The Main Event [Daredevil vs Bullseye] [End of Act One]

[webdevil]

CONTINUITY NOTE: This is the immediate sequel to the events of Tick, Tock

He was just too late.

Daredevil wheeled around, letting his Radar Sense expand beyond the room. Bullseye was gone. He had him, spent the whole night triangulating his position, and what did he - Daredevil - have to show for it? A smashed in derelict tenement loaded to the gills with weapons, equipment, even a spare Bullseye costume in what qualified as a closet. This might be enough for Bryce to form a perimeter, but not enough to get him.

Vroom.

What the - -

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The sound of a motorcycle below roared to life. Acceleration was too quick to be a resident. He didn't stop to think. Bounding to the open window in one step, he made a spiraling dive, allowing himself to freefall, pulling out his signature billy club, and allowing sheer momentum of New York at two-in-the-morning to do the rest of the work. He had one shot at pulling this off; even the slightest miscalculation could have him turned into street pizza. He twisted, flicked the thumb trigger, and fired about 30 feet ahead of him, allowing the cable to snag and allowing the cable to extend to its fullest before making the big swing. He felt the cable whine.

Click.

Cable detached.

Daredevil crunched tightly into a ball, springing to life with double boots to the back and hit kevlar.

Bullseye.

[shadejak]

Dex felt it immediately.

The force of boots striking him in the back, enough to send him toppling off of the motorcycle which then nearly ran over him and spun off out of control before crashing into a nearby building. Dex himself tumbled across the pavement, rolling to his side as he turned and saw the figure standing several feet away from him, tall and proud, amidst the flames of the riots, as if having risen from Hell to challenge the assassin personally for the right to claim his soul. Bullseye's surprise turned to utter delight despite what he'd just been subjected to.

It was HIM.

A wide, bloodthirsty grin spread across his face, threatening to tear it in two. "Red... how'ya been? You appreciate the gifts?"

The countless deceased Devils.

The Christmas massacre.

The death of that aging crone and that gold-digger who'd used Nuke to frame the latter and failed to pay off those who made it possible.

The brat who'd gotten a laptop in her chest during some pretentious stream.

And so much more.


The assassin stood up, geared up to the teeth for this moment. The moment one or both of them died. He'd laughed in the face of Death, and now he'd claim the head of the Devil... give or take after he's tenderized him a bit. He needed Red to suffer, in body as he had mind with his games he'd played till now. He needed him to be as broken as he'd left him so many times. When this was over, he'd let the world know. Red's horns would be cased alongside the pretty assassin's sai once he'd claimed its partner following the day he ended her as well.

He rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck a bit, the fall had been unpleasant, after all, and in a blur of motion, his hands had already moved, six razor sharp throwing stars were already aimed and soaring towards his foe's chest.

[webdevil]

Hatred boiled in every fibre of the Red Man's body. Once more, the man who ruined his life more times than any, the man who murdered Elektra, who murdered Karen. And here he was laughing about all the people he slaughtered. Innocents - and some less so - wearing his mask. His guilt. He thought of Mary, and then he charged.

Daredevil telegraphed the charge so much that he gave Bullseye time to flash his poison tipped stars. He only had to spin, using a tiger dive and corkscrewed through every star, allowing them to lazily careen harmlessly away. Using his momentum, he cracked the billy club hard, allowing the exchange to occur. Bullseye's hand-to-hand even exhausted as he was, was no joke, but Daredevil counted on this: Whenever Bullseye got tired, he almost exclusively relied on Tae Kwon Do, which was (as Daredevil suspected) his first martial art he mastered and thus his most natural. Daredevil's varied style by contrast allowed him to sidestep the counter blow, allow Bullseye's momentum to overbalance. He sensed a kick, ducked, felt the leg sail past his head and finally:

CRACK

a hard uppercut smack to the side of Bullseye's head with the combined billy club.* The skull of course vibrated off the titanium shank of the club, the adamantium reverberating down to Daredevil's fingertips, but it once more reminded him just how hard he could freely wail on Bullseye. And get some satisfaction.


