And then came the explanation.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr38rDLnEU
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLQlNngreN
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdu1TTfULDr
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMxb8ZToU5
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8erYniKsi
Then ease into “The dream was real.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpwk4k3fgI
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbuKZZoZNz
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItieVKgsIH
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jQYqPknB4
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2p1umGv8N
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgdHcVDXjW
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgU4zcUwXgY
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQdSUJSVYY
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhz9mLOagf
“Nothing changed today.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ugax3QiLk
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVDmL9MLqR
“Bagels sold well.”
She’d said some version of that report over thirty times now.
Batman had banned her from sky-watching.
“It interferes with your perception. Makes the fissure too active.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7fQxnAHrf
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg2Cd24dQ4
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZOuLWQu7v
“If it’s coming, it will let you see it.”
And somehow, that was the most terrifying thing he’d said yet.
Because it meant he knew—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUUXBtjKsf
this wasn’t something she was observing.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYkfMQoJta
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0yhsJLCcF
Still nothing.
No updates.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzszizGZ0Tx
No signs.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmx7jRrqNfr
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vkpoQF3J8
Or was it just... waiting?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dvMiqWHNf
Watching?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq1IPFZmew
Calculating when she’d slip up?
After reporting, Claire wandered the safehouse.
Fiddling with the gear that still looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2JQvju4CY
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ScRezHP7U
and knew exactly which button sent a distress call.
She knew how the tech worked.
Because here, she couldn’t afford to just be “that girl who says the sky is broken.”
She had to become “the calm anomaly who explains things clearly and can handle equipment.”
That’s how they’d believe her.
That she was still sane.
80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tMNUFWrWR
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkUEAwt2iz
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBdbjGU8vL
No surprises.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzmyLKj1sB
No endings.
She really believed that.
Even Batman’s exact eyebrow twitch, or the second Nightwing’s half-suspicious smile would appear—she could time it like a metronome.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTNL4lN7wc
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhLmkCs6Djc
Predictable.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf14yEuksg9
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdgyctTrSd
Control her tone.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEwwoTfHSC
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp46Ar4L0BT
She had tested different explanations before, but eventually chose the most efficient version.
Now she could deliver her entire situation in under three minutes.
"I’m Claire. Time resets for me. Every day’s the same."
Said with all the emotional depth of reading a toaster manual.
She could now operate almost everything in the safehouse.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLD1abcUqu
Which screen was for surveillance.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl108h3201f
Which device disrupted signals.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOenG1saURr
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7lyY103lh
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKMYlIexd0
Angle it just right.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJr9a6yLamC
Deep breath.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZoHEs4ig5Z
Close the right eye.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChcPKJGiOA
Don’t stare too long.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTLH6Wqfv2
She knew better now—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0D94QVmEvp
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt1vyd4hf0b
A strange balance—between madness and clarity, between combat and café shifts, between her and it.
Until one morning, Claire wrote Day 296 on the paper.
The line under the six came out a little too dark.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjEqTY8rZu
She stared at it.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeURNev5nUn
296.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Is10rhZkP
Too close to 300.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgdUIK0Z4M
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQisIZYtwZ
Same as the previous 295 times.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOp32SMqAUF
The air was damp.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZPf241B3G
The coffee machine hissed to life.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaK44KQtmAn
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeyoDcEPgV
Still couldn’t help glancing at that photo.
She once told him, “When this is over, please face the other way on the front page. I’m tired of seeing your butt on this side.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MsWJYRY29
She had no idea what his face looked like when he heard that.
Probably something between a syntax error and mild panic—eyes flicking between her and the newspaper, ending with an awkward laugh before walking off.
At 10 a.m., right on cue, Officer Dick walked in for his bagel.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPrv5vVKwv
Just like the last 295 mornings.
Claire picked up the paper bag, ready to begin her usual clairvoyant babble.
Today’s theme: “Temporal resonance between past and future.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3wzqdxSPr
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGNVzFOLmx
Not so weird to get committed.
She’d mastered that line between oracle and lunatic.
As she handed him the bag—
Just as her fingertips brushed the paper fold—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0plVOUqo1
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuZo5YvUnC
Low. Prolonged.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepLteTL2wf
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ578LzbUj6E
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUuFbiXqtR
Grabbed the edge of the bar—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxzvy5YKPH
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03QHMi63JJ
One on her waist.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tq2Q34lds
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsh0tdalNv
And something else—something sharper.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLA4YBOI7S
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOX7uIoZyE
Her against his chest.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJV9wqxAIK
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIfiDrcw89
Mugs.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B57KWrNTl
Spice jars.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pKhaDGK8v
Her precious collection of weird spoons.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgh07cR6Jz
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlb3GXOu9Um
Claire flinched instinctively.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlwSLV46u9
That noise—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWF1h49wY5
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsffGZQtJ7S
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQhIxLVXqi
Her vision swirled.
Then—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4yRF5Mjya
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eCxkdhT0D
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpIBb205vG
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrKZ5urhI1
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFmkBNaR9T
No shelves. No glass.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzvkpAQeLa
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ZQy8taivC
A makeshift haven.
And then—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVawblulz0
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFvgfUaWOC
The walls stopped growling.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrm3jnLiFzC
The ceiling went still.
Silence.
The kind that makes your heartbeat sound like it’s on loudspeaker.
The officer slowly let go of her.
Took a step back.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13JtjFwoHh
Trying to see her face.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfcrHBTzuy
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooTuZ9ZvVb
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeSCgrRQLm
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1YhDJ6MGL
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgKiEG5ZnK
from the golden-brown eye80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNBUccj9zG
on her left.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsVgw3jJJ4
