He kills for money, and on occasion for enjoyment. Today is one of those rare cases where it's both. His name is Bullseye, and only a few people have been dumb enough to ask him how he earned that name. They currently reside in a pine box.

Usually he likes to perform his work up close and personal, but at the instruction of his employer, his current hit is a basic snipe job. Shoot and run, simple enough. Bullseye laughed to himself as he set up shop. He was going to enjoy this tremendously.

Below him on the streets cars were at a virtual standstill; typical early morning New York jam. People leaned out their windows, shouting obscenities at each other. Pedestrians cross at the intersections, oblivious to the madman looking down on them. He opens his suitcase, looking at the polished metal that is his sniper rifle, a Brown Precision Tactical Elite. It wasn't the best in the world, but it would be sufficient.

Slowly, methodically, he began to set up his post, loading the rifle, and positioning himself so that he had the perfect shot, right into the office window of his target' office, directly across the street. Now, he thought, comes the hard part, the waiting. Waiting on that perfect moment. He knew it would be a while, but it would be worth it, well worth it.

Matt awoke to the sounds of a busy city. He could smell the smog in the air, hear the sounds of the city buzzing in his brain. Somewhere a baby was crying for its bottle, on the street two men were discussing yesterday's Yankees game, while another whistled at a nearby woman, and right outside his apartment, a man with a jackhammer was busting up pavement. God he loved this city.

Getting out of bed, Matt hit the shower, the lukewarm water burning his skin, but he was used to it now. As the water washed over him he thought about the day ahead of him. Today would be his first day back in business with law partner and best friend, Foggy Nelson. He was looking forward to starting his life again. He had been mourning the loss of Karen these last few weeks, and he felt it was finally time to start back to work.*

(* Karen Page, Matt's longtime girlfriend, was killed in Marvel's Daredevil volume 2, #5—Dino )

Once he was dressed, Matt walked outside to get his morning paper. He opened it, running his hands over the front-page headline; it read: Asst. DA Murdered! Quickly running his hands over the page, feeling the fresh print on his fingertips, Matt learned that New York 's Assistant District Attorney, Jacob Rubenson, had been murdered sometime yesterday by an unknown assassin. Just then, his phone rang.

Franklin Nelson, or Foggy to his friends, looked at his clock, it was 6:45 in the morning. He lay awake all night staring at the ceiling of his one bedroom apartment, thinking about everything that had happened lately. First he gets framed for murder, then longtime friend Karen Page dies at the hands of Bullseye, and then he reforms his long-standing partnership with best friend Matt Murdock. It all seemed like a dream, one that continued to haunt his every waking moment. Everything just moved so fast.*

(* We already mentioned Karen, but the rest of that all happened in the same "GUARDIAN DEVIL" story-arc, which ran from Daredevil volume 2, #1-8—Dino )

He looked at the clock again, 6:47; he had to be up in thirteen minutes. Today was the first day back to work, the first day of the new Nelson & Murdock. It would be nice to practice law again, especially with Matt. He got out of bed, and went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, then went to the shower. Hopefully things would be better from now on, he thought.
After the shower he sat down on his couch and turned on the news. He almost spit out his first sip of coffee when he saw the lead story. Jacob Rubenson had been murdered yesterday. The Assistant DA of New York was dead. Foggy picked up the phone and called Matt.

{{ Hello, }} came Matt's voice.

"Matt, its Foggy, have you heard?" he asked.

{{ Yeah, meet me in the office in fifteen minutes. }}

Mary was looking forward to today. She had gotten the call from a temp agency, a secretary position needed to be filled at a small law firm, and it could possibly become permanent. She could hardly contain her excitement. It was seven o'clock, and she had just sent her son off to school, she had to be in at eight. She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, making sure she looked nice enough, she needed to make a good impression, and this was her first job in months.

To celebrate, Mary had promised to take Thomas, her son, out to dinner tonight, any place he wanted, not surprisingly he wanted pizza and ice cream, which was fine with her. It would be nice to eat something other than their usual macaroni and cheese dinners, well anything but ramen noodles that is. Mary hated those things.

She leaned closer to the mirror, studying the wrinkles that had begun to show on her brow. Her eyes moved up, catching a few gray strands of hair; she would need to buy some hair color on her way home tonight. Some new make-up too, if she had the money. She put on her shoes then headed to the bus stop, it was right on time.

Stepping off the bus, Mary saw her new place of employment, Nelson & Murdock. The words made her smile. She made her way up to the small set of stairs in front of the building. The door was already open, which meant at least one of her new bosses was already at work, she couldn't wait to meet them. Good impressions, she thought to herself.

Inside stood two men, one was quite tall, with red hair, he had a cane in his left hand, and dark glasses covered his eyes. He was wearing one of the nicest suits Mary had ever seen; it was black, but not traditional. She had been told that Mr. Murdock was blind, and she assumed that this was he.

