JSA: The Face Of Evil

By Bruce Wayne

DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters portrayed in this story are copyright by DC Comics, an AOL/Time/Warner company. They are used without permission for entertainment without profit by the author.

CHAPTER 14

Wonder Woman led Batman to the base of the stairs that ran to the top of the Capitol dome. "Here you are," said the Amazon Princess.

Batman nodded and began his ascent to the top.

In the darkness now, he climbed the stairs. The treads were narrow, and the stairs steep and winding.

Batman felt his own sweat, smelled it in the dusty darkness. And he felt something he had often felt before, something that had more than once kept him alive.

His sixth sense of impending danger.

The man somewhere above him was Karl Kyle -- known better as False-Face -- a criminal, mass murderer, maniacal Nazi. A man who would kill without thinking twice. A man who had led a group of killers. A man who had threatened the world with an unthinkable horror unless the world surrender to him. A man who would kill woman and children to achieve his ultimate goal of world conquest. A man who needed to be brought to justice.

False-Face would be armed. But he had something that made him more dangerous than any weapon he would had obtained. Like a cornered animal, he entertained no expectations of coming down the staircase alive.

The Masked Manhunter from Gotham City knew how hunters felt pursuing a wounded tiger in dense jungle undergrowth, one that had tasted human blood and liked it -- a man-eater.

Batman kept moving.

He had been on the staircase for nearly twenty minutes, but he doubted he'd risen more than fifty feet from the base of the dome.

***

False-Face tore away the makeup, laughing silently to himself. The face had shocked him. It had been Selina who had told Batman. He felt at the side of his neck and peeled all the makeup that covered the jagged scar. She had seen the scar. She had recognized him from the injury so many years earlier.

Leaving the scar had been a vanity. It could have been removed, but he'd left it as a reminder of his origins.

An expensive vanity, he realized, smiling in the darkness where he waited for the Batman.

For company, he had a submachine gun and a pistol.

He judged himself very near indeed to the top of the dome.

After he killed Batman, he would fire down into the base of the dome, killing all he could, and perhaps force them to destroy their edifice in the process of capturing him.

Or fire. He could burn their temple of democracy to the ground, and perhaps his own ashes would rise from it, phoenixlike, to soar again, to lead.

False-Face shifted his mind to other thoughts and waited.

Selina had become very beautiful. He had followed her career as Catwoman.

He smiled. Seeing Selina, had he ever wished to assume her identity in one of his forgotten number of disguises, it would have been very easy. Her eyes were his eyes.

He affected her voice, whispering into the darkness, "Batman, I love you so. Kill Karl for me, and I'll let you make love to me, darling --" And he laughed. He would kill Batman, avenging himself on the one man who had any success in confronting him. And if Selina loved this Batman, then he would kill her inside, as well. "Oh, Batman," he whispered, again affecting his sister's voice. "Why did you have to die, darling?" And he laughed again.

Beneath him, he heard the creaking of a board.

Batman was coming.

It was a surprise worthy of a last gesture. He smiled, tucking back against the stairs, waiting.

***

Batman took the next tread, the one he left creaking again, as it had when he'd first shifted weight onto it.

And then he heard it.

"Batman, darling. I'm up here, I'm waiting for you. Hurry, please hurry to me, Batman -- please."

It was Selina's voice. Batman started to call out to her.

He shook his head. The JSA members wouldn't have let her take the stairs in pursuit of False-Face.

"Batman, please -- I'm hurt. Is that you, Batman? Please let it be you."

It had to be Selina. Batman wanted to call out to her.

Again he heard her voice. "Batman, I want to make love to you right here on the stairs," and then the laughter, loud, insane, inhuman. The German- accented voice rang out, "Batman, my sister is so vibrant-looking. Is she good in bed? I'd always meant to find out."

Batman didn't reply.

He heard Selina's voice again, "Come and hold me, Batman. Make all this go away. My loins ache for you, Batman -- come to me."

A stair creaked again. He knew it was a mistake as soon as his foot hit the tread. The air around him immediately came alive with splinters of wood, chunks of plaster and the whine of submachine gun bullets as he tucked back against the stairs, covering his head with his left arm.

The submachine-gun fire persisted, then suddenly stopped. Then it started again. He tucked back as the subgun fire hammered into the stairs and walls around him. Splinters of wood and jagged chunks of plaster sprayed across his body.

The voice again. "Batman, oh, Batman -- come to me now, make me feel it, Batman -- I'm wet for you. Can you smell it?" And then False-Face's own voice, "Am I entertaining you, Batman -- hmmm?"

"Go fornicate yourself, you dastardly villian. If anybody could, it'd be you," Batman shouted up into the darkness.

