A/N: On the other hand, maybe they keep ownership of Chuck with the ownership of the Arrowverse at Warner Brothers Studio. That would be cool too.
A/N2: This chapter will change the status quo in the New Day AU, so fasten your seatbelts.
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CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia
General Beckman and Director Graham sat in his office with the lights low, drinking whiskey. Beckman had been driven down to Langley from Fort Meade soon after the decision had been made to bunker Chuck, so that she and Graham could coordinate the transfer while face to face.
They had spoken to Casey a little while ago and learned that the threat had been eliminated and the bunker was no longer necessary. They mourned the loss of Barry Longshore, a good agent. While they recognized that the men and women working for them would occasionally make the ultimate sacrifice, they were still human enough that every single time it happened, it hurt. At the same time, they were also both relieved that Chuck would not have to be immediately bunkered. However, they knew it was only a temporary reprieve. The fact remained that Fulcrum was desperate for the Intersect and the only existing Intersect was in Chuck's head. The danger of him falling into their hands was extreme and might have terrible consequences if it were to happen.
Graham said, "It wouldn't have worked. He wouldn't have been safe in the bunker. If any one of the personnel there is Fulcrum..."
"I know," said Beckman, sadly. "It was our go-to solution, but in these circumstances..."
"I can only think of one way to keep him away from them, and even that has its risks," said Graham.
"I know. I thought of the same thing myself," said Beckman. They sat in silence for a while. Finally, Beckman said, "Casey?"
"We can't order him. It would be a totally unenforceable order," said Graham. "But he might agree..."
"And Chuck's sister?" asked Beckman.
"We would have told her he was dead …" said Beckman.
They sat in silence drinking their whiskey.
"I hate it," said Beckman.
"Me too," said Graham. "But it's the only way."
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Several days later, Echo Park, Burbank
Ellie, Devon and Morgan sat on the couch in Chuck and Sarah's apartment. Chuck, Sarah and Casey sat in chairs around them, arranged so that all of them could see the TV screen.
Chuck started. "Thanks for coming over, guys."
"What's up, Chuck? You guys look totally serious," said Morgan.
"It's pretty serious, Morg. We are going to tell you guys some stuff and you have to agree ...really swear... and really mean it...swear that you keep what you are going to hear secret. Ok? For real. Even from Lou."
Devon and Morgan looked confused, maybe a little nervous. Ellie looked calm and said, "I agree."
Devon looked at her with surprise, "Babe..."
She looked at him and said, her voice flat, "Agree."
He was surprised, but turned to Chuck and said, "Ok, Chuckster. I agree."
Chuck looked at Morgan, who said, "Yeah, sure. No problem. I agree too."
"Ok," said Chuck. He gestured at the TV. "I'm using this TV as a screen for a video conference. So, when I activate it, there will be two more people joining this conversation."
"Sure, Chuck," said Morgan.
Chuck pushed a button on his laptop and the screen activated. They were looking at Graham and Beckman.
Chuck said, "Mr. Morgan Grimes, Dr. Devon Woodcomb, and Dr. Eleanor Bartowski, I'd like to introduce you to …"
Ellie, with a small smile, interrupted to say, "CIA Director Langston Graham and General Beckman...umm, DIA?" Ellie was referring to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"No, NSA," said Beckman.
"Ah, ok," said Ellie. Devon and Morgan looked on with shock.
"You recognized me?" asked Beckman.
"No, but you are wearing a name plate and have a single star on your shoulder. I didn't exactly have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure it out," said Ellie.
"But I'm not, Dr. Bartowski," said Graham.
"No, Sir, but you were on Meet the Press a week ago Sunday," she replied.
"Ah. You don't seem surprised, Dr. Bartowski," Graham said.
"I'm guessing Sarah is yours, Director, and John is yours, General," said Ellie.
"Yes. How did you know that?" asked the General.
