A/N: Thanks for waiting, my friends. I'm back. I'm virus-free, as is my family [*knock wood*], but I must begin to practice social distancing from the refrigerator and the liquor cabinet immediately or sooner. I want to thank all my friends here (too numerous to call out by name) who have looked in on me or engaged with me over the last two months. I really appreciate your support. I know I'm repeating myself, but I cannot imagine that there are any other FF communities as wonderful as this one is. I'm delighted to have found you guys. Thanks.

AN2: This is the start of the thirteenth arc of our story, roughly based off Chuck Versus the Role Models (Season 3, Episode 15). I know it's out of order, but I have my reasons. I'm calling it the Von Vogel arc. I am very sorry to say that Fred Willard, the actor who played Craig Turner, passed away on 5/15/2020. Sleep well, Mr. Willard.

A/N3: I also know that my regular references to the fact that I do not own Chuck are (rightfully) ignored. But, for those of you who may have been paying attention and noticed that the last few mentioned Warner Bros. Studios, well...

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"Wait, wait, wait," said Chuck. "Do you mean to say that if you just put the parameters in here.." he gestured to the control panel in front of the pretty woman giving the tour, "... the costume will come out there?" He gestured to the futuristic cabinet on one side of the room.

"Eventually. But first you'll see what it looks like on a little hologram right here." She touched a button and an eight inch tall hologram of a man appeared above a smooth pad on the control board.

"Oh, my God. That's so cool," burst Chuck with excitement.

"And of course, we have to have the costume element that you are looking for. We can't have everything, but we have thousands and thousands of pieces. Mr. Ives was very proud of this system. It is the state-of-the-art wardrobe system. There's nothing like it at a studio anywhere else in the world."

"Can we try it?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. She looked him up and down, pushed some buttons on the control board and the holographic man grew taller and lankier. "Actors who work with the studio have all their measurements fed into the system. Everything from hat sizes to shoe sizes. For you, I'll just make a guess, though. What do you want to try?"

"How about a leather jacket?" suggested Chuck, with a happy expression and a shrug.

"Ok," she said, typing into the computer in front of her. "What style? Cowboy, biker, bomber, modern fashionable, what? What do you have in mind?"

"Umm, let's try cowboy," he said.

She pushed a button on her control screen. "Ok. Brown or black?"

"Brown," said Chuck.

"Ok, we have three that should fit." The little holographic man was suddenly wearing a brown leather cowboy jacket. She pushed buttons and the jacket changed to one with fringes. She tried again and the jacket became one with rhinestones.

Chuck said, "The first one. Can I see the first one, please?"

"Sure." She pushed a button and there was a pulsing noise of machinery working. Within moments, the cabinet on the side of the room opened its door to reveal the brown leather cowboy jacket they had seen on the holographic representation, but it was now hanging in the cabinet on a wooden hanger.

Chuck walked over and took it out with a huge grin. "Can I try it on?"

With a pretty smile of her own the woman said, "Go right ahead," as she waved her hand in invitation.

Chuck pulled on the jacket. It fit surprisingly well, although maybe a little short in the sleeves. Grinning, he said, "How do I look?"

Sarah said, "You look cute, sweetie."

Amy said, "We have to get you a horse."

Casey said, "You look like a tool, Moron."

His grin never even flickered as Chuck responded to Casey, "You are always so mean to me."

Sarah said to the tour guide, "Ignore them. They actually love each other." The woman laughed.

They were being given the VIP tour of the Castle Studios facility. Graham and Beckman had sent them without much in the way of explanation. The enormous facility, over sixty acres in size, was probably the most prominent feature of Burbank with its iconic water tower, complete with decorative crenellations, visible for miles. Of course, like many locals, Chuck had lived there for years and never taken the tour.

They had started at the office building which housed the offices of the huge conglomerate, with businesses in film, television, publishing and games. They saw the studios themselves where movies and television shows were filmed. They saw the massive warehouse of props, seemingly arranged at random. They saw the back lots, looking like the streets of New York, Europe, or small-town USA. They saw the vast collections of equipment used to produce the finished products and the army of skilled professionals that swarmed all around working in one of the city's lynchpin businesses. Chuck and Amy were tickled by a couple of celebrity sightings. But it was the high-tech wardrobe department that thrilled Chuck more than the rest of the fascinating items on the tour.

