|| Ophelia Whitestorm ||

I stood in the Ops center with Alec who was working on one of the monitors. I heard the door open and it revealed Isabelle in a red dress.

"Heard from Mom. Max is on his way." Alec said and we followed after Isabelle.

"Feels like just yesterday we were taking knives away from him." Isabelle said.

"He's lucky to have you as a tutor." I smiled.

She stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at us. "Maybe it's a mistake putting me in charge of him."

"Are you kidding?" Alec asked and looked at her in disbelief. "Izzy, you're the smartest one here and one of our toughest fighters."

"But its just... I don't totally feel like myself yet." Isabelle crossed her arms.

"What about those mundane meetings you mentioned?" I asked.

"They're helping, even though they think I'm talking about heroin." Isabelle said which made me chuckle.

"Shadowhunter down!" Jace rushed in the room Clary followed behind him.

"Milo Keytower." Clary mentioned.

"What happened?" Isabelle asked.

"From what I understand his runes were carved out. Is that true, Jace?" Inquisitor walked in the room and towards us.

"Yes, after he was attacked by a wolf." Jace answered.

"He had multiple bite and claw marks." Clary added.

"What kind of werewolf randomly attacks a Shadowhunter?" Isabelle asked.

"One who's trying to send a message." Alec said.

"Or one who's asking for a death wish." I said.

"And get the attention of the Clave." Imogen added.

"We need to find them before this happens again." Clary said.

"Well, I think I have a pretty good idea who it is." Imogen said and I know she's referring to Luke.

"You don't mean Luke, right?" Clary asked.

"Jace, bring in Mr. Graymark. I'd like to ask him some questions.." She said.

=====

Jace and Alec were sent out to get Luke and bring him to the Institute. It didn't take long, they got back pretty fast. Jace and Alec brought Luke to the Inquisitor's office.

I was on standby at the Ops center waiting for Alec and Jace to get back from Imogen's office. I sat down by the computers and worked a bit on the case.

"Hey." Alec jogged down the small flight of stairs and towards me.

"Hey. What happened?" I asked and spun my chair to his direction.

"They brought Luke to the Lab to do some DNA tests. To see if he killed Keytower." Alec explained and sat next to me looking kind of bothered.

"Anything else?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Jace is appointed the new head of the Institute once the Inquisitor heads back to Idris." Alec explained and he sat on the chair next to me.

"Must be nice to be Shadowhunter royalty." I shrugged.

"Isn't your family Shadowhunter royalty too?" Alec asked.

"Just my Grandmother, the sister of Imogen's husband." I said.

Jace walked towards us and leaned against the desk, "Hey." He said.

"Congratulations." I said, and Alec stood up

"It should've been you. I told her that." Jace said.

"The Clave was never gonna hand it to me. I'm– nevermind." Alec said.

"Look, Alec, I didn't want this. I swear." Jace said.

"You're a Herondale. Get used to the perks." Alec said and the alarm started blaring.

"What happened?" I asked, as Clary rushed in the Ops Center with Lindsay and 2 bodies being brought inside.

"We found Rosegreen and Penmount dead in the Bowery. Runes carved out." Clary answered.

"Just like Keytower." Lindsay added.

We walked towards the bodies, "Except Penmounts been drained by a vampire." Alec said.

"And Rosegreen was lanced by a Seelie Knight." Jace mentioned.

"It's not just a lone wolf." I muttered.

"It's multiple Downworlders." Clary said.

"Luke was right all along. The Downworlders want revenge. This could be the start of an uprising." Jace mentioned.

They brought the bodies to the Lab and everyone's attention turned to Imogen. "Another Shadowhunter was found dead last night in Williamsburg. This time, murdered by a warlock."

I exchanged looks with Alec, and Imogen continued, "In this time of crisis, it is essential that we maintain strong leadership. That is why I am naming Jace Herondale head of the Institute, effective upon my departure to Idris. Dismissed."

We walked towards Jace who had a smile on his face, "Let's not make a big deal about this. She's still in charge until she leaves."

