A/N: First off, apologies for the extended length between updates. However, the final chapter is very close to done, so it should be up in a few days, so YAY for that. Thanks again to TheJusta for the beta, always finding my mistakes. However, any mistakes are still mine. Again, thanks to all of you who reviewed. I know I hardly ever respond to the reviews, but I due appreciate them. Standard disclaimer about me not owning Chuck still applies. So please, read, review, and enjoy.

Chuck vs. The Grid

Chapter 10

July 19, 2010 Los Angeles, California Secret Fulcrum Intersect Facility

After the trio of Bryce, Casey and Sarah gained access to the building via the backdoor, Casey immediately went into the security room located on the left side of the narrow hallway. Upon his entrance, the three remaining members of the security team that were supposed to be leaving for the night stood up. Casey quickly killed all three with located shots to their hearts. He took a seat at the security console and stared at the many different screens showing different portions of the building. Noticing a lack of activity throughout the building, he radioed to Bryce.

"Everything appears quiet. Now would be a good time to start."

"Roger that," Bryce responded.

Bryce quickly started walking down the hallway, with Sarah falling in line behind him. The two quickly entered the lobby area, which was dark and empty. They noticed a few offices at the opposite end of the room, but they weren't the intended destination. Walking quickly across the marble floor, the pair entered an elevator. Bryce pushed the little number eight as the door closed. He then turned to Sarah, who was staring straight ahead, almost in daze. He noticed she had been unusually quiet and not really focused on the mission.

"Hey, are you going to be able to go through with this?"

Sarah stood still for a few seconds before responding. "Yes, I will. I'm just worried about Chuck's reaction. He might end up hurting himself. I still think we should tell him what's going on."

Bryce shook his head. "Look, Sarah, we'll tell him everything when it's over. But right now, we can't. Hell, it's not like he'd believe us anyway. And even if he did, I doubt he'd approve."

Sarah, sensing the wisdom behind Bryce's words, nodded. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The duo knew something was amiss. They both smelled smoke. Quickly pulling their guns, they exited the elevator and took up defensive positions on the sides of the wall.

Bryce radioed Casey, "What the hell's going on the 8th floor Casey?"

"Nothing. Everything is normal." Casey was looking at screens, seeing nothing moving. In fact, he didn't see Walker or Larkin. "Hey, I can't see you guys on the monitors. Something is going on here."

The sound of broken glass a floor above Casey got his attention. He glanced at the monitor and again saw nothing. "Hey, you guys, the feeds are all looped. I heard activity above me, I'm going to go check it out."

"No, Casey," interrupted Sarah, "you have to keep an eye on Chuck so we know when we can grab him."

Casey really wanted to get in on some action, but he knew his role was to watch the nerd. "Fine. Watch your asses." Casey moved over to the door and wormed a camera under it facing into the hallway so he knew when Bartowski entered the building.

***

Bryce and Sarah crouched as they walked carefully down the hallway. The saw a door cracked open and entered it. Chaos met their eyes. Papers were strewn about, things all over the floor and a man was dead, hunched over in his chair, laying on his desk. All of his file cabinets were open, as if someone was searching for something. Sarah moved her way to the cabinets and gave everything a quick look. It appeared that some files were missing.

"Looks like someone beat us here," Bryce quipped as he picked up a couple sheets of paper off of the desk. "Do you know what they were looking for?"

"I don't know," Sarah replied. "It appears they just took random files, probably to mask what they were really after."

Bryce nodded in agreement. "Well, our intel is Holmes' office at the end of the hallway. Let's hope they didn't take that."

The pair exited the office and stealthily made their way to the end of the hallway to Holmes' door. It too was cracked open. Bryce pushed the door open. He and Sarah occupied the doorway, guns pointing forward ready for anything. Again, the office was in shambles and Holmes was dead, a bullet lodged into his forehead.

"What the hell is going on here?" Bryce said in annoyance. Someone had been in the building, completely wiped out everyone, ransacked the place and nobody was any the wiser.

"Quick, look and see if your intel is in here," Sarah said. It had been been almost 20 minutes since they had entered the building. This whole thing was supposed to take about 30. As Bryce rifled through the file cabinets, Sarah booted up the computer. Bryce made a noise of anger and disappointment.

"The Intersect plans aren't here. Neither is the intelligence that was supposed to go into it."

"Well, I think this should help us out," Sarah said cheerfully as she looked at the computer screen. It was the entire roster of Fulcrum operatives and scientists. She placed a jump drive into the USB port and copied the data.

