"What do you hear?"

A small bar in the west section of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen is lit by dozens of lights from police and emergency vehicles. Forensic experts study the scene inside the building. Officers try to keep people from interrupting the area. A woman is crying somewhere in the middle of everything. Two men observe the whole show from a distance atop a nearby building. The younger man is standing right at the edge of the roof. The elder man is sitting cross-legged a few feet behind him.

"There’s been a murder. A mutant. He… hold on… they’re so many voices."

"You’ve been trained for this!" Pipes up the old man sitting in the shadows.

"I’m doing it!" It’s a wonder that the young man doesn’t fall of the ledge, he leans forward into the scene before him. "A Mutant has been shot. He’s dead."

"Are you sure? What do you see?"

"He’s been placed in the ambulance, no heartbeat. A uniform policeman is telling a detective that he was a mutant, named Morgan… Morgan Blythe. He doesn’t sound happy about that."

The young man feels a tap on his right shoulder from the old man’s wooden stick. The young man turns to face his teacher, who hands him a business card.

"That’s enough for tonight, be here tomorrow at noon.

"NELSON LAW?"

"Don’t stay out too late, Kid."

"Hey! You know me! I’m always careful."

Just then, the younger man jumps off the ledge and into the night. The older man with the stick can’t help but laugh to himself.

It is a chilly night, but rather warm for January in New York. Perfect air for flying. The young man in black falls silently toward the street below. From behind his back, the young man pulls out a white billy club. He points and fires a wire from it faster than a gunshot. The wire plants itself onto a nearby rooftop. A married couple trying to watch an old Jim Carrey hear something whoosh past their window.

"Damn Mutants!" The husband shouts. If only he knew that his wife of seven years was one of those damn mutants too.

The night air feels wonderful to the young man as he jumps from rooftop to rooftop. After a few blocks, he hears gunshots below. He halts at the next building he reaches. He listens, the situation is down the street.

The scene the young man finds is that of a young white man crawling on the ground in front of a nightclub. Two other men stand over him. A crowd watches all around them. The two men look like Sailors with their style of haircuts. They are quite drunk, the young man can smell them from down the street. The man on the ground is in his early twenties. He has been shot in the leg. Among the crowd, he sees fear, anger, and excitement over what is happening. People whisper that someone should do something, maybe call the cops or step in. He also notices others cheering the sailors on.

YEAH!! KILL THE LITTLE FAG!!

HAD IT COMING!!

The young man in black quietly makes his way through the onlookers until he is within a few feet of the two men.

"It looks like you’ve had enough to drink. Why don’t you go home before I start clubbing… the two of you."

The bigger one with the gun turns first. He has a thick mustache, dark hair, and soulless eyes. The big one's friend looks like the All-American boy with his short blond hair and his ;Gee Whiz!; smile.

Wha…! What you sssay to me… you Jet Li wannabe! Do you know who we are!!?? We’re SEALS!!

The young man takes out from his jacket pocket a pair of black shades and despite that it was just after midnight, he puts them on. He smiles.

"Seals? Are you going to balance a rubber ball for us?"

The young man slowly reaches behind his back. The big seal hates being bested in front of others. He just fires his weapon at the stranger.

The bullet doesn’t reach its target. The young man deflects it with his billy club. The bullet finds a new home when it hits its own gun. It pops out of the seal’s hand faster than he realized what was happening. Before the gun even hits the sidewalk, the young mans billy club strikes the All-American seal down. It takes a second for the big seal to realize that he had thrown the club at his friend just as the club lands back in the hand of its owner. The gun and the All-American lie motionless on the ground.

The outraged seal leaps at the young man. He aims his fist right at his face. Missed. He was sure he was going to hit him. The young man is behind him. He fires another punch and misses again. Now he can’t find him. The big seal wonders why everyone in the crowd is laughing. He suddenly feels something heavy on his head. The young man is standing on top of his skull. Never having faced this attack before, the seal tries to reach up and grab his feet. The young man just pops up off him and delivers a harsh kick to his face. Teeth and blood explode from his head as the young man lands quite neatly on his feet.

