"Put all the weapons in the wooden crates we prepared," the voice on the other end instructed, sharp and efficient, before the line clicked dead.
The faint echo of the call lingered in the quiet room. Locke stood still for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward the morning sunlight filtering through the curtains. The golden light stretched across the floor, calm and ordinary, completely at odds with everything he had experienced.
"It's time to get back to work," he muttered under his breath, exhaling slowly.
He moved quickly, pulling on his clothes with practiced ease before heading for the door. The moment he stepped into the dim second-floor hallway, his eyes instinctively flicked toward the room next door. It was silent, the door closed, no signs of movement.
"That's unusual… she's up early for once?" he murmured, a hint of surprise crossing his face. After a brief pause, he shrugged it off and headed downstairs.
A rhythmic clatter echoed from below, the unmistakable sound of something heavy being dragged. As he descended, the scene came into view. Emily, looking pale and worn, was struggling to haul a crate of wine across the floor toward the bar counter.
At the sound of footsteps, she froze. Her head snapped toward the stairs, eyes wide with disbelief.
A familiar figure stepped into view.
"Locke…" Her voice broke as she covered her mouth, tears spilling instantly down her cheeks.
Seeing her like that, Locke's calm shattered. He hurried down the last few steps, a flicker of panic flashing across his face. "Hey—what's going on—"
Crash!
The crate slipped from Emily's hands, bottles rattling loudly as it hit the ground. Without hesitation, she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms.
Locke froze, caught completely off guard. His mind blanked, his body stiff as he stood there, unsure what to do. The trembling of her small frame against his chest snapped him out of it, and after a moment's hesitation, he slowly lifted a hand and patted her back.
He didn't know what to say. He didn't even understand what had happened. They just stood there, holding each other in silence, her grip tight as if afraid he might disappear again.
The bell above the door jingled suddenly.
A heavyset figure stepped inside—and immediately dropped the shopping bag in his hand.
Behind him, two younger girls and a middle-aged woman in bar uniforms stopped dead in their tracks.
"L-Locke… you're finally back!" Dam shouted, his voice trembling with shock and relief.
…
"So you're telling me… I've been gone for a month?"
Locke's expression turned serious. Emily still clung to him, refusing to let go, while he looked over at Dam, who seemed both excited and overwhelmed.
"You have no idea what's happened!" Dam launched into his explanation without pause. "Gotham's been completely out of control this past month. Batman went head-to-head with the Masked Society. They actually fought at Bruce Wayne's manor—full-on mechanical warfare! The place got wrecked, but somehow Bruce came out unharmed. And get this—the leader of that whole group, Black Mask? Batman captured him!"
"Black Mask… caught?" Locke frowned slightly, processing the information.
He knew enough to understand what that meant. Black Mask wasn't just some random criminal—he was Roman Sionis, Bruce Wayne's former friend and the heir to the powerful Sionis family.
"That's not even the worst of it," Dam continued, his tone shifting. "After you disappeared, crime in the East District started creeping back up."
As he spoke, his eyes flicked subtly toward Emily, who still hadn't loosened her grip on Locke.
"Oh? What about the Judgment Council?" Locke asked, deliberately playing ignorant.
"Well…" Dam scratched his head. "A new hero showed up. People say she's part of the Council, but no one's really sure. As for the higher-ups? They're probably busy dealing with whatever's lurking beneath Gotham. You know… the really bad stuff."
"A new hero?" Locke raised an eyebrow.
"Catwoman!" Dam said immediately, his expression lighting up. "She claims she's just a regular enforcer from the Judgment Council, handling protection in the East District. Everyone says she's… well… pretty stunning. Great figure too—"
Before he could continue, Emily lifted her head from Locke's chest and shot Dam a sharp glare.
"Hey, hey—just stating facts!" Dam raised his hands defensively, coughing awkwardly.
Emily huffed softly before turning back to Locke, her face inches from his. Their eyes met at close range, her expression filled with lingering worry.
"Where were you this whole time?" she asked quietly. "Why did you just… come down from upstairs like nothing happened?"
Locke gave a helpless smile, shaking his head. "I wish I knew. Honestly… it feels like I just went to sleep."
There wasn't a better explanation. He had already told Emily everything about his past—being an orphan, having no ties. There was nothing he could lean on to fabricate something convincing.
Emily frowned slightly, confusion flickering in her eyes. She had checked his room that morning, just like every day for the past month. Each time, she had hoped—desperately—that she'd open the door and find him there.
But he hadn't been.
And yet now, he had simply walked downstairs as if nothing had ever happened.
"I've got it!" Dam suddenly clapped his hands, his eyes lighting up. "You must've run into a space-time anomaly!"
Locke blinked.
"Think about it," Dam continued enthusiastically. "There's this theory—relativity and all that. A person can accidentally pass through a spatial wormhole without realizing it. Their body gets stuck in another dimension, time flows differently there, and then boom—they come back. For them, barely any time passes, but in our world? A whole month goes by!"
He rattled off the explanation in one breath, looking extremely satisfied with himself.
Locke stared at him, momentarily speechless.
…You might actually be onto something.
He couldn't deny it. What Dam described wasn't far from the truth. Locke had spent far longer than a month in the Marvel universe—living through events tied to Captain America—while only a single month had passed here.
The discrepancy in time flow between dimensions, combined with the strange stasis he experienced during transitions… even he didn't fully understand it.
In the end, he could only chalk it up to the bizarre nature of interdimensional travel.
"Whatever the case," Dam said, waving his hand to break the tension, "you're back now. That's what matters."
He pointed dramatically at Locke. "Do you know how hard it's been without you? I've been worked to death!"
His words snapped Locke out of his thoughts. A faint smile appeared as he looked at Dam, genuine gratitude in his eyes.
Running a bar this size wasn't easy. Emily had been struggling alone, and Dam had even skipped school for an entire month just to help keep things running until they could hire more staff.
"Thank you," Locke said seriously.
Dam grinned, clearly pleased. "Then we should celebrate! A welcome-back party—what do you say?"
He was already getting excited, imagining the scene.
"Mm-hmm!" Emily nodded immediately, her grip on Locke finally loosening just a little, though she still stayed close.
....
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