Hello, here's the new chapter! It's long as I assume all the remaining chapters will be, so I hope you enjoy it. I don't have much to say so this won't be long, just don't forget to share your thoughts about the story, fave or follow the story.

I will see you all very, very soon. I promise.

Chapter 28

It had been four days since Magnus had been locked up in his father's prison cell and the truth was that he was starting to feel really desperate not to mention extremely anxious. He didn't do well in enclosed and confined spaces—he was a free soul. He needed fresh air and sun to live, or else, like a plant, he would wither.

The fact that he had also been restricted from some basic needs wasn't helping either. He hadn't changed his clothes since he had arrived there and was in desperate need of a shower. He felt sticky and stinky, his skin itched, and although he had tried his best not to get dirty while sitting on the floor, he was all filthy. He had no idea how much longer his father was going to keep him living in such deplorable conditions.

"Good afternoon, son." Asmodeus said, greeting him through the opening of the door.

This wasn't the first time his father had been there to see him, despite having placed permanent guards outside the door, the man had been checking on him daily—as if he feared Magnus might do something stupid in his absence.

"Let me go." Magnus asked him as he had been doing since he'd first arrived there.

"You know I can't do that, but today's your lucky day." Asmodeus said, opening the door and entering the room. "Today you'll finally get out of here, so come on, get up, I need you to shower and look presentable for our friend."

Magnus looked at his father a bit stunned by the news. "Are we going to see Valentine?"

"Yes. Now, hurry up." Asmodeus said, pointing to the door. "There's a bathroom at the end of this hallway, use it, get ready and don't take too long." He told him.

Magnus looked at the door hesitantly. An opportunity to escape was presenting before him and he had no idea what to do. There was only one guard outside the door plus his father, if he moved fast, he could knock them both down and be free.

Freedom was there, he could almost taste it.

"I don't think I have to remind you what's going to happen if you try anything, do I, son?" Asmodeus asked.

"No." Magnus said, taking a deep breath and just following his father to the bathroom, watching how that unexpected opportunity to escape faded as quickly as it had appeared.

"Now take a shower and get dressed. There are some clothes and other things you use," his father said, pointing to Magnus's face to indicate his now smudged makeup, "so you look like yourself when you meet him. You know this business is all about good impressions."

Magnus rolled his eyes and without another word, entered the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. When he was ready, he was feeling a bit more like himself. The clothes his father had chosen for him weren't exactly the ones he would have worn for the occasion and the makeup was of very poor quality, but he couldn't complain—this was more than he had been expecting.

After taking one last look in the mirror, Magnus took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. His father was already waiting for him there with a pair of handcuffs and a blindfold in hand.

"Really?" Magnus asked. He was already bound to the stupid contract, there was no need to add a physical restraint.

"It's protocol." Asmodeus said, quickly handcuffing him and putting the blindfold in his eyes. "You can't know where we're going...for safety."

"I'm not going to escape." Magnus said.

Asmodeus just ignored him and dragged him down the hall and through some doors until they were outside. Magnus, resigned to whatever was to come, didn't complain but couldn't help but be surprised when his father helped him climb into the back of a car instead of locking him in the trunk—as he had assumed would happen.

"Are you being civilized?" Magnus asked mockingly.

"Just practical." His father said.

Magnus chuckled and settled into the backseat while his father, without saying anything or waiting for any of his men, climbed into the car too and turned on the engine to take them to their destination.

Magnus frowned. It was really strange that his father hadn't brought some of his henchmen with him. Asmodeus had never been one to trust people, on the contrary, so the fact that he trusted Valentine enough as to go unprotected to a meeting with him talked a lot about the kind of agreement they had.

"Why aren't your men with us?" Magnus asked out loud.

"Who says we're alone?"

"I do." Magnus said. "This car isn't that big and I can only hear both our breaths, so unless there's someone in the trunk, which I doubt, it's just the two of us."

Asmodeus chuckled. "I had forgotten how keen your hearing is, all those year in that monastery served you well."

"They did." Magnus admitted. With all the years he had spent in that place, he had grown accustomed to the quietness and, as the brothers had taught him, he had learned to 'listen to the sounds of silence' —a skill that had proved useful in later years. "So we're alone." He concluded.

"Yes, we are."

"Why?"

"Because this is just between us, there's no need to involve anyone else."

Magnus wanted to keep asking and learn more about this bizarre agreement, but he knew his father wasn't going to share anything with him. Things had never worked that way between them. They could be father and son, but the only thing they shared was the blood running through their veins...nothing more.

They remained in complete silence the rest of the way until they got to where Valentine was waiting for them. It took them about half an hour to get there, so Magnus had no idea where they could be—he was just certain it was somewhere in the city.

"Please behave, okay?" Asmodeus warned him, before getting out of the car and closing the door behind him.

Magnus just sighed, waiting for his father to open the back door and help him out, but five minutes passed and nothing happened. He doubted his father had left him there, but the wait was starting to make him feel uneasy. He didn't know what to do, should he try to leave the car or not? He had no idea where he was and what was going to happen to him, for all he knew Valentine could be outside the door and-

"My dear Asmodeus!" A voice rumbled, sending a chill all over Magnus's body. He didn't need to see to put a face to that voice. It was Valentine's, he was sure of that.

"Just as I promised…" Asmodeus said.

"Oh, I see." Valentine exclaimed with satisfaction. "Is he ready?"

"Like I promised he would be."

"Well, that was fast, can I ask how you managed to accomplish that in such a short time? When we talked about this, I thought it was going to be a bit more challenging for you."

"I have my ways." Asmodeus admitted.

