The Competition

Agents Hughes and Burke exchanged puzzled looks. They didn't understand why this agent from DC was bringing them their next case.

They were to be placing a set of twins undercover in a competition where they would be pitted against other twins… and how where they supposed to be doing that without any twins?

Despite the obvious problem, the visiting agent didn't seem to be worried. Instead of explaining where he planned to find a set of twins, he explained the competition they were going undercover in.

When he was done, Peter stood on the landing to call the team together for the morning meeting while Hughes helped the visitor to get settled into the conference room.

As the agents were updated on the case there were several expressions of surprise and confusion. How were they going to pull this one off?

"Are Jones and I going to be playing these roles?" Diana asked.

Jones shook his head. "That wouldn't work. See the qualifying specifications?" He pointed to one of the key points in the cover role.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Neal exclaimed as he read over the case description.

"What? We are all surprised to see that we have a twin case with no twins." Peter said. No one understood why they were chosen for the case, so why was Neal reacting so vehemently?

"Not only do we need twins, but the parts get more complicated as they need to be identical." Jones lamented.

When Neal then turned to the agent visiting from DC, they suddenly got some answers.

"Seriously, you want my brother and I to go undercover and reveal that there are two of us? He has been 'dead' to his black ops team and I have been playing a con in a completely different field to avoid that reveal. Our lives depend on the world not knowing we are twin agents! Are you trying to kill us?" To say that he was fuming would be an understatement.

"Excuse us." The agent looked to the room. "Agent Larkin, follow me." He ordered Neal.

Ignoring the dropped jaws around the room, Neal faced the agent in a stare down as he glared at the man. Then, he stiffly moved to follow him into Peter's office.

In spite of their efforts to hear what was being said, the team didn't know anything of what was being discussed.

With their eaves dropping a failure, they chose to express their shock to each other instead.

Peter stared at the door blankly as he spoke mindlessly. "Neal… is… an agent?"

"What… just happened here?!" Hughes was as flabbergasted as the rest of the room.

"How did we miss that?" Jones wanted to know.

"I'm not sure which is more interesting… That we missed his rank as an agent, or that we missed that there were two of them?" Diana mused.

Some of the female members of the team seemed to be rather entranced by the idea of Neal not only being an agent, but by there being two of them.

"Can you imagine a double date with them?" One giggled.

"Oh, he was dreamy before, but now…?" Another stared off dreamily.

"Please!" Another agent rolled her eyes. "So Neal turns out to be an agent and it's not five minutes before you're drooling over him?"

The males were more interested in other aspects of the the news.

"Is that why he was so hard to catch?" One theorized.

"What do you mean?" Another questioned him.

"He was able to get away from the FBI so easily because he is not only an agent himself, but rather two agents. Secretly, he was in the position of having the advantage because he knew how the FBI works while those agents in pursuit were oblivious to the details of who they were chasing." He liked his theory and was interested in expanding upon it.

Ignoring the conversations around him, Peter continued to stare at the door. "There are two of them… they are both agents… and he never told me?" He was still in his own state of shock, which was worse than the others because he was the closest to the man.

Putting her hand on his shoulder, Diana tried to get him to understand based on what had been shared. "He said that their very lives depend on their secrecy, Peter. As much as he trusts you, he is going to put the life of his brother first and foremost."

Shuddering, Peter was still struggling to deal with such a huge secret dangling right under his nose. "I could have been helping them if I knew."

This time Hughes took the lead. "Peter. We'll figure out what is going on here and you'll get some answers. In the meanwhile, you need to focus on this case as it sounds like they will be depending on you now. They aren't back yet, so take this time to get focused." He advised Peter.

Nodding, Peter started to pull himself together. Hughes had a good point. Sure, Neal hadn't told him anything before, but with the information out, they could talk about it later. He needed to get his focus for the case, it sounded like Neal's life would depend on it.

Once the room was more composed, Neal walked back in with the other agent, but to everyone's surprise, they had another person in tow.

