CHAPTER 29

After a quick trip to the hotel to pick up their things the agents and Chuck were put on a plane out of the country. Chuck's adrenaline had gone full blast while he worked on the dirty bomb, so once they were finally steady in the plane he passed out in his seat.

Zondra looked across the aisle to where Chuck sat and laughed. "I can't believe that geek saved us all."

"Nerd," Sarah said reflexively while Casey said it drolly, earning a surprised look from Sarah.

Carina snickered. "Wow, Chucky got to both of you, huh?"

"He's a parasite," said Casey.

Sarah shook her head. "He just prefers nerd. Geeks are the people from carny shows that bite the heads of chickens and stuff like that."

"Is that why he prefers nerd?" Casey chuckled. "I guess that makes sense."

They arrived back in Burbank and went to Casey's for a debrief, and Team Bartowski shared a look as the screen came on with only Beckman there. She seemed genuinely impressed at Chuck's disarming the dirty bomb, but said little to confirm it, instead telling them simply, "Good work."

Making their way to the courtyard, they found cars pulling up for Carina and Zondra, who exchanged brief hugs with Sarah. "I'm glad we set things right," Zondra said quietly.

"So am I." Sarah glanced to Chuck before saying, "We should keep in touch. If you ever need anything-"

"Same for you," Zondra said with a nod. Leaning in for another hug she whispered, "And call me for the wedding." Sarah rolled her eyes as Zondra patted her shoulder.

He went to shake Zondra's hand when she moved toward him but found himself wrapped in her arms before she pulled back and smacked his shoulder hard enough he swayed. "Take care of her, Bartowski."

"You got it, Rizzo," Chuck said with a smirk.

Zondra walked around Sarah patting her shoulder and smiling. "See you around, Walker."

While Sarah watched Zondra leave Carina took the chance to hug Chuck and kiss his cheek before whispering, "If she won't move I will."

Chuck's brow rose and he gulped as she stepped back. "It, uh, was a pleasure as always Carina."

His smirk made it clear he'd fed her that on on purpose, so Carina shrugged and patted his cheek. "Thanks for saving our asses back there, Chuckles. Maybe next time I'll let you handle what you saved."

Sarah shook her head as Carina came up to hug her, using it to whisper to her, "Next time gloves are off."

Meeting Carina's gaze as she pulled away Sarah wore a defiant smile. "Stay safe, Carina."

The hint of a threat amused her, but Carina nodded. "You too, Walker." Walking away she called back, "Who knows where he's been."

Once the cars drove off Chuck crossed his arms and pouted. "I know that was about me and I'm offended."

"It's alright, Moron," Casey said patting his shoulder. "We all know where you've been and how long it's been since you visited."

"And that's my cue to go drown myself," Chuck said with a nod, barely hiding his embarrassment as he spun on his heels and speed walked to Ellie's apartment.

He'd gotten the door open when Sarah came up behind him asking, "When should we have dinner with Ellie?"

Chuck winced, both at her talking to him after Casey's comment and the idea of having to actually tell Ellie everything. "Tonight, I guess."

Though she felt a bit bad hearing his mortified tone she couldn't help but smile as he hurried into the apartment and closed the door, leaving her to return to Maison23.

Once he'd cleaned off and gotten dressed, Chuck pulled out both laptops and left messages for Orion to contact him and let him know if there was any progress on the skill modules upgrade. Even after his nap on the plane Chuck was exhausted, so caught a bit more sleep before waking up and unpacking his bags, all the while going over possible ways to tell Ellie. As appealing as a long video confession was since he could be on the road during it, this was definitely an in-person kinda of thing.

Sitting down on his bed he pulled out his phone and composed four texts before deciding to send Ellie: Hey Sis. Back from trip. Any chance I can talk to you alone tonight? It's important.

It was about half an hour before he got his reply. Sorry. Was with patient. Devon's working late. Everything okay?

He sent a quick reply: Yeah. So you're not ambushed Sarah might be here too. It's not about me and her though.

Her reply didn't take as long. No niece or nephew yet, huh? LOL Glad she's there to support you through whatever this is. I'll bring home dinner.

Through the first half had left his skin burning, Chuck smiled at the second half. "You have no idea," he said pocketing his phone.

