Chapter 20
"Beneath the Mask"
Even in the late summer evening, there was a chill in the cemetery. Batman was surrounded by silent graves and hidden faces as he approached the mausoleum at the centre of it all.
Out in the open like this, there was little cover, but he had no desire to hide. He wanted Roman to know he was coming. The remaining members of the False Face Society were assembled around the headstones outside the mausoleum, staring at him through their masks. They wisely offered no opposition.
"I'm here for your leader," he told them. "I'm here for Black Mask."
"He's been expecting you," they whispered in unison. "Enter alone."
That's fine by me, Batman thought as he proceeded into the large stone crypt.
While his own parents were buried on the grounds of Wayne Manor, he knew that many of the city's wealthy elite were interred here in this mausoleum, including Roman's parents. Like the steel mill, using this old location as a base of operations was a symbolic part of his revenge. But not for much longer.
Within the dark crypt, smelling of cold stone and decay, Batman saw them at the back, beyond the rows of tombs. Alfred and Vicki, tied to chairs, their mouths gagged. A masked henchman stood behind each of them, guns pointed to their heads. In the middle was a black-suited, skull-faced man. Black Mask.
Shadows flickered off the tombs on the walls from the candlelight as Batman slowly approached.
"Well, well, well," said Black Mask in a quiet, deadly voice. His needling eyes took in Batman from behind his mask. "Look how you turned out."
Vicki and Alfred struggled in their restraints.
"Let them go," Batman said, keeping his own voice low, gruff. "This is between you and me."
"They're my insurance," said Black Mask. "Make any move against me, and they die. They won't suffer much, sadly, but you will. You care about them both, don't you… Bruce?"
He knows, Batman realised with alarm. He knows who I am.
His shock must have been clear even through his own disguise, as Black Mask gave a hollow laugh. "Surprised, Bruce? I confess, I had some help. That bald shrink, Hugo Strange, he figured it out, told me. Don't worry though – the others in my Society don't know, just me and my two most loyal followers here. Didn't want anyone else spoiling my plans for you.
"This simplifies things for me. I knew I'd have to deal with the Batman eventually, but now I get to kill two birds with one stone."
This changes nothing, Batman told himself. Justice must be done. "You won't kill anyone else. Your vendetta with me is over."
Black Mask was undeterred. "It is a shame we must be at odds, Bruce, considering how similar we've become. Both hiding behind masks to carry out our missions."
"We're nothing alike!" Batman snarled. "You're a cold-blooded murderer! You need help, Roman, and I can get you it."
Black Mask laughed again, a little louder this time, seeming genuinely amused. "Roman? You think I'm Roman?" More cruel laughter.
His mind must be truly fractured, Batman speculated, to think himself and Black Mask as separate entities. A coping mechanism, to justify his atrocities.
"You are not Black Mask, Roman. He doesn't control you; you do."
"Oh, you've got it all wrong, Bruce." Black Mask looked over his shoulder to the henchman on his right, standing behind Vicki. "Show him."
Confused, Batman looked to the henchman, who reached up to remove his own mask, revealing the face of Roman Sionis.
Batman was taken aback. Stunned, he looked back and forth between Roman and Black Mask, who laughed mockingly again.
Roman, keeping his gun on Vicki, looked at Batman with broken, pleading eyes. "I'm sorry, Bruce."
Batman stared bewildered at Black Mask. If he isn't Roman, then who…?
As if reading his mind, Black Mask said, "Yes, let us all reveal our true faces now." He reached up to undo the clasps of his skull, opening it into two segments, which he then removed. Underneath was a face Batman did not expect in a million years.
Richard Sionis. Roman's father.
His face was more lined, his hair white now, but there was no mistaking him, a pleased grin across his narrow face.
"You faked your death," Batman said softly in realisation.
"Obviously," said Sionis. His eyes were still piercing, accusatory. "After your father and his board destroyed my name, my reputation, I had few options left. My life was crumbling around me." He wagged a finger. "I did briefly consider ending it all for real though, but then I had a better idea.
"I got the body of one of my steel workers who'd died in an accident, a fire. I'd had it covered up – not even Wayne Enterprises' investigation had discovered it. Don't remember his name, but that's who's in there." He pointed to one of the tombs in the wall. "I set the fire in the mansion. Even if there was evidence it was deliberate, it would just look like the murder-suicide of a desperate man at the end of his rope.