He began to shrug off the jacket. "Do you know anything about the algorithms they use to sort the database? How many gigs does it contain? I figure with a holographic picture of each item, it must be pretty huge."

"I'm sorry,…" she began.

"We'll get you that info later, Chuck," interrupted the man who had just joined them from a side door. He was a very big, strong-looking redhead in jeans, cowboy boots, an open necked shirt and a sports jacket.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Fitzpatrick. I didn't know you'd be joining us."

"Yeah. I'll take them from here, Randy. We have some business back at the offices to take care of. Thanks for showing my friends around."

"My pleasure. They were a joy. Bye, guys. Hope you had a good tour."

They said their goodbyes and thanks to Randy.

"So, what's up, Fitz? You a movie executive this week?" asked Sarah.

"I've had worse cover jobs," he said with a grin. "There's no part of this one that involves a broom, so that's a plus."

"I hear ya," growled Casey. "So, you going to tell us why we got the studio tour? Some terrorists lurking around the corner, maybe?"

"Walk with me, guys. It's not too far back to the main building." They began to walk through the studio facility. "What do you guys know about Mike Ives?"

"I know his latest wife left him for a Vegas hooker he hired for a three-way," said Sarah.

"I didn't know you read People magazine," said Amy, with a gentle shove and a smile.

"No. It was a story Lon Kirk told me before we busted his ass," said Sarah.

"Right," said Fitz. "That bit is true, but not where I was heading. Ives owned Castle Studios..."

"Past tense?" asked Casey.

"Yeah," said Fitz. "It was just in the press. Few months ago he sold it to a collection of investors from back east. Investment banking guys or something. Except they weren't. See, it turns out that Ives had a habit when it came to taxes. He didn't like to pay them. The IRS was all over his ass and he was facing serious prison time. Too many financial short-cuts. So, the government made him a deal. All charges against him would be deep sixed if he sold to the investors and kept his mouth shut. It was, as they say in the movies, an offer he couldn't refuse."

"Why did the government back the investors?" asked Chuck.

"Because they are merely a front for the real owner. The Intelligence Community bought the Studio. Castle Studios is one huge intelligence operation now."

Chuck stopped in his tracks, stunned. "You're shitting me. This is all an intelligence operation? So...all these people are agents?" He looked around at all the busy people scurrying past with the work of a movie studio.

"Oh, hell no. Only a few dozen of us are agents. The rest are legit movie or TV production people. They have no idea that the new owners are spooks like us."

Chuck had begun to walk again. "But how can this be? The IC owns a real American business...I mean..."

"Read some history, kid," growled Casey. "For decades during the Vietnam War the Agency owned and operated an actual airline called Air America. Planes, passengers, cargo, the whole thing. All CIA."

"Hell, Chuck," said Sarah, "when Tony Mendez smuggled the Americans out of revolutionary Iran he set up a movie production company as cover. The Canadian Caper is taught at the Farm as a textbook extraction. Tony Mendez is a legend."

"Yeah," said Fitz. "It's no big deal to have the Community own businesses. We do it all the time. This one, though, is a bit of a bigger deal. It's a major corporation and it's going to take some effort to run it. We're still looking for a CEO."

They had entered the lobby of the office building and crossed to the elevators, having been waived through security by an armed guard who recognized Fitz. At the far end of the elevator bank was one car with a keypad next to it. Fitz entered numbers into the keypad. The elevator door opened and they stepped inside.

"If it's such a big deal, why do it?" asked Sarah.

"This is why," said Fitz. There was a handprint scanner along the wall of the elevator cab. He put his hand on it and there was a flash of light as his palm was read. The door closed and the elevator began to descend. "It's not the Studio itself they wanted. It's what's underneath. An old OSS substation used to coordinate special operations against the Japanese during the war in the Pacific. We call it..."

"Castle," said Casey. "I heard about this place, but for some reason I never connected it with the Studio." Shaking his head, he mumbled, "Idiot." Speaking normally again, he continued, "It was mothballed decades ago."

"And Graham and Beckman bought the Studio and just spent the last two months having it fully renovated and outfitted with all the latest shit." The elevator door opened and Fitz said, "Welcome to your new headquarters."

