CHAPTER 11

Entering the Buy More, Chuck felt Casey's glare even though he skipped looking for the agent and made his way to the Nerd Herd desk. After quickly filing his work report, which he'd paid a homeless guy twenty dollars to sign with the name Hank McHale, he looked through what had come in while he was away.

Casey came to the desk and said much calmer than he had that morning, "Meeting at my house after work."

Chuck knew he could ignore it. He'd planned on it before he left. Already had a few excuses ready. He was going to work late. He just wasn't going. He had a date with a reporter at USA Today. But ever since Chuck had that flash he knew he had to put himself aside. For all he knew Fulcrum was just some code name, but it wasn't in her CIA file, it was in the flash. It was hidden away from the CIA, which couldn't be good, but the problem was how the hell was he going to explain it without outing himself.

He wouldn't give them the Piranha. It was the one thing in his life untarnished by the failures of Chuck Bartowski. Morgan's death had actually fueled him to do more with it, to make it matter. Bryce's betrayals hadn't stopped him. He wouldn't let the government stop him either.

Telling himself he didn't really know that Fulcrum was anything bad despite his gut feeling, Chuck gave Casey a shrug and went to the cage to work. He put on the reflector to scramble the devices and left his laptop in his bag on his lap while it ran searched for the G-Man Joe Chill, Orion, Galina and Fulcrum.

While Casey left ahead of them to prepare for the meeting, Chuck noticed Sarah sat in her Porsche waiting to tail him. After a quick scan of his car he found a single bug which he quickly removed, stomped on and put behind his wheel before pulling his car out of his spot and making his way to Echo Park.

The searches had been a bust, at least as far as finding anything useful was concerned. He's found a dozen more G-Men that weren't Joe Chill, and he now knew at least one CIA agent kept a private myspace page to keep in contact with her parents, but Orion and Fulcrum had been duds.

He wasn't really sure what he was going to do about this meeting, at least not until he parked and sat in his car for a moment, staring at the steering wheel. He could go a lot of ways, but he was pretty sure he knew how they were going to go. If they surprised him then maybe he'd have to change how he handled it, but if they pushed him he'd push back.

Sarah had gone ahead of him so waited at the door to walk into Casey's apartment with him. Inside he found the NSA agent at his desk where he'd first seen Beckman and Graham.

Chuck didn't say a word, standing against the wall with his hands in his pockets as the agents went to work setting up the video conference. It gave him time to quickly come up with as many things as he could to bolster his side. He was going to be alone against the four of them, so he was going to need some heavy artillery if things went south.

When the screen came to life with the images of General Beckman and Director Graham Chuck felt himself stiffen trying to clamp down the windmill apparently spinning in his stomach. At least everyone in the conversation looked miserable or pissed, so he wasn't alone in that.

"Agent Walker, Casey," Graham said with a nod to them before glancing at Chuck. "It seems there was an incident with the intersect?"

"No," Chuck said firmly, causing the four to look at him curiously. "The intersect is still in my head where no one wants it. The incident was with Charles Bartowski. You know, brother of Doctor Eleanor Bartowski, whose privacy you invaded along with Doctor Devon Woodcomb."

Graham rolled his eyes while Beckman shook her head, turning her attention to Casey. "I assume there hasn't been any progress?"

"There were a couple more bugs in my car each time I got in it," Chuck said with a shrug. "Of course they're all in pieces on the street somewhere, but hey, that's technically progress, right Johnny boy?"

"Watch your mouth, Moron," Casey warned.

"I'd watch your mouth," Chuck snapped, stopping himself from calling him Alex and instead saying through grit teeth, "Major."

Casey turned to face Chuck, who was glad he had his arms crossed and hands tucked under them so their trembling wasn't visible. Sarah's hand stopped Casey before he finished his first step, pinning him with a glare that told him not to do anything stupid.

"Chuck," Sarah began softly, her features softening as she turned to him. "Can we please just talk about this? I know you understand why we had to do this. You would have said something earlier if you didn't at least understand. When we talked about you keeping whatever you were making secret you said it wasn't whatever we were worried about and that you needed to make it, so why did you need to make that…"

"I call it a reflector since it bounces signals back on themselves to cause interference instead of just cutting them off like normal jammers," Chuck explained with a shrug.

