Batman pointed at one of the monitors.

"There's something going on down there," he said. "Looks like about five masked and hooded men, about to loot that store down there."

"I can handle this one," Azrael said.

Batman brought the Batcopter into silent hover mode. Azrael opened the side hatch of the Batcopter and leapt out onto a roof below.

Batman cursed the younger crimefighter under his breath. That was an amateurish move; the criminals below would certainly hear Azrael land on the roof, if any of them were paying attention. But Batman had to let Azrael get more practice crimefighting on Gotham's streets - he would keep his distance, and watch his new partner in action.

Azrael descended into the midst of the criminals more quietly than Batman would have thought. But when he made his first attack, Batman could see that something strange was going on.

The black-garbed men immediately noticed Azrael. They turned as one to face him, and began to pile on him like seagulls onto a fish.

"Stay," Batman ordered the Batcopter through his gauntlet-mounted microphone.

He took his Bat-grappler from his belt, pointed it at the roof of a building below, and fired. Batman slid down the rope to the roof, expecting to hear the sounds of Azrael battling the black-garbed robbers.

But strangely enough, he heard nothing. Batman rushed to the side of the roof with trained quietness, then peered over the side to the alley below.

Nothing.

No one.

Not even the leftover body of anyone that Azrael had left behind.

Batman fired his Bat-grappler again at a point near the street, and scaled down to where he had seen Azrael last. How could anyone have disappeared so quickly?

All that was left was a mask. When Batman picked it up, he was surprised at the eerie quality of the smiling, silver visage. The mast seemed to be from the Far East, but it did not seem to be from Japan or China, as far as Batman knew.

Batman returned to the Batcave. Alfred inquired about the whereabouts of Batman's new partner, but Batman paid him little mind. He put the mask onto the Bat-scanner, a machine that could take a digitized image of any object and send that image into the Bat-computer for analysis.

At that moment, the Bat-signal went off. Batman ordered the Bat-computer to send him its results via instant message once it was done analyzing the mask. He rushed to the Batcopter, and took off toward New York City.

The Bat-signal was being triggered from inside Gotham's Chinatown. As the Batcopter followed the signal, Batman began to figure out who it was who had called him.

Batman found his caller near one of the nicer sections of Chinatown. A dark-haired, fierce-eyed young man greeted him.

"Shang-Chi!" Batman exclaimed. "It's been a long time!*"

*(Shang-Chi and Batman first met in Batman Annual #1)

"Yes it has, Batman, my friend," Shang-Chi said, approaching Batman. "I am sorry that I took you away from your crimefighting, but I am dealing with a mystery."

Batman and Shang-Chi walked until they entered the door of a new kung-fu dojo. The logo on the window was familiar to Batman, although it would take him a moment to make out the Chinese characters underneath.

"I was lucky enough to be able to show off my skills to Richard Dragon when he came to visit his dojos here in New York," Shang-Chi said. "With some of the money you gave me, and money I have earned by working down at the waterfront, I was able to open a franchise of his Richard Dragon Kung-Fu School."

Batman was impressed. The Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Schools were well-respected across the country, even by serious martial arts masters such as Batman. Richard Dragon personally made sure that each school taught kung fu with an emphasis on his philosophy of peace and harmony with nature.

"Something unfortunate has happened, though. Mr. Dragon was visiting me tonight, looking over the place. He had stepped out into the alleyway for a moment; a moment later I heard sounds of a struggle. I rushed out, only to see a group of men disappear with Richard."

Shang-Chi was clearly upset at having let Richard Dragon be captured.

"I pursued them down the alley, but I lost sight of where they had gone. I looked for any kind of clue that I could find. The only thing that I found was this mask."

Shang-Chi held up a silver mask that looked exactly like the one that Batman had found.

"I cannot determine where this mask is from," Shang-Chi stated. "I traveled far in China before I left, even as a young boy. I do not remember seeing anything like it."

