While a guest on a talk
show, Matt Murdock hears a news bulletin that Bullseye has escaped from a
hospital just as he was going to undergo surgery. As Daredevil, he talks with
Lieutenant Nick Manolis, who tells him that Bullseye killed his doctors, apparently
fueled by his hatred to find Daredevil. Both men are approached by the head
doctor, Dr. Gloss, with more worrying details about Bullseye’s current
condition. We then see Bullseye struck with fear in the middle of Times Square,
as he sees everyone around him as Daredevil! Bullseye kills several of the
“Daredevils” before everything suddenly goes back to normal. Thinking it’s
unfair that they all have costumes and he doesn’t, Bullseye heads to a nearby
tailor and forces him to make him a new costume before killing the man.
Bullseye is then overcome by an intense, terrible headache, thinking that too
is somehow Daredevil’s fault!
Back at the hospital, Dr.
Gloss explains that Bullseye has a brain tumor, causing him intense headaches
and hallucinations. She posits that it was the cause for Bullseye’s emotional
collapse last time he and Daredevil faced off. She says that Bullseye’s hatred
for Daredevil causes him to perceive everyone around him as Daredevil when his
headaches flare up, and that if the tumor is not removed, Bullseye will die
soon. Bullseye takes refuge in a small movie theater and while there, one of
his headaches flares up, and he attacks the moviegoers, perceiving them as
Daredevil once again! One guy leaves, and his complaints are heard by the real
Daredevil, pointing him in Bullseye’s direction. Meanwhile, at Nelson and Murdock, Foggy
wonders why Matt is missing their Christmas party. Heather makes a comment
about Matt’s secret life, joking that he moonlights at Barnum and Bailey,
before she heads back to Matt’s apartment.
Bullseye continues his
rampage through the theater, when the real Daredevil arrives and tries to tell
Bullseye about his tumor. Bullseye takes two nerdy moviegoers hostage and
threatens to kill them unless Daredevil lets himself be killed. Daredevil drops
his billy club and lets Bullseye throw a knife into his chest, apparently
killing him! Meanwhile, Elektra drops by Matt’s apartment, finding a small
statue that Heather got for Matt. She smashes the statue, her feelings for Matt
evidently not completely gone, and leaves when Heather hears the commotion.
Manolis and the other cops arrive at the theater after Bullseye has fled,
finding Daredevil injured but alive, having been able to mostly block the knife
with his hand. Manolis finds throat lozenges on the floor, and Daredevil notes
that one of Bullseye’s hostages has a bad cough. A couple blocks away, Bullseye
makes his two hostages take him back to their apartment. Daredevil stealthily inspects the throat
lozenges, finding them to be heavily medicated.
Daredevil realizes he can use the man’s cough to his advantage and
perches atop a rooftop, as the sounds of the city flood his ears. He listens,
drowning out the noise, until he’s able to zero in on the man’s cough, giving
him Bullseye’s location!
Daredevil finds Bullseye
just as he’s about to kill the two men and they start a brutal fight! Bullseye
ducks into the subway, where Daredevil knows he'll be at a disadvantage. The
loud blare of the subway trains temporarily deafens Daredevil, throwing off his
radar and leaving him effectively helpless! Bullseye capitalizes on this and
just as he’s about to kill Daredevil, Daredevil fights back, reasoning that as
long as he can hold on to Bullseye, he knows where he is. Daredevil gives
Bullseye all he has, smashing into him until he’s unconscious on the tracks.
Still weak and disoriented, Daredevil considers letting Bullseye get run over
by the approaching train, but after several seconds of inaction, he saves
Bullseye at the last second. At the hospital, Manolis chastises Daredevil for
saving Bullseye, but Daredevil argues that he can’t play God, and that if
Bullseye is a threat to society, then society must make him pay the price, not
him. Manolis says that anything Bullseye does from now on will be on Daredevil,
who walks off, unsure if he did the right thing, as they hear from the doctor
that the operation was a success. Bullseye will live.