"Okay," Sarah said with a smile that almost showed the flicker of pride she felt for him, "why did you need the reflector?"

Chuck looked from her to the other three and realized he'd somehow ended up back on the bridge he thought he'd abandoned to burn the one with Casey. Sarah really felt like an angel at that moment, pulling him back to where he needed to be. "Besides keeping you from listening to my family in the bathroom or my sisters room, I needed it to show that I don't need to be left behind or ignored. I'm not completely useless."

Confusion painted all four, but Casey asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"When you two went to help Carina you left me behind," he said standing off the wall and unfolding his arms. "If I was with you I could have accessed the cameras and helped you. Hell, if you gave me five minutes I could have given you a USB to plug into their computers to give me access from the Buy More, but I know you wouldn't have given me the chance and not just because you thought you were in a rush."

"So this is all because you were left behind?" Beckman asked drolly, "Do I need to remind you that you're not a federal agent, Mr. Bartowski?"

"No it's clear I'm just government property. Bet that makes it easier to get around stuff like forced labor, huh?"

"Forced labor?" Graham asked with a laugh.

"Yeah. You know, just a few weeks ago I took part in a stakeout which ended up becoming a whole thing where I rescued two federal agents, a foreign defector and a Chinese diplomat from triads. And the only incentive I had for any of it was that I give a shit about the people involved and didn't want some innocent guy getting hurt or a sister to lose her brother. It's not like it's a job where, you know, you get money in exchange for doing things. No, I'm told I can either do these things or spend the rest of my life in a hole in the middle of nowhere. Of course that's if I'm lucky and you guys don't decided to just put a bullet in my head when the new model comes around. Probably be easier for you guys that way, huh? I mean you can always pin some crimes on me for the hell of it, maybe build a cover or two off it, huh?"

When Chuck leaned back against the wall and scoffed he barely noticed the raised brows all four wore. Beckman's was the first to sink. "No one asked you to do any of those things, Mr. Bartowski. In fact I believe Major Casey ordered you to leave."

"I guess I'm just a better person," Chuck said, directing his smile to Casey as he said, "I don't leave people behind."

"So this is about remuneration?" Graham scoffed. "You want some kind of payment?"

"I want some god damned respect! I want to be treated like a human being! Like someone whose goddamn brain does more then store your secrets!" Chuck's voice bellowed as he took a step toward the screen and agents in front of them. "God, you government people are all the same. You treat me like some idiot. I've been dealing with your bullshit since…"

Chuck's voice trailed off and he turned his head, his brow sinking before his face crumbled to despair as he whispered, "No."

Sarah glanced to Casey who had his jaw set as he watched Chuck. Turning back to him she put a hand toward him but Chuck stepped back and looked at them like some kind of cornered or caged animal.

"It was a cover up. You, one you covered it up."

"What is he talking about?" asked Graham.

"Morgan," Chuck said shakily. "You covered up his murder. Was it one of you?" Chuck felt the wall against his back as tears stung his eyes and his lungs grasped at what little oxygen they could pull from his breaths. "Did one of your people kill him?"

"What the hell is he talking about?" Beckman asked looking to the agents.

"DID ONE OF YOU KILL MORGAN GRIMES?!" Chuck yelled, a hand reaching back, almost digging into the wall as he tried to steady himself. "It was an agent, wasn't it? I knew he looked like an agent but I didn't think he really was one." He shook his head, then fixed his glare on the screen. "Why did you send him after me? What did you want from me? I told him I don't know who the hell Orion is!"

Graham's eyes widened as Beckman wore a frown, Casey's anger faded to a frown and concern painted Sarah's features.

"Mr. Bartowski, I can assure you-"

"Are you sure they asked about Orion?"

Sarah and Casey turned to the monitor after Graham cut off Beckman, who turned to him as well, her brow sinking upon realizing the Director might be involved in this after all. Thank god he'd cut her off and kept her from spouting another lie that could have ruined things with the asset if he found out the truth, whatever it was.

"I was right," Chuck said staring at the man on screen. "I knew it wasn't some idiot from a cult. I told them and they wouldn't believe me. I knew it."

"Are you absolutely sure they asked about Orion?" Graham said ignoring Chuck's breathless muttering.

When they turned back to Chuck he realized he couldn't fall apart now. He had to be the Piranha and bite onto this fleck of information and pull as much as he could from it. With a long breath he steadied himself, balling his hands before exhaling and looking to the screen.

