A/N: And I'm back! I am so sorry for the long delay, but I hope that this chapter makes up for it. It takes place during the episode Persuasion. Enjoy!
Chapter Eleven: Control
Chloe woke up in morning feeling reborn. She sat up from her bed at The Watchtower, and looked around her. She was blissfully happy for about 30 seconds before she realized that she was alone. Her clothes were in a trail leading downstairs, proof that last night happened. She groaned at her own stupidity- of course Oliver wouldn't stick around. He probably thought that she was insane by now.
She wrapped the sheets around her body and headed downstairs for some coffee. She walked down the stairs, and found a large bouquet of perfect red roses in a vase on a nearby side table. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she temporarily abandoned the idea of coffee. She walked over to the table and picked up the card.
I'm sorry- I had to get to work early. Some problems have come up. I'm not ditching you, I promise. Call me when you wake up, okay?
-O
She put the card aside, and leaned down to smell the flowers. They were absolutely beautiful, but it was the small package behind the vase that caught her eye. She picked it up and saw Columbian coffee beans. She eagerly opened the package and sniffed the coffee beans. She closed her eyes as she smelled the coffee's perfection.
She walked over to the couch, where her handbag had been abandoned the previous night, and fished for her cell phone.
She called Oliver, and he picked up. "Good morning, sunshine," she heard Oliver say.
"I think you know me too well." Chloe told him, still looking at the coffee beans in her hand.
"Ah, you found the coffee."
She wanted to tell him that it was all too much, but the roses and coffee really made her smile. He made her feel appreciated.
"I found them alright, and the flowers too. Thank you."
"Not a problem. Listen, I have to go to Star City later to take care of a mess or two."
"Okay" Chloe said, looking down. The disappointment was evident in both her tone and face.
"But I'm not leaving until 4:00", Oliver continued. "So I was thinking that we could grab some lunch before I go. I know it's going to be awkward, but we need to talk about this."
Chloe looked at the clock. It was 9:00. There was plenty of time to get work done beforehand, and he was right- they did need to talk. If only it weren't Valentine's Day. That would be make things easier.
"Okay, I can do lunch."
"Great. I'll pick you up at 1:00?"
"Sounds like a plan." She hung up the phone. She had a quick shower, got dressed, and made a pot of coffee from the new beans.
She fixed herself a cup, and walked over to her desk. Chloe was all business now. She unlocked a drawer, and took out a folder. She opened it, and stared at the small package inside of it.
The package contained the licenses and passports for the Kandorians, and she had been working for the past week to put discreet tracking chips inside of them. Clark may trust them, but she didn't. She didn't need to hear about how they were trying to be a part of society. Zod was leading them, and one of them kills her in the future- that was all Chloe needed to know.
She took a sip from her coffee. Everything was different now with Oliver, with herself. Maybe things could be different with Clark. She closed the folder. She was going to try and fix things with Clark. If he wanted things to be different, she would take out the tracking chips and trust him again. If not, they would stay in.
"Sorry I'm late", Chloe said, sitting down at the table.
Oliver smiled. "It's okay, I just got here."
She nodded. "How's work coming along?"
"Slowly. How's it going on your end?" Oliver asked
"It's going, busy city and all", Chloe answered vaguely.
The waiter came to their table before Oliver could say anything, and they ordered. When he left, Chloe stared at the lemon wedge in her water silently. This was getting awkward.
"I'm not sorry that it happened, Chloe." Oliver started
"Then what's next?" Chloe asked "a relationship? We both know that we're too…damaged for a functional relationship."
"If you're not ready for a relationship, then I'm not going to push you." Oliver told her
"It's not you, it's just…the complications of a relationship that I can't handle", she started to explain.
"What complications?" Oliver asked
She thought about Courtney, and how she told her that they would be able to deal with the complications when they came. She shook the idea out of her head.
"We work together. We depend on each other in order to survive. You depend on me in order to survive. And if I'm biased and emotional then I won't be able to do that. I could lead you down the wrong path. Our lives are more important than the risk."
Oliver nodded as the waiter returned to the table with their food. They ate in silence.
"What is it that you want, exactly?" Oliver asked her, in between bites
Chloe took a large bite of her meal and thought hard while chewing. He made her feel, made her come alive again. She didn't want to lose that.
