Chapter 38, Name Pending
by Frea O'Scanlin
Most of the techs working in the lab were staring at their screens, blissfully zoned out with whatever project was occupying their thoughts.
“It’s like a den full of Bartowskis,” Casey muttered under his breath, thankfully too quiet for the trailing Vespa Weier to hear. “Ye gods, spare me.”
Chuck rolled his eyes. Sarah gave no discernable reaction.
Digital Dave’s office was one of the six main offices in the complex dedicated to “Field Resources.” The agency could do with a lot more than six dedicated techs, Chuck knew, which was why Sarah and Bryce had been green-lighted on adding him as dedicated tech support to their wonder-team, despite his unorthodox location. Digital Dave was the best of the six in the office, which meant he was also the most overworked.
Indeed, he didn’t look up when Chuck tapped on his door jamb. “Two seconds,” he said, hunching his shoulders further and tapping away at his keyboard without pause.
“We’ll wait,” Sarah said from behind Chuck.
Digital Dave’s head came up. “Agent Walker! Hey! What brings a high and mighty field agent into our humble offices?”
“That would be my fault,” Chuck said.
Dave’s eyes refocused on him. “Chuck!” He seemed genuinely pleased to see Chuck, which was a switch given that Chuck’s phone calls to the den usually inspired more work. “Hey! Cool, you’re here. Wait two seconds.” And just like that, he went back to working on whatever he was trying to tackle.
Chuck turned to Casey and Sarah with a puzzled look on his face. “Am I that bad?” he asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Dave.
“You’re worse,” Casey grumbled. “I’m going to take Agent Weier here for a coffee and remind her of the things she needs to forget before Dave blows all of our covers. See you at the front door in twenty minutes?”
Chuck and Sarah promised that they would.
“Don’t be late,” Casey said, with one final scowl before he left, herding their assistant away despite her protests that she was scheduled to remain with all three teammates for this allotted time.
Chuck and Sarah waved as they left.
“Is she going to be a permanent fixture in DC?” Chuck wondered. “Because even I’m tired of ‘Which Lynch?’ jokes already, and that has to be a record.”
“You could just not tell the joke,” Sarah pointed out, smiling a little wanly as she leaned against the door jamb to Dave’s office.
Chuck, since it looked like Dave was going to be wrapped up in the project for longer than the afore-promised two seconds, leaned against the opposite jamb and crossed his arms over his chest. “That would be impossible when she leaves an opening wide enough to drive the Crown Vic through.”
“Ah well.”
At the keyboard, Dave gave a fist-pump that made both agents look over. “Take that, bitches,” he mumbled around the pencil clenched in his teeth, and tapped a few keys with finality.
38 looks like fun! Already can tell I'm going to like Dave.
ReplyDeleteAnd, btw, nice art. I always loved this part of 'Salami' when Sarah has to listen in to Chuck's date with Lou. Her steadily increasing distress level, the impulsive rush into the bar, the hand left calculatingly on Chuck's shoulder when she knew Lou was watching, and her guilty look in the van afterwards were really entertaining. Ahh, season one. :)
A progress bar usually goes up. You know, from %26 to % 42? Not % 42 to %38 then to % 35.
ReplyDeleteAnyway,nice to see some fic.
Chapters get longer. A story takes however long it takes to write. I could just lie on the progress bar if you prefer.
ReplyDeleteDo your thing however you wanna do it.
ReplyDeleteNext time,i will add some :),:P,XD
Thanks again for the fic.
Yeah, sorry, it's a little hard to read text online and get the tone sometimes. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThat is really what happened, though. To focus on more important things in 39, I added a scene to 38, which means I didn't hack any of the writing out, the percentage just lowered because the overall word count increased. Positive side -- it means a longer chapter for everybody. Negative side -- probably gonna take me longer to finish.
and you're welcome for the fic. :)
I like your way of thinking! Except for the "wait longer" part but that's life :)
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for a preview and you didn't disappoint. Longer chapter? Sounds GREAT to me! And although I wish you could get it done faster, I'm willing to wait. Your chapters are always worth waiting for!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Digital Dave! First of, I like his name. Also he's one of Sarah's favorite people in the spy game. And finally “Take that, bitches” ?! lol
ReplyDeleteThank you for this preview. Can't wait for chapter 38.
Bwaha. Truly Dave and Chuck are kindred spirits. I can totally tell. :D
ReplyDeleteI do wonder what the team is still doing in D.C., though, seemingly peacefully touring the CIA premises after their reaming-out by Graham and Beckman. Are they just paying Dave a social call? Or is this a new mission of some kind? Hmmm...
Probably about that Fulcrum code Chuck find out about while stalking Jill and the data from Ezersky's computer, no?
ReplyDeleteThere may or may not be a reference to a Bill Murray in that scene (not in what's posted), but Sarah, Chuck, and Casey do have a reason to be down in Digital Dave's Den. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd by a Bill Murray, I of course mean Bill Murray movie. I, um, meant to do that.
ReplyDeleteYay, something awesome for me to think about at work today. Thanks for the preview, as always builds anticipation for the rest.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you want to see what a normal day is between Frea and myself, you should be following our twitter feed.
ReplyDeleteDigital Dave returns! Woot!
ReplyDeleteBTW Frea, what tools do you use to create those graphics to overlay the picture?
Thanks
OD, I just use Photoshop. I'm very simple when I want to be. :)
ReplyDeleteAh. Hoping to find a freeware equivalent.
ReplyDeleteOD, an application called GIMP is a freeware equivalent. There's also one called GimpShop that lays out the interface similar to Photoshop. GIMP is more of a linux/unix program, but there have been ports to Windows and Mac OS X.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon! Hehee - the very program I found. The interface is somewhat confusing but I'll suss it out.
ReplyDeleteSo i just had to write and tell you that i love Fates! I think its brilliantly the way you've gone about the story line and incredibly written and i look forward to each chapter you write!
ReplyDelete