Sorry about the delay, I know it has been a while but I've been busy this month. Updates should happen more frequently, but I am still quite busy. Hopefully this chapter turned out well, it feels like it has been forever since I've written fanfiction. Also, great episode last night amirite? Much better opener than season 3.

And the usual I don't own Chuck.

Rough timeline:

Jan 2008 - Sept 2008 Chuck's Training

Late Sept/Oct – Chuck's red test and saving Sarah

Dec 2008 – Sometime in 2009 – Jill/Chuck against Fulcrum

Nov 2009 – Not established yet – Althea/Chuck

Chuck vs. Colombia

45 km north of Medellin, Colombia

November 5, 2009

6:31 PM Thursday

The blonde agent shifted her shoulder to adjust the sight of her sniper rifle. Through her scope she could see the armed guards patrolling around the outskirts of the estate. For the past few months she had been tracking down ranking members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and building intel for her superiors for them to act upon. She had to seduce, kill, and whatever else it took to get the information for her mission. She could feel the mission coming to a close and couldn't wait to be back stateside or off on a beach drinking one of those beverages with little umbrellas improving on her tan. Earlier in the week she was able to narrow down the location of a few very high ranking members of FARC.

FARC is responsible for a vast network of Cocaine being produced and then shipped north up through Panama then through neighboring Latin American countries to the States. They also manage to export Cocaine into the UK, the drug becoming more popular in the UK clubbing scene recently. Once FARC got involved in the drug trade, there was both a rise of violence in Mexico and in the States, especially along the border along Arizona and Texas. The DEA wants to shut them down due to the drug impact, while the CIA wants them shut down for funding a domestic terrorist group that is gaining power in the States and is starting to spread throughout the European Union.

A commotion at the south gate brought the agent out of her musings and she let go of her sniper rifle, which was propped up by a bipod and took out her camera to obtain more photos, taking in another group of men arriving at the gate. In the past few days, there had been a steady influx of men that she was unable to identify but she took photos and relayed to her superiors. She was ordered not to act on them in any way; they would be taken care of. When she inquired about sending in a gunship to take them out, her director claimed they wanted to make sure they had no warning or no time to flee. The Colombian government isn't exactly corruption free after all; they would still have to get permission from the government to send in the strike. However, if they were to make it appear as though it was a coup inside their organization or of a rival group, the United States could deny their involvement, naturally. Unfortunately for the blonde agent, that meant the need to bring the CIA on board. The CIA has more room to provide covert operations abroad.

The agent sighed; she was looking forward to a hands-on approach herself. She pulled out her satellite phone and dialed her director, hoping she will be a part of the operation once the CIA takes over.

"Director Davis, secure."

"Hansen, secure."

"Status report?"

"Another group of our targets have entered the estate. The meeting should be taking place within the next 24 hours according to my contacts. The estate sure is filling up by the hour."

"I'm sure that you can. Regardless, the CIA has insisted that if we are to continue this case, we will do so in conjunction with them. They went over my head and received operating authority in this, as it may lead to the breakdown of a domestic terrorist group from receiving funding. I was just barely able to argue for you to see this through, they are sending an agent down there."

God damn CIA. Carina sighed. "I suppose there is nothing we can do to change this?"

"No. Don't screw this up either Carina; we can't afford your improvisation screwing this up."

"An Agent? They are sending one person for this?"

"Yes. I am told he is one of the best the CIA has to offer and you have worked briefly with him before. I did not get his name for the alias he used while you two worked together. His codename is Prometheus. You will defer to his judgment, do not screw this up. No improvising unless completely necessary. Do I make myself clear?"

Carina sighed in response, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. Call me if any issues arise." She added and then the line went dead.

42 km north of Medellin, Colombia

November 5, 2009

6:35 PM Thursday

Chuck checked his GPS showing the corresponding location of his soon-to-be partner. He looked through a sniper scope, not attached to a rifle and located the general area she would be located in. Graham was kind enough to provide him with her current GPS coordinates provided by the DEA during his call. He had arrived in Medellin a few days previous and made the trek up into the mountainous area of Colombia near the target estate. Due to the tough terrain, he was unable to drive up and opted to hike. Not wanting to risk a jump into the mountains. There are too many possible eyes that could see the chute and a night jump could be risky with all the trees and vegetation everywhere.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a vibration of his Sat Phone.

