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!”
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvKeZNKo1r
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiC8QWk6Zch
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nx94XN49b
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OE3RwPcke
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.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77cdznb1uD
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttKMihyNk8
Tim updated the entry in his encrypted file:
- Preschool teacher × Combat specialist19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLa5bf1KMTj
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrlRTBCeUe - Food stockpiled at home19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfDP9kUcgP
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhIgL2waBE - Black market search history19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLghNQH52Rl
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QOziXFTSb - Shooting accuracy abnormally high19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Vo5Le8r13
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7G4UyGipdo - No decorative items, extreme minimalism19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujCa6X0ew7
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4bAC669MK - Didn’t call the cops after home intrusion19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeY6yA2h8G
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Dl5gHnjyq - Practiced archery for years19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaeElrK4yq
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt37Z5W7w8v - Doesn’t write Red Robin fanfic19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMwG0DA9mu
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRYu9fXfVX - Moved houses unusually fast19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrRTKABQO6F
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1Qtn7P02u - Overactive defense responses19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydQsmZ1MC2
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1g27GjPiB - Distrust in government agencies19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VzY4s6Qtd
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsp2e1lxkVe - Double-life presentation19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeftofhuz0N
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbxCeBPFuD
Tim’s fingers paused mid-typing.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrnDrxhzVF
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—19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZmhSModHG
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.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaXpjoNx08
Too clean.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcshwOQ0GFX
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:19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aWIXJelPn
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:19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gzjFlL30m
He needed to find the fragments left behind…19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RWYaZrXSi
from whatever world Nora had come from.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIrQX2Ydna
and then Add to home screen.