He knew that Sarah would be making calls as soon as she had a chance. He had planned it where she was with Crystal, so she would have to wait till they got off the plane. Crystal was the wild card in this equation. He did not know anything about her background. He planned on changing that later, but it would turn out to be much later.
You see the plane start its decent into Guatemala. Bryce figures that this should hold them for a few day to a week, if necessary. As they are land Chuck wakes up and takes a look around. He is trying to focus his eyes, but when they touch down, the jolt brings his wound pounding back into his head.
They get out and Bryce has them refuel the plane, in case they need to get out fast. He pays the worker to keep an eye on the plane, which the worker is more than happy to do. They hail a cab and get a ride to a nice but secluded hotel.
Both are in the same room so that Bryce can keep an eye on Chuck without any trouble.
As they enter the room, Bryce has already mentally mapped out all of the exits and escape routes. He puts the usual traps around the door and window. Chuck immediately goes to one of the queen beds and lays down. His head is spinning, but he will not sleep till he can leave Crystal and Sarah a message that he is okay.
“Well, this sucks! My cell phone is not getting any service down here.”Chuck says to Bryce,” How am I supposed to make a call?”
“That is because your not supposed to nimrod”, Bryce says.
“ I need to let Crystal and Sarah know that I am alright”, Chuck replied!
“OK, then you will have to leave them an email”, Bryce nodded. “That way you can let them know you are okay and it will be hard for them to track us through the Sat link. Do not tell anyone that you are with me. Not even Sarah and Casey can know at this time!”
Bryce gets out a briefcase and hooks up the sat link and his laptop. After a few minutes he hands it over. Chuck opens up the Thunderbird email application and starts to send Sarah an email.
' Sarah, please don't be too mad at me but I am on a new assignment. I will not be able to communicate with you or Casey for a while, but I will when I can. I am working with the handler that was assigned to me after I left you and Casey. I don't know when I will be back, but it could be a while!
Please remember your promise to me. I am fine and will see you at Elle's wedding. I hope that you will be there as well. You can save me later. ;^)
Love You Always,
Chuck'
You see him hit the send button and then start another email. This time it is to Crystal.
' Crystal, I am sorry that I had to leave you alone in Mexico. I was called away to help a friend. It was unexpected and I was not ready for it to happen this way! I will make it up to you when I get back. It could be some time before I make it back but know that I am fine and in good hands. Please remember the good times on the boat and I will explain more when I get back.
Your Best Bud,
Chuck '
Both of the emails were shorter than he liked, but that was what he was told to do. He hoped that both of them would not kill him when he got back. That is IF he got back!
Chuck remembered from their college days how Bryce liked to be the top dog and would do whatever is necessary to win. He even cheated at their game of dart tag in the library.
It brought a smile to Chucks lips as he wished he could go back to a simpler time. Then he realizes that even then Bryce had already joined the CIA and was using their game to sharpen his skills. He lay down on his bed and fell quickly asleep.
When Chuck finally woke up it was still daylight out. He felt like he had slept for hours, but how can that be? He sat up and looked around till he spotted Bryce at the table. He had all kinds of maps and documents out reading through them.
Bryce looks up to see Chuck is finally awake. He gives Chuck a smile and throws him a sandwich. He is sure that Chuck has to be hungry, since he has been sleeping for the last 22 hours.
Bryce had already scouted out the town and gotten them provisions for their continued trip. He had to get Chuck some training or he would get them both killed.
There was only one place to take him for this kind of intense training and it sure wasn't back in the US. There was also the matter of convincing Chuck to start the second phase of his plan. There was more than just the Omaha project that the CIA had been working on.
Since the Omaha project had worked on Chuck so well, it is only common sense that the Mephistopheles project will work on him as well! Now the hard part will be to get him to do it.
Bryce is trying to figure out an angle that Chuck will bite, but all he can think of is by using Sarah to drive his point home. This is not what he wants to do, but he will if he needs to. After all he needs Chuck to be viable for other than just the intersect data.