Gesturing for the room at large, but focusing on Peter, Neal started the introductions. "I suppose I should introduce us. My official name is Danny Larkin and this is my younger twin Bryce Larkin. We are both agents with me a white collar FBI and him a black ops CIA. Due to certain situations, we are in danger if we give too much information to anyone, so neither of us have ever told anyone about the other. Since we are to go undercover together, it appears that we each get to tell our teams."

Extending his hand to Peter, Bryce greeted him specifically. "Hello agent Burke. My brother has told me a lot about you so it's an honor to finally get to meet you."

Accepting it, Peter shook his hand and greeted him back. "Uh, hi. I didn't know that you exist before today, but it's a pleasure to meet you anyway."

Breaking up the greetings, the visiting agent redirected the conversation back to the operation.

For the rest of the morning, the team talked through the details of the upcoming mission and made plans for how to accomplish what needed to be done.

When it came time for them to break for lunch, Neal snagged Peter and hauled him away with him.

Walking towards a nearby restaurant for lunch, Neal started to explain some of the basic details for him. "Peter, I know you were really shocked at the reveal earlier…"

Snorting, Peter gave him a look. "'Shocked' is an understatement, Neal."

"Yeah, well… the lives of my entire family depends on us keeping as many details secret as possible. We grew up in wit-sec and went into government work. Basically, we can't even begin to tally how many rogue agents want us dead…" Neal paused as he had never shared any of that information before. Stopping on the edge of the sidewalk, he looked at Peter. "You're the first person I have ever told anything to."

Sighing, Peter knew the day was going rather weird. "Thanks Neal. By the way, does this mean I caught you… or you let me?"

Enjoying the humorous reprieve, Neal laughed. "Uh… how about we leave it that I was ordered to let you catch me, but you are the only agent who has ever kept me on my toes."

"Breaking it to me easy?" Peter teased.

"Something like that." Neal smirked back. "You do know that I wish I could have told you sooner?"

"I thought that might be the case…" In response to Neal's look he added. "After I got past being upset you didn't tell me so I could at least have a chance to be helpful for you."

"My brother hasn't told his friend either." Neal seemed to make the random comment.

"'Friend'… as in singular?" Peter questioned.

"We… really don't trust people. So for us to have a friend that we trust like we do you two… is saying something. Everyone else… well, they could be considered friends in various ways, but it's not the same." Neal tried to explain.

Looking at him, Peter was doubtful. "So you trust me, and no one else? What about Mozzie, El, and the team?"

Shrugging, Neal explained. "They mostly fall under the family and team classifications. Mozzie is actually a criminal though…"

"Oh, because someone had to be?" Peter smiled at him.

Relieved Peter was accepting things so well; Neal took him to lunch so they could talk a little more.

Meanwhile back at the office, Bryce paced around and watched the door. After a little while, he was startled to hear the gasps behind him.

Turning around to face the team, he tried to explain the basics quickly. "Uh, hi guys. To make it brief… Yes, I died and was revived… again. No, I wasn't allowed to tell you anything because there are so many people trying to kill my family that it was decided for us to remain hidden. Who is 'us?' Me and my older twin brother… identical twin brother. Why did the bosses decide to reveal that there are two of us? Because this case takes identical twins and we were chosen to take the roles."

Staring wide eyed at him, the team took a moment to react.

"Okay… that has been rattling around in your brain for a bit hasn't it?" Chuck said.

"It shows?" Bryce asked. He was obviously stressed a little bit and that was even with his effort to hide it. These were friends, so it wasn't dangerous for him to show weakness, but it made the chink in his armor obvious.

"Yeah, it shows. You're acting like you did back in college whenever you had something that was getting to you." He stood quietly watching his friend for a moment. "She didn't let you tell anyone?"

"Technically, I wasn't even supposed to tell my brother than I am alive… but being twins, it was best to give him a heads up." Bryce admitted.

The team and the room around them all went silent. He wasn't even allowed to tell his brother he was alive?

