Chuck vs. The Sensei Recap
February 25th 2009 06:17
Flash back to Casey’s training days, in which his Sensei, Ty Bennett, continuously knocks him down, telling him that the reason is because he is so unfocused. “Until you find your calm center,” Bennett tells him, “you will never beat me.”
~*~*~
Back in present day, Emmett is telling Casey, “Nothing beats a winning smile, John. Not in retail sales.” Grinning, he adds, “You need to show your customers those pearly whites! Or they’ll soon be pearly whites, you need to bleach them.”
Casey tries to find that calm place his Sensei taught him about, as Emmett adds, “Just show ‘em you got a pulse, Casey. Give ‘em a ‘hey, how you doin?’ or a ‘put ‘em there partner!’.” Emmett slaps Casey on the shoulder and Casey tries his best not to attack him. Emmett leans even closer, enthusiastically adding, “Or a ‘You bet!” As he starts to tell Casey to “walk on back to the back and…”
Casey fades out, goes to his calming place, and brusquely answers, “Thanks for the tips, Emmett.”
As Casey walks by, Morgan confesses to Chuck that, “Yep, John Casey scares me.”
“Well that’s what happens when you bottle up your emotions like that,” Chuck explains. “You wake up one day and you’re a seething mass of pain.”
They continue to walk through the store, and Morgan asks how things are going with Chuck and Jill. “Ah yeah,” Chuck answers. “My pain, let’s talk about that.”
“Where is she?”
“The Big House,” Chuck answers without thinking, and when Morgan is confused, quickly reiterates, “Bought a big house, bought a real big house…by the river.”
“Oh, sounds really pretty,” Morgan answers as Chuck winches, and asks, “You guys are DONE done, right?”
Yes, they are. Chuck tells his friend that he thought hanging out with Jill “was more about closing a door than opening one,” and Morgan gets it. Plus, it probably made Chuck even more sure who the right girl is for him, right?
Before Chuck can answer, his cell phone rings. It’s Sarah. Morgan sees her picture on Chuck’s phone and smiles. “Speak of smokin’ hot angel.” He whispers, “I’m outta here” to his friend and exits so Chuck can answer the phone.
“Hi Sarah.”
~*~*~*~
Down in The Castle, Casey and Sarah sit at the table. Chuck stands nearby as Sarah asks, “Chuck, does the Global Launch Agency mean anything to you?”
“The GLA sure?” Chuck answers. “They’ve sent probes to every planet except Pluto. Although Pluto’s not officially a planet anymore, which really bums me out.”
“It’s true,” Casey answers. “Space camp is where all the cool kids go.”
They all glance at the monitor as General Beckman explains that the GLA also does top secret research for the NSA. “Most of our surveillance and weapons-tracking technology is developed there. We picked up Intel that someone might try to penetrate one of the lab’s secure facilities.” Their new assignment is to surveille the place, see if Chuck flashes on anyone.
“Another mission already?” Chuck asks, still a little raw from the last one.
“Is there a problem Mr. Bartowski?”
“No, no,” Chuck answers quickly, glancing back at Casey and Sarah. “No, I was just, you know, kinda hoping for some down time…”
“Uh, we’ll take it from here, ma’am,” Sarah interrupts, and The General signs off.
“Need a little break Bartowski?” Casey teases dryly, and Chuck just answers, that yeah it would be nice. “Finding out Jill was Fulcrum was a bit of a shock to the system you know? I guess I wouldn’t mind some time to sort out my feelings.”
“Sure thing, Chuck,” Casey answers sarcastically. “I’ll just call all the criminals and rogue spies and let ‘em know to hold on a sec because Chuck Bartowski needs some time to sort out his lady feelings.”
“Ease up, Casey,” Sarah says, then assures Chuck that they know hard this has been on him. “But maybe a new mission is exactly what you need right now.”
Chuck takes in a long breath and sighs.
~*~*~
Chuck sits in the surveillance van, headphones on, staring blandly at the screen in front of him. “Great new mission in the surveillance van. Very exciting.” He glances to the second camera feed, watching two men in lab coats walk down a hallway.
“You’re on an open mic, Chuck,” Sarah reminds.
“Am I?” Chuck perks up. “That’s-that’s good to know, thanks for telling me that.” He lets her know that he’s got all the entrances and exits covered and that everything looks quiet.
Dressed in a lab coat, and thick glasses, Sarah walks down the hallway, and asks, “You’re not seeing anything?”
“Nothing. No flashes, nothing.”
“I’m all clear here.”
In another room and another lab coat, Casey lifts his watch. “All clear. Security’s tight.”
Behind him, a figure dressed in white lowers down from the ceiling, landing behind a lab counter. Casey turns and slowly pulls out his gun. Just as he starts to head for the dangling rope, another figure in white jumps out and slams into him, sending Casey crashing into a nearby glass refrigerator. The figure kicks Casey in the gut, grabs something off the metal shelf, pulls it through the broken glass, and runs off.
Grabbing his gun, Casey runs after him. “Close the west lab doors, Chuck!” he yells as he runs through the hallways after the thief.
Chuck starts frantically typing. “I’m in, I’m in, I’m in, it’s just gonna take a second.”
“Do it! DO IT!” Casey shouts into his watch, still in pursuit.
“Almost got it, almost got it, almost there—”
“NOW Chuck! Close it! Lock it down!”
Chuck stops typing, annoyed. “You know, I don’t know one person who responds positively to being yelled at!”
