A/N: Well, it wasn't COVID and it wasn't the flu, so I'm thinking maybe RSV? Down for the count with a 103 fever since the holidays, so now dreadfully behind with this story. But finally feeling better. All of Predator in one chapter. A few WTF's here. Beckman and Casey slip up twice giving away more info about Orion than they supposedly have, so addressed that. More importantly-what in the blue blazes did Orion hope to accomplish by sending that laptop to the Buy More with the FedEx guy?! Utterly stupid throughout all of this-tried to make a little sense of the senseless. Enjoy.
I hate to admit it, but I was totally clueless about Chuck's little behind-the-scenes spy operation he was running. As I have mentioned several times, the longer I was around Chuck the way I was, the more ineffective my spy senses became. I was one of the best, objectively speaking. I maintained myself, but in an entirely different way once Chuck became part of my world. The me of the past would have known that Chuck was keeping secrets, especially considering how open and honest with me he always was.
All I can say in my defense is what I have maintained all along–that I loved him, and each and every day it became harder and harder to manage those feelings in the world we were living in. The incidents with Cole sort of brought that to a head, if you will, because I was forced to admit out loud to another person, albeit a relative stranger, that I had strong feelings for Chuck. I had been denying those feelings all along, telling myself excuses for the better part of two years.
It never occurred to me that Chuck would ever keep something from me, that he would lie by omission to me. In his defense, he fully believed that, although Casey and I were protecting him, the interests of the government came first, before him, before anything he wanted, before his own life. He was right, and I knew that, and he took matters into his own hands when he began to lose faith. We were all about to learn just how right Chuck actually was.
Orion was able to exploit the doubts that had been planted in Chuck's mind, almost turning him against us, against me. Such a strange dynamic–that Chuck almost lost me because he wanted to be with me so badly. Orion, and I mean Orion the spy, not Chuck's father, didn't trust Casey or myself. We were part of the establishment that he had run from, gone into hiding over, because the establishment had betrayed him. Orion was a spy, and he thought like a spy. So whatever seemed to be between Chuck and me, he was looking with a spy's eyes, not seeing the emotions and how real they were.
All of this craziness with Orion started towards the end of March in 2009.
Beckman sent us on a ridiculous mission to retrieve intelligence. Apparently, another NSA team in the field had captured a terrorist, but not before said terrorist flushed a flash drive down the toilet in his hotel room. According to Beckman, the identities of all of the captured terrorist's cohorts were contained on that drive. And while flushing an electronic device into the sewer usually rendered it completely destroyed, Beckman had to make sure.
We went to the hotel posing as plumbers. It was one of the most disgusting missions I had ever been on. All of the pipes at the hotel were clear, which meant we had to go underground to the sewer to sift through particulates. As completely disgusting as it sounds. Chuck kept talking about this movie, Shawshank Redemption, a movie I had never seen. In between making comparisons with our task and the way the main character escaped his incarceration, he recommended the movie to me. I think that non-stop chatter was his way of distracting himself from what we were actually doing.
When we got back to Echo Park, Casey went to report to Beckman. Chuck told me Ellie and Devon were out of town looking at wedding venues.
We were absolutely gross–dirty, grimy, smelly. But he looked at me with dreamy eyes, like just saying the word "wedding" got him thinking about what he'd said to me, about living the life he wanted with the girl he loved. He asked me if Beckman had mentioned anything about Orion.
I told him no. I should have questioned Beckman's veracity, but I didn't, not here. I believed her when she said they were searching. I did my best to pacify his worries, affirming that I wanted the Intersect out of his head as much as he did. I know I did, but when I look back, especially knowing what happened after he actually did get it removed, I wanted it for a different reason.
He wanted it out so that we could live the life we had pretended we had in the Suburbs. The two of us–normal, in a house, with kids and a dog. Even if there was a huge gap in cause and effect that would get us from where we were to there. Chuck had a lot of faith, more than I did.