"Who is Orion?" Chuck demanded to know.

"It's none of your con-"

"I worked on five computers today and returned them to customers. Two of them have rat programs on them relayed to this phone," Chuck said cutting off the Director and pulling an old burner phone from his bag. "If I don't send a message within the designated time it will send out the video confession I made today detailing all that's happened to me to papers across the country and a few in England, China and Russia."

All their eyes widened as Chuck stepped forward again. "Now who is Orion?"

Graham's eyes narrowed, pressing his knuckles into the desk as he looked into the camera. "You think I'm going to listen to your threat?"

Chuck turned to smash the phone into Casey's wall, throwing what remained across the room before turning back to the screen. "Have fun telling the president why China's pissed about you blackmailing one of their agents into defecting."

They stared in shock as Chuck left the apartment. Graham looked to Casey. "We need to find those computer and destroy them."

Sarah turn to the screen asking, "Who is Orion?"

"No one you need to be concerned with," Graham said in a tone that made it clear that was all he was willing to say.

Beckman tapped her desk, a click coming from her lips before she looked to the agents. "Orion is one of the creators of the Intersect. The creator." Graham glared at her as the agents gaped. "It was all his idea. His coding, his engineering all laid the groundwork for the one in Mr. Bartowski's head."

"And why couldn't we tell him that?" asked Sarah.

"Because he doesn't need to know to do his job," said Graham.

Casey scoffed. "What job? The only job the kid has is at the Buy More."

Graham rolled his eyes, turning his attention to Sarah. "Agent Walker, find the Intersect and bring it back. Casey, track the computers he returned to customers and have agents retrieve them. See if you can salvage his sim card and access his relay in a new phone."

Sarah watched the screen go dark before turning to Casey, who was scowling at it. "Do you think he really set that relay up?"

Casey shook his head. "He finished two computers today, neither of which has been picked up."

Pride colored Sarah's smile as she realized, "So Chuck bluffed the Director of the CIA."

Turning to her, Casey crossed his arms. "You really didn't know about this Orion stuff? That whoever killed his friend was after him because of Orion?"

"It wasn't in his file."

"Why the hell should we expect Graham to cooperate with us when he won't even give you information you need about your mark."

Sarah bristled at the idea of Chuck being a mark. Maybe that's what he was at first, but he stopped being that long ago. "I don't think he pieced it together either."

"Well then the CIA suck at a key component of their jobs if they can't gather all pertinent information."

Sarah's thoughtful expression darkened as he gaze turned on Casey. "And you suck at keeping your mouth shut."

Casey felt almost betrayed having the moment turned on him. His asked with a knit brow, "What are you talking about?"

"Your little crack about me. Chuck figured out you were talking about the woman from that Top Gun movie, which meant you were listening while we were talking. I was the second person he ever told that to and you made a crack to me about it."

Casey stood frozen as he lined all that had happened up and saw it click into place. But he wasn't willing to accept the blame completely. "He's been working on that thing for a while. This was inevitable."

"But not how he wanted," said Sarah. "He was going to do it on his time to try and show us he could be useful, not to spite us." Shaking her head, Sarah reached into her bag to take out the tracking PDA and found the marker for Chuck's phone offline while his watch GPS had him in the courtyard despite the Herder's GPS driving away. "I'll tail Chuck. Think you can look into Morgan's murder? We need to figure out how Orion was connected to Chuck before he ever got the Intersect."

Seeing Casey nod she hurried out of the apartment, quickly spotting Chuck's watch in the fountain. With a sigh she fished it out and ran to her car, syncing her GPS to the Herder's and following it. Wherever he was going she was sure it was going to be a long night.

AN:

So a lot happens here, obviously. One thing is Casey's first time really siding with Chuck, even if it's while he's not there. I have a lot of fun with their relationship in future chapters.

I know Graham as a bad guy is kind of typical, but I'd say he's not a villain here, just an antagonist, and not even the primary one. He's ultimately pretty low on that side. He's not the big bad or anything, just not a much of a good person despite still being a mentorish figure for Sarah.

I had no idea what to call the story so just went with the Bartowski Curse, but one of the other potential titles was Chuck Bites Back to play on the whole Piranha thing, but that was only very briefly as it's a bit too jokey and is only part of the story.