A/N: this is my first attempt to write anything let alone FanFiction. I am holding off on continuing until I get some feedback, so PLEASE give any and all input. I plan on starting out staying close to the original story with a continually branching AU that makes the story (in my opinion) more cohesive. Im not sure how often I'll be able to post. But I'd like to get at least a chapter a month of varying length. I will start as a T rating and may progress to a M depending on reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck. Or anything remotely related to anything famous.
Chapter 1: Chuck vs the Beginning
Chuck is hiding in his room, Morgan hanging out his window. Why am I here? Well not HERE here. This is my room. But I'm hiding out from my own birthday party. Morgan is having fun banter, but he wasn't really feeling funny. But why not hide the pain with humor? "We've been compromised. I'm a ghost!" Morgan says trying to make his escape.
Chuck knows where he is planning on escaping to, the internet. The lonely man's paradise. He needs help. "No, Morgan, you can't do this. Don't leave me like this!" And suddenly the light comes on. And his sister is standing there with her hand on her hip, waving around her wine. "Chuck, what are you doing?! I have invited real LIVE women here. For you to meet. So get out here and mingle. Morgan, you stay… or better yet, go home." She ended in unhidden disgust. Morgan patted him on the shoulder "better you than me bud" as he flops down on Chuck's bed and clicks on his Xbox.
Chuck slumps his shoulders and lumbers out into the crowd in the courtyard of his sisters apartment. He hated these events. Especially the ones about him. What did he have to celebrate? His life was stuck. He was stuck. He had nothing going on and definitely nothing to impress these successful and attractive women with. He was a nerd, who's achievements were documented on his Xbox account.
Here I go again. Reliving my trauma. Great job idiot, I'm sure she wants to hear about that. But what else do I have in my life but pain and embarrassment? "Yeah I work at the Nerd Herd at the BuyMore" And her face drops. Of course. " Working on a five-year plan, just need to choose a font" Yup. Deflect with pathetic humor. She's not laughing. She's cringing you moron. Put her out of her misery and walk away. "Girlfriend? Yeah, back… back at Stanford…. Jill…" And there I go. Hello spiral my old friend. It sucks to talk to you again. The girls all walk away, leaving Chuck alone, as usual. And here comes Ellie. To tell me all I messed up. "Hey, great party. That 7 layer dip, tasted like 8!" He teased his sister. She knew he never had fun at these things, but he just needs to put himself out there more. "Chuck. What happened? I know these girls. I know most were already attracted to you. Did you have to bring up Jill? I'll give you a secret" Ellie gets into it. "It really is 8?!" Chuck tried to deflect again. "Chuck, this is serious! No girl wants to hear about your ex. Even if we asked." Ellie explained, for what felt like the millionth time. Chuck's face fell. "Ok, I'll just get over Jill tomorrow then…" he mumbled in reply.
Chuck stands up and heads into his room. He has work to do. He signs onto his computer, Morgan is wrapped into his game and barely registers that he is even there. Chuck looks up Morgan's current vice, Irene Demova. Serbian Porn star. His poor friend is too focused on 2-D girls. Time to fix that.
He gets to work on a computer fryer of a virus. Fairly quick to fix if you know what you're doing. But from the appearance, it overheats the motherboard and fries the soldering. Negating any and all processing. That should stop him. And a few others. And boost service calls. Win win.
Chuck is pleased with himself, but yet again, no one can know he did it. Oh well, not all heroes wear capes right? He closed his DOS screens used to write the code and the HTML to attach it to the site, and he figured he should check his email before signing off for the night. He pulls it up and Morgan, who must've gotten beat too badly on the last match, comes over and looks over his shoulder.
"Woah. Talk about blast from the past! Bryce remembered your birthday dude!" Morgan stated. "Huh?" Mumbled Chuck. Barely paying attention. "Bryce Larkin, you know, the guy who got you kicked out of Stanford and ruined your life and stole your girl. He sent you a birthday email man" "Morgan I think it's that time" "Is it already?" "Yeah. Pedal safe my friend" Chuck laughed as he closed the window behind him and turned back to his computer. Zork, the text based computer game, boots up and asks him what he will defeat the Troll with. Attack troll with nasty knife. Chuck types in. And as he does the computer starts flashing images. He doesn't know how long that happens, but the next thing he knows, he wakes up with Morgan standing over him, it's light out, and he has a brain splitting headache. "Yeah. Yeah. Let me get ready. Did you spike the punch last night?" Chuck mumbled to Morgan who was still almost hanging on him. What is going on with me?