* = Action taken with permission.

[shadejak]

Bullseye's head snapped in the direction Daredevil's billy club struck. Sure it hurt, what with all the muscle and nerves. but his adamantium-coated bones meant nothing was broken. Worse was a bit of a smarting impact he'd feel a good while, but he'd had worse, way worse.

Bullseye had taken plenty to keep himself totally alert for this after all the unexpected 'detours' this night had given him as he fell over to the ground from getting struck... right by some debris.

SWISH!

Bullseye's hand swept, and a chunk of broken concrete the size of a baseball came straight for Daredevil, aimed at his face, either he'd take it or waste a swing of the club and it was immediately followed by Bullseye sweeping his legs in an attempt to trip the red-clad vigilante before quickly standing himself back up.

"Just when those pansy-ass posers were really pissin' me off, nice to see the real deal again!" he sneered, his grin wider and more savage now. "Don't let me down!"

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[webdevil]

Daredevil got in too close, and Bullseye was still crafty enough even in his exhaustion to adapt. Daredevil was able to bat away the chunk of debris with the combined club but that left him open to the trip. The Man Without Fear wasn't about to allow Bullseye to do a mirror image of one of their many earlier fights, however, and quickly made sure to bump onto the concrete and allow his shoulders (and reinforced suit, thank you Reed Richards), to absorb the blow. Using that split second of momentum, he rolled back to one knee giving him roughly 4 feet of distance. He had a split second.

He thumbed the trigger of his club.

SPLACK!

The cable extended forth with significant force, followed by a short stop at point blank range. He knew it struck gold from the spluttering.* He had seconds now, have to move, Hornhead! He broke into sprint, going for a hard flying kick. If this missed, however, well, his Radar picked up the lamppost attached to the subway entrance at least.

* = Action taken with permission.

[shadejak]

Bullseye felt that one as Daredevil's well-aimed and well-timed launching of the billy club struck him. The assassin nursed the bruise as he staggered towards the stairs leading into the subway, Red suddenly charged, coming at him for no doubt a jump kick to send him tumbling down, but the assassin weaved out of the way in time to avoid it, using the distraction to grab the handrail and ride it down to the bottom of the stairs leading underground as quick as possible and get some distance between the two as he slid down the next to where the subways were.

With some distance, now, Bullseye spotted several late-night citizens out to take the evening train at the platform, stunned by his presence as he caught his breath, before glaring at the entrance and thinking quickly, the incoming train providing noise that'd hopefully muddle Red's senses enough to try and get the drop on him.

With a single gesture Bullseye snatched a man's smartphone from his hand and in a spin flung it right at the entrance as he calculated Daredevil would arrive in time for it to strike him or he'd have to parry it before following it up with a pair of throwing daggers and then shoving passengers out of the way as he fled on-board the train car, proceeding to make his way further down, looking back for any sign of Red as he ignored the surprised passengers.

He was sore, still tired, the coffee cup he'd snatched from a passenger and gulped down on the way to the back had only just started giving him that extra kick.

Soon as he saw his prey, he'd whip his holstered Mauser out and start firing.

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[webdevil]

Daredevil missed the kick and was forced to adapt. Sensing the sudden stop by the subway entrance railing, he quickly tucked his knees together into a spring, bounding up and grabbing onto the lamppost at the entrance awning and spun around. Using that momentum to correct himself prevented a nasty spill but it also allowed Bullseye to duck ahead and into the subway. Daredevil followed.

It was not unlike Bullseye to lie in wait and try hurling projectiles at Daredevil - the opportunity and tactical advantage of any sort of high ground completely nullified by the enclosed space. Nevertheless, knowing his enemy almost as intimately as he knew himself, sure enough:

SMACK!

