An: Here's another long chapter. It's finaly mission time for Team Bartowski! For a premature warning, this chapter has it all: humor, randomness, some action, and drama and even angst. So don't get discouraged by all that stuff, just enjoy yourself. All the real action comes in the following chapter this won't be too confusing to follow, i was up writing this until 3am last night so heh. Review please!

Chapter Five: Viruses, Worms, and Spyware, oh my!

Location: Downtown Los Angeles

Abandoned BxJ Corp. building/warehouse

Time: Noon

The Crown Victoria drove up to the seemingly abandoned building and gradually slowed down to a stop. Chuck stared out of the tinted windows and surveyed the large edifice. A creeping feeling of impending anxiety bubbled underneath his surface. He inhaled a deep breath and concentrated on what he needed to accomplish. This was his first real mission. He wasn't Chuck Bartowski, the asset any longer. He was Agent Charles Carmichael, the human Intersect. He was a hero, he was that guy. He had to be that guy if he wanted to make it out alive.

Laying his head on the headrest, he let his eyes close briefly to ensure he'd calm down. A familiar hand interlocked themselves with his fingers, sending an electric shock up through his nerves and to his brain.

Sarah.

She could do the simplest thing (like holding his hand) and somehow it would be enough to make him feel alright. He let one eye slide open just barely so that he could see her. She was staring out of her window, lost in her own thoughts. Her complexion was stoic and emotionless; it was by definition Agent Sarah Walker. Deep down underneath that rough exterior, Chuck knew that she was still reveling in their night of passion. She turned her head slightly so that she faced him. Her hair was undone for this mission. Mostly because it was expected that it would be a fairly easy and effortless one to accomplish. Her mouth curved into an understanding smile because only she could possibly know that he was staring at her though his half-lidded eyes. And the solitary thought that kept lingering in the back of her mind as she locked her gaze with him was why did he look as if he was walking right into some unforeseen doom?

"I'm on a highway to Hell!" Sam broke through the silence with an off key attempt at doing her own rendition of the ACDC song. She bobbed her head to the hard rock ballad, effectively getting on Casey's nerves. It wasn't like it took too much to achieve that anyway.

"Shut up," He warned her in a low menacing voice.

"And I'm going downnnnnn…." She yelled loudly, "Alllllllllll the way," Then air guitared the brief instrumental riff and finished with a long, "Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Casey's face went red with suppressed fury. His nostrils flared like a bull's. Chuck's eyes snapped open when the song was drawing to a close; he exchanged a weirded out glance with Sarah. She nodded in agreement.

"Are you done?" Casey seethed.

In a small voice she sang, "On a highway to hell…"

"Remind me to never let you sit up here ever again."

"But I called shotgun!" Sam protested.

Casey put the car in park and cut the engine. He unbuckled his seatbelt and stared over his shoulder to face the couple behind him. He looked ready to disembowel someone.

"Remind me to never let her come within one hundred feet of my car," He pleaded with them.

"Sure thing, big guy." Chuck nodded and gave him the ok gesture with his right hand.

Chuck heard a grunt and then the driver's door flung open. Chuckling quietly to himself, he glanced over at Sarah who was trying to contain herself also. She had a hand covering her mouth and she was giggling. Actually giggling. This made him grin even more.

"Hey you guys," Sam spoke up. She had her seatbelt unbuckled and she was turned all around so that she was facing the both of them. She was wearing an oblivious frown on her face, "is Casey angry or something?"

"Don't worry about it, Sam," Chuck assured her with a confident smile, "That's just Casey's MO. He's just kind of an angry individual…you'll get used to it."

"Oh, ok."

There was a brief pause and then she wondered out loud, "I just thought he was having a bad day yesterday. I kinda hit him on the head with a rolled up magazine and you gave him an ass whooping too…"

"That can always be a part of it," Sarah concurred, sending Chuck a doubtful look.

"Eh, he's fun to mess with so oh well!" She laughed in spite of the situation. She opened her door and jumped out. Chuck and Sarah watched in awe as she slid on the Vic's sleek top and met Casey on the other side. If it was any more possible, Sam had gotten Casey's face even redder.

