Friendly Assassin
Neal was standing on the curb with two coffees in hand as he watched Peter maneuver the traffic. When the agent pulled up, it was the work of a moment for Neal to enter the vehicle and pass one of the coffees over, it was the same routine that they had nearly every day.
As they passed the time driving into the office, Neal decided to start off a different conversation as they had covered most topics at some point in time or another. "I had the weirdest dream last night…"
The discussion sparked a conversation on strange dreams and lasted the distance necessary.
When the two arrived at the office they continued to follow general routines. Neal stopped off at his desk and began checking his computer and the pile of files that had been stacked to fill his in box. Peter proceeded to head up to his office where he had more paperwork awaiting him.
They progressed through the monotonous morning meeting updating them on how slow their work load was for the day before they were released to begin their duties. From there, each person returned to their desk to either catch up on paperwork from their latest cases, to work some smaller cases that were delegated to only an agent or two, or to work cold cases.
By the time midday came around most were frequenting the coffee in an effort to keep themselves focused. When the time came, lunch was a welcome reprieve with an opportunity to get outside, to walk further than the restroom or the records stack, and to eat something to counter the growing caffeine highs.
With a few flicks of the wrists, Neal had his computer switched off, his jacket on, and his hat flipped up onto his head. Striding up to Peter's office he was looking forward to another chat with his best friend.
Few people had ever gotten so close to the man behind the mask and the opportunity to relish the company of one such person was always a joy to Neal. Peter was a special case of such people. He filled the roles of older brother with a strong shoulder to lean on professionally and personally, he was the best friend with a listening ear, and he was the working partner whom he could depend upon to protect his back. Each day in the dull realm of White Collar was brightened by the presence of one, Peter Burke.
Rapping on the door, Neal was rewarded with Peter's nod to enter. Per his usual, Neal decided to kick his feet up on the edge of Peter's desk and tip his hat to a jaunty angle while throwing the filched rubber band ball into the air.
It was inevitable that Peter would be irked by such actions, but as he was on the phone and busy jotting down notes there wasn't much that he could do for a few moments.
Yanking the agent's chain in such minor ways was always a pleasure for Neal and had become a game between the two of them. Neal had to find new ways to annoy the agent while the agent had to try and keep him from being too annoying… it was easier for Neal to achieve his goal than it was for Peter.
As soon as the call was ended, Peter made a point of ordering Neal to remove his shoes from his desk while he finished putting his papers away in their appropriate locations. After a few moments of getting his immediate tasks handled, Peter said the words that would change the whole course of the day. "Sorry Neal, but El and I have a lunch date planned. I told you yesterday. What's up with you? Normally you're the one reminding me."
"I have a pile of cold cases on my desk. The last few nights have been rather late as I needed to talk to some contacts to clarify a few details. Let's just say that those conversations take playing several different people and a focus on keeping the identities straight." It wasn't the strongest of excuses, but Neal couldn't tell him the truth. (That would mean that he wasn't good enough to cover a minor slip without defying direct orders). He had a role to play here so his story did have some validity to help it to pass muster with Peter's lie detector gut instincts.
"You always have several identities and have been known to play many in a short period of time before. What gives now? Don't tell me you're losing your touch?" He had a playful smirk to his inquiry.
Playing along, Neal answered. "No Peter, I am not losing my touch. The difference is that I didn't have a fulltime job then so there was more time to practice the characters and I could spread my use of different alias out a little more. Now, I generally use one alias per case and only utilize others alias from time to time for short periods outside of the office to keep them alive with their peers."
Accepting the truths in the matter, Peter nodded and let the slip slide. Grabbing his coat, he prepared to leave the office.
Intending to critique his friend's plans, Neal followed Peter to the elevator as they left the office. "So, where are you taking her for lunch?"
Knowing exactly what Neal intended to do; Peter decided to try his hand at conning the con. "I'm taking her to that burger joint down the street. It has a retro vibe and serves a good meal." Although the place did have its merit for a simple lunch, it wasn't the most romantic of atmospheres or Neal worthy as an eatery.
Peter smirked to himself as he watched Neal screw up his face in displeasure through the reflection on the elevator doors.
