AN INTERROGATION ROOM

MISTY: I should be out there doing my job.

KRASNER: Your job is out there waiting for you, Detective. The question is, how badly do you want it?

MISTY: You work for the department? You a shrink?

KRASNER: I was on the job for 15 years. I left to become a psychologist. I'm with the peer assistance program. I'm a volunteer.

MISTY: Well, how about I volunteer my way out of this chair, tell you to kiss my ass, and talk to my union rep?

KRASNER: Well, you could do that, sure. But your inspector would guarantee that you'll be at your desk, and the only time you'll see the street is in the parking lot, or if you go to get coffee, or look out the window.

MISTY: This is voluntary, right?

KRASNER: Mmm-hmm.

MISTY: And off the record?

KRASNER: Absolutely.

MISTY: So why are we doing this in an interrogation room?

KRASNER: You'd be more candid at a Starbucks?
MISTY: Really? Mmm Maybe at M&G's, after a shift. Still can't believe that place went out of business.

KRASNER: I miss Copeland's.

MISTY: Who doesn't? Whatever. Let's do this. Detective Mercedes Kelly Knight, badge 3-0-9-3-5.

KRASNER: You know, you're not being recorded.

MISTY: Of course I am. (to the one-way mirror) You know this is bullshit, right? Things got rough with a hostile witness. You think that's the first time this has ever happened?

Krasner writes something down, which makes Misty uncomfortable.

KRASNER: You lost control. And it's all about control with you, isn't it? I mean, that's why you were a point guard. You wanted to be the one to distribute the ball, right?

MISTY: It's 'cause I was short, and it was the only way I could get on the court, so...

KRASNER: 'Cause you had to play the game.

MISTY: It's not a game for me.

KRASNER: Then why get benched for something as stupid as getting physical with Claire Temple?

Krasner shows Misty a photo of Stryker holding her at gunpoint. Misty instantly flashes back to that moment. The memory is hazy and surreal, unlike her "Misty-vision" crime scene recreations.

STRYKER (echoing): Do you love? Do you love? Hmm? Oh, come on. You're not gonna beg? Oh, come on. Not even a little bit?
MISTY: If you gonna kill me, then just do it.

Misty blinks and returns to the present. Her lip is trembling.

KRASNER: What shook you? Was it losing your gun to one suspect while trying to arrest another without backup? Was it the extra eyes because of Scarfe? Was it this Luke Cage guy? What pushed you towards career suicide?

MISTY (laughing): You know how many times I've been in this same goddamn box on the other side of the table? You think you are gonna break me? Bring it.

KRASNER: Like I said, this is not an interrogation. I'm not here to break you. You've already done that yourself. The question is, how broken are you? And can you be fixed?

A GARBAGE TRUCK

Luke wakes up in the back of his garbage truck. He prods gently around his wounds and they make squishing sounds. He climbs out of the truck when it pauses and takes a whiff of himself.

LUKE: Ugh! Sweet Christmas.

OPENING THEME

HARLEM'S PARADISE

The Delfonics are rehearsing.

LEAD SINGER: Hold up, hold up. Somebody ain't playing that thing right. Tighten up over here. Tighten up over here, all right? Let's do this, man. We rehearsed it. Let's get this done.

They go into "Stop and Look (And You Have Found Love"
In the office above the club Shades is looking down through the newly replaced window.

SHADES: So we've checked every truck, every landfill in every borough. And for all of that, we've got...

ZIP: Nothing yet.

SHADES: Nothing yet. Nothing yet...

STRYKER: Y'all can't find Luke Cage? What, he just dissipated? Like smoke? See, that's the thing. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Stryker pulls a finger gun out of his inside pocket. He points it around and pulls the imaginary trigger. A real gunshot rings out. He'd taken out his gun at hip level and shot Darnell while people were distracted by his finger gun.

Downstairs the rehearsing magicians scatter.

STRYKER: There's nothing magical about it. Follow the smoke. Or the damn garbage truck.

Zip, Sugar, and Darnell leave.

SHADES: Well you ain't Houdini.

STRYKER: And you ain't Rick from Casablanca, neither. What? You thought you could whisper in Mariah's ear have her do your dirty work then you're the new king with the big desk? Hmm Biggie photo...Delfonics crooning downstairs...You killed my friend, Shades. He was my number one seller. Who do you think gave him that Barron Claiborne there?

