Leverage

Any trouble planting the evidence, Mr. Kreese?

Should turn up in his office within 36 hours.

I don't think this one's going to work.

The guy's clean.

Now.

Our friend the state's attorney is clean now,

but he did a stint in juvenile detention,

another in drug rehab.

All we have to do is add a whiff of scandal

and let the media follow the trail

all the way back to those old sins.

But who cares?

The public loves him.

The public has been lied to, Mr. Kreese.

Told all their lives they can have the good life,

but no one ever gets it.

Every year, they work a little longer,

and their house is worth a little less,

their retirement fund gets a little smaller.

And when the people get upset,

they start looking for someone to blame,

someone they can take down.

The public has to love him,

otherwise, none of this works.

Only our heroes fall, Mr. Kreese.

The rich and powerful take what they want.

We steal it back for you.

Sometimes, bad guys make the best good guys.

We provide...leverage.

So, this 13-year-old future State's Attorney

steals a concession worker's uniform,

we go from food stand to food stand

telling them that we've run out of franks

in the right-field bleachers -- It works.

And they never caught on? No.

Only after we had scammed more free food

than we'd eat in a season.

I remember they asked us for our ticket stubs.

Which, by the way, we didn't have

because we hopped the turnstiles.

Then...they asked to speak to our fathers.

And Nate says -- I'll never forget this --

he says, "Who do you think taught us to hop the stiles in the first place?"

I've never tried to hide how bad things got for me

when I was a kid.

But I put the drugs behind me,

walked a straight line ever since -- swear on my mother.

Okay.

So...

So, this guy, Reed Rockwell --

Professional career assassin.

He represents your opponent in the next election.

He sends you these photographs along with a note.

Then the next day,

an aide finds a bottle of Vicodin in your office.

It wasn't mine.

Okay.

I broke an ankle playing ball with my kids a few years back.

I wouldn't even take the painkillers the doctor prescribed.

But now all this character Rockwell has to do

is file a lawsuit against you --

anything -- a fender-bender...

And then the aide has to come forward about the Vicodin,

and these photographs -- real or fake --

come out in discovery.

Legal blackmail. It's elegant.

It's, uh, it's wrong, is what it is.

Can I have another...

Coming right up, sir. Thanks. Do you want some?

There you go.

Sometimes I don't know who's done more

for the people around here, Nate --

you or me.

Well...

I need you now.

I don't know what to do.

Go home, Ed. I got this.

I'm going to get my team to bury this guy Rockwell.

You got my word.

Rockwell is bulletproof.

Of course. The man is all about C.G.

I mean, maybe -- maybe --

you can get some quality C.G. in a still-frame,

but when I lay down my ten-fifty old-school practical --

Stop -- stop with the "Star Trek" stuff again!

"Wars"! Damn it, it's "Star Wars."

And -- and that C.G.I. Yoda they used in the prequels

is an insult to the puppet they --

You know what, man?

It's not even worth discussing. You're the only one discussing it.

I kind of like C.G.I. Yoda.

Hey, Hardison, what do we got on this guy Rockwell?

Look, Parker, just tell him what he wants to hear.

Did my ears...

All right, Nate. We're scraping rock bottom here.

This guy does crisis P.R.,

and the whole thing's done on the whisper.

He doesn't just defend his clients,

he attacks their enemies -- by any means necessary.

Creating dirt where he can't find any.

Okay, but, guys, I mean, we've done this kind of thing before.

Video, photo frame-ups...

Not like this, Nate.

This man is like a ninja assassin.

He's turned it into an art form.

We're talking politicians, Hollywood starlets,

even cheating spouses.

You know, word is,

Rockwell made his bones a few years back

by taking down a congressman.

You see, the rep received some serious praise

for the speech that he gave

that introduced a bill in D.C., right?

Rockwell, the genius that he is,

goes and writes a fake political essay,

back-dates it,

and then bribes a clerk to file it

in the Library of Congress.

Rockwell leaks the news

that the rep plagiarized the essay,

the bill dies, and so does the congressman's career.

Well, he knew that no one in D.C. was gonna admit

to not having read that essay,

and how the public were gonna respond.

Yeah, and how to manipulate the media. Oh, yeah.

Rockwell's brilliant. He's ruthless.

Stone-cold solid.

It's a shame we got to take the man down.

I'd almost consider making him a part of the team.

Yeah, uh, Rockwell has his boot on my friend's throat, Hardison.

I said, "almost."

Listen, what do we know about him personally?

Nothing.

His online footprint is scrubbed clean.

Website has an e-mail box,

the corporate website -- that's it -- no phone.

Only way I found the office address

was by tracing back

some old business-license application.

Yeah, we can tell you where he gets his morning coffee.

- That's about it. - This is no good.

Well, the usual play on a guy like this

is to ruin his reputation,

you know, undermine his credibility.

Yeah, but he has no reputation, so...

This guy's a ghost, Nate.

He operates like we do.

His clients are by referral,

and he stays in the shadows. How we supposed to take this guy down?

The same way we would destroy me.

I mean, what we're really asking here is,

how would I destroy myself?

Yeah, and you can't say "booze." Hmm.

If somebody lives in the shadows,

you want to bring them into the light.

I mean, what if we made this guy...famous?

No. Bad idea. We shouldn't do that.

Nate's right.

It's a siren song.

Who do we know that can resist the warmth of the spotlight?

We give him just one little taste.

First of all, we don't even know how this guy's gonna react, okay?

And say, what if it does blow up, huh?

What if we get too close to the spotlight?

Look, Nate, we already got enough unwanted attention,

a la somebody listening in on the apartment.

Okay, here's the plan.

We are not gonna take Rockwell down.

We are gonna build him up.

We're gonna turn him into a hero.

We'll then find all the grimy little secrets that he has,

and then we are going to discredit him,

and no one will ever trust

what he has to say about Ed Kelley.

Parker!

I'm not gonna be able to unhear that "C.G.I. Yoda" thing.

Cut me deep, woman. That cut me deep.

I can resist the spotlight, by the way.

Of course you can.

Never see you taking any kind of victory lap

after you've pushed us all to the edge,

or sticking around to gloat

over the bad guy being dragged away.

Hmm. Is that sarcasm?

A mild amount.

Hey! Hey! Give me the purse.

Give me the purse, lady, and nobody gets hurt.

Hey! That's my paycheck!

Give me the purse. Give me the purse.

And my mother's medicine! Help!

Hey, leave her alone!

Really?

Stop.

Good job.

My baby! My baby!

Help! Help!

Huh?

Ooh.

Wonder if that comes in a higher heel.

I choked on a hot dog.