Sarah Westwood is one of the most dangerous pistoleers on the planet.

 

Trained by the Mafia in her youth, tested in three wars with the US Army, and assigned to the US President's Secret Service, Sarah has had a series of incredible adventures in her thusfar short 28 years of life. Sick of political gamesmanship and dishonorable acts of government officials, Sarah has found a new way to protect the land she loves, more to the point New England and the people therein.

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Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Sarah was the daughter of a Solano Crime Family boss' wife, Maria Solano (who is a cousin to the current Solano Crime Family godfather, Teflon Don Solano), and a renown FBI Special Agent, Christopher 'Ace' Westwood.  Christopher got his name from being able to shoot out the center of the Ace of Spades and was part of his Mafia undercover name, Salvatore 'Ace' Gambino.

 

'Ace' was considered one of the greatest gunmen the FBI had.  While on assignment as an undercover FBI agent in the Solano Crime Family nearly three decades ago, Maria and Ace had a secret love affair (which was not allowed or part of the FBI's sting operation); an affair that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy for Maria.  Once Maria told Ace about her condition, Ace set it up for Maria's husband, Denny Solano, to get busted by the Connecticut State Police (the only non-corrupt police force in the state) for 'anything'. Within months of Denny's incarceration, he was squealing like a pig to the feds about all of his team's illicit activities. Sadly, once again, none of the evidence and testimony obtained from Denny or his associates was able to 'stick' to the crime boss, Teflon Don. Sadly, the FBI didn't get their 'big fish', but Ace basically single-handedly shutdown the entire Solano Crime Family's operations in Connecticut, where instead, to this day, the Solanos and organized crime have been overtaken by far more crooked politicians and businessmen/women.

 

Even after Ace told Maria of who he really was and his real job with the FBI, Maria still wanted Ace, no matter what they had to do to be together. s such, both were placed in the Witness Protection Program in the 'quiet corner' of Connecticut in a small rural town called Brooklyn.  There, Ace and Maria Westwood lived out their lives as Ken and Karen Kluse, along with their new baby girl, Sarah Kluse.  Ace admitted he was sad when he discovered his first child wasn't a boy, but rather than be upset or treat her like a little princess, he instead taught her how to be one of the best shooters in the world. Since Ace's alias was an owner of a gun club and shooting range in the town, Ace had a LOT of time to teach Sarah to be the best marksman ever. By age 10, Sarah was winning youth national competitions.  At age 15, she trained for the Olympics, resulting in her winning three medals, one of each color, for the United States in shooting events. Ken couldn't be any prouder. During all of that, a new baby arrived, Stella (named after Maria's mother), and again, a girl instead of the desired boy that Ace wanted.

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Sarah, for all her skills, however, was a tough gal.  She didn't take any gaff from anyone. She took martial arts secretly in classes in Massachusetts as a teenager, earning her first black belt by age 17. She also practiced gymnastics and acrobatics with her private school girlfriends, helping them with their skills, but learning and gaining the same skills quietly.  Eventually, both Ace and Maria (AKA Ken and Karen) confronted Sarah about her 'being gone for hours and sometimes entire weekends from home'; they believed she had a boyfriend, to which Ace/Ken wanted to put an immediate stop to.  Sarah finally told them what she'd actually been doing, with her father beaming with pride and Sarah's mom angered about it stating Sarah wasn't acting like 'her child', and instead began to hyper-focused on little Stella, teaching her the ways of a Solano instead. Soon after that, Ace/Ken and Maria/Karen stopped sleeping in the same room and a large rift quickly grew between them. Maria started drinking heavily, while Ace/Ken decided to help train Sarah showing her the skills he'd learned in the FBI and as a US Marine prior to that. Sadly, Ace/Ken, who worked overtime with Sarah on teaching her these skills, seemed to get weaker and at times, was seen clutching his chest when no one was really looking. Sarah saw him do this though, but simply considered her father too tough to worry about such a thing; in her eyes, he'd live forever. 

 

Two months before Sarah's 18th birthday, her father died of a heart attack.

