Chapter Text
Leaning against the wall beside Izzy’s bedroom Alec sighed as he picked at the tiny cuts on his knuckles. “Guys, let's go.” he calls out to the open door. He's been waiting for Isabelle and Gabriel to get ready for what felt like hours. He hears clicking against the floor and his sister coming around the door frame.
She's wearing a white shiny leather crop top with a choker and a matching mini skirt, twirling a white wig in her hand. Alec looks at her as he fits his leather biker gloves onto his hands.
Walking out behind her was his carbon copy, Gabriel, almost the same in every way except Gabriel was more top heavy with muscles compared to Alec's tall and slim frame. He was shorter by a definite inch; Alec argues that it’s two inches and three minutes younger. The best three minutes of Alec’s life.
Alec and Gabriel were a special duo, identical twins yes but also Parabatai. They were a close as close can be without being physically fused at the hip much to the annoyance of Izzy and Jace.
“Hey there, big bro.”
Alec raises an eyebrow at her outfit, “Really?”
They fall into each other's step and start walking through the hallway.
“What can I say. Demons dig blondes, Gabe agrees.”
Alec subtly smacked the back of Gabriel’s head, “Yea, of course they do.” He points to the wig, “But that's white.”
Isabelle rolls her eyes, “Platinum.” She turned to Gabriel, “I thought you were going to teach him this stuff?”
Gabriel huffed as he shrugged, “I’m not a miracle worker.” He gestures to Alec with a smirk, “He’s hopeless.”
Alec swings his head to look at them both, “I have all the colours I need.”
They walk around the corner and onto the balcony of the war room. “Black, grey and white are just variations of the same colour.” Isabelle smirks at him and Alec doesn’t respond, knowing a losing battle when he sees one.
They spot Jace looking at one of the monitors at the side of the room and walk over. “Okay Jace, we're ready.”
The blonde Shadowhunter turned and smiled at them, “Nice choice Izzy. Demons dig blondes.”
“Told you.” Gabriel and Izzy say together.
Alec points to her wig, “It's platinum.” He corrected Jace in a dead panned tone.
They all look at the monitor, Jace slides his finger over the screen and a map pops up with several locations highlighted.
“Okay, so for some reason, someone out there is killing mundanes and draining their blood. These are all the spots the mundies were found.”
“Warlock?” Isabelle asks.
Alec shakes his head, “The locations don't make up a pentagram.”
They make their way to the weapons room.
“I mean, blood? That's vampire territory.” Gabriel continues.
Izzy sighs and strokes her wig. “There must be something special about the blood.”
Alec snorts, “What could be special about mundane blood?” There isn't anything special about mundanes. Period.
Isabelle gave Alec a dirty look, “Give me a sample and I'll tell you exactly what they're looking for.”
Jace uses his stele to open a secret compartment in the wall that slides out, on shelves are seraph blades and other adamas infused weapons. Jace hands them their seraph blades. Alec grabs the handle of his personal blade. He closes his eyes as he feels his angelic power connect with the blade which comes out of the handle glowing pure white. Alec's own blade is longer than his siblings' blades which comes from his preference for ranged combat. His bow and quiver already glamoured on his back.
“We'll have more answers when we find out exactly who the demons are working for.” They all tucked away their blades, “So you don't think they're working on their own?” Isabelle asks.
Jace shakes his head, “No.”
“Not exactly creative thinkers, shape shifters.” Alec says 'shape shifters' with a hint of disgust in his voice.
They walk over to another screen and Jace pulls up a picture of an old Chinese man, “This is what our shape shifter looks like.”
Isabelle moves her head to the side, “For now.”
Alec looks at the picture and presses print on the screen, “Great. I'll get approval for the mission.” Alec walks over to the printer and lifts the page.
Jace scoffs as he walks towards him, “Oh come on Alec. By the time you send that message, we'll have killed six demons.”
Alec turns and glares, “Jace, we’ve been over this. I’m not allowed to authorise missions so we need the Clave to sign off on it.”
“You should be allowed. You're acting Head of the Institute for Angels sake. The shape-shifter will have changed and we'll have lost our only lead.”
“Besides it's more fun to break the rules than to follow them.” Isabelle adds, looking at a smirking Jace. “Pretty please big brother.” Isabelle pouts.