"Just a guess. But John is military through and through. Makes sense that you would be his boss," she said.
Devon said, "I'm confused, everybody. What the hell is happening here?"
"Yeah," said Morgan. "Am I dreaming?"
Ellie said, "You're not dreaming, Morgan. They are going to tell you that Sarah and John are spies and that, somehow, so is my brother."
"Huh?" said Devon. "Spies?"
"No way," said Morgan.
"You knew?" asked Chuck.
"Yes, little brother. I knew," said Ellie with a tiny smile.
"How did you know?" asked Chuck.
"Well, why don't we start with the fact that you've never been able to keep a secret from me. Ever. You are also a terrible liar, at least where I'm concerned. Sarah and John show up suddenly out of the blue. John's a greenshirt when he's obviously overqualified. Sarah is selling hot dogs and driving a Porsche. She's one of the smartest people I know, and she's selling hot dogs? Come on. That's pretty nuts, guys. Want me to take it from there? You are all wearing the same watch and all have ...whatever you call them, ear-things..." She was waving her fingers around the side of her head.
"Earwigs," said Casey, his voice both gruff and impressed at the same time.
"Right. Thanks, John. Earwigs. Did all three of you suddenly go deaf at the same time? Right? How about the courtyard? There's more surveillance out there than a Russian hotel room. You are suddenly dressing better and have the money to have your own apartment. You are out and about at all crazy hours. Every time you have to leave town, John disappears too. Coincidence? The excuses you give me about what you are up to are totally lame. Too much changed in your life, Chuck, and those changes coincided with Sarah and John coming to Burbank. Chuck, the only two choices are that you went into organized crime or you became a spy. And I knew you would never become a bad guy, so...when you eliminate the impossible whatever remains, however unlikely, is the truth."
"So, it's a cover? Selling hot dogs...working in the Buy More...it's just a cover?" asked Devon.
"Yes, honey," said Ellie. "Those are their cover jobs."
"So, it's not real? Are Chuck and Sarah not a real couple?" Clearly, it was taking Devon a bit of time to catch up.
Ellie took a breath to answer that, but before she could, Morgan said, "Oh, no. That part is real. They're a real couple."
Chuck glanced at Sarah and they gave each other little smiles. "We are, but why do you say that, Morg?" asked Chuck, as he reached for Sarah's hand.
"Because of the way she looks at you, buddy. Every time. I just wish...I wish...I wish Lou would look at me that way just once ...the way Sarah looks at you every single time," said Morgan. "...It's totally real." Ellie reached out and squeezed Morgan's hand. He gave her a grateful smile.
"Yeah," said Chuck. "That part is real. We fell in love soon after Sarah arrived in Burbank."
"If I may ask, Dr. Bartowski, how long have you known?" asked Graham.
"Well, Director, I suppose I'd be lying if I said right from the start. Pretty early on, though. Sarah and John came here soon after Chuck's birthday party. I knew things were different and didn't quite fit, so I started to look a little harder without being too obvious about it. Certainly, by the time I was hit with that dangerous truth serum and the agents were looking for the computer chip that poor Whitney man had dropped into my sweater. I came so close to telling you that I knew when I was under the effects. Once I knew, it became easy to figure out what they were up to. The visit to Las Vegas coincided with the arrest of Lon Kirk. Chuck learning to ski in Switzerland just as the French arrest the Russian arms dealer...speaking of which, it's you we have to thank for his diploma, isn't it?"
"No, I just..." Graham said.
"Yes, it is," said Chuck. "How did you know?"
"Because you wouldn't let me call the school and get an explanation for the new evidence. I knew it had to be related to the rest of the spy stuff you couldn't talk about," said Ellie.
Graham cleared his throat. "For what it's worth, Dr. Bartowski, all I did was show the new evidence to the school and drop some choice criticisms of their investigation of Chuck's supposed cheating. Beyond that, I merely encouraged them to do the right thing. I didn't use any of the CIA's influence to get Chuck his degree. That was earned by him and rewarded by the school honestly and honorably, if a little late."