But on the other hand, she couldn't handle the strings that came with a full relationship- everything that he did right would remind her of Jimmy, and it wasn't fair to punish Oliver for being good.
And then there were the Kandorians. She needed to protect Oliver from them. Her own life was going to end very soon thanks to Ilia, but Oliver could still be saved. He would be saved if she didn't let her emotions cloud her judgment.
"I don't want any strings. I don't want the complications of the press, Clark, or Lois. I just want…to be with you."
He nodded, and continued to eat his meal in silence.
"I care about you, Oliver." If nothing else, she needed him to know that.
"I know. Our lives come first though, right?" he clarified
"Yeah."
Chloe walked back into the Watchtower with a full stomach and a happy face. She was glad that she was on the same page with Oliver. She smiled as she walked past the roses on the side table. She placed her handbag on her desk, and was unbuttoning her coat when she suddenly heard a whooshing noise. It was Clark.
"Hey! I was going to ask you for the low-down on your V-day with Lois, but something about you being here with me tells me it didn't go over so well", she said cheerfully as she took off her coat and placed it beside her bag.
"Do you have the passports and ID cards ready?" he asked her in a formal tone.
Chloe's bright nature was immediately drained away. She felt like an idiot for hoping that she could change her current friendship with Clark. So much for fixing things with him and removing those tracking chips.
"Or we could get right down to business", she said, reaching for the folder that lay on her desk. She grabbed the package.
"All the material that you would ever need to escape your life and start a new one", she told him, handing him the package.
"Thanks Chloe, you're a life saver", Clark told her, turning to leave.
Clark thought that she was willingly helping the Kandorians blend in after knowing that one of them kills her in the future. Chloe wondered if Zod was nicer than he appeared, or if Clark was just plain stupid.
"If by that you mean sweet on the outside and empty on the middle, that's pretty much exactly how I feel right now", she told him, leaning on the table.
He turned around. "Look, I realize that you're not on board with me helping the Kandorians."
"Yeah, well, you know how it is: you find out that one of them skewers you to death in the post apocalyptic future, you kind of lose interest." She said, putting a voice of strict professionalism once more.
"I know it looks like I may have overlooked some of their mistakes", he said, opening one of the passports and looking at it.
"Mistakes?" she asked him in disbelief "By mistakes, do you mean building a tower that can give them powers to take over the world?"
"I'm going to lead them to a better place", Clark said defiantly.
"The tower will be completed in two days", she said, standing up straight and turning to face him. "Granted they haven't got the satellites up and running to change the atmosphere, but come on Clark. We both know that one of them killed your father."
Clark just stared at her blankly. She took this as an indication to move on. "Look, maybe it would just be safer to send the Kandorians to the Phantom Zone."
Of all the things to do with the alien race, Chloe hoped that mentioning the Phantom Zone would help him see how blind he gets sometimes. They couldn't afford any mistakes after last time.
"I know you're saying that because you want to protect people. But right now, I want you to focus on watching my back", Clark said evenly.
His voice echoed in Chloe's ears. I want you to focus on watching my back…watching my back…watching my back.
"Leave the rest of the planet to me", she heard Clark say, as he turned again and began to walk away.
"Clark." She called out to him, feeling the sudden need to stop him.
She couldn't control what came out of her mouth next. "I will protect you. No matter what it takes."
Clark brushed her off, and walked away.
Chloe felt a sudden urgency to help Clark fully integrate into his role as the Red-Blue Blur. She had no idea what she was thinking, but for the time being followed her instincts.
The only way that Clark would truly be saved was if he removed every single distraction from his life. The only way to do that was if she was free from distractions herself.
Chloe moved over to the flowers that were sitting innocently on the side table. Everything in her head was telling her to stop, but her body took over. She threw the flowers in the kitchen garbage, and emptied the vase of the water.
She was about to put the vase away, thinking that the action of throwing out flowers was enough. It was a nice crystal vase, and it just needed to be put away. Suddenly, all rational thinking was abandoned, and she felt her hands reach for the vase. She threw the vase on the floor blindly, only hearing the deafening sound of the glass crashing on the kitchen tiles.
