And then came the explanation.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQkCVpICoT
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡidpNi6xs27
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvs1AzDyfW
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TZ5bdFbKD
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡso2xIAAVOv
Then ease into “The dream was real.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEQt2DNtE1
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDI1FCcqNYL
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfneGTcRFcP
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZLFq6tYRP
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjUoocYNht
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShGy0LVxmP
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMs69a5HDE8
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ202Zimksnl
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfOTJFMuOp
“Nothing changed today.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwsyVKgX3C
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwdPmFekyI
“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.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0W8Xkc7cp
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKmucOysBY
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3erHqs6R0
“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—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmjsnAxziYe
this wasn’t something she was observing.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiyUlm3rcPF
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBaoflm4mu
Still nothing.
No updates.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTBHno9u3C
No signs.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhVaLdXJSb
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyXaMQC8R9
Or was it just... waiting?33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHFRJuuPxh
Watching?33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3raOgfCqf
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgp6QgrP1V
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy4otjm7D3V
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.
33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YPvPXvGjT
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXMUOemsGo
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4Js8jLsNA
No surprises.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMV9lLfrea
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDy2iV23X1a
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvyTV2YpN3
Predictable.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5y9IxtTxj
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJ2HA6P4t3
Control her tone.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJErOw6bQXY
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbQNdkflMP
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHBf5P736J
Which screen was for surveillance.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHu26fUWSv
Which device disrupted signals.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OaO2XBfHh
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWA3ELyiidW
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnpg7vYo11
Angle it just right.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQrKSxOJlX
Deep breath.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6Af4IRHd3
Close the right eye.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmUbnnPDW2
Don’t stare too long.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvlPDqa5pb
She knew better now—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3E5CoJThA
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZsGfDoSVH
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGuhvODNDU
She stared at it.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4fsXKT40A
296.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpRiPP7rAy
Too close to 300.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrm7Z5tx3ND
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QMSe1tUed
Same as the previous 295 times.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3AVtxqLqqC
The air was damp.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCtneOtWeS
The coffee machine hissed to life.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPNiacb8bI
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIACSh918gh
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.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQiqCuwi6p
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡer0JIBljv6
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.”33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCI91jjDgj
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDr7VUuELj3
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—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡangkZRuUnB
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1KRCsd4pW
Low. Prolonged.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ERrwQqUsx
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXQZyFh6ZQ
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0A7tTAt8k
Grabbed the edge of the bar—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfH3qMBz1x
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE5j3UYEIuE
One on her waist.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KGCbTYllj
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfO2wr6pkN
And something else—something sharper.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAAfL6r1zp
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnoU2c8siuy
Her against his chest.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveG97UdkcT
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrordK7hm7
Mugs.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Gr7cjXfKT
Spice jars.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNffekrzfW
Her precious collection of weird spoons.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWfRfz10mD
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVHtj42rzY
Claire flinched instinctively.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFrl3CgsNI
That noise—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2swHcBgrJH
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡds3QAoGZ6X
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E7tvNqRnS
Her vision swirled.
Then—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEkVM1AOV5
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKk6DIfvcnm
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt46elgd23
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGy0nKdJG1
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg87R8iVmaE
No shelves. No glass.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkL1DJ2l1W
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRsaPRwP21
A makeshift haven.
And then—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4liCDehDY
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzjPNz8Q8N
The walls stopped growling.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aX2KvTJFP
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.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7KswfUI29Y
Trying to see her face.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELNh2y8cJF
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3MxDBrRWM
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKFEFIQvZd
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYB15ORF19
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1GgTPba0t
from the golden-brown eye33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakuXybHTEc
on her left.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNcZn0sS36f
