"One, two." "One, two, three." "Hey, switch it up." "See that shit coming from a mile away." " Stop cursing at me." " Oh, now you sound like your old man." "Don't start with that "sweet Christmas" shit." "Give me four!" "Let's go!" "Harder!" "Where's your offense?" "This ain't patty-cake!" "Yeah!" "Yeah, that's that shit." "Give me five and an uppercut." "Let's go!" "Keep it going, keep it going." "Should've stuck to football, huh?" "Time!" "Why are you doing this, Carl?" "'Cause some fool smacked you up in front of a bowling alley?" "You're gonna get yourself killed." "Uh-uh." "I'mma get this dude, Willis." "It's about respect." "We're city champs, Carl." "My arm, your legs." "Got nothin' to prove, all right?" "You're runnin' around here acting stupid, man." " Get yourself hurt." " You wouldn't understand." "I can't let it slide." "I'm a Lucas." "Daddy ain't signing off on this." "You're alone." " I still got you in my corner?" " Always." "Then I'm not alone." "I'm ready." "You ain't ready, Carl." "Surprise, Carl." "This suit's Hammer tech, made just for you." "You still ain't ready." "Hey!" "NYPD." "Back!" "Back!" "Shit." "Where's my phone?" "Yo, Farley, bring the camera." "The 4K one." "Luke Cage is going at it." "You still hit like a bitch." " The folder." " You don't have it?" "It's back there." "Don't sweat it." "I have another play." "Alex..." "Luke Cage is up on Malcolm X Boulevard." "Call Thembi Wallace." "Don't ask why." "Just do it." "Tell her I'm out here." " Where you going?" " Misty's gonna arrest me." "There's no way around it." "But I can still spin this." "You have to let go of the past before I really have to hurt you." "Negro, please." "That's all you got?" "Where's your offense?" "Keep it coming, Carl." "You reap what you sow." "As the situation continues to unfold here on Malcolm X Boulevard..." "I know you want to be out there." "Luke told you to stay here." "He has a reason, and I agree with him." "I know you both worry about me." "None of your business." "Your eyes sparkle when you talk about Luke... what he brings out in you." "He's alone." "Not that many people have his back." "He needs me." "What?" "What happened?" "Luke and Diamondback are... doing what they do." "I'm getting back out there." "I..." "I wanna help." "Uh, you can bring down Mariah with what you know." "You are helping." "Just wait for Misty, stay strong, and stay ready." "I've never been good at standing up for myself." "Neither was I... until it counted." "You're even stronger than you know." "Never doubt that." "Careful." "Always." "Come on, Luke." "Don't forget to breathe, Carl." "Exhale on every punch." "No breath, no oxygen." "No oxygen, no energy." "No energy, no victory." "You lose." "Come on, guys." "Back up!" "Come on, now!" "Get on back in!" "Let's go." "Keep rolling." "Kick his ass, Cage!" "Oh!" "Where you going, Carl?" "I'mma whoop your ass up and down the block." "Come on, Luke!" "Hold him back, man!" "Yeah, come on." "Where you going, Carl?" " Come on, Luke!" " You can get him, Luke!" "James never loved Etta." "He was gonna leave your mother for mine." "Wait, wait, wait." "Yo, the dude's talking about your moms, Luke?" "You reppin' Harlem, you better put it on him, son." "I'll take being a bastard over being a mistake any day of the week." "Now the whole world gets to watch you fall." "White, Thomas... spread out." "As soon as you have a clear shot, take it on my command." " Yes, sir." " Mario, what the hell are you doing?" "Finish him off, Luke!" "Come on, Luke!" "You can get him!" "Cage, you da man!" "Hey, Luke!" "Show him who's boss!" "Who is this man?" "Did he sweep Pop's Barber Shop, or is he former-cop-turned-criminal, Carl Lucas, who I heard escaped from Seagate Prison?" "I don't know." "I mean, look at these super freaks." "This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of Harlem." "You got this, Luke." "Throw it back at him." "Come on, Luke." "Get him." "Kick his ass!" "Yeah!" "Kick his ass, Luke!" "Kick his ass!" "Yeah, do it!" "Break that shit!" "That's what I'm talkin' about!" "Roll, roll, roll." "Ma'am, please step back." "Claire." "Look, you gotta stay back." "I gotta contain you and everybody else, too." "You don't believe he can win?" "Of course Luke can win." "I'm done, Willis." "I'm not doing this anymore." "You ain't done." "Not till one of us is dead." "You're more like Dad than you think." "When I got shipped to Seagate... he called me a mistake, too." "I'm not paying for his sins anymore." "And neither should you." "You want me dead?" "Then kill me." "Do it!" "You ain't ready." "Throw in the jab!" "Move!" "Keep moving, keep moving!" "Take the hits!" "Take the hits!" "Let him get tired!" "Save him." "No." "You can take it." "Keep breathing, keep breathing!" "Let him get tired." "He ain't got shit to come back with." "Come on, son!" "You can do it!" " Come on, Luke." " Don't give up, Luke!" "Luke, come on, man!" "You got it, Luke!" "Remember