How long has Gale been a vigilante? When and how did she start exactly?

elastigale:

Gail was 14 when she moved from Kansas to Metroville to live with her parents. Soon after that she expressed an interest doing hero work, but her parents were very concerned because she still had trouble controlling her powers and she didn’t have any hero contacts to train/guide her in learning the ropes.

After they started dating, Helen took it upon herself to charm and impress Gail’s parents (which wasn’t hard for her to do) and humble-brag about her achievements and skills as a Super. She succeeded in convincing Gail’s parents to agree to let Gail start doing patrols with the stipulation that she had Helen there to supervise/take care of her. (She liked to joke that Gail was her sidekick now.)

Most of their early outings were just practicing how to use their powers together and having fun with that. Helen also tried to get Gail to spar with her but was frustrated because Gail would always hold back. Gail was also against using her strength vs criminals for fear of critically injuring them, she chose to stick to rescue operations.

Gail was active as a Super until her early 20’s when she had her accident. It would be almost 20 years before she took up the mantle again, under a new Super identity: Nightingale.