"Now that's really being a spoilsport, Batman, really. Such talk. You want me, come and get me." Selina's voice added, "I'm waiting, Batman, only for you."

Batman felt the tendons in his neck tense. He wanted to strike something. He wanted to race up the stairs into the darkness and find False-Face's neck and snap it in his hands. He waited.

He had been pinned on the stairs for over ten minutes. False-Face would have changed positions, he thought, moving up slowly, silently.

He began to move himself, getting up on his hands and knees.

One step.

He started up another, then froze. "I can hear you coming, Batman. Would you like to hear from Catwoman again, hmmm?" There was a pause, then Selina's voice reached out from the darkness, "Batman, are you coming to me, darling? I've been fantasizing you'd come, how it would be, Batman. Mmmm ... Batman I want to feel you!"

"Shut up," Batman shouted. He tucked back to avoid the inevitable hail of subgun fire, but none came.

"Batman, I am going out onto the dome. I have had enough of this game. I think you pride yourself on honor -- then come and get me -- alone. I will be waiting."

"Why?"

"Why? Very simple, Batman, very simple. Time grows short. Soon, if you do not come down, others will come after you. Doctor Mid-Nite. That horrible ape Hourman. Perhaps that Wildcat. You see, I want to kill you and you want to capture me. I shall be going up the stairs. Unless you wish to deprive yourself of the honor of arresting me, if you can, then I suggest you follow. Until later then, hmmm?"

Batman heard the sound of movement.

It was likely another trick of False-Face's. Soon it would be dawn, and helicopters would fill the skies around them.

Cautiously, slowly, as soundlessly as he could, he crawled along the stairs. Ahead he could see a crack of light against the surrounding blackness. He stopped as he reached it. Slowly he opened the door.

Batman peered out, squinting against the brightness sent up by the lights that illuminated the Capitol building.

And then Batman heard Selina's voice. "Batman, I am waiting for you, here in the fresh chill of morning -- come to me."

He edged closer to the voice, staring out.

He was near the very summit of the dome, beneath the columns of the crowning lantern. On the top of the lantern stood the statue of the lady named "Freedom." She stood alone and proud, and Batman felt a little better for knowing that he was fighting on her side.

Washington's lights blinked from the purple predawn darkness that cast an eerie glow on the nation's capital. Some had called it the City of Lies, but Batman would defend its right to exist with every muscle and tendon in his body.

Stooping slightly, Batman stepped through to the outside.

To his right he could see the top of the Washington Monument, the obelisk's whiteness stark against the murky dawn.

The footing was narrow as Batman rose to his full height, leaning against the base that supported the columns.

"False-Face!" Batman shouted the name into the wind.

"Batman, come to me." False-Face was using Selina's voice again, but it came on the wind and Batman couldn't tell where it originated.

He turned awkwardly on the narrow ledge. With his face pressed against the building, he reached up to foot of the columns, finding a handhold, waiting for False-Face to strike.

Nothing happened.

Batman clawed at the stone, pulling himself up, wedging his feet against the wall. With one final thrust he threw his body onto the floor of the lantern.

"Batman!"

He knew he was in trouble.

"Don't move, Batman."

Despite False-Face's admonition, Batman looked up.

False-Face stood at the center of the circle within the columns, like a figure on a stage, the submachine gun held in an assault position, a smile on his lips.

Batman studied the face for a moment. "Is that your real face now?"

"Yes, do you find it interesting?"

"Take it or leave it," Batman replied.

"I wish to talk before I kill you, Batman."

"They always do," the Caped Crusader muttered.

"Your utility belt carries a number of weapons, correct?"

"It does?" he replied in the form of a question.

"The utility belt, Batman, remove it -- quickly."

Batman unbuckled the yellow belt from around his waist and set it down.

"Now, Batman, remember that I can kill you before you can do anything to me. So buy yourself a few moments of life -- we are both dead men. Kick the utility belt toward me."

Batman nodded. With the tip of his boot, he slid the belt toward the villian.

"Very good, Batman. Very good, indeed. Now step back carefully. Don't fall, hmmm?"

Batman edged back, between two of the columns. The wind battered him, reaching out with unseen punches as if trying to knock him from the top of the dome.

False-Face picked up the utility belt, shifting his subgun to his right hand only, and readied himself to throw the belt from the lantern.

Batman saw his chance and kicked out with his right foot, catching False- Face in the chest. The Nazi dropped the belt and his submachine gun. The Dark Knight's left hand went for a roundhouse punch to the jaw of his opponent. As the arm came around, False-Face launched a kick of his own. The pain in Batman's left wrist was suddenly wrenching at him.

