Daredevil #97

Overview

As Matt Murdock strives to bring order to the chaos of Hell's Kitchen, things take another turn for the worse. Gladiator is on the loose, running for his life, and Daredevil is the only one who can stop him from hurting anyone and everyone who gets in his way. Part three of "To the Devil, His Due" by the award-winning team of Brubaker and Lark!

Four nights ago in a bar, Lily Lucca finds herself the object of two guys' attention. They both want to buy her drinks. She tells them the night is young and there's plenty of time to buy her a drink. One of the guys tells her he loves the perfume she's wearing. Surprised, she says she isn't wearing any. Violence soon breaks out as one guy smashes the other guy in the head with a beer bottle. Lily takes that moment to leave the bar.

In the present, Lily finishes explaining the incident to Matt. He doesn't see any reason why he has to help her. She says that innocent people are getting hurt. She stopped wearing the perfurme Vanessa Fisk gave her. Vanessa said that one of Matt's enemies was responsible for creating the perfume. She's hoping Matt can find out who it was so that they can make the affects stop. Matt still doesn't trust her and he's using his will power to block out the scent of Karen Page. Finally he agrees to help but says that he's going to put her in touch with his private investigator, Dakota North. After she leaves, he tries to unwind but he is still concerned about Melvin Potter, the Gladiator being on the loose.

Later that night, a couple guys are sent to pick up the Gladiator. Daredevil soon finds himself at the scene of a massacre. In Chinatown the reports came of the Gladiator going on a killing spree. He never said a word, just started killing whoever he could reach. Matt figures it was done outside of Hell's Kitchen on purpose. It was meant to get his attention and was far enough so that he wouldn't get there in time to do anything about it. Daredevil goes to see Melvin's attorney only to find he is dead in his apartment. It is apparent to Daredevil's senses that Gus did kill himself. He has no idea who he must have been working for. He decides to put Dakota on this also, to dig through his records to see if there's a paper trail that could lead to those responsible.

The next day Matt meets with Dakota and Lily. Matt soon leaves to meet Milla for dinner. He is distracted and she is upset that he's helping Lily out. After he says that he arranged for Lily to meet with Dakota, Milla wants Matt to promise not to see her again. As the waiter arrives to take their order, he is taken down by one of Gladiator's blades. Matt, still distracted, barely manages to get Milla down on the ground. Gladiator is yelling for Matt to show himself. He gets Milla to run out and go home. He kicks Gladiator in the face and begins to change into his costume. The other customers have left but he wants to change into Daredevil before the police arrive. Milla yells out at Matt which distracts him enough for Gladiator to get in some good hits. Daredevil tries telling him that he wants to help him but he won't hear it. Gladiator continues to pound on Daredevil until police sirens can be heard. Gladiator leaves Daredevil unconscious on the floor.

When Daredevil comes to, he finds himself handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. Two officers are outside talking about removing his mask. One reminds the other how he sued the newspaper and won. He doesn't want anything to do with it. But because Daredevil is not a registered superhuman, they are going to hold him unitl Iron Man and his crew arrive to take him away.

Daredevil then hears a voice talking to him. The voice is being scrambled so he can't make out who it is and they can't hear him. The voice talks about how violent Melvin Potter has become and mentions that he shouldn't have left his wallet at the restaurant. Melvin has decided to go to their apartment while he is sitting locked up in the back of a police car.