Disclaimer: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare.

A/N: I have not read TID yet, so characters from those books might be OOC… Sorry! But please review for your thoughts :)

And don't blame Magnus for using the news as his idea because it is a way for him to express his emotion.

Chapter 4: Plans

After couple hours of sleep Will found him inside Jonathan's office. The rest looked crestfallen, wouldn't dare look up to Jonathan's furious twisted face. The commissioner had listened his conversation with Maryse Lightwood and read the email, calling them up to his room in the next morning. Will could see how tense his colleagues were and persuaded the blond to let them out first.

The footsteps stopped in a sudden when the door was closed. Will had sat long enough in the past two days so he stood in front of the desk, hand crossing and looked at the restless expression of the commissioner.

Will asked, when minutes had passed and no one uttered a word. "We just drop it?"

"Yes."

The blue-eyed man could hear the reluctance in Jonathan's voice. Stepped up, Will leaned down and supported his weight by the hands on the edge of the desk. He wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Save your interrogation skills, Will. The law is the law. This morning Robert called me ahead, wanted to fire a complaint against you and urged us to stop intervene in their affairs. If they want us to drop the case we drop it. You don't need to follow it anymore." Jonathan stared back sternly, held his stand even Will demonstrated his power. He indeed wanted to get the boy back, but there is no room for negotiation. It was not his choice to make. As simple as that.

Will laughed preposterously, threw his hands in the air and they landed on his legs heavily, emitted a thwack. "Izzy and Jace likes to see their brother back home. Is their wish not important?"

Seeing Will had backed down Jonathan knew his confidence was draining. He had to nip it in the bud. 20 years in the police force as a commissioner had Jonathan seen too many tragedies and how those brilliant officers destroyed themselves because of a case. He wouldn't allow this happened to Will Herondale.

"Since both are underage they do not have any say in this. And you have just met the kids for two days, now you guys are in first name basis? Will, how many times I have told you not to involve personal judgments in your work!" Jonathan howled his last sentence. His temper had been running short; maybe after the conference and doing those paperwork for this lost case he would apply for a vacation. The pressure in the force imposed on a mundane was not light and easy to release.

Will shook his head, disappointment written his face. Said with his dry throat. "Jon I can't believe you…" he rushed out of the office.

Sighed, Jonathan turned his chair to look at the view through the panel. The number of droids on the street was back to normal level, also the city scans. The sky was blue, clouds added whiteness. Not as pure as the Lightwood boy's, not as complicated as Will's.

Fuming back to his seat, Will almost wiped everything off from his desk. His colleagues obviously received the order of getting back to their belonged division and were too scared to comfort Will. It was good, because he didn't want to talk anyway. Clutched into fists, nails were fixed into his palms.

He failed the boy.

He decided to take a day off himself, therefore he grabbed his jacket and down to the car park. He couldn't stay in that place; the files and documents about Alexander were still in his computer and displayed on the screen. Will didn't have the courage to look at it again.

Jem, Jem, Jem – pulled out his phone hastily Will tripped over a bump on his way to the parking lot. Recovered soon enough, he dialed the number that he could say it in reverse; he needed Jem right now.

"Pick up, pick up!" Will paced around his car, too anxious to get in. Energy was thumping within his body and it couldn't give him a moment of motionlessness. He wished to run but his feet chose to stay put, only allowed Will circling on the same spot like an idiot.

The call was linked after the third ring. "Will?" As soon as he heard Jem's voice, Will collapsed and leaned into his car, breathing heavily.

"Where are you?" His breaths were too loud, Jem immediately understood; it was one of those time and others that Will believed their hearts were connected. Jem always read him like a book. He couldn't think of how lucky he was to find someone like Jem.

"Station…" Will was shaking, he wrapped around himself with the other hand and laid down for a while.

Jem answered right way. "I'm coming." With a click the call ended and Will couldn't help but his thought wandered back to the Lightwood.

The chip, the photo… Sebastian Verlac and the Institute. He understood it needed money to operate, but couldn't they come up with a less harmful plan? Just because the Lightwoods discriminated them did not imply their children were, too. From those files and words of close friend – the only one, also his schoolmate called Simon – Will could see that Alexander was a lovely boy. He simply wasted two days doing nothing and let Sebastian hurt him more.

Will made up his mind, even though the Lightwoods had said that they were not going to give the stacks of money to the Institute, it didn't mean Will couldn't. He would save him and deliver him back to his siblings. He was going to.

Something touched his back and Will was startled, hopped to his feet. It was just he brushed with the car, and yet Will thought something was getting under his spine, a hand was itching the bones. Eyes darting around, Jem was still not there yet.

