Christian Taylor - Now You're Mine (Episode 11) lyrics

HARLEM'S PARADISE Gunfire. People are screaming and running from the club. Luke and Misty are still pinned behind the bar. He moves them to a place with a little more shelter and presses a towel against her wound. MISTY: We are ten feet from the door. Just bust through. LUKE: I can't cover you from every angle. You're the target. MISTY: Oh, sh**. LUKE: Hold this. MISTY: Claire. Claire is a little ways away, unseen. She gestures for Luke to make a run for it, but Luke motions for her to stay put. Shades comes in to the now quiet bar. SHADES: What's going on here? MINION: Cage. Behind the bar. Zip gets a look at Luke's head and fires, to predictable results. ZIP: He's bulletproof, ain't he? STRYKER: She ain't. Shoot her first. Luke picks Misty up and makes a run for it. Gunfire erupts again as Luke hurries into the kitchen. He picks up the industrial fridge and blocks the door with it. Meanwhile, Claire is skulking around a corner when a minion finds her and takes her off to join the other hostages. LUKE: That's not gonna hold 'em long. Luke peels the towel off of Misty's bullet wound. MISTY: No... ZIP: They barricaded the door and sh**. There's no way through. SHADES: Forget Cage. The cops are gonna flood this place in a minute. STRYKER: No. We're staying. Nobody leaves. Not until we have them. SHADES: What you talking about, Willis? STRYKER: You got jokes? Right now? SHADES: You're the one who's joking if you think that we're escaping here without a plan. STRYKER: Later for that pre-written sh**. Sometimes you gotta freestyle. SHADES: Look, you got one Judas bullet left. What are you gonna do if Luke Cage takes you head on? STRYKER: Do I look worried? SHADES: No. That's the problem. SUGAR: Place is airtight. Back is sealed off, too. SHADES: So there's no other way out? SUGAR: No. Ty caught a straggler. STRYKER: Good. Anybody ain't us is a hostage. Make sure none of them look me in the eye. Lopes, Sugar, you're babysitting. Move 'em up there and face them towards the wall. Anybody resists, blindfold 'em. Too much lip, shoot 'em in the head. The rest will get the message. The minions start corralling the hostages. Damon Boone is huddling in a corner. STRYKER: Take Diet Obama upstairs, Ty. Keep a gun on him till I get up there. BOONE: Take your hands off me! You can't do this! STRYKER: Yes, we can. Zip. While you're up there, get me my key. You know the one I'm talking about. Shades and Stryker have a moment alone. STRYKER: What the hell are you doing calling me out by my first name? SHADES: You're dreaming if you think we're getting out of here. You shot a female cop in front of 100 people. STRYKER: All people will remember is Luke Cage going all King Kong with a b**h and jumping off a balcony. SHADES: What they're gonna remember is Luke Cage running from the bullets. STRYKER: All they know outside is that Cage lost his mind, shots were fired, and it's a standoff. Confusion is our friend. We k** Luke and Misty, suddenly, we're the heroes who stopped the Harlem Menace. For all they know, he k**ed her. With them dead, we control the story. SHADES: That's your plan? That's it? STRYKER: The bigger the stall, the more time we have for other diversions. Misty will be dead, I'll have another shot at Cage, and there's bound to be another way out of here. We'll cross that bridge soon enough. SHADES: Okay. How do we hold them off right now? STRYKER: I'm gonna be Luke Cage. OPENING THEME THE KITCHENS AT HARLEM'S PARADISE MISTY: Luke, I'm cold. LUKE: I think you nicked an artery. MISTY: What? LUKE: That's why it's bleeding so fast. And I ain't gonna lie, Misty. You're not gonna like this. MISTY: What do you mean? Luke grabs her finger and shoves it into her bullet wound. LUKE: Hold that. MISTY: We should just go out the back. LUKE: They've already secured it. MISTY: How do you