“He’s getting away Chuck!” Casey yells as the bad guy squeezes through the closing doors.
*Bam*
“Door closed, got it!” Chuck says, pulling his hands off the keyboard. “There, see? Ha-ha!”
Casey runs up to the doors. They may be closed, but now the bad guy is getting away and he’s stuck inside!
“You idiot!” Casey says into his watch, glaring at the surveillance camera. “You said you knew how to work the system.”
Chuck glances at the monitor and his eyes widen when he sees Casey standing on the wrong side of the locked door. “Oooh! Hang in there—” He quickly begins typing again.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s caught up to the thief and fires her gun. He ducks and runs away.
“Come on, Chuck!” Casey yells, and Chuck tells him he’s almost got it again.
Sarah heads around another corner, gun drawn, searching.
“Got it!” Chuck gets the doors open and Casey rushes through. “No problem! Ye of little faith.”
Sarah spots two more lab scientists through a glass window. One of them points upward, just in time for Sarah to swing around as the thief swings down and knocks her down and into a lab table.
The thief busts through the door and out into the sun just in time to be tackled by Casey. The man in white punches him, holding Casey down, and Casey finally manages to stab a pen into his chest and rip off the guy’s hood and black glasses.
The man smirks down at him and Casey can only stare up in shock. “Sensei?”
His Sensei rushes off, jumping into his waiting getaway car. As the black Hummer drives by, Chuck catches a glimpse of the man’s face and flashes. Ty Bennett shows up, along with many flashes of Casey. “Oh no.”
Outside, Sarah catches up to Casey. “Hey, did you get a good look at him?”
“I didn’t have to,” Casey answers grimly. “I know him.”
“What?”
“Guys!” Chuck comes running. “Hey, I just flashed on that dude and it is crazy—it’s actually kind of a small world, funny, story.”
“Save it,” Casey interrupts, turning to look at them. “His name’s Ty Bennett. He was my Sensei. He taught me everything I know.”
~*~*~
In the black Hummer, Bennett pulls out the bloody pen from his shoulder.
“You okay?”
He looks down at the “Buy More” and the address and smiles. “Hmm…getting better now.”
~*~*~
“Chuck? Chuck! You gotta help me, it’s an emergency!” Ellie calls out, bursting into his room and frantically trying to wake her brother up. “Chuck!”
“What?” Chuck turns over sleepily, sees it’s his sister, and is immediately awake and frantic. “What? What? Ellie! Ellie, are you okay?!”
No, she’s not. She quickly tells him that Captain Awesome’s parents decided to take the red eye in “to surprise us”, and frantically begins picking up his clothes.
Unbelievably relieved, Chuck answers, “You scared the heck out of me, I thought this was a matter of life or death.”
“It is!” Ellie insists, still trying to clean up his room and get him out of bed as she continues, “These are two perfect parents who raised three perfect boys, in a perfect house, and this place is a pigsty!”
“Don’t worry, we have time to clean up,” Chuck answers, bleary eyed and slowly falling back asleep, half hanging off the end of his bed. “If they flew all night they’re gonna want to sleep all morning…”
“You you kidding me?” she asks, trying to pull him up from the bed. “The Awesome apple doesn’t fall far from the Awesome tree!”
“I’m just gonna, I’ll be right there,” he mumbles, closing his eyes and resting his chin on the end of his bed again.
~*~*~
Chuck walks into the kitchen to find Mr. and Mrs. Awesome standing in the living room, looking perfect in their workout clothes.
“Great way to start the morning, honey.”
“Awesome! There’s my man,” Captain awesome announces, and his parents turn their winning smiles on Chuck.
“Wow, hi,” Chuck greets with a smile. “You guys are very muscular and…and awake!”
Ellie forces a laugh and introduces her brother to Devon’s mom and dad. Chuck holds out his hand, saying how nice it is to finally meet the doctors. “Oh, no handshakes in this family!” Mrs. Awesome answers, grabbing him into a fierce hug. “You just call me Honey.”
“Okay! Honey…”
“I’m Woody!” Mr. Awesome says, with an enthusiastic handshake and Chuck repeats a surprised, “Woody?”
“Yeah, my father always said a terrible nickname builds character,” Woody explains, hands on muscular hips. “Of course, Devon wasn’t ever into nicknames.”
This surprises Chuck. Captain Awesome not into nicknames?
“I just can’t wait to start planning your dream wedding,” Devon’s mom says excitedly, handing Ellie a giant scrapbook.
“Wow,” Ellie says, looking at the many pictures of wedding dresses and tuxes with her and Devon’s heads glued onto them. “It looks like you already have!” She flips the pages. Whoa.
Mrs. Awesome tells Chuck that they’re having the caterer bring over samples menu tonight for a taste-test, and she hopes that he and his girlfriend will be able to join.
“Yes, of course, of course!” Ellie says hastily. “Sarah loves food.”
“That she does!” Chuck agrees enthusiastically. “So we’ll be there.”
“Good, good!”
“So nice of you guys to help plan the wedding,” Captain Awesome tells his parents. “Right El?” he asks, hugging her with one arm.
“Oh absolutely,” Ellie answers, trying her best not to freak out. “Your mom’s already been so busy with all these lists of guests, locations, color palettes…” She lets out a slightly manic laugh, and Woody tells them all that his wife has “been so excited ever since Devon asked you to marry him. I can’t tell you how happy we are to welcome you to the family.” He laughs, slapping Chuck on the back. “And now, you’re stuck with us too Chuck!”
