AN: Reviews were awesome as always. Man I'm on a roll right now! Pumping out a chapter a day? That's just godly. I know that last chapter was pretty heavy and all, but this one is more action orientated and hopefully, funny. You get to meet a potential villian who i expect great things from in future stories. Hopefully in Season 3 they'll give Chuck and actual nemesis. Sigh. Well then, let the story continue!

Review are welcome,d not abandoned.

Chapter Seven: You Fight Me

John Casey went back to the Crown Vic after he had settled Bartowski down. He unlocked the door and slipped inside. He did all of this wordlessly. Casey knew that he wasn't man of many words, but millions of thoughts were running through his brain and each one of them got him thinking.

He thought about Bartowski. How that idiot was dumb enough to let himself be caught off guard like that. He was pissed beyond belief that Sam was paying even less attention to the asset…no, his p-partner—crap he still couldn't bring that word to his lips. No, Chuck Bartowski still wasn't up to Casey's level, not yet. He was still a damn kid. He had all of the innocence of a puppy and it made Casey nauseas just picturing the moron's full brown eyes staring at him.

Casey sighed and jammed the keys into the ignition. He cranked it forward and the speakers blared loudly. He ground his teeth together when the interior of the car began to shake from the thumping of the base.

"The jig is up, the news is out, they finally found me—"

With both hands placed on either side of his head, Casey cursed that damn woman for taking control of his radio without asking him first.

"—The renegade who had it made, retrieved for a bounty. Nevermore to go astray—"

'At least she had some good taste in music,' he grunted.

He brought one hand down from his ear and reached for the dial.

"—This will be the end today; of the wanted man."

He pushed it in and the music was turned off. The silence was pleasing to his ears, but it was also eerie. Casey pulled out his phone and flipped it open; he kept his head down and saw a text flashing away on the screen. He raised an eyebrow and pressed 'ok.' What appeared was short and possibly meaningless; perhaps a joke even, but Casey scrutinized it with two hard blue eyes. His lips parted and for once in a long time, he felt a twinge of fear creep up inside him.

--Trojan Horses are a bitch sometimes, aren't they?—

"What the hell…" he spoke barely above a whisper.

He tried to find the number who had texted him, but it came up as unknown. Confused, Casey shut the phone and sat it down. He pressed his head against the seat of the car and closed his eyes. He needed a break. It was hard to keep a façade of pure apathy around his team when what was happening at that very moment was slowly destroying him…and his patience. He massaged his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to find his calm center, or as Bartow—Chuck said it, his angry center.

"Stupid, he's so stupid."

Suddenly, as he was finally caught up in a meditative state, his phone vibrated. Through hooded eyes, Casey leaned forward and glanced as the jumping gadget. It stopped for a moment and then vibrated again…and again, and yet again. After a full minute, it had ceased. Casey picked it up and saw that he missed four text messages. He stared at the phone like it was cursed, but decided to read the blurbs on the black screen.

--You seem pretty shaken up by it, Colonel. Are you feeling bad that your curly-headed friend is about to die?—

Casey dropped the phone and scanned outside the windows. He quickly drew his weapon and had a hand on the door's handle.

God damn bastard. Who did this guy think he was? Casey scowled and his eyes strayed back to his phone which sat on the passenger's seat next to him. His mouth curved into an undecided frown, but he let go of the handle and checked the remaining messages.

--Scared you, didn't I?—

He clicked on the next texted.

--Hahaha, your face was priceless. =D —

Was this some kind of joke? A prank? It had to be… He scrolled to the final message, his eyes widening.

--Now be a good boy and stay in your car, k? I'm gonna call ya. Ttyl ;)—

"Jesus Christ…"

His phone rang. Casey stared at it, reluctant to answer it. He was so tired. It rang more insistently and he picked it up after its third ring.

"What do you want?" He snarled.

A dark velvety voice answered conversationally, "You're quite the people person, aren't you Johnny? You get straight to the point, I like that."