Gabriel holds out his hand, “Hold up guys, Alec’s right and all of us could get in serious trouble from the Clave.”
Alec gestures to Gabriel, thankful for his brother backing him up, “See?”
Izzy pouts harder, “It’s just once Alec and we’re saving lives. The Clave would understand how time sensitive it is.”
Alec groaned internally as he knew Izzy had a point. He glanced over to Gabriel who just shrugged as if to say, ‘ Your call brother.’ Great help. He sighed; he hated being ganged up on. “Fine. But just this once.”
Isabelle cheers and links arms with Alec. “Okay so we know the demon will be going to Pandemonium tonight, we just need to keep a tail until it gets there.”
“I'll cover the top as long as I can, Izzy you’re with me and you two can follow on the ground.” Alec orders and Isabelle pouts, “I'm not wearing this outfit not to be seen, you know.”
Alec smirks, “Tough. Punishment for making me go along with this.”
They glamour up as they leave the church, “Let's just make this quick and simple. I don't need the Clave looking into this.”
Isabelle groans, “Alec, stop being such a sourpuss. Just have fun.”
The four all bump fists with each other before splitting up, they’re own way of saying good luck to each other while on mission.
They track the shape shifter to a side street in Brooklyn, Gabriel looks at a vegetable stall as he waits for the shape shifter to walk past him. He gives it 5 seconds before he turns his head and slowly begins to follow it. He knows the shifter feels it's being followed and stops at a different stall as it turns around to scan the crowd. Gabriel can see Jace hiding behind a wall of an alleyway.
Alec and Izzy were looking down at the shifter barely even blinking as they ran, and in Izzy’s case strut, across rooftops, the shifter changed twice before settling on a woman in with long brown hair and a tight purple dress.
Nothing gives Alec a greater rush than being on a hunt with his siblings.
They all turned the corner and walked into the smoke that was emerging from the club. As they're about to enter Alec turns, not seeing Jace he tells Isabelle and Gabriel to go ahead and keep an eye on the shifter before he turns back. He sees Jace talking to a mundane, he cups his hand around his mouth “Jace!”
Jace turns to look at him and Alec waves his hand mouthing 'let's go'.
He looks at Jace as he runs over to him, “What was all that?” Jace shakes is head, “I don't know. We'll discuss it later, c'mon.” He pats Alec's shoulder and the walk inside.
They spot the demon walking through the club and don't have to speak to each other to know what way to split up.
As Alec moved his way through, he thought about his serious disgust for clubs, the music made his ears hurt, the lights made his eyes hurt and the smell of sweat made his nose hurt. All in all, clubs hurt him. He's just glad that since he's glamoured he doesn't have mundanes looking at him.
The group had moved their way to the back of the club, the shifter went into the back room behind the curtain and they followed, Alec instantly edged around the room and stands behind a pillar. “Izzy?” Isabelle smiled as she took off the coat she had been wearing and got up onto a table, she ripped off the wig and let her long hair float as she began dancing, the eyes of all the bouncers glowed blue, the same as the shifters and they were all entranced by Isabelle.
Jace walked over to the shifter and stood behind it.
“I hear you've been peddling mundane blood.”
The shifter smirked, “Why? You looking to score?”
Jace smirked this time, “I'm not.” He spun the shifter around so it faced him, “But you're gonna tell me who is.”
The shifter narrowed its eyes, “You're outnumbered here.”
Jace grinned, “Oh, I like our odds.”
“Last chance.” He pulled out the seraph blades handle and it activated, the glowing white blade sprung out, ready to be used.
“Watch out!” a ginger mundane girl screamed as she ran over and pushed the shifter out of Jace's way.
What the h-
The shifter turned to face them again, its mouth had changed, extra appendages appeared with teeth as it salivated and screeched.
Jace turned to the girl and pushed her out of the way, “Careful!” he shouted as she skidded across the floor.
Jace swung his blade in its chest and the shifter exploded into a million pieces of hot ash.
Isabelle stopped dancing and her snake bracelet moved down her arm and through her hand until her silver whip was formed, she threw it, wrapping it around a demon's neck, electrocuting him.