"Get off of my car!" He screamed at her, "I just polished her." The end came out like whine.

"Wow, has Sam figured out a way to break John Casey?" Chuck blinked in wonder.

"It appears so."

"Sarah, make sure to never leak this valuable information out to other sources," He feigned a warning tone, "Or else the world we know is lost…"

"You make no sense, Chuck."

"I make sense, you just need to think about it first," He kidded lightly.

"I'm not even going to try and comprehend what you just said."

Sarah released her hand from his and then climbed out of her seat. Chuck watched her leave and his heaved a sigh.

"Game face, Bartowski."

He slid out of his seat and left the Vic.

"Game face."

Team Bartowski plus one were all standing at the rear of the Crown Victoria. Casey waited impatiently for Chuck to join the three of them and once he was there, the NSA agent popped open the trunk.

Inside was a heavy loaded arsenal fit for a special ops Blackwater team. Examining all of the weapons, Chuck felt a little queasy. They didn't need all of these did they?

Casey took a shotgun and used it to prop the trunk open. Then he dove his hands inside the depths of his collection of arms and pulled out what they need to complete the mission.

"This should be enough for today," he decided.

He handed each of them a bullet proof vest and a handgun, probably a Glock. Both Sam and Sarah took their weapons and protection gratefully and began to strip off their jackets and tops until they were down to their bras. Chuck watched this with an open mouth.

"Here's your gun, Bartowski. God save us all."

Chuck carefully reached for his Kevlar vest which weighed his arm down till the vest almost dropped from his hand. Casey grunted and held the gun out for him to take. Chuck swallowed uncertainly.

"You know what?" Chuck stuttered, "I don't think I need that. I'm actually feeling really good with a non lethal vest and the supercomputer that's in my head."

Casey pushed the gun up to Chuck's face, "You take this right now. You're a real spy, numb nuts so that means you need to act like one. And God help me, you need to be armed."

"No thanks, Casey. Really, I'm fine. Guns only complicate things," He convinced the older man hurriedly. He got a complacent stare from Casey who just shrugged and murmured "your loss." Then Chuck stripped off his shirt and began to strap on his vest.

Minutes passed and by half passed noon, the four spies were ready for combat. Before they started to assess their situation, Sam dug her hand into several of her pockets (both jeans and jacket) and proceeded to freak out.

"Dammit, where is it?!" She screamed frantically.

"Where's what?" Chuck asked. He was staring at her with a tired expression.

"My pills!" She replied in a panicky voice.

"Pills?"

"Isn't that what I just said, asshat?"

Taken back by her rudeness, Chuck went quiet.

"You mean these?" Casey called out. He was by the passenger's seat of the Vic, tossing a small plastic bottle in his hand.

"Oh my god," She breathed in a sigh of relief and then almost attacked Casey for her meds.

"Can I ask you a quick question?" The older man said and held the pills just out of her reach.

"Yeah sure, just give them to me! I'll be so fucked if I don't get my dosage."

"I don't think so, Sam." He said this with a smirk. Sam's face went from confused to nervous and then to enraged in a matter of seconds, "You bastard, you better give me my medication right now or I'll sick Charlie on you. You don't want a repeat of yesterday do you?"

"You've caused me a great deal of emotional trauma in less than two days," explained Casey, "So this is my form of payback. I take away your damn addiction and I watch you go through withdrawals cold turkey."

Sam shook slightly, "Hey, idiot, did you ever check what they were for? Huh, or do all you stupid Fed's just assume they're illegal and I'm a druggie?"

"I don't give a rat's ass…"

"Casey, just give it back to her ok?" Chuck tried to rationalize with his handler, "We have a mission at stake so why don't we all take a deep breath and---"

Thud.

"What the hell?"

Sam was on the pavement, fast asleep. She snored softly and had her body curled up in a small ball. Drool was already beginning to form at the corner of his lip.

