This cover's sort of weird. DD stands in front of a brownstone with a sort of giant spectral Eliza behind him. Okay.
The variant's better in my opinion; Matt Murdock stands on a ledge, casting a large shadow with horns and "DD" on its chest.
We're still at the Kingpin's penthouse, where Daredevil decides he can pick up the story from here. Halloran said he had a "permanent solution" planned for him. Daredevil thinks of Eliza before he begins. "Okay, this is the part you won't understand, because it's about what's just and right and fair." I love that line; you can feel him seething right off the page. The Kingpin admits this to be true, and asks that his acrobatic friend enlighten him.
Back to How We Got Here. Daredevil's staking out a speakeasy as Halloran's men unload barrels of liquor from a truck. It's still raining like no tomorrow. He watches patiently from underneath the nearby elevated train tracks, thinking that there's a war coming, and he is the wild card. They've got numbers and they've got guns... but they can't do what he does, and he always knows where they are. And why. Always. He defines "reconnaissance" as discerning the enemy's numbers and movements before making a move yourself. "A little provocation goes a long way." He rears back and hurls one of his clubs into the truck bed, bursting a hole in one barrel. The goons open fire in the direction the club came from.
Daredevil narrates that he wanted to know just what he was up against as he flies through the air, bullets whizzing past him. The noise is what gets him, really. "...it's about control. I can dodge a bullet. I can't dodge the sound." He lands on the street, where he stops caring about everything. Bootleggers, gangsters... he just wants to make it all right. As he's knocking the goons around, he hears something. Something that makes him leave immediately. "No plan survives contact with the enemy." The train goes by, the unconscious bodies of henchmen surrounding their truck.
DD arrives at a pier just after the cops do. The police discover five bodies in front of a car parked on the dock. This is what had gotten his attention; five shots, five kills. The Bull's Eye Killer. DD wonders what he was doing there. And, for that matter, what those five dead guys were doing there. And who were they doing it for? Daredevil's watching the scene from atop a nearby roof, thinking that Bull's Eye may have stood in the exact spot he's standing in now when he did the deed. If it wasn't so windy, he'd be able to smell the smoke from the gun.
Two detectives get to work analyzing the scene. One of them, Jimmy, immediately figures it for the Bull's Eye Killer. He also recognizes one of the bodies as Mike Quinn, owner of the Landmark tavern. From the money by his corpse and the looks of the other stiffs, this must've been some of Fisk's men collecting protection money. The other one, Jake, says that if the "old Bull's Eye" has the Landmark in his sights, he's finally got proof that he's Halloran's man. DD hears all this from the roof, and believes it; he's known Jimmy a long time, and if he thinks the Bull's Eye Killer is with Halloran... he would know. Jimmy says Halloran's showing off, when Jake recognizes a body himself — his cousin Riley. Daredevil knew Riley, too, and knew he was mixed up with the Kingpin. Halloran's more dangerous than he thought. He won't let this happen to Eliza.
The next day, Matt's reporting his discovery to Foggy. It's been a while since I've read this, so I don't remember if Foggy knows Matt is Daredevil; to me, this scene plays out like he thinks Matt's really streetwise and has an ear for information. He also seems to leave out a lot of details, so what Foggy hears is that he spoke to Jimmy and this is what he heard. Anyway, Matt says if Halloran moves on the Landmark, it'll be the shot heard 'round the world. They've got to do something about it. Foggy says Matt only because he's worried about Eliza. Matt doesn't respond, narrates that "I'M supposed to be the one who knows what people are thinking."
Speaking of Eliza, Foggy wants to know if Matt found out anything about her. Not a lot. Well, she was came back this morning, and when Foggy asked for some information... she gave it to him. He's not sure he should tell Matt this, but his pal gives him the go-ahead. Turns out Halloran had money on Jack Murdock throwing the big fight the night he was killed. Matt gets up, and Foggy tries to calm him down - they don't know it's true. Matt tells him he'll just have to find out. Foggy tells him that they should stay out of this. If Fisk and Halloran take each other out, who cares? All they can do is keep people out of the way until it blows over. Matt says that's the coward's way out as he leaves.
In the dead of night, Matt sits on his bed in his poorly-furnished apartment. He's thinking about Eliza again. He thinks if it wasn't for her, he might be a coward. "I think of you, and the rest of it goes away.", he narrates as we see a dreamlike image of the two of them about to kiss. "Thin ice over dark water. Are you worth fighting for?" This fantasy is interrupted by the sound of a couple arguing violently. Cheating whore this, gun in your mouth that. "Is any of this worth fighting for?" He thinks about his father, the night he died... and leaves, taking the Daredevil costume with him.
He has to go see her. During his rounds, he found out where she lived, and figures she hangs out at Gilooly's, one of Halloran's places. Tonight, he thinks, he'll just be Matt Murdock. That said, he admits he's lying to himself, since he's wearing the Daredevil costume under his clothes. He picks up on her perfume and asks to join her at her table. She asks what he's doing out so late - following her? Matt doesn't answer, but he asks to touch her face. She's surprisingly receptive to this and says he can, picking up immediately that he wants to know what she looks like. As he starts, she tilts her head back and makes this sound that signifies nobody's ever touched her like this before. Matt knows he's never touched anyone like her before. It was hard for him to stop. (Jeez, that was kind of creepy, huh?) After it's over, Matt asks her about what she told Foggy, if it's true. She tells him to lean in close and whispers in his ear that yes, it was true. Matt can tell she isn't lying. She also says that she doesn't want him to go get himself killed, and that he should save that information for when he can really use it — I'm guessing she means a trial. "Don't be a hero. Okay?"
Matt thinks about that line as he heads home. Does she know who he is? Who he really is? Who could have told her? The rain feels like static. Did he promise not to use what he knows about Halloran... or not to be a hero? He's not sure. Then he hears a crashing sound and someone crying for help in an alleyway. "And just like that, it doesn't matter. Murdock promised her. I'm not Murdock anymore." Stripping to his costume, Daredevil discovers a gang rape about to happen. As he pounds away at the lowlife would-be perps, he narrates that Murdock isn't a hero, he doesn't break promises, and would never do anything like this. When the assailants are all knocked out, he tries to comfort the woman they'd victimized... when he's greeted by a fat, bald man and two gun-toting bodyguards. Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. He thanks the young woman, a budding actress, for her brilliant performance. She compliments Daredevil on his heroism and takes her leave.
The Kingpin taunts Daredevil, saying that Halloran won't like what he did to his goons just now. DD, clearly at a loss for words, resorts to a No, You comeback. The Kingpin instructs his men to lower their guns; this is a diplomatic mission, he's not looking for a fight. DD tells him a fight's exactly what he's going to get if they try anything like this again. The Kingpin says he's looking forward to it. He's also wondering why he's so focused on taking out Halloran's men? He almost thinks Daredevil heard something... something about his father perhaps. Daredevil, no doubt boiling with rage, tells Fisk to say what he came to say. In the interest of brevity, Fisk simply says that, yes, Halloran killed Jack Murdock. DD knows he's telling the truth. Even with this rainy haze he can hear his heart, he can smell him. The Kingpin and his men exit the alley, leaving Daredevil to think about his next move.
Back at Fisk's place, in the "present", the big man reminisces about that night. "I don't go out in the rain for just anyone, you know." Daredevil says the fact that Halloran himself told him about it explains why he came off as so certain. Fisk characterizes this as clever on his part. Daredevil agrees... "Because then I didn't know about Eliza."
End of issue 2.
Wow, I did a much better job with this one. I should probably do a full re-write of the first issue sometime.