The rest of the day goes by uneventful. They get a local doctor to check out Chuck and the wound is healing nicely. They have redone his bandages and there seems to be no permanent damage done, other than the pain when he moves it.
As they are heading back to the room, Bryce feels that the best way is to take Chuck out to see some of the sites. This should loosen him up a bit before they talk about his plan and then bring up the subject at that time. He has the perfect spot and image for the project!
Chuck is having a bit of a problem going to sleep as he is still worried about Sarah and Crystal. He finally comes to the conclusion that he will have Bryce check with his contacts to make sure they made it back to LA. That will take a load off of his mind. He finally nods off to sleep only to see Sarah in his dream.
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The scene opens a few days earlier with Sarah and Crystal getting off the plane. As they get their luggage, you see both of them on their cell phones.
During Crystals marriage she had make several important contacts with Government officials. One of them was a Senator that was part of the Select Committee on Intelligence for the United States Senate. He had direct access to the highest levels of the Military community. She left him a message that would get his attention and get her some help finding out what happened.
At the same time Sarah was on the phone to the CIA trying to contact Agent Carlos down in Mexico. She left him a message and then called her contacts to get any information that she could.
As soon as she had left her requests she was sent a text to contact Director Graham. This was not what she needed at the moment! She walked to a respectable distance from everyone and called the Director.
“ Hello, Agent Walker! I see that you completed your mission. I also hear that you are trying to locate the intersect”, Graham informed her.
“ Yes Sir. The mission was a success and we kept them from completing their mission. I was escorted out of Mexico with the intersect missing”, replied Sarah. “ I believe that we need to immediately get a crew down there and retrieve Chuck.”
“ The intersect is fine and is working with his new handler”, stated Graham. “ There is nothing for you to worry about. Is that a problem?”
“ No Sir. I was just trying to make sure that the intersect did not fall into enemy hands. May I ask who the handler is?” she asked.
“ That is a need to know basis and you don’t need to know Agent Walker. They are on a new assignment and I can assure you that he is being taken care of”, Graham stated strongly.
“Thank you Sir and may I request some time off? I need some down time after that last assignment”, Sarah requested.
“That should not be a problem Agent Walker. Contact me when you are ready to get your next assignment”, he stated.
“Thank you Sir and have a good day”, She said as she hung up the phone.
A few minutes later Sarah received a call back from Agent Carlos. He provided her with the following details.
'A man and Chuck where seen leaving the airport via a twin engine Piper aircraft by agent Carlos. They filed a flight plan back to the US, but about 1 hour into the flight, they went below the radar and was not seen again in Mexican airspace. There was no report of a crash, so it was believed that their radio was inoperative and had made a detour to another destination.
There was a search of the last know location, but nothing was found. It was in a dense forest area, it was quite possible that they could have crashed and the wreckage would never be found, Agent Carlos reported.'
This was not what she believed, not Sarah. She was sure that they were covering their tracks and she would hunt them down!
This was the unmistakable mark of a CIA ploy and she was sure that he was the man that Agent Carlos had seen. The only problem is that Agent Carlos did not get a good look at the man.
After Sarah got off of the phone with Agent Carlos, she needed to tell Crystal something. She walked over to her and waited for her to get off the phone. She is wondering who Crystal could be talking to, but that would have to wait till later.
Crystal sees that Sarah is waiting for her and ends her message.
“Did you find out anything”, Crystal asked?
“Yes, I talked to a friend that had seen Chuck and another Man get into a plane. They where seen heading towards the US, but there is no way to know where they are headed”, Sarah explained.
“Well, I have a call into a friend of mine and if I hear anything I will let you know”, Crystal said. “ I just need to know for sure that he is okay. “
“I will let you know when I hear anything as well! But it could be a day or two, so hang in there and we will get to the bottom of this”, Sarah says.
They both understand that they have a link between them now and there was no getting around it. They got a taxis and headed to their respective directions.
The next day, you see the vast forest and a person standing on a hill overlooking the valley. As you get closer, you can see that it is Sarah with a cold determined look on her face.
