Chapter Text
Location: Hell’s Cove, Washington, USA
Date & Time: May 25, 2007, mid-afternoon
Invasion: Day One
-
Hell’s Cove was a small city, more of a big town compared to the cities of Seattle and Portland, but it was a rather nice place, with a scenic harbor and even boasting tours to Mt Helios, a dormant volcano several hundred miles from it. Several of the natural caverns just a hundred miles to it’s south brought spelunking fans from all over the world to explore what had to be some of the deepest and darkest caves of the region called Hell’s Pit while the high cliff-faces to the far north was a favorite of many rock climbers due to the steep, nearly vertical climb they offered. Most of the income came from tourism and shipping; however, there were very few pleasure vehicles on the water. The almost unnaturally strong rip currents called Diablo’s Current, just outside the seemingly peaceful cove made yachting treacherous for even the most experienced sailors. Those rip currents were the main reason for the massive bridge that stretched out over the cove to allow traffic to come and go into the city and alleviate the congestion expansion brought.
It was late spring, closing in on summer, and for the city that meant time to prepare for the tourist season; for the students it meant Summer Break, a vacation away from the boring hell of classes. At Hell’s Cove Private Academy, the students were leaving early, their end of semester finals completed. Among the milling students were four teens. The one standing near the rear of the quartet was tall and lean with a dark midnight blue hair and piercing blue-black eyes. He wore the school’s ‘male’ uniform of khaki pants, white dress-shirt, and a dark blue sweater vest, which cling to his lean frame. Truthfully male or female students could wear pants or shorts, but many consider them to be part of the male uniform set.
Of the four, only one other wore the ‘male’ uniform, a tomboyish girl of Chinese decent, her long blue-black hair pulled back in a loose tail at the nape of her neck with a wave of bangs falling in over her almond-shaped eyes. The other two wore the female uniform of khaki skirt, white dress shirt, and dark blue sweater vest ensemble. The more femininely clad duo were as different as night and day, the taller of the pair was a blonde with a far more modern hairstyle, teased into a poofy halo around her head with a lock falling over one of her violet eyes, which were artfully lined with dark eyeliner and blue eye-shadow who had her shirtsleeves casually rolled up. Her shorter counterpart’s uniform was worn properly and looked neatly pressed despite the fact it was the end of the day and not the beginning, with her chestnut hair pulled back in a twist at the nape of her neck, two long bangs framing her makeup-free face.
The chestnut-haired teen rolled her sea-green eyes as she listened to her best friends bickering behind her. Beside her, the blonde shook her head at the duo’s antics, mentally wondering when they’d just admit to having feelings for each other and get on with sucking face; really, the silence that would result would be so appreciated. Then again, the blonde knew that most the resistance towards the two of them even forming a relationship came from the male of the duo and not the female.
“Have I mentioned lately I hated you?” The grumbled complaint came from the Chinese-American tomboy, glaring heatedly at the only male of the group. “Seriously, Rowen, not all of us happen to be honors students – I have to work this summer so I can’t spend every waking moment with a book in my face doing extra credit book reports and essays! Mama and Baba are going to have me working my fingers to the bone since I don’t have school to worry about now!”
“Kun, you’re smart and you know it; if you’d just apply the effort—“ the annoyed bluenette began, only to be interrupted by the sudden irritation flashing in the oriental girl’s doe-brown eyes as she suddenly spun around to face him, causing him to stumble backwards a pace in surprise at the abrupt movement.
“Apply the effort?! Big words coming from quite possibly the laziest genius known to man!” Kun retorted hotly before spinning on the heel of her dress shoe and marching to meet up with the other two girls. “Sage! Cye! Can you believe him? It’s the last day of school and he wants to badger me about doing extra credit projects!”
“Remember, when it comes to school work, he wants to get it done fast so he can sleep more, even if he’s going to college when fall comes,” the blonde agreed with a laugh as she tossed her hair back, the teasing of the only male among them coming second nature to the ‘Ice Queen’ of the private school. “Don’t feel bad, Cye and I are going to be working this summer too – Daddy says I’ve almost got enough saved up for my Thunderbird.”
“And I need to get familiar with working at the aquarium if I’m to take over for Mother after college – best to work from the bottom up, to get a feel for what my future employees will be doing,” the chestnut-haired teen agreed, her voice soft and holding a lingering English accent.
“How is your Mom anyway?” Sage asked, shifting the strap of her messenger bag.
The four teens had been friends since childhood, living only a few streets apart in the same gated community. The families of Sage, Rowen, and Kun had particularly close ties due to the fact that the patriarchs of their respective families worked closely together in the United States Government in various fields. Sage wasn’t exactly sure what her father or her grandfather did, but she was convinced either or both were in the CIA, while Kun’s parental grandfather was a high ranking General in the Pentagon, and Rowen’s father was a very well paid and a highly respected scientist who worked on many classified contracts.
The three had brought the young Faith Cyren Mouri into their group after her widowed mother settled in a small, cozy house close to Rowen’s when her father had died tragically while overseas in the midst of his marine research. The youngest of the four, Cye was a grade behind them but she spent her lunch and Biology 2 Honors class with her friends. Like her father, a retired Navy SEAL, she had a passion for defending the sea and was often helping at the aquarium her father had established for the rescue and rehabilitation of injured marine life with any unable to return to the wild staying as attractions that educated the visitors about the inhabitants of the sea as well as the effect humans had on their environment.
“She’s doing alright. I talked to her last night and she said she’d be home in a couple more weeks, that the showing in Paris is taking longer then normal,” Cye murmured softly, concern in her eyes at the possibility of her frail mother getting a cold while overseas.
The teens conversed on as they headed for the student parking lot, like so many of those around them unaware that danger was lurking and waiting for the opportunity to strike…