"Prometheus, secure."

"Zeus, secure. I just got off the phone with DEA Director Davis. She claims her agent has just spotted a new round of targets arriving at the estate. I'm sending the photos to your phone; confirm the identity of our targets with your special talents. We have no room for errors in this; we need Chavez, Garcia, and Ring operative Agent White eliminated. The Ring cannot be allowed to provide funds to FARC in exchange for funneling drugs into the States. Their ability to corrupt more politicians, soldiers, agents, and other government officials would increase drastically, not to mention their own development of Intersect 2.0."

"Understood. Where is my partner, I assumed we would be meeting up in Colombia after our last mission in the States?" I parted with Jill assuming we would be put on the same mission. What's Graham up to now?

"Ismene is currently working in Europe; expect to be separated for an indefinite period of time. Make contact with Agent Hansen."

Damn. "Prometheus, out." He replied and disconnected the call before Graham could say anything else. He wasn't too happy about being split up from Jill for an indefinite period of time. They had grown close over their extended mission to take down Fulcrum over the past year. Hell we haven't spent more than a week apart since she was cleared to be his partner. She is the closest thing I have a friend out in the spy world besides Casey. Chuck checked the coordinates again and scouted out the best possible path, in order to bypass any sort of patrols from the estate. Once he located his roundabout path, he headed out deeper into the thick forest.

Chuck stealthily approached the coordinates, making sure to go in the least direct route to the location. He made sure the wind was in the correct direction, just in case there were some patrols coming from the estate that he couldn't see in the dense forest. By the time he was less than a km from Carina, it was already turning into dusk. There was more than enough light left in order for him to navigate without having to pull on night vision though. He pulled out his suppressed M9 and loaded a round into the chamber and flicked the safety off as he went.

A few minutes passed revealing Chuck approaching a prone form on the ground, without making a single noise that the human range of hearing could make out. Expertly preventing him from crushing twigs and making noise in order to draw any attention from the prone female less than ten feet in front of him. He watched as the figure tensed up, as if she sensed his presence.

Carina looked down from her perch within some vegetation providing some cover from the estate. She wasn't too worried about the FARC guards skimming the perimeter; they would have to know exactly where she was to maybe catch a glimpse of her. Her hide was too well placed inside of a bush, overlooking the estate that was slightly below her.

She tensed up as she sensed someone else's presence. She listened intently to the sounds of the forest and noticed a slight change. She reached to a sheath near her chest to grab one of her throwing knives and prepared to roll to the side hoping to catch her attacker off guard.

"Now now Carina, is that a way to greet an old friend?" a voice sounded out behind her.

That voice…it sounds so familiar but I can't place it. She knew for a fact that the voice belonged to the man the CIA sent, she just couldn't remember the voice. She pulled herself up; ready to have to defend herself if needed, not that there would be much of a fight if there was a gun pointed at her. She could tell the man was still a good few strides away from her, even with the long legs of her 5'9 frame.

With a slight smirk, knowing she most likely didn't remember the sound of his voice, as their mission together was very almost two year ago. "As you might have guessed, I am Prometheus, Graham sends his regards." He added the last part with a touch of sarcasm. Graham despised relying on other agencies. His dislike isn't exclusive with the NSA.

By now, Carina had turned around and noticed Chuck resting his back against a tree with an amused expression, with his pistol pointed in her general direction casually. She couldn't believe that the lanky nerd analyst from California was standing in front of her. Damn. To say he's changed since I last saw him would be an understatement. I almost can't recognize him. Mmm, I approve of the trimmed beard and short hair. "…Chuckles…?"

"Hello Carina! Surprised to see me?"

"..uhh..I always thought there was more to Burbank with Walker and Casey babysitting you. So you were an agent then?" Carina fished.

"No, but not long after that I entered training."

"Hmmph. So is Walker your partner then? I thought she went back to Larkin." Carina baits with a smirk, remembering his fondness for a certain blonde agent. Truthfully she had no idea what Sarah had been up to since she left Burbank. All she knew was that Sarah went deep and they were barely able to communicate.

He answered with the same face, Sarah leaving him had long since stopped affecting him in the way that just her name gave him pain to reminisce. "I'm not sure. We parted ways a few months after the Wookie mission."

