Vigilantes

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Vigilantes are subset of parahumans that, despite any "heroic" intentions, can rapidly end up labeled as villains; they exist in the gray legal space between the classifications but unlike rogues they are very much combatants.

They tend to eschew Unwritten Rules with all of the consequences.<ref>“That’s attrition and I wouldn’t be much healthier if I was one hundred percent sharp. I’ve been at the cape thing for long enough I have okay instincts.”

“What about other people getting hurt?”

“I… don’t have as many years of experience at holding back.”

“Ah. Ex-vigilante?”

Vigilantes were the cape-scene term for the heroes who eschewed the game in favor of putting enemies down for the long term, if not permanently. Break too many of the unwritten rules, break the actual laws, and life got harder. - Excerpt from Dying 15.6</ref>

PRT Response

Some PRT directors were known to attempt to recruit, rehabilitate, and fold vigilantes into the structure. Especially, early after the trigger event or when said parahuman is a minor.

However, there is no special qualms in treating stubborn, problematic vigilantes as just another type of villain, and fast-forwarding them to The Birdcage, or even issuing Kill Order.

Notable Examples

• Chevalier started as vigilante with a personal grudge, and had to choose between revenge and future.<ref name="I24 e4">Chevalier felt strangely calm as he spoke, “Not like that. Alexandria caught up with me at the very end. When I was trying to decide what I’d do with him. She told me she’d stand by and let me kill the guy, if I really had to, but I’d go to jail afterwards. That, or I could come with her. Come here.” - Excerpt from Interlude 24.x</ref>
• Shadow Stalker<ref name="Cast2.5">Shadow Stalker [...]– Once a cape with a vigilante bent, Shadow Stalker was caught after having nearly killed a man, pinning him to a wall with her crossbow bolts, and chose to join the Wards as a probationary member rather than be sent to juvenile detention. Capable of shifting herself into a ‘shadow state’, she can pass through walls, is lightweight, and passes these benefits on to her equipment, including shots fired by her crossbow bolts.[...]
  .
  As Shadow Stalker (in costume), she wears a heavy black cloak and a black bodysuit with black painted metal plates and mask. Her mask was originally a modified hockey mask, but after joining the wards it modeled a woman’s face with a stern expression. Carries two crossbows, with both lethal and tranquilizer ammunition. - Cast (in depth)</ref>
• Gavel<ref name=G>The man with the beard was Gavel. Cell block leader. A vigilante who had gone after families, particularly spouses and children, all so he could break his enemies before his namesake weapon could. He’d been notorious in the days before the three strike rule or even the code. Even with that, people had lost patience with his ‘mission’ when a villain had threatened to detonate a small bomb, and Gavel had called a bluff that wasn’t a bluff. Gavel had walked away. Many, many others hadn’t. - Excerpt from Extinction 27.3</ref>
• Lighter<ref>Lighter had come, which was nice- it was my first time seeing the low-key vigilante, though we’d talked some by email. He’d been scheduled for a turn at harassing Cedar Point, but things had gone to hell before the scheduled time had come. He’d been enthusiastic about that- and I could assume he’d like the idea of this. - Excerpt from Beacon 8.6</ref>
• Drillbit<ref>There were heroes who aspired to climb the ranks and achieve notoriety, and Drillbit was the inverse of that. Reputation didn’t matter and was something to be avoided and discouraged. He was street level and fought to stay street level, moving around to strike out and take down villains of the lowest rung.Somewhere along the line, he had developed a substance abuse problem. He’d targeted dealers to get a supply.
  [...]
  Drillbit had harmed himself enough with his addictions that he could no longer be trusted. The loop had repeated too many times. He wouldn’t get better and didn’t want to get better, and he would either engage in a cape fight while inebriated or drive inebriated on his way to or from a cape fight, and he couldn’t drive while brimming with enough chemicals to kill another man. He would get arrested, even cooperate sometimes, get pulled into jail, enter withdrawals, and break out, sometimes letting other prisoners free. - Excerpt from Black 13.1</ref>

References

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