Officers Sanchez and McGill chased a teenaged drug dealer through a dark alleyway on the street.

"Freeze! Police! You're under arrest!"

The young man did not stop. He high-tailed it down the alleyway, faster than the two patrol officers could catch him.

"You getting tired of chasing him yet?" McGill yelled to his partner.

"I will be soon!" Officer Sanchez shouted. Both of them were amazed at how quickly Lennie Lamont was making his getaway.

Lennie caught sight of a fire escape and leapt up on to the ladder. He clambered up the fire escape rapidly.

"Get him, Sanchez! Don't let him get away!"

Sanchez could have fired his weapon, but Lamont was only a recent offender, whom they had only caught a couple of times for drug dealing. Lennie was only 14 years old, and Office Sanchez didn't feel like putting a bullet in the boy, at least not yet.

Sanchez made as fast a climb as possible up the fire escape. When he reached the top, he did not see what he was expecting.

He was confronted by a masked figure with a horned mask and a flowing cape.

"Hey, it's Batman! Hey, did you happen to catch that perp I was chasing?"

"Oh, I've caught somebody," the mysterious voice answered, "but it's not a criminal." The figure drew closer and came halfway out of the shadows.

To Officer Sanchez, it at least looked like Batman.

The shadowed figure slowly pulled a Magnum pistol from under his cape.

"What are you doing, Batman? Are you nuts! I didn't know you carried a weapon?"

"I'm not Batman."

A shot rang through the alleyway. Officer McGill managed to turn the corner just in time to see his partner fall to the cement below, with a bullet wound in his chest.

Officer McGill looked up to see a caped figure escaping into the night who looked exactly like Batman.

Alfred happened to walk into the Batcave at that moment, with coffee and an English muffin for Bruce.

"You see this, Alfred?"

"Yes, Master Bruce? Something in the newspaper?" Alfred then politely stepped to the side and looked at the newspaper that Bruce was holding up.

"Someone is murdering policemen . . . .witnesses say he looked a good deal like . . . oh dear, Master Bruce."

At that moment, the Bat-signal began to light up. Bruce checked the Bat-computer, and saw that it was Commissioner Gordon calling.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared at the window and knocked. Commissioner Gordon opened it, and Batman leapt quietly into Gordon's office.

"Batman, you're taking a lot of risks being around here!" Gordon worked to keep his voice low. "Any cop in this place would be justified in taking a shot at you right now!"

"I may not follow exactly legal methods all the time, Commissioner, but I'm not a cop killer."

Commissioner Gordon's brow relaxed a little bit. "I don't think you are either, Batman." Commissioner Gordon's eyes narrowed. "But then who is it? Someone who wears a costume that looks a lot like yours."

"The victims were shot dead, right? Then it's not someone trying to imitate me exactly, because the crooks around town know I hate guns."

"You have a plan for stopping this guy, whoever he is?"

"He's got an obvious enough M.O., Commissioner. He goes after cops. Where they are, he wants to be."

"So you have to catch him before he does this again. You will catch this cop killer, Batman?"

Batman was gone before Commissioner Gordon could look up to hear an answer. Now it was back to the memo he was drafting to help keep a city-wide manhunt for Batman from starting.

Over a week's worth of moonlit nights, Batman placed the cameras on every police beat that he knew of throughout Gotham and in the parts that bordered the other boroughs of New York City. If something was going to happen to a beat cop, Batman would know about it, hopefully before anybody else was killed.

Batman had the chance to reflect as he flew over the city in stealth mode in the Batcopter, watching the displays of the hidden cameras that he had placed all over the city. He saw the police officers going about their beats, reasoning with people, trying to maintain order in a disorderly city. Batman reflected on the fact that he himself fought crime as a fulfillment of an inner need to avenge his parents' death, but it was something that he could always take a break from if he needed to.

These police offers put their lives on the line as their job, and it was something that they had to do, or they wouldn't be able to bring home money to their families. All the more need to keep them safe and to get this cop-killer off the streets.

"Did you find anything yet?" Oracle communicated to Batman one Friday night.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary," Batman replied. "I know something's going to happen soon. These killings have been about two days apart for the past week or so . . . it has to be tonight."

"You'd better find him soon, Batman. Or you won't be able to work in Gotham anymore. I've communicated with a few superhumans who are beginning to doubt whether you should be part of the Avengers League."

"I'll find him."

Not long after, a sudden movement on one of the camera monitors caught Batman's eye. He flew the Batcopter down to the part of Gotham that bordered on the Bronx.

Batman fired his grappling gun and zipped down to a rooftop. He looked down at the alleyway below long enough to see that the disturbance was just two cops stopping a squabble between a punk rocker with a hornlike haircut and a cape-like coat and a few local tough guys. A false alarm, then.

But one of the cops saw Batman in the shadows, as much as the caped crusader tried to avoid him.

"Hey! It's the Batman!"