who you are." "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "You're right." "You reap what you sow." "Let's go!" "Put it on him!" "Put it on him!" "Am I my brother's keeper?" "No, I'm not." "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "Luke!" "On the ground, now!" "We got Judas bullets, Cage." "Lieutenant, stand down." "I got you." "Councilwoman Dillard..." "What?" "You are under arrest for the murder of Cornell Stokes." " You goin' down." " Do the perp walk." " You are going down." " Take her out of here." "Mmm, mmm, mmm." "Oh, come on." "You're not even gonna try to move?" "Not even a lil' bit?" "Take his tired... broken... false-preachin' ass on out of here." "I should be healed up in a couple of hours, right?" "Sooner than that, Power Man." "Nah, B." "Brother deserves discretion." "How did you know... that you could do that?" "The more I hit him... the more he dished out." "So I stopped feeding him hate." "What if it didn't work?" "Well, sometimes you gotta throw out the science and... go for what you know." "You heard me say that?" "I hear everything you say." "Even when you don't speak..." "Still hear it." "Luke Cage!" "Thanks for keeping Harlem safe, baby." "I'm sorry, Luke." "I'm gonna need to bring you in." "I need a statement." "I'm done running." "How many of these you own, brother?" "Looks like this place don't wanna be a barber shop anymore." "Maybe not." "But whatever it is, it's gonna be famous." "People are gonna be talking about what went down here for years." "You ready?" "You know how I feel about cop shops." "Well... if it's any comfort, you'll have a front-row seat when I nail Mariah's ass to the wall." "How's Candace?" "Safe and secure at my mom's place." " Promise." " Good." "All these people were talking bad about Luke Cage." "But they didn't stop for one minute to look at the good he had done." "Cleaning up Crispus Attucks by himself, lookin' out for people..." "Most of these guys wear spandex." "Who would have thought a black man in a hoodie would be a hero?" "It's been an extraordinary night here in Harlem." "See?" "I'm not the type of person who wants always to say, "I am right."" " But..." " I'm glad you're right." "There he is." "There's Luke." "Hey, back it off." "Back!" "Mr. Cage, how does it feel to be a hero?" "I'm no hero." "I'm a regular guy, just trying to live life on his own terms, one day at a time." "Are you single?" "Do you have anything to say to Councilwoman Dillard?" "Have you received any medical treatment?" "How does it feel to be vindicated?" "You can take a seat." "Mr. Cage." "My name is Inspector Priscilla Ridley." "You realize there is a warrant still out for your arrest." "I do." "I came here to clear things up." "I haven't done any of the things that I've been charged with." "Even the dash cam video that everyone's talking about?" "I'd like to provide some context." "Would you like an attorney?" "I know a really good one." "I'm not guilty of anything." "I'll speak for myself." " Interrogation One?" " No." "As far as I'm concerned, he's no longer a suspect." "And we both know if he doesn't wanna be, he'll walk." "Procedure says he should be in a room." "He won't go for a room." "Look, we can do it right here, right now." "It's fine." "What about your sororal?" "You gonna let her just skee-wee on out of here again?" "Actually, it's "ooh-woop..."" "and no, she's not going anywhere, but... we are showing her every courtesy the NYPD extends... very slowly." "I want my goddamn phone call!" "Okay, Mama." "All right." "Hmm." "This ends here." "You got it?" "I already said you don't need to be here." "I'm fine where I am." "If Claire leaves, I leave." "So be it." "I'm not being redundant." "I'm just being thorough." "Luke is innocent." "Claire, I got this." "I'm good." "I know you do." "It's just frustrating." "Officer Albini in the park?" "I wasn't even in the state." "Claire and I went to Georgia." "What were you doing in Georgia?" "Unfinished business." "You said no more secrets." "You don't have any scars." "The doctor who did this to me... with Claire's help, did it again, and I got better." "The officer in the park?" "Damon Boone?" "Just match the fist prints from the suit and gloves that Stryker was wearing." "All of that was Stryker." "Why didn't you just come to me?" "I didn't know you." "I stayed out of it." "Until you were right in the center of it." "They killed Pop." "They did." "I couldn't just lay in the cut anymore." "Pop knew about my abilities." "So I put them to good use." "I shut down Crispus Attucks personally." "That wasn't your job." "People needed someone that didn't require a warrant or shield to get things done." "Call it a vigilante, or a superhero..." "Call it what you will, but... like it or not," "I finally accepted that that someone had to be me." "Maybe I could've helped you." "This burden is bigger than you." "Or me." "People are scared... but they can't be paralyzed by that