Agency

Life

The CIA was and wasn't what Kieran expected. For one, there was less James Bond and more… subtle life. He didn't run around wearing flashy suits and blowing things up, but he did watch people from a distance, occasionally attended fancy events, and sometimes things went bad. Still, he mostly got an assignment, observed a location or a person, and obtained whatever he'd been sent for. Things were pretty simple for him to do.

Climbing the ranks as he pulled one successful mission after another, he noticed that some of the missions began to get more complicated. With these, the fancy suits became more common and more uncomfortable since they also meant bigger cases and more options to go wrong.

One point of interest was that in being exposed to art, he learned artists, styles, and to better appreciate the skill and value of art.

During one event where he was supposed to be unimpressed by a certain piece, he was genuinely able to say, "I've seen better art done by a child student!" Having said that, he had to remember and bring up comparisons to Danny's work.

He'd nearly forgotten the kid, but he was one person he did remember if he thought about school and his life before the CIA. That is, other than his family and other persons with longer histories in his life, but even his former boss brought memories of Danny.

His new life had no one even close to a friend and limited contact with his family that involved stories of playing pro baseball or other work. He'd even spent a few weeks with a team to add validity to his cover story, but he'd allegedly been injured and was trying to make life decisions in his next direction.

Then a job came that changed his life. Kieran was placed as a senior agent over an agent Walker in Budapest. They worked the mission, but he sensed that something was wrong, and when Walker ran with the baby he tried to get the girl back. However, the boss contacted him and told him to leave the situation alone. Since this came from the director himself and not the boss that had given him his assignment, he let it go. As long as the baby was safe, he didn't' care what Walker did to protect her.

He did a few more missions after that, but he felt that something was wrong. The motivations he was given didn't match records, agents seemed to have agendas, and he could tell that it was about to get messy.

Finally, one mission went badly and his family was targeted. In the cleanup, his family was given new names as Burkes and he accepted a transfer into the FBI as agent Peter Burke.

Neal, Danny, Bryce, he was starting over again. He had a new name to learn, a back story of being from Connecticut to perform, and a new phase in his life to explore.

It wasn't as difficult as it had been the first time, so Bryce put on his new identity more easily than he expected. Maybe it was because he'd known it was coming, or maybe it was because he was older and less traumatized, but he wouldn't complain either way.

After he was settled and classes started, Bryce was playing catch by throwing a football with a classmate when he noticed another student sitting on a bench with a pile of familiar textbooks. Starting a conversation, he found that he was a potentially like-minded person. At least, he was a similar nerd if nothing else. Within a few weeks, they were roommates in a fraternity and becoming firm friends.

For three years, Bryce became friends with Charles, or Chuck, Bartowski while they attended classes, parties, or just spent time enjoying each other's company in their room. Bryce was reputed for being a ladies' man, but he didn't have as many dates as people thought while Chuck had a steady girlfriend in Jill.

In Bryce's mind, Chuck was the man to know.

Chuck had a sister who loved him, a best friend since the third grade waiting back home, a steady girlfriend he was serious about, and a plan for his future.

Most saw his awkwardness and nerdy interest without digging deeper to see the caring heart and brilliant mind behind. These people preferred Bryce's looks and confident façade.

But, behind that, Bryce knew he was actually Neal. A kid whose parents weren't involved, he had no other biological family to connect with, no real friends beyond Chuck, and his future was less certain as his family enemies had already changed it three times.

His Junior year proved him right in being flexible about his future.

Bryce received a contact from his professor to attend a meeting, so he went expecting to talk about his work and the options available to him through the class, but he got a speech about service to his country followed by the offer to become an agent instead.

It was unexpected; he wasn't actually a solid person good for dangerous government work. He already hid from the world at large, he still had nightmares about when he was abducted as a child, and he only pretended to be this suave and confident guy.

His professor advised him to take a while to think it through and solidly consider everything before making his decision.

Taking the advice, Bryce mulled on the decision.

He'd wanted to be a cop growing up, and that respect for law enforcement remained, but he was warier of whom he trusted since learning of the corruption in his father's precinct. Ellen had taught him things since he was little, and the Marshal's helped once he knew about them, so he had a lot of the foundational skills already. His life was already dictated by the battle between those trying to uphold the justice system and those with other priorities. Based on these points he'd do the job well and might be able to make a good difference, to be his own hero.