Magnus tried not to move, he knew they were talking about him, so the less he reacted to what they were saying, the better.

"Come inside and you can tell me all about these ways of yours." Valentine said. "You two!" He ordered someone. "Help that man out of the car and take him to one of our guest rooms—the ones downstairs." He added with a laugh.

Almost immediately, the door of the car opened and a pair of hands grabbed Magnus by the shoulders and dragged him out of it. Magnus couldn't see anything, so he tried to put some resistance to see if with the struggle he had some luck and managed to get rid of the blindfold and see where he was.

"Stop moving!" One of the men told him.

"What if I don't want to?" Magnus challenged him, spitting on what he hoped was the man's face. He wanted to provoke them, to make them lose their patience so they made a mistake and unwittingly helped him with his plan.

"Then we'll make you." The other one said, slapping him.

The blow was hard, Magnus could feel it leaving a red mark on his face, but it had been worth it. The blindfold from his eyes had moved a little due to the impact and now, if he squinted his eyes, he could actually see a bit of what was in front of him.

He was in the city, he could see the East River, the Citicorp building on the horizon and the ruins of what appeared to have been some sort of hospital or asylum. He wasn't sure, but taking that into account he guessed he was somewhere on Roosevelt Island. But before he could pinpoint his location more accurately, Valentine's men pushed him into the building and led him to the basement.

To his surprise, the guest rooms that Valentine had talked about weren't actually rooms but cages, with bars of polished steel and concrete floors, like those found in animal shelters. There were at least five, but all were empty.

The man to his right opened the first one and threw Magnus inside, not even bothering to free him and therefore making the fall harder for him. He had his hands tied behind his back and with the blindfold in his eyes, his field of vision wasn't very wide.

"Is that how you treat all your guests? I'm impressed." Magnus said sarcastically as he tried to recover from the fall, but Valentine's men ignored him and simply walked out the basement without saying anything else.

When Magnus heard the door closing behind them and was certain he was alone again, he immediately rolled on the floor to finish removing the blindfold and finally see his surroundings more clearly. It was a relatively small cage, but there was enough space for him to move freely. He got into his feet and looked around, trying to find something, anything, that could help him get rid of the handcuffs. The place was empty, but he managed to get hold of a piece of wire and, with it, free himself.

He rubbed his sore wrists and began exploring his new home. The cage wasn't much, just bars and more bars, but the place around it, this sort of basement, was a bit creepy. The stone walls were all cracked and the floor was covered with a thick layer of dust. There were pieces of old furniture lying around in the corners of the room and garbage scattered everywhere. The place could easily be mistaken for a dump.

"You managed to get rid of the handcuffs." A man said.

Magnus hadn't noticed that he had company, but the man was standing in one of the corners of the room, watching him hidden in the shadows.

"That was pretty fast—even for you." The man added, stepping into the light.

"You!" Magnus exclaimed, recognizing him immediately. It was Sebastian or Jonathan or whatever his name was.

"You remember me." Sebastian said, approaching the cage. His hair was no longer black but platinum blond, his natural color, and he was dressed more casually, not as some cheap imitation of Magnus.

"I know who you are, Sebastian Fray, or should I call you Jonathan...Jonathan Morgenstern."

"My my...you did your homework, I'm in shock." Sebastian said in a mocking tone. "Sorry if I'm not really impressed."

"The FBI knows who you are, your days are numbered, you're going to end up in jail for everything you've done!"

"Is that so? And who's going to put me there, huh? Your lovely boyfriend, the Special Agent Alexander Lightwood?" Sebastian asked. "I honestly don't see that happening, first, because he's a dumbass. He goes around pretending to be one of the best special agents that the Bureau has had, but let's be honest, he's not. He chased you for years, and could he catch you? No, the only reason he managed to get close to you was because you wanted to fuck him, that's all. He's not as good as he says he is. And second, because our paths have already crossed, and guess what? He didn't suspect a thing about me—we talked, we laughed and had a really good time together. He even flirted with me at some point during our shared time, he's such an idiot." He said, laughing.

Magnus wanted to kill him, first, because he knew Sebastian was lying, yes, he was aware that he and Alec had met during some family event last year long before Magnus and Alec started a relationship, but he was certain that Alec hadn't flirted with him—Alexander wasn't like that. And second, because nobody talked about his boyfriend that way. So on an impulse and without thinking too much about the consequences, he launched himself at him to try to grab him through the bars of the cage. Unfortunately, Sebastian was quick and managed to step back in time, successfully avoiding Magnus's lethal hands.

"Whoa!" Sebastian exclaimed with a smile. He was having too much fun with this. "You're making these cages look more real...you're behaving yourself like a wild animal. Did the stuff I said about your fed make you angry? Are you jealous because he found me attractive?" He mocked him.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Magnus exclaimed, still trying to reach Sebastian.

"Yeah, if I don't kill you first."

"Jonathan!" Valentine exclaimed, entering the basement. Apparently the meeting with Magnus's father hadn't lasted long. "What have I told you about talking to our friends without my permission?"

Sebastian didn't answer, but sent Magnus a murderous look. His father had a lot of control over him, that much was clear, but Magnus wasn't sure how long that control could last, Sebastian/Jonathan seemed like the kind of man who didn't know how to follow orders.

"I apologize for anything my son has told you, he doesn't know how to follow orders." Valentine said, confirming Magnus's theory.

Magnus just rolled his eyes. "What do you need me for?"

"I'm glad you asked." Valentine said, opening the cage. "Please come with me."

