And then came the explanation.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4S4LzwQVgC
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhH1Awxi6NY
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTs1vMK9TTf
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUagi1VKqdK
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8U0TEojko
Then ease into “The dream was real.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrV554i7ne
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeHyF5hl4J
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJm2pPLcYfQ
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvM4vZ6pjZQ
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiE1YuSg0EC
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxR7yfJrW4
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiV9tTkM8V
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwARwNUkhi
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNjiXjz74W
“Nothing changed today.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOGfeSJ8AJd
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwr508DoV7
“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.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyPaYGPEoj
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67aTqzzWpO
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4qMltTSST
“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—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ321J8qPCJ
this wasn’t something she was observing.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3O67Dq5df
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvbdtvQgCc
Still nothing.
No updates.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1gQgEhLBk
No signs.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3UHcmyfv1
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dlgzJ4Yei
Or was it just... waiting?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKtRktAxTb
Watching?61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUsZO1ahA6
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DaATYU35g
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYkkN0trjbQ
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.
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl6pnpxIKf
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGshLTasEEU
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQICpWF0iEW
No surprises.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9wlOSz88a
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdmbMAy9pT
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgcn49kPuI
Predictable.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp41W1Wv59W
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtqdRve7ej
Control her tone.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5etisIaKTF
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrow74ukIwz
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPK2bhPjtrc
Which screen was for surveillance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dxwMaCOFt
Which device disrupted signals.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs92uDG3QNz
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPA5XHFDlex
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJ2PRACSxd
Angle it just right.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagmWu4bsVA
Deep breath.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQQIotBxns
Close the right eye.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA5uG3igUCe
Don’t stare too long.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcFegjIze4
She knew better now—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTf3w1hxNRV
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqWJfBZ9YZ
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3GAOxXZ7P
She stared at it.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvF5ltmqvM
296.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIcIR2I0Yo
Too close to 300.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIybfSwqYZ5
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8e4lS8nZaP
Same as the previous 295 times.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYqjzfH9tb
The air was damp.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kzDl4UxFz
The coffee machine hissed to life.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7QC5J7My0
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwBWZVHADn
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.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvymqMM7n7
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yEsgvEtLw
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.”61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNG9VNbvKp
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIIHZ3FmMD
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—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpZ7TQZ3pA
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGNRepMzPG
Low. Prolonged.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzn9LLxuYmK
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32GygmOo5a
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxKV5tVpfD
Grabbed the edge of the bar—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDV7r3KVKP
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPtCf7oYLyD
One on her waist.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDWITzEvED
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HBKUzJBTJ
And something else—something sharper.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5XAlIzKmi
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyxDqcG9v0
Her against his chest.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIP0h0T7V3
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E3yjg7qgZ
Mugs.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nQfVwLaVT
Spice jars.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgmNnRVTad
Her precious collection of weird spoons.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQ8VvKFElE
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5khto36IKK
Claire flinched instinctively.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhExkuT5cE
That noise—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdf5g0qzmv6
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qbUaJvjn9
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DU3XWmxD6
Her vision swirled.
Then—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBKhDbUTmHJ
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PJIn2xraX
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5RGol2FLK
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLKUn2wLg4
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUubleMuwJ
No shelves. No glass.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdjZqzkhcr
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQie5gn4M4
A makeshift haven.
And then—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9u5ktKyF97
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPhhxAOv5E
The walls stopped growling.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFxOYwCLmW
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbzFkqs3cy
Trying to see her face.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xX84r2xkW
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHkQ3v0joY
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUbtIwQhHD
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjhveU2nStq
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MflVhAegR
from the golden-brown eye61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwC8eYTCDa
on her left.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsVE29U7qc
