Hi. Short pre-chapter AU. There is slightly more language in this chapter. Very mild, of course. I don't use strong language in my writing, but still. Quick warning. Not that you care, probably.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck, the man or the show or anything in between.
Also:
Sarah's P.O.V.
20 minutes earlier
Casey sighed. "Idiot."
"Not helping, Casey," Sarah hissed at him. She glanced over as he entered the store, subtly watching the situation at the center of the store. He rolled his eyes, but she said nothing. They could argue after the trade was finished. Not that that should be too hard, since it was pretty cut and dry. Meet, trade, leave. They had pulled of much more difficult missions together. She was confident this would be easy.
She heard Chuck start to babble, trying to put together a good explanation without tripping over his words and shifted behind her wall of shelves, moving just enough to peek over the side. Chuck was hidden behind the bulk of the Hitchens' torso, but Sarah could tell he was nervous. They hadn't known each other for too long, but she still knew him well enough to recognize the tremble in his voice.
She faintly heard a deep rumble over the line, and assumed that was Hitchens talking. She looked at Casey, who was calmly studying a blender.
Sarah tuned back in to Chuck, who was saying, "... we would have already gotten you."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so," Tony mumbled.
"Oh, he's smart, isn't he?" Sarah commented sarcastically. "I bet he graduated at the top of his class. His parents must be so proud of him. If he graduated at all." Casey let out a harsh chuckle, but Chuck didn't show that he had heard her. Which was the smart thing to do, obviously, so Sarah pushed away the feeling that something was off.
Hitchens gestured, but Sarah couldn't hear him over the line. As he spoke, a man in a suit strode into the store. Sarah raised her eyebrows at his outfit (and saw Casey do the same), but ignored him when he nodded to her and walked past to the tv section.
The store was quiet, relative to the usual noise level created by customers. Jeffster was also nowhere to be seen, which Sarah considered a lucky break. There were very few people strolling the aisles throughout the store, including Sarah and Casey, so Sarah had an unobstructed view of Chuck and Hitchens. If they hadn't been talking so quietly, she probably would have been able to hear them talking as well.
Another two men entered the store, wearing leather jackets and conversing in low tones.
Then something struck Sarah. She could no longer hear Chuck on his mike. She tapped her earpiece, as if that would suddenly fix it, but there wasn't even the slight crackle of the live mike. She saw Hitchens lean in to Chuck a little, and she knew that they were still talking, so there must have been a malfunction. She pressed her lips together. They had pretty high tech equipment, since the CIA wanted to keep their agents alive and gave them the best they could afford. Well, Sarah got some of the best, since she was one of their best. It usually didn't give out mid mission, but, Sarah supposed, there's a first time for everything.
She frowned and got Casey's attention. When he met her eyes, she gestured at her earpiece and mouthed, I can't hear him.
Casey's eyebrows lowered. I can't either, he mouthed back to her.
Sarah's heart stopped. Her eyes narrowed. She looked back at Chuck in time to see him leave the desk and head toward the back, Hitchens close behind. He didn't look to be in any danger, but it was Sarah's job to protect him, and as such, it was her job to go make sure Hitchens wasn't planning to shoot the Buy More employee.
Plus, it was extremely suspicious that both their earpieces malfunctioned at the same time.
Sarah hurried over to Casey, who was muttering something under his breath. "Casey," she said. "I'm going to go make sure Chuck isn't in trouble, okay?"
Casey pulled his earpiece out and grumbled, turning it around in his fingers. "Yeah, go ahead," he said distractedly. "Stupid piece of-"
Sarah left hers in (just in case it started working again) and began to walk purposefully after Chuck. She knew that to hurry too much would be suspicious, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that Chuck had done something stupid, or that, regardless of his interference, something was very wrong.
She nodded tersely to a motherly woman who ignored her completely. As she walked past the Nerd Herd desk, she saw Chuck's bag laying by the base of his chair. His phone sat near the top, glinting in the harsh artificial light.
Sarah sped up a bit.
"Sarah!" a loud voice crackled in her ear.
Sarah flinched, a small yelp escaping her throat. "God, calm down, it's me," the voice continued.
Sarah relaxed. "Really, Casey?" She turned to look back to where her partner was waiting.
"What?" Casey asked innocently. "I got it to work again."
"Can you hear Chuck?" Sarah asked.
A pause. "No, only you."
Sarah cursed. "Okay, I'm going after him." Casey said something else, but it didn't register. Sarah stopped and turned to look directly at him. She opened her mouth to ask him to repeat himself, but she faltered to a stop. Her narrowed eyes scanned the store. A chill ran up her spine.
"Casey," she said slowly. "Something doesn't feel right."
Casey snorted quietly. "What do you mean? Are your 'spidey senses' tingling or something?"
Sarah said nothing.
