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| “ | Some questions can only be answered with a mask.
— Question
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” |
Renee Montoya is a former Gotham City detective and current masked superhero vigilante in the DC Universe. She was born in Gotham City from a largely conservative Latino catholic family. She would later take a career in law enforcement, becoming a tough-yet-witty detective in the Gotham City Police Department. Serving in the Major Crimes Unit, Renee would face cases involving many of Gotham City's most derange supervillains, including Two-Face, who seemingly had a creepy infatuation of her. Unbeknownst to her family and co-workers, however, Renee was a lesbian who had a relationship with Kate Kane, the future Batwoman.
The discovery of her sexuality led to her disownment by her family, and a large derogatory reaction from her fellow cops. She would finally quit from law enforcement after the death of her partner, Crispus Allen, and the acquittal of his killer, Jim Corrigan. Afterwards, Renee would drown herself in alcoholism and self-destructive behavior, resulting in her partner leaving her. An encounter and partnership with Vic Sage, the vigilante known as the Question, re-ignited Renee's interest in detective work and crime-fighting. After Sage's death, Renee would take up the mantle as the new Question.
Battle vs. Ken Clarkson (by Killermoves)[]
Prejudice was a mask. A mask that covered hatred and apathy with reason and tradition. A way to blame the problems of the world on the existence of a few people. A selfish solution to uniting humankind by forcing conformity while shunning the different.
The mask was also a venom sold as an antidote. An addictive substance consumed and praised in the expense and the anguish of the few. It spread from person to person, manipulating minds, destroying many lives.
It reeked, it coiled, and it never let go. Many societies were built upon it, many people were adherents to it. It was the great villain, the most subtle divider. There it went and would go and disappear, but rose up from the depths of hell as hatred closed the hearts of people.
A few small communities existed that shunned prejudice. Tiny havens of safety and security where anyone could be whoever they want to be. Free from pain, free from judgment. Where empathy was upheld and shared and taught.
The University of the Philippines in Metro Manila was having its annual gay parade festival to honor Pride Month. It was a time for the LGBTQA+ community to dress up, be themselves, and parade their identities to the public. Blessed by good sunny weather, it was a time of fun and enjoyment for the minorities. And watching that parade were two American tourists holding each other’s hands. They were a same-sex couple who came to enjoy the event.
One of those tourist was a black-haired Caucasian, wearing a dress jacket, a tie, and an orange prosthetic arm. His name was Ken Clarkson, a businessperson who was on vacation. With him was another gay man named Josh Glenn, a fellow Caucasian with blonde hair and a more muscular build.
“This is magnificent,” Ken said. “I would love to meet these people later.”
“Me too,” Josh replied. “Would you excuse me, honey? I have to find a trash can.”
“Sure thing! Don’t go far, okay.”
Josh walked into the crowd and found a rectangular metal bin near the road. Expressionless, he opened the lid and placed the content of his bag inside. He took a last glance at Ken before going away into the opposite direction.
Unbeknownst to him, a silent vigilante was watching him from the rooftops. The vigilante was a long black-haired Latina, wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, and a blue fedora. The most peculiar characteristic of hers was her face, or lack thereof. Her name was Renee Montoya, also known as the Question. While all the homophobes and the jerks and the intolerants wore the mask of prejudice, her mask was the mask of justice and protection.
As a lesbian, Renee would have loved to watch and enjoy the parade. But she didn’t come here for pleasure. She’d been tracking this Josh Glenn, this terrorist, and now she had him on her sights.
Or did she?
Fucking dumb, Renee! she said to herself. Why the fuck didn’t you stop him? Why did you wait for him to put that bomb?!
The vigilante took her eyes off Josh, grabbed hold of a pipe, and slid down onto the street. She rolled as she hit the ground, surprising the people present. Renee then ran to the metal bin and began pushing it, as fast and far as she could, with all the strength of her arms and legs. She found a large rotting abandoned building and decided to take the bin there.
She barely got out when the bomb inside the bin exploded, destroying the building, forcing everyone to flee. Luckily, no one was hurt so far. But another day of celebration had been turned into a day of terror.
I should have taken that bomb disposal seminar Sawyer suggested back then, Renee thought.
As she stood up, planning to get out before the local police showed up, she saw Josh who watched what she did. Angered by her intrusion, Josh pulled a revolver and aimed it at Renee. With quick reflexes, she dodged Josh's aim as he pulled the trigger. And before the terrorist knew it, in a blur Renee appeared in front of him and gave him an uppercut to the gut. After Josh fell to the ground, Renee got on top of him and just began railing on him madly.
“Take this… you… fucking… piece… of… shit!” Renee said with now bloodied fists.
