A/N: I swear, I'm like a damn Telenovela some days. Things got better, I wrote. Things have since fallen apart again. However, while things were better I wrote this. No preview at the end, this is all I have, but it's better than nothing, right? Oh, yeah, we have a plot…I think. Someone catch it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"Sarah, wait," Chuck said. She stopped heading toward the door and turned toward Chuck. "I want you here, to hear all of this." He turned toward his mother. "I've heard and read everything about her dad, and mom… it's only fair she hears it as well. Not just as my girlfriend, but so she can see if she can figure out what's going on."

"I'm your girlfriend?" Sarah asked. Chuck spun back around to her, his eyes wide as he realized what he had just done.

"Listen, I told you I love you and-"

"I damn well better be your girlfriend," Sarah told him.

"You are in soover your head," Mary muttered, grinning. Chuck shrugged. "Of course she gets to hear this. I just didn't think anyone outside of family should." She looked right at Sarah as she said the last part. Sarah smiled at Mary, took Chuck's hand, and the two walked up to sit in chairs in front of Mary's desk. "So, I'm going to give you broad strokes on this. There are two men that fit the bill. However, they are both dead."

"Great. Morgan's going to be simultaneously excited, and frightened out of his mind that we are dealing with zombies," Chuck muttered. Sarah and Mary both chuckled.

"The first is a man named Arnold Vosloo," Mary began. "He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and enlisted into the U.S. Army Reserve as a Combat Engineer. He was commissioned from the University of Kentucky ROTC program as a Distinguished Military Graduate. There he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography."

"Uh, mom, do we need his entire dossier?" Chuck asked.

"What I'm trying to get across to you is Arnold seemed to be very normal," Mary told him.

"That's not foreshadowing, or anything," Chuck muttered.

Mary grimaced, and continued. "Arnold entered active duty as a seven-four alpha… a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Officer. He successfully completed and graduated from the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course at Fort Bragg."

"So he was a certified bad ass," Chuck said. Mary nodded. "What happened?"

"You know that CIA agents are sometimes embedded with our soldiers," Mary began. Chuck nodded. "This time, they didn't want me, an agent. They wanted someone who specialized in ops; someone to coordinate things while studying satellites, incoming intel, video, whatever they could get."

"Dad," Chuck said. Mary nodded. "When was this?"

"You were very young," Mary told him. "It was one of the few times I didn't go with your father, but Diane assured me it would be fine." She was silent for a moment. "It was most assuredly not fine."

"Mom," Chuck began, seeing the smile on her face. She shook her head.

"Let me finish," she told him, a soft smile on her face. "You need to hear it."

Chuck nodded.

"Your father saw the intel, saw the plan, and told them no, there was no way this mission had any chance in hell of being successful. Chuck, he was using locals as his fighters; he was going to take on a trained force using locals."

"Oh, God," Chuck muttered.

"Your father told him over and over it was a suicide mission, and he refused to listen," Mary told him. "They argued for a long time but in the end… in the end, the mission went forward, and all of them died, except for Arnold." Mary was silent for a moment. "Instead of accepting the blame, Arnold blamed your father for everything. Arnold insisted your father poisoned the troops, that your father told the locals that it was a suicide mission and they froze up, couldn't do as ordered."

"That's insane," Chuck said softly. Mary nodded. "So dad had a Nemesis?" Mary was silent as Chuck thought.

"Is that who wants this place destroyed?" Sarah asked Mary.

"Of all our enemies, that's the one I would think," Mary told Sarah.

"So, Teddy Roark is the other?" Sarah asked. Chuck and Mary looked at Sarah. "I mean, given what you said earlier, that's what makes sense."

"I don't think so," Chuck said, shaking his head. "Teddy isn't very good at these types of things. He's exceptionally volatile, and so far, he hasn't exploded and done something remotely Teddy-like."

"Right. That's why I believe Arnold Vosloo is the man behind Teddy," Mary told him. "However, Arnold died in a suicide mission a few months after the mission on which your dad worked with him… allegedly."

