SU4 – Play the Game
From LianneZ4 on SU3:
Can you write more of this, please, please, pretty please? :D Maybe Peter and Neal are investigating a regular case and out of nowhere Peter have a moment of insight about one of the X-box "missions" - and he's so excited he starts sharing the breakthrough with Neal, and then everyone arounds wonders if he's crazy or a criminal... at which point, Neal starts to worry that maybe his plan worked out a bit too well. After all, who will be his handler if Peter gets arrested or is declared insane?
Bonus points if Neal calls Bryce and/or Chuck for help ("how do I stop Peter from being so obsessed with an X-box game?");
Double bonus points if Peter has figured out that Neal set him up with the game and is now having fun with acting obsessed and blurting out possibly allegedly incriminating information about the "missions" to drive Neal crazy :D
El had to admit, this was nice. She was curled up on the couch with her husband by her side while they planned a heist of a rare diamond.
It was the kind of thing which she thought was rather romantic, especially since it was just a game. It was fun to imagine what it would be like to be Neal Caffrey.
"You're a perfectionist, hon," she pointed out as Peter muttered the plan over and over under his breath.
"I've done this three times and every time the security guard dies. I don't want that to happen."
"I know. Maybe there's something we're missing. Could you ask Neal?"
"Nope. Not going to happen. I don't want Neal to know that I'm still playing this thing."
El thought about that for a moment.
"It's not that bad. You'd probably worry him anyway. If he knew you were still playing this game and unravelling his cons one by one."
"El, there are inaccuracies. Places, people and items are all mixed up. It'd be almost impossible to figure out which crime is which."
On the screen, the guard lived but Neal was arrested and Mozzie was shot. El winced at her character's demise.
"Okay, trade," Peter said as he passed his controller to her. "You make a better Neal anyway."
"Should I tell Mozzie that you spend more time as him in this game than Neal?"
"Do not tell Mozzie anything about this game."
Peter listened to Jones as he presented his newest breakthrough in his case. Neal had looked over the documents and discovered that what they had thought was a genuine document was really a forged one.
"Exceptionally well done however, different people have different ways of doing things and this document doesn't follow any of the pre-existing patterns."
"It's enough that we could look further and we discovered that the document was not originally created by-"
Peter realised something and he quickly scribbled on his notes. He could give the guard a free holiday, as prize or something, and then there would be a different guard who might not be shot. He scribbled the plan onto the paper, unaware that Diana was watching.
"I'm telling you, it looked like a heist plan," Diana said to Jones with Neal overhearing.
"A heist plan?" Neal questioned. Diana outlined the plan as she saw it, from the notes Peter had made. Neal's mouth parted a little as he realised what Peter had been doing.
"Something you want to share, Caffrey?" Jones questioned. "Is there a reason Peter seems to be making heist plans?" There had been that phone call he had made where Peter had been doing something, something which ended with Peter annoyed at the FBI. It sounded like Peter had been annoyed at the FBI at least.
Neal felt guilty. He had never considered this happening when he took Peter the Xbox and game. He had thought that he would get a few laughs out of seeing Peter fail at being a criminal and annoyed at playing Mozzie but not that Peter would talk about the game at work or work through it. He could see how Jones and Diana thought Peter might be going criminal… or crazy.
"Um… I think I have someone I can call?"
"You have the wrong person," Chuck said after Neal explained what was going on. "I'm usually the one addicted to games, not the one who has to pull someone out of it."
"What works on you? That's all I need to know," Neal said.
"Um… Sarah confessed she loved me once. That worked." Neal was silent. "I told you, you have the wrong person."
"Okay. Who's the right person?"
"I don't know. Bryce, maybe?"
"Bryce…" Neal said in a deadpan. "Bryce is part of the reason I'm in this situation."
"Morgan."
"Fine," Neal sighed, "put Morgan on the phone."
Morgan didn't say 'hello' or any other greeting. He just opened with, "how about you find someone to confess their undying love to this guy?"
Neal dropped his head onto the desk, scaring a few of the agents around him.
"There's people even Caffrey can't sweet-talk?" Jones stage-whispered to Diana. Neal shot them both a glare.
"They're immune due to some stunt Bryce pulled years ago," Neal responded and he refused to answer any questions after that. He didn't tell them what the stunt was or who Bryce was. Although, he did inform them that Bryce's stunt was an emotionally painful way of getting Caffrey-immunity.
The call did help a little. It helped Neal to realise he needed assistance. Assistance in the form of one El Burke.
"So Neal, you wouldn't use a burn scam to escape pursuers, would you?" Peter questioned in a very direct way. It told Neal that Peter was already putting the pieces together and that wasn't good. Because maybe, a few times, Neal did use makeup to generate burns, scars and the like which cause people to cringe away and not look too hard at the person underneath. A pretty face didn't always get the job done.
Neal really needed assistance in the form of one El Burke. It came with a price; Neal was to cook dinner for her, Peter and himself on Saturday.
Neal ignored the smug look on Peter's face, assuming that Peter had completed another mission or the game entirely.
"You know, the game's storyline always ends with being arrested," Peter mused in a smug tone. "The FBI always catches up."
"Yeah, well, the game was gifted to me by the NSA," Neal reminded him. "They wouldn't let the criminal get away. It's certainly a better end than washing up face-down in a river."
"Is that the end you got the first time?" El asked, causing Peter to laugh.
"It's not funny. It's all Mozzie's fault. Game-Mozzie, that is."
"Wow, I never pegged you as someone who would blame others," Peter commented, amused.
Neal glared. He glared and cursed Bryce and his stupid game.
"I never pegged you as someone who would get addicted."
"Oh, I'm not addicted," Peter commented with a smile. "I just like playing. I added El to my crew and she's actually quite good. And I plan to tell the rest of the team about the game next week."
"What?" Neal wondered if he even needed to do anything.
"He was messing with you, Neal," El pointed out. "Now, you promised to make dinner and you don't back out of promises right?"
"You didn't lie to my wife, did you Neal?" Peter questioned with raised eyebrows and a smile.
Neal realised the trap he had fallen into. But, there were worse traps.
"No, I did not lie. But we'll play 'vs mode' after. Peter can be Keller."
"Keller's on there?"
"He's unlocked via a code. I know the code."
When they heard that there was a game based off 'James Bonds', Jones and Diana insisted on giving it a try. They worked together to get through the missions and surprisingly, Diana chose Mozzie.
Jones was a very vocal player.
"No, no, no, no, no! Where'd did they come from? No! Don't shoot!"
"Did Jones just get shot by Game-Jones?" Neal found that more amusing than he should have.
"See? I told you, it's not an accident!" Peter insisted.
Diana ordered Jones to move over and played by herself 'since he's being such a baby'. She kept people from dying, stole the targets and escaped the FBI.
Everyone stared at the pretty picture of a tropical island and the words 'the end' printed on it.
"I… did not know that was an ending," Neal commented.
"Oh, the tropical ending," El commented with a happy sigh. "I love that ending."
"I played from your save," Diana explained.
Everyone stared at El.
"Hon, is there something you need to tell me?" Peter asked in a baffled tone.
El shrugged.
"I play it sometimes when you work late."
Bonus prompt - from KeJae (although it's not just Diana who could finish it):
Curious, do the others find out and take a shot to see if they can beat the FBI cause it would be great if say Diana could but no one else could ;)