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.
Beginning of the End
When the door swings open, Casey immediately opens his eyes, seeing the guard dragging Chuck into the small cramped cell and dumping him on the floor. He rushes to the nerd's side and notices his flickering eyelids and twitching body.
"What the hell did you do to him?" growls the Colonel angrily, but gets no reply from the guard, who leaves and slams the door closed behind him. The lock audibly clicks back into place. "Wake up, moron!" shouts Casey, shaking Chuck by his shoulders.
The twitching begins to subside along with the problem with his eyes and Chuck starts to regain consciousness. His eyesight is foggy and he sees a faint outline of a man who grunts in relief. "Casey?" he asks groggily.
"What did they do to you?" asks Casey. "You looked like you were having a fit."
Concentrating, Chuck recalls a fuzzy image of a man bringing a taser to his chest. "I'm not sure, I was flashing, then he tasered me. That's the last thing I remember."
The Colonel, looking concerned, keeps his eyes trained on the man in front of him. "Did he say anything about Walker and Reynolds?"
"No, I don't thi - " He suddenly remembers everything – the Russian ex-major, the taser and then finally the heartbreak. Tears rush to his eyes and he starts to moan.
"No, no, no, it can't be, it can't, it just can't!" screams Chuck, shocking Casey a little and bringing the unconscious Frenchman back into reality. He breaks down in tears and Casey tries to bring him back into sensibility.
"Look at me, Bartowski!" demands Casey. "Pull yourself together and tell me what that guy said to you." He pulls Chuck up on his feet and seats him on the side of the bed. Nicolas also rushes over and helps Casey calm the hysterical agent. Tears are still streaming down the side of his face.
"Casey, it's – it's – it's Sarah. She's dead," says Chuck. "They blew up the van. I shouldn't have left her there – we should have brought her along, it's all my fault - "
He is interrupted by Nicolas, who slaps him in the face, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to bring him out of his rambling.
"Listen to me, Bartowski or Carmichael, whatever your name is, listen to me!" says the Frenchman forcefully. "You can mope and wallow in self-pity later, but you need to focus. Even if she didn't make it, Sarah would have wanted you to get out of here." Seeing Chuck calm down a little, he continues. "Who was your interrogator?"
"His name is Paul Constantin, ex-Russian special forces," recites the shaking man. "He got dishonourably discharged back in 2007 and has been working on the Ring's payroll since then."
Casey's face twitches as he hears Constantin's name. His twitch develops into a look of disgust. "He's an amateur – nothing but a hired gun. Relies on crude methods for information extraction and his kills are nothing but sloppy. I'm not surprised he even got recruited by the commies."
"Casey," murmurs Chuck, "you do know the Soviet Union got disbanded a long time ago, right?"
"Whatever you say, Bartowski, whatever you say."
Her eyelids flicker open, registering a very gloomy barn around her. She can still feel a dull ache in her shoulder and her entire right arm is numb. She tries sitting up, but a person, rising from a sitting position, gently pushes her back into a propped up position against a wheel of hay.
"Try not to move so much," says her companion softly. "You've stopped bleeding now but you have lost quite a lot of blood. I had to give you a transfusion around two hours ago."
Sarah groans and coughs, feeling her dry throat aching, longing for water, and as if answering her prayers, an earthen mug is raised to her lips and she greedily drinks all the soothing liquid. Daine gives her a light smile.
"How long have I been unconscious for?" she asks quietly.
"Almost a half a day. And before you ask, we're only one or two miles east of the compound."
"Chuck," she whispers under her breath. She tries to get up and is once again kept down by Daine, who shakes his head slightly. Raising her voice to the loudest she can manage, she pleads, "Please. We have to rescue them. We have to rescue Chuck."
"No," replied the man gently but firmly. "You might not remember, so I'll say it again. If we try to go back there, we'll get ourselves killed. Besides, we don't even know whether they're still alive or not."
"They are alive, dammit!" she says forcefully. "They have to be, they can't have just been killed! You can't just sit here and do nothing!" When she gets no response, her anger flares up and she screams in frustration. Daine looks right back at her, locking his eyes on hers, and she sees a similar fire burning in them.
"Have you lost your senses? We are in no condition to do anything right now! We'll be commiting suicide by running in there!" He pauses to catch his breath. "You're letting your own personal feelings get mixed up with the mission and there will be more causualties if you don't get a grip on yourself."