With that statement, Ellie looked very hard at Graham for a few moments. "Thank you, Director. I appreciate what you did for him. If I may ask, what was the new evidence?" asked Ellie.
"A video of Larkin and Fleming conspiring to frame Chuck in order to keep him out of the CIA."
"Keep him out of the CIA?" asked Ellie.
"Yes," responded Graham.
"And yet here we are," she said after a serious moment's consideration.
"Yes," said Graham.
"What has changed recently?" asked Ellie.
Sarah was stunned by what she was watching. This wasn't her best friend, Ellie. Her almost only friend. Who was so kind and warm, generous and loving. This was a woman who she had never met before, but yet had known existed. She was the girl who had taken over the family as a pre-teen child when her mother left. She was the girl who balanced the family checkbook while doing her math homework. And later, the girl who bamboozled the State authorities to stay with her brother, to stay out of a foster home, when her father deserted them. The woman who earned a scholarship to UCLA while being, essentially, a single mother to her younger brother. Who excelled at pre-med while working multiple part time jobs to support her and her little brother and helping him earn a scholarship to Stanford. Who went on after college to graduate school, again on scholarship, to earn not only an MD degree but also a PhD in neuroscience … at the same fucking time. That was the woman who now faced Beckman and Graham on equal terms. 'Holy shit,' she thought. She glanced at Casey and saw in his returned look a level of awe.
Beckman said, "What do you mean?"
"What has changed with their situation that you all," she gestured to encompass all five of the spies, "called this meeting to tell us? This can't be normal for you and certainly not with the participation of the bosses."
"You are quite right, Dr. Bartowski," said Graham. "Things have changed. We are facing a somewhat unique challenge. The nature of that challenge I cannot share, but the bottom line is that your brother may be targeted by ...certain opposition forces. It is of utmost importance that we protect your brother. For that reason, we have made an arrangement with Agents Walker and Casey. In the event of a threat to your brother, something we can't neutralize, all three of them are going to disappear. Chuck has arranged that, at the push of a button, he can erase all electronic records of the three of them from our databases. They would go on the run, as it were. No contact with the General or myself, no contact with anyone at our agencies and, I'm sorry, no contact with friends and family."
"And you are telling us this so that we'll know they are ok if they are to vanish. So, we know it's part of the plan?"
"Yes, exactly. When we presented this alternative to the team, Chuck insisted that you three be read in to the situation," said Graham.
Chuck said, "I couldn't ...I couldn't not tell you, Ellie. Mom...dad..." Chuck looked like he might cry at the thought. "...you had to know...I couldn't just leave without saying anything."
"Thank you, Chuck," she said softly.
"Of course, I didn't know that you knew what had been going on for the last few months," he said.
Ellie thought about it for a few moments and said to Sarah and Casey "Can you do it? Can you effectively disappear and be safe?"
"Yes, we can, Ellie. I promise," said Sarah.
"Good, thank you," said Ellie. Turning to Casey she said, "Obviously, you don't know how long the disappearance would have to last. John, you'd give up your career, your pension, to protect my brother and Sarah?"
Casey looked uncomfortable under the gaze of her serious brown eyes and said, "Well...ummm...they're my partners."
Ellie looked at him hard for a few moments without expression and nodded once, then turned back to the screen. "How deeply infiltrated by the opposition is the Intelligence Community?" Ellie stood up and began to pace around the room.
Beckman said, "What? What are you...What do you mean?"
Ellie said, "Come on, General, don't treat me like an idiot. If Chuck was in danger, you would put him in a safe house surrounded by your guards, or whatever you guys call it. You aren't doing that, which means you are not confident that your own people are trustworthy. Hence, the unorthodox plan to have your spies disappear."