Chuck forces a laugh, “Ha ha, very strong and have fists…”
“Thank you Dr. Woodcomb,” Ellie answers, and he happily corrects, “Ah, “Woody”!”
“Ha—okay.”
“Come on Dad, let’s go do our abs.”
“Ooh, yeah.”
Father and son walk off and Ellie mutters, “You guys go do abs, I’m just gonna go—“ she gestures to the kitchen “—kill myself.”
~*~*~*
“Ty Bennett,” The General says as a picture of him and Casey appear on screen. “Karate master, Kung Fu expert, master strategist. A former instructor at our training facility, and today one of our most wanted rogue agents.”
“Dude, your Sensei is a badass!” Chuck says, shocked, and Casey argues, “He’s not my Sensei. He’s a traitor.”
“Wow, I’ve heard of Bennett,” Sarah says, looking at Casey. “But I’ve never met anyone who actually trained with him.”
“I can’t talk about it, it’s classified,” Casey answers simply.
General Beckman tells him that they’re opening Bennett’s file for this assignment. “Any personal knowledge you have could be vital to the success of this mission.”
“Come on Casey, share with us,” Chuck teases, and Casey glares at him, growling, “In Hell…” Casey asks the General why he wasn’t told about this, and she tells him that Bennett has been going around trying to recruit his old students. “With the team he has assembled, Bennett has been extremely effective at stealing weapons and reselling them on the global black market.”
“What did he steal from the GLA?” Sarah asks and General Beckman pulls it up on screen. “An advanced inertial guidance system.”
Chuck looks at the screen then answers, “Well that’s not a weapon.”
“Well it sure looks like one when it’s put in a missile, moron,” Casey answers, glaring at him.
“You know when you call me “moron”? That hurts me. On the inside.”
“Bennett got away because you couldn’t open a door,” Casey argues. “You’re lucky your feelings aren’t the only things that got hurt.”
“Technically I only have to sit in the *van* and *flash*.”
Casey’s anger starts to well up and Sarah quickly cuts in, “Hey, guys…”
Casey continues to stare down Chuck, and The General warns, “Gentleman…” Casey glances back to the screen and General Beckman tells them they’ve pinpointed the exact location of where Bennett is going to transfer the stolen GLA technology to his buyer. It’s a construction site. “I want you to stop the deal and recover the guidance system.”
“We’re on it,” Sarah answers, and Casey wonders if it’s safe for Chuck to go on this mission. “Too many unforeseeable variables.” Chuck just looks at him, confused, as Casey adds, ”In situations like this he has proven himself a liability.”
Chuck looks at Sarah for help. A liability? Really? Unfortunately for him, General Beckman agrees. “Chuck, you will be sitting this one out.”
“Wait, wait a minute,” Chuck says, quickly getting up. “You might need me to flash on something.”
“Well this country’s gotten by for 200 years without an Intersect,” Casey answers. “I’m sure we’ll be just fine.” Chuck turns to look at him and he mocks, “What? Did I hurt your feelings?”
~*~*~
“I’ve tried to spare your feelings,” Emmett tells the Buy More employees. “But the gloves are comin’ off people.” The employees do their best not to laugh as Emmett continues, “I’ve decided to reinstitute a time-honored Buy More tradition.”
“Commando Wednesdays,” Lester mutters to Lester mumbles back, “That tradition never stopped.”
“From this day on, this branch will hold…wait for it…” Emmett smiles, then announces, “An employee of the month contest!” He takes in an excited shaky breath, walking down the line and stopping in front of Morgan. “Isn’t that exciting?”
“I can barely contain myself, Sir,” Morgan answers calmly.
“I assume you’re all aware of our customer comment cards?” Emmett says, pulling them out for visual aids. He walks down the line of employees so they can see it. “Each month we will tally your scores and select a winner. He, or she…or whoever,” he adds, stopping in front of one employee. “Will not only get an 8x10 glossy photo right beside—” he turns around to look at the photo “—Moses Finklestien, the CEO of Buy More, but there will be a bonus prize!” He laughs, dramatically adding, “May the best employee win. Pooo!” He mimes a gun going off at the start of the race and blows at the invisible smoke coming off his finger.
The employees walk off silently, nobody any more excited than they were before Emmett’s grand speech.
“Okay, sooo” Morgan says turning to Chuck. “How we feelin’ about this whole Employee of the Month thing?”
“Eh—” Chuck starts, then suddenly sees Sarah walk in. “Um, you know what? Whatever, Morgan. I don’t really care.” He walks off to meet with Sarah.
“We don’t care, roger that,” Morgan answers and walks off.
“Hey,” Chuck greets Sarah.
“Hey.”
“I thought you guys would already be gone,” he answers as they walk to the side of the store. “Admit it, you need me, don’t you?”
“I came to make sure you were okay,” Sarah answers, sitting on a counter.
He sits down next to her. “Well, isn’t that what all the surveillance cameras are for?”
Sarah tells him that she doesn’t agree with Casey that he’d be a liability on this case, and she thinks “he was out of line.”
“Don’t worry, I get it,” Chuck assures. “He thinks I let my feelings for Jill get in the way of the mission, but he’s wrong. I would never do that…again.”
Sarah smiles. “Listen, Chuck, this isn’t about you, it’s about Casey. Casey trained for a long time, and when you have a mentor like that a real trusts develops between you. And Casey feels betrayed.” Chuck lets this sink in as she continues, “I know it’s hard, but maybe you could cut him some slack?”