Magnus hesitated. Was this some sort of trap? Would he be executed if he walked out of the cage? Criminals, well, intelligent criminals, didn't let their prisoners walk free...it was dangerous not to say extremely stupid. "Without handcuffs?" He questioned out loud.

"So that you get rid of them again? I don't think so...besides, we're civilized criminals, there's no need to be hostile...or is there?" Valentine asked.

"No." Magnus said promptly.

"Good. Now follow me, and you, Jonathan, go with the rest and wait for me there."

"Yes, father." Sebastian said, quickly walking out of the basement.

Magnus followed Valentine around the place and through some corridors. Like the basement, the rest of the building was in ruins, but thanks to the old furniture scattered there, it wasn't difficult for Magnus to confirm that this place had been, indeed, a hospital of some kind.

"What is this place?" Magnus couldn't help asking.

"An abandoned hospital." Valentine said. "Impressive, isn't it?"

Magnus hated to admit it, but Valentine had found the perfect hiding place. It was well concealed, it had all the amenities, and was large enough to accommodate all his men. Maybe it wasn't perfect in terms of comfort, but that was nothing when you could ensure a safe place for your clandestine operations.

"Now, welcome to the center of everything." Valentine continued, opening a door and inviting Magnus to come in.

Magnus hesitated once again, but after taking a deep breath, followed the old criminal inside. The moment he caught a glimpse of what was waiting for him there, his eyes widened in surprise—this was Valentine's ops center.

"Oh dear God…" He whispered to himself.

There was so much to see there that he didn't know where to start looking. The whole place was covered with maps, pictures, and all sorts of documents. There were boards with some blueprints pinned on them and even small models of some buildings. Magnus wasn't sure what they were, but they all looked like museums or banks.

"Please feel free to look around," Valentine encouraged him, "you may find something familiar."

Magnus frowned, but started to look around. He had to admit that he was very curious about everything. The first board only contained meaningless information about some places in different cities around the country, but the next one really caught his attention. There, among the sea of faces—some familiar, some not so much—was his face. His picture was alongside other criminals he had either met in the past or had heard of before, but what made a chill run through his body wasn't exactly that, but seeing the faces of all the people he cared about just below his picture—Alec, Ragnor, Raphael, Catarina, Tessa, Will, Jem, and even Jace, Izzy and Max.

"As you can see, we've had you all watched." Valentine said, as if explaining what Magnus was seeing.

Magnus stared in horror at all the information Valentine had about him. They had him more than watched, they knew him, they knew how to destroy him. They knew that these people were his weakness, that he would do anything for them. But he didn't let his fear show, and instead, he took a deep breath and just kept exploring.

There were a lot of blueprints on display to be just a coincidence, so he began to examine them. They were from various places in twelve different cities—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. Magnus tried to think what those cities had in common and what could have Valentine so interested in them. They all had museums, they all had important landmarks, but he was certain that this was about something else—something bigger.

"Think…" Valentine said. He was watching him from afar, as if he were measuring his reaction when he finally put the pieces together.

Magnus thought and thought until it hit him: the maps, the small models of the buildings, the twelve cities. "Are you going to rob the Federal Reserve banks?" He asked, stunned.

"We are going to rob the Federal Reserve banks," Valentine corrected him, "but yes, all twelve of them and at the same time to be precise." He confirmed.

"That's impossible..." Magnus said in a whisper. That had to be like the robbery of the century, the amount of money that could be obtained with a score like that was immeasurable. It was the heist of all heists, the equivalent of breaking into Vatican city and emptying all their vaults and archives—something no one had ever tried. The chances of getting away with a robbery like this were virtually nonexistent. It was practically a suicide mission.

"You, better than anyone, know that nothing is impossible in our world, things are just...complicated." Valentine said. "And that's exactly why you're here, you have a knack for complicated things, so you're going to help us do the impossible."

"I…I..." Magnus stuttered.

He knew he was good, but he didn't consider himself good enough to pull this off—this was the big leagues. Achieving something like that would require the best of the best criminals in the world, all working together and coordinated to perfection, not to mention the sheer amount of resources, the meticulous planning, and the contacts. This was a job for someone with superhuman skills, not for a simple forger like himself. "You want me to plan this?" He asked.

"Not exactly, the plan is there, we're going to rob them, that's it. We have everything we could need, inside men, access to all banks, resources, models, blueprints, and even a place for you to practice how to break into the vault. I built replicas when I discovered that they used the same security system in all twelve banks. Anyway...what I need is for you to make this possible. I have the best criminals in each of the cities just waiting for the right moment to act, but I need someone to coordinate them—and I want that someone to be you."

"Why me?"

"Because you have the skill and youth that I no longer possess."

Magnus frowned. "If you wanted me to do this, why did you pin all those other crimes on me? I could have ended up in jail for them...you've not only been stealing using my name, but you have murdered innocent people."

"First of all, just like your father I would have helped you get out of there, you know that I have people inside the system. And second...you're smart, Magnus, you know why I chose you as my front man besides what I just told you."

"To pin this on me too." Magnus said because there was no other reasonable explanation.

Valentine smiled. "You have a reputation, I don't since technically, I'm dead. I needed someone to pin it on, nothing personal, it's just good business. But you can actually thank your father for that if you want, after all, he was the one who gave me the idea. Before I met him I had no idea who you were, I hadn't heard of anyone named Magnus Bane, but I have to admit that I was quite impressed with your work. You know what you're doing, kid."

"So that's why you sent your son to be a cheap imitation of me?"

"No, I sent him to learn a bit from you and to gain some experience, he's going to help you with this, I needed him to be prepared for anything that might happen."

