Chapter 2
I don’t own Chuck
“I’m having a mental breakdown, stroking out, something,” Chuck said, pacing back and forth. His phone rang and he looked over at it. It was Casey. He went to pick it up.
“Don’t tell him anything, and don’t look at me,” Bryce said. It took everything in Chuck not to stare at Bryce. “He can’t see me. Cameras?”
Chuck picked up the phone. “What’s up, Casey?” he answered, turning toward Bryce but trying to look nonchalant.
“You okay, Bartowski?” Casey asked. “It looks like you’re…well…flippin’ your damn lid.”
“Tonight’s been rough,” Chuck admitted. “I hurt, physically, from the fight. I saw my friend die.” Bryce gave him a smile as though he was touched. “And-and I’m pretty sure the general hates me.”
“Mmm,” Casey grunted.
“I know you are not a man of many words, but was that a yes, the general hates me?”
“She hates you being the Intersect,” Casey told him. “She hates having to deal with you because you’re a civilian.”
“I guess I shouldn’t mention that she’s no picnic either?” The grunt from the other end of the phone was the only clarification he needed. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to train you, send you to a camp, in Prague,” Casey told him.
“Got it, Prague,” Chuck repeated.
“I can hear what he’s saying,” Bryce pointed out. “I’m in your head, in fact you don’t even have to talk out loud to me.”
“When do I leave?”
“Couple of days,” Casey told him. “Walker and I will hold down the fort while you’re gone, and when you get back…” he let out a frustrated sigh.
“I know, you’ll be stuck with me,” Chuck said.
“No, you’re gonna be an agent with your own team,” Casey told him.
“Well, I want you and Sarah,” Chuck told him.
“May not be your decision, kid,” Casey said, and hung up. Chuck hung up the phone, and went and laid down on the bed.
“You have two choices,” Bryce said. Chuck laid there, not looking at him, but listening. “Go to Prague, and train to be an agent, and lose Sarah.”
I’d have to have Sarah to lose her. He thought.
“Well done,” Bryce said, grinning. “Your other choice is to disappear during your trip, go into training and take out the Ring by yourself.”
Why did you do this, Bryce? How did you do this?
“When they create this new Intersect, I had them put a copy of my memory in the Intersect, in case it somehow ended up in the wrong person. Everyone laughed, but I knew.” Bryce shook his head. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy, I knew there were those within the government that would try and screw this up and use it to their advantage…the same way they did the first one.”
Chuck lay there, thinking about what Bryce had said, it made so much sense. This was the second time the upload had gone horribly wrong.
“If my memories went into my head, no big deal, they’re my memories,” Bryce continued. “If not, I was like a user guide.”
So you’re my instruction booklet The Greatest American Hero never had?
“Basically,” Bryce said with a shrug. “There is a third option.” Chuck started to sit up, but remembered the cameras. “Go to your father, have it removed.” He was silent for a second. “And then you could be with Sarah.”
Chuck didn’t say anything, he lay there. That would be the smartest choice, the safest choice, the best choice…except….And then you would have died for nothing. And-and what would become of you.
Bryce shrugged. “I’m dead Chuck, this isn’t really me.” Chuck didn’t say a thing. “When we get the orders to go-”
We?!
“Yes, we,” Bryce replied. “I’m in this with you.” Bryce was silent for a second. “She chose you, Chuck. She wasn’t going with me.”
If I train, and become an agent, will she go with me?
Bryce was silent. “She may not be allowed, she may resign, but then you’d be an agent, and what do you think they would do if you tried to resign with the Intersect in your head?”
So I either go to dad, remove it, and you die for no reason, or we go forward with your plan?
“I mean…Chuck, there’s a chance they’ll let you have Sarah on the team,” Bryce insisted.
If The Ring has infiltrated government agencies like you said, would you let Sarah Walker team up with the Intersect?
“No,” Bryce answered. “Get some sleep, Chuck. Your body is about to crash.”
Will you be here when I wake up?
“If not, just think about the troll, and you’ll flash on me,” Bryce told him.
Chuck shut his eyes. The smart thing to do, the right thing to do was to get the Intersect out of his head. If he did that, Bryce had died for nothing, his father was still in hiding, Casey and Sarah would be in danger. Hell they were always in danger, but more than normal if they were fighting the Ring. He wished he could talk to Sarah, but if he did, he knew what would happen.
Where would I go?
There was no answer for a moment. “There’s a safe house I know of outside of Salzburg, Austria.”
Salzburg…Isn’t that where the Sound of Music takes place?
“Yeah,” Bryce answered, chuckling.
And it’s safe? Bryce didn’t answer for a moment. Bryce?
“I would be shocked if anyone thought to look for you there,” Bryce answered. Chuck didn’t say anything else, it looked like he was heading to Austria. “We can get you to train there, and when you’re ready, you can fight the Ring.” Chuck drifted off to sleep, wondering if he would ever have a chance with Sarah after this.