Magnus was just in the process of reviewing everything that happened to Hodge, Clary, Jace and Simon, when Alec and Isabelle came in. Magnus tried not to stare at Alec too much, but as soon as he walked in, he could see the mental image of Alexander kissing him come up in his mind. He averted his gaze to Isabelle instead, who looked very smug for some reason.

"So? What happened?" she asked without preamble and Magnus sighed, his hands on the table. He felt very tired, it was 3 in the morning, after all, but then again all of them, including himself and even Simon and Clary were used to going at their jobs at night. It was what came with the profession, so to speak. Alec leaned on the doorframe, while Isabelle clicked over in her heels, hopping onto the desk and sent a beaming smile at Simon, who instantly blushed. Magnus decided to ignore it and answered her instead. "Like I just finished telling Hodge, Valentine promised to contact me, after he verifies I'm good for the information I gave to him. He wasn't exactly... friendly and eager to let me back in, but it would seem his grudge against you, especially Hodge" Magnus sent the man an amused glance "outweighs his mistrust against me. Besides, he has reasons to believe my word." he concluded. Isabelle quirked an eyebrow. "Really? And what are those reasons?" she asked and Magnus saw Jace tense a bit, eyes on him. He rolled his eyes. "Reasons." he said in a cryptic manner and heard Alec scoff. 

He snapped his head towards him, but Clary spoke up. "I think that we can trust Magnus to do what he needs to do. From what I've understood, you want Catarina and...Ragnor, was it? You want them safe, why would Magnus jeopardize their lives? If this is going to work, we have to trust each other." she said, sending Magnus a small smile, which the conman returned. The redhead was sweet and petite, but Magnus knew she would fiercly protect her family, should Magnus break the said trust. "Clary's right." Alec said then, sending a glare towards Jace, who held up his hands. "Alright. Just know, that we will be watching your every move." the blonde said without taking his eyes off Magnus and he returned the stare. "That would probably be the best." he replied, smirking and Jace rolled his eyes.

"Who was the woman? I know that the other one there was Raphael, but who else was with Valentine?" Isabelle asked, clearly they had seen Valentine's companions while keeping an eye on Magnus. The conman touched his neck instinctively, but lowered his hand as soon as he saw Alec narrow his eyes at him. "Don't know. Never seen her before in my life, but she spoke Russian. With a faint American accent, so she must've been in the country for a long time, but she was still fluent." Magnus quickly said, to deflect the attention from his movement. Isabelle seemed fazed. "You speak Russian?" she asked and Magnus gave her a cocky smile. "Darling, I speak 7 languages, besides English." he said to her and Simon's and Clary's mouths both hung open. Jace only scoffed. "So what, I speak 5." he said and Magnus chose to ignore it, especially after Isabelle said "two weeks in France doesn't make you fluent, Jace". He stood up and went towards the wall, to lean on it and felt their gazes on him, making him uncomfortable. He still couldn't get over the fact that these people had been wanting to capture him not too long ago. And now he was working not against them, but with them.

"She has got to be a paid mercenary of some sort." Magnus stated and Hodge furrowed his brow. "And why's that?" Alec asked, with something in his voice that Magnus couldn't decipher. It was almost like he was...annoyed? "She moved fast, even for me, and her movements were precise when she advanced on me, she knew exactly what she was doing. Her demeanor, accompanied by the bruises on her neck make me think that she must've been abused - could be a 'side effect' of her training. I know of a few underground training facilities in Russia that have a tendency to make their mercenaries to be the absolute best... by any means necessary." Magnus ended his conclusion and saw that Clary and Isabelle seemed worried. "We should at least try and find her profile. Did you get a good look at her? Enough so Simon could make a visual picture?" Jace asked and Magnus nodded. Simon stood to attention, almost always ready to do what needed to be done. Magnus almost laughed at his eagerness, he could bet that the reason behind this was that Simon wanted to impress Isabelle, every chance he got. 

"Did she hurt you?" came a soft question and Magnus turned his head towards Alec, who was still leaning on the doorframe, his hazel eyes fixed on Magnus. His face showed almost no emotion, but his eyes showed something else. Magnus knew that it was concern. He tried to stop his heart from beating faster, failing miserably. "No, I'm fine." he said quickly, not wanting to elaborate and certainly not in front of everyone else. Isabelle was the only one who knew about the kiss and Magnus wanted it to stay that way. Even more so, he had to stop indicating to Alec that there was anything else between them, then just mutual respect. They were on the same side, for now. But not for long.

