His world is one of eternal darkness, but oh how the darkness is filled! Images , more vivid then
any eyesight, supplied by a unique "Radar sense", as well as hyper acute senses make his world
a unique and astonishing place. By day he is a well known and respected lawyer, by night a
different kind of defender, one who is known by his enemies as a "Man without fear". Years of
training along with his amazing senses have made him a man who instills fear instead. Armed
with his multi purpose "Billy Club" he swings through the Manhattan skyline , battling evil and
injustice wherever it rears its ugly face. He is....
Splash page: DD is lying on the ground, his hands handcuffed behind him as Mr Hyde has a
young Cop by the wrists, dangling him in the air by his hands.
Hyde: "You think your pathetic bullets can harm Hyde? You are a fool boy. A fool who will
grow no older this night!"
Cop : "AAAARRRRGGGHH!"
DD: ( I can't believe it's come to this, first I'm sent down here to Florida by Rosalind Sharpe, my
senior partner, then I find myself talking to a man who knew my father, with evidence he was
killed because he was protecting me, then I have a major battle with Tombstone, only to barely
survive that and then I find out someone's framed me for Biagio's murder. And that someone
is...) "HYDE ! Let him go you brainless ape. You know you want to dance with the devil, and
not some runny nosed cop-ling."
Page 2
Hyde drops the young Cop, tossing him away like old baggage.
Hyde: "You are an utter idiot hornhead. I will tear you limb from bloody limb, then I will eat
your entrails while they're still steaming."
DD Gets to his feet, as blood continues to drip down the side of his face*.
*DD was shot a glancing blow by the cop last issue
DD: "Charming as ever Calvin."
Hyde: "Don't call me that!"
He smashes the ground where DD was standing an instant earlier, but DD leaps backwards out
of the way.
DD: (These cuffs are hindering me big time. Gotta get them off.)
Hyde charges DD, who drops down to his back and rolls Hyde over him in an impromptu
stomach throw, sending him crashing into the side of the police car, with crushing results
BA-KROOM!
Page 3
DD: (He totaled the car in one blow, and he's already getting up. Got to get rid of these cuffs
now!)
DD Rolls on to his back , pulling his legs tight up to his chest, purposely dislocating a shoulder
as he does it.
DD: "AARRGGH"
as he does he pulls his feet through the cuffs, his arms now in front of him, he wacks his
shoulder against the cars fender, popping it back into place.
Hyde: "Hahahaha. You are funnier then ever little man. That hurt just watching you do it. All
that to free yourself, and you're still cuffed, hahaha. Here , let me help."
Hyde grabs the sweating, pain wracked Daredevil by the hands, then pops the handcuffs apart
effortlessly. He still holds DD aloft .
Hyde: "See? I wouldn't want this to be unfair."
Page 4
DD: "How kind of you!"
DD kicks Hyde in the face with all his might, causing Hyde to drop him.
WRACK!
Hyde: "Unnh!"
DD retrieves his billy club from nearby.
DD: ( This is no good. I have about zero chance here as things stand now. I can hardly stand, let
alone fight.)
Hyde attacks again, tearing the chain link fence surrounding the yard up and heaving it at
Daredevil.
Hyde: "Make this a sporting challenge you idiot, go ahead. It will provide you with a few more
minutes of breath at best."
DD: " I aim to please Calvin."
He leaps upwards again, avoiding Hydes' lunge.
Page 5
DD:( I have to end this fast. If I prolong this, I'm dead.)
Daredevil leaps over Hydes head, pain burning his entire body as he lashes out with his
Adamantium Billy Club with all his might, slamming Hyde in a nerve cluster at the back of the
neck!
POW!
Hyde: "Arrgh!"
Hyde swings his left arm in a powerful arc, catching Daredevil across the shoulder, the same one
he intentionally dislocated moments earlier, sending him skidding across the lawn.
POW!
DD:"Unnnggghhh!"
Page 6
Hyde : "Time to end this charade fool. Death comes for you on two feet, hahahahahaha!"
Hyde lumbers toward DD, but for all his bravado, the nerve attack Daredevil used hit paydirt!
DD: ( He's in pain, I can tell. His heartbeat is erratic now, and it jumps every time he moves his
left arm. Good. Now If I can just stand up one more time on my own power.)
DD struggles to his feet as Hyde approaches . He's practically foaming at the mouth with anger
when he leaps at Daredevil again.!
Hyde: "Rraaagggh!"
DD drops to the ground , throwing all his weight on his left arm, then he sweeps both legs into
Hydes shins with all his waning strength, sending the behemoth sprawling out of control into the
side of the police car again.
KLONG!
Page 7
DD : ( I smell......YES ! Gas! He ruptured the tank on his first collision with it, and that was his
second.)
