Death of the Jester

[Marcus Impudite]

Inspired by this thread:

 

The clown-prince of murder and mayhem, the Jester, has once again escaped from Cookoo's Nest Asylum and threatens to wreck havoc on Campaign City. But just as Mister J begins his latest insane scheme in earnest, an ordinary citizen, Jimmy Shooter, takes him by surprise and kills him with a gunshot to the head. There is the expected police investigation, and though Shooter's actions don't necessarily fit the legal definition of self-defense/justifiable homicide (he was seen putting a few extra shots into the corpse and kicking it for good measure), the city prosecutor has declined to press any charges. When asked why, the DA states that 1) with all the murder, mayhem, and chaos the Jester has caused over the years it would be next to impossible to put together a jury that would convict Shooter and 2) with so many in town hailing Jimmy as a hero (rightly or wrongly so) it would be carreer suicide to so much as lay a finger on him. WWYCD?

 

P.S.: Keep it on topic and civil folks, let's try not to do anything that would get this moved to NGD. Thank you.

[Comic]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Random things random heroes might do:

 

1. DNA test the corpse, in fact use every forensic tool available, to be sure it's really the real Jester, he's really dead, it's permanent death, that Shooter really was the real cause of death, and maybe learn a bit about what caused Jester to be so darned effective, as well as what he'd been up to recently, if there are clues to that.

 

2. Stay away from the whole thing. Look to the future, not the past. Jester's gone, say a prayer or something, and Shooter's apparently Joe Average with no cause to investigate further, therefore the right to his own privacy.

 

3. Investigate every jote of Shooter's existence. There are no coincidences. Who is the real Joe Shooter? What was he doing in that place, at that time, with that weapon?

 

4. Take credit for it.

 

5. Prepare for the mayhem that comes when a major figure leaves the stage, as others vie for his spot in the pecking order. Patrol more. Adjust tactics. Retire the old Jester Jacket Projectile with the special Jesterproof straps and locks.

 

6. Retire. Only in the business to get Jester. Now he's gone, I can enjoy my remaining years, and limbs.

[nexus]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Valkeyrie and Eve exist in world where this scenario most likely wouldn't come up or would have genre appropriate consequences.

 

Shidoku: Be a bit miffed that she didn't get to gank Jester herself; check out the Shooter guy a little more. He did get –real- lucky for a civilian. If he turns out be clear, maybe take him out for a beer, maybe a tumble if he's not a total jerk and not incredibly hard on the eyes.

 

Tao: Not much really. His action seemed logical in her analysis though technically illegal no charges have been pressed against him so it not her concern.

 

Velocity: Would truly be torn. On one hand Jester was a monster, on the other people deciding to be judge jury and executioner can't lead to much good. All in all, she'd feel like there wasn't much she could really do about it though.

 

Ivy would be suspect and want to examine the body. It just seems to pat and clean for something dealing with this kind of criminal. It would be a pretty good joke after all. Checking into the background on this Shooter guy too, getting DNA if she can. Maybe a bit paranoid but it's justified when dealing with a psychotic genius.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

If they are not going to prosecute him, most of my heroes would investigate as well they were able and then leave it alone.

[Badger]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Badger- leave it alone.

 

Frosty Bob- How come Bob wasnt the one that shot him and earlier in time?

[Kirby]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Juggernaut - She's employed by the city, so if the DA isn't calling the Shooter a criminal, she can't go after him. Though, she'd wonder why she's in yet another in a long line of WWYCD threads.

 

Duo - Probably didn't even pay attention to the news. He's either trying to stay out of trouble (apparently a difficult task for him) or lusting over some female (and at 14, there's a lot of lust going on).

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

I think read this particular one before.. only Joe Shooter had a gold costume and a blaster staff.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

I can't imagine my characters being in a game where this is anything that would happen, but at the very least ...

 

War Wolf would make a very long, rather loud speech informing Mr. Prosecutor that he should do his damn job.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Nemesis - the Mutant Brick, Duplicator, & Detective would nod his head. Thinking justice done and move on.

 

 

TheQuestionMan - the Gamer on the other hand would send the guy a thank you note with a box of chocolates. Why everyone things the Jester is such a great character is beyond me.