I wanted it out so he could have his life back. So that he would never be afraid about guns or poison or death at every turn. His life wouldn't be in danger any longer. I wanted him to have his hopes and dreams, even if I secretly believed he would have to find someone else to have his life the way he wanted. So many things that were hard on him, upsetting to him–I had wished for deep down inside because it allowed me to keep pretending, to build up that fantasy in my head. But in the end, I loved him too much to be so selfish that I would keep him in misery just to keep him with me.
I went to see Chuck at the Buy More the next morning. The entire store was littered with reams of toilet paper, like the worst Halloween prank of all time. I didn't even ask–things were never quite normal at that Buy More, aside from Chuck and the spies that he attracted.
He was jumpy and nervous. I asked him what was wrong; I could tell right away he was agitated. He told me he had to tell me the truth. He was so out of sorts I told him to come to Castle so he could explain.
We were barely out of earshot of the Buy Morons when he told me he had done a secret internet search for Orion on his home computer. I was in complete shock.
He rambled, like he always does when he's nervous. Starting listing off computer jargon about search algorithms, input criteria, other things I'm sure I couldn't remember if you paid me. He then rambled off all the intel he had added. This was when I learned of the back of the Tron poster and every bit of information he had accumulated in the past two years. (That conversation, on the stairs in Castle, was when I learned he had actually heard me when I told him my middle name was Lisa.)
I was still in the process of digesting all of that information when he then told me Orion had contacted him through the computer at the Buy More.
I wish there were words for all of the emotions that I felt, all at the same time. Definitely like a hurricane, I can say that. I was hurt that he was keeping secrets, angry that he disregarded his own safety as well as my efforts to protect him, impressed that Chuck could do something so effortlessly the way he had…and terrified beyond reason. I had to force all of that down deep and put on a neutral face for Casey and Beckman. I didn't tell Casey why at first; I just told him to get Beckman on the com STAT. I must have been pretty sharp, because he didn't even ask me why.
Chuck did most of the explaining to Beckman. She almost came through the screen at him. I thought Casey was going to choke him while we sat there.
Chuck lost a little of his decisiveness in the face of Beckman's wrath, so I had to clarify the explanation with things he had mentioned to me that he was sort of clamming up on now.
Chuck told Beckman that Orion knew he was the Intersect. He hadn't mentioned that when he was explaining everything before. It was more terrifying than I had even imagined.
Chuck did mention the computer Orion was sending to Beckman. She wanted it retrieved and confiscated as soon as possible. I was obviously reeling from all that I had learned because I missed this when it was happening: Beckman warned about Orion's computers' abilities.
Remember–she had no leads. None of us knew anything. I still wonder if she just forgot herself at the moment, for many of the same reasons I did, or if she just stopped caring at this point that she was letting her former lie show so plainly.
Why Orion (or even Chuck's father) would have sent that computer via courier to the Buy More is beyond knowing. It completely boggles my mind even now. I should have asked Chuck's father when I had the chance, but I had so little time with him and then he was gone. That bit of information was inconsequential during that time. But now I'll never know what he was thinking, what his endgame actually was, other than a very deliberate, very noticeable series of events that allowed him to fake his own death.
I'm sure that was the spy and the father at odds. That's why I talk about them like they're two different people–because they were. Orion needed to appear dead (even for the short time he appeared so) in order to have time to transition back to Stephen Bartowski, so that he could make contact with Chuck. Can you imagine–forcing someone to believe they witnessed your murder…just to solidify an alibi? No father would do that to his son.
That was Orion, the spy. He put us directly in the path of death and an assassin named Vincent Smith who worked for Fulcrum. No father plays games with his son's life. But the spy had no choice. It was all a game to be played. Beckman, Casey and I, even Chuck, became pawns in that game. We were all fortunate that things happened the way they did.
