The Watchwomen

Prologue, Part 4: The Daring Defector

This is Part 4 of the Prologue for "The Watchwomen". Last time, we watched as the nefarious Allie Bannister finally put her plans into action, ruthlessly executing both her former master Bryan Birchwood and his infant son B.B., thus leaving her as the sole owner of the Birchwood Estate. Upon usurping control, she allows her army of tracksuit-wearing criminals into the mansion, with Ivan and Gill among them.....then promptly reveals that she's been spending the last several months wiring several live rockets within the foundation of the mansion. Pressing a big red button inside a rear compartment on a walkie-talkie, Allie ignites the rockets' engines and propels the mansion into the clouds, completely out of sight of anyone on Earth's surface. Once the rockets die down and the mansion is left steadily hovering in place, Allie cryptically alludes to her "true plan", which she can finally put into motion now that Bryan and B.B. are dead and the Birchwood Estate is stationed in Earth's skies. Ivan inquires as to what exactly it is, to which Allie replies with three words: "The Diamond Legion." This time, we catch up with Allie about a year later, and witness her deal with potential dissent within her new army's ranks.....

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-2016 (One Year Later)-

-Diamond Legion Skybase, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States-

One year after the assassination of Bryan Birchwood and his infant son, B.B., their former assistant-turned traitor Allie Bannister had blasted the Birchwood Estate high up into Earth's skies and wasted absolutely no time in making it her own. The inside of the mansion—all three floors and the roof, as well as all of its rooms—were relatively the same, but the frontal exterior of the house had undergone some slight changes. On each side of the large front entrance were a series of three huge vertical windows, which were always there to begin with, for a total of six windows. However, all six windows were covered by separate red vertical banners with golden-yellow lining; the middle ones had a big patch of a diamond emblazoned directly in their centers, while the ones on either side of them instead had the female gender symbol—the circle with a cross branching out from the bottom arc—embroidered onto their surfaces instead.

The two dozen rockets which were used to lift the mansion into the skies were still firmly nestled within the patch of land that the house sat on, their thrusters still going without any sign of stopping, even though a whole year had passed. Additionally, Allie and her minions had constructed a huge loading bay on the eastern end of the mansion; there were big, metallic shipping crates here and there, and it also contained several "landing spots" for the huge shuttles and airships that she now had at her disposal, in case she needed to send agents to go on "missions" in the field below. The deck was paved with a flawless layer of asphalt bolstered by a foundation of metal permanently affixed to the mansion's foundation, and several painted white and yellow lines served as "guides" to land craft safely.

However, Allie's army had drastically changed in the year since she had taken control of the Birchwood Estate and made it her own. The tracksuit-wearing minions were no more.....and neither were Ivan or Gill, for that matter. Instead, Allie's forces now consisted of a seemingly-endless force of conditioned women in black combat suits with red highlights, and they were practically swarming the house. They were innumerable and vast, and versatile and diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and representation; those that had completed their "training" were infrequently assigned to missions, and when they weren't, they were often found in groups of either two or four, fervently patrolling the labyrinthine halls of the mansion for intruders or discrepancies. Their marching was unnervingly in sync, and their footsteps matched up perfectly without the slightest mismatch. They were also effective when it came to fighting; the utility belts around their waists carried pistols and hidden knives, which, when combined with their remarkable hand-to-hand combat skills, made them formidable opponents indeed.