Showing up at work he had known things that he wasn't supposed to. Like the fact the police were in a phased deployment on the 5. And the TV in the background as he explained the brand new virus in the porn world, he hears that the General, General Stanfield, got in today, but he was actually here the day before. How do I know that? Why do I know that?
Morgan comes over and is chatting with him, but Chuck is too focused on what's going on in his head and his work that he isn't listening. He picks up the phone to call a customer, and of course is stuck on hold. "Stop the presses, who is that?!" He hears Morgan say. "Vicki Vale, uh Vick, uh Vicky Vale…" looking up he sees the most piercing and deep blue eyes he has ever seen in his life.
Everything stops.
Nothing else matters but those eyes. What? I. Huh? Work! That's where I'm at. Why is everything blue? Customer! Shit! Speak idiot! "That was from Batman." He says trying to explain it away. "Because that makes it better" she says with a smirk. Great. New record. Made her want to run before I made eye contact. "Im Chuck. This is Morgan" "I didn't know people still named their kids Morgan, or Chuck for that matter." She teases. "HA, well, my parents were sadists, and carnival freaks found him in a dumpster. So.." Chuck played along with this beautiful woman. "But they raised me as one of their own" Morgan chimed in. "Well I'm Sarah. And I need help with this" she says holding out her cell phone. "Ah yes. This model just has this screw back here… and viola!"
He hands the phone back to her. "Wow you geeks are good!" Sarah teases. "Nerds! Actually we prefer the term nerd. I think with the.."
As he finishes saying this a franctic father and his daughter in a ballerina outfit come storming up, "You have to help me. I recorded the recital, but nothing is playing back!" The father exclaimed. "Ok did you put in a tape?" Chuck calmly replies. "No, it's a digital recorder." The man is clearly confused, but Chuck deals with this all the time. "Yes. But you still need digital tape to record on" he explains. "Oh no, it's not there?! Her mom is going to kill me." "Morgan, I need the wall" turning to Sarah, Chuck gives her an apologetic smile and darts off with the father and daughter.
This is different Sarah thinks, I'd have sworn he would've taken the bait. Anyone else, and that recital wouldn't have mattered. What's he playing at? What's his game? Nice guys don't get sent government secrets.
Chuck was over at the wall of TVs and had set the dad on the floor with the camera in front, tape in as it was supposed to be. He crouched down to talk to the little girl. "What's wrong?" He asked. "I'm always in the back, because I'm too tall" the girl said sullenly. "Can I tell you a secret?" He asked looking around conspiratorially, "you can't tell the other girls." The girl nodded. "Real ballerinas are tall" he said with a smile. That caused the girl to smile as well and she was real.
Sarah, being able to read lips, knew what the exchange was and felt her cheeks flush slightly. What is happening? Get it together Walker. He's your target. He's not a nice man. He's playing you. Chuck glanced at her, a smile still on his face, as he told the father to start recording and the music played. The girl started dancing. I have to get out of here and regroup. Sarah thought. And while everyone was distracted, she leaves a card with her burner number and her current, and she leaves. Once all the spectacle had stopped he saw that Sarah was gone. Chuck figured she wouldn't wait around. She likely had a boyfriend anyways. Then he saw Morgan waving a business card at him and his smile grew. The day is looking up. And he got back to work.
After work, Morgan had stuck with him, still talking about Sarah. "Morgan. Why are you here?" "Well, I mean. We are gunna hang out…" Morgan replied. Rolling his eyes, Chuck got out his keys and opened the door. Starting to reply and tell Morgan to go home but froze.
There standing in his sisters apartment was a real, legit ninja. What is happening in my life?!! And the ninja was stealing his computer. "Please. Not the computer." Chuck whined. That was the one thing he actually took pride in was his computer. They can't take that. The work he put in. The time on the programs he was writing. They can't.
The ninja sets the computer in the shelf they are next to, and takes a battle stance. And there goes Morgan. Morgan starts throwing things at the ninja, every one of them gets hit back and hits Chuck all over, including the nether regions. "Do something Chuck!" Morgan yells. Glaring at Morgan, he stumbles forward, ready to get his ass handed to him. And not surprised when he does. As that happens though, the shelf comes crashing down. Causing the computer to crash, and it ejects the HD out. Likely ruining some pins in it.