"Well," Batman noted, "my new partner, Azrael, was abducted tonight. His attackers left the same sort of mask behind."

"Why would anybody want to abduct martial artists?" Shang-Chi mused.

Batman had to smile, however grimly. It was a challenging mystery, and he was in his element. "What you should be asking is why they would leave such an obvious clue behind."

the two of them retraced Shang-Chi's steps down the alleyway leading away from his dojo, in an attempt to determine more about the strange attackers. At the furthest extent of the alleyway, they heard sounds of a struggle.

"Well, this mystery can wait," Batman said. "Let's go stop that mugging, or whatever is going on."

He had decided to cut through Chinatown on his way home. He loved to travel across the rooftops, whenever possible. Shilo loved the feeling of being above the struggles of the city. He also loved the acrobatic feats he had to do to travel across the city in such a way.

But it was one false step that brought him down through the glass skylight of a building in Chinatown, and into the hands of the Silver Monkey Cult.

One man, dressed in a green gi and a yellow mask with black eyeslits, was battling ten men dressed in black and silver monkey masks. And, strangely enough, he was winning.

"Well, this one was easy to solve," Batman remarked. "This guy looks like he needs help!"

Shang-Chi nodded and leapt into the midst of battle. He quickly saw that the silver-masked assailants were very skilled in the martial arts, and not the usual unskilled goons that he was used to fighting. Batman enjoyed fighting such skilled opponents; but he was a martial arts master himself, and they could not defeat him.

At the last, there was one monkey-masked assailant left conscious. He stood defensively as the green-garbed man, Shang-Chi, and Batman surrounded him.

"We have your friends," he said. "If you follow me, I will take you to them."

"Before we go," the green-costumed man said, "let me introduce myself. I call myself Iron Fist."

"Impressive name," Batman said. "I'm Batman."

"And I am Shang-Chi, sometimes known as the Master of Kung Fu."

"Hmph!" Iron Fist replied arrogantly. "We'll have to see whether that title befits you, someday."

"Arrogant gweilo," Shang-Chi muttered under his breath.

"The monkey man is running toward where our friends are being held, boys," Batman yelled. "I think we had better stop posturing and go follow him!"

The three men followed the monkey-masked man through the alleyways of Chinatown. They ducked through so many side alleys that a few times Batman swore they were going around in circles. Finally they arrived at a nondescript alleyway with an ordinary-looking steel door. The monkey-masked one stepped stealthily up to the door and knocked. The door opened slowly, and the four men were guided in by another monkey-masked individual.

Not since he had last been in the den of Doctor Tzin-Tzin* had Batman seen a lair so ornate and so unusually Eastern. They were led down a hallway, through an ancient-looking wooden door, into an arena-like structure.

*(again in Batman Annual #1)

Inside the arena, dozens of silver monkey-masked men stood in what looked to be bleachers. In the center of the room, on a raised platform, stood another man in a silver monkey mask. Everyone paid attention to him and gave him plenty of room--he was clearly their leader.

Batman was first to speak. "Why have you brought us here? What have you done with our friends?"

"Your friends are here, and safe," the masked man replied. "Send them out," he barked at one of his underlings.

Azrael and Richard Dragon emerged from behind a curtain. They looked a little worse for wear, and their hands were in handcuffs.

Behind them walked in a man Batman recognized mostly from the Avengers League villain database and various wanted posters he had seen over the years. It was Batroc, the French mercenary and master of savate, a French martial art.

Batman's keen mind began to put together why all of them had been brought here. He had already concluded what was going on when the masked man started explaining his plans to them.

"I am the Silver Monkey, leader of the Silver Monkey Cult. We are the finest practitioners of martial arts in the world, devoted to the purity of the life of the martial artist. We show you honor by having you here as our guests."

The Silver Monkey put his hand on his chin.

"Our cult is as old as the mists over the Chinese mountains from which we hail, but even we, in our pride, have realized that we need a new master. I do not have time to train all of our members anymore. In this rare time, we will select one of you to become a new master."

