When the bullet fired,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Uul8ZvMaY
Claire shut her eyes tight.
In her vision, the bullet was like a single drop of water16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsZxWDssLS
falling into a still pond—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡieHVubipZF
no ripple,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NBPdYd7YS
no splash,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuklB1oenWp
not even a sound.
Every expected outcome16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjUATdpkNpM
felt like it had its throat clenched shut16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7cpybXSIG
somewhere deeper,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4ELo1FLLO
in a silence too dense to escape.
Claire's whole emotional system buckled.
“Fuck!”
It exploded out of her—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4nfalaBUj
not anger,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAq1et4Bnu
but that particular kind of despair16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVyAlqvzu1
that curls around the edge of your sanity16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFrGK7HA0K
and laughs.
She spun around,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWYghRywKq
slammed the gun back into the hand of the blue-eyed officer16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVaq8kgFmN
who was still standing there, staring at the sky like a broken antenna.
“Sorry. Yours.”
She stepped closer—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZYnKngeFA
grabbed his shoulder without hesitation—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UTtxPNAQu
and leaned in.
“I know you're a plant.”
Her voice was low.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpedbuD5CKZ
But not even slightly unsure.
“Tell Batman. Tell Nightwing. Tell Robin.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEmUn0aFtN
They’re all in this city now.”
She spoke fast,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PyP9L0Bov
like racing against something with teeth.
“Tell them I’ll reach out.”
Before he could say a word—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfPUfPaYZh
before those blue eyes could blink again—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTCQFPkfuS
Claire was already turning away.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZJ0t3yuzw
Her body moved faster than her thoughts.
She ran.
Ten steps.
Then she came back.
Still breathless,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡienpXptWCT
chest tight from the sprint.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpJ4vlbV4S
No more touching this time.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblGOjtBD4H
Just her voice,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOoJczRShA
sharp and slow:
“You help evacuate the civilians.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mTNGx2fhu
There’s something in the sky—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMJsaXt0xp9
invisible sludge.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgT4ear8bA
I don’t know what it is.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprr8BF97JV
Please.”
She ran again.
This time it was the run of someone who’d decided.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eUeQm9cgJ
Like she’d grown wings on the soles of her feet.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Z5YIFiCnF
Wings made of choice.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFIgmnkewxr
The blue-eyed officer stood still.
The gun in his hand16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvH8lBIzVs
still warm from hers.
He didn’t move.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoYMNQpsmz
Didn’t speak.
Only his gaze—
still glued to the shape of her16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FxNqT0Bsv
as she disappeared down the street.
That figure.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZX1Y8o3RI
That little rabbit.
Running straight into a warzone.
Never once looking back.
16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwEqCIe0jv
How did it all happen?
Claire tried to remember. Her mind felt like a tangle of sticky wires, each one pulling her thoughts in a different direction. She forced herself to focus, to line up her memories like soldiers before a battle.
By the time she burst into the safehouse, she was running on instinct.
Footsteps echoed like drumbeats down the empty street. She didn’t wait for the mechanical lock to fully disengage—just threw her shoulder into the door and stumbled inside.
She grabbed the communicator and started speaking immediately, not even bothering to catch her breath.
"Purple... slime... I—I fired... didn’t work..."
Her voice trembled. She couldn’t help it. Panic had already made itself at home in her chest.
"It doesn’t react... not solid... or maybe it’s too fast—I don’t know..."
She clenched the device hard enough to crack it. Like maybe if she squeezed tightly enough, she could wrestle the situation back under control.
She kept talking as her hands moved on their own.
She was already yanking open drawers, stuffing every tool she could see into her bag—scissors, meters, pliers, anything. She didn’t know what she’d need. Just that she needed everything.
Then her left eye blurred. Wet.
Sweat? Tears? She didn’t cry easily. She blinked, but the world on that side of her face smeared like it was underwater.
She reached up, wiped it—
Blood.
It didn’t hurt. But her palm came away stained in a deep, purplish red—not ordinary red. Not anything ordinary.
She stared for half a second. Didn’t scream. Didn’t ask questions. Not because it was fine, but because she didn’t have time.
She wrapped her eye with gauze.
Fast. Clean. Like she’d rehearsed it in a hundred drills. Maybe it was unnecessary. Maybe it meant nothing. But she wasn’t going to let that blood keep running. Whatever it was, it had to stop now.
She sped through her report like a radio on the verge of overheating, pushing out information before the static took over.
And then she grabbed her bag and ran for the door.
No hesitation. No backup plan. Just one clear instinct: go back. There was still something she could do.
That’s when she ran into Nightwing.
He looked like a shadow had stepped inside—blue and black uniform drenched in sweat, breath sharp. They almost collided. Neither apologized.
His eyes searched her face. Not fear. Not shock. Something fuzzier, like confusion wrapped in suspicion. Maybe it was the makeshift eyepatch, Claire thought.
“We need to pick up Robin. He might’ve just arrived at the station,” she said.
It came out like a command. She wasn’t sure it was the right move. But standing still would be the worst.
“No,” Nightwing said. “Batman told me to get you as far away from that slime as possible. You can’t get touched.”
His voice was steady, but there was pressure underneath. He wasn’t issuing an order. He was protecting her. That wasn’t the Bat-family’s usual flavor—but she heard it.
“People touched it and just—vanished. It looked... horrifying,” he added, almost to convince himself this wasn’t just another nightmare.
He got them on the bike. Claire clutched the tools on her back like bricks pressing into her spine. They rode fast, like prey with fire nipping at their heels.
Too late.
The road was already gone.
They screeched to a stop in front of a scorched bridge that had collapsed into an abyss. Rubble, ash, nothing beyond. They said nothing.
They started climbing.
Higher floors. Higher and higher. Nowhere to go but up. It didn’t feel safe—just less terrible. With each floor, the air felt thicker. Like the purple slime had started to seep into time itself.
The comms were dead.
Batman, gone. Robin, gone. Only static now, buzzing like whispers around her ear. It wasn’t quiet. It was hollow.
Nightwing was unraveling. Claire could see it.
He usually cracked jokes, lightened the mood, said something dumb just to make people smile. But now—even his lips had gone quiet. His shoulders sagged. His eyes—fractured.
No more roads. Just stairs.
So they kept climbing. Even if nothing waited at the top.
From the rooftop, Claire looked down.
The city had no shape anymore. It looked like it had been swallowed, chewed up, then spat back out as sludge. She remembered a flower shop there. A man who walked his dog and always bought bagels. People. So many people.
Now, just a sea of purple sludge.
Thick. Silent. Cold.
Like someone turned the night sky upside down and poured it over the city.
She and Nightwing were the last two standing. No wind. No sound.
Claire rested her head on his lap.
He didn’t move. Didn’t push her away. She could feel it—he was tired. Heart-tired.
“Hey, Nightwing,” she murmured. “Do you believe me? If I fall asleep, I can reset everything. I’ll find a way. Everyone will be okay.”
Her voice was soft, almost unreal. But every word hit like a drumbeat.
“I believe you,” he said.
He forced a smile, just for her. Even now.
Even when he didn’t believe a word of it.
Because this kind of apocalypse wasn’t one you could stop. Not with gear, not with training. Not even with a Bat.
But he said it anyway. Because Claire needed to hear it.
“Look at me, Nightwing.”
He looked down. Into her one good eye.
“I’m not letting you die, Dick.”
It was the most honest thing she’d said in 296 days.
Not for anyone else. Not for the world.
Just because she meant it.
He stared, stunned.
But Claire had already closed her eye.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9Kld8ZHH4
