This chapter gets us over the 15,000 word mark, marking the end of the Castle Ficathon 2017 for me, and the end of this story. This chapter was supposed to be a lot shorter, but I got carried away :D But hey, you get the longest chapter I have ever written in exchange. 4,6k words. This has been fun, and you will get another story that continues this universe. Eventually. Maybe next Ficathon? ;)

Revised word count: 16744 words

Chapter 6: Facing the Truth

Orion was surprised that he agreed to the plan so willingly. He knew that the plan was solid and thought through (mostly), but from the outside looking in, especially without all the information that he had, it did kind of look like a harebrained scheme. He would take his wins where he could get them, and if it was off a man still in shock from being told he was living a virtual lie, he would take it, anyway.

He observed in the simulation how Gerthson enticed Alexis into a nightly trip (he had learned her name and their relationship through listening in); it seemed inconspicuous enough that she would have no reason to suspect him of knowing that he was in the Matrix.

The two teenagers drove for less than ten minutes before Jonny caved and told her where he wanted to take her. A small meadow outside of town; of course, she objected immediately. Judging from the look on Gerthson's face, only now it had really sunk in what was happening. Stephen had been in the spy business for the better part of his life, more or less of his own free will. His heart went out to the young man, for he had been in a similar situation once. Except his story, unlike Gerthson's, had had a chance of a happy end.

It wasn't easy to win the heart of a trained CIA operative; it was impossible to seduce a mainframe.

When Jonny gave in and drove back to his house, Orion started the process of overloading the mainframe, trying to get it to spit out Gerthson. It took the system all of three seconds to start blaring alarms and almost immediately shut him out.

That shouldn't have happened. His plan relied on him being able to undo whatever the system did to stop the overload. Now, things could get a little dicey.

"Jonathan, can you hear me?" he almost-yelled into his wrist computer. The young man winced slightly, and nodded minutely. Orion grimaced. He had started to panic a bit, and in his panic directly shouted in Gerthson's brain. He stopped for a second, took a deep breath and calmed himself down a bit. At least the audio feed still worked. The plan could still work; he would just have to improvise. Still, he needed to inform Gerthson.

"The plan has been compromised. The system has shut me out almost completely. Assume everyone here is hostile; you're the only human in the system. The virtual intelligence will try to detain you, and you will be gone forever if that happens. I'm sorry, that includes virtual Alexis as well."

He knew what he was asking of him, and he could feel himself starting to shake slightly, until the woman next to him laid a calming hand on his shoulder. Right, he thought, the plan.

"Thank you," he offered gratefully, to which the woman nodded and stepped back from him, leaving him to his work. He could see a lot of his wife in her. That thought made him smile, despite everything. It also offered him a point to focus on, his mind now clearing and adapting on the fly to the new situation.

He saw on the monitor how they had just arrived at his house and were stepping into the entry hall, and Gerthson was pulling his girlfriend closer. He frowned at the screen. They knew something was up, yet this virtual Alexis was not openly hostile. He tapped the side of the monitor and turned the volume up.

"Always remember that I love you above all else, Alexis," Gerthson was whispering right now. With a motion that was over so quickly that a casual observer could have easily missed it, he snapped her neck, fast and efficient. Orion had his eyes wide open, and for the first time he was wondering just who the man was he was busting out today.

This had not been the first neck this man had snapped, that much was clear. And yet, the young man kept clutching her corpse to his chest and slumped to the ground with her. Bumping up the volume another few notches, he could hear him sob apologies into her red hair.

"Jonathan," he said, not quite yelling, but hopefully loud enough to penetrate Gerthson's stupor. "You need to get out of there, we are doing everything we can to overload the system, but it's not going fast enough."

At first, he thought Gerthson hadn't heard him. Then he carefully laid down the dead body on the floor, and pulled himself up. "How can I help?" he asked hoarsely after a few seconds of silently staring at Alexis, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

"Anything that needs more rendering than usual. Explosions, for example."

Jonny shook his head. "No can do. The only explosives are either at General Dynamics headquarters or at the Sheriff's Office."

The cameras showed his stare suddenly seeming empty, before he blinked rapidly and snapped his fingers. "Irene Demova!" he muttered, as if i´the name was the greatest revelation since wifi.