“Yeah,” Chuck says, giving her a lopsided smile. “I guess I know how that feels.”
~*~*~
Morgan walks into the break room, shuts the door, and closes the blinds before turning to look at the other employees sitting at the tables. “Okay, just to be clear, our position on the Employee of the Month is that we don’t care. Are you guys with me?”
“Yep,” Jeff answers, busy with his video game. “Not caring.” Lester agrees, but then Jeff looks up from his game. “Wait, why don’t we care again?” Morgan explains that Employee of the Month is a scam. “Working hard is for suckers! Think about it, you work hard, sales go up, sales go up, shareholders get rich. And we get what exactly?”
“He said something about a prize,” Lester reminds.
“Your face on a wall next to Moses Finklestien?” Morgan asks skeptically. “No thank you! No, you know what? Keep your stupid stooge prize.”
“So…we get nothing?” Jeff asks.
“Emmett’s gonna get all the credit. He may even get a promotion! And then guess what?” Morgan sits down. “One day, he’s gonna be the boss.”
“So then what?” Lester asks, alarmed. “With him it turns into the Buy More of pain and suffering.”
“There is a solution.”
“Tell it, tell it,” Lester says, now leaning in, interested.
Morgan suggests they hold their own competition to see who can get the lowest score.
Lester: We beat him at his own game.
Jeff: Pure. Genius.
Lester: From now on, customers can service themselves. In the retail sense, Jeffrey, don’t get any ideas.
~*~*~
Casey gets checks his guns, loads his bag, and heads out. He stops to spray his bonsai tree, pauses then instead, shoves the tree onto the floor, straightening his Ronald Regan picture and saluting it before leaving.
~*~*~
Casey and Sarah are at the stakeout. Sarah suggests sending some pictures to Chuck to see if he flashes on them. Casey doesn’t want to, but begrudgingly agrees. They send Chuck an image of the license plate. Casey calls to tell him that they’re sending him the picture, and Chuck checks, but hasn’t gotten it yet. Although it’s probably a high-resolution picture and his 3G connection sometimes gets interference inside the store.
“Spare me the Nerd Herd crap and get on it,” Casey replies gruffly. “If there’s intel, we need it now!”
“Hey, I thought you said the US government got by just fine for 200 years without The Intersect.”
“Listen you insignificant little puke, you—” *click* Chuck hangs up on him and laughs. Suddenly he realizes that Sarah and Casey are on a mission and might be surrounded by Bennett’s men. He calls back.
Casey picks up. “Did you hang up on me?”
“No, that’s crazytalk I would never do that, I—it’s a bad connection I have, with the—hold on, just let me look at the picture really quick.” Chuck checks his phone and looks at the license plate. “I got nothing, sorry, no flash.”
“Thanks for wasting my time,” Casey growls back. He hangs up on Chuck.
“Hello?” Chuck waits, then realizes he got hung up on. Nice.
~*~*~
Sarah and Casey watch the buyer pull up in a black car. They’re out of time. “Looks like we do this the old fashioned way.”
They pull out their guns and tell the driver to get out. He gets out, hands up, and tells him that he’s just the driver. He doesn’t know what he’s doing there. Suddenly Casey hears a beep. Run! “Go!” All three of them leap out of the way just in time as the car blows up.
~*~*~
Chuck is standing behind the Nerd Herd counter when Ty Bennett approaches with the bloody Buy More pen. “Excuse me?” he asks. “Can you tell me where I can find John Casey?” Chuck stares at him as he holds up the pen. “I have something that belongs to him.”
“Uh, John…Casey you say? John Casey? You know, I’m gonna go to the back and, and, check on that for you. So…” he smiles, pulling out his phone and carefully backing up. “Do that…” Dialing, Chuck mutters, “Pick up the phone John…pick up the PHONE Casey!”
“This is Casey.” *beep*
“Code Red! Code Red!” Chuck says, trying not to panic. “Redder than red, it is the reddest! It is the reddest of all hues! We are defcon 1or 5, or whichever means hurry—Run! Bennett is at the Buy More!” He turns around and Bennett is gone. “Oh no!”
Bennett approaches Morgan, who is sitting in a chair reading a magazine. “I’m looking for John Casey. Can you tell me where to find him?”
Morgan looks up, bored. “What do I look like? An information desk?”
“Excuse me?” Bennett asks, leaning forward warningly.
“Yes, fine, you’re excused,” Morgan answers, waving him off. “Oh,” he adds, going back to his magazine and grape pop and handing over a card. “Don’t forget to fill out a customer comment card on your way out.”
Bennett picks up the grape pop can and smashes it with his bare hand. Morgan’s mouth drops open in shock, as Bennett warns, “A wise man always treats a stranger with respect. Or he could be gazing on the face of an enemy…”
Morgan is speechless. Luckily, Chuck runs in to save him, telling Bennett that he’s sorry it took so long. He just checked and Casey is “unfortunately not working today. And I don’t know when he’s gonna be back in. But you could try back next week! Uh, maybe Tuesday-ish?”
“Thank you,” Bennett says, respecting Chuck a lot more than Morgan.
“You’re welcome.”
Bennett shoots Morgan a warning look and walks off.
Chuck lets out a relieved breath and both he and Morgan turn to watch Bennett leave.
“That guy?” Morgan says, pointing. “Was awesome! Did you see what he did to this can?” He picks it up. “He did this was his bare hands!” He makes the crushing noise. “Can you imagine what he could do to a guy’s face?”