She walked over to the Watchtower monitors, and let her fingers attack the keyboard. Her eyes were barely registering what was happening on the screen. She created firewall after firewall in order to protect Watchtower's information on Clark and the Justice League.
It wasn't until every single computer was fully protected that she activated the fuzzy black and white screens. Her cell phone rang. She picked it up without checking who was calling "Clark?" she asked
"No, it's Oliver."
"Oh. Do you need something?" she asked
"What, I can't just call you up and ask how you're doing?"
"Are you trying to waste my time?" she asked, looking out the door and tapping her feet impatiently
"Chloe, what's going on?"
She hated herself for being so mean to Oliver right now. Her voice was cold and cruel- this was not how she wanted things to be.
Her voice continued. "I have to save Clark. He needs my help."
"Slow down. What happened?"
"Have you been paying attention to anything that has been going on recently? Zod's towers are going to be finished in two days. Clark can't see how dangerous he is. I have to save him."
She heard Oliver let out a deep breath. She stared at the floor in guilt. Oliver was worried about her- he thought that something new had happened and that someone was in trouble. That wasn't the case here.
Chloe realized that she was staring at the floor, and that her feet had stopped tapping. For the first time in hours, she had control over her body, over her words.
"I need you to listen to me very carefully", she started.
"Okay."
Suddenly, her throat started to close up. It felt as if an invisible hand was compressing it, preventing her from breathing, from speaking.
"Oliver…save…me", she sputtered out desperately.
Her body took control once more. Her arm jerked to the side, and her phone flew out of her hand. When she was sure that Oliver had hung up the phone, her body moved over to the phone and picked it up. She wanted it in case Clark needed her.
She walked out of the building. Her distraction cleanup was over. Now, it was time to save Clark.
"Chloe? Chloe, what's happening?"
Oliver knew right away that something was wrong from the desperation in her voice. Something was wrong, and he had to fix it. Unfortunately, Chloe was in Metropolis- a 4 hour jet ride away if he left right now.
He frantically called Bart.
"I need you to make a quick run to Watchtower. Check to see if Chloe's okay", he told Bart.
"What happened?" Bart asked him
"I don't know", Oliver answered.
"Then why…?"
"Less talking, more running. Can you just check on the Watchtower?"
He heard Bart super-speeding.
"Well?" Oliver asked impatiently
"Chloe's not here, but the monitors are freaking out. The warning lights are flashing, and the screens are blurred out."
"Do you think that she was kidnapped?"
"No, there was no struggle, and you know that she would have put up a fight."
"Okay", Oliver answered, relief evident on his face.
For a moment, there was silence as Bart looked around.
"What did you do?" Bart exclaimed
"What do you mean, what did I do?" Oliver asked him
"There's broken glass in the kitchen. Someone said something to her. God, we all leave for a little while…" Bart started mumbling.
"Bart, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Can you fix the computers?"
Oliver heard clacking on the keyboards. "No. Chloe did something to the computers. She doesn't want to be found."
"Thanks, Bart. I'll call Emil. Maybe he'll be able to get the computers up and running again."
He hung up, and called Dr. Hamilton, who was on his way to the Watchtower. Emil's haste however, did nothing to settle his nerves. Something may have happened to affect Chloe's mood, but something about her was different. He decided to consult AC.
"Hello?" AC answered his phone
"AC, this is Oliver. I was just wondering- if there's broken glass in Watchtower's kitchen, what does that mean?"
"There's broken glass in Chloe's kitchen?" AC asked him slowly
"Yes." Oliver was starting to feel stupid just asking.
"What did you say to her?" AC asked him sternly
"Nothing! I haven't done anything. What does it mean if there's broken glass?" Oliver was starting to get confused. He had never noticed broken glass in the kitchen before. He didn't like the fact that everyone knew something that he didn't.
"Look, the last time that there was broken glass in the kitchen, we didn't really think much of it. It was just in a little pile on the floor, and we figured that Chloe was just too busy sorting things out to deal with life's little messes." AC started to explain
"But in reality…?" Oliver prompted
"In reality, she was messed up because the day before the pile showed up, she saw the video feed of your suicide attempt. She didn't sleep for days because she felt this constant need to save you. It almost killed her."