Turning his head, DD scans the yard for where the Policeman fell moments earlier, using his
uncanny radar sense to find.....
DD: (THERE it is ! Time to finish this up.)
Painfully DD vaults across the lawn one last time to land near a metallic object gleaming in the
moonlight, reaching down he picks it up.
Hyde stands next to the police car, himself pained and groggy.
Hyde: "You're going to use that against me? You idiot! When that young fool next to you used it
he had no effect whatsoever. What chance do you think you'll have that he did not?"
Page 8
DD: "Give up Hyde. Surrender now, or I swear I'll take you down the hard way."
Hyde: "You are so funny horn head. Here let me grab something to throw at you!"
Hyde lifts the ruined police car above his head, as DD holds up the object he grabbed.
DD: "Last chance monster, drop it!"
Hyde: "I will little man, on YOU!"
Everything becomes slow motion, as Hyde pulls the two plus ton car back to heave it like a
feather at Daredevil. DD suddenly fires the gun he's holding, aiming at the already ruptured gas
tank , eight shots he fires into it, the remaining eight in the nine millimeters magazine. On the
sixth round , the tank explodes!
Ba-WHHOOOOMMF!
Hyde is engulfed in flames, as even fifty feet away , Daredevil is knocked to the ground by the
resultant explosion !
Page 9
DD sinks to his knees, exhausted, as with a thud a large, burning form drops from the sky to land
next to him.
DD: "Thank God, it's over. I don't think I could throw another punch, let alone stand."
Then,... a voice as if from hell itself answers him.
Hyde: "Then...you ...will still....die....weakling..."
DD turns , stunned as his radar sense plays over the burned and disfigured form of Hyde, barely
awake on his feet.
Hyde: "Will......kill....you....little....man..."
DD Stands , swaying on his own feet, barely able to raise his arms to prepare a defense.
Page 10
DD: ( How can I go on? This is insane. He's fought the Hulk and lived to tell about it. He's gone
toe to toe with Thor for Gods sake. What chance do I have ?)
Then, in Daredevils minds eye comes the answer, in the form of an old man holding a long pole.
Stick: "You make yer own chances you wimp. You don't give up, ever. You keep on fightin'
Didn't I teach ya that? Didn't yer old man teach ya that before he bit the big one? What's wrong
with ya boy? You never give up, you here me? NEVER!"
Then Stick fades from Matt Murdocks minds eye, as steely resolve replaces hesitation, and
Daredevil the fearless stands, fully ready to finish this battle!
Hyde: "DIE!"
Hyde leaps at DD, but DD ducks under the wild blow, delivering a spinning roundhouse kick
with his left leg to Hydes rock like mid section, then DD tucks the leg back up and continues the
pivot on his right leg, shifting his weight to the left and spinning the right into a wheel kick ,
again at Hydes stomach.
Whack!
Thack!
Page 11
DD: "Fall damn you , Fall!"
Hyde swings madly with his left arm, as Daredevil slips below it and using Hydes own
momentum, tosses him through the air in a one armed shoulder throw.
Poom!
Hyde drags himself up once more, barely able to stand as anger and hatred burn every ounce of
his being.
DD hurls himself at Hyde, fists ready to attack.
DD: "Why....don't.....you.....FALL!"
DD hits Hyde with a double fisted punch that actually knocks him from his feet, so much did DD
put into the blow that he falls also from the exertion.
Ba-KOW!
Page 12
DD looks over at Hydes unconscious form, and drags himself up one last time. He enters the
house as the Young Cop begins to stir, a moment later he exits again, with a vial in his
bloodstained glove.
DD: "This is how he got into the prison and killed Nicolosi."
He forces Hydes' mouth open and pours the contents of the vial down the man-monsters throat.
Almost instantly there is a reaction as Hyde begins to convulse involuntarily, and then before the
amazed cops eyes, he reverts to small and thin Calvin Zabo!
The Cop hands DD a plastic Zip tie from his belt. DD then ties Hydes hands together as an
impromptu hand cuff.
DD: "Wake up Zabo. I need you to speak now."
He slaps Zabos face repeatedly, until his eyes flutter, and his heart rate measures that of a
waking man.
Page 13
DD: "Confession time monster. Why did you kill Biagio Nicolosi, and who put you up to it?
Answer me damn you!"
Zabo laughs , until DD leans into his ribs with a knee.
Zabo: "Unngh , Officer, h-he's brutalizing me ! You are a witness."
Cop : "Sorry there Mr, I can't see a thing. I'm in to much pain due to some monster crushing my
hands."
Moments later other Cop cars as well as fire and ambulance services arrive, alerted by the
neighbors.
Two officers approach the young Cop who sits against a tree, his gun held gingerly in his hands
as he points it at Hyde.
