ready, aim, whip.

“I think I could be persuaded to spend some time with you.”

“I’ve been known to be quite persuasive.”

“Maybe because most people aren’t even worth paying attention to?”

“And what makes someone a worthy enough person to have your attention then?“

“Ouch. Someone is borderline misanthropic.”

“I know but I don’t think I’ll blend in very well if I go in wearing what I want. I will definitely blow my cover right up.”

“That would counter productive. Okay, let’s see. Until we go on this trip we have to make do with what we have here. Izzy rummaged through her closet, squinting at the wardrobe for the right fit. Finally she pulled out  deep maroon colored leather looking jacket and a long sleeved top. “What about this? You can smuggle in some black pants and voila you have an outfit. Maybe put in a belt too.”

“Fine.” A small part of him felt like a child arguing like this but the rest of him knew that this battle had to be fought here and now if he ever wanted to get out there and find Alec. “She’ll listen to me. And if I have to I’ll just use a ‘sleep now’ rune on her.” He rolled his shoulders, irked that the wolf seemed to be more in the know than him. “We’ll need weapons.”

Isabelle frowns, not too thrilled over using the rune on Clary but maybe it’s for the best. “Only as a last result,” she consents with a warning finger pointed in his direction. “We have to sneak them away. The Clave wouldn’t approve of us looking for Alec right now on an unsanctioned mission. I took a few seraph blades but I couldn’t get my hands on any of the sensors.”

“Don’t.” Jace warned, eyes hard and face set in a stony glare. “Talk about our bond like you know what you’re talking about.” But he’d be lying if he didn’t say a part of him agreed with her. After everything that had happened Jace had never not been able to feel Alec like this. It was almost as if he wasn’t there any more. And that scared him down to the bone. “Clary is staying here, that’s final. I’m not going to risk her getting hurt. As for your werewolf…friend…” It came out more of a sneer than anything else and Jace felt himself wince at it a little. He trusted Isabelle. He did not, however, trust a Downworlder. “I guess we have no choice in the matter. Call her up.”

She knows she’s being harsh but the truth had to be known. “Fine,” Isabelle conceded with a cross of her arms and a forced smile. “You be the one to tell her she isn’t coming then. I’m sure that will go over real well. Maybe tie her up while you’re at it because I’m pretty sure she’s going to end up sneaking out and disregarding your request.” She held back her tongue from saying anything else on Eliza. The battle to defend her was for another time. “She’s actually just outside the institute waiting for me. You need to talk to Clary first. You can tell her we need someone at the base to give us any new information that comes filtering through here.”

He went out. Alone. That bit stung more than Jace was willing to let on though. Alec wasn’t reckless but he could sometimes be very stupid. And going out alone during these times? How foolish. Biting back a scathing remark he shook his head. “Clary is hardly trained. She should stay here where she’s safe and out of the way. As for your…wolf friend I don’t know. How do you know you can trust her? She’s a downworlder. Besides. we can track him ourselves.”

“Clary’s more than capable of holding her own. You can’t keep her locked up in here forever. We need more eyes, Jace, otherwise we’re going to get ourselves killed. I’m not asking for Clary to fight for us, we have to look first.” Isabelle huffed, refraining from rolling her eyes when there’s already a headache forming at the front of her brain. “Downworlder isn’t equivalent to being a criminal, or a demon for that matter. I trust her and I woudn’t trust just anyone when it comes to our family. If you don’t trust her than fine, trust me instead.” The raven haired girl shook her head, lips pressed together in a thin line. “No, we can’t track him ourselves. We’ve been out of sync for weeks now. All of us; you, me and Alec. Alec especially has felt distance with you and that doesn’t exactly call for a strong parabatai bond, does it?”

Clary nodded and her lips formed a straight line. “I’m sure that even Jace knew that Alec was in trouble, he would do everything he could to get here right away. I’ll try to keep on reaching him, okay?” She tried to smile encouraging, but she failed hopelessly. If she was the only back up Isabelle would have, they were screwed. Alec would be screwed, Izzy would be screwed and she would be screwed. “Okay, so we need a lot of different weapons because we have no idea what we’re getting into, right?” Clary didn’t want to make mistakes. There were too many lives depending on it, but by not doing anything things would go wrong too. “I’m training and I’m getting better. I’m not as good as you guys yet, but I hope I’ll be able to fight for our lives.”