Isabelle's eyes caught Magnus's and darted between him and her brother, before she smiled a little. "We should go to bed. If Valentine attacks the safehouse, we'll know and we have already done everything we can to warn them." she said, hopping off the table and stretching. Magnus caught Simon staring and smiled to himself. "Right, good idea. I'll-" Jace said, moving towards Clary, who held up a hand so fast, Magnus wanted to burst into laughter. "Oh no, you don't! I do not need a body guard, whilst I'm sleeping. Besides, Simon can come with me, right, Si?" she said, making Jace narrows his gaze at Simon, who seemed at a loss for words. "Um, yes, sure, Fray." he said and Clary grabbed his arm, waving goodbye to them all. Isabelle eyed them for a second and then sighed. "Alright, see you in the morning." she said, moving towards the exit. She leaned up, kissed Alec on the cheek and then waved at Jace. She winked at Magnus, who tried hard not scowl at her then she was gone. Jace eyed both Alec and Magnus, before he made his exit with Hodge, neither of them saying a word.

Rude, Magnus thought. Then they were alone. "Okay, well. I'm gonna go to sleep, it's been a long day." he quickly stated, trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. When he tried to push past Alec, the man caught his arm. He really did have an iron grip. "Magnus." Alec said softly and Magnus tried not to melt at the tone of his voice. "You were lying before, I could tell." the bounty hunter said and Magnus gave him a confused look. "No, I told you everything Valentine said to me, word for word." he stated, but Alec shook his head. "I meant about the woman. You said she didn't hurt you, but you touched your neck, like there was something there, and your eyes were fixed on the wall when you said you were fine." he explained and Magnus felt his head spin a little. Had Alec always had such good observational skills? He tried not to think about the fact that maybe, Alec was just trying to ensure Magnus's well-being. He felt the taller man give him a hard gaze and he sighed impatiently. 

"Well, she grazed me. Didn't even hurt." he confessed, waving it off like it was nothing. To him, it was. He'd been in much worse situations, although the woman gave him the creeps. Alec's right hand was still on his arm when his left moved towards Magnus black coat and before he could say anything, Alec had drawn the zipper, revealing the red streak on his neck. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was still just as crimson as before. A very shallow cut, in Magnus's opinion. He stared at Alec as the taller man's eyes studied the faint line. His eyes went back to Magnus's and his mouth was set in a hard line. "Don't lie to me, okay? Like Clary said, we need to be able to trust each other." he said sternly and Magnus only nodded, completely stunned at how Alec was still holding him and how his eyes were inspecting him, like he was badly hurt. "I don't like this. This woman is dangerous, and I don't like the fact that you'll be in there, alone." Alec said, releasing Magnus's collar but didn't take his hand off Magnus's arm.

Magnus tilted his head to the side, giving Alec a quizzical look. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself. And I won't be alone. Cat and Ragnor will be there, somewhere, and I'm sure Raphael is on our side. Besides, it was just a little cut, honestly, it's trivial." he said, but this appeared to be a wrong thing to say, because Alec let out an annoyed huff and gave Magnus a 'are you serious' look. "This time, yes, but the next time, you could be dead!" he told Magnus, his voice a little louder. Magnus tried to calm his beating heart yet again. Was he worried about him? "Alexander, that could happen to anyone, anytime. I trust you to know that I won't be putting myself in unnecessary danger, unless required to." he tried to console the man, even though he didn't know why. Alec rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't have to be putting yourself in danger at all." he said quietly and Magnus felt his breath get caught in his throat.

Alec's eyes were now watching him tentatively and by accident, Magnus's eyes went to his lips for a second. He was so close to him, he could feel his body warmth against him. Magnus felt his heart beat quicken, realizing he was leaning in. He stopped himself, just as Alec did the same. "I have to go." he said and started to step away, but Alec's grip tightened to the point where it actually hurt and he twisted Magnus toward him, maintaining eye contact. "Don't ever downplay your life. Understand me? And never lie to me again." Alec said harshly and before Magnus could reply, Alec had let him go and he was staring at the man's retreating back. He slumped against the doorframe and felt his heartbeat slow down but his mind was running a hundred miles an hour. He could still feel Alec's vice like grip on him and his stern voice echoed in his mind. Magnus closed his eyes - he knew he was already screwed. He had gotten too close. It was time to stop.