"I work alone, thank you very much." Magnus said.

"You used to work alone, not anymore."

Magnus sighed, getting closer to the boards to analyze the plan. It was good, he could give him that much, they really had everything planned down to the smallest detail. Each city had a very specific plan with escape routes, storage locations, emergency contacts and even contingency plans.

"I suppose that besides coordinating everything, I'll be robbing the New York bank?" Magnus asked just to make sure he knew where he stood. His name was listed on the New York board.

"Yes."

"Predictable…" Magnus murmured, looking at the blueprints and small models of the twelve banks. They seemed made by professionals, they were extremely detailed and helped to see clearly which were the vulnerable places of each bank—the accesses, security rooms, etc. But the more Magnus observed them, the more he realized that they all had a problem: they weren't updated.

"You have the wrong blueprints." Magnus said, smiling. He knew he shouldn't be enjoying this so much, but realizing how stupid and amateur Valentine actually was, was kind of hilarious.

"Excuse me?"

"You have the wrong blueprints." He repeated himself. "These," he added, pointing to the twelve blueprints of the banks, "aren't updated. After 9/11, all federal institutions changed their floor-plan layouts for security. All these blueprints are from years prior to that, you need the new ones for this to actually work. The escape routes and other stuff can stay the same, but your plan to break into the twelve banks is based on the wrong layouts and therefore destined to fail."

Valentine turned around and immediately made a call, asking whoever was on the other end of the line if what Magnus had said could be true. When the information was rectified, he threw the phone to the wall and made it smash into pieces. He was furious.

Magnus just stared at him. That was what happened with criminals who went into hiding, they forgot things and became clumsy, rusted.

"And I suppose you know where these updated blueprints are?" Valentine asked him. There was pure rage emanating from his every pore.

"Of course." Magnus said, trying not to show off too much. "They are in the only place where you'll find them...in the Library of Congress."

Valentine's eyes widened with surprise, but he composed himself almost immediately. "Very well, then, since you know so much about this, you'll have to steal those updated blueprints for me too and give me a new plan to break into the banks."

"If you or any of us steal those blueprints, the FBI will know right away what you plan to do. It's not like you want the blueprints of the banks of the Federal Reserve for your collection, is it? They are stupid, but not that much. Give them some credit, you were one of them."

"Then how do you propose we do this?"

"Hmmm…" Magnus said, pacing around the room to think, "send some men to the Library at night and have them copy the floor-plans without stealing them, you just need to compare them to the ones you have and find the differences—that's not difficult for anyone. Obviously, they will have to turn off the security system so nobody knows what they did there and that's going to notify the FBI of their presence there, but they'll have one hour, maybe two before they get there. It's not a difficult score, actually."

"Very well, then get ready...we'll plan this score and since you say it's so easy, you'll get to do it yourself."

Magnus frowned. "And if I don't want to?"

"I'll kill you."

"I don't care."

"Then I'll kill your federal agent." Valentine said, much to Magnus's surprise. "Yes, your father shared that with me since he learned about it. Clever, I have to say. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer...in bed to be precise."

"If you dare to touch Alec, then rest assured that the next dead body will be yours. You don't know me, Valentine!" Magnus exploded.

Valentine laughed. "Don't threaten me, kid, I'm not like your father, I'm not bluffing just to make you do what I want, I'm serious, so I'm going to pretend that you didn't just threaten to kill me and I'll just ask you again, are you ready to commit a new crime?"

Magnus sighed. He could feel a wave of rage boiling inside him, but he restrained himself. Valentine was right, he wasn't like his father and if his father wouldn't hesitate killing Alec, Valentine much less. He had no choice.

"Fine." He said.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec, along with Izzy and Jace, walked to the elevator and headed to the parking lot of the FBI building. In the last four days they had been doing everything together, trying to protect one another from whatever threat was coming their way and desperately looking for Magnus, giving as an excuse the pressing need to catch Valentine and Asmodeus before something worse happened.

It hadn't been easy, though, after what had happened with Hodge, the Bureau was in complete chaos and with Alec still getting used to his new position, having to hide the real reason why he was so desperately trying to find Valentine and Asmodeus hadn't been an easy task. More than once several agents had asked him about it to which he had replied with a very rehearsed answer about justice and doing the right thing for the greater good, although the truth was that deep inside his heart he just needed to find Magnus and know that he was fine.

"You need any help?" Jace asked him.

Alec still had some difficulty walking and moving on his own although he was getting better. His physical wounds hurt less and less with each passing day, though the internal ones only seemed to get worse.

"No, I'm fine...I can do it." Alec said, climbing into the back of Jace's car all by himself.

His siblings climbed too and soon they were making their way through the crowded streets of the city. It was getting late, so the setting sun was turning New York into a beautiful movie set. Outside the window, buildings and cars passed in a blur, and the people, happy after a productive day, headed to the theaters or bars to have some fun. It was a good distraction to watch them, it helped Alec forget about his problems, if only for a few minutes.

"I really appreciate the security that the Bureau gave us," Izzy said after a while; she was eying through the rear-view mirror the black SUV that had been following them wherever they went, "but having someone tailing us everywhere is making me a bit paranoid." She admitted, while touching up her makeup.

With everything that had happened with Hodge and Asmodeus, the Bureau had decided to put them security around the clock, in case someone tried to hurt them again. That didn't assure them anything, of course, the danger was still there, but it made them feel safer somehow.

"It's annoying," Izzy continued, "I can't even go to my boyfriend's apartment without having three chaperones standing behind me. I thought that having you both as brothers was more than enough to scare boys, but apparently it isn't."