Five minutes later he heard the sound of tearing tires and the familiar silhouette of his love. Jem instantly hugged him, squeezing Will tightly. By instinct Will circled his arms around Jem and buried himself into the embrace, while a hand gently soothing his hairs, caressing the his back and neck.

"I am here now. I am here."

Jem whispered into the black-haired man's ear, humming a light tone and swayed a bit. They stayed in each other's arms for a while until Will pulled himself back, revealed a determined look.

He tugged those inky strands out from his eyes, said. "You should get a haircut." Will nodded, and pecked a kiss on Jem's soft lips.

Tessa was working at home, after collecting Magnus's information she hurried to finish the plan and wished to submit it in no time. She had already laid out the schedule and tables, materials used in the robot.

More importantly, the technologies to compose the soul. This was the tricky part – one mistake in measurement and it would end in disaster. Just like the Aristo experiment. With years of experience in Robot design industry, Tessa was not positive that she could make it happen. And when it did happen, what followed?

Still, she had to try for the customers' sake. Certainly people had attempted it before but they all ended up badly. During the school time professors had reminded them over and over again, that robots were not made to function that way and those tried to realize it left their names infamous in the history. Their descendants bared the name shamefully, and dare not speak of the ancestors – as if they did not exist. Names crossed out from their books, never in a time had they stood upon the platform of memory as some even wiped out theirs. Forgetting the stains from the past in order to let themselves live without shame.

Got rid of her thought she looked at the datum and contacted the mechanics for appointment. It wasn't difficult to have their slots since Benedict had announced that her project was every department's priority. Thrilled but at the same time guilty that others had to put her work in the top of their lists for a failed cause. Even she could foresee the death of the project, with or without proper control on the soul.

Tessa supposed she would turn out like them, in the future Tessa Gray was an odor that everyone avoided. Anyhow, the job was allocated to her and she had no right to decline. A bullet she had to bite.

Words and tables flashing in front of her eyes, Tessa focused on her work again.

On his way back home Magnus had bought him and the cat some food and necessity. Once he went through the threshold his butler came up and took the bags from him. Magnus said, "Just put it on the counter and cook us something, okay?"

The butler followed his orders without protest, running through the bag and started to heat up the food. Magnus at that time let out the ball of furs, the cat rolled out from his inner pocket and wiggled the short tail at his new owner, looked very adorable. He had checked the gender when he was picking up cat food. A he.

Chucked himself at the comfortable sofa, Magnus turned on the TV. A screen spread out in the middle of the wall tuned in the News channel, the projected vision image broadcasting the latest information. He watched Chairman Meow (yes, he named that cat this) explored his new home, sniffing near the feet of the robots and hissed, leaped back to the sofa.

He was crawling at the furniture, Magnus instantly grabbed the cat by his neck and deposited him on his stomach. "Rule number one: don't leave marks on anything." Chairman seemed content with the warmth coming from his belly and curled into a meatball. Listening to the news, Magnus was scratching his head and earned himself some more purrs.

"Magnus, here is your dinner."

"Leave it at the table will be fine. Thanks." Magnus said.

The butler returned to its post, stood by near the entrance of the living room. He found himself silly saying thanks to a robot and let them call him Magnus instead of Master Bane. Yet he couldn't treat them like a tool. They were made so realistic that Magnus had the illusion of them being able to understand human emotions the way humans did. When he stared at their eyes, they would look back into his and unconsciously he viewed them as some form of acquaintance.

But Magnus could still separate the reality and dreams.

Chairman smelled the scent of food, whiskers pulsated and his eyes fixed on the plate. Magnus sat up and put him at the table, let the cat walk around and find his dinner. He hold the bowl of fried rice with one hand, the other using the spoon. Crossed his legs, he looked at Chairman fondly.

"… kidnapped for two days. Maryse and Robert Lightwood issued a statement in the name of Lightwood Company earlier this morning, declare that under no circumstances will they submit to the Institute and the responsible kidnapper Sebastian Verlac. It is believed that the Lightwoods will not take further action against Verlac."

Magnus swallowed a huge spoon of rice, a picture of a teenager right next to the head of the reporter. Black hairs and blue eyes, pale but rosy on his cheeks; the Lightwood kid resembled Will. The teenager was smiling to the camera, wearing uniform. A photo for student ID he presumed. A small smile accompanied with the sparkling sapphires, Alexander Lightwood was a gorgeous boy.

"Following this afternoon, in the press conference police force Commissioner Jonathan Fairchild explained that the Lightwoods had decided to drop the case and handled it privately. He provides us that the kidnapping is the reason of the increased city scans and patrolling droids. Since the station is no longer at their service, all the police patrols and scans activities resume to normal." The reporter remained a blank expression.

