AZRAEL. AGENT OF THE BAT #55#56#57 - DC COMICS (1999)

The Death Dancer is still on the loose and he killed a kid's aun in front of the kid. The boy then started to roam the streets of Gotham City with his sweater all covered in blood. Azrael questioned Barbara about the mysterious deaths but Barbara told him that she had no information on that matters but that Dr. Thomkins might be able to help him. Azrael went to Dr. Thompkins' medical center in Crime Alley and when he arrived he confronted a group of armed men and beat them without breaking a sweat. Leslie came out and stopped the fight as she believed that there was no need to use violence. Azrael was a bit ashamed; and later as he was telling her about the recent deaths, a nurse brought in the abandoned kid and Leslie asked the kid to show them where was his aunt killed. The kid took them to the crime scene and Azrael told Leslie that the man who did it was the killer he was looking for. Leslie tried to comfort the kid and Azrael listened some noise nearby. Azrael moved out to see what was happening when he ran into a desperate man asking for help for his wife who was trapped under the rubble of a recently collapsed building. Azrael saved the woman and Leslie forgave him for the violence. They took the woman to Leslie's medical center and started an emergency surgery to save her life. Azrael helped as he could and after a few hours they managed to stabilize the woman's vital signs. Leslie then remembered about the deaths and told Azrael that there was a man named Alvin Kothers who studied medicine and dancing, two of the things that fit with the killer's M.O., and that he used to live in "the old Gotham". Azrael hurried back to Barbara's place as her home was at the heart of old Gotham. Barbara went out of her building for a while when she was approached by a man with his face painted like a skull. He introduces himself as Alvin Kothers and Barbara remembered him from some past events. Kothers takes Barbara for a walk and asks her to tell him the truth, that she was in pain and suffering. Barbara didn't took him seriously and out of weariness of the man's talk Barbara gave up and told him what he wanted. Kothers then decided that he would help Barbara by placing her out of her misery and started to perform the same macabre dance before killing her. Barbara reacted and punched him in the groin and tried to escape but her chair's wheel got stuck in the nearby debris and Barbara fell to the ground. The Death Dancer was about to kill Barbara when Azrael appeared and punished the man for his deeds. Azrael was injured during the fight and he went to Leslie's place to have his arm healed. After a few words of wisdom from Leslie, Azrael joined her in her medical center and helped out as well as he could.