"Seriously Peter? Now I know that being romantic isn't your strong suite… which leaves others to wonder how you wooed such a wife as El, but really? To lower yourself to a 50's burger joint for your lunch date? Even you aren't some teen meeting for fries and a shake. Why don't you take her to that new place in the other direction? She said she wanted to try it the last time we talked local venues."
Continuing to play with his partner, Peter baited him some more. "No Neal. That place is reputed to be pricey and to have a long serving time. We are simply meeting for lunch and have time limits to adhere to."
Frustrated, Neal kept trying to sell the better option. "And you say that you have good sources on the streets. They have a moderately priced menu and their crack waiting staff would have your meal served with time to spare above the retro diner." It was obvious that he wasn't a fan of simple diners. As an afterthought, he brought up another selling point. "I even have connections and can get you the best table despite it being so short notice."
Since they were about to go their separate ways, Peter decided to get one last jab in before showing his hand. "No Neal, your connections couldn't get me reservations for their best table…" Seeing that Neal was about to argue with him, he said, "I already have that table reserved." Smiling over his victory and the expression on Neal's face, Peter waved before proceeding to his date.
Taken aback, Neal took a moment to realize that he had been had. That was another thing that he loved about working with Peter, the man was good enough to pull jokes on him while never making them hurtful (well, most of the time that is).
Both men highly enjoyed their lunches. Peter dined with his wife and they laughed about Peter fooling Neal before proceeding to more date worthy topics. Meanwhile, Neal met a few others from the office as they had all retreated to the sandwich shop acrossed the street.
When the lunch hour drew to a close, Neal mingled with the others and chatted as they made their way back into the offices and returned to wading through paperwork. Their hope was for the afternoon to pass quicker for the break while they waited for the clock to count down until they could go home. Arriving back upstairs, Neal settled into his desk and watched for Peter hoping to get his take on the new restaurant.
It was nearly half past the time that Peter was due back and Neal was beginning to get slightly worried. He tried to wave it off as Peter having gotten lost in conversation with his wife, but he had his own gut instinct that said something was drastically wrong.
Eventually, Peter arrived back and seemed to be a little disoriented. Noticing, Neal approached him just inside the doors to the bullpen. "Hey Peter, your late, is everything alright?"
The look that crossed Peter's face was something like constipation and something else mixed together. Recognizing the expression, Neal tightened up like a coiled spring ready for action.
As quickly as the expression had appeared, it disappeared again. Suddenly, Peter's face went blank and he attacked Neal. With a stinging right hook Peter sent Neal spinning and the jabbing left that followed knocked the breath right out of him.
To the horror of the on looking staff, Peter pulled out a knife and began trying to stab Neal.
While the battle continued, Neal allowed Peter to harm him to an extent in order to avoid doing any serious damage to the agent. Instead of fighting back, Neal took minimal defensive action while trying harder to get to his phone.
Others moved in to help, but Neal waved them away and told them to stand down as he knew what was going on.
Finally, he managed to get a hold of his phone and took the safeties down. It was no longer just a standard phone, with the blocks removed it had the cutting edge of technology. Fortunately, that included an app that would remove an Intersect.
It was time to take Peter down. Inflicting a few painful blows of his own, Neal switched to the combat trained agent that he secretly was in order to best his assailant. Taking Peter down was painful in the sense of really hurting his best friend, but if he didn't protect Peter, there was no telling what the programming would do to him.
Once he got Peter down, he moved to restrain him and called for the aide of Jones to ensure that Peter wouldn't be getting back up. Then, it was a matter of forcing Peter to look at his phone while he ran the app.
The removal of the system knocked Peter unconscious and he fell limp beneath Jones' restraint.
"What was that?"
"What got into Peter?"
"I thought you didn't know how to fight?"
"What did you do to Peter and how did you know what was happening to him?"
With the strangeness of the situation, the questions were many and varied. On one side, the team was shaken up and frightened by the situation. On the other, they had something more interesting to puzzle over for the rest of the day.
Refusing to answer any of the questions, Neal simply changed the function of his phone and contacted an associate. "Peter was programmed to kill me. I have removed the system for analysis and will bring him to the nearest facility to ensure there won't be any residual effects to endanger him. Send a car and have the local representative take care of the paperwork with the FBI." His tone was commanding and he didn't stay on the line long meaning that his orders were followed with little question or input.
This further baffled the present staff as they believed him to be nothing more than a consultant with a criminal history.