fear." "You have to fight for what's right every single day, bulletproof skin or not." "You can't just not snitch, or turn away or take money under the table because life has turned you sour." "When did people stop caring?" "Harlem is supposed to represent our hopes and dreams." "It's the pinnacle of black art... politics... innovation." "It's supposed to be a shining light to the world." "It's our responsibility to push forward, so that the next generation will be further along than us." "Pop said his mantra aloud twice a day." "The kids in the shop were pissed... but they could never unhear it." ""Never backwards..."" "Always... forward." ""Forward..."" ""Always."" "You forget I grew up around the man." "I wish I could've met him." "In a way, you have." "Well, hello!" "Doesn't everybody have work to do?" "Is Mariah still in there?" "Yeah." "Well, now that I'm no longer a suspect... you guys got any take-out menus?" "I'm starving." "You know, I kept telling Cornell it was enough." "He had enough money to keep Harlem's Paradise flush." "Even for opening another club downtown... like our grandmother always talked about." "He had the talent to make it big." "But there was always another deal, another detail." "And then this... this guy, Diamond Jim." "Diamondback." "Yes, Diamondback." "Cornell said that he was his direct contact, whatever that means." "And he was pissed off when those guns were stolen." "You know, in that... that thing that your Detective Scarfe got caught up in?" "There were a lot of dirty hands." "Not Cornell's." " He didn't have the guns." " Oh, yes, he did." "That's why Detective Scarfe got shot." "Detective Scarfe stole them from evidence and then gave them back to Cornell." "I don't know any details." "I just know that Cornell was scared and he wanted out." "And the night when I came into the club, that big brother that was fighting Luke Cage up on Malcolm X..." ""Hey," I screamed, and he... he pulled a gun on me and said that... if I didn't say it was Luke Cage, he was gonna kill me." "He said Luke Cage?" " That it had to be Luke Cage?" " Yes." "He was firm about that." "Luke Cage." "Yes!" " And Candace Miller?" " Oh, God." "Candace." "She tried to protect me, but she didn't have to." "I feel terrible... that a decent man's name has been maligned, but I will do whatever I need to to rectify that." "I will." "You are absolutely goddamn right you will." "Start by telling the truth." "I am not a liar, Detective." "Mmm." "According to the lab..." "Cottonmouth was struck in the back of the head by a heavy, circular object... probably consistent with a bottle, before he was pushed." "How do we know he was pushed, Detective?" "The angle." "No!" "No!" "No!" "I did not want it!" "No!" "Cottonmouth landed on his back, turned over, and then crawled." "You shut up!" "No!" "No, I didn't want it!" "Judging by the wounds on his hands, he probably was pleading for his life when he was smashed by a heavy, circular base." "Now, the coroner thought it was maybe a heavy waste basket." "But my vote... it was a mic stand." "I went through Harlem's Paradise inventory records with the stage manager, and it turns out... there was a mic stand that was unaccounted for." "I've been around the music business my whole life." "Equipment goes missing." "You can't trust niggas around equipment." "Cottonmouth was weakened." "It wouldn't take a man to kill him in that state, just somebody who was angry... and passionate about seeing him dead." "And... someone who was sloppy... in the cover-up." "Mariah killed him." "What?" "How do you know this?" "I heard them talking about it." "The guy who always wears sunglasses... he was there, trying to calm Mariah down." "And that's just a taste." "I got plenty more where that came from." "I..." " I'm..." " You don't have to say anything." "Just tell the truth." "We are right here." "Make a deal." "If you can help us nail Shades and Diamondback, and maybe confirm some of Cornell's contacts, we can make your stay... a little bit easier." "That's all you got." "Cornell liked fooling around with them nasty-ass bitches." "I..." "I had no use for chickenheads." "You are going down." "Go to trial with that flimsy-ass shit." "I dare you." "I double damn dare you, trick!" "Oh!" "Trick?" "Whatever..." "Madam Inmate." " Misty." " Not right now." "Now." " Don't you ever, and I mean, ever..." " Misty." "Interrupt an interrogation." "What is it?" "Detective Chang just caught a body." "An African-American woman, mid-twenties, in front of a bodega." "The victim had a pay-as-you-go phone in her pocket." "I traced the phone's credit card." "It belongs to you." "Chang thought you might've gotten cloned, but you bought the phone... and you activated it." "And the victim... had numerous text exchanges with an NYPD cell phone number." "It's yours." "Come on." "Where are you, Misty?" "I'm right here." "How recent were the texts?" "I lost my phone... at the barber shop." "Show