***

Magnus tucked in his gun and his knife, before he put his coat on him, covering up the weapons. Lacing up his boots, Simon was still talking. It seemed the guy just couldn't stop. "Okay, and then, this, this can knock a grown man out for at least an hour. The darts are laced with a very powerful sedative, and then this-" he stopped when Magnus straightened up and patted his shoulder. "I got it, Sheldon." he said, making Jace snicker behind him. "It's Simon." the nerd said, his face gloomy. "Whatever you say. How do I look?" Magnus asked instead, giving a twirl. "This isn't a fashion show." Jace said, but he had an amused smirk on his face. Magnus had a feeling that him being in danger was lightening up the blondies mood. Clary nudged Jace, so the boy almost fell off the chair he was sitting on backwards. "Amazing, as always, believe it or not, but black looks great on you." Isabelle stated, sighing dreamily. Magnus winked at her. "Everything, not to mention everyone, looks good on me." he replied, making Isabelle snicker and Hodge gave a cough. "If you are all done with idle chitchat, here's the plan." he said, giving Isabelle a pointed look, but the girl just shrugged her shoulder while Hodge held up the tablet. Magnus tried not to roll his eyes at Hodge and fixed his hair. Alright, so he was going to be Valentine's evil henchman, but that didn't mean he couldn't look great, right? The only thing that wasn't black were his dark blue pants and his make-up, that was glittering blue.

Alec cleared his throat, taking the tablet from Hodge. The man let him, nodding to Alec. Magnus had learned, that even though Hodge was the main man in the operation center, Alec was the leader of his team and when it came to operating on the field, Hodge always let Alec take charge. Magnus couldn't deny that the fact that Alec had a commanding side helped with him wanting to tackle him to the ground. He shook his head when the tall man started talking. "Okay, so last night, Valentine did attack the safehouse. All of our people are alive and well, although we lost a lot of weaponry, but we saw this coming. After that, Magnus got a call from Valentine, saying he wants to meet. The location is here." Alec pulled something up on the screen and they saw the image of a street a few blocks away. "It's close, so obviously he is daunting us. That is not the final location to where Magnus is being transported to, so we can't really be sure where they will take him, since we can't follow them. But," Alec continued, giving Magnus a harsh look and Magnus felt a little uncomfortable, after Alec had already scolded him for lying about the cut ",Simon figured out a way to track Magnus, Without Valentine finding out."

Simon came up and he looked very important, his face all business. Magnus glanced at Isabelle, who seemed more than interested in what Simon had to say. He suppressed a snicker. "You're not going to like this." Simon told Magnus in a hesitant tone and the conman waved his hand. "Try me, Sherman." he replied smugly. Simon groaned but made no comment about his name and went on. "This little bugger," he said, showing them a very, very small chip between in his fingers ", goes under your skin." he finished, smiling at Magnus. He stared at Simon, horrified. "Goes where now?" he asked with mild panic and saw with annoyance, that Alec was silently laughing with Jace. "Under your skin. It's so small, you won't even feel it. It's designed not to create any complications and it's easily extractable." Simon said, clearly not getting Magnus's panic. "I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about how you will be getting it under my skin." Magnus said, ignoring the looks on Isabelle's and Clary's face who were by now, snickering just like the two boys.

Simon gave him another confused glance and raised a needle. "Yeah, that's a no from me." Magnus stated firmly, backing up instantly. Alec laughed. "You, the great Magnus Bane, is afraid of needles?" he asked with a strained voice, clearly trying to mask his amusement. Simon smiled faintly. "Oh, then we're in the same boat. But sorry, this is the only way." he said but Magnus shook his head. "Nope, not happening. I can take care of myself, no need to track me." he said quickly, but Hodge shook his head, eyes glinting. "And you think I will let you go rogue, Bane? No way." he said and Magnus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe you are afraid of needles." Isabelle said, laughing and Magnus closed his eyes, trying to block the images of the needle going into his arm, his veins contracting and the sensation of the poisonous drug flowing through his arm. He shuddered for a moment, shaking his head to get rid of it. "I mean, that's kind of hilarious-" Jace was saying, when Magnus heard Alec suddenly speak. "Jace, stop." his voice was soft again, just like last night. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder when he opened his eyes, staring at Alec's hazel orbs. "You okay, Magnus?" he asked and the conman nodded, masking his emotions again. "Fine. Let's do this then." he said, trying to ignore the silence in the room. Alec looked at Simon and then back at Magnus. "Let's go down to the lab, then. Simon, the tracker is there, right?" he turned, eyeing the nerd who gave him a confused stare. "No, it's right-Oh, yes." he rambled, when Alec gave him a glare. "This is just a prototype. We need to get the real one downstairs. Magnus, this way." Simon quickly said and Alec smiled at Magnus, who avoided everyone's eyes on him. He breathed out when they got downstairs and Simon opened up the drawers to take out the necessary things. Magnus leaned closer to Alec, where they were standing. "Thank you." he just said, not wanting to seem too vulnerable, as he already was, but not wanting to stay silent either. Alec stared at Simon while he spoke. "No need. Everyone has their baggage." he said quietly, making Magnus think of what might Alexander's be. 