"Is she, is she sleeping?" Chuck blinked. He crouched down and poked at Sam's prone form. Seemingly convinced, he got back up to his feet and shot Casey an incredulous stare, "She is asleep; give her those pills so we can get this over with."

Grumbling, Casey bent over and picked up Sam easily and handed her limp body for Chuck and Sarah to hold. They held the dead wait as the NSA agent popped off the top of the bottle and spilled out two white pills. He then read the instructions on the label, his eyes widening in understanding.

"She has a severe case of Narcolepsy," Casey continued to read. His voice seemed to have a touch of regret to it.

"You must be joking. How is she even an agent?" Sarah said in disbelief.

Casey didn't respond, he just plopped the two pills inside Sam's open mouth and forced her to swallow them. A moment passed and then she came around. Her eyes blinked open and she wiped the drool away from her lips. She shot him a dark stare and then straightened herself out.

"Why didn't you tell us about your little condition?" Casey asked semi annoyed.

"Because," She huffed and shook both of Chuck's and Sarah's hold off her, "I didn't want the special treatment and I don't want to be handled differently, like some special needs kid."

This got Casey speechless. For once, Sam looked down right pissed. Her charcoal eyes were filled with a faraway pain. Chuck looked between the two spies and decided that maybe they should get started on the objective at hand.

"Hey, guys, I don't want to sound impatient or anything, but aren't we supposed to be on an assignment right now?"

The three of them nodded and Chuck sighed.

"Let's get going then."

They were all hiding behind a cement wall that blocked them from the building's entrance. Sarah poked her head out the side of the wall to search out the best way to lead their assault.

"We should split up," she whispered to her team, "There's two entrances, and if there are Fulcrum agents inside, we shouldn't be clumped together."

Chuck stared at her unsurely, "Split up?"

"What's wrong with that, Bartowski?" Casey snickered.

"Well, doesn't the whole, "Let's split up, gang," remind you of anything?"

There was a beat and then Sam, who had been nice and quiet since her little breakdown, spoke up in a small voice, "He's referring to Scooby Doo. He doesn't think it's a practical idea."

He pointed a finger at Sam, "Exactly! I think splitting up is a no go, not unless we end up running into Daphne in that creepy abandoned warehouse…"

He sighed reminiscing, "Oh Daphne, I liked her."

Casey grunted.

Sam giggled a little.

Sarah jabbed him in the gut.

"Sam, you and Chuck go through the side entrance, I doubt you will be faced with any hostiles. Casey and I will go for the front entrance so we can take out any guards or Fulcrum agents."

"Ok, fine," Chuck grimaced. He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt a bit and revealed to have his father's computer cuff attached to his forearm. He played around with the touch screen until he brought up the building's layout. He then used his deft fingers to check each room. His eyes furrowed in concentration and then he pointed out with his free hand to show the rest of the team what they were looking for.

"Here's the room we need to get to," he tapped the cuff with his index finger. He met up with three pairs of attentive eyes. They were all in agent mode, ready for anything. "But see all of these dots…wait what the hell?"

"So we do have company," Casey smirked and cocked his gun.

"Uh, yeah, apparently…" Chuck's voice became strained.

"How many potential casualties are we looking at, Chuck?"

"For them or for us?" He received an impartial look and then he laughed nervously at his own joke, "Well there's….ten of them."

"You sound so sure of yourself…"

"Casey, just be happy that I'm telling you anything. I can always just withhold information from you and let all of us walk in blind."

"Just got told," Sam said in a sing song voice, she was screwing on her silencer on both of her desert eagles.

Casey growled under his breath. He applied the silencer on his gun too. As did Sarah. Chuck watched with a speculative eye and then he got out of their hiding space and waited for his team to go.

After Team Bartowski and Sam made it to the front of the building without any trouble whatsoever, Sarah decided that they should go their separate ways. Chuck grudgingly followed Sam, who he didn't know if she had any prior field training. She wasn't even wielding her guns. She just strolled along with Chuck through the empty hallways, following wherever Orion's computer told them to go.

"Here, through this door." Chuck commanded and pointed to the heavily secured door.