The blonde CIA agent is speechless after her companion's outburst. Her own agent instincts are telling her that he is right, but her feelings were saying the opposite. She remembers her boyfriend's face lighting up everytime he sees her, all the passionate moments they had together and the walls so cleverly constructed around her heart start to crumble. Her eyes start to water and she turns away to hide her tears.
There is a long pause of silence punctuated by Sarah's muffled sobs and Daine sighs heavily. He sits himself down by her and nudges her gently with his elbow, causing her to turn back to face him. His hand runs through his singed chestnut hair as he gives off another sigh.
"Look," he says quietly. "We're both tired out and, to be frank, I don't want to get into an argument. Just rest for now, and after I get some food for us to eat, we'll consider our options and go from there. Okay?"
Sarah nods and her companion flashes her a brief smile before getting up and heading out of the barn. Then, for the first time in a long while, she lets out all her feelings and cries out loud for the man she left behind.
"I still can't believe my little brother – Chuck – the leader of the Nerd Herd – is a professional spy. I seriously thought I knew him – I raised him on my own, for crying out loud! And Sarah - is she even actually dating my brother or is it all just an act? For crying out loud, she's been playing with him for the last three years and making him so miserable! I can't believe it! And our neighbour John Casey – seriously? He has this entire place under surveillance?"
The bearded man bangs his head against the table for the umpteenth time in the last twenty four hours, trying to block out the incessant ranting that had been the angry older Bartowski's method with dealing with stress – that along with washing up everything in the apartment, even the dishes that were already clean. She had also insisted that her husband and Morgan continue to stay awake for as long as it took for her to sort it all out in her head. Morgan is getting a distinct feeling that he needs something stronger than grape soda in order to make that happen, and even Devon is looking worse for wear after his wife's continued interrogation.
"Look, honey," says Devon tiredly. "I know this is a very stressful time for you, but you really need to get some rest. You've been up for nearly a day now."
His wife, however, completely ignores him and continues with her ranting, causing him to slump back onto the couch, defeated. Morgan drags himself next to him and nudges him in the shoulder but gets no response.
"Devon. Hey, Devon!" he hisses into the older man's ear. "Wake up!" Still no response. Morgan sighs and yanks hard on Devon's earlobe, making him shoot straight up with a yelp of pain.
"What was that for?" he asks angrily.
"What do you think? Your super-scary wife actually threatened us with a knife and forced us to stay awake! It may have been a blunt butterknife, but I'm pretty sure they can do some serious damage." Pausing, he glugs down the rest of his soda and then blinks slowly as he feels the sugar and caffeine start to kick in. He continues, "How do you think she's going to react when she sees you catching some z's on the couch?" Keeping his eye on at Ellie, he continues. "We need a plan, and it most definitely has to be awesome if we want to get out of here."
Devon groans and picks himself up, walking to Ellie and standing in front of her. He determinedly clears his throat and speaks.
"Ellie, honey, we need to talk with each other on this. You talking to yourself isn't going to sort out any problems. Now, let's sit on the couch and get this situation ironed out, okay?"
Ellie shoots a glance at the couch and gives in, plonking herself down on it. Her husband shoots a thumbs up at Morgan, who merely shakes his head. Undeterred, he holds her hands and says, "Chuck is the best guy I know. He's kind, caring and would do anything to keep other people safe. That's his nature – and it's also why he took that job. He just wants to help others."
Taking a deep breath, Ellie slowly nods. "I suppose I can understand that. But he's my little brother – I'm supposed to look after him, I promised our father that I would. And now he's out there, throwing himself at danger and hoping to come out alive at end of it – I'm really worried that he won't come back."
Morgan pipes in, "Don't worry Ellie, he'll come back. He's got a kickass ninja girl for a girlfriend and Casey, well let's just say there's no way anyone can get past him. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention, that new room mate – he's an international assassin."
Ellie's eyes widen and her eyebrows shoot up. "What?"
Morgan starts hitting his head against the table again. Boy, he just dug himself into another deep metaphorical hole.
It feels like an eternity before a quiet sound of silent footsteps breaks the silence and immediately Sarah's head snaps up, scanning the darkness for the intruder. She instinctively reaches down for her knives but stops when she recognises the asset walking in. He places two rabbits on the ground and, after gathering some timber and tinder in a heap, strikes two rocks together. The sparks fly out and soon enough, a fire starts crackling and he sighs as a flashback washes over him.
A priest is speaking a final eulogy and some prayers as a wooden coffin is lowered into the ground by some funeral caretakers. After doing so, they start to shovel the dirt into the grave and catch sight of the lone person sitting in the front row surrounded by empty chairs, his face impassive and showing no emotion.