"Ah."

"Scan the area; make sure no one is around while we were catching up." Chuck ordered. He decided to get on task and pulled his bag off his shoulder and placed it on the ground in front of him. He took the MP5 slung to his pack and placed it beside him on the ground. Carina observed Chuck in a completely new light. Even with him sneaking up on him, she was skeptical. Watching him maliciously remove items and check over things, it was different from her version of Chuck from Burbank. He pulled out bricks of C4 and remote detonators, setting them up to be able to detonate as soon as they are needed. She continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye as she scanned the area around them and checking the patrols of the estate to make sure there was the same level of presence.

"We have a side mission apart from insuring the death of Chavez, Garcia, and Ring operative. Our orders are to setup C4 in a way to produce secondary explosions. Since this is an estate, they do not do too much drug creation here, so producing secondary explosions is out from that, however, our intel shows they have a high volume of weapons being stockpiled. Along with assault rifles, small arms, and the like, they recently acquired Stinger missiles as a show of 'good faith' to the FARC from the Ring. Usually FARC does not act as a terrorist organization like other cartels, we at least know they will not target civilian airliners, but they will definitely take advantage of them to eliminate gunships. The CIA's hope is that the Colombians will blame this attack on rival leaders within FARC or other rival paramilitary groups operating in the region."

"Why wasn't I told of this before?" She asked as he handed her an equal amount of setup C4 blocks.

"The CIA aspect of this mission did not come into fruition until recently. Before this was a purely DEA sanctioned mission. As soon as Langley discovered the Ring connection to FARC, Director Graham brought me into the loop. That was about four days ago. We discovered the link from the Stingers with CIA and NSA intel. We were then able to put the pieces together and confirm Ring involvement."

"That good memory again, huh?"

"…Yeah. We have to move fast once it gets dark, luckily there isn't much light from the moon, so we should be able to make it over the lower walls without being seen. We move once it is dark enough. We will have to move fast, once we blow up the estate. Primary fall back is back to Medellin. Secondary is the Panama border. If we can't kill Chavez and Garcia then this mission is a complete waste. Both have to die. The Ring can always send another man, but Chavez and Garcia are the power behind persuading FARC to work with the Ring."

"Understood."

They were interrupted by Chuck's sat phone vibrating. "Prometheus, secure." He replied in a whisper, still paranoid that a patrol could have sneaked up on them.

"Zeus, secure. UAV thermal scans show no one has left the immediate area of the estate. I will send you a text if we show people missing."

"Roger, we're heading out within a few minutes."

"Good hunting." Graham responded then the line went dead.

Chuck and Carina approached the perimeter of the estate, which have low walls, easily scalable by both tall individuals. Chuck signaled for Carina to go up first, he covered her with his suppressed MP5, making sure the somewhat usual guard timings were working in their favor, which they were. Once he was satisfied, he made his way over the wall. They were in a side area, with very little light and far enough away from the mansion of the estate itself. Both were using their night vision goggles. They had to pass garden-like areas with plenty of bushes and areas for both the predators and their prey to be hiding. Even though the estate is in the mountains, the area still got more than enough rain and was able to maintain a very upper class type of living. Chuck shouldered his MP5, the submachine gun dangling from the sling. He pulled out his tactical knife and his suppressed M9 and stalked towards a side entrance that he pulled from schematics stored in the Intersect.

Carina followed off to the side, about 5 meters from her partner. She also had out her knife and a suppressed Sig Sauer P229. She saw two sentries off to her side having a smoke and glanced over at Chuck, noticing that he also noticed the two. Chuck moved forward and signaled for Carina to take the right. They both approached and cuffed their mouths and noses, preventing them from making unwanted noise. Chuck deftly slammed his knife through his man's back, into his kidney and slowly lowered him to the ground as he began to cough up blood and bleed out. Carina opted to slice her target's neck and eased him to the ground. They dragged both bodies behind some hedges and scanned the area.

I still can't believe this is the same man who screamed and ran into a mail room of a hotel a few years ago. I wonder what pushed him into this life. Ahhhh…snap out of it Carina. I can always 'interrogate' him after the mission. Carina smirked, if Chuck had been watching and able to see it in the low light, he would have noticed a very distinctive predatory grin forming on Carina's face. Your loss Walker.