"How are we going to get in there?" She asked, she drew dual guns and prepared to shoot the lock.

"Wait! D-don't do that!"

"Why not?" She lowered her guns a bit and gave him a peculiar look.

"Mythbusters confirmed that it is impossible to shoot a lock off with a handgun." He replied very adamantly.

Sam tilted her head to the side and thought about that logic, "but I have two guns…"

Chuck slapped his forehead and closed his eyes. She was absolutely dense sometimes.

"Just don't even try it, ok Sam?" He tried to convince her to stand down, "The gun shots might attract some unwanted company…"

"Oh, ok. So what do we do now?"

Chuck rolled up both sleeves and gave confident grin, "Trust me, I got this."

He rubbed his palms together and faced the steel door with the computer padlock. He concentrated hard on the keypad and then forced a flash. Numbers flew passed his eyes until he memorized the password. Chuck broke out of the flash and punched the correct sequence on the keypad. The security system responded positively and the automatic doors slid open. Chuck smiled lopsidedly and beckoned Sam to follow him inside.

"How did you learn to do that?" She said amazed. Awe was in her voice as she walked cautiously into the computer room.

"Curtsey of my dad," Chuck muttered absentmindedly. He surveyed the medium sized room and took a seat in front of what appeared to be the master computer. He cracked his knuckles and began to type on the keyboard, using every hacking trick he knew to bypass the computer's defenses.

"The Intersect's a very interesting piece of hardware," Sam pointed out. She propped herself up against a vacant table and withdrew her I-phone. She began to scroll through it while Chuck resumed hacking in the computer mainframe.

"You can say that again," he mumbled and then hit the enter key. The computer made a ping noise, welcoming the user on to its profile. "Bingo."

"You know what it sort of reminds me of?" Sam put out.

Pulling up as many files as he could, Chuck dug his hand into his pocket and seized a small flash drive capable of holding any amount of data that one would want. It was yet another gadget created by the genius that was Orion. Grasping it between his fingers, he injected it in the space indicated for USB drives and tossed all the Intel into the empty drive.

Satisfied Chuck linked his hands behind his back and spun the swivel chair around until it rotated several revolutions. He leaned back against the chair's cushiony headrest and finally answered her.

"What does it remind you of?"

"An I-Phone."

He squinted at her with amused eyes. She wasn't looking at him. Her head was down and her averted gaze landed on her own phone. She had a smile growing on her lips. She was just as amused as he was.

"Why do you say that?" He asked her curiously.

"The Intersect can hold a bunch of information, so can the I-phone; they both need to be updated to stay current in the present; and of course, they have an app for everything that anyone could possibly want or need."

Chuck stared at her surprised. Wow, he never thought of that. Maybe that's why his dad did say he designed the I-phone for Apple first too…did he keep the initial structure of the Intersect and apply it for the phone?

"Has anyone told you that you have great insight, Sam?" He queried honestly.

"Yeah," She sighed and her smile faded, "My sister."

"Oh, you have a sister?"

"Older sister, hmm," She clicked on the touch screen and waited for it to load. "Deane: she's four years older than me. Tall, black hair and green eyes…beautiful." Her voice withered away when she found what she was looking for.

Chuck kept an eye on her for a lingering second then he turned back to the computer monitor. It was only at thirty percent. He grumbled and swung his chair back around and reengaged himself with the spy.

"So, what does she do?"

"She does what I do," She sighed again.

"She's a spy?"

"More or less, yeah…" Sam scrolled down her I-phone and barely acknowledged what was running out of Chuck's mouth, "To put it blatantly, she's my partner."

"What?"

Sam coughed into her hand and her dark eyes narrowed, "Deane Smith, or should I say Special Agent Smith….friggin bitch."

"Why's her last name different from yours?" Chuck pressed.

"Because Wesson isn't my real last name either, it's just a stupid alias," She explained further, "we did it because we thought it would keep us safe. If we aren't related, the bad guys wouldn't purposely go after one of us to get the other. We needed to stay detached and uncompromised."

