A/N: Thanks for coming back to this story after another long wait. Well, five weeks. It took me a quite some time to work out what I wanted to do, as I was veering so far from canon.

Beta thanks, as usual, to my friend Capt Lil.

This chapter is in place of "Chuck Versus the Subway" because there was so little that I could use from that episode.


Don't Walk Away

Chapter 20: Decker


The dressing down they received for their failure at the Ring base was the worst since they'd been together.

"Apart from the twenty that had attacked the SWAT team, you failed to overcome any of the Ring agents. Worse than that, none of those survived to provide any information!"

The general then focused on Casey. "You should've controlled the situation so that at least one agent survived." He tightened his jaw but said nothing.

She glared at Chuck. "Your intel on the building was out of date and completely useless. I thought you were supposed to be a good field analyst!"

She finally turned to Sarah, who was now royally pissed at them being treated as though this was all their fault. Before Beckman could say anything, Sarah did. "Yes, I'm at fault of being right. We should've bombed the place rather than try to infiltrate it."

The general's jaw snapped shut and the glare Sarah received was the strongest, but she spoke as if Sarah had said nothing, "You destroyed the Ring Intersect lab from which we could've learned just how far they'd come."

Beckman stopped and straightened her papers. "I am now being called to account for this failure. Find Decker and stop him." Looking at Sarah again, she added. "By any means."

The call ended abruptly.

That phrase had gotten Sarah even more pissed off.

"I don't think Decker has ever been human enough to want to bed you, Walker," Casey said. "But you shouldn't have poked the bear, all the same."

"But I was right!" Sarah snapped.

"We wouldn't have known if Decker was still there, though. We still don't."

"His car wasn't in the garage," Chuck stated.

Sarah turned to him. "So, start tracking." She then stormed out of Castle.


Sarah felt guilty for how she'd snapped at her boyfriend. She had no excuse, but the general had wound her up so much.

Just the thought of a seduction mission was bad enough. She'd accepted those as part of the job in the past, but she'd changed now. Even before they got together, she'd found out what it was like when someone you were close to went on one. Chuck having to seduce, or rather be seduced by, Sasha Banacheck had tied Sarah up in knots.

She had vowed never to do that again and had told Beckman.

Both women knew that sort of thing wouldn't work on Decker. For one thing, he'd know who she was, but he'd have been trained to look out for it. Ironically, it would probably have worked on Bryce, but then he was always driven by his crotch rather than his brain.

She decided to use some of her contacts in Langley to profile the man better.


Two hours later, Sarah returned to Castle. As she walked down the stairs, she could see Chuck still working at the computer. She walked up behind him and kissed his cheek. "Sorry for my attitude earlier, Chuck."

He stopped typing, swizzled his chair around and pulled her into a kiss. Not just a peck on the lips, but a full, open mouthed kiss. She nearly moaned into it before pulling away. His eyes were full of affection and maybe more, and she suspected hers were too. "Hmm, later," she murmured.

"I felt mad at the general, too," he said. "So, I fully understood your reaction."

"I'm still sorry," she replied. "How are you getting on?"

"I've already shown Casey, but you have to see this." He turned and after his fingers flew over the keyboard for a few moments, a recording from one of the street cameras appeared on the screen. The road was empty, but then a car appeared from the bottom left. "That's Decker's car," Chuck commented.

Suddenly, the car swerved to the left and then sharply to the right and crashed into a lamppost.

"What the fuck?" she gasped out.

"It gets better." The driver's door opened and Decker staggered out, but then bent double holding the sides of his head. "If he'd hit his head, it would be the front in pain," Chuck commented. "I think his Intersect is playing up. Probably caused him to lose control, too."

Another car stopped and Decker was helped into the back. The contents of his car were transferred into the trunk of the second one before it drove off.

Chuck looked at her. "Before you ask, I tracked that car as far as I could, too, but this seems significant."

"It is," she replied.

"We've left a message for the general about it, but have not had a reply yet. It seems she is in some tribunal at the moment."

"And the new car he was in? You suggested you didn't find out where it went."

"No. I lost track of it after it got a further three miles, but we know the area to search now. The other vehicles that left around the same time dispersed, but a few went to the same area."

"Must be a secondary base of some sort."

