AN: Whenever Clarissa and Jonathan use the ring to share thoughts it will be written in italics and bold. It will be written like this for clarity's sake.
Clarissa smiled and posed in front of the Colosseum, angling her face up to the sun. Jonathan knelt in front of her, angling the camera up to get the right angle, acting like the perfect boyfriend. Jonathan stood and scrolled through the pictures to show her the pictures that he got.
"Are we almost done acting like tourists yet?" Jonathan asked. "Because if I get touched by one more sweaty mundane, people are going to start losing their heads." He twisted his wrist to show the edge of the knife that was seated on his forearm.
"We know that the Shadowhunters are going to be watching, so we need to blend in for a bit," she said. "If you can handle sweaty mundanes at a club then this'll be a piece of cake for you."
"I usually get to kill something when we go to a club," he grumbled. "Piece of cake?" He added.
"A mundane expression," she explained. "It'll be easy." They took the long route around all the mundanes that were grouped around the side of the Colosseum.
"You've used a lot of mundane expressions before, and that one made the least sense."
"It probably made sense like a hundred years ago," she said airily as she smiled at a little girl in a stroller. "And stop scowling, we're trying to avoid any attention here."
Clarissa continued to drag Jonathan around Rome until she was satisfied that anyone watching would have no doubt that they were just there as tourists. She carefully packed her camera back into its bag and slid it into Jonathan's backpack.
"I really want to get some good Instagram pics in Vatican City," she said for show. They couldn't be sure that they weren't being followed, but Clarissa's glamour was strong, and it would be practically impossible for anyone to see through it.
Jonathan rolled his eyes dramatically as Clarissa dragged him towards the bus. They sat near the back, making sure that they could keep an eye on everyone on the bus and still be able to make to quick escape if need be.
When the bus got to their stop just outside the city, they stepped off into a swarm of people.
If you ever make me take public transit like this again, I will never get you out of that Institute again, Jonathan said through the ring.
Clarissa turned to give him an annoyingly bright smile.
She grabbed his hand as they made their way around the small city.
Jonathan let himself be led around the city just like everyone else while they kept up the pretense of being tourists; taking just enough pictures to look like everyone else while also using the opportunity to scout their surroundings.
Jonathan glanced around at the guards surrounding Saint Peter's Basilica and spotted a few of them with runes poking out of the collar of their shirt.
"We might need to change our plan a bit." He directed her gaze up to the guard that hadn't quite been able to conceal his rune. Or maybe he wasn't trying to; it could have just as easily been left uncovered as a deterrent for any demons or downworlders.
"Somewhere else, maybe one of the government buildings?" Clarissa suggested. "That should have access to underground Institute too."
Jonathan shook his head. "Too well guarded. By Shadowhunters and the mundanes."
"If everything's connected underground, then there have to be other entrances, and they can't guard all of them."
Jonathan looked across the grounds towards the monastery. "Only the chapel is open to the public, but it shouldn't be too difficult to get passed that."
"You think he's staying in the Institute?" Clarissa asked.
"No, that would be too risky," Jonathan said. "But if that's where the Pope lives, then they'll have somewhere safe for him to retreat to should anything happen."
"That would also be the perfect spot to protect someone that knows sensitive information."
Jonathan couldn't help touching his hair every time he caught a glimpse of himself in a reflective surface as they walked across the grounds.
"Stop playing with your hair." Clarissa batted his hand away. "My glamour isn't perfect, and someone might notice if your hand goes through your hair."
"Clarissa, I can feel the length even though I know that it physically isn't there. I don't think that anyone's going to notice." But regardless, he stopped touching it. She was right, it wasn't worth the risk when they only had one shot at this.
Unsurprisingly, the chapel was completely full in the middle of the day. Completely packed wall to wall with people. They moved slowly with the large group, taking in and evaluating their surroundings.
There were at least five different tour guides that were practically shouting over each other so they could be heard, but the mundanes in their groups didn't seem to be paying them any attention. They were much too focused on their phones and cameras for that. It wasn't even like there was anything special about it, they could easily find professional pictures of this place online, pictures that won't have the tops of people's heads lining the bottom
We aren't going to get anywhere like this, Jonathan said through the ring. It might be better to come back at night.
But we won't have the cover of tourist. And there'll still be guards.
I'd prefer having to avoid the night guards than trying to stay unnoticed in large hoards of mundanes.
They went back to the manor to change into their gears and wait until nightfall to go back.
The mundane guards assigned to the night shift were surprisingly unobservant; after years of nothing happening despite being told to stay alert caused them to grow lax with their patrols. Their sweeps of the grounds were being done half-heartedly, with no attention paid to any that wasn't directly in their line of sight. When they could get away with it, weapons that were supposed to be loaded and ready sat untouched in their holsters.
