Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck or any of the other characters from Chuck. Also, I want to thank PJ Murphy for betaing this chapter. I hope with the revamps it has undergone, it will be good enough.

Chapter 7: Stirring Things Up

It was a beautiful day outside. The sky was cloudless; the temperature at just the right point where one could comfortably wear or not wear a jacket. The early morning sun was brightening up the day in the small park beside Chuck's apartment building.

Chuck had some time before he had to go to work, so he was testing the multitasking capabilities of the F-Intersect. He was working out some wiring logistics with the computer at RI, analyzing his performance last night on Call of Duty, mocking up a new cooling system for the Intersect room, trying to figure out a way to get a happy medium between the F and G-Intersects, and a couple of other things that needed his attention.

He was using a lot of attention and brainpower for all of the programs and lines of thinking he was pursuing. He was absolutely still, with a glazed look in his eyes and a cooling cup of coffee in hand. As such, he didn't notice Bryce come up to him.

"Chuck. Hey, Chuck!" Bryce waved a hand in Chuck's face.

Chuck looked up and saw Bryce. The F-Intersect was using so much of his mental resources that he couldn't think of how to respond to a supposed dead man that worked for the CIA standing in front of him.

"Bryce?" he answered not-so-shrewdly.

"Yes, it's me. Listen, I don't have a lot of time, but you have to know that I am not a traitor," Bryce said when he saw Chuck give little response. He didn't pause to think about Chuck's non-reaction, chalking it up to shock at seeing him alive.

"Guh..." Chuck replied intelligently. He didn't quite have the presence of mind to realize he should try to get back to the outside world. However, he was able to put some thought into the situation.

Bryce is alive? Am I supposed to already know that? I know he's not Fulcrum, but the government thinks he is. Am I supposed to think that, too? This cover is getting confusing. Bryce is trying to tell me something. How do I maintain the cover in this situation? Should I be freaked out over him being here?

Unable to come up with anything else, Chuck stood up. He tried to close a couple of programs while listening to Bryce.

"…and it's because of all of the stuff I've been doing. I mean, I got too close. So I was ordered to steal the Intersect as per Operation Sand Wall."

The term Operation Sand Wall activated the G-Intersect. However, with the F-Intersect still in heavy use, the two Intersects clashed. The F-Intersect was force closed by the G-Intersect, losing some information and coming up with what Chuck perceived as error messages. The G-Intersect bounded around in his brain, but kept ramming into F-Intersect operations. It short circuited and wreaked havoc on Chuck's functioning.

Chuck staggered at the violent clash of the two Intersects. His brain told him he was spinning around in circles and that he was actually upside down while his body fell to the ground. He vaguely registered Bryce yelling something as he lost consciousness.

Chuck slowly came to in the passenger seat of a car. He blearily looked to his left and saw Bryce driving. Chuck felt fuzzy and nauseous, and the car ride wasn't doing anything to counteract that. Bryce noticed his old friend was waking up and gave a small smile.

"Hey, sorry about that. Was it something I said?" He gave Chuck a charming smile.

"Gkhs," Chuck gurgled in reply. He brought himself into a more upright position in his seat. The movement made his stomach roil.

"Is it always that bad?" Bryce asked, looking at Chuck in concern.

"Ugh, not always."

"Alright. Listen, I have to explain a lot of things to you."

"Great. Exposition," Chuck muttered, trying to get a hold of himself. The nausea took control again, which made Chuck lean over and vomit on Bryce's lap.

"Eww, gross! Why did you do that?" Bryce couldn't do too much since he was driving on the freeway. The car swerved a bit, but he was able to get it back under control.

"I didn't want to throw up on myself. And besides, you kind of deserve it, jackhole," Chuck grumped, feeling a bit better.

"Are you still upset about Stanford? Because either way, you seem to be doing pretty well for yourself."

"Yeah, I kind of am." His head cleared up, and he was able to think. What does Bryce know? Does he know I'm with Fulcrum, or is he just making sure the Intersect is safe? I've got to figure that out. But first off, where is he taking me? "Hold on a minute, are you trying to kidnap me?"

"No, I'm not," Bryce gritted out, still squirming from having Chuck puke in his lap.

