The Guardian Devil
Chapter 1: Life Flashes
Author's Note: Yep, it's another new Karate Kid story. Daniel/Ali, of course. Now, what possessed me to write a new one? Because I can, that's why! Anyway, this is a sort of crossover into the Marvel Comics universe. You see, I'm a huge fan of Marvel Comics, and one of my favorite superheroes from the Marvel Universe is Daredevil. Now, Daredevil tells the story about a young man named Matt Murdock who loses his eyesight at a young age, becoming legally blind, but he ends up developing a superhuman radar sense that replaces his eyesight. By day, he's a lawyer who has the uncanny knack for telling if someone is lying or not, and by night, he's the Daredevil, a crime fighter fighting for truth and justice on the streets of New York. Just recently, I had this bizarre idea of adapting that story for the Karate Kid section, with Daniel LaRusso as the Daredevil. So, yeah, not really original, but I hope to put my own original twists on the tale. So, let's start!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Karate Kid. The Karate Kid belongs to Jerry Weintraub, Robert Mark Kamen, and Columbia Pictures. I also do not own Daredevil. Daredevil belongs to Marvel Comics and his co-creators, Stan Lee and Bill Everett.
It was nighttime on the streets of Los Angeles. Homeless people gathered around their makeshift fireplaces, desperately trying to get warm, thinking about how they were going to get their next morsel of food. Rats scurried around in the sewers and alleyways, feasting on whatever scraps of rotten food and garbage they could find.
No one paid any attention to the red-clad figure clinging to the cross on the roof of the nearby Roman Catholic Church. A red figure, dressed as the enemy of everything the Christian religion stood for. Dressed as the being sometimes known as The Prince of Darkness, The Father of Lies, Lucifer, Satan, or, as he was more commonly referred to as, The Devil.
But this wasn't the demon warned about in all of the Biblical scriptures. It wasn't the demon that disguised itself as a snake and deceived Adam and Eve into eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and subsequently causing their ousting from the Garden of Eden.
No, underneath the red costume was a normal man. A normal man who had been through a lot in his life.
The red-clad being, visibly wounded from a violent encounter, made his way to the skylights of the church, opened it up, and slowly slid down with his self-invented rappel wire. When he reached the end of the wire, he was only about five feet from the floor of the church. He pushed the release button, and he fell to the floor, with the rappel wire springing back into his billy club. When he hit the floor, he let out a loud yell of pain.
Footsteps were heard, as a lone Catholic priest came into the church to investigate the source of the noise. He saw the red-clad being lying sprawl-eagled on the floor.
The priest ran up to the figure on the floor and removed the horned headgear. When the headgear came off, it revealed the face and eyes of a young, tan-skinned, Italian-American man by the name of Daniel LaRusso.
The priest seemed to know who Daniel was, because he immediately took to caring for him.
The priest grabbed Daniel and began to shake him.
"Daniel." The priest said. "Daniel."
Daniel just stared blankly. It was all he could do ever since the freak accident two years ago.
"They say that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die." Daniel's voice thought for him in his head. "That saying is true. Even for a blind man."
Flashback to two years earlier…,
After the death of his father, moving from New Jersey to California, the constant bullying of Johnny Lawrence and the Cobra Kai, the training with Mr. Miyagi, the newfound love between him and Ali Mills, and finally, the victory of the tournament, Daniel LaRusso felt that his life was finally complete.
However, it would be at graduation day six months later that things would go south for him.
Daniel was sitting next to his girlfriend Ali, and Susan, one of Ali's two best friends. Ali was sitting around, feeling very uncomfortable. Just then, Susan leaned over to Ali.
"Have you told him yet?" she whispered in question.
Ali shushed her, and then quickly turned to Daniel, a pained look in her eyes. Daniel just smiled lovingly, and slipped his hand into hers. Ali smiled back at the boy she loved. They then turned to listen to the graduation speaker.
"And as you leave here today, I exhort you to open yourselves to new experiences so that you can grow as individuals into strong, self-sufficient adults. God Bless you all, graduates!" the speaker finished his speech, as cheers erupted and mortar boards went flying into the air.
