Azrael, Vol. 1

The Joker is upset because he can't cause chaos in a place where chaos is the rule and to make it all worse. He feels abandoned and forgotten by Batman and so he decides to start doing something in order to get the Dark Knight's attention.

Meanwhile; Azrael starts looking for Calibax's body and finds out that the mutant might have survived the fall. Batman finds Azrael and tells him that he is going to take down The Joker. Azrael tries to explain Batman that Scratch and Calibax were roaming free and Batman replied that Joker is a greater threat than those two. Batman encourages Azrael to find the clown and stop him, but Azrael is not completely sure if he is up to the job.

At that moment the Joker visits an orphanage and offers the kids some jelly beans. Somehow the kids were part of Joker's evil plan.

Azrael walks the streets of Gotham City and he feels bad for all the people left behind in the city. Suddenly a woman calls him "Batman" and gives him a message from the Joker that he would be waiting him at Forest Park. Azrael thanked the woman, and moved out to find the Joker.

The Joker was waiting impatiently at the park where he and one henchman had trapped one little kid in a deathtrap devised by Joker himself. The kid was in the glass cage meant to kill Batman by throwing blades, shooting bullets, spraying acid and firing lasers. Joker was glad to hear a voice telling him to release the child as he believed it was Batman. When Azrael stepped out of the shadows Joker was offended by his presence and not Batman's. Joker threatened to pull the trigger that would kill the kid and Azrael had to surrender. Joker told his henchmen to place Azrael inside a sewer pipe that was being used to build something before the city was abandoned and Azrael had no choice but to place himself inside the pipe. Joker's henchman sealed the pipe and threw it to the river nearby but Azrael managed to get out of the pipe to the surface. Once again Azrael took Joker's henchman down and then it was the Joker's turn but the kid asked for help and for a second Azrael hesitated but in the end he decided to set the child free. It took him four hours to disable Joker's trap and in the meantime, Joker has escaped.

Back in the city, Azrael apologizes for failing Batman, but the latter tells him that he didn't fail because he saved a kid's life and that was good enough for him. Azrael is left speechless and he walks out to the forgotten city.