"You have a lot of questions and, if I were to answer all of them, I would have to kill you so I'd rather let you come up with your own explanations."
Snorting, Diana didn't believe him. "Come on Caffrey, like you would really kill any of us."
Jones on the other hand wasn't so sure. He was close to the situation when it started so he had seen more of what had transpired. "I don't want to believe it, but I think he might be telling the truth."
"I mean it Diana. I have technically been shot to death twice over all of this and, since it has caused civil war in the past, the information isn't to go any further that it already has. Enough chaos and death has occurred so no one wants to start all of that mess over again." He sighed. "Still, because someone has figured out enough information to create one, and learned enough to send Peter to kill me, everything is about to get messy anyway." He ran his hand through his hair in a sign of stress and displeasure. "If things get too out of hand then the directors are going to move me… this was the last safe haven I had left." Not wanting to bring further danger to anyone, he straightened his shoulders and went back into character.
In a few moments Neal had Peter loosely cuffed to ensure he wasn't going to go crazy again and he made sure to lay him in as comfortable a position as he could.
Groaning, Peter began to stir. After a few moments they had managed to cajole him awake.
"Peter… Peter?" Neal gently called to him as he assessed Peter's reactions.
With another groan, Peter opened his eyes and closed them in response to the bright lights. It took him a few moments to get his eyes adjusted before he could keep them open. Taking in his surroundings, he was especially confused. How had he ended up on the floor? Was he cuffed? Then gasping slightly he asked, "What happened to you Neal?"
In response the man quipped. "Something from your lunch disagreed with me. Now tell me Peter, what happened over your lunch with Elizabeth?"
Unsure of the importance, Peter answered while he was trying to figure out what was going on. "We met at the restaurant, I surprised her with the best table, and we talked as we ate. Nothing out of the ordinary." Then it dawned on him. "Wait, you're not saying that I did that to you?"
No to be diverted from his interrogation, Neal didn't stop to explain. "Okay, then on your way back to the office. What happened then?"
Feeling sick at the growing thought that something had occurred, Peter continued while hoping to get to the bottom of the situation. "I walked as it isn't far. As I was passing a door stoop, I was approached by a young woman who was obviously lost. Since my badge was showing, she felt safe enough to approach me and ask for assistance reading her GPS. She only needed me to look at her phone. Then I find myself waking up here on the floor in cuffs… what is going on Neal?" His voice had an uncertain tone that isn't normal for the agent. He sounded afraid.
Rubbing his face with his hand, Neal decided to tell him the barest of details. "In short Peter. The information on the phone wasn't a GPS, but rather a program that utilizes images to complete certain actions. She programmed you to come back to the office and kill me on sight. What that means, is that a car is on its way that will take you in for testing, another agent will be processing the paperwork from this incident between our agencies, and depending on how big the threat turns out to be… I have no idea what my future or yours will hold."
That was an eye opener for Peter. So Neal was secretly an agent, and Peter had just been programmed to assassinate him? "Why would I be sent to assassinate you?"
The smile on Neal's face was sad. "Because Peter, I am one of the highest ranking agents in this project, and one of few who knows as much as do that is still alive. I have technically been killed twice and there are plenty of enemies who would like that to stick one of these days. Neal Caffrey is my oldest alias created for an old task force assignment between our agencies. After everything that happened and how many times I have been betrayed, it was agreed for me to be allowed to work here for at least a time. The bosses hoped that I would be removed from my field far enough to not be found and that you, as a respectable agent, could be trusted not to put a bullet in my back. Personally, I was okay with working with you because you're like my counterpart and longest standing friend. "Then he smirked at him. "Besides, you are smart enough to keep up with me… for the most part."
Overwhelmed, Peter decided to quip a remark like they usually did to ease a situation. "Yeah. I just missed everything about you being an agent."
"Don't worry; no one else has ever seen that one coming either…" Which was true. No one ever expected him to turn out to be an agent.
With the arrival of the other agents, the conversation came to a stop. One helped Neal take Peter down to the car, while the other began taking care of the paperwork, questions, and all of the official stuff with those remaining in the office.
Traveling in the car, Peter kept looking over at Neal. "I'm sorry Neal."
Shrugging off the remark, "There is nothing to be sorry for Peter. You simply tried to help a lost person and were programmed for the rest. It isn't your fault."