SHADES: You don't have any friends.

STRYKER: "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.

SHADES: Cornell was losing it. You trusted me to take care of him.

STRYKER: I trusted you to take care of it, not him. What? Did you think I was just gonna give it all to you? Give me one reason why I shouldn't splatter this pristine desk with your brain matter.

ZIP: Because it won't help you find Luke Cage any faster?

SHADES: You're smarter than your name implies, Zip. Two rule books got me through the darkness.
The Bible and The 48 Laws of Power. Do you want to know what the 49th is? "Luke Cage ain't dead until you find his goddamn body."

THE STREETS OF HARLEM

Luke is limping through the streets. He comes across a laundromat and stumbles into it. He takes some clothes at random out of a dryer and puts them on.

MEGAN MCLAREN (on TV): And today's top news, the shootout that occurred in Harlem last night. After an ambulance was forced off the street, it appears a chase led to a women's clinic where gunfire was exchanged. The fight continued to this historic theater where severe damage was wrought. Witnesses described two men at the center of this fight.

At this point Luke notices the news.

MEGAN: Although police still have not detained any suspects, this man, Luke Cage, is wanted for questioning in connection with the recent murder of noted nightlife mogul Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes.

Luke pulls on a hoodie and hurries out of the laundromat.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

KRASNER: You had it rough recently.

MISTY: Where do you want to start?

KRASNER: Who do you talk to when things get bad?

MISTY: I...I used to talk to Scarfe.

KRASNER: No husband. A boyfriend?

MISTY: The last time somebody set me up, I ended up arresting the guy at the table.

KRASNER: No.

MISTY: Yeah. I did a background check, and he was wanted for robbery in three different states. They gave the dude a nickname at my precinct.

KRASNER: Yeah?

MISTY: Called him the "Love Bandit." I still get shit about it. I see everything and I forget nothin'. Every investigation, every suspect, every murder, every crying mother It is all in my head.

KRASNER: So who's the last person you dated?

MISTY: That's personal.

KRASNER: That's why we're here.

MISTY: I met a guy at a bar. I wasn't nice to him, at all...But he didn't care. He was funny. He wasn't wearing a ring. And the first time he spoke to me, even in a low cut dress, he looked at my eyes not my breasts.

KRASNER: So?

MISTY: So, we talked. I could be myself. He thought I was pretty and he told me so. We had coffee.

Quick cut to Misty and Luke having sex.

KRASNER: I feel a "but" coming on.

MISTY: But he wasn't who I thought he was.

KRASNER: Just like Scarfe? How does that make you feel?

MISTY: How do you think it makes me feel?

FLASHBACK

Cottonmouth crashes through his office window. Mariah attacks him with the mic stand.

MARIAH: I didn't want it!

Quick cut to

SPURLOCK'S MORTUARY

where Mariah is standing over Cottonmouth's body.

MARIAH: You don't remember Jazmine. How could you? She was fly. So damn fast. She used to drive Mama Mabel crazy with all her boyfriends. Malik was special, though. He was talented. Played drums on a lot of those Sugar Hill Records. The old ones. I really liked him. I thought they were good together. Mama Mabel couldn't stand him. She knew he was dabbling. Coke, smack. Malik wanted you, Cornell. He did. But he OD'd. And then Jazzy ran off. She told me, "I'm not ready to be nobody's mama." And she just left. She left you, and there you were, wrapped in a blanket in a basket. Mama Mabel put you in my hands that very day. You always thought I called you "Mo" for "Cottonmouth." Mo was for "Moses."

Shades slowly opens the door. Mariah doesn't notice him.

MARIAH: I wasn't ready to be nobody's mama, neither. I did try to protect you from...all the shit. I tried I tried to protect you from yourself but I didn't. I'm...

The door creaks and Mariah quickly tries to gather herself.

SHADES: You did what you had to do.

MARIAH: I don't know how this happened.

SHADES: You made a choice...and now we have to pay the price. Diamondback is here to collect.

MARIAH: Diamond-what?

SHADES: He's not happy that Cornell is dead, and Luke Cage is still alive. Cage is in the wind right now, and I need your help to find him. Our frame doesn't work if he's not there to take the blame.

MARIAH: What, you want me to call the police?

SHADES: If it comes to that, sure. But right now we have more pressing concerns.