For the White Collar team, they suddenly had a new appreciation for some of the stuff Neal had to deal with, but that still left the question as to how Neal knew about his brother.

Fortunately, Sarah voiced the curious question. "How did you tell your brother that you were alive?"

"Huh mmm, that. Um, you know, the usual… break the rules and tell him anyway." He looked awkwardly away from them before whipping his head back to face Chuck square in the eyes. "You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you… but, between the amount of time it took… everything that was going on for you guys, and the directive not to tell you…" In the last moment he diverted from telling them about his rescue. They didn't want to know about that.

Unfortunately, Chuck saw through just as much as he usually did. "And how long did it take for you to be rescued?"

"Six months…" Bryce tried to say it as quickly and quietly as he could so that no one would hear.

Pushing for more answers, Chuck asked. "And what kind of shape were you in when you were found?"

"…The usual." He tried to keep his secret again.

Gasping, the team had various reactions. He had been nearly dead, for six months?

"How close to death were you?" Chuck wasn't letting up.

"Technically… all the way… I'm a valuable asset you know… it would be a waste to leave me dead if they could help it." He tried to shrug it off.

Chuck and the team felt guilty. They failed to save him and it resulted in him having to go through something horrible, even though they didn't know all of what.

Listening from the background, the White Collar team found themselves understanding Neal's secrecy more and more. He had to go for an extended period of time thinking his little brother was dead… repeatedly? Of course he didn't want to reveal that he had a brother, didn't he already go through enough as it was?

Retreating to a conference room, Bryce took the team to an area where they could have more privacy. Even if they weren't fond of Bryce, the team had questions for him that couldn't be discussed in front of the FBI.

When lunch was done, the teams met back in the conference room to discuss the case.

Apparently, Neal and Bryce were to go undercover into an underground competition similar to the television show Ninja Warrior.

"Hey, I have seen a little of that." Jones piped up. "Typically, the competitors run through a series of challenges that are designed to test their skills as Ninjas. It's interesting to watch as some are able to make it all the way through, some don't make it past the first challenge, and a lot of people wind up somewhere in between." He laughed a little bit. "I don't think I could make it all the way through, but I bet if anyone could, it would be one of them."

Ignoring the interruption, the lead agent continued his description. "Hrumph, yes. The competition is generally based off of the popular show Ninja Warrior, but this is an underground version. They designed the competition off of the show, but added a few variable of their own. Instead of single competitors, they have twins take turns with the challenges. Basically, one twin takes the first challenge, if they complete it, then the second twin takes the next. By alternating competitors, there is the added intrigue to see if one twin is stronger than the other and if they are strong enough to complete the course."

"So, you're saying that I will have to go compete like a ninja?" Neal wasn't thrilled.

On his other side, Bryce seemed to be excited. His inner nerd was showing. "Come on Neal, we get to compete like ninjas! This is going to be like when we were kids and had just watched a ninja movie!"

Rolling his eyes, Neal shook his head. "Yes, this is us after a ninja movie. You are excited to play ninja, and I am being drug along for the ride." He rolled his head over to look at his brother. "Seriously, bro, I was always more interested in painting the scenes than bounding around like you."

In response, Bryce rolled his head in a mirror image. "Uh huh, that is why you created costumes and suggested using wrapping paper rolls as weapons…"

Clearing his throat, Peter loved the scene as the twins bickered. It was revealing their childhood, relationship, and into who they were behind the facades they showed the world. Still, he needed them to put their focus onto the case. "Focus guys. We have an operation to arrange here people."

With the group's focus back on topic, they got down to business.

As they were leaving for the day, the visiting agent brought up one last topic. "So we have everything settled except for two things. Who are your supporters going to be?"

"Peter."

"Chuck."

The responses were obvious and expected. When they were made, the entire room smiled and enjoyed the feeling of expected comradery. Of course Neal would chose Peter while Bryce would choose Chuck… who would expect any other outcome?

With a smile, Hughes called an end to the day and sent the twins home for the night along with the rest of the team.