know? LUKE: It's what I would do. The only way he can win at this point is if he can control who comes in and who leaves. Either way, I gotta get you someplace safe. Luke opens a trap door in the floor. MISTY: What the hell? LUKE: Lucky Luciano used to own this building. It still has a lot of Prohibition nooks and crannies. IN THE MAIN CLUB Minions are terrorizing the hostages. SUGAR: Sit down! Turn around. Face the wall. Stryker and shades pa** through, walking with purpose. BACK IN THE KITCHENS Luke is carrying Misty down the little stairs to the hidden basement. MISTY: Who's helping me? Hmm? Luke Cage? Or Carl Lucas? Who is Willis Stryker? LUKE: His street name is Diamondback. He was the hardware connect for Cottonmouth that you were looking for. He's also my half-brother. A BACK HALLWAY Zip brings Stryker a gun with a few huge rounds. ZIP: Here's the key you asked for, boss man. SHADES: What're you doing? Meanwhile, Luke and Misty are closing themselves in the basement. STRYKER: I love this part. SHADES: What? STRYKER: When the panties drop. He fires one of those rounds and it makes a huge explosion. Luke and Misty had only just closed the hatch behind them. The whole building rumbles. MISTY: Your family is jacked up. OUTSIDE HARLEM'S PARADISE There are police, reporters, and bystanders everywhere. As Thembi makes her broadcast we see Ridley and her team in a tactical van THEMBI: It's chaos out here, Pat. Several people are injured, mostly from the stampede to escape the club, but a few have gunshot wounds. Councilwoman Mariah Dillard was whisked away by her security and most of the injured protesters have been rushed to the hospital. Less than an hour after an anti-Luke Cage rally began, Luke Cage himself entered the event. According to protesters and a confidential NYPD source, shots rang out after veteran Harlem police Detective Mercedes Knight attempted to arrest Cage, the dangerous fugitive who attacked two police officers on a widely seen dashcam video. And moments ago, we heard the sound of what we believe is... RIDLEY: I wanna know if the explosion came from the inside. Find out what you can right away. And somebody get me Misty Knight! THEMBI: ESU has just arrived. ESU goes in to Ridley. ESU GUY: We're going tactical in five minutes. RIDLEY: No, you're not. Stand down. ESU GUY: We're going in. We got an active shooter and a hostage situation. RIDLEY: They haven't asked for anything and one of ours is in there. We need to be careful. This whole thing goes through me. CHANG: Inspector, it's the chief. RIDLEY: Yes, sir... THE RUINS OF THE KITCHEN, HARLEM'S PARADISE Stryker, Shades, and Zip are searching the bombed-out kitchen for Luke, and there's nothing to be found. ZIP: No way he went out the back. STRYKER: Scour this whole place. Every inch. Even if it's obvious. SHADES: We are making way too much noise. They're gonna bust in that door any minute. It's getting messy. STRYKER: Why are you so shook? SHADES: 'Cause I'm clearheaded. STRYKER: And I'm not? Look, I'm spitting off the dome, it's true, but I haven't had a misplaced rhyme yet. Violence breaks out at an anti-Luke Cage rally when Luke Cage shows up? Come on, this sh** is poetry. SHADES: Is he worth it? STRYKER: Absolutely. Did you talk to Mariah? SHADES: She's on it. STRYKER: Good. They're scared of Cage now. They're afraid people will die. She'll use that to close the deal. Hmm? OUTSIDE, IN THE VAN CHANG: We got a call. RIDLEY: Is it her? CHANG: No. It's from inside. A landline. RIDLEY: This is Inspector Priscilla Ridley from the NYPD. Who am I speaking with? We see Boone inside the office at Harlem's Paradise. Stryker is holding a gun to his head. BOONE: This is Damon Boone. I've been instructed to tell you to stay away. Luke Cage has taken us hostage and he warns that he'll start k**ing people if the police approach. RIDLEY: What does he want? BOONE: He's... Stryker takes the phone away and hangs it up. STRYKER: Unpredictability gives us leverage. BOONE: All you're doing is scaring them. Let me help you. What do you want? STRYKER: Reciprocity. BOONE: No one in the department is going to bow to terrorism. STRYKER: Oh, I'm counting on that. IN THE HIDDEN BASEMENT Luke is tearing up strips of something. MISTY: Is that even clean? LUKE: Clean enough for a tourniquet. MISTY: Who were you, a Boy Scout? LUKE: Force Recon. MISTY: They had to hear that blast outside. I should call Ridley. Misty takes out her phone. The screen is smashed but it flickers on. MISTY: Oh, sh**. Outside, Ridley's phone buzzes. RIDLEY: Misty? MISTY (over the phone, distorted): Inspector? Inspector? RIDLEY: Misty. Misty. MISTY: Inspector...(to Luke) Do you have your phone? LUKE: I lost mine a long time ago. MISTY: sh**! Look, you gotta go upstairs, okay? Those people, they need you. LUKE: I can't leave you. You'll bleed out. You'll die. I need to get you stabilized. Then I'll think of some way to help Claire and everybody else up there. MISTY: You can't negotiate with him. LUKE: I won't. MISTY: I don't wanna...I don't wanna bleed to d**h on the floor, like Scarfe. LUKE: Not on my watch. IN THE OFFICE UPSTAIRS STRYKER: I think you deserve a drink, Councilman. BOONE: I don't drink. STRYKER: Yes, you do...Ah, nothing like an aged Scotch. You know there was a time you'd cross a Scotsman and he wouldn't think twice about cutting your head off with a sword. I like a drink that encourages such decisiveness. BOONE: I can help you negotiate even more. I can speak for you. Get you what you want. STRYKER: You read the Bible, Damon? BOONE: Sometimes. When nothing else makes sense. STRYKER: I read that every day. Gift from my father to my mother. My mother left it to me after she pa**ed. Please. Go ahead. Boone flips through a few pages. It's obsessively annotated. IN THE MAIN AREA, WITH THE HOSTAGES Claire is sitting near Candace, who is gasping with pain. CLAIRE: Hey. What's hurting? CANDACE: I messed up my ankle real bad. Claire gets up to help her. SUGAR: Hey! Sit your fine a** down. CLAIRE: She hurt her leg. It could be broken. SUGAR: So? CLAIRE: She's my best friend, and I'm a nurse. Don't you have enough to worry about? SUGAR: True. Just do it quick. CLAIRE: Don't help, okay? I'll do all the work. I'm gonna take your boot off...I see. Move your leg like this. Your toes? Yeah, I don't think it's a break. But it's a pretty bad sprain. Were you protesting? CANDACE: I'm a VIP hostess. And you? CLAIRE: Um...I was helping a friend. ZIP: This is some bullsh**. SUGAR: You got Luke Cage? ZIP: Please. That n***a's on that bulletproof Houdini sh** for real. They're trying to speak privately, but Claire can hear them. SUGAR: What about downstairs? There's no way downstairs from the kitchen. CANDACE: Is your friend Luke Cage? CLAIRE: Do you know him? CANDACE: Hard to forget. He used to work here. This whole thing is my fault. CLAIRE: Hey...what's happening? What's wrong? CANDACE: I did something really bad. CLAIRE: Hey. SUGAR: What's wrong with her? CLAIRE: She's in a lot of pain. Sugar walks away again. They speak even more quietly. CLAIRE: Tell me. CANDACE: I was so scared. They paid me to say I saw Luke k** Cottonmouth. CLAIRE: Who's they? CANDACE: Mariah Dillard. CLAIRE: You wanna help Luke? Then you tell me how he could have disappeared from that kitchen that no one could've escaped from. CANDACE: This is a prewar Prohibition building. There's a storage space underneath. Employees used to go down there to fool around or sleep between shifts when we had to prep a big event. CLAIRE: So it's downstairs in the basement? Where? CANDACE: By the staff lockers. CLAIRE: Would anybody else know about that? CANDACE: Not unless they worked in the kitchen. I'm the only person from the waitstaff here...except Luke. The