The man gets up and produces a single red rose and places it by the tombstone and remaining bent over, he places a small velvet-covered box down as well after pressing it to his lips briefly. Standing up again, he murmurs a word of thanks to the priest and walks away briskly and purposefully.
Later in the evening a huge explosion rips through an downtown office block and the same man staggers out through the fire exit, wheezing and coughing. With one blow he smashes through a car window and unlocks the door, slipping inside and ducking down, narrowly avoiding being seen by a cop rushing to the seen. He reaches under the steering wheel and rips off the upholstery, revealing a mass of wires. After mere seconds, the engine kicks into life and the car cruises out slowly, disappearing without a trace into the traffic.
Getting off the highway, the car pulls over and its occupant slams his hands against the steering wheel, swearing loudly. He coughs out blood and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Pulling out a slightly singed and scuffed photo from his pocket, he presses it against his forehead and whispers, "I'm sorry."
The blonde CIA agent looks at her companion and clears her throat loudly, getting his attention. She looks hopefully and questioningly at him and he returns this with a neutral unreadable expression.
"Would you do anything to save him?" Daine asks quietly. "Even if it meant that you would never see him again. Even if it meant that you would have to give your life up so that he could walk free."
She answers, without hesistation, "Yes. He means everything to me." Seeing no change in Daine's expression, she continues with a slightly pleading tone, "We need to get Chuck and the others back. I need to get Chuck back. Please."
The asset remains silent for a moment and then smiles briefly. "You'd better not make me regret doing this, Walker, but only if you stay here." Sarah nods. Daine "Now let's get these cooked quickly. You'll have to wait until I get the others back for another meal." He strings up the two rabbits on sticks and places them just above the flames, whistling a tune.
"Can I ask you something?" Sarah asks. Daine hesitates, but then gestures almost imperceptibly with his hand for her to continue. She continues, "Why are you doing this?"
"I'm doing this for the team," he replies immediately. Feeling her gaze still resting on him, he sighs and says, "I'm doing this because I know exactly how you're going to end up without him. You'll turn into me." Turning his back on her, he disappears back into the darkness and waves a pack of knives at her. "Thanks for these."
"Now, Mr. Carmichael, we all know the pain will stop once you tell us what you saw in your flash just now." The Russian ex-Major mercilessly electrocutes his prisoner, eliciting a cry of pain. He does so again and again, causing Chuck to scream out in agony.
"I'll- I'll- I'll tell you nothing," he manages to say, trying to push away the stinging feeling in his body. "I won't talk."
Circling his captive, Constantin chuckles and punches him in the stomach, winding him. "Everybody talks, Carmichael," he laughs, "and I can assure you that I will break you." He catches Chuck in the jaw with a right hook and a tooth breaks off from the bone.
Chuck's face contorts with pain and tries to draw his mind away from the pain. He pictures himself back in his apartment, lying on his bed, as his beautiful girlfriend snuggles herself against him. He smiles inwardly at the image before being brought back into reality with a baseball bat smashing into his right kneecap. He yells out and swears coarsely.
The Russian sighs and gestures a guard to take the delirious CIA agent back to his cell and pulls out his phone, dialling a number.
"Mr. Shaw," he says hurriedly, "please allow me to explain, we've nearly cracked him, the Intersect will be – " He is cut off by Shaw's reply and his expression turns sour. "As you keep reminding me." A pause. "Yes sir." Disconnecting, he kicks the chair which Chuck was tied to and walks off angrily. "Screw him – I'm doing this my way."
Back in the cell, Casey paces back and forth until the door opens and Chuck is thrown back inside, landing in a heap on the floor. Casey checks for a pulse and almost sighs in relief when he feels the reassuring throb in the artery. Looking at him more closely, the Colonel cringes slightly. Shit, he thinks, if this keeps going on Bartowski going to break or die, and seeing the amount of damage that's already been dealt I think he probably do the latter. I'm surprised he's even managed to hold on this long.
Hearing a gurgling sound coming from the man lying prone on the ground, Casey props him up against his knee and hits him lightly on the back, causing him to cough out a large amount of bloody mucus and a tooth.
"Come on, numb nut, get it all outta your throat or you're gonna start choking."
"Casey," Chuck replies weakly, "I don't know whether I can hold on any longer. It just hurts too much." He tries to get up but falls on his side, yelping as he feels pain exploding from his busted kneecap. Sighing, Casey pulls him upright and slaps the dozing off agent lightly.