The crowd stands there dumbfounded. They were all expecting to see a show in form or another, but this was far beyond what they thought they would see.

The young man hears sirens drawing closer.

"Good. At least someone here can pick up a phone."

The young man walks over to the shooting victim. He is still holding his leg, hoping that would keep the blood from gushing out of his body. Tears and blood cover the kid’s frightened face. He takes the kids hand and tells him that he’ll be okay and that he’ll stay until help arrives.

"What’s your name?"

"Chad… what’s yours?"

The young man in black smiles warmly as if he had been dying to utter the words.

"I’m DAREDEVIL."

The Next Day is February 1st 2024.

New York City is the same way today as it was thirty years ago, crowded. Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson just lives down the street from his law practice, Nelson Law, which he has made the walk to everyday for years now. This morning, he doesn’t walk with his wife, Bridget, because she is appearing in court. This suits him just fine, because he has someone special meeting him today.

Even in his mid fifties, Foggy still feels a small rush when he enters his office first thing in the morning. The smell of coffee, phones ringing, and the slight chance that justice might get served for someone. Maggie greets him as he walks by holding his second cup of coffee.

"Morning, Foggy, there’s a young Asian man in your office to see you."

Foggy steps up to the door to his office. He takes a moment to catch his breath and remember everything he had planned to say to the newcomer.

"Okay… Lets do it."

The Young Daredevil sits calmly in a chair directly in front of Foggy’s desk. He looks out the window. He studies the buildings, people, cars, and even a super-human flying across the skyline. Even with his enhanced sight, Daredevil can’t make out who the dark figure is exactly. Suddenly, he turns to face the door behind him. He hears someone standing behind it, catching their breath.

Foggy opens the door to find that the young man is already staring right at him as he walks into the room.

"Ohh! …Ummm..I’m..um…I…!"

He nervously drops his coffee. Before it hits floor, the young Daredevil quickly jumps up out of his chair to catch the coffee mug by its base and covering the top with his hand in order to prevent it from spilling all over the place.

The young man stands up and hands the mug to Foggy. The middle-aged lawyer drops his mouth wide open, he feels as if he is seeing a ghost.

"Here’s your coffee, Sir."

"Wow…um! I mean Thanks! That coffee was hot. Are you burnt?"

"Only a lot."

Foggy quickly sets the mug down on his desk and goes to his office bathroom to retrieve a paper towel or two for Daredevil.

"Jeez, I’m sorry. It’s just when I opened the door, you startled me… I’m Franklin Nelson, but everyone calls me Foggy."

Then I shall call you Mr. Nelson. I’m Jack Wing." He grins.

"Oh! Well… then, I’m sure you were told why you’re here, right?"

"No. I was simply told to see you."

"Being all mysterious again, eh Matt? Foggy says to himself. ;Well, kid… I’ve been asked to help you set up shop in town as a private investigator. I’ve already made arrangements to obtaining you a license. With the money given to me by your mentor, I was able to find you a nice office in Hell’s Kitchen. It’s a fine place to get started, as a matter of fact, Matt and I started in the very same building."

"Really? So that’s how this is going to be?" He doesn’t say anything for a brief moment, making Foggy feel a little nervous again. "Okay. When do we start?"

Two months pass.

As Foggy helps Jack secure a license and set up practice, Jack walks the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. New York is everything his mentor had told him and more. People are everywhere. With many different types of people living together in one city, problems can arise. Since the fall of the Kingpin, no single crime leader has risen to take his place. Jack studies the streets and has learned the basic setup of its criminal elements.

It didn’t take Jack long to notice how many Chinese stores and restaurants are either owed or owe something to Michael Chin. The 5’5; boss is in his thirties and is the leader of the Neo-Triads. He has been in this country since he was fifteen. His major competition is James Blythe, head of the Blythe Family, a mutant Mafia. Both groups have been building a presence in the city for years. On the 29th of April, Jack Wing met the third boss who had his eye on the bigger and better.

