On Patrol with the Vigilante: Deacon

Field reporter Lana Lang begins her expose' on the vigilante sect among our local superheroes. Read on for her experiences patrolling with the the black/blue-clad crime-fighter known as Deacon The Hunter.  (continued on page 5)

Amazingly, yesterday we gave ourselves the opportunity to do something never seen before. After getting news of a coordinated hero attack on a villain safehouse within the LexCorp Tower, we took a news crew and setup at a location across the street and waited.

What happened next was astounding, A contingent of heroes led by the NFormed Radio League, The Coalition, The Omega Stars and Femme Fatale stormed the towers of LexCorp and battled the villains there within. The battle was swift and decisive, the villains never stood a chance and in less than 15 minutes all of the villains there were either unconscious or in shackles.

We had expected something long and drawn out, but the contingent of heroes were numerous, and most all. PREPARED. After the different factions watched the villains hauled off by various agencies, they went their separate ways but we decided our work wasn't done. We'd trail one of them discreetly and see just what a Superhero Patrol was like. The vigilante Deacon was one of the last to leave, and we made him our target.

It turned out that a chopper would have been a better alternative to our news van, as the notable member of The Coalition is a big fan of swinging among the skyscrapers and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. We almost crashed several times while our camera man tried to keep up, and then suddenly our break came. One of the city's villains had heard about the twin attacks on villains that day, knew the DP had been on the scene and he made a beeline straight for us as we rested at a stoplight. Before we could react the super-strong villain lifted our van over his head (with us inside) and prepared to dash us against a wall--killing us all.

Before he could finish us, however, Deacon acted. He dropped out of the sky like a hawk transfixed on its prey--making me think he had been aware of our presence the entire time. Before the villain (later we would discover his name was Slunk) could splatter us, the vigilante plowed a kick into his solar plexus that caused him to not-so-gently release us. Although the van crashed to the ground, and many of us were bruised, we were still alive. But the blue-clad blur never stopped, and he never ceded the upper-hand. His lightning-quick attacks never slowed and for every blow the dim-witted Slunk landed, he landed five. The disparity in skill was apparent to any observer, and the encounter wouldn't last long--the villain was beaten, he just didn't know it yet. The evil-doer eventually tried going on the defensive, but the repeated blows eventually took their toll and his body went limp, only upright because he was ensnared by one of the vigilante's zip-lines. Deacon turned to us immediately and said: "I don't know if I'm just this good or is that the bad guys suck so bad. Meh..."

The man's movements defy description, while he's certainly a mouthy, brash and witty sort. Deacon is easily one of the most skilled hand-to-hand combatant's among our community's superheroes. As he left, we followed with our damaged van and watched him encounter four more supervillains during his 3-hour long sweep of Metropolis' midtown areas. Cremator (USMC Devil Dogs), Voodoo, Fire Elemental (Legion of Sin) and Nightmare Queen all fell (the last two had the drop on him) in quick fashion to the man known as one of the mainstays of Gotham. Before we parted, he shared with us that most of the resoures of The Coalition were now focused on finding The Elemental Killer. I quoted him as saying: "We'll find out who this clown is and take him down, wrap 'em up, and haul his carcuss off to the authorities. Can't have some gun toting, looney toon running around cape killing. It just ain't right."

This is Lana Lang, reporting for the Daily Planet. Until next time Metropolis...