"Doesn't this seem a little bit too easy? I mean, who would leave this data out in the open to be stolen so easily?" Bryce asked.

"I don't know, but the names are good. Some of them are familiar," Sarah answered pointing at the screen. Bryce looked. Indeed, some of the names were Fulcrum agents that he had encountered in the past.

"This doesn't make any sense." Bryce shook his head as Sarah pocketed the jump drive.

Suddenly, the bug in his ear chirped. "Bryce, it's Orion. It's done, it's out. Hurry and get him before he wakes."

Sarah saw Bryce twist his head, and she knew that it was Orion he was listening to. He gave her a look and nodded. She sighed with relief. Bryce spoke into his watch to Casey. "Casey, get a move on Chuck. The process of de-Intersecting knocked him out. We'll be able to get him without a fight."

Silence.

"Casey, are you there, copy?"

Silence.

"Shit!" Bryce spoke to Sarah. "Looks like we have to do this the hard way. You want the stairs or the elevator?"

***

As Chuck and Orion entered the backdoor, Chuck did a quick scan of the scene. A long hallway with doors on either side. Chuck didn't like the idea of having to move down the hallway after he saw Bryce, Casey and Sarah already come through this area. They could be waiting to grab him. Orion gave him a small shove in the back to indicate that he needed to move forward. Reluctantly, he moved his feet and ever so slowly, the duo made their way into the lobby area.

Walking quickly across the lobby, Chuck reached the stairs first. He carefully pushed the door to the stairwell open and looked inside. It was empty, just like everything else in the building appeared to be. Something didn't feel right for Chuck, but he moved forward nevertheless. He and Orion quickly descended two flights of stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, Chuck finally pulled his gun. If the Intersect room was indeed located here, Chuck anticipated encountering some security. He gripped the handle tightly and pushed the door open.

Again, the duo was met with an empty hallway with long, white walls. There was one door located at the far end. Chuck scanned the area, looking for booby traps or devices that would kill them if they entered the hallway. He saw nothing except a pair of cameras located just above the far door. He proceeded forward, Orion following closely behind him.

As soon as he stepped into the hallway, the opaque white walls became clear and transparent. Chuck quickly spun around in a circle looking for something to fire at, but found nothing. A closer look revealed that it was a laboratory located on either side of him. He pressed his face to the glass to get a better look. A scene of devastation met his eyes. Scientists dead bodies were scattered all over the place. Instruments, computers, and other expensive equipment was strewn about while the room was riddled with bullet holes.

Chuck stepped to the other side and saw the same thing except something else was different. A body, dressed in tactical gear, was dead on the floor. Chuck felt the tickle at the base of brain like he wanted to flash, but he couldn't quite get there. He squinted so he could get a better look, and that's when it hit him. It was probably the weakest flash he'd ever had, a document about some organization named FEAR, of which Fulcrum was a subsidiary, but it floored him.

Breathing heavily, he felt his father put a hand on his back. "Charles, what is it? What did you see?"

"Just a single document, nothing much. But it was buried pretty deep, almost hidden. I've never had to strain so hard to flash."

Orion soothingly rubbed his son's back before helping him to his feet. "Well, how about we make it so you never have to flash again?"

Chuck gave his father a grin and the pair walked to the end of the hallway. Taking a deep breath, Chuck gripped the handle and opened the door.

The Intersect room was dark, with only a faint glow coming for the monitor sitting in the middle of the room providing any light. As the pair crossed the threshold, they both noticed that the room was far warmer than the hallway they had just vacated. Quickly making their way to the monitor, the duo started working. Orion set his bag on the ground and started fishing through it. Chuck turned the monitor on and again noticed that it was warm.

"Must be they were running some tests when they were attacked by the FEAR team."

"FEAR team?" questioned Orion, who had finally located what he was looking for. It was a small plastic object, no bigger than a cell phone.

"Yeah, they are some organization that Fulcrum is a part of. I wonder why they would attack their own people?"

Orion frowned. That didn't make any sense to him either. "Don't worry about it. That's not your concern anymore."

Chuck opened his mouth to argue, but his father was right. He was here to get the Intersect out of his head, not gather intelligence or capture an enemy agent. Noticing the small object in his father's hand, he asked, "What's that thing?"

"This is what will remove the Intersect from your head," Orion answered as he pushed the object into the small opening at the base of the monitor. Once it was entered, the room filled with light and Chuck looked around in amazement. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of blanks screens were now filled with white instead of black. Orion quickly typed away at the computer, readying it. After a couple minutes furious work, everything was ready.