Jack is awakened by a knock at the door of his bedroom. The door slowly backs open. Jack is still tired from the night before, patrolling the city. It was a slow night for Jack, he prevented two rapes, a robbery, and three murders. At his door is Katie Anderson, his assistant. No matter what time it is, Katie’s smooth black skin is always a lovely sight.

She used to work for Nelson Law, that is until she punched out a client. Foggy liked her too much to fire her, or maybe he was just to scared of her, so he got her the job with Jack at DAREDEVIL INVESTIGATIONS.

Jack’s sleepy visage comes out from behind his door. "KATIE…?"

"Sorry to wake you at the crack of… NOON, but you have a couple of appointments to make today. I also got an interesting call today. I think we need to talk about it."

"Sure… I’ll be out in a second."

"Good… and next time, at least put some underwear on before answering the door."

"Ohh… sorry…"

A few minutes later, Jack walks out of his bedroom and into his office where Katie had been working all morning.

"Now what was so important that you had to wake me?"

"Jason Gunn."

"Jason Gunn? Isn’t he the head of the Gunn Mob?"

"OH YEAH! He called to make an appointment with you."

Jack picks up the slip of paper Katie used to write Gunn’s number on. A devilish smile appears on his face.

"What could he want from me?" He wonders.

A young woman suddenly exits Jack’s bedroom. She is sporting a red dress that she was wearing at the bar Jack saw her in the night before. She pulls back her uncombed blond hair and discovers Jack and the annoyed Katie standing by the desk. She smiles at Jack and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"That was wonderful Jack, I owe you one."

His devilish grin is now more pronounced. "That’s right. You want me to show you out?"

Katie wonders if it’s too late to apologize to Foggy Nelson.

Jack is a very busy boy.

Since he started his practice, the people of New York have taken notice of the young man who calls himself Daredevil. As Jack walks down a fairly crowded street, he hears voices whisper, ;That’s Daredevil!; Some even believe that he is the same Daredevil from twenty years prior. The fact that he isn’t fifty or white doesn’t seem to harm these rumors.

Jack spends part of the day delivering a rare diamond to Tiffany’s. No super-villain attacks, just an easy paycheck. The search for a missing teenage girl takes him to her boyfriend’s home in Queens. The high school kid tells him that he hasn’t seen her for a week. Jack doesn’t hear the kid’s heart skip. He is telling the truth. He’ll have to look elsewhere, another day.

"Are you going to buy something or leave?" The store clerk nervously asked the teenage gang-banger, who has been in his store for an hour.

"You can’t make me leave, I got something to do first."

"I think you need to go." His voice cracks.

The gang-banger steps closer to the counter. The mid-twenties clerk begins to fear for his life.

"How many teeth do you have?" Asks the voice from the back of the store.

The young man with a gun under his coat turns to find a confident Chines man dressed in a black suit and a red tie with DD printed upon it. Funny, at that moment, it was the gang-banger who had heightened sense. He could feel Daredevil’s muscles tense up. He just knew that if he pulled his gun, he wouldn’t get off a shot. Without a word, he backs out of the store. The clerk feels a huge weight lift from his chest. Jack steps forward to the door passed the counter.

"Tell your manager, my office is just up the street. I’ll be hanging out here from time to time."

The next morning there’s a knock at Jack’s bedroom door. He opens it slowly.

"I’m wearing underwear, now…. Katie? What are Jason Gunn and his friends doing in my office?"

"How do you know they’re in there?"

"Let’s just say that they’re loud, even when they’re being quiet."

Jack enters the room, dressed in his black leather pants and a red tee-shirt. He finds Jason Gunn sitting at his desk. Two of Jason’s henchmen are seated by him. They look comfortable.

"This is a nice office, Jack, it’s like Playschool’s MY FIRST OFFICE."

"It’s Daredevil to you. What do you want?"

