Kill Order

Is a document issued by the PRT allowing for the murder of a cape with no legal repercussions.

First mentioned by Burnscar

A rarely wielded tool a kill order brings society wrath down onto it's target.<ref>Keep in mind that the PRT is in large part a PR organization. They want to recruit wherever possible, and the more kill orders you sign off on, the less people are going to be willing to play ball with you.

As a general rule, the only villains who justify a kill order are those where, if you were to poll the local villain community, Arson Jones is going to say, "Yeahhhhh, you need to put that motherfucker down." Just as a rule of thumb.

In a healthy, functioning city (Brockton Bay is not this) it's not something that's going to come up with any frequency.

What is it? A Kill Order is basically kicked off by the PRT reaching out to other authorities (police, government) and outlining the situation, often through meetings, and often with other Directors from nearby cities getting involved. Given what the Kill Order is, in most cases the police & government already know what's up, and oftentimes there will be discussions that sort of table the kill order until there's one more strike, so to speak.

Once it's made, it's open season. Civilians (and capes) can put money into a reward pool, and it's essentially open season on the target, and anyone who's got permission and knows the general rules (no collateral damage) is allowed to go after them.

Example: Lullaby has been going around and murdering little kids in Bismarck, North Dakota, displaying the bodies in prominent locations. Bismarck doesn't have a PRT office (well, it does, but it's literally a one-room office), so the heroes arrive from St. Paul-Minneapolis, and protectorate members from other cities are called in for backup. There's little need for the PRT to reach out to police and local politicians/senators, because the phone is basically ringing off the hook. A meeting is called in, directors from the various offices around St.Paul-Minneapolis are brought in, as are local politicians, police, and judges. They basically hold an abbreviated trial complete with sentencing. If there's any doubt at all, then it can't go forward.

The kill order is signed (Lullaby is shown on security cameras killing the kids with her signature power, then hanging them up over an alleyway) and the notice goes out. Media is contacted, and local capes make a point of spreading the word in any communities.

What generally happens is that the crazies come out of the woodwork. Intense vigilantes, mercenaries, and villains who want an excuse to get some legitimized violence going on. The heroes switch jobs (and may switch out) to a more management style. Keeping the kooks in line, keeping the vigilantes and the like from killing each other, and providing/gathering information.

Lullaby gets offed by Brazen Bull, a murderer himself, manager of a roaming villain biker gang, and Brazen Bull strides into the PRT office. He collects his reward (about 90% of the $130,000 pot - the other 10% goes to the person who provided the info that helped Brazen Bull find Lullaby) and walks out without being arrested. - Comment by Wildbow on reddit</ref>

The slaughter house nine have have signed kill orders though it is not known to what extent this applys to other s-class threats.

While kill orders usually take a while to be implemented sometimes the process is expedited.<ref name="WDH">The Kill Order was signed in record time.

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Some of the people taking on the kill order are vigilantes, some are villains relishing the chance to hurt people and get paid for it, and some fit into other categories. The PRT is also in town, more to run damage control than anything else. There are little to no rules, and nothing that the hunters do here will get them prosecuted. It’s a situation that screams ‘opportunity’. - Weaverdice:

Wildbow's Helena campaign</ref>

Some kill orders can be presigned and used as a deterrent measure like what happened with Blasto.<ref name="I19">Interlude 19</ref>.

References

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