"Hey, stay awake," orders the Colonel. "Dying in your sleep will make you a complete and utter moron."
A pause. "You know," Chuck whispers, "I don't really mind if I do. You don't seriously think we're going to get out of this place alive, do you?" He looks sadly at his battered body and groans.
Heading down the corridor, he steps into the first room on the left, where several scientists are gathered around their computer, inputting commands furiously. One of them is sitting at a workbench, tapping on a keyboard and fiddling with a palm-sized cube.
"Have you got it yet?" asks Constantin impatiently.
The scientist makes a disapproving face and connects a wire to the cube. "If you'd give me more time to work this thing out, I'd be able to give you a definite assurance of whether we've found the right image. This Intersect cube is unlike anything we've seen before and not to mention most of its circuits are fried beyond repair."
Connecting the final wires to the cube, he brings up an image of a Rubik's Cube floating in the middle of a goldfish bowl. "From what I've gleaned off the remaining and slightly degraded files on the cube, this should be what you need. However, as much as this may be the key to unlocking the Intersect and removing the barriers of the triggers, it could easily be something else or nothing at all. Orion was known to put false images without any subliminal encoding into the Intersect program."
"Look, I don't have time for this. Print off the image, and you should pray that it's the right one." Complying reluctantly, the scientist hits the print button, and the image is churned out of the printer and swiftly swept up by the Russian. He smiles and draws his USP, shooting the man in front of him in between the eyes, and the dead man topples over onto the ground. The other scientists, shocked by this, try to escape but are gunned down by the guards outside.
Constantin smirks as he steps over the fresh corpses and walks down the hallway, heading to the holding cells. "Are we still torturing the Frenchman as well?" he asks the guard following him, who responds with a shake of the head. "Very well, I have no further need of him – kill him and dump his body in the furnace. Understand?"
Without replying, the guard snaps forward, striking the unsuspecting Ring agent in the shoulder with a small knife. He follows this up with a few kicks to the stomach, but by now, the Russian has recovered enough from the shock from being stabbed to block his assailant's attack and mount his own assault. Landing a kick on the guard's midsection, Constantin attempts a right hook which is blocked and receives a powerful roundhouse to the head, slamming him down and blurring his vision.
Just as the guard is about to finish off the defeated Russian, several armed gunmen round the corner and, catching sight of their superior struggling on the floor, open fire on the guard, who promptly dodges out of the way of the hail of bullets. He sprints towards the holding cell, tearing off his mask and revealing Daine's haphazard features.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you incompetent fools!" shouts the recovering Ring agent. "You could have caught me in the crossfire!" He gets back onto his feet and continues angrily. "Now, if you don't want your asses to be toast, I suggest you go after that maniac and kill him before he frees the American agents."
"Something's going down outside," grunts the Colonel with his ear pressed against the door. "Gunshots, screaming." Pausing a little, he suddenly flattens himself against the wall by the doorframe. "I can hear footsteps heading this way. This could be our way out. Look sharp, Bartowski."
The nerd shoots him a withering look and stands up, gingerly testing his right leg to see whether it could take his weight. "Thanks, Casey, apart from this broken kneecap I'm absolutely fine." He is replied with a dismissive grunt and, rolling his eyes, limps over to Casey's position from the door.
The footsteps stop outside the cell and they hear a clank as the person pries off the security access terminal and discards it, throwing the useless hunk of metal on the floor. Several moments pass, but the door does not open, eliciting a coarse swear word from the person outside. He hammers on the door and shouts, "Casey! Chuck! You in there?"
"Daine?" says Chuck incredulously. "You're alive?" Something clicks in his head and he lets of a massive sigh of relief. "That means Sarah's alive too, right?"
"Well, she did take some injuries from the blast, but I've managed to stabilise her for the while. She should be fine and don't worry, I've hidden her away in a hidden location not to far from here." Glancing over his shoulder, he continues. "Look, I can't get the door open and the Ring's men are getting closer. I might be able to take them out but I'm not taking the chance, so you'll have to fend for yourself for the while. I'll be back after I grab the Frenchman."
As if emphasising the need for urgency, a few bullets impact themselves right by Daine's feet and he immediately takes off, dashing down a different hallway. Constantin groans in disappointment as he sees the assassin slip away, signaling for three of his men to continue pursuing him. Fiddling with the wires hanging from the remnants of the access panel, the Russian manages to get the door open and sees an empty room. He walks in cautiously and the instant he steps into the cell, all he sees is a blur before he suddenly finds himself with an arm wrapped tight around his neck.
