The Case


Sitting around the office as they waited for the morning meeting to start, Neal kept trying to get Mozzie to tell something of his past. He wasn't pushing in a mean way, but rather, more like a reaction to a challenge to see if he could get Mozzie to share.

Eventually, Mozzie decided to tell them something of his real past that was so vague it wouldn't reveal anything, but that would be true enough to have shared something real. "I was raised by my aunt, and not in an orphanage as my character history suggests."

Surprised to have succeeded at wearing him down, Neal questioned him. "Why are you suddenly getting so vocal now?"

Toying with them further, Mozzie refused to answer.

"Be nice Mozzie." Chuck admonished. He wasn't participating in the game, because he already knew many of the answers.

"Fine. You are my friends, so I don't feel threatened, but I still don't want to share anything too personal… at least not at this time." Mozzie admitted.

Relieved, the team liked to know that they had gained ground with the mysterious agent.

Concerned, Peter asked. "Why weren't your parents in the picture?"

Recognizing it as a question out of concern, and not prying, Mozzie decided to answer one more. "My parents left me with her before going on an assignment… they haven't been seen or heard from since."

Before anyone could say anything else, Chuck defended him. "He has told all that he is comfortable with, so leave him alone for now. As for his missing parents, my father has been looking for them for years… they aren't simply missing and forgotten."

Grateful, Mozzie nodded to him. "Thanks Chuck. I suppose you will also be on the lookout now that you know?"

"Yes, and I will notify you if anything turns up." Chuck promised.

While Mozzie threw his focus into the file before him, the rest of the room threw grateful glances at Chuck before falling silent on the subject.

After a few moments, another topic of conversation was chosen and the group continued to mingle.


When the screen clicked on, everyone was surprised to not only see 'the boss' who was the mysterious person in charge of the other team, but that there was another person also displayed with their appearance obscured.

"Hi dad." Chuck started the acknowledgements.

"Sir." Neal followed suit.

Clearing her throat, the general ended the pleasantries. "Orion has a breakthrough on the case. We believe that the primary culprit has been found." Having garnered the full attention of the entire room, she turned the situation over to Orion.

Taking a basic approach, Orion began to share what he had found. "The man behind the attacks is Victor Stroud." Victor's picture took over the screen. "He is a wealthy man in New York City, but he likes to hide that. By living below his means and avoiding media's attention, he keeps a low profile to the public. Then when there is a problem, he has a tendency to hire people, like Mortimer, Blade, and the kill squad, to do his dirty work while keeping himself away from the business in the hopes of avoiding arrest." Orion explained why the man wasn't familiar.

Continuing into the evidence, he transitioned the pictures to follow each piece of information.

"His strategy for earning his income is to sell items smuggled in through the black market with a focus on tobacco, alcohol, and sweat shop products, like reproductions of Persian rugs. He wasn't perceived as a threat compared to all of the gun and drug runners, but he has been a growing problem." The pictures flipped through a few images of products being smuggled via crates or in sight as they were transported off of sea going vessels.

"Once the items are sold, he needs to clean the money." There were a few pictures that showed Stroud's connection to the investment fraud case via his paper trail. "From what has been discovered, he pays his money into the company via fake investments and assumed identities." Some pictures of people came up to represent the various identities. "It was challenging to find how he got the money back though."

Passing the next part of the situation on, the room was surprised when Chuck and Neal took the lead.

Taking control of the computer, Neal impressed the room with his skills by quickly pulling up some complicated programs to display how they traced the situation. "What? I'm trained in computers and accounting." He shrugged at their surprise.

Smirking at the office, Peter was happy to be in the know for this reveal. "That is just another of many secrets that he has been keeping from us."

"Says his big brother." Diana quipped with a smile.

Laughing gently, the rest of the office enjoyed the changes that had recently occurred. No one had to worry about Neal and his crimes anymore, so the atmosphere was even lighter than it had been.

Before the general could reprimand the room, Chuck cleared his throat playfully. "As much as I love Neal having a family, we have a case to finish here."

Settling down again, the room paid attention.

