History
The man known as Flay was the leader of the Order of the Stone, a sect of the Religion of Crime or as he preferred to call it, the Dark Faith. The monks of his sect specialized in the ways of brutality and murder.
Â
When the Question began investigating the Religion of Crime, this came to the attention of Flay. He saw it as the beginning of the prophesied Parable of the Faceless and set out to play his role in it even though it likely meant his own death. He plagued her on her investigation, leading her along on the paths he wanted her to take. She did not realize it at first, but he was making sure she learned of lessons of the Crime Bible. Deceit she learned easily enough on her own, and lust only required him to stand aside while she brought down a brothel house run by the Daughters of Lilith sect. After that, he took a more active role.
Â
Coming to Gotham City, Flay met with the Penguin and put a false Crime Bible up for auction, knowing it would lure in the Question. He stood back as she did everything she could to acquire the book, even going so far as battling Batwoman. In this, he succeeded in teaching her the lesson of greed.
Â
Finally, he forced her to learn the lesson of murder in Hub City with the death of a police officer he had driven to murderous madness. He told her that she had now learned the fourth lesson of blood and next was for them to complete her journey by coming to him in a month’s time. If she refused, he promised he would find and murder all those close to her. With this threat, he left her the coordinates for where she would be able to find him in four weeks.
Â
When the time came, the Question appeared as she was supposed to and Flay began the finale of the Parable of the Faceless. It was a fight to the death between him and the Question. The survivor would then lead the Order of the Stone into the next age. To force Renee Montoya into the fight, he threatened the life of the Daughter of Lilith she had become so close to during her journey. Renee defeated him but did not finish him off as she was supposed to, thinking she could just end it there. Flay would not allow it and attacked her despite being in an injured state. She countered his attack and inadvertently knocked him over the edge of a cliff. He died on impact, fulfilling his role in the Parable.
Â
Powers
Flay had no superhuman abilities. He was merely human, but a human forged into a living weapon from a lifetime of harsh training in the Order of the Stone.