Shana Lee 2
Four years ago, the First Large-Scale Invasion, New York City, USA. Shana's POV.
Normal old Wednesday. I mean, Sienna had been acting even more crazy than usual, but she's already nuts. I don't think anyone is more superstitious as Sienna, and her bad omen senses were lighting up like fireworks today. Whatever. I was just going to go out for my afternoon run as usual. A lot of my friends think I'm nuts to run for fun, but I like it. Helps me clear my head. Today, I was cruising. The tunes played at the perfect moments, the weather was gorgeous, I was going fast, and I felt incredible. But at my turnaround point, the sky darkened. Like darkened insanely. Some kind of black hole appeared in front of me, and out of it came this big, hulking white creature. I backed up, then proceeded to trip on a sidewalk lip and fall on my butt. The thing got closer. Time started to go in slow motion. Then the thing was decapitated by a girl in green with this big glowing scythe. She jumped off the thing just as it fell to the ground. She offered me a hand.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine," I said, getting up and brushing myself off. "Who are you?"
"Border Agent Andie Morgan, at your service!" she said cheerfully. "Who're you?"
"Shana Lee. What was that thing? And what's Border?" I asked.
"Wait. Your parents aren't Henry and Veronica Lee, right?" Andie said.
"Um, that's my dad and mom. How do you know them?" This girl was beginning to worry me a little.
"And how do you not know about Border?" Andie said. "Your parents are the director and assistant director of the New York City Border branch."
"Wait, what?" I was seriously confused.
"Your parents are my bosses," Andie said. "I've got to get some extra ranking points for this."
She tapped her hand on her ear. I'm guessing she had some kind of earpiece.
"Commander Lee! Remember that civilian I said I rescued? That was your daughter, Shana," Andie said.
She cringed. I had a feeling my dad had just yelled.
"Uh, your dad wants me to take you to the base," Andie said.
"Okay..." I said. Maybe Sienna was right. Something was pretty odd about today.
The base was this giant building that I somehow hadn't noticed. Inside it, Andie led me past blinking displays with weird symbols. Our final destination was a tiered room, with my parents at the top. My parents stood up and walked down.
"Andie, thank you for getting her here. Go back to your patrol," my dad said.
"Gotcha, Commander," Andie said. "See you in a couple hours!"
"Shana, are you alright?" my mom said. "Andie said you were attacked by a Neighbor."
"What were you doing out!? Didn't I say stay home today?" my dad yelled.
"Before either of you can mom slash yell at me, I need some explanations. You guys led this covert organization and I never knew?" I shouted. "I thought you were an accountant and a teacher!"
"Shana, sweetie, we didn't mean to lie to you," Mom said. "We are those things. This is just kind of our... night job."
"Doing what? What are Neighbors? What was that thing?" I shouted. "What the heck is going on!"
"Your father and I are the leaders of Border, an organization that defends our city against Neighbors, alien invaders from another dimension. That thing that attacked you was a Neighbor. Andie is one of our agents, one of the people who fight the Neighbors," Mom explained.
"Okay," I said. "So let me get this straight. You guys lead an organization that fights interdimensional aliens?" I sighed. "This sounds like science fiction. And FYI
Dad, you never said that. I have our texts on record."
Before my parents could say anything else, I said, "You do your alien defending. I'm going to Andrea's."
Andrea Blake, one of my best friends, was hunched over a computer when I went to her house. Her parents let me in, as I come over a lot. Andrea is a major geek.
Her room was wallpapered in anime posters. I think she was an anime character for Halloween. At the moment, she was talking with her Japanese pen pal, listening to likely some Japanese song. I tapped her on the shoulder.
"Oh, hey Shay," she said, taking out her earbuds.
"Hey," I said. "Can you look something up for me?"
She smiled. I rarely asked her to do this, so she gets excited when I do. "Sure. What's it?"
"Border."
Andrea's jaw dropped. "Border? Like the Neighbor-fighting, real-life science fiction, totally cool Japanese organization?"
I sighed. "Maybe? I just found out my parents are the directors of the NYC Border branch."
Andrea made this weird gasp-choke sound. "Oh my gosh, Shana. We have a branch? I'm going to join it as soon as I can!"
"What is this thing anyway?"
"Border is an organization that originated in Mikado City, Japan. It's a worldwide organization though, and a branch usually pops up when there's a Neighbor invasion," Andrea exclaimed.
"How do you know this?" I asked.
"My Japanese pen pal. She's a girl named Harumi Ayugai, and she lives in Mikado City. She told me about the Large-Scale Invasion, and how her sister Kuni wanted to join Border."
"Oh," I said. "So it's cool?"
"Yeah!" Andrea said. "We should join together! And I bet we'll get a lot of starting points because your parents are the commanders."
"Maybe," I said. I pounded my fist into my hand. "Then it's settled! Let's join Border!"
Andrea smiled. "Let's do it!"
A year later, and I was a Border agent. But sadly, Andrea wasn't by my side. She was crushed the day when Border rejected her, telling her she didn't have enough Trion. But here I was, glowing scythe (called Reaper) in hand, and ironically, the same crazy brunette I met that fateful day is now my squad leader. I'm B Rank Agent Shana Lee of the Morgan Squad, from the New York City branch, which my parents are the commanders of. This is my life now.
I joined Border to fight. For myself, and for Andrea, who couldn't. Who so wanted to, but didn't have enough. Also because my parents kind of forced me. I'm so determined, because how can I not? I have loving parents and a best friend who motivates me every step of the way. I try to succeed at everything I do.