"Never found the body?" Chuck asked. Mary shook his head. "Sounds like he went dark."

"To the dark side, even," Sarah added. She just grinned at Mary as she felt Chuck turn, and just stare at her. She felt the awe from his gaze. "Down, boy," she said softly.

Mary snorted. "I've been told by some in the field that many have seen someone matching Arnold Vosloo's description. Diane has intel that places him as a possible Vincent Smith. Arnold is considered KIA, but no remains were recovered, and your father believes he is not dead…"

She trailed off and sighed, as a look of melancholy came over her face. As much as Chuck missed his father, he wondered how much harder it was for his mother. "Your father thought he and Arnold were one and the same."

"So not a zombie?" Chuck asked, trying to lighten the mood. Mary shook her head.

"Can we not tell Morgan that he's not a zombie?" Sarah requested. Mary gave her a strange look. "I'm pretty sure Zondra enjoys protecting Morgan."

"Fine," Mary relented, smiling. She blew out a breath, the smile gone. "The one person that I thought could be in charge of the other side is dead, discovered by you."

"Me?" Chuck asked. Mary nodded. "The only person I've found dead is… ohhhh. Volkoff." Mary nodded again. "Do we get the story on him?"

Mary looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Your father created Volkoff." Chuck stared at her. "Volkoff was once a normal scientist, who took an early version of the Intersect that was made to change personalities, to try it out. He implanted a personality of a gun runner into himself… the baddest of the bad." Chuck sat there, waiting for the rest. "The failsafe did not work after the mission. Volkoff remained. We had always hoped to capture him and try and remove it, but the fact you found his… remains…"

"Wasn't much remaining," Chuck muttered. Mary nodded. "So, is this where our rogue CIA agent comes into play?"

"Maybe," Mary replied. "I'm not entirely sure." There was silence in the room. "So, we have two options. The first is to sit here and wait for your program to find Manoosh."

"That can run just fine without us babysitting it," Chuck told his mother. "Besides, I think that leads us to the rogue CIA agent." Mary nodded in agreement. "We need to stop Roark and this 'Vincent Smith', or whoever he is."

"Agreed," Mary said with a nod.

"So, the question is who does Bennett work for?" Chuck asked.

"I have to think the mysterious CIA rogue agent," Sarah said. "He's pointing us to Teddy to make us look the other way. Bennett is an arms dealer, Volkoff was an arms dealer, and someone has got to be financing this operation on the other end."

"So what do we do?" Mary asked.

"Simple: We tell Teddy everything we know that Bennett is telling us," Chuck said with a shrug. "He's obviously the fall guy they have set up. My bet is this whole thing has been devised by the mysterious Vincent Smith and the CIA rogue agent."

"But that's exactly what they'd expect us to do," Sarah reminded him. "They'll have Teddy prepared for that."

"We have to find a way to spook him," Mary added.

"What good will that do?" Chuck asked.

"There's a five-hour window that exists between security sweeps for bugs," Mary began. Chuck started to ask something, but Mary shook her head. "It's my job dear." Chuck just nodded and sat back. "If we can spook Teddy into calling whoever is running the show, then we can track them."

"Okay, let's assume we have a plan to do that; how will we get the bugs in?" Chuck asked. "Teddy knows all of us."

"Not Carina and Zondra," Mary reminded him. Chuck furrowed his brow and then began to grin. "What?"

"He knows all of us except for Carina and Zondra," Chuck told her. Mary nodded, confused. "What if… what if a certain someone showed up at Roark's that Teddy wasn't expecting?"

"Who would show up that Teddy wouldn't expect?" Mary asked. "There is no one we could send Teddy wouldn't expect… well, Morgan, but he'd tell the plan in five minutes flat when asked."

"Five seconds is more like it," Chuck countered. "But what if he just showed up, looking for something else, something that had nothing to do with this whole operation?"

"Teddy would think something huge is up and lose his… Oh!" Mary's eyes lit up. "But how do we trick Morgan?"

"Trust me?" Chuck asked. Mary nodded. "We need Bryce."