They stepped out of the elevator into a wide room filled with computers and wall mounted screens. Lights blinked softly on the machines, telling anyone interested that they were active and ready. All four members of Team Bartowski were gaping with surprise. Chuck said, almost breathlessly, "This is for us?"

Fitz said, "Yeah. It is." He clapped Chuck on the shoulder. "Here's the main room." The large room had computer stations to the side and a large conference table in the center. "Chuck, they knew you'd want to set up the computer and other systems yourself, so these are just a basic vanilla set up, ready for you to customize. But you are hooked up by armored connections to all the IC databases. Not to mention satellite hook-ups. If we know it, you guys can find it from here. There's a comprehensive communications grid here. They installed Chuck's gadget throughout the whole facility, so we don't have to sweep for bugs as often. Oh, and there's an electronics workshop over there for you to invent more smart shit, Chuck."

"Wow, Fitz," said Chuck, checking out a wall of computers. "This is great. Look at this stuff. This is totally state of the art. That's a DU 97 supercomputer from Roark Instruments. Fitz, she's beautiful. That's thirty teraflops of reconfigurable architecture. Wow."

"That's what they told me. It's got a module for cryptoanalysis and video processing if you need it. I leave that stuff to you guys mostly. This way."

He led them through to a corridor down one side. "Here are interrogation rooms and holding cells if you end up bringing in prisoners," he said, showing them bare rooms with plain steel tables and one-way mirrored walls. Nearby, there were single bunk cells with plexiglass sliding doors.

Down a different corridor he said, "Here's the dojo," showing them a large room with a floor made of half polished hardwood and half thick padded matting with an assortment of handheld weapons and training gear mounted along one wall. To one side there was a fencing piste taking up most of the length of the room. "There is a full gym upstairs for the use of the Studio personnel, complete with weights and whatnot. You guys will have access to that as well. But down here there are also lockers and showers and stuff, if you aren't going upstairs."

"This looks like so much fun," said Amy.

"Wait til you see this..." said Fitz, pushing buttons on a wall panel. A full-sized hologram of a man in a karate gi appeared and bowed to them. "Holographic instructor or sparring partner."

"Oh, my God. That's awesome," said Sarah.

Down a different corridor. "The armory." Row upon row of firearms and various tools of mayhem were secured on racks near an armorer's bench.

"Now we're talking," enthused Casey, stepping in to look at the weapons. "Oh, hey, you got me a Barrett."

"Yeah, I knew you'd like that, Major. You'll like this too," said Fitz, showing off a large firing range. "Soundproofed, of course." There were eye and ear protectors on hooks along the wall.

"Of course," said Amy with a smirk.

"Too short to practice with the long guns, but a decent sized pistol range," said Fitz. "Through here is an virtual reality simulation room. Put on the VR headgear, pick up one of the special guns and walk yourself through any number of simulations."

"Best video game ever," said Chuck with a huge grin. "How many players?"

With a chuckle, Fitz said, "We don't call them players..." Sarah laughed. "...but the answer is five. I've been down here with the guys, all of us together and there's easily room for one more."

"Through here is a compact medical set up. It's empty now, of course, but would be staffed by the same doctors who run the Studio clinic upstairs, as needed. If you want other IC doctors to come by, they can have access too."

He took them down a flight of steps. "Now we go downstairs. There are a half dozen guest quarters here, if there are visitors you want to keep relatively isolated, or if some of you need to stay overnight for some reason. Food would come from the Studio's commissary."

"That will be a hell of a lot better than deep fried hot dogs. This is all just great, Fitz. Will you be cohabiting with us?" asked Sarah with a smile. They went back upstairs into the main room.

"Naw. Me and the boys will be in the Studio with our new cover jobs. But we'll have access and, if you ever need us, we will be right here as back up. This is for you and your team. Graham and Beckman figured it would work a little better than operating out of your apartments. Oh, and you'll have access to the entire wardrobe set-up you saw upstairs. There's a duplicate control board down here. And, if you need disguises, there are two agents covering as make-up techs upstairs."

