A/N1: Ownership of Chuck is not up for grabs.
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Booker moved down the corridor of the empty mall at a quiet run and got to a corner. No matter that he was trying to be quiet, in the cavernous silence of the barren facility, he thought his footfalls were as loud as cymbals. While the woman Sylvia was taking him to the room with the bed, he'd paid attention to where he was in comparison to his partner, although the empty mall was no less creepy now that he was free and armed. Unless Alan had been moved, Booker knew he'd be able to find his way back. He only hoped not to bump into any of the bad guys on the way to his partner.
At the corner, he peeked around the edge of the wall. Seeing no one, he ran down the corridor to the next corner. Repeating his actions, he peeked around that corner.
Lt. Mauser was walking towards him.
He stepped out and said, in surprise, "Lieutenant."
Mauser stopped in surprise himself. "Booker."
"What are you...?" Booker began to ask.
"Where's Chen?" asked Mauser urgently.
"This way," Booker said, gesturing behind Mauser.
"Good, come on. Let's go get him. I've got SWAT outside ready to hit this place. I insisted on coming in first to get you guys out before the bullets started to fly. Let's get your partner and get the fuck out of here. I want to be nowhere nearby when they hit it."
"Yes, Sir," said Booker. Mauser's presence seemed strange, but in the heat of the moment, Booker couldn't think of a line of questions that fit the situation.
They got to the right door and Booker tucked Sylvia's gun into the front pocket of his pants while he tried key after key to open the door to the room with Chen. Finally, one key worked and the door opened.
Chen was sitting on the floor, pretty much as Booker had left him. He looked up in surprise to see Mauser behind Booker.
Before Chen could say anything, Mauser snatched the gun from Booker's pocket and shoved him hard into the room. He fell to his hands and knees.
Mauser stood in the doorway with Sylvia's pistol pointed at both men, who gaped at him with surprise.
"Sorry, guys," said Mauser. He actually did sound sorry.
"What the fuck?" declared Booker.
Chen, sitting against the wall, didn't move, but said, "The van. That's how they knew about the van. You told them to dump it and torch it."
"Yeah. I did."
"You've been part of this from the beginning," said Booker, from the ground. "Killing the homeless. The whole rogue spy thing."
"Yeah. I have. For a few years now." Mauser squatted down to face both men, but kept them at gunpoint. "I really am sorry about this, guys. You're good detectives. Sorry it has to go this way."
"This way?" asked Chen.
"You're going to kill us?" asked Booker.
"Well, yeah, we are. You see we can't let you shut down this operation. Too bad. I gave you guys the supposed murder of a homeless guy. Your first homicide. I knew you'd get nowhere. Couple of novices. But you proved me wrong. Seriously smart guys. First you got through to Carmichael and his team and then you found this place. Good work. Much better than I expected, to be honest," said Mauser. "You would have made good detectives."
"Dr. Bartowski will check our bodies. She'll know we were killed by your brain thing," said Chen.
"Yeah. That's why I'll stage it like a gang hit. Blow both your heads clean off with shotguns so there's nothing to find. One of the gangs you targeted in your last assignment is pissed off and orders a hit. Nothing for the doc to check. We'll pick up some bangers and squeeze them. Hell, probably get one of them to confess to it. You know how this works. And a double cop-killing. Man. Get a lot of support from the public. Maybe I'll get a commendation or something for solving it. Sucks for you guys, though. Speaking of sucks, though, hey, Booker, where's Sylvia?"
"Tied up with a wrecked nose," Booker said.
"Better than she deserves," snarled Mauser shaking his head.
"We respected you, Mauser. We were wrong. You're just another piece of shit with an ego. Your mouth writing checks your ass can't cash," said Chen.
"Well, can't really blame you for being pissed off, to tell the truth," he said with a shrug. "Gotta go now, though. Gotta go kill Larkin. I'll see you again. I want to be there when you get your brains fried. Figure I owe you guys that."
He stood and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
Booker resumed his seat against the wall next to Chen. He took the large folding knife partially out of his pocket and showed it to Chen. Chen nodded and shrugged.
After a while, Chen said, "I think I hate this spy shit."
"Yeah. Seriously."
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The men and women in the control room for the intersect tests were busy checking their computers for the diagnostics of the program. Everything looked good. White was satisfied that the test on Larkin would go according to the established parameters. Only two more tests with this iteration and they would move on to the next version and begin to test that. Probably on those two smart detectives.
He looked up startled as two figures dressed in black filled the doorway. An African-American man and a beautiful blonde. Both had submachine guns in the firing position and pointed at the men and women in the room, all of whom simply gaped at them with shock.
The man began to fire the suppressed weapon and, with economical short bursts, killed White and the rest of them, but left the machinery intact.
Sarah said, "Billy..?"
Billy said, "They were mass murderers of the most helpless and desperate. Fuck 'em." He moved into the room and began to check the bodies. He pushed one off the chair it was on, opening the computer terminal for Chuck.
Chuck appeared behind Sarah looking a bit distraught at the killing. Sarah said, quietly, "Hard to blame him, to be honest."