The shattering of plastics about a foot from where his head had just been was a hint that Bullseye had snagged someone's smartphone and flung it as a desperation attempt. It was playing Bullseye's game alright: Going straight into a situation where Daredevil would be too busy preventing the senseless deaths of innocents left in the madman's wake that he would be too distracted to put up a proper defense for the real fight ahead. It seemed Bullseye knew him well too.

click.

He heard a gun leave its holster despite the din of the panicked crowd at the sight of his and Bullseye's costumes.

Daredevil barely had the reaction time to get behind the turnstile and sense the bullets ricochet wildly. One. Two. Three. Daredevil knew Bullseye had more in the chamber - he valued insurance afterall - but he had to keep the fighting on him. His Radar was feeding him more information than he could pin down, all the negative space filled by panicking pedestrians. He counted at least thirty, maybe forty, all within distance of Bullseye's range. Then he remembered something. From a previous fight of theirs. It seemed much longer ago than it really was, but it had kept Karen alive that much longer back then... Before the end. Daredevil gritted his teeth and barked out his next words with frozen fury.

"Eh? That's it, killer? Getting scared, eh? Gotta pull a GUN, eh? Big man, great Bullseye, can't even finish it he needs a gun? Heh. I always knew you were a loser!"

Daredevil gave a sadistic smile. He may have been crouched behind the turnstile, but he made no illusions here: He relished in his hunt. He was the predator here. And predators smile.

[shadejak]

"f**k!" Bullseye snarled as Red dodged, avoiding the incoming bullets from his gun and having the audacity to taunt him. The assassin grit his teeth in rage as he glared back at him, that smile was pissing him off so much as he fired another shot his way as he turned to flee once more, escaping through the door into the next car, grabbing and flinging passengers and luggage behind him to provide more obstacles for Daredevil to have to get past before promptly flinging open the side door, sneering at him. He pushed open the upper hatch of the train car till he was on its roof and promptly fled across the top of the car, it'd only be a minute or two till it started moving again and the platform ahead would have meant his foe would be delayed if he wasn't off in time.

The assassin leapt, positioning himself so he'd land in a rolling position. His adamantium bones keeping him from harming himself as he stood back up, grabbing a trash can lid and flinging it like a frisbee behind him as a little surprise once Daredevil was in view, aiming for the forehead. Their real destination wasn't far, just up these stairs and a few blocks as he began to run again, grabbing anything that came within reach from phones to debris to finally kicking a large wastebasket bouncing violently down the stairs at his opponent as he made it to the surface once more.

There it was...

Bullseye grinned, the baseball stadium, where he'd intended this all to end. He strolled in, turning sharply as he stood by what he'd prepared, a pile of baseball equipment.

Batter's up!

ZING!

The pitch that killed his coach, three of them, actually, all of them bouncing off surfaces like pinballs and meant to strike Daredevil all at once.

"Loser, eh?" he asked with a sneer. "Wasn't it said the devil never wins?"

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[webdevil]

click
click

He was out. Now he was moving. Daredevil bounded up and over the turnstile and followed inside the car just as Bullseye was through the door and to the next car. The amount of warm bodies caused Daredevil's Radar to run fuzzy as he tried to navigate the humanity, which only slowed him down as he had to second guess every step as to not stand on somebody.

"Everybody down!" he yelled, and while some did as he asked, most were so de-sensitized to violence on a New York subway car that they didn't even move. Daredevil gritted his teeth at this. He managed to get through to the next car just in time to sense Bullseye fling a young woman who weighed not much more than a hundred pounds right at him. Bracing himself against the entrance of the door, Daredevil managed to catch the woman and cup her head from hitting the side of the wall, thus prevented her from getting concussed from the impact. Lowering her gently, he sidestepped past and continued on only to have to smack away a flying backpack with his club, hopping over a man's knocked over guitar case, and firing his billy club to ricochet.

konk
pik
retaaaang.

