A/N1: Ownership of Chuck found its mommy. I think.
A/N2: A bit of a recap. What with the new characters and everything, I thought it might help. Ellie and Billy faked the cause of death of Bobby Bagg, a homeless man who had actually died from a faulty intersect. They intended to get the LAPD involved to hopefully provide extra protection for the City's homeless, who appeared to be the victims of Fulcrum's failed intersect experiments. Detectives Booker and Chen, although new to the job of homicide, figured out what had happened during the course of their first day investigating Bagg's death. They also figured out that the Bartowskis and friends were the legendary Carmichael team, which had performed near superhuman feats protecting the people of Los Angeles over the prior year. Showing the respect that they felt was due the spy team, Chen and Booker explained to Team B what they had concluded. In response, Chuck invited them to dinner.
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Chuck and Sarah's apartment, Echo Park, Los Angeles
Booker said, directly to Chuck at this point, "Without telling us any secret shit that will get you in trouble, can you please just tell us what the hell is going on? Neither of us wants to go all fanboy on you guys, but we sure as shit want to help you. It's really hard to do that when you lie to us."
Chuck looked around at his team and, getting their silent approval, said to the detectives, "You guys eat dinner yet? We were just about to order some pizza."
"Sounds good," said Booker, nodding his agreement.
"We would be honored, Mr. Bartowski," said Chen.
The group turned and began to walk to Chuck and Sarah's apartment. Under his breath Booker said to Chen, "Stop sucking up. It's embarrassing."
"It's sincere. Don't be a douchebag, Luke," growled Chen, under his breath as well.
Casey, who was bringing up the rear, heard the exchange and resisted the urge to smile.
Once inside the apartment, Chuck called out, "Before we order, what is everyone drinking? Detective Booker? Detective Chen?"
"On duty. Sorry. No booze," said Chen.
"Call in off duty," growled Casey. "It's not like anything we talk about can end up in your reports anyway. Have some beer, for chrissakes."
With a glance at each other, Booker nodded and took out his phone and punched a few buttons, taking both of them off duty. "Thank you," he said. "A beer would be great."
"Fat Tire, Bud, or Stella?" asked Sarah.
Chuck said, "So long as you can drink, we also have wine and real booze."
"I'll have scotch," said Casey.
"I'll stick with beer, thanks," said Booker with a small grin. "I have a feeling I should have a clear mind for this discussion. Bud, please."
"Um, wine," said Chen. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."
Chuckling, Chuck grinned and said, "Chardonnay, okay? We can open others, but we have a Grgich Chard working."
"Grgich? Um, yeah. That will be great. Thanks. I can't afford that on a cop's salary."
Drinks in hand, and pizza ordered, everyone sat down at the table. "Ok," said Chuck. "You guys figured out a lot of it correctly. We need to stop these assholes and shut them down before they kill more people."
Chen said, "'Assholes.' Plural. So not a single serial killer. A group..."
"...with an agenda," said Booker. "Groups have goals and plans."
Chen said, "And their goal is involved with some kind of new tech. Whatever it is, it's got to be new. Dr. Bartowski is the only one who can recognize it. The other docs are stumped."
"Which means she's seen it before, but no one else has. Which means..." said Booker.
"The Intelligence Community is working on the same tech," said Chen.
"Or 'worked.' Past tense. Maybe someone is trying to catch up to the IC?" asked Booker.
"Right," said Chen. "But they aren't there yet."
"Because?" asked Booker.
"Because they are still killing homeless guys. At least as of last week," replied Chen.
The others at the table just watched in fascination as the detectives followed the logic trail aloud.
"So, the bad guys are experimenting. Trying to get it right. The dead men are failed experiments," said Booker.
"Or successful, if it's a weapon," said Chen.
"It's not. You don't have to kill thirty guys to conclude a weapon works. That's stupid. Literally overkill. A few guys would be enough. It's something else. Something in the brain. That's why it took a neurologist to see it," said Booker. "Mind control?"
"Decent guess, but not enough evidence to back up the supposition. And no one is going to tell us. All we know is these assholes are testing something in the brain. They can't get it right and keep killing the people they try it on. People who won't be missed," said Chen. "Dr. Bartowski is right. We've got to get some uniforms out there."
"Mr. Bartowski...or do you prefer Carmichael?" asked Booker.
"I prefer Chuck," he replied.
"Ok, Chuck, is there anything you can tell us about the people doing this? Something that won't disclose classified information, I mean."
"They are very dangerous and will be hard to catch. They are spies..."
"Oh, shit," said Booker. "Russian? Chinese?"
"No," said Chen. "It's foolish to run an experiment like this on foreign soil. Those guys would do it in Russia or in China or whatever, not here. You wouldn't want to get caught. Hell, the host country would just appropriate the tech you'd built if you got nailed. No. They'd do experiments on this shit in their own country."
