Fic: Restoring Balance - Part 1
Title: Restoring Balance
Sequel to: “Origin of Troubles” - is required reading before starting this story ;)
Crossover: Stargate SG-1
Spoilers: Stargate everything, White Collar just to be safe seasons 1-3
Timeline: Stargate after Continuum, White Collar somewhere between 3.1 and 3.10
Summary: What connects an Air Force Colonel, an FBI agent and a con man? Neal Caffrey.
A/N: Can be also a fill to the drowning square on my h/c bingo card, if you squint your eye … or the water made your vision blurry (as my beta pointed out) ;).
Beta: By wonderful mam711 keeping an eye on grammar and story structure. Plus Miran Anders keeping an eye on Stargate world references.
The buzzing of the phone inside his pocket didn't really register at first. He was too concentrated on the presentation before his eyes: a collection of Egyptian artifacts that five years and six months ago, give or take, disappeared from a private gallery in Manhattan. He knows the case; it’s Neal’s work, or at least he always suspected it was his work. Definitely it was his style, both in execution and in what was stolen.
The pieces, however, never hit the black market as he had expected. Now a question almost pushed to his lips, to ask since when did the Air Force have thieves on their payroll...?
His phone buzzed again.
Hughes gave him an raised eyebrow, to which he responded with his own, silently saying, no, he didn’t need to take that.
Till it buzzed again.
The presentation about Egyptian artifacts and the interest the government, and especially the Air Force, had in them was still unclear to him. Lots of cover and mentions of national security, and once or twice a backtracking answer of it’s classified, wasn’t really explaining anything. When Colonel Carter opened the floor for questions at the end of the meeting, Peter was ready to ask about the artifacts, only to be stopped by another buzz of his phone.
Irritated, he finally took a look. Something was wrong; an unknown number was trying to reach him, all four times the same unknown number. It was also over an hour after Neal’s scheduled check-in. Ironically they had a case of smugglers and thieves of Egyptian artifacts, so similar to the ones he'd just seen, and Neal was actually going undercover. He was using one of his old aliases, the always useful George Devore, to catch the thieves red-handed.
Without as much as a glance towards anyone, he quickly left the room and tried to call the number back.
It was a little surprise that Mozzie answered. “Suit, we have a problem....”
That stopped Peter mid-step in the center of a corridor. “Mozzie? What...?”
“Meet me downstairs,” was the only response before the connection was broken.
That was a red flag for Peter. Mozzie had come to the FBI building by himself, well, not really entering, but nothing less than real trouble would convince him to come near it at all. Except those two times when he'd actually entered inside.
It was a painfully slow elevator ride down, and a quick step outside the building until he spotted Moz, very close to the exit by a column, not even hidden behind it.
“Mozzie! What is going on? Where’s Neal?” The small man looked around nervously, shifting from one foot to the other.
“Your case, the one with Egyptian stuff. He went to a meeting, was supposed to be back two hours ago.... Told me to find you if he didn’t....” He shifted again, his eyes avoiding looking directly at Peter.
“Damn, I told him to call me when they contacted him!” Peter raked his hand over his hair, thinking quickly about next steps.
“He didn’t have-” Mozzie’s eyes fell on something behind Peter’s left arm; his eyes widened in surprise or fear, and he cut off whatever he wanted to say. Taking a quick step backwards, he seemed to fold himself into an even smaller person, whispering, “Oh no, Space Suits! They found me!” Quickly he spun around and tried to walk away, his head hung low, trying to hide.
That didn’t work at all. After only a few steps Mozzie hit someone and the force of the impact sent him down to the sidewalk. Before he could stand up by himself, a dark-skinned hand clasped the back of his shirt, and another went under his arm to pull him up.
“Martin!” A voice called from behind Peter, who observed the scene in interest. Mozzie looked at the giant black man that held him with widened eyes, his lips trembling....
“Martin! What a surprise!” It was unmistakable now, Colonel Carter, the same person who had just wrapped the semi-annual security meeting he'd run away from, knew Mozzie, or rather Martin.
“Martin?” Peter repeated, directing his question towards Mozzie, who was being walked back by the giant man-Murray, as far as Peter could remember; he'd been introduced as an allied consultant. He wondered where they got him from, but the man was build like a wrestler with a posture typical for military men. Such men you don’t ask questions if not necessary.
“Colonel Carter, what brings you to the Big Apple...?” Mozzie tried to play it cool, which seemed a little bit difficult with Murray's hand on his neck, like he was pinning him down.
“Martin, I know your first instinct on seeing me is to run away, but really, after all we went through with your script you still want to do that?” Colonel Carter was actually smiling, not surprised at all about Mozzie’s antics.