"Come on, Sarah," Casey prompted. "It was a joke. You don't have spidey sense, and there's nothing wrong- hey, watch it! You blind or something?" Casey sighed frustratedly. "Can't even glance up from their frickin' screens every once in awhile to make sure they aren't about to run into someone."
"Casey!" Sarah interrupted. "Shut up and pay attention!"
"To what?" Casey hissed. "There is nothing wrong!"
"Look around," Sarah insisted. "Look at the people."
"What about the people?" Casey asked, annoyed.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Just do what I said and tell me whether any of them look like traditional customers. Than you can tell me where all the store employees are."
Casey muttered something under his breath. "Fine. There's a woman looking at a mouse. There's the moron who's glued to his phone. There's the moron in the suit. There's the two morons in leather jackets. There's another woman who's probably a moron. Oh, look, more morons in leather jackets." Casey paused. "Actually, there are a lot of morons in leather jackets."
"You see what's on their shoulders?" Sarah asked as she slowly began to reach for her waist where a pistol was hidden.
"What's on-?" Casey repeated. "Uh, no…" His already deep voice dropped even lower. "Crap."
Sarah nodded, even though Casey couldn't see the movement. She wrapped her fingers around the handle of her pistol. "We need to get to Chuck. Right now."
"Uh huh," Casey agreed. "You get to Bartowski. I'll take care of this."
"Casey," Sarah warned. "There are civilians in here."
"You think I don't know that?" Casey asked, irritated. After a pause, he finally promised, "I'll be careful. Just make sure Bartowski doesn't mess everything up."
Sarah nodded. "I'm on my way."
"Are you?" someone said from behind her, bemused.
Sarah whipped around, yanking her gun up to point at the man behind her, immediately recognizing him as the man who had first entered in a suit. He was only a few inches taller than her and had to weigh less than two hundred pounds, but his gun was already aimed at her chest. His dark hair was slicked back to his scalp, and he wore a suit jacket that matched the other few men in the store. On his shoulder was a design of three diagonal slashes, like an animal had clawed at him. It was the emblem of Hitchens' mob. It was pretty understated, compared to the skulls and guns of other mob groups, but it was well known.
The man chuckled. His eyes glinted dangerously. "Sarah, is it? I've waited for quite a while to meet you."
Sarah kept her pistol trained on his chest. "I can't say I feel the same."
The man's smile never faltered, although it never reached his dark eyes. "What a shame." He nodded to someone behind her, and another man walked up behind her. He didn't touch her, but he stood just behind her shoulder, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Why are you here?" Sarah asked, mostly just to buy time while her mind whirled.
"Aren't you going to ask my name?" the man responded. "Or maybe at least put down the gun? It's very rude of you."
Sarah's grip tightened.
The man sighed. "Fine," He holstered his own gun and shoved his hands in his pockets, obviously not fazed by the gun barrel now aimed at his face. "I guess I'll start." He gestured toward the door behind him, and a shorter man with darker hair started toward the door to the back room, where Chuck and Hitchens were. "My name is Henry," the man said with a little bow. "I have no immediate family, I like guns, and my favorite color is brown. Now it's your turn."
He raised his eyebrows. As he waited, a man dragged something heavy in beside them and took his post behind Sarah. She glanced at it and gasped quietly. An unconscious Casey was deposited on the ground, his gun gone from its holster. His blue eyes were closed. There was a large bruise forming on his cheek.
Sarah licked her lips and focused on Henry again. She hated him with every fibre of her being. He was smug, he had a stupid little smirk, and he was threatening Chuck's safety, which made Sarah's blood boil.
Not to mention that he was also threatening her life, which had a hand in the rage she was struggling to contain. She let her eyes quickly take in the situation around her. Two men behind her, two more at the door, who knew how many more on the way. Casey was now useless.
She swallowed, willing her voice to stay steady. "I'm Sarah. I'm going to shoot all of you. Then I'm going to go shoot Hitchens and get the hell out of here."
Henry laughed, echoed by the men at Sarah's shoulders. "That sounds fun," he said. "By the way you're holding that gun, I'd say that you might even get off a few shots before you get shot yourself? Being optimistic, of course." He withdrew his hand from his pocket to run it over his carefully styled hair. He made eye contact with a man behind Sarah and nodded. The man shouldered into her and, before she could react, ripped the gun from her hands. Sarah stumbled at the suddenness of the movement.
Behind him, the man who had been sent to the door to the back tripped and slammed into an aisle. His weight pushed it off balance enough to send it teetering on edge before eventually crashing into the next one. Four loud crashes filled the air, shattering the quiet. Sarah could only hope that Chuck would realize that it was a bad sign and get the hell out of dodge, but that was wishful thinking.
Henry tensed, anger clouding his eyes for a second. "Rizzo, you idiot," he called. "Try not to shoot yourself opening the door, okay?"
