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#morally grey vigilante

surplus-of-sarcasm · 4 months

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31st Story

Part 2

TW: Captivity, implied past torture, blood mention, restraints, mistrust, starvation mention, defiant whumpee, corrupt system, knife

Heyyy! Long-time no see. I blame college 100% because it takes up all my time, seriously. Happy New Year tho 💙

Villain could tell himself he was already used to the cold, hard embrace of the dull rock of his cell, to the claustrophobia-inducing lack of windows, to the fact that the only times he ever got to see the light was when someone walked in to beat him senseless, a feat made incredibly easy with the help of the chains that shackled his wrists and ankles, not allowing for much movement.

He could pretend that being covered in blood and filth, dazed and starving, was nothing to him, that the maddening urge to find out what time it was wasn't gnawing at him torturously.

"In here, wishful thinking is all you are capable of," a sunken-faced, old prisoner had told him before he was thrown into his personal hellhole. He hadn't said anything, but he'd believed the old hag to be weak and hopeless, and thus so was her sentiment.

Right now, all he wondered was if he'd break even faster than that woman might have. The villain screwed his eyes shut, hoping it would stop the chain of thoughts poisoning his mind, but all that did was make him think clearer, every disturbing image he tried so desperately to expel growing clearer and more vivid by the moment.

It was bad enough handling the physical pain, where every time he so much as shifted his form slightly, the tormented muscles in his back would scream in protest. But the physical side was tolerable, compared to being left at the mercy of his mind; a cruel, sinister thing.

So consumed he was in his own reverie, he hadn't even noticed as the door to his cell was unlocked, at least not until the light skirting around the corner had him snapping his eyes open and sitting up.

"This doesn't look good on you," a silky, almost serpentine voice called out.

"Superhero?" he asked, despising the note of trepidation in his voice.

"No. Just her lacklustre twin," she scoffed.

"Vigilante," he deduced with a slight fall of his shoulders in relief. It's not that he believed Vigilante would treat him well, it's just that no one could rival Superhero in cruelty.

"Still ever the genius," she responded dryly.

"What do you want?" he asked, almost desperate. If she was here to torment him, he wanted her to get over with it. It was becoming progressively more difficult to bear the state in which he was in, the one chock-full of waiting and thinning patience, of hoping the pain would start so it could end, that this time would pass faster.

Except it never did.

"It's strange seeing someone normally so high and mighty like this," she attested, dodging his question.

The older version of him would have let out a frustrated snarl and cussed her out for annoying him, but now all he could do was bite his tongue and stare at her with his new resting face, broken and defeated.

"Well, I'm not here to hurt you," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

That was a response, albeit an indirect one. And of course, she wasn't here to hurt him. She was here to make sure he was comfortable, that he was enjoying his five-star stay in this resort in hell.

Sucks to have an army of enemies and not a single semblance of a friend.

He and Vigilante hadn't really had any direct bad blood, but he was a villain locked up in here, so by default, he was supposed to be her enemy, right? It didn't matter who walked in here or whether they knew him or not. They just loved to see him break, to see him, once so relentlessly powerful, reduced to less than nothing. Perhaps it brought them a sort of sick satisfaction, but he didn't know much about satisfaction anymore to judge.

"I'm going to get you out of here," she said casually, like promising him the impossible was some sort of small punishment, nothing to tear himself up about. Maybe she could rival her sister in cruelty.

Without warning, a hysterical laugh escaped his throat, only for him to bite his lip and stop abruptly, trying to clamp a hand over his mouth only for him to remember he was chained up.

Vigilante's face fell, and his own had silent tears streaming down it. He felt as though he couldn't breathe, as though bricks were raining down on his shoulders and crushing his bones into nothing. His whole being seemed to itch with dread.

"Villain?" Vigilante called out, looking a mixture of confused and horrified.

"Just get over with it! Torture me until the floor runs red with my blood, tell me how death is a mercy above vermin like myself, and tell me to take it with a smile. Hit me harder when I can't bring myself to do it. Hit me until I feel all the pain of death but never attain it. Remember my current words as defiance, as another crime I've committed. I think watching me be humbled to the nothing I truly am will entertain you as any show would," he spat, only for regret to colour his features just as fast.

"Damn it. Villain, I don't want to do. . .any of this to you," Vigilante started, careful, trying for a semblance of gentle, something she was never particularly good at. "Like I said, I'm going to get you out of here," she continued again, hoping the stern tone indicated she was serious and not somehow going to torture him.