To most it is now unusable and the ninja scurries away in frustration, leaving Chuck and Morgan there tending to their wounds. Chuck seems more distraught over the computer than his well being. My life can't get any crazier. I was LITERALLY just attacked by a ninja in my own home!
"Morgan I think it's time for you to head home. I have to clean this up and see what can be done for my poor computer." Chuck groaned. "I was just thinking the same thing. Hopefully no ninjas are in my house!" Morgan replies as he gets up and limps off.
Chuck gets to work on his computer, and as he is working on it his mind is improving on the elements that are already there. He started pulling parts from older computers and fusing them with the current ones. His soldering iron working away. He works until he can't focus anymore and decides to finish it the next day. I never thought of these configurations before. I guess at least something good is coming from the craziness. He thinks as he turns in for the night, hoping no calls come in for the on call Nerd Herder.
The next day at least started out normal. No headache. No ninja trying to kill him when he woke up. Just life back to normal, as comforting and sad as that is. Getting to work and helping people like normal, he noticed that they are out of a few things.
So he heads to Large Mart to get them and get back. While roaming and wasting just a little time, he feels him mind get fuzzy and a bunch of images flash before his eyes. Suddenly he knows the guy next to him is a Serbian demolitions expert, and NOT a nice guy. Time to go. Get back to the BuyMore and try not to make eye contact. He is not safe. We are not safe. Why is a terrorist at the Large Mart?! He hurries to get out of there and feels like everyone is watching him. He knows it's just in his head. He isn't that important.
From the view in her car, Sarah can see Chuck leaving the Large Mart and heading back to the BuyMore as she talked on her phone. "Give me 12 more hours to fix what Bryce did. I know I can do it." She emplores her boss. "It's over. NSA has sent Casey after him. You're out Sarah." Her boss, CIA Director Langston Graham orders. "12 hrs." Sarah says as she hangs up. Graham smirks, knowing his Enforcer isn't going to let the NSA walk away with this Chuck.
Back in the safety of the BuyMore Nerd Herd desk he relaxes. I'm going crazy. The ninja probably wasn't even real last night. Though my groin feels like it was. I'm nuts. I've finally cracked. I'm no better than my dad. Whatever was wrong with him, now I have it.
RING RING*
The bell on the desk is right in his ear. "Morgan, not right no.." he pauses as he feels the hand that he is holding trying to get Morgan to stop ringing the bell. It was soft, with slender fingers. Feminine fingers.
THATS NOT MORGAN!
He snatches his hand back and jumps up to apologize to the lady. Finding himself once again, lost in a deep blue existence. It was her. "Huuu.. Hi. Umm.. phone trouble again?" He says as he fumbles his screwdriver out of his pocket protector. "Umm, yeah actually. I don't think it's receiving calls. Because I never got one from you.." Sarah said clearly flirting.
Chuck froze. Every part of him couldn't work. He couldn't function. Oh she's still talking. Focus Chuck. "I just moved here and I don't really know anyone. Would you be willing to show me around? That is, if you're not busy" "He'd love to! He's got nothing but time! You two will have so much fun!" Chuck hears Morgan yell from over by the TVs.
Glaring at Morgan and causing him to run off, he turns to Sarah. "Apparently my schedule is wide open." "Great, tonight? 6pm?" Sarah asks. "Sounds perfect." Chuck replies with a smile. "great just text me where to meet you." Sarah says as she starts to leave. This should be easy. If he has a back up then I'll get it out of him before he knows anything about me. And then I'll be gone. Easy. I'll fix the fuck up Bryce passed on to me. Yet again. Sarah thinks as she walks out, unaware that NSA's John Casey is sitting in an SUV watching her leave the store.
Chuck arrives back home after his shift. He only has an hr to get ready and thankfully his sister is home to help. "Hey Ellie, Awesome, don't freak out. But.." Morgan comes flying in and jumps attaching to Chuck like a Koala bear. "Chucks got a date!" He exclaims.