only way in or out of that storage room is through the kitchen. CLAIRE: Luke can make another door. Okay, I'm gonna need you to pa** out. CANDACE: What? CLAIRE: I need you to pa** out. I'm gonna get us out of this. Candace goes limp and Claire kicked up a fuss. CLAIRE: Oh Oh, my God! Help us! SUGAR: What now? CLAIRE: She's diabetic. SUGAR: Where's her sh**? CLAIRE: Uh, it must be in, uh, the staff locker downstairs. SUGAR: Yo, Lopes. Escort the night nurse here downstairs. CLAIRE: Thank you. Will you look after her? I'll be right back, okay? NEAR THE STAFF LOCKERS CLAIRE: Just down here. Just hurry up. Claire hurries along with Lopes behind her until they're on the stairs to the staff lockers. She clocks Lopes in the back of the head and he falls down the rest of the stairs. She throws his gun away and checks his pulse. CLAIRE: You'll live. She keeps on running. IN THE SECRET BASEMENT Misty is drifting. Luke offers her a bottle of water. LUKE: Hey. MISTY: So, what does this brother of yours want, anyway? LUKE: Revenge. He framed me. He sent me to Seagate. MISTY: He's trying to pin this whole hostage thing on you. Did he set you up for Cottonmouth's murder, too? LUKE: I wouldn't put it past him. You're the only one that knows the truth. I'll need your help when we get out of this. MISTY: You'll have it. OUTSIDE HARLEM'S PARADISE A shiny car rolls up, and Blake Tower climbs out of it. ESU GUY: We need to go in. RIDLEY: Not until we have a plan. Cage is super strong and bulletproof. ESU GUY: The longer we sit, the more entrenched this lunatic gets. RIDLEY: We've had exactly one conversation with a hostage, Damon Boone, the politician, and we got cut off. Now, I am with you on going in, but we need a plan. We've never faced anything like this before. TOWER: Inspector Ridley? Blake Tower, DA's Office. RIDLEY: Mr. Tower. What's going on? TOWER: You tell me. We've been closely following Cage's activities. The mayor would like me to help coordinate. RIDLEY: The situation is coordinated. TOWER: Really? We're on the same side. And I'd like to guide you as how best to achieve an outcome that's beneficial to all parties. RIDLEY: Yeah, the most beneficial outcome is for me to get those hostages and my detective out alive, and Luke Cage in cuffs. None of which you can give me. CHANG: Inspector? RIDLEY: Yeah. We have independent confirmation that the explosion came from inside. ESU GUY: Now can we go in? RIDLEY: We wait. TOWER: What if he just shoots all those people dead? RIDLEY: That is not Cage's MO. Every encounter we've ever had with him, he's never used a gun. He doesn't have to. ESU GUY: Well, he's using one now, isn't he? TOWER: Well, I saw that dashcam video. He can take out your whole team in mere seconds and not get a scratch. ESU GUY: I agree. In order to engage this a**hole, we need to bring the heat. You got any ideas Mister, uh, ADA? TOWER: Look, the mayor is in a closed-door session discussing enhanced weapons for law enforcement. RIDLEY: With who? TOWER: Mariah Dillard. THE SECRET BASEMENT Luke is working on Misty's tourniquet. MISTY: What's wrong? LUKE: It needs to be tighter. Brace yourself. One... He tightens it suddenly. LUKE: I feel like getting my Crispus Attucks on up there. MISTY: Mmm, you gotta be smart about this. There are too many innocent people up there who could end up dead. LUKE: I might not have a choice. MISTY: I had a choice. I should have trusted you. LUKE: I know. MISTY: You didn't make it easy. Don't go doing anything stupid. LUKE: Like what? MISTY: Be a hero. LUKE: I'm not the hero type. MISTY: Are you sure? Looks to me like that's what you've always been. There is a faint tapping sound. MISTY: You hear that? Luke follows the sound. Across the wall we see Claire hitting the walls with a wrench. She keeps tapping until suddenly Luke's fist breaks through the wall. LUKE: Why the hell didn't you