With a sigh, Graham said, "Yes, Dr. Bartowski. You are quite right. The opposition, which goes by the name of Fulcrum, has infiltrated the Intelligence Community and maybe beyond. We don't have a handle on the extent at this point, but they are extremely dangerous. We fear the infiltration is extensive. Frankly, it is of the utmost concern."
"I expect it is. Why Chuck? Why are they more interested in him than, say John or Sarah?" she asked.
"Chuck is a technical wizard. His skills are extensive and not easily duplicated. We believe that it is those skills that Fulcrum is seeking," said Graham.
Ellie looked at her brother hard for a few moments and said, "No. That's bullshit. That's not enough."
Graham said, "Dr. Bartowski, please believe me. His skills are extraordinary. You are familiar with the attempted bombing at Union Station in September? It was stopped by an unnamed agent who deactivated the bomb. That was Chuck. He'd been with us only a few hours...hours... and in that time he saved over a thousand lives."
Chuck looked embarrassed. Casey and Sarah looked proud. Ellie looked at him with love and pride.
Graham continued. "Hell, Dr. Bartowski, just a few weeks ago he gave a lecture here in Washington to teach a roomful of PhD's how to do something they thought was impossible. Trust me, his skill level with technical matters is off the charts."
Ellie turned and looked at Graham seriously, their eyes meeting. She held his gaze for a few moments and then said, "Oh, I do trust that you are telling the truth about his skills. I know just how special he is. I know better than anyone. But it's not enough. If it were merely his technical skills you'd have him in a lab someplace doing technical things, but you don't. If he were a real agent, he'd have gotten training to be out doing spy shit, but he didn't. You certainly wouldn't leave him in the Buy More. And Sarah selling hot dogs? Come on. So, there's something else. Something you aren't telling me about why Fulcrum is after Chuck. What is it?" Her voice was strong and confident, if polite.
Sarah revised her opinion. She had thought that Ellie was taking on Graham and Beckman on equal terms. That impression was wrong. Ellie was dominating the conversation. Chuck was watching his sister with love and awe. Sarah was a little interested to see that Graham and Beckman were pretty rapidly becoming intimidated by Ellie.
Beckman said, "I'm sorry, Dr. Bartowski, you do not have the security clearance necessary for a fuller..."
"Bullshit, General," barked Ellie, politeness aside for the moment. "Stop that nonsense. The very fact that we are having this conversation at all indicates that you and the Director have thoroughly vetted all three of us and know for absolute certain that we are not security threats. If there was any doubt about that you'd have let Chuck, Sarah and John disappear without us ever having spoken. So, just stop," said Ellie, her voice terse and angry.
Graham said, "Fine, Dr. Bartowski..."
Beckman interrupted, "Director, I don't think..."
His eyes never leaving Ellie's, he said, almost harshly, "No, General. No. My decision, my responsibility... Dr. Bartowski, there is a new technology that the Intelligence Community has been working on. We call it the Intersect. It transfers information to a person's brain through encoded images..."
Ellie said, "Of course, that was being researched a few years back. There was a paper by ….um, I think it was Busgang and Zarnow...but it didn't pan out. The research dried..." Ellie looked at Beckman and Graham. Her eyes widened as she realized the truth. "...no, no, it didn't dry up, did it?...you guys took it...You classified it. It works? Holy shit. It works. Where are we on it? Has it moved to human trials? What's the retention rate? How much..."
Graham interrupted her, "There's a single individual that has gotten the entire download, only one..."
Ellie's eyes widened in understanding. She spun to her brother, furious, "CHUCK? You volunteered for an experimental neural augment without talking to your sister the neurologist? CHUCK?"
Everyone was talking over each other. "I didn't volunteer..." said Chuck, his hands held out in a defensive gesture.
"YOU DIDN'T VOLUNTEER?" she spun to look at Graham and Beckman with fury in her eyes.
Chuck was on his feet, "It wasn't them, Ellie. It wasn't them. They didn't do this to me..."
