A/N: Sorry. Since Covid hit, this fic went on the back burner. I don't know why, it's not angsty, it's just a lot to think about. Anyway, thought I'd take a stab and see about getting the brain flowing again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"What are you going to do to her?" Chuck asked, following Sarah down the hall. "Look, I know you don't like Heather, and she has John…" He went silent, as she gave him a look. He continued to follow her. "We aren't like that, Sarah. We don't hurt people."

"Really? Your mom's never hurt anyone? Casey? Bryce?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, they have, but you don't have to," Chuck said, grabbing her arm and making her turn and face him. She glanced at his hand, and he released her. She locked eyes with him, and crossed her arms. "You don't have to, and frankly, I don't want you to."

She studied his face and then grinned. "Good," she said, bouncing a shoulder.

"Good?"

"Good. I would hope my husband wouldn't want me to do something like this," she told him. Chuck licked his lips, not sure what to say. "But, we need information, so, I have an idea… a compromise, if you will." Chuck gave her a skeptical look. "You're cute when you get all protector-ey," she said, turning and continuing down the hall. He chased after her.

}o{

"Let me go!" Heather screamed, her hands tied together, a blindfold over her eyes, as Sarah removing the gag from her mouth. "When I get out of here-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Sarah yelled, startling Heather. Sarah leaned in toward her, their noses inches apart. Heather flinched. She couldn't see, but she could feel Sarah's presence. Sarah put a hand on the back of the chair to which Heather was tied, and she spoke in a low, quiet voice. "For years you tortured me, for years you mocked me."

"She's really good," Carina said, observing her from the observation room.

"I think the personal connection is really helping here," Chuck concurred, turning toward Carina.

"Umhmm," Carina agreed, nodding.

Sarah had pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, looked at the two-way mirror, and winked. "Here's the deal," she said in a low dangerous tone, not reflecting the huge smile on her face. She shoved the corner of the cell phone into Heather's leg. "That's a blowtorch, and I can't wait to use it on you, to get payback for Dick Duffy-"

"OH GOD!" Heather screamed.

"The jokes about my father," Sarah continued.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Heather yelled.

"And just because I hate your ass!" Sarah hissed.

"I'LL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU NEED TO KNOW!" Heather pleaded. Chuck and Carina watched liquid hit the floor.

"She pissed herself," Carina said, shaking her head. "Serves her right."

"Remind me to never piss off Sarah," Chuck said softly.

"Don't worry, Curls… if Walker ever ties you to a chair, I'm sure you'll enjoy what she does to you." Chuck turned to Carina, his eyes wide.

}o{

"What about Ratner?" Beckman asked, the group having gathered in the conference room.

"Singing like a canary," Bryce told them. "The problem is, he's said so much that we can't keep up with it all."

"Is he lying about anything?" Mary asked, amused.

"Not that we can tell," Bryce admitted. "He just keeps telling us about stuff, but nothing that can help us figure out who Bennett is working for."

"Bennett has to be bankrolled by someone," Mary mused. "He's too much about the mission to afford to have that kind of compound."

"I've searched and searched, Mary," Bryce said. "I keep hitting one shell corporation after another."

"Keep trying, Bryce. In the meantime, chances are what we need is in Bennett's compound. A compound of which we now know the location, thanks to Sarah," Mary said, nodding to her.

"And she didn't even have to hurt Heather," Chuck added in. Sarah glanced at him, shook her head, and grinned. "So now-"

"So now, we need to figure out how to get a tactical team in there," Beckman said.

"Wait a minute," Mary interjected. "I get my team in there." Chuck looked over at Morgan, who rolled his eyes. Chuck gestured with his head toward the back of the room, and Morgan started to move that direction. Bryce saw what they were doing, and followed. Chuck tapped Sarah on the shoulder, and nodded for her to follow him. The four met in the back.

"Okay," Chuck said in a low voice. "We know Bennett, so how do we approach this."

"What about them?" Sarah asked, pointing over her shoulder at the argument Mary and Beckman were having.

"They have our partner," Chuck told Sarah. "Plus," and he looked over at Bryce, "this is personal for us."

"Damn right," Bryce said, nodding. "First thing we know is Bennett is all about honor, taught Casey everything he knows about honor."

"What is the goal of this op?" Morgan asked.

"Primarily, it's to rescue Casey," Chuck said. "Secondarily… Bryce?"

"Tough call," Bryce admitted. "I want to see him captured or eliminated." There was a hard tone to Bryce's voice. Chuck squeezed Bryce's shoulder. "But, if we don't know who is bankrolling him, we're at a dead end. I don't know if we can break Bennett, without doing something you won't like."