After the graduation ceremony, Daniel and Ali met with Lucille, his mother, and his karate teacher and father-figure, Mr. Miyagi.
"You graduated high school." Lucille said. "I can't believe it."
"Me, either." Mr. Miyagi agreed.
"You didn't think I'd graduate?" Daniel said, taken aback.
"Didn't think you'd live to graduate." Mr. Miyagi responded.
Daniel looked at Mr. Miyagi sideways, while his mother handed him a present.
"Here!" she said. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks, mom." Daniel said, taking his present.
Lucille turned to Ali, and handed her a present as well.
"And one for you too, Ali." She said. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Ali said.
Daniel had already opened his present when Ali started on hers, and held up an imitation alligator skin wallet with a fifty dollar bill.
"I wish it could be more." Lucille said.
"No." Daniel said. "Thanks, mom. This is great."
Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Mills, Ali's parents, approached the group.
"Here she is." Mr. Mills said.
Lucille turned to them. "Oh, hi." She said, effusively.
"Hello." Mrs. Mills said with reservation. She then turned to her daughter. "Congratulations, darling." She said, kissing her daughter on the cheek.
"Hi, Mr. Mills." Daniel said.
"Hello, Daniel." Mr. Mills said. "Congratulations." He said half-heartedly.
"Thanks." Daniel said.
Mr. Mills then turned to Ali.
"Congratulations, darling." He said, kissing his daughter on the cheek. He then handed her an airplane ticket envelope.
Ali looked at the envelope, and then her face lit up, now having a dream come true.
"Paris?" she asked.
Mr. and Mrs. Mills both smiled and nodded, confirming it was true. Ali then wrapped them both in a huge hug.
"Oh, I can't believe it!" she squealed. "Thank you! Thank you! I never thought!"
Just then, Susan came running up to Ali, clutching the exact same envelope.
"Ali!" she said. "Ali!"
Both Ali and Susan hugged each other, squealing with delight.
"You won't believe it!" the yelled together. "A whole summer! A whole summer in Paris!"
Daniel, who was watching his girlfriend's delight unfold in front of his eyes, looked down at his fifty dollar bill, not very excited anymore.
"Well, let's go girls." Mr. Mills said. "Club Luncheon starts at one, and you know how prompt they are."
"Nice seeing you again." Mrs. Mills said to Lucille.
"I'm sure." Lucille said, smiling, although Daniel could have sworn that he saw a hidden note of sarcasm in her smile.
Ali turned to Daniel. "I'll see you at eight?" she asked.
"Okay." Daniel said.
Ali and Susan then walked off with Mr. and Mrs. Mills, taking their excitement with them. Daniel felt a cloud of sadness coming over him, feeling like the odd one out.
"So!" Lucille said, breaking the ice. "Where are we celebrating this momentous event today?"
"How about Paris?" Daniel asked, not doing a very good job of keeping the disappointment out of his voice.
Lucille put her hand on his shoulder, feeling for her son.
"So sorry." Mr. Miyagi said. "Don't want to go to Paris."
"What's wrong with Paris?" Daniel asked, dumbfounded.
"Everybody goes there." Mr. Miyagi explained, jokingly. Daniel, his sadness disappearing as a result of the joke, felt his spirits lifting.
"Thanks." He said, now feeling a little bit better.
"Well, that takes care of Paris." Lucille said. "How about the Thousand Oaks Shopping Mall?"
"Sounds good to me." Daniel said.
With that all said and done, Daniel, Lucille, and Mr. Miyagi walked away in the crowd.
That evening, Daniel had just driven Ali home from a disastrous date. She sat against one door, whilst Daniel sat against the other.
"Daniel?" Ali asked, getting his attention. "There's something we have to talk about."
Daniel sighed, preparing for the inevitable. "Does it have to do with us growing as individuals?" he asked.
"Yes." Ali replied.
"I already heard this speech today." Daniel said, turning the engine back on.
"Don't be like this." Ali said.
"You're breaking up with me." Daniel informed her. "How should I be?"
"A little understanding." Ali explained.
"Right." Daniel said.