"I've had enough of your bullshit; tell me who you are, how you got my number, and what you know about the Trojan Horse virus."

The man on the other line chuckled, "You must think I'm an idiot! What makes you think I'll tell you anything? It doesn't appear to me that we're on the same sides of the war, are we?"

"You're part of the Ten Rings," Casey accused.

"Close, but no cigar, big guy."

'Big guy.' The way he said it made Casey want to throttle him. That was reserved for…Chuck. Damn, he couldn't believe that the kid had made him go soft.

"Hello there, Johnny? You still with me?" The voice asked impatiently.

"Yes."

"Ok, so here's the dealio: you're little team is becoming a thorn in my side and quite frankly everyone in this business wouldn't be very heartbroken if something were to 'happen' to you and your people."

Casey snorted, "I get it, you want us dead. What else is new?"

He tittered a sickly laugh, "Ahead of the game are we? Well fine, I'll get to the chase. Your friend that's down for the count over there, Agent Carmichael I think. He was the unlucky guy who downloaded the Trojan Horse, correct?"

Casey didn't answer. His silence was reserved as a yes.

"Right, so the virus I constructed into the computer's mainframe was meant for the Intersect," He waited for a reaction, but Casey was still trying to process everything, "Those who were possibly infected by the virus, but lacked a supercomputer in their brain, they wouldn't be affected. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

"You know that he's the Intersect," came Casey's choked out reply.

"There you go! Knew you had it in ya," he jeered and Casey heard the faint sound of a small applause.

Casey narrowed his eyes in befuddlement, "Then why are you trying to harm the kid if your people want the Intersect in the first place?"

He sighed, "I don't like my superiors. They're all money grabbing war mongers…always out to make a shiny penny, they don't stop and smell the roses. Or in this case, have a little fun with their nemesis. The baddies want the Intersect for themselves, but want your team dead. I don't give a shit what happens either way—"

"You just want to get paid."

"Didn't I just tell you that I don't care about profit?" His voice rose and sounded irritated, "I have my orders, but I like to drag out things. Agent Carmichael interests me and I want to see what he's capable of. He has such great potential!"

Casey lowered the phone to his chest. He stole a long glance at the front of the building; Sarah was pacing back and forth, waiting for Orion to show up and save his son. Sam was kneeling on the ground, still beside Chuck's fallen body. Why did he decide to take a five minute break? Shouldn't he be out there, protecting his teammates?

"You're insane," He insulted the spy, "And if you try to harm the kid at all, I'll kill you…I swear."

"Wow," the man whistled, "pent up anger much? Man, you must really care about your friend if you'd threaten me over him. It has me thinking, what would you do to protect him? How much would you sacrifice to keep Agent Charles Carmichael alive?"

Casey's subconscious asked him that every day. What would he risk for that boy?

"Today's your lucky day, or at least for Chuck over there. I'm not going to kill him, so you're welcome."

This guy was talking in circles. What did he want? He had no rhyme or reason for what he was doing. Those kind of men were the most dangerous to deal with. Casey had learned that over the twenty years in service. Out of all the enemies He, Chuck and Sarah had faced since they assembled into a team, they have never faced such a complex opponent. Once all this was over, Casey promised himself that he would go straight to the General and figure this out.

"Is there a reason for contacting me?" Casey finally spoke after a pause.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot! How stupid of me. In a second or two, I'd advise you to get your ass back over to your team. Agent Carmichael doesn't look to well."

And with that, the line went dead.

"Hey!" Casey screamed at the receiver, "What are you talking about?!"

He only heard the soft buzz of the tone dial. Fuming, he snapped the phone shut and pulled himself out of the car. In one hand was his gun, it was set upon the roof of the car. He looked over the Vic and watched as Chuck's feet shifted. It was slight, but with his sharp eyes, he just saw it. Casey slammed the car door closed and locked it. He rotated in a circle and searched the Los Angeles skyline for any figures hiding out in the surrounding buildings. He couldn't find anything.