"But none of that has happened!" Oliver exclaimed angrily. "Everything is absolutely fine with me, everyone is safe. I have no idea why she would be like this!"
"Then maybe it isn't you. Maybe she's just stressed out about something. For all I know, maybe Chloe has actually taken the time to deal with everything that has happened to her instead of just working herself to death. Or she could be hiding something from Clark. Her friendship with him isn't as stable as it used to be. Whatever happened, it's big."
"So, how do I get her to open up to me about it?" Oliver asked
"Give her time to work it through. I have to go."
AC abruptly hung up the phone, as Oliver heard a voice call out "Mr. Queen, the jet is ready for takeoff now."
"Thank you", he politely told the pilot.
The pilot disappeared into the jet again. "Chloe, what are you keeping from me?" Oliver whispered to nobody in particular before following the pilot inside.
She opened the door of the Kent household. "Clark?" she called out, as she stepped inside
Suddenly, Lois' head perked up from underneath the table. "Hey Chloe!" she greeted
"Lois!" Chloe said, surprised. She instantly plastered a fake smile on her face. Lois wasn't important right now. She needed to find Clark, so that they could destroy the solar towers. Lois however, wouldn't understand the importance of any of this, so Chloe would need to entertain her ridiculousness for now.
"Well, it is amazing what four hours of scrubbing a kitchen can do. It simply sparkles!" Lois said, impressed with her own handiwork
Something was obviously very wrong with her cousin. Chloe looked her over- she had been cleaning the kitchen with a toothbrush. Lois never cleaned the apartment, and here she was scrubbing away. She was also wearing a seventies housewife dress, adorned with a pearl necklace.
"Okay, let's open a window. I think you may have gotten a contact high with that lemony fresh scent", Chloe said, not even bothering to close the front door. She rushed over to the window and opened it.
She looked at the box on the table. "Why is your vinyl collection here?" she asked curiously
"Drum roll, please. Chez Kent has a new resident."
Chloe raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"I moved in!" Lois said, triumphantly with a smile.
This was bad, very bad. Chloe had come here to eliminate Clark's distractions, and here Lois, number one on the list, was moving in?
"Great. We can have you moved back to the Talon and all packed up before the Sun's up", Chloe said. She put some of Lois' possessions that were scattered on the table back in the box.
"Look, I'm sorry that you're having a hard time with this, Chloe. But this love train has left the station." Lois told her, as Chloe crammed all of Lois' possessions in the box.
Chloe lifted the box from the table. "No, the love train has jumped the tracks. I've seen Clark in love before, and it always holds him back", she said, thinking of Lana.
Before Lana had left, she told Clark that she was just a distraction. She put on a power suit so that she could fight the big fight, and had absorbed dangerous amounts of Kryptonite in order to save people. She may have held Clark back at first, but now she was doing some real good in the world with the suit.
Chloe knew Lois, and she wasn't as strong as Lana was. She was going to distract Clark, make him blind to what was truly important. Lois was going to erase all of Clark's progress, and Chloe couldn't have that. This had to end, now.
"You know what?" Lois said taking the box from her hands and placing it back on the table. "It is just a little sad that the only way that you can get close to Clark right now is to play Mother Hen."
"Clark is a very private person", Chloe told Lois, reaching for the box once more. "And when the chips are down, everyone can see your cards."
"Hey!" Lois exclaimed, grabbing a picture of her and Clark together from the box.
"Clark knows that he can trust me", Lois said, pointing a finger at her.
"Just like the Blur?" Chloe inquired "When you were secretly talking to him and you announced it to everyone on National Television?"
"I never planned for it to happen that way", Lois said guiltily.
Chloe placed the box on the table. She grabbed the picture frame that Lois was holding in her hands, and began to pull. Lois started to pull back.
"Alright Lois, look- as long as I've known you, you've always had to have the scoop. But when it comes to understanding the real Clark, you are always going to be a second string!"
The struggle continued until the picture frame fell to the floor with a clash. Lois reached down to retrieve the frame, and picked off the broken glass. She looked at Chloe as if she had repeatedly kicked her in the stomach.
Lois looked as if she was about to cry any second now, but Chloe didn't care. She stared at the view of her pathetic cousin below her.
There was no way that Lois could fight alongside Clark, not if she was already beaten down by a destroyed picture frame.