The Shadowhunters that had been mixed into the mundane guards hadn't gained that complacency but had still grown used to the boring lifestyle. Most of the demons and downworlders tended to avoid the city and instead they populated the rest of Rome that surrounded them. They had the typical equipment that the rest of the mundane police force had, with the addition of a few of their runed weapons and steles, but it's been years since they've had a serious intrusion or even a need to use them. The Institute in Vatican City was mostly used for politics now and was one of the last places to go if you wanted to be involved in any action.
Since the nature of this mission primarily required stealth, Jonathan and Clarissa had dressed head to toe in different variations of black stealth gear. They both wore black cargo pants that had already been designed with built-in sheaths for them to carry multiple weapons. Clarissa favoured a black long sleeve shirt under a thin cloth jacket with some armour built-in to protect her chest and kidneys. She tied her hair back into a braid and secured it under her hood. Jonathan decided to forgo the armour to keep some of his rune-provided flexibility and agility that didn't come as naturally to him as it did to Clarissa. His bright silvery hair was hidden beneath a black toque.
They portaled directly into the city, near one of the shops just outside of the main plaza. They made their way towards the chapel, where they wanted to start their search. The mundane police force may have been complacent with their patrols, but the Shadowhunters obviously took their jobs seriously, even if they thought it wasn't necessary. The constant patrols made what would have normally been a ten-minute walk took nearly twenty-five because of it.
At night, the chapel looked exactly as it did in the day. Jonathan and Clarissa waited unseen in the sidelines to watch the patrols. The patrols passed in front of the chapel, did a quick perimeter check, then continued on. After watching several groups follow the same procedure for nearly an hour, they knew that they would be able to spend time inside the chapel without worrying about any intruding guards.
Once the last guards had finished their check and had disappeared, they darted across the commons, knowing that they only had a few minutes before the next patrol would come around. Jonathan pushed at the oversized doors while Clarissa stood, combat knife in hand, a few feet away keeping guard.
The doors didn't budge, he tried again, this time pulling at the old steel bolt lock, thinking that the doors were just heavy or slightly rusted. Again, they didn't move.
"Hurry up," Clarissa hissed. "The next patrol's due in about a minute."
"The door's locked. I'm grabbing my stele."
"We don't have time for this." Clarissa handed Jonathan her knife and swiftly pulled her stele out of her pocket. She drew a small opening rune to the side of the lock, knowing that drawing it any bigger would be seen by anyone who knew what to look for. The lock shifted open on its own, allowing Clarissa to push the door in just enough to give her and Jonathan enough space to get in. They shut the door behind them seconds before the next set of patrolling guards rounded the corner.
The single other door across the chapel that was heavily guarded when they were there earlier, was now unguarded and left ajar. They followed the paths that led to other parts of the city that were usually off limits for tourists. The guards' rounds were few and far between on the inside of the building and Jonathan wasn't sure if it was complacency or too much trust in the security outside. As they got closer to the Pope's residence, the halls narrowed, and the number of guards increased dramatically.
We aren't going to get anywhere anytime soon if we keep moving like this,Clarissa thought to Jonathan as they were forced to hide from their fifth set of guards in as many minutes. He's not going to be staying above ground or in the Institute. We should try another building.
They sat waiting for the guards to finish their pass. Jonathan sat back and thought to the map of the city that he'd memorized. The archives, he thought. The Institute doesn't run under them so there has to be something else under there.
They used the same route to leave the building that they did to come in, just because they had already learned the guards' rough patrol schedule.
There was a more direct route that could bring them to the archives through the building that they were already in, but the risk of running into another set of patrolling guards inside was big, especially considering that it was a single narrow hall and lacked proper cover, so they were forced to make their way to the Vatican's archives outside the building. The exterior ended up giving them better cover than the inside but when they were exposed, they were extremely exposed and visible to any guard with a decent vantage point.
As they distanced themselves from the Pope's residence, the number of guards that they ran into decreased. Getting into the archives would be easier than getting into the chapel but it took nearly the same amount of time. There were less guards that were actively monitoring the entrances to the archives, but it seemed like multiple guard routes ran near enough to the entrance, narrowing their window of opportunity.
After spending nearly fifty minutes making sure that they knew their routes, they knew that they had less than a minute to get across the commons, get inside, and close the door before the next set of guards were in view. The crouched below a landing, waiting for the guards to be far enough away and out of eyesight.
Jonathan gave her a short nod and took a step out into the open.
Clarissa readied herself to move a step behind him but paused when she heard the faint steps of a different set of guards doing their rounds on the landing above them.
Clarissa grabbed a fist of Jonathan's shirt and pulled him back against the wall with her. She pointed upwards, showing the guards that would have seen him had he made the dash across the commons.
