The Hanged Man is a willing victim, someone who has chosen the path of sacrifice to accomplish a higher goal. He is like the ultimate martyr, putting his self-interest aside and giving up his personal needs for the greater good.

Hodge stared down at the unconscious form of Lydia Branwell lying motionless across the debris of a broken table, blood trickling down from a cut at her temple onto the carpet. He shook off the ache in his hand from the force of the blow and stooped to pick up the cup from the ground. Hodge clutched it in one hand as he twisted the ring on his finger.

An image of Valentine shimmered to life before him.

"I've done what you've asked me to do." He said.

"You have the mortal cup?" asked Valentine.

Hodge held it up as proof. Its surface gleamed in flashes of gold and iridescent light under the overhead lights. Hodge took a moment to admire it, thinking of the possibilities that had now opened up to him. Now that he had the cup he could finally be free of this institute. "Help me break my curse."

Valentine stepped forward with his stele. "I suppose a deal is a deal."

Valentine started drawing a rune over the circle rune on Hodge's neck, and talked as he worked. Listening to what he was saying helped distract Hodge from the burning on his neck.

"I'm going to reunite my family, starting with Jace and Jocelyn. It's imperative that you bring me Jocelyn, if Clary finds a way to wake her while she's still in the institute then I'll never get her back."

"Jace isn't going to come to you willingly. You'll have to find a way to draw him out of the institute." Hodge advised.

"We'll find a way. Don't you worry." He stepped back as the curse of Hodge's circle rune came undone. Already Hodge could feel the binds of the curse that tied him to the institute grounds fading away.

"Now go to Jocelyn and I'll open a portal for you there," order Valentine.

Hodge twisted his ring again and the image of Valentine vanished into thin area. He left the room quickly, shutting the door to hide the side of Lydia sprawled on the floor from any prying eyes. With the drama of the wedding still felt by everyone in the institute it would be unlikely that anyone would come to talk to her, preferring to give her her space after being rejected at the altar. He relieved Luke of his station watching Jocelyn and, once he was alone again, twisted his ring to call Valentine back.

"I'm here. How do I open the portal?" He asked.

"Hold the cup up towards the far wall and think of my location. A portal there will open before you."

Hodge did as he was told and sure enough a purple doorway materialized against the far wall. Hodge circled Jocelyn's body till he stood at her feet. He took hold of her ankles and pushed, walking her body through the portal until she had disappeared on the other side.

"Hey Hodge have you seen—" Alec's voice faltered as he entered the room and saw the scene in front of him. Alec seemed to have just come from his room. He'd changed out of his wedding suit into something more comfortable. Hodge watched as Alec's confused gaze flickered from himself to the image of Valentine standing where Jocelyn's body had once floated to the portal in the corner of the room.

"What are you doing?" He questioned, voice guarded. Hodge didn't miss the way Alec's fingers twitched towards his shoulder where his bow and quiver hung glamoured, body sliding into a tense crouch.

Hodge sighed and slipped the cup into his messenger bag. "You should have stayed with Magnus, Alec. I didn't want to have to hurt you."

Alec didn't bother with a retort, saving his energy instead for action. The glamour fell away as Alec drew his bow from his shoulder, but he didn't have the chance to notch an arrow for Hodge's reaction time was faster. He chucked one of his chakram blades, snapping the string of Alec's bow in half. Alec dropped the bow, startled, his bleeding hand clutched to his chest protectively.

Hodge twirled the other blade still in his hand and advanced across the room towards Alec. "I'm really sorry about this, Alec."

"No," Valentine spoke up from behind him. "Don't kill him. We can use him."

"Screw you," spat Alec, face tilting up to stare at Valentine and only emphasizing the heat in his gaze. "I'm not doing anything for you."

Hodged turned back to Valentine with a knowing shrug. "I could have told you that. He's of no use to us. He doesn't believe in our cause."

"It doesn't matter what he believes," said Valentine with a smile. "It's who he knows. Jace is his parabatai, isn't he? If we hold him captive, Jace is bound to come for him."

"Jace," whispered Alec. Hodged watched Alec take a step backwards towards the door, saw his eyes flicker towards his only escape. He was going to try to warn Jace, that urge to protect his family members at all cost overriding even his own sense of self preservation. Hodge had trained Alec, honed that instinct of his himself. He knew Alec just as much as Jace claimed to and he was on him before he could run away, yanking him back across the threshold with a hand clamped tight over his mouth and an arm across his chest.

Alec struggled as Hodge pulled him back towards the portal on the far wall, fighting against Hodge's restrictive grip with sharp fingernails and painful elbow blows to Hodge's torso, even going so far as sinking his teeth into the hand across his mouth. Hodge threw his weight backwards, keeping Alec's feet off the floor, intent of giving him as little traction as possible to fight back with. Somewhere around halfway across the room, Alec realized he wasn't going to escape and changed tactics, kicking out at anything within reach. He knocked over tables and decorative ornaments, glass shattering on the floor. Hodge understood that Alec thought if he could make enough noise he could draw other shadowhunters to his aid. Hodge was intent on not letting it come to a battle in the institute.

He dragged Alec through the portal. It rippled and shimmered purple as Alec reached out to grasp its edge in a last ditch effort to remain at the institute. His fingers slipped loose with a hard yank from Hodge and then they were through to the other side and the portal was closing before their eyes.

Hodge dumped Alec on the ground unceremoniously and shook out his aching hand.

"Man, Alec. No one told me you were a biter." He admired the set of teeth marks in the fleshy part of his palm under the overhead lights.

"Why?" asked Alec from his fallen spot on the floor. Hodge did is best to ignore the younger man's glare. "Why betray your family?"

"Because I had a family in the members of the circle before I joined the institute and just like you, Alec, I'm loyal to my family."

"Don't say that like it means you and I are the same." snapped Alec. "I'm not a traitor to my own kind."

Alec pushed off the wet cement of the abandoned factory and got to his feet. He took a moment to turn and admire his surroundings, or Hodge thought, more specifically the rogue shadowhunters that guarded the area. The boy had to understand that he was outnumbered.

A moment later, Alec turned back to face him. Hodge could read his expression like his thoughts were written in ink across his forehead. He'd accepted the sacrifice that had to be made. He knew that he might not survive this. "I might not be able to stop this from happening, but there's nothing stopping me from making your lives as difficult as possible."

Hodge smiled and motioned for two guards to come forward. They gripped Alec tightly by either arm and led him away towards the holding cell.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Hodge murmured to himself as he watched them go.