Mary called Bryce, and asked him to join them.

"What's up?" he asked as he wheeled into the room.

"Rockstar's Agent," Chuck said. Bryce's eyes went wide, panic evident on his face. He turned around to see if the door was closed. Spinning back, he pressed his index finger to his lips, making a shhhhh! sound. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to kill Morgan?"

"What is Rockstar's Agent?" Sarah asked.

"SHHHH!" Bryce said again, looking around… again. "We don't talk about it."

"It is a game that got canceled," Chuck told Sarah.

"First rumored in 2008?" Mary asked.

"2007 Q3," Chuck corrected her. Mary nodded, grinning. "The game was described as a Cold War thriller that was to have emphasized stealth elements in order to 'take players into the world of counter-intelligence, espionage, and political assassinations.' It was supposed to be a major PS3 exclusive developed by Rockstar Games." Chuck looked at Bryce who was trying to get his breathing under control.

"Morgan loved the idea of the game," Bryce explained. "He thought that by watching us do our thing, he would rule that game. I mean, he does do well in Call of Duty."

"He does," Mary agreed. "Little bearded jerk constantly kills me."

"You play video games?" Sarah asked, shocked.

"Sarah, I have to do something to relieve my stress, and right now my husband-"

"Mom!" Chuck cut in, making Mary chuckle. "Anyway, every so often, rumors pop up about the game being revived by another company. Morgan keeps swearing he's going to go to that company and find it, and secure a beta version."

"Can you do that?" Sarah asked.

"Not in reality, but then…" Bryce paused, and smiled. When he spoke, it was with affection. He wasn't making fun of Morgan, nor was he being condescending. It was just who Morgan was.

"There's Morgantown, population Morgan, where the rules of everyone else do not apply. To paraphrase a popular TV show, he rejects our reality, and substitutes it with his own."

"Rockstar let the trademark run out a couple of years ago," Chuck told Sarah.

"Never seen someone drink so much grape soda," Mary said. Her, Bryce, and Chuck all got a far off look in their eyes, and then they all shuddered at the exact same time.

"But won't he tell someone he heard it from you two, which will let Teddy know that you're behind it?" Sarah asked.

Chuck and Bryce exchanged a glance. "Reddit," they said at the same time. Sarah looked over at Mary, hoping she would have some idea of what the two of them were talking about. The look on her face said she in fact did not, but she trusted Chuck and Bryce.

}o{

"So, you've got an assignment?" Morgan asked Zondra at lunch.

"Yeah, and I'd tell you, but we know you," she told him, gently.

"Loose lips and all that, right," Morgan grumbled. "I mean, it's absolutely true, and not that I mean to, but I just start talking about things-"

"Hey, why don't you go on Reddit and argue with those people that are wrong," she suggested, gently guiding him toward the website. "Or, you could check out those rumor pages."

"What rumor pages?"

"The one you get all excited about when you get a notification, but you try and not let me see," Zondra said. "Spy."

"That's so hot," Morgan said dreamily. "I guess I can do that."

"I gotta go. And remember, no sneaking into the big meeting. It's for everyone's protection."

"I know, I know," Morgan grumbled. Zondra smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and got up, heading over to Carina. Morgan watched the two women leave. He pulled out his phone after they had walked off. He had an alert. "Rumor has it that Roark has procured the rights, trademark, and code of…." Morgan's eyebrows lifted. His hand went to his mouth. "Agent," he said with reverence. He looked around, saw no one near him, and made his decision. "It's time." With that, he got up and headed out the nearest door.

A second later he came back through that door, and headed out the one at the opposite end of the room, leading to the parking lot.

}o{

"Now remember, make sure he's seen by security," Bryce's voice said through Carina's earpiece.

"Not a problem," Carina replied. "The little guy is acting squirrelly." Zondra glared at Carina. "He is!" she insisted. Zondra grunted, forced to agree with her partner. They had previously set bugs throughout the offices. If Roark made a call, it could be traced.

"Is he in trouble?" they heard Chuck ask over the comms.

