Porcelain

((Was never getting anything done so I decided on writing a quickie.))

There are two main motivations for becoming a Vigilante in the city of Gate. The first one was very obvious; for the money. After all, vigilantism is a paying profession, if there was nothing else one could do, it was probably the lesser of two evils. These guys are like small fry though, rarely would you see Vigilantes in it for the money to get big, gain fame and fortune and attract any undue attention. You don’t get paid if you’re dead; your family does however, if only a little bit. It is mostly due to the work of these little guys that allows for the city to function normally every day. As opposed to the ones just in it for the money, there are those that pick up the mantle for their own personal reasons. This can range any where from revenge to family tradition, though the reasons are usually not mutually exclusive. These are the kinds that go after the big wigs of the underground. They last a few years tops as they make more and more enemies until they finally go out in a blaze of glory. Their death serves only to perpetuate the vicious cycle of revenge. There are those that survive though, persisting until a new generation can take over. Vigilantes like them are rare and pass on as legends. This is the story of one such legend.

Porcelain was her name and as with all legends, accounts vary as to how she came to be. Before that though, it would probably be better to know what exactly Porcelain was. Even here, opinion is divided but there were few commonly accepted facts. One, she was a Vigilante and second, she only protected women. Even the most wanted women in the city could appeal for her protection as long as she turned herself in afterwards in exchange. Such was Porcelain’s reputation that even female assassins refused to do her wrong in anyway and most women would willingly lend their aid should she require it.

Though, getting back to where we left off, the most prolific story of her origin was that she was the sole child of Casanova. Of course that was just the summarised version and even then this tale had its own variations. In any case, it was Casanova who was her father and being the kind of man he is reputed to be, left the mother and child to fend for themselves. Most of the signs point to her childhood having taken place in Los Sinistre, her mother forced by circumstances to take unsavoury jobs to make ends meet. This as well as many other facts about her life is in dispute. Another theory goes that her mother was really a potter and hence her name. Regardless it was not until her teens did she finally picked up the mantle of vigilantism. Racking up debts that could not be paid, the men of the underground finally came for her mother and her. Nobody knows exactly what transpired that night either. It could have been rape, it could have been a bloodbath, it could have even been just a tea party but soon afterwards, a new entry in the Vigilante registry appeared.

Her first recorded intervention was on the 3 District Intersection of Lofty Heights, Lower Gate and Los Sinistre. Her target was a young man by the name of Mack Guffins, who just so happened to be a conman and a lady killer. Chatting obliviously with his next victim at a café by the intersection, the next thing that hit him was a potted petunia. Perfectly placed to cave in his skull, the only person to have seen it coming was a random onlooker farther down the street. News spread fast, as fast the channels allowed. Related incidents later occurred, with little eyewitness accounts of the actual person behind this.

The incident that really rocketed her out of obscurity was when she herself was responsible for avenging Mayor Tammy Kajnin on the day of the Mayor’s assassination. She was not coincidentally just outside the Mayor’s tower when Tammy Kajnin landed on the pavement. Porcelain, leapt in to the compromised tower, and cleared every floor on her way up. Recordings from the tower showing her advancing relentlessly as the assassins fired on her and attempted to escape. Anyone who later watched the footage would see that she had the strength to run a man through a concrete pillar and shatter it despite having taken bullet wounds that would have felled a man. The last assassin was killed by a piece of rebar from a destroyed concrete pillar. His useless pleading and struggling as he was dragged helplessly and inexorably impaled on the blunt piece of metal was a poignant example of what she did and would do to those that wronged women.

Months afterwards, she would disappear under the radar once again, with brief sightings of her reported every now and then. Speculation was at an all time high regarding her recent activities. Some postulated that she found and was rearing a successor. Others said she died soon after the Mayor’s Tower incident and that the sightings were just others who took up her mantle. Yet another faction believes that she really found a clue regarding her mysterious father and was tracking him down for her own reasons.

“But that doesn’t explain why we are standing in front of the grave of Corey P. Elaine.”

“Patience my dear boy, I never was able to finish.”

Porcelain was more that just a woman, and even now, she lives like an immortal, forever hunting the first man to ever wrong her. He who watched her from afar but never once acted, the cowardly Casanova.

“Yes, to me, she was more than just a woman, a Vigilante, or even a legend. She was my daughter.”