"I don't know whose idea this was, Fitz, but it's brilliant. Using a movie studio as a cover location for a covert intelligence team is just perfect," said Sarah. "Need to run around in tactical gear with weapons? We just tell anyone interested that it's a movie. No sweat. Helicopter landing at midnight? It's a movie. This is the perfect cover location for our operations. Just great. No matter what strange things go on, we can explain. I don't know why no one thought of it before."

"They did. The OSS thought of it seventy years ago," Casey.

"This's so cool. Thanks," said Chuck.

"Yeah, it's neat," agreed Fitz, with a grin.

"And the Studio gates upstairs?" asked Sarah.

"You are on the lists as VIPs and will get passes to get in and out of the Studio at will. There are also two entrances to Castle outside the Studio gates. If you ever want to come in that way."

"You've thought of everything," said Chuck.

"Probably not, but what we didn't think of we can add later," said Fitz. "Come on, let's get the four of you into the system." It took about an hour, but by the time they were finished all four of them would pass the facial recognition, handprint, retinal and iris scans necessary to access all the variety of security for their new headquarters. Their studio passes would be waiting for them at the main gate by the time they were ready to leave.

"I'm heading back upstairs. Give you guys some time to explore and play with your new toys."

Casey stuck out his hand, "Thanks, Fitz. You guys did good. And you managed to surprise us, so you sure can keep a secret."

As he shook Casey's hand with a smile, he said, "Well, yeah. You know. Spy and all that. But to be serious for a second, you should just know that the guys and I are honored to be part of this, we really are. To help out your team. You guys are doing great work. There's no place we'd rather be and nothing else we'd rather be doing. All of us feel exactly the same way."

They glanced at each other quickly. The team was certainly moved by what he had said. Chuck responded, "Thank you, Fitz. I speak for all of us when I say that there's no one else we'd rather have at our backs. Thank you and thank the guys for us."

The other three shook his hand and thanked him as well. Fitz left.

"I'm going to go shoot something. I haven't shot anything in a few days and my trigger finger is itchy," said Casey. He sounded eager.

"Have fun, big guy. I'm going to jump onto the computer and see what's what," said Chuck with a laugh. But before Casey left for the armory Chuck caught his eye and glanced at his watch. Casey nodded once in understanding. Chuck pulled up a rolling chair in front of a computer terminal and cracked his knuckles.

Sarah looked at Amy and said, "Fancy a workout?"

With a laugh, Amy said, "The dojo? Just like old times. Go easy on me, huh? You could always kick my ass."

As they walked down the corridor to the locker room, Chuck heard Sarah saying, laughter in her voice, "Time to up your game, girlfriend. You're playing with the big dogs now."

Chuck opened the computer for the first time and established a password. Then he spent a bit of time just looking around the system and starting to configure it to his liking. He was delighted at what he found, although not so delighted that he couldn't think of some modifications to improve the entire set-up. After exploring for a while, he remembered to check his messages and emails.

As he expected, there was an encrypted email from Ellie in DC. After she'd been brought in to the Intersect project and run him through dozens of tests, she and Devon had flown to DC as guests of the government (Devon mostly there just to keep her company). That was more than a week ago and they were still there. In that time, Ellie had thrown herself into the Intersect work being done at Fort Meade. Chuck had gotten an email from her every day with a multi-page questionnaire regarding the functioning of his brain. He decrypted the message and quickly filled in the answers on the form. Had he flashed in the last twenty-four hours? Did he have any headaches? Vision problems? How had he slept? Dreams? Dozens of questions. His sister had sternly told him that she may make him fill out the same form every day for the rest of his life, so he ought to get used to it. He returned the form and sent his love.

Nothing new from Yuri.

There was a message from Bryce, though. Chuck downloaded the picture and blew it up on a huge wall mounted screen. In the background of the photo was a bulletin board with two cards, among many, many cards on the board, with messages in Klingon. One message, translated, said, "Two more of us are gone." The other message said, "We want to get a key from the German bird." German bird? Chuck searched a translation program. "Bird" in German was "Vogel."

He ran a search of the IC's databases for Vogel and key/lock/security/entry. He came up with a man named Otto Von Vogel. He was an immigrant from Germany and a brilliant cybersecurity software engineer. He was married to the stage magician Roye Cats (originally Ralph Katzen) and lived in Los Angeles. Seems the IC had dealt with him about three years ago and acquired some software which he had developed. 'Ok,' thought Chuck. 'Better let Beckman and Graham know that Fulcrum is after something key-like from Von Vogel.'