"That's awesome Chuck" Devon says, as Ellie gets excited "what are you going to wear?!" As she jumps up and rushes off to his room to rifle through his closet. "So tell me about this girl. Is she smart? Pretty?" Ellie starts to pry. "Well her name is Sarah, and Morgan actually met her online in this chat room… and… I'm joking! Yeah she is, REALLY pretty actually. And i don't know. Just asked me out." Chuck teases his sister. "Here try this. I'm a girl. I know what girls like. Now go shower and try to tame the animal shapes out of your curls." She says and the. Hurries out of Chuck's room.
As she leaves he turns to Morgan "Sorry to bail on game night bud." "Oh! Are you kidding me? There's no way you're not going with this girl! I'll just have a meeting with Ms Demova." Morgan said with a smirk. "At your own home. Right?" Chuck implored. "Oh, of course!" Morgan said as Chuck went to the restroom.
As Chuck is leaving, Ellie come running out of the apartment with a bouquet of flowers, "leftovers from the party. And remember our No Ex Girlfriends rule" she said as she fixes his collar that didn't need fixing. "Right. No Jill. Got it." He said with a sigh. I hadn't even thought about her actually. "Aces Charles, Ace." Ellie let's out as she grins. "Wow a dad quote. I'm impressed. Love you sis." Chuck says with a hug, and he heads to the restaurant.
Sarah is finishing getting ready. Putting her throwing knives around her ankle, and her form fitting bulletproof vest on. As she walks towards the restaurant, Chuck had thankfully chosen one in short distance of her hotel, her boss calls.
"Walker secure." "If you do this you are on your own Walker. No back up coming." Graham warns. "I have to do this. And I don't know about this guy Sir. Something about him just…" Sarah argues. "Nice guys aren't sent Goverment secrets from a rogue spy." Graham says. Unknowingly reminding her of what she had told herself just the other day. "And what should I do if he runs?" She asks as she seems him getting out of his car. "Kill him." Graham says as Walker ends the call and puts the phone away.
"Shall we?" She says with a fake smile on her face. "Oh, uh. These are for you. Which now I know seems dumb, since you don't have a car, and we are going into a restaurant. I'm sorry, I'll just toss them. Or put them in." Chuck stutters out in a rush. Clearly flustered and not sure how to handle himself. "They are lovely. Thank you. It's quite alright. Can I get them after?" Sarah says trying to placate his nerves. "That is a good idea. I'll just put them in here and we can go in." He says as he places them in the car and they walk in together.
As they sat, sipping their drinks and chatting, they both noticed that the conversation seemed to be coming easy for them both. Despite the clear nerves that Chuck had still. He was a very personable person.
Chuck was surprised that he seemed to even be making her actually laugh and enjoy herself. "So, just moved here from..?" He asked leadingly. "DC. Yeah. Moved here from DC, to get away from my ex boyfriend, Bruce." She says almost slipping up on the name. Why is he so easy to talk to. He hasn't hidden the files anywhere. He likely doesn't even know about the email. Maybe I destroyed the computer before he checked it. I should just end the night here, but I know Casey is on his way, and his idea of getting the information he is looking for won't be a date. This guy doesn't deserve that. I can't just leave him to die for something he has nothing to do with. Sarah thinks as she sips her drink.
"Really? You give me crap about Chuck, and you dated a Bruce?!" Chuck laughs. Sarah almost laughs to where her drink comes out her nose. "That's funny!" She chokes out. "Well I'm a funny guy" Chuck says laughing. "Well that's good, because I'm not funny." Sarah laments.
She is so easy to talk to. She's perfect. Not funny? She's made me laugh. Whoever it was that let her go is an idiot. Chuck thinks.
"Is that the thing? Because I've been sitting over here waiting to see what was wrong with you and I was thinking 'she's either no funny or she is a cannibal. And I was kinda pulling for cannibal since I have never met one." Chuck jokes.
"No, not a cannibal, but I do come with a lot of baggage." Sarah says with a soft smile. "Well, I can be your very own baggage handler." Chuck blurts out before his brain has a chance to catch up and tell him how awkward that sounds. Both of them blushing, Chuck starts to look for a way out of the awkwardness that he brought on.
"So, uh. Bruce. Is the reason for moving across the country?" You had her laughing and then you say something so creepy? What's wrong with me? Get it together.
