Erase: Chapter Twenty-Six (26/?)
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Summary: After Chloe is found siphoning money from Oliver's company in order to purchase Kryptonite weapons, she realizes that she losing her sense of humanity. She decides that the only way to escape from who she is becoming is to erase her memories and start over. Oliver has 4 months to stop her before it's too late.
Spoilers: Up to Conspiracy, and then I write my own way.
POV: First chapter is Chloe-centric, and then Ollie-centric for the rest of the journey
A/N: I'm sorry for coming off a little narcissistic, but I just realized that I'm on chapter twenty-six. Feeling very proud of myself right now :)
Chapter Twenty-Six
Days without Chloe Sullivan: 68
He decided to head back to the Watchtower after Pete wrote down Gabe Sullivan’s address. This was Chloe’s Dad, and Oliver didn’t want to just break and enter without good reason. He wanted to make sure that it was absolutely necessary before going there.
He also wanted to check and see if Watchtower picked up on something new., if someone else was revealed. Pete Ross wasn’t responsible for being back on the grid- years of experience with his company’s board taught him whether or not somebody was lying to him. Which meant that someone put him there, and Oliver wanted to know who that was.
He pushed open the double doors of the Watchtower, and walked straight to the computers. He stopped in his track when he saw Mia lying there on the couch, with her uniform on.
He rushed over to her, and rolled her over so that he could examine her properly. “Mia”, he whispered, shaking her gently.
He removed the cape to see if she was injured in any way. Sure enough, he saw that her arm was wrapped in gauze. Oliver unwrapped it slowly, and saw a long cut down it. It wasn’t too deep. Didn’t look fatal.
He shook her again, with more violence. “Hey, Speedy.”
Her eyes opened, and she sat up. “Oliver? What are you doing back? I thought you were visiting Pete Ross.”
“Came back to check on things”, he said before sitting down beside her. “What happened to you?”
“I fell asleep after patrol. No big deal”, she shrugged.
He lifted up her arm. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing”, she said, rubbing her arm gently before getting up from the couch and walking towards the kitchen.
He got up and followed her. “Mia, it’s not nothing.”
He watched as she pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water. “Honestly, it’s no big deal. Hell, you should have seen the other guy”, she told him before taking a sip.
Why wasn’t she more shaken about this? He remembered his first wound from patrol- he was so nervous about it that he was afraid to go back out again. Mia wasn’t traumatized in the slightest. “This isn’t the first time you’ve been injured on patrol, is it?” he asked her
She shook her head before taking another drink.
“Why didn’t you come to me about it before?” he asked
“Please”, she scoffed. Like you don’t have your own battle wounds.”
“That’s not the point.”
She rested the glass on the table. “Yes it is. You don’t tell me about yours, I don’t tell you about mine. Everyone’s happy.”
He didn’t want to go into details about the torturing or the beating. He didn’t want her to know that he had been chased in Cuba, or that he almost drowned. It would scare her, make her more terrified of him leaving than she already was. But he didn’t want to come back to Metropolis one day and find out that she was dead.
“I worry about you, kid. I want to know what’s going on.”
She let out a laugh, and Oliver felt the pit in his stomach sink even deeper. “So, I’m supposed to tell you everything, but you don’t want to tell me more than what I need to know? That’s convenient for you. You get all the answers, and I get none. You can’t have it both ways, Oliver.”
He was silent for a moment, and she seemed to take that as permission to continue. “And don’t you dare say that I owe you. You trained me because you genuinely wanted to. I do the target practice on my own, not to mention the yoga and kickboxing. And don’t you bring up the fact that you’re paying for my education, because if that’s a problem? Let me know right now, and I’ll start applying for scholarships. I don’t owe you a thing.”
She let out a deep breath, and stared at him. But he wasn’t listening. Her words were echoing in his head. “You can’t have it both ways, Oliver.”
He was starting to get dizzy as the memories flashed before his eyes. He grasped the kitchen counter for support as they came to him, one after the other.
***Flash***
He wanted to get as close to her as physically possible. Because, that would mean that she would be honest with him, instead of blocking him out, or lying.
“I like where this is going, Romeo, but you might want to put on some softer music”, she said softly, reaching over to kiss him.
“It’s not a booty-call”, he said right before she came into contact with him. God, he hoped she had a good explanation for this.
***Flash***
“I’m worried about your identity. What we do out there every night is a huge part of who we are. You taught me that. And I’m worried that you’re mixing up her identity with your own”, Mia told him
***Flash***
“Don’t do this.”
“What? “ he asked, confused. “What am I doing? What’s the matter?”
“You’re making things strictly about business. Nothing personal. Just like she did.”
***Flash***
“Well, I’m sorry I want to keep you all alive.”
“Don’t be. Be sorry that you can’t trust anybody, and that you’re becoming paranoid. Be sorry that you can’t rely on anybody anymore!”
***Flash***
AC’s voice started echoing in his head. “Well, Chloe…she lost it a little bit.”
***Flash***
“You have to trust before you can teach her to trust.”
***Flash***
“Are you keeping me in the dark because I lied to you?” Chloe asked, shaking her head
“Well you know, Chloe. You can’t have a set of rules for yourself and then a whole other set of rules for everyone else.”
***End Flash***
He was becoming the very person that he was trying to save. He knew that this would happen, but he didn’t make an escape route for himself. He was losing grip on the table, and of what was right and wrong.
He let go of the table, and fell to his knees. He heard Mia call his name before bending down to help him. He grabbed onto her shoulder. His vision was blurring fast. “Mia. Help me.” He managed to say before blacking out.
Help me.