Copied&Pasted from FF.net :D

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! I've been re-watching Chuck episodes and trying to keep my Chuck withdrawal symptoms at bay, and I've been watching Burn Notice too! Awesome show. This is more of a filler chap, but it's pretty important, and I promise more action in the next chapter! (: Thanks for reading and reviews are awesome and much appreciated!

Many thank yous to theprincess1511 for helping with this chapter, the ending was all hers (:

________________________

“We’re what?!” Sarah yelled in anger, crossing her arms across her chest, breathing in deeply and desperately trying to keep her emotions in check.

“You heard me. We’re going to join them.” Casey said nonchalantly with a shrug.

Chuck, Sarah and Casey were in the underground base known as Castle, and just moments before, Casey had suggested that they join the Ring. Chuck sat in nervously one of the many office chairs while Sarah stood next to him, practically exploding. Brown folders littered the table behind them while the computers that were placed near them lit up with the seal of the NSA.

“I’m assuming that you’ve got a plan, Casey?” Chuck asked from his perch on the chair, looking straight at the bigger man.

“Well, since the Ring has some sort of huge interest in us,” Casey paused to reach into his pocket, retrieving a soundproof box with four bugs in it, “I found these in the Orange Orange, Walker. Someone’s getting rusty…” Sarah’s face turned to an expression of absolute shock and eventually curled into a frown as she wondered how they had planted those bugs under her nose.

“No, Sarah’s not getting rusty at all, these guys are supposed to be the greatest spies alive!” Chuck said, emphasizing on ‘greatest spies’ with wild hand motions.

“Well, Bartowski, since you know all about them, why don’t you make yourself useful for once and share with us, huh?” Casey snarled sarcastically at Chuck, causing him to recoil slightly in his seat. Chuck plastered a confident look on his face – he hoped it was convincingly confident – and stood up.

“Well Casey, I am the Intersect… I can actually, you know… Share…” he said gesturing slightly with one hand.

Casey made a rather disturbing grunting sound, which Chuck recognized as grunt number 689, the ‘shut up or die’ grunt, the one that signalled your early demise if you failed to sedate the beast.

When Casey’s eyes began bulging and muscles tensed visibly, Chuck leaped out of his seat and hid directly behind Sarah.

“Hiding behind your woman, eh Bartowski? Do you even have male parts on you?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, will you two knock it off?!” Sarah hissed before reaching behind her back to grab Chuck’s ear and dragged him back into his former seat.

“God, that hurt! You really are an alpha-female, Sarah.” Chuck protested, caressing his injured ear gently.

“Wipe that smirk off your face, Casey.” She spat angrily. Immediately, Casey’s face fell back into his composed and stoic mask.

“Chuck, tell us everything you know about the Ring.”

“Um, well, from what their leader told me – Oh, his name is Marshall Kiley, by the way – They’re a semi-rogue organization that’s plotting to overthrow the other agencies, to be, and I quote, ‘the most powerful and only agency in America’. They kinda recruit their agents from every agency, and they guarantee that they will further your skills. Marshall told me personally that he was interested in recruiting us three.”

“But why would they want us?”

“Open your eyes, Walker. Obviously, we’re the best spies in our respective agencies.”

“No, no, I know,” Sarah allowed a smirk to appear on her face, “But they’ve already tried to
recruit me and Chuck. I suppose this is your invitation, Casey.”

“What?! Walker, how did this not come up during our conference with Beckman?!”

“Because she’s part of the Ring, Casey, that’s how they knew that Chuck was the Intersect, and that’s how they knew the success rate of our missions. They tried to frame Fulcrum for it, and she knows that we’d never actually shoot Chuck.”

Casey let out a monotonous grunt, which earned faces of disbelief from both Chuck and Sarah.

“C-Casey… You weren’t…. actually gonna s-shoot me, right?”

Casey merely shrugged, before he made his way into his favourite room in Castle, the fully-stocked guns and arsenal room. Sarah and Chuck shared a look before following quietly, knowing that Casey had a plan that involved guns, bullets and guns.

“Bartowski, will you be content with your tranquilizer gun? Or do you want a real gun that real men carry?”

“Ha-ha, Casey…” Chuck laughed nervously, hoping that he would in fact be allowed to use his favourite and trusty tranquilizer gun or as he called it, ‘the Tranq’.

“Casey, would you mind sharing your ingenious plan with us? Before we start, I’d like to know what we’re going to be doing, exactly.”

“Sure, Walker, we’re going to be joining them, simple as that. And maybe while we’re at it, we can take them out from the inside.” Casey said, as if that were the most normal thing in the world for them to be doing.

________________________

“I just hope you know what you’re doing, Casey.” Sarah replied skeptically.

“Where did you see those agents, Bartowski?”

“They were in the double O, but when Sarah closed up the place, I think they went over to Lou’s.”

The parking lot in the Burbank mall was usually empty at this time of day, and each parked car was a couple of lots away from another. The three agents made their way toward Lou’s Deli – a sandwich shop which Chuck’s ex-girlfriend operated – while weaving through the empty lots in the mall.

“Chuck, I thought I told you to take it to Large Mart.”

“I know, I know, Lou, but I really… Ah, can I take three Chucks to go? Please?” Chuck pleaded desperately with a charming smile, eyes scanning the shop for the two Ring agents, while Casey and Sarah stood patiently behind him, their eyes like eagles hungrily seeking out their prey. But Chuck’s eyes finally found their mark – the two men sitting at a table at the edge of the sandwich shop.

Lou replied with a sly smirk, finally giving in. “Damn you and your enticing charm, Mr Bartowski.” Chuck chuckled awkwardly, and cleared his throat, shying away from Lou’s flirting.

Behind him, Sarah allowed herself a small frown at their exchange, and the action was not lost on Casey.

“Jealous that someone’s flirting with your boy toy, Walker?” Casey teased in a whisper, too soft for Chuck to hear.

“Not now, Casey,” she replied through deadly clenched teeth.

Whirling around on his heels, Chuck signalled the agents’ position to Casey and Sarah with his rapidly roving eyes, and they approached the table cautiously.

The two Ring agents looked up at them smugly, just as the three reached the edge of their table.

“Hello Colonel Casey, Agent Walker and Agent Bartowski. Glad you’ve agreed –”

“Um, sorry, I’d prefer it if you called me ‘Agent Carmichael’, it kinda has a nicer ring to it… than you know, Bartowski.” One of the Ring agents attempted to hide his grimaced expression as he repeated his greeting to Chuck’s preference. Sarah and Casey both rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“Okay, Agent Carmichael, I’m glad you’ve agreed to join us. Shall we proceed to our base?”

“Wait, wait, could we get our sandwiches first? You guys should try it too, it’s named after me, you know…”

Once again, the four agents could not hold back the urge to roll their eyes, which Chuck was blatantly oblivious to. Collecting the sandwiches from Lou, they were led to a black SUV in the parking lot, with Chuck happily munching on the palate-whetting sandwich of Munster cheese, turkey, ham and pepperoni, occasionally handing it to Sarah for a bite which she gratefully accepted.

Unexpectedly, as they reached the black SUV, Sarah grabbed Chuck by the collar, and forced him to face her. The Chuck flew out of his hands and he gaped down at her in puzzlement. Sarah, with a blazing look on her face, pulled him down with her hand on the nape of his neck. She kissed him hard and pushed him away all too quickly for Chuck to comprehend.

Noticing his confused face, she smirked, “In case we die.”

Labels: Chuck Versus The Torture