"Yeah, it was just a toxic situation. I had to get away from there. After the break up, I realized that all of my friends were actually his friends, and everything just reminded me of him. So it was time for a change in a big way." Close but not too close. Thats getting to be a bit too real there Walker. Take a breath. Even if he is innocent, that's even more of a reason to keep him at arms length. Nice guys don't deserve the destruction that comes along with you. Sarah couldn't understand why she felt it was so easy to open up to this guy. There wasn't anything extraordinary about him. He was the type her and her dad used to scheme all the time.
This should've been an easy mission. In and out. Get the info and vanish. Like she had a million times with guys that would stand out way more than Chuck does. But his easy going, unassuming nature just put her at ease. Something about him felt… right. Which that alone was scary as much as it was intriguing. Ok. Time to get back on mission. He's open, he will be easy to read.
"What about you? Any skeletons in your closet? Any secrets?" She said trying to be flirty. He is closing up when I flirt? What is with this guy? I'm giving him the green light, and he is approaching with caution? Is he real? Chuck coughed, "Umm, I have an ex girlfriend who.." Here we go. It's a start. Why is he pausing, he's staring. "But that's long over with, and her restraining order is very clear." He finished with a grin. Sarah laughed and felt like she had laughed more tonight than ever before in her life. She was set to just enjoy the rest of the night and then vanish from his life. She was surprised at how much that last part hurt. Why don't I want to vanish from his life like I have so many before? Sarah reprimanded herself as she still continued to enjoy the company of one Chuck Bartowski.
As dinner came to an end, they went for a walk and continued talking. As they were walking, Chuck tried to get to know Sarah better. They started getting close to a place Chuck frequents that has good live music and dancing, even though he normally doesn't get into that part of everything. He usually just gets a drink and enjoys the music. Wait maybe she likes dancing.
"So, what's your favorite band?" Chuck asked. "Umm… I don't really listen to music that often." Sarah answered. "WHAT?! You don't listen to music?!" Chuck was shocked. It was unfathomable to him to live without music. "Gosh, this must be your worst date ever!" Sarah joked. Chuck froze. Images flashing, building schematics, emphasizing structure, Serbian origin. "You're supposed to disagree and tell me it's not…" Sarah said leadingly "OH I'm sorry!! I zoned out there for a min. No! No no. Of course not. I've had much much worse. 11th grade actually." Chuck responded. "Oh ouch, you have to go back that far?!" Sarah laughed.
They continued joking until the got to the place Chuck had in mind. Really it was across the street from the restaurant, but they walked around to take the long way and enjoy talking. "Since you don't like music, I hope you can enjoy yourself here. Sorry if it isn't your thing." Chuck apologized with a cringing smile. "I never said I don't like music, I've just not have a lot of time to sit and listen to it. I'm sure we will have a great time." Sarah replied, as she subconsciously scanned the room.
Taking in the exits, the amount of people, where any weapons may be, and most of all, making sure there was no NSA presence yet.
"What would you like to drink?" Chuck asked, seeing Sarah looking around, he mistaking my took that to mean she was looking for the bar. "A daquari please. Any flavor is good." She said over the music, trying not to seem distracted.
Chuck went and got the drinks, when he spotted Sarah sitting on some couch/chairs and having a couple guys talk to her. Great. And here is where she found someone better to show her around, and I'm a nice guy and we should get coffee or something again sometime. And she goes home with one of these guys. Chuck admonished himself for feeling like things were good.
Girls like Sarah didn't go for guys like him. Just then Sarah stood and waved at him, smiling. He made his way over trying to not seem down about what he'd seen. "Please, don't leave me again like that. Next time I'll come to the bar with you. I hate when guys just assume that a girl sitting by herself means she's needing their 'company'. Even if she isn't with someone, maybe she just wanted a night out to herself. Is that so hard to fathom?" She ranted with a shake of her head.
Chuck was surprised. He figured most women enjoyed the attention. Yet, here was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever met, could always get someone's attention if she wanted, and at times didn't want, and yet she didn't like it at all it seemed. "I'm sorry. You seemed to enjoy their conversation." Chuck said dejectedly but not meaning to sound like it.
"I was being polite. But they weren't taking the hint. I've enjoyed my evening, and I don't want it ruined by some frat boys who wouldn't know the first thing about pleasing a woman." Sarah said nonchalantly with a shrug. Chuck choked on his drink. What did she just say? Don't ask her to repeat it. That would ruin any vibe going on. But, what?! "Umm. Ok, I'll be sure to not leave your side the rest of the night." Chuck said with a smile.
