BIOGRAPHY -- Page 36
While Murdock dealt with his ongoing lawsuit and legal complications, Luke Cage and Danny Rand came to plead a new case to him. Hector Ayala was a Puerto Rican hero known as the White Tiger whose identity went public years ago before he retired. After coming out of retirement for a night patrol, the Tiger caught two teenagers who burglarized a convenience store and shot a cop who was first on the scene. One of the kids threw a television at White Tiger as he and his buddy darted out the back door, just as the officer’s back-up arrived. They saw a man in a mask, holding a stolen television, standing over a dead cop. Hector was arrested and charged with the murder of a police officer. Cage and the Fist knew Hector was innocent, and they wanted Matt to defend him.
Matt was dubious about the idea. The case struck too close to home for him, and his own public 
image might become a distraction and spectacle for Hector’s innocence if he got involved. Where Matt was dubious, Foggy was livid at the idea, but once Nelson & Murdock met with Hector and Matt’s senses confirmed Hector’s innocence for his own ears, they couldn’t turn away. The case faced a number of setbacks. The criminals who committed the crime weren’t local and Matt’s investigation confirmed they had already fled town the night Hector was arrested. Hector’s wife was reluctant to support him at trial and actually intended to file for divorce – on top of their marital strife and money problems, Hector swore he would never put on the White Tiger costume again until that night. Matt had to beg Soledad Ayala to wait until after the trial to leave Hector, for appearance’s sake.
On paper, the prosecution had a relatively poor case. Officer Scott Perkins was shot at close range with his own gun, yet there was no powder or gunshot residue on White Tiger’s white gloves or hands. Still, the forensics team tried to claim (without evidence) that Hector’s “magic 
K’un-Lun Tiger amulets” could excuse the gaps in their case. The prosecutor painted Hector as a man with money problems and marital problems who decided to put on a costume and take what he thought he deserved. He successfully provoked Hector while on cross-examination, and Soledad walking out during his testimony made Hector break. Hector had an outburst on the stand about what he was owed as a hero of the people which could only confirm people’s worst fears about masked vigilantes.
The jury returned with a verdict of Guilty as charged. Hector lost control as his life crumbled around him, and he lashed out at the bailiffs. Foggy kept Matt from intervening in a way that would expose his secret, with all the eyes currently on him. A bad situation turned worse, though, when the audience stampeding to the exits jostled loose an officer’s sidearm, sending it towards Hector. He grabbed the gun and raced out of the courtroom. On the front steps, a gaggle of reporters and 
armed officers converged on Hector Ayala. Before Matt, or Luke, or Danny could reach him, Hector apparently decided he was done. He closed his eyes and raised the gun, prompting the officers to shoot him down. Days later, Daredevil finally got a lead on the teenagers from the burglary, but it didn’t matter. Hector Ayala, the White Tiger was cleared of all charges… post-mortem. [Daredevil (2nd series) #38-40]
Matt tried to keep his life as Daredevil business as usual. Luke wasn’t talking to Matt after the Ayala trial, so he hired Melvin Potter as a “bodyguard” to keep up appearances. He also had an amusing office visit from a very frustrated Wilbur Day, who just wanted to turn his Stilt-Man armor over to the alleged “Daredevil.” It seemed Vanessa Fisk had carved up and sold off the Kingpin’s empire to a variety of figures, with the exception of the Owl. Now, with her gone, the enterprising Leland Owlsley was knocking over his competition to build his own empire and selling Mutant Growth Hormone on the streets. Daredevil tracked the Owl down to “Club Ultimate,” but Owlsley’s gang had plans to make Owl the new Kingpin and tried to run a scheme. They accused “Mr. Murdock” of breaking and entering at their client’s legally owned warehouse and made multiple attempts to catch Daredevil on tape performing criminal acts. The connection between Matt Murdock and Daredevil made vigilante justice far more complicated than it used to be.