"We're not going to be together all summer and then I'm going away to school." Ali said. "It's not fair to either one of us."
But Daniel pretended not to hear her. He looked through his windshield blankly, and only one phrase came to his mind.
"Goodnight." He said.
"Daniel!" Ali said with her voice full of sorrow. She was still deeply in love with him, and it was more painful for her than it was for him. She moved to stroke his cheek, to show him that her love for him was still genuine, but Daniel moved away, showing that he wasn't interested.
"Please don't." he said. After a moment's hesitation, Ali exited Daniel's car, and watched as he burned rubber all the way down the street away from the curb, almost in tears with a broken heart.
Daniel stopped at the end of Mulholland Drive, overlooking the valley. He was trying to keep everything from floating away using a breathing exercise that Mr. Miyagi taught him. But despite his best efforts, the tears still came.
Try to make it last,
Nothing you can do,
In a photograph,
The innocence you thought you lost is staring back at you,
Wo-ohh..,
Young heats beat fast,
Driving down the road,
Rubber, plastic, metal, glass,
Why did you have to go,
Young hearts die young,
When they are all alone and there is no turning back now,
There is no turning back.
There is no turning back.
Knowing where you're bound,
It's coming in to you,
Then you turn around,
The innocence you thought you lost is now caught up to you,
Oooh, oooh, oooh,
Young heats beat fast,
Driving down the road,
Rubber, plastic, metal, glass,
Why did you have to go,
Young hearts die young,
When they are all alone and there is no turning back now,
Time enough to live,
Never time to die,
All you had to give,
Taken by the one you loved and given to a lie,
Why,
Young heats beat fast,
Driving down the road,
Rubber, plastic, metal, glass,
Why did you have to go,
Young hearts die young,
When they are all alone and there is no turning back now,
Wa-ha-hau…,
Young heats beat fast,
Driving down the road,
Rubber, plastic, metal, glass,
Why did you have to go,
Young hearts die young,
When they are all alone and there is no turning back now,
Wa-ha-hau…,
Young heats beat fast,
Driving down the road,
Rubber, plastic, metal, glass,
Why did you have to go,
Young hearts die young,
When they are all alone and there is no turning back now,
Wa-ha-hau…,
Young hearts beat fast.
Young Hearts by Commuter
"That was the night that Ali and I broke up." Daniel's voice told him. "I thought that that was the night that my life had hit rock-bottom. In reality, the worst was yet to come."
Mr. Miyagi had been helping Daniel get back on his feet after his breakup with Ali. Daniel was feeling much better, now that he didn't have to go with his mother to Chicago for some company manager training she had to take.
Daniel was helping Mr. Miyagi take his laundry back to his place after a trip to the Laundromat, and they were talking about new karate techniques. However, Mr. Miyagi could not see what he was doing through the huge pile of folded clothes that he was carrying, and Daniel had noticed that his shoe had become untied, so he bent down on one knee to retie it. After tying his shoe, he looked up and saw a truck carrying a whole bunch of strange-looking drums in the back, with Mr. Miyagi not noticing it.
"MR. MIYAGI!" Daniel yelled, running out into the middle of the street. "LOOK OUT!"
Mr. Miyagi turned to look at the truck, before Daniel pushed him out of the way at the last second. The driver of the truck slammed on the brakes and turned sharply, trying to avoid Daniel, and a couple of the drums on the back of the truck came loose and bounced out onto the street and broke open. The last thing Daniel remembered seeing was the barrel that said: DANGER- NUCLEAR WASTE, before some of it sprayed out of the barrel and into Daniel's eyes. Daniel felt his eyes burning, and he let out a scream of pain.
"DANIEL-SAN!" Mr. Miyagi yelled. He ran over and quickly pulled Daniel out of the street, while Daniel kept his eyes covered, still in a terrible pain.
A few random passerbies's noticed Daniel's plight, and one of them ran into a nearby phone booth to call an ambulance. Mr. Miyagi rode with Daniel in the back of the ambulance.
Mr. Miyagi had called Lucille with her emergency number in Chicago, and told her what happened. In response, Lucille almost immediately flew down to Los Angeles from Chicago, abandoning her training program, to check on her son.
