A/N The adventures of Ring Agent and the Blue Capsule of Doom continue.
"Was it your idea to give him a Red Test?"
"Package recovered."
"I'm trying to get beyond the baseline."
"I will always find you."
Chuck pulled his head back to look Sarah in the face. "You know you sound like a stalker," he said, "But in a good way."
The joke did not amuse. Even in the moonlight her glow dimmed, her grip on him loosened.
"Wrong thing to say, huh?" said Chuck. She nodded. "How about 'you sound like a concerned girlfriend with an incredible skill set'?"
Sarah smiled. "Better. I like–" girlfriend "–concerned," she said, running her fingers through his hair. She tightened her grip, and he gasped. "And apparently I'm right to be. You realize I didn't need to use any of that incredible skill set to find you? You can't be so predictable, Chuck, it's dangerous to you." To me.
"So I'm guessing you aren't aware of how bright the Moon is compared to the parking lot behind us, or those cleverly placed mirrors there and there?" asked Chuck, pointing.
Sarah saw the mirrors but wasn't placed properly to see what they reflected, not that she needed to be. "Oh," she said sadly, relaxing her grip, "In your special place?"
He nodded. "Afraid so. And if anyone other than a certain Moon Goddess had appeared in them, walking so stealthily, I had this." He lifted a tranq pistol from his lap.
She knew how accurate years of Duck Hunt and the Intersect had made him. "No gun?"
"In the block-box, with my watch and phone." Chuck shook his head. "I listened to Shaw once," he said. "Never again. I'll keep blowguns in my sleeves, the way Cruz did. Who says you can't learn from your enemies?"
"Dead spies."
"Exactly," said Chuck, putting the gun down. "If I'd had this with me Perry would still be among the betraying."
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the man I fell for," said Sarah, kissing him firmly.
He could swear she was glowing brighter than the Moon now. "Fell?" he said. "Past tense?" She nodded, and he smiled. "How far in the past?"
She tipped him backward into the sand and held herself over him, her hair a golden curtain, holding back the world. "A long time ago," she breathed, her face hovering above his like no moon, "In a Buy More far, far away…"
Some time later, in a spy's bedroom far, far away…
Casey phoned it in. "No, ma'am, not Jones, Bartowski. Walker found him, safe and sound. They're on their way back now."
"Not too drunk, I hope."
Casey put down his glass. "Not his style. He went to that spot he likes at the beach. Moron had his stuff blocked. Can't say I really blame him." If they could track him so could Shaw. Casey doubted he was in the mood to hear from any of them, except Walker, and she didn't need trackers.
"Does he have any new information about Jones?"
"No, ma'am, he said they went their separate ways at the train station. It's possible she could have doubled back and left right from there." He made a note to check the parking lot for her car. "He said she seemed 'upset', but I'm not trusting his impressions right now."
"Do you think I should slot him in for the Rome assignment?" Beckman's voice sounded hesitant.
"The 'jetsetting playboy' cover?" asked Casey, letting his lip curl but keeping the sneer out of his voice. "That's for lightweights. Bartowski's a plowhorse. He'll be fine."
"You haven't even seen the man yet."
"And I don't intend to, General, not tonight. Walker's bringing him home, said something about a reboot."
"Hmm, yes. Turn off your surveillance."
"Already done, ma'am. I'm bivouacked in my living room, and my Battlefield Sounds CD queued up for continuous play. I'll get through tonight alright. I'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow."
Tomorrow…
The glass of the Morgan Door vibrated in its frame, waking up Chuck and therefore Sarah as well. "Uh-oh," said Chuck.
"What is it?" asked Sarah.
"Earthquake, sonic boom, or Ellie got good news." They got up and dressed with spy-speed. As they came out of the bedroom someone opened the door from the outside, too short and male to be Chuck's sister. "Morgan?"
"Hi, Chuck," said Morgan with a smile, and a nod for Sarah. He put his suitcase on the floor.
"What's with the flowers?" asked Chuck.
"They're for Alex," said Morgan, holding them up, and a box of chocolates. "The guys at the lab said my strongest and most recent emotional responses would come back first. I don't know which kind this is but I thought I'd run with it." He looked at the stuff he held. "Is it too much?"
"Well…"
Morgan put the stuff on the table. "It's too much."
"You only knew her for a couple of hours," said Sarah.
"Yes," said Morgan, "But they were a pretty intense couple of hours." The door opened behind him and they turned to look as Devon came in.
"Hey, Morgan, I thought that was you." Dr. Woodcombe gave him the once-over. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling?"
"Yeah," said Morgan. "A little bit different, I hope you don't mind. Tell Chuck how intense those hours were, would you?"
"Intense," said Devon, with the same tone he normally reserved for 'awesome'. He picked up the flowers. "Are these for her? For Alex?" he asked. "Good luck, she liked you."
The door slammed open behind them as Casey came in. "Who liked who?" he said, in lieu of something civilized.
"Alex liked me," said Morgan calmly. "And I liked her. That was the first strong emotion that came back to me. I had to guard her, protect her, but I don't know what I have to protect her from."
"Probably idiots like you," said Casey, looming over the smaller man.
"That I can do, sir," said Morgan firmly. "With your permission?"
Casey backed down. "She's twenty years old, Grimes," he said with a growl. Twenty years without a father, and counting. "My permission isn't what you need."
"Good, that's settled," said Devon. "Come on, Morgan." He grabbed the bearded one and started pulling him toward the door. "Chuck, put those flowers in some water, will you? Morgan and I have to talk to Ellie some more about that whole Africa thing. We'll see you in a few."
