Chapter One - The Mission
Welcome to my first ever TMI fic! Also only the first (second) fic I've ever written on this site, though we don't talk about what 2012-me wrote. Just a forewarning before I start anything; this will be MY interpretation of all the characters, though for the most part they will be your expected book-personality, though with a little bit of Rogue flair. Jace will be extra douchey, Clary won't be the helpless damsel in distress, though both will have sensitive and angsty scenes. It will also be rated as mature for violence, explicit language, and scenes of steamy nature (see my profile for a more in depth explanation). Now, without further adieu, I present: Protocol.
The ever-constant -thud-thud- of fists connecting with something semi solid rang out clear in the training room, it being the only sound other than the occasional huff of air. The boy stood at one end let out a sharp breath as his knuckles once more connected with the punching bag dangling in front of him, watching as it swung before hitting it again. A small creaking sound broke through the silence, though he refused to lose concentration from the task at hand. Two more sharp breaths brought along two more swift jabs to either side of the bag, another two following shortly after.
"Jace," a gruff voice echoed from behind him, and the boy let out a frustrated huff as he stopped the bag from swinging.
"What is it, Alec?" Jace held onto either side of the bag as he panted, using the momentary distraction to get his breath back. He rested his forehead against the training equipment, not turning to look at the person owning the voice.
"The Director ordered me to come fetch you. Wants us in his office in ten minutes."
"Us?" That caught Jace's attention, and he finally dropped his hands from the bag and turned to face the tall, dark-haired boy. "Does that mean Aldertree's got a mission for us?"
"Well, us - and Isabelle." Alec shrugged. He and Jace were partners in the Academy, so it would be expected that they would go on missions together - that's what partners did. Why Isabelle was invited this time, Jace hadn't a clue. He huffed once again and moved over to the bench by the wall, picking up his shirt that he had discarded earlier during his workout. He used it to wipe at the sweat on his forehead before tossing it over his right shoulder. Jace raised a hand dismissively in a gesture that told Alec he didn't have to wait around, though he knew he probably still would.
It didn't take long for Jace until he was entirely clean of his sweat. In fact, as he walked out of the changing rooms in fresh black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt, you couldn't even tell that he had just been working out for the past three hours. It was more like he was ready to walk the stage at New York fashion week.
As expected, Alec was leaning against he wall beside the door to the changing room with his arms crossed and a foot kicked up behind him. Jace nodded once though just kept walking, forcing Alec to push off from the wall and jog a few strides to get to his level. "This mission better be good if Aldertree has the nerve to interrupt my training session." Jace spat, resulting in Alec rolling his eyes.
"We all know you don't need training, so cut the victim act."
"I might not, but you sure do." Jace smirked as they turned a corner hallway towards the Director's office, spotting Izzy already stood outside waiting for them.
"Do you always have to be an asshole?" Alec huffed in the same tone that he always spoke in when he was fed up with Jace's antics - which was most of the time. Jace chuckled.
"I mean, I don't have to." Jace shrugged in response, before looking up at his partner with a cheeky wink. "But it is fun."
"Are you two done bickering?" Isabelle sounded bored as she glanced up at the two bickering brothers. She stood in a similar pose that Alec had taken up when he was waiting for Jace to change, and it was hard not to notice the similarities between the two with moments like that. If you didn't know them, they could definitely pass for twins, what with their identically black hair and identical facial features. Their only difference was Isabelle had soft brown eyes which complimented her hair, while Alec's eyes were strikingly blue and stuck out from the rest of his appearance. "Aldertree's been on my ass asking about where the hell you two had gotten to."
Alec wrinkled his nose up at that as his sister turned to open up the office door. "Not sure if I like the image of a forty-something year old man being on my eighteen-year old sister's ass." Jace coughed as he quickly rubbed the bottom of his nose with his hand to disguise a chuckle, before feeling a sharp elbow being jabbed into his side. "You know what I mean."
Walking through the door brought you to Aldertree's secretary's office, which was small with a couple chairs and a desk which a young girl constantly sat behind. Jace flashed her a gleaming smile as she looked up, only forcing her to roll her eyes and look down again. "Good morning, Aline." Jace cooed, leaning an arm on the desk to lean towards the girl. "May I say you're looking absolutely ravishing on this fine Tuesday."
