New York City
A young punk wearing a teal hoodie and a brown beanie is running as fast as he can through a desolate alley. The reason, a shadowy figure with a horned head is keeping pace with him over the rooftops. The small-time thief’s name is Tommy Landis, the one chasing him, Daredevil.
Daredevil drops down to a fire escape. This causes Tommy to look back at his pursuer and crash headlong into a pile of garbage cans. Normally, Daredevil wouldn’t be worried about a petty thief like Tommy, but last week he snatched a woman’s purse and flew away… only to crash into a billboard. After Tommy was captured he made bail, and jumped it, and his case came across the eyes of Matt Murdock.
Tommy gets up from the cans, a banana peel resting on his beanie. He turns around and there’s no sign of Daredevil. So he immediately takes off… and slams into Daredevil’s chest.
DD grabs him by the collar. Tommy wants to know why he’s being chased all across town and Daredevil pointedly says they could’ve had this conversation six blocks ago, but he’s not the one who started running. As Tommy plucks the banana peel off his head Daredevil senses Tommy’s heart falter, his adrenal glands redline and as predicted, Tommy takes off running again.
“Wait. Come back,” DD says emotionless, knowing the kid won’t listen anyway. He then pulls his baton and throws it at the latch of a nearby fire escape ladder. It’s a direct hit and the ladder comes free, right on top of Tommy.
Daredevil collects his baton and finds Tommy pinned at the neck by the ladder. Finally, Tommy’s up for a conversation. He asks what Daredevil wants, and the blind superhero leans in real close and asks how a lowly hood like him wound up with a pair of Vulture wings.
underground casino
With one click of an image inducer Domino transforms herself into the sultry Olivia Blomquist, wife of Sweden’s most powerful crime boss, Edward Blomquist. She approaches the two guards outside the entrance to one of the most exclusive underground casinos on the planet.
Domino thinks to herself that some people might head to the beach or hang out in front of the television on their day off. This is how she chooses to spend it, sneaking into a seedy casino.
While one of the guards checks her entrance token, a circular chip depicting a smiling black skull on a red background, the other puts his arm around Dom and asks if she has any mutant abilities, super powers or weapons on her. She doesn’t like being touched and tells the guy to back off. When he starts acting like it’s no big deal she grabs him by the wrist and jerks his arm behind his back. The other guard smiles, her token checking out, and guides her inside.
Domino makes her way down a grand staircase and is accosted by the first man she comes across. She tells him to @#@$ off and heads over to the bar.
The bartender is a robot and when Dom orders her vodka tonic, the drink pours out of its finger and into her glass. Neena knocks it back, downing it quickly. This catches the attention of the man to her right, Ramrod, who stares unabashedly at her breasts. Domino kicks the stool out from under him and the man WHUMPs to the floor.
Outside
Domino’s not the only one casing the casino this evening. Tommy finally talked and Daredevil learned he acquired the wings in a poker game at a “secret underworld casino.” He even told Murdock where the casino was located… if he promised to let him go.
Daredevil’s method of entry is very dissimilar to Domino’s. It involves the smashing of the guard’s facemasks and rendering them into an unconscious state. Using his heightened senses DD is able to discern the keycode password on the door handle and gain access.
inside
Meanwhile, Domino is cleaning up at the blackjack table with several stacks of chips piled nearby. The dealer tells her she’s lucky, but that’s nothing new to her.
“Mrs. Blomquist’s” winning streak catches the attention of Batroc who sidles on over. He starts off with a lame pickup line and then tosses the olive from his drink into the air and catches it into this mouth. Unfortunately for him, it catches in his throat and he doubles over coughing and gagging. Domino smiles, her good luck continuing. But with that thought the door to the place opens with a KRASH, a security guard’s unconscious body the blunt force that did the job.
Domino turns to check out the commotion only to find Daredevil standing at the top of the steps. She can’t believe he showed up and thinks he’s going to get himself killed. Sure enough the mini-army of bad guys doesn’t deter DD from leaping from atop the staircase and onto the main floor.
The first villain to face Daredevil’s wrath is the unfortunate Batroc. He’s on the receiving end of a punishing overhand left, followed by a baton to the face. Domino decides it’s no longer time to hide who she is and help old hornhead out. She turns off her image inducer and joins the fight, kicking an unknown patron in the head.
Back to back, the two heroes are surrounded. Daredevil is picking up some weird radio signals, but can’t get a trace. Domino asks if Daredevil’s crazy, just charging into the place by himself. He tells her “no fear” is his thing. Great, witty banter, Domino thinks to herself.
Tiger Shark is the first to attack after getting rebuffed by Hippo for a joint assault. He growls, leaping toward DD. His radar ability shows him Tiger’s weak spot, right by his ear. With one quick movement Tigershark is down for the count and seeing stars.
The remainder of the villains charge in. Domino knees Beetle in the chin, and Daredevil clocks Constrictor with his baton. DD can’t get a good read on Domino’s moves, he realizes. He can’t quite figure out why, just that she’s reckless, but good. In fact, the hit on Constrictor sends him reeling forward and Domino finishes him off with a pool cue across the face.