Unseen by Gerthson, Orion raised an eyebrow, as did his companion. "Care to elaborate?" It seemed improbable that he just spouted the name of a pornstar without reason.

"The Irene Demova virus. If this is really what you think it is, then this is what you need. Particularly nasty fellow, overloads and fries computers in mere seconds. I just hope with how advanced this thing is, it will still have enough juice to get me out of this hell."

Now that Gerthson mentioned it, Stephen had indeed heard of this virus. Especially since his Chuck had used it once. Once his son had learned of his secret identity as Orion, he held nothing back in telling all the crazy things he had done and succeeded in. Flying helicopters, stopping weaponized satellites with Missile Command, among others, and of course defusing a bomb in downtown Los Angeles with the notorious Irene Demova virus.

He was damn proud of his son, so there wasn't even a question if they were going to do this. "I'll do it."

"Wait," Gerthson stopped him. "If this thing fries with me still in here, chances are I'm gone for good as well. I need you to inform some people of my demise. First, General Beckman, of course. Then my team on the west coast. Then... the real Sheriff Jack Carter, former U.S. Marshal; you'll find him easily enough. Those, you can tell the real story. Jack… tell him, if someday a space mission goes awry, he will now know what to look for."

Orion was listening with eyebrows well into his hairline. This was turning out to be a very informative endeavor.

Undeterred by his reaction, Gerthson continued. "Then my team at the Twelfth Precinct in New York City. Those will take it worse, since they are not privy to most of the information of what happened to me. Give them something so they won't look into this as one of their cases, and make it good. I'm not so conceited that I would think I rank as high as Johanna Beckett, but even if Detective Beckett and I don't see eye to eye on most days, I'm still somewhat of a friend. She will look for justice for me, and consequently would get herself and perhaps others killed over me."

He waited for a few seconds before he turned his head down sheepishly (it was hard to look away if the voice was in your head and you had nothing to look at). "That'd be all. Continue, please."

"That's quite alright," Stephen chuckled. "Although I would advise you to consider a spy will. One of those will probably make any other rescue attempts less wordy."

That had Jonny throw his head back and laugh, but that only lasted a few seconds, that is until he could hear sirens outside the building. Blue and red lights flashed through the windows, and moments later the artificially amplified voice of Sheriff Carter droned through his temporary home. "Come out with your hands above your head, Gerthson. And make it quick; I don't want to need to send in Jo."

It took only a few seconds until he heard a shotgun being loaded. So much for quick. Gerthson took cover behind a wall and flinched instinctively as the first shot tore down the front door. "Now would be a great time for your plan!" he hissed for the voice in his head. Louder, he addressed the woman stalking through the remains of the door, "Ever heard of knocking, Josefina?"

The deputy snorted, "That was me knocking." Another shotgun blast rang through the hallway, Gerthson ducking down as chunks of the wall rained down on him.

Outside the simulation, Orion plugged in a cable from his wrist computer. "Mister Mainframe, meet Mister Internet," he muttered, as he pulled up the virus-riddled website of Miss Demova.

The lights in the server farm flickered for a second; inside the simulation, things started to go haywire instantly. Jo glitched through the wall separating her from Gerthson, who was now staring at the Terminatrix with wide eyes. She leveled her monstrous shotgun at his face and he was waiting for his moment to strike, but instead of pulling the trigger, the gun in her hands lost its texture for a moment and became only a wireframe model before glitching back to the normal gun. Then she cocked her head to one side and stared at him, mouth slightly open and eyes half-lidded.

"Oh, this sexy," she moaned with an Eastern European accent. "Oh. Hey, sexy."

The stupefied look on his face morphed into a smirk. "Goodbye, Miss Demova," he said with a wave as the world around him combusted into shards of crystals flying off into the darkness beyond the simulation.

Orion nudged his companion, who nodded once and went to look after Gerthson; if there was a chance that they got Gerthson out of there, now was the time. She felt for a pulse, which was there, and opened up one of his eyes. It reacted when she shone a penlight at it, which was a good sign.