Having finished the day, the teams divided up to make up for lost time. Neal went with Peter as he often did with the promise that his brother would meet him at his place later. Meanwhile, Bryce took off with Chuck for a while as they had quite a bit left to discuss.

In the morning, the teams went to work on the final pieces to getting the twins ready for their undercover operation.

When the time came, Neal, Bryce, Peter, and Chuck left to enter their roles for the operation while the remainder of the teams moved into position in order to provide backup and the take down personnel should they be lucky enough to get there evidence so soon.

Walking into the underground facility, Bryce looked around the room and grinned. There were stadiums lining the side for viewers, a walkway for the supporters to keep their eyes on their people, the challenges for the competitors, and then the area for the judges to view the situation.

"This is so cool!" Bryce practically bounced on his feet.

Rolling his eyes, Neal wasn't so enthused. "Yeah and it is all legit because they have the facility underground, they charge ridiculously high entrance fees with the promise that the winners take the pot, and those who win aren't seen again. 'This is so cool!'" He mocked his brother.

"Now, now boys." Peter chided. "Do you always bicker like this?"

Turning to each other, the twins shrugged.

"A lot of the time, but not all of the time." Neal was honest in admitting that they had a bit of sibling rivalry going.

"Eh, it's fun." Bryce wasn't embarrassed. "I get to mess with my brother when we compete or bicker so it's more fun than playing nice."

That was when Peter realized he had the nicer of the two twins. "So, you're the trouble maker, huh?"

Nodding his head, Neal was happy to point fingers at his brother.

Bumping him with his shoulder, Bryce took slight offence to that. "Hey, like you're such an angel?"

"We weren't talking about me." Neal smirked.

Dropping the conversation for the moment, the group approached the judges. After paying the entrance fee, a man approached them with a test to see how they learned about the competition.

"A friend of mine challenged us. He and his brother competed last month and made it over halfway before they fell into the water. This is just the first chance that my brother and I have been able to get around our work schedule to beat them."

"Who is your friend?"

"Adalius and his brother Alcott."

"And how do you know Adalius?"

"We work together at the accounting firm in DC."

"You, what do you do?" He questioned Neal.

"I'm an artist in New York City."

With a few more questions, the man decided they weren't going to be a threat to his operation. Allowing them through, he directed them to the locker rooms where they could stow their gear.

Changing into the clothes they intended to compete in, the brothers had decided to play up Bryce's love of Ninjas. Wearing matching black bottoms and nerdy t-shirts, they differentiated themselves with the color headbands that they wore to keep the sweat out of their eyes. Neal wore a white Bandana tied around his brow while Bryce wore a black one. It differentiated which twin was which by denoting the color of operations they worked in.

Getting into the lineup, the group waited to take their turn.

While they watched, the contestants would alternate which one would take the challenge. First, one twin would take a challenge, and then they would pass the lead onto the other twin who would take the next challenge.

Wincing, they all sympathized when one of the competitors slipped, bounced off the hard edge, and splashed into the water unconscious. Since the competition lacked safety measures like mats, it was a wonder he didn't accidentally kill himself. Diving in to save his brother, the other twin jumped in and pulled him up before he could drown.

Stepping up as the next two in line, Neal and Bryce did a quick game of rock, paper, and scissors to determine who would start off the competition.

Victorious, Neal took the first round. Standing on the platform, he did a few quick stretches while he evaluated the challenge and encouraged the audience to cheer him on.

Taking the first leap, he lightly jumped from board to board alternating which direction he was turned. Completing the challenge with ease, Neal landed lightly on the second platform and comically bowed to the audience who ate it up.

With a flourish, he directed for Bryce to take the next stage.

Giving his brother a high five, Bryce mimicked his stance of doing a few warm up moves before starting into the competition.

Jumping out to a wheel, he caught the first one on the top side and rode it as it swung him around and downwards. Keeping his grip, he repositioned himself to swing over to the next wheel without falling. Making the transition, he reached the next wheel which was tilted so as to place him on the bottom. Its challenge was to get to the height for the next wheel without getting spun backwards by the wheel he was on. Instead of messing with it, he simply reached further to grab the third wheel. Achieving the stretch, he made it as well. After a few more wheels, he reached the end of the challenge and took his bow.