She'd never particularly liked him, mainly because he'd always been ice-cold, calculated to a point he seemed inhuman at times, no emotion whatsoever showing up on his face, besides a cool smugness. And by virtue of all the terrible things he'd done, all the blood on his hands. And yet, he was far from the worst thing out there, and most definitely not the villain in her story.

"And let's pretend you're telling the truth, which is completely fine by me because any mercy I've ever had here has always been a pretence, a figment of my imagination, you know. What could you possibly gain from this?" He raised an eyebrow, bearing a small resemblance to his usual self. Well, at least there was a slight amount of fight left in him, even if he was clearly holding back tears now.

But the villain's question wasn't completely outlandish. Vigilante did want something from him, but it wasn't a favour he would ever come to hate. "I need your help. My sister may seem like the goddamn tooth fairy to those who don't know better, but we know what her regime is really doing. This isn't about fighting crime, it's about her insatiable addiction to power."

"And where do I belong here?" The villain's voice still held the same disbelieving tone, his shoulders managing to tense even further.

"You're one of the few people who challenged her, Villain. And as much as it pains me to say it, you're a good strategist," she explained, even though she knew she'd barely convinced him in the slightest.

"I can't be the only one fitting that description, but I can be the only one owing you a favour too," he answered. Even if he didn't look half as confident, half as untouchable as before, the criminal was still just as clever. But it also meant he wasn't believing her anytime soon. Still, he wasn't wrong. The villain may not have smelled like roses all the time, but he'd be loyal to make sure they were even; a man of his word.

"What's it gonna be, Villain? Come with me or stay here?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest, growing impatient.

Well, it didn't make sense for her to give him a choice if she was going to torture him, but sense no longer governed things in his mind, letting a fearful apprehension replace it, no matter how humiliating. The choice could easily be an illusion, another cruel joke in this comedy skit from the filthiest parts of hell.

But it could be a chance, and he was desperate. So desperate he'd risk feeling even further degraded when she laughed in his face and put him through whatever torment she'd have planned.

"Fine," he answered, looking up at her with trepidation in his eyes. He could already feel the regret tasting like salt on his tongue and the burn of acid at the back of his throat he recognised as shame.

So when the sound of his chains being unlocked rang in his ears, and the vigilante helped him up, the feeling of surprise was palpable.

"I just need to handcuff you while they can see us," she explained, noticing how slowly the villain nodded, mistrust still burning in his eyes.

She didn't like how weightless he seemed against her, barely able to walk. She hadn't fought him much, but she clearly remembered that while his frame was somewhat slender, the villain's build still used to be athletic. It was no surprise he'd deteriorated, but that didn't make his fate any less cruel.

"I'm moving him to the other facility," she announced, practically dragging the half-starved villain with her, the only response being curt nods from the guards.

They were lucky that no one here would dare question Superhero and by default, her sister, if they could even tell the difference between both.

And sure enough, there was an entry documented into the other facility, done with the help of a few handsomely paid workers. And while Superhero wouldn't buy into the lie for long, it would at least make sure she didn’t notice immediately that something was up.

✨️Break✨️

The drive to Vigilante's house was almost torturously long and reeking of the tension of two people who weren't used to each other. The villain ran his fingers over his wrists, now free of handcuffs, but they still hurt. All of him hurt, a constant, dull pain that he was almost used to, but that didn't mean he didn't miss the times where he could remember moments without aches all over his body.

That was only the least of it anyway.

"I think you'd want to clean up," the vigilante had suggested when they'd got to her house.

Instead of an off-hand "yeah" like he'd meant to, the first words that foolishly came tumbling out of his mouth were: "I can?"

This wasn't an option they gave him back there, and soon enough he'd stopped caring entirely.

"Oh," Vigilante had responded, giving him a solemn look. "I mean, yes, of course you can," she corrected hastily.

He nodded, quite literally shoving himself into the bathroom and swallowing down the awkward shame in his throat.

He'd grown so accustomed to pain that he'd barely even noticed the sting of the hot water on his open, practically fresh wounds, or how the shower water underneath him turned a dull pink. He was a lot more focused on how his sore muscles relaxed with the heat, how he seemed to get lighter with all the dirt off him, good sensations having become foreign to him in the time of his captivity.

He walked out to find a change of clothes (his clothes) on the bed in the room outside, catching his reflection in the mirror, bruises lining his cheekbones and jaw and heavy, dark circles underneath his eyes. The villain simply ignored the old memories of himself taking the time to style his hair and care for his skin, his mind hardwired for survival, looking around the room for anything he could use in case he had to defend himself.

Not that Vigilante was stupid enough for that.