"You know, this whole Martha Stewart makeover thing isn't fooling anyone", Chloe said, not even bothering to fight the Kryptonite.
Seeing Lois' blank stare, she continued. "Once Clark knows you, the real you underneath all of this Lois armor? He's going to see that you're just a scared little kid that runs away the second anything goes wrong."
"If you really love him, the best thing that you can do for Clark is leave him." She finished ruthlessly
She walked away, and slammed the door behind her. She got in her car, and was about to start the engine when suddenly, her phone rang. It was Dinah.
"Hello?"
"Chloe, it's me. I just wanted to let you know that the prototype came in this morning."
Chloe let out a breath. Finally, someone wanted to talk about something relevant today. "Have you tested it out yet?"
"Yeah, I have. It's really solid."
"Is it good over a long distance?"
"Long distance throwing, short distance throwing, close range combat, it can do it all."
"Are they encased in lead, like we discussed?"
"Yes, they are. Want me to order them in bulk?"
"Do it. I'll move around some money so that nobody can tell."
"Is Oliver okay with all of this?"
"The last time that I checked, Oliver didn't work his ass off to get the team back together again. He's been okay with all of my decisions so far", Chloe said bitingly.
"Chloe, is everything okay?"
She felt guilty for verbally attacking Dinah and insulting Oliver, but there was nothing wrong with buying Kryptonite weapons. She was doing all of this to protect the world.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, this is only a backup plan. At the end of the day, this is all to protect Clark. Just order the weapons, okay?"
Chloe hung up. She skimmed a bit of money off of the top of the funds of Oliver's individual companies, and put it into the Watchtower's funds. Even though this was a bold move, Chloe was okay with it. Humanity needed to be saved, and as long as the lead casing was there, Clark would be safe too.
She put her phone away, and started the car. She was heading over to the Daily Planet building. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines and simply keeping an eye on Tess Mercer. The woman knew something about how to shut down the satellites, and it was time for Chloe to find out exactly what that was.
Chloe crept in the dark newsroom until she had made it to Tess' office. She tried the handle and found that the door was locked. She searched her bag, and pulled out a lock pick.
While her fingers worked at the lock, Chloe's thoughts turned to Oliver. He was the one who had taught her how to pick locks after Icicle had attempted to eliminate the entirety of the Justice Society of America.
At the time, Chloe had laughed at him. She said that Clark just broke handles and walked in when a lock seemed to pose a threat. Oliver however, looked her over for a minute and told her that she had to learn to open her own doors. Oh, how true that was now.
Eventually, she was able to fully open the door. She dropped the lock pick back in her bag, and walked inside of Tess Mercer's office.
She closed the door behind her, and walked over to her desk. She turned on the computer, and started to search for file names.
Chloe didn't find any information on the satellites, but she did find something equally interesting: replications of the Watchtower video feeds. Tess knew that she was keeping a steady eye on her work, and on Zod.
She took out something that would jam the feed, and double checked Tess' data. "I can't believe you piggy-backed my cameras", she muttered in disbelief as she looked at feed after feed. Tess had replicated them all.
"And I can't believe that you actually managed to be of some use." Chloe looked up to see Tess standing near the now open door.
"Go ahead", Tess said as she walked into the room. "Hack yourself silly. You'll never crack my system."
"This isn't so much cracking as it is bleeding out. This is the digital equivalent to the Ebola Virus." Chloe held up the drive. She pressed a button, and it let out a hum as a green light ran from one side of the stick to the other.
"You take down my firewalls, and you'll be exposing Clark to much greater dangers than you can even imagine." Tess warned her
Chloe squinted slightly to check whether or not Tess was bluffing. She couldn't tell.
"I've done everything in my power to postpone this, but the day has finally come", Tess continued as she walked around the desk. "The tower is ready, it's linked up to the satellites- the countdown has started, and in t-minus eighteen hours, the atmosphere will turn red and the Kandorians will have their powers." She walked past Chloe, and turned around.
Chloe was silent. "But I've lost my faith in Zod. If Clark joins them, he can rule over all of the Kandorians, even Zod. But you and I have to work together."