"Then where are you taking me? Let me get in contact with someone." While he was talking, Chuck reached into his pocket to press the panic button on his phone. It wasn't there.

"Sorry, Chuck. I have your phone. As I said, I need to talk to you and Sarah, and that would be better accomplished if you didn't freak out and call the cavalry before I could explain things. I need all of you to know that I am not with Fulcrum. Did the Intersect have anything on that?"

Bryce tried to keep his eyes on the road, but he was kind of distracted by the fact that his lap was covered in vomit. And he didn't have anything to clean himself off with. Chuck, meanwhile, tried to think back to Operation Sandwall.

Man, that was quite a flash. I've never had the two Intersects go at the same time before. Now I know what happens at that. Huh, I don't remember too much about the flash. But I have the vague sense Bryce is innocent. The G-Intersect knew that, but I knew that anyway. I should act surprised, though. Relieved, too...What else happened this morning? I remember waking up and having breakfast, and Bryce was there somewhere...

"Well?" Bryce interrupted Chuck's thoughts.

"Er, yeah. It was a mission to protect the Intersect, right? You did it on the government's orders," Chuck threw out. He used the F-Intersect to find the information on what the G-Intersect had turned up from the flash.

A slight release of tension in Bryce's shoulders showed as he felt some relief at the thought of getting off the hook. "Yes, yes. You're awesome, man."

"Yeah, I'm wonderful," Chuck murmured as the F-Intersect found nothing. Most of the pertinent data was erased when the G-Intersect decided to go Hulk smash! on his mind. "Oh, and sorry about getting sick all over you. And the possible damage to the car."

Bryce grunted. "Not too worried about the car. It's not mine."

"Really? Whose is it?"

"The guy that was trying to recruit me to Fulcrum. Tommy Delgado," Bryce said with the ghost of a victorious smile.

Crap, this is Tommy's car? Chuck thought to himself as he looked around. This must be the '67 Camaro he's been restoring and can't shut up about. He is going to be pissed at me.

Chuck and Bryce arrived at Casey's apartment in short order. They figured that it would be safe, and that Casey had the place rigged to alert him to any intruders. That would be enough to get Sarah and him there.

"Alright, they're probably on their way now. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Chuck asked.

"Not quite yet. I'd rather wait for everyone to get here so I don't have to repeat myself. Just get them ready to listen. I have to clean myself up," Bryce ended with a slight glare. Chuck only shrugged sheepishly.

"Hold on, can you give me my cell phone back? I need to call work and tell them I'm late."

Bryce reached into his pocket and tossed it to Chuck. When Bryce closed the bathroom door, Chuck sent a message to Ted. He held it close to him to make sure no cameras picked up the message.

Im w Bryce Larkin. Ill see what he knows

Chuck finished and quickly put his cell back in his pocket as Bryce stepped out of the bathroom looking cleaner than before. At that moment, Casey and Sarah burst in with guns drawn. Before Chuck could say anything, Casey shot Bryce.

"BRYCE!" Chuck and Sarah shouted as Bryce fell over from the impact.

Chuck collapsed into a nearby chair at the sight of someone actually getting shot in front of him. Sarah ran over to Bryce's side. He stirred and looked up at Casey. He opened his shirt up to show the bulletproof vest underneath.

"Sorry that you can't kill me again, Casey?" Bryce asked in a mocking, but pained, tone.

"How about I put one right between your eyes? That should make sure you're dead," Casey growled out.

"Casey, wait!" Chuck shouted. He got his and Sarah's attention. "Don't shoot him. I had a flash about the mission he was on. He's not Fulcrum."

"Well then," Casey said with his gun still trained on Bryce. "You better start talking before my finger gets itchy again."

"Alright, I'll tell you as much as I can," Bryce answered as Sarah helped him to his feet.

"You'll tell us everything since you're still a traitor to this country."

"I was approached by Fulcrum agent a few months ago. I played along to find out what they wanted. But what they wanted was for me to steal a government computer. I'm sure you know the one. I talked to my bosses in the CIA, and they tasked me with keeping the Intersect out of Fulcrum's grasp. So I sent it to Chuck."

"So you tried to protect the Intersect by sending it to me?" Chuck asked. Talk about irony, he thought.