"Tell me about it," Jace agreed, "Clary isn't taking this well either. She and her family are in lock-up and that's driving her crazy. Last night we had a fight over it."

Alec sighed. Hearing his siblings' complaints just reminded him of what he didn't have—the certainty that the person he loved was okay—and that made him a bit angry. They shouldn't be complaining, they should be grateful that both Simon and Clary were safe and protected. "At least you two have them with you and know that they are safe." The words came out of Alec's mouth before he could stop them.

Both Jace and Izzy remained silent, surprised—Alec guessed—by his harsh reaction.

"I'm sorry, Alec." Izzy said. "I didn't, we didn't mean to…"

"I know…" Alec exhaled, ashamed of his own behavior. His siblings weren't to blame for what was happening—none of this was their fault. "I'm sorry too, this isn't your fault, I'm just...it's just that all this's been very difficult for me and-"

"We understand," Jace said, "and as we told you back when you were in the hospital, we aren't going to rest until we've found Magnus. I know things don't look very promising right now, with the lack of progress in these past days and all the problems in the office, but we're going to find him. I promise."

Alec took a deep breath. "I'd never felt so powerless before," he confessed, "I know what I have to do and how I should do it, but it doesn't matter how hard I try, I just can't find him. He's in danger because of me. If something bad happens to him, I will never forgive myself. He's-"

"Nothing bad is going to happen to him, you want to know why?" Izzy interrupted him. "Because we're going to find him. His friends are doing everything they can to help us, the entire office is trying to solve the case—you're not alone, Alec. There's an army of people behind you that won't stop looking for him."

"Yeah, we won't stop, buddy." Jace agreed.

Alec smiled at both of them. Having their support meant more to him than they could possibly imagine. These last few days had been a roller coaster of emotions and he was sure he couldn't have done anything if he hadn't had his siblings by his side—they were his strength in this difficult time.

They remained silent until they parked in front of their building and got out of the car. The guards who had been following them all day immediately joined the people that the FBI had permanently stationed at the entrance of the building.

"Everything is in order, Captain." One of the guards said, addressing Alec with great respect. "Only official residents of the building have accessed or exited the premises, sir." He reported.

"Thank you." Alec said. He was still finding it difficult to get used to people calling him Captain instead of Agent Lightwood or simply Alec, it sounded weird, foreign, as if they were referring to someone else. "Please let me know if you find anything suspicious."

"Yes, sir."

Alec just nodded in acknowledgement and headed to the building with Jace and Iz trailing behind him.

"We should probably order something for dinner." Jace casually suggested as he called the elevator.

"Or I could cook something." Izzy added. "I have ingredients for-"

"No!" Both Alec and Jace exclaimed in unison, interrupting her.

"I'm not that bad of a cook!" Izzy complained, offended. "You two are just too damn special. My food is good, your delicate palates simply cannot appreciate it."

Alec and Jace laughed. Alec didn't want to hurt his sister's feelings, but she was, indeed, a terrible cook, their reluctance to eat her food had nothing to do with them being special or having delicate palates, they just didn't want to die from food poisoning.

"The next time you're starving, I'm going to prepare something delicious and I won't share it with either of you." Izzy said, stepping into the elevator. "Only with Max, he's a good brother, he eats my food without complaining."

"Because he has no choice, he is a kid, he can't feed himself yet." Jace mocked her.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Izzy said, hitting him playfully.

"What? It's the truth!"

Alec chuckled at Jace and Izzy's antics and just when he was about to join them so they all could go to their respective apartments, his phone rang. He pulled the device from his pocket and noticed that the call came from the office.

"Go ahead..." he told his siblings, "it's from the Bureau, it might be important, I'll catch up with you both later for dinner, okay?"

"Okay." Jace and Izzy said.

"Chinese?" Jace asked.

Alec nodded, watching the elevator doors shutting and his siblings disappearing behind them. "Agent Lightwood." He said, answering the call in his professional tone.

"Alec!" Lydia exclaimed. "I know you literally just left and I promised not to bother you for tonight, but I wanted to let you know that I just got the report on the evidence found at Agent Starkweather's house."

"Really? Did they find anything that can help us get to Valentine?" Alec asked hopeful.

The interrogation session with Hodge hadn't helped much to the investigation. His former boss had refused to talk about his ties to Valentine and Asmodeus, and had accepted his sentence without complaining. Alec knew he had done it to prove his loyalty to his criminal buddies and hoping they could help him out of there at some point, but little did he know that he was protecting them in vain. They had given Alec that evidence against him to get rid of him, they weren't going to save him anytime soon.

"No, but they found something quite interesting."

"What?" Alec asked intrigued. He hadn't been able to join the team that had gone to look for evidence in Hodge's house due to the commitments that his new position entailed, but he knew how important that place could be for their investigation. It could be the key to finding Valentine and Asmodeus, but more importantly...Magnus.

"Apparently Hodge had been investigating Magnus in his spare time." Lydia informed him.

Alec felt the blood draining from his body. Those weren't the news he had been expecting. If Hodge had been investigating Magnus, then he could have found something that exposed the nature of their relationship. "Is that so?" He asked, trying to keep his emotions at bay. He hadn't taken Hodge's threat to make him fall seriously, but now he was starting to worry.

"Yes, he had a lot of information about him, the team retrieved two whole boxes. What's really strange is that this information isn't really from him as we know him today, but from before he became Magnus Bane."

"What do you mean?"

"Hodge managed to discover the real man behind the criminal."

"What!?"