Continuing to alternate, the twins made it through the remaining challenges. When they had achieved the first round of the competition, they took a sweaty bow to the audience who cheered wildly.

At the end of the day, they were given the time and place for the next round before being dismissed.

Compiling the summary of the day into their reports, the twins settled back at Neal's desk before walking them up to Peter.

With their work finished for the day, the two went home to clean up and prepare for the next round.

After they left, the office exploded in comments.

"Dibs for partnering with Neal on the next case!" One of the agents had his hand up like that would make a difference on the next assignment.

Snorting, his neighbor was amused. "And this is coming from the guy who tried to get out of working with him the last time you were assigned to team up? What did you say… 'I don't like working with a con, he can't be trusted.'"

"Yeah, like you haven't made plenty of comments about him over the years. Who was it that refused to go on vacation for six months out of fear that he might raid their desk?" The first agent countered back.

"Hey, that was back when he first started here. Your comment was just last week!" He defended himself.

"Let's be real, if he was going to be working with either of you… he would choose me!" Another agent happened to be in hearing range and decided to get in on the fun.

"Ha, and why would he choose to work with you?" The second agent threw back at him.

"Why wouldn't he? I can afford to buy him his fancy coffees, and… oh, I have connections to hook him up with a vintage hat maker!" When they didn't look impressed, he continued. "What? At least we get along. Besides, it would be great to close cases so quickly…" He drifted off imagining the rewards that he would get for a high closure rate.

With a derisive and dismissive glance, the first agents weren't impressed. One said, "So you're only interested in working with him for your advancement?"

"Aren't you?" He questioned.

Before the others could come up with an answer that didn't seem hypocritical, Jones interceded.

"You all know that he primarily only works with Peter, right? So, all of this jockeying for position doesn't do you any good." He nipped their competition in the bud.

Then another group of agents changed the direction of the conversation.

"Can you imagine what it would be like to watch two of them in an undercover operation? I mean, just double the art that Neal puts into his undercover rolls."

"Not just that." Another agent interjected. "Could you imagine those situations where things go wrong? The bad guys think that they took Neal out, only to have the other one walk in to scare them silly! Oh, the fun they could have messing with the villains nerves…" He smiled as he imagined terrified expressions and cracks about walking ghosts.

"Kind of like having a second one in reserve? I don't want to see them get hurt, but it would be nice to have their help when we have a heavy case load."

Reacting to the possible implication of his previous words, the agent tried to describe what he meant better. "Oh, I don't want to see them get hurt either, but you know the nature of the beast. Working in the field does have its hazards, so what if Neal did get hurt and he was essential to the case? Instead of scrambling, we could simply have his brother provide a means of transitioning the situation until he could return or until the case was finished. That seems to be the only logical reason why they would need to switch places. Still, it's not them getting hurt that amuses me… it's the potential for how the attackers might react." Looking at his coworkers, he shrugged. "Call it watching too much TV or reading too many stories, but I find the concept of messing with the bad guys an entertaining idea in theory."

Rolling their eyes, the others understood what he was aiming at.

"I just hope they are recording their challenges in the competition…" The agent who stated that hadn't been previously involved in the conversation so his input seemed to come out of nowhere. When everyone looked at him puzzled, he explained how it carried into the conversation. "What? I actually watch 'Ninja Warrior' and I like ninja movies so it would be interesting to see."

With that, the conversations broke up into smaller groups as the agents got back to work. Some continued to rank the team by those most likely to get partnered with Neal, others imagined the havoc twins could create in the field, while yet others chatted on the subject of ninjas. In essence, they found the other people interested in the same aspects of the conversation and simply conversed amongst themselves on a smaller scale.

Over the following week, Neal and Bryce continued to attend each of the underground competitions while Peter and Chuck played the roles of their support to provide backup.

