A Friend of Yours Who Is a Science Fiction Fan

A friend of yours who is a science fiction fan hears you talk about the fact that astronomers now believe that the mechanism for the large energy output of quasars involves a supermassive black hole. He challenges you, saying something like "Oh come on, every science fiction fan knows that nothing, not even light, can escape from a black hole! How can a black hole be an energy source?" How would you respond to his objection?

A) you're right, my explanation doesn't make sense; I wonder why astronomers didn't think of that?
B) light can't escape from the event horizon of a regular black hole; but it can easily escape from the event horizon of a supermassive black hole
C) it isn't light that escapes from the black holes in quasars, but x-rays and gamma-rays, which work by completely different rules
D) the energy we see from quasars comes from regions where matter is falling in; these regions are still outside the event horizon
E) quasars act like gravitational lenses and bend spacetime until light and other radiation CAN emerge from a black hole in unexpected ways