She is calculating the many different directions and landing areas that could be used to refuel their plane. Each and every one of them would be tracked, traced and verified to her satisfaction. There was no escape from her, when she put her mind to it!
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As Sarah is overlooking the forest, we pan back to Bryce and Chuck at a Mayan temple.
Bryce had picked this temple for a reason. It was used for testing of warriors . It would be a good location to talk to Chuck about duty and the perfect symbol for him to use for the Mephistopheles project. Little did Bryce know that part of the project had already been encountered by Chuck.
Bryce had not read the report that Casey had provided just before Chuck had caused both Casey and Sarah to make their decisions. But what Bryce did know is that Chuck believed that both Casey and Sarah were not coming back to the team.
"Chuck I am sorry that Sarah and Casey are no longer working with you. I know how close you got to them, but you know that they are agents. They don't get attached to people. It is just to dangerous for the job that we have to do."
" I am not so sure about that Bryce! Sarah seemed to be coming around. I think she would come back."
"Chuck, she is already reassigned and I would not be here if she were coming back", But Bryce knew that he was lying and Chuck would believe him. He could be just as convincing as Sarah, as he knew all the right buttons to push. " And Casey was in Mexico. He should have been back in LA already if he were coming back as well." He was planting the seeds to keep Chuck helping him as well as breaking down his resistance for what was coming up next.
"I don't know Bryce but you are right, Casey should have been back in LA. Still I think Sarah was hinting about coming back."
"It is possible Chuck, but are you sure that she was not just in handler mode and not trying to control her asset?" He knew that would put a wedge into Chucks thoughts about Sarah.
Chuck was thinking about all that had happened and maybe she was just trying to control him. He didn't want to believe it, but she is CIA and he has seen what she has done to other men.
His mood turns dark and a toon starts playing in his head. How fitting he is thinking to himself, he feels like he is starting to drown in all of this mess. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZjf9C6atT4&NR=1 is playing in his head )
" Chuck do you know where we are now?", Bryce asked as he turned to look at him.
"No, I have no idea Bryce, but it is very humbling to say the least. To think that the Mayan's built this so long ago is amazing!", Chuck stated with bewilderment in his eyes.
"This is the great city of Chichén Itzá in present day Yucatan. It is called the Temple of the Warrior for good reason. People died here to prove that they were good enough to be a warrior for their people.
The principal deity in the Classic, Creator God, is a reptilian deity, Itzam Ná, Main God. In the daytime he is also the Sun God: Kinich Ahau. His feathery serpent mode was Kukulkán. He was a winged serpent that the warriors used as a symbol. They would die for their cause. Do you understand what I am getting at Chuck", Bryce said as he was watching him for any sign.
Chuck was thinking and could not really understand what Bryce was getting at. He was no warrior and was just a computer nerd. He did know that it would not be good for him in the long run though.
"I have no idea what you are talking about Bryce. I am no warrior and I am not really one that wants to die. Your the super spy and I am just the tag along for intersect support. Just come out and say what you want already", Chuck demanded.
Chuck was still tired from his previous ordeal and was not in the mood for games. When it came to Bryce, it seems that he always seem to get the short end of the stick. In fact, he usually got beat upside the head a few times with that stick. School, Jill, the intersect to name a few and then there was the knowledge of Bryce and Sarah as lovers to really cap it off.
"Chuck you know that I wouldn't ask you to do anything unless I thought it was for the best. But to be honest, the only way that I can see us making it out of the alive is if you agree to some training. The only problem is that we don't have a lot of time for the training so we will have to cut some corners", he finished sheepishly.
Bryce was watching Chuck closely at that last part. He was wondering if Chuck had taken his meaning about cutting corners. He could see the wheels spinning in those brown eyes of his friend, but waited for him to speak.
Chuck is going over Bryce's words very carefully. The training was expected, but the part that worried him was the cutting of corners. This could not be good as Bryce was never good at thinking through his quick decisions. If he had Chuck would not have the intersect in his head and there would have been no reason for them to be here now.