Chuck hands back the flattened can, a very worried look on his face. Wordlessly, he walks off. Morgan tries to crush the can even more and winces. Ouch!
~*~*~
Casey and Sarah are driving when they get a call from Chuck. “I’m looking at your Sensei.” He tells them that he’s tailing them through the parking lot. Casey tries to warn him not to go any farther, but it’s too late. Chuck walks out and finds the parking lot empty. “Where’d he go?” Bennett is right behind him.
“Chuck?”
No answer.
“If Bennett’s got him, he’s probably dead by now,” Casey says, matter-of-factly, and Sarah argues, “Shut up and drive!”
In the mean time, Chuck is being forced into a car trunk. “I’m a little tall for some like this, is there another seating option? Perhaps?” They close the trunk on him.
~*~*~
Captain Awesome finds Ellie in the store and asks he if she’s really okay registering for their wedding at the Buy More. “Whatever your parents want,” she answers forcing a smile. She walks around the aisle to be meet up with Mrs. Awesome, who tells her, “you think my not need vacuum sealer, but suddenly the Chief of Surgery is coming over with her husband for salmon kabobs, and voila! Saturday’s party turns into Sunday’s picnic.”
“Why not? Can’t hurt.” Ellie forces another smile and runs the scanner over the box in Mrs. Awesome’s arms.
“Oh,” Honey spots something else. “Camcorder.” She runs off, and her husband explains, “Ah, first for the honeymoon, and then the grandkids.”
“Dad,” Devon says, overhearing. “Crossing the line!” He meets up with Ellie, and adds, “Before you say anything, I know they’re coming on strong, but they’re just really excited. They know your parents aren’t around.”
“It’s fine,” Ellie answers. “I know that they’re just trying to help. And, you know they’re, they’re awesome!” She laughs. He kisses her and walks off. Ellie puts the scanner to her head like a gun and pulls the trigger.
Captain Awesome finds Lester and asks him if he’s seen chuck. Lester pulls a q-tip out of his ear, and answers, “Maybe.”
“So, is he around?”
“Ah, could be,” Lester says, using a piece of paper to pick at his teeth.
“Can you find him for me?”
“Yeah sure, I could, but uh, wouldn’t it be more fulfilling for you if you did it yourself?”
Captain Awesome raises and eyebrow, and Lester gets scared. “Yeah, look, I’m so sorry it’s this stupid store contest, I can help you. But do me a solid and do not mention it on this card.” He hands over the comment card. “Yes? Thank you, buddy.” Lester rushes off.
~*~*~
Sarah and Casey track Bennett’s car by the signal on Chuck’s watch. Suddenly Casey and his Sensei are face to face, gunning their car engines. It looks like it’s time for a game of chicken! Sarah suddenly pinpoints exactly where Chuck is, and even as Casey’s gunning the engine, screams, “No Casey, stop! Stop! Chuck’s in the car! You’re gonna kill Chuck!”
“Fast, fast, driving very very fast,” Chuck mutter to himself in the trunk. Not good!
The cars speed towards each other and Sarah tries one more time. “Casey!”
At the last second, Casey veers out of the way. Bennett’s car flies by, slamming into another car in the parking garage. Sarah and Casey jump out of their car, guns drawn. Casey rushes after Bennett as Sarah goes to let Chuck out of the trunk.
“It’s actually more spacious in here that you might think,” Chuck tells her, getting out.
Casey chases Bennett across roofs until his old Sensei gets to the edge of the building. “Freeze!” Bennett tells him it’s nice to see him, that he’s been following Casey’s career, how he survived torture of the hands and two years undercover in Afghanistan. “Could you have done any of that without me?”
“No,” Casey answers, gun still trained at Bennett’s chest.
“Of course not,” Bennett answers. “My training saved you.” He stares at him a second, and adds, “I came here to ask you something. Be my student again. Take your training to the next level.”
“That’s it?” Casey asks. “That’s all you got? That’s how you’re turning the others?” He lowers his gun. “Save your breath.” He reaches for his handcuffs. “I’m no traitor.”
“Obviously I made a mistake,” Bennett answers. “You aren’t good enough for my team.” In one easy move, Bennett jumps up, grabs a construction hook, and swings off the roof. Casey fires, but it’s too late, Bennett’s gone.
~*~*~
“So Bennett got away? Again?” General Beckman asks from the monitor in The Castle. “If you don’t mind me asking, where was The Intersect during all of this?”
“Well technically I was in Bennett’s trunk,” Chuck explains. “So I didn’t see anything that happened, but it sounded very exciting.”
“Great. So Major,” Beckman asks Casey, who is glaring at Chuck, “while you were playing your game of chicken, Chuck was in Bennett’s trunk?”
“As soon as we ascertained The Intersect’s location, Major Casey disengaged,” Sarah tries to help Casey.”
“Sounds like Bennett has decided to make this personal Major Casey,” General Beckman answers. “And so have you. I’m pulling you off the case.”
“With all due respect—”
“This is why I didn’t tell you about Bennett, I knew you would turn it into a vendetta. I’m bringing in another team to clean up your mess.”
Neither Casey, Sarah, or Chuck can believe what they’re hearing.
“I know Bennett, I know how he operates,” Casey tries, but the General just reminds him that “you’re forgetting your primary objective is protecting The Intersect. You will remain in Castle until the mission is completed. Consider it a cooling-off period.”
Casey looks at Chuck, who now looks scared. “You little—”
“I didn’t know this was gonna happen,” Chuck says, quickly jumping from his chair to escape Casey. “I didn’t know this was gonna happen! Tell him I didn’t know this was gonna happen!” he urges Sarah, who jumps up, but Casey’s already got Chuck by the collar.