Chuck looked at Carina and nodded then stalked off towards the mansion, slightly bent over to blend in with the hedges he was currently using as a shield for his left side. She followed a few meters back, directly behind him, mimicking his motions. Regardless of her inner monologue, she did enjoy watching Chuck in action. She hadn't had a partner in quite a well, almost as long as since she left Burbank. It was an odd sense of déjà vu for her. He reminded her of Bryce in certain mannerisms, but in other aspects he still maintained some of the qualities she noticed in Burbank. Hopefully this won't be the last time we work together. Meanwhile she had continued to scan the area, only slightly distracted. She still maintained her light footfalls and barely made a sound.

Ten minutes later, after making sure they weren't being observed, they managed to sneak within a short range of the mansion. There was their intended target, a side door leading into the basement. There was guard patrolling around the area, not standing directly outside the door. Both agents flipped their night vision off and kneeled down outside of the guard's line of sight along the mansion's stone walls, there was enough light from the windows above and a flood light outside the door for them to see clearly.

Chuck signaled for Carina to stay put and he moved off to the side to distract the guard. He made a bit of noise and the guard cautiously moved forward. Once he was far enough away from possible prying eyes, he shot the man in the chest and checked his pulse. Satisfied, he dragged him off to the side, once again placing a body in bushes. Chuck was already wearing camouflage like the Ring agent was wearing, he wouldn't have too much of an issue blending in, minus his MP5. He left it behind and stashed his suppressed M9 in the small of his back under his uniform.

The plan was for Chuck to go in first and make sure that it would be clear enough for Carina to come in. The problem would lie with Carina. Not many females belong in the FARC paramilitary. Not to mention bombshells who look like they should be walking down a Swedish runway. Even the BDU couldn't diminish her attractiveness. He opened the door, finding it unlocked. I suppose they aren't expecting anyone to be attacking them up here. Chuck mused. He looked down into the basement and noticed a group of four playing cards, while another two sat on watching and laughing while the man, who had the most chips, currently lost the majority of his with a bad hand. Chuck spoke into his mic softly, mindful to see if any of the men noticed. "Get in here in two minutes, don't be late."

"I'll be there." Carina responded.

Chuck realized there wasn't a way around it; they would have to kill the six men down here. He didn't want to start a shootout, not liking the odds of one of the men getting a lucky shot in. He decided the best option would be to move closer to the group and attempt to be social, hoping he could pass off as a Ring agent.

He moved in closer and spoke in perfect, region specific Spanish, thanks to the Intersect, "Got room for another?" He added a stack of local currency to hopefully, help sway them. He also hoped with the Intersect doing the heavy lifting, they would assume he is in fact a Ring agent due to his perfect Spanish, hoping that they would imply that the Ring would speak someone who could pick up on all the nuances of their language during the negotiations. Even the grunts knew the Ring might become players within the FARC. These were the men loyal to Chavez and Garcia.

The men eyed him suspiciously but decided he looked much like the Ring agent earlier, even if he looked a bit American. The dealer responded, "Pull up a chair."

Chuck had noticed they were playing a style of poker similar to Texas Hold'em. Not that it would matter; it would be over in a few seconds when Carina approached the table. The entrance to the basement had poor lighting, so she would be able to get in range very quickly.

As the dealer began to deal the new hands, Carina said she was coming in. Chuck didn't like the odds of drawing his pistol, too easy to get it knocked out of his hands with six men within a few meters of him. At best, he'd be able to take out only a few men before either he was shot or he was disarmed. He analyzed the table and felt he would be able to lift it and tip it over very easily. At this point Carina was approaching and the men were beginning to take notice. At first they seemed to hesitate, it had obviously been quite a while since this particular group had seen an attractive female. Chuck used it to his advantage and took their hesitation to flip the table. In the same upward motion when he was flipping the table, he kicked out towards one of the men standing to the side previously watching the game. A pop was heard, his kneecap being dislocated. He followed it up with a hard right hook downwards to the man's face as the man fell to his knee grasping his knee. The man fell to the floor unconscious.