The other man, Mr. Nelson she again assumed, was stocky, and was almost dwarfed next to the tall Murdock. He had blonde hair, which had a slight curl to it, he was wearing a suit also, tan with a matching tie. The two men were in deep conversation, and Mary hated to interrupt. She stood in the doorway, in silence, until they turned to acknowledge her presence.

"Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson, I'm Mary Wilson, your new secretary," she said, shaking both their hands.

Foggy made it to the new office first. The place was almost immaculate. Matt had hired some painters, and a decorator to come in and fix it up a few days ago, and they had done an excellent job. He walked into his office, looking over his new desk. On the wall was a bookcase, overrun with law texts.

Across from his desk was that of their soon-to-be secretary. They'd both decided that Matt needed a private office, due to his alter ego.

He walked across the hallway, into Matt's office. It was almost identical, except for the desk chair, and the books were all written in Braille. Not that Matt needs it, Foggy thought. He grinned as he walked to the other side of the desk, sitting down in the chair. He had always wanted to do this. He spun himself around, laughing hysterically, when he heard footsteps on the roof. Matt, he thought, rushing outside to greet him.

Matt suited up quickly. Any other day and he would've walked to the office, but today he was in a hurry. He climbed onto the roof and headed towards the office. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, relishing the wind at his cheek. Below him he heard a child exclaim to his mother,

"Look Mom, its Spider-Man!" This made him smile, there was nothing like recognition to make a man's day.

He reached the building shortly, he had set up a small room on top of the building to make quick changes, he hoped no one had seen him. Inside he switched clothes, and used a secret entrance to make his way down into his office. The bookcase served as his entrance; he'd even added a peephole so he could make sure no one could see him. He saw Foggy getting up out of his chair, and rushing outside. Matt stepped out of his hiding place to stop him.

Finally his moment had come. His target was in sight, and Bullseye was gently squeezing the trigger.

"Dammit!" he muttered, as the man moved out of view. Once again he would have to be patient, which anyone who knew him would tell you wasn't one of his virtues. He wasn't even sure he had any virtues.

Below him a bus stopped, a few passengers stepping out. He aimed his scope at one of them. It would be so easy, he thought. Just one little action, and POOF! a person failed to exist anymore. God he loved death.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, his target was almost back in sight, and he could see the man's feet, only now he wasn't alone. Bullseye decided to take his shot anyway, just as soon as he got the chance. A few minutes later he had his shot, this time it was perfect. With one pull of the trigger, one simple action, a man ceased to be. Bullseye quickly packed up his piece, making his way from the scene of the crime.

Matt and Foggy stood in the hallway discussing the shocking news both of them had just received. Jacob had been a valuable asset to the city, and a trusted associate to both of them. His attempts to pin solid evidence on Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, had been highly publicized, and both men couldn't help but think he had a hand in Jacob's death.

"Any idea on when the funeral will be?" Foggy asked.

"Not yet, but there will be a wake held tomorrow, so I'm sure it will be soon," Matt answered.

"The autopsy is today. I've already been in contact with a few connections at the precinct."

"I called Ben Urich down at the Bugle, he said he'd get me word if he heard anything."

Just then a woman entered the hallway; Matt and Foggy turned to look at her.

"Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson, I'm Mary Wilson, your new secretary," she said, shaking both their hands.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Wilson," Foggy said.

"Please, it's Mary."

"Then I'm Matt and this is Foggy," Matt said, returning the handshake.

"Come on Mary, I'll show you to your desk!" Foggy exclaimed.

All three of them walked into Foggy's office together. Mary immediately sat down at her new desk, sighing in relief at the situation she found herself in. Things were truly looking up for her.
Matt and Foggy both smiled at her expression. Matt could smell the desperation on her. This was not a woman who lived a pleasured life. He could hear her pulse racing from excitement. Despite the current tragedy, it made him happy to be helping a woman in need.

Foggy walked over to his desk, behind it was a huge window overlooking New York. It was a breathtaking sight, one he never got tired of. The sunlight glinted in his eyes, causing him to blink, and turn his head slightly. Suddenly the glass window exploded in his face.

Matt heard the shot, but it was too late by the time it registered. Mary's shriek was the next thing to enter his eardrums. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Foggy fell backwards onto the floor, blood spurting out of part of his skull.

Matt jumped to try and stop his fall, but just ended up going down with him. Mary would think to herself later, how she'd never seen a blind man move so accurately, but for now all she could do was scream. Blood had splattered across her face and clothes, and she slumped down beneath her desk, clutching at her knees.

Matt sat in the floor, holding the lifeless body of his partner and best friend. The smell of the gunpowder still lingered in the air, and Matt used his radar senses to track it to the building across the street. He heard a laugh, and a heartbeat, both of which he recognized.

"Bullseye!" he exclaimed.

He looked down at his fallen friend. He couldn't produce the tears his brain told him to, instead he felt anger welling up inside him.

"I'm sorry Foggy, this is my fault. Jesus, I'm so sorry."

Matt stood up, walked to where Mary was huddled, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Dial 911!" he told her.

With that, he walked into his office and shut the door. He felt the anger brimming to the top as he changed into Daredevil.