"—Hey Casey, shouldn't we tie Chuck up or something?"

He shook his head out of his trance and spun around to see Sam yelling across the space between them. She was indicating Chuck's form with her index finger. Oblivious, she didn't see a hand move slightly and flex its finger tips. Before he could yell something at her, Sam was on the receiving end of a kick to her face. Sam lost her balance and almost fell to the concrete, but as she came close to hitting the hard surface, she was caught by two strong hands. Casey hopped over the Vic's top and ran back over.

"Sarah, step away from Chuck!" He yelled at her and waved his hands.

Walker stopped in her attempt to aid Sam and stood still when Casey approached her, out of breath.

"What—why?" She asked.

"Because—" He began but was cut off.

"—Because I have a loaded gun and it wouldn't be too wise getting near me."

Casey tore his eyes away from Walker's pale face and slowly turned to see Chuck up and awake. He was standing there, his arm wrapped around Sam's throat and a gun pressed firmly on her cheek. Sam's eyes were large as saucers, obviously not expecting to be stuck in this dire situation. She tried squirming out his hold, but couldn't. Her body went slack and she stared at Casey and Sarah, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Sarah, Casey, I'm so sorry!" She cried and the tears finally fell, "I-I wasn't paying good enough attention and he got the best of me. I'm so, so sorry…"

"God, you're annoying," Chuck told her truthfully. She rolled her eyes and he dug the barrel of the gun deeper into her face, "Make a move and I'll kill you in the most painful way imaginable, understand?"

She nodded complacently. Her dark eyes deepened into an evil red, but he missed it.

Chuck took his eyes off of his hostage and then focused his vacant gaze back to the two spies. He smirked.

"Empty your weapons and then drop them to the ground for me." He ordered.

Sarah exchanged a look with Casey, but he bowed his head and did as he was told. He stripped the cartridge out of the gun and held them up for Chuck to see. Sarah followed suit and held her two pieces also. Chuck nodded for them to continue.

"Why are we doing this?" Sarah asked him in a low voice. Blue eyes slid over to see his face. It was calm and focused.

"Just humor him, Walker."

She made a displeased noise in the back of her throat which almost came off as a growl.

"We do as he says and we wait until he slips up."

"What makes you think he'll make a mistake?"

Casey smiled confidently, "Because that's our Chuck over there. He's bound to do something stupid, it's in his genetics."

Both of them dropped their gun and they clattered to the concrete. Seeming satisfied, Chuck's evil grin faded prematurely.

"Now kick them away," He instructed.

Casey sighed and booted his unloaded weapon out of his reach. Giving Sarah a look, she did it too, but punted it harder than expected. She didn't look to happy about any of this.

"Put your hands on your head."

"Oh come on!" Sarah complained and complied.

"At least he's thorough," Casey whispered and placed his hands behind his head. He offered her a shrug and she shot him a dark look.

"Ok, now that's settled," Chuck released Sam and promptly cold cocked her in the back of her skull. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she crumpled to the ground. He stepped away from her unconscious form and pointed the gun yet again at Sarah's chest.

"Was that necessary?" Sarah asked through gritted teeth.

"I thought so," He smiled wickedly; "pay back is a bitch as they always say. Maybe next time she won't hand me an unloaded gun and I won't have to bash her head in."

"You're disgusting," She spat.

He tilted his head to the side and made a pouty face, "I'm disgusting? Really? I thought you loved me, Sarah Walker…"

His voice became low and hurt; it sounded so convincing, like it really was Chuck talking to her. Even though both Casey and Sarah knew in their mind body and soul that this wasn't Charles Irving Bartowski, and that it was something vile and evil manipulating him, controlling him like a puppet on strings. It was that evil being that wore his mask. This made Sarah's heart clench.

"You're not Chuck," She said with full conviction.