MARIAH: You keep saying "we."

SHADES: Well, you. Like it or not the business is yours now.

MARIAH: I have nothing to do with all of that.

SHADES: You are the face now. And nature abhors a vacuum. You have to ensure a smooth transition for all of Cornell's clients, or it is going to be straight up chaos for you.

THE STREETS OF HARLEM

Dash cam view from a police car of Luke stumbling in the street.

OFFICER: Dispatch, car 77-0-5. Sighting possible drunk. Should we engage?

DISPATCHER: Is it our suspect?

OFFICER: We've a black male, but need verification.

They sound their sirens to get Luke's attention. He reluctantly stops walking as they get out of their car.

LUKE: Good morning. Is there a problem?

OFFICER: No. You tell me.
What's your name, son?

LUKE: I'm just taking a walk. Minding my business.

OFFICER: I need to see some ID.

LUKE: To walk?

OFFICER: Turn around, take down your hoodie.

LUKE: May I ask why?

OFFICER: Because I said so.

One of the officers pulls up a photo of Luke on his phone. They both draw their guns.

OFFICER: Oh, shit. It is him!

OFFICER: On the ground, now! Hands behind your back. Get on the ground, now!

LUKE: I'm really sorry, guys.

OFFICER: You're under arrest!

Luke slaps the officer trying to cuff him, then turns around to protect him from his partner's gunfire. Luke then turns on shooter while he's trying to reload and pushes him so hard he flies through the air and crashes into the hood of his car. The dash cam caught it all. Luke pulls the officers to the sidewalk and steals their car.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

Misty is falling asleep on the table. Krasner comes back in with two cans of lemonade.

KRASNER: Lemonade? Popular drink.

MISTY: And it still is. That story in my file, too?

KRASNER: What story? You know, I don't believe everything I read? I wanna hear you tell it.

MISTY: Summer of '95, and every other car was playing either "Shook Ones" or "Ice Cream." I was hanging out with my cousin, Cassandra. My mother told us never to walk around the neighborhood by ourselves but it was hot, and I was thirsty. And she was taking way too long talking to some cute boy. So I went to Ruiz Bodega by myself and got a lemonade. When I got back, she was gone. It took the cops two weeks to find her body. Disfigured, beaten. The boy, Mike Jones, ran a train on her with his crew. Nobody snitched. Cops didn't push. They didn't really give a shit. She was just another poor, worthless bitch from the Polo Grounds.

KRASNER: So that's why you became a cop?

MISTY: 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.

KRASNER: With your resume, you could've been downtown years ago. Hell, you could've been a fed, but you chose to stay in Harlem.

MISTY: I know this place, I know the players and I can make a difference here.

KRASNER: Or use some of those old school connections to make a little money on the side, like your partner.

MISTY: I didn't know anything about Scarfe. Or anything he was doing. He didn't buy new clothes, no new watch, no new girlfriend, no loose talk, nothing.

KRASNER: But he'd been working for Cottonmouth for years.

MISTY: And I trusted him so I didn't see it. And neither did anybody else in this damn department. So why do I get singled out for it?

KRASNER: Because you were the closest to him. It's written all over your face. Not seeing it bothered you, didn't it?

MISTY (sarcastically): '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.

KRASNER: But you couldn't see Scarfe for what he was. Or were you blinded by your emotions?

MISTY: You wouldn't say that if I was a man.

KRASNER: Oh, that is not true.

MISTY: Bullshit! Male cops can screw cop groupies in the back of their unmarked or their RMP, and you guys cheer. They get drunk and fight each other in the parking lot, and it's called blowing off steam. There's always a double standard.

KRASNER: And you never screwed anyone that you shouldn't have while you were on the job?

MISTY: No.

KRASNER: But you choked out a witness. Own your shit. You went renegade when you went after Luke Cage alone. And it got way deeper than it should have. And this guy took the control away from you when he took your gun.

Another quick, shaky flashback to Stryker holding the gun to Misty's head.

KRASNER: Then you're in a room alone with Miss Temple, and she insults you, and you lost control and you know it.

MISTY: I need a break.

She gets up and leaves the room, tries to catch her breath in the hallway.

COLON'S GYM

Repairs are underway to get the place back up after Luke's visit. Mariah picks her way through the chaos.

MARIAH: What happened in here? You know what happened here.