"He's been killing cops, right?"

"Yeah! Let's get him!" The patrol officer pulled his pistol from his holster and pointed it at Batman.

"Run away, you cop-killing freak! We'll get you someday!"

Batman got back to the Batcopter in time to see that there had just been another cop killing. The Batcopter zoomed to a pretty rough neighborhood near the Bronx.

Batman reached the scene. A patrolwoman lay in a pool of blood. A group of young men whom she had been talking to stood in a circle around her.

When they saw Batman, they nearly ran away.

"No! Stay here, boys. This woman needs someone to stay with her." Batman told one of the young men to call an ambulance. "Who did this?"

"He looked like you, Batman! Only he was all orange and purple and stuff!"

"Yeah. And we know you don't carry no gun."

"You might catch him if you run up that way." The young man pointed to the nearby rooftops. "That's where he ran off to."

"I'll trust you young men to make sure that this woman gets medical attention." Batman glowered. "If not, I'll come back for you."

Batman rushed through the alleyway. He could see a caped figure running across the rooftops above. Batman paused, pulled out his grappling hook, and fired it right where he thought the figure would alight next.

The fleeing villain fell to the roof of a building, to the top of which Batman quickly clambered.

Batman leapt onto the rooftop to confront the caped man.

"Who are you? Why are you killing cops?"

"Why are you protecting them?"

The cowled figure turned to face Batman. He had cut the Bat-rope off his leg and stood there ready to fight.

Yes, he did look almost exactly like Batman, but the colors of his costume were different, more garish. He wore a dark orange cape with dark burgundy beneath. In the place of Batman's cowl, he had a W-like shape that made him look even more menacing.

The caped figure then leapt upon Batman. Batman was an accomplished wrestler, so he hit the roof quickly, threw his opponent off him, and was back on his feet again.

"You're pretty good," the masked villain admitted. "Let's see what you got, pal."

Batman threw himself forward. His opponent used aikido to redirect him so that Batman nearly fell off the rooftop, but Batman stopped himself.

"Now it's my turn." The villain did a flip in mid air and sent a kick flying at Batman, who knocked it aside. Batman grabbed at his opponent's leg, but missed. Batman's masked opponent lunged at him, and Batman caught his arms before he could strike. They both struck at the same time, and stood there, arms entangled in a mutual block.

It was a test of will now, a test of brute strength. Batman could just hold his opponent back. Neither of them could gain any ground against each other.

But then Batman head-butted the villain, who reeled a little bit. This move, at least, was unexpected.

The Dark Knight Detective then got the chance to plant a good kick in the villain's stomach. Batman was about to deliver a stunning blow to his opponent's back when the other man pulled a knife from his utility belt and slashed across Batman's glove, slashing it.

A knife! That was something Batman never carried. Clearly, this cop-killing villain did not want to imitate Batman exactly.

The villain began slashing at Batman viciously; it took all of Batman's agility to avoid the deadly knife strokes. Batman used his fighting skills to grab the villain's hand that had the knife.

The masked villain turned his hand, trying to stab into Batman's gauntlet. Realizing that this would not work, he pulled a small canister from his belt.

Before Batman could dodge, the villain sprayed a canister of pepper spray into his face.

Batman let go, and backed away, coughing. He expected his opponent to try to stab him, but this did not happen. Instead, he heard the clicking of a pistol.

Batman's vision returned just in time to see the masked villain brandishing a Magnum.

"This bullet is for you, for protecting cops, Batman! I'm going to shoot you right in the heart. As you feel your life slipping away, remember that it was the Wrath who killed you. And after you're dead, I'm going to keep killing cops, until my Wrath is satisfied. And then, I'm going to get that Commissioner Gordon."

The Wrath's anger temporarily distracted him. He did not notice someone sneaking up on him until a laser blast knocked the pistol out of the his hands.

The Wrath grabbed his burning hand, and the form of Nighthawk descended out of the sky. He grabbed the Wrath in his hands, flew him across the roof, and slammed him into a concrete wall, then soared back up into the air.

Batman stood up. His vision was finally clear, but he still could not believe what he had just seen. "Now you're the last person that I expected to see come and save me."

"I know, Batman. The last time we met . . . "

"Travis Morgan shot you in the leg. You had the chance to kill me then, but you didn't."

"Yeah, I know." Nighthawk came to a landing on the rooftop. "I've gone straight, Batman. I'm not working for Tobias Whale anymore."

Batman pulled a pair of Bat-cuffs from his utility belt to restrain the Wrath. Even though the villain was unconscious, someone as crazy as him could come to violently.

"Quitting Tobias Whale's business is a dangerous choice, Nighthawk. I'm surprised none of his goons have caught up to you yet!"

"I know. That's what I wanted to talk . . . "

Nighthawk did not see a rope fly through the air until it had landed around his neck. Someone pulled on the rope, and it tightened - then he was pulled off the rooftop!