"Are you sure about that?" He simpered, "Let's see, I look like Chuck Bartowski. I sound like Chuck Bartowski. What more possible proof do you need for me to convince you that I am who I say I am?"

Casey stared at Chuck as the argument continued. His eyes strained the boy's face for a quick moment, but then fell on Sam. She was awake and somehow had managed to crawl up in to a crouched position. She shadowed Chuck expertly, her arms in a readied motion to make a move.

Sarah snorted, "It doesn't take an idiot to know what you really are." She took a daring step forward and then, "You're a worm! A diseased microscopic bug that's here to fuck with my…" She got choked up and her eyes burned determinedly, "…boyfriend!"

Rendered speechless, Chuck lowered his gun slowly. His once assertive disposition faltered, his grin melted into an upset frown. He stared at Sarah for a long drawn out moment, but said nothing. The blond headed female had her eyes dead set on him.

"You know," He finally started to say; "It hurts when you say such harmful things." He placed a hand on his heart, "Right here, that's where you got me," His wounded frown flipped back into that malevolent grin and he winked, "Girls like you are such ice queens. Why would this idiot fall for you anyway?"

Sam slipped her arms around Chuck's neck and held him in a chokehold. His arms flailed about, trying to grab her, but he couldn't reach. Sarah and Casey dropped their arms and hurried away from the line of fire. Chuck waved his gun hand and aimed it behind him. He shut his eyes and prepared to shoot.

"Get the hell off of me!"

Sam ducked and smacked his wrist, effectively knocking the gun ajar. A shot rang out, but the bullet flew astray. The smoking weapon went up in the air and Sarah rushed to gain possession of it. Picking it up from off the ground, she held it readily.

"Make sure he never lays a hand on that gun, Walker!" Casey forewarned her. She nodded and secured the gun in both iron locked hands.

Sam tightened her hold on Chuck as he continued to thrash back and forth. She applied more pressure to his windpipe, cutting off air supply. His feet dragged a bit, but he didn't lose consciousness. Pressing her mouth into his ear, she whispered.

"You should never ever be allowed to be near a gun, Charlie. You have horrible luck with them."

Suddenly, Chuck kicked her in the shin and she released her hold from his throat. She went down and broke free. He rubbed his neck and hacked away, his eyes stung from lack of oxygen. Regaining his posture, Chuck faced Sam and lifted up his foot right above her hand.

"See, I don't need a gun to deal with you. Chuck was right when he said guns only complicate thing…"

He stomped down on her foot.

Sam closed her eyes, fully expecting a sickening crunch of her bones.

All she heard was a pounding of heavy feet and a loud thud. She opened one eye to see Sarah offering her a hand. She took it gratefully and was pulled back up to her feet. The two female agents turned and saw Casey pinning Chuck down on the ground. He had him in a bear hug, with his large muscular arms bound around Chuck's arms. Chuck continued to twisted wrestle his way out of Casey's clutches, but the bigger man had the better hold and wasn't going to let go.

Looking over his shoulder, Casey shouted at Sarah, "What the hell is taking Orion so god damn long to get here?"

"LA traffic?" Sam suggested sarcastically.

"Look I don't know how long I can keep this up," said Casey.

"Just knock him out," Sam replied.

A light bulb went off inside the recess of Sarah's brain.

"Are there tranq darts in your car, Casey?" She asked him quickly.

"Of course there is!"

Chuck reared back and attempted to head but the Colonel in the forehead. The collision caused his head to fall on the hard concrete, his eyes in a daze.

He muttered painfully, "Not my best idea."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Casey," Sarah called out, "I need your keys, and the car is locked!"

"Ugh, dammit," Casey grunted. He looking over his shoulder, his eyes landed on Sam. She was staring around, looking about freely. "Sam, get my keys."

"Where are they?" She asked blinking.

"In my back pocket," He told her while he rustled with keeping Chuck down.

Sam shifted balance on her each foot. She averted her gaze and scratched the side of her face.

"Can't you reach them?"