Chuck tried playing a game but his mind kept being pulled away, so he gave up, put in his headphones and went about preparing the table for dinner. There was basically no chance they'd be eating the food warm without reheating it, Chuck doubted they'd even get around to eating, but it was something to do.

Sarah came over early, smirking at the table settings. "We having dinner first?"

"No," he held his phone out for her while he went to get wine glasses.

Sarah held back a grin at how he knew she knew his code, so swiftly punched it in and looked at his texts with Ellie. Her cheeks burned when she let out a choked laugh. "Oh."

"Yeah, no way she's waiting."

Once he'd finished pouring her the first glass from the bottle, Sarah exchanged the offered glass for his phone and downed it while pacing toward the couch.

"Funny she's a doctor, you think she'd know better," Chuck said with a laugh.

Turning to him, Sarah raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well she knows we haven't, you know," Chuck waggled his eyebrows oddly, undercutting Sarah's confusion by making her snicker. "She told me a while back Devon is worried your stringing me along or something, but she thought it was because you'd, uh… you had some past trauma. So I was holding back for your sake."

Sarah frowned. "She thinks I was raped?"

"I told her no, at least not that I know of," he said quickly. "I said it was because of our pasts. We don't want to rush things and end up with you having to leave here like you did DC."

"That's good thinking," she said with an impressed smile. "If I ever do have to leave you have an excuse."

Chuck didn't smile at that, but shrugged. "I guess so."

It was clear the idea wasn't pleasant and she wanted to tell him she wouldn't leave, but she couldn't. Despite how sure she was she wouldn't, she couldn't bring herself to say it because she couldn't really know. If it ever came to his life or leaving she'd leave, at least she told herself she would.

Thankfully it wasn't long before the door opened and Ellie entered with a pizza she set on the counter before turning to greet them with hugs. Seeing the wine glass out Ellie asked with a smirk, "I see this is a wine kind of talk?"

"Well I could always go ask Casey for some whiskey."

Ellie turned to Chuck. "Is it that bad?"

"I don't think so. I think it's pretty great… but I have a feeling you're not going to like it."

Sarah smiled at the way Chuck glanced at her while saying it was great, but nodded in agreement with the later half. "It's a lot to take in."

Ellie crossed her arms, leaning against the fridge. "Well I'm guessing from your tones this isn't about you two sneaking off to get married in Vegas or something."

"If only," Chuck said pouring her wine, not noticing the way Sarah looked at him wide eyed or how Ellie grinned seeing her reaction fade to a slight, considering smile.

"So then what is it?" Ellie asked taking the offered glass.

Turning to Sarah he asked, "Where should I start? Same way with you?" Sarah shook her head. "Big start then," Chuck said with a laugh.

Ellie took a drink, her eyes flicking back and forth before she moved to the half wall island, placing her glass down and turning to them. "What is it?"

Chuck stared at her for almost eight seconds before holding his hands out on his sides and declaring, "I'm The Piranha."

Ellie's brow knit, looking from him to Sarah, who nodded grimly. Returning her eyes to Chuck and seeing his sincerity, her brow softened and a hand covered her mouth. "Oh my god."

"I'm sorry I never told you."

"Why?" Ellie asked in a shaky whisper.

"I was afraid make me stop, but I needed to do it."

Ellie shook her head, lowering her hand. "I meant why are you The Piranha. Why are you doing those things? Going after those people? Chuck they're dangerous people! If they ever found out-"

"I know," he said stepping toward her holding up a hand. "They're bad people, Ellie."

"Then why?"

"Because I had to do something good with my life," he answered. "After Morgan I felt helpless, but I saw a report on some people caught in the crossfire of some cartel and realized I could do something. So I stole all their money and donated it to a couple hospitals. After that it just kept growing into… what it is now."

"Chuck if they ever found out…"

Confidence colored Chuck's features as he told her, "I've spent the last decade wanted by every agency in the country and none of them found me. Last I checked there's thirty others around the world looking and all the bad guys I put away, all the people they deal with and all the people afraid I'll target them. The only person not in this room and alive who knows is on my side."

It was surprising how it stung to think that two other people knew this before her, yet Ellie found it almost made her smile. The fact he told Sarah before her was definitely a sign. "Who else knows?"