"That's what Casey said. He's gone to scout around the area."

"I've been doing some digging at Langley," she said. "It seems that Decker has a team of loyal operatives that work for him. At least six of them."

"Did he leave them behind or take them with him?" he asked.

"I suspect they play on both sides. Covering up some of what he's doing when in Langley."

"Phew!" he breathed out. "We should tell Director Jackson."

"I've got a call out for him. Apparently he's with the general."

He looked confused. "How has our only mistake caused such a reaction?"

"I don't know. It feels ominous."

He huffed. "As if we haven't got enough to worry about."


It had been three hours since Casey had gone out and they'd heard nothing from him. Chuck had tried contacting him and received no reply. She voiced her concerns, "He may be silent because he's been caught."

Chuck looked at her and turned to the computer. "I'll check where his car is." She looked over his shoulder. "Well, it's stationary," he commented.

"That just means the tracker has not been destroyed, but it's a place to start looking for him," she replied.

They headed into the armory to dress and prepare to set off. However, before they left, Sarah's phone rang. She looked at it. "The general," she told Chuck.

"Agent Walker, I got your message. I'm setting up a call with you and Director Jackson." She ended the call.

Chuck and Sarah sat and waited for the video call to connect. General Beckman appeared on the left side of the screen and Director Jackson on the right.

Beckman launched straight in. "It seems that Clyde Decker has contacts in the government. I was called to be questioned on the cost and value of the Intersect project." She paused and then added, "Especially after the recent failure to eliminate a Ring cell in Los Angeles."

"But-" Chuck started.

Sarah grasped his hand and squeezed it to stop him speaking.

"I heard that this was happening and went to support the general," Jackson said.

Beckman spoke again, "The result is that you can continue, but no more SWAT attacks." She then frowned. "I tried to contact Colonel Casey first, but got no reply. Where is he?"

Sarah explained what Chuck had found and Casey's last known whereabouts.

"So, you think he may have been captured or worse?" the general asked.

Sarah forced the latter out of her mind. "Yes, Ma'am."

"And you think he's where Decker was taken?"

"Yes, General."

"Well, no SWAT team, this time," Beckman replied. "And this is not a rescue mission. You are there to find Decker and eliminate him."

Chuck's jaw dropped, but this was what Sarah expected. However, the general added, "If, in the process, the colonel is found and helps you, all the better."

Sarah noticed Jackson's lips curling up slightly on hearing the general say that.

"Very well, Ma'am."


"What're our chances?" Chuck said, as they walked to her car.

"Slim, at best," she replied.

He grabbed her and kissed her hard. She recognized it as a goodbye kiss, much like the one she'd given him a couple of years earlier. She kissed him back just as passionately.

When they separated, he said, "I'm going to call dad, he might be able to help." She nodded, but doubted it.

They got into the Porsche and she set off, listening to him talking to his father. After he explained the situation, Stephen let out a sigh, then said, "You know this is suicide, don't you?"

"We have to do this, dad. We can't let another Intersect run loose."

"God damned Intersect," Stephen growled. "The Bartowski curse."

"Can you help in any way, dad," Chuck said.

"Find out which building. I can control their lighting and power once I know which one."

Sarah had no idea how he could say that so confidently, but she'd seen the sort of magic his son managed and Orion was supposed to be just as skilled, if not more so.

"In fact, I can find where the people are in the building with infra-red sensors on a drone," Stephen said.

"That would be great, dad." Chuck gave him the location of Casey's tracker.

"On it."


Director Jackson provided Sarah with a small team of men. These weren't SWAT, but ex- military CIA men. However, there were only four of them. Not the strike force she would've liked, but it was better than just her on her own.

Because she had four armed men with her, Sarah had persuaded Chuck to remain in Castle to provide further support. He wasn't happy but could see that she wouldn't proceed until he agreed.

Stephen's drone had found twenty men in the building. Spread this time between the three floors. Ten on the third floor, then six and only four on the first floor. This one didn't have a basement, which was just as well because the drone wouldn't have been able to see into one.

A separate drone with a normal camera had captured the vehicles behind the back of the building. The one Decker had arrived in wasn't amongst them, but that didn't surprise them. Chuck had checked the cars that had left the last few hours and it wasn't one of them. If he had left, it would've been in one of two vans, but they doubted that.

