John McIver enters the police precinct and is led to the Chief of Police's office. "I am John McIver," he shakes his hand, "I contacted you earlier?"

"Yeah. So you think your lab experiment can help us catch bank robbers?"

"Carl Lucas can give you your men."

"Typically, we give these jobs to professional bounty hunters. He's untrained."

"He's also bulletproof."

"Well, we're not too excited about civilians doing police work, even if they are bulletproof," he points to a map which has the areas pinpointed, "Still, we have a good idea as to where they might hit next. If we use Lucas, it will be on our terms. Got it?"

"Sure."

"I'm surprised a man as wealthy as you would be so interested in collecting this bounty."

"Let's just say I have a keen eye for business."

"I'll need his consent, obviously."

"That won't be a problem."

Lucas is inside his apartment with John McIver. "Whoa, there's a problem here."

"Carl, remember, you are bulletproof. Dr. Burstein said there is very little that can hurt you."

"Putting my hand over a burner is one thing. Stopping a bank robbery is something else."

"Think about how this will look to the parole board. Stopping a robbery is a huge community service. You may get your sentence reduced."

"... Really?"

"They already told me they would try to make it happen."

"So... how much is this bounty anyway?"

"Three thousand dollars per person. The police believe there are about five or six of them."

"That's... a lot of money."

"Well, I would still take a portion of it as your manager. Still, you'll walk away with quite a bit. We can discuss particulars later."

"And the cops? Where are they while people shoot at me?"

"They'll ll be there too so no worries. You'll just be catching bullets. That is, if they even show up at all."

"Well... I've been lucky so far. What's the worst that could happen?"

The bank has a large lobby. Clerks sit at their desks while tellers help customers behind the counter. Lucas stands watch in a security guard jacket and hat. He places a finger against an earpiece as he listens to the officer on the other end, "Remember, if you see them, just distract them. If they take a hostage, stand down." "Got it the first time," he whispers into his lapel.

Across the street, John McIver sits on a bench and calmly sips a cup of coffee; thoughtfully, he checks his watch and takes another sip. Not far away, an undercover cop talks quietly into his phone, "No signs of the perps, yet." "This is the second time we've been here and I've been waiting all day," Lucas tells them, "Maybe they won't be hitting this bank."

As if on cue, a black van pulls up to the bank and five men jump out, each wearing black ski masks and carrying automatic weapons. Two of these men carry a large duffel bag between them. The undercover cop quickly brings his phone up to his ear, "All units acknowledge, suspects are moving in!" The men burst into the bank, waving their weapons in the air. "Nobody move," the head robber announces as everyone in the bank raises their hands, "I'm sure you all know exactly what this is." One robber waves a gun at Lucas, "Hands up. We don't want any heroes." He complies. The two men with the duffel bag quickly move into the back where they see a vault. Another gunman brings the tellers out from behind the counter, "Let's go! On the floor!". The final gunman checks the civilians, "Good job, people! This will all be over soon." The gunman watching Lucas notices he doesn't have a gun. "What kind of a security guard doesn't have a gun?," he asks. Lucas shrugs.

Several police squad cars pull up on the bank, the officers getting out and taking cover behind their cruisers with their guns drawn. The gunman moves away from Lucas and takes a look out the door. "Damn. The cops are already here," he exclaims. The lead robber shouts to the two men in the back, "Let's get a move on it!" The men in the back quickly tape dynamite to the vault door, preparing to blast it open.

With no one left to watch him, Lucas clamly strides forward, tossing his security guard hat to the side "Alright, This is where I come in." The remaining three gunmen train their weapons on him. "Easy," Lucas raises his hands, "Look, this jacket isn't mine. So, I'm just gonna take it off before we begin. They'll probably get mad if it gets bullet holes in it." The three men look at each other curiously as Lucas calmly places his hands on his lapels and slowly slips the jacket from his shoulders. "Just taking off the jacket," he tells them as it drops.

"Get on the ground!," the lead gunman shouts.