“Martin? Script? Can anyone explain to me what’s going on?” Peter was distraught: Neal was gone, Mozzie had called him, Mozzie wasn’t Mozzie. Well, the last one wasn’t really so surprising; the con probably had so many aliases that only one person for sure knew his real name.
“Ah, Agent Burke, apologies for barging in on your meeting, but I haven’t seen Martin in a long time. I was surprised to see him, especially accompanied by a federal agent.” She paused for a second, looking fondly at Mozzie. “Especially knowing how much he doesn’t like them....”
“Yes, I’m very aware of that. But we have a mutual friend that now seems to be missing, and if you excuse me I would like to talk with him alone to get more details and set my team to find him.” Peter took Mozzie’s arm and tugged lightly in the direction of the building entrance.
“Mozzie. Right, it’s the name you go by now,” the Colonel murmured, not really surprised.
“Suit!” Mozzie’s voice was sharp and demanding.
“Mozzie, we don’t have time and you should be well aware of that; you came to me with this! And with Neal missing we need to move fast.” Peter’s patience was ending, and his worry for Neal was growing.
“Suit, they can help! They found me, they can find Neal! He looked specifically at the Colonel and Murray, still standing on the sidewalk talking quietly. “It’s right up their alley, and those artifacts-I’m sure Dr. Jackson would love to examine them when we get them back....”
Peter's eyes narrowed. “And how do you know about Dr. Jackson?”
“Well, I have my ways, plus if you see Murray and Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson is never far away....” The Colonel and her mysterious friend were now observing them with intent. Not to mention Peter now wanted very much to know how they knew each other.
He tugged Mozzie again. “I don’t think it’s the right time, Moz....”
“Agent Burke? If one of yours is missing, we can help; our team has lots of search & rescue experience, and well, Egyptian artifacts as well, as you have seen....” Her smirk told him everything he should know. Her cases were too highly classified for him to see, but not the other way around. Probably she had enough pull in the government to just make a call and have Hughes tell him to give the case to them.
“Fine.” Without another word, and without letting go of Mozzie's arm, he was again moving towards the building. The phone was in his hand, and he pressed a speed dial.
“Diana, Neal’s missed his check-in and Mozzie is saying he went to a meeting with our robbers without backup. You know what to do, ah, and inform Dr. Jackson in Conference Room 2 that Colonel Carter and Murray are joining us on the 21st floor. Thanks.”
All over Mozzie's faint protests. “Easy there, Suit, I’m going....”
WCSGWCSGWCSGWCSG
Sam observed all of the actions of the FBI with interest; she hadn’t had many occasions to observe other teams in action, well, other than military and alien. They were precise, with clear intent and plan of action. It was a pity that their actions actually didn’t bring anything to the table. The missing man, a consultant who was also a criminal himself, was a puzzling piece of the whole. A smirk from Daniel reminded her that theirs was not the best example of a normal team configuration. If the FBI wanted a criminal informant in their midst, who were they to judge? She could see how Burke’s shoulders relaxed a little bit when none of them expressed anything upon learning this small piece of information.
“... He also normally wears a monitoring anklet with GPS.” Agent Burke’s voice brought her back to reality.
Teal’c raised one eyebrow in silent question.
“But we took it off for this operation, hence the two-hour check-in,” Burke filled in.
Daniel’s blue eyes pierced Sam; there was something in them that she was missing. Even now, after years of working together, sometimes his mind was not so easy to read.
“Did he have any other kind of transmitter, something that could help you locate him?” Sam asked, and was rewarded with a flash of understanding in Daniel’s eyes.
“We can try to find his phone if he didn’t switch off the GPS again ...” Burke paused, looking directly at Mozzie, scowling. “... or someone didn’t switch it off for him.”
“It’s self preservation, Suit!” the little man responded from his corner of the room, where he promptly moved to be as far away from both FBI and the Air Force. He was busy reading the case file.
“Hey! You’re not supposed to read that!” Diana took the file back. Mozzie just shrugged; he had had enough time to scan the whole file. Daniel sent a longing look after the papers disappeared; he wanted to take a look at the artifacts that had been smuggled. Diana caught his gaze; she sent her own questioning glance towards Burke. Moments later the file was in Daniel’s hands.
“About that transmitter, there's also a watch he was wearing, and this one should have a working transmitter, but the issue is distance. It only works for a small radius, and we don’t even know where to start looking, besides the usual places.” Peter was worried; if Neal hadn't escaped yet, then he was in some deep trouble.
“Diana, let’s get surveillance on all the places our thieves went recently, and let’s see what else can we dig up on them; there has to be something.” Burke sent her out. “Jones, you set up a rotation with the Harvard crew; we start as soon as possible.”