He walked down the hall. Amy and Sarah were on the matted portion of the dojo floor. They were in shorts and tee shirts (conveniently stocked in Castle's locker rooms), wore sparring gloves and were covered with sweat. As he watched, Amy circled Sarah and came in with a front kick. Sarah moved in to block the kick and foot swept Amy, who hit the ground on her upper back and went into an immediate backroll to come out a few feet away on her feet and again facing Sarah.

"Guys," interrupted Chuck, "Message from Operation Thirty. I was going to share it with the Directors. Want to come?"

"Sure. But, what time is it?" asked Sarah.

"About four," said Chuck, glancing at his watch.

"I have to rush. I'm due at the airport to meet the Citation X crew for a walk-through of the aircraft. If the call takes too long I'll be pressed for time."

"Doesn't look like a big deal. Fulcrum wants to get some software from a guy, I think. If you have to leave early, we can finish the call and fill you in later. Don't miss the airport meeting. You've been trying to set it up for a while now."

"Ok," she said. "I'll be right out."

"Me too," said Amy, taking off the sparring gloves.

Chuck went to the other area of Castle and found Casey in the shooting range, ear protection on his ears and clear plastic glasses over his eyes. He was firing a small submachine gun. Chuck waited for the gun to lock open and empty before he said, "Hey, Case." Casey removed the ear protection. "Message from Bryce. Looks like Fulcrum is trying to get a hold of a software key from a cybersecurity guy here in LA. I was going to call the Directors. Want to come?"

"Sure, kid. Just let me put away the weapon," he said. Casey glanced at his watch. "You and I have to go in about 45 minutes or so. Might be tight."

"I know. This won't take too long, I don't think. Sarah already said that she doesn't want to be late for the meeting at the airport and we have to wait for her to leave first, anyway. We can't let her see us leave or she'll ask where we are going," said Chuck.

All four of them congregated in front of the big screen and initiated the video conference. Chuck couldn't understand how the women could go from sweaty workouts to looking spectacular in an instant. Some special female trick, he guessed. Shortly the screen came alive with Graham and Beckman.

"Hello, Directors," began Chuck. "First off, we want to thank you for our new headquarters. This place looks great and there's so much to explore. It's a helluva surprise you dropped on us. Thank you both."

"You are very welcome, Chuck, Team. We are confident that you and your team will make good use of Castle and make the investment pay off handsomely. If you need anything else in connection with it, you just let Fitz know and he'll take care of it," said Graham.

"While we are on the topic of thanks," said Beckman. "Thanks for the loan of your sister. She's already given us some vital insights for the project. Truly, Chuck, she's a force of nature. I wish we'd found her long ago. The scientists who have been on the project for years say that we've made months of progress in a week, due entirely to Dr. Bartowski. So, thank you, Chuck. Bringing her on board has been a wonderful development."

"Sure thing, General. I know she's excited about the project," said Chuck. Even Casey and Sarah looked pretty pleased at the General's praise of Ellie. "She sees tremendous potential to treat memory conditions in patients, if the tech ever gets declassified."

"Yes. I'm sure that's right. Now, what's the newest development from your end? What's come up that you reached out to us? It sounded like it was more than a thank you." asked Beckman.

"Message from Operation Thirty. Well, two messages, actually," said Chuck. "The first is 'two more of us are gone.'"

Graham looked at Beckman and said, with a sigh, "Your two missing agents in Hong Kong. They must have been taken by whoever is hunting Fulcrum. That makes four."

Beckman looked sour and said, "Yes. Four that we know of at least. Shit."

Graham said, "That's another two to put into the algorithm. Damn it."

"Sir, what is the algorithm is that?" asked Chuck.

"All the known Fulcrum members. Who have they partnered with? Who have they engaged with? Who have they reported to, or had report to them?"

"Hell," burst Beckman. "Who have they shared an elevator with? Taken a cigarette break with? Anything we can think of."

"So far it's given us nothing but speculation, though. What was the other message?" asked Graham, suddenly sounding tired.