Advancing through the stages, they started into the second round of challenges.

Like the first series, they had a time limit that kept them on their toes with no means of taking any kind of a real break. That was what made it dangerous. They were rushed, seriously challenged, and even the tiniest misstep would send them crashing down. Since the competitions weren't legal, no one enforced any safety standards which meant the boys could easily get hurt or even killed if anything went wrong. So, although some of the challenges looked easy, like running up a wall, if they had the slightest misstep, it could mean a fall that would result in breaks, sprains, or bruises at the very least.

Fortunately, the boy's training and field experience made them exceptional athletes.

Peter watched as Neal climbed up the Spider Walk like he was born doing it. "I wonder if he ever did that to hide from us?" He thought. Laughing to himself, he could imagine the team pursuing Neal only to lose him because he ran through a door and scaled the walls to hover over their heads. With the image planted in his mind, he had yet another question to ask.

Then they moved on to the third stage. Their most grueling level yet, and a challenge so hard that there wasn't a time limit. Moving away from the speed and agility they were being tested on their strength and stamina. No one had beaten the challenge in a while so the audience watched with bated breath.

Watching as they worked their way through, Chuck wondered how many of those skills were used in college… Shaking his head, he doubted that Bryce was climbing along the top of the bookshelves by his finger tips like the Cliff Hanger. However, he could see Bryce entering or escaping a building by climbing along a ledge by his fingers and toes. Smiling, he looked forward to a Gotcha rematch now that they could take it too the ultimate level.

With the main levels of the competition beat, the twins had to wait for the final competition to be arranged as it wasn't needed very often. Only a few contestants occasionally managed to make it this far…

Throwing the rubber band ball back and forth, the twins lounged in the FBI office as they waited for their assignment to make progress.

"Uh, this is so boring." Bryce complained.

"At least it is a little bit of a break from those grueling challenges." Neal commented.

"Huh, not like you train like this all of the time anyway." Bryce wasn't listening to that.

Smirking, Neal gave him the point while Peter stole the ball out of mid air. "Come on you two. Are your reports finished for the day?" He went boss on them.

"Yes, Peter." Neal said while Bryce said. "Yes sir."

Tossing the ball back to Neal, Peter teased him. "Why can't you learn for your younger brother?"

Glaring, Neal got a mischievous look that had Peter regretting his comment. "Yes sir. I can be like my brother…"

Blinking while he tried to see what Neal meant, Peter thought about the implications. "Why do I feel like that was a threat?"

Getting all innocent, Neal smiled pleasantly. "Oh, I would never threaten an agent."

Snickering, Bryce thought it was hilarious watching the exchange. When Peter turned towards him, Bryce held up his hands and tried to keep out of the situation. "Hey, I'm just an amused bystander. Whatever you have gotten yourself into is your problem."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot." Peter snarked while he dropped a pile of cold cases on the desk for Neal to do. "There is something to keep you busy, Neal." He smiled in triumph as he walked back up to his office.

Having lost the battle for the moment, Neal started to divide the pile into two parts.

"What are you doing?" Bryce questioned while he pulled out his phone.

"Dividing the work out."

"Why?" Bryce asked as he started to play a game.

"You aren't going to help me are you… You're simply going to sit there and play games while I solve cold cases aren't you?" Neal tried to give the puppy dog expression to convince his brother to help him.

"Hey, like I told Peter, you're on your own with this. You're the one who challenged your boss."

"He is my partner… my orders come from DC." Neal muttered while he opened the first file. Since Bryce wasn't going to help, he might as well get started.

Finally the call came through and the directions were given for the final challenge.

Heading for the training room, Neal and Bryce took a final test run. They had to prepare for the last challenge in the morning.

Looking up at the tower, the twins were each concerned for the other. This stage of the competition was the hardest and most dangerous of all. The goal was to overcome each level of the challenge in a timely fashion in order to reach the top before the buzzer rang. If they failed, the rope was cut sending whichever one was competing in a plunge to their death. Neither of the twins wanted to be the one left behind, nor did they want to die so graphically in front of the other.