Refusing to let it slide, Peter pressed his point. "Still, programmed or not, I was used in an attempt to kill you and it was me who hurt you." He also tried to convey that he was sorry to learn the rest of Neal's story. It didn't sound like it was pleasant, and the experiences he had alluded to would be horrible to endure.
Catching the extra feeling in the expression, Neal could tally up another reason why he liked working with Peter and how he compared to Chuck. "It's not as bad as it sounds. Keeping the personal information for every undercover agent in the country out of the hands of the enemy is a good reason to die. I don't regret my past, so don't worry about me."
Peter felt a surge of pride. His friend was a hero.
Arriving at the facility, meant that Peter had to go through a few hours of testing and questioning in order for the doctors to rule out any threat pertaining to Peter, and for the analysis to try and gauge the threat level of the situation as a whole. Neal stayed close by when he could so that Peter would have a familiar face and, when he couldn't be around, he talked to Beckman. She had personally flown out to meet with him and would remain close until the situation had been resolved.
When the doctors had confirmed the program to have been entirely removed and the analysis had gained as much information as Peter could provide, he was required to sign some forms and released.
Heading back to the office, Neal informed Peter that he was to keep an eye on him to try and prevent further attacks, while also researching to see if he could discover anything further about the attack as he appeared to be the target. They continued to discuss the changes in their circumstances until the driver dropped them off back at the Federal building.
Walking into the office made for an interesting scene. All eyes focused to see if Peter was truly back to being himself and if Neal would show anymore signs of who he truly was. Peter reassured everyone that he was okay before returning to his office to hide in some normal paperwork. Neal told everyone that he was fine too before he also settled in to do paperwork.
The remainder of the afternoon settled back into the morning's routine of paperwork and coffee, but with a new under tone of excitement, anxiety, and curiosity. Some still wondered if Neal would really have to kill them, or if he was joking, so that was being contemplated in the rumor mill. Others were simply curios of the strange situation that they had witnessed, but remained uniformed about. Finally, some just kept their heads down and did their jobs as the situation was obviously above their pay grade… which was a relief.
Finally, the day was done and everyone was happy to head home and leave the office behind.
Peter and Neal left as usual, but Peter kept trying to be conscious of Neal's injuries. He took extra steps, like holding the door for him differently, to try and apologize by making life easier in little ways that he could control. Neal let him, as he knew it helped him to feel better.
Their conversation on the drive was none existent, but Peter couldn't turn the radio on either, so they drove in an awkward silence full of emotions unvoiced thoughts.
When Peter pulled up to drop Neal off, they said the basics of what needed to be said.
"I'm sorry Peter, but for Elizabeth's safety, you can't tell her about what happened today."
Sighing, Peter wasn't thrilled with that, but he would rather keep her safely distant from some aspects of his job. "I know. Hey let me know if anything develops with all of this." He swung his finger around in a circle to generally reference what he meant.
"I'll tell you what I can. Night Peter."
Neal started to walk away, but Peter had one more question. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
This was probably going to turn into a routine, but Neal answered. "As far as I know Peter. See you in the morning."
It wasn't the best answer, but it was the best answer that Neal had.
That evening, Neal worked on compiling all the information that had come up so far before working late into the night to analyze the data from the Intersect. Perhaps he could break the code down and identify if it was stolen work from Orion, or if they had a new player in the field.
Eventually, it was time to get some rest. Going through his evening routine, he got ready for bed and settled in for the night.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The alarm had him jumping awake. Neal turned off the alarm and took a moment to get his bearings before getting ready for the day.
He had been working a lot of cold cases lately so he had stayed up late in order to confirm some of the information he had heard on the streets. His day would likely hold the same prospects for his work load, unless some interesting case came in.
Once he was ready for work, Neal was standing on the curb with two coffees in hand as he watched Peter maneuver the traffic. When the agent pulled up, it was the work of a moment for Neal to enter the vehicle and pass one of the coffees over, it was the same routine that they had nearly every day.
As they passed the time driving into the office, Neal decided to start off a different conversation as they had covered most topics at some point in time or another. "I had the weirdest dream last night…"
Thank you for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, following, and choosing to favorite :D Also, a special thank you to the reviewer who requested this story!
Since this is a oneshot , I am back to needing suggestions for next week's post... any other requests (details on my profile page)?