Alec spun around the pillar getting the jump on one of the demons, he took out his blade and stabbed it through his back, the ash flew through the air as they all vanquished the demons.
“Alec!” He turned to Gabriel and with no hesitation threw him his blade, Gabriel caught it easily and stabbed the demon he was struggling with.
Alec swapped to hand-to-hand combat as he snapped a demon's knee with his boot and punched another in the face. Jumping over a demon that was charging at him, Alec threw his blade and Jace caught it in mid-air and swung down as he vanquished two more demons. With one left Jace and Alec came from each side, swinging the seraph blades they vanquished the last demon.
Alec quickly recovered and whipped around trying to find the girl, she had run off. He walked over to Jace and shoved his shoulder, “Who the hell was that?!”
Jace just shrugged, “I don't know but... she could see me.” The siblings' eyes widened.
“Excuse me?” Alec blinked slowly.
“She had the sight?!” Isabelle hissed.
Gabriel shook his head, “That's impossible.”
Isabelle walked forward, “Whatever it is, we can discuss it back at the institute, we need to go, now.”
They ran out the back of the room, burst through the emergency exit, and bolted down the street.
Just as they slammed the door behind them, the curtains to the room were blown open by the owner of the club and High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane. He looked around and knew a fight had occurred. It angered him that he didn't know who or why, and it happened right under his nose. Clicking his fingers, he set the room to rights again. With the same dramatics that he entered the room with, he stormed back out to get answers.
When the group arrived back at the institute, Alec didn't speak to them as they put their weapons back. Alec wasn't just not in a good mood; he was downright pissed.
“My room. Now.”
They all went to Alec's room and he slammed the door behind him. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “Explain.”
Jace shrugged, “I don't know, we were walking into the club and she turned around and spoke to me for bumping into her. She could see me.”
Isabelle frowned, “What does that mean?”
Alec sighed, “It means that this mission just got a lot more complicated.” This is what I get for going on unsanctioned missions.
His phone beeped, he dug it out of his pocket and looked at it, a frown forming on his face.
“What is it?” Gabriel walked over to Alec.
“Ravener demon, Park Slope in Brooklyn. They want us to check it out.”
“You get text alerts on demons?” Jace tried to lighten the mood and Alec glared at him pointing a finger to Jace, “This isn't over.”
It was pouring rain by the time they get to Brooklyn. Jace and Gabriel had blades in hand, Isabelle's whip has turned into her staff and Alec has his bow and arrow poised to fire when needed, and all four of them drenched. They did a sweep of the street in formation and are about to split up when they hear a scream coming from an apartment two over. They all break into a sprint, Alec and Gabriel jump on the roof while Jace and Isabelle take the front.
Gabriel finds a skylight and uses the unlocking rune to open it and the two silently slip inside. Alec puts his bow away and grips the handle of his blade, he feels the Angelic power rush through his arm and into the blade as it glows. They take one room at a time, clearing them out. Gabriel puts his hand up and they hear a scuffle downstairs so they quickly run down the stairs.
Alec presses his back to the wall and looks around the door frame to see Jace carrying the ginger girl from the club earlier. Alec signals to Gabriel and they turn the corner and Jace has the audacity to just shrug at him. “She's been poisoned. We'll need to take her back to the institute.”
Alec's eyes widened, “Have you lost your mind? We're already going to be in trouble from the unauthorised mission, and now you want to bring a mundane back to the institute?!”
Jace shifted the girl in his arms and began to walk out, “She needs healing Alec. I don't think she's as pure a mundane as we thought, she has the sight. She's seen too much already and may have information on what's been happening.”
Isabelle touches Alec's arm, “You know he's right, Alec. The only way we can heal her is at the Institute.”
Alec shook his head; I can't believe I'm doing this. He can never say no to Jace. “If she doesn't have anything relevant to give us, she goes. I mean it.” They nod and they all activate their speed runes to run back to the institute.
When they get back Jace and Isabelle take the girl to the infirmary and Alec breaks off from them with a stern, “Get me when she wakes.” and walks off to his room to cool down.
Closing the door behind him, he sighed. They were already going to be in trouble and now Jace thought it was a good idea to bring a mundane back to the institute. A mundane! For crying out loud, he didn't think Jace could be so idiotic. If the Clave found out about this he can kiss being the permanent Head of the Institute goodbye.