“No!” Ken yelled as he came to Josh's rescue, punching Renee away with his metallic arm. “Honey, are you okay?!” Ken asked, but no reply came to the bleeding disoriented Josh. Horror did fill Ken’s face as he stared at the woman without a face — the appearance of someone straight out of a horror movie.
“What kind of a monster are you?! Doing something like this?! Ruining this parade and hurting my boyfriend?!”
“You don’t understand—“
“Shut up!”
Ken took out his fire light pistol from his jacket and fired at Renee. The vigilante tried to dodge it but the laser proved faster, incinerating her back. Grunting, Renee rolled to the ground and into cover behind a car, extinguishing the flames. Ken fired again and his pistol made the car explode into a fireball.
Thinking he had won, Ken headed back to where Josh laid. But suddenly, arms wrapped themselves around Ken, lifting him up before suplexing him to the ground. Renee then flipped into the air and landed in grace, as Ken remained gritting in pain. The vigilante then dashed towards Ken, intending to kick his face into unconsciousness. But Ken’s metallic arm caught Renee’s leg before throwing her away to the concrete wall of another building.
“It’s not going to be that easy, bitch!”
“Fuck off, terrorist-loving skank!”
Renee then pressed a button on her belt that released a large thick cloud of gas that engulfed the whole lane. With his foe nowhere to be found, Ken backed away and picked his pistol that he dropped. A blast of energy then came out of nowhere and struck Ken’s metallic arm from behind. Ken turned, saw Renee on top of another small building pointing her own futuristic pistol, and fired at her.
Renee sidestepped, barely dodging Ken’s aim, and fired back with her intergang pistol. The vigilante scored a bulls eye, hitting Ken’s fire light and disarming him of his weapon. Instinctively, Ken raised his metallic arm to block more shots from Renee’s pistol. He then pulled a metal bench off a sidewalk and threw it towards Renee in sudden speed.
“Shit!” Renee yelled as she tried to dodge that bench. The latter took out a whole edge of the building where Renee was standing on. While she dodged a certain death-by-chair, her decision still ended with her falling to the street in a loud thud.
Renee could only remember waking up from a deep black slumber with the worse headache of her life. The first thing she saw was Ken aiming his fire light at her.
“Why?” asked Ken. “Why did you fucking do this?!”
“I-I was trying… to help,” Renee replied. “Your boyfriend… is a fake. His name is Josh Glenn. The Hate-Monger! And he’s a criminal and a fascist terrorist. He came here to kill people with a bomb.”
“Bullshit! He came to enjoy this place with me!”
Suddenly, a shot rang out, and Ken felt a searing hot pain in his abdomen. He fell down and clutched his wound, as if someone had placed a hot coal inside his belly. A revolver was then aimed at Ken’s face as he cried.
“You fucking idiot!” Josh laughed. “That Ms. No Face is right. I came here only to kill you people.”
“W-Why?!”
“Why?! Because you freaks are the ones that are destroying this world! You are ruining everything with your filth! I planned on coming here to make a statement. A statement that you are not welcomed here! That you shouldn’t exist!”
“P-Please…”
“Look at how pathetic you are! I knew the first time I saw you that you should be part of this. That you should die here. A fucking queer like you, who became successful through the institutions we and our religion built, while we ourselves suffered in the dirt, should fucking die!”
But before Josh could pull the trigger, Renee managed to reach for her intergang pistol and shot him. The blast from her pistol disintegrated the lower half of Josh's body. The terrorist dropped to the ground, screaming and dying.
“No!” yelled Josh, his mouth spewing blood, as he looked in horror as his legs where nowhere to be found, and his guts spilled across the road.
“Sorry asshole but we are here to stay,” retorted Renee.
Renee then left Josh to his fate as she helped Ken back to his feet. “Am I… going to die?” Ken cried.
“You’ll be alright. I know how to patch you up,” Renee said back.
“S-Sorry about… what I did…”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You and I, we stick together no matter what. We each have each other’s backs.”
The machinations of hate twisted truth, and whoever controlled truth could bend society. It were in these dark moments where truth was in the hands of the cunning and the evil. But even in the face of an impure truth, shapeless and twisted beyond logic, lost in the conspiracies, the fakes and the lies, there were people who banded together who carried the true truth. The truth of life being about love and joy and the freedom to be than to pretend. Renee and Ken might have began this day in guns and fists. But through love and acceptance they found a common cause to preserve and protect.
Expert's Opinion[]
Both were equal in terms of ranged weapons, but while Renee Montoya has an edge in training and experience, these are trumped by Ken Clarkson's prosthetic hand which offered strength, durability, and an automatic defense system. Experts also believed that Ken is smarter too so he wins this fight.