Information. With chloeas.

[olliequeen]

Oliver's mind had not been on work the entire afternoon, especially when he'd gotten a message from Chloe stating that Stuart had woke up, and that she was going to go talk to him. His stomach was tight with unease as he waited on the doorstep. It never felt right to just barge in on her. Watchtower was her place, and while she'd always made it clear he was welcome, it just felt wrong to let himself in.

So he reached up and rang the bell, looking up at the security camera and offering her a grin. Not as wide as it could have been, but a grin nonetheless.

Comments

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

They watched the last few images in silence, watching as Lois found Clark and they got the ring from Zod, successfully sending Lois back to where she was now, or to a couple of months back anyway.

Chloe let out a deep breath as the image went back to black before the window closed and her computer's desktop was in place again.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver remained still and silent, his body tense. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know what to say to himself. They all died in that future--Mercy, Chloe, him, Clark. It was a lot to hear about when Clark had told them what he'd seen, but now that he had actual images to go along with the story, it made it very real.

Too real.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

There wasn't anything to say, everyone had died, even Clark. They had been through apocalypses before, but somehow, this time, felt more dangerous, closer, almost impossible for them to stop Zod and everything else from happening.

"We can't wait." She didn't realize she had spoken the words out loud until she heard her own voice.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver slowly turned his head to look at her, barely registering her words, just that she had spoken. "What?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She shook her head, her eyes a little wide as she looked at him, "we can't just sit here and wait for things to get to that point, Oliver, Clark may or may not be able to become friends with Zod and talk him out of it, but that still leaves us with thousands of possibly pissed off Kandorians out there. Kandorians who know exactly what Zod has been planning to do all along, what if they manage to get their powers? Even if they are on Zod's side, they will be more powerful than all of us humans combined and we will end up back there either way." She pointed at the screen but kept her eyes on Oliver.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

The certainty in her tone struck a chord within him. She was right. There was too much at stake to sit around waiting to see if Zod and Clark could play nicely in the large sandbox together.

"I agree we need to be doing something, but what I'm not sure of is what," he admitted, holding her gaze.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"We have two options that I can think of," her voice was even when she spoke this time, "we can either find a way to send them back to where they came from," she paused, taking a deep breath, "or we can get rid of them before they can get rid of us."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He stared at her for a long moment then stepped closer to her, shaking his head slightly. "Chloe, you're talking about mass murder."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She stilled at his words, it sounded horrible when he put it that way but she shook her head, "no, I'm talking about protecting the six billion humans that will vanish from Earth if the Kandorians get what they want."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"But right now those Kandorians are all human, Chloe." There was a wildness in her eyes that he had never seen before.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe's eyes narrowed and she shook her head, "there is nothing human about them, Oliver. Just because they don't have their powers, it doesn't make them humans. They are soldiers, Zod's soldiers and they won't think twice before killing us if they have a chance to."

She stood up straight, eyes on his, "Clark was raised here, he has human roots, he's different, but the rest of them, as much as they look like us, are no different than Brainiac or Doomsday."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

As soon as she said Doomsday, it all began to piece together in his mind. Realization registered in his eyes and on his face and he stepped closer to her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

"Listen to me." His voice was quiet. "I get it. I know where you're coming from. But this isn't what we're about. This isn't what you're about." Oliver shook his head a little, gazing at her intently. "We'll figure out what to do about all these Kandorians, but killing them isn't the answer at this point."

He drew in a breath. "Chloe, I get that you're scared. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared, too. So let's take a breath, step back from this for a little while, and then put our heads together and come up with a plan."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes on his as he spoke. He was right, she was scared, she knew he was too, and he should be, but waiting was not the answer, giving them the benefit of the doubt was not the answer, she had chosen to help Davis, and although Jimmy's death was by the hands of a human, Doomsday had killed so many others before and after he left Davis' body.

With the exception of Clark, Kara and Jor-El, no Kryptonians had ever shown any mercy towards humans before, Zod had killed Jor-El, she knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill any and every human who crossed his path.

But Oliver didn't understand, he hadn't dealt with them as closely as she had.

"We're wasting time."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Slowing down and stopping to consider our options isn't a waste of time. But jumping headlong into one solution that may or may not work is a bad idea in any scenario."

He had to get through to her somehow.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"I'm not planning on going out there and starting to kill them, Oliver, but if we want to stop that from happening, we need something, and we need it fast." She kept looking at him, her jaw tight.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I agree." He stepped back from her for a moment, letting his hands fall from her shoulders. He began to pace the length of the Watchtower. "The key to the Kandorians regaining their powers is those towers being built, right?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

With a deep breath, she crossed her arms over her chest, watching him, "as far as we know."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Then that's what we stop," he said, his voice filled with determination, turning to face her once more. "We don't let that happen. Whatever it takes to prevent it, we do it."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe took a deep breath and rubbed her face, "that sounds like a great short-term solution, Oliver, but it's not a long-term one, eventually, they will find ways around it."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"We go with what we have for now," he said quietly. "And while we do that, we work on backup plans."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Narrowing her eyes a little, she considered him then nodded, "any ideas for said backup plan?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He was silent for a moment. "I'm not ruling anything out."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe nodded, taking a deep breath and relaxing slightly, "good." It was a start.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Chloe." His voice was quiet and he moved closer to her once more, ducking his head a little to catch her eyes.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She didn't say anything, just looked up at him.