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Chuck vs Bryce

Chapter 2

Chuck vs Flashback

A/N : This continues from the flashback where we left off in the last chapter. And from there we will take it further.

Disclaimer : I do not own chuck, or any of the copyrighted material listed here. Also I'm not making any money from this.

Senior year
Stanford Campus

Bryce looked into his eyes as he said "Well... how cool is it?"
Chuck in a daze, with his face in a blank mask displaying his shock and his eyes glazed over until then,
suddenly split his face with an ear to ear grin "Sooo cool" and started laughing with his best friend.

Bryce laughed with him and after a while said "Okay. okay. It is cool. However you have to get better at a lot of stuff wussball"
"Wussball? Seriously bryce? That's the best you can come up with?" Chuck said making a face at bryce.
Bryce suddenly sobered up and said. "Chuck, I was recruited -"
"- Last year. Yeah i know" Chuck finished.
"How do you know that?" Bryce asked confused.
"I asked glass castle. He told me" Chuck said still grinning.
Bryce shook his head thinking maybe he was cut out for the job after all.

"Even so Mr. smarty pants. You still need physical education" Bryce said as a matter of fact.
Chuck looked at bryce and groaned "I know. You will kill me about exercise now and i will have no choice but to accept"
Bryce chuckled "It won't be that bad. You might even start enjoying yourself" bryce said matter of factly.

Chuck just groaned again. Knowing bryce he had no doubt his buddy would put him through torture daily "Uhh.. My grades will take a nosedive"
Bryce just brushed it away "Your grades? Please. I have seen you kick ass in a test without studying"
"But.. anyhow you don't have worry about it your grades, if they dip too low, they'll be supplemented by the company. You will exercise and you will do it daily" He finished.
Chuck was shocked about the grades and said "Really? My grades will be supplemented by the-the company? W-O-W" he said in three syllables.

Bryce just chuckled "I know. Working for the 'company' has a lot of benefits. Including a nice bit of cash every month"
Chuck's jaw dropped this time "I get paid?"
"What you thought they would make you work for them for free?" bryce asked laughing.
"No-no... I get paid now? Not after-not after graduating?" and chuck looked meaningfully at bryce.
Bryce chuckled again "Yeah. You get paid now. It's not as much as they pay when you become a full agent. In fact it's very little, but even still it's sweeet"
"And you didn't tell me anything about it" Chuck said. But there was no accusation or hurt in his voice in fact he was still grinning to let bryce know he wasn't really angry about it.

Bryce lost his grin though and said "I signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits me from talking about it with anyone."
He looked directly into chuck's eyes and fixing him with a gaze said "You cannot tell Jill. You cannot tell Ellie. You cannot tell morgan. You cannot tell anyone. Unless we are alone and in a secluded and safe place where no one can hear us, you cannot talk about any of this even with me. Understood?"

Chuck just nodded at bryce. He hardly, if ever saw him this serious. He wanted to impress the gravity of it chuck thought. And it had worked.. mostly.
Because he knew he couldn't tell anyone. He couldn't tell morgan, he couldn't tell ellie, he couldn't tell his girlfriend.
No. He could tell his girlfriend. She wouldn't do anything. She wouldn't tell anyone. Of course he couldn't tell her the whole truth.
Maybe just that he was recruited into the CIA. No that wasn't right. Maybe just that he was working for the government. Yeah, that much he could tell her. That much he would tell her, he thought. When the time was right.

For now he wanted look through the contents of the brown packet that was tucked under his shirt.
He pulled out the brown packet and held it in his hands.
It was addressed to professor Fleming and was sealed. '042GC050326' was printed on the top right corner on the packet.

He looked up from the brown packet in his hands as bryce stood and said "I'll be on the lookout. You look through and look through carefully. We need to burn them immediately when we leave here" and without waiting for his reply walked away to the end of the shelves and looked interested in a old book that he had taken off the shelf and appeared to be reading.

Chuck carefully opened the package. Inside were numerous things, papers mostly but a couple of small envelopes as well. He took them out first.