 

QM

[The Weapon]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

What exactly is it that didn't conform to the legal definition of "Justifiable Homicide"? I mean given The Jester's previous antics it's pretty easy to have a reasonable belief that he's an imminent danger to yourself or others, certainly give his history he's not going back to jail without a probably lethal fight. Given this "reasonable force" could easily involve one to the head. So what's the case that he didn't use "reasonable force"?

[Clonus]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

to impossible to put together a jury that would convict Shooter and 2) with so many in town hailing Jimmy as a hero (rightly or wrongly so) it would be carreer suicide to so much as lay a finger on him. WWYCD?

 

Riptide shrugs and points out to the media that the guy probably has a legitimate self-defense claim, so there ain't any miscarriage of justice going and the guy ain't a vigilante. However, 99 times out of a hundred when a guy like that tries something like that against that kind of guy, they're the ones who get kacked, so don't try this stuff at home, kids.

 

Poet sighs and starts looking for the ghost. These people never realise what a mess they're leaving behind.

 

Hellfire prays for the shooter. He'll need it.

 

The Wizard of Oz Incorporated has a business to run and this doesn't affect it or him.

 

TN Lung doesn't notice.

[incrdbil]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Most of my characters, even the CvK ones (I've never played total CvK character, cause I fidn that just to be silly) think this: Jester's mere presence rationalizes a lethal response by an ordinary citizen. Armed, dangerous, to a normal cop or citizen, this is a shoot on sight situation.

 

The main concern: is Jester really dead, or is this just a plot of some kind?

Of course if Jester is actually dead, the shooter needs protection from Jester II, Jester Jr., Ms. Jester, or whatever the heck comes along.

[Drhoz]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Vitus would be puzzled why he wasn't gutted and hung up outside the Asylum to rot years ago. If the possibility the death was faked arises, then an a closer investigation may be indicated. As distasteful as he finds the idea of an autopsy, it would be an opportunity for some ventriloquist stunts with the jester's severed head. "Gottle o' Geer! Gottle o' Gear!"

 

And he'd agree that the shooter would need some protection. How much do you want to bet there's a Jester-obsessed woman out there named Judy?

 

Of course the whole hyena thing would lend itself to thematic exploitation too.

 

Zero would try to avoid the whole situation - the Jester's mind would be highly disturbing to a mentalist as highly strung as Truman. But no doubt his teammates would insist he telepathically probe everybody potentially involved in case it is all some sick joke.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Vitus would be puzzled why he wasn't gutted and hung up outside the Asylum to rot years ago. If the possibility the death was faked arises, then an a closer investigation may be indicated. As distasteful as he finds the idea of an autopsy, it would be an opportunity for some ventriloquist stunts with the jester's severed head. "Gottle o' Geer! Gottle o' Gear!"

 

And he'd agree that the shooter would need some protection. How much do you want to bet there's a Jester-obsessed woman out there named Judy?quote]

 

Yeah, or Harley.

 

Why is it that serial killers always seem to get tons of fan mail - from women, natch?

 

None of my characters would give a damn, even the ones with a CvK. They would, however, confirm that the Jester is really for real dead and get ready for the inevitable copy cats, etc.

[hfergus]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

All my heores would investigate to make sure the jester is really dead and then:

 

Volt "Not self defense? If the Jester is in your view, he may kill you. Even if he was shot in the back of the head, the minute he sees you, you're as good as dead. Leave the guy alone."

 

Olorin Would put a couple of spells on the guy for protection form the Jester-wanna-be's and then shake his hand. "Finally, someone with the nerve to kill someone who deserved it long ago. Thank you for your service. You need me, you call me."

 

Black Tiger Buys the guy a beer (or drink of choice) shakes his hand and says "Well done."

 

Futurian "Oh crud! I wanted to do that! Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. Good shot though. One less murderous bad guy; well done." No one is sure whether he meant the first part or he was joking.

[bubba smith]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

tuff man would investigate as well as he can and finding no wrongdoing leave it as is if found a hoax involved he'd tip off the proper police agency[tuff man lives in titusville fla as i do so his adventures usually happen here/there

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Black Cat would make sure that the guy had a trial somewhere else, with an unbiased jury, and help any prosecuting attorney. When she killed a villain (even though she was possessed at the time) she went to jail, by choice. It may have been the right choice to kill the guy, but you still have to face the consequences of your actions.