Sinking down to his desk, he took out his arrows. Far too pent up to sleep so he may as well re-rune his arrows and he quickly lost himself in his work, trying not to think about Jace's actions towards the girl and trying to block out the headache that was forming.
Alec stops when he feels a presence behind him.
“Are you alright?” Gabriel asks.
Alec sighs, “Fine.”
Gabriel stands up straighter, “Alec.”
“Gabe she can’t be here. If we get caught the Clave will remove me as acting Head and mom and dad will think I’m an even bigger disappointment then I already am.”
Gabriel walks over and crouches in front of his parabatai and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, you know that’s not true. You’re a great Head, dare I say even better than mom and dad. And you’re the furthest thing from a disappointment.”
“We went on an unsanctioned mission and brought a mundane back to the Institute. If they don’t de-rune me, I’ll be lucky.” He threw the arrow and stele on the desk in frustration, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Alec, shut up. You’re great at what you do, don’t doubt yourself because I certainly don’t.” He stood up and ruffled Alec’s hair, much to the annoyance, “You know I’d never let them de-rune you. We’ll get this girl out as quick as possible and everything will be fine. Be optimistic for once.” He gently punches Alec’s shoulder and smiles.
“You be optimistic, I’ll be realistic.” Alec whined.
“And that’s why we work well together.” He slapped Alec on the back. “Come on, let’s go see what’s happening.”
Alec got up and pulled his jacket back on. Alec grinned as Gabriel shoved his shoulder as they walked trying to cheer him up. They walked in and saw Isabelle sitting on the bed and the mundane sitting up. Jace was standing at the door waiting for the twins.
“Has she said anything?” Alec came up and folded his arms.
“She's confused. I did a check on her, Clary Fray. Lives with her mother above an antique store. Has applied for Art college.”
“Great. So, she's not special and we can get rid of her before the Clave find out.” They walk up the steps and Alec sees the girl sitting up talking with Isabelle. “She’s leaving here, now.” he says to Isabelle.
The mundane looked around, “Where is here exactly?”
Alec just ignored her and looked to Jace. “She's not a mundane, Alec.”
Gabriel and Alec asked simultaneously, “What is she then?”
Jace shivered, “Still freaks me out when you guys do that.” Jace pointed back to the girl, “The seraph blade lit up when she touched it at the club and when I drew an Iratze on her it stuck.”
Shadowhunters don't just appear from nowhere, Jace.
“A what?!” the girl cried out as she started rubbing different parts of her body.
Jace sighed, “Isabelle can you...” Isabelle moved and Jace sat down beside the girl, “I'm Jace Wayland.”
“I'm-”
“Clary Fray.” Jace interrupted, “Yea we know who you are.”
“Am I the only one who finds this unusual?” Alec stood with his arms folded.
“You find everything unusual, Alec.” Jace snapped at him.
“I have to report this to the Clave.” Alec glared to the side of Jace's head.
“You know what? Dial it down a notch.” Jace snapped at Alec.
Isabelle laughed, “He doesn't have a dial. I love you Alec, but you have a switch that's always on.”
Alec’s expression never changed, “I love you too, but this is just-”
Jace held up his hand, “You know what? Just give me a minute.” Alec stared him down and didn't move.
“Here's a word you thought you'd never hear me say. Please?” he gestured to the door.
Something in Alec snapped, “What is with you?” He turned to Gabriel, “No really, what is with him?” Isabelle got up and grabbed his arm, “Walk with me, big brother.”
Isabelle led him out of the infirmary with Gabriel in tow, not wanting to be the third wheel, “I'll explain it to you.”
Alec sighed in frustration, “We don't know this girl. There's no such thing as new Shadowhunters.”
“Well, there is now.”
Alec stopped and turned to her, “No, Izzy. That’s not how this works. Shadowhunters don’t just pop out of the ground like daisies. You seriously don't find that strange? At all?”
“What I find strange, is that you're so upset. Maybe, you're just upset with the way Jace is looking at her.” Izzy accused him.
“Izzy.” Gabriel warned, this was going to end up going a step too far and Gabriel will have to stop the cat fight that will ensue.