"Is he going to be all right, doctor?" Lucille asked.
"He'll live." The doctor said. "Unfortunately, although we were physically able to save his eyes, we were unable to save his eyesight. I'm afraid your son in permanently blind, Mrs. LaRusso."
Lucille, now understanding the seriousness of her son's fate, broke down and began to cry uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, in Daniel's room, Daniel was experiencing something that had never happened to him before. He heard the sounds of the sounds of other patients being rushed in and out of the ER, and he could see the sound waves. He could actually use the sound waves to see clear, dark blue and white images of the things that were creating the sound waves. It was behaving almost exactly like the sonar radar on a submarine or a bat. Daniel began to panic. He had no idea what the hell was happening to him.
Just then, the door to his room opened, and his mother and Mr. Miyagi stepped in. Lucille reached out and embraced her son, tears in her eyes.
"It's okay, son." She said. "Mommy's here for you." She began to cradle him, just like she had when Daniel was an infant. Daniel almost immediately began to calm down.
"Daniel-san." Mr. Miyagi said. "Very sorry this had to happen to you."
"Don't worry, Mr. Miyagi." Daniel said. "It wasn't your fault. I was the one who sacrificed my eyesight in order to save your life."
Over the next few days, Daniel was taught how to use a blind man's cane and how to read in Braille. The doctors were surprised at how much of a quick learner that Daniel was.
But with all the support that Daniel was getting from his mother and Mr. Miyagi, he still could not get over what had happened to him in his hospital room. He was still seeing sound waves. He had read somewhere that when a human being loses one of his or her five natural senses, the other senses would get stronger in order to compensate for the lost sense.
Daniel was at a nearby gym, testing out his abilities, and he had learned that the new radar sense he had came in real handy, especially in gymnastics. He was becoming quite the acrobat, being able to do back flips and front flips and cartwheels and the rest.
Pretty soon, Daniel was jumping around in junkyards, on rooftops, pretty much, the entire city of Los Angeles had become his playground. There were a couple of times that the police had almost caught him for jumping around in the alleyways and rooftops, so he decided to cut it out for a while.
Daniel was walking by the old Cobra Kai dojo, which apparently was going under ever since that incident with Miyagi and Kreese, when Daniel heard the door open and footsteps.
"Hey, Daniel!" he heard someone yell. Daniel turned around toward the source of the voice. But he knew by the voice it was none other than Johnny Lawrence and the rest of the Cobra Kai.
"Hey, Johnny." Daniel said.
"Hey, we heard what happened." Johnny said. "First with Ali, and then with your eyes, so, we just wanted to give you something to apologize for everything, especially with us also beating you up before the tournament."
Johnny then handed a bag to Daniel. "I know that you were never really officially one of us, but we wanted to give this to you anyway."
Daniel opened the bag and felt something leathery. And he felt a patch on the back as well.
"Congratulations, LaRusso." Johnny said. "You are officially a Cobra Kai. That's an official Cobra Kai jacket, and we all pitched in to give this to you."
"Wow, thanks Johnny." Daniel said, taking the jacket and putting it on.
"It's too bad you won't be able to sign up next year to defend your title." Johnny said.
"I can still fight." Daniel said with confidence.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Johnny replied with a scoff.
"No," Daniel said. "Let's go into the dojo. Me, against the rest of you Cobra Kais, all at once."
"Daniel." Johnny said. "I'm starting to think you may have lost your marbles as well as your eyesight."
"No, let's go for it." Daniel said. "Unless you guys are too chicken, of course."
Johnny opened his mouth to protest, but Daniel, using his cane to guide him, had already walked into the dojo.
Inside the dojo, Daniel, Johnny, Tommy, Bobby, Dutch, and Jimmy were all on the mat, with all of them trying to convince Daniel it wasn't a good idea for Daniel to fight in his condition. In the end, they ceded, but decided to go easy on him, with Daniel being blind and all.