"Save the bullcrap, Agent." The girl hissed sarcastically, though Jace just grinned. "Aldertree's waiting for you. Don't know what you did this time, but he seems on edge."
"What makes you think I did anything?" He backed up defensively, raising his hands in mock-surrender. Aline just gave him a look of disbelief, before shaking her head and going back to typing something on her computer. Jace scoffed as he turned back to his friends, dropping his hands in disbelief. "Women, am I right?" He directed this comment more so to Alec, who blissfully ignored him, while Isabelle stalked angrily past him, ensuring to shove at his chest with her shoulder as she went. Jace stumbled back and raised a hand to rub at the pain, simply staring after the black-haired beauty as she walked into the main office. "Your own fault." Snarked Alec as he, too, walked into the office, leaving Jace stood alone.
"Ah, Agent Herondale, nice of you to join us." A condescending voice echoed throughout the room as he entered, before the owner of the voice turned around from facing the window to look at Jace. "Fashionably late, as usual."
Jace made his way to stand besides Alec, donning the same formal stance with his feet shoulder width apart, hands locked behind his back. His eyes locked with the Director's as he spoke. "My apologies, Director Aldertree, for wanting to improve my skills as an Agent. It won't happen again." He could almost feel his partner tense up next to him at his sarcastic comment, though he just smirked. The Director, however, didn't look as pleased, as he let out a sharp laugh.
"You're lucky you're a talented Agent, Herondale." He commented as he approached Jace slowly, his own hands locked behind his back. "Otherwise that smart mouth of yours would have gotten you kicked out long ago."
"Thinking about my mouth, now? At least buy me dinner, first." Jace challenged, the shit-eating smirk still plastered across his lips. The Director stared him down with a scrutinising expression, though Jace refused to let up. With another short scoff, the Director turned on his heels and headed to the other side of his desk.
"I didn't call you here to be backchatted, Agents. I brought you here for a mission." He sat down in his tall, leather seat, before gesturing for nodding to the sofa in front. Jace, Alec, and Isabelle, all relaxed their stances before sitting down on the sofa in the same order they were stood. The sofa was perfectly sized for them all to fit comfortably, and Jace couldn't help but wonder how uncomfortable it would be if it were three larger agents.
Aldertree took out a rather bulky folder from a drawer under his desk, placing it on top and opening it up. He proceeded to pull out three more folders that had resided inside the first one, laying them all out in front of him. "I'd assume you are all aware of Starkweather International?"
Alec was the one to answer. "It's a multi-billion dollar company, of course. Co-owned by Hodge Starkweather and Valentine Morgenstern. It's almost like a dozen different business' under one umbrella company. Starkweather Medical, Starkweather Construction... They practically own New York City."
"Very good, Alec." Aldertree nodded with an expression that somewhat resembled a smile, opening the folder furthest to his left and turning it to show his agents. There was a picture of both of the owners of Starkweather International, as well as several sheets of paper which seemed to be various scripts of phone calls and bank exchanges.
"Internal sources have relayed information to us which has created a cause for concern." He shuffled the papers to put a specific one on top, leaning over the desk to hand it to Alec. He took it, silently, before reading over the information, while Jace and Isabelle continued to watch Aldertree. "Turns out that, although Hodge's name is on the company building, he isn't the big boss."
"Morgenstern is?" Jace arched an eyebrow in disbelief. Whenever the company was in the news, Starkweather was almost always the spokesperson. Morgenstern always seemed to be more of the behind the scenes man.
"Apparently so." Aldertree nodded. "Turns out, the company is at a 70-30 split in Valentine's direction."
"That doesn't seem entirely fair." Isabelle defended, leaning forwards with her elbows perched on her knees. "From an external view, it seems that Starkweather does all the work. How is Valentine in charge?"
"Says here that the company was built on Morgenstern's money." Alec said, gesturing to the piece of paper in his hand. "Without him, the business would have never started. Guess that's why he's got such a large portion of the funds."
"So Starkweather's being cheated of a couple billion dollars, so what? That's business." Jace bit, not caring much for business talk. "What has this got to deal with us?"
"Patience, Herondale." Aldertree scolded, watching Jace through furrowed brows. "I'm getting there."
Alec handed over the piece of paper to Jace once he was finished with it, before the blond sighed in relief. One more stare down with the Director and he thought he might turn to stone.
