Jace felt no desire to rush getting clothes for anyone sake, but particularly for that mundane. He was sure there was some reasonable explanation that the boy had that rune on him, though try as hard as might he couldn't come with any.

He's a Shadowhunter. He could hear his sister's voice in head. He shook his as if the thought would fall out.

He didn't know why exactly why it bothered him. Maybe it just confused him. He was just a sure there was something off about the boy as he was fascinated by the young woman with the bright hair. She was witty, had challenged him without any second thought.

He sighed. They'd would figure out both of them. He tossed a few shirts to the side without any interest as to if they would fit the boy or not. However he caught sight of the tear in his own shirt as he passed the mirror. He pulled of the ruined article of clothing as Isabelle popped her head in open door.

"Jace, find anything…Maybe we should…" She stopped mid thought and he watched with growing confusion as her eyes grew wide. "Jace, turn around."

"What?"

"Just do it."

He did as he was told and face her direction.

"Now, turn your head so you can see your back."

This was ridic—it took a half a long moment to comprehend what he was able to see what had caused her reaction. He, in fact, they all had, had gotten so used to the mark on his back just under his right shoulder blade slowly fading in the last months as approached his eighteenth birthday. But now…now it was almost as if someone had painted fresh black ink over the mark, almost shining. The Parabatai rune stood prominently surrounded by four smaller symbols two representing him and the other two were for his Parabatai. And his match would have a matching mark.

His Parabatai. He had met them. He racked his head for anyone new in the Institute, retraced his steps, the only thought crossed his head led confusion to cross his face.

Isabelle who had also been staring at Jace's back had seemed to have clued into what Jace was thinking.

"No, Jace. Its not her."

"How do you know?"

She gave him a look that clearly stated the level in which his sister had judged him with, "Beside the likelihood of male/female Parabatai matches being very rare. I was the one who changed her out of her demon soaked clothes, and she does have one, but it doesn't match yours." Clary's was unique enough to have stuck her mind and she had seen Jace's enough of during training to feel confident.

"Then, who else?"

She gave him that pointed look again.

He just shook his head as turned around and grabbed at shirts.

"No."

Gideon wasn't surprised to see his sister had returned first, as she moved directly Clary to pull her up and behind the partition. The two had mustered a reluctant sense of ease with each other quickly, but that was also another thing that did not shock Gideon. His sister had always had a talent of making others feel comfortable around her. It had proven quite the asset over the years; from making Jace feel like part of the family when their parents had brought him home to helping their fellow Shadowhunters and Downworlders feel at ease around each other in the Institute.

On the other hand, Jace's talent had alawys been more in himself and his abilities as a soldier, a protector and he was aware of exactly how good he was. His own awareness of his attributes also made him less skilled socially, often as in their current situation, made him come off as abrasive. Gideon would always be the first to defend his brother, Jace meant well, it just took a while to understand what he meant.

As for Gideon, it was more an observed and report kind. He had to be, otherwise the part of him that made him different from every other Shadowhunter became too much of a risk, and all the training and magic spent would be a waste. So while Isabelle was taking everything in stride, and Jace instantly put up walls of caution, Gideon just watched and observed. The way the Magnus was reacting to the werewolf…there was history they knew each other. And despite being referred to as 'Dad' the science of genetics told the Shadowhunter that it was very unlikely that he had actually fathered either Clary or Alec, in fact they didn't look all that similar, then again neither did he or Izzy. His instinct told him that there was a lot more to this story then what they knew at this point.

He was pulled out of his thoughts and observations by the sound of a cell phone.

An abandoned church; Simon didn't know if this development should surprise him, terrify him, or…considering how the rest of the night had played out…if he should consider this absolutely on par.

The application on his phone told him that Alec's phone was in an abandoned church. He swiped away the app and punched in the shortcut to Alec's number. What the accounting student desperately wanted was for someone to pop out and tell him this had all been a prank to see how far he was willing to push an empty wheelchair.

He had barely gotten out the words "Alec, I'm in front of this creepy church..." when he felt someone knock the phone out of his hand and then there something at his throat. Quickly he tried to budge, to process the last few seconds but all he could hear in head was: not what I meant. Not what I meant!

"Let go of me." He tried to shout but he felt a sudden sharpness that stopped him.

"But you'll make the perfect bargaining chip."

"What…"

"Stop moving." The voice whispered harshly. "We should thank you, though, for leading us straight to them."

The gravelly voice in his ear stopped talking and moving all together as the door of the building opened and Simon could see both Clary and Luke watching with intensity. Clary suddenly pushed her head into her dad's, but her best friend couldn't tell why as he was simultaneously pushed to the ground. The man was fighting something in the air. Simon scrambled back, reached for the wheelchair as if would defend him from whatever it was that was happening as he backed towards the building.