 

Meeb would not be phased at all, and not do anything. In his view sometimes the only thing to do (as a last resort) is to kill the villain.

 

Ballistic would likely buy the guy a beer. He knows what it is to face a super when all you have is a gun and no powers; part of his origin story was that he got thrown off the police force for shooting a gangbanger in the face with no provocation. The kid had mental powers, but there was no evidence to support it.

 

Sift would do much like cat, get the trail moved to somewhere it might be fair. She believes in the rule of law in general.

[JmOz]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Marksman would be fine with Shooter "getting away with it", but would still keep an eye on him as he could either be in danger, or part of something bigger (don't want a killer vigilante in the city, but could not fault the guy for doing what he did)

 

However a considerable amount of effort would be given to taking the DA down. Anyone who would put job security ahead of doing the job should not be a civil servant, same with public opinion.

 

If the new DA desided to prosucute shooter, then Marksman would hope he got off with a slap on the wrist.

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

OP edited for clearification.

[Kirby]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

The only changes I noticed were that the shooter is a civilian and he shot a corpse and then kicked a corpse. If that's it, then so?

[sinanju]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Inspired by this thread:

When asked why, the DA states that 1) with all the murder, mayhem, and chaos the Jester has caused over the years it would be next to impossible to put together a jury that would convict Shooter and 2) with so many in town hailing Jimmy as a hero (rightly or wrongly so) it would be carreer suicide to so much as lay a finger on him. WWYCD?

 

Hell's Angel and Iron Maiden (the same person in two different campaigns, with different power sets): "Would that more criminals were taken out by their would-be victims. Here's to Jimmy Shooter!"

 

Black Mask doesn't really care. Maybe Shooter was technically acting outside his legal rights. So do most superheroes, and the Jester had it coming.

 

Man-Ape (assuming he's asked by the press, which he almost certainly will be) makes all the right noises about the badness of vigilante justice (as opposed to superheroes who CAPTURE bad guys for the authorities), but that he trusts the justice system to deal with Shooter appropriately (whether that means a trial or no, a conviction or no).

 

Wednesday makes a personal appearance to congratulate Mr. Shooter on his victory over the Jester. Given that she's probably as scary and loony as the Jester (though nominally a heroine), he may not appreciate it. Edited to Add: Since Wednesday's alter-ego is Kate Sutherland, a prosecuting attorney in the campaign city D.A.'s office, there's a chance that SHE is the one assigned the case. But given the split personality between Kate/Wednesday, there's no conflict here....

[Jinx999]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

None of my characters would object to somebody killing the Jester. He is a mass murderer many times over who would have been SECURELY locked up or executed by any competent justice system and none of them have full CvKs.

 

Several of them would be inclined to investigate to check whether the situation is on the up-and-up, though.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Many of my characters couldn't really coexist in a setting where the Jester existed. Not the evil and death count; its the 'revolving door asylum', 'no death penalty', and 'shooting a criminal who is actively threatening others treated as a crime.'

 

That said, none of my PCs would be horrified by such. Diomedes and Mereneptah would investigate to make *sure* the Jester is dead.

[fiducia]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Darkness: Would take some time to watch over Jimmy Shooter to ensure no one tries anything retaliatory against him. She'd also check her...special contacts...to make sure the Jester is indeed in hell and really gone. She has little or no opinion on the right and wrong of Jimmy killing the Jester and doesn't frankly care. It's one less insane ass-clown she has to deal with.

 

Iron Alloy: Would probably sputter and debate with herself and her teammates over what they should or shouldn't do and the rights, wrongs, pros and cons of the entire thing to the point where several people would probably want to choke her, titanium skin or no. She'd eventually follow orders to either investigate or leave it alone or whatever because she's honestly stimied as to where the line between right and wrong falls on this one.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Death of the Jester

 

Jiro. Would burn his faked 'Jim Shooter' ID and walk off into the sunset.

 

All my other characters are from live in worlds where mass murderers would have got the chop a long time ago.