Chapter 1

So far the day had been good for the Conman Neal Caffrey. He had woken up on time and Peter had given him a lift to the office. When they arrived he found out that they had a new case so he didn't have to do any mortgage fraud cases. Now they were sitting in the conference room to develop a plan to catch the thief of a million dollar necklace. Normally Neal would be impressed that someone managed to steal something so valuable but the thief had killed three people on his way out.

"There are too many people on the security tapes during the day to narrow it down to a specific suspect. And during the night they somehow disabled the system without leaving a trace."

Neal thought about the fact that Oracle or Tim could have definitely found some kind of trace and therefore missed the next words from Peter who was now looking at him expectantly. He put on his most charming smile.

"I'm sorry Peter can you repeat that? I was fascinated by the beauty of the stolen necklace."

"If staying out of prison means so little to you Neal. I can put you back whenever I feel you are not useful anymore. As I was saying this fits the MO of the Charity Killer. He usually finds his target by attending charity galas and hits the place the next day without any regard to human life." At that he turns to Neal "Sadly not everyone is as nonviolent as you are. If he is in New York we should look at possible next targets and warn the owners." Neals face brightened at that.

"I could undercover at the next charity gala and see if anyone looks suspicious."

Diana laughed "Admit it. You just want to case out everything yourself so you know everything in the area in case you have to run away quickly."

Neal put on another charming grim at this and responded "Or maybe I just want to see beautiful things because I am not allowed to enter most of the museums around here. But I am only doing it because it's our best shot at taking down this killer."

Peter seemed a bit annoyed but gave in anyway "It's actually worth a try if we have a chance to save lives with it. Tonight there is a charity gala at the Museum of Modern Art You and Diana will go as a couple and observe all the other attendants. And that means observe Neal not observe and catch"

Neals grin morphed into a to innocent smile "I would never do anything you did not tell me to do"

"Of course you wouldn't" Peter sighed not willing to discuss this any further.

….. At the gala….

"You should wear dresses like this more often Diana you look absolutely stunning." Neal complimented Diana as they were walking in.

"Not everyone is as comfortable wearing formal clothes every day as you are Neal. And a dress is really impractical for kicking someones ass." Neal laughed at that and they both went quiet as their invitations were checked and they moved towards the main hall. Once they arrived they stayed at their position near the bar from where the were able to observe almost the entire room.

Diana was across the room talking to one of their suspects when Neal felt someone slip next to him in a quiet manner that very few people were able to do.

"You better call back your friend over there. That is my target and you know I don't like it when people get in my way" The day had apparently gone too well so Neal should have expected something like this. But Slade Wilson going after a target at the same gala they were at, that couldn't be a coincidence. He ignored Peters Neal who is this?! In his ear and slowly turned so he was facing Slade.

"Did that target of yours happen to steal a necklace worth millions of dollars a few days ago? Because then I'm afraid we cannot stay out of your way."

"So you don't even know who you're looking for." Slade laughed "Look kid this is a warning that it's better for you to stay away from this. I'm only warning you because I like you and I would hate for you to be shot. So tell your FBI friend in that Van out front to stay away and they won't get hurt."

Peters voice had been coming in constantly through the earpiece since Slade had approached him but Neal decided to ignore him and his panicked Neal how do you know this guy? Who is that? How does he know who our target is before we do? How does he know you're FBI? How does he know we're listening? And instead gave a small nod to Slade and made his way over to Diana and their suspect.

With a "Baby can we go home" that send all the alarm bells in Dianas head ringing (which was not helped by Peters panicked questions over her earpiece) he grabbed Diana and they made their way outside to the van that was parked a few meters away.

Peter immediately started repeating all the questions he had asked through the earpiece ending with a "since when do you just give in because someone tells you it's to dangerous?"

Neal raise a placating hand and waited for Peter to calm down a little before he answered.

"That wasn't just any guy who approached me. That was Deathstroke and when he tells you to stay away from someone you stay away or end up dead. You are welcome to investigate his target further but we're not getting in his way while he takes her out. I'm sure that he will leave the evidence of our crimes behind now that he knows we are investigating her."

"Why would he do that? Deathstroke is a ruthless killer Neal. How do you even know him? You are supposed to be non violent." Peter was surprised by this new side of Neal that none of them knew existed.

Neal on the other hand didn't know what he was supposed to say. Technically Neal Caffrey had never met Deathstroke only Dick Grayson and Nightwing had. But there was no way to explain that to Peter without blowing his cover so Neal had to settle for a half truth that was hopefully believable.

"I ran into him a couple of times during.. jobs. I learned the hard way that it is better to listen to him and stay away when he wants something. Please just confirm that this was our target and let this case rest for a few days. After that we probably won't have to worry about catching her ever again."

Peter was baffled by that. "Neal what you are asking us to do is knowingly let a murder happen. We can't do that just because you deem it to dangerous for us. If you don't want to continue working on this case because it brings back bad memories that is Ok. But we will not stop investigating because some bad guy told us to. If we did that we would never close any case."

Neal contemplated his options. Deathstroke will definitely kill Peter if he gets in his way and it will make no difference whether Neal Caffrey is with him or no. The only way to stop this was to call in help from his family and hopefully stay out of their way while they where here to keep his cover intact. He made one last attempt at stopping Peter.

"Ok if you want to die so badly do it. But I will tell El that you are basically committing suicide. She won't be happy about it."

With that Neal stormed away in the direction of his apartment only to stop after a few meters and turn around.

"I forgot my anklet. Diana can you put it on?"

Deliberately ignoring Peter to keep his dramatic exit dramatic.