MARVEL 2000 PRESENTS...

Law & Order
Part Two of Two

Written by D. Golightly

NEW YORK CITY
An alley in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen

Hellspawn lunged forward, empowered by the raspy cries of ecstasy coming from the woman only a few feet away. Matthew Murdock, the Man Without Fear known as Daredevil, slapped the end of his billy club against Hellspawn’s head as he sidestepped the attempt to grab him. His radar sense allowed him to “see” the entire alleyway at once, and he was not happy about what he was beginning to piece together.

“Kill him!” Calypso cried out. “Rip the bloodstained soul from his own chest and offer it to me, my sweet Hellspawn!”

Moments ago Calypso had been playing another role in this scenario. Posing as apparent bait for a mugger, she had seemed as nothing more than a damsel in distress, a lone woman being targeted by one of the dangerous residents of Hell’s Kitchen.

But it had been a ruse. Daredevil was now fighting for his life against his own adopted brother. He had been sure that they had overcome this nightmare, but apparently he had been deceived. As he dodged the quick strikes from Hellspawn, Daredevil’s head was spinning as he tried to find a way out.

“What have you done to him?” Daredevil demanded as he hopped on top of a garbage can, and then backflipped to avoid being struck down by Hellspawn.

“Nothing that was not already in his nature,” Calypso replied casually. The hunger in her eyes was seething as she watched the deadly dance between the brothers. “As he sleeps, I control him. He has been harvesting souls for me, granting me more and more strength over him. And with your death I think my grasp on him will be complete.”

Daredevil landed on his feet and threw out a snap-kick aimed at Hellspawn’s legs. He smacked the demon in the shin and shot him left leg out from under him, causing him to fell onto his back.

Taking the opportunity, Daredevil leapt on top of him…but Hellspawn already had his arm up and ready for the move. He drove the tips of fingers into Matt’s throat, sat up, and drove his own billy club into Daredevil’s solar plexus.

Daredevil backpedaled deeper into the alley to recover, just as Hellspawn leapt to his feet again to restart the fight. They were too evenly matched, save that Hellspawn was willing to use lethal force. The fight had to end quickly, or else Daredevil wouldn’t be able to do what Hellspawn was attempting: kill.

It didn’t help that Mike Murdock had taken on the demonic form he had originally been created in. Large, curved horns protruded from his forehead, reaching nearly a foot over his head. Sharp, jagged teeth filled his mouth. Hands had turned into claws.

Every iota of Daredevil’s instincts were telling him to kill the thing in front of him, that it wasn’t human, that it never had been. But he knew that beneath the shroud of the demon was a captive man he had come to call family. A man controlled by the witch that cackled triumphantly in the alley’s mouth.

Rubbing his throat and regaining his breath, Matt dodged another jab from Hellspawn, blocked another follow-up blow, and ducked under a roundhouse kick. All the while Hellspawn let his long, red tongue hang from his mandible, and he rasped in delight.

“Kill him for me, my pet!” Calypso commanded. “Take his place in life and serve me!”

Daredevil raised his arm, pointing his billy club skyward. The spring-loaded grappling hook at the tip of the club launched straight up. It latched onto something on the rooftop and began to haul Matt up, just as Hellspawn lunged for him.

He heard the demon’s claws scrape the brick alley floor as he ascended into the night sky. He yanked down harder on the club, which resulted in a faster rise into the darkness. He needed to regroup, but he knew that he wouldn’t have long once Hellspawn came after him.

Daredevil flipped up onto the roof and began to run. He didn’t have a destination in mind, he just had to run. He needed a plan. He couldn’t just fight Hellspawn to a standstill, not with Calypso fueling him.

“Unless I cut off the fuel at the source,” Daredevil muttered.

He reached an access door and swung around behind it. Laundry that one of the building tenants had hung out to dry flapped in the cool breeze, shrouding the rooftop in a hazy maze of white cloth. The small amount of cover wouldn’t do much to stifle Hellspawn, just as it did nothing to impede Daredevil, but every little bit counted.

