Hi everyone! I'm here once again to try and write an SYOC story, themed around Vigilantes. I have tried to write a story like this before, but I found I wasn't happy with how the story was turning out, but this time, I've changed the things that I didn't like, and I'll be working harder to make sure the story comes out the way I want it to.

If you want to submit a character, the form will be in my profile, or at the end of the story. Send them through via PM, and if you like the story, or have some criticism, leave a review.

With that out of the way, on with the show


The office was dark, well out of the range of the street lights far below, and only barely lit by the single light fixture attached to the ceiling, casting long shadows on the floor and walls. Two people sat on either side of the desk, dressed in business suits. Behind the desk was a blonde woman, with heavy bags visible under her eyes. She reclined in her chair, her arms folded across her lap as she watched the other person, a neutral expression on her face. The other person was a man with dark hair, tinged with grey. He sat nervously in his chair, barely hidden guilt present on his face as he eyed the blonde woman. He drummed his fingers on the desk, until finally, he worked up the courage to speak.

"There are other lights in this office, you know," The man said, fighting to keep his voice level, "I can turn them on, if you want." He motioned towards the lightswitch in the back as he spoke, but his gaze remained locked on the woman

"I prefer it this way," The woman said, her voice calm and polite, "I don't need that much light when I'm working, so why bother wasting the power to turn my office into some kind of beacon? Especially when I'm working by myself."

"A soft, diffused light source is best…you do know that using a strong, direct light is harmful to the eyes, right? Extra harmful because of the contrast you're forcing your eyes to endure and keep adjusting for."

The woman waved off the man, "I'll buy a lampshade then," She said dismissively, as she reached down to the drawer of the desk, "Now, let's stop circling around the topic, and get to the point I called you here for."

A glint of interest flickered across the man's face, as he pulled his chair closer to the desk. "Very well," He said, "Give me your proposal,"

The woman pulled a manilla folder out of the drawer, and handed it over. She leaned back in her chair, giving the man a moment to read through it, watching him as his eyes flicked from page to page, inspecting pictures and studying paragraphs. A heavy silence fell over the two people as the man read, but once he finished, he closed the folder with a heavy sigh. He tossed the folder back on the desk, leaning back and rubbing his eyes.

"No." The man said, "There's absolutely no way this will get approved. The board will throw this out before I even get through the first paragraph,"

"Then don't let them," The woman replied, "Explain to them the benefits of the program, to both society, and to the company."

"Really? You're going with the 'it's all good' strategy?" The man put his hand over his face, "Well it might work…if the board was made up of monkeys. It isn't. I think you know that better than anyone."

"I know it's a gamble, and the board is going to ignore any proposal that comes from me. But that's why I need you to make them agree," The woman said, "I don't care how, but you owe me this. Hell, you owe me a lot more, but all I need from you is to get this program to succeed."

The man reached into the breast pocket of his suit and produced a cigarette, placing it in his mouth as he patted down his pockets in search of a lighter. When his search found nothing, he turned to the woman, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"I thought you quit." The woman said, as she held out a lighter for the man, the flickering flame distorting the shadows of the room.

"Were things less...complicated, no thanks to you by the way, I'd be able to go back to nicotine patches and actually quitting," He muttered through the cigarette. He took a drag from the cigarette, and slowly blew out the smoke, turning away from the woman as he did so. "But these work better. If you must know, I look forward to the day I'm free of them."

The two remained silent as the man worked his way through the cigarette, until only a smoking filter remained. He ground the remains into the ashtray on the desk, then laid his hands on the table.

"Lauren," The man began, his tone tired. "I know this means little, but I am sorry. Voting you out is one thing, but throwing away legitimate ideas because you're the one presenting them, that's just being an arse.

I know you're trying to do right by your brother with this program-"

"Stop trying to change the subject," Lauren interrupted, the tightness of her voice betraying her emotions.

"I'm not," the man replied, shaking his head, "I'm just reminding you that I'm on your side. The decision to kick you off the board wasn't unanimous. Two against, and you're looking at one of them," he paused. "Me and Frank, we've got some say in what gets done and how, but we aren't miracle workers.

You know how it'd look if the first major thing he did as Chair was force your proposal through."

"I'm not asking for a miracle, Alan," Lauren sighed, as she produced her own cigarette and lit it. "I've sat by and let my fathers company fall apart around me, biding my time, until an opportunity to do something good presented itself. I can't let this project fail, no matter what the board thinks of it."

"Well, if the board doesn't approve it, you're dead in the water. Be practical, Lauren. The funding for something of the scale of what you're proposing will not fall out of the sky. If it did it would come bundled with so many caveats, you couldn't touch a cent without thirty people signing off on it. Either that or it's two steps away from growing teeth and biting people in half. At least show something that can convince them that this'll be worth it."

"Prison effectiveness." Lauren's head snapped up, a smile growing on her face. "If you put a vigilante into prison, it causes complete chaos. The vigilante and the criminals are going to fight, maybe even kill each other, and that's one less space to put, let's face it, an actual criminal. Double decrease in overall effectiveness and work efficiency."

She threw the half smoked cigarette into the ashtray, and began rummaging around on her desk, producing reports and graphs from seemingly nowhere, "And even though we provide robots to these prisons, they're expensive, and people are unwilling to invest in them, especially if there are cheaper options. I know for a fact that several prisons across the world, some of them our biggest clients for that sector, have started looking into alternatives for security. The Board doesn't want someone like Defence Solutions overtaking us, would they?"

Alan leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin as he looked over the material Lauren had given him. "Sure. This could work," He said, "But I'll have to pull a lot of strings for this, and so will Frank. I think you have the best odds if we spin this as a trial run. Small group, one location, all the resources you could want. That way if you show results, they have to acknowledge it; if you fail, you don't get to complain that the Board gave you a short leash.

