Hi everyone! It's 2:35 A.M. here, what time is it where you are? I'm honestly just curious, because I have never been to a different timezone. This chapter is going to start in Clary's point of view, and then change, so the first insight into another character's thoughts will be provided. Either way, drop a review! Enjoy!
Clary:
I had to go to the bathroom after Magnus went to set up his room (which would no doubt be covered in multicolored glitter), so I tasked Seb with gathering all of the new team members so Simon and I could give them all of the details on this team and the operation we run here.
"Alright everyone. This is Magnus Bane the Magnificent, our final team member!" I introduced him by the title he had introduced himself to us with, to everyone else who was gathered on our couch.
"Hello darlings. Hello blue eyes," Magnus announced, from his seat next to Izzy (the two of them had become even faster friends than Izzy and I) being as extra as he was, and winking at Alec, who began to blush furiously while staring at the ground to try to hide it. But we could still see the coloring of the tips of his ears.
"Don't get any of that glitter near me Magnus," Jace told the boy, while looking at Magnus with a suspiciously raised eyebrow.
"Oh don't worry. It's glued on," Magnus said, smiling happily, not bothered by Jace's comment in the slightest.
"So. Does this group do espionage?" Izzy asked, raising her hand like we were still in school.
"Like a bi spy," Magnus added, snickering with Isabel, foregoing the raised hand.
"Or lesbianage," Izzy said, giggling, even though I was very sure she was not gay. Not that I would have cared one way or the other. She just seemed too… boy crazed. But I might just be overthinking things like I usually do.
"Or a secret gaygent," Alec added on, surprising us all. Huh, I guess that answers that question.
"No, no, and no. We do not do any spy work. We leave that to the government, that was made very clear by Simon's father. We do more… specialized projects. Ones more directed towards our special skills," I said, not really sure how to describe us, considering we hadn't had any jobs yet to go off of.
"Okay. So you all have questions, if you didn't you're insane, and I don't want to hear all of them, so I am going to tell you what we know right now. No interruptions," I told them, using my scary calm angry voice, hoping it would shit even Jace up for the time I needed.
"1.) We are called The Nerd Brigade, not up for debate, or discussion. 2.) This is a democracy. 3.) You will all stay here, because it is base of operations. 4.) The only way off this team is by choice, so if you are serious about this then you can get rid of your current housing. 5.) We are a team. If you disrespect that, you are going to hate your time here. 6.) We are under contract from the U.S. government. We get our jobs through them. 7.) We get paid for these jobs, and the pay is equally split. No money goes back towards the team. Ant questions?" I finished.
Everyone raised their hands into the air. Simon called on Izzy first. Looks like someone has a crush.
"How much will we get for each job?" she asked him.
"Varies. Next question," he opened the floor up again. Our social stamina was running out, and fast, so it was a good thing that there was only one more question. From Jace.
"Why does no money come back to the team itself?" he asked. I had known someone would ask that eventually.
I pulled out a remote, and pulled down a white sheet. Then I projected my trust fund balance onto the screen. 9,345,675,239,874,225. Everyone stared confused.
"Is that a code or something?" Magnus asked.
Simon answered for me. "That everyone, is Clary's trust fund."
Complete and utter silence reigned. I expected that. There was literally not even an amount for how big it is. My father shouldn't have even been able to have that much money, but the funny thing was, my trust fund was like an eighth of his balance.
"H-how?" Alec asked, finally voicing everyone's thoughts, being the first one to crack through their group shell shocking.
"A guilty father who thinks money can buy forgiveness. It can't. But it can buy our team anything it wants." I said in a clipped tone.
Everyone nodded, understanding how touchy the subject was for me. Only Simon and Seb really knew though. My father had left Seb, my mother, and I alone because I was too different, and he didn't want to deal with me.
So years later, when he came around again, and told me how sorry he was, and that he wanted to make up for it, leaving me this account, I didn't touch it. Not until now.
Jon got out of his paralysis in time to whine. "Why is your trust fund so much bigger than mine?" he pouted.
"Ummm… because our deadbeat dad offered to take you with him, and you declined. I didn't get that choice," I told him like it was obvious. I was laughing too though. It seemed just like Seb to get annoyed by that.
Magnus raised his hand, the final question. I nodded to him. "Are you and Simon bipolar?" he asked, shocking me.
"No! Why would you think that?" I spluttered out.
He shrugged innocently. "I mean, you were super nice and normal earlier, and now you seem angry and are getting annoyed easily," he explained.
"We are not bipolar. We're genius'. We are at home around numbers and facts, and logic. People are illogical, meaning it takes a toll on us to spend a lot of time near you all. We try our best though, and that is why if we get snappy, don't avoid us, just realize why," I said to them, trying my best to sound warm, but still sounding cold and calculating.