False-Face's right hand now held a revolver, and Batman threw himself toward the Nazi, smashing his left shoulder into the criminal mastermind as the revolver discharged. The Masked Manhunter's body screamed at him, his flesh on fire, his ears ringing with the blast of the discharge. His left arm was alternately numbed, then ached like no pain he had endured before.

Batman's right knee smashed up, crushing into False-Face's testicles. He felt the rush of foul air from the villian's mouth against his face.

He crossed False-Face's jaw with a short right, and the evildoer's head snapped back against the stone.

Batman dove to his right.

False-Face's revolver cracked again and Batman's neck twisted as he felt fire crease his skin.

The villian was already spinning away from the Caped Crusader. But False- Face lost his balance and fell back, toppling onto the floor of the lantern.

Batman rolled onto his back, instinctively trying to touch his neck, but his left arm wouldn't respond with anything but fresh spasms of pain.

He heard a voice: "Batman, come to me, darling!"

False-Face was still taunting him.

Batman pushed himself up so he could stand.

He swayed on his feet, but started across the small platform toward the sun. The orb of light was a purple bruise below the horizon.

Suddenly he felt a searing pain across his right hand and reeled back.

False-Face held a bloodstained knife in his fist the way a swordsman would hold a rapier. "I'm going to cut you again and again until there's no tongue left in your mouth to scream," he yelled.

The Nazi butcher stumbled forward.

Batman staggered back against the column nearest him. Red and yellow floaters crossed his eyes from the pain as he sank forward, catching his ankle against the column.

False-Face was lunging for him as he turned, and Batman felt a fresh stab of fire as the knife slashed across his chest. He fell back, almost toppling over the side. His left foot kicked out against his opponent's knife hand, and False-Face fell back, screaming.

Batman summoned up all his remaining strength and made a move toward the villian. His right foot snapped out, catching the Nazi madman against the left side of the head. False-Face rolled with the blow, and when he came to his feet his left ear was running with blood.

But False-Face fought with the determination of man who had nothing to lose. He ground the tips of his fingers into Batman's left shoulder, and the Gotham Goliath reeled back in pain, falling against one of the columns.

False-Face moved in for the kill, but Batman spun away, backhanding his bloodied right fist across the villian's face, hammering False-Face back.

The would-be Nazi fuhrer stood, swaying, his nose broken, his face covered with blood. "You bastard," he screamed.

Batman lunged at False-Face, his right fist rocketing forward. The blow glanced off the side of the criminal's neck, and the Nazi threw himself at the Caped Crusader.

"Well, Batman," False-Face sneered. "It looks as if your luck has finally run out."

Batman was about to answer, when he heard Catwoman's voice behind him. "I hate you!" she shrieked. The Dark Knight from Gotham prayed she was talking about False-Face.

As the two men circled each other, Batman glimpsed Catwoman out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, Selina," Batman heard False-Face say. "So you came to see your champion die by my hand."

She could see Batman's left arm hang uselessly at his side as False-Face grabbed him. The Masked Manhunter felt himself being inexorably pulled toward the edge of the lantern. He realized the Nazi planned to claim one more victim and drag him over the edge, as well.

As the crazed Nazi angled them toward their death, Batman glanced back to see Catwoman leap into action. She was moving and jumping toward them in the early-morning darkness.

The two men, the man she had come to love and her brother, kept fighting between the columns.

"Batman --" she yelled.

With all his remaining strength, Batman twisted away from the grip of the Nazi madman and dove for the stone floor of the lantern.

Catwoman executed an incredible somersault and kicked out with both feet into the chest of False-Face.

Batman watched as he saw the villian teeter on the edge of the abyss with just one foot. Then the body fell away and was gone.

The Gotham City adventurer slowly got to his knees.

His head sagged forward, and after a time he felt the cool stillness of Selina's hands against the flesh of his face.

A moment later he heard Hourman's voice. "Catwoman, you should not have come up here without me," the big man admonished.

There were words that Batman could barely follow. His body was on fire with pain.

Soon Selina was at his side again. Her soothing voice told him that the Boomer had talked. It was funny how people talked when they were caught in a pair of giant green pincers that were provided by Green Lantern's power ring. Disposal experts were now on their way to retrieve the rest of the hidden bombs and canisters of VX nerve gas.

The rising sun infused the dome with a flush of pink. Batman closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep -- there would be time for the rest later.

The Justice Society of America of Earth-Two had once again saved the world from the brink of ultimate disaster. It was the dawning of a new day.

-- Finis --

This concludes the False-Face trilogy. The JSA will return in a brand new epic sometime in early fall. I hope whoever is reading enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

My next project will be a modern Batman tale. Please look for it on FFN.