A few seconds later, the young man sat up with a gasp, eyes opened up wide. The neuro-connectors were ripped right off his head by the sudden movement, but with the simulation crashing, any sort of feedback loop was basically out of question. He hoped.

The young man's hand snapped around the neck of the woman right next to him. "Who are you?" he asked flatly. His eyes were still frantically scanning the room, hopping from one object to another, before landing on her yet again.

"My name is of no importance," she replied calmly once she was certain she had his attention, the slightest lilt tinging her voice. "Other than that, it would be nice of you to let go of me."

She nudged him in the side with something hard, and as Gerthson looked down, he couldn't help the small grin that snuck its way onto his face. The object she had nudged him with was her pistol that was pointed at his stomach, no doubt able to easily tear through any organic material, such as his intestines. "Nice touch," he said still smiling and released her neck from his grip.

Then his gaze fell upon Orion. "Man, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," he sighed, his tense shoulders already sagging down.

"I get the idea, son," Stephen told him with a warm smile. "Your… west coast team, let's call them that, was sent on another mission, and when they realized you had been kidnapped, they called me. I called a few people, and here we are."

Gerthson snorted softly. "I don't believe that's all there is to it, but given that you just saved my life, I will let it slide. Now, how about that ride back home?"

With that, his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped down. He would've hit the floor too, if it hadn't been for the woman who had pointed a gun at him just moments ago.

New York City, a few hours later

The sound of her neck snapping echoed through my mind when I felt a hand shake me. "I'm awake, I'm awake," I slurred, my thoughts still roiling from the nightmare.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Stephen J. Bartowski with a concerned look on his face. I waved it away. "Just a stupid nightmare."

A quick look around told me little; it was dusk outside, we were in the back of a van with no windows in the back, Orion was sitting across from me, and there was only a driver with us. Not the one who pulled a gun on me, either.

"Everything is going to be alright, Jonathan," Chuck's dad told me with a small smile. "You're safe now. And you can speak freely, the driver is one of my... personal assistants."

I raised an eyebrow at that statement and took a closer look at the man behind the wheel, now that the fog had cleared from my mind.

"Pleasure to meet you, Jonny," a familiar voice said with an audible smirk, "any friend of Chuck's is a friend of mine."

Bryce Larkin's piercing blue eyes laughed at me in the rear view mirror.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"I got better," came the laconic reply. Damn, walked right into that one.

I shook my head. I didn't know why I was thrown for a loop. After all, I had seen (and been part of) stranger things.

I filed it away for later and went on like nothing had happened. "Well, if that's the case, then I'll be open with you both. I know about the intersect. Probably the most after the original team and Chuck. I have one too, and I am very confident that it is better than either the one in your brain or in Chuck's. I would like to show my gratitude, so if you'd like, I will arrange for you to take a look at the source code. It combines the effectiveness of yours with the added functions of the Intersect two point oh that Chuck uploaded, and all that without the risk of frying the user's brain or psychological issues. No hallucinations, and no paranoia, at least not in addition to what the job already requires."

He gave me a look that made me think of what I must've looked like when I woke up from the simulation, but he caught himself quickly. "And you're letting me look at the source code?"

I nodded. I had made a decision, and I would stand by it, even if my superiors wouldn't like it at all. I didn't care; the parameters had changed, and we weren't in the Star Trek universe with the whole 'No talking about the warp drive to people who don't know about it yet' thing. At least I hoped we weren't. I couldn't take another universe, or another wormhole trip.

Outwards, I nodded firmly. "Yes. You're a good guy, Orion. I know that the safety of your family stands above all else for you, and I know that you won't abuse the knowledge. I have sworn an oath to protect my people and their families. That includes you, and Bryce."

Orion gave me a strange look (as did Bryce, I imagined), but he smiled after a few moments. "We can talk more later. For now, you need to know about your cover story for why you were gone."

With that, he started to explain my cover: I had been on an undercover operation in Western Europe to stop a terrorist attack. I did stop the attack, but had suffered head trauma while doing so. I was in an artificial coma for most of my recovery and only recently entered the country again.

The details were easily filled in. After Orion was satisfied with the extent of the cover, he tested and prodded me with questions, trying to trip me up. I think it would be a little bit too humble to only credit the Intersect for not messing up even once, but it certainly helped.