Orion's (and Stephen Bartowski's) fatal flaw was arrogance. All heroes have them, and Orion was still a hero in this story. He could never see his own shortcomings, his own limitations. He never admitted to being wrong, despite all the damage he caused, most likely that initial damage caused by the same flaw and he still never learned. Bryce was like that more than he wasn't; perhaps that was why Bryce and Orion formed a sort of alliance behind the scenes. I'll never know, but I wonder sometimes.
So, that being said, the laptop was intercepted by Lester Patel, who forged Chuck's signature at the Nerd Herd desk. Hard to believe something so simple tripped up a master spy like that–until you understand that he thought he could never make a mistake or be wrong about anything.
We didn't know that when it happened. Chuck and I rushed upstairs to make sure if there was any delivery of anything, that he would be the one to receive it.
By then, everything had sunk in and I felt like I could talk again. I asked him why he didn't tell me. He looked contrite, not able to answer me straight away. I was angry, telling him he went rogue, and how dangerous what he had done actually was.
"And I didn't tell you." I admitted, knowing without me having to say it.
"And you didn't tell me," I repeated, hurt in my tone.
He told me I was right, but then at the same time repeated his desire to get the Intersect out at all costs. He brought up the very real point of the CIA and the NSA not being on board.
"You should have trusted me."
I walked away in a huff, and he didn't say anything else.
He should have trusted me. Not because I was particularly trustworthy (I was a spy, after all.) But because I loved him. Only he didn't know that, not for sure. I was angry over something I had no right to be angry over. But I was.
Not long after that confrontation, Casey called Chuck and me back down to Castle with an emergency. We were descending the stairs when Casey informed us Orion had commandeered a Predator drone from Edwards Air Force Base.
I was still smarting from that confrontation with Chuck because I missed another important fact: Casey said it was the same type of drone Orion had recently used in Hong Kong. Those two things together should have clued me in that Beckman and the NSA knew a whole hell of a lot more than they were telling me and Chuck. It still makes me angry thinking how dumb Beckman thought I was. Only thing that makes it worse is that I was that dumb. But, in the words of my husband, love makes you stupid. At least sometimes.
To be fair, he also admits–it makes you strong, brave, and the best version of yourself. All true.
From what Casey could tell, the drone was headed for the Buy More. Orion was trying to take Chuck out. It didn't make all that much sense, but the threat was real. Top priority was evacuating the store.
Casey and I were about to pull the fire alarm when Chuck told us the drone changed direction, with a new target. The Beverly Hills Buy More. Chuck concluded it was Morgan, somehow in control of Orion's laptop. He told us to look for Morgan instead.
Chuck came up from Castle leaving Morgan a message on his phone. It was either Morgan, Jeff or Lester with the computer. We split up to try and find them. Chuck was anxious, but surprisingly confident. I'm not sure he realized he even did it, but he was shouting orders to both Casey and me. Casey just listened to it, which is even weirder.
We finally found them in the men's room. Fortunately Chuck canceled the drone at the last second. Chuck called it to my attention that I had just run into the men's room. I left them to deal with everyone else.
In the meantime, Big Mike ended up taking the laptop from Chuck, believing as the others had, that it was the new Rourke 7 display model, and locking it up in his office. Our mission for the night was to break in and steal it back.
It's worth mentioning here that there really was a Rourke 7 due for display at the Burbank Buy More. It ended up being delivered right after this whole debacle, and fortunately that time, Chuck intercepted it. No one in that store ever knew the truth. Orion had used Rourke's newest design, only customized and enhanced it to the point where it was about six years more advanced than the model actually was. I vaguely recall Jeff and/or Lester commenting about how weird it was that the Rourke 7 model was so different from the real thing. Lester had some stupid reason he conjured up, and Chuck confirmed it to throw them off the scent.
Of course, what should have been a simple plan was doubly, or triply for that matter, complicated. We planned on stealing the laptop. Emmett Milbarge, the assistant manager, was on guard duty. However, Jeff and Lester had decided to break in the same night. And…Vincent Smith was sent by Fulcrum to retrieve it as well. Perfect storm.