"So, what you really need is a distraction to get into Bennett's office… like a magnet," Morgan said, tapping his lip with his finger. "Bennett believes in challenges, and all that stuff." Chuck gave Morgan a look. "We might have watched some Kung Fu movies together."

"What are you thinking?" Chuck asked.

"Magnet," Morgan replied.

"Nope," Chuck said quickly. "That's how Skip got killed."

"No, no, no," Morgan disagreed. "That was subterfuge. This is straight-up distraction. You would walk in with a challenge, and get everyone's attention, while Carina and Zondra do the sneaking."

"You expect me to fight Bennett?" Chuck asked. "I'm not that good."

"I've seen your updated files," Morgan reminded Chuck. Chuck's ears went red.

"Seems I'm missing something," Sarah said, looking from one to the other.

"Welllll," Chuck drawled, scratching his neck, uncomfortably. "Remember how you flipped me?"

"You mean literally, or figuratively?" Sarah asked him.

"Nice," he replied. Morgan cleared his throat, making a gesture for Chuck to get on with it. "I might have written about your skills, in your file."

"He used a twelve-point font, if it makes you feel any better," Morgan added.

"So, you think I can fight Bennett?" Sarah asked.

"You don't have to win, but yes, we need you," Morgan explained. "Some of the time he will spend mocking you, and dancing and making fun of you, because he believes he's that good. He'll find it hilarious that you would even entertain the thought of fighting him."

Sarah looked at Chuck. "What do you think?"

"Oh, I absolutely hate the idea," Chuck said quickly. "But they have Casey, and I can't just let him die. On the other hand, I can't put you in a position where you could get killed."

She pulled her chin back. "Excuse me?" Chuck began to open his mouth. "Nope," she said, cutting him off, making him clack his teeth shut. "File." Chuck handed Bennett's file to her. She read for a minute. "Okay, I can do this."

"All we need is five or ten minutes, and then Chuck can drop some flash bang grenades," Bryce told her. "Bennett only has six men in the compound with him."

"Not much of a crew," Chuck said.

"Exactly," Morgan said. "I can get a drone that measures heat signatures, make sure everyone is in the room where Sarah is fighting Bennett, and then have Carina and Zondra go through Bennett's files and computers. He isn't connected to the Internet, which makes me think he's hiding something in there."

"Plus, he probably has the ability to wipe the hard drive if something goes wrong," Bryce added. "Otherwise we'd just storm the compound."

"What do you think?" Chuck asked.

"I think he deserves his ass kicked," Sarah replied.

"So, you know how gentle you were when you flipped me?" Chuck began.

"I wasn't that gentle," she admitted, smirking.

"Be even less gentle," Chuck said, his smile gone, a hard look on his face. "He's a trained killer, Sarah. You do whatever it takes to defend yourself. The second it looks like it's going bad, I'll set off those grenades."

"Chuck," Sarah began.

"No, this is non-negotiable," Chuck told her. He pointed at Bryce. "That son-of-a-bitch did that to him, and I can't have him do it to you." Tears welled up in his eyes. "I can't lose you."

"You're not going to," she said, pulling him into a hug. Bryce and Morgan both turned away, and shared a knowing look.

}o{

"Ty Bennett," Sarah's voice rang out a few hours later as she entered the compound. "I am here to challenge you."

"You don't get to come in here and challenge me," Bennett replied, standing.

"Walker, what the hell are you doing?" Casey asked.

"You know her?" Bennett asked. "Oh, she was the one with Chuck." He shook his head. "My dear, you can do so much better than him." He gestured to his guards. "Any of these men would be a much better boyfriend than him."

Sarah tilted her head to the side, and kicked the one closest to her with a side kick, directly in the head, knocking him out. "Anyone else wanna be my boyfriend?" The other five stepped away from her. "Good. Then we'll leave alone the fact you don't know the first thing about what a good man Chuck Bartowski is, and point out that I have challenged you, and now I know you have no honor."

Bennett drew up. His face went menacing as he stood there, glaring at Sarah. "You know nothing of my honor!" Bennett hissed.

"I know that I challenged you, and you haven't accepted it," Sarah replied. "Oh… I get it, you a misogynistic pig."

"I have daughters!" Bennett yelled.

"Typical dude-bro answer," Sarah replied. "It's what all the assholes say."

"We've found his computer," Zondra said into Sarah's ear. "Keep him talking, we're close."

"Riley, Brisco, teach her a lesson," Bennett told his men.

"What, you don't honor me by fighting them one at a time?" Sarah asked.