He missed. Bullseye managed to get the upper emergency exit hatch open and his legs tucked out of the line of fire. Daredevil caught the club and raced to the hatch entrance and hopped up. Getting his body out and onto the fortunately non-moving train, his Radar scrambled again along with his ears as a parallel train began to hiss.


Dammit! Not again! Not now! He was feet away!

Daredevil felt the slightest pressure leave the roof of the car, hinting Bullseye jumped just as the car began to decelerate. He timed it perfectly. Now it was Daredevil at a disadvantage. The noise, the lack of negative space. No. Not tonight. It ended tonight. He gritted his teeth and began to stagger back to his feet. The noise had died down which meant the car had stopped, but the electric current he felt vibrate beneath his feet meant the train was about to move. If that happened, Bullseye was in the wind. Daredevil only had seconds. Building up some speed, he broke into a run.

He dived.

He got it. But now as the train was moving, it took all his strength to maintain his balance. He wasn't Spider-Man, afterall. Lowering himself to move slowly, he tried to catch up until the criss-cross intersection saw Bullseye really show how insane he was and made a jump at an intersecting train!

No time.

Daredevil leapt after him and it was only by the hook of his cable club that he managed to anchor to the rear of the train. It was fortunate for Daredevil that he managed to get his centre of gravity over the railing or he'dve been very dead from the fall. But his ribs were not going to be happy in the morning. Leaning forward, he deposited himself into the well of the train. There was no way he was going to try and rooftop shimmy on the moving train until it began to slow down, which could take a few minutes. Staggering to his feet, he opened the subway emergency door and staggered inside. This train was almost empty by New York standards, and thus he was able to track Bullseye's feet from underneath. However that didn't stop the shocks and calls from the people from noticing him.

Hey Daredevil!

Costume! Oh come on! Not tonight!

Dee Dee!

He had no idea in the city he was now, but as he managed to get himself over to the Emergency hatch just as the train began to slow down.

ARRIVING AT METS-WILLETS POINT! METS-WILLETS POINT!

That meant... Wow, he was a ways away from the Kitchen. Bullseye's silhouette made another leap, this time onto the platform. Daredevil had to wait til the door opened to give pursuit, and by the time he could and cleared the civilian traffic, Bullseye was out of the station and headed northbound towards...

"Citi Field. Figures. Well at least the Mets are not playing there tonight..." he said darkly and followed on foot.

Barely inside the service entrance that led towards the clubhouse and batting cage area that he sensed Bullseye get ahead of him towards, that he found himself swinging like he was Pete Alonso. He batted aside all 3 fastballs which easily topped 120mph, all with intent to kill. No time to admire the exit V-lo or location, he ducked and dived away towards the netted crated of baseballs. It was, he realized, a reflexively good call considering if Bullseye needed to reload, he'd have to come in close. Not that he would be using it as such, because it was likely Bullseye would be thinking about that as well if he wasn't busy ducking the returning volley of cork and leather.

Loser, eh? Wasn't it said the devil never wins?"

Daredevil would have loved to get under his skin some more, but instead he ricochet tossed the billy club off the floor to make Bullseye think about what was headed towards his head before bounding over and moving to close the gap with a huge leg takedown that bordered onto a spinebuster. Hope this works, he thought.

[shadejak]

Daredevil's club bounced off the hard floor right up at the assassin, aiming right for his head with its trajectory.

Dex, however, sharp as ever, would respond with a swish of his arm, his hand catching it in a vice grip in mid-air inches from his head.

He didn't have time to fling it back, though, as Daredevil swiftly closed the distance between them, going for his legs. Bullseye stepped back, swinging one leg to his opponent's side, off-center, foot intent to strike the kidneys and avoid ending up on his back which would have put him to a severe disadvantage.

Stepping away, the assassin grinned. "Not bad! Almost had me, there!"