I had discerned from the few glimpses I could catch through the windshield that we were back in New York City, but it only dawned on me where we were when the car stopped and Stephen opened the backdoor to the street outside of Castle's loft, of all places.

"This is where my job ends," Stephen said with a smile. "Chuck and his team will come by once they are done with their current mission for a debriefing. For now, go visit your friends. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you. You ready?"

I snorted softly. "Oh, you mean ready to walk into the home of the person who a supercomputer deemed the best choice to honeytrap me? Including meeting her overprotective father whom I work with? Knowing I snapped her virtual counterpart's neck? Yeah, sure. I can't wait."

"Would you be more ready in an hour?" he asked. I silently shook my head no, since he had a point. "Then there's no use standing around, now is there? Off you go," he told me with a laugh and unloaded me onto the street with a shove disguised as a pat on the back.

I took a deep breath and made my way into the building, where the doorman greeted me with a probably fake, broad smile. "Mister Gerthson, what a nice surprise," he offered in greeting as he pushed the button to open the elevator for me. "It's been awhile since you've been around. It's nice to see you again!"

"You too, Damien," I said, his name being provided by the Intersect as part of Castle's dossier. "How's Greta?"

This time his face lit up with a sincere smile. "She's doing great, thank you for asking. Just started teething a week ago or so."

I gave him a small smile in return. "That's great. Give my regards to Phoebe."

Turning to press the button for the penthouse, I could see his grin from the corner of my eyes. "I will. Should I call on ahead?"

"Nope," I said and shook my head, "it's supposed to be a surprise. They don't even know yet that I'm back in the country."

He gave a short laugh. "My lips are sealed." That was the last thing I could hear from him before the elevator doors closed up again.

Bossa nova accompanied my ascend, as always. By now, I was accustomed to the music, found it endearing even. The time inside was spent bobbing to the rhythm, until the doors opened to the familiar entryway. I rang the bell, and waited.

The door opened to the sight of Richard Castle, dressed for a lazy night in (and perhaps an intense writing session) with sweatpants and a grey shirt. His eyes grew wide with recognition and his jaw dropped; it took him two long seconds to collect himself and snap his jaw back up into a wide smile. "Jonathan, come in!" He took a step back and ushered me in, closing the front door behind me.

I happily obliged and let myself be led to the couch, where he surprised me by pulling me into a strong hug. "I have no idea where you were, or what you did, but I'm glad that you're back," he said after releasing me. "We all missed you."

"Even Beckett?" I joked.

"Even Beckett," he confirmed, surprising me a little; "you'd think she'd be glad to have you gone for once, but it seems you've wormed your way in."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "I feel like I've heard that story before."

He only grinned at me and offered me 'the birds', which I quickly fed of course.

We migrated to the kitchen area after Castle declared that he needed a drink after the shock of seeing me alive. "You know, we half expected you to never show up again; for all we knew, you had ended up in a shallow grave in the middle of nowhere," he casually dropped as he expertly fixed himself a drink.

I sighed and my smile faded away. I had known this topic would come up - how could it not - but I had hoped to avoid it for a little while longer and instead bask a little in the company of friends (and almost more importantly, the absence of spies). "Look, by now you've heard a little bit about what I was doing while I was away. You've even met the people I work with. But even so, I can't tell you much. It's all highly classified. 'I have to kill you if I told you' level classified. You have worked with the CIA before, right?"

Castle nodded silently, which I took as my cue to continue. I laid my cover story out for him, at least the Reader's Digest version that "didn't contain classified information". His curiosity sated, we settled into a comfortable silence for a minute. Then, he asked me to go look for his leather bound notepad in his office because he just had an idea, and "if you didn't write it down, it never happened," or so he said; my Intersect begged to differ, not that I could tell him that. Nonetheless, I indulged him and went to fetch it. His office seemed less chaotic than I remembered, but I still needed well over five minutes to sift through all the stacks of books he had lying around for research. After that, I accepted that my mission had failed; I left his office with empty hands and returned to the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it," he said when he saw the look on my face and waved his smartphone. "I made a memo instead. Not as good, but at least the idea didn't get lost. I'm sorry to have sent you on a wild goose chase."

