And then came the explanation.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaLTonQWcd
The daily boss fight.
Her hardest task, every time:108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJqgA9F6eQ
Convince someone in under five minutes that she wasn’t crazy, the world wasn’t broken—just... cracked.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLRDRks1Xe
A little.
Claire had it down to an art now.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjptKbTwTU
She’d practiced.
Step one: start with “I had a dream.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaCfywsVVv
Then ease into “The dream was real.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJUu4w5VPN
Follow up with “You were here yesterday too.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dbvlW6KR3
And finally close with “You all forgot, but I didn’t.”
Boom. Five minutes.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8cRelAZ3c1
Scripted, rehearsed, and repeatable.
She’d even gotten used to asking Nightwing or Robin for their earpieces directly.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXd3XQ2mOy
Why waste time relaying info like it was a game of telephone? Batman was usually already online.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtTQHH8hhM
It was more efficient to just brief everyone at once.
She could feel herself becoming part of their workflow.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlJpFFMv3U1
A new kind of muscle memory.
Alfred always started with, “Oh dear, Miss Claire, terribly sorry we forgot you again.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNugJThjP3
Batman, on the other hand, delivered every voice message like it was a field command.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl92xvsWGcm
Concise. Authoritative. Meant to be followed.
Then came the status update.
Usually the same:108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hmxIDoJuO
“Nothing changed today.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiB38ikDZ2
“Sky hasn’t cracked.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatavADA4P7
“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.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsjHtZdIYY
He’d said it like a doctor warning against too much caffeine, calm and clinical.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYs5kePBbLg
But it had kept her up all night.
He told her once a week was enough.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfjCK8Par8
“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—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95kz0imBLF
this wasn’t something she was observing.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnG1tVTPnwl
It was something that could observe her back.
This was her fourth report.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7yK0cJicv
Still nothing.
No updates.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7axlvoow9
No signs.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaLVz7LUL4n
Just that eerie nothingness that made her more anxious than any actual event.
Was nothing a good sign?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUKCmxXZy8
Or was it just... waiting?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPBEfsCYTH
Watching?108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVF1K0MHGUj
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZp0IpD7tei
Sometimes she sneakily Googled manuals to understand what they did.
Now, she could switch between three different surveillance modes,108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XJ1apD5dH
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.
108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSemr9U4ff
Claire thought everything would keep repeating.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡip2dVE4R2z
She'd come to see the infinite loop as some kind of twisted safety net—a bizarre, but reliable routine.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0U2S3Lipd
No surprises.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRuftpjjUs
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdf2pO88dXl
This lifestyle gave her a kind of mechanical calm.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfV35LcYCJx
Predictable.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QSBp8oHhw
Stable.
Every day, reintroduce herself.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgz1xbVjgAK
Control her tone.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCIckKV2t42
Deliver the optimal info load to minimize questions.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMM1tgY1P1T
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSY5uJpeq9
Which screen was for surveillance.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVGerdtD12
Which device disrupted signals.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgwIM3ftvt
Which red light meant “don’t touch.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bHbfP0gtI
Muscle memory, baby.
And then the fissure check.
Take out the telescope.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRy4yYo4pS9
Angle it just right.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrwYTp0qlq
Deep breath.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lmcuLEniq
Close the right eye.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3e2Oq4bJoM
Don’t stare too long.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQk2YIKVrn
She knew better now—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuR0HrOD2bd
something out there might stare back.
That was the routine.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8Qd2OGxeM
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VUieuxGiq
She stared at it.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBLRHJAZnG
296.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tWydCTuR4
Too close to 300.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjravdQcxfd
She didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy.
She opened her café.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2XaF9mPYl
Same as the previous 295 times.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSI0nRDAx2W
The air was damp.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IUu1kfmqM
The coffee machine hissed to life.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpqA5IP5SZ
She could smell a bit of machine oil in the steam.
It felt like a ritual.
She grabbed the newspaper from Nightwing.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2WPpau7Ny
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.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsVh2GrsLb
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCnSnZcFAB
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.”108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnisjC6t9EU
Weird enough to raise eyebrows.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVG6bKt7fa
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—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIHDsn6OU4
her eardrums exploded with a boom.
A deep, subterranean rumble shook the ground.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZZBbqYdVY
Low. Prolonged.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOypf4dO4r7
Like something ancient was groaning awake beneath their feet.
An earthquake.
Claire had no time to think.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1cHMMJQtz
The floor pitched sideways.
She lost balance.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6LKl9sJGR
Grabbed the edge of the bar—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbBDVelURv
but it moved too. Everything was moving. Bag dropped.
The officer caught her.
One hand on her shoulder.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnknCHqGXea
One on her waist.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtyTg6qAOx
Pulled her back from the quake, held her steady.
She caught a hint of detergent on his shirt.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxJEFg7wy8P
And something else—something sharper.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcbucoBfo4
Almost like panic.
They balanced each other.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXctMiqGsSD
Her against his chest.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr8eVh3AUz
Him braced against the wall.
Two magnets wobbling in chaos, finding brief stability in contact.
Things crashed around them.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡin1l2ncl84
Mugs.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu11CJ6hO90
Spice jars.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDKA9m4mcb
Her precious collection of weird spoons.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdTegb8SfT
All shattered, ringing like breaking glass in a cathedral.
The sound pierced through her thoughts.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBXS91Ld5uJ
Claire flinched instinctively.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsseyGYCCG
That noise—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6wqBlI9y55
that had never been part of this day before.
The ceiling light above spun wildly.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4LEzM6imV
Shadows on the wall flailed like ghosts.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3bDYh3y3p
Her vision swirled.
Then—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9lVcksTss
a hand on her head.
Firm. Protective.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKgROgjql8
Not planned. Just reflex.
His palm cradled her crown.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx3ZWrCOv7
Like making sure her skull stayed intact.
He pulled her closer.
Not just to keep her upright—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrykJn6e1Od
but like he needed to.
He guided her to a corner.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5QIt896aZ
No shelves. No glass.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKKZJNvoCZ
Just two bare walls.
A temporary shelter.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBntlW2v5g
A makeshift haven.
And then—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcS1mYFi9Mk
after nearly a minute—
The shaking slowed.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpMrOZLG7RX
The walls stopped growling.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtOPwciB5x1
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.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuwvunHl2g
Trying to see her face.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SllHZDluS
Check her expression.
Brows furrowed, eyes scanning—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3iSfEmS1nU
forehead, cheek, neck.
Was she hurt?
Then—108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxSHgqi1BK
he froze.
His eyes locked on a spot on her face.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKE6p5OrrY
Still. Wide.
Like something familiar had just torn open.
A single line of blood was dripping108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ093fi0tR0X
from the golden-brown eye108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcdO1GfjNC
on her left.108Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9U19VKIS6r
and then Add to home screen.