“If my primary objective was to protect you, I’d kill you.” Casey growls under his breath.
~*~*~
“I can’t believe it,” Casey complains later on. “Beckman was out of line pulling me off this mission.”
“I agree with her,” Sarah answers. “You’re too emotionally involved.
Casey lets out a sarcastic laugh. “This from the agent who can’t keep her chocolate out of Bartowski’s peanut butter?”
“Whatever my feelings are for Chuck, I never knowingly endangered the asset. *You* let your anger toward Bennett cloud your judgement.”
“You finally admit that you do have feelings for the nerd.”
“No, all I will admit to is *having* feelings,” Sarah answers.
“Twenty years in the business has taught me one sure thing? It’s people. People let you down in the end,” Casey says, taking a bite of something on a spoon.
“Well it’s nice to know where we stand.” Sarah gets up and leaves.
~*~*~
Chuck is waiting in the Orange Orange for Sarah to come out, and looks up when she enters. “Did you talk to Casey? Is he mad? I feel horrible.”
“Casey is always mad,” Sarah answers simply. “That’s his baseline.”
Chuck tells her how bad he feels about it all. “I never should have said all that in front of the General.”
“No, your assessment was accurate, I mean the facts are the facts.”
“True,” Chuck answers. “But the guy’s goin’ through a lot. If I were really a friend, I would look past what he’s saying and remember how he’s feeling. I mean I should know better than anybody what he’s going through.”
“Chuck, you’re so sweet,” Sarah answers, placing a hand on his. He looks at her, and she quickly takes her hand off, adding, “But an apology is not going to work, because Casey is combat ready at all times. Which means his feelings are a liability.”
“Well aren’t you supposed to be combat ready at all times?” Chuck asks, giving he ra lopsided grin.
“I’ll meet you at your sister’s wedding tasting after your Buy More shift,” Sarah answers, heading out. Suddenly she turns back around to add, “And please, don’t go downstairs. Leave Casey alone.”
~*~*~
Emmett closes the curtains around a table at which Jeff, Morgan, and Lester sit at. He turns to face them. “Well if it isn’t Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and…Tweedledummer. Congratulations goes out to you.” He sits down.
“What? Did we win a prize or something?” Morgan asks, sounding bored. Lester buries his face in the table to keep from laughing.
“Well of all the incompetent employees in this backwater branch, you three have distinguished yourselves. With the lowest customer evaluation scores in recorded history.” Emmett slams the cards down with a huff, giving them a warning look.
“Really?” Morgan asks, pretending to be surprised. Unable to help himself, he asks, “How low exactly?”
“Are we talking like truly abysmal? Or…?” Lester adds.
“Well your highest score is a one.”
“Dare to dream baby!”
“Alright!”
Lester and Morgan raises their hands for a fistbump, but stop themselves.
Emmett tells them that since none of them seem to be taking this Employee of the Month contest seriously, “I must abandon my carrot and use my stick.” Lester stares at him, confused.
“You sure that’s legal?” Jeff asks.
“From now on the employee with the lowest scores with close up every Saturday night for the entire month!”
“Alright, stop it,” Morgan quickly cuts in. “You can’t do this to us.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t?”
“Saturday’s sacred,” Morgan answers, and Lester adds, “I can’t work on shavas”, and Jeff agrees. “It’s date night.” They all just look at him, and he tries again. “Laundry night?” They give him another skeptical look, and he finally says, “It’s two-for-one night.” Okay, that they can believe.
Emmett tells them they have one night to raise their scores. Lester sighs as if he doesn’t care, then scrambles out.
~*~*~
Lester, Morgan, and Jeff do anything and everything they can to try and up their scores by the end of the night. Lester hands over his employee discount card as Morgan takes out a TV by himself, and Jeff yells at a customer for only giving him “4 lousy stars?! WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME?!” Morgan and Lester watch as he screams, “SPIT IN MY FACE NEXT TIME!”
“Hey Jeff,” Morgan says quietly when he turns to look at them. “How’s it goin’ buddy? You alright?”
He nods. “I think I’m gettin’ the hang of this customer service thing.”
They nod.
~*~*~
Casey punches in the number code and lets the door scan his eye. “Access Denied”.
“Huuhhh…”
He tries to dismantle the entire system, ripping it from the wall. No luck. Casey gets out his cell phone and calls Chuck to “get down here.” Chuck tells him he’s glad he called because he was going to call him to say sorry.
“I don’t care if it’s your time of the month Bartowski, get down here, please,” Casey interrupts.
“I-I don’t think I can, Sarah said not to.”
“Listen buddy,” Casey says, sitting down on the stairs. “I started training under Ty Bennett when I was 23 years old. I was an idiot back then. I wasn’t good enough to qualify for his program, but he took me on anyway, you know, so, he taught me everything I know, self discipline, duty…I don’t know what to think here pal, I’m feelin’ kinda exposed. I feel like my whole foundation’s been undermined here. I—He was like a…I can’t talk about this over the phone.”
“No, no, I’m glad you’re finally opening up to me,” Chuck answers quickly. “Be right there.” He thanks up.
Casey smiles. “Thanks buddy.”
Chuck walks in. “Hey! Hey buddy, sorry, I got here as fast as I could. And I wanted to tell you, seriously, what I was saying on the phone earlier, I am sorry. I know that your Sensei from the past, it’s very personal—” Casey grabs him around the neck the second he steps off the floor and starts dragging him towards the computer.
