And then came the explanation.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AH4pJD9z9
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8XRWVCVCs
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOPg7jHw4T
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7mSqgbagL
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvc7sNSEbw8
Then ease into “The dream was real.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGOO25hFxH
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLSSOuRRUP
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqvHEViVBZ
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxLWT0dGae
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JxzWVfmTB
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZQxshGQor
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYC8sS2XXt
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYXJ4XcfVx
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UMqpHRFtZ
“Nothing changed today.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HCOB2jH2S
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDfckA6fd9
“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.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRWOVxpZVC
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYvxD0pyFd
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yTzpbrbKX
“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—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfGWR0kUfV
this wasn’t something she was observing.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmJQxX5Vh2
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLyVhpbfZS
Still nothing.
No updates.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeverMx5vLQ
No signs.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3GrTHypDI
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuBvJpLkZr
Or was it just... waiting?31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxJoiiYso3
Watching?31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8qeHSan41
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGJh5zRRu6
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBSIVrvXR1
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.
31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaFXHZmLiu
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfR7DlLK4eK
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfMOn14U4O
No surprises.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr8w8piFwE
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSWDFfdgmX
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHbM392OKv
Predictable.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEXOIIDrSR
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PLwMzRiJV
Control her tone.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx78XQzKG10
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1h7AYZpwjt
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobPJukQf92
Which screen was for surveillance.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0TSSPvOPE
Which device disrupted signals.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7CrfWeFUF
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJ73Zo9VlS
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSpGRASGhF
Angle it just right.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUme93fWkq
Deep breath.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI865Bowdyr
Close the right eye.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9NkHDzdmI
Don’t stare too long.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5M9LrJ6PU
She knew better now—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEE7hzs3mh
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxEWOMqbRs
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUcVUX49k3
She stared at it.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrK6hfTSHCv
296.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ913DW2x7Ly
Too close to 300.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5hrX81vps
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGuuuGAv9qV
Same as the previous 295 times.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwlli8QN9P
The air was damp.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFhFuUBZ3fg
The coffee machine hissed to life.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9iv473UJ6
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZN4qrf72r
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.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jqjVlSgkC
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmxHpJzwg2
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.”31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8qcRizLIB
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSn5BjAi6XG
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—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6K5fKvnEbj
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOpiU1kxD3
Low. Prolonged.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxiVScXTmr
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Lh30huFq1
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc7fPTJUx6c
Grabbed the edge of the bar—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYj1DaLHRDW
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUNwzTOFi5
One on her waist.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYO8YbwwGKT
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKreVvlfSL
And something else—something sharper.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0K9FevanF
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPHIb4jVJC
Her against his chest.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFf3WAi8sa
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTVmZMOsqY
Mugs.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZSuhCqBSc
Spice jars.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnRjPUpXZ9
Her precious collection of weird spoons.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDf3LX7fkWB
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18k62Vcb3q
Claire flinched instinctively.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45scwJYAcW
That noise—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyzaYJyGgx
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCvx4AXZRX
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFQoERMMTs
Her vision swirled.
Then—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzL8dajb42j
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyS6HDpTpv
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcENef0MhZd
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3gXsVDbgk
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwTpzKr1RR
No shelves. No glass.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91FTaxJJR8
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvVbcXXQFj0
A makeshift haven.
And then—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGk8ScHYKDN
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOrIkLyzVw
The walls stopped growling.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNl7bd67Xh
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.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA11uVjfIlN
Trying to see her face.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfDHuAGusl
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDksOYtOVn
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeQMcOxjXS
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YLww2xKN8
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsxTFLXWMz
from the golden-brown eye31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1Mzh9q86y
on her left.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScrw8wOkU7
