backstory;

[myweaponislove]

Riley Maddox, age 16. Or is it 17? She doesn't remember. The years began to blur, one into the next, after the attack began.

She was a normal girl, born to her mothers Lillian and Moira on June 30 in Boston. Her life was as idyllic as a girl could imagine; good grades, ballet lessons after school, cheering Mama M on as she ran the Boston Marathon. Reading bedtime stories snuggled up with Mama L, even after most kids her age had given it up.

Her favorites were the stories where the princess saved herself.

At the age of seven, she started hearing rumors. Mama L worked at MIT, after all, and if there was any place a wild rumor about aliens was going to start, it was MIT.

It became real overnight. Mama L didn't wake up one morning - she wasn't dead, her heartbeat and breathing were steady and never dropped - but she wouldn't wake, no matter what. Mama M rushed her to her medical office and they tried more, and more things to save her, but nothing worked.

The next morning, Mama M didn't wake up. All Riley had was a half-scribbled note - a name, an address. The words "I love you."

That's when her fight began.