"Okay, here, sit down. It will be quick, I promise." Simon said, clearly now getting what Magnus was feeling, at least partially. His eyes were pitiful, which Magnus hated. "Hey, Simon? I'm fine, okay, stop with the fuss." he said cheerfully, making Simon blush, hearing Magnus use his correct name. "Right, anyways." he replied, taking Magnus's hand when he sat down. He rolled up the sleeve and took out the needle. Magnus felt his vision blur for a second. His breathing became heavier and slightly erratic. Okay, not now, you are not panicking, not now, he thought, trying to stay focused on the wall opposite to him. "Hey, look at me." Alec said, suddenly on his right, while Simon was on his left. He set his gaze on Alec and felt his nerves calm as Alec's hand held his. "You're doing great." he said sweetly and Magnus found himself smiling, his heart slowing down. He still felt the sting on his arm but ignored it, staring at Alec instead. He looked so beautiful, any way you looked at him. Magnus was really not lucky, it would be way too hard to shove Alec away, when he was being this sweet and caring. Magnus was no-one to him, yet he cared for him like he did for any other of his team's members. 

"Done!" Simon exclaimed happily and Magnus let out a sigh. Simon was right, he couldn't feel the tracker under his skin. Alec smiled, too and went to let go of Magnus's hand, but the conman squeezed it for a minute, feeling the warmth flow through his arm and the rest of his body, calming him further. "Thank you." he said again, this time whispering and his face much closer to Alec's than it had been before. The man gave him a small smile. "You don't need to thank me. I'm always there for my teammates." Alec said softly and at that moment, Magnus realized he wanted Alec to call him other than that, so much. Simon cleared his throat and Magnus shook his head out of his thoughts. Thank god for Sheldon.

"Alright, we should get back up? And get Magnus acquainted with the rest of the plan?" he asked. Magnus saw Alec glaring daggers at Simon and he couldn't help the smile forming on his lips and the way his heart leaped in his chest. Ignoring it all, they moved back upstairs to complete their briefing. Magnus felt the awkward tension in the air, when they returned and saw Isabelle give him a mournful look, but he shrugged it off and couldn't wait to get out of there. "Alright, while Magnus is undercover at Valentine's, we need to keep tabs on Jonathan. Me and Isabelle will be alert at all times, in case Magnus would need us - even though he can't contact us, the tracker shows where he is. He is to tell Valentine, that he is supposed to 'report back' to us all the time, in order not to arouse suspicion, so if he's not back by sundown, we'll know something's up." Alec was back into his commanding tone. Jace sighed loudly. "This is so fucking complicated. Do you realize his like a double-double spy or something?" the blondie asked and Clary chuckled. "Yep, like Snape." she said. Jace gave her an incredulous look. "The who?" he asked. "From Harry Potter." Magnus and Alec said in unison and then stared at each other. 

They both, along with Isabelle and Clary, burst into laughter, while Jace exchanged confused glances with Simon. "Alright, fun time's over. Alec?" Hodge said, ruining the mood once again and Magnus rolled his eyes at him. "Right, ahem. So that's what me and Isabelle will be doing along with moving around the places we know Valentines has used previously for his operations. Jace and Clary will be on Jonathan duty, but be careful, he is still a danger to Clary. And Simon will be our eyes and also, our communication. We don't speak to each other directly, only through Simon, in order to confuse anyone who is listening on to us. Right now, Valentine must be doubling his surveillance on us, just like we are." he concluded, staring at them all with his hands behind his back and eyes stern. Magnus smiled a little, marveling at his posture. He really was something. "Yes, sir!" Jace said, mockingly saluting him and Alec rolled his eyes. 

"Alright, move out." Alec commanded, and they all shuffled towards their assignments. Magnus sent Alec a quick glance and saw that the other one was already watching him. He saw Alec blush a little when he caught him staring and smiled to himself. Then he inwardly groaned. He should really stop, before he got caught into something that will end in disaster.

A/N: This took really long to write. Like seriously. Anyways, let's hope that Magnus will be okay. Also, the fact that Magnus is working for the Lightwoods while being a spy to Valentine, who thinks he is a spy for him at the Lightwoods, but really he is a spy for the Lightwoods is giving me headache. Jeez. *Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated* Okay biii xx