Something flared up in Alec as he stood up straighter to tower over them both, “Maybe I'm pissed that she ruined the mission. We never found out who was buying the blood. Now we have no lead and a possible security risk in the Institute. As acting Head it's my job to figure this out, not to have Jace get distracted by some mundane girl.” He looked to the infirmary and shook his head before walking to his office.
He practically fell into his chair at the desk and began looking through the patrol teams he had listed for the next week. He was halfway through when an alert came through on the tablet, he clicked on it and the security feed from outside the Institute came up. “What the-” Two mundane police were banging on the door. That's no problem for Alec, he knows the wards are strong enough to send them away soon enough. The question is, why are they knocking on the door? A bad feeling rushed over him and he got out of his chair and walked back into the war room, looking over he saw the backs of Gabriel, Jace, Isabelle, the mundane and... “Oh, you've got to be kidding.”
He saw Gabriel point to the new comer, “Alec, is not gonna like this.”
He stormed across the room to the group, “What is going on here?” he looked the new mundane up and down, the glasses just screamed nerd in his mind. “Why is there another mundane in the Institute.”
The new mundane gasped and pointed between Gabriel and Alec, “Woah, are you guys twins?”
“No.” they both replied back at the same time. One of their favourite jokes to pull on anyone who asks such a stupid question.
“Circle member followed him to get to Clary.” Jace explained casually as if he was describing the weather.
“Circle members? At the Institute?” Alec was trying to piece this all together without exploding. No one thought to let him know that Circle members were outside the Institute?
The ginger mundane, sorry, Clary, turned to him, “He had a circle on his neck just like the guys who took my mother.”
“What exactly is a circle member, and why are they trying to kill us?” the new mundane asked.
“All we know is that a long time ago the Circle led a revolt, a lot of Shadowhunters got killed, including my father.”
“And since the revolt, we've been forbidden to talk or hear about the Circle.” Alec added, giving Jace the 'shut up' look.
“But how is that even possible? It's your history.” Alec rolled his eyes.
“Coming from the girl who didn't know she was a Shadowhunter?” Jace retorted.
Alec's headache was coming in full force so he tunes them out and rubs his temples as he moves over to a different screen and pulls up the cameras around the parameter of the Institute, looking around as the two mundanes left. “You want to tell me what’s going on?” He asked as Gabriel came to stand beside him, Alec continued to face the screen and Gabriel faced the group behind Alec, “I’m not sure, Jace left with the new girl and came back in with the new guy. Jace told me a circle member followed our new mundane friend here to the Institute and Jace thought it would be a good idea to bring them inside.”
Alec huffed a laugh and shook his head, “It’s like he’s doing this on purpose.”
Gabriel leaned back from his brother, “You’re scary when you laugh at unfunny things, stop that.”
Alec scoffed and dropped his expression back to his usual frown.
Gabriel smiled, “Hey, there he is.”
“Please excuse my brothers lack of manners.” Izzy gestured towards them loudly, “This is Alec and that’s Gabriel.” She holds her hand out to the mundane, “I'm Isabelle.”
A burst of heat flew past his face and on instinct grabs the paper out of the air, he scans over it quickly, it's a fire message from the Conclave. They want to speak with Alec. Immediately.
Shit.
“What is it?” Gabriel gestures to the note.
“Responsibility.” Alec held up the note which flared and was reduced to ash. “Keep an eye on them.” Alec gestures to Jace and Clary before he makes his way to the meeting room, knocking the door.
“Enter.”
He opens the door and walks into the middle of the room.
There are five members sitting at a large table, one stands and points to the empty chair, “Have a seat, Mr Lightwood.”
They don't waste any time, looking down their noses at him, “It has come to our attention that you have been going on unauthorised missions? Would you care to explain your actions, Mr Lightwood?”
“We had no time to get authorisation for the mission, by the time we would have the lead on the shape-shifting demon would've been lost.”
“Yet you lost your lead anyway, Mr Lightwood.”
Alec stayed calm and sat up a little straighter, “The mission was not a success due to the unexpected arrival of... a new Shadowhunter. Clary Fray. There had been... complications.”
The group whispered among themselves.
“The arrival of this Clary Fray is by no coincidence. The neighbourhood that we sent you to was the house of Jocelyn Fairchild, her mother. Who we believe has been taken by the Valentine and the Circle.”