leave the club? CLAIRE: When have I ever done as I was told? LUKE: Misty! Misty! OUTSIDE HARLEM'S PARADISE RIDLEY (on the phone): Yes, sir. Absolutely. TOWER: What's going on? RIDLEY: We might have something to take Luke Cage out. An experimental weapon that's never been authorized before. Someone's pulling strings. Is that you? TOWER: No. RIDLEY: Then it's Mariah Dillard. Did you put her in touch with someone? CHANG: It's Boone again. RIDLEY: Mr. Boone. Are you okay? Stryker has Boone at gunpoint again. He's dictating all of Boone's responses. BOONE: Luke Cage would like to give you his demands. RIDLEY (over the phone): We're listening. BOONE: He wants a chopper on the roof. As a sign of goodwill, Mr. Cage is willing to let half the hostages go at the end of this call. Me and a few others will remain to ensure his escape. RIDLEY: We will get right on that. Is Detective Knight still alive? BOONE: Yes. Yes, she is. RIDLEY: We will need proof of life before we proceed. STRYKER (mouthing): No. BOONE: He's saying you're not in a position to make demands. RIDLEY: Well, then we have a problem. BOONE: He says a few hostages will be coming out now. TOWER: He's stalling. RIDLEY: I know what he's doing. He could just want a way out. TOWER: We should keep on stalling him until the new weapons show up. RIDLEY: I take my orders from the chief. What's really going on here? TOWER: Do I want us to use a weapon that can take out a man that's bulletproof? Absolutely not. RIDLEY: I don't understand. TOWER: Look, any weapon that the police or military has eventually ends up on the street. You know it's dangerous to even show that kind of power. Hey, but I don't see we got much of a choice. I don't trust Mariah Dillard. RIDLEY: Yeah, I don't either. But she has juice with people way above our paygrade. TOWER: I just don't want this to turn into the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Frank Castle shot the city to hell, and he only had regular bullets. Now imagine what he or somebody like him can do with these things. RIDLEY: Yeah, I hear you. Who is the one person you don't see here? TOWER: A chief. RIDLEY: And what does that tell you? He wants distance. Deniability. If this goes wrong, the blood is on my hands, and mine alone. CHANG: Inspector. There's movement at the door. Some hostages start to leave the building. OFFICER: Eyes up. He's coming out. OFFICER: Hold fire. OFFICER: Hands! Hands! OFFICERS: Put your hands in the air! Step forward. Come on, let's go! Let's go! Move it, come on! That's right. This way! Go, go! We're clear. Get them out of here. Come on. Follow me. IN THE SECRET BASEMENT There's a woozy POV shot of Claire. Misty is fading. Cut to a more objective camera. CLAIRE: Well, it went clean through. You've lost a lot of blood. LUKE: I handled the situation the best I could under the circumstances, Claire. CLAIRE: Yeah, you're lucky she didn't lose her arm. That is way too close to the wound. Me, medical sh**. You, bulletproof sh**. MISTY: Y'all sound married. That's good. CLAIRE: I'm gonna get some stuff. THE OFFICE STRYKER: Oh, my mama loved blue-eyed soul. ["Son of a Preacher Man" playing.] Stryker shows Boone a photo of his mother. STRYKER I wish you could have met Dana, my mother. BOONE: She's beautiful. STRYKER: Yes. She was a secretary for a big-time preacher. A bold, charismatic man who loved to talk loud and dress fancy. BOONE: Like you. STRYKER: Exactly. They worked long, stressful hours and, well, they had a lot of laughter in that back office. Something was bound to happen and it did. I was born. But he was married. And everything was good until the preacher's wife, two years later, had a baby boy. A miracle child. And everything changed. The great Reverend Lucas wasn't man enough to give his first son his last name. You see, I was still Willis Stryker. But his real son was Carl Lucas. But here's