"Word's gotten out that Starkweather isn't too pleased with being cut such a small portion of the company any more." Aldertee continued. "He was fine at the beginning when it was still relatively small, but a twelve-billion dollar company means that a 70-30 split is a pretty big difference."
"That would mean he's getting, what, 3 and a half billion? While Valentine's getting almost 8 and a half." Jace scoffed as he read the bit of paper. "Can't say I blame the guy. I'd be pretty pissed as well."
"Yes, well, I'd say he's more than 'pretty pissed'. So much so, that he's planning an assassination attempt on his partner, in hopes that he automatically gets his share of the company." That got the trio's attention, Jace's especially as his head shot up from reading the paper to look straight at the Director.
"So you want us to take him down?" Jace inquired, handing the bit of paper across Alec and to Isabelle without even looking.
"Not exactly." The Director corrected, placing the first folder to the side before opening the remaining two. "Turns out Valentine has two kids, Clary and Jonathan." He explained. "Since they are his next of kin, they would be the first people his share of the company goes to, should he pass."
"So in order to get the money, Starkweather has to kill those two as well." Isabelle was the first to conclude aloud, Aldertree simply nodding in confirmation. "Three planned assassinations? This guy's definitely determined, that's for sure."
Jace reached for the front pieces of paper of either folder - the two profiles - looking at them both side by side. The son definitely looked like Valentine, though the daughter looked nothing like either of them. They weren't 'kids', but they weren't 'adults' either. The girl was cute, though, Jace had to admit. It was a shame that she had a psycho-businessman after her ass.
"Agent Herondale, you are being assigned to the girl; Clarissa Morgenstern. Take her file, study it, and tomorrow you will be set on the mission." Jace smirked at the fact he had been given the daughter to look after, more so with the irony about it. Isabelle and Alec knew what he was like around pretty girls, though he wasn't sure the Director was. He knew, though, that he couldn't let his hobby get muddled with his mission.
The Director then nodded to Alec. "Agent Lightwood, you will be assigned to the boy, Jonathan Morgenstern. Same instructions to you. Take his file, and study it. Your mission starts tomorrow."
"And what about me?" Isabelle arched an eyebrow questioningly, a somewhat confused expression on her face. "Am I just here to look pretty? Because as good as I am at that, I'd rather get my hands in on the action."
"Of course not, Agent Lightwood." Aldertree smiled to her. "You will oversee the entire operation. I am designating you as officially in command of this mission. You will look over Agents Herondale and Lightwood, ensuring they are staying on task. Anything happens, you report to me." Isabelle sat back in her seat at that and folded her arms, a smug smirk across her lips. She wiggled her eyebrows pointedly at Jace and Alec, rubbing it in further. She always did enjoy being in charge of the pair.
"You have your files." Aldertree rose from his chair, automatically evoking a response from the Agents as they also rose, designated folders in their hands. "Your mission starts tomorrow at 9am sharp." He escorted the three out of his office as well as out of the secretary's room, standing in the door way with his hands poised at his front. "Do not disappoint me, Agents."
"We wont, Director Aldertree." Alec nodded politely. "Thank you."
Aldertree nodded in reply, before turning to head back into his office. Once he was out of earshot, Isabelle let out a triumphant cheer and a 1980s power grab. Jace stared at her in disbelief, not uttering a word. "Don't give me that look, Herondale." She scolded with a fiery glare. "You're just jealous that he put me in charge of this operation."
"Hey, not at all!" He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "I'm proud of you, sis. I knew all that Aldertree ass-kissing would move you up through the ranks." He quickly skirted a swift punch aimed for his gut, before flipping her off. She returned the gesture before Alec stepped in between them.
"Easy, children, let's not kill each other before this mission even starts." Alec was always the reasonable one of the trio, which frustrated Jace to no avail. He could never have any fun.
"Okay, Dad," Isabelle rolled her eyes sarcastically as she began walking off in a different direction. Jace scoffed, earning a swift smack to the back of his head from the folder in Alec's hand. "Ow!" He dramatically called out, lifting a hand to rub his head.
Alec looked at him, unimpressed, before gesturing to Jace's own folder. "Shut up, and get to work."
Thank you for reading the first chapter of 'Protocol', I hope for this series to go far. Feel free to leave any reviews or tips or advice. I will try not to make this before and after notes a regular occurrence; only when necessary.