The first envelope contained a brand new cell phone and a small note with it.
The note read 'Secure phone. Standard issue. Ghost SIM included'
He pocketed the nice sleek phone and thought he would look at it later.

The other envelope he found inside contained just another piece of paper. It was thick and of a nice quality and looked different though so he took it out.
A corner was folded over. He held the corner and peeled off the the layer.

It read ' Subject 0326 name : Charles Irving Bartowski code name : Stargazer'

No sooner had he finished reading it than the ink faded away leaving a clean piece of paper.

While logically he knew the ink was a chemical that reacted with air and faded away, he felt awed by looking at the now blank piece of paper.
He was literally staring open-mouthed at a blank piece of paper now, but his inner-nerd knew no bounds, he was thrilled by a piece of paper with disappearing ink, that was addressed to him!

He went through the other contents. Another small packet containing a bit of cash. He pocketed that as well.
Other things that were for his reading he read. They mostly told him things like how the prestigious CIA had upheld the nation, and how it was protecting the nation, and helping form ties with other nations,
sorting out political schisms, etc.

It also told him he would be sent into training when he graduated, and that his grades would be supplemented if required, he would receive packets every month containing pertinent information from the recruitment officer among other stuff.

Once he read through the documents, he put them all back in and saw that there wasn't anything else in there. He was certain he had remembered all that the documents contained,
so he was ready to get up.
He tucked in the packet under his shirt and slowly stood up. He looked at bryce still looking like he was reading something interesting and wondered if he could ever become as good as bryce.

He smiled at his friend and went over to him.

Stanford Campus
Backyard of Chuck's fraternity

While burning the packet bryce looking at the flames casually said, "Buddy, You will start training with me now"
Chuck was afraid whenever bryce said anything in that tone. It rarely ever meant good things for him. Now though? Now he was outright terrified.

Bryce just grinned wickedly as he noticed the fear in chuck's eyes.
Bryce tugged him to their room and after locking their door took out a laptop from under the loose floorboard.
Chuck watched and thought so many secrets. And to think i was living with him in the same room!

He pushed away those thoughts and looked up and asked "What are you doing?"
"Just checking in- You got your new phone?" Bryce asked without looking up.
"Yeah. It's cool" and he took it out of his pocket. It looked like a standard cell phone, although it was sleeker and a lot more smaller than what he had.
"It's a secure phone. It cannot be traced or tracked. You will use that phone from now. Hand me that and your old one" He said holding out his hand.

As chuck handed it to him bryce took out the battery and the SIM card from his old phone.
He dug out a adapter kind of thing and took out the SIM card inside his new phone. He put both in and connected it to his laptop.

After some time he took out the old SIM card and broke it, and along with it his old phone.
"Why did you do that?" Chuck asked sadness coloring his voice at seeing the death of his old cell phone. Nevermind that he now had a new one that was obviously better than his old one.

"Like I said chuck, you cannot use that phone from now. Those can be traced" Chuck silently bid his old phone farewell.
He remembered ellie's and morgan's , bryce's and jill's number. Any other contacts weren't that important anyways.

Stanford Campus
Some local bar

It turned out the first part of bryce's "training" meant getting chuck to a bar and getting him hammered. When chuck turned down his third drink bryce leaned in and said in barely more than a whisper "You should be able to hold down liquor. As an agent you shouldn't let the alcohol cloud your judgement or your senses"

Well that made sense. He looked at his refill and drank it.
After a couple more drinks chuck was aware of his drunken state as he leaned toward bryce and said in a whisper "I have a meeting tomorrow at 8 am, bryce. No more for me. Let's go"

Bryce looked back to his drink said, "My tab" to the bartender.
The barkeep nodded at them as they both walked out of there towards bryce's car.

Chuck was always the designated driver. But when bryce tossed him the car keys tonight he was astonished knowing that he was drunk. "I'm more drunk than you bryce."
Bryce just nodded and got in the passenger side anyways.

Chuck got in and started the car "You have so much faith in my driving?"
Bryce just said "You could have had atleast two more and still be able to drive back safely. You need to know your limits. Always know your limits" the last bit he said more like a poor imitation of someone.