Daniel told Dutch to hold him with his arms behind his back, and let Johnny take the first swing. Doing so, Dutch held Daniel's arms behind his back. Johnny went to take the first swing, and Daniel, using his newfound radar abilities, moved his head at the last second, causing Johnny to end up hitting Dutch instead. Daniel then kicked Johnny in the stomach, and used the leverage of Dutch's weight against him to throw him over his back. Tommy and Bobby rushed Daniel from both his left and right side, and Daniel, once again, using his superior sense of hearing, managed to do a back flip at the last second, causing Tommy and Bobby to crash into each other. Jimmy tried to attack Daniel from behind, but Daniel elbowed him, using his radar sense again, and then swept his leg, and followed up with a punch to the chest.
Johnny was the first to rise from the beating. "How the hell did you do that?" he asked.
"Practice, I guess." Was all that Daniel could say.
"You know, there is an underground fighting championship that I know of." Johnny informed Daniel. "It's all run by some crime syndicates, we're talking Italian and Russian mafias, Japanese Yakuza, Chinese and Korean Triads, and you can earn a lot of money. I tried fighting once there, got my ass kicked, but you may have a shot. It's in an alleyway off of Wilshire Boulevard. Check it out."
"All right, I'll do that." Daniel said.
"I rode with Mr. Miyagi for the next few weeks, and I became the new rising star of the underground fighting syndicate. I wasn't known as the karate kid anymore as I once was. They said I fought like the Devil. I guess the name stuck after that." Daniel said to himself again. "Then one night, I was asked by some Russian gangsters to throw a fight, since one of the mob bosses' sons was promised that he would win and become the next star. I told them no, and I won the fight along with a whole bunch of money. At the time, it felt like my life was back on track, but in reality, it would be the worst mistake I'd ever make."
Mr. Miyagi was waiting for Daniel in his truck. Unknown to Mr. Miyagi, Daniel had been lying to him, telling him that he had a job as a bank teller at a nearby bank. Daniel would always take position in front of the bank in order to keep up his story. However, this would be the last night he'd ever have to use that lie.
In a nearby limousine, something was going down. There were Russian gangsters, and one of them was loading an AK-47.
"So, that old truck is target?" one gangster asked.
"Da." The gangster with the rifle said. "That LaRusso boy is good friends with him. LaRusso fucked with the Petrenko family. We have to send message to him."
Daniel was walking toward Mr. Miyagi's truck, using his cane to send sound waves to highlight the things he needed to know about. However, nothing could prepare him for what was about to happen.
The next thing Daniel knew, he saw sound waves like crazy with his radar sense, heading toward Mr. Miyagi's truck from a limo. And he knew the sound was rapid machine gun fire. After it was over, Daniel couldn't believe it.
"MR. MIYAGI!" he yelled. He ran to the driver's side and opened the door. "Mr. Miyagi, are you okay?"
"Daniel-san." Mr. Miyagi said weakly. "Are you all right?"
"What do you mean, am I all right?!" Daniel shouted. "You've been shot! We've got to get you to a hospital!"
"Daniel-san." Mr. Miyagi said, coughing up blood. "It's too late for me. Go on with life, you have much to live for. Do something with your life. I…, love you…, my.., son…," and that was it, as Mr. Miyagi passed away from his gunshot wounds right then and there.
Daniel immediately broke down in a fit of tears. They had taken away his best friend, the person who had been a father figure to him ever since he first got here.
"No one cared about a dead Japanese-American apartment maintenance man." Daniel thought to himself. "No one but me. I knew that, after that, I wanted to get one thing, and one thing only. Revenge."
It was time for Daniel's maiden voyage under his new identity, the maiden voyage of the Daredevil. He had made a mask with horns and dark red eyepieces out of graphite. The Cobra Kai jacket he had had adjustments made to, such as removing the Cobra Kai patch from the back, and replacing it with a stylized double-D symbol above his left breast. Double-D for Daredevil, he thought. "Bruce Wayne never thought up a cool costume like this." He thought to himself. (Author's Note: Batman reference, FTW!) He had red leather pants and boots to complete the ensemble, as well as a silver belt. But the part he was most proud of was how he took his cane and was able to use the mechanical expertise his father had taught him to make a billy club that was complete with a grappling wire, shuriken throwing stars, nun chucks, and a fighting baton. After doing some extensive training over the last three months, and testing these tools, as well as his newfound powers, he was ready, ready for revenge.