"According to what Hodge found, Magnus was born in a small town in Indonesia. His mother raised him a few years as a single mother, but then she married a writer who would later leave them. Apparently, Magnus's mother got sick and that caused her husband to make a run for it. Anyway, when Magnus's stepfather left, Magnus and his mother moved to Spain where they lived for a couple of years. Well, that was until Magnus decided to follow his real father's footsteps and become a criminal."

Alec turned pale. The only person who could have shared that information with Hodge, other than Magnus himself, was Asmodeus, and that made Alec wonder since when those two had been talking and why Magnus's father had decided to share that particular story with Hodge of all people.

"And that's not all," Lydia continued, "we aren't sure if this is true or not, the team is still trying to verify it, but according to Hodge, Magnus's biological father is none other than Asmodeus Brown."

Alec lost his breath. There were no more secrets—Magnus's true identity had been completely exposed. But why? He knew that if Asmodeus had decided to reveal his blood connection with Magnus, he must have had a reason. Asmodeus was a calculating man, he never acted without a motive, there was always a hidden plan, there was always a-

Realization hit Alec like a bulldozer.

Asmodeus wanted people to know that he was Magnus's father. He wanted to take credit for whatever it was that Magnus would be forced to do now that he worked for them.

The criminal had used Alec to recruit Magnus and force him to join him and Valentine in whatever scheme they had. If Magnus made it out alive of all this, his name would be placed next to Valentine's as one of the best criminals of all time; so by telling Hodge the true nature of their relationship, Asmodeus had made sure that when the time came people knew that he had been the man who had taught Magnus everything he knew.

"Alec, are you okay? Are you still there?" Lydia asked.

"What?"

"It's shocking, right?"

"Oh, yeah...very." He said vaguely. Asmodeus's game was sick, but it gave Alec a bit of hope. If Asmodeus had bothered to prepare the ground for this possible outcome it was because he believed it could happen, and that meant that Magnus had a slight chance of surviving when this was over. "Can you send me a copy of the report and the files they found?" He asked. "I'd like to read them myself."

"Of course."

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Not at the moment." Lydia said. "I'll let you know if anything comes up. In the meantime try to rest, okay? You've been working nonstop since you left the hospital, you need a break."

"Thank you." Alec said, though he wasn't sure if a break was an option after what she had shared with him. Now more than ever he had to find Magnus and help him. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, bye." Lydia said, and Alec hung up, exhaling loudly.

He called the elevator and leaned his head against the wall as he waited. There was no doubt that these had been the most stressful and horrible days in his life and he couldn't wait for them to be over. He desperately wanted to erase the last four days and go back to what his life had become from the moment he had met Magnus—a sweet balance between work and love.

"Captain, are you alright?" One of the FBI guards asked him. He was patrolling the lobby of the building.

"Yes, thanks." Alec said. "I'm just tired...have a good night."

"You too, Captain." The guard added, walking away.

The elevator arrived and Alec used the time it took him to get to his floor to remember those last few weeks he had spent with Magnus. They had been so different, so carefree...so perfect. They had not only had the chance to be together without having to hide from Alec's siblings, but they had come so close as a couple that Alec was almost certain they had become one at some point.

And now that all that was only in the past, he couldn't help feeling a lump in his throat. The very thought of never having that life back put him on the verge of tears. This couldn't be the their last chapter together—they still had a lot of things to write on their book.

"I'm going to find you." He whispered to no one in particular and more like a promise he was making to both of them. Because it didn't matter if his boyfriend had asked him not to look for him, if he'd asked him to stick to the plan and just solve the case, he wasn't going to abandon him. Not now, not ever. For Alec now the capture of Valentine and Asmodeus was just a bonus he was going to get for having Magnus back in his life.

The elevator came to a halt and Alec stepped out of it, walking in front of his siblings' apartments and doubting whether or not to knock on their doors to share with them what Lydia has just told him. It was important, but not something that couldn't wait a few hours, so he decided to let them rest and wait until dinner to share with them the new information and what he thought about Asmodeus's intentions.

Alec opened the door of his home and almost died of a heart attack when he realized that there was a man comfortably sitting in his living room, waiting for him.

"Hello, Alec."

It was Ragnor. The criminal was serenely drinking a glass of what Alec assumed was the wine Magnus had brought the last time he had been there.

"How did you...?" Alec asked perplexed because the building was surrounded by federal agents. He had no idea how Ragnor had managed to evade them, if they found out he was there, they could send him straight to prison.

"The window." Ragnor said simply.

In that moment what Magnus had told him the first time he had been in his apartment echoed in Alec's ears as a warning to which he hadn't paid attention: "this isn't a very safe building, the emergency stairs lead to an alley and there's no surveillance, you should consider moving somewhere safer."

"Wait here!" Alec told Ragnor, and without even waiting for an answer, rushed into the hallway to knock on his siblings' doors and make sure they were fine. If Ragnor had managed to get into Alec's apartment without being noticed, then none of them were safe there.

"Izzy! Jace!" He yelled, knocking on their doors with great despair. Maybe he was overreacting, but he didn't care. He'd rather be called a drama queen than a fool for not taking Magnus's warning seriously. "Izzy! Jace!" He insisted.

Izzy came out almost immediately looking at him with a really confused expression. "Alec, what the hell? Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Alec nodded and just kept insisting on his brother's door. Knowing that Izzy was fine had been a relief, but he was still worried. "Jace! Jace!" He exclaimed, practically banging on Jace's door. "Jace! Open the door! Jace!"

"Alec, what the hell is going on?" Izzy asked, but Alec ignored her. Jace wasn't opening the door and he had a bad feeling about this already. "Jace! Jace!"