Though, we're still going to have to add some rules. Don't include that in your proposal, Frank will put them forward as additional restrictions. Makes him more credible, looking like he's not totally on your side."

"Alright," Lauren nodded, "What rules were you thinking?"

"First off, only twenty," Alan said, "The more people, the more expensive it gets, and the more risks we're taking. So pick twenty vigilantes, and make sure they have the best shot at making this succeed."

"Fine. What else?"

"Get them signed off by a hero. They're going to vouch for their candidates' conduct and morality and whatever else. This will be external insurance that gets us official support, plus it helps shift some of the blame."

Lauren's expression soured, but she nodded, and gestured for Alan to continue.

"Finally, we'll be inserting a control candidate. Someone to keep an eye on things for the board. We've already got someone in mind, but you won't know who it is until everything's confirmed."

Lauren inspected Alan's expression, searching for any clues or signs to indicate what he was thinking, but eventually, she gave up, and nodded, extending her hand. "I accept your terms."

"Thank you," Alan said, a rare smile reaching his face as his shoulders relaxed. He grasped Lauren's hand in both of his, "I know it's difficult, but it's still a step in the right direction."

Lauren nodded absent mindedly, her thoughts clearly focused somewhere else, and Alan took that as his cue to leave. He gathered up the folders and files he needed, stood up, and made his way to the door. Before leaving, he paused, and turned back to Lauren. He opened his mouth to speak, but reconsidered, turning back to the door and walking out, leaving Lauren alone to think.


One week later, Lauren sat in her office, her fingers drumming impatiently as she waited. She faced the window, but her gaze was locked on the phone out of the corner of her eye. As soon as the phone rang, she snatched it up, answering the call and raising it to her ear in one fluid motion.

"Lauren," She answered, leaning back in her chair. Her fingers curled tight around the armrests as she waited for the reply.

"Lauren, it's me," The person on the other end of the phone call replied, "It's Frank."

Lauren stiffened in her chair, her eyes narrowing for a moment before she regained her composure. "Has the board come to a decision?" Lauren asked, turning in her chair back to her desk.

"Straight to business then?" Frank replied, "Should have guessed." He went silent for a moment, the only sound coming from the rustling of papers being shuffled together, and then cleared his throat loudly.

"The board of directors of Unimate Robotics Incorporated have voted to approve funding for the suggested project," Frank read off in a rather even tone, though Lauren knew him well enough to catch some well concealed excitement, "Provided that Project Manager Lauren Devol abides by the conditions set in subsection D."

Lauren had to fight to stop herself from cheering, but she'd had years of practice keeping her emotions in check, so instead, she simply smiled. "I assume those conditions were the ones I already discussed with Alan?"

"Yes, just translated into complex legal terms," Frank replied, "But what matters is, the funds have been officially allocated, so the company is committed, for better or worse. We're all in the same boat now. The only way they can pull funding is if they catch you violating the conditions of the agreement"

"I'll be sure to not leave any evidence behind," Lauren commented absently, clearly distracted by the news, "Thank you for all your help, Frank,"

"Don't mention it," Frank replied, "I owed your father as much,"

On that final note, he hung up the phone, leaving Lauren alone with the best news she'd had in years.


I recognise that the first chapter is a little short, and a little dry, but its some important worldbuilding, so I hope you can forgive me. The next chapter should be out in a few days.


Once again, please make submissions through PM, I won't be accepting them through reviews.

General
Name:
Nickname: (optional)
Vigilante/Hero Name: (specify which one is their hero name and which is their vigilante name if you want them to be different)
Gender: (I'm open to anything)
Sexuality: (Again, open to anything)
Age: (preferably between 14-15, but I may accept exceptions with a good enough reason)
Birthday:
Nationality: (Where they come from)

Appearance
Height:
Weight:
Build:
Ethnicity: (What race they are)
Markings: (Scars, tattoos, or birthmarks)
Hair Colour & Style:
Eye Colour:
Skin Colour:

Clothing
Uniform: (How they wear the program's uniform. Its a traditional school uniform, with pants/skirts, button shirts, ties and a blazer)
Casual:
Sleeping:
Vigilante Costume: (Remember most vigilantes don't have access to advanced materials or technology, and often their costumes are improvised from things they already owned)
Costume:

Personality & History
Personality: (try and go into detail, the more detail here, the easier time I have writing them, and therefore, the more likely they are to be included)
Likes:
Dislikes:
Fears:
Backstory:
Motivation: (Why did they become a vigilante, as opposed to just going through the process to become a hero)
Family:
Habits: (Anything from nervous tics to interesting speech patterns)
Secrets:

Quirk
Quirk Name:
Type: (Emitter, Mutant, Transformation, or Other (Try to avoid using other, unless the quirk really defies description))
Description:
Strengths:
Weaknesses: (Try to include at least 3, or at least a significant weakness)
Special Moves: (Anything they've already come up with on their own. This could be something as simple as a preferred way of attacking)
Future Moves: (Moves they'll develop as they improve their quirks control and power. Try and list them in order of learning)

Stats
Rate their abilities out of 10, 10 being the best, 1 being the worst. (Try to keep the stats balanced, but this is more for reference to what stats you consider important)
Strength:
Endurance:
Dexterity:
Charisma:
Manipulation:
Wits:
Intelligence:
Teamwork:
Quirk: (how good they are at using their quirk, not how powerful their quirk is)

Other (These are all optional, but appreciated)
Extra Stuff: (Anything you couldn't find a home for elsewhere)
Theme Song:
Quotes:
Plot Beats/Story Arcs: (These are extra appreciated)