Changes with dl_greenarrow

[chloeas]

It wasn't so much that she was pacing as she was pointlessly walking from computer station to computer station, trying to research but not being able to focus long enough on anything that was in front of her

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[dl_greenarrow]

Oliver stepped off the elevator, raising his eyebrows as he moved into the main part of the room. "So what's the big emergency?" he asked.

[chloeas]

"It's not an emergency," she told him once she turned to look at him then motioned to the couch, holding her breath a little, "but it's important and I need you to listen to me before you react to it."

[dl_greenarrow]

He frowned a little. "Don't I usually?" he asked, studying her for a moment before slowly moving over to sit on the sofa.

[chloeas]

Chloe didn't sit, she looked down at him and smiled slightly, nodding, "you do, but what I'm about to tell you will probably upset you, which is why I need you to be calm and listen to everything I have to say," she knew the mystery wasn't going to help, but she had to get it out there before anything else.

[dl_greenarrow]

"You mean the future that Lois actually visited? The one where we all die?" His jaw tightened a little.

[chloeas]

"No," she told him, "we can stop him from becoming the man who destroyed Krypton, Oliver, we can stop the future that Lois saw from happening if we do this, he doesn't have to become a dictator if we don't make him one."

[dl_greenarrow]

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Make him one? You're kidding me, right?" He stared at her in disbelief.

[chloeas]

"Listen to me," sitting up, she turned slightly on the couch so she was facing him better and holding his gaze, "he believes he is helping humans, all he wants to do is reach out to people and make sure this planet is inhabitable both for us and for their people and as long as he gets that, they will be just as dangerous as any other human out there, there will be no war, no mass-killing, nothing of what Lois saw, just an increase in population."

[dl_greenarrow]

Oliver turned to look at her, shaking his head. "Chloe, people are scared of what they don't understand. Look what happened with Hawkman and the others. They had to go into hiding for decades because of everything that happened. I get wanting to change things and make the world a better place. That's what we've been trying to do for years," he pointed out. "But people are still people. There's still going to be conflict and crime and war and short of some kind of miracle, nothing's going to change that."

He paused and looked away for a moment. "I believe there's good in this world and that it's worth protecting and saving, but good can't exist without bad. It's just the natural order of things. Everything has an opposite." He looked at her again, his voice growing quiet. "Evil and hate don't exist in a vaccuum. It exists in the hearts of people. Short of brainwashing the masses, there's nothing that will change that. The best we can hope for is to help balance things out."

[chloeas]

She stood up too, looking up at him and shaking her head, "of course there will still be crime and conflict and violence, Ollie, but it doesn't have to be as bad as it is now, and even though we can't change the way people think and feel, Zod doesn't understand that and as long as he's being heard and as long as those towers don't go up, protecting people from themselves is the only thing we have to worry about and that we can do."

[dl_greenarrow]

"You're putting an awful lot of trust in a man, whom, just a few days ago, you were looking at as public enemy number one, Chloe." His voice was quiet as he stared at her, wondering if somehow Zod had managed to brainwash her.

[chloeas]

"I know, and honestly, I didn't except to come out of this meeting seeing him as anything else, but if there is a chance we can solve this peaceful, don't you think it'd be better to do it that way? And I don't fully trust him, which is why we're still going to keep working on our original plan, but we can work on this too."

[chloeas]

She stilled at the single word, her stomach dropping as she held his gaze. For the past few months, Oliver had been the one person who seemed to understand what she was doing, and to choose to go along with it and help her and she should have been expecting this, should have been expecting that reaction because she had never asked him for something so big, but she had still been hopeful that he would understand this too, so she couldn't help the disappointment she was feeling.

Nodding, she looked away from him, "it's your choice."

[dl_greenarrow]

"I'm sorry, Chloe. What you're asking is too much." His voice was soft. "You're asking me to put faith in a man who's expressed open hostility for earth, for humans, and for us on multiple occasions." He gazed at her intently. "And to use my influence to let him have this kind of open forum on world leaders and the general population...what if he turns around and stabs us in the back, Chloe? And what if people have believed him? Those deaths would be my responsibility. I can't have that on my conscience."

[chloeas]

"I understand," her voice was quiet, "I know it's a lot to ask, but I can't not give it a try." She turned to look at him again, though her eyes didn't meet his.

[dl_greenarrow]

He looked down at the floor for a moment. "We can't save everyone, Chloe." He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

[dl_greenarrow]

"Do you really think he's going to let you that close?" he asked, shaking his head a little. "How do you know he's not just going to try to use you as a mouth piece to people while he continues building those towers? How do you know he's not going to turn around and stab you in the back? And I'm not talking metaphorically. I mean literally stab you in the back, Chloe."

[chloeas]

"If I feel like there is anything less than honest about our next meeting, I will pull back, Oliver," she told him, her voice firm, "I know what to expect but I felt like he was being sincere when we spoke this afternoon and I want to at least try."

[dl_greenarrow]

"Your next meeting," he echoed, his jaw tightening a little. "Which would be when? And where?"

[chloeas]

"When we have material for each other," she told him, holding his gaze, "he will contact me, or I will contact him."