"Alec, what the-"

"I think Jace is in danger, Iz." He said, throwing himself repeatedly against the door to try to knock it down.

"What are you talking about? Maybe he's just taking a shower, I was about to take one." She said. It was clear that she wasn't understanding the reason behind Alec's sudden concern.

"No, Ragnor is here, okay? He's in my apartment, he managed to get through the security." Alec informed her, while still trying to knock Jace's door down.

"What?"

"What you heard, this place isn't safe."

"Let me!" Izzy said, when she noticed that Alec was still not strong enough to knock down the door himself.

Izzy took some steps back and, with that admirable strength and fearlessness she possessed, kicked the door, opening it at the first attempt.

The moment they saw the interior of the apartment, they both gasped in horror. The place was completely upside down, it was an absolute mess. There was broken furniture everywhere and clear traces of a hard struggle.

"They took him, Iz!" Alec exclaimed—his worst nightmares were coming true. First Magnus, now Jace.

"Who!?"

"Valentine and his men."

"But, why!? How!?"

Alec pointed to the wall in front of them. "The damn window! Magnus warned me about it! Goddammit!"

o-o-o-o-o

Since his last encounter with Valentine, Magnus's conditions had changed significantly. He was still locked in the cage, but some of the criminal's men had brought him a mattress, some books so that he could keep himself entertained while waiting for Valentine to call him again, and an old oil lamp. It wasn't much, but it was definitely better than being on the floor and with nothing to kill time.

He sighed and closed the book he had been reading. Today had been a very strange and stressful day and he needed to get some sleep. After spending hours and hours going through Valentine's plan to rob the Federal Reserve and at the same time planning the break into the Library of Congress, he felt as if his head were about to explode.

There were so many things to solve, so many things to consider to avoid unnecessary casualties, and he needed to have a clear mind for it. His style and Valentine's were completely different, for Magnus stealing was a form of art whereas for Valentine it was just a means to get what he wanted, so he was aware that he would have to find a middle ground for this to work for everyone.

Magnus closed his eyes and tried to ease his breathing to fall asleep quickly, but a commotion upstairs distracted him. This place was so quiet that if something out of the ordinary happened, it could be heard everywhere.

"Take him down!" Magnus heard Sebastian exclaim and almost immediately a couple of men entered the basement.

There wasn't much light, so Magnus couldn't see clearly, but he was sure they were bringing someone in. He couldn't tell who it was yet, but due to the body type, he guessed that the newcomer was a man. He was tied around his hands and feet and had a sack on his head to prevent him from seeing where he was.

"Look, Bane." One of Valentine's men said. "We brought you some company. You have a thing for those of his kind, but don't you dare flirt with this one, he's taken." He added, throwing the poor man into the cage next to his.

The two men laughed and walked out of the basement, their laughter echoing in the silence of the night.

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked his new confinement roommate. They had thrown him into the cage like a sack of potatoes.

"Magnus?" The man asked.

Magnus recognized the voice immediately and passing his hands through the bars between their cages, uncovered the man's face. "Jace?"

"Yeah…" Jace said, trying to sit up, but the ties in his hands and feet weren't letting him move freely.

"Try to roll on your back so I can help you get rid of the ties in your hands."

Jace nodded and rolled until his back was pressed against the side of cage where Magnus could easily untie him. They hadn't used handcuffs to hold him, but ropes.

"There, now you can untie your feet."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, but what are you doing here? What happened? Wasn't the Bureau supposed to protect you all?" Magnus asked worriedly. There were two thousand scenarios playing in his mind, but he was sure none of them came close to what had really happened.

"Yes, but they managed to get past all the security and took me. I think it's because of my connection with Clary. Valentine wants Jocelyn and her to join him when this is over, or that's what that bastard said. He wants his family together again. He doesn't know where we took them after we discovered that Hodge was a traitor, and I think in his desperation he thought that kidnapping me was a good idea."

"He's not as smart as you'd think." Magnus admitted. "And how's Alec?" He asked, trying not to show how worried he was about him. He had already made peace with the idea of never knowing if Alec had received the necessary attention after what Asmodeus had done to him, but now that Jace was here, he had a chance to ask and thereby reassure his conscience. Because it didn't matter what people could say: what had happened to Alec had been his fault. "He was seriously injured when I last saw him and-"

"He's fine, don't worry." Jace reassured him. "After your father's men dropped him in the Bureau, we took him to the hospital. Well, not right away, of course, you know him, he made sure to first arrest Hodge before passing out, but he's fine."

"And his leg?" Magnus asked. He remembered that serious burn. In fact, that nasty image had been haunting his dreams in the last four days.

"It's fine. He has a little trouble walking because it still hurts him, but he's fine. Nothing to worry about, he'll probably have a scar, but nothing more. He'll be the same Alec he's always been."

Magnus exhaled relieved. Alec was fine and it was as if suddenly, he could breathe properly again.

"And, are you okay?" Jace asked him.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine." Magnus said a little taken aback by the genuine concern. Until today he had had the impression that Jace didn't like him very much. He had thought the agent tolerated him because of Alec, but that he wasn't his biggest fan.

"They didn't hurt you?"

Magnus shook his head. "They can't hurt me, they need me."

"You know what they're after?"

Magnus nodded. "The Federal Reserve."

"The...what!?"

"Valentine's planning on robbing all twelve banks at the same time. I have to admit it's a brilliant plan, very ambitious and completely suicidal, but brilliant nonetheless."

"You know when he's planning on doing it?"

