NUMB

28 - A New Hope

"A.. artificial tissue." Magnus exchanged a horrified look with Alec. "That... that means he knows our location. He can... attack us again. Fuck!"

"No... no, no! Mom is finally out of that hell! She has been tortured and raped for years, no! There has to be a way to remove it from her body! Mr. Santiago, do you know something, anything?" Alec asked, his chest rose and fell with the quickening of his breath.

"I'm not certain, Mr Lightwood." Raphael said, "Cryptic Bleeder's inventions are unique. We will keep trying though-"

"Trying?" Alec fumed, "My mom is not going back to that hell! She-"

"Alexander, you need to breathe and calm down," Magnus said and gently rubbed the man's back. "Our priority is to shift to a different place as soon as possib-"

"Magnus! Wh-"

"Listen to me!" Magnus said sternly, "We need to tell everyone what happened here. Move to a new place which is safer for all of us. For Maryse too. As for that stupid chip, I know someone who can remove that without any issue. Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"Wait what!? Magnus, Cryptic Bleeder isn't just some amateur. His-"

"Raphael, I know that. And I know what I'm saying. I know we have a lot to catch up on but let me call Uncle Val first. We need to act quickly. Alexander, call your family or whoever you want to, they need to know."

*Half an hour later*

"Mom has a chip inside her!?" Izzy's tiresome eyes managed to bulge in horror. Majority of the people came as soon as they told them about the attack. After his encounter with Izzy and Simon earlier that day, Magnus knew that those two would have so many questions for him, for Uncle Val, but that could wait. The truth will eventually come out someday. But that day wasn't today.

"This whole time we were thinking that we're finally a step ahead, just to..." Jace trailed off. "How the heck!?"

"Raphael, thank you for acting so quickly," Clary said. "We really appreciate it. But how are we going to remove it? We need to do that first before we think of shifting anywhere. I can contact my sources, but it might take hours or days -"

"We don't have that much time, redhead!" Alec snapped.

"I know, Alec," Clary said, frustration visible in her voice. "I understand the urgency, but it's not a simple-"

"Stop arguing all of you!" Magnus interrupted. "Like I said, don't worry about that. If you all want to discuss something, plan on what to do next. And...where the fuck is Uncle Val!?"

"Magnus, you still need to explain to me what is going on with you," Raphael said. "You barely told me anything, and, how is your uncle Val going to solve anything?"

"And what are we even supposed to plan?" Jace asked. "Those people are unpredictable and... well... way too smart and evil."

"Magnus, seriously, how is Val going to help us in any way?" Alec said, his voice trembling with fear and desperation. "All I know is that he'll be pissed about the condition of his home. Other than that -"

"What the fuck happened to my house!?" Valreen's voice echoed as he ran inside. "Forget that, what in the name of the lord happened here? How did these people passed the...." He trailed off and his gaze stopped on the new face among them and he raised his brow.

"I'm Raphael Santiago. Head of Crimson Dragonfly Organization, Mexican branch. And Magnus' old friend too. I got the information about the chip and the New York branch was occupied so I had to take matters into my own hands. Some of them are my team members too. We can explain you -"