"A man named Orion," Chuck said, quickly clarifying, "at least that's his code name."

"Code name? Like The Piranha?"

"Piranha's a hacking name," Chuck clarified. "Orion's name is… because he used to be a CIA asset."

"Wait, wait, wait," Ellie stepped forward waving her hands. "The only other person who knows about what you do is with the CIA?"

"No."

"But you just said-"

"He used to be," Chuck told her quickly. "He worked for them, made this computer called the Intersect which was supposed to implant packets of knowledge in a person's brain which they could unlock through flashes of insight."

Ellie shook her head and scoffed. "Chuck is this a joke? This sound like a comic book or something."

"I know," he sighed.

"It's true," said Sarah.

Spotting Ellie's doubtful look at Sarah, Chuck told her, "She would know. Sarah's a CIA Agent."

Ellie's eyes bulged as she looked from Chuck to Sarah and back again, then eyes darkened as she asked, "So you two, all that, it's-it's fake?" She glared at Sarah. "You're here because he's the Piranha?"

Sarah swiftly shook her head. "I didn't know until a couple days ago. Before our trip."

"So you just happen to be a CIA agent?" Ellie asked skeptically.

"No," said Chuck, "she's here because I was sent a version of Orion's Intersect made by the government." Seeing Ellie's gaze turn to him he added, "It holds all the secret for the CIA and NSA. Sarah was sent to see if I was involved with the person who stole it and sent it to me. She works for the CIA. Casey works for the NSA."

Ellie stared at them for a long moment of silence before turning, pulling out a chair and sinking into it. She glanced back at her wine glass, debating if she could even stand to get it, but Chuck noticed, grabbed it and handed it to her.

Once the glass was empty she turned to them. "So someone sent you a version of this Orion's teaching program?"

"The government version," Chuck said holding the back of the chair to Ellie's right. "It just has their intel in it. Not any of the learning stuff from Orion's version, though he's said he might be able to upgrade mine with some of that stuff."

"Chuck if this is true then the strain on your brain would be catastrophic over time," she said clinically.

"Which is why I have this," he said holding up his watch. "Orion designed it to negate some of the strain so I don't get dementia and go insane."

"Chuck we need to get that thing out of you!"

"I know," he held up a hand and smiled. "He's working on that too, it's just taking him some time. The other stuff, the knowledge upgrades, those are just easier for him to make."

Ellie sighed. "Who the hell sent it to you anyway?"

When Sarah and Chuck glanced at each other, it was Sarah who answered, "Bryce Larkin."

"Bryce-" she started, then her eyes widened and she turned on them, "THAT Bryce?"

"The one and only," Chuck said with a laugh. "He isn't really dead, by the way. We thought he was, but he was brought back by this group of rogue CIA agents because they thought he had the Intersect. They still do."

"Why would he send it to you?"

"He needed someone he could trust," he answered.

Ellie seethed. "After ruining your life and stealing your girlfriend?"

"He says Jill was lying about that," Chuck quickly clarified.

"Of course he would," Ellie scoffed, then realized what he'd said. "Wait. You talked to him?"

Chuck glanced to Sarah before shrugging. "Briefly. He's on another mission."

"So he was CIA too?" Ellie watched them nod and sighed. "That jerk is CIA?"

"The whole Stanford thing," said Chuck, "he got me kicked out because the CIA wanted to recruit me."

"They did?"

Ellie looked to Sarah, who nodded. "We saw the files. They were looking into him and Bryce… he didn't want them changing Chuck."

Looking between them, Ellie frowned. "But it was a waste, wasn't it? That's what this is…" She waved a finger between them. "You work for the CIA, don't you?"

Chuck pulled out the chair he'd been holding and sat down. "I'm an asset. Sarah and Casey are my handlers. Their job is to protect me. I help them on missions too, but their main job is to guard me, and they're the best in the world."

Ellie looked down for a moment then back to them. "So you two…?"

"It's-" Before Chuck could hollowly say 'complicated', Sarah cut him off.

"Aren't allowed to be more than a cover."

While it made Chuck frown, Ellie picked up on the word choice and smiled, looking into Sarah's eyes and seeing a silent confirmation of her suspicions. "So you protect him?"

