Scenes with Vanessa Marianna 9
[Fisk is staring at a painting in an art gallery - it is made up of layers of textured white. Vanessa approaches him.]
Vanessa MariannaThere's an old children's joke. You hold up a white piece of paper and you ask, "What's this?" A rabbit in a snowstorm. You interested or just looking?
Vanessa
People always ask me how can we charge so much for what amounts to gradations of white. I tell them it's not about the artist's name or the skill required, not even about the art itself. All that matters is "How does it make you feel?"
Vanessa
How are you enjoying "Rabbit in a Snowstorm"?
Vanessa
Of course. It's one of my favorite pieces.
I hung it in my bedroom. It's the last thing I see every night.
Vanessa
That's either very romantic or very sad.
I like to tell myself it's the former.
Vanessa
The city's really changing.
Vanessa
I don't know. Be a shame to see all the character scrubbed away.
You didn't grow up here, did you?
Vanessa
[laughs] What gave it away?
When I was a kid, I used to dream what it would be like to, to live somewhere far away from Hell's Kitchen. Somewhere beautiful.
Vanessa
What made you stay?
I didn't. When I was 12 years old, my mother, she sent me to stay with relatives. Had a farm, middle of nowhere. Those were good years.
Vanessa
But you came back.
Yes. Time and distance, they afford a certain clarity. I realized that this city was a part of me, that it was in my blood. And I would do anything to make it a better place for people like you.
Vanessa
So why does a man like you feel alone?
Nature of my business, I suppose.
Vanessa
And what kind of business is that?
Rebuilding this city. I want to carve something beautiful out of its ugliness…set free its potential.
Vanessa
You sound like an artist.
I'm just a man with a dream.
Vanessa
What do you think an artist is? [indicating his cufflinks] Are those the only ones you have? You were wearing them last time.
They were my father's. I wear them every day to remember him.
Vanessa
Did he pass?
When I was a boy. May I ask you something now?
Vanessa
I'd say you've earned it.
What kind of gun is that you have in your purse?
Vanessa
It's a .22.
Did you think you would need that tonight?
Vanessa
We've been sitting here talking for hours and you're going to insult me like I have no idea what you really do?
What I said about what I want for this city is the truth. But money and influence is not enough to usher change on such a scale. Sometimes it requires force.
Vanessa
I know you're a dangerous man. That's why I brought a gun to a dinner date.
Vanessa
No. I'd like a reason to stay.
I've done things that I'm not proud of, Vanessa. I've hurt people and I'm going to hurt more. It's impossible to avoid for what I'm trying to do. But I take no pleasure in it, in cruelty. But this city isn't a caterpillar. It doesn't spin a cocoon and wake up a butterfly. A city crumbles and fades. It needs to die before it can be reborn.
Vanessa
So I don't need the gun?
No. By my side is the safest place that you could ever be.
Vanessa
You don't need sight to appreciate art, but you do need honesty.
Vanessa
Sure. But there's something very intimate in experiencing art through someone else's eyes. That's a good line, by the way. You should use it.
Vanessa
So, give me an idea what you're after.
Vanessa
Good... art isn't furniture. If you knew exactly what you were looking for, you'd be just decorating. Art should speak to you... move you. [Walks up to a piece] This one, for example. One of my favorite pieces.
Vanessa
Imagine a sea of tonal reds. The color of anger... of rage... but also the color of the heart... of love... hope. This strikes the perfect balance between the two.
I don't know, it sounds aggressive.
Vanessa
All depends on your point of view.
Vanessa
I think it's time we speak plainly. Speak honestly.
I'm always honest with you.
Vanessa
When I first met you, I was fascinated by your strength. Your brutality so clear to me, even as you hid it from me. I wanted to observe everything you did. And as I did, I fell in love with you. But this? If this is all we have... it will leave me lonely, Wilson. As lonely as I was in Spain. When you stopped your man from speaking in front of me, I... I was reminded that I am not a part of your life. Not fully, and so not at all. And this... I don't want to admire your world. I want to live inside of it with you.
Vanessa... It's one thing to know my work. But it's another... to dirty your hands with it.
Vanessa
My hands were never clean. If you truly want me... share your life with me! Fully.
I never knew that I could feel this way until the day that we met. I didn't think that I was capable, that there would be someone... that I would care for more than my own life. That her happiness would be more important than anything else. And then... the terrifying thought occurred to me that perhaps my feelings were a trick. The self-deception of a vain man. That the only reason why I love you is because of the way I see my reflection in your eyes. That thought, it fills me with dread. The fear that... That I don't deserve you. And that I am broken!
Vanessa
Don't you understand we're all broken? The point is to find the person whose broken pieces fit with yours.
I will never stop hunting Karen Page or Foggy Nelson. I will tell the world who you really are.
Vanessa
Wilson.
Vanessa, please go! Please!
[grunting] You... You... You want me to kill you.
No prison can keep me. You know that. COME ON, KILL ME!
NO! God knows I want to, but you don't get to destroy who I am! You will go back to prison, and you will live the rest of your miserable life in a cage, knowing you'll never have Vanessa, that this city rejected you. It beat you. I BEAT YOU! [unmasks himself] You'll keep my secret, and you won't harm Karen Page or Foggy Nelson or anyone else. Because if you do, I will go after your wife. [Fisk snarls softly] And I will prove Vanessa ordered the murder of Agent Ray Nadeem, and like her husband, she'll spend the rest of her life in a cell. [masks himself]
[to Vanessa] I failed you. I failed you.
Vanessa
No.
Everything that I tried to build for us... Vanessa... today was the happiest day of my life.
Vanessa
[approaches Fisk] All I wanted was you. Please.
[to Daredevil] If I agree to your demands, then... you leave my wife alone! You leave Vanessa free!
[shakes Daredevil's hand] Then, it's a deal.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Daredevil pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Daredevil · 175 quotes