Just then the band started up and it was a bit too loud to talk comfortably. "THEY ARE GOOD!" Sarah yelled over the music. Chuck just smiled and nodded. He regretted bringing her here now. He wanted to talk more. But he figured when he planned this that she would be done talking to him by now. But that didn't seem to be the case.
He still caught her sneaking glances at him almost as often as he did at her. He took another sip of his margarita, and set it down. Suddenly Sarah was pulling him onto the dance floor. Bad idea! She can't see you attempt to dance!! Woah… what is she… wow… Chuck's mind froze as Sarah started to dance. She arched her back, and her butt pushed up against his groin. He didn't know what to do. Just as quickly, she spun and did a hair flip. Then crouched down. Her hands were seemingly both on him and not at the same time. If you're pick pocketing me, at this point you can have it. Just thought as he felt embarrassed by how this was effecting him. He didn't know what to do.
And then all the sudden it was over and Sarah was pulling him out of the place with urgency. Did they put something in her drink?! Oh god, I can't do anything if they have. How would I be able to check for that? What's the hurry?
"Keys Chuck. Give me the keys!" Sarah yelled. Now Chuck was really confused. "Idk if I should Sarah, it's a company car.." he heard the doors click and Sarah was climbing into the locked car. "How did you do that?!?" Chuck said, still very confused.
The passengers door was pushed open. "Get in!" Sarah urged. Chuck did as she said, still not sure why he should listen but he can't just let her have the company car. "Sarah what is going on?!" Chuck almost begged for her to give some kind of logic to what changed.
Sarah huffed and sighed deeply. "The men in suits that came out right as we drove off? They are NSA agents here to kill you. I'm a CIA agent here to see what you know and to get something from you. Something that was sent to you." Sarah glanced over at him a few times seeing if he would talk or what his response would be. "I'm sorry, what?! They want to kill me? Because they think I stole something? From who? Them? The president? Oprah? I didn't take anything. I swear to you. Wait you're CIA?! Of course you are. That's why you wanted to go out. Of course. I didn't take anything. From anyone. I'm nobody." Chuck said with his shoulders slumped but he was still freaking out.
It's Piranha. I knew this would come back to get me. But I didn't take anything. Ever. And why now? Did they finally decrypt it? But I'm not active. And I don't have those drives anymore. Well. Not with me anymore. No one could know about those. Except one person. And he wouldn't tell anyone. I hope that they at least let me say goodbye to Ellie. And Morgan.
"Tell me when to turn." Sarah told Chuck as they hurried off in reverse. The black SUVs barreling toward them, increasing in speed with each breath. "Um left NOW." Chuck said. "Your left or mine!" Sarah asked. It didn't matter, she was already turning the wheel. "Too late" and the car went off over the steps, between 2 large cement planters. Down 3 flights of stairs and onto the street below. The car spun but was still together. Sarah started to get it running again to take off but it struggled. "Umm Sarah!" Chuck yelled while pointing. A big SUV rammed into the side of the car. Dazed and not understanding what was happening fully, it didn't make sense for this to happen now, Sarah pulls Chuck out of the car.
Her driving had been incredible, but now the SUV was about to hit them. Sarah shoved Chuck out of the way. "SARAH!!" Chuck yelled.
Sarah felt her pulse calm. She was in her element. This is her life. Her training. Even before the CIA. This is what she did. 5 seconds. Enough time. Barracade button in less than 10 ft away, my knife is already in my fingers, they can't stop in time to avoid it, but won't be able to hit me. The shrapnel will be minimal on those vehicles. It will be drivable but barely. I can get away on foot and call for evac as soon as possible. Wait. NOW. Sarah spun, throwing her knife as she did, and crouched down. Ducking her head, and covering it with her hands, she heard the sickening crunch of a car wreck less than 6" behind her. She smirked to herself even as her pulse quickened. She knew it wasn't over. Casey was still alive. He died about as easily as she does. He wouldn't stop.
Getting up and grabbing Chuck, pulling him behind her, she knew that she would have to come clean about everything. Casey wasn't going to stop until she could get his leash holder to yank back on it. She pulls out her cellphone and calls in. "I need an air evac ASAP and a cleaning crew at my location. Rooftop of a hospital parking garage. Helipad on top. Hurry. None friendlies closing." She closed her phone and pulled Chuck up more stairs.