Chuck's eye strayed to the downloading bar; it was at fifty percent. He inhaled sharply.

"I guess I know how you feel…about being detached and unable to compromise yourself with the ones you love."

"I know, I read your dossier," She answered back with a smirk.

"Nothing is sacred to you people anymore now, is it?"

"It hasn't been in a very long time."

There was a small beat.

"So, which picture do you want for your picture ID?"

Chuck stared at her serious expression. His eye twitched.

"W-what?"

"Here," She handed him her I-phone, "There's about a million to choose from and I just got this app a few weeks ago…."

He took her phone and stared at the cat pictures. Each one of them was of a cute little kitten that was too adorable for words. Written in horrible grammar were several of phrases that only amplified the cuteness. Chuck was at loss at what to say. How can he and Sam have a meaningful conversation at one moment and then literally a millisecond later, she shows him her photo album of LOLcats?

"Is there a reason why you have these on your phone?"

"Duh, they're cute," She retorted as it was the most obvious thing in the world, "And I just found the perfect one for Case. Look at this one; it talks about Captain Morgan!"

Unexpectedly, a man walked through the breached door and is about to shoot his weapon. Sam pointed out the endearing picture of a cat doing the Capt. Morgan pose and she laughed. Chuck feigned a laugh of his own, but he saw the man with the gun out of the corner of his eye. He was too late to react, but Sam (who was still concentrating on the cat pictures) drew her gun and fired. The bullet sailed and struck the hostile right in the forehead. His face jerked back and he was propelled several feet out of the room on the ground. His mutilated body was sprawled out with his arms and legs fully extended.

"U-uh…" Chuck choked out.

"Yep, that one has the Colonel written all over it, right?"

She still had her Desert Eagle out and the smoke seeped out of the muzzle. She dexterously spun the gun around and sheathed it back in her waistband. Chuck remained speechless.

"Whatever, I see that you can care less about this, so I guess I'll pick your ID out later…but you don't get to choose." She childishly stuck her tongue out at him and went back to her table.

"Am I the only one here that saw you kill that guy?"

"Killed what guy---?"

Her eyes snapped to the door and realization hit her, "Oh, him! Yeah, he's definitely dead alright."

"H-how did you do that?" He sprung out of his chair and flung his arms out frusteratedly.

"Do what?"

"Kill him!"

"Well, Charlie, that's a very easy one to explain. Its semantics; you take a gun, point it at your desired target and…" She mimicked pulling a trigger on a gun with her finger, "Bang!"

Infuriated, Chuck sat back down and glared at the computer screen; it was at eight-five percent. Yes. Almost done.

"If you can't manage to stay serious for one minute, maybe two…then whatever Sam. I get it."

Sam set down her I-Phone and she buried her head into her hands. She was exhausted.

"Look, don't freak out ok? You promise?" She lifted her face from her hands and told him sternly.

"Scouts honor," He showed her the gesture and she smiled.

"There's a reason why I joined SHEILD, same with my sister….you see, we're different."

"Different how?" He probed.

"I won't say that I'm like you, because obviously, I'm not," She frowned and bit her lip, "but I do have a unique ability. That's the only way I can put it. I was recruited by Director Fury after he read my sister and I's file. He got interested and defected us from our first job…the rest is history."

"What can you do, Sam?" He took his chance at prying further.

"I have sort of a sixth sense," She elucidated, "And no, it's not like that movie. I can't see dead people. I just know when things are going to happen; I can see what most can't. And I can feel it too. Like an aura surrounding every single person on this Earth. For example, you give off a wild aura. People are drawn to it…its magnetic almost."

"How is that possible?" Chuck questioned her, "Can your sister do that too?"

The lighting of the roomed dimmed almost if by on purpose. Sam stared at the flickering lights and her dark eyes shifted into a deep crimson red and then returned back to normal again. Chuck saw this and his slacked jaw closed and pressed itself into a thin line.

