Daredevil & Angel: The Silver Age

Issue #3

"An Indestructible Life"

He'd come up with two different ways to win. There were two possible solutions to this, one for each of his halves:

Matt Murdock wanted to use a logical argument. Halo Knight's plan had one big hole in it, and there was a chance that he could make him see the truth. What Halo Knight was doing was crazy, without a doubt, but he didn't think that the man himself was crazy. Just hopeless. Daredevil, on the other hand, wanted to become something that Halo Knight was afraid of. He already thought that he was some kind of ultimate darkness, so he might as well take advantage of it. Acting like "The Monster" could be the most effective way to break him.

You've been walking a tightrope, balancing two different sets of beliefs...but, this time, you're going to have to choose one of them over the other.

Halo Knight had built up a lead, flying beyond the range of Daredevil's radar sense. But he'd been able to track him by sound, and now that his suit was punctured, he could track him by scent, as well. The trail led to a scorched-smelling rooftop. Something had clearly happened there, but it had been a while ago. Daredevil landed on the roof and retracted his billy club's cord. His radar sense showed him the exposed secret passage, and he heard the wind echoing in it, as well.

It was really windy up there. Daredevil breathed in the chilly air, trying to clear his head. That government agent had gotten some good licks in. Daredevil checked the rooftop for anything suspicious, stretched, and rubbed a few sore places. Halo Knight was proving to be his toughest opponent yet, but the agent definitely qualified as the toughest regular opponent.

Angel was right behind him. Halo Knight had shot a cop car with one of his anti-gravity rings, and it had hurtled into the sky, prompting Angel to go after it. The first part of the rescue had been out of Daredevil's sensory range, but he'd heard him fly down with the two cops and put them on the sidewalk. He must have broken a window and pulled them out in midair.

When Angel landed, Daredevil pointed at the elevator shaft. "He went down there."

"I got 'em," Angel said, not realizing that Daredevil had overheard the last part of the rescue. He was panting. "I couldn't do anything about their car, though. It'll eventually come back down."

"Good job, k-Angel. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little winded. I really had to push myself to catch up with their car. Come on, let's go get him."

Angel seemed different, now...a little tougher, and a little more aggressive. That fight in the hotel had changed him. Angel immediately flew to the elevator shaft, peering down into it, and Daredevil actually had to tell him to wait.

"Should I check it out?" Angel asked.

Daredevil "looked" down the shaft, frowning. His billy club's grappling cord was nowhere near long enough to reach the bottom, so he'd have to do it in segments-it would take him a few minutes to rappel down there, and just as long to get back up. Angel could do it much more quickly.

"I think that he's already gone into the building," Daredevil said. The elevator shaft was like an echo tunnel; he could hear all the way to the bottom, and he wasn't picking up any breathing or heartbeats. "Listen carefully: I want you go down there, take a quick look around, and then get right back up here. If you need help, just shout."

Angel nodded and casually jumped down the shaft. Daredevil heard him glide to slow his descent, his feathers fluttering. Angel landed on something, and then he must have gone into the elevator car, because he landed on (or in) a second something. Nothing eventful seemed to happen. Less than a minute later, he flew back up.

"There's only one door-a big one, at the very bottom. It's steel, and I don't think it can be opened from this side."

"Could we pry it open?"

"No, I don't think so...it's like one of those bank vault doors."

"We'll have to find another way in, then," Daredevil said. "Come on, let's go down to the street."

Angel gestured to the rooftop. "Hey, isn't this where the Fantastic Four fought one of their enemies? Some would-be dictator guy? He had a mask, a proton scepter..."

Daredevil nodded. He remembered hearing something about that, but the details had slipped his mind, for some reason. "Maybe Halo Knight's connected to him. Somehow, though, he knew to come to this building, which just happens to have a secret elevator. Maybe it's his home base, or maybe he heard about this place from someone in the space program."

Which would be worse? If this is his headquarters, which could mean built-in traps, or if this is some government facility, with plenty of hostages for him to grab?

The two of them descended to the street. A herd of cop cars had been chasing Halo Knight, and the cops had parked and gotten out, probably because they'd lost Halo Knight somewhere in this neighborhood...but a different type of car was just pulling up. The engine and outline gave it away as a Rolls Royce. An older man got out of it, flashing some sort of ID, and a cop tried to wave him away. While Angel flew toward the fancy car, Daredevil took note of the sheer number of cops. He'd only had a few...interactions with the police, and they hadn't gone well. But, at the moment, he had bigger problems to deal with.

One of the cops was giving orders, and the other cops called him "Sarge;" Daredevil landed ten feet away from him. The cops were a bit startled by this, but they'd seen the two heroes chasing Halo Knight, so they weren't entirely surprised. At the same time, the pair of cops that Angel had saved pointed at him and excitedly recounted what had happened.

"Sergeant," Daredevil said, speaking to the cop that had been giving orders, "that car's eventually going to come back down. You need to-"

"Don't worry, Devil-Man, we're already on it. We blocked off that whole intersection. So, where'd the spaceman go?"