Magnus and the others nodded, showing that they understood. I dismissed them, and Magnus and Izzy fled to their rooms, I'm sure to glitterize them together. And Alec went to explore the huge loft, which included a situation room, an art room for me, a whiteboard room for Simon, a lounge room, and a training room for our yoga and tai chi, along with Seb and I's learning of Krav Maga (the only exercise I did), along with the bedrooms, main room, and kitchen, and the bathrooms attached to each room.
And Simon and I's special gaming room that was not on any floor plans, and required a fingerprint scanner from inside my room to access it. But no one would be able to find that one on their tour. Not even Seb knew about it.
That left only Seb, Simon, Jace, and I. I don't know why Jace was still hanging around, but it seemed like he was deep in thought.
"Why would your father be guilty?" he finally asked. I paled a little, not wanting to relive the events that caused me to almost kill myself. Yes. Events. He had not only left me, but before that, he had abused me. Verbally, emotionally, and physically.
"Not your concern," Seb growled out before I could answer. By the Angel was I glad that my brother was overprotective.
I let out a shaky breath and then called out to Simon from behind my back as I walked away. "Institute!" I told him, our code name for the game room. I heard footsteps following me as I left the room.
Jace:
That was so weird. Clary had a guilty father who left and tried to take Seb with him. Seb turned murderous when I brought it up. And then, Clary looked like she was having a panic attack and she told Simon to come with her to the "Institute."
I walked through the nerdy loft, covered in comic book and manga stuff. I mulled these things over in my head as I marveled at how huge their place was. My place too now I guess.
I saw Alec down the hall in the training room, checking out the equipment. I raced down to him, wanting to ask him something.
"Jace, this equipment is awesome!" he exclaimed upon seeing me behind him.
"Yeah, yeah. You've explored the whole loft right, so is there a room called the "Institute"? I asked him.
He looked confused for a while, thinking over an answer. "No. There's a ton of other stuff though," he answered me finally.
Now I was even more confused. I decided to retrace Simon and Clary's steps, determined to figure out what the hell was going on here.
I returned back to the main room where we had all congregated. Then I followed the same steps they had. It led me to the largest room at the end of the hall, Clary's and Seb's. Huh.
I knocked on a door and a Seb's voice told me to come in. I opened the door to see him staring at a picture on the wall.
"Hey. Have you seen Clary or Simon?" I asked him, all the while wondering what he was doing.
"No. That's the thing. I've heard them do that Insitute thing before. But I checked the floor plan. There is no room called that on it. So I followed them here. And when I walked in this painting was sliding back into place. I pulled it off the wall and there is a black panel," he told me, pulling the painting down to show me the panel.
"That is no panel. That's a biometric scanner," I tell him, my eyes going wide for a moment. Then it dawns on me. They are both genius's, so building that themselves wouldn't have even been hard at all.
Seb's eyes widened too. "Do you think my hand print would do it? We are family after all," he asked me. I shrugged.
"Worth a shot," I told him.
Seb nodded and pressed his hand against the panel. A few seconds later the wall slid away and a door with Institute written on it showed up. I pushed it open and we stepped into the dark room.
"Did I do that?" Seb asked me.
The lights came on. "No. We did. We've been watching you outside that door for the better portion of an hour," Simon said, him and Clary attempting to hide their laughter. And failing.
"Oh. Right. What is this place?" I asked him. Clary came out from behind him.
"Welcome to the Institute. I suppose you know our secret now. We build ourselves a gaming room to hide away in. Which is why you didn't know about it Seb. Genius's only. Sorry," she told us.
Interesting. A secret room to hide away in that only Clary or Simon could get into. I could deal with that.
"Whatever," Seb said, voicing my thoughts, and we walked out just in time to hear an alarm go off for a few seconds.
Clary and Simon brush past us, shutting the door to the institute firm behind them.
"What's that?" I ask, because Seb was joining them, so only I seemed to be lost.
"The alarm for a facetime request from the big house," Seb answered for them.
When we got to the main room everyone was already there, and they were all looking around in confusion as a television lowered down from the ceiling with a facetime request on it.
Clary hit accept on a remote and a face popped up. A face we all recognized. The face of the governor of New York, and Simon's dad.
"Hello Mr. Lewis. Why can we do for you?" Clary asked the man, going all business mode. The mood in the room had changed, becoming alive with excitement. Our first job.
"There is a package we need your specialized team to go get. No one else can do it but you Clary. We need your damaged nerves for this, and your numbing to pain for this. I will send you the coordinates now. Good luck," the man finished before ending the call.
"I know I've said it before, but you father is cold blooded," Clary said to Simon, who laughed.
"Basically," he replied, laughing with her.
Her phone dinged with a message. "The coordinates are in. Looks like we're flying north. Wheels up in twenty for Greenland. Pack light and warm. Meet us at the airfield I'm sending your directions to," Clary told us before clapping her hands and leaving the room.
This was going to be fun.
Hope you all liked that chapter! Please leave a review, good or bad, or in between. Till next time! Bye!