"My sister and I have our differences," She exhaled noisily, "but what's more important is how my boss will get you to join him. We need people like you fighting with us. There's a big world out there and interwoven with the spy world is another, far scarier world. You think that you're the only one with powers that come right out of a comic book? I thought so too, but you're not alone, Charles Bartowski."

She had nothing more to say on that subject.

Chuck grew tired looking at the nothing. He had his head sunken on the countertop. His hands rubbing his forehead to keep him alert. Sam was lying on top of the table doing whatever she does. Then a static induced voice shook him from his reverie.

"Chuck, how is it going on your end?"

Chuck brought his watch up to his mouth. He sleepily spoke into the speaker on the face of the watch, "We're all good. The driver is downloading all of the data and its taking forever. There was one baddie that tried to kill us, but Sam dealt with him. So yeah, it's all an okay up here. How are you doing?"

There was a soft rustling, probably Sarah and Casey talking to each other.

"That's great, Chuck. Good job. We've gotten rid of all the Fulcrum agents in the building so we are just waiting for the two of you. We'll be back at the entrance, meet us there immediately after you finish, ok Chuck?"

"Got it, see ya soon."

The communication ended and Chuck twisted around in his seat. He pushed himself up and shuffled over to the table. He noticed with weary eyes that Sam was humming in her half awake state, listening to some song on her I-phone. He carefully yanked out one ear bud and told her get up. She yawned and stretched herself out, then rubbed the sleep away from her eyes. Itching the side of her face tiredly, Sam cocked her head out of Chuck's line of vision and saw the computer monitor blinking.

"I think the download is all done," She yawned again and slid off the desk. She checked her weapons and made sure that they were loaded.

"Huh?" Chuck spun around and noticed the screen display one hundred percent complete. His lip curved into a smile and he hunched over the desk and placed a hand over the flash drive. His hand curled around the plastic memory stick and he pulled.

There was a blinding flash of light.

A thousand images raced across the screen and a powerful shock zapped up and down his spine. Nerves stood up on end and both of his eyes rolled every which way, gathering all the data he came across.

Sam set down her guns and raced to his side. She prodded his shoulder but received no reaction. Pursing her lips, she shook his arm and snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Charlie."

She shook him again.

"What's wrong?"

Her eyes darted to the black computer screen. It was dead. Then her eyes fell to Chuck's hand, it was still clutching the memory stick. She looked at it interestedly and reached out to claim it.

"Major FUBAR," She whispered when she caught a good look at Chuck's face. It was frozen in an expressionless stupor. She waved another hand in his face but he still wouldn't react. His lips moved wordlessly while his eyes darted back and forth. She faintly could hear him whisper, "The man in black…"

Ignoring that detail, Sam closed her hand around his and she felt a small shock. She retracted her hand at once and sucked on her thumb, "Dammit…"

There was a cooling silence. The computer simmered down and the electrical charge surrounding both the machine and Chuck dissipated. Once it had completely vanished, Chuck regained motion. His eyes fluttered and he gasped for air. Before Sam took any notice, Chuck lost his balance and collapsed on his back, missing the chair by an inch.

Sam winced as he connected with the floor. She went on her knees and gently slapped his pale face. Chuck's eyebrows scrunched up in a distressed manner and he swatted her away with his hand. He slowly opened his eyes and when his vision cleared, he lifted up the memory stick and wheezed.

"Mission: complete."

It took a couple minutes to get him back on his feet, but Sam did it. She was proud of that fact because Chuck was a tall human being, and she, well, was not by any means. She propped his weakened body in the rolling chair and went back to the table to get her guns. Chuck eyed her weapons carefully with a contrite frown. When Sam picked up on this, she saw his lip twitch as he faked his worldly grin. She wasn't too fooled by it. Something was up with him.

"So explain to me again, what just happened?"

Chuck ran his blackened hand through his hair and shrugged indifferently, "Dunno. I think I just flashed. It was intense and a thousand times more painful, but maybe that's just what the new Intersect entails? Its flashes are worse so the pay-off is greater…"

She nodded, "But are you sure you're ok?"

He lifted himself from the chair and held a hand out to her, "I'm just peachy."