the crazy thing: nobody said nothing. And Carl and I we grew up best friends, but there was all this tension. You could just feel it like a draft coming in from under a door. I just wanted him to see me. I was a good boy. I did well in school. But he always loved Carl more. IN FRONT OF HARLEM'S PARADISE CHANG: Inspector? A word? RIDLEY: I'll be right back. CHANG: Some of the hostages' statements are not matching up. Most are saying that they saw people inside shooting at Cage, not the other way around. We might have this all wrong. RIDLEY: We might. We'll have time to get to the bottom of what's going on later. But right now, we need to get control of this situation, and we are not in control yet. IN THE BAR MINION: You! Stop looking around! SHADES: The first of the hostages are gone. STRYKER: Good. SHADES: You're not worried about what they're gonna say? STRYKER: By the time anyone figures out the truth, Harlem's Menace will be dead or I will. I ain't testifying. Are you? SHADES:Why would I? Would you really want me to confirm that you had no plan? Think about how stupid that would make both of us look. STRYKER: Have you forgotten who you're talking to? SHADES: Have you? What about the helicopter? STRYKER: Please. There's no way they'll agree to that. SHADES: I know. Sugar comes in. STRYKER: What happened? SUGAR: Lopes got pushed down the stairs. SHADES: What? SUGAR: One of the hostages pa**ed out, and another one went to go get her medication. SHADES: Which hostage? SUGAR: The waitress from VIP. The West Indian-lookin' chick. SHADES: Candace. God...Did you find the other one? SUGAR: No. SHADES: Diamondback and I aren't finished speaking, Sugar. So I'm gonna need y'all to fall back. SUGAR: My bad. STRYKER: What? SHADES: Candace is the one that Mariah used to pin Cottonmouth's murder on Luke Cage. The other one... STRYKER: Is probably the one who stabbed me at the clinic. Damn it. I knew she looked familiar. She probably came in with Cage. SHADES: Candace knows what Cage looks like. The other chick with him, if she escapes? STRYKER: Either one of them could blow our cover story. SHADES: They all got to go. STRYKER: Take care of it then. You and me, we get out of this we're gonna have a long talk. Best believe that. SHADES: Let's go. Downstairs. Stryker goes into the office and presses the PA bu*ton on the desk phone. STRYKER: Carl, Carl, Carl. Here you go again. Bobbing and weaving because you're too scared to take a hit. It's just like I taught you in the ring. No matter how much you duck, eventually, you're gonna have to knuck and buck. If you don't surrender yourself and Misty Knight I'm gonna k** a hostage every ten minutes...starting with Damon Boone. LUKE: He's not bluffing. I gotta take him out. MISTY: You're walking into a trap. You know that. LUKE: I'm counting on it. MISTY: You don't always have to fight to win. Look, if things go south, we are surrounded by cops. I'll make sure that they know you're innocent. They'll know the truth, I promise. Don't go dying on me, Misty. CLAIRE: Not on my watch. MISTY: Hmm. That's usually his line. CLAIRE: They used that waitress, Candace, to frame you. MISTY: Lyin' a**. Where is she? CLAIRE: Upstairs with the others. Hey. What if he has more of those special bullets? LUKE: That's a chance I'll have to take. If I don't walk away from this, you need to lay in the cut until you hear from me, Bobby Fish or Misty. No one else. CLAIRE: You know how well I follow orders. LUKE: I'm serious. Willis plays for keeps especially with people I care about the most. Promise me. CLAIRE: I will. LUKE: You have a place in mind? CLAIRE: Yeah. Be careful. LUKE: Always. CLAIRE: You're so corny. Luke leaves. Claire unknots the towel around Misty's arm and repositions it. CLAIRE: Keep that right there, okay? Arm turned up. Suddenly she pours a bunch of liquor into the wound. MISTY: sh**! CLAIRE: Shh! MISTY: You could've warned me. CLAIRE: Yeah, I could've. MISTY: Talk me through what you're about to do. CLAIRE: Okay. I am gonna use this dental floss to tie off your...hosing vein. MISTY: I think I'm gonna throw up. CLAIRE:There. This is gonna cut the blood supply to your hand and your forearm. The longer this stays in the higher the chances of losing your arm. MISTY: Look, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have lost my cool with you. CLAIRE: Ah, you can't be to blame with this kind of crazy. MISTY: Well, you're in pretty deep. CLAIRE: Yeah, well, trouble stalks me like a crazy ex-boyfriend. MISTY: I hear you. You and Luke go out for coffee yet? CLAIRE: Uh, we haven't had time....He doesn't like coffee. MISTY: I know. CLAIRE: All done. MISTY: Damn, you're good. CLAIRE: You're good at your job, I'm good at mine. IN THE OFFICE Stryker is on the phone. MAN (on the phone): Mariah talked to the mayor. The guns are a go. Good luck, brother. STRYKER: Councilwoman Dillard never ceases to amaze me. Pressure brings the best out of certain people. Stryker turns the PA back on. STRYKER: So where was I? Together we were bold. We stole a red Corvette, just like the song just for a joyride. You see, I was a Prince fan, and Carl was all about Michael. We were so busy arguing, we didn't even see the cop. But Carl was a Lucas. I was a Stryker. It was over before it even began. This monologue is cut with footage of Luke prowling the halls, taking out minions as he goes. STRYKER: When it came time for sentencing, the preacher convinced the judge to let his golden boy join the Marines. Me? Juvie. Got jumped two days in. Boy drew a shank and...I k**ed him in self-defense. So I got sent away to hard time. And sweet Dana? Oh, her cancer ate her alive and she died alone in a shelter without a friend in the world. You see, the good Reverend Lucas well, he stopped caring for her after I was gone. He was free of her and I was powerless. But she, oh, she still loved him and well, she wanted me to have something of my father's. God had me at hello with Genesis. The story of Cain and Abel. When God asked Cain where Abel was after he k**ed him Cain asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?" See I thought that was some cool sh** Wesley Snipes made up in New Jack City. Turns out it's real. So after I k** Luke Cage I'm gonna stand over him and say, "Yes, I am." Stryker takes out his power glove and powers it up. BOONE: Why are you telling me all this? - STRYKER: Because you're about to meet my mother, Damon. Tell her I love her. Stryker k**s Boone with the power glove. Downstairs, Luke hears it and smashes a nearby wall in his rage. STRYKER (over PA): Shades, show Councilman Boone to the door. OUTSIDE HARLEM'S PARADISE Boone's body appears at the door. The cops think he's still alive. OFFICERS: Door! Put your hands in the air! The body drops to the ground and the door closes. They rush to get Boone a stretcher. ESU GUY: He's dead. Chest is caved in. RIDLEY: Move in now. THEMBI (on TV): It has been confirmed that the body thrown from the entrance was indeed Harlem's own, Damon Boone. At this time, we still have no clear idea what Luke Cage wants. IN THE RUINED KITCHENS Shades is washing his hands. He shifts his feet and hears creaking. He's standing right on top of the trapdoor. He finds the seam and pulls it open. Meanwhile, Luke finds the power source to the building and rips it out, plunging the club into darkness. Stryker grabs his gun as the emergency lights power on. Shades goes down the stairs and finds Misty, standing up shakily. He looks around and sees the hole in the wall. SHADES: I see Luke Cage was here. He attacks Misty, who holds her own despite her injury. Claire attacks him from behind, swinging a heavy wrench. The three of them fight for a while until Claire manages to throw him headfirst