The Face No.11: The Face's Folly -AND- Enter: The Fastman!

You know, I never really wanted to be a famous renowned star, or the center of attention. But sometimes a little recognition wouldn’t hurt. Unfortunately… the attention I received, wasn’t as flattering as I would have hoped it would be.

It was ten o’ clock. I was sitting down on my couch enjoying some time to myself, which I rarely had lately, by watching the tube. As usual, I was flipping the vast array of differing channels to find what suited me best. Soon, I found something that caught my eye. It was the news, speaking of an incident I was fairly familiar with some time ago.

“In the bizarre case of the explosion of the Tomfoolery Studios many weeks ago, a startling new discovery has led to a new suspect of the crime, just as the police were about to wrap up the case with no questions asked…”

I listened to the broadcast, which was being communicated by a young lady in a turquoise outfit. I leaned my head forward in avid interest.

“A witness has come forth describing what he saw as a strange man dressed in a gray trench coat and hat, walking away from the scene of the crime immediately proceeding the events of the explosion. He had said he could not identify the man’s face, because it seemed as though he did not have one.”

An old looking man with gray hair and missing teeth came upon the television screen describing the situation.

“Yeah, I seen him. He talked to me right before he went inside! Just a few minutes later, as I was about to leave in my jalopy, the whole building erupted in flame! He had no face. I swear, he had no face!”

“What!?“ I cried in disbelief.

I thought I recognized the man. And a few minutes later, I remembered who he was. He was the old janitor I had questioned long ago about the events of the children who had become infected with E. Coli bacteria because of a prank television show.

The news reporter, Mary Razhart, continued. “A preliminary sketch was drawn to the description that the man had spoken of. A number of witnesses have identified the vigilante as none other than a criminal named ‘The Face.’”

I was awestruck. How could have this have happened? It was unbelievable. I had no idea how anyone could have recognized me… I always seemed to myself, to be operating as secretively as possible.

Yet another interviewee was featured upon the broadcast.

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“Yeah, that guy! I know that guy! He’s been featured in the Daily Times! He seems to be around when a lot of things go wrong! Like that last bank robbery! Man… I just bet he’s messin’ with trouble!”

“Police are attempting to track down the suspect, though various witnesses and clues have pointed into a dead end direction…”

I turned the TV off, shook my head at what I had seen, and attempted to sleep it off for the time being.

The next day, I walked into my office in the Daily Times and confronted my co-worker, Samantha Winkle.

“Did you by any chance catch the ten o’ clock news last night?” I asked her.

She ‘seemed’ to be busy occupying herself with other tasks.

“Whatever do you mean?” she wondered.

“I mean that now that people have seen who I am… they don’t think I’m a hero… they think I’m the newest criminal on the block!”

“I just thought a little publicity wouldn’t hurt your new career,” She answered.

“Alright, it’s all right. I’m a forgiving person. It’s just a little more on my plate that I have to deal with.”

“Hey Delman!” The boss squawked from across the room. “Did you get the new article on the press conference done last night?”

“Yes, sir, I have it right on this disk. All I need to do is pop it in…” but as I reached into my jacket pocket… a dark, heavy feeling billowed down like black goo from within my chest. I did not have it. I hurriedly checked in every other pocket I had. And still, I found nothing. My eyes lowered, and I looked up.

“Uh… I think I left it at home.”

“What?!” He cried in anger. “You better go back and get that thing pronto! Or your pay’s going to be substantially lower from now on!”

“Yes, chief…” I said dryly.

“And Samantha,” he said. “See if you can get info on or track down this ‘Face’ character. He seems to be the hype of all the news these days…”

Samantha nodded, and the chief went back to his office. She looked over to me and shrugged.

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“Sorry…” she said. “I really had no idea this would’ve happened!”

“It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”

I walked on the side of the road, rethinking events that had occurred. So much had happened. The Face transformed from a myth to a villain overnight. And what of Punchinello Pierrot, the true villain who was responsible for the bomb blast in the first place? I hadn’t heard from him in a long while. I didn’t even bother to track him down. I should have… it could have prevented this. I was too lazy. I couldn’t let something like this happen again. I had to look for some answers… and just see how the crowds of the streets hade really reacted to this news about the Face.

It was broad daylight. Yes, probably not the best time for me to go out as the Face, but I needed to see what was going on around town. The first stop on my list was that old janitor… Lampwick McFly, 2658 Platoon Street, Apartment 4C.

I strode along with hands in my pocket, looking around to see if anyone noticed. Usually, people just minded their own business… no matter what went down. But then, then I came across a sign. It was a wanted poster with my face… or not my face… on it.

“Wanted. $450 Reward Dead or Alive?!” I read to myself in awe. That was a pretty low price for my head… and what was all this ‘dead or alive’ business?

A man accidentally walked into me.

“Pardon me…” he said, looking at where my face would have been. His eyes widened, and he looked at the Wanted Poster I was holding, and fear showed across his face.

“It’s him! That’s the guy! Police! Someone call the cops! It’s the bomber!”

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate. Within a matter of minutes, after walking casually down the rode… something reached my ears. It was the sound of sirens. To my surprise, the cops were actually doing their job here.

“Don’t I feel special?” I thought to myself.

They pulled up on the side of the road and two got of their squad car.

“This is the police! Put your hands in the air!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I thought. With no options left, I fled into a dark alley with inaccurately aimed bullets shot my way.

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