ISpy

Chapter 5

Alec, Izzy, and Jace walked to the Institute in silence. Alec couldn't believe he had let this happen on his mission. This had been his chance, and he blew it. Once they got to the agency, Alec looked at his siblings. "I'll tell dad. This was my mission, I'm responsible..."

"No, Alec, don't put this all on yourself. We'll all tell him." Izzy assured him.

Alec nodded and made his way to Robert's office with Jace and Izzy in tow. Once he got there, he knocked on the door.

"Come in," Robert said. Alec opened the door and stepped inside. "Ah, you're here with the mission report? How'd it go?"

"Well...Jessica is gone." Alec said.

"Gone? They got her too? What happened?" Robert asked.

"We were walking back to the Institute, and they took her. I heard like, a muffled shout or cry, so I looked around and Jessica was gone." Alec explained.

"Did any of you see who took her?" Robert asked. They all shook their heads. Robert blew out a breath. He was frustrated. "Well, at least tell me you found something."

"Actually, we did. We found a stele around some dried blood. We think it's one of our agent's." Jace said. "Alec has it on him now."

"Take it to the lab, see if they can track them." Robert said. "You all are dismissed."

They left without another word. Alec could see the disappointment in Robert's eyes. He knew he had let him and everyone else down on this mission. He gave the stele to Jace. "You take it in. Tell me when the results come in." Alec said. He walked off and went to his room without another word.

Once he was there, he went to his bed and got under the covers. He wasn't sleepy, he just wanted some comforting. So he put the cover over his body and stayed like that.

That is, until he heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he said, but his voice sounded muffled under the covers.

Someone opened the door and entered the room. "Alec, get out of those covers and stop feeling sorry for yourself." It was Izzy.

She yanked the covers down before Alec could get a firm grip on them. "The lab results are in. Jace told me to tell you. Now get your ass up and come on." she said.

Alec reluctantly got out of bed and and followed Izzy. If they got some good results, that would at least be a minor success in an otherwise completely failed mission.

They met Jace at the lab with Raj, who Alec assumed had the lab results. "Everyone is here?" Raj asked.

"Yeah, now tell us what you found." Jace said.

"Well, your 'stele' was a fake. It was actually a tracking device. And I couldn't find anything on it."

They all began to talk at once.

"A tracking device?"

"You couldn't find anything on it?"

"How could someone make a fake stele?"

"I can't answer all your questions at once. All I know is once I got it, the tracking had been disabled. So one can assume it was only to be used for kidnapping one or all of you."

"And you couldn't find anything on it? No fingerprints? Anything?" Alec asked.

"Not a thing. It was completely wiped clean. That stele told us nothing, and it did us more harm than good." Raj said.

"But how could someone make a fake stele? No one has the technology or the design but us." Izzy said.

"They probably got one of the steles from the people they kidnapped, and replicated it. I'm sure it wasn't that hard." Raj said.

Raj was really starting to get on Alec's nerves. He was already upset that the stele ended up being a dead end, and Raj seemed to only be making it worse.

"I think we're done here." Alec said with hostility.

Raj put his hands up in defense. "Just trying to help." he said.

"Well, you're not," Alec said. He walked off and made his way to the training room. He needed to let off some steam.

Jace caught up with him. "Hey, slow down," he said. Alec hadn't noticed how fast he was walking. He slowed his pace to match Jace's. "What happened back there?"

"Raj is a little bitch, that's what happened."

"True, but its more than that, isn't it?" Jace asked.

"No."

"Don't lie to me, Alec. I know when something's bothering you."

Alec sighed. "I was the head of this mission, and I let Jessica get kidnapped."

"Don't put all the blame on yourself. Just because you were the head of the mission doesn't mean.."

"I picked up the stupid stele! I lead them right to us!"

"It could have just as easily been me to pick that stele up. We were both there." Jace replied. "This is not your fault. I refuse to let you think that."

Alec looked at Jace. He was looking at him with stubbornness and determination. "Okay, Jace, I don't blame myself."

"You're just saying that to get me off your back."

"No, I'm not." Alec said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to train." He made his way to a punching bag and took his shirt off. He punched the bag over and over. He let himself forget about everything that was going on, and just focused in on the bag and his swift punches. He didn't know for how long he stood there, but he knew once he was done, he felt a bit better.