Magnus nodded. He didn't know why Jace was asking him all these questions if he had the same chance of being free and stopping Valentine as Magnus, but he answered him anyway. "I'm guessing that in a few days or weeks. He wants me to coordinate it, but not everything is ready."

"You!?" Jace asked alarmed.

Magnus nodded.

"It's dangerous…" Jace continued, "you said it yourself, it's practically suicidal—a score like that won't end without guns being fired."

"I know." Magnus admitted. He'd known that from the moment he'd put the pieces together. "I know that my chances of survival aren't high, but I don't have much choice. I'm forced to work with him."

"Then we have to stop him before he can go through with this!"

"How? It's not like we can do much locked up in here." Magnus pointed to their cages.

"I don't know, but we have to find a way to send Alec a message." Jace said. "I know where we are, they covered my eyes until we got here, so I saw a bit of the surroundings. We're at this old smallpox hospital on Roosevelt Island, Renwick's."

"Renwick's?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Magnus asked.

Jace nodded. "Positive. Now all we have to do is let Alec know so he can come help us and-"

"I don't want to involve Alec in any of this, I asked him to stay away from this mess and-"

"Magnus, did you really believe he was going to listen to you? You know him as much as I do, if not better. In these past days he's been trying to find you like crazy, he's practically turned the city upside down just to find you."

A wave of emotion threatened to overwhelm Magnus. Hearing that Alec hadn't given up on him despite all that had happened was heartwarming. And even though he wanted to be mad at him for being so damn stubborn and not doing what he was asked to, he couldn't.

"So whether you like it or not, he's already involved." Jace continued. "And he and the rest of the team back in the Bureau are our only chance to get out of here alive. Now, I have no clue what's going on here or how many men Valentine has working for him, but maybe if we bribed one of them, we could send Alec a coded message so he knows where to look for us and-"

"I may have a way to send Alec that message without having to bribe anyone." Magnus commented.

"How?" Jace asked.

Magnus lowered his voice just in case anyone was listening, though he doubted it. No one had dared to set foot there since Valentine's men had brought the mattress—not even Sebastian. "Do you remember that I told you that not everything was ready for Federal Reserve robbery?"

Jace nodded.

"Well, that's because Valentine based his whole plan to break into the banks on the wrong blueprints."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I noticed it when he was showing me everything. After 9/11, almost all federal institutions changed their layouts to increase security. All the blueprints that he has are prior to that date."

"Did you tell him?"

Magnus nodded. "It was the only way to win some time, although I must admit that I also wanted to see his face when he realized how stupid he had been." He said as he laughed.

"So that means he needs the new blueprints to put his plan in motion." Jace said.

"Exactly."

"Where are those blueprints? Are they easy to get?"

"Kind of," Magnus admitted, "they are in the Library of Congress."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"So, is he going to steal them?"

"That was his first plan, but it would have given him away immediately, so I suggested that instead of doing that, he could break into the Library and just update what he already has."

"Practical." Jace admitted.

"I know, that's been the key to my success on the field, but anyway...I could use the opportunity to send Alec a message with our location. If we succeed this could be a real opportunity to ruin Valentine's plan. If Alec finds this place before we move to the warehouse from where Valentine's going to monitor the robbery, he could prevent some major tragedy from happening. And if not, well, at least he could know what Valentine's up to. There's a room on the top floor that has everything there is to know about the plan, names, addresses, hiding places, schedules, etc. To actually stop Valentine, Alec needs to find that room." Magnus said.

"Wait, wait, wait...all that sounds good, but are you saying you're the one who's going to break into the Library of Congress?" Jace asked.

Magnus just nodded.

"No, but you can't do that!" Jace immediately exclaimed.

"Why not? I don't know how much of what happened back with my father your brother shared with you, but I had to sign a contract in exchange for his freedom. I'm under their control. If I don't do what they say, they are going to kill Alec...and all of you, too."

"But you can't." Jace insisted.

"Would you rather have your brother and family killed?"

"No, of course not, but you can't do it."

"Why not?" Magnus asked again. Jace's insistence was intriguing, but before the agent could satisfy his curiosity, Valentine and some of his men entered the basement, interrupting their conversation.

"I'm glad to see you two have found each other's company...enjoyable." Valentine said, walking in front of their cages. "I wasn't sure if you two really liked each other. It mustn't be easy to be friends when you're on opposite sides of the line, I can understand when there's sex involved, but I know for a fact that by-the-book agents don't mingle with criminals...no matter how charming they may be."

"The contract I signed covered Alec's family." Magnus immediately complained. Jace shouldn't be there, that had been part of the deal.

"I know…" Valentine admitted, "but to begin with, that was a contract you signed with your father, not me. The one who, let's say, is forced not to touch your precious agent's family is him, not me. And second, dear Jace here isn't exactly your agent's family."

"He's his brother!" Magnus protested.

"Adoptive brother...it's not the same." Valentine said in all his ignorance. It was clear that he had no idea how families worked. "But I'm not here to talk about bloodlines and contracts, I'm here because it's time for your friend and I to have a little talk—man to man."

Valentine's men immediately opened Jace's cage and dragged him out of it, handcuffing him immediately.

"I'm not going to tell you where Clary is." Jace spat out.

Valentine smiled wickedly. "We'll see about that." He said, snapping his fingers and motioning his men to take Jace out of there. "Have a good night, Bane." He added, before disappearing and leaving Magnus alone again.

Magnus, unable to do anything but curse in frustration, sighed and did what he hadn't done in more than a decade—prayed. He prayed because after all he had seen and all he had learned about Valentine, he wasn't sure if he was going to see Jace alive again.

4...