A scream pierced through the quiet night before it was muffled. Two men laughed as one of them held his hand over the mouth of the young woman, the other gripping her around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she desperately tried to break free from the grip of the two men as they dragged her into the shadows of the warehouse they were next to. A burn barrel stood nearby providing what little light there was in the empty lot.

"Such a pretty little thing like you should be more careful in this town, girlie."

"Yeah…bad things happen…"

The other man grinned, half of the teeth in his mouth missing or rotten, while he unbuckled his belt. The girl tried to scream again, but was muffled by the hand of the other man. A dark, cold voice suddenly startled both men.

"And you two should know that rape is a very bad crime."

The two men turned and looked at the shadowy figure who stood across from them backlit from the barrel that burned. One of the men turned face the figure.

"What the fuck? Who are you? Some 'good citizen'?"

"You could call me that."

The thug tried to look at the figure's face but it was covered in a mask.

"You definitely ain't no cop…or Bat…so why exactly should we do what you say?"

The thug grinned, pulling a knife from his pocket.

"Especially since you don't look to have a gun or a blade."

The figure chuckled slightly.

"I'm afraid I don't need a weapon to finish you two worms."

The thug turned to his partner who held the woman firm in his grip.

"Keep her warm for me."

"No problem."

The thug ran forward, slashing his knife downward. The figure's hand suddenly shot up, grabbing the thug's wrist. The thug started to try to pull away, but the grip tightened incredibly causing severe pain. The thug pulled harder, but was cut off as the figure brought his leg up, then slammed it down, breaking the thug's knee backwards. The thug screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his limp leg.

"Son of a bitch!!!"

The other thug threw the woman down to the ground and turned to run, but the figure moved in a blur, catching him around the neck and throwing him into a pile of trashcans. The thug stood back up, lifting a pipe that had fallen out of one of the trashcans.

"You're dead, fucker!!"

The figure almost sighed as the thug swung the pipe. The figure caught the pipe in mid-swing, wrenching it out of the thug's hands. The thug groaned in agony as the figure slammed the butt of the pipe into his stomach causing him to double over. The figure then brought the pipe back and swung it again, slamming it across the thug's head, dropping him to the concrete, blood running out of his ear and nose. The woman shook and whimpered as the figure dropped the pipe and walked back over to the other thug who was trying to crawl away.

"You killed Jimmy!! You fucking freak!!"

The figure quietly walked beside the thug, reaching into his jacket and pulling a pistol out, clicking the hammer back.

"Rapist…"

The figure pulled the trigger, firing the gun into the crotch of the thug. The thug's screams cut into the night air as the figure squatted down over his quivering body.

"Your life became meaningless the second you stepped across the line between right and wrong. You have been judged."

Standing up Lethal aimed the gun at the thug's head as the thug raised his blood-covered hands trying to beg for mercy. The woman sitting in the shadows shut her eyes and flinched as the gunshot echoed. She kept her eyes closed as she heard the footsteps start walking towards her. She expected to be killed any second, but to her surprise the figure just stood in front of her. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked up at the masked face staring down at her with kind eyes.

"You should keep out of dark alleys."

The figure turned and started to walk away, but the woman suddenly reached out and grabbed his leg.

"Wait…"

The figure turned back around, looking at her.

"…thank you…"

"The innocent shall be protected. Wait here, the police will arrive momentarily."

Pulling away from her grip, the figure slowly moved into the darkness and disappeared. The street was suddenly filled with noise as a police car swerved around the corner and slid to a stop in front of the woman. The two cops got out, pulling their weapons. One moved to the woman, wrapping his jacket around her as the other cop checked the two dead bodies. Lethal stood on a rooftop a block away, watching. He turned his head as he saw two more cop cars coming down the street, then slowly stepped away and vanished into the shadows.

Batman sat in front of his massive bank of computers staring at a newspaper. "TWO MORE TALLIED TO LETHAL" was the headline. The elevator down to the bat cave beeped as the doors slid open. Alfred slowly walked into the cave carrying a tray with coffee on it. Placing a cup down next to Batman, Alfred slowly poured the steaming liquid into it.

"It seems that your competition is getting worse."

"He commits murder, Alfred. He's just as bad as the people he's killing."

"Would the woman he saved say the same, Master Bruce?"

"No one man should be the judge, jury, and executioner."

Alfred finished pouring the coffee and put the pot of coffee down next to the cup as Bruce pulled the cowl back from his head revealing his dark brown hair.

"Perhaps it is time for bed, Master Bruce. You do have to wake up again in three hours."

Bruce simply reached out and grabbed the coffee cup, drinking the hot liquid down.

"Or perhaps I'll go start brewing another pot of coffee."

Alfred turned and walked back to the elevator.

"Alfred?"

The elder man turned to look back at Bruce.

"What do you think of him?"

"Death is never an answer, even for some of the people who deserve it most of all. Murder is still murder…now if you'll excuse me, Master Bruce."

Alfred stepped back into the elevator and punched the button sending it back up to the mansion above. Bruce turned back to his computers, dropping the paper to the side, and began typing away.

The sun slowly cracked over the horizon, spilling yellow light out onto Gotham City, turning the city into glittering mass of steel and glass. The streets and sidewalks were clogged with cars and people moving to get to their jobs. A single…purple…car moved out from the mass of cars on the freeway cutting through Gotham, taking its exit. Turning onto the next street, the car moved into an abandoned section of the warehouse district before turning into an old lot where the door to an old rundown warehouse slowly crept open allowing the car to pull in. The door slowly slid closed again, cutting the sunlight out again and enveloping the warehouse in darkness.

Florescent lighting suddenly began to flicker on throughout the warehouse, brightening the massive place. A single figure sat on the hood of the car reading a newspaper as four other men closed the doors of the car. The figure wore a bright purple suit under a darker purple trench coat. A wide brimmed hat sat on the head of the man as he read the headline of the newspaper he held in one hand and he slowly flipped a playing card with the image of a joker through the fingers of his other one.

"----Lethal----"

The Joker suddenly tore the newspaper to shreds in a fit of anger. His men stared at him as he pulled his hat off of his head and dropped it onto the hood of the car. Holding up a shred of the newspaper, Joker looked at his men.

"Do you know how long it's been since the headlines of this newspaper contained the word 'Joker' in it?"

His men glanced at each other…then shook their heads. The Joker stared at his men, anger burning in his sadistic eyes.

"Too long…and now, this whole city has it's beady little eyes focused entirely on the wrong individual. This city's fear and terror belongs to me and this prick needs to learn that fact."

Joker's mouth widened into his large smile.

"Boys…it's time to start making headlines."

The Joker laughed as he jumped up on the hood of the car.

"Get ready…because tonight we're stealing the show."

The Joker's laugh echoed in the massive warehouse as he jumped off of the car's hood and walked to a table that sat in the center of the warehouse, a number of chemical vials and beakers sitting on it.