Chapter 1: Legendary
We, the daughters of Grace Marshall, swear to bring worldwide peace and justice.
We place our duty before ourselves and dedicate our entire lives to the International Affairs, just as our sisters before us did.
By our blood, tears and sweat, we protect the innocents of the world.
A mission that the male race failed, we will succeed or die trying.
To fight we stand
To surrender we fall...
History has been secretly altered by the world's most looked down upon people; women. Ever since the beginnings of civilization, they have been silenced and hidden away. They were denied education, denied rights and forced to submit to the will of a man.
Not every woman will submit to such a fate though. The most legendary woman that ever lived was Grace Marshall. During the American Revolution, she and a few other wives banded together. The war was dragging on much too long and it was time to take matters into their own hands. They formed a secret society and began learning what had been denied of them for ages. They became educated, they became fit, they became spies...
After the American Revolution ended, Grace Marshall knew it was because of the women. America was now an independent country and they owed that to the female race. Of course, no one would admit that. No woman received a pension or reward for her heroic deeds. History left no record of them.
Grace, however, had other plans. So many women lost their lives for their country and they will soon be forgotten as time passes. Grace pooled in all her money and opened a small parlor school only for young girls. From that point on, the era of female spies began.
Almost a century later, a giant school opened. Grace Marshall never lived to see her small dream grow into a worldwide renowned academy but Grace Marshall's Academy for Prestigious Young Girls became the world's most elite boarding school recruiting girls from all over the world.
To the outside world, it is a school for only the top students in the world but the hundreds of girls attending were spies in training. From a young age, they began learning languages, combat, sciences, and the unknown history of their kind.
After graduation, the girls begin working in a program called the International Affairs. They are divided up into different parts of the world. Each person played their own role, whether it was in the dangerous Co Ops field or the mentally demanding science labs.
Katelyn Hathaway sat on the shores of a beach. It was her final summer vacation. The last chance for her to live for herself. It would soon be her final year at the academy. As soon as summer was over, Katelyn would be diving into her senior year.
The ocean waves lapped at the shores over and over. Katelyn always had a fondness for the ocean. The warm sand and the rhythm of the oceans created a strangely peaceful pattern.
“Katelyn?” a soft voice called.
Katelyn turned. “Hey,” she said to her sister.
Susan took a seat next to her on the sand. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“Spying,” Katelyn said, smirking. “What else?”
Susan smiled back. “You ready to graduate?”
“Of course,” Katelyn replied. “This is what I’ve wanted all my life. I want to graduate the top of my class and go into Co Ops. I want to be the best of the best.”
“You know…” Susan said. “You don’t have to prove to anyone anything. Just because Mom-“
“Don’t bring her up,” Katelyn said, her jaw clenching. “This has nothing to do with Mom.”
Katelyn's mom, Minako, had been a famous spy known by all in the IA. She was the heroine that every girl at the academy dreamed they could be. Everyone expected great things from Minako and Minako never disappointed them. She knew no fear and her dedication to the International Affairs could only be described as passionate.
What no one expected was Katelyn’s father, Samuel Hathaway. In the prime of Minako’s career, she recruited the help of a FBI agent while on a mission. No one was surprised that Minako completed the difficult mission with flying colors but everyone stood shocked when she fell in love with him.
Minako asked to be discharged from the International Affairs. The IA’s best spy quit to go live a normal life. Of course, the IA was reluctant but what could they do? Minako loved Samuel more than anything…including her spy career.
And so Minako and Samuel left the undercover world and got married. Shortly, Katelyn was born and they were a blissful family of three. A few years later, Minako became pregnant with Susan and one day their world came crashing down.
A third World War threatened to break out and the IA was determined to control the situation before chaos broke out in the world. The IA called for reinforcements all over the world and hundreds of retired spires went back into action. One of which should have been Minako but she couldn’t with Susan in her. Samuel went in her place.
A third World War was prevented but the cost was massive for the IA. The casualty numbers sky rocketed. In the mix was Katelyn’s dad. Samuel never came home. He was deemed missing in action and that was the end, an empty casket at the funeral.
This was an ending Minako couldn’t handle. She became distant from everyone around her, including her children. Katelyn and Susan lost their dad but they might as well have lost their mom too.
As soon as Katelyn was old enough, Minako sent her to Grace Marshall's Academy for Prestigious Young Girls and later Susan joined too. With the academy in place, Minako completely disappeared from the girls’ lives.
“Katelyn?” Susan asked, touching her sister’s shoulder.
Katelyn snapped out of her thoughts. “What?” she asked.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course,” was the automatic reply.
Susan watched her sister. Her emotions were always kept in check.
“Do you want to go for a walk on the boardwalk?” Susan suggested, breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” Katelyn said, getting up and dusting the sand off herself. “Let’s go.”
They spent their summers in a small beach house owned by one of Susan’s friends. Neither sister had been home since the day their mom dropped them off at the academy. Katelyn for one, never wanted to go back to that place anyways. She was too young to remember all the happy moments but as an older child, every second of emptiness was engraved into her mind.
“I’m going to go get some sandwiches,” Susan said.
“I’ll wait here,” Katelyn said, nodding.
After Susan left, Katelyn leaned against a shack and looked at all the people going on with their lives.
One of Katelyn’s talents was that she was rarely noticed. Not ideal for a regular high school girl but when one was a spy, it came in handy. Very handy actually…
It’s not like Katelyn had birthday parties to attend or boys to impress anyways. Unless it was a chance to exercise her spy skills, she had absolutely no need to even be noticed.
How she would describe herself? Well…pretty average, at least when it came to outward appearances. Her mom was Japanese and her dad Caucasian. She inherited the dark hair from her mom but the more Caucasian facial features from her dad.
Basically…there’s wasn’t anything special about her outward appearance, however, Katelyn knew her skills were the specialist thing in the world.
She couldn't wait until the school year started. Everything was going to change after this year. She was going to be graduating and finally going out into the real world. Katelyn knew exactly where her future was headed. From the day she stepped foot into the academy, she knew she wanted to go into Covert Operations.
Her mom may have been a legend, even comparable to Grace Marshall herself but Katelyn was going to surpass her mom. Minako threw everything away for love. Katelyn, on the other hand, had developed a heart of steel, mostly through her mom’s neglect and the loss of her dad. What was the point of love if in the end it brought nothing but sorrow and hurt to everyone around you?