The trash bag is for the clothes you're wearing. Every stitch goes in. Jewelry, too. Spurlock will incinerate them. The towels you use, the rugs... they all go in that trash bag. Get dressed from the clothes in the garment bag.
I need you to hear me. I want you to win. Do what I say... and when you get away with this... you can go back to being the sexy, domineering bitch, that we all hate to love. Now go.
My cousin Cornell Stokes was a complex man. Conflicted, but underneath all the bluster was the soul of a musician. He was a true Harlem original. [stammers] But what about this stranger? That's the garbage. But in your media rush to anoint a savior after the explosion at Genghis Connie's, no one asked the crucial question. Who the hell is Luke Cage? You label Cornell Stokes a gangster, a thug. But as many people recently witnessed at Mount Olivet, Cornell was a repentant man dealing with his violent past. Making amends for his wrongs. He had every intention of cooperating with the police. Goddamn vigilantes who call themselves heroes, like Luke Cage, they are dangerous. They are a menace to the safety, the security, and the sanctity of our community. You know what? People have used a lot of words to describe my cousin, but one word they have never used is "coward." And only a coward would hide in the shadows and kill an innocent man. [stutters] That's it.
No, I mean Carl, Misty. "Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." First Peter, chapter five, verse eight. See, my daddy was a preacher. Oh, come on. Aren't you gonna beg? Not even a little bit?
Work what out? My life? [loads bullets into his gun] My mother destroying herself? Being away for so long? Nah, there's nothing left to work out. "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Ain't that what the great Reverend James Lucas used to scream at us? Preached peace and prosperity, every Sunday on the pulpit, but come Friday night on the sideline? Nothing but fire and brimstone. Guess he saved the sin for Saturday night like everybody else. And everybody else caught hell but you. All the world's a stage for the preacher's son, and I was a quarterback. And no matter how many passes I threw, he was all about running the ball. Because he wanted the game in your hands. [Luke steps out into the orchestra section, right below Diamondback, up in the balcony] Hello, Carl.
The crimes you went to jail for? The torture you endured once you were inside? All me! I'm afraid. Well, not Reva's death. I just like saying her name just to watch you squirm.
"A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who comes closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24. Cornell Stokes was that friend for me. And I could trust him like I could my own...brother.
I apply foot to ass. And match lead for lead. I put murderers in handcuffs. I don't just seek justice. I stalk it. And that much should go in my record!
GKDr. Gabe Krasner
With your resumé you could've been downtown years ago. Hell, you could've been a Fed! You chose to stay in Harlem.
'Cause seeing is my thing, right? That's what made me such a good point guard. 'Cause I could see everything in my head. I knew exactly where people were gonna be, so I put the ball right where it needed to go.
KKrasner
But you couldn't see Scarfe for what he was? Or were you blinded by your emotions?
Bullshit! Male cops can screw cop groupies in the back of their unmarked RMP, and you guys cheer. They get drunk, they fight each other in the parking lot and it's called "blowing off steam." There's always a double standard.
Well, your skin could peel off, like wax paper, and, uh, after about ten seconds, you'd beg me to put a bullet in your head because the pain would be so bad, but your head looks fine, so I guess the bullet would ricochet off your skull.
And you speak to me as if you're not actually in the presence of death. Your way was taking too long. I killed two birds with one stone by sticking a body on Luke Cage. He's hiding somewhere in the blessed aquarium, so I turned the heat up. [gets up from his chair] Old Carl. He's either going to stand up and defend his name, or he's gonna run and hide like a bitch. Either way, it doesn't matter. I've got the gun to take him out.
You don't understand. That woman, the idea of her, her smell. That was the only thing that kept me sane at Seagate. That's what's eating me up inside. I don't think I really knew her at all.
[motioning for the crowd to quiet down] Yes it does, yes it does. Oh, it warms my heart to see you here this evening. My cousin, Cornell Stokes, was murdered right where you're standing. And it pains me to even be here, but it's necessary. Luke Cage murdered my cousin, and I am not afraid to speak out about it. The man is a liar, he is a menace, and as long as he is running around loose, hiding amongst us, no one is safe. Now, I know what brought us here tonight: the police putting their hands on yet another young black man. It's wrong! It is wrong! [crowd cheers] No doubt about that! But, we can not lose focus here. A cop was killed by this super-powered menace, and our young brother was hurt during their witch hunt. Brothers and sisters, our world has changed. We have new threats, new terrorists. That woman over in Hell's Kitchen snapped a man's neck 'cause he was mind-controlling her. We've got a bullet-proof murderer on the loose in Harlem, with his own twisted sense of justice, putting us all in harm's way. Do I trust the cops? [cries of "no" from the crowd] Not blindly. [crowd cheers] We need protection! From Luke Cage, we need protection from the other powered people like Luke Cage. These are real threats! [crowd cheers and Mariah motions for quiet once more] We need to arm our men and women in blue, so that they can protect us. Truly protect us and never confuse us with those who are the real threat. You stay strong!
