Claire passed by the church.
It was surprisingly full.
She hesitated.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhuLSzolGV
Didn’t plan to stop, but glanced through the open doors anyway.
Right—today was Easter.
Evening service.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMUkjVDXsU
Everyone out to celebrate resurrection.
— She remembered the morning paper had a page with “He is risen” printed in bold above an image of Jesus cradling a lamb in golden light.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1F0LaA7Gd
Too bad it didn’t make the front page.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0VZodbEq6
Nightwing’s butt did.
If every reset counted as a resurrection, she had Jesus beat.
— Jesus came back once.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSMmlAi8Zs
She came back every damn day.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxTV1oehvn
No crucifixion required. Just the same bed, the same morning, the same jazz.
No blood.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpZxNMJZ77
No wounds.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt48WWvtG4e
Not even symbolic suffering.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7DmyS2Pdp
Just... repeat.
You could celebrate Easter as many times as you wanted.
— So many that she wasn’t sure anymore: was she supposed to eat chocolate or take pills?
Claire kept walking, headed toward the hotel.
— People passed her in pressed clothes, holding wine bottles and cake boxes, on their way to family dinners.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04gOvmNAVV
She caught a trace of perfume and smoked ham in the air.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxLHt99Gva
Warm.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphvl9hbE9z
Distant.
She didn’t look back.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmoSAyw7z0
Didn’t slow down.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeI2ygb783H
Just pulled her jacket tighter around herself—trying not to look like someone on the run.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZZ8naoKZJ
She’d picked up some sushi and salad on the way.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGfb0gI51Mw
Not because she was hungry.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMj5PWU2pfe
Just… preemptive.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9HPMx4ud6
— A biological necessity.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Qm3yuaEu9
Eating was proof she still had a plan, even if it didn’t taste like one.
The motel looked old.
Faded walls.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoH4DLlD3Y0
Window frames weathered like they’d been kissed by thirty years of ocean wind.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWLF05QJtw
But the sign worked.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKBDw9XZzkI
The light stayed on.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCpq7dPw1x
No flickers.
The online reviews had been solid.
— 4.5 stars for cleanliness.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0GdvU9SNP
Quiet.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8abhuvxhTx
No weird comments.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9tBqIa1WL
No ghost stories.
She booked a room with a window. Slightly more expensive, but not by much.
— Even if the world reset, she wanted to live like someone who hadn’t given up.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKbNkqASL3
The window was proof: I still believe in a future.
She paid. Got the key. Sixth floor.
The elevator hummed with old energy.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcYKoZ1Dds
The lights inside were yellow—not the cozy kind, but the nicotine-stained kind.
She entered the room.
Locked the door.
Exhaled.
— Quiet.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6om2cJBow
Locked.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvB6hF3ZImQ
New bed.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnjfGH9H4Q
New air.
It might all be gone tomorrow.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrbjY9JpCZ
But right now, she wasn’t home.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhr8Gv6A8B
And that mattered.
Tonight was her first attempt to break the orbit.
She had to pay attention.
Claire went to the bathroom, washed her hands, sat down to eat.
She wasn’t happy.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqfG5IGvgr
But she followed the routine.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7s6I6ghnRO
— Eat first.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbeHMj7Pvaq
Otherwise she’d end up looking like someone mid-breakdown.
She walked toward the nightstand—
Someone was on the balcony.
The curtains weren’t drawn.
Claire froze.
— It wasn’t a shadow.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv41ekADsAn
Not just a blur of motion.
It was a person.
Weight.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynr3EqKfXr
Posture.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVY1ELEtpb
Presence.
Her body locked up.
She should have ducked.
Instead, she recognized him immediately.
Robin.
— Red. Green. Yellow.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRi44kgxTA
That mask.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOg6bURzKo
That ridiculous “R” stamped across his chest like Gotham’s version of a birth certificate.
Every Gotham kid knew Robin.
But she never imagined seeing him on her motel balcony.
On the sixth floor.
He was standing there, staring out over the city.
— Like he was waiting.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFqWnUhYWt
Or patrolling.
His cape fluttered in the breeze.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLmgPHCT3e
The darkness carved his silhouette sharp against the city lights.
Then he noticed her.
A woman.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVO7KKymAy
Staring blankly at him.
Robin tilted his head.
Turned.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ626uS4hE3o
Tapped gently on the glass.
— Not a warning.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyZoi6oo6U
Not a threat.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQQXb9MC8h
Just a soft “I see you” kind of knock.
Claire opened the window like she was sleepwalking.
— Her hand moved first.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSAAmypRN2
Her brain was still buffering.
It didn’t make sense.
Which made it impossible to react.
Robin was standing right there.
Not on TV.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDc9ua8qdz
Not in a news segment.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTHC1Bs5uh
No crowd.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0biDHsBtNy
No distance.
Just… there.
Looking at her.
Like he already knew she’d be here.
A kid.
— Sorry, Claire thought. But yeah.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yU3Kvex4c
He looked thirteen. Maybe fourteen.
Does Batman hire child labor now?
— Her inner sarcasm engine powered up instantly, beating her emotions to the punch.
She didn’t blink.
Afraid he’d vanish, like Nightwing had that night.
But he didn’t.
He stayed.
On her balcony.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOu0wjsI6cA
Inside a world where heroes weren’t supposed to show up.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncuEYDG74A
The kid—Robin—spoke politely.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06JRVirN3V
“Good evening, miss. Sorry to bother you. I was wondering… do you know how to get to Queen Street?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpESzRr8uQU
I’m kinda new around here.”
— It was a kid’s voice.
Not a deep-faked adult.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIQLkzNKNQ
Not a pitch-shifted recording.
A real teenage voice.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc866V4XIlH
Still sealed in honesty.
So Batman really did hire child labor.
That burst the last bubble of her “maybe he’s just a very short adult” theory.
— The whole Gotham-illusion-explanation system in her head collapsed into one simple truth:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5tMVYozAC
Holy shit, he’s actually a kid.
Claire gave him a strange look.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMhpIfCORp
Then pointed toward the street below.
“Walk a hundred meters that way,” she said calmly.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYve1NshR8
“Then turn right. It’s about two hundred more.”
— Her tone was flat.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNVI8sI7HH
Like she was giving directions to a lost fifth-grader.
But her mind?
Do you walk? Do you fly? Are we counting streets or rooftops?
She wasn’t sure which verb applied.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYry6aL2c6u
Walk to it?9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9LyULNTNX
Swing to it?
She wanted to ask.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEYPb5uMo7
But felt that if she did, she’d lose a shred of dignity as a normal citizen.
Robin nodded.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmux6wMhOld
Turned.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqxtKj3ebg
Looked ready to leave.
Then—
A massive growl.
From his stomach.
Claire…
Robin…
Both froze.
The sound tore through the silence like a rip in paper.
The wind died.
Even the city noise paused.
It echoed.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkILzCRiHHF
Loud.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRKXtfVfqp
Ridiculous.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bczv9CQbH
Undeniable.
Claire said:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUNUWdlZ1H
“Uh… you want some sushi?”
— Her mouth moved before her brain approved.
She hadn’t even decided to share her food.
It just… came out.
Someone needed food, and her body had a default response.
She never meant to be anyone.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4hd9Scher
Just a background extra in the scene.
But somehow…
ns216.73.217.1da2
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