However, he'd experienced the pains of betrayal and torture so he didn't want to increase his odds of experiencing them again. If he were an agent, he'd run with different identities more often, with less connection to who he was or his little family he'd remained in Wit-Sec for.

What tipped him into a decision was a conversation he had with Chuck.

They were lounging in their dorm indulging in a nerdy conversation when they ended up on James Bond, 007.

Chuck talked about how the agent was able to take care of himself, save the world, and travel extensively.

His portrayal of the hero who made it possible for others to live appealed and Bryce found himself inclined to protect others like he did his friend, who couldn't necessarily help themselves.

Then Chuck had degraded himself saying he could never be such a hero, and the only part Bryce agreed with was Chuck's inability to kill. He had the brains to do it all, but the heart; did he have what it took to pull the trigger?

For that matter, did Bryce? Still, he'd taken this into account years ago. If it meant pulling the trigger, taking one life to save another, he could do it when he had to.

With the decision made and an appointment set, Bryce went at the appointed time and accepted the offer.

The last part that confirmed his future was an off-handed comment that slipped in their talk, a comment that said he'd been recruited by choice, or else he'd have been drafted by force.

Knowing it was his future, either way, he was glad he'd at least been given the appearance of choice to come to terms with it, but it galled to know that would have been taken away from him if he'd decided not to accept.

Training

At first, Kieran looked at his change as a long-term cover assignment. He was performing as Peter the FBI agent whose background involved math and baseball, but he was really Kieran who had CIA Black Ops on his resume. Since the men were similar, it was easy for him to keep the cover.

His time at Quantico wasn't difficult. The training was simpler than the CIA's stringent exercises.

However, there was one particular agent that became special to him. Jill Stone wasn't put off by his social awkwardness, and she was interested enough to make the effort to get past them. They dated for a while, and there was some speculation about them being serious, but their relationship wasn't strong enough to surpass their different wishes in life.

Life with the CIA wasn't easy for Bryce, but it wasn't as hard as he thought it might be.

He spent more time out training for track, partying, or whatever activity he allegedly did to cover for his agency training. Then his classes, track, and other activities genuinely filled the rest of his time. Chuck was the only person to particularly notice the change, but he didn't seem to suspect anything. As long as Bryce made special time for Chuck and their games, his friend wasn't bothered by the arrangement.

When summer came around, he went away into full agency training instead of minor introductions to test his placement.

That was grueling! It was comparable to military training since he was up early, exercising, training, and studying, until late when he fell back into bed for a few hours of exhausted sleep. Then he repeated the routine for another day until his three months were over. He passed every test that had been presented to him, but he still technically had training wheels. He wasn't a full-fledged agent yet.

Assignments

Going into his first assignment, Peter was placed in Washington with an art-based department. It was easy enough to do, but it had some adjustments for him.

For one, his mentor had an annoying habit of calling him Petey instead of Peter. It grated and made him glad Kieran hadn't had any annoying alternatives. Then again, he had been called Karen a few times so it could be worse and he managed to tolerate it.

Then he had to settle down and live in the same place. He got an apartment, set up contacts, and reconnected with his parents. They didn't know specifics, but they knew he'd been in the CIA, was now in the FBI, and his cover story for his past.

Keeping regular and generally open contact with them reminded him how much he'd missed his family while their continued pride in him made him more comfortable with the hardships he'd endured. He was an agent that served his country with honor, he upheld justice to do the right thing, and his parents approved of the man he'd become.

Slowly, he adjusted until he could actually see himself as Peter. What if he'd finished college, played baseball until an injury, been courted by the big companies for his accounting abilities, before settling as a civil servant? He could have ended up here as Kieran, maybe a little less jaded, but something of who he was all the same.

Returning to school, Bryce started his final year of academics.

Life appeared to be the same, but now he had missions with an older agent to see field operations first hand. These took up his weekends and occasionally messed with his routine, but they were disguised with civilian excuses that reflected a normal senior's situation.

When he had an extended break at Christmas, it was decided that he was ready for his Red Test before he'd become an independent agent in the New Year.

If that wasn't the worst day of his life, it was certainly a contender!

His mission was to pursue an arms dealer with a nasty reputation for killing those who got in his way. No one had been able to catch him and he had killed several agents who had tried. Apparently, someone either had confidence in his skills, or they saw him as expendable.

The mission was barely successful. Everything went wrong that could and Bryce ended up shooting his target in order to get out alive. This was the intent of the test so he passed, but after killing someone, he wouldn't be the same ever again.

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