"No one tells me what to do," Iron Fist shouted. "I recognize no Master in this Western world!"

"You will fight each other until there is one victor. We know you all to be men of honor. If you do not fight, there will be consequences."

"What consequences?" Iron Fist yelled.

"Will you shut up, you tyro?" Batman whispered. "If you let him talk, maybe we can figure out what his plan is and how to get out of this."

"The gweilo Iron Fist asks what the consequences are. Bring out the boy!"

The Silver Monkey's assistants brought out a teenaged boy. He was a little bit more well-dressed than the average New York kid, and he was feisty enough to try to escape his captors' grip.

The boy tried to look tough, but Batman could see real fear in his eyes. Even for a teenage boy, though, he was very brave.

"For the boy's life, then," Batroc agreed. He may have been a mercenary, but his strict code of honor was well known.

"Well, then, let us fight," Shang-Chi said. His angry eyes glared at the Silver Monkey. The Master of Kung Fu had spent a long time under the mental influence of Doctor Tzin-Tzin, and he did not like anyone forcing him to do anything.

"I will be watching you, and I know how good all of you are at the martial arts," the monkey said. "So if I see you pulling your punches, or trying to let someone win so that the others may attack, I will kill the boy."

Batman admired the Silver Monkey's wiliness.

"Well, my friends, it has been nice to meet you," Iron Fist said. "I am sorry that I will have to defeat you all."

"We'll see," Azrael spat out. He got into the fighting stance of the System. He had none of his weapons, but he was still able to hold his own in this sort of battle royale.

"Begin!" the Silver Monkey yelled.

Six fighters stepped into a ring-like area. Iron Fist, young, arrogant, and new to the Western world, but possessed of indubitable ability and a secret weapon. Shang-Chi, almost as new in the United States as Iron Fist, but with even more of a killer instinct. Batroc, the renowned mercenary and savate expert. Azrael, trained in medieval martial arts almost as ancient as those of the East. Richard Dragon, esteemed kung-fu world champion and businessman, with more fighting experience than almost everyone there. And The Batman, master of every martial art that he had ever had the chance to learn. This was a martial arts match like none before.

The battle began.

Azrael started out first, punching Batroc with great power and ferocity. The Frenchman was staggered a bit by Azrael's ferocity, but he was ready to fight back.

"I see you pack quite a punch, mon ami! Let us see how you deal with a master of savate!"

Batroc's garish costume distracted Azrael enough to allow the Frenchman to deliver a quick kick to Azrael's stomach. Batroc's foot connected with Azrael's body armor, however, and so the Leaper cringed in pain, despite the protection that his specially-designed boots provided.

As Batroc tried to pull his foot back to prepare for another attack, Azrael grabbed his leg and wrenched it backward. Tendons ripped and bones cracked as Azrael pulled on the Leaper's weapon.

Batroc fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Azrael looked for his next opponent. Whoever it was would have to beware, because the training that the System had instilled in him was beginning to take over.

Shang-Chi and Iron Fist faced one another. Each one bowed to the other.

"Shang-Chi, despite our differences, I know you are a man of honor," Iron Fist said. "Even in my sheltered youth, we heard of your power. It is an honor to do battle with you."

"You finally treat me with respect. Well then it is an honor for me, too," Shang-Chi said. "Let us begin."

Shang-Chi sent a roundhouse kick at Iron Fist, which the other blocked with his hand. The force of the block sent Shang-Chi flying; but the Master of Kung Fu landed gracefully.

He then leapt up to one of the raised platforms surrounding the arena. He leapt down from the platform, hissing like a cobra.

Iron Fist's keen fighting mind calculated when Shang-Chi would land, and he delivered a devastating punch to Shang-Chi's side just as the Master of Kung Fu landed. A series of haymakers brought the Master of Kung Fu to the ground.

Iron Fist looked for his next opponent.

