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!”
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNku6up7VC
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRQOJh4E7f
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.
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlEfHaVD6U
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueLXcyNYvI
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.
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65MdepiYZN
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8k9yOs5nq
Tim updated the entry in his encrypted file:
- Preschool teacher × Combat specialist148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBolnOJDE3
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSpxZ5GKCf - Food stockpiled at home148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1DxTZG66I
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNvyTsd89TD - Black market search history148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPUIBleo2z
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJy1T14xYqu - Shooting accuracy abnormally high148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUw3QGNeJZb
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQs12Uw0Dt - No decorative items, extreme minimalism148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplS7j3ImjY
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29s0ikFWw1 - Didn’t call the cops after home intrusion148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXmN9lapj4
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup5wqIL5rv - Practiced archery for years148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEfqENywfu
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT7r1XZDpa - Doesn’t write Red Robin fanfic148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JrsQhwNYe
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR6d38FNkis - Moved houses unusually fast148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rqAWkM8LL
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZ94Jceeyh - Overactive defense responses148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EG1pePpaI
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgqbdGfEQRg - Distrust in government agencies148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiT4Xwzj0Xg
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavGYs8Brlf - Double-life presentation148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF5ZCmwnPdw
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmeqdtSC1U6
Tim’s fingers paused mid-typing.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddBmdvlfiG
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—148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeFAgCD9Qla
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.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcWZbB0hj6
Too clean.148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNoHtfm9cZ
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:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UyYpFaHGh
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:148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAoYZ2XSPe
He needed to find the fragments left behind…148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWGh3zM2Cp
from whatever world Nora had come from.
148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2ruO1FJkh
and then Add to home screen.