Matt tried to listen to Foggy for once and find another way of bringing down the Owl which didn’t compromise his identity any further. Spider-Man and most of his vigilante contacts were out of town, so Matt reluctantly went to visit Luke Cage. It turned out Luke didn’t blame Matt for the White Tiger’s death, but he had grown tired of Murdock’s hypocrisy. At the end of the day, “super-
hero secret identity” or not, Matt was lying to the public and fraudulently suing people for telling the truth about him. Luke didn’t want to support this anymore, and Matt struggled to make a decent argument defending the legal and mortal compromises he was making. The fact that he had come to Luke’s apartment asking him to fight crime for him because “his hands were tied” only made the conversation end that much quicker.
In the meantime, Daredevil saved a woman from a speeding truck in an eerily familiar scene. Milla Donovan wanted to thank Daredevil for saving her life, and so she sought out the man who the newspapers said was Daredevil. Being blind, Milla had no trouble recognizing Matt and Daredevil as having the same voice. Matt was charmed by her initiative. He tried to explain how, even if he 
WERE Daredevil, his current legal troubles prevented him from confirming it to her, but Milla just wanted to have dinner with him. Their date went well, as Matt learned Milla worked for the Hell’s Kitchen Housing Commission, helping to improve the neighborhood Matt loved. She even knew the story of how Clinton got the nickname “Hell’s Kitchen.” Matt felt very attracted to her despite the circumstances, but their date was destined to be interrupted.
Uri Rosenthal, owner of the Daily Globe, had been murdered that morning at his estate in Connecticut. His head was torn clean off his body. Matthew cooperated with the authorities for another humiliating interview before fighting through another crowd of hungry reporters with Foggy. Fearing that the Owl had somehow been behind Rosenthal’s death as a message to him, Daredevil stopped fooling around. He cooperated with the FBI to prepare evidence to justify a raid 
on the Owl’s club. The MGH market was dissolved, and Daredevil had the satisfaction of beating up the Owl himself when Leland tried to flee the dragnet. Special Agent Driver and Daredevil seemed to have a quiet understanding after this. Unfortunately, the Owl had not been involved in Rosenthal’s death. Murdock soon learned that Sammy Silke had also been killed, while in protective custody. Wilson Fisk was alive and returning to New York. [Daredevil (2nd series) #41-45]
After an experimental surgery in Europe restored his eyesight, the Kingpin was back and ready to clean house. He located Typhoid Mary as an enforcer and used her as a distraction for Murdock while setting up his return to prominence in the underworld. Mary attacked Matthew while he and Milla were trying to have a second date. Matt was burned by Mary’s pyrotechnics but he, Jessica Jones and a passing Luke Cage finally took her down. This was the final straw for Jessica, though, and she resigned as “bodyguard.” Milla inexplicably chose to stay with Matt while he recuperated, despite the clear danger she faced. It only got worse when Bullseye arrived on 
Kingpin’s behalf. Bullseye was eager to kill off a third girlfriend of Daredevil’s, but Murdock was no longer willing to play around. He brutally beat Bullseye in the streets outside his brownstone. Both Bullseye and Mary were turned over to FBI Agent Driver and, after the Owl, it was a sign Murdock and the Feds could work together in the future. At the moment, however, Murdock was fixated on Fisk.
At Kingpin’s first meeting with his former lieutenants, Daredevil crashed a car through the side of the building and laid into Fisk. The two old enemies had one of the most savage fights of their long and sordid history. Once Fisk was out, Matthew knew he couldn’t keep doing things the same as usual. Luke Cage had inadvertently inspired him during their argument, bragging about how he kept his block drug-free and looked after his own neighborhood, at least. Daredevil loaded Fisk 
onto the roof of his stolen car and crashed the fat man through the side of Josie’s Bar. In front of the assorted thugs and lowlifes of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil unmasked himself as Matt Murdock and declared Hell’s Kitchen his territory. He was no longer a hero or a vigilante, he was running Hell’s Kitchen and anybody who contested his reign or his rules would be dealt with accordingly. Here endeth the lesson. [Daredevil (2nd series) #46-50]