SEASON 2

Bang

This is the best they've ever been. The office is humming with hope as clients flock for the help they believe Nelson & Murdock can supply. There's food on the table and in the heatwave they have plenty of electric fans. The firm might not be overflowing with cash, but Karen believes Matt when he assures her they'll get through it.

Some days, she even forgets her grief over Ben and Elena, and her guilt over Wesley. Now that Foggy and Matt are not just talking again, but laughing again, it's easy to think that they will last for ever.

Dogs to a Gunfight

The silence is deafening. He's so used to the noise of the city that to hear nothing is terrifying. He can put his hand to his heart and feel the beat, skittery and panicky, but for the first time in years he can't hear it.

He's aware that he's screaming, but he can't hear his voice. He can't hear the neighbours' TVs or music. He can't hear the traffic, or the buzz of the billboard opposite, or his dripping tap.

For the first time since he woke from the accident which blinded him, Matt Murdock is truly blind, completely helpless.

New York's Finest

There's a dozen of them in the stairwell. Big guys, used to fighting. There's nothing to do except keep moving.

He stops thinking about anything except the flow. The chain in the left hand, whipping round from one man to the next. His right hand unwieldy with the gun taped to it, but the metal adding extra heft for each punch or swipe.

They come from above, below, in front, behind. He takes them all out. There's a blessed pause, just before the ground floor, where he can breathe, regroup and refocus.

Three more to deal with. He keeps moving.

Penny and Dime

Frank's been full of rage for so long, that there's a certain peace to leaning his back against a gravestone and just talking. Talking is taking his mind off the pain in his foot and his side and his arms.

Red, for all his moral do-goodness, proves to be a good listener. He asks just the right questions to make you want to talk. And so Frank finds himself talking about Lisa's ridiculous book. One Batch, Two Batch; how she'd loved it. The memories those words hold are now something to cradle to himself, in memory of those he'd lost.

Kinbaku

They were electric. Elektra had taken on Matthew Murdock as a task, because Stick had asked her to, but it hadn't taken long for her to realise she was carrying on because she wanted to. Because she wanted him.

He was clever, and hot, and he could fight – like nobody she'd met since Stick. They sparred in the ring at Fogwell's, and fucked in the ring and at her place and in the bathrooms at clubs. He knew just where and how to touch her to make her wild. They sparked, and when he walked out, she felt dead inside.

Regrets Only

He's half-asleep when they walk in. Two suits and a skinny cute chick. One of the suits is wearing a pair of shades and carrying a cane, but there's something naggingly familiar about his voice. If Frank closes his eyes, he almost sounds like the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

But that's ridiculous, right? This is a blind lawyer, words rolling smooth off an educated tongue. There's none of Red's visceral anger in that voice, and even when the chick pulls out that picture Murdock is calm and collected.

There's no way Matthew Murdock and Daredevil are the same person. Right?

Semper Fidelis

When Matt missed his opening, Foggy tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he'd been knocked on the head again, or something. But Matt was weirdly evasive about it, and now Foggy knows why.

Elektra. He'd never liked her. Spoilt little rich girl, who didn't need a degree and seemed only interested in corrupting Matt into failing his. And now she's back, and apparently only interested in corrupting Matt into failing at life.

They shout at each other. Foggy throws harsh words at his best friend, and walks out, because right now, that's all he has left.

Guilty as Sin

There's a woman in Matt's bed.

There's an old man, who Karen thinks is probably blind, waving an apple around and a wickedly sharp knife. But all she can see is Matt standing by his bed, and the woman lying in it. She's pretty, and Karen remembers Foggy joking that Matt always got the hot girls.

She'd wanted to sit down and have a proper talk, try and find out what was really going on with him. Now she can barely choke out her message. She can barely look at him. All Karen wants is to run for the hills.

Seven Minutes in Heaven

Stan has been in a state of perpetual terror since the party and the theft of the ledger. He had not thought it possible to become more scared, yet with Daredevil's red eyes staring down at him, he finds it is. There is no doubting the threat in the vigilante's voice or the real power in his hands.

But somehow Stan knows that his life is not in danger, and perhaps this is his best opportunity at escape, and even to find Daniel. So he follows the man in the mask, hope outweighing fear for the first time in days.

The Man in the Box

He already knows how much the devil is bleeding into his life as an attorney, but this is the first time he's consciously let the two blend. He injects as much of Daredevil as he can into his voice, letting Fisk know the threat is real.

Fisk responds, but not verbally - physically. For a moment, Matt's at a disadvantage; lands a single ineffectual punch before Fisk's hands have him.

For a moment, he contemplates taking the man down, but he's here as the lawyer, a helpless blind man out of his depth. He stumbles out, vengeance in his heart.

.380

Karen Page is all kinds of messed up, Frank thinks, as he sips bad coffee and waits for the truck to circle the diner. She's smart enough to pick the right gun, she has the stubbornness to keep digging, the courage to stand up for what she thinks is right.

The truck goes past a second time. What he doesn't get, he muses, is why she's not honest with herself, about herself, and why she and the blind lawyer aren't sitting safe in their office making future plans.

The truck passes a third time. He tells Karen what to do.

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel

When it comes, it's a quick end, and there's little joy in his heart. Schoonover's taunts end with a single bullet. The journey to vengeance ends with a single bullet.

Dimly, Frank thinks that he should feel more, with this conclusion. That maybe he should go back outside and find Karen Page, who's stumbling around in the cold, injured and shocked. He knows she can look after herself though, and there's still work to be done. The Blacksmith is dead. Other criminals live, other families are dying. Frank has a purpose now, like never before, and his war's just beginning.

A Cold Day in Hell's Kitchen

She pulls up her mask. He puts on his helmet. Outside, there is an army, but Matt has never felt more at peace with himself. For the first time in a long time he's sure he's making the right decision. Either they die out there (which is likely) or they live (which is possible). And if they live, they'll be together.

For a moment, he thinks of Foggy and Karen, but they'll be better off without him.

The army approaches. Beside him, he can feel Elektra's pulse pick up, and together they throw themselves into the fight. He is alive.