Alec nods.
“We will have the Seelie's search for Valentine. In the meantime, Clary Fairchild does not leave the premises and there will be no more unsanctioned missions. You are only the acting Head of this Institute. If you ever make it to being the Head then you can sanction all the missions you want but right now you go through the proper channels. Do we make ourselves clear, Mr Lightwood?”
Alec nodded, “Yes.”
“We've given you an opportunity Mr Lightwood. We would advise you not to mess it up. Dismissed.”
He leaves the room and makes his way back to the war room, rubbing his eyes in frustration. He sees Hodge in the training room but no sign of the others, he walks up and looks around. “Hey, Hodge, where's Jace?”
Hodge smiles, “Ah, Alec. They're just gearing up for a mission.” Alec's face fell. “What?” Hodge points to the weapons room and he sees the group looking at the weapons cache.
“Excuse me.” He storms out of the training room and quickly walks across the war room and up the steps.
“Whatever it is. I don't care. I will not approve this mission.” he gets closer to the group, “I spoke with the Conclave, they're sending Seelie scouts to search for Valentine but they made it clear,” he points to Clary, “the little girl does not leave the premises.”
“Hey! My name is not little girl, okay?” She glares at Alec who just raises an eyebrow.
“I don't care what that Clave thing or you want. I'm going to find Dot.”
Who the f-
“Alec,” he completely turns away from the girl and looks at Jace, “This Warlock, Dot, may have the answers we need. She may have taken Clary's memories about the Shadow World.” Jace whispers, “And the Mortal Cup.”
Alec's eyes widen, “Are you joking? Because that's not funny, Jace.”
“This is why we need the warlock; Clary's mother may have told her where she hid the Cup and with Valentine's people looking for Clary, she's not safe outside alone.”
“Exactly. Which is why she stays here and I'll tell the Clave she's a warlock of interest and we need to bring her in.”
Alec placed his hands on his hips, “Do you not hear me when I speak?”
“We don't have the time, Alec. Not with the Cup at stake.” Jace hissed.
“Alec.” Isabelle says softly, “Jace has a point.”
He turns his glare to her, “Et tu Izzy?” She couldn't even look him in the eye.
“The girl is not leading us on a wild goose chase. Especially when the Clave is breathing down my neck. No. More. Unsanctioned. Missions. Do I make myself clear?”
The ginger girl gasped and everyone turned to look at her. Her eyes had glazed over and she was touching her necklace.
Jace shuffled forward, “What is it?”
She exhaled as her eyes came back into focus, “Weirdly, I know where Dot is.”
Jace looked up, “See, Alec. She knows where Dot is. No longer a wild goose chase. We'll be in and out in no time.”
“Look what happened last time you said that.” Alec glared at Jace.
“We’re going. With or without you.” Clary glared.
Alec was furious and shook his head as he grabbed his bow and stormed out of the room. Continuously telling himself that it’s wrong to bitch-slap a girl.
They climbed into the mundane van and Alec sat with his bow in his hand, occasionally plucking the string. Between the mundanes non-stop blathering, the girl's constant worrying, Jace fawning over her and Isabelle... just being Isabelle. Gabriel and him sat quietly at the back.
They arrive at the club and Clary immediately jumps out of the van and, with no regards to anyone's safety, runs out in front. Alec and Isabelle take up the rear as they approach the entrance to Pandemonium.
Alec looks up to the rooftops to ensure they're not being followed.
As they walk into the empty club, which is suspicious in it's own right. Clary goes into hysterics, screaming for this Warlock and running ahead with the other mundane. The four Shadowhunters walk through the club, looking for any danger that may appear.
Clary spins around seeing no sign of this Dot, “No, no, no, she was just trying to help me.” Her voice was breaking, “And now she's gone.”
Alec's eyes do a sweep of the room, “It's not safe here. We're too exposed. We have to go back to the institute. Right now.”
Clary turned to him, “So what? Valentine has my mum and Dot and we're just going to give up? What about my memories? They can't just be gone.”
Jace shrugs, “There is another option.”
Alec, Gabriel and Isabelle reply at the same time, following Jace's thoughts.
“Absolutely not.”
“Don't even.”
“No way.”