"Put your weapons down, boys, you wouldn't want your boss here to get hurt, would you?" asks Casey with a mischievous tone. The gunmen standing in the corridor hesitate but comply, slowly lowering their weapons to the ground and stepping back. "Good boys," smirks Casey as he edges slowly forward out of the cell and jerks his head in the direction of the door, and shortly afterwards Chuck limps out, following the Colonel closely.
"How far do you think you're going to get?" the Russian manages to choke out, "My men will be onto you before you can take one step out of this place." He is responded with a tightened grip around his neck and a grunt. "Shut up, you worthless bastard," leers Casey. "Too bad they banned water boarding back in the US. I really want to make you suffer before you die."
As they get closer and closer to the emergency stairway, Constantin gurgles loudly. "What?" says Casey, clearly annoyed. "Look," the man says, "how about I offer you something valuable and you let me go?" Chuck limps around Casey and starts frisking the Russian ex-major. "How about," says Chuck maliciously, "we take whatever 'valuable' thing you got on you and then we dump your cold dead body some deep lake in Siberia?"
He finds a folded up piece of paper in the man's front pocket and slowly unfolds it. The Colonel, recognising the outline of the image, instinctively lets go of his prisoner and tries to snatch the paper away, but Constantin elbows him in the stomach and throws him against the wall. The instant he sees the image Chuck starts to flash, his eyes rolling back, and he collapses on the floor.
He finds himself standing in a darkened room with a computer monitor lying on its side. He walks over to it and suddenly, the monitor switches on and words start to appear.
HUMAN INTERSECT COMPROMISED. BEGIN SYSTEM WIPE AND TOTAL FILE ERADICATION.
A number appears on the screen, glowing brightly.
1% COMPLETE.
The Colonel snarls as he grabs the Russian and slams his head against the wall several times. Seeing the unconscious Chuck on the floor, Casey swears under his breath before dropping his battered opponent and stoops down by his partner, hoisting him over his shoulder. Looking back at the prone Constantin, he groans and picks him up too. He makes his way carefully down the stairs.
Spotting a fire exit door, Casey kicks it open and runs out into a dark hangar, where he stops in awe in front of a Mil Mi-24D. "Damn," he breathes out. "A Hind D." Shaking himself out of the stupor, he runs over to it, pulling open the hatch and getting in. After securing Chuck and the Russian down on seats, he spots two figures running towards the helicopter and recognises them as the assassin and the Frenchman.
"Good of you to join the party," grunts the Colonel. "Get in."
"Hey, beautiful," whispers her boyfriend into her ear and trails kisses down her neck, making her moan with desire. He continues with his ministrations until she turns around and starts to kiss him passionately, only stopping to catch her breath. She smiles and leans in for a cuddle.
The door bursts open and her boyfriend throws himself in front of her as assault rifles start firing, ripping the whole apartment into shreds. She shrieks in horror as she sees him fall to his knees, clutching at his bloody bullet-riddled chest, and pitch forward. Rushing over to him, she pulls him close and cradles him as he smiles his last smile. "I love you, Sarah," he murmurs. "Always have, always will." The light in his eyes dims and goes out, and his ragged breathing stops. Tears fall quickly from her face as she cries in silence, still grasping onto her love's body.
Sarah wakes up with a shock and grabs the person in front of her by the throat. As the blurriness of her vision fades, she lets go, embarrassed, as she recognises Daine, who gives her a weak smile.
"I've got some good news," he says quietly, "and some bad news." Seeing her frown, he continues. "I found Chuck, Casey and Nicolas. They're all mainly okay, but Chuck – well, I'm not sure. He's been out like a light for five hours and we can't wake him up. Casey looks like he knows what's wrong, but he's not revealing anything."
"What?" the blonde CIA agent says with concern. She struggles to her feet and holds onto Daine for support as she walks out slowly from the barn, blinking as her eyes adjust themselves to the brighter surroundings. After they reach the helicopter sitting in a small empty field, Sarah leaps off the assassin and rushes into Hind D. She almost sighs in relief but when she tries to wake him, he does not respond.
"Please," she sobs into his shoulder. "I need you – I – I can't live without you. I still have so much to share with you, please…" Her voice drifts off as she lets out her emotions again, crying into his shoulder."