DOMINGO: Same as you. Sorry to hear about Cornell. Hope they get that bastard. He's bad for business.

MARIAH: Well, yeah, I'm not here to talk about Luke Cage.

DOMINGO: Well, it took a lot for you to walk through those doors without your people.

MARIAH: Chico, please. I was from around here long before you even knew what that was. Besides, we all contribute to this city, one way or another.

DOMINGO: "Contribute?" I never trusted your cousin and I trust you even less. Pretending to rise to the right side of the law. Girl, I know where you're from. That stank don't come off too easy.

MARIAH: The thing my cousin built needs to continue.

DOMINGO: And you're gonna be the one to run it?

MARIAH: No. I need help.

DOMINGO: Me?

MARIAH: Not just you. Cornell had steady customers.

DOMINGO: Not everybody liked your cousin. I mean, God respect the dead.

MARIAH: Yeah, he got it done without a lot of needless violence. I want everybody to come to the table so I can discuss a transition. Maybe even a buyout.

DOMINGO: There was something dangerous behind your eyes and this is it, huh?

MARIAH: Cornell was who he was. I want something different. I don't want to have to look over my shoulder, Domingo. Gather all the bosses. I have a proposition that will benefit us all. So who gets an invitation?

DOMINGO: Jacques Alef with the Macoute, Neville Barnwell with the Yardies. Juan Carlos Castro with the Cubanos. And the Chinese, they got their own thing going on downtown, but Peter Hong with the Koreans he might wanna holla.

MARIAH: When?

DOMINGO: Oh, that's gonna take me a few days.

MARIAH: Tonight.

SOLEDAD'S DINER

Claire is researching in a booth. She searches "elastic skin cells" then emphasizes "abalone shells" in her notes.

CLAIRE: Abalone shells...

She plugs in the flash drive Luke gave her. It's all encrypted so she can't read it, but she searches "Seagate Burstein" based on file titles.

Luke comes in to sit next to her. Blood is seeping through to stain his hoodie.

LUKE: Claire. Claire.

CLAIRE: Everybody's looking for you. How did you not get caught?...He shot you again?

She quickly checks his new bullet wound.

CLAIRE: Ugh! Why in the hell is this guy trying to kill you so bad? He's even going through the trouble of using bullets that could actually do it.

LUKE: Willis was my, uh, my best friend. He's...He's delusional. Delusional and pissed.

CLAIRE: Let me see...Ugh, your wound is getting infected, this looks bad. Who are you?

LUKE: What do you mean?

CLAIRE: I should say, "What are you?" I'm looking at your cells and I've never seen anything like it. I've been looking up sea shells to better understand the structure of your skin. Like I said you're amazing.

LUKE: Only one man knows the science. And I am not going back to prison.

CLAIRE: Is his name Dr. Noah Burstein? You gave me Reva's hard drive, remember? Do you talk to him?

LUKE: No. Reva kept tabs just in case someone got cute. But I am not ready to reopen that door.

CLAIRE: I don't think that you have very much choice. We need to get you out of here. My mom has a car. And we haven't totaled that one yet.

MARIAH'S BROWNSTONE

Mariah is zoning out, looking at family photos.

ALEX: Excuse me. Excuse me? Madam Councilwoman?

MARIAH: Not anymore.

ALEX: Have you seen the emails? The interview requests? Even Thembi Wallace wants another sit-down.

MARIAH: Never.

ALEX: Can I show you something? Hit the news about 20 minutes ago. He attacked two cops and stole their cars.

MARIAH: Cage?

ALEX: The cops are alive. They GPS'd the car, but someone leaked the footage. It was too hot to hold back.

Alex shows Mariah the dash cam footage on a tablet.

MARIAH: Huh. It's amazing.

ALEX: I know it's tough seeing the man that killed your cousin.

MARIAH: They'll get him, Alex. Justice will prevail. You know, Cornell taught me to be strong, so I will be strong.

ALEX: People understand the threat...the kind of person you're up against. They're not talking about the money, or where it came from. I think if you play this right, you could have supporters with even deeper pockets behind you, who see this as a political issue, and see your cousin as a brave man who stood up to a freak.

MARIAH: You would use my personal tragedy for strategic political advantage?

ALEX: Madam Councilwoman, I...

MARIAH: I taught you well. Go home, Alex. I'm letting you off early.Thank you.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

Misty reenters the room, ready to start again.