Jace shook his head, “I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers.”
Clary steps forward, “Who are the Silent Brothers?”
“None of your concern. Let's go.” Alec snapped.
Jace just seems to ignore him, “They're Shadowhunters with phenomenal powers.”
“They have the ability to recover memories.” Isabelle adds.
“Yeah. And the process can also kill you. So there's that.” Alec said nonchalantly.
The mundane points to Alec, “You know, your bedside manner is abysmal.”
Alec looks at the mundane blankly again, not even bothering to respond he turns to Jace.
“We've broken at least 18 Clave rules. You told me, a quick in and out and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There's no way. I won't allow it. This stops here, Jace.”
Jace stares at him, “This isn't our choice to make. This is Clary's decision.”
Gabriel stepped up, “No. This is Alec’s decision, as Head of the Institute we listen to him.”
Isabelle frowns, “You can't ask her to do this. She doesn't know what she's facing.” Her voice gets lower as she adds, “She's not prepared.”
“If anyone has any other suggestions on how to regain my memories and still get the answers we need, I'm all ears.”
No one responded.
“That settles it.”
Jace smiled, “See? I told you she was one of us.” He slapped Alec on the chest as he turned to walk out of the club. Clary's face is smug as she looks at Alec as she passes and if looks could kill Clary would be dead on the floor.
They get back into the cramped van and Alec thinks he might explode this time. They've broken so many rules, the Clave told him to keep the girl on the premises, that didn't happen, they've gone on another mission with no authorisation, which the Clave told him not to do and now they're on their way to the City of Bones with another mundane that is going to drive Alec crazy if he opens his mouth one. More. Time.
Alec just knows he can kiss being Head of the Institute goodbye, because after this, he'll be lucky to even be allowed to go on patrols. Best case scenario ichor duty for life, worst case scenario de-runed.
The drive, thank Raziel, passes quickly and soon they are getting out in a clearing underneath a bridge, metal trash cans light the way with fire up the hill.
He hears Isabelle and the mundane talking and internally sighs, “Lets check it out.” He says to his siblings and walks forward away from the other two.
The three follow behind, he looks back at the two by the van and turns to Jace, “If something goes wrong, if anything happens to her, or him. That's on us , you know that don't you?” This is Alec's way of saying, 'You go down and you'll bring us all down with you.'
“Yea and you know exactly what will happen if Valentine gets the Mortal Cup before we do. She's lost everything Alec. I know what that feels like.”
Alec looks at her and cant help the burning rage that ignites in his stomach.
“What's your problem with her anyway? Your family used to welcome strays.”
Alec looks Jace in the eye, “You were never a stray.” he states, his voice serious.
“Look, nothing has changed, we're still in this fight together. There's just... one more of us.”
One person too many. Alec thinks.
They call over the others and walk back up to the entrance of the City of Bones. Clary stops and needs some time to bring herself to do it.
When the mundane takes a step forward Jace pushes him back. “Ahhhh, hold up.”
“Oh surprise surprise, no mundanes allowed. Just like in the training room right? Wrong! I've seen every horror movie ever made and the funny best friend who gets left behind....dead man.”
Alec is about to take one of his arrows and put it through his own skull just to end the misery.
“The minute you enter, you will die.”
“See, the problem is, now I don't trust you.” the mundane states.
Alec walks forward, “He's not lying.”
Isabelle smiles, “Now. He was before.”
“The rune energy in the City of Bones will kill any mundane who dares to enter so..” Alec gestures his towards the entrance, “Please.” Practically begging the mundane to go in.
Isabelle sighs, “The brothers creep me out.” She grins, “I'll stay out here with the mundane.”
Jace moves forward at that, “Your sacrifice is noted, Izzy.”
“Speaking of sacrifice, I'm missing a financial analysis class.” the mundane said.
It was the straw that broke the camels back.
Alec waved his hand in the mundane's direction, “Yea, I can't be here any more. So, I'm going to... mind the perimeter.” He walks away from the group and when he's out of sight he rubs at his temples. “By the angel, give me strength to deal with this. It's not okay to kill mundanes, it's not okay to kill mundanes, it's not okay to kill mundanes, it's not okay to kill mundanes.”
“I’ll help you hide the bodies.”