Isabelle scoffed, "Still! Being appointed head of the Institute and finding out you're a Herondale? Don't let it get to your head."

"So Herondales are what, like, the Kennedys of the Shadow World?" Clary asked.

"It's an old Shadowhunter family, like the Lightwoods and Whitestorm." Alec explained.

"But we're the Kennedys." Isabelle smirked.

"Let's focus on what matters. The inquisitor wants us to reach out to our allies to see what they know. At this point, she considers all Downworlders suspects." Jace said.

"That's casting a pretty broad net." I said.

"She can't possibly think any of our friends did this." Clary said.

"We'll prove that to her. Since Luke's DNA cleared him, we should collect samples from all of our friends to clear them as well. I'll make an Institute-wide announcement." Jace explained.

"I'll go talk to Simon." Clary said.

"Great." Jace said and Clary headed out.

"I'll go see Raphael." Isabelle said.

Alec immediately said, "No."

"Why not?" Jace asked.

Alec sighed and Jace looked confused, "Am I missing something here?"

"Jace, I'm a yin fen addict." Isabelle said.

"Excuse me?" Jace raised his eyebrow.

Isabelle sighed, "It's a long story, but I'm better now. Not perfect, but better. Definitely good enough to hunt down whoever's murdering our people."

"Okay. We'll take all the help we can get. Just report back with any leads, okay?" Jace said and left the room.

"I'm going with you." Alec said.

"No." Isabelle said. "I'll have more traction with Raphael if it's just me. I'll leave as soon as Max is settled. Alec, I can handle this. You just have to trust me." And she left the room.

"I am going to Magnus. I'll see ya later." I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He grabbed my arm, "I'm going with you. I'm not letting you go out alone, especially after everything that is going on."

I sighed and smiled, "Alright."

We made our way to Magnus' loft, I knocked on his door and he immediately opened it. "Ophelia. Alexander." He smiled, looking a bit overdressed.

"Wow. You look very..." I trailed off

"I was bored, needed a change." Magnus said.

I walked in the loft with Alec behind me, Alec closed the door behind him and I gave Magnus a kiss on the cheek.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, Ive been worried sick. With all these attacks, you shouldn't be out on your own." He said and rubbed his thumb on my cheek.

"Well, Im not on my own. Im here with Alec, who hasn't let me out of his sight and I'm here with you." I smiled "High Warlock of Brooklyn" I said with a smirk.

I remembered what I had to ask Magnus and I walked in his small hallway.

"A body was found in Williamsburg." Alec said. "Have you heard anything?"

"No, but warlocks don't report their misdeeds to me. If they did, my phone would never stop ringing." Magnus informed.

Me and Alec exchanged looks and I nodded, knowing that I have to be the one to ask him.

"Magnus, I need your hair." I said, "It's just a strand for a DNA test to clear you."

"I didn't realize there was anything I needed to be cleared of." Magnus said, looking a bit offended. He stepped closer to me "Do you not trust my word?"

"Of course I trust you. I know you had nothing to do with this. It's just this is..." I sighed, "It's Clave orders."

He nodded his head, "I see. So, again, you're just blindly carrying out orders? What happened to following your gut?"

I opened my mouth thinking of words to say, but Alec spoke up instead, "Magnus, Shadowhunters are being slaughtered. We're just asking for a strand of hair. Let's not be overdramatic."

"Well... I wouldn't want to be overdramatic." He looked at me and raised his hand and pulled a strand of hair from his head and placed it inside a small envelope.

"Thank you.." I sighed.

"Get out." Magnus said avoiding my gaze.

"What? Magnus, come on." I said.

He snapped his fingers and the door opened, I released a sigh and walked out with Alec.

"I feel like this is a mistake." I sighed.

"You did what you had to." He placed a hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

=====

We got back to the Institute and minutes later Simon came rushing in with Clary in his arms, "Oh my God, Clary?" I walked towards Simon.

"What happened?" Jace asked and walked towards Simon.

"She was attacked. We were on the phone and the next thing I know is–"

"Alright. Bring her to her room." I said.