There was a pause. Casey closed his eyes and sighed. Even Chuck raised an eyebrow.

"No, Sam, I can't. Just do it."

"I'm not feeling too comfortable about this."

Sarah threw her hands into the air exasperatedly and turned her back on the scene. She slid one hand down her face and shook her head in complete disbelief.

"I find it weird that I have to ask you more than once," he barked at her. "Can't you see I'm slightly preoccupied at the moment?"

Sam considered this but still refused to commit, "I've only known you for less than 48 hours and that's not the way I roll." She made the hand motion.

"—I. Will. End. You." He snarled each word individually.

Seeing that he was serious, Sam jumped up and hurried over to him. She eyed his backside and swallowed. Closing her eyes, she whispered how this was not a violation of privacy nor was it an attempt taking advantage of him. Casey ignored her.

"Ok, I got them," She said weakly. Sam jiggled the keys in her hand and tossed them over to Sarah, who caught them and ran to the car.

"So," Sam licked her lips, "How's it going?"

"Are you talking to me or the hulking idiot that's sitting on top of me?" Chuck rumbled painfully from underneath Casey's weight.

"—I don't really think she was talking to you," Snapped Casey.

"Actually, I could be talking to Chuck…but he really isn't Chuck is he?" She pressed her lips into a thin line and contemplated the logic of it all, "This is confusing. You know what…never mind. I'm going to stop talking right now."

"Thank god," Chuck and Casey both breathed in unison.

Sarah scrambled around in the trunk of the Vic, her hands digging into ever compartment in search for the illusive tranq darts. She started to get annoyed when the deeper she looked, the more useless crap she would find.

Her hand touched a big metal pipe-like tube. She picked it up and saw that it was a missing piece to some rocket launcher. Not wanting to think why he had the thing lay around by itself; Sarah discarded it and continued her search.

"Casey you really need to clean out your trunk…" she muttered.

Then she found it. The dart gun and a pouch filled with sedatives. Thank god. She pawed both the pouch and gun; she shut the trunk.

"This saves us a lot of time."

In a lighter mood, Sarah walked back to where everyone was. But when she took her eyes off her supplies, she saw that somehow, someway, Chuck had broken free.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Casey was on the ground, panting like mad. He held his forearm up to his nose; Sarah observed that's where he was hit. He was bleeding pretty significantly. Dammit. Her eyes traveled to Sam who was pinning her hair up into a ponytail; she stripped of her jacket and neatly folded it up into a perfect square. She then set it down on the ground and yanked Casey back up to his feet. She almost fell over in the process, but by using both hands, she got him up.

Sarah watched all this with an open jaw.

How does this keeping happening to her?

Shaking her head, she rushed over to hopefully end the fight for good.

"Ready for round two, Casey?" Chuck smirked.

"Bring it on Bartowski," Casey wiped his bloodied nose.

Passing him a sidelong glance, Sam offered, "How about a tag team?"

Chuck's weakened slouched position disappeared. He brought himself to his full height, excluding confidence. He looked between the two spies and waited for their first move.

"Just don't get in my way," the NSA agent warned her.

"Gotcha."

Before either one of them had the chance to start their assault, Sam caught up to them, fear in her eyes.

"Casey, I don't try and fight him!" She screamed.

The two spies turned and faced her.

"You saw what he did to the five Ring agents, she continued.

Sam looked at Casey confusedly, "What did he do to them?"

"He took them out in less than two minutes."

"Ahh," She hissed just thinking about it.

Then a perfectly arched kick came around and hit Sam in the gut. She couldn't get out of the way in time. She held her stomach and a rush of air spilled out of her mouth.

As she fell to her knees to catch her breath, Casey brought up his arms and blocked a right hook to the face. He dodged it skillfully. Chuck repeated the same back flip he used in his fight with the Ring spies. While he soared in the air, Casey tried at a knock out shot. It had missed obviously and Chuck stood a few feet away from him, a big smile on his face.