KRASNER: What happened out there that bothers you the most?

MISTY: I lost my gun. Other than that, I wouldn't say it bothered me.

KRASNER: I saw your hand shake the first time you looked at this photo. Why?

MISTY: Because I remembered seeing myself see myself wondering what I would look like in a casket. I mean, how the hell did I get there? He got the drop on me. How in the hell did he do that? I could have disarmed him, like, ten different ways. Why didn't I do any of that? I couldn't help anybody, not even my damn self. He shoved my gun in my face and I froze. And you know what I thought about? I thought about Pop's funeral. I thought about my own funeral. I thought about my father, and what people would think about me. And this guy this guy was smiling...while he was toying with my life. It was fun for him. I didn't have control, and maybe I never did. And when Claire was talking sideways about me, all I wanted to do was take my control back....Oh, my God. What have I done?

KRASNER: It's like anything else you've learned on the job. It's ugly but you can't move your gaze. You have to look and learn.
That's how you get answers. That's how you win.

We see Ridley watching this exchange through the one way mirror.

ON THE ROAD TO GEORGIA

Claire is driving; Luke is in the passenger seat. He's grunting and suffering, so Claire holds his hand.

LUKE: It's getting harder to breathe...These wounds are kicking my ass.

CLAIRE: Hey, hey, hey, hey. You know, it passed before, it's gonna pass again, okay? I promise.

LUKE: Can I get that with the money-back guarantee?

CLAIRE: Breathe. See? You got this.

LUKE:What if this is a one-way trip?

CLAIRE: Hey, hey, you are gonna make it. You hear me? You're gonna make it just fine. We're gonna fix this. Don't even. You're not dying in my mom's car, okay?

LUKE: It's the part you can't fix that's bothering me.

CLAIRE: What do you mean?

LUKE: Willis. Willis Stryker. He thinks he's my brother. Diamondback. He's...he's gotta be lying about my father. He...he can't be my brother.

BURSTEIN'S FARMHOUSE

Claire leaves Luke in the front seat and goes up to ring Burstein's doorbell. Burstein only opens the door a crack.

CLAIRE: Hi. Sorry to ring so late. My name is Sandra Lopez. I'm currently majoring in prison studies at Boston University, and, uh, I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your time at Seagate. My friend said that you worked there?

BURSTEIN: Your friend was mistaken....what friend?

CLAIRE: Carl Lucas.

BURSTEIN: I don't know anybody by that name.

He tries to close the door. Claire catches it and shoves it open.

CLAIRE: He's alive, Doc.

BURSTEIN: That's impossible.

CLAIRE: Your experiment worked. It changed him.

BURSTEIN: Changed how?

CLAIRE: You should see for yourself.

BURSTEIN: He's here?

CLAIRE: Yes.

BURSTEIN: Where is he?

Claire leads him over to her car.

LUKE: What's up, Doc? I've always wanted to say that.

BURSTEIN: Let's get him out of here

The two struggle to help him inside.

BURSTEIN: Put him on the couch.

CLAIRE: Come on, just a few more steps...easy, easy. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy. Breathe. Breathe. Okay.

BURSTEIN: You've got no scars. Nothing. That lab was totally destroyed. You mean it worked?

LUKE: Yes and no. Until last night...I was bulletproof.

BURSTEIN: Jesus Christ, kid. What did this to you?

LUKE: They shot me with some crazy bullets.

CLAIRE: They exploded inside of him.

BURSTEIN: He should be dead.

LUKE: My skin is now tough like armor.

CLAIRE: I think maybe what makes him stronger is also pushing the shrapnel deeper into his organs. Trust me, it is impossible to cut into his skin.

BURSTEIN: Look, I don't know what it is that you think I can do for you. My lab is not my lab anymore. I wouldn't know where to begin.

CLAIRE: What if we can help you with that? Reva took this.

She holds up the flash drive.

BURSTEIN: She shouldn't have done that.

LUKE: Can you unlock it?

Burstein takes it over to his laptop and enters a password. It works.

BURSTEIN: Oh, my God. It's all here. Everything.

CLAIRE: Everything you need?

BURSTEIN: Everything I lost. So much more. Reva died for this, didn't she?

CLAIRE: Luke refuses to talk about it...You okay?

Luke coughs up blood.