“That’s the problem lately, isn’t it? We have no leads on what the heck is happening in New York and all the sporadic demon attacks and disappearances.” Isabelle’s being reckless, she knows this. She knows it’s not smart to just carry all the weapons she can without any real plan. But this is her borther Alec. She couldn’t wait around to figure out what was going on to find him. “It has to be a higher level demon at the least. Alec can handle himself and if he’s missing that means they are a force to be reckoned with. But it’s okay, together we are going to be even worse.” Isabelle glanced over at Clary, small but growing more muscle from when they had first met her. “I’ve seen you in action, Clary. You’re not only resourceful but you have a spirit that  should send your enemies running. You just have to trust it. I wouldn’t let you come if I thought you’d be a burden.”

One minute the room was quiet, just the heavy breathing of his pupil filling in the dead air, and then it was loud. Startled he reached for his weapon only to see Isabelle in the door. Frowning he immediately swept out of the room, ignoring the kid. “Tell me everything.” Jace wasn’t going to ask if she was sure mostly because he was sure himself. It had been ages and he hated that. Mostly muttering to himself. “Dammit what he do this time?”

Isabelle rushed into details immediately, hardly taking any time to breathe. “The last time anyone saw or heard from him he was in the city. He wasn’t even out on a mission or anything, he wouldn’t have gone alone. He’s not reckless. But there’s been no sign of him in over 18 hours now. We’re not even supposed to go out with all the disappearances going around. Alec wouldn’t break the rules but no one else is doing anything about.” She pauses, taking a much needed intake of breath before even delving into a possible plan. “I have a friend, she’s a werewolf, we were going to go into the city to see if we can pick up his trail. Clary wants to help too and frankly right now we need all hands on deck.”

“Look…That’s all…Your stance is all wrong. You are never going to wield this accurately if you don’t remember that your feet have to be shoulder width apart and wrists loose. Like this.” Jace kept his face carefully blank and showed his training partner the stance again. “Now. Repeat.”

After talking with Eliza Izzy practically sprints off to the practice room where Jace was hidden away. The door’s open with a careless bang that should catch their attention regardless of their training session.  Her eyes flicker between the younger shadowhunter and her brother before she gives him an urgent look. “Alec’s missing. We need you right now. ”

“I probably will be able to pick something up if we go out to the city.” If Eliza wasn’t able to help out to find Alec, she’d feel terrible for not being able to do a simple thing. “When I was asking him questions about what you guys do, he mentioned something about a special bond, is there something you can do to like sense where he is? Is that a thing or?”

Isabelle shakes her head at the mention of the parabatai bond. “I don’t really have that special bond with Alec, aside from our sibling bond of course. You’re talking about a parabatai bond; Alec’s parabtai is Jace but I don’t know ---“ she’s cut off with a ding of her phone and the same shadowhunter who had given them a heads up on Alec’s last whereabouts knew where Jace was. “Hold on. I’m going to g get him. Maybe the two of you combined can speed up the process.”

“Let’s see,” Eliza reached for the dirty shirt rather than the boot when she could already smell it from a mile away. She put the shirt closer to her face and took in his strong scent. “I’m not picking anything up here. Do you where he was last?”

Izzy shook her head. “I think he went somewhere city but I can’t be too sure.” Isabelle took out her phone trying to text Jace once again, see if he knew anything but he hadn’t even answered her first few text messages. Isabelle pressed her lips together getting a text from one of  the other Shadowhunters and her eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope.. “He was last seen in the city but there’s so many people there, do you think you can pick his scent up there?”

“You’re his sister. If you think something is wrong, I think you’re right. And I wish I knew where Jace was. I’m sorry, but he’s not with me.” Clary shook her head and she stared at Izzy. Even though she was a Shadowhunter now, she wasn’t sure if she could deal with anything that had managed to get to Alec. “What do I need to grab? What are we gonna do?”

Isabelle nodded, used to going with her gut anyway and her gut told her Alec was in trouble. “It’s fine, I’m sure Jace is bus with whatever else.” She doesn’t know if she’s trying to reassure Clary or convince herself that whatever Jace is doing is more important than having Alec’s back. Isabelle’s jaw clenches momentarily, irritation flaring at her brother’s lack of communication skills these days but she swallows it down as quickly as it came. “We’re going to need extra seraph blades, sensors, holy water and a first aid kit just in case. How is your blade work right now, anyway? You think you can carry your own? We don’t know what we are going to face but I’m gonna call for back up.”

“I can help you look for him. Can I have one of his things to smell him out?”

“Yeah, just give me a second.” Izzy disappeared back into the institute before reappearing with one of his dirty old shirts and one of his old boots she had been thinking of throwing out since he had out worn them. “Would these work?”

“I think that hard part is going to be toning down, I think this might call for a mundane shopping trip at some point in the future.”

“Shopping to tone down sounds like the worst kind of shopping trip. But I’m here to lend a hand if you nee d it. You’re definitely going to need this trip soon because there isn’t too much in your closet that doesn’t scream bad ass.”