"Sarah," Casey says softly. "I need to tell you something." He shoots a look at Nicolas, who quickly catches onto Casey's intentions and leaves to thank the assassin for saving him. "Sarah," he repeats, "I need you to listen to me. This is extremely important."
She faces him with tears still streaming down her face, which she wipes them away hastily, and clears her throat. "What happened to him, Casey? What did they do to him?"
Hesitating, the Colonel's expression changes to an almost guilty and shameful look. He fishes out a piece of paper and shows it to her. "What I'm about to tell you is classified beyond your security clearance. Only General Beckman and the President of the USA know about this, and I only know because I was told to use it against Chuck if or when he became disillusioned with the NSA or the CIA.".
"So what is it? Some kind of weapon against the Intersect?"
"That picture you're holding is an image the NSA added into the Intersect 2.0 program as a security precaution in case the human host is captured or goes rogue. What it does is this – it wipes all the Intersect data from the host's brain and then causes a massive overload in the brain, frying the nervous system up and thus rendering the agent unable to tell his captors, allies and like any important intel."
"That's barbaric!" shouts the now crying CIA agent. She looks back at her boyfriend, whose fingers start to move, and looks hopefully at him. Slowly, his eyes open and he peers at the beautiful woman in front of him. "Sarah?" he says. "Oh my god, Sarah!" He kisses her on the lips and she slides her tongue into his mouth, leading to a hot and steamy kiss. He breaks it and pulls her closer to him, hugging her tightly.
Casey sees this and smiles, remembering his own time with his ex-fiancée, but snaps back into sensibility, coughing loudly. "I'm sorry that I have break up this moment, but we need to get back up in the air and into friendly territory where we can ditch the heli and get stateside."
"Wait a minute." Chuck's forehead creases as he frowns, trying to remember what happened. "I flashed on that image we found on Constantin – I saw a screen, it said something like human Intersect overload." He gasps. "Now that I think about, it doesn't sound good. Not at all. About as good as getting killed by a speeding Segway." He groans as a series of random pixelated images flash across his vision and a sharp pain stabs at his head, lasting only for a short while before subsiding. "What the hell is it doing to me?"
"There's no easy way to put this, Bartowski," replies Casey. "You're dying."
After several long days of air travel and a few stopovers later, team Intersect makes it back to Burbank, California, minus Nicolas, who had excused himself at their stop in Paris, bidding them farewell and good luck.
As the van they are sitting in picks up speed, the entire team is silent. Sarah is trying to maintain poker faced, trying to bottle up her emotions, whilst Chuck has his face in his hands. The Colonel looks apprehensive, something he hardly ever shows in public, and Daine is visibly concerned.
"Sarah, I'm so sorry about this," Chuck whispers in his girlfriend's ear. Hearing a muffled sob from her, he looks her deep in the eye and speaks solemnly. "Sarah Walker, I promise you this – I will not leave this world and abandon you. I will not die unless I have anything to say about it. You hear me?"
The blonde CIA agent, amazed by his courage, smiles her first smile in a very long time. "You promised. Remember that."
He responds with his own thousand megawatt smile. "Yeah, I will." He sighs contemplatively. "I'll have to contact my dad to see if he can help me. But he's not going to like it – he did spend ages getting the first Intersect out of my head."
The van pulls up on the curb outside Chuck's Echo Park apartment and the door slides open, allowing them to slide out. Casey slams it shut behind him and the driver speeds away, leaving them standing in a dark empty street.
"What are we going to tell Ellie?" asks Chuck. "She's most definitely noticed we haven't been home for over a week now."
"You've been on an extended vacation with your lady to visit her parents," grunts Casey. "It's a good cover – shouldn't be hard to sell. Now get some rest and we'll try to handle the situation with Beckman tomorrow."
As soon as the four of them start unlocking their doors, the lights in the Awesomes' apartment switch on and the elder Bartowski flounces out, striding into the middle of the courtyard and staring at all of them.
"All of you, stop where you are," she says demandingly. Chuck shoots a despairing glance at Sarah, who shakes her head. "You can't tell her," she whispers under her breath.
"I think we're pretty much busted!" whispers Chuck back.
"Chuck," breathes Ellie loudly, "I know you guys are spies."
"See, I told you we're busted."
OH MY GOD, I WROTE A LONG CHAPTER! This chapter's cleared a whole load of the stuff episodes 17 and 18 introduced, and the stage has now been set for the finale. As always, please review by clicking the Review button. But you knew that anyways.
P.S. Some of this I wrote when I was semi-conscious, so it may not make much sense. Be warned.