While Chuck was in Mike's office, Vincent surprised him. Casey and I were dodging Jeff and Lester, and Emmett…until Emmett maced Jeff and Lester. Casey knocked Emmett unconscious. That was when Vincent showed up with Chuck held at gunpoint.
Casey shot Vincent in the shoulder. I told him to freeze, but he opened up his ring and took some kind of pill that made him froth at the mouth and appear to be dead. He wasn't, but we didn't know that until later.
We were in Castle trying to figure things out when Beckman contacted us. She told us it wasn't really Orion, but Fulcrum that had contacted Chuck and the entire operation was at risk. Chuck tried to argue with her, but she was as cold and sharp as I had ever heard her talk to him. She was on her way to California, with the threat of taking Chuck back with her if things were compromised.
The terror I was feeling intensified. Not only for his life, but for losing him as well.
Casey took the computer, Beckman was quoting her analysts and her technicians.
Chuck made the terrible mistake of appealing to me in front of her.
"Sarah…please."
I saw Beckman recoil from that, shocked, hearing the personal nature of the request. Casey gave me an awful warning look, a look that bespoke of the myriad diversions and interceptions he had been conducting all along, shielding Beckman from the true nature of my association with Chuck. I had suspected it all along, but not to the extent that Casey had actually been doing it. I would find out soon enough. Chuck, on the other hand, had no idea.
I had to shoot that down, remain professional. I was sure he wouldn't understand; he never seemed to understand how close he could be to being bunkered and me being sent away. I felt it acutely at that moment and responded accordingly. But I hurt him, wounded him, made him question whose side I was on. There was no way for me to tell him I was on his side, always, even when it looked like I wasn't.
With Beckman on her way to Casey's apartment, we took Chuck back to Echo Park. We were very fortunate that Ellie and Devon weren't around, because it would have been very hard to hide all of that from them.
He kept telling us he needed to talk to Beckman, but I had to tell him she didn't want to see him. I told him to go into his apartment and stay hidden. We could hear the security guards ahead of her as she approached the courtyard, so I tried to rush him inside.
I remember standing there, taking a step closer to him. This time, I wasn't wearing heels. It was a rare circumstance to be so close to Chuck and not be–it reminded me how tall he really was. When he would look down at me like that…I don't know what it was, but I loved that he was so tall. It's one of my favorite things about him. He apologized quickly for not telling me what he had done, a quick confession like he was wont to do, probably fearing he might not see me again. I told him it was ok. Anything to make him feel better. Standing that close, it took all my strength not to reach for him, hug him, hold him–for I was afraid of that too, more than I would ever show him.
If there was anything I could do to convince Beckman, I would. One of my mission objectives was to keep him out of a bunker. This was perilously close, and I was hoping to stop it if I could.
"I lied to Chuck earlier. He's done what no one else could do. He found him. Chuck found Orion."
I was reeling after Beckman said that, almost as if I was transferring Chuck's betrayal onto myself, as if her lying to me was just as bad. I would never have cared, never entertained the idea. I did what I was told, not really taking the time to decide if it was truth or lies. Ryker made me care for the first time, and now it was rampant inside me.
It didn't sink in right away…all that she said. What no one else could do.
I mean, I always thought that about Chuck. But once we knew it all, it was even more astounding.
The CIA, the NSA, and a handful of other alphabet agencies spent the better part of 20 years searching for Orion, or Stephen Bartowski, after he went rogue. But Chuck, on his home computer, found the man. In less than one month.
Now of course, you could say that by that point Orion wanted to be found, because he knew his son had been caught up in the very world he had left to protect him from. And make no mistake, Orion let himself be found, by both Chuck then and me later, even though I was looking for Stephen Bartowski, thinking they were separate people. But I also know that whatever Orion did or didn't know, whatever Bryce did or didn't know–Orion never surfaced at all the first time until Chuck found him.