 

Sarah's mother blamed Sarah for her father's death. Now, without the 'federal checks' coming in, according to Maria/Karen, she'd be forced to have to find a job to make ends meet. As such, Maria/Karen even alluded it was best that Sarah 'move out and get on with 'whatever' tomboy lifestyle she was living' and leave the 'real' women of the family (Maria/Karen and Stella) to do what strong Solano women do to survive. Even little Stella slapped Sarah in the face (more to the reasoning of following her mother's emotional antics) the day Sarah departed for basic training.  Rather than live in a household that was already a lie (Sarah knew of their Witness Protection life by this point), Sarah decided, on her 18th birthday (since she really didn't have too many friends anyway) to instead change her name legally back to her father's real last name and then join the armed forces, where she believed her skills would be put to the best use...and she could focus her guilt and loss on someone or something that she would legally be allowed to kill.

 

Although the FBI had issues with Sarah's name-changing actions, they did agreed to Sarah's requests, but stated that both of Sarah's parents had to be listed as deceased, so as to ensure Maria/Karen and Stella were still safe. This meant Maria/Karen and Stella had to change their last name yet again, adding to the animosity and anger directed at Sarah and her 'selfish' choices (as stated by Sarah's mother).

 

Sarah never saw her family ever again.

 

Sarah's mother died a few years later from Kidney disease, with Stella was moved from one foster home to another, until Stella eventually, and successfully, petitioned to become an emancipated minor at age 17, where she has never been seen or heard from again since.

 

As Sarah Westwood, she joined the US Marines and quickly became one of the first women to complete all levels of training in the Corps' U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) (also called MARSOC).  Her marksmanship skills, accompanied by her focused mentality to get through the pain and mission without issue quickly elevated her to assignments and missions all over the world.  Nearly all of her missions are classified even to this day. She was awarded many commendations, again, many of which are classified to this day. Her codename in MARSOC was "Whiskey-7".

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After six years with the Marine Corps, Sarah was recommended and accepted to be part of the US Secret Service.  Her uncanny skill in being able to see and detect threats placed her above and beyond her peers, making her a vital asset in protecting the President of the United States. During this time, Sarah learned more about the evils and pitfalls of politics, ranging from her own boss demanding sexual favors for her next promotion to elected officials demanding she 'look the other way' whenever they were caught talking or doing something illegal in her watchful eyes.  Nonetheless, she quickly realized the Secret Service wasn't really about protecting people, if was more about political gamesmanship and power.

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At one point, a disturbed man attempted to assassinate the President of the United States. Sarah, as part of the President's Secret Service detail, saw the shooter moments before the the shot. She alerted everyone and made an attempt to get to the President to shield him. Interestingly enough, she was physically blocked and held by a politician, thus preventing her from getting to the President. As such, the President was wounded in the shoulder from the assailant's shot. When Sarah looked into the eyes of the politician that blocked her, she KNEW the politician purposefully blocked her. The Senator's smug look and countenance screamed to Sarah that the Senator knew more about what was happening and that he knew stopping her would allow the shooter to get a shot off on the President.  She had no proof, but she could 'read' a person...a skill her father taught her well.

 

The politician in question was Senator Fredrich Felch (see Peacekeepers for more info on him!).

 

The President, however, lived to see another day. He was wounded in the shoulder, however, if not for a freak circumstance, the President would most likely have been shot through the heart.

 

In the debriefing, Sarah denoted her suspicions about Senator Felch, to which her boss immediately and outright dismissed Sarah's 'egregious' accusations, blaming her for not being fast enough to have done her job instead.  It was stated that the President only survived the shot because the gunman was jarred at the last second by a scared citizen who ran into the shooter by accident. No matter how much she pressed the matter, Sarah received no support about her suspicion of Senator Felch. It got to the point that rumors started circulating that Sarah only wanted to blame the Senator because she was 'unable to do her job' and got caught at it. As such, after a handful of high-level meetings and congressional hearings, the Secret Service, especially the President's detail that day, was made the scapegoats for the President's injury. Senator Felch, as well as most of the Secret Service executive leadership, demanded everyone on the President's Secret Service detail that day, including Sarah, resign.