"I called you yesterday about a problem I’m having. That wasn’t easy for me to do, yet you didn’t call me back."

"I don’t deal with the mob."

"Look, son, I don’t know how long you’ve been in this country, but brothers like ourselves haven’t had it easy in this …"

"I know American history. If you compare yourselves to those who fought for civil rights in this country, I’m going to throw you three out of my playschool window."

Jason raises his hands.

"All right! All right! Look, we got a problem. Two super-criminals have been robbing from my trucks. Some of the shipments aren’t on the up and up, but some of them have been with a shipping company. Some honest people are getting ripped off, and I’m starting to look bad. I’ll do anything."

"Like what?"

"I’ll… I’ll pull my dealers out of Hell’s kitchen."

"Why would you do that?"

Jason leans forward in Jack’s chair.

"The Neo-Triads and the Mutant Mob are pushing me out anyway. With me gone, I figure that will be one less mob to worry about for a while."

Daredevil doesn’t say anything for a moment.

"Okay. I’ll do it, but I want you to know one thing first. The first dealer I see in my neighborhood, I’ll break his arms. The second dealer I see, I’ll break his legs and the third dealer I see will never walk again."

Jack hears Jason’s heart beat a little faster. He doesn’t show a sign of it however. A great poker face, Jack thinks.

"All right. We got a deal. I have trucks going out tonight. The super-criminals call themselves, The Thespians."

That night, a truck from Gunn Delivery rushes to keep its schedule. The driver sees a car on the side of the road with a flat tire. He remembers how someone has been ripping off the company, so he slows down very carefully. A woman flags him down.

"Be careful Jimmy." The driver says to himself.

He stops and gets out his truck to see if she needs any help. She tells him that she can’t lift the spare to put it on. He tells her, no problem and goes to the trunk to get it out. When he steps up to the trunk, a dark figure pokes out holding a gun.

"You look a little TIRED, Mister. Why don’t you STICK around!"

He fires the gun at the driver, instead of bullets, it fires Goo pills that will stick someone in place for an hour. However, the driver is yanked out of the way somehow.

The woman looks up to see Daredevil standing on top of the truck. He had used the wire from his billy club to pull the driver out of the way in time.

"Go! Get the police!" Daredevil tells the driver. He does just that.

"Something new has been added to the mix," The woman states. She throws down some smoke bombs to hide their attack. Daredevil can still see through the smoke. He sees that she has ripped off her coat and the man from the trunk has leaped out. The two of them have regrouped on top of their car. The smoke clears and Daredevil can now see clearly what he’s up against.

The man is in his early twenties as well as the woman. He is dressed in a black tux with a top hat and a cape. She is wearing white thigh high boots, fishnets, a red bustier, and a red cape.

"My name is T.J."

"And I’m JOANNA!" They proudly shout together…

"And we are THE THESPIANS!!"

"Are you attacking me or entertaining me?" Asks Daredevil.

T.J. takes off his top hat and throws it at him. "Either way, we’re gonna start off with a light show!"

The hat explodes in a huge flare that would blind someone looking at it. Daredevil closes his eyes and begins his attack. His billy club flies from his hand knocking T.J. down to the ground. In anger, Joanna releases a dozen robot birds from under her cape. They pick and scratch at him. It suddenly looks bad, until he remembers that Stick taught him that when fighting an opponent with gadgets, you fight them not their gadgets.

He jumps through the batch of birds and delivers a kick to Joanna’s mid-section. Daredevil suddenly realizes that Joanna has never been hit before. She falls to her knees, pukes, and falls unconscious. Daredevil stands over the two would-be villains.

"Words escape me."

Elsewhere, Foggy is reading in bed. His wife Bridget is brushing her teeth in the bathroom, but she is close enough to hear him. "He didn’t do it, Hon. I just know it." She spits out into the sink.

"Yeah, but your only witness isn’t going to testify against her own father."

He looks at the newspaper headline that reads 'A New Daredevil in Town.'

"Maybe."