Simon carried Clary up to her room and I went to mine. I changed out of my clothes and into new ones. I walked over to Max's room to check up on him, "Max?"

"Hi Elia." He said, he was sitting on his bed with a cloth in his hand.

"What? No hug?" I pouted.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, he walked towards me and I gave him a tight hug. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." He said and sat back down on his bed.

My phone chimed and I opened to see what it was, apparently they found another body. "I gotta go. Don't leave your room."

I walked over to the Ops center and stood next to Alec as they brought in the dead body. They opened up the bag and it revealed a body same like the other, runes carved out.

"It's Hillwater." Alec said.

"Looks like a vampire attack." I pointed to the Vampire bite on his neck.

"We need a new plan." Jace said.

"These are from the R&D team in Alicante. We've always been able to track Shadowhunters through their runes. Now we can track Downworlders through GPS chips." Imogen said as she held a case in front of us.

"What are you saying? That we round up the Downworlders and involuntarily chip them?" Alec asked and I intertwined my hand with his.

"Mr. Lightwood, perhaps your personal relationships are clouding your objectivity." Imogen said and looked at our hands and at me.

"My personal relationships have nothing to do with it." He answered and tightened the grip on my hand, "You know what? Maybe they have everything to do with it, because it was a warlock who told me to always follow my gut, and that is just plain wrong."

"No. Downworlders preying only Shadowhunters, that is what's wrong." Imogen said.

"You sound like Valentine." I said.

"Valentine wants those people dead. I am trying to help them." Imogen explained.

"'Those people'?" I sighed and turned to Jace.

"Jace, you can't do this." Alec said.

"Alec, look at this. Too many Shadowhunters are dying." Jace said.

I sighed and Alec pulled me away from them, "Hey? Are you–"

"I'm alright. Don't worry about me. You should go check on Clary." I sighed.

=====

Isabelle just got back from Raphael's and Max was with her but, by the way it looks. Raphael wasn't the only one she visited. Alec was standing right behind me. She brought in the Seelie named, Kaelie. We walked over to her and she explained what happened.

"We need to tell Jace." Isabelle said and we followed her to Jace's office.

Isabelle sat down and I sat beside her while Jace and Alec stood close to us. "Kaelie was responsible for the deaths of those Shadowhunters. She had everything. Werewolf claws, Vampire fangs, Seelie blades. She used it to make it look like a Downworld uprising." Isabelle explained.

"The question is, why?" Jace asked.

"We're not sure. But it had to go beyond covering her tracks." Alec said.

"I agree." Isabelle said.

"That's great work, Iz." Jace praised. "I hear Max is back up on his feet, ready to take over the world. How are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Getting better one day at a time." Isabelle smiled.

"Good. We'll keep investigating Kaelie. But in the meantime, my first official act as hear of the Institute is gonna be somewhat controversial, so I'm gonna need your help." Jace said.

Alec took a step towards Jace and Jace smiled, "You're taking over."

"The Seelie investigation?" Alec asked.

Jace smile grew wider, "No. I mean, you, Alec Lightwood, are now the head of the New York Institute."

Me and Isabelle stood up at the same time with big smiles plastered on our face.

"Can you do that?" Alec asked, smiling widely.

"Yeah. I mean, like you said, being a Herondale comes with certain perks. Naming successor is one of them." Jace smirked.

I looked up at Alec and he chuckled, his smile growing wider and wider.

"You were right. Downworlders and Shadowhunters. We're all a mix of human, angel, and demon. If we let the Clave forget that... we deserve a revolt." Jace said his gaze moving between me and Alec "I'll always be a soldier. But you're a leader, Alec."

"I have your first assignment." Alec smirked.

"Bring it." Jace said.

=====

Everyone else went to the bar for Simon's small performance. Jace was sent to remove the chip he planted on Maia. I went to Magnus' loft, I slowly opened the door and I saw him staring at the view from his balcony.

I walked over to him slowly, "Magnus, you were right. You never have to prove yourself to me." I sighed "I love you, Mag."

"I love you, too." He smiled and he placed his hand on my cheek and I pulled him into a tight hug.