"Oh, damn, Alan. Carry that thought through. That means these are American spies. But so is this team of course, so that means the opposition is rogue. Against the IC and the Carmichael team, for God's sake. Holy fuck," said Booker. "A collection of rogue American spies is testing some kind of new brain tech in or near LA." He leaned back in his seat, giving every indication of being blown away. "Holy fuck. This is legitimately terrifying." Booker took a long swig of his beer. He looked shaken up.
"Damn," breathed Chen. Turning to Chuck, he said, "And your team is chasing them down. Trying to stop them. Damn."
"For the past year," said Sarah. Her response was seemingly emotionless, but that delivery gave the detectives all the confirmation they needed.
Everyone at the table was impressed by the two men. They were both very, very smart and worked the problems they faced through to logical conclusions. But they were careful not to jump to unsupported conclusions.
"And Al Qaeda, and the White Dragons, and those assholes in Bakersfield and God knows what else," said Chen, sounding awed. "Do you people ever sleep? Ever take a vacation?"
Chuck chuckled and said, "Sarah and I have a honeymoon coming up. No bad guys to interrupt that."
Sarah knocked her knuckles on the table and said, "Don't buy us trouble, Sweetie."
He gave her a loving smile and nodded in response.
The pizza arrived and they busied themselves with that for a few minutes. Once again settled and now eating, Chen said, "Do you have any leads for us, Chuck? Right now the best we have is to hang around the homeless community as see if they can tell us anything."
"The black van. Prang was right. It was real and in the neighborhood at the right time. I tracked it with traffic cams, but lost it in an area without cams. No cameras where it dropped off Bagg, of course. We should have your guys looking for it on the streets. I can get you a screenshot or two."
"Driver?" asked Booker, taking a bite of pizza.
"One man. White guy. Couldn't tell anything more than that, too blurry."
"The experiments they are running. What can you tell us about them?" asked Chen.
"Super classified, so only outlines. But high energy usage. The electric bill will be extraordinary. Not saying that narrows it down, of course," said Chuck.
"Size of the facility?" asked Booker.
With a shrug, Chuck said, "El, you'd be better able to answer that than I would."
"Any decent sized commercial building would do. They don't need a huge space. Not a single-family home, though. Not someone's apartment," she responded.
Chuck continued, "They'll need some high-end computers and equipment, but nothing so unusual as to be traceable. It's the kind of stuff dozens of tech companies might have lying around."
"So that's not a likely path to find them," said Booker.
"No. Not really," said Sarah. "Perhaps the best bet is to get you guys protecting the potential victims and have us see what we can track down about the experiments themselves."
"If it's ok, please keep us informed," said Chen.
"We will. We have no interest in attention, so whatever we find, you guys can take the credit," said Chuck.
"Thanks, Chuck," said Booker, "but to be perfectly honest, we couldn't give two shits about credit. I'm sure that's short sighted of us, but it's a thing."
Every member of Team B grinned somewhat at that. These guys were really ok.
"You should be spies," said Sarah, smiling.
"I know this is all super secret, but we'd like to tell our boss," said Chen.
"Do you trust him?" growled Casey.
"Trust him? I don't know. I never thought about it. Today was our first day with Lt. Mauser. He's respected among the guys. Trust? I guess so. I don't know," said Chen.
"Bagg's death was our first homicide assignment. He gave it to us this morning. But if you want action from the LAPD to get more uniforms around the encampments, you're going to have to go higher than Alan and me. No one is going to listen to us without more senior guys on our side." said Booker.
"Or without evidence we can share about the danger. They aren't going to just take our word for it," said Chen.
"Awright," said Chuck. "Tell Mauser what you guys have figured out. Let us know what he says. And let's exchange contact info so we can let each other know what's going on."
"Ok, Chuck. Sounds good," said Chen. "It's an honor." Booker rolled his eyes.
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LAPD Southeast Community Police Station, Los Angeles
Chen knocked on the door of Lt. Mauser's office the next morning.
"Great," said Mauser, waving them in. "Come on in. I got a new one for you two."
"Yes, Sir," said Booker, coming into the room.
"I need you to head out to the Taco King on South Central. You know where that is, right?"
"Yes, Sir," said Chen.
"Stabbing overnight. Looks like one banger did another banger. You guys can figure it out. Head out now. Body's still warm," said Mauser.
"Yes, Sir," said Booker. "Before we go, could we talk to you about the homeless one from yesterday?"
"Sure. Whatever," said Mauser. "Just so you know, we're gonna get a lot more heat on the banger in the parking lot. One more dead bum isn't gonna get anyone's attention."
Booker closed the door to Mauser's office.
"Yes, Sir. Here's the thing about the homeless guy, though. You know the Carmichael team? The superspies? The rumors and gossip?" asked Booker.
"Sure. And I believe in Batman too. What about it?" snarled Mauser.
"Alan and I had dinner with them last night," said Booker.
Mauser pushed back his chair from his desk and leaned back, looking at them with surprise. "You what?"