Still, if she wished to hurt him, she could've done it faster, could've done it earlier. Maybe the villain wouldn't trust her blindly, but so far, he hated her less bitterly than he hated everyone else.

"How'd you get these?" he asked, walking out, looking down at the black zip-up hoodie and black sweats.

Vigilante shrugged. "From your place."

"You broke into my- whatever." It wasn't the strangest part about the situation now. "What are we supposed to do?"

"I think you need to rest," she suggested.

And she was entirely correct, given his exhaustion and how the shower had made him somewhat sleepy, so he nodded his head, walking into "his" room and waiting until she walked up to her room, waiting until he could walk out and check if she'd slept, and once he was sure, he walked into the kitchen, picking up a knife and bringing it to his room.

The villain knew it was scummy, but he wasn't about to risk being hurt again, and if the vigilante truly had good intentions, the knife would never be put to use. Still, the villain had managed to fall into a fitful sleep, still better than any night he spent curled up on a cold, hard floor.

Trust is never easy, especially for those who have been hurt one too many times. But people were not made to live forever encased in solitude, a safe option to the blind and foolish, but never a permanent solution. And while taking a risk in times of suffering might seem like a wretched fate, sometimes it is the lifeline you need to breathe again.

✨️Le Taglist: @larinzz @syberianjade @lateuplight @altu-interactions @enbious-prince @astr0-mj @thelazywitchphotographer @a-fucking-simp-00 @addictedsandwhichaki @justalittlecorrupted @quaggasus @theangstyclown @vernilliom @mothmancommitsarson @starssabove @kurai-hono-blog @talkingsperm @muffinrebel44 @sunnynwanda @annablogsposts @cardboardarsonist @itsmyworld23 @onlywhump @m3rakii @crotchgoblin69 @wtfevenisausername @pendarling @avloki-pal @kaiwewi @those-damn-snippets @genuinelythioehat-is-whump @ghostofnorth

Wanna be on the taglist? This'll take you there!

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waspredteeth · 8 days

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I’ve noticed that a problem with the “Batman shouldn’t/should kill” debates around here is that a lot of people tend to self-insert themselves into the equation.

It’s always “if killing a violent guy in self defense is bad then I’m a murderer?” or “well, if it were me, I would’ve killed the guy a long time ago.”

Newsflash, you’re not Batman. You’re a real person where consequences can be applied and you need to live with whatever you’ve done.

Batman isn’t real. He’s a character owned by a massive company. In tense situations, you might often have no choice but to commit violence to save yourself. In a tense situation in DC, Batman has writers that can get him out of anything.

DC writers have the ability to write him out a situation where he could kill, with no violence committed and everyone safe. Now, whether or not they’d actually implement this kind of outcome is another issue entirely but the point stands.

Batman is a character with long-established personality, traits, moral code, history. Because he’s a fictional character, writers can’t change every single aspect of his character, they have to keep something otherwise they’re writing someone different. He’s not a real person whose sense of morality or justice can change as he ages and learns - because he can’t age. Rarely, he learns, but this chalks up to comics evolving over time due to the great conflicts/hot buttons of a specific time period when a story is being written.

“But Wasp! Writers self-insert themselves into Batman all the time!” You say. Yeah, they do. And 9 times out of 10, that piece of media turns out horribly wish-fulfilling and severely out of character continuity. Modern writers lost the plot when it comes to making Batman an undefeated god, but regardless he should be a hero.

Therefore, Batman shouldn’t kill because:

DC can always write him out of the necessity to kill.

He’s already been established for a long time to live and die by his own moral code.

He believes strongly in rehabilitative justice

He’s been established to be a symbol for a better Gotham. He kills, even discriminately, and then he’s no better than the hundreds of cops in his universe. Racism, classism, police brutality exist in Gotham. There’s full storylines and series about the GCPD and the role they fill in Gotham when Batman exists.

Batman does their jobs better than they do (usually). He’s supposed to represent justice in a way the police can never be. In a city like Gotham, fictional it may be, distrust and violence comes easy. Murder and assault runs rampant. A vigilante committing themselves to killing would do nothing to change Gotham, nothing to change the GCPD, nothing to project an image of safety, nothing for anyone.

Batman is Batman because he represents hope and compassion in a city without it.

#you want a vigilante that kills and is morally grey? read a damn Huntress comic #or Catwoman #or take your ass to Marvel Comics #Batman is never the character to project your personal belief in killing and death onto #you want to do that? stick to Jason #dc #dc meta #batman meta #batman #bruce wayne

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strange-ships · 7 months

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*shaking and crying* I am SO normal about Sladick and Rastim.....yep totally normal ...

