Episode 118: Future Tense
Takes place 13-14 September 2012.
Paul is relaxing in his apartment when Dana shows up at his doorstep, having spent several subjective years in 3000 AD. Dana attempts to ask Paul to make things as the Legion of Super-Heroes' records say they should be, but Paul reveals that things have deviated far too much for that to be possible. Then he explains that thanks to the changes made to how time works, there should be no threat to the timeline that the Legion comes from.
Dana is taken aback and decides to consult with the Legion, but the apartment defences then stop an attack with a novel weapon, and Paul investigates the cause. While he's doing that, a Kryptonian pod approaches Earth, containing another version of Kara Zor-El, this one conscious and healthy.
"New Kara", with Super-Hearing beyond even the native Universe 16 Kryptonians, helps Paul to track down Nylor Truggs, whom the Legion has been trying to catch. When caught, Truggs admits that Paul has achieved more to help Earth than he did, and lets him know that the Sheeda didn't bother invading his original timeline (since Earth was devastated by the Reach and not worth ransacking). However, they are interrupted by a demonic being that looks like a Supergirl. After the demon is defeated, Paul makes sure that Truggs is incapacitated before going with Noriel to look for Kara and Dana, who had gone to investigate the secret bunker before Demon Supergirl showed up, and leaving Truggs for New Kara to guard. They find Kara, and together they find the sarcophagus that had Demon Supergirl. After destroying it, Noriel leaves Kara and Paul alone to investigate more.
Unfortunately, Dana has opened a container of kryptonite, and Kara was exposed to black kryptonite, causing her to embrace her most selfish and cruel impulses. She disables Dana, steals the coins that empower her, and attempts to blackmail Paul into having sex with her in order to ruin his relationship with Jade. However, Dana finds Truggs' H-Dial and uses it to defeat her and recover the coins. Kara eventually recovers from the kryptonite exposure, though she finds the experience traumatic. The Justice League then uses Rip Hunter's time sphere to send the Legion back to their own future.
- Alternate Universe: We get to see what happened to the version of the SI who ended up on Earth 10.Because if vanishing from my world wasn't enough, I appeared on one where the Nazis won the Second World War. And they are rather thin skinned about being called 'Nazis'.
- Attempted Rape: A black kryptonite affected Kara attempts to coerce Paul into sex by threatening Dana's life if he doesn't do it. Thankfully, Supergirl II finds out and interrupts them before Paul can even start undressing.
- Beyond Redemption: After Truggs once again tries to pull one on Paul, Paul now believes that there is no hope in reforming Truggs
. - The Bus Came Back: Dana is back in the present after spending time in the future as a superhero with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
- Call-Back:
- The last meeting that Dana had with Paul is brought up.
- Paul mentions the changes to time that were made in Duplication.
- Clothing Damage: Kara's clothes are burned off by Noriel after her powers are shut down. Kara herself is fine because she had Dana's coins in herself at the time.
- Do You Want to Copulate?: Due to being affected by black kryptonite, Kara is very forward with Paul."I want you to fuck me."
- Dropping the Bombshell: Paul reveals to Dana (and by extension to the Legion of Super-Heroes) and Truggs what happened at Vanishing Point.
- History Repeats: Kara, while under the influence of black kryptonite, lampshades the fact that Paul is repeating his mistake with Zatanna."She likes you. She… Me, when I'm not using black kryptonite. You're safe, you're nice to her, you help her without asking for anything… She feels safe with you. It's all very primal." She shakes her head. "I don't think you learned anything from Zatanna at all."
- Literal Disarming: After Truggs nearly escapes his custody, Paul takes stronger measures, severing his spinal cord and limbs and removing his eyes. The fact that Truggs can regenerate them may have influenced his decision.
- One-Steve Limit:
- When Dana tries to tell Paul to refer to her as Supergirl, he replies that the name is already taken, three times (Loriel the sort-of former angel, Angelika Kant aka Overgirl, and Kara Zor-El, who doesn't actually use the name but is Superman's cousin). She claims that in the future she's from, it's not.Kara: Another Supergirl.
Paul: I know. One more and I get a free one. I'm hoping for Cir-El. - Then an alternate Kara turns up in a lifepod headed for Earth.Paul: (internally) And that's five!
- When Dana tries to tell Paul to refer to her as Supergirl, he replies that the name is already taken, three times (Loriel the sort-of former angel, Angelika Kant aka Overgirl, and Kara Zor-El, who doesn't actually use the name but is Superman's cousin). She claims that in the future she's from, it's not.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Dana is able to remember her last meeting with Paul while he isn't because she was protected from that change in the timestream.
- Set Wrong What Was Once Made Right: Dana came back to persuade Paul to slow down, stop making changes, and allow the Reach to conquer Earth, so that the Federation of United Planets can form someday. Paul utterly refuses, telling her that it's unacceptable ("I'm not letting the Reach win"), impossible due to the changes he's already made (like forming a large-scale coalition to fight the Reach, and disarming Larfleeze who would eventually have defeated them), and unnecessary (because the Time Trapper's work means that branching timelines can exist, so the Legion timeline will not be harmed by Paul's changes). She's stunned, but accepts that they're well past the point of just stepping back.
- There Was a Door: Kara overhears the possibility of another Kryptonian survivor and appears in the room, catching the door that she just took off its hinges.
- Underestimating Badassery: The reason Dana tried to turn on Paul was because she thought she could take him after Kara softened him up.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: In order to keep the magic coins away from others, Kara put them inside herself. Paul actually thinks this trope when wondering where she's keeping the coins after her clothes are burned off.Noriel increases the intensity of her flaming aura, setting the loose material in the room on fire and incinerating the scraps that were left of Kara's costume. No change. Where the heck are the coins? Did she swallow them or are they… 'Secret compartmented'.
- When Dana later gets them back from Paul, she stuffs the pouch containing them down her cleavage.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: To Paul's chagrin, Truggs is able to escape once again. This time it is through a form of teleportation.