Besides, he was no longer hiding from Hellspawn.

His radar sense cued in to Hellspawn touching down on the rooftop. The black and red costume was stunning against the night sky, and the armored padding was thicker than what Matt wore. The frenzied demon gently spun his staff in one hand as he used his own radar sense to search the rooftop.

Hellspawn instantly locked onto Daredevil. He charged the vigilante, slapping the laundry sheets out of his way as he ran. He let out a low, guttural growl that was akin to something one would hear in the wilderness when one animal hunted another.

Daredevil dodged the creature’s first strike, narrowing avoiding having his head ripped off. He traded blows with his pseudo-brother again, although this time his focus was divided.

“C’mon,” he muttered. “I know you don’t want to miss seeing this for yourself.”

Hellspawn drove his knee into Daredevil’s chin and kicked out his feet from under him. He was about to stab his staff down into Daredevil’s chest, but Matt managed to roll onto his side and deliver his own leg sweep. Hellspawn and Daredevil tussled together on the roof, their arms and legs intertwined with Daredevil doing his best to contain the beast.

His radar sense finally pinged down over the top of the alley, showing him in outline what he wanted to see. The lithe form of Calypso rose slowly over the lip of the roof, rising through her own dark magicks.

She stood atop the roof edge, watching with delight as the brothers tumbled with one another. Her shrill cackle was driving into Daredevil’s veins, making him feel like an icy front of air had suddenly engulfed him.

Daredevil made his move. He shot his elbow into Hellspawn’s face, breaking his nose. He leaned up enough to gain leverage over the creature and drove his billy club down into its face again. And again. And again.

Hellspawn’s grip finally went slack and Daredevil took advantage of the newly acquired freedom. He sprung to his feet and launched his billy club directly at Calypso. It struck her in the forehead and her vision went black.

She tumbled over the side of the roof and Hellspawn roared, shoving Matt aside and running to the edge of the roof. Without a second thought or cause for hesitation, without so much as breaking stride, Hellspawn threw himself over the edge after his master.

“No!” Daredevil screamed, but it was too late.

He rushed to the edge, even though he didn’t need to. His radar sense told him that the alley had only one moving body lying in it, and it wasn’t his brother’s. He ground his teeth together and jumped over the side, flipping his grappling hook out to catch and break his fall.

He landed between them, but didn’t even bother to flick his wrist to retract his grappling hook. He simply let it hang limply from the rooftop.

Calypso’s broken body was to his right, but Matt leaned over the body of Hellspawn. The long horns began to soften and shorten, absorbing back into the forehead of Mike Murdock. Matt ripped his mask off to feel his smashed face. To his surprise, Mike coughed up a spurt of blood.

“Mike! Stay with me!”

Daredevil was confused. His senses told him that Mike no longer had a heart beat, but he felt his face twitch and his mouth open and close as if he were trying to speak. Finally, enough air passed between his lips to form words, and even though it was barely a whisper, to Daredevil’s ears it might as well have been screams.

“Matt…” Mike said. “It’s okay. I’m…I’m going to be okay…”

But then the life faded from Mike Murdock’s face. The body remained still, inanimate. Daredevil’s unholy kindred spirit, Michael Murdock, began to melt within his own arms. Matt tried to hold him tightly, as if that would be enough to maintain his presence on this earthly plane, but it did nothing to help.

Within seconds Mike Murdock returned to the nothingness from which he had spawned.

The ragged cackle of the witch filled Matt’s eyes. Infuriated, Daredevil whipped around, expecting to find Calypso standing in front of him, gloating. Instead he discovered that he was alone in the alley. His radar sense swept over the alley, but there was no one.

“He is gone,” the bodiless voice of Calypso said. “Even though my plan has failed this time, do not think that I will never return. I will come for you, Matthew Murdock.”

