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 that implies.<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> Interestingly vigilantes are known to go after Parahuman Response Team Kill Orders, which means they can and will attack each other.<ref name=":0">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>

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,<ref name=G/> or even issuing a 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>

Inversions

• Eclipse Arc<ref>Eclipse Arc were serious, as villains went. Good costumes, good powers. There were ‘heroes’ out there who got themselves labeled Vigilantes because they crossed lines or shrugged off law and convention in their pursuit of the bad guys. Eclipse Arc were the opposite, a pair of villains walking a ‘Robin Hood’ line where they really only preyed on those who deserved it. They supported convention rather than flouting it, tending to go after villains where possible, and among those villains, going after those that had broken the unwritten rules first.
  
  

They were big time enough to warrant being a serious target of heroes, but by walking the line they did, they made it very easy for others to gloss over them or leave them alone in favor of other targets. Too big for Prancer’s old group of B-list villains, too small to be important. Too villainous to be worth reaching out to, too noble to be a target people could feel especially good about dealing with.

Except the unwritten rules had broken down and Eclipse Arc were out being assholes, robbing people who didn’t deserve it. Hopefully Advance Guard would steer them back onto their old path. - Excerpt from Polarize 10.4</ref> – Robin Hood-type Villains

References

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