Carina by then managed to break into the melee. Finally, a knife fight. She thought with a sneer as she deflected a man's thrust holding a knife and kicking out towards another man's forearm, causing him to release his pistol. Carina had her own knives out and made short order of the man charging her with a knife. She parried his attack by blocking his arm with her forearm and followed through with a slice at the man's throat but he raised his other arm to deflect. However, Carina's second knife cut through his arm instead, he groaned loudly in pain.

Chuck pulled his knife out quickly and threw it at a man approaching Carina from behind; he didn't wait to see if it reached his destination. He was confident the trajectory would align with the man. A second later he was rewarded with the sound of a blade piercing flesh. As he spun back around he kicked out at his current target, knocking him back over a chair causing him to lose his balance. He stalked forward on the downed victim but was unable to finish it, due to a pair coming at him. They were the men on the other side of the table and were thrown down to the ground when Chuck flung the table at them. They finally joined the fight, one using a knife while the other came at him with fists.

As the man instinctively grasped his bleeding arm, Carina ended his life by separating the tissue of his throat. She heard the sickening sound of a knife impacting a man that was approaching her from behind. She didn't have even a second to think about it as a kick hit her forearm, dislodging one of her knives and causing it to fall to the ground unceremoniously. She reacted and parried the follow up of a fist narrowly missing the side of her head. She reached and parried the third incoming blow by a man who had both a size and weight advantage, but she was much quicker. She was able to deflect his incoming blows and kicks and react with her own. She hit him first in the chest with a closed fist of her left hand, causing the man's momentum to slow slightly, and then she brought a powerful chop downwards on the exposed skin of his forearm with her right hand, which also deflected another incoming blow. She spun around with a roundhouse to the man's chest, close to where she previously hit him. As he stumbled back towards the wall, the air was knocked out of him and he was grasping for breath. She took the opportunity to end his life with her remaining knife. She turned around to get a better view of the action and noticed when Chuck was dealing with two newcomers from the opposite side of the table. She also saw as a man was trying to get up as she assumed he was catapulted over the now broken wooden chair. Realizing it would take her longer to get to man who was slowly getting up; she hurled her remaining knife at the man. She didn't hit a vital organ, but it was enough to take him out of the fight until she could reach him.

Chuck was getting mentally, not physically tired of this fight. Any second either reinforcements could be coming through the door if they were close enough to hear the few groans of pain or a random group could come through the door. He wanted the fight to end and to end now. He went down to one knee then sprung upwards with a closed fist to the man's abdomen. Feeling air rush past above his head from the man swiping with a knife and hearing the grunt as the man he hit clutched his abdomen in pain, the air knocked out of him momentarily. He grabbed the man who thrust the knife at him by his forearm and flipped him in the air on his side. He hit the ground. Hard. Chuck pulled out his M9 and shot both men who were distracted, one still grasping his stomach while the other hit the stone floor.

Carina walked forward and repeated the same action on the man she threw the knife at with her P229 and the first man who Chuck knocked unconscious. She said with a smirk to Chuck, "We probably could have just avoided all of that if we started shooting after the initial shock of you flipping the table."

"True, but it could have also allowed one of them to pull out their own gun. All it would take is one unsuppressed shot for the whole of FARC to come down upon us. Besides, I thought you liked knife fights?"

Wow he remembered that one little comment from nearly two years ago? Good memory indeed. "Fair enough, we wouldn't have had quite as much fun."

He forced the grin off his face at having someone to banter with again. He found Jill was a little too serious, probably why their relationship never sparked up as it had during college. They were partners, completely platonic partners. He did feel that Carina being a redhead fit her personally better than blonde though. "Right. The Stinger shouldn't be too far along. Set up a charge in here."

She nodded and grabbed her knife and wiped it off on the fallen man's shirt and retrieved the other one that was knocked out of her hand as he went to the door and pulled out some optics to check under the door. She stood on top of a chair and placed a brick of C4 in the rafters. As she landed on the floor again she noticed Chuck had looked up and took in the view of her legs and ass as she stretched up to the ceiling and she smirked. Not so one-sided this time. Walker's loss indeed.

I've decided to split up the chapter here. The next update won't be nearly as delayed as this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for reading and please leave a review or three. Next chapter will either finish off this chapter or I will finish the arc with rescuing Casey. Depends what I am in the mood for I suppose or what you want to read next. Don't be disappointed if I go a certain route and you didn't leave a review saying you wanted the other.