I have said all that needs to be said. Except, thanks again! This chapter will be where Neal becomes a kid. Enjoy!
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The minute Neal walked in the warehouse, he knew he was in the right spot. He immediately crossed the room to the equipment he recognized as necessary for properly forged passports and social security cards. The place was packed with top notch equipment like sheets of plastic laminates, monochrome card printer ribbons, hard plastic cards, and magnetic card reader machines. Having this equipment in itself would get these guys locked up for years.
Now that he was inside, he was formulating his plan. All he had to do was grab one of the sheets of plastic laminates, and it would be enough for Peter to get a warrant. The only problem now was that a group of four men all carrying, just walked into the warehouse. Checking his phone for messages from Mozzie, he saw that he did not have any service. Dammit, Neal thought, now what? He was safely hidden behind some boxes right now, but did not think he could stay here the rest of the night. And he was worried that Mozzie might try something.
Hidden behind some shelving, he started looking for alternate routes out of there. There were some small windows near him that he could wriggle out of but it would make some noise. While he stood there thinking his options through, the other men grabbed a box of what appeared to be passports and left the warehouse. Giving it a few minutes, Neal then left his safe haven and headed back towards the magnetic card reader. He saw a stack of paper with names and personal information on it, and took out his phone to get some pictures. This is better than the plastic laminates. Now we can stop this operation, and get the guys looking for new IDs. There is no way Peter can be mad now. Besides, Mozzie is here, so I never actually lied to him, I didn't come alone.
For safe measure, Neal reached for the laminates, which were underneath a box of different inks. Curious, he picked up one of the bottles, not recognizing the color, and thinking it might be for a different countries passport. Hearing a noise, he spun around and dropped the bottle on the floor. Hearing the glass bottle shatter, he cringed and waited for someone to come running in. Not seeing a man with a gun rushing in, he unsuccessfully tried to pick the glass up. In the process he got ink all over his hands and lower arms. Giving up, he put his phone in his pocket, and made to leave the warehouse, with a sly grin on his face.
Before he could reach the door though, his hand started to tingle. Thinking that he was just having a reaction with the foreign ink, he continued on. Until the tingling became painful. Looking at his arm with morbid curiosity, he watched in horror as first his right, then left arm began to shrink. Despite his training as a conman, he began to panic and ran towards the door. Tumbling to the floor, he was shocked to realize that his entire body was shrinking. Not caring anymore who heard him, he yelled out for Mozzie. He continued to yell until he heard someone open the door.
"Neal! Neal where are you? It has been ten minutes since the last guy lef-" Noticing a small child withering in pain on the floor, in a pile of clothes, he quickly rushed forward. Not entirely comfortable with children he tapped him on the shoulder. Once wide startling blue eyes met his, he knew it was Neal. Those eyes and that mop of brown hair were highly distinguishable to Neal George Caffery.
"Neal?" He couldn't help but confirm. Sad eyes met his in a nod of affirmation. It was Neal, there was no doubt. "Oh man, Neal. What happened? What did you do? I told you not to come in here! I knew this was a bad idea! What happened? What are we going to do?" Mozzie continued to rant, not noticing the tears developing in Neal's eyes. Mozzie was asking the questions that had immediately popped into his own mind, once he realized what had happened.
Noticing that he wasn't helping his friend and wanting to get out of there before anyone else came in, he asked if Neal could walk. Giving it a go, Neal started walking on very wobbly legs. Mozzie picked up the discarded clothes, now much too big for Neal, and noticed that Neal was stumbling over his large dress shirt scooped Neal up despite his protests that he "could walk just fine!" Mozzie then started the eight block walk to Neal's apartment.
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Neal had been surprisingly silent during the walk home, and Mozzie became more and more concerned. He did not know the extent of what had happened to Neal. He did not know if it were solely physical, or if Neal had lost his memories and ability to talk. He did not know if there was something else besides regressing his physical age that might be dangerous to his health. He knew one thing though, he had to call Peter.
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Since he had started working with Neal, Peter had made it a point to keep his cell phone on his bedside table. It was a cautionary measure because if Neal cut anklet he wanted to know instantly, so he could start the chase before it became another four yearlong hunt. At least that is the reason he kept telling himself. He would never admit it to anyone, but now the cell was there nightly so that when Neal had his late night discoveries, he would be there to answer to prevent was one his hare brained ideas, preventing him from getting in trouble. It was there, so when Neal called at two in the morning drunk, and grieving over the loss of his girlfriend, or the only woman he knew as his mother, he would be there to offer some semblance of comfort. No, it was easier to tell himself he kept it there in the event Neal ran.
Tonight when his phone went off at two in the morning and saw it was Neal, he just groaned and answered it. When he heard Mozzies voice he shot up instantly, and when Mozzie called him Peter he was in his car a short five minutes later, headed towards Neal's apartment.
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A/N Over a thousand words? What!? I will try and write longer chapters now, but it is somewhat difficult. Yes, I know. A thousand words is not long. Don't go getting yourself expecting several chapters a day now! Real life resumes tomorrow with work and such =)