[ Barry tells him to not let up, but the actions of pointing a gun at Hartman and punching him again seems to take something out of Alan. He doesn't lower the weapon, but he doesn't threaten the man any further than keeping it pointed at him. Maybe he never really had that much fight in him, or he did and the story changed it, but either way, Alan just stands there staring at Hartman and only half-listening to what he's saying.

That is, until something he said registers and Alan just pins him with a glance. ]

What the hell are you talking about? "Change the world"? What do you care about changing the world? Oh, I get it, you want it to be how you want it.

[ Alan shakes his head. He knows he's not the most selfless man ever, but he doesn't go around talking about changing the world to make it how he wants it to be. ]

How do you even know that's how any of it works? What if- What if you get something worse in exchange for getting what you want? [ Alan isn't speaking from any kind of experience, but he can't help but feel that making any sort of deal with anything bigger than them is just asking for trouble. ]

I... I want to win Alice over, to get her back, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to become the world's greatest writer, but-

[ Alan's had his moments of being an arrogant ass, and he knows it, but he's not so far up his own ass that he can't see that doing something like what Hartman's talking about could have consequences. ]

That's your motivation? Being right? [ Alan scoffs. ] That's a pretty sad motivator, man.

[ Barry's reminder just seals the deal for him, really. Hartman's off his rocker and although he can't pretend he doesn't feel the lure of Hartman's grand ideas, he knows he doesn't trust the man at all.

He opens his mouth to say something else, but then he notices the look on Hartman's face. ]

Hey, Hartman, what do you think you're looking at?