LUKE: They're killing me. Doc, you figure this shit out.

They help him out of the house and into

BURSTEIN'S BARN

The barn is full of jerry-rigged machinery.

LUKE: What is all this stuff?

BURSTEIN: During the cover-up, I stole whatever I could.

LUKE: What cover-up?

BURSTEIN: They couldn't advertise Rackham's death, or the explosion that supposedly killed you, or Reva's data dump, so they they killed the whole thing...Here, let's set him down...I was so close to a breakthrough. That all ended when they thought you were dead. I started again from scratch, but never came close to replicating the Seagate incident.

Burstein goes to unzip Luke's hoodie. Claire takes over for him.

CLAIRE: I'm a nurse. I know the drill. I can help.

LUKE: Why me? Why did you pick me? Because you were strong. Stronger than most.

LUKE: That's not what Reva said. She said she begged you to do it.

BURSTEIN: There's more to it than that, and you know it. She begged me, but you were already tabbed for the program. Didn't Reva tell you about this?

LUKE: No.

Burstein approaches Luke with a scalpel.

CLAIRE: That's not gonna do anything.

Burstein breaks the scalpel against Luke's skin. Claire rolls her eyes.

BURSTEIN: Oh, my God...Look, I gotta get a blood sample to cross check with Reva's data. Your DNA may be the X factor that made this whole thing work.

CLAIRE: You mean, it could only work for Luke?

BURSTEIN: Yeah, maybe. This wound is too septic to get a decent sample.

CLAIRE: Are you saying you can't recreate what you did?

BURSTEIN: It's not as straightforward as that. You know, penicillin, the X-ray machine [groans] [Burstein] the smallpox vaccine, pacemaker, even even even Viagra. Those were accidents. It's the same with Carl.

Claire starts rifling through Burstein's equipment while he stands around.

CLAIRE: This could work. If you go down his throat...

BURSTEIN: We can puncture his mucus membrane.

CLAIRE: Exactly.

BURSTEIN: I like the way you think.

LUKE: I don't.

CLAIRE: Sorry.

BURSTEIN: All right. Put your head back. Just open your mouth. I'll try to make this quick.

CLAIRE: Breathe through your nose.

Burstein pushes the needle into Luke's mouth and down his throat. He groans as blood starts to flow through the tube as Claire draws out the plunger of a large syringe.

BURSTEIN: Easy, easy. Oh, here we go. It's working.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

Ridley places Misty's shield on the table between them.

RIDLEY: You see that?

MISTY: That's my shield.

RIDLEY: No, no, no. That's not your shield. That shield belongs to the city of New York and its people. And when you lose control, go upside somebody's head because you had a bad day or you feel powerless... r you screw the wrong person...

MISTY: I didn't screw anybody!

RIDLEY: Come on, now. You don't deserve to represent the people of New York, let alone protect them.

MISTY: That's not true and you know it.

RIDLEY: I do.

MISTY: Look, we're wired differently. We run towards gunfire. We drink when we're sad. We screw when we're mad. And people hate us until they need us. And I hate that. But I love it, too.

RIDLEY: We walk a higher path. It's not simple. It's very hard. And that is why people will always need us.

She pulls out a tablet and plays the dash cam video.

RIDLEY: Hero of Harlem, my ass.

MISTY: Look, if we're talking about a right path, it's not just about Luke Cage. You haven't even acknowledged the guy that held a gun to my head last night.

RIDLEY: We will find out who that is.

MISTY: And we still need to talk about Mariah Dillard. She is not innocent in all this.

RIDLEY: Look, Mariah's not on the run for murder, assaulting two police officers. I need you to focus on bringing in Luke Cage.

MISTY: Bullets bounce right off of him. Reason is the only thing that's gonna work. And it has to come from somebody he trusts.

Ridley laughs for a moment, then pushes Misty's shield and gun towards her.

RIDLEY: Go get him.

COLON'S GYM

Shades stops Mariah just inside the door.

SHADES: You ready for this?

MARIAH: Like I said, ready as ever.

SHADES: You need to understand where you are here. If they sense any weakness, any hesitation you're not just done politically you're done permanently.

DOMINGO: You're late.

MARIAH: I'm not. Looks like I'm right on time.

JAMAICAN BOSS: Wagwan?

