Just when Tim thought everything was over—
He had already driven back, safely dropped off Nora. The atmosphere along the way had been light. No boundaries were crossed, no pressing questions asked. The day’s arrangement seemed to end perfectly, even letting him breathe a small sigh of relief.
But—
While sitting in the living room, sorting through surveillance data on his laptop, a soft chime came from the small projection pad in the corner.
Finn—the little boy who had just fallen asleep—suddenly woke up and, as usual, activated the daily video call with his parents.
It was a routine. No matter where he was or what he was doing, Finn always called his parents every night to tell them about his day. The screen lit up, revealing Leila—wearing a soft white robe, sitting in front of the vanity in a ship’s cabin. The ocean’s shimmering light reflected beside her. Jason stood behind her, gently undoing the clip in her hair.
“How was your day, sweetheart?” Leila signed, her smile warm.
Finn launched into a stream of chatter—talking about how Grandpa took him to the market, breakfast, feeding pigeons, lunch, what he did in the afternoon, what movie he watched… an uninterrupted conveyor belt of detail.
Tim, sitting beside him, began to zone out, already thinking about getting a cup of coffee…
And then—the nightmare arrived.
“I saw Ms. Nora today too! She was having dinner with Uncle Tim!”
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGVsTxEORS
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsF4afngqA9
Tim froze.
On-screen, Leila had been smiling gently, but at those words, her eyes snapped wide open. Her head jerked up, and she turned quickly to look at Jason.
Jason raised an eyebrow—then gave a light cough.
Leila turned back slowly and signed, “What do you mean? Just the two of them?”
Finn scratched his head. “I dunno… but they sat really close. I think it was pasta? And Ms. Nora looked… really happy…” He squinted, thinking, then shrugged. “Uncle said they were talking about some super important grown-up stuff.”
Leila had the expression of a mom who just heard her son say something that clearly meant her brother was bullshitting.
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQU0nH35xM
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb8Wlw5fx8
Tim had already buried his face in his hands.
Once the bedtime call ended, the tablet’s screen slowly went dark.
Leila looked up at her husband. The two of them held eye contact for a few seconds—then gave each other a knowing look.
Their eyes said the same thing:
This is gonna be good.
Tim had never anticipated that the biggest leak in his “low-profile investigation” wouldn’t come from the surveillance footage, or Bruce, or even Nora herself—
It came from his beloved nephew’s sweet, harmless little mouth.
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH8IrANvUp
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCDCU3c4al
Tim updated the entry in his encrypted file:
- Preschool teacher × Combat specialist79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaYYpi9149
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGerjTh107 - Food stockpiled at home79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKkdn5KiYa
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMnYj8uTJV - Black market search history79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6nhHOvgQp
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJqecOGsBq - Shooting accuracy abnormally high79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYE3GPzD5xn
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQI6elFeZk - No decorative items, extreme minimalism79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoqDzhPVv6
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlhPsMG3Fg - Didn’t call the cops after home intrusion79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeqdEq026b7
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtiOGiLMqh - Practiced archery for years79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFFIVTozc1
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSGHh74nr6 - Doesn’t write Red Robin fanfic79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuOnyl4lIr
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7iLPF7NS18 - Moved houses unusually fast79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvk9yHgfsT
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM0eiccFok - Overactive defense responses79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Yzxr1zNmK
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDMOitwTZt - Distrust in government agencies79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDEhLAz5Ga
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DZAkCvFbm - Double-life presentation79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8u9acVQOv
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeUYt6hmHH
Tim’s fingers paused mid-typing.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gGsmnkl6L
He glanced through the bulleted list, a small furrow forming between his brows.
There was already enough information here to piece together a rough profile.
He dragged the tags “guns” and “archery” into the same group.
Guns were useful—but if you ran out of bullets, switching to a bow made sense. Especially in a post-disaster scenario, arrows were reusable, silent, and easy to craft.
Next, he highlighted “food stockpile”, “minimalist lifestyle”, “distrust in government”, and “frequent relocations” and grouped them together.
That grouping made things even clearer—79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmSW98ZdRf
It described a survivalist mindset formed after some kind of catastrophic event. Someone always prepared for the worst: maybe a natural disaster, maybe a man-made collapse where the government fails. And someone who never stayed in one place too long.
That wasn’t a normal lifestyle. It was one forged through training… or trauma.
Which meant—Nora had been through something. Something big enough to shape her into this.
Tim pulled up her official records.
Nothing.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYQLNaSp9d
Too clean.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRPB1MLybg
Even her school history was so ordinary it faded into the background.
But then he thought of Dick’s wife—Claire.
Claire had an unusual history too. There was a stretch of time in her life when nobody knew where she was or what she was doing. She was now staying in Blüdhaven, pregnant and waiting to give birth.
Dick hadn’t been around much lately, busy taking care of her.
If Claire could have a mysterious past, then it wasn’t impossible for Nora to have one as well.
Tim typed a new command, opening a fresh folder.
He labeled it:79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECceqFncUC
Nora v2
The folder icon flickered once—then auto-encrypted.
Tim leaned back in his chair, hands crossed, eyes still fixed on the screen.
Next step:79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuzeMwelxY
He needed to find the fragments left behind…79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKQivXzDG8
from whatever world Nora had come from.
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDokRUO0mp
and then Add to home screen.