The laughter rose again briefly before fading away again. Matt was alone, perhaps more alone than he ever had been before in his life.

NEW YORK CITY
The law offices of Murdock and Murdock

“Matt, are you okay?”

Matt Murdock finished piling his files into a box before answering. “I’m fine, Mary. Just…a little tired is all.”

“You look like a truck ran over you.”

The chaotic files that Mike had been keeping in the office were difficult to sift through, but Matt had finally found what he had been looking for. There was a good amount of paperwork that he was going to have to have shipped to his new offices in San Francisco, and Mary was going to have her work cut out for her operating the New York office by herself until it closed down.

It had been a long, drawn out conversation between the two of them, but Mary and Matt had finally come to an understanding. She wasn’t being fired; far from it. Matt was pulling his name from the practice, but Mary would remain as a paralegal in training, with Matt picking up the education tab.

Mat was heading back to San Francisco. It was a way for Matt to start over again, and after the previous night, he needed a clean slate. Mary would remain there and remain his New York contact, something he was sure he would need. He didn’t want to just leave the East Coast behind completely. His flight was already booked and he was leaving that night.

“I think you’ll find that most of the files here will need to be re-catalogued,” Matt said. “Do you have the information from Empire State University?”

“I checked in with a Mr. Ronald Mosby,” Mary said. She was obviously unsure about everything, probably because of how quickly it was happening. “He said I can take night classes for awhile until I can establish a more solid schedule.”

“I read through the prep work you did for my brother. You’re going to be a great paralegal, and I’ll appreciate having eyes and ears on the East Coast.”

“Well, I really appreciate the opportunity Mr. Mur…Matt,” she replied. “I just don’t really understand what happened with your brother.”

Matt held up his hand. “Mike is taking an extended leave of absence from the firm. You’re to operate here as if he isn’t coming back, which will likely be the case. My brother is a very sick man, Mary. He’s getting the help he needs, but I think his days of being a lawyer are over.”

He couldn’t tell her the truth. Even though he had come to like Mary over the last year of working with her, she was still innocent of the knowledge that weighed him down. She was smart, and tough, but some things didn’t need to be said.

“There’s still the Malik case. What are we going to do there?”

Matt sighed. Albert Malik, the Communist Red Skull, had retained their services in what Matt and Foggy thought was going to be a landmark case for their firm. Instead, Mike had destroyed their credibility. A mistrial was undoubtedly going to be granted.

“Nothing,” Matt replied. “Not until Malik resurfaces. He disappeared after Mike’s outburst. He’ll show up eventually, but I can only assume that he won’t be the happiest client we’ve ever had.”

“What if he comes back looking for Mike?”

“If he’s pissed at anyone, it’s my brother. You should be safe. But you are to contact me the very second you get sight of him.”

Matt placed the last file box onto a stack near the door. He patted the top of the stack and looked directly at Mary. It was something that Mary had never gotten used to, and after a year of working in the office, she knew that if Matt Murdock looked directly at you that he was being dead serious.

“You’re a good woman, Mary,” Matt said. “San Francisco is where I’m needed right now. Just hold down the fort, okay? I’m just a phone call away.”

Mary lunged toward him and grasped him in a bear hug. The sting of saltwater hit the air and entered Matt’s nostrils and he could tell that she was weeping. He clumsily returned the hug after a moment of hesitation.

“Thank you,” she said.

NEW YORK CITY
Central Park

It was brisk as Matt walked down the path near the lake in Central Park. His cane tapped the ground in front of him as he maintained the illusion that he was a helpless blind man, just out for a stroll.

Of course, he was anything but helpless. As the masked crimefighter, Daredevil, Matt Murdock had gone up against countless thugs, villains, bosses, and monsters. It had become a way of life for him. Daredevil had taken up more and more of his time as of late, and he hadn’t thought anything about it.

Until she came back.

