A/N: I can tell you that there are many reasons this fic has lagged. Instead how about I just let you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

He was watching the monitor, trying to concentrate. It was boring work, but he had always been the one to do it in the past. He knew he was now the leader of their group, but he wanted to pull his weight. What he hadn't been counting on, was being joined by his teammate. She was on her phone, playing a game, a smirk on her lips. He could smell the shampoo she used. He could see her foot bouncing in the peripheral, where her leg was crossed over her knee. "Dang it," she said.

"Pigs should know better, shouldn't they," he replied, never looking up from the monitor. He knew she was playing Angry Birds.

"Chuck," her voice washed over him any time she said his name. "Why are you the one watching the monitor on this?"

"Because I don't trust anyone else to not tell you if Amy shows up," he replied, turning and looking her right in the eye. She twisted her lips, knowing he was right. "What she did to you and your father was wrong, and I don't want to have another Bennett situation where I'm begging you not to kill her."

She was silent for a moment, frowning. "It's not nice to turn my actions back on me," she told him.

"Sorry, Sarah. I love you, and I'm going to protect you from yourself, the same way you protect me from myself." The grin grew on her face. "What?"

"I think you need a reward for those nice words." She watched him gulp and then burst out laughing. "God you're easy."

"You should know," he retorted. She was caught off guard with that one. Chuck turned back to the monitor. "Oh God," he said softly. Sarah put her phone away and came over to his side, leaning down beside him, her face, right beside his. "Woman, I am trying to concentrate."

"I don't think you're having a problem concentrating," Sarah replied. "I think you're having trouble concentrating on the right thing."

"Is this where I ask what is the right thing to be concentrating on?" Chuck asked horsely.

He felt felt her move, and her lips were right by his ear. "You know exactly what the right thing to concentrate on is," she told him in a soft voice, her breath hitting his ear and making him shiver.

"DAMN IT!" He growled.

"I'm sorry, did I make you have an accident in your pants?"

Chuck turned to her, his eyes wide. "No," he replied and pointed to the monitor. "Justin just showed up."

"Oh, that's great!" Sarah replied, turning to the monitor. "Wait, then why did you just yell 'damn it'?"

"Because I was enjoying the flirting and now it has to end," Chuck told her. "We have to save Manoosh."

Sarah leaned in to where there noses were inches apart. "Well, after we rescue him, I'm sure you and I can have a private celebration," she told him.

"CHUCK! SARAH! Come to my office right now!" Mary yelled over the intercom.

"We've found Manoosh," Chuck replied.

"Doesn't matter, get here, NOW!"

"What do you think is going on?" Sarah asked, the two heading toward Mary's office.

"No idea," Chuck told her. "But it doesn't sound good."

}o{

Chuck and Sarah walked into Mary's office. The first thing they noticed was the concerned look on Mary's face. The second thing was Zondra was there. "Mom, what's going on? We have eyes on Justin."

"I understand," Mary replied. "But we may have more pressing matters."

"More pressing than saving someone?" Chuck asked, bothered by Mary's statement.

"This may be us sacrificing Manoosh to save all of our lives," Mary replied. Chuck was a bit stunned with that. "Zondra, are you absolutely sure, that was the AIC?"

"Yep," Zondra replied. "He does kinda look like Superman." Mary turned the monitor for Chuck to see. He saw the name, Daniel Shaw and began to flash.

"Holy shit," Chuck breathed. "He's supposed to be dead." Chuck looked up at his mom, confused. "He's supposed to have been killed by…The Intersect?" Mary swallowed as Sarah and Zondra stared at Mary.

}o{

"I should have known," Mary muttered some time later when the entire group was reassembled in the conference room.

"I should have as well," Beckman agreed, having joined them on the monitor.

"General, how about you share with the room?" Casey asked, irritation clearly on his face. Everyone turned to look at Casey, surprise on their faces.

"I didn't have Casey being upset with the General," Chuck said softly, leaning over to Sarah.

"I think he has a right," Sarah replied.

"Yeah, but he sounds pissed," Chuck responded.