"'We want to get a key from the German bird,'" said Chuck. "I think Fulcrum wants to obtain decryption software from Otto Von Vogel."

"Ah. Yes, that makes sense," said Graham. The news seemed to brighten Graham's mood immediately. He began to smile a little bit.

"Like the last time?" asked Beckman

"Sure."

Beckman said, "Ha. I know what you're thinking, Director. Role models?"

"Why not? They could do worse," said Graham. He was flat out smiling now.

"True enough. Where are they now?"

"I think they're in San Antonio. They can be in LA tomorrow," said Graham.

"Ummm..." said Sarah. "Who are you guys talking about?"

Graham said, "You'll see. Bit of a surprise for you all. I'm sending in the team that just dealt with Von Vogel a few years ago. Call us back tomorrow when they get there."

"Yes, Sir," she said.

"Alright, team. Enjoy your new facility." The screen went black.

"Keeping us in the dark about who they are sending. I wonder what they have up their collective sleeves?" asked Amy.

"Guess we'll find out tomorrow," said Chuck.

"Sorry, I gotta go, guys. Meeting at the airport," said Sarah.

"Ok, Sweetie," said Chuck, giving her a kiss. "See you at O'Malley's later?"

"Yup," she said. "See you guys." Sarah left Castle.

The other three members of the team waited a few moments to make sure she was gone. Then Chuck looked at his watch, "Are we cutting it close, Case?"

"Naw, kid. We'll be fine. We just have to go now. We're on the clock," said Casey.

Chuck turned to Amy and said, "I don't mean to exclude you..."

"Forget it, Chuck. This is clearly a guy thing. Go for it. I'll see you guys later at the bar." She giggled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, bouncing on her toes a bit. "I'm really excited. Good luck, boys."

"Thanks," said Chuck with a nervous grin. "See you later."

Chuck and Casey went up in the elevator and through the office building to the parking lot where Casey had left the Crown Vic. They stopped at the main gate and picked up their badges for Studio access.

Chuck fidgeted as they drove.

Casey said, "Calm down, Moron. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," he said, but didn't stop fidgeting.

They arrived at the right address and parked the car. Morgan was waiting for them in front of the store, pacing impatiently. "I thought you were going to be late."

Casey said, "Chill out, Numbnuts. I had him. I wasn't going to blow it." Turning to Chuck, he said, "You ready?"

"I guess so." He took a deep breath and rubbed his palms on the legs of his pants.

"Ok. Let's do this," said Casey, patting him on the shoulder. The three men went inside the store. The large sign in front announced LANDAU'S FINE JEWELRY.

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A/N4: In the fall and early winter of 2018, I had occasion to spend some time in Burbank, California. While there, I took a tour of the Warner Brothers Studios facilities. I had just binge watched the entire Chuck series and had begun to write New Day. I remember thinking that, as our heroes lived and worked in Burbank, they would pass that Studio every day and look up at the famous water tower with the WB logo. I think locating Castle here makes way more logical sense than somehow creating from scratch a secret spy base under the Buy More. (Having said that, I understand that the showrunners didn't want to leave the Buy More behind. I have no such compunction.) I also think this change to canon opens up a myriad of new story possibilities and twists.

A/N5: The Intelligence Community and the ownership of businesses. Yeah, well, the two examples Casey and Sarah gave Chuck are true. The airline Air America was owned by the CIA from 1950 until 1976. The movie production company was described in Tony Mendez' book Argo (2012) and the subsequent Ben Affleck movie of the same name (also 2012). Mr. Mendez, who died in 2019, was a legend in the Agency. Furthermore, it was recently (2020) revealed that the CIA and the German BND co-owned a Swiss computer security company for decades and used its access and equipment to spy on that company's customers. Standard operating procedure, it seems.

A/N6: I've been generally pretty good about keeping to a steady posting schedule for New Day. I don't feel I can promise that right now. My city, thank goodness, seems to have passed the worst of the virus crisis (although at a terrible cost in lost lives), but I am still too distracted by real life to give our story the sustained attention it deserves. I have more coming, that I can promise, but I can't say when. Those of you who stick with me...thanks. You are the reason I write. Stay safe, my friends. Please.