The bonds that Shilo was in were pretty tight. What hardly anyone knew is that Shilo's chief hobby was being an escape artist. He devoured books about Houdini and the other masters, and he had trained himself to escape from many seemingly-impossible traps. If he put his mind to it, he might even be able to escape from the Silver Monkey. With the Monkey watching the fight below, Shilo might have a chance to escape. He set about working on his bonds.

Dragon chuckled. "To business, then, Batman. In some ways, you're more famous than me, you know?"

"You could say that," Batman replied, as they exchanged preliminary bows.

They studied each other, each sizing the other up through hands toughened by years of martial arts training. To watch Richard Dragon and Batman fight was to be schooled in how true masters of martial arts do battle.

Richard Dragon was the first to strike. He came at Batman with a punch-kick combination that Batman blocked with a little bit of difficulty. Batman was still preparing his attack as Dragon struck again with a savage lunging chop. This time, Batman used aikido on his opponent, sending Richard rolling off from his momentum. As Dragon recovered, Batman kicked him in the chest, and then used another kick to lift Dragon off the ground and send him flying into the dust of the arena.

Richard Dragon was no longer joking now. Batman's fierce attack had brought out the martial artist deep within him, the dragon who had long slept under the influence of fame and fortune. Now Batman would taste the fist of the Dragon.

The Silver Monkey was paying enough attention to the fight below that Shilo had been able to free himself from his bonds. It was now only he and the Silver Monkey who were on the platform. If Shilo was going to escape, he would have to attack the Silver Monkey.

Shilo waited until the Silver Monkey's rapt attention was fully turned toward the fighting. He then got up and used all of his strength to ram into the Silver Monkey and shove him off the platform. Shilo then broke a window that was behind them, leapt through, and escaped.

The Silver Monkey landed like a cat - his impact to the floor was not very hard. But it was enough for Iron Fist to notice the need to seize the moment and put this battle royal to an end.

Iron Fist had been gathering the power of his chi since the fight started - he knew that he could only release it once, so he had been saving it. Before Silver Monkey knew what was happening, Iron Fist had hit him once in the face with his normal hand, and once with a chi-powered punch.

The force of the blow was so great that the other combatants stopped fighting. The Silver Monkey's henchmen began to group together, as if they had just now realized how powerful Iron Fist was.

"Our new master! He has revealed himself!"

Iron Fist was a proud young man. He had been trained in isolation, amongst monks who themselves were among the world's finest martial artists. In this moment he could seize control of the Silver Monkey cult and make them his servants.

But as he noticed the skill and bravery with which the others had fought, particularly Batman, he knew that the position of cult leader should not be his.

"No. I will not be your leader. Take your Silver Monkey, and leave this place!"

The Silver Monkey Cult members were not used to making decisions for themselves. All with them was will and raw power; they had their missions and they fulfilled them. They conferred quietly with one another, as Richard Dragon and Batman stopped fighting and began to walk toward them. Azrael had noticed the change of events, and was readying to attack them as well. Even Shang-Chi was beginning to recover, as was Batroc.

"We shall keep our leader for now," one of the Cult members said. "We leave you now, Westerners, but the Silver Monkey shall strike you when your back is turned!"

The Silver Monkey's henchmen gathered up his prone body and scattered off out of the arena and into the night.

The six martial artists stood there, tired from fighting each other, and a little bit dumbfounded.

"Did anybody see where that kid went who helped us?" Richard Dragon asked. "I could use someone like that in my movies!"

Batman leapt up to the platform where the boy had been held hostage. All that was left there was a broken window.

"I don't know who he was or where he went, but he's one heck of an escape artist!"

Iron Fist decided to stay at the Richard Dragon Kung Fu Center in Chinatown. As antagonistic as they were toward each other, Iron Fist thought that Shang-Chi was a good counterbalance--he knew enough about the importance of the yin and the yang in the world.

Well, maybe someday, he thought.