"Chuck, he'd have to calm down to be pissed."

"I get it," Casey said, ending their back and forth. "I'm supposed to do the job and ask no questions, but you two have been holding back intel from this entire group, but more importantly, Bartowski."

"He does mean me, right?" Chuck asked Sarah softly. She elbowed him gently in the stomach.

"How in the Sam Hill is he supposed to make effective, safe, and practical decisions with you two undermining him and cutting him off at the knees by not giving him this information earlier?" Casey continued.

"Does he like me?" Chuck asked Sarah.

Sarah shook her head. "Like, no. Respect…also no. Respect your position…maybe."

"I feel loved," Chuck muttered, making her chuckle softly.

"Sure he's a moron," Casey said.

"Therrrrre it is," Chuck said to Sarah.

"But for God's sake, if he's going to be the leader of this unit, then how about you two treat him like it?" Casey finished.

"Thanks?" Chuck said.

Casey nodded to him. "No problem, least I could do."

"The very least," Sarah said softly where only Chuck could hear.

"Casey is right," Mary said, also stunning everyone. "We have kept information from this team that is vital. To be fair, Diane and I both thought that Daniel Shaw was dead, but now….now some things found out earlier make more sense."

"Casey," Beckman said, looking sternly into her feed. "While you were right…." She trailed off.

"Understood, General," Casey replied, nodding. Beckman nodded back, and sat back in her chair.

"So, I've told some of you the story of Alexi Volkoff," Mary began.

"We all know," Carina blurted out. "Curls felt we all needed to know."

"I see," Mary said. She looked at her son, and gave him a tight smile. That was the difference between her and him, and it was becoming apparent how he was the better leader. She hid possible hurtful information, always deciding what was "need to know," and what wasn't. Chuck was different. He shared everything, probably over-shared if she was honest, but the difference was, he wanted everyone to have all knowledge, and all of his team to have input on what to do.

Mary knew she and Beckman were very much in the old school camp of give an order and expect it to be followed. They knew she wasn't one that believed in "acceptable losses"…at least she hoped they did. But with Chuck…Chuck truly believed in the greater good, of how the whole was greater than the sum of the individual parts.

"Daniel Shaw was one of the greatest CIA agents that ever lived," Mary began. "He was the prototype for what you would want in an agent." Mary looked down at her desk for a moment, sighed, and continued. "He became a specialist on a group known as the Ring and made inroads to having them eliminated."

"I've never heard of the Ring," Chuck blurted out.

"Because he effectively destroyed it…or so we thought," Mary answered. "FULCRUM…we believe it is nothing more than a small part of the Ring."

"Oh goody," Chuck muttered.

"It gets worse," Mary continued.

"Of course it does," Chuck replied. Mary gave him an amused look.

"We thought Agent Shaw had intel to destroy the Ring once and for all, and we attacked a Ring base," Beckman said, picking up the story. "What we didn't know was who was financially backing the Ring with both funds and supplies…most in the form of weapons."

"Nice dramatic pause," Morgan blurted out. Zondra gave him a look. "Sorry."

"Alexi Volkoff," Beckman continued, glaring at Morgan.

"Uh-oh," Chuck muttered.

"Alexi had his men storm Daniel Shaw's home during the raid on the Ring," Beckman said. She was silent for a second, her lips pressed together. When she continued, her voice was softer. "They took his wife, kidnapped her, and brought her to his compound."

"Oh, shit," Sarah muttered.

"And then," Mary said, taking over for Beckman, her voice somber. "Making absolutely sure Daniel was watching, shot her in the head, as he watched."

"Jesus," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"What happened?" Chuck asked, trying not to choke up.

"Your father was working on the Intersect, a new version that was supposed to have skills in it," Mary continued, looking down at her desk. She shook her head. "Daniel wanted it, but it wasn't ready at the time." Mary was quiet for a second.

"Oh, God," Chuck groaned, knowing exactly where this was going. "He uploaded it anyway, didn't he?" Mary nodded, looking down at her desk. "How the hell did he survive?"