"I found a doctor who was more… financially motivated than your old man was. Got him to falsify the autopsy report and death certificate. Of course, I disposed of him a few months later, in case he had a change of heart. Or decided to try blackmail.
"A shame my poor wife Charlotte had to die too though…" Sionis glanced at the tomb next to "his." "But she was a necessary casualty. I knew she only loved me for my money anyway; without that, she'd have nothing in life."
Batman glowered at Sionis. "I may have been wrong about your identity, but I was right about one thing… You are sick." He took a step forward.
"Ah-ah!" Sionis held up one hand to him and the other to Roman and the other, still-masked henchman, who pressed their guns into the backs of Vicki's and Alfred's heads. Batman halted, but he noticed that Roman moved reluctantly, looking to him almost in apology.
Sionis continued his tale. "Because of Charlotte's greed, I had always feared an inequitable divorce, so I already had a bank account and secret property under a false name. I survived with them while I prepared my revenge, although I had to make do without my accustomed comforts for a while, living like one of the working class.
"I knew there were others like me among Gotham's up-and-comers. Those on the lowest rungs of high society, seeking to climb, but kept down by the even richer. People between the unwashed masses and the shining elite. Most of them already owed me favours anyway, or they would once I revealed what I knew about them. I wasn't the only one with secrets, you know. Most wanted help taking out their own rivals too. And people like us are supposed to look out for one another. Something your father never understood."
"People died because of your negligence, your greed!" Batman growled.
"Working people!" Sionis shouted back, raising his voice for the first time. "They are beneath us!" He calmed again. "But they do have their uses. And they all want to be like us. So I recruited some, along with my rich buddies, into what would become the False Face Society, promising to elevate their status. Made up some stuff about 'punishing the corrupt elite' – they ate that up. Being everywhere but beneath notice made them useful for infiltrating police stations, businesses… penthouses."
So that's how the gangs kept getting into secure places, Batman thought. On that subject, he said, "You used your Society to get your revenge on the board members who voted against you, exposed your crimes. And on me, for my father's part. But why help the gangs?"
Sionis spread his arms dramatically. "To control the crime in this city. You see, the public needs… distractions, everyday threats, to keep them from focusing on what the ruling class are doing behind their backs. The Roman Empire knew this. So long as there's barbarians at the gates, the emperor can do as he pleases. There's a reason I named my son after them."
Behind Sionis, Batman saw Roman wince. Was he having second thoughts? Just what was his part in all this?
He had a feeling Sionis would get to that eventually. With Alfred and Vicki still at gunpoint, he remained a captive audience. But maybe he could use Roman's doubt to his advantage…
"By supplying the gangs with weapons, they were in my debt," Sionis went on. "I used them to carry out some of my revenge against certain institutions who had wronged me and my family, but my ultimate goal was to unite them all under Black Mask's rule. I told each gang to take out the others in Robinson Park, in exchange for greater power and resources. When the war was over, I would offer the survivors membership in the False Face Society, and use them to continue the new crimewave."
"Where did you get the weapons and equipment you gave them?" Batman asked. He'd use Sionis' ego to easily get information out of him.
"That's where my elite friends in the Society came in. Especially those three idiots I had take out the Red Hoods. Lydecker, Hardwick and Lawford. Useless tramps who got themselves killed or captured, but they each had their daddies' ears. And their daddies had secrets too. Lawford's father was dealing stolen guns and military gear through his oil operations in the Middle East. Lydecker's father's airline provided certain machine parts useful in construction of bombs and other devices. And Hardwick's father has a shipping company which allowed for easy transport of some resources back to Gotham."
"And what part does Roman play?" Batman asked, visibly stinging his old friend. "Does he get a say in your grand plans?"
"Roman is key to it all," Sionis said. "I'm dead, after all, so he has to be my representative in the world. Carrying out my actions for me, becoming the influential businessman and socialite I was, rebuilding the Sionis name, aided by the Society members in high places. He'll be the city's new prince!
"I kept an eye on him all these years, from afar. Sometimes I'd sneak into his room at night, whispering to him. As he grew older, I'd keep talking to him from time to time, hiding microphones in his home, bringing him into my plans. Poor boy thought I was all in his head until I revealed myself just before he moved back here. It was a touching reunion.
