Supergirl (TV Series)

Phantom Menaces (2021)

Jesse Rath: Brainiac-5

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Quotes 

• Alex Danvers : Brainy, will you be my wingman?

  Brainiac-5 : It would be my utmost pleasure.

• Reporter #1 : I'm here with Lex Luthor. How does it feel to be a free man?

  Lex Luthor : Um, in a word, beautiful.

  Brainiac-5 : [watching on TV]  "Well, Rhonda, it feels wrong. Because I'm a madman who should be rotting in prison."

  Lex Luthor : ...the jury, I just wanna say thank you. Without you, my future wouldn't be so bright.

  Brainiac-5 : You shouldn't have a future! You shouldn't even be able to sleep at night. You should be haunted by a Kryptonian heart beating ceaselessly beneath your floorboards!

• Brainiac-5 : [bringing thermal blankets for Silas]  What happened to him?

  J'onn J'onnz : A Phantom slipped by us last night. It attacked Silas.

  Brainiac-5 : How did it get by us?

  J'onn J'onnz : It nested inside of him.

  M'gann M'orzz : But if it escaped him, why attack?

  Silas : I... I have three roommates. I don't know where they are.

  J'onn J'onnz : It's okay, it's okay. We'll find them. Brainy, get me everything you can on Phantoms. We didn't know they could possess humans, what else don't we know about them?

• J'onn J'onnz : Where's Alex and Dreamer?

  Brainiac-5 : Nia was pulled for CatCo's investor's retreat. Andrea wouldn't let her say no, she has to replace Kara.

  M'gann M'orzz : Alex went home last night to get some rest.

  J'onn J'onnz : I need her here. This man needs help.

  M'gann M'orzz : [he starts dialing his phone]  Go easy on her. She was crushed when we couldn't save Supergirl from the Phantom Zone.

  J'onn J'onnz : So was I. But you were the one who reminded me to act like a soldier, not a father. Alex needs to do the same right now.

  M'gann M'orzz : Well, you both need to be honest with your emotions...

  J'onn J'onnz : I acted on my emotions yesterday. And not only did we fail to save Supergirl, but I let a Phantom escape into this world. I won't make the same mistake again.

• Brainiac-5 : He started running into the south wall over and over again. Like he's being drawn to something.

  Alex Danvers : I got a hit on the police scanner. It says that there is a disturbance at a warehouse two miles south from here. It's being attacked by hostile ghost creatures.

  Brainiac-5 : The Phantom has created a new progeny.

  J'onn J'onnz : We have to secure that warehouse. Keep everybody from the area. Where's M'gann?

  Alex Danvers : She said that she was going on patrol.

  J'onn J'onnz : [seeing two of the energy field discs are gone]  She's already there.

• Brainiac-5 : [after M'gann is attacked by a Phantom]  The four progeny are in containment, but their combined dark-phantom energy is shorting the security system. I need to fortify the unit, but I'll need a second Luthor electro...

  Alex Danvers : Her temperature is dropping faster than Silas's.

  Brainiac-5 : The Zulians were able to overwhelm the planets they invaded so easily because the stronger the Zulians got, the quicker the victims turned.

  J'onn J'onnz : Alex, get Martian plasma. A transfusion might slow M'gann's turn.

  Alex Danvers : On it.

  J'onn J'onnz : [M'gann regains consciousness]  Hey.

  M'gann M'orzz : I'm sorry I went against your orders.

  J'onn J'onnz : No, no, this is my fault. I had a hunch Martians might be more susceptible to their attacks.

  M'gann M'orzz : Let's just say we both screwed up.

• Brainiac-5 : Sorry it took me so long to get here. There's a bit of an emergency at the Tower.

  Lena Luthor : You're hologram-multitasking again.

  Brainiac-5 : Your text said you need more help with Operation Vengeance. I'm at your service. How did Lex take our systems lockout?

  Lena Luthor : Poorly, as expected. He mentioned Lex's Foundation this morning, so I did some digging. Turns out the foundation is just a sham to buy experimental weapons from Kaznia, but you and I are going to funnel the money directly to the Luthor Wing of the National City Children's Hospital instead. Do you think you can hack into this account and make that happen?

  Brainiac-5 : I'm not exaggerating when I say that nothing would delight me more.

  [doing so] 

  Brainiac-5 : It's done. Lex should be receiving lavish thank-you calls from the hospital any minute.

• Lena Luthor : I hear your foundation had a very charitable day.

  Lex Luthor : Turn on Channel 5.

  Brainiac-5 : [as she searches on her tablet, they see a news report about a fire at the children's hospital]  Oh, my god.

  Reporter #2 : Preliminary reports indicate that the cause of the fire was faulty wiring. When asked for comment, Lex Luthor noted that his sister, Lena Luthor, was in charge of all recent upgrades to the wing.

  Lena Luthor : [mortified]  He set fire to the children's wing of the hospital just to get revenge on me.

• M'gann M'orzz : That's Silas? And a Phantom's attack did this?

  J'onn J'onnz : Yes. And with that Phantom still on the loose, it could be infecting other victims. We need to find that Phantom and anyone he may have turned. M'gann, you and I will keep searching the city, scanning for cold-energy signatures. We can use Silas as a baseline template. Brainy, get into Silas's social media, scan for facial recognition. We need to find those roommates.

  Alex Danvers : What do we do if they've already been turned?

