Daredevil: The Man Without Fear! #6

[fan4]

Daredevil: The Man without Fear! #6
Guardian Devil
Part 6
The Man Without Fear!

Written by Jason Blankenship
Edited by Aaron Martel

Matt Murdock’s night was a blur of action. Leaping from rooftops and descending onto the guilty, the criminal, the unrepentant. The kind of scum he’d never represent, and knew that if they didn’t have some kind of rude awakening, they’d keep on their paths. He would be that awakening.

He was a flurry of limbs, his super-senses and a lifetime of training adding together to make him a nocturnal avenger, and in a moment of quiet contemplation perched on a ledge, he had a revelation.

He could honor everything all at once. His oaths. His heart. His sense of justice. And all he had to do was create a dual identity. A blind lawyer by day and by night a masked vigilante, acting for justice.

Matt watched as Spider-Man zipped past on his webs and Matt couldn’t help but smile as the teen hero let out a “Wa-hooooo!” as he swung through the city.

Besides, this is the most fun I’ve had since college.

[fan4]

Matt slid into the open window of his apartment and heard the thunder of two heartbeats. Two people were in his apartment, sitting, waiting for him.

“Ye mind if I turn onna light? I know that ye don’t need it, but I’ve had this image in me head fer bout 4 years now, and I wanna see the look on yer face.”

The light turned on and Matt heard Lester laugh. Foggy was bound and gagged, and seemed to have passed out at some point. Probably from the shock of being kidnapped.

“So, Matt, how do you like me outfit?”

“I can’t see your outfit, Les.”

“Me name’s Bullseye, haven’t ye heard? I’m the world’s greatest assassin. An’ I love yer outfit. Ye tryin to win the ‘bargin bin vigalante’ award?”

Matt cracked his neck, everything in Lester’s body language said he was ready to attack.

“Why are you here…Les?”

“That should be easy t’see. I’m here to kill ye.”

“Then why don’t you try.”

Bullseye moved as a blur of motion and launched the shuriken at Matt. Matt twisted, but he was only so fast and a two of the razor sharp stars grazed his arm, tracing a line of fire along their path on his arm.

In an instant Bullseye was on him, knocking Matt out his window and onto the street below. The pair hit the ground and rolled into fighting stances.

“So, seems ye’ve got a few tricks up yer sleeves, eh?”

“Everyone does.”

Matt rushed forward and Bullseye threw more projectiles, which hit Matt precisely in his bicep and thigh muscles. Matt dropped to one knee, teeth clenched against the pain.

“Bullseye. What’s a matter, Daredevil, ye realizin’ the harsh truths? Tha’ the world makes far more guys like me than guys like you?”

Matt looked up at Lester and for the first time, saw a dark reflection of himself. The two boys were once so very close, and in an instant, their paths had diverged. Matt wondered what his and Lester’s lives would’ve been like if things had been different. Would Matt be a costumed thug, like Lester? A hired killer? What was different? What separated Matt and Lester?

The answer hit Matt in the form of a memory…

[fan4]

The boys turned as they heard the screech of brakes and Matt’s eyes went wide. There was an old man crossing the street, oblivious to the impending danger. Matt had only a split second to make a decision. A decision that would change his life forever. Lester stood there, paralyzed, as Matt dropped his books and rushed into the street, knocking the old blind man out of the way. The truck swerved and one of the barrels of its payload fell from the bed.

And fire erupted into Matt’s eyes.

And then his world became darkness.

[fan4]

Fear. He’s always been afraid, and I never have. Matt looked up and grinned as he pulled the shuriken from his arm and leg. He stood, and Bullseye took a step backward.

“What’s a matter, Bullseye? You afraid? You afraid of the Daredevil? Huh?”

“I’m not afraid of ye! I’m not afraid of nuthin!” Bullseye rushed toward Matt, and Murdock’s predatory grin widened slightly. Matt leapt up and over Bullseye, twisting to kick the assassin in the back of head. He landed in a crouch and whirled around.

“Face it, Bullseye, you’ve always been afraid. Afraid of your dad, afraid of school, afraid of becoming your Dad. A failure, a pathetic waste of flesh…and that’s what you are. The only difference between you and him, ‘Bullseye’, is that he never put on a costume.” Matt dove forward, using Bullseye’s one moment of distraction to begin pummeling his former friend.

Bullseye struggled to block Matt’s onslaught, but he’d spent his life becoming very, very good at killing people at a distance, and Matt had spent many years blowing off steam boxing.

Matt connected with a right cross that knocked Bullseye off his feet. Matt stood over him, his face a mask of determination.

“I have one question for you, Bullseye…why kidnap Foggy? Huh? Isn’t this between us?”

“Ye replaced me. I got released fer good behavior around 20. I had heard ‘bout yer dad and tracked ye down. Figured it’d be like ole times. Instead ye replaced me with a fat slob an’ a woman. So, I figured I’d kill them and then you…”

Them and then you? JENNIFER!!! Matt bolted to a fire escape and scrambled to a rooftop. He then began the arduous trek to Jennifer’s apartment.

[fan4]

He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, sliding down clotheslines and climbing up drainpipes. He had to make sure that Jennifer was all right. He slid down the fire escape that was right outside her bedroom and placed his fingertips against the glass, and felt the glass buckle slightly in time to her shallow sleeping breaths.