MARIAH: Now that my cousin is gone, I'm making a few changes. I loved my cousin, but I didn't like what he did.

CUBAN BOSS: Until he stopped serving you.

KOREAN BOSS: Cut the crap, lady. What do you want to tell us?

MARIAH: I'm out. My family is no longer to be associated with what you all do. I need to move in a more legitimate direction.

HAITIAN BOSS: Need? That's a weak hand you're playing.

MARIAH: My cousin has valuable assets and connections. I'll give them to you for a price.

HAITIAN BOSS: And you walk away?

MARIAH: I walk away.

KOREAN BOSS: Why do I find that hard to believe?

STRYKER (emerging from the shadows): Because you're smart and stupid at the same time.

HAITIAN BOSS: Diamondback, what are you doing here?

STRYKER: You invited me by not inviting me.

KOREAN BOSS: Excuse me?

STRYKER: Now, Peter when you don't buy my wares, or Jacques when you get them at a cheaper price from my competitors, you're messing with my money. And that pisses me off.

Stryker shoots the Korean boss in the head, then throws a knife between the Haitian boss's eyes.

STRYKER: Anybody else not made it to confessional this week? Your men outside are dead. Your greed superseded your common sense. So now, I have the pulpit. Rich men, camel and needles.

DOMINGO: What do you want?

STRYKER: Hey, Neville, if you wanna test me...

JAMAICAN BOSS: Ease up, man. I got no hackle with you now.

CUBAN BOSS: We'll listen what you have to say.

STRYKER: Don't bother. Just by being here, you're already dead.

Stryker shoots the Jamaican boss through the throat. The bullet keeps going and kills the Cuban boss.

STRYKER: Two for the price of one.

DOMINGO: What are you doing, man? You're gonna start a war.

STRYKER: "And then many will fall away, and they will betray each other and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. But the one who endures to the end he will be saved."

DOMINGO: You're crazy.

STRYKER: Crazy would be leaving you alive to run a very profitable drug business. But I got no beef with your cousins down south of the border so today is your lucky day.

Stryker turns on Mariah

STRYKER: But you? You! you're full of crazy. I just killed four people, and you didn't even flinch.

MARIAH: You don't scare me.

STRYKER: No, I don't think I do. Tell me why we should be friends.

MARIAH: Luke Cage. Clearly, we both have issues with him.

STRYKER: I heard he killed your cousin. Allegedly. Rest assured, I will end him when the time is right.

MARIAH: But the time is not right. Have you even seen the dashboard footage that's all over the news? You don't you see the opportunity? You see a man you want dead who won't die. I see a marketer's dream. Why spend all your time killing and intimidating your criminal customers in the dark when you should be selling guns to police departments in the light? Guns that can handle these new threats.

STRYKER: Go on.

MARIAH: Word is you have a weapon that can take him down. Kill Luke Cage. But if you do, and you go big, everyone else will come to you to help take down the rest of these super-freaks that are upsetting the natural order of things. You gotta go big pharma on this shit. You invent the disease, then you sell the cure.

STRYKER: Oh, Shades, now I see you were right. I like how she thinks. And who better to broker the deals, hmm?

MARIAH: No. No, I'm out of this.

STRYKER: No. You're in way into this until I decide otherwise. Domingo. Sorry about the mess, hermano. But I have no doubt you have people that can clean up.

DOMINGO: Why am I still alive, man?

STRYKER: 'Cause no one's coming at me. They'll ask around, so tell 'em I'll murderize everything in sight. 'Cause I don't care and I won't quit. You can't bargain with me. You buy or you die...You think Peter Luger's is still open?

Shades follows Diamondback out. Mariah sits down.

HARLEM'S PARADISE

The Delfonics are performing again, this time in front of a big crowd.

Stryker is in the VIP area watching the performance.

SHADES: That footage of Cage and the cops? It went viral. What do you want to do about it?

STRYKER: That's great...That's great. He's got nowhere to run now. We'll find him. It's all coming together.

SHADES: But there's gonna be a...

STRYKER: Shh! I like this song.

Misty is back at her desk. She clears her entire photo wall, replacing it with a few pictures of Luke, Cottonmouth, and Stryker.

BURSTEIN'S FARMHOUSE

Luke is sleeping, or unconscious. Claire strokes his head when Burstein isn't looking.