He looks at Bryce and braces himself for whatever he was going to be asked to do. He started to shiver as there were alarm bells ringing in his head.
Finally Chuck asks," What corners are we going to cut exactly? The last two times we did that, I ended up with the intersect and then getting almost taken by Fulcrum!"
Carefully planning out what he wanted to say, Bryce finally feels that he will have to pull out all of the stops.
"It usually takes an agent years to perfect their skills. We don't have years for you to train. We have a very short time and that is a big problem. You need to learn these skills at a very accelerated pace. Do you get me so far", he wonders?
"Yes, I understand what you are saying, but I don't see any solution? I don't have the same skill set as you", claims Chuck.
"Well actually you do have most of my skill set, but just not the training that I went through. You were always good when we played dart tag at Stanford. You are very good at COD which uses a lot of the same techniques that the agency uses. There is a reason those games are so lifelike Chuck.
Now having said that, there are serious differences between playing and real life. A normal person keeps repeating an action over and over again till it becomes an instinct. It is burned into our subconscious.
That way there is no thinking involved and the brain just tells the muscles what to do faster than you conscious can process it. Do you follow me so far", he says as he sees a spark of realization in Chucks eyes.
"I think I understand, but I don't see how this applies to me", Chuck states.
"There are two ways to get this repetition into the subconscious part of the brain. The hard way is through years of practice, but there is another way. It doesn't work for everyone, but I think it will work for you. It kind of works the same way that the intersect does, but a bit more intense. Are you willing to try it" Bryce pleads.
"Listen, the last time you did something to my brain, I have been forced to endure life and death situations. I don't want you doing something that will make my life any worse, no offence", Chuck flatly stated.
"Chuck, I cannot force you to do it, but think of all of the good it could do. You would not have to rely on putting Sarah in dangerous situations any more! One of these days she will not be able to cover for you and will end up dead! Do you want to be the cause of Sarah's death because you did not want to learn how to protect yourself when you could have", exclaimed Bryce!
Bryce knew that he was playing dirty now, but he had to get Chuck to agree. Not only would this help Chuck, it would also help Bryce out. If Chuck were to agree, the training would only take week or months at the most. That would not only help them to achieve their mission, but it would put a huge feather in his cap with the brass back in DC.
Chuck was still thinking about it and Bryce knew he almost had him convinced. He was waiting for Chuck to come back with the most obvious question. How would he live with himself if he had to shoot someone.
"Bryce, even if I learned the skills, I don't think I could actually shoot someone. At least not to save myself. I would rather die than live with that on my conscious", he flatly stated with his eyes to the ground.
This was the moment that Bryce had been waiting for. He knew that this was the reason that Chuck would not have made a good agent. This is also why the Mephistopheles project had been created! To expedite training and to remove the emotional problem out of the picture.
"What if I told you that your emotions would be taken out of the picture? That anything that happened during certain times would have no emotional attachments? There is a way to expedite the training and remove all emotional ties to adverse actions! Trust me on this one Chuck", Bryce smiles.
Chuck knows that there is something that Bryce is holding back. Something that can only be bad. If what he says is true, then he could help Sarah, instead of her placing her life in danger. The one thing that Chuck has always feared is Sarah dying because of him.
Against his better judgement he decides to hear Bryce out. "Okay Bryce, explain it to me and we will see", he finishes.
Bryce knows he has him at this point. He knows that Chuck would do anything to protect Sarah. He also knows that Sarah could more than handle herself in any situation, but he needed Chuck to do this and a good agent does anything necessary for the mission. To Bryce this was necessary, even if it may tear Chuck apart.
"There was another project that the CIA was working on. It was based on the same theory as the Omaha project. But instead of simple subliminal images, there were multiple images frames that contain the data just like a movie" Bryce stops seeing something in Chuck's face.
"Did you say like a movie?", Chuck asks. This hits a nerve in the back of his mind. He feels like this has already happened to him but where or when?
"Yes, that is correct." interested in Chuck's body language to that bit of news. " The theory is that the action will play like a movie as it loads into your subconscious just like you had done the same thing practicing the same move for a long time.