"Right, well let's get going. Sarah and Casey must be worried sick…" She licked her lips and then, "On second thought, Casey not so much. No offence of course."

"None taken," He laughed, but it sounded…off. Sam took the lead and led them both safely through the first hallway. She only stopped when Chuck leaned against the wall and massaged his forehead; a painful grimace appeared on his features. "Are you sure you're ok, Charlie?"

"My name's Chuck, alright, Sammy?" He snapped at her. He pressed the heels of his hands up against his eyes to relieve the pressure.

"Wow, calm yourself," she huffed and folded her arms, "Just because you got your ass handed to you by a computer, I'll let the 'Sammy' slip up pass, but next time, I'll end you."

"Ok, look, I'm sorry for snapping at you, Sam," He apologized awkwardly. He still had his face covered by his hands so she wasn't sure if he was being straight with her.

"It's fine, I told you," She reassured him softly, "Let's just get the hell out of dodge, ok?"

"Yeah, ok," He agreed with a shaky nod. He followed her until they reached the end of the hall, "Hey, would it be ok if I could hold that gun?"

She whipped her head around and stared at him oddly, "Huh? I thought you detested guns?"

He looked sheepish now and his eyes averted to the ground; his cheeks reddened.

"They're not really that bad," he admitted, "And if I'm going to be a spy, like Casey said, I need to know how to handle one, right?"

"Uh, sure, yeah," Sam stuttered. There was definitely something up with that boy.

"So, how about it?" He requested ever so innocently.

"I don't think we're going to run into Fulcrum," She told him, her hand was gripping dual guns tightly.

"Exactly!" Chuck expressed energetically, "So it wouldn't be a big deal if I could become familiar with it. It's not like I am going to shoot anyone with it…" His voice became carried away but he covered it up before Sam can catch on to it.

"Ok, just be careful."

She handed him the Desert Eagle with the safety on. He took it willingly; his eyes were glued to it.

"Weird…" She said for herself to hear.

They turned the last corner and finally made it to the exit. Sam sighed a breath of relief and turned to Chuck who was pretending to aim the gun and fire it. He squinted one eye shut and pointed the muzzle at the back of Sam's head, and curled his finger on the trigger. A predatory smile graced his lips until he mouthed the words, "Bang, bang, bang!"

Sam heard the three clicks of the gun, but pursued on. Once she met up with Sarah and Casey she could tell them about Chuck.

She swung the door open and spotted both of Chuck's handlers. They were sitting by the car, Casey was leaning against the frame, and while Sarah was staring at the building they were exiting.

"Hey, long time no see guys!" She waved at Sarah who yanked Casey by the hand and dragged him over to meet her in the middle.

"Do you have the memory stick?" Casey asked, getting straight to business.

"Of course we do!" Chuck chirped happily. He was practically beaming. He showed the Colonel the piece of plastic and twirled it deftly between his fingers. Casey seemed unimpressed and snatched the Intel from the younger man's fingers.

"At lest you did something right, Bartowski."

"Good job, Chuck," Sarah complimented him.

Sam saw Chuck barely look at her. He actually perceived to be bored of being around her. He shrugged her off and tried to get Casey's attention.

"Hey, Casey!"

"What now?" He said gruffly.

"Can I drive the Crown Victoria back home?" His voice sounded as wrong as he said it.

Casey laughed, "You're funny. And by funny, I mean, don't ever suggest that again or else I'll run you down with my car. How about that, 007?"

Like someone flipped a switch in Chuck's brain, his elated expression melted so fast that no one expected it to happen that quickly. His giant toothy smile flipped into a scowl. He knitted his brow in despair as his shoulders slumped and he tugged on Sarah's shirt, getting her to notice him.

"What is it, Chuck?" She was turned off at his coldness from earlier.

"W-w-why won't Casey let me drive h-his car?" His liquid brown eyes were swimming with tears.

"Chuck are you feeling alright?" She asked him worriedly.

