// FOUR //

❝please tell me this isn't our batmobile❞

"Stiles, what if we get caught?" Alec whispered as we walked down the halls of the institute. I roll my eyes, continuing to walk ahead of him.

"We're not going to get caught, Alexander. Relax. I am the master of thievery." I smirked, looking back as he shakes his head. "And, you know, I could have done this on my own."

"But my dad's stele is the only one who could open the weapon vault,and I'm the only one who could have got it." He says cockily and I scoff.

"No need to be cocky, Alexander." I can tell he was smirking from behind me. It was late at night and so I came up with the idea to sneak into the arsenal and grab some seraph blades. Our parents felt like we only needed to use them while we were on a mission, but me being rebellious, I decided on going against it and taking Alec with me.

We make it to the arsenal and I look at Alec, "Well, get to work, Mr.CockyPants." He let's out a fake laugh and goes towards the weapon vault and draws a rune on it, letting it slide open seconds later.

"I want to get the bow and arrow." Alec said happily, loving how we're sneaking around. I smile at him secretly, watching the big smile on his face as his grabbed the bow and arrow.

I grab a blade a smirked as it lit up, "See, I told you late night training would be fun."

"We haven't even started yet, Stiles." He told me.

"I'll take that as a challenge, Alexander Lightwood." I grin, "Now come on." I run off towards the training room and he follows after. We weren't really allowed to practice with actual weaponry besides baboon sticks and our own hands.

We make it to the training room and I hear Alec say, "Let me aim arrows at you and you block them with the seraph blade."

I nod, loving the idea, "Okay. Just don't shoot me."

"I'll try not to. Just depends on how sarcastic you want to be with me." I scoff and without warning an arrow is shot my way, though I quickly deflect it with my blade.

"What the hell?" I almost yell and he shrugged, "What if it hit me?"

"Whoops?"

I bit at my lips, "Try again, but warn me, okay?"

He nods and aims an arrow, "Ready?" I raise my blade, nodding, only for an arrow to come my way. Immediately, I dodge the arrow, watching as it fell to the ground, "You can be quicker than that."

"I'm not superman." I scoffed, "Try again." He aims another arrow and shoots it, and I hit it with my blade, making it break in half, "I'm Batman, actually."

"More like Robin. I'm batman." Before I met Alec, he knew not a single superhero, but after weeks of forcing him to learn about them, he's suddenly interested.

"Why must I be Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time. But if we're being honest, you're robin when you and Jace go on a mission." I tell him and he chuckled.

"It's the other way around, Robin." I growl lowly as he smirked.

"Just shoot the damn arrow."

\\

I lay out on my bed, staring up at me ceiling. Because I don't trust you. Those words was in the back of my head on repeat. He doesn't trust me. My first friend that I ever had doesn't trust me.

My phone rings, so I rolled over in my bed, seeing Isabelle's name pop up. I huff slightly answering the phone, "Hello?"

"Get the hell up and meet us at Pandemonium. We're we're going to search for a warlock." I shoot up from my bed at her words.

"Why in the world do I have to go?" I asked her and she sighs on the other line.

"Izzy, come on."

I hear a faint voice but stern voice in the background, "Who's that? Is that Alec? Is he going with you?"

"Um, well, yeah." She said, "Please come. Group mission part two?"

I give in to the pouts she make afterwards, "Fine, I'll meet you there."

"Yay!" She cheers just when I hang up. Not in the mood, I just pick out a regular white tee and a red flannel to go with my black jeans. I walk out my room after and go towards the arsenal, grabbing my seraph blade and dagger, attaching it all all to my hip.

Pulling out my stele, I roll up my sleeve and activate my speed rune. I speed my way through the streets, though I stop by an alleyway when I hear a distinct voice call out Clary.

I run the rest of the way down the alleyway, only to bump into the familiar redhead, "Oomph."

"Ouch." I groan and look at her, seeing she had more pressing matters.

"No. She was just trying to help me. Now, she's gone." Clary says, holding a necklace that was around her neck.

I look at the confused, "Sorry to be 'Johnny Come Late', but who's gone?"

"Dot. Clary's warlock friend." I nod at Izzy's response, my lips in the shape of an O. I can feel Alec not far from me, just staring me down. If I wanted to, I could ask if there was a penis on my forehead, but I couldn't even look at him.

"Clary, I'm sorry." I say softly, and she looks around, hoping this 'Dot' person pops up out of thin air.

"You don't understand. Dot's like my big sister." Clary whimpers and we all look at her sympathetically.

"It's not safe here. We have to go back to the Institute right now." Alec states, not even an ounce of sympathy in his voice, making me roll my eyes.