  Brainiac-5 : Act very carefully. These... progeny will be just as powerful as the Phantom, but they're still innocent people. A remote-activated kinetic inhibitor can be triggered from up to a mile away, keeping us at a safe distance so that we don't also become infected. I'll begin constructing one now, along with some additional Phantom containment units.

  J'onn J'onnz : Good. Until then, we need to locate that Phantom and keep everybody safe.

• Alex Danvers : [after Silas is attacked]  You said a Phantom did this?

  J'onn J'onnz : Yeah.

  Brainiac-5 : Or as they are originally known, a Zulian Melatarian. Originally from a dark planet on the outskirts of the Rao system, they were forced to flee, seeking a new home planet to repopulate. Unfortunately, their method of populating is to infect the planet's existing inhabitants by turning them into soulless, hive-minded minions. They were very successful. Until the Kryptonians stopped them, imprisoned them in the Phantom Zone. Their powers were diluted and they were unable to multiply. They were, however, able to continue spreading misery, making them excellent prison guards.

  J'onn J'onnz : But when this alien escaped, all of its powers returned. It can now infect people? Essentially, make new Phantoms?

  Brainiac-5 : And it only gets stronger the more it preys.

  J'onn J'onnz : Will it possess people like Silas?

  Brainiac-5 : No. I-I believe that was purely a means of escape and evasion. When the Phantoms attack, first they do so psychically, paralyzing their prey with misery. Then they strike using their venomous talons. After a short incubation period, the victim's life force leaves the body and migrates to the Phantom's nest.

  Alex Danvers : Life force?

  Brainiac-5 : In the 31st century, we discovered a formula to quantify the intangible substance that makes a human unique. You call it a soul.

  Alex Danvers : [an alarm sounds and Silas begins choking]  His temperature is crashing.

  [seeing Silas' life force leave his body] 

  Alex Danvers : What was that?

• Alex Danvers : Okay, we need to contain them before they get to J'onn and M'gann.

  Brainiac-5 : The kinetic inhibitor isn't ready. We can't get close enough to restrain them. It's too risky

  Lena Luthor : My portal watch, I can re-route the exit coordinates to transport the Phantoms to a sub-containment unit from a safe distance. I just need something to draw them all to the same point.

  Alex Danvers : Or someone.

• Lena Luthor : He's a maniac. I mean, this is just sport to him. It's just another way to beat me. I hate him. So much. I hate his face. I hate his voice. I hate his suits, I hate his never-ending games of depravity. I wish he would just die. I wish we could kill him.

  Brainiac-5 : We should kill him. We can craft the perfect murder. First, with just the tiniest re-wiring of his home, we can deliver a near-fatal electric blow. He'll be paralyzed, but he'll still be aware of what's happening to him. From there, we'll finish him. You choose the method, he's your brother. But just make it slow, okay? After that, we'll dismember the body and scatter the pieces across the universe. I know exactly which planets have atmospheres with pressures high enough to decompose carbon in an instant. This time, there will be no Lex resurrection.

  Lena Luthor : Brainy, stop. Okay? We can't kill Lex.

  Brainiac-5 : Why not? You... you just suggested it. Lena, you've already done it.

  Lena Luthor : Brainy, it turned me into the darkest version of myself. I know it's hard, but you-you can't go down this dark path, okay? You're a good person.

  Brainiac-5 : Then what do we do? What do we do? What am I supposed to do? Ever since I removed my personality inhibitors, I... I have been overwhelmed by the depth of my emotions. The rage? It's... it's always there. Seeping out, burning me like acid, and... all I want to do is help you destroy him, Lena. I... I need to destroy him. And if I can't do that, then... how do I make these feelings go away?

  Lena Luthor : Brainy, we were wrong. You-you can't put your emotions into little boxes. They'll eat away at you until there's nothing left. And I know it's hard, but you have to embrace that. It's okay to feel rage. You just gotta let it out and then let it go.

  Brainiac-5 : [trying to work, he angrily throws his tablet to the ground with a scream]  I hate him! I hate him! And I'm... I miss her.

  Lena Luthor : [taking his hands]  Hey. Me, too.

• Alex Danvers : Hey, thanks for coming. We need all hands on deck for this.

  Kelly Olsen : Of course. I brought the Obsidian Neuro-Imager you asked for.

  J'onn J'onnz : Thank you, Kelly. Think of what we're about to do as a soul transfusion. First, we'll need a Sacred U'ra'er'run. It's used for spiritual rituals in Mars. This one's been in my family for centuries.

  Lena Luthor : How does it work?

  Brainiac-5 : In theory, the U'ra'er'run will act as a conductor. A modified Fal-Tor-Pan, as it were.

  [seeing Lena's blank stare] 

  Brainiac-5 : Star Trek III: The Search for Spock? It'll allow us to re-fuse J'onn's piece of M'gann's soul to her body.

  Alex Danvers : And, Kelly, you'll neuro-image M'gann, make sure she's safe during the transfer.

  Kelly Olsen : Okay.

  J'onn J'onnz : Brainy will man the U'ra'er'run, while I cleave M'gann's soul from mine. I'll then transfer it into here to complete the process.

  Alex Danvers : The transfusion has to happen at the exact moment M'gann's soul leaves her body, but before she starts to turn.

  J'onn J'onnz : If we miss this window, she will be lost.

  Brainiac-5 : [an alarm sounds and a window freezes over]  The temperature inside the tower just plummeted.

  Lena Luthor : It's the Phantoms. They must have followed the others here.

  J'onn J'onnz : I've got M'gann. You take care of those Phantoms.