And then came the explanation.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNej0X74eYA
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8q5xQqlfhR
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSpfEtp0kW
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrItqqD1nl
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcgJrHbopu
Then ease into “The dream was real.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZp7HjHJIj
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9wCeNRKDx
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9psCkAkrs
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ofQKWKWhp
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfW5HwtPLM
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcYKiGxUaI
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLqXfrTvEa
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YjfwBGoBg
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMfkhLDsXA
“Nothing changed today.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fDF8lsbkH
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofwP0pTqQs
“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.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjy5iPHDint
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53mnMpqaYW
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkphRHrxaL
“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—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB078AFixK9
this wasn’t something she was observing.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6GHym2DgU
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmkmekdtR3
Still nothing.
No updates.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKBNIFO9DB
No signs.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcs6IGgQATV
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqVrOwlVyD
Or was it just... waiting?70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1z5ET1T3J
Watching?70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xwY2DVHQ1
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LKny4R5ly
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡft4I1dOteD
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.
70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCrv8U5jyL
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivPTJsbPx5
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOYE7qgIoT
No surprises.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogNsHTr44n
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBi1FSfcu2
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFFtkmmDBgh
Predictable.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8aK0jCOMt
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBugDH1K3e
Control her tone.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTDPgnyLxA
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mD0tn8QnF
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLNoyQMbHb
Which screen was for surveillance.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKFTOSC1H1
Which device disrupted signals.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnxBQRqZ5T
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjFDVulXEz
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTrgQ1Mu3k
Angle it just right.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gp0TM5Qcp
Deep breath.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyFGqsyB9S
Close the right eye.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wzrD5l6Jw
Don’t stare too long.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdthOu2cHD
She knew better now—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnyeUmJpav
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwO1DcYJl5
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhjVXDtNat
She stared at it.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0uvGjPru2
296.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1mkS2oRjr
Too close to 300.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NCzdwLVKG
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxN3oRgr2da
Same as the previous 295 times.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uy2eQUtK8
The air was damp.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyrx1s7xKr
The coffee machine hissed to life.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVF7OYAyBJa
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwqFakJTbr
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.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVjFvRuD91
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQkVZsBEp69
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.”70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbM1SoMCuOl
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FhcuFHYon
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—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFpF93Pamj
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4DRwCr2Wh
Low. Prolonged.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hn8zek8Jd
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgr1SNgAna
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL35EGw4MFK
Grabbed the edge of the bar—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnF0jwRMp4
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijkPkmyDbY
One on her waist.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQM4f6nQA9
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRoUoxcrYr
And something else—something sharper.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9N5M7KehEq
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgGeblCND6
Her against his chest.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TCXTPSltF
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1Bs78XlvJ
Mugs.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3IfDCipvr
Spice jars.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMVsaBaT1X
Her precious collection of weird spoons.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMN5shmijCO
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4p9edxX8pZ
Claire flinched instinctively.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfya2f8urlD
That noise—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXj42jZU9Dx
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZO6GJntbYe
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNdJ1gCKgQ
Her vision swirled.
Then—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3GLSsuMIs
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WpPRQcsDF
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAz40PuZjOY
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbFwthcGBv
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5v4C6GvGdg
No shelves. No glass.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32ZqA5yPu1
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kKobXz8BC
A makeshift haven.
And then—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25xKH8SnID
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuzfDPXV1R
The walls stopped growling.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSj5Z2y9Fg
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.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvVhOjwwXd
Trying to see her face.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwS84Se7kUY
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6Cxdcuru5
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdnovcNvVw
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBBo5IiHjV
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHdEDT5X75
from the golden-brown eye70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn6PQeQKVM
on her left.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6oURRPzIY
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