"Bryce Larkin. Have you heard from him?" Sarah urged. "Bryce? No I haven't heard from.. wait. He sent me an email for my birthday. Is that it? Was I not supposed to see those pictures?! Sarah I didn't know?" Chuck said in a hurry. It's not about Piranha. Somehow Bryce is out to mess up my life yet again. "You saw them? All of them?" Sarah said incredulously. "Yes. All of them! Was I not supposed to?! Sarah!" Chuck pleaded with Sarah. Trying to get some kind of answers. "How are you alive?" Sarah said in wonder but concerned. "What were those pictures Sarah?" Chuck asked.
Just then they heard a cough behind them. A man in a suit came walking up with a large gun drawn. "Hand him over. He is ours to take in. Personally, I'd rather put a bullet in both of your heads, call it in, and go out for a late night snack. I'm thinking pancakes. But we all have orders, don't we CIA?" Casey said with a smirk that never reached his eyes.
Suddenly Sarah pulled a gun out and it was pointed at Casey "He isn't yours. He has seen the pictures. He comes with me." Sarah argued. "Not my orders, skirt. And I always follow orders." Casey sneered at her. Chuck freaked out and turns to run. As he turns he sees the hotel across the street.
Images were back. Flashing across his face. Rose bush, statue, bumble bee. The information clicks, the general who arrived early, is in charge of the assault on terror activity in the Serbian desert, the terrorist from large mart is a demolitions expert, sent here with plans to blow up that hotel, with a home made bomb, while the speech was happening, and no one knew.
"Hey! Hey hey hey. Listen. There is a bomb about to go off." Chuck yells at both Sarah and Casey. Then Casey's gun was pointed at him. "He saw the images Casey. He is the only one with them now. The computer was destroyed." Sarah pleaded. Why am I so worried about him? I barely know him. But he is a good person. He is why we do the nasty bits of this job. He deserves better. "So all our countries secrets are right in his noggin. Waiting to be spilt out to the first person who pushes for them." Casey says eerily. "Look. You guys got some plans of a hotel in the Serbian desert a month ago, that hotel."
Chuck says pointing at the hotel across the street, talking to Sarah. "And you guys intercepted instructions for how to make the bomb going to be used last week on the dark web, sent to a demolitions expert that I just happened. To bump into at the Large Mart today. While he was buying everything left that he needed for the bomb. Now, you guys are supposed to be the good guys right? So go stop him!" Chuck pleaded. Thinking about all the lives that would be lost.
"So that you can run with your little CIA girl friend here? I don't think so. I'm not dumb." Casey said. Eyes never leaving from behind his gun. Boring into Chuck's forehead. "Ok! I'll come to. Just go save those people! Please!" Chuck begged once more. "He's right. We can't do nothing. No one else would make it in time." Sarah said logically. Her face and features cold. "Fine. But when we are done, he is mine." Casey relented, and they all hurried back down the stairs and across the street.
"Wait. He is too valuable. Chuck can't go in there." Sarah said. "Well he isn't leaving my sight. So have fun CIA." Casey said. Important? So they wouldn't let me go. Meaning they will follow me in. Chuck thought to himself as he took off running toward the conference room, jumping into the fountain and out in 2 steps. Rushing into the conference room, with Sarah and Casey on his tail. He scans the room, spotting the cart being pushed to the middle of the room by someone who is dressed like a waiter. He recognizes the terrorist from Large Mart. He points at him, "there he is." He says to Casey who is standing next to him.
Casey growls and takes off running. Tackling the guy and dragging him over. Sarah and Chuck rush to the bomb and open it. 1 min left. "No time to evacuate the entire building. Get everyone out of the room." Sarah said to the security who came over. Casey comes back dragging the terrorist "Defuse it. Now." Casey commands. But the terrorist laughs and bites something. And starts foaming at the mouth and dies instantly. Casey grunts again and throws his limp body out of the way. Chuck finally looks at the bomb, feeling sick he isn't sure what to do, 30 sec. But then he notices. The laptop is the same one Morgan has. The same one he wrote that virus for. The one that would end all functions immediately, shut down processing, and kill electricity to all outputs. And it seemed to be running the bomb. It was the trigger. "Here let me." He said as he say Sarah and Casey look like this was the end.
