WWYCD: miscarriage of justice

[hfergus]

This is probably more appropriate for "darkish" campaigns, but could apply as a one time shot. The mastermind behind a villain group is caught and brought to justice. However, due to good lawyers, corruption, bribes, blackmail and plain threats, he gets off scott free. He inherited the money that made this possible and is not really a super himself. What does your character do?

Volt - Tries again, this time trying to remove the corruption, blackmail and threats. Would be very frustrated and angry at this.

Olorin - Would be very tempted to just kill the guy, but... Kinda reversing "the best revenge is to live well" he'd ruin the guy financially, making good lawyers and bribes go away. With no money, threats would be lessened; after all, they are expensive. He'd try to find out any blackmail material, and either expose the guy, making it moot or blackmailing him himself (!) Knowing Olorin, a LOT of the bad guy's money would go in Olorin's pocket (Hey, that's what he did back home - normally after killing the guy, but Olorin would LOVE seeing the guy squirm.) He'd also alter the guy's appearance so he could not trade on that either. Olorin would be very pleased if he pulled this off, and he almost certainly could.

Black Tiger Would fume. A lot. He'd be very temped to kill the guy, and this would just fuel his distrust of authorities. He'd try again, attempting to make it impossible to find the guy not guilty this time.

Futurian Would make the guys life miserable by attacking every tech item the guy touched. No computers. No phones. No cars. No TVs. Done well enough and the guy would be broke if not asking to be put in prison to stop this. This would take a lot of dedication, and Futurian would probably give up too soon, but the guy would still be miserable for a time.

[Lonewalker]

Rocket Ranger: Barely pays any attention to the newsreels and thus wouldn't even know said mastermind was free until the villain's next plot is unveiled. Then Rocket Ranger would fly in and trounce the double-dealing miscreant once again!

Straight Arrow: Would take no overt action, but would begin monitoring the criminal's activity upon his/her release. Nothing too obvious - don't want to get charged with harassment or something. He'd definitely look into the aforementioned blackmail or corruption to see if he could expose something useful. However, he would take no direct action against the villain unless the villain starts something. Naturally, if his superiors ordered him to stop the investigation, he probably would.

Green Lantern V: Would be royally ticked off and probably pay the villain a visit, warning him/her in no uncertain terms that he/she had better stay on the straight and narrow if he/she doesn't want Green Lantern and the rest of the resurrected League to drop down on top of him/her. Then GL would mention his concerns to his buddy Johann and let a REAL mastermind loose.


Lonewalker

[Vondy]

You didn't say what this groups crimes were. As such, its difficult to know just how far my characters would go.

[Badger]

You didn't say what this groups crimes were. As such, its difficult to know just how far my characters would go.

Yeah, that matters a lot for mine too.

[Alibear]

Th Cat would watch and wait and watch and wait and watch some more. Guys like that always return to crime; they can't help themselves and when they do...

[Clonus]

Nothing. My characters are in the business of foiling bad guys. What happens to the bad guys later is none of our business. If they're still loose, we'll just foil 'em again.

[Shoutybloke]

Silverbolt: Do nothing in hero ID. As Flynt Macintyre, P.I. follow up on the blackmail, bribes and witness tampering. Build an airtight case and nail him for that.

[hfergus]

You didn't say what this groups crimes were. As such, its difficult to know just how far my characters would go.

Good point. The main cirmes are property/money crimes, but one arson that was intentional resulted in deaths. The deaths were ordered as in "Do everything needed and don't be squemish killing people if necessary." The guy did not care about the deaths, just that investigations are more intense when deaths are involved, and it gets more expensive to defend from. In other words "Kill as needed; just don't get caught." Other people died in criminal drug tests to increase profitabilty. Totally amoral guy; just concerned about money.

[Tigereye]

Deuce would try to "cheat him one better"- plot to set him up in an irresistible sting operation with plausible deniability, preferably one where he admits the corruption in the original trial... then give a slight (but satisfied) smile as he's hauled off to jail. Double jeopardy does not apply if the original trial was poorly administered. Of course, if he screws up too badly with only Deuce around by himself, he may be in a one way trip to the hereafter instead...where all the bribes in the world will not help him...

[Blue]

Prove the corruption. Double Jeopardy doesn't apply if you can prove to the appeals court that the interst of justice was not carried out on the first verdict due to corruption.

So investigate the attorneys, the cops, and the judge. Look for money trails (or other goods, like suddenly being given vacation land in the bahamas).

[Lord Kruul]

Grav dedicates every waking hour to revealing the corruption and uncovering more evidence. If he really hates the guy - and there's no chance of getting caught - he might go for a little off-the-record intimidation a la 1602 Daredevil re: King James.

[Hermit]

Gaze Would definitely investigate the ones he suspected of corruption and payoffs that let this guy go. If he found evidence of their sudden windfalls, he might take it to federal authorities.

[Badger]

Good point. The main cirmes are property/money crimes, but one arson that was intentional resulted in deaths. The deaths were ordered as in "Do everything needed and don't be squemish killing people if necessary." The guy did not care about the deaths, just that investigations are more intense when deaths are involved, and it gets more expensive to defend from. In other words "Kill as needed; just don't get caught." Other people died in criminal drug tests to increase profitabilty. Totally amoral guy; just concerned about money.

Badger- Would probably chalk it up to bad luck, and the beyond a shadow of a doubt thing. Would keep tabs in the event he gets off similar charges of murder might take him out. Badger wouldnt fall victim to the Joker sympton (i.e. let the same guy get away unpunished over and over and over and over)

Frosty Bob- fairly similar.

Note: If one of the murdered was someone they cared about (DNPC). If he were acquitted they probably would eliminate them. Though they dont have too many people they really care about. (Badger doesnt let people get close after losing his family, Bob is well....Bob can be an @$$hole. )

[Vondy]

Good point. The main cirmes are property/money crimes, but one arson that was intentional resulted in deaths. The deaths were ordered as in "Do everything needed and don't be squemish killing people if necessary." The guy did not care about the deaths, just that investigations are more intense when deaths are involved, and it gets more expensive to defend from. In other words "Kill as needed; just don't get caught." Other people died in criminal drug tests to increase profitabilty. Totally amoral guy; just concerned about money.

Gotcha.

Unless he became national security threat (our game surrounds a federal super-team dedicated to national security issues who only occassionally find themselves assigned to normal law enforcement tasks) or it became personal my characters would play by the rules even if it meant he got away again. They obey the law when dealing with criminal investigations because they enforce the law in those circumstances. If, however, he crossed the red-lines criminals and police officers generally respect, all bets would be off. They'd pull out all the stops and he'd just be one more speed-bump to roll over.

[Hermit]

Banner Is a reporter for a major Newspaper, and might do more good in his secret ID than his heroic one.