Lena Luthor quotes from Supergirl

Lena

You see this? This is why I need to be in National City. There are people doing good there, who are trying to help. If I stay in Metropolis, I will always be the sister of the egomaniacal lunatic. But, if I go to National City, I can be the Luthor that shares her home with a Kryptonian, that helps her put the world back together instead of tearing it apart.

Lena

I never needed them, any of them. That doesn't mean they can't be useful.

Lena

When I came to this city, I promised myself that I would never trust anyone again, and... then I met you. And you chipped away at my armor with your warmth and your earnestness, and you convinced me to trust in people and friendship again, and against my better judgment, I did, all the while telling you about my Achilles heel, betrayal. I confided in you that everyone in my past had betrayed me. About how much it hurt to have someone you love lie to you and betray you. I spelled it out to you over and over again, essentially begging you not to violate my trust, begging you not to prove that, once again, that I was a fool. You reassured me ad nauseum that you would never lie to me, that you'd never hurt me. And all the while, there wasn't a single honest moment in our friendship.

Lena Luthor

[smiling] You know, that door's not really an entrance.... You know, actually, I just wanted to thank you for earlier on. Not only did you save the lives of countless numbers of my employees, but mine as well.

Supergirl

Now I need your help.

Lena

Anything.

Supergirl

I need help finding your mother.

Lena

My mother?

Supergirl

Your mother is behind Cadmus. She's their leader.

Lena

You're lying.

Supergirl

I'm not. She kidnapped me, and now she possesses a virus that she could wipe out the entire alien population in National City. I need you to help me find her, so that she doesn't hurt anymore innocent people.

Lena

You know, I thought you were different. You wear that symbol on your chest and everyone thinks you're good. How many times did your cousin put on that high-and-mighty costume and come after Lex? My mother is no saint, but you come in her and accuse her of being the Devil incarnate? How long before you come after me?

Supergirl

I know what it's like to be disillusioned by our parents. But I'm a pretty good judge of character. And you are not like your mother. She is cold and dangerous. And you are too good and too smart to follow in her path. Be your own hero.

Lena

You can leave the same way you came in.

Lena

[putting down Kara's article about her] It's a good article. You flatter me.

Kara

I only wrote the truth. I'm learning to keep digging, even when all the evidence points one way. There's always another side.

Lena

Even when it's hard to find.

Kara

Especially when it's hard to find. [pause] So my office is overflowing with flowers...

Lena

Really?

Kara

Yeah. [both smile] You didn't have to do that.

Lena

Yeah, I did. Supergirl told me that it was you who sent her. I don't know how to thank you.

Kara

Well, that's what friends are for.

Lena

Yeah, never had friends like you before. Come to think of it, I've never had a family like you. No one's ever stood up for me like that.

Kara

Now you have someone who will stand up for you, always.

Lena

Well, Supergirl may have saved me, but Kara Danvers, you are my hero.

You know it's true what they say. Behind every great man is a strong woman.

Lena

Oh, I wouldn't know. I've never stood behind a man.

You just clean up after your brother.

[kicks Lena] Did I mention that I'm a Black belt?

Lena

[punches Beth in the face] Did I mention I was a Luthor?

Kara

How you holding up?

Lena

When Lex was arrested, my mother was there. My mother saw her son dragged, bleeding and raving, from her house, and when I got there, Lillian was tidying his room like he'd been away on a business trip. That's how I feel: cold and calm. Until I think about Beth dying in jail, and then I feel warm for a minute.

Kara

You're in shock, Lena.

Lena

I know. Loss does strange things to my family, and I've lost a lot of people.

Kara

Well, you're not gonna lose me.

Lena

I think when I feel things again, I'm... I'm gonna be very, very afraid. About the person I might be.

Kara

[putting an arm around Lena] You don't have to be afraid. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere.

Lena

Heh. Promise?

Kara

I will always be your friend. And I will always protect you. I promise.

Kara

Okay, I... I love him. I do. I "love" him. But... c'mon. JT has got to be the only one holding up the reunion right now.