against a pipe. Misty handcuffs him. MISTY: You got sk**s. CLAIRE: Likewise. MISTY: My father. CLAIRE: My uncle. OUTSIDE HARLEM'S PARADISE The ESU guy is distributing new guns to his men, presumably bearing Judas bullets. RIDLEY: I hope they know what they're authorizing. TOWER: Our main focus should be freeing the hostages. They shouldn't shoot unless absolutely necessary. ESU GUY: My men know the job. Stop meddling and let us get to work. RIDLEY: Hey. Luke Cage might not be behind this. ESU GUY: I'll ask him when I see him. INSIDE THE DARKENED BAR SUGAR: Nobody move. I ain't playing. Luke sneaks up behind Sugar and cuffs him in the back of he head, knocking him unconscious. LUKE (to the hostages): This way. Wave this. Keep your hands raised. STRYKER: Hey, Carl. What's happening, brother? Stryker is holding Candace just at the edge of the balcony. THEMBI: We have what looks like more hostages being released. And ESU Officers are approaching the building entrance to allegedly confront Luke Cage. LUKE: Let her go. STRYKER: Oh, we'll get to that. LUKE: Couldn't we have made amends a long time ago? STRYKER: Couldn't you have died during childbirth? Easy there. LUKE: I was sorry to hear about Dana. I always liked her. STRYKER: I couldn't stand Etta. What a b**h! ESU officers are shouting from outside. ESU: We have lethal rounds, Cage. We will use them. STRYKER: Gotta go. With that hostage you k**ed, they're gonna shoot first and ask questions later. Mariah supplied the force with some Judas 2.0s, so they won't bounce off of you. They'll stick. You gonna run, Miracle Whip? Or you gonna save the damsel? LUKE: Willis. STRYKER: Bye, Carl. Bye, Felicia. Stryker pushes Candace off of the balcony. Luke runs to catch her. Stryker shoots after him as Luke runs to get Candace to safety. The Judas round explodes a chair. ESU goes in. CANDACE: I'm sorry, Luke. ESU surrounds them. OFFICERS: Move in! We have visual. Hands in the air! You heard him. Don't move. Stryker is trying to escape. He rounds a corner just as Zip opens a door. Stryker points his pistol at him. ZIP: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. STRYKER: What are you doing? ZIP: You want to get out of here, right? STRYKER: Yeah. ZIP: Okay. This way. This way. OFFICER: I said in the air, now! Luke puts his hands up STRYKER: Hey, you got a ride? ZIP: Cottonmouth had three. RIDLEY: It worked. They got him. Didn't even have to fire. TOWER: That's all that matters. Those weapons are a game changer. Hope we never have to use them. MISTY: Inspector. Misty is on a stretcher. RIDLEY: Are you okay? MISTY: Listen, Luke Cage is innocent. What you think you saw is not what happened. RIDLEY: Why don't you focus on getting fixed up? Let us clean up this mess. MISTY: This mess is Willis Stryker's doing. He's the one who shot me. Listen, his name is Diamondback. RIDLEY: I believe you, Misty. There are dozens of other people to talk to. And Luke is still wanted for Albini's murder, Cottonmouth's murder, and attacking those cops. MISTY: You are not listening to me. Luke Cage is innocent of everything. RIDLEY: And after we have him in custody, we'll verify it. Look I trust you. I do. But we have to verify. MISTY: The only thing that matters is the truth. Ridley walks away. PARAMEDIC:: We got you, Detective. Let me look at your arm. MISTY: Listen, whatever you need to do, you need to do it right here. Okay? I'm not going anywhere. Not yet. Zip and Stryker slip out a side door. STRYKER: Let's go. ESU drags Shades stumbling out of Harlem's Paradise. He drops his sungla**es. Claire smashes them under her boot. Zip and Stryker jump into a car and drive away. ESU leads Luke out. THE CROWD: Yo! That's Luke Cage! Check him out, man! That's him! Yo, B! There go Luke! We know you innocent, Luke! Luke makes eye contact with the anguished Claire. He gestures for her to go and she walks away.