Yanking each other into a hug, the brothers started their way up. Letting Neal take the first challenge, Bryce hoped to save the hardest ones for himself.

Watching from below, Peter and Chuck fought to keep their cool while they watched their best friends face death. Each time one of the twins looked like they were struggling, they held their breath until they were making progress again. Although they knew the twins were going to make a show of barely succeeding to win, it still terrified them each time they gave that performance.

Reaching the top, the twins hit the button together to claim kanzenseiha, or complete domination, over the competition.

Having proven themselves, the twins moved to claim total victory and the pot of the entrance money. This was the point of the entire sting, to enter the winners circle to see what happened to those who had achieved the level before them. Lifting the cup over their heads, they turned to show off to each angle of the audience. Bowing and soaking up the crowd's enthusiasm, they milked it for all it was worth.

Once the public aspect was completed, they were ushered into a back area for 'winner's pictures' to 'be displayed on the winner's wall.' Since there wasn't such a wall, the twins knew something was about to happen. Entering the back room, they quickly found themselves staring down the barrel of a gun… literally. Apparently, the people who backed the challenge killed the winners before disposing of their bodies in the ocean in an effort to keep the pot for themselves.

With Peter and Chuck catching everything on record, the twins moved to defend themselves with quick combat moves to disarm their attackers. While they took down the leaders in the back, the teams rushed in to handle the situation in the main area where there were more people to contend with.

After a few hours to organize who needed to be arrested or fined and the collecting of the evidence, the team retired to the office to complete their paperwork and celebrate a win.

Snagging Neal this round, Peter announced his plans. "This time I am treating for the meal. I've already told El and she has the food set up. You're bringing your brother and his friends too."

Looking over to his brother with a smile, Neal shrugged. "I'm game if you all are."

Bryce shrugged as well. "Why not? I'm curious about these friends you're always talking about."

"It's a party then… of sorts." Peter shrugged. "Impromptu and casual… but still, kind of like a party."

Inviting his team along for the fun, Peter led the group out for the evening with the agreement to all meet up at his place.

Arriving at the Burkes, Bryce looked around the comfortable home. "It's a nice place you have here, Peter."

"Thanks, and your welcome to stop by anytime… as long as you don't bring too much trouble along with you." Peter tagged on. "You're brother told me some of the trouble you've managed to get into in the past." He teased.

"So much for keeping out of it…" Neal smirked.

"This is how you want to get me back? Just because I wouldn't help you with your work?" He shook his head at his brother before turning to Peter. "Okay, so you want to play Agent Burke… Game on Peter, game on!"

"It was nice knowing you, Peter." Chuck laughed as he saluted Peter with his drink.

"Don't think your safe Chuck… you are friends with my brother after all." Neal warned.

Squinting his eyes at Neal, Chuck sized him up. "I take that challenge… apparently we have the CIA versus the FBI; Black Ops verses White Collar. To the victor go the spoils!" He finished the challenge in a toast.

Raising their drinks, both teams joined in on the action. "To the victor goes the spoils, let the competition begin."

Disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, Chuck, or American Ninja Warrior. Like Jones, I have seen bits and pieces of the show, but never a full episode (the byproduct of the break room at work) so I Googled information and checked out the show's website to fill in the more technical details. Who can resist the idea of Neal and Bryce competing in something like this?

Thank you everyone for reading, leaving kudos, reviewing/commenting, voting, and choosing to favorite :D

For those of you who've enjoyed this series, this ending is only temporary. There aren't anymore completed chapters at the moment, but I do have several more ideas to write when time and inspiration allow.

The voting for this round ends today. We have two for "Black Sheep of the Family" and four for International Escapades." Per your requests, next week I'll start posting "International Escapades." To note though, "International Escapades" isn't so much an amusing tale as an action/adventure and angst with a finish of hurt/comfort. Anyway, hope you all come back for the next adventure :D