me the picture, Bailey." " We should verify with the family first." " Show me the goddamn picture, Bailey." "Please." "The victim appears to be Candace Miller." "Was that an important call, my dear?" " You murdered her!" " Hey, hey, hey!" " You murdered her!" " You are out of control." " Misty, stop!" " Get off of me!" " You're hysterical." "She's being..." " You murdered her!" " She's being hysterical." " You murdered Candace and you murdered Cornell." " Enough is enough!" " What?" " What are you talking about?" " What is going on?" "Candace is dead." "What?" "You stole my phone." "I know it was you!" "You will say anything about me, won't you?" "Where's your proof?" "I loved my cousin." "And I would test that love against the recorded voice of a dead whore any day." "Am I still being charged with anything?" "No." "Not at this time." "You have the man who killed Cornell," "Diamondback, in custody, Priscilla." "Do the right thing." "Keep him there." "He is dangerous." "That is the second time you have attacked a civilian in here." "This shield... ain't worth the tin it's printed on if Mariah Dillard can just walk out of here after what she's done." " This system is broken, Priscilla." " Mercedes... you are one of the finest detectives I have ever seen, but you have got to learn... that there is no getting around the system." "You must work within it." "Candace should have been in protective custody." "She should have been here and I should have known about it." "Mariah Dillard walked out of here today because of you." "Because you didn't trust our system." "Because you didn't trust me." "Misty's been gone a long time." "That's never good." "No." "We have a lot to talk about, though." "Like what?" "Your future." "Your next moves." "Well, I don't wanna talk about that right now." "I just wanna chill." "It's been a long day." "You're right." "It can wait." "You wanna get coffee when we get out of here?" "You accused me of not liking coffee." "That's not true." "Just depends on the blend." "I hear that Cuban coffee is particularly robust." "That might be the corniest thing you've said yet." "It also happens to be true." "Oh, thank you." "Helping a sister out." "The hero of Harlem." "Congratulations!" "You are good for the neighborhood." "You're not." "What about our deal?" " Where's the file?" " What file?" "Buh-bye!" "What the hell happened?" "They killed Candace." "What?" "My mom..." "Not your mom." "She's fine." "We checked on her." "Shades or somebody used my phone to lure Candace out of the apartment." "But I can't prove it yet." "What about her confession?" " It's worthless." " Why?" "If she were still alive, that would be one thing." "But she admitted to taking money from Mariah, she changed her statement, and now she's dead." "The definition of reasonable doubt." "And the woman she's accusing is politically connected." "It's unwinnable." "There's no way the DA will take that case." "That's why Ridley just kicked her." "Mariah and Shades will talk." "Trust me." "I told her not to leave." "I know." "Carl Lucas," "I'm Marshal Franco." "This is Marshal Johnson." "You're under arrest for your unlawful escape from Seagate Prison." "What are you doing?" "You won't need those." " Says who?" " Says me." "I'm done running." "I'm sorry, Mr. Cage." "I'm gonna recommend the New York City DA's office drop all charges against you." "I have done all I can." "Thank you for all you've done for us." "Luke is innocent." "They're not arresting Luke Cage." "They're arresting Carl Lucas." "Who called you?" "Once a city councilwoman identified Luke Cage as Carl Lucas on television, our office received numerous calls." "The information's pertinent and valid." "Mariah, again." "I'm innocent, and I can prove it." "It doesn't matter what you can prove." "You still owe the state of Georgia time." "Okay." "Sorry." "Coffee's gonna have to wait, babe." "Luke." "Like I said, I know a really great lawyer in town." "I'll call him." "Okay." " Be careful." " Always." "You're so corny." "One of the things that was happening was..." "Alex, you're the man." "Anything you need, Madam Councilwoman, let me know." "It's old school." "But it's got a nice feel." "Belonged to Cornell." "It suits you." "Yeah, it does." "Let's head up." "It's a long trip." "You want something to drink?" "I was set up for something hot and dark before y'all messed that up." "Sweet Christmas." "Well, we can stop for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts before we hit the bridge." "Ain't the same." "Let's just get this over with." "Oh." "I like Chester Himes." "This is a good one." "It's actually mine." "What were you reading before?" "Some West Coast shit." "Michael Connelly." " You ever read Harry Bosch?" " Nah." "Well, you'll have some time to read now." "No, I won't." "I don't plan on hibernating." "I was innocent before and I'm innocent now." "I've got work to do." "Sometimes backwards... to move forward." "Always."