Alec turned and snorted as Gabriel stood behind him, “Don’t tempt me. I’m ready to put my arrow through my own head.”
Gabriel tutted, “Don’t do that. I’ll have to pretend to be both of us and I can’t be broody for that long.”
“I am not broody.”
Gabriel laughed, “You might want to tell your face that.”
“You could never pass off as me.” Alec smirked.
Gabriel put his hands on his hips, frowned and mimicked Alec’s voice, “You could never pass off as me.”
Alec shrugged, “Maybe on the phone.” he walked past Gabriel and patted his shoulder, “But you’re not tall enough to be me.”
Gabriel sucked in a breath, “Don’t start me. You are not that much taller than me. One inch.” he held up a single finger, “Just one.”
Alec grinned as he held up two fingers and mouthed, ‘Two’
“I hate you.” Gabriel huffed and stomped away leaving a chuckling Alec to catch up.
After fifteen minutes of checking the parameter they walk back to the entrance, “He big brothers.” Isabelle smiles. Alec leans against the gate at the entrance and folds his arms. He gets about 30 seconds of peace before the mundane speaks.
“So is cracking someone's mind open supposed to take this long? Maybe we...or you should go check.” he stutters.
Alec blinks at him, “Jace has it covered.”
“Take my word for it,” Isabelle is twirling her hair, “The Silent Brothers are quite unpleasant.”
The mundane looks away, “That's not helping. Not at all.”
Another one second of precious silence, “What if Clary can't handle the brothers?” Alec inhales deeply and rolls his eyes.
“It literally never stops talking.”
The mundane turns to Isabelle, “Is he always this charming?”
Isabelle shrugged, “First born. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
The mundane hums, “I feel his pain, only son. Mother wants me to become a CPA.”
Alec closes his eyes and scoffs quietly. I'm going to cry. I don't cry. But he's pushing me.
When he opens his eyes the mundane is on the move with Isabelle following, “Where is it going?”
Isabelle smiles, “We'll be right back.” Alec raises both eyebrows, Seriously?
“What? He passes the time.”
They watch them walk away and Alec is quite glad of the peace it has brought. Waiting silently with the company of his brother. Thankful that someone knows he doesn’t want the conversation right now.
Ten minutes later Gabriel walked around to the entrance and sees Clary and Jace walking out. He sees Clary is crying.
“Alec.” Gabriel grabs his attention. Alec opens his eyes and stands off the wall.
“What happened? What did you find out?” Gabriel asked.
“Valentine is Clary's father.”
It takes a minute for the information to process and Alec raises his eyebrows and his eyes widen in surprise, “Wait a minute. Are you telling me, that this girl shows up out of no where and she's Valentine's daughter ?” He gestures to Clary, “Did it even occur to you that she might be a spy? This might be part of her plan! Really, this just gets better and better.”
Jace puts his hand on Alec's chest, “That's enough, Alec.”
“You think I planned for my mum to get kidnapped or... or for Dot to be taken or to have a giant sword dangle over my head and find out that my father is one of the most dangerous people in the world? Really?”
She takes a deep breath and looks around, “Where's Simon?”
Alec is about to explain when Isabelle comes up behind him breathless... without the mundane. “I told him to stay in the van. I've searched everywhere.”
“He's gone?!” Clary shouts.
“I can't find him.” Isabelle sighs.
“You were supposed to protect him!” She shoves past them, “Simon!”
Gabriel sighed, “These mundanes are killing me.”
Alec sighed and followed, you're telling me.
“Simon!”
“Is that the mundanes name?” a voice booms from above them.
They all whip around to see a man in a suit and woman in a red dress and heels standing on the structure of the bridge, dangling the mundane upside down. “I'm afraid the mundane is coming with us.” the man shouts down.
“It'd be my pleasure to kill you if you don't return him.” Jace growled and moved forward. Alec stuck his arm out stopping him. “Careful. We'd be violating the accords.”
“I'm afraid your sidekick is quite right.” Hang on, sidekick?!
“The Night Children have broken no laws. We're simply... negotiating.” He smiled and his fangs glinted.
“The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup. Time is ticking.”
With that they vanished leaving a screaming Clary in their wake.
“Simon!”
So much for a quick in and out.
Again.
Alec is so screwed.