing a set of keys from a basket, walks out determinedly to Chuck's apartment. She rings the bell and knocks on the door. "Chuck! We need to talk, now!" Hearing no response, she slides one of the keys on the key ring into the lock and opens the door slowly. Her husband starts to protest but shuts up after she glares daggers at him.
Stepping quietly into the apartment, the ever-vigilant sister notices that her brother's apartment had been untouched since the day before. Walking into his room, Ellie almost sighs in relief, seeing its normal nerdish appearance, filled with game consoles and comics, but then starts searching around.
"Sweetie, I think this may not be the best idea to invade Chuck's privacy," says Devon, trying to stop his wife before she discovers anything spy-related. "You know, I heard from John that - " A shriek interrupts him and he rushes in, seeing Ellie distancing herself from a shoebox lying on the bed. He looks into it and finds a silver pistol and several passports.
"What the hell, Devon! Why does Chuck – our Chuck – the Chuck who screams at the sight of guns – have a gun in a shoebox? And not to mention all those fake passports and visas – what is he, a criminal?"
"Calm down, Ellie, please calm down," says Devon but he is completely ignored by his wife, who takes out her phone and punches in a phone number. She groans when she hears the call go into voicemail and hangs up. She then continues looking around the room with Devon trying to stop her until they are interrupted by the appearance of a certain bearded man.
"He…Hello?" says Morgan nervously. "What are you guys doing in Chuck's room?" He immediately spots the shoebox on the bed and, seeing Ellie looking extremely mad, puts two and two together. "Holy sh- cow – um, ah, um….." He tries to leave but she drags him back in.
"You are staying right here, Morgan Guillermo Grimes, and you'd better start talking – you too, Devon. Why are you hiding things from me?" she asks, looking from her husband to her brother's best friend.
The two men look at each other and after walking into a corner, start whispering to each other. "Do we tell her about Chuck, Morgan? I mean, it's not like we can come up with any cover story for this, can we?"
Morgan looks over his shoulder and sees Ellie tapping her foot impatiently. He gulps. "Are you sure, Awesome? I don't know about you, but I still want to live until I'm at least thirty – they're so many things I still want to do, like getting a girlfriend, going on a mission, cl-"
Devon interrupts him and faces his wife. "Babe, I'm going to tell you everything I know, but you have to promise me that you won't freak out. I need you to be awesome."
The elder Bartowski pinches the bridge of her nose and groans. "Okay, I promise."
He hesitates, but then says, "Chuck is a spy, honey."
Gradually regaining consciousness, the blonde CIA agent tries to get up but immediately lies back down, feeling searing pain exploding out from her right shoulder. She looks at it and sees a sizeable shard of metal lodged there. She groans loudly and a figure stumbles over to her.
"God damn it," he mumbles and crouches down, inspecting her wound. "That doesn't look too good – we need to get that piece of metal outta you and stop the bleeding." Ripping off the lower part of his trouser leg, he loops it around her shoulder.
"You ready?" he asks and Sarah nods, preparing herself. Daine takes hold on the shard and slowly pulls it out, causing her to gasp in pain. He immediately tightens the makeshift bandage and helps her up, but she loses balance and trips. The asset immediately leaps forward and catches her.
"I'm fine – don't need your help," she slurs and Daine smirks. "Look. I know we don't exactly get along but we don't have time for personal differences to get in the way. Let's get out of here before they find us." He picks her up and carries her in front of him, walking quickly for the cover of the woods.
"Wha, What about Chuck, Casey and Nicolas?" she asks, rasping slightly because of a dry throat. "We can't just leave them in there." Sarah looks over at the complex and turns a pleading gaze at him. He responds with a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Sarah, they'll have to fend for themselves for a bit. You and I aren't exactly fighting fit right now – if we go in and try to save them, we'll just get ourselves killed. We need to hide and hope they can get out by themselves." The injured woman in his hands starts to resist, but he pinches a nerve in her neck and she goes limp. "Sorry about that," he says as he walks further into the woods.
Consciousness floods his mind and Chuck finds himself stripped down to only his shirt and trousers and hanging by his wrists with a very wet face. The man in front of him puts down the now empty bucket and smiles.
"Hello, Mr. Carmichael – it's good to finally meet you. The famous human Intersect."
"What are you talking about? I'm not the-" Chuck screams and twists in pain as electricity courses through his body. The man pulls the taser away and holds it in front of the nerd's face.
"Why try to hide it? We already know you downloaded the Intersect 2.0, so why don't make this easier on yourself and just co-operate with us. We want the Intersect – you want to stay alive – if you help us, we'll both get what we want. Understand?"
Chuck flashes as he catches sight of a burn mark going from the man's jawbone down his neck. Paul Constantin, he thinks, ex-Major of the Russian Special Forces, dishonourably discharged for insubordination, recruited by the Ring in August 2007.
Looking Constantin in the eye, Chuck says firmly, "Where are my friends? If you've hurt them, I'll personally make sure you'll never see the light of day again." This causes the other man to burst out laughing. When the laughter subsides, Constantin makes a tutting sound and shakes his head in mock disappointment.
"You are one funny guy, Mr. Carmichael." He pauses and brings the taser to Chuck's chest, sending the curly-haired spy to convulse in pain. "Colonel Casey and Mr. Barreau are currently incapacitated but otherwise uninjured. Your person in the van, however – they weren't so lucky. Charred to a crisp. Nothing left." At that moment Chuck's heart shatters and just as he flashes on some martial arts, the disgraced Russian major tasers him again. The nerd lets out another heartrending scream and goes limp, his eyelids flickering madly.
Constantin sighs in disappointment and signals a guard standing in the darkness, who comes forward and takes the unconscious Chuck back to a cell. Hearing his phone ring, the torturer massages his forehead and answers the call.
"Yes, we have captured Carmichael, Casey and Barreau." There is a short pause as the voice over the phone gives a reply. "Yes, the girl was killed in an explosion. She won't be bothering anyone now. Yes, of course. The Intersect will be ours in no time, I assure you. Okay. Goodbye, Mr. Shaw."
OMG the team has been captured, what will happen now? Of course, you'll have to stay tuned for the rest of the story. Also, is everyone just as excited as I am about the upcoming episode of Chuck? Can't wait!
BTW please review, give comments – good or bad, I don't mind, as long as they are constructive.