"It seems that you haven't learned your lesson from last time."

A foot swiped at his ankles with great speed, successfully tripping him. He lost balance and skidded to the ground. Sam rose back up to her feet and she was glowering at him, her eyes full with red.

"Good thing I took notes, huh?" She smirked.

Chuck growled and stood up. His dark eyes darted between the two fighters, assessing them.

"Last man standing," He stated.

"Or woman," Sam interjected.

Sarah screwed on the last piece of the dart gun. She looked up and saw the fight was at a standstill. She sighed. They really didn't need to be doing this. All she had to do was load the gun with a round of darts—

Each dart slid in and locked in the chamber. She smiled.

--and go put down Chuck like a dog. Casey had done it before, so why couldn't she?

Letting the wheel of the chamber spin one revolution, Sarah cocked the gun back and went to sedate Chuck.

Simultaneously, Casey and Sam attacked Chuck. He didn't react as they ran to him. He stood put, eyes staring off into space. It was like he was in the middle of a—

"Flash…" Sarah mumbled. Her blue eyes became giant pools, "Watch out, Chuck just flashed!"

It was too late. Upon approach, Chuck landed a right cross into Casey's jaw. Sam used her agility and ducked from another fatal blow. She did a quick backhand spring and lifted into the air. Landing it, she crouched low and took another shot at knocking him to the ground. Her leg hooked back and swung hard. Chuck's reactions had become inhuman and he bent his back, kicked up his feet up to the sky and planted his hand on her head. She saw his toothy grin and waved at her goodbye. His Chuck Taylors came down like an anchor and connected with the top of her head. Sam rolled over on the ground, holding her head in her hands as she moaned.

Chuck landed gracefully on his feet. His hands were in his pockets and he rolled his head around almost as if he was extremely bored. He stared at Sam in disgust, and then locked eyes with Casey.

"This is not nearly as fun as I thought it was going to be."

Casey curled his hands into fists, "Believe me, it's going to get fun soon."

"Show me," he challenged.

"With pleasure," Casey bantered.

Casey rushed up to Chuck and threw a punch, but Chuck cocked his head to the side and missed a sure knock out by less than an inch. While in the same smooth motion, he sidestepped Casey and swung out a round house kick, slamming his opponent to the ground. Casey's face smacked against the concrete. He struggled to get up, his hand were shaking from the abuse. He let his fingers feel his face and he ran over several lacerations and cuts, they were bleeding freely.

"This isn't even a contest, Casey," mocked Chuck. He was looking at his nails thoughtfully.

Still on all fours, Casey growled. He was still sore from the first fight with the kid. His looked at Chuck who was sauntering over to him; his own hands were still wrapped in a splint from his minimal injuries. Unable to summon any more energy, Casey froze. Chuck came up to him and patted his back,

"Its ok, you tried your best," He teased.

He took Casey by the shirt and helped the older man up. Now face to face, Chuck examined the Colonel. His face was bloody and bruised. He wore a look of defeat and this made Chuck's face break into a much larger grin. He gently slapped Casey's cheek.

"Hey, Casey, look man, I feel totally sorry about kicking your ass," he flash him a deadly smile, "again. Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll let you get one punch in."

Casey stared at him weakly. Then he launched a powerful fist aimed for Chuck's face. Chuck caught the fist and held it for Casey to see.

"Is that it?" He chastised the elder man, "I'm sorry Casey, but that's dreadful."

Enraged, Casey threw another punch with his left hand. Chuck stopped it with ease. He shook his head sadly.

"Didn't I just tell you that I was giving you one chance?"

"Go fuck yourself, Bartowski."

"Sorry about this," Chuck told him.

Casey's brows drew together in a confused expression.

Chuck head butted him in the face. It sent Casey back a few feet and then grunted painfully and fell on the ground. Laughing, Chuck didn't notice the dart gun pointed right at his face.

"Playtime's over, Chuck," She said seriously.