"I didn't mind," I laughed. "I always feel like the office is kinda your inner sanctum, so it was nice to visit."

He raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. "I gotta keep that in mind for the next time I have lost something in the chaos."

We both laughed at that. "Say, do you still like Chinese takeout?" he asked.

I snorted a little. "Are you kidding? Of course I do."

He started to grin and slapped my shoulder. "Perfect! The food delivery is already on its way."

I felt a tiny part of me already sounding the retreat, trying to get out of there right now; I clamped down on that feeling and nodded tiredly. "You know what, that sounds perfect," I sighed. He was still my friend, and I had been missing. The least I could do was accept his dinner invitation. Especially if it was Chinese food.

We sat down on the couch and he talked about his newest book, the next in the Nikki Heat series, until the doorbell rang. "Oh, that must be the food," he said and quickly stood up.

I sighed and leaned back into the cushion, the thought of hot shrimps keeping me calm.

"Yo, bro, not a day back in New York, and already lazing around again? I'm disappointed!" the familiar voice of Javier Esposito tearing me from my shrimps-filled daydream; I almost fell off the couch from the surprise.

"Yeah, you'd think he'd be more considerate of the people who have to actually work," snarked his partner Ryan, who stepped into the living room behind the latino Detective.

"Doubtful; he's back, isn't he?" Beckett brought the hammer down from behind her friends.

"Ouch, detective. That's harsh," I said with a bright grin on my face as I stood up. "And to think that I missed you guys… I think I have to reevaluate my choice of friends, if that's how you welcome me back."

Espo laughed. "Oh, poor baby. We brought you, and us, Chinese food as an apology."

I smiled. "Accepted." Then I threw Castle a shrewd look. "Ordering takeout, huh?"

The author shrugged his shoulders, completely unrepentant. "I didn't say that. I had the idea while you were looking for the notepad, so I seized the opportunity."

I chuckled. "I don't mind. Honestly, after all the shit I've been through, I think I have earned some shrimps." I glanced at Beckett. "You did bring shrimps, right?"

She gave me one of her patented Beckett eye rolls, and I felt right back at home. "Of course we did. How could we not, knowing that you would be here?"

Since I saw them standing closely together, I quickly crossed the few steps between us and pulled all three of them into an awkward hug. "This definitely calls for a group hug, guys. I've really missed you all."

"Let us go this instant, or I'm liable to shoot you," Beckett growled.

I chuckled, and did not let them go for another five seconds. "You hate the paperwork more than hugs, Beckett. Your threats are empty."

"There you are, darling," Martha's voice rang through the loft shortly before I was pulled into a hug of my own, saving me from Beckett's retort. "So good to see you, Jonathan. We were worried sick about you."

Blushing, I looked on the ground. "Sorry, Martha. It's not that I go looking for trouble; trouble finds me."

I had made the mistake of letting my guard down, because as soon as I looked back up - and I really should have seen it coming - all I saw was a red blur; then I heard a sharp crack, then I felt the sting on my cheek, followed by a lithe redhead crushing me in another hug.

"You stupid idiot," she mumbled into my shoulder, voice already starting to crack before I felt the wetness through my shirt. "You promised not to do stupid stuff again."

"I said I'd try, and I will continue to do so," I whispered as I rubbed soothing circles onto Alexis' back, taking the slap in stride.

"Castle, have I told you lately that I like your daughter more and more every day?" Beckett joked, and broke the ice with that comment.

We had fun that evening. Honest to god, non-violent fun with friends and a good meal. With shrimps. It felt strange feeling happy again, but good. It felt good to be back home.

Over the course of dinner, I snuck glances at Alexis from time to time. I had gotten a glimpse of what life could be like if I took the plunge, and those memories didn't go away, no matter how hard I tried. It was very hard to deny that I was in love with her.

Things could go horribly wrong of course (for example the fact that I had to snap her virtual counterpart's neck hanging over me like a sword of Damocles), and given that it was me, the chances for that weren't small, but there had to be something about her that made the mainframe of the Virtual Reality Simulator think there was a good statistical chance that it would work.

The decision wasn't hard, and so my next mission was already chosen:

Woo Alexis Castle. The real one this time.