Casey is about to grab him, but there are no other options. "It's not an Xbox moron. Don't blow us up." He grunts. Chuck cracks his knuckles and starts opening windows, navigating to the DOS, and then to the internet. He searches for Irene Demova. "He's looking up porn. Idiot." Chuck just makes an annoyed noise and clicks on the link. The site loads and then the laptop appears to have fried. Everything stops. Everything shuts down. "You did it!" Sarah exclaimed. Frozen on the screen. 3 sec. Flashing. Chuck gets excited and then "What if I was wrong?" He says as he starts getting nauseous. "Don't puke on the C-4 kid." Casey says with a grunt. As he pats Chuck on the shoulder.
Outside Sarah was on the phone with Graham. "He doesn't leave your sight. You can do the paperwork tomorrow. And you said he saw all of them? And he didn't die? He seems ok?" Graham asked sounding a mix of annoyed and astonished. "Yes. He seems better than ok. He was able to not only, put together a string of apparently unrelated images and information, but also stop the bomb. He was more than an asset to us." Sarah said with a bit of wonder in her voice. Graham was worried about that. But couldn't trust anyone else with this. She was the only one he could trust. She had nothing else but him and the job. She wouldn't betray that. But he would be careful. He had to keep her in place. She was his best. "Stay there. Don't let him leave with Casey. Good work Walker." And he hung up. Sarah was used to the abruptness.
Casey was also on the phone with his superior. General Diane Beckman. Director of the NSA. "Status agent Casey." "Asset is still alive. He saw the images and was able to help us stop a bomb from killing many. It will all be in my report. But, if I may speak freely Ma'am?" Casey asked. "Granted" Beckman said curtly. "I'm not sure how he stopped the bomb was in the intersect. He seems to act on his own. He is both an asset and a liability. He is oblivious to things dealing with our world. So he will be easy to manipulate, but Walker is here, Graham's best. The Wild Card. And she has her Icey grip on the asset already. She will be able to get him to do anything." Casey growled. "Understood. Keep an eye on things, and report back to me and only me everything you see. Set up surveillance in the asset's home. We won't pull him yet. We will have to play ball a bit. But I want you being the eyes of the operation. Not the CIA. Understood?" And Beckman hung up.
"He's coming with me!" Both Sarah and Casey say at the same time. They start in on each other and Chuck over hears someone say something about Ellie. "Woah. What about my sister? No. No no. You leave my family and friends out of this. You. Need me. I'm going home." He says in a huff and walks off. He doesn't have his car, but he isn't far from his favorite beach, so he walks there and plops down in the sand. He knows they were behind him. He understands he is important now. That they won't be gone until he isn't anymore. Sadness overcomes him now that the adrenaline is wearing off.
The night had all been fake. Every bit of it. He had thought he was having fun. He had thought it was a good first date. But she was only there to pump him for information that he didn't even know he had.
And of course Bryce had been who caused it.
Bruce. Of course he should have known. Byrce always got the best girls. He sensed her behind him more than heard her. As she came up and dropped the boots she'd been wearing down next to him and she sat.
"There's no where I can run is there?" Chuck asked dejectedly. "Not from us." Sarah said almost apologetically. At least they don't know everything. Chuck thought, hopeful. "Now? Nothing. You go back to life as normal and we are around. You'll know we are there and we will be in your life. But until the next thing like tonight comes around, it will be fairly normal. We will set up covers, and jobs. To everyone else we will just be 2 new friends you made. There may be more to the story. But that's the basics of it. And since we have it already set up, you and I will have the cover of that we are dating."
Sarah tried to sound strictly informative as she said it. Why am I excited by the idea of that cover? I've never been the type to go into a mission like this. It never appealed to me before. Sarah thought to herself. Trying to contain any possible sound of enthusiasm. She knew Casey was watching, plus she needed to keep herself in check.
"I'm sorry you would be put in that situation. I'm sure it's not your idea of a fun mission." Chuck bemoaned the fact the night had been fake. "It is what I'm assigned. It will be ok." Sarah said trying to placate Chuck's apparent worry about her comfort of being in a fake relationship with him. She could tell he wasn't entirely against it, but still wasn't comfortable with the idea either. Why did he care if she was happy about it or not? Didn't he understand that he could about request anything and get it? She wasn't sure how to take that. "Come on. I'll take you home." Sarah said as she noticed Casey take off himself.