He remembered it now, Jem had told him Will was busy with some new cases. It was about the Lightwood child.

"This has ignited a heated debate on the resources allocated inside the police force…"

Turned off the TV, Magnus put down his bowl. Chairman was digging in his food, eating so hungrily that he nearly pushed the plate to fall to the ground. Magnus adjusted it for him, and ordered the butler to get him some papers.

The inspiration kept flooding in. With the base color of white, his next theme would be Misfortune and Torment.

Staring out at the window from the library, Isabelle was sitting at the spot Alec used to occupy. After midnight Hodge had told her about their parents' decision and she felt sick ever since. Her heart nearly ripped apart when Hodge replayed the message over and over again under her command, only stopped by Jace busted in her room and kicked the butler away.

She could see Jace was in the same condition, shoulders hunched and bent back as if he was in old age. They didn't say anything for both knew that there was no place for their opinions. It always liked this, living under the ruling of dictatorship. Their classmates were jealous about their parents' social status, the wealth they were going to inherit and the attention they could get as they stepped into the door.

But all missed one thing. There wasn't love in the family, at least not from her parents.

Even Jace – only joined the Lightwood family seven years ago expressed more care under his cocky façade. Sometimes Isabelle wondered it was because they were the tube children. She had had conversation like this with Alec when their parents were too busy to attend her graduation of elementary school. They were sitting at the corner, guards formed a protecting wall enclosed the two.

"Alec, do you think they love Max more than us?" She asked as Alec sat beside her, wearing a light blue bottom down shirt with jeans. Alec was shocked at her question. "Why would you think that?"

Isabelle pouted, dark brown eyes wavering. "I mean… we were born from the tubes and Max is not."

Really, external pregnancy wasn't much of a deal, but it was when it isolated Max from the older siblings. Their parents always brought Max with them and traveling around the world, taking good care of the youngest by their own hands while leaving the rest in the Mansion handled by robots. Isabelle couldn't recall the last time she hugged or be in the same room with them (video conferences not included).

She was jealous of Max; she didn't blame him but irritated with the way Maryse and Robert treated them so differently. As if they were strangers. Instead of them popping out from Maryse's belly like Max, Isabelle and Alec were fertilized, cultivated and born from the tubes. They didn't have a belly button. Max did, Jace did. But they didn't.

"It isn't true. They love us equally, they just don't know how to tell us." Alec patted her head, combing the black silky hairs for her to go up the stage later in the ceremony. Bull. Isabelle thought. She let it slide because she saw the sadness in Alec's eyes. So she shut up and sat there, the metal wall only had an opening when Jace returned from the bathroom.

Their parents only showed their vulnerability when Max died. They kneeled next to the deathbed and cried over his cold body, holding his hand when the line went flat. The three of them watched outside through the glass window, banned from going inside and missed the opportunity to say their last words to the dearest brother. Maryse even threw herself over the coffin which was about to be delivered to the crematorium.

With the tracker system, the chips and now Alec being kidnapped of which they chose not to give in, her thought was confirmed in this askew way.

The city scans appeared on time, every two hours at even number. She had watched the sun lightened up the darkness. It couldn't reach her heart under the shower of warm rays.

The gigantic door of the library quaked and Jace emerged with his phone on his hand, looking excited. Isabelle frowned at him, baffled.

"Izzy, someone is helping us." He said while walking toward the wingback chair where she spent the past hours there. Isabelle got up. "Really?" Her eyes filled with hope, and Jace returned the same aura.

"Yes. You remember Detective Herondale, the one looks like Alec?"

Of course she remembered; he visited the Mansion the night they called the police, Isabelle almost fell over when she leaped to hug him and only realized he wasn't Alec as Jace clenched at her elbow that formed bruises. Detective Herondale was the handler of the case, and he was there to collect more clues. Isabelle thought since the case was dropped by her parents, he would too forgot about it.

"What did he say?" She demanded.

Jace smiled, "The operation goes underground because officially the case is sealed. And he needs our supports."

"Anything. I'll give anything." They would now take their turns to protect their brother. Alec was worth the sacrifice.

"He will meet us here tonight. Izzy, you should take a shower or something. He would want you to take care yourself." Isabelle got his message, and walked out the library with her brother. Jace parted from her once they went upstairs, their bedrooms located at the different end of the hallway.

Before they went, Jace took her right hand, thumb fondling the back of her hand. "He will be safe." His golden eyes gleamed certainty. It was rare for Jace to show his soft side, but he would in the right moment. Isabelle couldn't appreciate more for his love to the family.

She nodded, and kissed on Jace's cheek. They never say goodbye, because they would always be back to together. They knew so.