Title: the daylight is lit with more volatile light
Fandom: White Collar/X-Men
Disclaimer : not my characters; title from Whitman
Warnings: somewhat AU
Pairings: pre-Neal/Peter
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 320
Point of view: third
Prompt: White Collar/X-Men; Neal, Peter, Any; Neal's a mutant.
Notes: I've been reliably informed Neal's power is impossible. *shrugs*
There's a criminal. And there's an FBI Special Agent. And over there, in a fabulous hat, is another criminal who helps the FBI catch bad guys.
The first criminal has a gun pointed at the second. The FBI Special Agent sets his at his feet and puts his hands on his head, following the orders of a man who won't hesitate to kill.
The first criminal and the FBI Special Agent are human. They are only dangerous with a weapon in hand or sufficiently pissed off and within reach of their target.
The second criminal... he's a bit different.
It's not even that cool of a power. Some mutants can change their shape or fly or move quicker than light. Professor X, he can read and control minds. Uncle Erik can control metal, which is much more handy than anyone realizes. He and Neal had spent an entire afternoon detailing what controlling metal can actuallymean. It's scary, when thought about for too long.
The criminal (Carl Gregor, owes serious money, conned it out of retirees, has killed before and is totally okay with doing it again) licks his lips and jerks around to shoot Peter.
And that. Well.
Gregor pulls the trigger. Neal focuses on the gun, on the energy about to explode of it, and makes it stop.
The gun explodes. Gregor will be lucky to keep his arm, but his wrist and hand are completely destroyed, and shards may be in his chest, neck, and face. (A few may have gone into his eyes. Neal totally didn't tell them to.)
Uncle Erik can control metal. And during that afternoon discussion, they may have talked about a bit more than Uncle Erik's potential strength.
Peter fusses over Neal for a second, then checks on Gregor. Neal thinks about the energy in Gregor's heart, and then decides to let him keep breathing.
He didn't actually hurt Peter, after all.