The man -Rizzo- nodded sheepishly and hurried to the door. He grabbed the handle, but it was locked. He banged on the door and called for Tony impatiently. "Open up before I kick the door in!" Sarah somehow doubted the small man could do so, but kept this to herself.
"Anyway," Henry said, drawing Sarah's attention back to himself. "I was thinking that maybe, and this is just an idea, maybe you could tell us where your base is? It would be so very helpful."
Sarah gritted her teeth. "Like hell I will," she spat.
"You are quite the stubborn one, aren't you?" Henry asked, still infuriatingly calm. "That's alright. I'm sure your friend in the back will be willing to tell me what I need."
As he said the words, the door Rizzo was pounding on opened with a squeak. Hitchens stood in the opening. "Hey-" he started, but was interrupted by a commotion behind him. He spun, then shouted, "Hey! Get back here!" He took off at a sprint, Rizzo close behind him.
Henry rubbed his face haggardly. "I swear, I am surrounded by idiots," he muttered. The men behind Sarah took a step forward, and Henry let one go, keeping one back. "No, Tony can catch him," he said confidently to the one who stayed behind. "After all, the kid's a pretty scrawny thing, isn't he? He won't be hard to get. And Tony can shoot him if he has to. We can work with what we got," he finished, glancing meaningfully as Sarah.
Sarah's vision blurred and tinted red. "Don't you dare touch him," she growled.
Henry smiled condescendingly at her. "And what are you going to do about it?" he asked. "I have more men outside right now, and a dozen more on the way. You can't possibly-"
Rizzo jogged back into the room, his face red.
Henry stopped and turned to look at him. "Did you catch the kid?"
Rizzo shrugged. "Tony'll get him."
Henry blinked slowly. "I'm sorry, did you say that he will catch him? As in, he's still chasing him?"
Rizzo nodded hesitantly. "Yes?"
Henry's voice grew dark. "And why aren't you out there helping him?"
Rizzo backpedaled. "Tony's faster than I am. He could catch him easier than I could." His heel hit a fallen shelf and he stopped, his eyes wide in fear.
Henry shook his head. "Why we even let you in, I will never understand. If you can't catch him, you just shoot him, you moron. A dead witness is better than an escaped one, wouldn't you agree?"
All the casual mentions of shooting Chuck made Sarah's blood boil. She quickly took inventory. One man still behind her, two ignoring her. Casey was unconscious, and there was no way she would be able to drag him out. She would have to come back for him later, which she completely planned on doing, if she got out. Hopefully, Chuck was out too, but, as much as she hated herself for thinking it, he knew she couldn't worry about him. He would have to fend for himself for the time being. She had no gun, but she wasn't restrained, and she had to get away before reinforcements arrived.
Henry was now yelling at Rizzo, who was shouting right back, nose to nose, completely ignoring Sarah. She took a deep breath and took one last glance at Casey before checking the man's position behind her. Then she clenched her fist and whipped it back behind her. It smacked into the man's nose with a loud crunch, and he staggered. She whirled and kicked him between the legs with as much power as she could muster, fueled by her fury.
The man let out a squeak and collapsed to the ground, curling into the fetal position and rocking slightly. Sarah hurdled him and sprinted toward the doors. Henry shouted a profanity and took off after her, Rizzo close behind. She brushed past Chuck's desk and was almost to the doors when she saw the van parked outside.
She skidded to a stop, her mind whirling. Those must have been Henry's men. If she ran outside, she knew she would end up right into the middle of a great big pack of them, even though she couldn't see any at the moment.
She spun and ran to the side, just barely evading Henry's grasping fingers. Rizzo was already panting and perspiring heavily, slowing to watch the chase.
Sarah darted behind a row of shelves and took a few sharp turns, desperately trying to think of a way to get out. Henry was snarling behind her, knocking over displays as he tried to keep up to her. Sarah slid on the slick tile a few times, but not enough to lose too much of her small lead. She considered just heading back out the door Chuck had escaped through, but she didn't want to risk running into Tony or the other man who had followed after.
She broke out into the middle aisle again and plowed into Rizzo. He fell to the ground with a cry of indignation and surprise. Sarah tried to leap over him, but his hand snaked up and grabbed her ankle, pulling her to the ground roughly. She frantically kicked at his hand and face until his grip loosened and she was able to break free.
She scrambled to her feet, but Henry flew out into the aisle behind her, his carefully styled hair now a disheveled mess. He tackled her back to the ground and struggled to pin her wrists to the ground. After succeeding in holding her down, he straddled her waist and let out a loud breath. "God, I haven't had to do that in a damn long time," he said breathlessly.
Sarah didn't respond and tried to rip her hands free.
"Ah," Henry reprimanded her. "Enough struggling. I've won, fair and square."