"Ready son?" Orion asked as he looked up from the monitor.

Chuck closed his eyes and tons of images flashed across his mind. The terrible things he'd done, the men he had killed and Kristin's dead body turned into Katie, Ellie, Morgan, Awesome and his father. He'd have a home and a family again. He would finally have his life back. He smiled.

"You bet I am."

Orion grinned as he placed a pair of dark sunglasses on his face. Chuck moved to the center of the room and gave his father a nod. Orion looked from Chuck to the computer, then pressed down hard on the 'enter' key.

The room quickly went black for a second before filling with color as image after image filled every screen in the room. For more than a minute, Chuck stood in the center of the room, eyes unfocused. Orion watched in apprehension. His theory was sound, but it was only that, a theory. It had never been tested before. But if his theory on the Intersect could work for his son, then his theory for removing it would likely work as well.

The test concluded and the screens became white again. Chuck teetered for a second before falling straight back. He landed with a resounding crash and the back of his head managed to crack one of the screens on the floor. Orion quickly rushed to him. He felt for a pulse and found one, strong and steady. He nervously opened one of Chuck's eyelids. He remembered what had happened to his colleagues' eyes all those years ago. Chuck's eyes looked normal and responded well to light. It appeared that his efforts were successful.

Orion quickly went and grabbed his bag. He then made his way back over to Chuck. Looking down at his son, he whispered, "I'm sorry Charles, but it's the only way. Like I said, I'll do anything to protect you." He exited the Intersect room at a trot. Back in the hallway, he rifled through his bag as he neared the stairwell. He pulled out the device he was looking for, a pen. He twisted it and then spoke into it.

"Bryce, it's Orion. It's done, it's out. Hurry and get him before he wakes." He twisted the pen again and put it back into this bag. The door to the stairwell opened and Casey entered. Orion was about to speak when Casey preempted him.

"I heard you, I'll go get him." With that Casey moved towards the door at the end of the hallway, glancing through the glass walls every second step or so.

Orion watched for a moment before heading up the stairs. He had one more stop to make before everything was over.

***

Chuck's eyes fluttered open. He didn't have a clue as to how long he had been unconscious. The throbbing he felt throughout his head wasn't doing much to make him feel better. Moving into a seated position, he looked around. He was still in the Intersect room. He scanned the room again and noticed something was missing. 'Where is Dad?' he thought to himself.

He groaned as he brought his body to a standing position. He quickly rushed to the exit, the need to find his father filling him. As he grabbed the door handle, he heard footsteps on the other side. Someone was coming for him. He moved himself to the side of the door and waited.

Casey pushed the door open. He stepped in and saw no body laying unconscious on the ground. Before he had time to grab his gun, Chuck had delivered a devastating blow to the back of Casey's head with the butt of his gun.

'See, you couldn't trust them?' he told himself. 'They grabbed your father while you were unconscious and then they came back for you. He was the priority, since he's Orion. Now that you have the Intersect out, you're expendable.'

Chuck was getting ready to leave when he heard Casey's radio come to life. It was Bryce. Chuck resisted the urge to grab the radio and communicate some of the thoughts that were coursing through his head at that moment. He ran down the hallway to the stairwell. He heard a door open above him. It was many floors up, but he needed to be quiet. Bryce and Sarah knew he was mobile.

He quickly made his way to the lobby floor and carefully pushed the door open. He spotted no one in his first scan of the room, and was ready to step out into the lobby when the elevator door dinged and out stepped Sarah. Their eyes met. Hers were filled with shock while his were filled with rage. Chuck quickly closed the door as Sarah took off sprinting at him.

Chuck took the stairs two at a time. He leaned over the rail a bit and looked up as he ascended the stairs. He could see the figure of Bryce quickly descending the stairs. He reached the third floor and entered it. He looked for something to throw in front of the door to impede the progress of Bryce and Sarah, but he found nothing.

As he moved down the hallway, he closed his eyes. He had planned exit strategies in the case that he had been set up. He mentally mapped his location in his head. The offices to his right were no good. To his left, there was a neighboring building. The leap was longer than he wanted to make, but he had to take a chance.

He burst into the first office to his left. Chuck looked around for moment before assessing the situation. An employee was dead at his desk. All his work and belongings had been rifled through. Chuck noticed a few bullet holes in the window that was also a glass wall to the outside. He unceremoniously dumped the dead man onto the floor, took the chair and threw it at the window. It caused the window to shatter into a tons of of tiny shards.