His radar sense pinged off of the park bench, facing the lake, that he was heading for. His extraordinary senses couldn’t detect color, but if they could, then he would have been amazed to see the shining blonde hair of Karen Page. She was a striking woman and he was sorry that he could never visually appreciate her beauty.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked.

She turned to face him and smiled. She motioned for him to sit beside her. Matt folded up his cane and sat down beside her, drinking in her smell. It was unique, and something he always enjoyed.

“Matt, I’ve been thinking—”

“Let me go first,” he said. “Karen, I know that we’ve had our ups and downs. Mostly downs. But something happened to me last night, and I’m ready to make the changes that I know you want. I’m tired of being this dark avenger, always hiding in the shadows. In some ways as I’m bad as the scum I track down. I know that can be a pretty big bag to carry around.”

A pair of blue jays flew over their heads and headed for a tree branch on the opposite side of the lake. Matt’s finely tuned senses caught every flap of their wings. Another chill breeze came off the lake and he noticed Karen pulling her jacket a little tighter around her frame.

“I’m going back to San Francisco and I want you to come with me,” Matt said. “I’m going to start over there, Karen, and I want you with me.”

“Matt, I don’t know if I—”

“We can make this work, Karen. I know we can. I love you, and I know that you still love me. I need you with me if I’m really going to make a fresh start of things. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want t a fresh start, too?”

Tears began to form in Karen’s eyes. Matt was thinking of some quip about how making women cry seemed to be his new special talent, but Karen suddenly blurted out a response.

“Yes!”

“Yes?”

“Matt…I don’t know if I can explain this the way I need to, but I’m going to try.” Karen took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All these years, it’s like there’s been something hanging over your head. When we first met you were more carefree. You didn’t let life get you so down all the time. You changed.”

“Changed how?”

“Everything was so serious with you. There was no room for levity. You took your demons seriously, and I admired you for that, but at the same time it was a wedge between us. But recently—”

“I don’t understand,” Matt said. “You weren’t happy when we were together?”

“No, I was! For awhile it really clicked, you know? Everything was going right, and it felt right. I loved you, Matt, but after awhile your demons began to pile up and you kept me at arms length. I don’t think you realized you were doing it, but it’s what happened between us.”

“That’s why I want a fresh start for us, Karen.”

“I want that, too, Matt. Honestly, I didn’t think you were going to say that to me today. I…I thought you were going to tell me that you were moving back to New York City. If you had told me that you were staying here again, I would have left by now.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Matt, but it’s true. This city is like a burden on your soul. You and I can’t be happy here. The same things will just happen all over again, and I do not want that. I can’t do it, Matt. I died once. I’m not taking chances anymore. That’s why I was considering a job offer in case you told me that you wanted to stay.”

Matt raised his eyebrows in curiosity. He had been closely monitoring Karen’s heartbeat out of habit and she was being completely honest with him. Perhaps more honest than she had ever been with him.

“What kind of job?” he asked.

“Richard Fisk approached me,” she replied. “I know, I know. But listen. She wanted me to be his new assistant. Wilson Fisk is practically on his death bed and Richard wants to try and take over his holdings. He thought I might be interested in making that happen beside him, ensuring that he did it the right way. It was a way for me to start over…only it would have to be by myself.”

Matt wasn’t sure if he wanted to scream or not. Richard Fisk was just as devious as his father had been, although he did seem to lean toward the light more often than not. That didn’t excuse many of the underhanded tactics he had used over the years that had ensnared Daredevil.

“I need a new lease on life, too, Matt. What Richard offered me was a way to get it alone. But if you’re serious about San Francisco, about making it our new home, then I’m all in. You and me. Let’s do it.”

Matt smiled. He felt like a kid on Christmas morning. “Are you saying—”

“Yes. I’ll marry you.”

NEXT ISSUE: Daredevil is ready to take the plunge! But before he can make the permanent move to the West Coast, he has one last problem to clean up. A last jaunt through New York City pits him against a deadly new villain named Amalgam!