Lena

Oh, obviously. Here, but let me ask you this, right? Would you rather have an NSYNC reunion... or JT and Britney back together?

Kara

Oooohh! [stabs her chest metaphorically] My OTP. That's an impossible question to answer, and you're cruel for asking.

Lena

Yeah, well, you know, sometimes my Luthor genes just shine though. [Both of them laugh.]

Lena

[getting emotional] You know, I... just thought if I could make this work, I would prove to the world and... to my mother that I was as good as the Golden Boy. I think most of all, I just wanted to prove it to myself.

Rhea

You don't have to prove anything. You're smarter than Lex. [Lena demurs] No, I'm not saying that to make you feel better. I'm saying it as a scientist. As someone who knows. But you need to stop trying to think like your brother. From what you've told me about Lex, he's a man who's concerned with power. And that's how you've been trying to fix this. Give it more power, you think it will work.

Lena

Yeah, and it just keeps blowing.

Rhea

But you're not a person who's consumed with power, are you? So if you weren't trying to do what Lex would do,... what would you do?

Lena

[considering] I'd... try to find a way to increase the anion input without overloading the energy output, all while maintaining the element's synthesis rate as a constant.

Rhea

Not power. Balance.

Morgan Edge

Lena? Twice in my office in as many days. People are gonna start talking.

Lena

Morgan, you have all the charisma of a Michael Douglas movie from the '90s.

Edge

You didn't come all this way just to flatter me, did you?

Lena

I thought you'd be too busy to act as my chaperone.

James

I don't want to chaperone you. I don't consider myself a chaperone, I consider myself the person who's been running this company for a year.

Lena

All right, Mr. Olsen. I have a meeting with the advertising department in 20 minutes. I'll see you there.

James

See you in 19.

Lena

Twenty will be fine.

Lena

What's the matter?

Samantha Arias

I'm just screwing up... not with work. With Ruby. All she wanted to do was to practice her song with me, and I kept saying "Oh, later" and "Later", and look at her. I just feel like the worst mother. [Lena smiles.].... Why are you smiling?

Lena

Because I actually had the worst mother. Objectively speaking. So I find your self-pity a little funny.

Samantha

I mean, my kid fell asleep on my couch in the office. It's not great.

Lena

She fell asleep watching her mom work hard. She may not understand the ins and outs, but she knows it's important and you're the only one who can fix it. That is how you raise a girl to be a badass.

Samantha

Yeah. She already is a badass.

Lena

Yeah, 'cause she's loved. She knows it.

Lena

So this is what your revenge looks like.

Edge

Have you ever heard of the Cobra effect, Lena? Colonial India, the British government. They realized there were snakes all over Delhi, and they wanted them gone. So they offered a bounty for dead snakes. And then they realized that people were breeding snakes for income. They thought everything was going really well, they realized they got slithering snakes all over Delhi. The whole thing backfired. Turns out they made the problem worse. You understand?

Lena

You're a toxic predator.

Edge

Unintended consequences. You wanted to be a hero so bad, you didn't care who you hurt. And now people are gonna die.

Lena

Mr. Olsen. I didn't expect you to be here.

James

Well, the news never sleeps.

Lena

How are you, really? I was worried about you.

James

Well, I'm kind of a hard man to keep down, Miss Luthor.

Lena

You know, I have a rule. Whenever anyone takes a bullet for me, they get to call me "Lena".

James

[chuckles] Okay, well, "Lena" it is. And, uh, my friends call me "James". Or... "Jimmy".

Lena

[smiling] Well, feel better, Jimmy Olsen.

Lena

Why have you come here?

Reign

To deliver a message.

Lena

We are not your messengers.

Reign

[smiles] Yes, you are. [points to a CATCO employee] You! Turn your camera on me.

Reign

This man was a thief, condemned by his own actions. You've allowed sin to take root and fester like a weed. And worst of all, you have looked away. Apathy is the greatest sin of all. From now on, it will be punished in kind. There will be no more mercy. There will only be justice. I'm here to help.