Daredevil #252

The immortal mutant Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen attack New York City. They fill the sky with ash, spread disease and topple buildings. The city is plunged into darkness, leading many to think it's a nuclear attack.

At the free legal clinic, Matt Murdock leads a group of terrified poor people to the nearest hospital. Among them is Cain, a teenaged boy who worries about missing an instinct to do good. On the streets, a punk named Ammo organizes a mob to attack the Army's armory. He thinks it's time for a new world order of "victors and victims". He names his lieutenant "Bad Seed". Meanwhile, a petty thief escapes his prison. He's about to kill a homeless man for his clothes when he finds a baby in a garbage can.

Matt Murdock changes into Daredevil, and joins Black Widow on a patrol for trouble. They find Ammo's gang preparing to hit the hospital for drugs. Three vets also patrolling the streets join our heroes with a plan. DD and one vet plant smoke bombs and seal exits to force the gang out one door. That's where the people from the hospital meet them in battle. Ammo busts out, riding an armored truck, guns blazing. His indiscriminate fire kills two children, driving Daredevil into a rage. He takes down Ammo quickly.

With Ammo down, his gang falls apart. Some hospital defenders take a girl punk as "spoils of war". Cain's part of this group; He's still shell-shocked after watching a man die in his arms, and allowing an old woman to take an overdose of sleeping pills. Daredevil rescues the girl and tells Cain to watch her, telling him, "You disgust me". The Army arrives to restore order and tell everyone it's not the end of the world. Daredevil laments how easily people believed the worst. "We all feel like a nuclear disaster is so inevitable.that when it does hit. . . we won't even be surprised."

Cain is distracted by his guilt and the girl punk knifes him. Daredevil rushes to his side. Cain wants DD to tell Matt he was a good soldier. Matt's about to remove his mask when Cain dies. We're left with the thief and the baby walking down the street, planning their new life together. They will return in 'Daredevil' #264.

This issue tied into the X-Men crossover "Fall of the Mutants". It's available in a trade paperback, but I'll summarize it for you: Apocalypse's attack seen here occurs in 'X-Factor' #24-25. He's beaten back by X-Factor, the founding members of X-Men disguised as mutant hunters. They're shocked to discover their former comrade Angel has been remade by Apocalypse into the deadly Archangel. Archangel, of course, betrays Apocalypse and helps his friends. X-Factor is revealed to be mutants during this fight, but NYC congratulates its new heroes. The X-Men core team fakes their deaths fighting a chaos demon in 'Uncanny X-Men'. They disappear from public view and move to Australia. In 'New Mutants', team member Cypher dies, leading their teacher Magneto to believe he's unfit to teach. He abandons Xavier's School. When the young mutants hear about the X-Men's "death", they reluctantly step up as the new X-men.