"Through Roman, I shall rule Gotham during the day, and, through Black Mask, I shall rule Gotham during the night. Seize control of the business world and the underworld." Sionis grinned wickedly. "I even have people in Wayne Enterprises, Bruce. Once I take you out, I'll finish off Fox and Fredericks, then my people will plant evidence in your company records that the investigation into Sionis Steel was entirely fabricated, to discredit me, all engineered by your jealous father. Although I'll have to remain 'dead,' my reputation will be restored, and your father's will be ruined."
"It won't be," Batman said with grim determination. "I'll stop you, like I stopped your gang war."
Sionis glared at him, becoming gravely serious. "A minor setback. Just like you are." He withdrew a black pistol and aimed it at Batman's head. "But not for long."
Batman braced himself, preparing to charge forward. If he moved quickly, he'd probably only take one or two shots to his armour before reaching Sionis. But could he do it without getting Alfred and Vicki killed?
"I regret that your pain will be brief, Bruce," said Sionis, his eyes cold again, "but you're just too dangerous. And you must pay for the sins of your father."
A deafening gunshot echoed through the mausoleum, and Batman started to move before realising that it had not come from Sionis' weapon.
In fact, Sionis collapsed to the floor, blood pouring from the open wound in his head. Roman's gun was smoking.
"But I won't pay for yours anymore," Roman said, his voice trembling.
The other henchman still had Alfred at gunpoint, but removed their mask revealing an irate Circe. "What the hell are you doing?" she shouted at Roman. "He was our ticket to a better life!"
Roman shook his head, tears in his eyes. "That's not the life I want. Not like that. He won't control me again."
Circe was still furious, her graceful features twisted into something ugly. "You stupid bastard! I won't go back to my old life! I won't!" She now pointed her gun at Roman, who levelled his own at her. "I'll kill you and take your money for myself!"
Alfred and Vicki were now safe from harm, but Batman didn't want Roman and Circe to hurt themselves either. With their attention focused on each other, he withdrew two batarangs from his belt, holding them behind his back, waiting for his opportunity. He could swiftly knock the guns out of their hands, but if he did it too soon, they could notice and evade it. Too late, and…
"You're just like my mother!" Roman shouted. "Only interested in money! In power! I should have seen it sooner."
"Too late now," Circe said. She lifted her pistol slightly.
Now!
Batman threw the batarangs. Two more gunshots rang out.
He hit Circe's hand first, sending her shot wild, although it still clipped Roman in the shoulder. But he hit Roman's hand too late, and Circe took a bullet in the chest. Both of them hit the floor.
Batman wasted no time. Using another batarang's sharp edge, he freed Alfred then Vicki. "See to Circe," he told Alfred, relying on the old soldier's medic training, although he feared the worst.
He knelt by Roman, who was still conscious, clutching the bloody shoulder of his black fatigues, tears streaming down his face. "Bruce… I'm so sorry…" he was saying.
"It's alright, Roman," Batman told him, trying to sound comforting. Vicki joined him at his side and he had her put pressure on the wound while he gave Roman an injection of the painkillers he kept in his belt.
With his good arm, Roman grabbed Batman's shoulder, looking up at him. "I'll… I'll make everything right, I promise. I'll tell the police everything, clear your name, expose the Society members in your company."
"Just rest," Batman told him. "Help will be here soon."
Roman was struggling to remain conscious, grunting from the pain and shock. "I just… wanted us to be friends… Like the old days…"
Batman put his hand gently on Roman's. "We are, Roman. We are."
He winced. "Circe?"
Batman looked over to Alfred, kneeling over Circe's unmoving body, his hands bloody. He shook his head solemnly.
"I'm sorry," Batman said softly to Roman.
Roman closed his eyes and nodded. "She never really loved me. I know that now. Her and… and my father were controlling me for years, for their own agendas. And she knew your secret too, Bruce." He tried to sit up, but Batman eased him back down. "I won't tell anyone though, I swear, it's safe with me. And now… no one else knows."
Vicki looked to Batman in panic. "Bruce, Strange knows. He's still out there and he's dangerous. I found evidence he's killed before." She nodded to the corner where her coat and bag were piled. "He helped set up this whole thing. He sees you as a rival crime-fighter stealing his attention, and he wants rid of you one way or another."
Outside, there was shouting. "Police! Hands in the air!" They would deal with the False Face Society surrounding the mausoleum and get Roman an ambulance.
Batman had something more urgent to deal with. More personal. He had to find Hugo Strange.
He stirred Roman, hoping he would be just coherent enough to answer one pressing question.
"Roman, did Strange say where he was going? Roman? Roman? Where is Strange!?"