“Hey, hey! What are you doing?”
“This.” Casey pushes Chuck’s thumb on the keypad to start up the computers and monitors.
“Oh, oh, gentle!”
“Now, Intersect,” Casey says, grabbing Chuck by the head and forcing him to look at the screen where a white and a black car are. “Flash! This is the surveillance footage from the crash.”
“Casey, it’s doesn’t work like that, okay? I can’t just flash on cue—” As if to purposely contradict him, Chuck spots a folder sitting on the dashboard of one of the cars and flashes on the bonsai tree icon. He’s got an address.
“Okay, okay!” He gives him the address of a martial dojo school, but also a cover for Bennett’s illegal activities.
“Good work Intersect,” Casey says, letting go of his head and giving a quick pat on the back before walking out.
“You know, I think you should reconsider this whole cooling-off period,” Chuck calls after him. “I think General Beckman was onto something when she said you should stay down here.” Chuck walks over to him and Casey grabs his shoulder, telling him, “Come on, I need that eyeball.” He drags Chuck over to the security panel and holds it up to scan Chuck’s eye.
The door slides open and Casey drags Chuck through.
“Casey, what has gotten into you? What is going on? This is totally uncharacteristic, I have never seen you disobey an order!” Chuck says hastily. “Are you nuts or crazy? Are you out of your mind?” Casey lets him go, and Chuck decides he’s had enough. “I’m callin’ Sarah.”
“You know what, Chuck?” Casey turns to look at him. “I think I might owe you an apology now.” He holds out his hand and Chuck takes it.
“Oh that’s very nice of you, huh? What’s it for? The lying? The name-calling? The emotional manipulation?”
“Nope, for this.” Casey slaps a handcuff around Chuck’s wrist and grabs his bag, revealing the other end of the handcuffs locked around the metal bar at the counter.
Chuck starts to panic. “You don’t understand, I have dinnerwith Ellie tonight, we’re tasting food for her wedding! I can’t miss it!”
“You know when I was Bennett’s student? I struggled with my calm,” Casey says calmly. “He said I held too much anger. It made me weak.” He takes in a breath. “When I see your face Bartowski, my calm center just wants to—” he lets out a dry laugh, forcing himself to take in another breath to calm his anger.
“You tell anyone where I’m going—” Casey holds up a large bullet “—and this is yours.”
“What? Hey!”
Too late, Casey’s gone.
~*~*~
Chuck tries everything to reach his phone at a table just out of his reach. It’s not working.
~*~*~
“So you’re sure it’s alright to start without Chuck?” Mrs. Awesome asks as she brings a plate over to the table that her husband, son, and Ellie are sitting at. Ellie assure her that it’s find, that her brother has a tendency to run late. Woody asks if it drives Sarah crazy, and she just answers that she’s “pretty used to it actually. And Chuck always has a good excuse.”
“So, we are all in agreement then?” Honey asks. Yes to the trout, no to the beef. Right. She asks what Ellie’s favorite cake was, and before Ellie can answer, interrupts, “Oh it doesn’t matter, let’s agree on the red velvet!”
“Big fan,” her husband agrees. They continue to talk, making choices without Ellie or their son, who just exchange ‘wow’ looks and try to appear happy about it. Ellie empties her wine glass.
“So, are you going to wear your hair up?” Mrs. Awesome asks, and her husband, answers, “Wait a second, I just had a brilliant idea—white ties!”
“Woody looks so handsome in a white tie,” his wife agrees. “White isn’t too formal is it?”
“I don’t know—”
“I know you’re not in contact with your dad,” Woody interrupts. “So I would be honored, really, to walk you down the aisle on your wedding day.”
Ellie forces a smile and downs another glass. Even Captain Awesome can’t get a word in edgewise, and he’s starting to sense Ellie’s discomfort with all this. “You know guys? Maybe we should just table the wedding talk.”
“Oh no, um, I have something I’d like to say actually,” Ellie says, swallowing. They all look at her, anxiously awaiting her happy answer, but instead get, “I said yes to the big wedding, and I said yes to the burgundy organza bridesmaid dresses, and I just can’t say yes anymore!” Ellie finishes, breaking. Turning to Mrs. Awesome, she apologizes, “I’m sorry, I know that you are just trying to help, but the answer is no!” Blinking back tears, she again apologizes, then gets up and leaves the table.
“Sweetie?” Captain Awesome jumps up to follow her. “Sweetheart? Sweetheart!”
A door slams. Mr. and Mrs. Awesome look at each other, then at Sarah, who picks up her wine glass. Awkward…
Mr. Awesome clears his throat. “Uh, Sarah, uh, so you’re in the yogutry?”
“Yeah!” She smiles. “Yorgurt…yeah, yogurt.”
~*~*~
Meanwhile, Chuck’s strung together some of the colorful spoons and is flinging the line at the table in hopes of knocking his phone onto the floor and into his reach. He finally succeeds and quickly dials Sarah.
~*~*~
“Woody?” Mrs. Awesome asks her husband. “I think we should go for a walk and give the kids some time to themselves.” She gets up and notices Ellie’s phone is lit up. She picks it up and looks at it. “Oh it’s Chuck, should I answer it?”
“Oh I’ll take it,” Sarah quickly grabs it out of her hand and leaves before she can reply.
“Hey, Chuck,” she answers the phone. “Where are you?”