"We have no idea," Mary said, looking up at Chuck. "But there's more that you need to know."

"I'm scared to ask, if I'm honest," Chuck admitted.

"Would you like me to tell this, Mary?" Beckman asked. Mary nodded. "So, Harley, the man who was Volkoff, was very close to your mother and father." Chuck listened intently, waiting for the other shoe to fall. "When he took on the Volkoff Intersect…" Beckman trailed off and glanced over at Mary, who was looking down at her desk. "He developed…feelings for your mother."

"Oh, boy," Chuck muttered.

"We found out through various spies we were able to get into Volkoff's that eventually Volkoff had a daughter, but he remained….infatuated with Mary," Beckman continued.

"Why do I think this is about to get worse?" Sarah asked.

"I mean, even I can see this is a trainwreck about to happen," Carina muttered.

Beckman chuckled at that. "So, we thought after Daniel took the Intersect and went after Volkoff, he perished," she continued. "What I've now been able to put together is some speculation, but given that Volkoff is indeed dead…We do not believe Pierre killed Volkoff. You even said he seemed surprised when the vat was opened. Our belief is Riley is working for whoever is running Volkoff Industries and Riley placed the blame on Pierre."

"Why?" Chuck asked. "Why does it matter?"

"Because of two things," Mary said, looking up at her son. "This is personal…we've been thinking the attack is against your father, but what if it was against me?"

Chuck was silent for a moment. "So, someone who wanted their father's attention and never got it because it was focused on someone else?" Mary nodded. "You think the daughter is involved with this?"

"Does anyone recognize this woman?" Beckman asked, her disappearing from the monitor and a picture of another woman taking her place.

"She was at The Collective," Zondra said.

"This is Vivian Volkoff," Beckman said, reappearing. "She is Alexi Volkoff's daughter, and heir to Volkoff Industries."

"And Daniel's inside person in the Collective," Chuck added. Mary nodded. "You think they are working together?"

"At the least," Mary said. Chuck grimaced. "So, to sum, you have Vivian who is involved somehow, Shaw, who has a damaged Intersect in his head, involved somehow, and Riley, the lawyer for Volkoff Industries somehow involved."

"They all can't not know about the other," Chuck said, making Mary nod. "So, why Manoosh?"

"To get Shaw's Intersect fixed," Mary told him.

"Then this mission just changed," Chuck said to the group. Mary nodded. "We have to get Manoosh as quickly as possible."

"Wait, what? No," Mary said, standing.

"Mom, we have the man who led to the death of Skip trying to upgrade the Intersect in his head," Chuck pointed out. "I'm sorry, this guy is obviously psycho, and we need to get Manoosh away from him."

"Mary, the boy's right," Beckman said softly.

"You know what this means, right?" Morgan asked. Chuck turned to his bearded friend. "We were wrong about Shaw. He's not Red Skull, he's Red Son Superman."

"Is that better or worse?" Sarah asked..

"Much worse," Chuck told her. "Red Skull isn't that powerful, just willing to do what ever, now give him Superman's powers."

"That does sound bad," Sarah admitted.

"Do you even know Superman's powers?" Chuck asked Sarah.

"Does he fly?" Sarah offered.

"Dude," Morgan said, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry I have failed you," Sarah told him.

"Superman possesses the powers of flight, superhuman strength, x-ray vision, heat vision, cold breath, super-speed, enhanced hearing, and nigh-invulnerability. Superman is immensely strong both in terms of muscle power and ability to take physical punishment," Zondra blurted out. "He gets his powers from the yellow sun of Earth." Everyone was staring at Zondra. Chuck thought if a human being could actually have heart eyes, Morgan would. "What? I had an older brother who read comics."

"Really?" Chuck asked.

"So, maybe I read comics," Zondra admitted. There was a thud, and she quickly bent down and helped Morgan up. "Do you need medical attention?"

"Did he just swoon?" Sarah asked.

"Absolutely," Chuck replied. "Okay, we have to focus, we all have agenda's here, but the most important thing is getting Manoosh away from Shaw. Preferably alive."