"I would have contacted you sooner, but Casey messed that up by trying to kill me," Bryce said as he glared at his shooter. Casey grunted back with zero remorse.

"How did you survive?" Sarah finally asked. She was looking at Bryce with a mixture of disbelief, relief, and confusion. She was relieved Bryce was alive, but didn't completely believe his story. Having some distance from their entangled past gave her a sense of distrust towards him.

"A couple of Fulcrum agents took me and demanded I tell them where the Intersect was." He grinned a bit at the memory. "I told them it was in my head. They had me patched up in Germany. But then…" Bryce looked troubled at the next thing.

"What happened? If they thought you were the Intersect, they would have tried to capture you, right?" Sarah asked.

"I thought that, but then I overheard my Fulcrum handler, Tommy Delgado, talking about exterminating me. I don't know too much of the specifics, but I got out of there as quick as I could and did some investigating."

"Well, out with it, Larkin. We don't have all day," Casey grumped, still irritated Bryce wasn't dead.

"I'm getting there. So, as I was saying, I did some checking around. What I found was that they were tracking a shipment of computer equipment."

Chuck's eyes went wide, and his insides went cold. "Computer equipment?"

"Yes, Chuck," Bryce said, giving Chuck an intense look. "Equipment that was to be sent to Roark Industries."

Chuck's heart skipped a beat, and his mouth went dry. If Bryce knew that Chuck was Fulcrum, he would have done something about that sooner, maybe. He forced himself to be calm to deflect any suspicion. "What?" He mentally kicked himself.

"Fulcrum was tracking a shipment of computer parts for Roark Industries, the place you work at." Bryce's face was blank but intense. Chuck wasn't getting any cues on what Bryce's suspicions might be. No wonder he could never beat his former roommate in poker when they played in the fraternity.

I need to take control of the conversation. If I can come up with a reason for Fulcrum to be interested in RI, then they would take that track up. And it would deflect any suspicion from me and RI. "Roark Industries is in the business of creating bleeding edge technology. And I believe we have a plant somewhere in Europe, most likely Germany. Perhaps Fulcrum is interested in taking some of our equipment, which is far away from getting any sort of release. This stuff is highly advanced, and we are keeping it under tight wrap for fear of a security leak."

Chuck clasped his hands together to hide the fact they were shaking and struck a thoughtful pose.

"Chuck, do you know what this equipment is capable of? Why would Fulcrum want it?" Sarah asked.

Chuck was glad she said that. It was great she chose to be on his side. She wasn't suspicious of him, and helped steer the conversation away from anything that might have gotten too uncomfortable for Chuck. That was one of the reasons he liked her. She always had his best interests in mind.

Chuck knew he had to continue that wave of thought so he could keep control of the conversation and allay suspicion.

"I'm not sure what that shipment was, but I can check," Chuck said with a growing confidence. "It's possible Fulcrum might be trying to sabotage the hardware or take it for their own purposes."

"Chuck…" Bryce tried to cut in.

Chuck barreled forward. "This would be bad news. If our next-generation equipment gets in the hands of Fulcrum, who knows what they could do."

"There's also the possibility…" Bryce said before Chuck cut him off again.

"That means I've got to get to RI as quick as possible. I'll call you when I find out."

"Chuck, wait!" Bryce shouted. He grabbed Chuck's arm so that he wouldn't go. "There's a possibility Fulcrum knows who you are. You're not safe."

Chuck couldn't let them stop him. He decided to just bull on and hope for the best. "I'll be safe at RI. Besides, Casey and Sarah are going to be covering the building. I have to find out what that shipment is so that we can see whether that is the reason for Fulcrum to be interested in it."

"Hold on…"

"I am going, Bryce. Sarah and Casey are the best; they will ensure I'm fine. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Chuck didn't give him much of a chance to respond, or think about the situation, as he ran out the door with Casey and Sarah hot on his heels to catch their wayward asset.

A/N: There was a lot of talking in this chapter, but the next is going to have a lot more action. Now we're going to see if Chuck can stay a step ahead of his handlers in this rather perilous situation. And please review, whether you like it or hate it. I like to know that I have an audience to write to. Thanks for your time.