Bennett growled. "Fine. Riley. And if he doesn't do the job, then Brisco."

"What about Peter, Paul, and Mary over there," Sarah said, nodding toward the other three.

"They will all come after you, one after the other. And if you get through them, I will be waiting little girl, and I will kill you," Bennett told her.

"Walker, get the hell out of here!" Casey barked. Bennett turned and hit Casey in the face, blood flying out of his split lip.

"I got this Casey," Sarah told him. "I'm used to men over-promising, and under-delivering."

"So, you are dating Chuck," Bennett sneered.

"That is exactly the last rude thing you get to say about him," Sarah told Bennett. She turned to the first opponent, spun, and hit him with a back elbow. Three teeth, blood, and a lot of spittle flew. He crashed to the ground. "Come on, Brisco," she said, gesturing him to come forward, with two fingers.

He charged her. Sarah ducked, and side-stepped. Her ankles locked around his ankle, tripping him. She quickly shot the half, grabbing his hair, and smashed his face against the dirt floor repeatedly.

"I think he's down, Walker," Casey said. Sarah looked up at Bennett, Brisco's head in her hands, waiting to see if he was done or she needed to resume smashing his face against the ground.

"Fine, he's down," Bennett said. "Take her." All three men charged.

Sarah kicked the inside of the knee of the one closest to her, making him wobble and fall. She dodged most of one punch. It caught her with a glancing blow on the shoulder, spinning her. A clothesline from the third made her somersault, landing on her back.

"Walker!" Casey yelled.

"Quit bellowing," Sarah said, grimacing, getting to her feet gingerly. The two men stood in front of her, the third limping behind them. Sarah glanced to her left, then moved right quickly, catching them off guard. She hit the man on the right with a flying Superman punch, landed, and brought her knee up perfectly, catching the one in the back right between the legs.

"I believe I have caught you in what Mike Meyers calls The Mommy Daddy Button," Sarah said.

"What fresh hell did Bartowski get you to watch?" Casey asked.

"Something about a spy that's shaggy," Sarah replied.

"Austin Powers, the Spy Who Shagged Me," Bennett said, rolling his eyes. Casey eyed him, and Bennett shrugged. "Grimes enjoyed it, okay?"

"So, shall I maim you, or-" Sarah began, but the last man that was still standing turned and fled. Sarah turned, and was caught in the face by a handful of dirt, tossed by Bennett. Sarah was blinded, and swung blindly. Bennett backhanded her, sending her flying.

"This is over," Bennett said, pulling out a gun.

"Bennett!" Casey yelled.

"She challenged me, Casey," Bennett said, looking Casey. "There must be honor."

"What the hell would you know about honor?!" they heard Chuck yell. Bennett looked around and as he looked up, Chuck crashed on top of him.

"HOLY SHIT!" Casey yelled. Sarah had gotten most of the dirt from her eyes and rushed towards the two. Chuck stood, a gun held on Bennett.

"Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you in the gut, and leave you here to bleed out the way you left Bryce!" Chuck screamed at Bennett.

"I have information," Bennett said.

"Bartowski, don't," Casey warned.

"We have it!" Zondra yelled, entering the room, with Carina following. They pulled up short at the scene.

Chuck cocked the gun. "Now, tell me again why I shouldn't?" Bennett gulped, and Chuck's face hardened.

"Because you don't have to," Sarah said, walking up to him, putting her hand over his. She pushed the gun away from Bennett, looking into Chuck's eyes. "And I don't want you to." Bennett began to slowly backpedal with the two not watching, and Casey tied up.

"I, however, would love to pop a cap in your ass," Carina said, her gun aimed at Bennett. Bennett stopped moving. Suddenly the room was filled with a tac team, Mary leading the way, limping with a cane, but leading the way.

"What the hell happened here?" Mary asked, and then she looked up, saw Chuck, and Sarah slowly taking the gun out of his hand. He began to cry as she pulled him in close.

"For the love of God can someone untie me!" Casey growled.

A/N: Okay, it's back, how frequent, I have no idea, but… it's back. Next time:

"Well, it's gonna have to wait, Mary needs to see us," Sarah told him.

"Of course she does," Chuck muttered.

"What does that mean?" Sarah asked.

"It means every time we start to get close, or I start to tell you how much I care about you, and need you in my life, personally, that Casey bursts in with something, or Carina or Zondra stick their head in this door, or there's a national emergency."

"Every time?" Sarah asked, amusement on her face, but Chuck missing it, he was so wound up in the moment.

*Spits out drink* Chuck! Dude! What are you doing? *shakes head*