"He's in there," Daredevil said, nodding toward the tall office building.

As soon as Daredevil finished speaking, the sergeant shouted Halo Knight's location. He told his men to surround the building and seal off the area. They proceeded to do just that, either in their cars or on-foot, scrambling to flank all four sides. Daredevil paused to listen to them, and it caused him to realize something. He couldn't hear any of the usual subterranean sounds. No water running through pipes, no echoes, no rats. There was something huge underneath this building, and it was completely soundproofed. It had created a blind spot in his super-hearing.

"He used a secret elevator on the rooftop, and it goes to the very bottom of the building, or even deeper. But the way in is blocked by a metal door. I think that he's underneath the building, right now, hiding in some closed-off area. We're going to go through the front door, so we can look for another way down there."

"Better you than us...but, if you need backup, some of us can come in with you."

Daredevil blinked. As Matt Murdock, defense lawyer, cops didn't like him; as Daredevil, however, it appeared that at least some cops felt the opposite. "I appreciate that, but you'll be more effective out here. You can keep him contained. He's in bad shape, so I think that Angel and I can capture him-but if we end up flushing him out, instead..."

"Understood. I'll put my best marksmen on the rooftops: if he tries to fly away when you're inside, we'll either scare him back in or shoot him down. More men are on the way, and I can ask for some sharpshooters, too. My lieu said whatever we need. This freak attacked some high-and-mighties, and the brass wants him in either cuffs or a body-bag."

Daredevil wasn't sure if the cops could actually keep Halo Knight contained...but, if he tried to sneak out of the building, the sound of gunfire would be a sign that he was trying to escape. And if the cops stayed together, they'd be a lot safer. He didn't want to split them up.

That isn't the whole truth, Matt, and you know it. If any cops come inside with you, they might hear Halo Knight use the m-word. Angel's right: if the papers find out about mutants, it'll cause a huge panic. We could be looking at a stock market crash, more politically-driven witch-hunts, and god only knows how it'll affect the Cold War. Halo Knight may only want to kill you, but he could end up hurting the entire planet. You need to take him down quickly, without witnesses, and hand him over to the FBI. They're a better option than the CIA.

Angel was still talking to the man who'd gotten out of the Rolls Royce, and Daredevil jogged over to him. As he went, random cops thanked him for "saving those rich folks back there," and a few joked about how the heroes were showing them up.

They like us...for now. But if that CIA man shows up, and he has real authority behind him, things could get ugly. If he thinks we'll stop him from killing Halo Knight, he might order the cops to arrest us. We need to get inside before he shows up.

"Come on, let's go," Daredevil said to Angel.

"Hey, do you know who this is? It's the original Angel!"

"Dr. Thomas Halloway," the older man said, holding out some sort of ID card. "These younger police officers weren't very impressed with my membership in the All-Winners Squad. In the old days, you could use that card to get past the yellow tape, but now..."

Daredevil remembered him. Halloway was a wealthy surgeon with an interesting background: his father had been a warden, and he'd actually been raised on the prison grounds. He'd learned a lot about the criminal mind. Halloway had gone into medicine, but he'd also helped the police solve murder cases, and that led to him becoming a costumed hero. He'd never bothered with a secret identity. In the forties, the three biggest heroes had been Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Angel.

"He was the one that helped me in the hotel," Angel said. "He-"

"-tried to kill Halo Knight," Daredevil stated flatly.

Halloway shrugged. "Capes don't kill...but I'm not a cape, anymore. Just a private citizen. I know how difficult the job is, and I wanted to make it easier for you boys. Besides, with the way he was taking that beating, I knew that he was difficult to injure, or at least wearing a special suit. I didn't think I had any real chance of killing him."

"Well, thanks for the help. I appreciated it. Even if Mr. Fun-Time here doesn't," Angel said.

The older man didn't seem offended. "It's a hard line to walk...especially when you've sworn an oath to do no harm. That's something we all have to deal with, though. Professional ethics versus personal beliefs."

Daredevil understood completely, but he couldn't admit that. "We need to get in there."

Halloway reached into his car, pulling out some sort of bundle. Angel turned to Daredevil and said, "Wait, before we go-who were you fighting back there?"

"Someone claiming to be a government agent. I think he's CIA...he's here to assassinate Halo Knight."

Halloway handed Angel the bundle, and when he heard the word "CIA," he snorted. "Believe it or not, the CIA's predecessor, the OSS, tried to recruit some of us in the late thirties. Me, the Destroyer, a few others. Don't trust them, boys."

"What is this?"

The older man told them, and neither of them believed it.

"Take it with you, just in case," Halloway said. "You never know what'll come in handy."

Angel's suit had a flap on the back, between his wings, and he used it as a makeshift pocket, sticking the bundle in.

Halloway gave them his home address. "If you get banged up, I can take care of you. And I'm not just talking about tonight. In the old days, there were more of us, so we could lean on each other a little more. Don't be afraid to ask for help, boys."

