Omar was born in 2002 in New York City. His family was poor and life was rough, but Omar did what he could to get by. He skipped school regularly and got into drug dealing gangs, where he managed. He took up the position of muscle, learning firearms, and feeling like he found his calling. He was a damn good shot. Omar got a few scars here and there from those who got the jump on him, but if Omar shot first, he never needed more bullets than he used. By 2017, Omar, or ‘Twitch’, as he was called on the street, was infamous for his speedy fingers, good senses, and intimidating presence.
His life changed one day when he and some of his allies went to push a rival gang off their corner, expanding the territory a bit. The firefight was quick; they didn’t even defend themselves once they saw Omar, just took off running, but once that was done with, Omar’s group came under fire from someone else. They took cover and tried to shoot back, but one by one, Omar’s crew fell. One lost his gun, knocked out of his hand before he fell backwards from shock and knocked himself out. The other was concussed by a sign which fell on him, having been old and shot out from the bottom. Omar himself never saw the assailant during the fight, shooting where he believed the attacker to be until he finally ran out of ammo, even after taking the weapons of the fallen around. As the police arrived, he ran out of ammo and fled down the alleyways, terrified and helpless for the first time in his career. He couldn’t escape a mobilized police force alone after all, especially with his backup incapacitated, and was arrested.
He was interrogated at the police station, and had nothing to say but that he fired a weapon, figuring that would tie them over, but detectives worked to pin murders on him, some he did and some he hadn’t. Unsuccessful, he took a few days in jail for firearm discharge within city limits, while his allies were charged likewise and sent to a prison hospital. However, when he got out, neither them nor any of his other gang members were waiting for him, but rather a man with black eyes and short black hair in a car. Omar was about to blow him off, but being a little pissed at the lack of presence from any of his gang members, he decided to go along with it, deciding to be careful in saying anything incriminating, in case it was a police officer.
The man introduced himself as Gregory, and drove Omar to a shooting range. As Omar questioned it with confusion, Greg stepped out of his car with a crutch, revealing himself as injured somehow, before admitting it was him who engaged Omar in the firefight. Omar felt a mixture of emotions; shock, offence, and the feeling of being humbled. The infamous gang muscle ‘Twitch’ outmatched by an old white guy with a bad leg. Omar pushed that rage into his gunplay, showing Gregory just how well he could shoot, now feeling the need to prove himself. However, after some simple targets, Gregory nodded too the range owner and a new set of targets coming out, moving fast, in and out of cover. Omar was too taken off guard by the quickness to get even one shot in. Even on the next four tries, he only hit it twice, once on the corner and once on the head. Gregory picked up a pistol and tried it himself, and in five tries, gave the featureless face of the target two eyes, a nose, and a smile.
Omar was humbled once again, looking at the target’s mocking smile in disbelief. Turning back to Gregory, he just wanted to know ‘How?’ Greg explained that it took a lot of practice and discipline, and that he’d be happy to teach Omar should he meet a couple conditions. Omar knew he should have predicted this, but he inquired anyway. Greg explained that, for one, he never wanted Omar to turn his gun onto an innocent again. Omar laughed, wondering aloud if gang punks were innocent or not. Greg saw his point, but explained himself in more detail: Gregory Saunders was retired hero Vigilante, and he’d been looking for someone with the natural gunplay talent to fill his boots, so that Gregory’s knowledge didn’t go to waste. Omar was honestly torn: gangs had been his life, but Gregory was taunting him with this: being tough and skilled was his real objective, but he’d have to give up a lot. He couldn’t act as a Vigilante and criminal at the same time, and without his criminal career, which he expected to last until he was gunned down on some street corner, was all he had.
Omar asked if there were any other conditions, and Gregory cryptically responded, “I’d like to see how far you take your sense of right on your own first.” Omar didn’t get his meaning, so Gregory made it clear by adding, “There’s a lot you can do without firing a bullet.” Telling him to think on it, Greg sent Omar on his way.
