Chuck vs. the Virus

Summary:

Chuck faces new dangers when the bad guys decide to attack him in new and improved ways. Not only are they constantly trying to learn the identity of the intersect, but they incidentally target his loved ones in the process. What is going on with Chuck and Sarah? What is the secret behind the break up and why are there so many unanswered questions? Newly weds Ellie and Awesome face troubles when Awesome is forced to lie for Chuck, particularly when it comes to one incredible secret that only the two of them share. Chapter 1 picks up three months after the prologue.

Characters:

Main cast

Bryce Larkin is dead. Really.

/*Major differences, if and when there are any, and any author's notes will be put between these lines.*/

The intersect was not removed from Chuck's head, the cube was stolen before it could be used on the Fulcrum agents, but recovered without knowledge of Stephen's true intentions.

Prologue – "Eleven Guns"

Chuck dangled from the ceiling, legs flailing, heart beating wildly. He heard gun shots still echoing from all sides, the metallic ceiling was deafening, but his heart pounded so loudly in his ears the clanging rings barely registered at times.

With a manic gasp and a short, girlish scream, Chuck let go of the metal bars he had used to lower the majority of his body into the intersect room. He landed on the back of his feet and fell to his butt, skidding backwards across the floor. His ankle burned a little, but adrenaline seized his extremities and boosted him back to his feet.

The room was white and quiet, only faint sounds of the commotion outside could be heard. But there was another noise, and Chuck whipped around to see who was making it. A strange console caught his eye briefly, and the incurring flash let him know exactly what the machine was programmed to do. That was the machine that instigated the intersect program. That was the machine the men on the other side of the walls were after.

His eyes landed on the man laying on the ground by the door. A pool of blood had begun to form around him and he was gasping for air, his face as white as the wall he leaned against. Bryce Larkin careened his neck upward to look at Chuck, who stood frozen momentarily at the sight of Bryce.

But that moment passed quickly and Chuck rushed to his once-good friend's side.

"Bryce. Bryce! Oh my god, what happened? You've been shot!" Chuck knelt down by Bryce's side, clear of the blood pooling by his torso.

Bryce grimaced, holding one hand over his wound attempting to staunch the bleeding, the other holding himself weakly upright.

"Help me get my coat off," Bryce said, groaning through clenched teeth.

Chuck supported Bryce as he leaned forward, and carefully, though hurriedly, slipped the coat of the man's arms. Three bullets had clipped Bryce's right side, all bleeding and soaking his stale gray shirt. He groaned in pain, but took his coat from Chuck and began pressing it against his side.

"Casey and Sarah are outside, Bryce," said Chuck, helping put pressure on the wounds. "They're going to get you help and get us out of here. Don't give up, man. Stay alive. Come on, stay alive. We all need you. Sarah, Casey, the United States, we all do."

Bryce shook his head. "Chuck, these guys…these guys aren't Fulcrum. They're representing someone else entirely. Someone the CIA hasn't detected."

Chuck frowned. "What? How is that possible?"

Bryce clenched his jaw. "I don't know, man. But it means that they are even more dangerous and have access to the CIA." He looked up at Chuck again. "Chuck, you've got to destroy the intersect. You've got to keep it from…getting into their hands." He struggled for air, gasping intermittently.

"How do I do it? Tell me what to do," said Chuck, standing up.

"Go to the machine," said Bryce, slipping further down the wall without Chuck's support. "The screen will prompt you for a code."

Chuck raced to the monitor just a couple feet away. He touched the screen and, sure enough, a num pad-like diagram appeared on the screen. Bullets laced the door separating the gunmen outside from Bryce and Chuck. Chuck looked at the door, distracted, heart pounding even more fiercely.

"Chuck! Get your head in the game," said Bryce, unexpectedly loud. "It's time for you to be a spy, friend. I am not going to make it. Even if Casey and Sarah make it in here, I am not…not going to…"

"Give me the code!" Chuck said, firmly. He was ready. He could destroy it.

Bryce looked at the door, as though he were changing his mind. He hesitated a full five seconds. "Okay, " he said, closing his eyes. "3-9-5-5...4-4-1....1-6.........2."

Chuck repeated the numbers aloud as he punched them in. Nothing happened.

"Bryce! Nothing happened!" Chuck said, looking at the numbers on the screen. The cursor blinked, expecting more digits to be added. He looked at Bryce. Bryce was motionless, now completely limp on the floor. "No! Bryce! Wake up!" Chuck rushed back over to Bryce's side. He knelt down on the ground and shook the man. But there was no life in the body. Bryce was gone, really gone this time.