"Now that I have your attention again…" Chuck smiled. "It was rather simple once we figured it out, because Victor also runs a fake bank." Showing the picture of the one in question, he continued. "Apparently, the mortgages were paid into his bank as clean money before he transferred them into fake investments. Finally, those investments turned out to be international bank accounts."

While Neal happily pulled up the coolest international mansion that he could find, Chuck theorized the intended destination for the fortune. "Based on what Orion has discovered, he seems to be saving up for some kind of fancy retirement somewhere. As you can see, Neal theorizes that he is going to buy a trigged mansion."

"Don't all evil villains?" Neal muttered.

"Only in your mind, Neal." Peter teased.

"If he can afford a trigged mansion, then he could easily afford to hire the hits." Jones noted.

"Has this information been verified?" Hughes asked.

Coming back onto the screen, the general answered the question. "The final details are being verified, but most of it has been confirmed. While we wait for that, the teams are to begin preparing plans for how to catch and take Stroud down." She ordered.

Changing from an informative meeting, they moved to throwing plans around and theorizing ways that they could organize the arrest.


Once the information had been confirmed, the teams got a warrant and were serving it when they got their next series of surprises.

Standing on the roof, they were trying to make a sneak approach to keep Stroud from noticing them before they were ready. The problems began when a hidden security measure was triggered causing the guards to attack, and it didn't take long before the confrontation wasn't going in the FBI's favor.

Moving to protect Peter, Neal planted himself by his brother's side. "You're not getting hurt this time." He promised a little too prematurely.

Just after he opened his mouth, a group of the guards focused on Neal and forced him to defend himself. Despite his skills and determination, they managed to manipulate him to the edge of the roof before one of them kicked him off of the brink.

Unable to get through the crowd, Peter could only watch in horrified terror as his brother flew off of the edge of the building. Watching, his mind pictured Neal frantically clawing at the air as he fell in a desperate attempt to catch something only to… He couldn't go there, just the thought of imagining his brother on the cement below had his heart clenching in agony. They had only been brothers for a few months, not long, but long enough to learn to truly appreciate each other. Continuing to stare at empty space, Peter couldn't even grieve, he was stuck in that moment of shock, trapped in a second of time.

Attempting to distract him from his trauma, Jones reached Peter's side. "I'm sure he is alright…" When that didn't work, Jones pointed to Chuck as he climbed up the fire escape. "Maybe Chuck managed to pull something off?"

Then after another moment, Peter was happy to see Neal climb up the fire escape only a little ways behind Chuck. Breathing, he hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath until he finally inhaled the much needed oxygen. With his head swimming, he swayed slightly as Neal caught and steadied him.

"Chuck caught me and swung me over to the landing beneath him, which is why I was a little ways behind him." Neal hugged Peter briefly as the reinforcements were taking the guards into custody before the rest of the teams were making entry to apprehend Stroud.

Hugging Neal tightly for the brief connection, Peter kept his hand on his shoulder as he pulled back. "That scared me more than you getting shot and taking on a kill squad…" He was still trying to regain his composure.

Nodding for Chuck to go on, Neal patted Peter on the back gently. "I could heal from a bullet and fight an opponent, but gravity is unbeatable by man alone." Neal explained. "Breath, Peter. You're still panicking and not taking in enough air."

Following orders, Peter breathed deeper as he tried to chase the little black spots away. "That is a first… I have never had a panic attack during a bust, not even when I was a rookie."

"You never watched your little brother get kicked off of a building before either… I think there is a reason the two events coincided." Neal said as he pulled Peter into another hug. The man still needed the reassurance that he was alright.

Standing for a few moments, Peter simply breathed and comforted himself with the solid feeling of his brother's arms wrapped around his back while his arms also hit the solidity of his brother's form. Neal wasn't broken on the ground; he was standing strong, and hugging him back.

Pulling away, Peter finally reached the point where he had calmed down. "That is going to be the downside of still getting to work as a team… I can see why the agencies don't usually let family work together, it's distracting." Peter admitted.