While Burke handed tasks to his team, Sam, Daniel and T gathered in one corner to quickly discuss the situation. Well, actually only Daniel and Sam talked; T provided his silent support and observed Mozz in the corner. Pinning him with his gaze.
“Interesting case; the pieces are priceless historical artifacts, from the Third Dynasty, not something I see often.…” Daniel was always eager to look at anything related to archeology.
“Goa’uld?” Teal’c’s eyebrow raised with the question.
“No, no, actually no. It’s genuine old Egyptian everyday objects. I would love to get my hands on them. On all the pieces they have that are related,…” Daniel continued fascinated.
“You can ask Burke to show you the other files, but maybe after we help find his consultant?” Sam’s eyebrow mirrored Teal’c’s.
“Let’s see if we can speed it up a little. I just need the frequency on which the transmitter in his watch works. I could direct our sensors on Earth and try to localize it, but that would take ages with so many frequencies floating around. I think I have a better idea.” She smiled brilliantly, the same smile that she usually reserved for solving the impossible.
Across the room Peter had just finished giving orders and organizing people to surveil the places their thieves had recently been frequenting, hoping they would come back. He saw Colonel Carter smile, and he knew that smile-he saw it on Neal’s face every time the con man pulled something over him, or when he had a brilliant idea that usually helped to solve a case. He froze, surprised.
“What could be better? If you find the signal you can direct us to him, or if you're sure, you can just beam him up.” Daniel was always quick. “That’s it, you want to use the scan for beaming!”
“Better, I want to use his DNA sample and try the Asgard scanner. This is not one of our transmitters that we can lock onto and beam him directly, and it might not have a strong-enough signal for our sensors. But I can use the Asgard core and try to locate him just like Thor always found General O’Neill....” The smile dimmed a little, when she started to rethink all possibilities.
“Colonel....” A soft murmur from Teal’c warned them about someone coming. Peter Burke had finished talking with his agents and was coming their way, his face puzzled, like he wanted to ask a question.
Sam beat him to that with soft smile. “Agent Burke, I might be able to use some of my equipment in the lab to locate the transmitter Caffrey had on him.”
Peter was surprised. “You have such equipment here?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But it’s portable, and I can get to it quickly if needed....” Daniel chuckled; if you call a space ship portable....
Agent Burke looked between them with a little bit of a lost expression. Till Mozzie butted in.
“No worries, Suit; I’ll keep an eye on them. We'll find Neal even if he's on another planet; that’s exactly what Space Suits are doing, Isn’t it?” Surprisingly that seemed to calm Peter a little and with a nod he took off to his tasks, after confirming they'd meet as soon as any of them found anything, and directing them to Jones for the transmitter technical details.
“Even if he's on another planet? Martin....” Sam scolded him.
“It’s Mozzie these days. And Suit is used to my ramblings, and if you didn’t notice that sounded more reasonable to him than your portable equipment.” He used air quotes to emphasize his point. “Do you really have something that can help us find him?” This time Mozzie’s voice was worried, with a note of hope.
“Indeed.” Teal’c's deep baritone entered the conversation, a small smile tugging on the corners of his lips.
Sam smiled. “Indeed,” she repeated after T, humor coloring her words. “But we need something else too, and you can surely help us.”
“Anything you need,” he confirmed quickly.
“We need a DNA sample from Neal.” Mozzie stilled, his nervous look going over the faces of the people in front of him. All were concentrated on him and his reaction, Colonel Carter helpful and open, Daniel full of worry, and T, well, Teal’c as usual was an oasis of calm.
“The FBI have a CODIS entry in his file; let me make a quick copy for you....” He spun around, just to be spun again by a big hand; Teal’c kept him in place before he could move again.
“No.” Sam shook her head. “I need an actual DNA sample for this to work. Blood or tissue would be the best.…”
Mozz's eyes widened in surprise; that was unusual. “And why do you think I have something like that? Can’t you work with a hair from a brush?”
“Mozzie!” This time Carter got his attention. “This is not TV; a few lost hairs will not work. It’s the fastest way to find him! Can you do that? Do you have something?”
“Well, well, I knew the missing person kit would find its purpose at some point in the future.” His face lit with a smile.
“I don’t even want to know the details. Lead the way, Moz.” There weren't many people around to observe the strange group leave. First was Mozzie, impatient to leave the FBI building as soon as possible. Next, Teal’c, a huge dark-skinned man who seemed ageless but his eyes told a different story. Behind them Daniel and Sam, who often looked like siblings-both blond-haired with sparkling blue eyes.
They made a quick stop, well, actually only Sam and Daniel made the stop, by Agent Jones's desk to get the specifics, and then all disappeared into the elevator.
Part 2