Chuck nodded to his love, but with a look of distaste. He immediately sat down at a keyboard and began to delve into Fulcrum's intersect system. Right off the bat, he saw that Bryce was on the monitors.
"Sarah, Bryce is strapped down to get one of their fucked up intersects. He's..." Chuck overlayed a map of the center onto the information in front of him. "He's down this corridor. Second left and then third room to the right."
"I got it. Billy, stay with Chuck."
"You got it, Sarah" he said.
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Mauser hurried back to the testing room, but heard voices inside and paused before entering. He drew his weapon and listened silently.
"Are you ok?" he heard a woman's voice ask.
"Yeah. I'm ok. I'm ok. They didn't do the intersect thing to me yet. You arrived just in time. They still think I have the intersect from DC last year. They don't know I sent it to Chuck."
"Ok. Here. Let me get you out of this chair," said the woman. There was silence for a few moments, with just the mechanical sounds of the restraints being removed.
Hiding in the corridor next to the door, flattened against the wall, Mauser was taken by surprise when the blonde agent he knew as Walker slammed the butt of her weapon into his head. There was no question it rocked him, but he rolled with it and came up raising his weapon. There followed a quick skirmish and both of their weapons went skittering off in opposite directions.
Mauser hauled back and threw a strong right cross at Sarah, with his power he trusted that it was a blow that would knock out the majority of large men. But she was faster than he was and his fist sailed harmlessly past her chin. He felt her hands grasp his wrist on the way past and expected a throw to follow.
The throw over her hip took him to the ground, but he rolled with it and came up on his feet. He knew he couldn't let an opponent of her caliber settle herself, so he threw himself at her even before he had his own balance. The unexpected move caught her by surprise and knocked her to the ground.
Sarah executed a quick backroll, but not quickly enough to avoid a left jab that she only partially managed to deflect. As she was staggered back hurt by the punch, Mauser threw a front kick into her belly. She dodged it, jumping backwards and slamming into the wall of the corridor behind her. Mauser followed up with a powerful straight right to her face, but she shifted her head at the last second and his hand slammed into the wall behind her.
She heard the crack of broken bones. He staggered backwards, pulling his right hand back. She took his left wrist, twisted it and put him in an arm lock. Given his strength, she didn't want to take any chances and using the lock, swung him 180 degrees to run his head solidly into the wall. Really hard.
He went down in a heap at her feet. Breathing hard, she took the handcuffs from his belt and cuffed him to a pipe in the corridor. She performed a quick search and removed other weapons and implements of mischief, including handcuff keys.
The sound of gunfire was echoing around the building. As she searched him he said to her, "Too bad, Agent Walker. I know that your Carmichael has the intersect. You can kiss him goodbye now. I wouldn't wait for the wedding. It might be too late. Fulcrum's going to take care of him before then."
Sarah looked at him stone-faced for a few moments. Clearly, Mauser didn't know her reputation or he'd have never said what he did. Even so, he shivered at the sight of her cold blue eyes.
"We'll see," was all she said heading back to Bryce.
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In the intersect control room, Chuck said to Billy, "We're good. I've got their intersect research. I'm taking it and leaving them nothing. And I'm feeding a virus through the next time they back up the system. Just like I did last time. Don't know if it will mean anything, but it can't hurt."
The sounds of gunfire began to echo around the center as the rest of the team took on the Fulcrum operatives.
Chuck said, "I'm good here, Billy. You can go help the others if you want."
"Chuck, can you even imagine what Sarah would do to me if I left you without a backup and something bad happened?"
"Oh, yeah. That's true. You should probably stay," he said.
"Yeah," said Billy, with a tight smile.
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Booker and Chen sat on the floor and heard the sound of gunfire and banging approaching them. Both men got to their feet, waiting to see what would happen next.
The door to their room was kicked in by a red-haired giant festooned with weapons. He looked like a Viking warrior from legend.
He looked at them for a moment and asked, "You the cops?"
"Yeah," said Chen.
"I'm Fitz. I'm with Carmichael. You guys ok?"
"Yeah," said Booker. "We're ok"
"Can you work?"
"Yeah," said Chen. "What do you have for us?"
"Get to the homeless on the other side of the center. These bastards aren't above taking them hostage or something. Get them to safety while we deal with the rest of them."
"Yes, Sir," said Chen.
As the two men went running from the room towards the homeless, Booker said to Chen, "Why'd you call him 'sir'? You could have called him Fitz. You're still sucking up."
"You know I hate you?" said Chen as they ran.
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Casey, Marco, Leo, Fitz and Zondra were engaged in a tit for tat gunfight with the Fulcrum team. They were outnumbered and, with the rifles the others had brought to the fight, outgunned. They had better communications and better leadership, with Casey directing them tactically, but it was turning into a bad situation.
At the moment, they were trapped in the theater of the complex, popping up to take shots at the Fulcrum team. The Fulcrum men, on the other hand, were firing at them with assault rifles, the faster bullets ripping through the scant concealment the seats provided.