Chuck stood up, slightly disturbed but entirely too distracted to clearly define the emotional turmoil of witnessing the death of an old friend. There was a mission at hand. Bryce had died at the hand of an unknown enemy, one that was soon to breach the doors of the intersect room and claim the secrets of the government for an entity too dangerous to comprehend. He had to complete the mission. He had to be a real spy.

He flung himself lankily back to the console. He stared at the numbers on the screen, trying to determine a pattern, trying to understand the sequence of numbers.

"3-9-5-5…." Chuck said aloud. "395? 39? 39, 55?" The final repetition of the numbers hit a familiar bone and Chuck felt the intersect take over. Images of a high-level consulate building took over his mind, rushing with red and white colors of fiercest and purest patriotism. An American flag. An alliance. A location. Coordinates. He saw coordinates. 39 55' 44 N, 116 23' 18E. The coordinates of the building, the building of headquarters of some kind. And the flash was over. He blinked.

This was it. He could end this for them all, make the machine worthless. The cursor still blinked after the 2. Chuck hit 3-1-8.

The room instantly went dark. His heart slowed, an unnerving wave of panic spreading through him. Would it work? Was he too late? Did it detect the building was being put under siege? He stepped backward. As he did so, the pictures began. Hundreds upon thousands of images, filling in the blanks and adding to his immensely overloaded brain. The intersect was uploading into his brain! He could vaguely comprehend his annoyance with Bryce, and after a moment he could remember nothing but a life with one long, constant headache. Had it always been like this? Had this headache always been there? He could recall a moment or two where life was grand and easy, full of boredom and ignorance of a world that operated much separately from himself. The world was now operating inside his brain, making him privy to much more than anyone had bargained for.

When the pictures stopped abruptly, Chuck slumped to the ground, his knees hitting the tiled floor hard. He heard a crackling sound, a fizz extending from somewhere below him. He moved away from the console, watching it curiously. Before his eyes, something like blue static crawled through the walls and floors, weaving between the plates of what was undoubtedly the most extensive intelligence machine ever created. A moment later, the screen made a dull sucking sound, popped like a plunger being suctioned from a flat surface, and hissed steam out of every orifice.

It was now the deadest machine he had ever seen.

"He gave me the wrong code," Chuck said aloud. He looked over at Bryce's still lifeless body. "He gave me the code that would first download the information and then self-destruct." His chest heaved up and down. "Why the heck would he do that?"

He didn't have time to consider it further, because at that moment, the door keeping the bad guys out had blasted open and eight men, clothed in black and supporting heavy artillery rushed into the room, aiming and cocking their weapons at a very confused Chuck. Two more men followed in, pushing the handcuffed Sarah and Casey into the room with them. Finally, a man, tall and lean, brown hair and a thin face, entered the room, hands behind his back. He had to be in charge.

"What is going on in here? What did you do?" the man asked.

Chuck's eyes wandered to his handlers. Casey was giving him a wary look, Sarah's eyes were panicked and unsettled. Chuck blinked, then slowly let his eyes wander to Bryce.

"Bryce!" Sarah's eyes had followed his and she was now aware of the man on the floor. "Oh my…"

"Shut up, woman," said the man in charge. He motioned to two of the men currently pointing their guns at Chuck and signaled for them to remove the dead body. Sarah cursed and screamed incoherently at them, which only agitated the man further.

She looked at Chuck, her eyes now moist. He mouthed, "I'm so sorry."

Chuck looked back at the man in charge. "It's destroyed. The intersect is no more."

"What?" the man was enraged and pulled a gun from his back.

"You heard me," said Chuck, feeling bold in the face of death. "You. Lose."

The cock of the man's gun launched the flash that would change everything, change the course of Chuck's future, and was the one that would save them all. Involuntarily, the way to defeat eleven guns became practical, doable.

"Chuck…did you just flash?" Sarah called out. Next to her, Casey hushed her and she quelled, realizing her mistake.

The man in charge lowered his gun slightly and took a step forward. "No way," he said, looking closely at Chuck's face. "You uploaded the intersect? You?"

"I sure didn't mean to, I'll let you know that. I was all set to destroy it and keep it away from everyone because, come on, after living with that thing in my head for two years its given me serious social issues and I would never wish that upon another human being, but Bryce was dying and he couldn't do it himself so he began to give me the code…"

The man lifted his gun again to silence Chuck. This was clearly the wrong thing to do because Chuck knew exactly how to respond. A new smile spread across Chuck's face.

**************

Thanks for reading :)
More to come soon.
Olivia