He twirled the club like a baton skillfully in one hand. "Those college shits, the f**k were they tryin' to prove? Still, gotta slay a few filthy souls 'fore you meet the Devil, 'mirite? Still, it was like shootin' rabbits with an uzi. None'a the satisfaction like puttin' it in Natchios was!" he asked with a cruel fit of hearty laughter as he suddenly flung the billy club towards Daredevil's solar plexus with every ounce of his might to try and wind him, his banter merely an attempted distraction, play with his enemy's emotions, misdirect him with taunts and small talk for surprise attacks.

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[webdevil]

Daredevil got caught flat-footed somewhat and took the blow to the kidneys, barely getting his elbow tucked in just in time to avoid severe damage or landing flat on his face himself. He and Bullseye circled each other for a moment, sensing Bullseye twirling his billy club and subtly getting some distance. And then came the trash talk.

"Not bad! Almost had me, there!"

"Those college shits, the f**k were they tryin' to prove? Still, gotta slay a few filthy souls 'fore you meet the Devil, 'mirite? Still, it was like shootin' rabbits with an uzi. None'a the satisfaction like puttin' it in Natchios was!"

All a distraction, for the billy club. Bullseye threw it, and Daredevil raised his hand and caught it. His already grim expression merely lowered into an even more irritable frown.

"Even with an uzi you couldn't finish the job, Lester," said Daredevil. He was not going to throw it and play hot potato, he did rush him down the straight away with intent to dropkick him through the door that Bullseye was slowly backing towards.

[shadejak]

The kick found its mark, the impact was hard enough and Dex's armor and his weight increased by his adamantium bones adding to the impact the door splintered and cracked significantly. Doors weren't nearly so flimsy here but they were not impervious. However, the damage was all Dex needed to get the job done for an opportunity to defend himself again.

With a crisp slam of his armored elbows and reinforced bones, Bullseye shattered part of it, chunks of wood and glass broke free landing right into his waiting palm as he began flinging them at Daredevil like makeshift daggers and wood stakes, one after the other at high speed before he backed himself away.

Bullseye ran, grabbing anything that wasn't nailed down like trash bins, trash bin lids, flags, souvenirs, whatever he could get his hands on and throw to slow down or injure his foe. "Don't need an Uzi, Red! I think those rich shits I visited on Christmas learned that part!" he chuckled to himself. He was still pretty proud of that little prank, and honestly the city should be giving him a goddamn medal for taking out some trash. If kids were the future the future was pretty damn bleak with such specimens.

"Honestly, y'oughta be thankin' me for all I've been up to lately!" he laughed maniacally as he snapped a wood flagpole in half and flung both pieces his foe's way. "Was thinkin' a leavin' you hangin' from a scoreboard or somethin' but we can see where the night takes us!" he taunted, kicking another trash can Daredevil's way to try and trip him.

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[webdevil]

Daredevil leaned back but Bullseye was too close range. He felt the glass tear the top layer of his suit, and one graze the side of his cheek. It was not the first time Bullseye drew blood, but all that did was make him angrier. He went for another kick, but Bullseye got through the door and up the corridor. Daredevil gave chase but Bullseye did not make it easy as they made their way out of the staff controlled areas and into the 100 level concourse. This was open area, tons of negative space. Bullseye had the advantage here.

"Honestly, y'oughta be thankin' me for all I've been up to lately!"

Bullseye had entered the merch store, where there were plenty of items not nailed down, including what sounded like snapping wood.

"Was thinkin' a leavin' you hangin' from a scoreboard or somethin' but we can see where the night takes us!"

Bullseye kicked a smaller trash can by the register towards him with the force of a bullet. Daredevil was forced to sidestep, but prepared for any projectile his way, Daredevil detached his billy club into cable formation and fired, getting it to wrap around the pole held in Bullseye's hand and giving it a hard tug.

"You're not even out of the 1st inning, yet," the Man Without Fear snarled.