Chloe was trying her hardest not to laugh in her face. If Tess thought that she was going to manipulate Clark into joining the Kandorians, she had another thing coming. However, Chloe needed to have the upper hand.
"That's quite the offer", Chloe started, with just the right amount of hesitancy. "Let me think about it", she added in a shy tone.
She turned back to the computer for a moment, and when she could see Tess smiling in triumph in the corner of her eye, Chloe backhanded her across the face sharply.
Tess fell in shock, and Chloe pulled out a gun. She loaded it, and pointed it at Tess. "I'm sorry", Chloe said as Tess felt the blood on her lower lip. "But embracing the red sky definitely violates my 'no conspiring with baddies' policy."
Regardless of the fact that Chloe respected Tess for her cunning behavior and intelligence, she knew that Clark joining the Kandorians was not the right decision. Giving Clark to the enemy would not protect him.
Chloe reached for her digital Ebola Virus, and taking advantage of the distraction, Tess pushed the gun out of her hand. It flew to the other side of the room.
For a moment, the two shared a look. Suddenly, Tess shot up from the floor and the two women ran towards the other side of the room where the gun was sitting.
They clashed into each other, and fell on the glass table. The glass shattered on the floor. Chloe stretched her hand out for the gun, but Tess punched her back and pulled her hair. Chloe let out a cry of pain as Tess pushed her onto the floor.
Chloe heard her pulse racing as Tess punched her in the face one time, two times. Before she could be punched a third time, Chloe kicked her out of the way, and Tess collided with the items on her desk.
Chloe shot up from the floor, and temporarily disregarding the gun, she launched herself at the woman and tackled her. They hit the couch, and fell down when the couch toppled over. As they got up, Tess turned her around, and placed an arm around her throat.
Not being able to breathe, Chloe wanted to inflict as much pain as possible on Tess, anything to get her to release her arm. She slammed both of their bodies onto the wall, and heard Tess groan in pain as her head clashed with a light fixture.
Chloe tried to throw Tess over her shoulders, but anticipating her attack, Tess held on to her, and the two women flew over the couch. They stood up again, and Tess punched her in the face.
Chloe reached over and grabbed an empty glass container. Tess kicked the glass, and it shattered on the floor. Chloe spotted the gun's location, and attempted to run towards it. However, her efforts were in vain as she felt Tess grab her jacket, and pull her back down on the cluttered pile of glass. She winced as the shards stabbed her in the back.
She inhaled deeply as she got up, but she knew that she was too late. Tess had the gun, and had loaded it. Chloe saw the gun pointed at her, and her face contorted in fear.
"Should have aimed a little higher", Tess said with a smirk.
Chloe tried to catch her breath, but she knew what was about to happen. She braced herself for the bullet, but it never came. There was suddenly a gust of wind, and Tess was gone. Chloe turned around towards the door.
She knew what was happening. Clark never confronted Tess about anything. He had spent the entirety of the previous year doing absolutely nothing while she had warned him time and again that Tess was going to figure out his secret. Whatever was controlling her was controlling him too. And without a sense of control, Clark was going to kill.
Chloe ran over to her handbag, which had fallen to the floor, and dashed out of the Daily Planet. She knew exactly where Clark was going, and there was no time to waste.
She got in her car, and speeded until she saw the ring of fire. Clark and Tess were in the middle of the ring, and Chloe stopped her car. She got out, and ran over.
Clark had shoved Tess onto the ground, and Chloe searched her bag for the lead box she had started carrying only days prior. She really didn't want to do this, and waited for Clark to stop so that she wouldn't hurt him. He wasn't a killer.
"I'll save your world, Tess. Just not with you in it", she heard him say coldly. She saw the familiar fire in his eyes, and opened the box.
She pulled out the Kryptonite, and held it out towards Clark. It glowed in her hands, and she saw Clark's eyes flash before he fell to the ground. He gasped for breath, and looked at Tess in realization of what he had almost done.
Chloe's eyes flashed, and she suddenly felt permanently in control of her own body. She lowered her arm, and looked at Clark and Tess. She had used Kryptonite on Clark, and it saved Tess' life. Tess knew about Clark's weakness now, and would continue to be a threat.