Sarah wondered what state Decker was in. The Intersect in his head was known to be faulty, so was it affecting him more than they'd seen?

After that drone assistance, Stephen helped as much as he could. He provided the aerial support they needed. The general wouldn't be happy with him dropping bombs on the roof, but she'd effectively washed her hands of the affair, so they didn't care.

When the first bomb landed, Sarah launched a rocket through the front entrance. She didn't expect to hit anyone, because she assumed they would all be rushing out the rear of the building to get to their vehicles. They'd prepared for that. One of the men with her, Jake Fraser, was waiting at the side of the building. He'd rolled several oil cans down that side because it provided the exit from the rear parking lot.

After the bombs and the rocket, those inside would probably be heading to their cars. Jake fired a rocket into the first vehicle that started down that route, just as it passed the oil cans. It was a large van and when it lit up, so did the oil. That not only blocked the exit for vehicles, but also for pedestrians who would need to pass through a wall of flame.

Jake quickly ran around the building and joined Sarah and the others as they ran to the entrance.

Chuck was sitting in Castle on surveillance. She knew he would be hating it, but he had promised Sarah that he'd not go with them. All four entering the building were wearing cameras, so he saw everything they did. In addition, they were attaching cameras to the door frames they passed so an increasing set of windows would be appearing on the monitors in front of him.

So far, everything had gone according to plan. Sarah's plan, not the general's. They found Casey in a cell on the first floor, so they released him. The Ring resistance was less than expected as they started up the stairs to the second floor, hoping to find Decker.

Stephen's infra-red drone was useless with all the fires. So, he'd sent that away. And he'd just dropped his final bomb from the other drone. This time he'd sent it into the densely packed cars and vans in the rear. So, he told the team that he was going to send that away, too.

They suddenly heard a worried Chuck, "Err, guys. We have a problem."

Sarah froze, and Casey did, too.

"Five men all in black with masks and guns just entered the Buy More. And there's ten at the Double O. Our two NSA agents didn't last long."

As she started running to get out of the building, Sarah hissed into her watch, "Stephen-"

"I know, he replied. "Directing the drone there, but it can only observe now."

She knew that but still shouted, "Shit!"

"Bartowski," Casey called. "Top left drawer." Sarah knew what that would be. He might have to use it.

"That's not my thing, Casey," Chuck said.

"Being captured or dead isn't either," growled the NSA agent as they reached her car.

"You might have to use it, Chuck. I… we can't lose you," Sarah exclaimed.

"Shit! Decker's here and entering the Double O," Chuck gasped.

Sarah cursed and looked at her partner. "Drive as fast as you can," he shared.

"I'll lower the barriers as they come through," Chuck said. "It'll slow them, if nothing else."

Casey grunted his approval. "Those barriers will be too much for individuals to overcome, so if you can split them up…"

Chuck interrupted him, "That's the plan, but it will need all my concentration." He was effectively telling them to shut up.

The drive to the Orange Orange was more tense than any journey Sarah could remember.

Just as they were pulling into the parking lot, Chuck moaned. "I got most of them, but Decker shot out two of the cameras. There's now him and one other."

"Take it," Casey growled, but then had to focus on the threat facing him and Sarah.

Three men were outside the frozen yogurt shop and opened fire on his car. Casey mowed one of them down and then he and Sarah dived out of the car. Two accurate shots from them took the other two men out.

They ran into the Orange Orange. Neither commented on the bodies on the floor, the two NSA agents in orange and white and the man in black, all of them with blood pooling around them.

The secure door to Castle hadn't proved much trouble to Decker who'd probably used his Intersect to find his way past it.

"You need to open the barriers for us, Chuck," she urgently cried.

There was no answer, but they found no barriers in their way. A bullet flew past Sarah's head, and she focused on killing anyone in her way. Casey was acting the same way, but they had to take cover from the spray of bullets being fired at them.

She knew there must be six of them down here. She managed to hit the head of one that didn't duck back into the doorway he was using for cover and she heard Casey grunt as he did the same.

Looking down the stairs into the main room, she could see no one. She knew Chuck was in one of the rooms further in, so they had to head that way.