This is exactly what your brain does when you do continuous movements over and over again. They become imbedded in your subconscious and then they are involuntary actions at that point. Your brain acts before you realize it.
There is another part of the project that is used to remove any emotional attachments to actions. That is, you can determine a image or a song that will trigger this action. There will be no emotions or fears, but your actions will not be hampered. You will be as close to being a real agent as you can get" Bryce smoothly concludes his speech.
"What is it that your not telling me Bryce", Chuck says. "This sounds too good to be true or they would have been doing this already!"
Bryce looks down before speaking. "There are some possible side effects. First is that you need to retain the images, which you already show that you can do with the intersect. The second is that the process can be painful. There is no telling what type of damage can occur during the process. But the real issue is continuous usage of the emotional detachment can be permanent or cause a split personality. It is a small chance but there is still a chance. Though this is all theory at this point. There was never anyone that could retain the images before."
"If it means that I can protect Sarah, then I am willing to take the chance", Chuck states strongly! He had already made up his mind when Bryce had said that he could keep Sarah safer but doing this.
Bryce felt a bit bad about using Sarah to push Chuck into doing this, but he did what he did for the sake of the mission. For Bryce, it was always about the mission and he would not think twice about hurting anyone if he needed to. That included Chuck and even Sarah, though he still had a thing for her. He did not love her but she was still in his thoughts and her beauty was hard to ignore.
"Well, since I need an image to use, I think I know what image I will be using. What do you say to using winged serpent god Kukulcan. I need to change it a bit, but I think it is uncommon enough to not cause a problem. I also have the perfect song as well", Chuck says without hesitation!
He is thinking of Sarah but the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU6GoNrALvM&feature=related comes to his mind. How the words will fit the situation. He has no doubt that this will burn a hole into his soul, but if that will keep her safe then so be it. He just hopes that she can bring his lost soul back to life. If not all will be for nothing.
Bryce is smiling as things are starting to take shape as he had planed. If the General or Director knew what he was about to do they would have stopped him. It is a good thing he is in deep cover.
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Panning back to Sarah and Crystal at the very same moment that Chuck makes his decision, both of them start to shiver. They both have a strange feeling that things have just changed for the worse.
Sarah has been going to different airfields trying to find out if a Piper Comanche had landed there recently. This is no small task as there are a lot of airfields to cover. This is not like the US, they don't report aircraft to any central location.
After several days she finally finds the airfield. They remember two men and one of them was hurt. They paid with dollars and left heading south. Sarah starts plotting out what would be the next logical distance considering the range and fuel reserves to be safe.
Feeling that she owes Crystal some news, she dials her up on the cell phone.
"Hi Crystal, this is Sarah", she says.
"Hi Sarah, thanks for calling me. Do you have any news on Chuck yet", she asks with a bit of urgency in her voice.
" Yes, I have been able to confirm that he is okay, but I still don't know where they are yet", Sarah continues. "He is with another man, but I don't know who yet. I will let you know more when I find out."
"Sarah, have you checked you emails yet? I received an email from Chuck, but I was not sure if it was really him. I think he send you one also. Now that you say that you have confirmed that he is fine, I believe that the email is really from him." Crystal says in a brighter tone.
Sarah has been so busy trying to look for the airport that she never thought about looking at her email. She immediately pulls out her briefcase and logs in to get her email.
As she reads the email she feels that Chuck has finally gone too far. He has gone under deep cover and he is no agent. He makes way too many mistakes and wears his emotions on his sleeves. What agent would be stupid enough to take a chance like this with the intersect.
"Thanks Crystal, I did get an email from Chuck and I believe that it is real. This takes a load off of my mind. I am sure he will be ok", not really believing a word she just told Crystal."He ways he will be back for Elle's wedding so we will just have to waif for him to get back. You know Chuck he will always help a friend out no matter what."
Sarah is hoping that Crystal buys what she is saying. She really doesn't have time for this but she promised Chuck and she keeps her promises.