Chuck is surprised but very relieved to get Sarah on his sister’s phone. “Casey threatened my life, so technically I can’t tell you.”
“What?”
“Well, you could guess though, yeah you could guess.”
“Chuck I don’t have time for games.”
“Just guess! I’ll tell you if you’re hot or COLD,” Chuck says, emphasizing the last word. “And FYI, this place is very cold, it’s-it’s practically frozen.”
“You’re at Orange Orange.”
“Bingo! Yes, you’re amazing.”
“Let me guess,” she answers. “You went down into the Castle and Casey used you to get out, and then he locked you in the Orange Orange, and now he’s going after Bennett.”
“Wow, that’s very impressive. How did—”
“Okay,” Sarah says, quickly glancing around to make sure no one is listening. “Where did he go?”
“You didn’t hear it from me, 1919 Mulholland drive.”
“Can you get out?”
“No, not until you get down here and get the key to get me out of these handcuffs!”
“Good. Stay there.”
“What? No no no no, Sarah, wait wait, wait!”
*click*
~*~*~
Casey overtakes a man punching in the security code and sneaks in.
~*~*~
Chuck sits behind the counter, eating a bowl of strawberries. Suddenly he spots a vent and gets an idea. Opening it, he spots the freezing system and smiles. Chuck uses the freezing agent and a topping scoop to break the chain of the handcuffs, exclaiming, “Those seven years of MacGyver finally paid off!”
~*~*~
Casey approaches cautiously, gun drawn. He creeps toward an archway, and suddenly Sarah jumps on his back, knife at his throat, whispering, “You shouldn’t be here.”
“You want to stop me, you’re gonna have to kill me.”
“Well I’m your partner, and I’m not letting you go in alone.”
“Okay.”
She lets him go and he nods forward. “Come on.”
~*~*~
Chuck pulls up in the Nerd Herder. Just as he’s parked, someone knocks on the window with the gun in their hand.
“Uh, computer emergency?” Chuck asks, offering a lopsided smile.
~*~*~
Sarah and Casey peer around a round entranceway. They get to a door.
“Let’s do it.”
They enter, guns drawn, and stop short.
“I was waiting in the car,” Chuck tells them, now being held hostage. “I swear.”
~*~*~
~*~*~
Back at Buy More, Emmett is ready to announce this month’s Employee of the Month. “And for what it’s worth, you all tried your…best.” He uses a remote to click on some winning music, and announces, “The employee with the highest customer service is…Skip Johnson!”
“It’s not my fault,” Skip says when he sees the look on Morgan, Lester, and Jeff’s faces. “I tried to be a jerk.”
Emmett tells him that there’s no reward he could give him that would equal the satisfaction of having his name and photo immortalized on a Buy More Fact. However, he hopes he will except this one-time only gift of a 65” flatscreen TV.
“Whoa!”
Everyone just stares at it for a moment in shock, then Jeff leans over to Morgan. “You said the prize would be a dud.”
~*~*~
“Well, thanks for saving my life today, Chuck,” Chuck says, mimicking Casey’s gruff voice as Casey walks wordlessly beside him. They head for their separate apartments, and in his own voice, Chuck answers himself, “Anytime Casey, yeah, you know what? You’re my friend.” In Casey’s voice: “Yeah, you know what? You’re my friend too.” “Well that’s really kind of you Casey. Have a good night.”
Casey unlocks his door, steps inside, then mutters, “Thank you.”
Chuck stops in his tracks and swings around to face him. “You said something didn’t you? You said something.” Casey starts closes the door and Chuck rushes over. “You said something!” The door shuts.
“I heard that.” Chuck turns to the garden, adding, “I heard that.”
~*~*~
Chuck walks in to find his sister lying on the couch. “Hey, sorry I missed tonight, I got stuck at work.” He sits down on the couch next to her.
“It’s alright, Sarah told me.”
Chuck glances around. “Um, where are Awesome’s parents?”
“He’s um, he’s taking them to the airport,” she answers, sitting up and finishing another wine glass.
“I really am sorry about missing the dinner, Elle. I mean I know it’s important for you to let your future inlaws meet your family and—”
“You know, I, um, I’ve never been one of those girls that dreamed about what their wedding day would be like? What I would wear, or even the person that I would marry was all kind of hazy. Except…except one thing was clear. That Dad would walk me down the aisle.”
“Ellie, hey,” Chuck soothes, bringing his arm around his sister.
“And now it’s not gonna happen,” Ellie says, blinking back tears. “It’s just—it’s just really hard to let go of that.” She leans into her brother’s shoulder, putting her hand on his. And Chuck gives her a squeeze. “Hey…”
~*~*~
Later on, Chuck pulls a box out of his closet and pulls out a birthday card from his dad. There’s a phone number written inside. Pulling out his phone, Chuck dials the number.
“The number you have reached is not in service…”
Chuck sighs, goes down into the kitchen and approaches his sister.
“What is it?” she asks, turning from drying the dishes.
“Dad’s gonna walk you down the aisle,” he insists.
“You can’t say that, Chuck. I know that you want that for me but…we haven’t heard from him in a really long time.”
“Yeah, well I’m gonna find him,” Chuck says, determined. “I’m a smart guy, I can do that. And when he hears about the wedding, he’ll be here for you.”
Ellie is touched, but answers, “Come on, you really think he’s gonna make it?”
Chuck smiles at his sister. “I guarantee it.”
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Awww! I really love Chuck and Ellie's chemistry (both the characters and the actors that play them). And poor Casey. LoL
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