That was the Piranha. Again, something I never knew until after we were married. Beckman, the CIA, the NSA…no one knew it was him. They only knew the name. Why Beckman didn't suspect, even a little bit, I have no idea. Maybe she did and she just looked the other way. Decker certainly knew, after all that business with the Omen Virus. But, that's for later.
She was very short with me, explaining all of the background, how Orion purged his personal records and went dark. Then she argued with me about how important Chuck was to national security. He could never meet Orion. She was adamant about it.
Orion had tapped into the surveillance feed and showed that conversation to Chuck, to help convince him that we couldn't be trusted.
Chuck's father had no idea how Chuck felt about me, nor how I felt about him. He was looking at it like a spy. He had no idea how trapped I was, how impossible the situation was. But the distrust had started, and it had started to grow…and it got worse before it got better, I hate to say. Orion convinced Chuck to escape his room and go to Castle to get his laptop.
I was in the middle of standing up to Beckman for Chuck when I realized that something was wrong. Chuck wouldn't have stayed in his room away from Beckman for so long when he knew she was right there.
Casey checked the surveillance. He wasn't in his room, even though his watch still was. He switched to Castle, just in time for us to see Vincent, who was supposed to be dead, taking Chuck out of there at gunpoint.
I felt like my heart stopped.
But I ran the tape back, looking for a clue about where they were going, something that would help us find him. I watched the footage, watched Chuck intentionally turn the table that had the laptop with the address clearly visible. Orion told him not to trust us, but that was his way of continuing to trust us. That we would see it and come to his aid.
And we did.
We got there just in time for me to see Vincent in the window of the hotel with a gun to Chuck's head.
The terror reared its head once again.
Were we too late? How could we save him?
Chuck saw me, but Vincent didn't. Chuck moved out of the way, angling himself so that Vincent was right in front of the window.
Yes, Chuck! Two years of training him had paid off.
I shot the sonofabitch through the window.
Casey and I ran straight into Chuck in the hallway. He was near hysterical, rambling about Orion being taken to the roof, that we needed to stop them.
I was screaming in return, trying to reason with him, trying to get him away from danger, but he ran anyway. We followed him all the way to the roof. The helicopter had just lifted off when we were outside.
Beckman called on the com to let us know a Predator was en route.
Orion was trying to take himself out, as Chuck said at the time.
He tried desperately to reprogram the drone, using the computer to reset it. If anyone but Orion had programmed it, Chuck would have been able to issue the counter command.
But he couldn't. Casey grabbed him harshly and he pushed Casey off. Then I grabbed him, trying to tell him this was one he couldn't fix. The level of defeat, of absolute despair, was all over his face. We all watched in horror as the drone fired on the helicopter and it went up in a fiery ball of flame.
He was inconsolable as we brought him back to Castle to meet with Beckman.
She tried to explain Orion's actions, why he had done what he did.
Chuck was direct, intense when he spoke to her. He told her what he had overheard–that she wanted him to stay the Intersect. She was honest, which I could tell shocked him. I tried arguing again, but Beckman stood her ground. She told Chuck it was time for him to become a spy.
Those words would be important in only about a month from this time, playing in his head as he tried to make a decision about whether to destroy the 2.0 or download it. He told me that. Her voice, but also mostly mine–because I always believed in him. And I did, I do.
He went home to rest, considering we had been up all night. Before I went home, I checked on him. I saw that he was awake, so I climbed in through the Morgan door (his bedroom window.) He made sure to tell me that he wasn't a spy. In the same way that he always had, partially defeated, like he wished that he could be. When all I wanted to tell him was that he didn't need to be, that he was better than that and he always would be.
But he had to learn that for himself, find his own path.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, Orion was still pushing that towards its fruition. At the same time Chuck was still not trusting me. That too would come to an epiphany in a very short time.
Also unbeknownst to me, Beckman was watching that little interaction between us from Castle. We were about to reap what we had sown.