His smug tone ignited something in Sarah, something she hadn't let out in a long time, not since she had met Chuck and learned that the world wasn't quite as lonely with him in it. An intense hatred bloomed in her heart and spread through her body, filling her veins with fire. It something extremely bitter that Sarah usually tried to keep under control. It came from years of being ignored and mocked, years of being "different" and being under the pressure of being the only responsible one. It was something that she kept locked deep down, but it sometimes came out to play in situations like this. Henry was scorning her, deriding her, underestimating her, and it brought back dark memories. Sarah's crystal blue eyes hardened, and she stilled.
Henry cocked his head and said mockingly, "Ooh, I think she's angry. I'm real scared."
Sarah's lips drew back to reveal white teeth. Her jaw tightened almost painfully. "Get. Off," she growled.
"Or what?" Henry asked, obviously enjoying it. "Rizzo, get over here and help me cuff her."
Before Rizzo could move, Sarah jerked her knee up again, nailing Henry between the legs. He flinched and let out a less-than-manly squeal, not able to keep his iron grip on his captive's hands. Sarah yanked her hands up and crossed them violently, slamming Henry's wrists against each other and freeing herself. She shoved him off of her and stood, but Henry got to his knees and tried to grab her again. "You bitch!" he hissed.
Sarah immediately whirled, looking at him in fury. "You should have stayed down," she said darkly.
Henry's eyes widened imperceptibly. "What-"
Sarah kicked him in the face.
He fell to the ground, but didn't stay there. He tried to get up again, but Sarah planted another kick between his ribs. He grunted in pain, and Rizzo shouted at Sarah to get her attention.
Sarah strode towards him, and he tried to back away, but Sarah reached out and grabbed his shirt collar. She pulled him toward her and only let go after jabbing him in the nose. There was a sickening crunch, and and Rizzo collapsed immediately, cradling his face.
Sarah turned to see Henry standing again. He aimed a punch at her face, but it was half-hearted, and Sarah batted it aside easily. She brought her fist around and hit Henry in the side of his head, knocking him off balance and making his ears ring. As he stumbled, Sarah kicked him in the other side of his head, then grabbed it and forced it down as she brought her knee up. They connected with another awful crunch, but Henry only staggered back, refusing to surrender.
Sarah didn't give him the chance to, anyway. She landed two quick jabs in succession, in his jaw and eye. He still tried to return the favor, but Sarah punched him in his abdomen, hitting his solar plexus and knocking all the breath out of him. He finally fell and cracked his head on the tile. He didn't move.
Sarah shook out her fists, the adrenaline high slowly filtering out of her system. She was breathing hard, and, as she returned to her senses, she realized how badly she had beaten Henry. His face was a mess of blood and swelling, and he probably had a concussion. Not to mention Rizzo was still crying behind her.
She tried to clear her head and backed away. She could deal with this later. Right now, she needed to get out of there. By now, Chuck was either safely hidden, captured, or dead. If he were captured, Sarah assumed that Hitchens would have brought him in by now. That only left two options, and one of them was too horrible to consider, so she didn't.
She looked out the front door again, where the van was still parked. She hadn't seen anyone get out (she had been a bit busy), but they had probably seen Chuck and joined the chase.
As she continued to think about that, the odds grew worse and worse in her mind, so, once again, she forced herself to stop thinking about it.
She needed to reach Castle and let the General know what had happened. She could send reinforcements and fix this whole mess. Hopefully.
Sarah made her way over to Casey and crouched. "Casey!" she said, shaking his shoulder. He didn't respond. He was out cold. Sarah rubbed her forehead. She could probably drag him out, given enough time, but she couldn't have more than a few minutes at best, and Casey had to weigh double what she did.
As she considered her options, she heard raucous laughing outside the store. She looked out the doors to see the faint outlines of three more men approaching the store. She spared one more look at her partner, then whispered, "I'm sorry, Casey. I'll come back for you, I promise." Then she stood, and, with a jolt of guilt, ran toward the break room that housed the secret entrance to Castle.
Okay. There that is. Still doing okay? I got a pretty apathetic response from you guys, mostly "Oh, I don't care, you can do whatever, I guess." Real helpful. Thanks a lot.
I'm kidding. I decided to do it anyway 'cause more P.O.V.'s means more opinions and takes on the story, which is a good thing. I think. Also, Sarah's awesome. This chapter was a bit darker toward the end than I originally intended. I have no idea where all that came from. I guess there wasn't enough angst yet? I don't know.
Anyway, school has officially started, and, as a junior, I have such subjects as physics and precalculus, both carefully calculated to create hell for those unlucky students who have to take them, so updates might become a little more sporadic. (Sorry!)
All reviews are appreciated. Good luck with your own various school years. Or jobs, I guess, if any of you are past the academic learning stages.
Enough rambling. Thanks for reading.