Chuck knew the noise would alert Sarah and Bryce, but he also wasn't counting on them being right outside the office he was occupying when he made the noise. Bryce kicked opened the door. He and Sarah entered with guns drawn. All they saw was Chuck's back as he stood still to the left of the desk. His gun was pointing uselessly at the floor and he was staring out of the now shattered window.

"Chuck," Bryce stated, "It's over."

"You know," Chuck replied, still looking forward, "I really wanted to believe that you wanted to help me. I did. I should've know better."

"Chuck, it's not what you think," Sarah added.

Chuck allowed himself a small chuckle. "Isn't it, though? You are trying to bring me in, right? Even though the Intersect is out, even after all I've done for the government, I still can't go free?" He shook his head.

"Chuck..." Sarah started but she was interrupted.

"How long you think that jump is?" Chuck asked aloud.

Bryce and Sarah threw each other a glance. They both took a step towards Chuck but it was no use. Chuck took off running and leapt when he reached the end of the room. As he sailed in the air, he felt remarkably comfortable. The cool air felt good on his sweaty face and the feeling of being suspended in midair seemed to momentarily lift all the burdens that filled him back on solid ground.

As Chuck got closer to the building he was jumping at, he fired a few shots at window where he thought he was going to land. He closed his eyes as he got closer to the window. In real time, it was taking only seconds, but for Chuck, he felt like he had been in the air for an eternity. He burst through the weakened glass, but not knowing the layout of the room he jumped into, crashed into a desk placed near the back of the room. His ribs were exposed from being stretched out during the jump, so they hit directly along the edge of the desk. The sudden stop of movement jerked his top half forward and for the second time in a matter of minutes, his head received a sharp blow. This one knocked him unconscious as he fell off of the desk and onto the floor, blood pooling from the nasty cut just below his hairline.

Back at the Fulcrum facility, Bryce and Sarah stood at the edge of the window. Sarah managed to stifle a cry as she watched Chuck leap from the room and Bryce watched the whole thing in shock. They moved to the edge of the room as Chuck sailed through the air, and now could see that he wasn't moving.

"I'll go and check on him," Sarah said frantically and raced from the room.

Bryce barely noticed her go. The whole scene was surreal. It felt so out of place, so wrong. The lanky, shy, nerd he knew from Stanford was gone and there was no going back. Bryce looked down at his feet and felt guilty for the first time in a long while. Not even getting Chuck kicked out of Stanford made him feel guilty because he knew he was saving Chuck and that was enough for him. But this, what Chuck had turned into, he blamed on himself.

He pulled out his cell phone and called in some support. They need to figure out what the hell happened to this place and why. Then he called Bennett to let him know that they had finally captured Chuck. To say Bennett was excited was an understatement. The local CIA facility was where Chuck was to be taken. Finally, Bryce left the window ledge and went to find Casey.

***

Exact Location Unknown

A man of about 30 years of age was speeding through the desert at an indecent speed on his crotch rocket. Despite the chill from the wind, he felt no need to zip up his jacket. He was feeling an intense rush of euphoria and excitement. It had all been successful and everything had gone according to plan. Things rarely worked out so well in his line of work, but this had and he couldn't believe it.

After 30 minutes of more travel, he reached his destination, an abandoned diner. The windows were boarded up, and the place was coated with dirt. He apprehensively approached the building, making sure to keep his gun drawn and at the ready. He never met his boss in person, so he wasn't sure whether this was a trap or not.

He stepped into the diner and saw no one. He narrowed his eyes, hoping that the small amount of moonlight coming through the boarded windows would help him see better. He wondered for a moment if he had beaten his boss to the location, but the sound of a man clearing his throat quickly quelled that thought.

"Please, come and sit," the older gentlemen offered. He was in a booth at the back of diner.

The young man walked to the voice, recognizing it as that of his boss. He quickly to a seat on the opposite side of the booth.

"I trust that everything went well?" the older man questioned.

"Yes, sir. It was a complete success. Tests confirmed it. Your orders were followed. Any evidence of our involvement was removed and the those who knew of our involvement were killed."

"Ah, good. I hope you are ready for work."

"I am, sir. Ready to be the best there is, was or ever will be," the young man said proudly.

The older gentlemen smiled. "That's good to hear. Here." A plane ticket was pushed across the table. "I hope you enjoy Paris, Agent Weaving."

Grinning, Weaving took the ticket and pocketed it.