Omar didn’t sleep that night, faced with a difficult choice. Even if he made that choice, he had to figure out his ‘sense of right’ and how far he could take it, whatever that meant. He realized that Vigilante was likely thinking that Omar could bring down the hammer on the gangs somehow, but Omar didn’t know how to do that without firing a bullet. He realized the sad truth as dawn broke: he was so single minded. Violence was his life. There was more too it, wasn’t there? And if he became the Vigilante, he’d need a secret identity, right? A job too, or some source of income. He didn’t want to change, but he never thought he could amount to anything other than a gunman. This was a rare opportunity to change himself. He decided to go through with it, but he needed to figure out the rest.
He took a trip elsewhere to try and find something, anything that could help him. He went to areas of the city that he hadn’t visited often, before eventually leaving the city for the first time in his life. He took a bit of cash and spent a good month doing some backpacking around the region, going as far south as D.C. and Baltimore. Seeing other places with crime as bad as New York, he figured out his way to make a difference. He returned to his gang hideout to the surprise of the others, who presumed him dead, given the long absence with no explanation. Omar took note of a few things before bidding farewell.
Omar went to the police, offering to help them bring down the gang. He worked for a month with the gang, wearing a bug to catch conversations which implicated major gang members. When it was brought in, a staggering number of arrests were made on several gangs throughout the city, witnessed by Omar, once called ‘Twitch’ was now ‘Snitch’. It took some time to clean up the massive case, but when it was all over, he once again met Greg Saunders, who was quite pleased and impressed with Omar.
From there, Omar began his training. It was more than just gunplay. Discipline, resolve, and heroism were all subject to being tested, tried, and trained. Omar was taught to ride a horse, which was something Omar had never once thought he’d do, but it was an experience. Using the lasso as a tool was also something different. But as he mastered what Vigilante taught, he knew that with his skills he could make more of a difference. There were still gangs in New York after all: he only brought down but one.
During the training, he learned more about Gregory’s career as Vigilante. Not only was he part of the Justice League, but he fought in the Thanagarian invasion and the near apocalypse of ’09. However, shortly before he first encountered Omar, he was injured, his leg permanently paralyzed. The culprit was a gang leader called the Dummy, whom caught Vigilante in a tricky scheme that he was lucky to survive. Vigilante was effectively retired from vigilantism at this point.
By halfway through 2019, Omar had gotten himself a job as a firearm seller and repairman, with contacts in both the police and the gangs. But he often donned his mask as the second Vigilante going where the law couldn’t, and doing his duty when a situation happened close by, riding his motorcycle through the city when necessary. He continued his crime fighting throughout the years, occasionally tussling with super humans, or even allying with them. He was even invited to the Justice League, but turned them down, not wanting the rest of the League to look bad should his identity get out; if word was that gang shooter and hitman Omar ‘Snitch’ Brice was Vigilante, he had a feeling he wouldn’t exactly be publicly praised.
Throughout those years, Omar also took up the fight against Vigilante’s old rogues, even putting The Rattler and the Rainbow Man behind bars for good. However, the Dummy proved formidable, always evading capture. In the late 2020’s, while the world was rapidly changing with technology advancing, Omar went all out on the Dummy, somehow catching up to him only to find him switched with a big, fake dummy. In the late 30’s, the Dummy pulled a fast one on him. When Omar caught another fake Dummy, it grabbed back, bombs in its hands detonating after grabbing Omar’s leg. He was hospitalized, and opted to have it amputated from the knee down. He would later put more money into it, deciding to make his entire leg cybernetic instead, making it powerful and able to store ammo and small, simple gadgets. Over the years, he wandered the country, moving his business to cities in need.
Now, Vigilante II feels New Gotham needs a visit from a certain gunman. He’s also heard tell that the Dummy has ties to Gotham, and wouldn’t mind crippling more and more of the old deadwood’s operations.
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Originally Posted by Hillan
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