"With my life," Sarah answered firmly.

"And they watch over me," Chuck said drolly, not picking up on the silent conversation between the women as he was busy wallowing. It was nice knowing there was more to him and Sarah, but it sucked not being able to explore what it really was. It felt so ephemeral, like it would slip through his fingers any moment. "Don't worry though, there's no bugs in the house. If you want I can give you something I made so you can check yourself."

Ellie eyed him before asking, "Were there bugs in the house?"

"Some," Chuck said, telling himself it wasn't technically a lie. "I built devices to detect them and another that bounces their signals back to block them."

"And give whoever's listening a headache from the interference," added Sarah, remembering how Casey complained about the need to go get his ears checked after Chuck used it the first time. "There are others in the courtyard and around the complex, but none in your apartment."

Ellie frowned. "Is there really a need for all that?"

Sarah nodded. "Chuck is a very important intelligence asset. Casey's said himself that there's an argument to be made that Chuck is the most important man in the world, even over the president. If someone captured him and was able to extract the intel he holds it would cripple the nation and potentially compromise every agent we have active around the world."

"Then shouldn't he have more than just you two guarding him? If he's more important than the president shouldn't the secret service be here?"

"More guardians would likely draw more attention," she said, then smirked as she said, "but I've done a year with the secret service."

"Really?" Ellie asked while Chuck looked over his shoulder with a smirk. "Did you meet the president?"

"Only briefly in passing," she answered.

"You're really a CIA agent, aren't you?" she marveled.

"I am."

A sympathetic smile crossed Ellie's lips. "Then I guess I should thank you for protecting my brother."

Sarah shook her head. "Your brother's a tremendous man, Ellie. He's helped us so much, saved so many lives."

"Saved Carnival," he offered with a laugh, earning him a glare from Sarah while Ellie arched her brow.

"Is that where you went? You went to Carnival?"

Sarah grabbed the back of Chuck's chair, leaning in to whisper in his ear, "You sure this is the one you want to tell her about?"

Realizing she was right, Chuck also knew it was too late. "Uh, yeah."

"So there really isn't a new business?"

"There is," Sarah assured. "We crafted it as a new cover, but our bosses are handling our office. Originally we were going to be based out of a base below the Orange Orange, but after Chuck quit the Buy More without telling us we went ahead with out proposal for his business as a cover and it was approved."

"That's great," Ellie said with a relieved sigh, but then like the bloodhound she was fixed a glare on Chuck. "What did you do at Carnival?"

"Uh, you know, watched the people," Chuck said with a nervous laugh. "Lots to distract us."

"So you went with Sarah to Carnival to ogle mostly naked Brazilian women?" Ellie asked crossing her arms, barely hiding her smirk beneath a glare.

"It was a mission," Chuck quickly clarified. "Classified stuff."

"Charles Irving Bartowski," Ellie said in a tone that surprised Sarah and made Chuck sink into his chair. Sarah marveled at seeing Ellie's mother side show itself.

"We arrested a CIA mole who betrayed Sarah's team, the head of a terrorist for hire group and a terrorist who activated a dirty bomb in the middle of the city." It was almost shocking to Sarah how quickly he crumbled. She'd have to ask Ellie for advice if she ever had to interrogate Chuck.

Ellie's eyes widened, putting a hand to her mouth again. "Oh god."

"Everyone's fine," Chuck assured her. "I disarmed the bomb and Sarah and Casey and the rest of Sarah's old team arrested everyone."

"YOU disarmed a bomb?"

Chuck shrugged. "It's not the first time I did. I think it's my third now. Though it was my first dirty bomb."

Ellie gaped at him, then turned and poured herself another glass of wine to the brim which she spent a few seconds gulping down. Setting the glass back down she wiped her mouth and turned to Chuck. "Don't you ever-EVER-go near a bomb ever again."

"It's not like I had a choice!" He sat up, groaning at how he suddenly felt like he was twelve again. "Look, it was in the middle of thousands of people. No one else could disarm it and if I didn't then we all would have died and millions of people would have been caught in it."

"I thought you were supposed to protect him," Ellie said harshly to Sarah.