"Then who the hell did? Who decided it was a good idea to put an experimental system into someone without their consent? Who would do that?" she demanded.
Chuck was silent for a few moments and then said quietly, "Bryce..."
"BRYCE FUCKING LARKIN? THE SAME BRYCE FUCKING LARKIN THAT GOT YOU THROWN OUT OF SCHOOL? HE DID THIS TO YOU?" She saw the look on Chuck's face and said, more quietly, but with uncharacteristic venom in her voice, "I'm glad he's dead." Again, she looked at Chuck's face carefully, shifting her gaze to Casey and Sarah by his side and then twisted to look at Graham and Beckman. "Ok," she said, "He's not dead...but, I promise you he will wish he were."
Sarah had never heard a threat issued with more certainty. Wherever he was at the moment, Bryce had probably just felt an icy finger run down his spine.
"So, let me recap...," said Ellie, "Larkin downloaded this neural augment into you and the General and the Director," she gestured to the TV screen. "...sent John and Sarah here to work with you as part of a three-person team. Since then, you've been doing things like disarming the bomb at Union Station and busting Lon Kirk in Vegas. Along the way, you and Sarah fell in love. Fulcrum has infiltrated the Intelligence Community to an unknown extent and is looking for you in particular. To protect you, if it becomes necessary, John and Sarah are prepared to disappear with you for an unknown duration so that Fulcrum won't find you. That about sum it up?"
"Well, yeah, pretty much," said Chuck.
Morgan and Devon just sat there stunned. Morgan pinched himself, but didn't wake up.
"Ok, right" said Ellie. Turning back to the screen she said, "I want the results of every single test done on my brother. Every CAT scan, MRI, whatever. All of it. And I want the reports by all the neurologists who have examined him. When that's done I want to know everything there is to know about the system that went into him and that he's carrying around in his brain."
Graham said, somewhat embarrassed, "Well, Dr. Bartowski, he actually hasn't been seen by a doctor since the download..."
Ellie blew up. "WHAT?! YOU HAVE A GUY WHO DOWNLOADED A COMPUTER SYSTEM INTO HIS HEAD AND YOU DIDN'T GET HIM A CAT SCAN? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? YOU DIDN'T FUCKING THINK OF IT? WHAT THE FUCK?" She turned to Chuck, Sarah and Casey. "And it didn't occur to any of you either? Chuck, you were living with a fucking neurologist. What the hell is the matter with you people? Chuck, for God's sake..."
Ellie was pacing the room like a tigress by this point. She stopped and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Looking at Chuck, Sarah and Casey, Ellie said, "I love all three of you. I do, but I am so very pissed off at you right now. Ok...ok...here's what we are going to do. Pack a bag, little brother you're going to the hospital. No, no...wait...this is all secret...I need someplace that can be controlled. Ok...federal...the VA hospital in Brentwood. General, get on to them stat and wake up the radiology department for an incoming patient. Devon, you'll have to cover for me at Westside. Tell them whatever you want except the truth...just let me know so I can keep the story straight. Sarah, John, you can come with Chuck, or not. It's up to you."
Graham and Beckman were watching Ellie with awe and a little amazement.
Ellie turned to Beckman and said, "General, stat is term doctors use...it means NOW."
Beckman flinched and reached immediately to the phone on her desk.
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A/N3: Thanks to all of you following along on this story. There's a ton more story to come. I've just gotten us through the end of Season 1, and we all know that's not where the story ends. Here's the thing, though. I'm having a lot of trouble focusing right now (I live in a place which is a virus hotspot as of 3/21/2020). Finishing this chapter was much more of a challenge for me than usual and I haven't been able start the next one at all. I honestly don't know when I will. Sorry, guys. I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus from my regular Saturday postings. I am not ending this story, though. I'm not. Good luck to everyone. Stay home and stay safe and I'll see you on the other side (or maybe sooner).