He stared in some weird fascination as they who had just threatened to slit his neck was now swinging around in some weird dance with the air. Then suddenly that man just froze in mid-air.

"Clary? Luke? What…." He took a deep breath as though that would stop his nerves, "The hell?"

The sounds on the other end of his phone had spurred everyone else into the room into action except for Alec, and Magnus who didn't feel the same compulsion to come to the mundane's aid.

Alec eyed the man carefully, "Shouldn't you also be running off to where ever?"

"And leave you all alone?" The warlock smiled wildly as he gracefully took a seat beside Alec where Clary's head had once lain. "That would be rather rude, wouldn't it?"

"I…I..I" Alec couldn't help but feel the color rise in his cheeks. "..Guess. So…you're the,um," He tried to recall what the man had been referred to, "High…uh…"

"Warlock of Brooklyn….but you can just call me Magnus, Alexander."

"Um, it's Alec…" Alec tried to use his hands to push up and shift his position on the bed. His brain tried to scramble for something intelligent to say. It was a rather unfamiliar feeling

"Forgive me, but I must say those eyes of yours are rather more suited for an 'Alexander'"

Alec's thoughts were spared by a shirtless Jace walking into the room mouth opened as if he was going to shout. Instead he looked around, "Where is everyone?"

Magnus waved his hand flippantly, "Off saving a mundane." The warlock turned to get a better view of the shirtless Shadowhunter, "I'm sure they have it taken care of; the better question may be, not that I'm complaining, why are you shirtless?"

Alec didn't miss the bewildered look on the blonde's face as he tried to shift his focus on whatever had been on his mind to what Magnus had just asked. Then with a decided shook his head to stand in front of Alec.

"Here."

Alec looked at the shirt extended toward him. "Thanks."

"Alright…we'll give you a moment to change."

"No." Jace's voice was firm.

"Well as much as I loved a shirt free environment, I do also believe in some level the etiquette of consent." This seemed rather unlike the Jace Magnus had more or less watched grow up in the walls of the Institue, but the boy's confidence and frustrations had been known to occasionally been linked.

"Please." Jace's voice was still terse.

The seated young man eyed the other, carefully focusing on his face and not toward the rather muscled chest. If he was being honest Alec's first instint was the other was a rather significant jerk. The impulsive distrust had slightly given way to realize Jace was being cautious. So, he reached out and took the shirt,

"It's fine. I'm not self-conscious."

Jace moved to stand behind him as he pulled of the dirty shirt he had woken up in. As the fabric uncovered his back he was acutely aware of the eyes on him. Well, he thought, it wasn't as if this night could get weirder.

He looked over to see a rather impressed look on the warlock's face as he heard the 'Damn it' from behind him.

"Who was that?"

Simon watched with wide eyes as one of his best friends addressed the air.

"Clary, what is this? Where are we? Who are you talking to?"

The air almost seemed to be charged with a quick spurt of electricity as two people appeared in front of him.

"How…what…" Simon was sputtering.

The raven haired girl smiled at his display while Luke intercepted what was about to be said. "Let's continue this conversation on the inside so we don't have any other surprises right now."

The consensus seemed to be in agreement, and Simon was further stunned into silence as the cob webbed decaying walls of the church transformed into what appeared to be a high tech modern lab. Simon looked around at the others, and his eyes lingered on the blonde who was just ahead of him. The lower back of his shirt had been torn, most likely from Simon's would-have-been-kidnapper.

"Your shirt."

The girl's eyes darted to her brother's shirt, "Gid, are you okay?"

Her hand flew to his side and tugged to lift it up. Her breath caught as she saw his Parabatai mark peeking out and recognizing it as the same one she had spotted on Clary's skin.

xxxxxx

I also still have nearly 4,000 words I cut from the whole of chapter 3. Hopefully they'll fit else where or they might become a series of 'deleted scene' one offs.

What I can reveal:br /

to answer a question I got in reviews...the cup is fine its not hidden. Jocelyn is just a target because she was instrumental in the death of Valentine which will be revealed in more detail later

Coming soon (over the course of the next 3 chapters):br /

-Luke explains what the hell is going on

-the Parabatai discovery fall out

-Robert and Maryse show up

-A flashback

-Magnus distracts Alec from all this stuff with a first date-ish

-Clary confronts Jace about being a jerk,

Also just a reminder this is also on AO3 if you prefer that format

Two last things.

-DeafShadowhunter Alec fic will be up with in the next week by popular, most likely next monday...In the mean time I'm also posting a single dad Alec who pulls a Jocelyn fic today. Check it out if you are curious.

-Does anybody know of have solid educated guesses as to what is happening in the promo with Alec/Jace writhing in pain and screaming each others name?

Finally, Thanks for reading. And please let me know what you are thinking!