Outside, a car waited…
A man in the car held up a set of small but powerful binoculars to his eyes, watching a tall blond man drag a smaller bearded man from apartment A to apartment B. They'd been watching the little guy since he left DARPA, and now their patience was rewarded.
He raised a phone to his lips. "Inform Leader that we've found them."
In apartment A…
All three spies stood there and watched the door close. "What is it about my reboots and Africa?" asked Chuck.
"I don't know and I don't care, Bartowski," snapped Casey. "What I do know is that the General was almost ready to send you to Rome, God help us. People like Shaw go to Rome, Chuck, in fact I think Shaw did go to Rome, so you know what you say if she asks you if you want to go to Rome?"
"Send Shaw?"
Casey came over and placed a comradely hand on Chuck's shoulder, squeezing just a bit. "Let's try that one again."
Sarah saw the whiteness of his knuckles. "Casey…"
Chuck tried to move his shoulder. "Um, Burbank is where the action is, and my entire support structure is already in place?"
Casey let go. "Better."
"That's once, Casey," said Sarah, checking under Chuck's shirt for bruising.
"How many do I get?" Casey asked, checking his path to the door.
"One."
"Understood." His pocket buzzed, and he pulled out his phone, grunting a warning to his partners when he read the message there. "Sensors detected a Ring phone in the area." He looked up, putting the phone away. "I have to get back to my equipment, hunt those bastards down."
"Not a good idea," said Chuck. "However they got here, they've already reported in. Taking them down here, or using your stuff will send up a much bigger red flag than anything they've got now."
"So what's your plan, Bartowski?"
Actually Chuck didn't have one, but a few minutes later he did. He gave Sarah a hug. "You are gonna love this."
In Castle…
For the millionth time, Shaw checked the monitors in the Buy More, searching for a hostile presence. The place just seemed to draw them in. For the millionth time he saw nothing but the employees going about their business, and for the millionth time he contemplated the self-destruct.
No need. Just take Chuck away and the place would collapse on itself. Too bad about Casey, but he'd made that bed himself.
Someone familiar approached the Nerd Herd desk, where the two deadbeats were driving away as much business as they could. Why was Chuck in the store, and without his uniform? What could he possibly want from those two?
Sometime later, on the streets of Burbank…
"I'm not loving this plan, Bartowski," said Casey, from the back of Loretta. "There's crap back here that's been stuck since the eighties. Not to mention the gear."
The gear was the whole point of borrowing Jeff's van in the first place. "What's wrong with the gear?"
"Half of it's antique, and the other half's illegal."
"Not to mention highly customized," said Sarah, familiar despite herself with the eclectic nature of the equipment.
"That's the illegal part," said Casey. "Looks like you were right, about this stuff sliding past the Ring's sensors."
"Actually, I was beginning to wonder about that," said Chuck. "This neighborhood is not a place where the van easily blends in."
"Stay in the shadows, Chuck," said Sarah. "That's what the police would expect anyway."
Around the corner and down the street…
The blond guy and a hot babe went into a restaurant. The Ring agents watched as the hostess positioned them conveniently near a window, a living and unwitting advertisement for the place.
"Looks like a nice romantic evening," said the agent in charge. Too romantic. Everything they had on this guy said he was just a married doctor, who somehow ended up in the middle of two of their operations. "Who the hell are you, mystery man?"
Inside the restaurant, Devon raised a glass of wine. "Here's a toast to everything you've accomplished, Ellie. Your fellowship, your sabbatical. Most of all, here's to Africa."
Up the street and around the corner…
Daniel Shaw sat in his car, watching the van hidden in the alley. He could detect no signals, they must be operating line of sight. He got out of the car to see for himself what they were watching so carefully.
"Eyes on Daniel Shaw," said the agent tasked with watching their six. He did a quick scan of the surrounding traffic.
Bingo! The team leader smiled.
"Looks like he's alone."
Leader lifted his phone. "Team 2, Agent Shaw is approaching your position. Intercept."
Speaking of interceptions…
"What the hell is Shaw doing here?" said Sarah.
"He's gonna blow the op," said Casey.
"He's gonna get himself killed," said Chuck. He grabbed his mask and opened the door.
"Dammit," said Casey, but he grabbed his mask too, and went to back up his partner. Sarah jumped in the back, to continue monitoring the leader.
"Holy cow," said Devon, pointing out the window. "They're mugging that guy in broad daylight!" He tried to rise, but Ellie held onto his arm.
"We have our phones," she said. "Take pictures, call the police. You're a doctor, not some kind of…" Her mind stopped short on making any comparisons.
"Whoa," said her husband. "Look at him fight! He's mopping up the sidewalk with those two."
Shaw ran for cover, a course which took him across the street, toward the alley behind the restaurant. Devon and Ellie saw him reach the sidewalk but he stopped there, raising his arms. From behind a potted tree another man stepped out, with a gun aimed at him. They heard him say something through the glass, but the words were meaningless.
Suddenly both men were pressed up against the thick glass by the sudden appearance of two more men wearing ski masks. Ellie found herself staring into the face of the first man, and he was staring at her. His eyes widened in recognition, before he was pulled away from the window by one of the masked men.
The gunman struggled with his captor, pushing back against the glass and striking him across the face with the weapon, getting a grunt from the bigger man. The gunman ran off, and the larger man decided to help his partner restrain his captive rather than give chase.
Behind them a van drove up, nondescript in an ugly sort of way. The smaller masked man opened the side door and the larger man threw his prisoner inside before leaping inside after him. The smaller man stepped into the vehicle and took a quick look around the scene. Seeing his audience inside the restaurant, he gave them a quick thumbs-up before slamming the door.
The van drove off into the darkness.
A/N2 How exactly did the Ring team know Shaw was taking Sarah to that restaurant in canon, anyway? Please drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.