"Technically, I am a consultant for the FBI and am still an agent for another agency on a temporary assignment, albeit for an undetermined amount of time, so it isn't exactly the same." Neal tried to lighten the mood.

"True… but the worry doesn't change." Peter said as he started to look around.

Filling him in on what had happened while Peter was zoned out, Neal explained. "The reinforcements took down the guards, the teams are apprehending Stroud… and Chuck needs my help." Directing Peter to go with him, Neal led the way down into the apartment and found Chuck standing in front of a huge vault.

"He has locked himself in there and will suffocate if we don't get him out quickly. And since you are the residential expert at safe cracking…" Chuck said.

Directing his focus to the safe, Neal started to look it over and asking questions to gather as much information as possible. "What kind of lock is it? How is the door attached? Do we know how much time we have? Are there any fail safes or backups to worry about?"

"That's the problem… we have no idea, and this is a custom model, so even I don't have anything to work off of." Chuck explained.

"Okay… then let's do some information gathering." Neal directed. Poking around, he kept knocking on walls and came up with an estimated size and no other openings for possible access. "It looks like this door is our only option." Checking the door and locking mechanism, the lock seemed to be the most vulnerable point of entry. "Uh-oh, there is a secondary that will blow if I don't make it think that I have submitted the right passwords on the first try."

Stepping forwards, Chuck volunteered to help. "What do you need?"

Conspiring together, the two put their genius minds to use and figured out ways to defeat the lock and its backups.

Taking the lead, Neal put his focus on cracking the system with a mix of skills. He was part super agent, but he was mostly computer engineer and safe cracker.

Providing his support, Chuck worked to help him create a program to circumvent the security system.

When they were successful, the two high fived before opening the door for an entry team in protective gear.

Clapping the two men on the back, and playfully ruffling their hair, Peter showed his pride in a playful manner that the team had never witnessed before. "Good job you two." He congratulated them.

Straightening their hair with smiles, the other two pretended to lament his new way of treating them.

"Did you really have to mess with the hair?" Neal playfully complained.

"He's your brother, but does he really have to extend that to me?" Chuck gently whined.

Enjoying his relationship with them, Peter just messed their hair up again before walking away. "He may be my biological brother, but he brought you along as a surrogate brother Chuck."

The team watched as the two smiled.

"I guess I'll just have to get used to another big brother." Chuck relaxed and decided to leave his hair alone for the moment as it was fixed enough.

Finishing the process of straightening his, Neal commented. "Peter has had to adjust to having two little brothers; while I have had to adjust to having you back in the picture, and learning that I have a family." Getting a thoughtful look on his face, Neal had to say what he had just come up with. "You know, in that sense, Blade's attack and everything that has been going on has actually been good."

"How is that?" Diana asked skeptically.

"Just think of it this way, Chuck and I are friends again, Peter got two little brothers like he has always wanted, and I have a loving family for the first time that I can remember… if he wasn't a criminal trying to kill us, this wouldn't be so bad." Neal explained.

Flummoxed at such an unexpected perspective, the team didn't know what to think about it.

"Seriously Caffrey? Are you sure you didn't hit your head on that fall of yours?" Diana asked.

"How can you possibly see anything good out of nearly getting killed at least three times?" Jones questioned.

"The causes weren't good, but the results have been life altering." Neal shrugged. "Sure, he tried to kill us repeatedly, but it was that initial attack that caused Peter and me to learn the truth."

Seeing his perspective, the others respected his optimism.

"That is a good way to look at it when you put it that way." Jones acknowledged. "Since when did you get to be so optimistic?"

Thinking, Neal didn't have an answer at first. "I wouldn't say that I am optimistic. More… more like trying to find the silver lining. And although that means that I am trying to find optimism, it doesn't mean that I am optimistic."

Dispersing to finish the work, the teams had the scene to clear and a pile of reports before the case would be shuffled off to the legal department for the court side of the operation.


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This story is coming to an end next week which means that we get to begin a new one. The only question is, which one would you all like to see next? Please cast your vote via review/comment or PM :D