Since the guards forced them to miss their opportunity, they had to wait almost another fifteen minutes. Clarissa felt her anxiety rising. The longer that they sat under the landing, the more likely it was that a guard would spot them in their semi exposed position, the only thing that was saving them was they black clothes that blended them into the shadows.
Once they finally timed it properly, they got into the unlocked archives.
The security around this seems to be pretty minimal, Clarissa noticed. She stuck to using their rings to speak, worried that any sound they made would be amplified and draw the attention of any guards that might be in the building.
I know that this wasn't exactly easy, but don't you think that there should've been more obstacles? Jonathan asked. The lights in the building were dimmed down, leaving everything tinted orange, giving it an ominous feeling. But as they made their way down the levels of the building, they hadn't seen any guards.
On the second last level to the bottom, Jonathan heard the sounds of shifting fabric. He and Clarissa froze in their tracks, silent. They hadn't been found but they weren't as alone in the building as they thought.
Clarissa moved slowly as she approached the railing. She slipped her knife out of its sheath as she peered of the railing. She shook her head. Can't see anyone. They're probably across the building.
They started moving towards the next staircase as the rustling clothing got louder, and once they got into the stairwell the sound of two voices started floating upwards. They stopped where they were and crouched so they were below the line of sight.
Clarissa closed her eyes and sighed. They hadn't even gotten to where they needed to be before they would be spotted.
I'll take left, you take right, Jonathan thought as he slipped his knife back into the sheath.
The two guards came up the stairs side-by-side and they saw Clarissa before Jonathan stepped into view.
"Hi," she said flirtatiously as if she weren't breaking into what was supposed to be a secure building.
The guards froze for a second before their training kicked back in. One of them reached for his sword but didn't even get to the hilt before Jonathan snapped his neck. Clarissa followed up and did the same with the second one.
She shifted her hold on him to make sure that he wouldn't make any noise when he hit the floor. "What's his uniform made out of? Lead?" In her surprise, she spoke aloud, purely out of habit, instead of using their ring. Looking at the guards, she wouldn't have thought that he'd be anywhere close to one-eighty but apparently, he was packing a lot more muscle than he showed.
"Maybe you should've spent a little more time in the training room," Jonathan commented.
"He's heavier than he looks," she complained.
Jonathan rolled his eyes as he piled the guards in the corner. Let's move. We don't know how much time before their bodies are discovered. Wait. He stopped. They're Shadowhunters, he noted, pointing at the runes on the guard's neck.
Since they'd have to cross the open floor to get to the guards that were guarding the door, they knew that it would come down to a fight so they both pulled out a pair of combat knives. They crossed the distance quickly, but the guards still had time to pull out their weapons.
The ensuing fight was quick; both guards were using swords that were too long to be used as a proper defense against the siblings' knives. Jonathan killed his guards before Clarissa and they swiftly traded off so she could deal with the door and he'd deal with the second guard. The second guard had just enough time to raise the alarm before Jonathan killed him and they could only hope that the other side of the soundproofed.
Clarissa hurriedly scratched out a quick opening rune on the door, knowing that time was of the essence. In her rush, she didn't channel how much strength she put into her rune and entire door exploded backwards into the hall."
"A little overkill, but it works," Jonathan said. "If the guards weren't loud enough to call for backup then that would've done the trick."
She ran down the hall behind Jonathan, keeping her stele in her hand.
The next guard that they ran into was on his own, without a partner.
"Wait," Clarissa said as Jonathan had pinned him down and was about to give the killing blow.
She pulled up her sleeve and etched her persuasion onto her wrist. "You aren't going to try to harm us, you're going to be quiet, and you're going to bring us to Jordan Grandwell. Do not move unless you can bring us to Jordan Grandwell," she said as she started into the guard's wide eyes. "We're in a bit of a rush," she added.
The guard's eyes glazed over, and Jonathan stood to let the guard guide them to Grandwell. The guard stood and starred idly at them but didn't say anything.
"He doesn't know anything, let's go," Clarissa said. Jonathan slit the guard's throat before they move on.
They repeated the same strategy for the next four guards that they ran into, but they all had the same reaction.
"We're leaving a literal trail of bodies behind us. It won't be long before someone find us," Jonathan said.
"I know, I know, but one of these guards has to know where he is."
They had better luck with their sixth guard. His eyes glazed over and stared at them for a second before leading them down the hall. Jonathan and Clarissa shared a look of relief and followed.
Alec ran over to Jace, already out of breath, "I was just with Aldertree, someone's going on a killing spree under the Vatican Apostolic Archives."
"Clary," Jace breathed.
Alec nodded. "I'm gonna get Izzy, grab what you need and meet me at the portal in five."