As soon as they got to the main corridor, there were already two bodies on the floor, nearer to Sarah and Casey. They must've tried to shoot the barrier they faced, the bullet ricocheting off it back at them. That meant they were now down to just Decker and that one other Ring agent.

What was troubling was the silence from ahead. What did that mean and what had happened?

The two partners edged forward cautiously. Sarah wanted to run to her boyfriend, but knew that would be suicidal.

They finally got near to the location that she knew Chuck had set up with all his monitors. A man all in black lay on the floor outside that room. Two darts were in his chest. That was encouraging, but no sign of Chuck or Decker.

Sarah couldn't wait any longer. She rushed to the door and peeked inside.

Decker lay on the floor. Casey rushed to check on him, while Sarah rushed to Chuck who was sitting in his chair beside the computer. He had that swiveled around and was bent over with his head in his hands.

Sarah wanted to wrap her arms around him and smother him in kisses, but she was unsure what was wrong. "Are you hurt?" she asked.

"Not physically," he mumbled.

That was enough to know. She pulled his hands away and pulled him to her, hugging him tightly.

"What happened?" she whispered.

He said nothing for a moment, just holding onto her.

Then, he pulled back a bit and spoke. "I remembered that Decker had a faulty Intersect and no one knew how long it would work. Dad had mentioned before about overloading the Intersect, my one, which could shut down and I'd pass out, so it seemed logical that his faulty one would too, and probably very quickly."

He took a deep breath. "When I was on my own, I'd pulled together a slideshow using images of the various enemies we've faced. I had him in mind, thinking it would freeze him, at least momentarily. I set it up so that I could run it on the monitors behind me. As Decker pushed past the man I'd tranq'd who was falling back, I didn't try shooting Decker, who was holding a tranq pistol, because he'd probably dodge easily. I pressed a button I'd rigged up to switch the lights off and hit play. I closed my eyes, but that wasn't really necessary as the displays were behind me."

He shuddered before continuing. "I was ready to tranq him, but it wasn't necessary. I heard a thump as his body hit the floor, very quickly. I had to grope around to put the lights back on and cautiously opened my eyes. The slideshow was still running, so I halted it."

He looked at Sarah with haunted eyes. "He had no pulse when I got down to him. I killed him, Sarah!"

Sarah wrapped her arms around him as he collapsed into her embrace.

"He's right," Casey said. "Decker's dead."

Sarah just held onto Chuck as he sobbed.


"The lights going off will have disoriented Decker for a second," Casey said to the general as the two agents debriefed. "But Bartowski was lucky that the number of images he had in his little show were more than sufficient to overload the faulty Intersect. Otherwise, it might not have worked at all."

"And he tranq'd the other Ring agent?" Beckman asked.

"He did, Ma'am," Sarah confirmed.

The woman on the screen shook her head. "And he did that to avoid killing anyone," she muttered, almost to herself.

"Laudanol wouldn't have helped him, General," Casey stated. "It wouldn't have gotten him away from Decker's darts."

The general sighed. "I suppose you're right." She then asked, "And all the other Ring agents?"

"All dead apart from that one, General," Sarah replied.

"And at the other site?"

"The men we left there caught a scientist," Casey told her.

Beckman sighed. "We will have to interview the scientist about the Intersect and the lab." She looked at them and added, "We need something other than just Decker's body when I have to go before another tribunal."

Both agents nodded at the general. "And Chuck?" she asked.

Sarah was pleased that she asked, and that she used his first name. It seemed like she cared. "Decker is his first kill. He's not taking it well."

"Then it's a good job his girlfriend can help him through that, isn't it?" Sarah nodded. "Take a few days off and do that."

"Thank you, General," Sarah replied.

As the screen went blank, Casey said. "He will need you."

"I know."

Sarah quickly left the building and climbed into her car. Chuck was at home, still in quite a state.

She knew what her first kill felt like. She'd had no one to talk to about it. She would be there for the man she loved and would do whatever she could to help him through this.


A/N: Ok, a small amount from the episode was used, but not much. Sorry if you wanted more of it.

It'll be another long wait for the next chapter for the same reason as for this one. Sorry about that too.

Any chance of a review? I'd really appreciate it.