Daredevil thanked him and sprinted toward the building. Angel said goodbye to his namesake, taking to the air a moment later. The cops actually clapped when they saw them charging into action. Up ahead, the building's night watchman had come out, and the sergeant was questioning him. The night watchman said that he had no idea why a "science villain" would want to break into this building; his heartbeat said that he was telling the truth. With the front doors already open, Daredevil darted through them, with Angel right on his tail.

On the inside, it seemed to be like every other office building in Manhattan. A big foyer, a desk, potted plants, an elevator, a few stairwell doors. Daredevil couldn't read the signs on the doors-the printing wasn't raised-but one of them was leaking cold air, so he figured that that was the way to the basement. It was locked, and he casually kicked it open.

"There's a huge facility underneath this building," Daredevil said, practically whispering. "I think that Halo Knight is hiding in there."

"Wait, how do you kn-"

Daredevil ignored him, leaping down a flight of stairs, and then ricocheting off of a wall and leaping down a second flight. The next door was unlocked. Daredevil shouldered it open, with Angel right behind him.

The basement was huge. It was almost completely wide-open, with the exception of a long row of furnaces in the "middle-right" of the basement, which pressed up against the cinderblock wall. The furnaces were so close to each other that their sides were touching. Most of them were running; it was loud down there. The basement was pretty empty. Aside from the furnaces, there were just a few dusty cardboard boxes, an empty beer bottle, and a metal desk that probably dated back to the war.

Angel glanced around. "So, we're looking for a secret passage?"

"Right." Daredevil drank the room in with his senses, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Angel flew slowly and felt along the walls. "Dr. Halloway was asking about Halo Knight...you know, why he's after us, stuff like that. He thought that Halo Knight's 'plan' was pretty fitting. Dr. Halloway said that America's always swinging from one extreme to the other: either everything's better than ever, or things are so bad that the world might end. Almost nobody picks the boring position in the middle. He said that, as far as most people are concerned, we're 'perpetually on the edge of either utopia or the apocalypse.' It just depends on who you ask. So, of course, somebody had to combine the two, right? Hey, are you listening to m-"

"Do you think it's cold in here?"

"Compared to outside, no way. But, yeah, it's kind of chilly."

"Is that strange?"

"Uh, maybe? For a room with a bunch of furnaces in it, there isn't much...residual heat, I guess? It's a big basement, but still."

Daredevil walked over to the furnaces. "Some of these aren't running, and they're different in other ways, as well." Three of the tightly-grouped furnaces smelled incredibly dusty. Even the resting furnaces had some "leftover" warmth in them, while these were ice-cold. And they just happened to be grouped together.

He knelt down, started to take the lower panel off of one of them...and watched as the "backs" of the three furnaces all swung open at once. They were physically connected to each other, a single shell-like cover. Another vault-style door was behind it. This one was wider than the first, and it had six combination locks on it, three on either side.

"Oh, wow," Angel said. "Just our luck, they're all set to zero. We're gonna need a safecracker."

Daredevil started turning the dials: he could hear the tumblers clicking, and he could feel them, as well. It was too easy. Less than a minute later, the door made a clunking noise and creaked open.

Angel was staring at him. "...so, just to be clear: you're a superhero, a Far East hand-to-hand master, an acrobat, and a cat burglar?"

"I actually have one other specialty, too. But, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Come on."

There was a wide, sloping concrete tunnel behind the door. It was a steep 45-degree angle. The corridor must have been long, because his radar only bounced off the sides, while not finding any walls beyond that. He could feel the warmth of lights further below, but the initial part of the manmade tunnel was dark.

Daredevil thought about closing the door behind them. If they locked it and broke the mechanism on the way in, it would prevent Halo Knight from escaping through this exit, and it would also prevent the CIA man from following them in. But if something went wrong, the cops (or other heroes) would need to follow their tracks. Iron Man and the Thing could probably punch through it; Spider-Man would be stuck waiting for the NYPD safecracker. Also, as long as the door was open, the soundproof seal was broken. If the cops opened fire on Halo Knight en masse, he'd be able to hear it even if they were deep underground. Or so he hoped.

Angel drew his guns, while Daredevil unsheathed his billy club. They started walking. He had no desire to be around Halo Knight again, but, obviously, he didn't have a choice. Daredevil wasn't scared of him, he just felt...revulsion, or something close to it. He'd been a fighter for all of his life. Matt Murdock had been dealt blow after blow, but he always overcame them. His mother leaving, being blinded, his father being murdered, and having to make it through law school without his sight (with everyone telling him not to bother going at all, because it wasn't a good place for "cripples.") Halo Knight, on the other hand, had given up completely. Daredevil didn't like being reminded of that option. He was a fighter, and for someone to choose to stop fighting...well, he felt the way that certain people feel around sick people. You don't want to get too close, because they might be contagious.

Daredevil and Angel walked into the darkness together.