Before she could answer he did. "She does. She was the only one who treated me like a human being instead of some computer. She was the only one who believed me when no on else would. She's the only one who fought to make sure they didn't give up on me and put me in a bunker somewhere. She protected me from being made to leave you."

Ellie stared at him for a moment, then turned to Sarah with a solemn smile. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be," she said shaking her head.

"I choose to help them, Ellie," said Chuck. "Just like I choose to help people as the Piranha. I do good with them. I help people, even more than I ever did as the Piranha. I matter with them. I know you'll want me to stop…" He took a breath to steady himself before meeting her gaze and saying unwavering, "But I'm not stopping."

"Chuck," she said reaching out to grab his hand on the table. "This is too dangerous. I-I can't lose you. We're all we have."

"And I'll never be able to repay you for all you've done for me," Chuck said placing his hand over hers on his. "I can never really express how important you are to me. But I need this. I need to help people, and not just because I'm being forced to because of the Intersect. I know I can help people, and if I don't when I know I could then I hold some of the blame for the bad that happens."

"No you don't, Chuck," Ellie said squeezing his hand and shaking her head.

"I'd feel I did, and I don't know that I could live without doing something. Part of the reason I chose security as a cover is because even when this is done, when Orion finally gets the Intersect out of me, I know I won't be able to go back to being the guy I was. At least I'll be able to continue down that path and help people. And right now I can help a lot of people. I can help them take out the rogue group. I can maybe even help find Morgan's killer."

The flicker of pride in Ellie's face faded as she asked, "Is that part of this too?"

"Kind of," he answered warily. "The man who killed Morgan, he asked was asking me about Orion."

"Back then?" Ellie shook her head. "Before you even got the Intersect?"

"Orion says he was trying to do what I do," Chuck said with a shrug, "what the Piranha does. He found out about us, about Mom and Dad leaving, but when he tried to help us one of the people looking for him must have found out so they tracked me down and tried to question me thinking I was involved with him somehow."

"Who would…" Ellie's brow sank. "They were CIA, weren't they?"

Chuck looked proud of his sister for piecing it together on her own. "He thinks so, but I haven't been able to track him yet. I've been searching their files but can't find a match."

Ellie sat in silence for a minute, crossing her arms and legs before uncrossing them and turning to Chuck. "I want to meet Orion."

Chuck and Sarah exchanged surprised looks before he shook his head. "I haven't even met him, El. Only talked to him on a laptop he sent me."

"Then I want to talk to him too."

"Why?" asked Chuck.

"Because the way you talk about it makes it sound like the Intersect is some kind of program, but it's in your brain."

"It is."

"Except the brain isn't a computer," she said rolling her eyes. "The brain is the brain. Orion might be a good programmer, but I know the brain. If he's adding or removing anything from your head, I'm making sure he doesn't hurt you when he does. And you and I are going to the hospital and I'm running you through every scan I can."

Sarah shared Chuck's surprise. "You want to help Orion?"

"I want to help Chuck," Ellie said rising from her chair. "I can't protect you on your missions, but I can protect your brain."

As Sarah watched Chuck rise and hug his sister who vowed to help him handle the Alpha Intersect, across the country alarms wailed in the facility housing the Beta Intersect. Bodies littered the halls as a trio of masked men entered an SUV which sped from the site.

Pulling off his balaclava, Hugo Panzer looked to the two in the back. "Hand it over."

One of the men pulled a rectangular device from the bag on his hip, handing it to Hugo, who observed the disc at the center which reminded him of a hard drive. The driver glanced over asking, "You sure that's the right thing?"

"It's the Cipher," Panzer said with a nod, keeping his eyes on t he driver as his right hand came around his seat and fired two bullets into the chest of each man in the back seat. "Dump the car. I'll call it in."

AN:

The 'if I do nothing then I'm the blame' thing is one of the things I loved by the MCU Spider-Man in Civil War. A nice take on 'great power-great responsibility' without those words.

I considered just having Colt steel the Cipher, but figured I'd include the Ring. I think I'm going to change up how the Ring and Fulcrum function a bit to make The Ring and the Elders more interesting, at least to me. As I said previously I think Fulcrum is basically fine, but hopefully I can make the Elders a bit more interesting as I hope to do with Quinn and some others.