Abby Banks is a high school student.
Not an agent. Not a vigilante out for revenge. Not a budding genius coming up with the latest fantastic must-be-had-by-all-governments doo-dad.
She is a high school student.
She is 16 years old, living with her single, far too-hovering mother named Esmerelda. Mom owns a cafe though she cannot boil water without burning it. Banks, when she is not going to class, works in the diner as a waitress and doesn't really enjoy it a bit especially since Mom pays next to nothing and the hours are lousy. She has a close friend named Lisa who is as crazy about boys as one can get and is always pressuring Banks to find herself a boy friend and Banks would love to except that would mean actually talking to one and so far that has been out of her comfort zone. (Same with Lisa but Lisa talks a better game.)
So, the question is then why is Abby Banks, ordinary 16-years-old student and waitress, in this collection of spies and assassins and otherwise very dangerous people? That's something she really wants to know, too, especially after, in the opening pages of the first recorded adventure, a dream-boat of a young man seems to hang around the cafe a whole lot lately and then gets a job actually working with her and then stops the man with the big gun who comes through the door to "rescue" her.
Not needing rescuing, at least to the best of her knowledge, and not liking guns, she runs off with the young hunk working next to her and then asks the question, "what the heck?"
It seems that the town she lives in is filled with real-life hostages, like she actually is, or with government agents hired to watch over the hostages, like her "mom". To help maintain peace, or at least try to, the government routinely snatches little babies born to very powerful people and move that child to this small town and tells the parent "behave if you want your child safe". That is what happened with Banks and for most of her life, all went according to plan. Her real mom played nice and Banks was protected and life went on.
But now real mom, who happens to be one of the most powerful and ruthless terrorist leaders on the planet, someone controlling her own private army, has decided to come after her daughter and get her back and stop behaving.
And Banks, not an agent or genius or vigilante, is way out of her league. Except that she is her real mom's daughter and some abilities are inherited.