BURSTEIN: We were working on creating this artificial skin for burn victims. We used a process called CRISPR to fuse the subject's DNA with another DNA to gain its attributes.

CLAIRE: The foreign DNA was abalone shell, wasn't it?

BURSTEIN: Uh, yeah. Where did you do your residency?

CLAIRE: 145th Street. Um, and my fellowship in Hell's Kitchen.

BURSTEIN: Well, you're correct. We already used abalone to build better combat equipment for soldiers. And to genetically enhance the durability, pliability, and healing properties of human epidermis.

CLAIRE: Okay, so why are these bullets penetrating his skin then? Are they dipped in something?

BURSTEIN: Well, perhaps. But more likely because of what they were made from. You see, uh, abalone is nearly impenetrable, but
its stacked plates can be pushed apart under the right circumstances.

Luke wakes and sits up. Claire immediately goes to his side.

LUKE: Like what?

CLAIRE: Hey.

BURSTEIN: During the experiment, your skin cells were bonded with hydrogen covalent bonds at the exact point of acidity, temperature and saline concentration...

LUKE: English, please.

BURSTEIN: Well, see, I can replicate exactly the acidity and the saline portions of the experiment with the information that's on the Reva drive that you brought. But the the wild card is the temperature. Because of what Albert Rackham did, turning up the heat on the bath, I have no gauge as to the temperature that catalyzed the experiment.

LUKE: How are you going to get this stuff out of me?

BURSTEIN: Right. Uh...Imagine that your skin works like a form of Velcro, uh, under a sort of lock and key.

CLAIRE: And in order to cut through it, he's got to weaken the lock and key, so we can remove the shrapnel.

LUKE: How do you plan to do that?

BURSTEIN: Uh, I'm going to dip your skin in boiling acid, and then, uh, remove the shrapnel. What? I've tried it with animals.

LUKE:: He's putting me in a rotisserie spit?

CLAIRE: Um...I think he wants to deep fry you. Like a turkey.

Burstein flips some taps to start filling the bath.

BURSTEIN: Now, look, we're only gonna have a short window to do this, uh, before your skin closes up again.

LUKE: Just so we're clear, what could go wrong?

BURSTEIN: Well, your 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 your head looks fine, so I I guess the bullet would ricochet off your skull.

Cut to a little while later. They're getting ready to submerge Luke.

LUKE: Sweet Christmas.

CLAIRE: If the procedure gets too painful, just raise your hand in a fist and I'll shut it down, okay?

LUKE: Like this?

CLAIRE: Right on.

They check that Burstein isn't listening.

LUKE: You trust this dude?

CLAIRE: Hell no.

LUKE: If anything happens to me, if anything goes wrong, make sure he doesn't keep Reva's data. It cannot fall into the wrong hands. I don't care if you have to kill him.

CLAIRE: I got you. But let's not go there, okay?

LUKE: I'm serious. It's too dangerous. We can't have guys like me running around on every corner.

CLAIRE: What are you talking about? There's nobody like you.

BURSTEIN: All right, let's go.

CLAIRE: Okay, okay.

They put a breathing apparatus over Luke's face.

CLAIRE: Good? Okay.

BURSTEIN: Good.

They lift the bed-thing holding Luke and start lowering it into the boiling acid.

BURSTEIN: Keep your hands clear.

CLAIRE: Yeah.

BURSTEIN: All right. Down. Hang in there. It's going to be okay.

Luke starts to scream as soon as it touches his skin.

CLAIRE: How long do we keep him down?

BURSTEIN: I don't know. Just have to let the acid do its work.

CLAIRE: Now?

BURSTEIN: Not yet.

The machine monitoring his vitals flashes a warning for cardiac distress. Claire starts to raise Luke out.

BURSTEIN: What are you doing? He's not ready yet. All right. Hold on.

They try a scalpel on his skin but it breaks.

BURSTEIN: Damn it. Dip him again.

CLAIRE: What?

BURSTEIN: Again! Again!

CLAIRE: One more.

The monitor sounds another warning.

CLAIRE: We're losing him.

BURSTEIN: It's not working. Why isn't it working?

CLAIRE: We're losing him!

BURSTEIN: It's not working!

CLAIRE: What do we do?

BURSTEIN: I don't know.

The monitor makes the "flatlining" sound. Luke's hand lifts out of the acid and makes a fist.

CLAIRE: Shit!