"Trouble? No. Has he been noticed? Oh, hell yes," Carina replied, chuckling. Morgan was trying to look inconspicuous. That meant a long coat – well, long for him – a hat, and sunglasses… inside a corporate building. She glanced at Zondra. "And you like that?"

Zondra shrugged. "What? He's cute, he's honest, he is who he is. And I find that refreshing."

"It is different than we're used to," Carina agreed, nodding. "Usually it's the pretty ones, well-sculpted body, and little-to-no brain, but I don't need them to possess a brain."

"Cause if they're thinking, they scare you," Bryce said into her ear. Zondra gave Carina a look, but she looked away. "If they're thinking, then they're dangerous, and they may realize exactly how smart you are."

"Trying to get laid, Bryce?" Carina snarked. "I can figure out that chair."

"Uh, if we could focus on the mission," Chuck said, not wanting to hear about anyone else's sex life. "Hey, I'm getting an outgoing call on Roark's private line."

"Can you put it through to all of us?" Zondra asked.

"Doing so now," Chuck told them. "Trace in progress, but I'm not holding out much hope."

"WHAT in the hell is going on!?"they heard Roark scream over the coms. "Why the hell is the little one here? Why would they send him? What do they know?"

"He's losing it," Zondra muttered.

"He's done lost it," Carina corrected. Zondra nodded in agreement.

"We have to meet tonight!"Roark insisted.

"Notice whoever he's talking to is not responding much?" Bryce pointed out.

"That's someone with training, that suspects Roark's been compromised," Zondra added. "This guy's had some serious training. Did you get that?" Roark had told the person on the phone when and where to meet.

"Got it," Chuck replied. "Now pull those bugs, and get out of there. We'll go prep the site with video and audio, and find out who our target is. What about Morgan?"

"He's getting walked out by security now," Zondra explained, a soft smile on her face as she watched. "He's yelling that they know something about the game, they reply they don't, and Morgan keeps insisting that's exactly what they would say."

"I feel sort of bad," Bryce said into their ear, as they collected their equipment. "Morgan actually helped out by drawing all attention to himself."

"I'll make it up to him," Zondra spoke, before she realized what she was saying.

"Jesus," Carina muttered.

}o{

Morgan waited in his car until he saw Teddy Roark pull out of the parking lot, and began to follow him at a discreet distance. He was practicing everything he had learned over the years working for Chuck and his family. He could do this; he could be an agent. He stayed back an appropriate distance, watching as Teddy pulled off the highway. Morgan did the same. Parking his car, the bearded one got out, and grabbed his binoculars. He peered down at the car.

"What are you doing, Teddy, waiting for the game to be delivered?" He muttered to himself. Morgan heard a whistling sound, and then watched Teddy's car explode, as he was knocked back by the concussion.

"NO! NOOOO!"

}o{

"So what happened?" Mary asked the team.

"Best we can tell, whoever is behind this whole thing cut out a loose end," Chuck told his mother.

"And Morgan?" Mary inquired.

"He thinks that the game is completely destroyed now," Chuck explained.

"I'll go tell him," Zondra offered.

"No," Mary said. "Not right now."

"Agent has always been a distraction to Morgan," Chuck told Zondra. "Maybe right now, he needs that distraction eliminated." Mary looked at Chuck. They both nodded toward each other.

"That guy is not an agent, he's not an operative," Zondra said, standing. "He's lost his girlfriend and thinks he has lost the one hope in this world he had left."

"And maybe he's found hope he didn't know existed," Chuck said softly, a smile forming on his face.

Zondra stared at him for a minute and then made a face. "Damn it," she muttered. "Really?"

"What can I say? I'm protective when it comes to my little buddy," Chuck told Zondra. "You go tell him whatever you think he needs to hear." Zondra nodded, and left.

"Well done, son," Mary told him. "Now what?"

"No idea," Chuck admitted. He took a deep breath.

"No idea."

A/N: What, you think I'm gonna have the next piece to this puzzle magically appear? Next time, maybe our friends get some R&R.