His lips quivered and he looked as if we was going break down sobbing. Both Sarah and Casey's eyes traveled to Sam, who watched the event unfold before her like everyone else. Not knowing how to deal with it, Sarah brought Chuck into a hug and let him cry it out. He held her tightly until he was hiccupping and dry heaving.

"Sam, what is going on?" She said in a low threatening voice.

"He flashed on something on the computer." She rambled, "It was right when he tried to pull out the memory stick, it shocked him...and, uh shit, I don't know!"

Sarah looked to Casey who watched Chuck cry like a little boy. He seemed entertained.

"You said he flashed on the computer screen?"

"Yes," Sam confirmed, "I turned away while he was in the middle of the flash, but I did manage to catch some of the images displayed on the screen…it was compiled like how I thought the Intersect would be, but…" She trailed off, lost in thought.

"But what?"

"The pictures on the monitor were not normal pictures. They were like pop ups on a website, a lot of them. They kept overflowing on the screen over and over again. It was crazy."

Sarah petted Chuck's head while she mulled what Sam had said in her mind, "Is it possible for the Intersect to get infected?"

"Infected?" Casey repeated, "You mean like viruses?"

"Yes."

Casey thought about it for a moment and then grunted, "Shit."

"Oh fuck, does that mean that Fulcrum knew we were coming to get the data?" Sam asked frantically.

"I don't think it was Fulcrum," Sarah shook her head; "It had to be someone from one of the other Ten Rings. Maybe someone accidently—"

"—Or purposefully," Interjected Casey.

"—leaked the knowledge about the human Intersect from our database to the Ring's? Now they maybe know that Bryce was not the one carrying it…maybe they have a haunch that it's someone else….like Chuck." Her mouth closed when she struggled to remain in control of her emotions.

"So we have ourselves a mole?" Casey growled, "Great. Just fucking great."

"What do we do about Chuck though?" Sam changed the subject and pointed at the sobbing man still tangled in Sarah's embrace.

"I don't know—"

"--Sarah, it hurts!"

Chuck tore away from Sarah and held his head in his hands. He pulled at his hair roughly and moaned in pain. He backed up from the three spies and continued to mutter incoherencies repeatedly until he couldn't take the headaches any longer.

"Sarah," He whined like a wounded puppy, "You told me that it wouldn't hurt anymore! You promised that it would go away forever!"

Sarah got a confused look from Sam and Casey. She shook her hand and separated herself from them.

"Chuck, tell me what hurts please?" She asked him sincerely.

He hands shook when they fell to his sides. His eyes were shrouded by his messy curls and he stared down at the concrete, refusing to make eye contact with Sarah, or anybody else.

"My head…"

"It will go away, trust me, Chuck." She promised.

"Stop promising me things that you can never keep!" He shouted angrily at her, "You said you wouldn't leave me, but you always end up changing your mind anyway."

He wasn't making a lick of sense now. Sarah reached out for him but was rejected with a swipe of his hand. That same hand disappeared behind his back and in a flash, drew Sam's Desert Eagle.

"Ok, so that's why he wanted my gun…" Sam looked on in fright.

Chuck's hand was shaking, but his enraged brown eyes outlined in red locked on to Sarah's horrified blue ones. His mouth twisted into a cold and mirthless expression, one that she would never expect to see on his face. Tears still leaked from his eyes and slid down his ashen cheeks.

"Chuck, listen to me," Sarah begged, "There's something horribly wrong with you right now and you're not thinking straight. You need to dig deep right now, for me. Don't let this virus beat you Chuck. If it wins, the Ring wins. And everything we've worked for during these past two years will be for nothing."

His eyes twitched and he blinked to clear away the tears. Chuck's shaking hand steadied itself and his demeanor changed once again. This time his back straightened up and he became fully erect. He wiped a hand over his face and his distraught grimace was quickly replaced with a malevolent smirk.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with me, Agent Walker."

He curled his hand around the trigger and pulled it.

It was so quiet in the early afternoon sky.

Sarah closed her eyes, fully prepared for blackness to come over her.

Oh no, Sarah! And poor Chuck too.

Next chapter is chappie Six: Unwell