R5-D8

Action: Roll 1 defense die. On an evade or focus result, discard 1 of your face down Damage cards.

My question is can I remove the second hit(Face down damage card) from a crit indicating take two damage, so now I would only have 1 damage?

No.

Direct Hit does not add a second card - it simply is a face up card that COUNTS as two damage.

The only way to reduce it is if R5 (generic) lets you flip it face down.

Got it, thank you.

Although R5-D8 can't remove it if you flip your Direct Hit card over it becomes one damage. If you could somehow discard it when it's face-up it would be like losing two damage.