"Sheriff... um..."
Dick Grayson stood before Li Jie's desk with his head ducked. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch him... I let that impostor get away..."
"Forget it..." Li Jie waved a hand. "This wasn't your fault. It was mine."
He should have thought of it sooner. These superheroes always slipped up at the crucial moment and let the villains escape, or caught them only to have them sentenced to life imprisonment, giving them a chance to break out. Sometimes hostages forced them to let the villains go, or the villains simply tossed a smoke bomb in their faces and escaped with ease.
"No, Sheriff, you don't have to comfort me..."
Dick thought Li Jie was volunteering to take the blame for him. Along with his shame, he felt a little touched. "It was my fault. If I'd been more careful when I fought him..."
"Wait!"
Li Jie caught something that sounded off. "Fought him? How exactly did you handle him?"
"I... I asked a few private questions about Bruce, then exposed him to his face. The impostor flew into a rage, and we fought..."
"No, wait, wait."
Li Jie raised a hand, cutting off Dick's quiet account. "You exposed him to his face?"
He stared at Dick for a few seconds, then leaned back in his chair helplessly. "Why did you have to expose him? Couldn't you have solved everything by just clubbing him from behind?"
"But..."
Dick hesitated before answering. "He was so much like Bruce. I was afraid I'd..."
"Get the wrong person?"
"Yes." Dick nodded.
"First." Li Jie held up one finger. "If he were the real Batman, you wouldn't get a chance to club him from behind. Second..."
He raised a second finger. "Who said you couldn't hit the real one?"
"Huh??"
Dick's eyes went wide.