"I can't," he tells them.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm supposed to distract you a little bit longer until the cops can get in here."

The three men open fire with their automatic weapons. The bullets hit Lucas, ripping his shirt apart. The two men at the vault hear the gunfire and quickly leave, bag in hand. The men continue to fire as the bullets deflect off Lucas' chest, sending sparks everywhere. All at once, they stop firing when they realize their target is unharmed. Lucas staggers back from the force of the bullets and takes a look at his shirt which is now almost completely off, "The shirt was mine, by the way." In his earpiece, he can hear the officer shout, "Do not engage! Repeat, do not -". He quickly takes it out while muttering, "Sorry, you're breaking up," and tosses it to the floor.

He darts forward, dropping his shoulder as he spears one of them in the gut before throwing him overhead. The gunman does a full flip before hitting the floor. The two gunmen with the bag stare with disbelief at Lucas' strength. He kicks another robber in the chest which sends him across the room and over a clerk's desk. The men in the back drop the bag on the lobby floor and open it, revelaing a large grenade launcher. The final gunman raises his rifle at near point-blank range but Lucas snatches it with one hand and slams his fist against it with the other, breaking it in half. The two men load the grenade launcher quickly. Lucas shoves the palm of his hand against the gunman's chest, sending him into the tellers' counter. He turns just in time to see a grenade launcher being pointed in his direction.

"Christmas!"

The grenade is fired, blasting off across the lobby until it connects with Lucas where it explodes, sending him through the glass door and across the street. Outside, officers scramble out of the way as he hits a squad car with enough force to topple it onto its side. The robbers use the diversion to quickly dart through the smoke and debris. Once they get to the sidewalk, they stop dead in their tracks. Lucas rises behind the over turned cruiser, still unhurt, smoke billowing from his chest. He angrily kicks the car, knocking it out of the way so he has a clear shot at the robbers. They raise their hands and surrender as officers swarm them. McIver smiles as he watches from his bench.

Several minutes later, the robbers are lead away by the police. The officers congratulate Lucas and when he turns around, he is caught in the flash of several cameras. "So this is the today's hero, huh? How does it feel?," one of the reporters shouts. "What?," Lucas asks in bewilderment. "Hey, over here," Lucas turns as another reporter snaps a photo. "So what's your name? What'd we call ya?," another asks. "Uh...," before he can answer, McIver sweeps in, taking him by the arm. "I will make an exclusive announcement soon, ladies and gentlemen," he assures them and quickly leads Lucas away. They try to follow but the police block their path.

"What was that all about?," Lucas asks, "Who called the press?"

"I did," McIver tells him, "With something this big, it's good to get the media on your side with an early photo op. Otherwise, they'll decide you're bad news. It's just for the company's image. You don't need to worry."

"I guess. Man, that was crazy back there. Fighting the bank robbers, I mean."

"It was amazing. I think you have a knack for this sort of thing, Carl."

"Honestly, it was pretty fun."

"Perhaps we could use this opportunity for the business. Take up some more bounties. You get more hours of community service, we put some criminals away..."

"So what, I turn into some hero-for-hire?"

"Tell me it doesn't sound more fun than sitting in a lab with Dr. Burstein. You'll still be working for me, of course but you might as well have some fun with it."

"I'm keeping busy either way, I guess."

"And it will go toward your community service."

"Sounds even better."

"The only thing is, and don't take this the wrong way, some people might not like the idea of hiring a bounty hunter who was a convicted felon. Carl Lucas has a record. It might be suitable to use an alias."

"What do you want to call me?"

"How about a nice superhero-sounding name. How about... Powerman."

"No. Hell no!"

"It would be good for business."

"Hey, you don't want me to be Carl Lucas, I got no problem with that. I'll go under a different name but I'm not gonna be called something that stupid. I mean, you already have me as your labrat in a cage, I'm..."

"What?"

"Yeah, I think I know what you can call me."

"Yes?"

"Luke Cage."