Matt let out an audible sigh of relief and then spun as he heard the clapping. Bullseye sat a few stairs above the landing Matt was standing on.

“Ye’ve got some fear in ye, yerself. Face it, no matter how ole ye get…yer still that same ole daredevil.”

Bullseye drew and, without taking his eyes off Matt, leveled a pistol at Jennifer through the window.

“Now, prove me wrong, Murdock. Ye can be fearless or ye can be the daredevil. Which is it?”

Matt felt his anger rising up toward the surface with his frustration of his situation.

"Anger won't help you, Murdock. Anger just clouds your judgment, makes you do stupid things."

"I can't do this."

"'Can't' is a cousin of 'won't'. Didn't you promise your dad you'd be someone?"

“See, Bullseye, your problem is that you think I can’t be both.” In a flurry of motion, Matt pulled a bar free of the railing and threw it, banking it off the wall and knocking the pistol from Bullseye’s hand. Bullseye rushed Matt and the two of them began grappling and struggling.

“C’mon, you really wanna be Daredevil? The boy who won’t act because he’s afraid? Huh?”

“The only thing I was afraid of was letting my father down…and thanks to you, I can be truly fearless. Because as long as guys like you exist, people are going to need guys like me.”

“Puttin yerself above that law you worship so much, Daredevil?”

“I prefer to see it as balancing the scales…”

Bullseye sneered and shoved Daredevil through the window and with a loud crash, he rolled into a crouch in Jennifer’s bedroom. She sat bolt upright, clutching the blanket closer to her body.

Bullseye walked into the room, grinning like a maniac and his arms spread wide.

Jennifer turned to look at the two black clad figures. One, crouched and hiding his identity with a black bandana over his head, the other in a black costume accented by white and a white target in the middle of his masked forehead.

“Idealism is something guys like us should never have, it’s one more thing they can take from us…” Bullseye pulled a trio of throwing knives from his belt and threw them at Jennifer. Daredevil reached behind him and chucked one of Jennifer’s slippers, managing to catch the knives and save the bewildered Assistant DA.

“Not if we fight for it.” Daredevil’s voice had dropped an octave and came out as a guttural growl.

“See, ye may be good, Daredevil, but me…” a single playing card appeared in Bullseye’s hand, “I’m magic.” Bullseye threw the card and Daredevil realized he was out of things to use to block the path of Bullseye’s projectiles. Except himself.

Time seemed to compress as Daredevil leapt upward and onto the bed, shielding Jennifer with his body. He caught the card in the chest and looked down at the card and back at Bullseye.

Daredevil exploded off of the bed and onto Bullseye, ignoring the pain in his limbs, ignoring everything but the anger that overrode everything in his mind.

His fists were like pistons raining down on Bullseye. He lost track of how many times he had hit the costumed maniac but he pulled back for one final blow and Bullseye grinned at him with bloodstained teeth.

“C’mon, Daredevil…do it…bring yerself to me level…end me life…”

Daredevil dropped the costumed maniac and stood.

“You’re going to jail, Bullseye…I hope you can find a good lawyer.”

“And he better be better than me.” Daredevil and Bullseye both turned and looked at Jennifer, still clutching her blanket to her body.

“The cops are on the way, I can hear the sirens. It’s over.”
Bullseye nodded, “Fer now…but I’ll be back, Daredevil…the system doesn’t work…”

Daredevil leaned in close to Bullseye and whispered, “Good thing justice is blind.”

The police loaded Bullseye into their cruisers and began to pull away as Jennifer looked up to the edge of her building’s roof where her black clad hero was perched. He stood and then turned and disappeared from her sight.

“Who are you?” she mused as she headed back inside.

[fan4]

Matt slid into the darkness of his apartment and sighed as he heard a heartbeat. I forgot all about Foggy. He moved toward the other person in the room and was shocked when it moved.

“I took your friend home, Murdock.” The gruff voice of Stick called out from the darkness.

“Stick? But…why are-“

“Boy, you need to listen more and shut up. I’m proud of you. You did good tonight. But there’s other challenges you’ll face. And for that you need a better outfit.”

Stick threw a box at Matt’s feet.

“How’d you get this made so fast? I only tonight-“

“Boy, shut up more. There are forces at work here you don’t understand, and probably never will…for now, just take comfort in the fact that you’re one of the good guys…despite the costume…”

[fan4]

The next evening Daredevil stood on the rooftops of Hell’s Kitchen in his costume. Clad in all red with a horned mask that had red eye lenses he looked every part the devil. Daredevil smiled and looked up at the night sky as the rain began to fall.

I sit there, perched on a ledge, listening to the sound of the city’s pulse, all while the rain falls down on me. I feel the nighttime air call out to me. I know that soon I’ll be out there, joining in the adventure that the city offers. I made a promise to be someone.

I won’t let Dad down.

I hope he can see the things I do at night…the adventures I have as I turn the city into my playground. He helped make me the man I am. And now, as I haunt the rooftops and alleyways of Hell’s Kitchen, I know the difference one man can make in a life. I’ve seen it. So I prowl the darkness to make a difference. And as I jump, I let go of my fear, I’m Hell’s Kitchen’s guardian devil, and I’ll never let my dad down.

[fan4]

The end

Next: "The Head, the Heart and the Hand"