#parker speaks #sladick #rastim #nkt me being a sucker for morally grey older men falling for vigilante twinks ...#fml i swear im fucking addicted

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the-cypress-grove · 8 months

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Prompt: 27

There was nothing Villain loved more than a vigilante. Heroes were, of course, entertaining in their own way but vigilante's tended to cross lines that heroes were not. There was more risk with them. More reward in tearing them down one way or another.

It was easier to make them see that the only difference between them was good PR (which never lasted for long).

#writing #writing prompt #writing prompts #creative writing #writeblr community #prompt #writeblr #prompts #villain x hero #hero x supervillain #morally grey characters #vigilante #villain #heroes #villains #heroes and villains

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milimeters-morales · 27 days

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in year 3, acau Wade (unfortunately) ends up becoming the spoiler for Miles, where he forgives Miles of (nearly) anything, gets him whatever he wants, defends him in a way where he won’t say Miles was right but everyone else gets threatened regardless of if they’re in the right, and doesn’t stay mad at him for longer than an hour maybe. He sees Miles as very young child who’s had to deal with too much shit and has developed a very jaded personality way too early in life (isn’t entirely wrong), and he thinks spoiling Miles doesn’t actually affect him much in the long run, since Wade is hardly there anyway, so why not just give the kid what he wants for a day or two? What’s the harm in saying he could have a fancy dinner, or an expensive watch, or some strange glowing gems?

This results in Miles getting overconfident, more emotionally unstable, more conflicted on his morals, and just what you’d expect from a teen who suddenly has a ton of money and almost no consequences for the few days Wade is around. It gets to the point where he ends up treating Deadpool/Wade as his personal attack dog, until Aaron and Matt put a stop to that before it becomes too late and he actually gets someone killed*. Wade didn’t really care, seeing as he was used to being seen like that by employers, and that the kid wasn’t in pain (physically or mentally) while with him. Miles, once he’s forced to realize that Wade isn’t helping and is just an escape to him, can’t accept it for a while!! and sees it as another adult who was just seeing him as a helpless charity case this entire time, and finally betraying him in the end when he no longer fit that role. Don’t worry, he’ll come around and heal enough to realize it wasn’t like that. As of right now, though, Miles just met Wade, so he hasn’t doesn’t trust him and just sees him as another crazyass Peter & Matt know.

*Wade does kill someone for Miles due to perceived threat, but never makes this known since he doesn’t want Miles to be upset. It would be interesting if he told someone though, i’d love to see Miles deal with that again!!

#actual cryptid au #miles morales #wade wilson #m&m posts #miles’s friends do make jokes after they find out about his vigilantism and he talks about his time deadpool and how that ended #and they’re like yeah dude. we could’ve told you that. lol. and laughing is important to the healing process #miles feels really disgusted with himself though as he laughs. like oh man that could’ve turned really bad no wonder matt has grey hairs

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symphonata · 2 years

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Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Tommy apologist. But God I'd love to see more of Tommy's morally iffy side in fan works. Tommy is far from perfect and makes a lot of dumb decisions over the course of Dream SMP and I never see that cross over into Tommy-centric works. ESPIECALLY in Vigilante AUs, for once I wanna see a Vigilante AU where Tommy interns at the hero facility and befriends the SBI for information Instead of needing money. Tommy is often interpreted as being poor and people overlook the fact that the streets don't raise good people, they grow up hardened and spiteful more often then not and I wanna see that in Tommy. I wanna see him grow and learn to be better as the SBI start to grow on him. I wanna see him slowly change for the better over the course of the story AND IMAGINE THE DRAMA WHEN HIS IDENTITY IS INEVITABLY UNCOVERED C'mon guys, make it happen.

#Dream SMP #MCYT #Tommyinnit #SBI #Sleepy Bois Inc #Vigilante Tommy AU #Fanfiction #SBI fanfiction #i dont know how to tag #Morally grey characters #?

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leafatlaw · 1 year

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Sorry I’m thinking about ghostknife now, but remember when Vyncent and will were said to have movie nights, and have watched a ton of bee movies together?? And how they spent like 6 months alone, training ????

#Sorry srry #Grrrrr ghostknife #I need to write an evil au with them #Like they’re more morally grey vigilantes #Then :(((((((#sparrow speaks #jrwi pd

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ardustein · 1 year

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Whenever I see a no capes au that is just 'The Wayne's' as themselves, I'm slightly disappointed.