Then it’s her turn to analyze her new battle buddy. She thought the guy was a ninja, but likens him more to a bare-knuckle brawler. Her thoughts are cut short as she spies Whirlwind readying for an attack. She yells for Daredevil to get down and he deftly avoids the spinning villain. Whirlwind ends up smashing into a large window and Daredevil thanks his “partner” for the save. Domino tells him this isn’t a team-up and he just smiles back, asking if she’s sure about that.
Nearby, Lady Stilt-Man tries to make her escape up the staircase, but DD fires off a grappling hook from his baton, which wraps up around one of her elongated legs. Domino, meanwhile, is being attacked on both sides by Lascivious and Orb. Using the pool cue Domino gets a chokehold on Lascivious and then kicks Orb in the face, which makes a GLOB sound on impact.
Daredevil tells Domino she’s lucky he showed up. She agrees on the lucky part, but after dispatching those two villains on her own she asks if she looks like she needed his help. They take a moment and survey the damage they’ve wrought. Over half a dozen bad guys are littered around their feet. Domino can’t believe it was that easy. Daredevil says she’s in luck again because they still have the Wrecking Crew to contend with.
Thunderball is already spinning his chain when Domino eyes them up. She tells Daredevil it’s still not a team-up and he can sit this one out if he likes. Daredevil isn’t about to let her have all the fun, besides, he says, he thinks she’s starting to like him. In your dreams, pretty boy, she replies.
The fight commences when the wrecking ball comes flying toward them. Daredevil leaps over it, his mind still on the “pretty boy” comment. He kicks Thunderball in the face while Domino ducks under a crowbar attack from the Wrecker. She counters by using a deployable wrist taser, which connects to Wrecker’s scalp. The jolt of electricity causes Wrecker to drop his crowbar.
Bulldozer charges Domino while she’s still focused on the reeling Wrecker. His foot catches on the body of one of the unconscious villains from earlier and he crashes into the Wrecker instead. His crowbar, which he just picked up from the floor, goes slipping out of his hand again.
Daredevil must have taken out the other two in the meantime because the only bad guy left to contend with is Ramrod. He charges them swearing revenge. Daredevil pops him one time in the face and he goes down like a ton of bricks.
*Cough*--it’s a slight, quiet thing, but it doesn’t get by the radar sense of Matt Murdock. There’s one person still standing and he’s in the upstairs office staring at them through the green-tinged glass. He’s scared and takes off running.
Domino and Daredevil give chase up the stairs, both calling dibs on this guy. The man in question, wearing a mask one would find at a Mardi Gras celebration, is pushing the button on the elevator feverishly. The doors open, but it’s too late. DD hooks him with his grappling hook and the man stumbles to the ground.
The man is all too eager to talk. He says he’s just a middle man, that the casinos belong to Armitage. Domino wants more details and the man swears he’ll tell them everything if they promise not to hurt him.
Later in the evening, after all questions have been answered, Domino and Daredevil are staking out a heavily guarded warehouse. There’s some playful banter between the two heroes, Domino asking why he’s still following her and both claiming the other would be their sidekick. The one question still nagging at DD is what those high-frequency radio waves were that he picked up at the casino.
Just before they begin their attack Daredevil can sense Domino pulling out a gun. He tells her he doesn’t do guns, but she assures him they’re just stun rounds, or so she thinks. They then drop down from their rooftop, Domino insulting him yet again and Daredevil telling her she’s got a real smart mouth for a sidekick.
Once on the ground, Domino fires off a half dozen shots. Daredevil commences with the punching and the hitting. All the while they begin to unravel the mystery of the radio waves. With all those bad guys with their armor and gadgets this Armitage person must have been running millimeter wave scans on them at the casino, receiving full schematics on their equipment.
Plus, Domino adds, some of these guys lost their stuff in poker matches, or used them as collateral for a line of credit. Which explains how a two-bit hoodlum in Brooklyn ends up with a pair of Vulture wings, Daredevil agrees. He then kicks one of the heavily armed men to the ground while throwing his baton at a mustachioed guy’s face. He tells Domino to leave at least one guy conscious and to call if she needs any help.
And it seems as though she does. While she’s busy elbowing some guy in the face a security guard about ten feet behind her has a Benelli 12-gauge shotgun trained on her back. It’s one of the most reliable shotguns in the world, but when it comes to Domino all bets are off. It jams, giving Neena enough time to about face and deliver a powerful roundhouse kick.
That leaves them with their one man standing. Daredevil has him pinned up against a cargo crate. Domino jogs over toward him. When she arrives Daredevil praises their teamwork. Dom is tired of his schtick, but Murdock says they should call themselves “D&D.”
The jokes are done, for now. Daredevil turns to the guard and asks what he has to say for himself. He gets a loogie in the face for a response. As Murdock wipes away the snot Domino says she can make him talk. The dude says he’s already dead as Armitage doesn’t look kindly on failure.
Daredevil walks away and opens up a nearby conex. After peering inside he calls Domino over to check it out. Inside is a bunch of villain gear including Vulture wings, Beetle uniforms, pumpkin bombs, boomerangs and much more. “So. What now, partner?” Daredevil asks. Domino doesn’t answer, but realizes this is starting to feel like a team-up after all.