The Daredevil was watching a cabaret club called Perestroika. (Author's Note: GTA IV reference, FTW as well. Okay, I promise to stop doing that.) He knew the Russian gangsters who gunned down Mr. Miyagi would be in there, partying. From the roof of the office building he was standing on, using his radar powers, he was ready. He jumped off the roof, letting his radar sense to jump on a couple of window washing platforms on the way down, until he landed on the roof of the club. He snuck in through the ventilation systems, and got ready, hiding in the light fixtures.
"Who's ready for another round of vodka and beluga caviar?" he heard the gangster that gunned down Mr. Miyagi, a Russian named Dimitri, say.
"I'll have some." Daredevil said, causing the rest the Russian mafia to turn up and look at him. "I'd like to have a side dish of revenge to go with that, as well."
Daredevil's radar sense alerted him to the sounds of AK's cocking, which gave him time to get out of the way before they fired. He moved to an alcove, and used his shuriken stars to cut the ropes holding the light fixtures up, causing the light fixtures to fall down on some of the gangsters, killing them. Daredevil then used his amazing acrobatics to jump around the alcoves and remaining light fixtures, taking out gangsters as he went. His need for revenge was the only thing keeping him going. Eventually, Dimitri was the only man left.
Dimitri fired his AK at the Daredevil, but Daredevil continued to use his radar sense to avoid the bullets. Dimitri soon ran out of ammo for his AK, and Dimitri, now fearing for his life, pulled out his revolver and ran out the front door of the club, the Daredevil following him.
Outside, Dimitri fired a few rounds in Daredevil's direction, which just gave away his position, as he disappeared into the subway station. Daredevil followed.
Dimitri was hiding behind one of the pillars, but Daredevil hit his billy club against the metal railing to send another sound wave in order to find out where Dimitri was.
Dimitri saw Daredevil coming, and turned out and fired two shots, but the Daredevil had moved out of the way again! Dimitri then felt some wire wrapped around his throat, and he saw the Daredevil.
"Hi there." The Daredevil said. "Any last words before you die?"
"I recognize your voice." Dimitri said. "You're Daniel "The Devil" LaRusso, aren't you? You just can't leave well enough alone, can you?"
"That's what a lot of people have told me." Daniel/Daredevil said. Just then, all of a sudden, a train came, sending huge sound waves, messing up his radar sense, and hurting Daniel's ears. So, his new powers did have a chink in them. Daniel just knelt down, holding his head, trying to make the noise go away, trying to put his powers right again, and then he felt a gun against his head.
"Dasvadanya, LaRusso." Dimitri said. However, Daniel's powers went back to normal, when he heard Dimitri pull back on the hammer of his revolver. Daniel then quickly grabbed Dimitri's wrist and snapped it, and Dimitri screamed in pain and fell off the platform and onto the train tracks.
Dimitri was in too much pain to move, and then he heard another train coming. He looked up, expecting Daniel/The Daredevil to save him. But that did not happen.
"Hey, you know something?" Daredevil asked. "That light, at the end of the tunnel? Guess what? That's not Heaven. That's the LA Metro."
With that, Daredevil turned and walked away as he heard the sickening sounds of Dimitri being run over by the train. Daniel finally got it, he got revenge.
"But revenge wasn't as sweet as I'd thought it'd be." Daniel thought. "It was then I understood what Miyagi meant by his last words. It was then I decided to only use the Daredevil to help other people and fight crime, and to not kill anymore. Revenge was had, but I wasn't satisfied. It was then, I realized, that the Daredevil was a part of my life, and always would be, no matter what. I would become a hero, helping those who are less fortunate. It was all I could do anymore at that point. I had both power and a responsibility. It was time to make good with them. And I would do that, no matter what."
Author's Notes: Yep, that's the end of Chapter 1. Yeah, I think I kind of rushed it at the end. So, read and review, and I'm tired, and off to bed. Seeyaz!