BIOGRAPHY -- Page 31
Karen needed support more than ever in the days that followed. Mister Fear unleashed a complicated and long-boiling scheme to get revenge on Murdock and destroy his faith in the judicial system. The prisoner he secretly released earlier from Riker’s Island was Charlie Boroughs, a police officer and son of a judge who was also a sociopathic serial killer. Judge 
Chalmer wished to avoid a scandal and made arrangements with the warden and select officers to keep Boroughs locked up, but completely off the books. Mr. Fear recruited Burroughs as a partner, acting as a stalker who repeatedly called in to the Paige Angel show and threatened to literally take Karen’s heart away. This “Triple-Threat” Killer murdered several innocent people as tribute to Paige Angel. Eventually, Karen was assigned a police protection detail and, one night, Officer Boroughs was on that detail. Charlie attacked Karen with a knife, at which point Mister Fear rendered Karen unconscious and killed Boroughs with Karen’s own gun.
Karen had enough wherewithal to identify Charlie as the “Triple-Threat Killer” when she awakened, but the courts charged her with the murder of Officer Boroughs. Charlie Boroughs had an exceptional police record thanks to Judge Chalmer’s influence hiding his past activities, and Mister Fear killed Chalmer for good measure when his conscience seemed ready to overtake him. Karen was painted as a hysterical celebrity who killed a good cop out of paranoia, and all of her bad history was drawn out in the media. Matt, Foggy and Rosalind served as her defense and stood by her, but Fear had meticulously orchestrated the case to turn the law and public opinion against Matthew and his client.
Finding evidence to support Karen’s case proved difficult. Ghost Rider’s myopic need for vengeance led him to destroy the warden’s mind with his penance stare, leaving him unable to 
illuminate about Boroughs history at Riker’s. Mister Fear arranged for another incident with Karen’s stalker, the “Triple-Threat Killer,” damaging the defense’s (accurate) argument that Boroughs had been the killer. Still, Cranston taunted Murdock one too many times, and he left clues which led Daredevil back to Mister Fear’s hideout. Daredevil drove Fear off and recovered the personal journal of Judge Chalmer, allowing him to present evidence at trial of Boroughs’ murderous history, their involvement with Mister Fear and the cover-ups.
The case still went to verdict, however, and Mister Fear had placed one of the jurors under his sway before the trial. It took an unexpected and unwanted act by the Kingpin to get that juror… removed… and an alternate sat before Karen received her just Not Guilty verdict. Afterwards, Fisk merely told Murdock that nobody got to break him without the Kingpin’s permission. Justice would have failed, if not for a criminal’s intervention. Matthew was left to ponder that truism as Karen was finally released from jail. [Daredevil (1st series) #372-375]
Murdock and Fisk’s paths would cross again sooner than later. S.H.I.E.L.D. had long possessed the means of applying layered cerebral architecture to create false personalities and identities for their agents, cover stories which could stand up to even psychic scrutiny. Kingpin founded a new Emissaries of Evil in Paris which included Synapse, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent whose bio-electric powers could duplicate or neutralize the S.H.I.E.L.D. cerebral implants. The Emissaries killed a “volume agent,” a S.H.I.E.L.D. courier imprinted with the knowledge of every cover identity held by active field agents, which Synapse retrieved from his mind. Kingpin intended to sell the identity list and Synapse’s services to the European cartels and fund his return to power.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Harlan’s brother was the volume agent killed, giving him a personal stake in uncovering the truth. He reached out to Daredevil as a third party to participate in an undercover mission focused on finding the list and locating his brother’s killer. Daredevil agreed, even after Agent Harlan explained the mission parameters of “Operation: Flying Blind” would involve an 
imposed cover identity of his own. Matt Murdock was released in Paris, programmed to believe his name was Laurent Levasseur. The cerebral architecture not only suppressed his true memories, it also somehow restored his sight. It’s unclear how Daredevil’s mission was supposed to unfold, but the complications with the architecture and Agent Harlan dying in a freak car accident meant that “Laurent” was in the field without back-up, no recollection of his mission and nobody knowing who or where he was.
Despite these setbacks, Laurent found himself in a position to complete his mission. He crossed paths with Dr. Claire DuBois, one of the last people to see the volume agent before his death. The Emissaries feared the agent passed some knowledge on to Claire, and they attempted to have her captured or killed. Being placed in a combat situation awakened Laurent’s muscle memory 
and he did his best to defend Claire from ninja of the Hand in Kingpin’s employ. However, Laurent remained uneasy with his unexplained hyper-senses, and why he felt confused over the fact that he could see. This distracted him enough for the Hand to kidnap Dr. Dubois and escape. Stilt-Man was part of the Emissaries, but he refused to mercilessly kill someone like Claire just for getting in the way. He tried to pass on information to Laurent but was struck down by Synapse’s power at a distance.
While trying to find more information about Claire at the hospital, Laurent ran into Le Concierge of the Emissaries. He defeated the French super-villain and stole his costume, infiltrating the Kingpin’s auction for the volume list. Laurent Levasseur overheard enough of Kingpin and Synapse’s plans that he realized that his own memory was being suppressed by a cover identity. Laurent tricked Synapse into turning his bio-disruption powers on him, breaking the S.H.I.E.L.D. architecture and allowing Daredevil to remember who he really was. With his experience back, Daredevil thwarted the rest of Fisk’s plans just as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents investigating Agent Harlan’s death finally caught up with him. The Kingpin escaped, but the volume list was saved. As the 
cerebral architecture faded, so did Matt’s sight. Still, the last thing he managed to see before the darkness returned was Foggy Nelson, swept along with S.H.I.E.L.D. for his own part in this adventure. Matt saw his best friend’s face for the first time, and they embraced. [Daredevil (1st series) #376-379]
Time passed. Daredevil continued to fight the good fight against the Kingpin, Bullseye, Bushwacker, the Hand and others. Matt Murdock defended the innocent and upheld the law in the courtroom. He even spent some quality time with Sister Maggie, though the nun still wouldn’t directly acknowledge Matt’s belief that she was his mother. [Daredevil (1st series) #380]
Matt's former ally and foe Kyle Richmond returned from the grave as Nighthawk. He was tricked by Mephisto into believing an angel gave him eyes to see crimes before they happened, letting him save innocents rather than avenge them. In practice, Nighthawk was punishing people for crimes they did not commit, for Mephisto loved to torture the self-righteous and the un-righteous 
alike. Mephisto put Daredevil and Nighthawk on a collision course in order to take his own revenge on Matt Murdock for their previous encounter in Hell. Despite his need to prove himself, though, Kyle Richmond eventually recognized Mephisto was manipulating him. Daredevil and Nighthawk found their way out of Mephisto's Hell together, and renewed their trust in each other. [Nighthawk (1st series) #1-3]