Page 14
Cop 1: "He's the one we want, not Daredevil. DD saved my life. He beat this monster before he
could get his hands on me and kill me. Daredevils a hero. This guys name is Zabo, otherwise
known as Mr. Hyde."
Cop 2: "Where's Daredevil now?"
Cop 1: "He left, Zabo here told him the name of the ratbag who hired him to off Nicolosi."
Cop 3: "Well who was it?"
Cop 1(As EMS worker begin to bandage his hands): "It was Ulysses S. Lugman, The Slug."
Cut to a mansion in Miami, as Daredevil vaults over the main gate on his billy club line.
Instantly he's attacked by hired thugs who storm across the grounds at him, but he's come to far,
endured to much to stop now. He leaps, his pain wracked form protesting vehemently to him, but
Matt Murdock ignores it, instead he grimly dispatches the first thug with a lightning fast thrust
kick, followed by a ridge hand blow to the temple and then a quick left round house. So it goes.
Within minutes five of the best bodyguards in Miami are unconscious and Daredevil hasn't lost a
step as he enters the mansion.
Page 15
DD follows the sound of a thundering heartbeat to an image that fills his radar sense with
revulsion. Before him, a mass of fat with a head perched upon it contemplates him.
Slug: "So you've done away with all my men so quickly have you? My highest praise to you then.
now, what do you want?"
DD: "Why? Why'd you set me up for Nicolosi's murder? Why'd you have Battlin' Jack Murdock
killed all those years ago. The trail ends with you, you grotesque monster."
Slug : " Such an attitude is not warranted Daredevil. I know nothing of which you speak, though
the Jack Murdock accusal I will not deny. It was indeed myself who threatened Battling Jack in
my younger , more svelte days. I was creating a rep for myself. Making my presence known as it
were. Shortly after that I was run out of New York, by another up and coming crime lord. "
DD: "Let me guess, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin."
Page 16
Slug : "Very astute dear boy. After that I made my way to South Florida, and the rest is history.
Now begone."
He waves DD off with his hand.
Slug: "There's nothing you can do to me to prove anything. You are trespassing , and I will have
the proper authorities remove you physically if need be."
Slowly DD smiles.
DD: "Why don't you call them fat man."
Slug: "Your attitude needs adjusting dear boy."
DD: "Why don't you give it a try you murderous, disgusting blob."
Page 17
Slug: "Alas no, I will not. Physicalities are not my strong point."
DD: "So you had Nicolosi killed for no good reason other then to frame me . You're an animal.
Worse then Fisk surprisingly."
Slug: "As I said already, I did not have Nicolosi killed . "
DD: "No huh? But Battling Jack was your handiwork , right?"
Slug: "Yes, a young man looking to impress does many stupid things, this was one of them."
DD: "So you threatened his young sons life, if he threw the fight , the boy would die. If he won
the fight another thug would kill him. He was trapped in the middle, between the two of you .He
chose to let his son live, and sacrificed his own life."
Slug: "No greater love hath no man."
DD turns to the doorway behind him.
DD: "Did you get his confession to the Murdock murder?"
Page 18
Two cops come forward .
Cop 1: "Yes Daredevil, we heard it all. He's as good as locked up now."
DD: "Good. He's all yours boys."
Shocked the Slug says nothing as several officers arrive to cart him off to jail.
DD: "Finally, it's over." (Rest easy Dad, finally your killers are all accounted for.)
Two days pass, as Matt Murdock does nothing but sleep. His body is still aches and pain, but he's
feeling better. At least strong enough to return home. The flight this time is uneventful, and Matt
is actually relaxed. He hasn't spoken to Karen in days. All the more reason he can't wait to see
her when he arrives.
Page 19
At JFK Airport three and a half hours later Matt hears a familiar and unexpected heartbeat
immediately upon disembarking.
Matt: "Foggy! What are you doing here partner? You didn't have to meet me yourself."
(Something's wrong with him, his heartbeat is racing, and he's sweating nervously.)
Foggy: "Everything's gone wrong since you left Matt, everything! We have trouble."
He sniffles , fighting back tears.
Matt: "Foggy, what's wrong?"
Foggy: "Matt, it's my mother. Rosalind. S-she's dead Matt. She was killed."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dare-ing to be different
Hey Ralph! Well, i just read the Daredevil issue and I really liked it!
Great characterization on everyone involved and I can't wait to see what
will be done with Elektra, Karen and Foggy here. Matt himself is as
interesting as he ever was, and seeing the Kingpin manipulating Matt's life
again seems like old times. I can't wait to see how this all turns out.
Keep up the good work!
TJB
Thanks TJ, let me know what you thought of this issue. I think it's the best one yet!
Ralph