Chloe realized that regardless of her messed up friendship with Clark, they still needed to look out for each other. Heroes need to take care of each other, and that was what she did. She put the Kryptonite back in the lead box, and turned away from Tess and Clark. Placing the box back where it belonged, she walked away from the scene and headed back to the Watchtower.
Chloe fixed the computers in no time. Then, she cleaned herself up, and headed towards the kitchen. She fixed herself a cup of coffee, and looked at the roses in the garbage sadly as she drank. Oliver didn't do anything to deserve this. He was just being nice, and she wasn't good enough for him. Hoping that nobody would see any of this, Chloe cleaned up the shattered glass on the kitchen floor, and took out the trash.
When she walked back into the Tower, she saw Clark standing at the monitors. She approached him.
"If you were really under command to protect me, why did you let me kill her?" he inquired
"Because sometimes, protecting you means protecting you from yourself", she told him softly.
She saw him stare off into space. "You're someone we all have to believe in", she continued. "Nothing can compromise that."
"Zod took matters into his own hands. He killed Jor-El's murderer. It was Ilia."
Chloe's mind was processing at a million miles a second at this news. "So now, Ilia can't slay me in the future like she's supposed to. This means that the future that we saw is changing."
"And there's only one way to be sure", Clark said before super-speeding out of the Watchtower.
Chloe sat down at her desk, and kicked off her shoes. "Are you going to come in, or are you going to lurk in the shadows all night?" she called out
Oliver strolled in. "That's funny, I just got here", he said with a smile.
She smiled knowingly. "I'm sorry about earlier. It's been a long day."
"I'm sure it was infinitely more interesting than being in meetings all day", Oliver told her, taking a seat on the couch.
"Well, Clark had the ultimate power of persuasion today after being struck with Kryptonite dust."
"And let me guess, you got caught in the cross-hairs of the persuasion", he finished.
Chloe nodded. "I abandoned absolutely everything and put all of my energy into protecting Clark. I wanted to stop it, but I had no control over my body."
"No control? How?"
"I would be thinking something, but my body would only protect Clark. It prevented me from doing anything else. It was a mess", she sighed.
"Protecting Clark can't be that much of a bad thing", Oliver reasoned.
"Yes it was. I shut down the Watchtower. I tried to break up Lois and Clark, which only led to Lois crying. Don't worry, I sent her apology text after apology text. I'm pretty sure that the Kryptonite had an effect on her too. You should have seen it- she was cleaning Clark's kitchen with a toothbrush", Chloe laughed.
"Oh, and Tess almost killed me", she finished casually, hoping that Oliver wouldn't pay attention because if he did, he would worry about her.
"Wait, Tess tried to do what?"
"Damn", Chloe muttered under her breath.
"I broke into her office at the Daily Planet, and tried to find out what she knew about the Solar Towers. I wanted to destroy the satellites, and I thought that she had information on how to do it. Instead, I found out that she was piggy-backing my video feeds. One thing led to another, and we ended up fighting in her office." She explained
"Are you okay?" Oliver gave her a quick look over
"I'll be fine. Couple of scratches, and I had to pull some glass out of my back, but I'm okay." Chloe assured him
"You had to pull glass out of your back", he repeated. "That is far from fine, Chloe."
"I'm fine. How was your trip?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Same old boring stuff", he said.
"Well, I don't know about that."
Oliver raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Clark told me that Emil was here earlier, trying to put back together the Watchtower. You called him, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did." Oliver said simply
She remembered fighting the Kryptonite in order to reach out to him. She looked down at her abandoned heels. He knew that there was something wrong earlier. She was scared of how well he knew her.
"You tried to break up Lois and Clark?" he asked, breaking the silence
"You don't understand. Clark in love is always a disaster. I watched for years as he ignored his destiny and chased Lana. There's a part of me that really did want to separate them, but only because Lois is a distraction to him." She explained
"Then why apologize to Lois later?"
"Because things are already shaky between us, and I want to fix that. I told that she would always be a second string when it came to Clark. And even though I believe that, it doesn't have to be that way."
Suddenly, the monitors started flashing. Chloe darted up, and saw the picture of the solar towers changing. She pressed a couple of buttons, and pulled up a live news feed of the towers burning.
Oliver got up and stood behind her. "He finally did it."
Together, they watched the screen as Zod's solar towers burned to the ground.