"Okay Sarah, I guess we will just have to trust that he is fine. I sure would feel better if he would call, but I am sure he has his reasons", she replies back.
"I need to head back to DC, so I will see you at Elle's wedding. Let me know if you hear anything from Chuck and I will do the same", hoping that will end the conversation with Crystal.
"Sure thing Sarah and it was nice getting to know you", Crystal says as she hangs up the phone.
As soon as Crystal hangs up she calls her Senator friend again. This time he is there, but insists on calling her back. A few minutes later she gets a call from her friend.
"Crystal, I don't know how well you know Chuck Bartowski, but he is one very sensitive subject for both the NSA and CIA. I don't know all of the details but he could be trouble with a capital T. It is dangerous for you to be around him", the voice finishes.
"He is a good friend and I just cannot let him get hurt! He disappeared while we were in Mexico and I need to know he is okay. Is there anything that you can do to help me? You know I wouldn't ask if it were not really important to me", Crystal pouts. She knows that this will get her into something that she should stay out of but she cannot just leave alone.
"I dare not ask about him again, but there is someone that I can send your way to help you look for him. He is a spook and a bit burned out, but he is very good at tracking down people. If anyone can do it then it would be him and he owes me a favor. I will give him a call and have him contact you sometime this week", says the voice.
"Thank you very very much, I owe you one for this. If there is anything I can do just let me know", Crystal says. She knows what it is going to cost her, but she is willing to do it for Chuck.
"Well, I will be out there next month. I am sure we can work out something then", the voice says trying to be sexy. "I have to go and expect to hear from my friend this week. Take care and look forward to seeing you soon." He hangs up the phone and Crystal knows why he will be making his trip out here for.
Why is it that men can only think of one thing, she thinks to herself. Well all except for Chuck so far and he turned her down. The one man she felt a connection to ever since...
Crystal immediately pushes all thoughts out of her mind and now has to wait for this mysterious person to call. She hopes that it is soon.
As Crystal was talking to her friend back in DC, Sarah had been trying to figure out where Chuck and his handler may have gone next. Her logical choice was south, but why south. What could they be looking for that would lead them in that direction.
She was still thinking about who would possibly be that arrogant to use the intersect like this. Suddenly she felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She knew of only one person that would be that arrogant and it did not bode well for Chuck.
Sarah calls up Director Graham, as she is plotting a course to Guatemala. she was pretty sure that he would go there next. He was trying to cover his tracks and knowing him like she did it all started to make sense now.
"Director Graham line secure. Hi Sarah are you ready for your next assignment?"
"Not just yet, but I do have some news that I suspect you will want to hear! You do realize that Agent Larkin is using the intersect to go after Fulcrum? With Chuck's lack of skills as an Agent, it is most likely that they will be captured", She advised!
"Yes, Agent Larkin is watching over the intersect, but he is not going after Fulcrum. He is to bring him back to LA next week after they finish their assignment in Cabo", Graham shot back.
"Well sir, they are no where near Cabo. They have go into deep cover and are south of Guatemala, I am pretty sure."
"Hold one sec", he says leaving Sarah for several minutes. When he returns she can tell that something is up.
"It seems that the last reports of his location is like you said. They were last in Guatemala before they broke off complete contact. We cannot afford for this to happen. I need you to pursue them and get the intersect back. If you cannot convince them to come back, then you must terminate them."
Sarah is shocked at what she just heard, but she knew that it was coming. They could not afford to the intersect to be captured and she did not want Chuck to die.
"You understand your orders Agent Walker? You cannot tell anyone about this and at this time both Larkin and Bartowski are still listed as under assignment. If the NSA get wind of this, they will put out the order as well. At least this way Bryce and Chuck have a chance with you."
"I understand, I will pursue post haste. I will not let you down", she says as she hangs up her phone. She is thinking, what have you gotten yourself into this time Chuck!
Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck. All of the characters belong to whomever.
I own the plot and theme in this story though. Enjoy it I hope! Just ask if you want to use any part of it, with a simple acknowledgement given somewhere. ^)