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Days later, Sarah, packing her things up on her last day with the Secret Service, was greeted by a mysterious person standing in the corner of her room.  She shot at him twice, but with the battle armor the person was wearing, the shots were easily stopped. The mysterious person calmed Sarah down and stepped forward. Once in the light, she immediately recognized him as the vigilante-hero, The Minuteman, the leader of the New England superhero team called the Yankee Minutemen. Minuteman explained that he'd watched Sarah's career with 'great respect' for her and her skills. He stated that he also believed that there was something more going on with Senator Felch as well and that he knew her career, and any chance at being all she could be, was almost impossible at this point. He instead offered Sarah an opportunity to join the Yankee Minutemen.  He needed someone like her to 'cut through the bullshit' and see things with her critical eye and critical thinking, something to which Minuteman said was in 'short supply' in today's world.

 

Sarah laughed at him, calling him a 'desperate vigilante who's compelled to put others better than he is in harms way for whatever 'windmill' he'd want to tilt at'.  To that, Minuteman agreed, but added that most of his 'windmills' have truly been uncovered as actual 'dragons' and 'monsters' that needed to be taken down or killed and that, even though he is quite paranoid, everyone is actually out to get him.

 

Sarah laughed at him again, this time saying, "You know, you remind me of a friend I know from the Marines that also joined the Secret Service around the same time I did. He made me laugh...that is, until he was reported 'killed' one day in some classified operation overseas. He and I were like peas and carrots when we were together. We saw eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I haven't been able to find a person like that since. Is that person supposed to be you now?"

 

A long silence entered the room.

 

Minuteman finally spoke and said, "I can't be who you want me to be; I can't be him, but I can tell you that all you are is being used and subverted by others who want to keep you down and isolated. I don't want that. I need someone like you to I can rely on to REALLY help the innocents, especially those in and around New England here. There doesn't seem to be much focus on helping and saving folks around here, just exploiting them. What do you say? If you don't like it, you can always leave...but knowing you and your father, 'Ace', you don't quit things easily, do you?".

 

Sarah stopped filling her moving boxes and stared at Minuteman for what seemed like a century. Several people knew her father as "Ace". Those few that knew this were definitely not superheroes. Minuteman 'knew' who she and her father were. Although alarmed at his admittance of this knowledge, this (and he) intrigued her, as did his proposition. She could kill him right there and hide the body so no one would ever know, but then, where would she go next? What about her 'windmills' that also might needed to be tilted at, but with more firepower than just her and her guns? She thought long and hard, all the time not moving a single muscle of even giving away a motion or facial tick.

 

After what seemed like forever, Sarah finally extended her hand to shake on the deal, stating, 'if I see anything rotten in this group; if I see anything other than good deeds, other than helping bring down the bad guys, not only will I walk, I'll take down every last wrong-doing mother$@#%&^ in the process, including you. Capice?"

 

To that, Minuteman shook her hand and "Union Blue" became a Yankee Minutemen.

 

Today, Union Blue is a hard-nosed, tough-as-nails teammate who operates at Mach speed with low drag. She is constantly 'out' surveilling others, obtaining contacts, getting information and building up evidence on any and all that the Yankee Minutemen intend or plan to take down.  Her evidence has been ironclad in prosecuting dozens of criminals and their operations.  Senator Felch, however, continues to elude Sarah and Minuteman in implicating the Senator in any type of illegal or compromising operation. It is, however, quite evident that Senator Felch is aware of the focus on him. Recently, a red rose was sent to the Yankee Minutemen's HQ in Providence, Rhode Island for "Sarah Kluse" courtesy of Senator Felch with the card stating:

 

A rose's beauty lasts only as long as the elements allow it to. If I were you, I'd place this beautiful flower in its necessary element, water, very soon, otherwise the rose, its stem, its petals and its leaves will all die. A token suggestion for a woman who surely doesn't want to see things die before their time.

- The Honorable Senator Fredrick Felch

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Union Blue has now made it her life's focus to uncover whatever it is that Senator Felch REALLY is.

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