Chuck tapped the plastic gun amusedly, "What are you going to with that nice toy of yours?"

"This," She pulled the trigger.

But it missed.

Sarah looked at Chuck in disbelief. He feigned a yawn.

"W-wait, what?"She stammered, for once losing her composure.

"Check your hand."

Sarah looked at her right hand and saw that she wasn't holding anything.

"Looking for this?" asked Chuck. He was dangling the dart gun in one hand.

"How did you do that?"

He waved his hands around and systematically emptied the gun and tossed them over his shoulder, "Magic."

Sarah took a hesitant step back, but he followed her.

"So, it would seem that you have a little problem on your hands," he informed her.

"Oh, god I'm sorry Chuck…"

Confused, Chuck sent her an odd look, "What?"

She kicked him straight in the chin. His head snapped up and he flew five feet backwards. He hit his head on the solid concrete.

"For that," She smirked.

Chuck sat crossed legged, rubbing his chin. Her heeled boots dug into his skin, slicing it; blood dribbled down his neck. He scowled at her reproachfully.

"Nice shot," he complimented her sourly.

Putting a stray blonde strand of hair behind her ear, Sarah nodded, "Thanks."

Chuck sprung back up to his feet, more serious than ever, "Play time's over I guess."

"Yes…it is."

Their words ended in silence. Sarah stared at Chuck and vice versa. Both of them were waiting for the first person to move. The way the circled each other was like a choreographed dance. They remained keeping eye contact, dark brown and sapphire blue. Then Sarah threw the first elbow. Chuck slid out of the way and tried to kick her. She parried the kick with her foot and jabbed at him. The first punch missed, but the second one hit him square in the throat. Chuck gagged and cursed.

"Someone's overly confident in their abilities," Sarah said smiling.

"Bitch," He wheezed.

The fight resumed with Chuck jumping towards Sarah and feigning a kick to the ankles when he repeatedly karate chopped her in various places on her body. He ended his attack with grabbing her wrist and twisting it. Sarah spun with it so her she wouldn't break a bone, but it landed her on the ground. She gasped for air. Her eyes blurred from the sun. Chuck's form walked up to her slowly. He bent over and kicked her in the ribs. She heard something give way and pop. She screamed.

"What is it with all you people?" He shouted and kicked her again.

Another pop.

"You are all so damn weak! I thought that it would be harder than this to find the Intersect, take over the host, and then dispose of its handlers. It's a surprise that you've been able to protect the moron for as long as you did."

He stepped over her and reclaimed his gun. He checked for ammo, put the safety off and then cocked back the chamber. He twirled it around multiple times before aiming it at her chest. It was always at her heart. Sarah's eyes glazed over. Her breathing became labored as she was sure she had several broken ribs.

"You're really going to do this?" Sarah whispered.

Chuck looked at the gun and then at her, "Yeah, I am."

"Are you sure that it's even loaded," She bit at him frostily, "you don't want to repeat the same mistake as last time."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that I've learned from my past mistakes. Third time's the charm anyway, right?"

The wheel in the gun turned and time slowed down to a stop. Sarah could feel everything still around her. She saw the emptiness in Chuck's eyes. It wasn't like the first time where he was present. Where did he go? He couldn't have faded away and let the stupid virus possess him. That wasn't like him…it wasn't Chuck. He was such a fighter. He was a hero, he was—

--That guy.

Her lips parted and she made her last attempt at saving everybody's lives including her own.

She hoped that he still could hear her. Hope was not lost yet. Even in the final moments confronted with life and death. No, hope was never lost. She believed he would come for her and rescue her.

"CHUCK!" Sarah cried at the top of her lungs.

Please hear this…

0_0 !!! Haha, cliffie again. Its acutally a lot like the One I did in chapter five...huh. How about that. But is the end game the same? Hmmm....

Oh and Virus!Chuck is such a douche...he is fun to write though! Hopefully our Chuck is back in the next chapter.

Next Chapter: 8 Anthem for the Underdog