"What about Amy?" Morgan asked, having gotten over his swooning. His voice was hard, and Chuck saw the look of concern Zondra was giving him.

"I would like her captured if we could," Mary said as calmly as she could, unconsciously bending her leg and wincing.

"I'd like to kick her head off of her shoulders," Sarah added. Chuck cleared his throat. "I would," she muttered, sounding like she had been chastised.

"Chuck is right," Mary said to the room. "Too many of us are too close to this."

"Besides, no one has seen Amy," Morgan added.

"Just spotted her entering the house," Bryce said, looking up from the laptop he was using for surveillance. "And, Justin left."

"Bryce, does that home use natural gas?" Chuck asked. Bryce looked at Chuck and began to grin.

}o{

"I cannot believe the things I do for you people," Carina groused, as she slammed the door shut to the van.

"You make it sound like I'm trying to get you to seduce some hairy man," Chuck replied over the coms.

"THAT! I can do," she retorted. "But…but…this!?"

"Maybe it shows what a competent and complete agent you are that you can pull off the gas employee cover," Bryce added.

Carina was silent for a moment. "How much longer you got left in that chair?" she asked.

"A few weeks, why?"

"I feel like you keep flirting with me and I'm trying to decide if you've put in enough work for me to see if we can make it work in there," Carina answered.

Bryce sputtered. "Carina," Chuck said in a low voice.

"I'm sure Blondie would be glad to show you," Carina snarked.

"I've already shown him," Sarah replied. Carina went silent.

"Well, now I've seen it all," Zondra said, leading the way to the front door. "Going silent for mission."

"Copy," Bryce said.

Zondra walked up to the door and knocked on it. The door barely opened. They heard a scoffing, and the door was yanked open, Amy holding a gun on Zondra. "Really, a gas leak?" Amy asked. "It's the oldest trick in the book."

"Hey, crazy lady, calm down," Carina said, holding up her hands. "Look around, we're evacuating all the homes, trying to find the leak." Amy glared at Carina but glanced at the house up the street where she saw the van in front of it, a gas employee helping the inhabitants of the home out.

"Shit," Amy muttered, lowering her gun. "Sorry," she began, turning toward Zondra. That was as far as she got, because Zondra hit her across the face with the metal container that held the work invoices. Amy crumpled into a heap.

"Kill my guy's girl," Zondra muttered, standing over Amy, who was unconscious.

"That beard really gets you going, huh?" Carina said, pulling her weapon and entering the home.

"Target neutralized," Zondra said into the mike. She heard the van door slide open and Casey make his way up the walk, zip ties in hand to secure their prisoner.

"Thanks, Zondra," they heard Morgan say over the coms.

"I got you," she said softly. "Entering now."

"We've got him, he's okay!" they heard Carina call out.

"Thank God," Mary said. "The last thing we need is for Shaw to get that Intersect." Chuck turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "And of course that he's alive," Mary added.

"This is going to severely piss off Shaw…if we're right," Chuck said to his mother.

"If we're right, it was the only play." Chuck nodded in agreement. "What's our next move?" Mary asked.

Chuck was quiet for a moment. "Obviously we need to find Justin, but Justin feels like he's more of someone working for Amy."

"Agreed," Bryce said, nodding. "We need to interrogate Amy."

Chuck looked around the room, seeing the hope on most everyone's face to be the one to interrogate her. "I think I'm going to have to do it."

"No," came a voice from the back of the room. Chuck smiled and looked over to where it came from and the brunette that stood, having watched and listened to everything. "I will."

"I like it," Sarah said.

"Me too," Morgan added.

"I mean you two both kinda love her in your own way," Chuck pointed out. "But they're right, Ellie. You should be the one." Ellie smiled. "You aren't going to do anything that would get your medical license revoked are you?" Ellie just smiled. "ELLIE!?"

A/N: I'm making no promises about anything. Every time I do life smacks me across the face. For every person still here, thank you. Feel free to drop a review yelling at me for taking too long on this, I deserve it. Take care friends.