"We had dinner with the Carmichael team, Sir. They are involved with the death of the homeless guy. As crazy as it sounds, there's a renegade group of American intelligence officers who are experimenting on random homeless guys. Trying to do some brain thing. They can't get it right, and they keep killing the victims."
Mauser held his hands out in front of him in a slowdown gesture. "What the hell, guys? One body. One. Not a raft of bodies. One. What the hell are you guys talking about?" demanded Mauser. "I assign you a murder and you come back to me with some comic book insanity. What the hell, guys?"
Chen said, "Sir, the tox report of the poisoning was bullshit. The poison was made up. But Dr. Bartowski signed off on the death certificate anyway. She's one of the top neurologists in the city, if not the country. It stunk to us. When we looked into it and tracked her activities just before, it turns out she was looking into the death of the vic first. Conducting her own investigation. Seems the first doc to get the guy before he died had consulted Bartowski. She immediately called the ME to see if there was a raft of dead homeless."
"And the ME said?" asked Mauser.
"Said no, Sir," said Chen. "But we think he's just whitewashing something he doesn't understand. The folks working with the homeless are definitely seeing a rise in deaths. Something like thirty or forty more deaths in the last month or two. More than average, I mean. And the ME says squat."
"So that made you approach the doctor?" Mauser asked.
"Yes, Sir," said Chen. "She's a solid citizen. Unlikely to lie to us without a reason. Why would she lie? Doesn't fit. But when we looked at her, turns out her brother is a partner a red-hot cyber security company called, if you can believe it, Carmichael Industries. Computer genius, like the rumored spy Carmichael."
"You remember the two EMTs got iced last year? Some dude named Payne was the perp?" asked Booker.
"Yeah. Gossip says the Carmichael team nailed the asshole. Ran him over with a car, if I remember right," said Mauser, chuckling.
"Yes, Sir. And one of the people saved by that team, saved from poisoning, was Dr. Bartowski. We decided to look into it some more. And then, just last week, the Secret Service saved the American and Chinese Presidents in DC? Except it wasn't the Secret Service. It was one of the women on the Carmichael team."
"And we had dinner with her last night," said Booker. "The picture in the news of the two women clearing the principals out of the building? The blonde? Her name is Sarah Walker and she's marrying Carmichael in a couple of months."
"No shit. Ok, so the legendary Carmichael team, who are genius spooky spies, are so brilliant that they name their company Carmichael?" Mauser smirked with a raised eyebrow.
"Seems that way, Sir," said Chen.
"And Doctor Bartowski, who is part of the team, found something that makes her think there are dozens of homeless deaths that are being ignored because the ME is incompetent? I get that right?"
"Yes, Sir," said Chen.
"And remind me. Who are we supposed to be looking for to stop this supposed fucking bloodbath?" asked Mauser.
"We believe they are a group of rogue American spies."
"Your Carmichael friends told you that?" he asked with a frown.
"No, Sir," said Chen. "But we were speculating aloud and they didn't correct us."
"No, Alan. Remember? She said they'd been fighting this outfit for year. I'd say they confirmed it," said Booker.
"They tell you what the brain thing is?" asked Mauser.
"No, Sir. We have no idea. Classified. Thinking mind control, but that's just a guess," said Chen with a shrug.
"Wow. Ok. Let me get this straight. In the one day I gave you to look into the poisoning of a single homeless guy, you think you discover a rogue American spy outfit testing a mind something or other on our homeless population and killing dozens of them. And you figure out that the legendary Carmichael team not only exists, but you manage to share a meal with them. I get that right?"
"Well, to be honest, they asked us to dinner," said Booker.
"Pizza," said Chen.
"Holy shit," said Mauser. "OK, let me think about this. Did they give you any leads?"
"Yes, Sir. The vic was dropped off by an unmarked black van. Here's a screenshot from a traffic cam. We should tell the guys to watch out for it." Chen handed Mauser a copy of the picture Chuck had given them of the van.
Mauser looked at it for a moment and said, "Driver?"
"Zip," said Chen. "White guy. Couldn't do better."
"And they still want uniforms on the homeless? Protect them from the evil spy cabal?"
"Yes, Sir," said Chen.
"Alright. Let me see what I can do. Go see about the banger getting himself iced in the meantime," he said. "And guys..." They turned back to him. "Two things. First, arrange for me to meet your new friends asap. And second, good fucking job, fellas."
"Yes, Sir."
"Thank you, Sir."
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A/N3: Naming their computer company the same name as the secret spy team. Yeah. Well, I do circle back to canon with some regularity and this is one of those points I wanted to keep. Is it a bit silly? Yeah, it is, but I did it anyway. And, even more than canon, I'm having their successes recognized. Which, of course, raises their profile in certain circles and exacerbates the silliness of the company name. Ah well. I'm reminded of the bit in the Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever, when Bond kills a guy and switches wallets with him, so the Bond girl (Jill Saint John) thinks he killed James Bond. She's aghast. "You just killed JAMES BOND." So much for the secret part of secret agent, I guess.
A/N4: Now Mauser is in the mix for real. Thoughts? Comments?