Things would be so different if Batman never existed! Even in an optimistic setting in which they are all still alive and have met each other.

Just Dick, for example. He would still get taken in by Bruce and try to get revenge on Zucco, except it would take Bruce a lot longer to catch on. Dick would get into a bunch of trouble- probably making enemies within the mafia. Only now he wouldn't get the idea to become a vigilante and have any sort of training. Once he does get his revenge, he wouldnt just stop. This would be so much worse than becoming Robin due to not having Batman around to supervise him.

And then when Bruce does eventually find out -because he's still Bruce- all hell would break loose. In the best case, he sends Dick to therapy, which he would not take well to. Worse case, Bruce locks him in the house.

This is all me saying that Bruce and Dicks relationship would become a lot more strained a lot faster than in canon. Dick would end up as an overall angrier person which would effect the whole family dynamic from that point forward.

Of course that's just one option, it could play out a thousand different ways. Not to mention how hero society as a whole would be fundamentally different. Who's to say the Justice League even exists in this universe?

Anyways, rant over.

#i like to think he still CALLS himself robin #but his vigilantism would be a lot more morally grey #also if anyone has fic recs like this id love to hear em #robin #batman #dick grayson #bruce wayne #dc #dc comics

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bullshit-bulltrue · 1 year

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listening to vigilante shit while drinking black coffee makes you feel like Kaz Brekker walking back to the Slat after a job goes amazingly well with more money than expected and the cockiest smirk known to man.

and that is the best feeling ever when you're obsessed with Six of Crows

#six of crows #kaz brekker #vigilante shit #Taylor Swift #Midnight #black coffee supremacy #grishaverse #feeling like a morally grey character

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soysaucevictim · 1 year

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Still not hundred percent over here. So brain is defaulting to "Remus is a delight" hamster-wheeling again.

And as an aside, amused how co-conspirator said basically everyone's ringtone for Begotten!Virgil is some variation of the Spider-man theme.

He's of many minds about this.

#remus sanders #virgil sanders #just 'cause he's a Beast w/ spider-y powers doesn't mean he's gonna take on vigilantism or some shit #(dude just wants to keep his head down and protect his family - everyone else can do w/e)#(Heroes in this AU are frequently not good people and Beasts can run quite a gamut of grey morality as it is)#(anyways... i think i need to go back to bed)

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briefmusicbouquet · 2 years

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pt 3 of 5 on my rants on "why none of the robins should become batman after bruce"

tim edition

like when you look at it objectively, yeah he does seem like a pretty solid option, he's a good detective, he's got the fighting skills, and outside from robin and batgirl, he's the next closest vigilante associated with batman, and he understands a lot about batman and his philosophies

and granted, there is something interesting in the fact that he chose to become Robin/vigilante because he wanted to help his hero (the one that usually 'helps') and make sure his hero didn't become something that went against batman's ideas, but that's almost exactly what would make him a bad batman

because batman has a symbolic meaning that he understands, but i lowkey feel like he mainly sees it in the context of how batman works as a symbol for gotham and how that benefits gotahm

so being batman wouldn't have meaning for him because he has a connection to the mantle and genuinely believes in it's ideas, which granted he does believe in, but it would be overshadowed by him feeling like there is a need for batman and those ideas that bruce upheld to exist in gotham, and if nobody is going to do then, then it's his responsibility to do that

like i feel he would place more value on upholding that symbol of batman and staying true to the batman ideals that bruce already established, over what batman means for him personally and making batman his own, you know? which would just end up being a pale imitation of batman

#also keep in mind that this entire series is probably biased #because i have a love for morally grey characters and particularly enjoy morally grey tim drake #OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO MENTION #also a lot of his vigilante career has been him as other people's roles almost #like yeah he was robin and yeah he did make the mantle his own #but you know he goes to redd robin after that #but that name specifically also feels like a 'he wasn't quite ready to give up robin yet' thing instead of him stepping out of robin #and into his own vigilante identity #so him being batman #especially if he never did step out of the robin name completely #would mean he never really gets to have that identity that is wholely his you know #whereas if it was after he has his own identity #itd be like he was going backwards you know #either way it's not like it'd be a terrible terrible completely catastropic choice necassarily #but i feel like it wouldn't be quite as satisfying you know?#batman theory #batman #tim drake #red robin

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robocops-a-christ-allegory · 1 year

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Last polls post it will actually be fair if Adrian wins the vigilante poll because I do think he is extremely well written and has the longest run so kind of the most exploration of his character, but I voted Alan because 1. I didnt think anyone else was going to 2. His specific brand of evil is interesting to me