"So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up? What about my memories? They can't just be gone?" Clary wonders and I only stood in silence, trying to put the pieces together.

So, Valentine is alive and back, and he kidnapped this new shadowhunter's mother. After dealing with so much unbelievable stuff in Beacon Hills, this isn't even surprising.

"There is another option." I hear Jace say and my eyes widened, already knowing what he's going to say.

"Don't even... Absolutely not. Hell no, Jace." I tell him, my voice harsh. God, I sound like Alec.

"I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers." Jace says as a reply to me.

I scoff, "Well, I am! They're creepy as hell. Worse than the ghost riders." I mumble the last part to myself.

"Who are the Silent Brothers?" Clary asked and I decide to answer her.

"They're Shadowhunters with superior powers. Who possess the ability to recover memories." I kiss at my teeth, and before I said more Alec spoke.

"A process that can also kill you, so there's that." I glance and him and watch him shrug.

"Your bedside manner is abysmal." Someone said beside me and I turn my head to see a kid with glasses and dark brown hair.

"Who the hell is this? Another mundane?" I say baffled and looks at me.

"I'm Simon. Simon Lewis."

"Stiles." I introduced, bluntly, grunting at how many rules we have broken so far.

"We've broken at least 18 Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There's no way. I won't allow it." Alec orders and Jace looks him straight in the eyes with all seriousness, which made us all mentally jump back a step.

"This isn't our choice to make. This is Clary's decision." We all glance at each other, worry all written on our face.

"Jace, you can't ask her to do this." I advise and Izzy nods, stepping in.

"She doesn't know what she's facing. She's not prepared." Izzy worries, and Jace only silently looks at her.

"If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers we need, I'm listening." Clary stated and we turn to her, silence consuming us all, "That settles it."

Jace smirked, "See? I told you she's one of us."

"I still beg to differ." I muttered and Izzy nudged me as we walked towards a bright yellow van, "Please tell me this isn't our batmobile."

//

"Yeah, this place isn't creepy. Not at all." I hear Simon say and Isabelle chuckled.

"Don't tell me you're afraid." Izzy smirked and he Simon scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? I was born afraid... which sounded a lot better in my head."

"It's okay, mundane, I don't like this place either." I tell him and he nods unsurely, "Let's check it out. Make sure nobody's here." I say to Jace and the others, taking out my dagger.

"Wait here a minute." Jace told Clary, "I wanna see if it's safe." Not even a whole two days and this girl has clouded Jace's judgement and destroyed a good majority of everything. That's great. Well for me anyways because now the tension is away from me and on her.

"Jace, you're not the only one going to check the surroundings. Just a heads up, Robin." I smirked and he glared at me.

"Hey." Alec calls as we began to walk at a good distance away from Clary and her clingy best friend. "If something goes wrong... if something happens to her, that's on us. You know that, don't you?" He tells Jace as Izzy and I stay on the sidelines.

"Yeah. And you know exactly what'd happen if Valentine gets the Cup before we do." Jace retorts, "She's lost everything, Alec. I know exactly what that feels like. And what's your problem with her, anyway? Your family always used to welcome strays."

I finally look at Alec and see how his demeanor changed. "You were never a stray." I frown slightly to myself, at his words. Jace wasn't a stray and I wasn't a loyal friend to him. Good thing to know.

"The point is, nothing's changed. We're in this fight together. There's just... one more of us." We all glance at Clary and Simon, seeing them a private conversation. I look back at Alec and see his eyes locked on Jace. He won't look at me the way he does Jace.

He looks at him with a burning desire to kiss him, but he holds back the temptation. If they ever do get into a relationship, though Jace is completely straight for Clary, their parabatai bond would break. But even though we all know that, Alec stares as Jace like he knows he's forbidden fruit, but still wants a taste.

And I know what's that like because I stare at Alec the same way.

"Clary. Come on, it's all clear. Let's go." Jace speaks and I clear my throat.

"I think I'm going to stay back. Keep on the lookout." I state and Jace she's his head at me.

"No, come with us. I don't like you out here by yourself." Izzy says and I try to stand my ground.

 "I didn't agree to this." I defend and Iz rolls her eyes.

"Yes, you did. Now let's go." Jace says, not giving me another option, before I'm dragged by Izzy.

I used to hate the stories about the City Of Bones. Obviously, I couldn't tell anyone that I was scared to go because, I'm a shadowhunter and they're just more superior and greater. Though, have you seen how they look?

"You are so Robin." I grunt at Jace and he chuckles.

"Whatever you say, Batman." Jace taunts and I only stick my tongue out at him before him and Clary walk off ahead into the dark. I look around as I'm pulled, listening to the wind lightly blow the bushes in a creepy manner.

God, I truly hate the City of Bones.