"Chuck, Sarah, Billy, get Larkin and get out. This thing is turning into a shitshow. We'll cover your retreat," said Casey.
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Booker and Chen ran down the corridors towards the area where they knew the homeless were located.
Suddenly, popping out of a side corridor, Rhyerson stood in their way.
"Well, hey. It's the police officers. Hi, police officers. No guns now, huh?" he said.
"Freeze, Rhyerson. You're under arrest," barked Booker.
Rhyerson laughed and said, "No kidding." He stepped back and into a martial arts stance and said, "Well, let's see, huh?"
Booker and Chen separated and squared off against Rhyerson. Booker took the initiative and ran at the man, only to get wiped out by a lightning fast spinning back kick.
Chen had moved up with Booker's attack, but the speed of Rhyerson took him by surprise and he hadn't closed the distance to attack when his partner was flattened.
Exaggerating his stance, Rhyerson said, with a smirk, "Come on, Jackie Chan. Let's see what you can do."
"You know that's racist?" asked Chen.
"Oh, come on. It was only a joke," said Rhyerson, sounding genuinely defensive. "Seriously, I didn't mean anything by it."
Chen moved in, watching Rhyerson closely, waiting for him to move first. And it happened. Rhyerson shifted his weight onto his leading foot to leap forward to close the distance for another kick. Chen spotted that and dove headfirst at the man's supporting knee. As fast as Rhyerson was, his roundhouse kick passed harmlessly over Chen's head and the man's knee buckled under Chen's shoulder.
Just as Chen was tackling Rhyerson, Booker came back to life and threw himself into the fight. As good as Rhyerson might have been at grappling, to handle two strong men was too much for him. Without much more trouble, Booker and Chen subdued the man and used Chen's cuffs to incapacitate him.
As they were walking away, he yelled out to Chen, "Hey, dude, it was just a joke. Just so you know."
"Whatever," Chen yelled back. Turning to Booker he said, "I hate that everyone assumes I'm some kind of martial arts master. I took violin after school not kung-fu."
"I know."
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Over their communcations net, Chuck called out to his team in the main theater room, "Guys, what's your status?"
Fitz said, with the sounds of gunfire behind him, "No good, Chuck. Get everyone else out of here. The Colonel's wounded and we're pinned down. You guys bail."
Chuck said, while typing frantically on the keyboard in front of him, "Where are the cops? Booker and Chen?"
Fitz said, "Other side of the complex. Going to the homeless."
"Ok." Chuck made sure he was talking to his entire team. "All of our team. Close your eyes. Tight. Close your eyes. Confirm." He heard each member confirm. His hand hovered over the ENTER key.
Billy knocked Chuck's hand aside and said "On me, dude. I have a bone to pick." He hit the key.
Through their earwigs they started to hear screams as the Fulcrum operatives began to die from the faulty intersect being shown on the big movie screen at the front of the theater. The screams went on for a while as the program ran.
When they were silent, Chuck said, "Fitz, status?"
"All friendlies good, Chuck. Home run, dude."
"The Fulcrum guys?"
"Still checking, but it doesn't look good for any of them. I think it was a clean sweep."
Chuck sighed deeply.
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Sarah finished loosening Bryce's bindings and handed him a gun as he came out of the chair. She said, "Mauser heard you before. He knows Chuck is the intersect."
"Ah," said Bryce, nodding his head in understanding.
He walked out to the corridor where Mauser was waiting. Bryce yanked him up by his collar, disengaged him from the pipe, and began to lead him into the main theater room at gunpoint.
"You think you've won, Larkin?" taunted Mauser.
They got to the huge room, where Fitz and the guys were checking the bodies of the Fulcrum men and women.
"No, not necessarily, but I think you've lost." Bryce shot him twice in the back of the head. As Mauser's body collapsed to the ground, the phrase 'clean-up in aisle ten' flashed through Bryce's mind. He knew it was inappropriately flippant given what he'd just done, but he couldn't stop it. Even as it went on repeat in his mind.
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About a half hour later, as a swarm of IC cleaners were taking care of the Fulcrum bodies and the damage to the center, Sarah stood talking to Booker and Chen in the afternoon sunlight. The homeless were bunched off to one side, being tended to by the IC cleaners, in the guise of social workers.
"Any of your team hurt?" asked Booker.
"Casey lost a toe. But that's it," said Sarah.
"Could've been worse," said Chen.
"Much worse," agreed Sarah.
"The rest of them? Of the bad guys?" asked Booker.
"The only survivors were Rhyerson and the woman you took care of. The rest are dead," she said.
The sobered the cops, not used to the level of violence inflicted by the good guys. "Mauser?" Chen asked finally.
"Yeah," she said. "Killed in the shoot-out. Died a hero."
"Oh. Yeah. A hero. Right," said Booker.
Chen said, "I hate this spy shit."
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A/N2: How about you guys? You hate this spy shit? Let me know. Oh, and on the FB page David is running the Chuckie awards again. New Day isn't eligible for the spy story category this time around. How about best short story? Anyone? What do you think? No? LOL.