Chuck mused over it as he drove safely back to the frat house. Huh. Guess bryce was right.

Chuck's Room

Chuck jerked awake and sat up suddenly as he fumbled around and looked for what had happened, for the source of his discomfort. Well, other than his groggy and pounding head. "Uhhhh.. My head"
As he slowly opened his eyes he saw a figure standing in front of him.

Bryce. Holding some small sticks in his hands.

As chuck squinted and his eyes adjusted those sticks were revealed to be ones connected to a voltmeter used for voltage testing and chuck came to realize that bryce had shocked him awake.

He was looking at bryce for a explanation and bryce stood like a statue. Great.
Chuck couldn't take it anymore and said "What was that for?"
And he received a shock again. He tried to jump away but it made contact anyway, he jumped and got tangled with the sheets and fell down from his bed.
Bryce looked and just started laughing.
"Atleast help me up, douche"
When chuck grabbed the offered hand and got up, he finally looked at bryce, and what he was dressed for.

The nearby clock on the bedside table showed that it was 5 freaking 30 in the morning. And bryce was wearing some running shoes and a loose shirt and a pair of running shorts.

Chuck realized, and started cursing him under his breath.
"What was that buddy?" Bryce said sweetly.
"I hate you" Chuck said with conviction.

Bryce just laughed. A full on belly laugh while chuck rinsed his face and pulled on his shoes and shorts and a shirt.

Stanford campus

The run was exhausting.
Chuck couldn't comprehend how bryce could run like that. Light on his feet and breathing a heavy, covered in sweat.. Okay while that last part didn't sound too good, chuck was wheezing like an old man. His throat was like sandpaper, and he wasn't sure if he would fall down when his knees gave way. He wanted to ask why bryce was running on a cross-country marathon, but he didn't have the throat for it yet.
Bryce directed them back to their dorm and chuck was grateful for that.

He showered and changed and felt energetic instead of exhausted like he had thought. When he came out bryce walked in and went into shower himself. Chuck looked at the time.
It was 7 in the morning. Plenty of time to go. Bryce came out after 10 mins and said "You're supposed to report at 0800?"
"Uh- Yeah, at 8 am" Chuck answered.
Nodding he took out his car keys and asked chuck to follow him. Chuck took his new phone and his wallet and followed bryce out.

He drove to a cafe and ordered salads and black coffee for the both of them.
Chuck protested under his breath "Hey! What if i wanted something else?" Bryce just shook his head and collected their breakfast and walked over to a back booth.
Sliding in bryce said "Not only do you need to exercise you also need to eat healthy. Now eat up"

Chuck just grimaced and dug in. He was kinda hungry after getting up and running around in the morning.

Fleming's office

His "signing event" seemed to consist mostly of legalities. He had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and sign papers that acknowledged that he was signing these papers in full mental health and awareness.
And papers that identified him as a recruit for the Central Intelligence Agency.
He also listened to glass castle tell him to collect his packages from him monthly and to always answer any call or message from him at all times.
He was pretty sure by the time he had signed all the papers he had sold his soul to the united states government.
That meant that he could no longer back out, not that he wanted to.

But on the flip side now that he was a recruit and he would have to go to training after his graduation he couldn't go to work at any of his dream companies.
He still felt elated at the thought, not all that sad that he wouldn't be working at RI even, making him think maybe he didn't actually wanted to work for RI as much as he thought. huh.

Would he still work there? Sure, it was still a great company. But even still in his earlier dream he wanted his own company, maybe retire early.. and do what? He hadn't ever thought about it before. Oh well.

After hearing and carefully processing all that glass castle had to say, chuck walked out of glass castle's office and went back to the dorm to his spy buddy bryce.

A/N : Yeah so the CIA probably doesn't pay you when you're still in college.. but I took some liberties, afterall they protect their secrets well.
So, Chuck is still in the bubble of becoming a spy.. let's see what happens next.
Updates on the way. For my other story as well.

Review please, it helps us write better and maybe a little faster. It really does.

Cheers!