"Mister Wayne says that if the Mother Box is practically an ancient, alien computer, it's a computer with -"

"With an infinite amount of disc space and an infinite number of folders. I'm right there with him," Claire said, interrupting Barry as they both sat in the living room of the Wayne Towers flat. It had been months with little to no movement, in all honesty. The investigations on Dessad and his connections to Darkseid were minimal. Club Desaad remained boarded up, and there had been no further incidents of note. All that meant to any of them, however, was that this was precious time to get to the bottom of the mystery. Calm, they surmised, before some kind of unknown storm.

"But it's not just a computer," Claire pointed out. "That's what he's missing. The Mother Boxes aren't just computers, so it's not just a matter of finding the right folder and getting what you need."

"Then you explain that to him, see where it gets you."

"Yeah. Sure," Claire replied, rolling her eyes gently. "I'm sure that'll go over well."

Claire Branigan had, in recent months, kept her contact with Bruce Wayne to a minimum, and for the first time perhaps in their acquaintance, Bruce had maintained a distance and simply allowed her to be. It was better to keep an eye on her from a distance, he grudgingly admitted, than to lose her completely. He'd learned something, after all, from having lost Jason Todd. This had resulted in a quiet, but strangely not hostile rift growing between Claire and the others. Indeed, the quiet seemed to be slowly wearing away their connection, all of them drifting slowly apart in their separate lives during the quiet.

More of Claire's time, when not spent working or with Lex Luthor, was spent admittedly with Barry Allen. Though much of the time the discussions failed to land much of anywhere, they spent a great deal of time discussing the Mother Boxes, and what they knew about Darkseid's plans. It was, it turned out, Barry, Claire, and Victor who maintained the most constant communication with one another, sometimes meeting up to discuss what they knew and try and make new sense of it to little avail. Knowing of but never encroaching upon these rendezvous meetings, Bruce had come to refer to them half fondly and half condescendingly as study groups.

Barry decided it was better that Claire didn't know that part.

"The Anti-Life Equation," Claire said, repeating the phrase that she had retained in her memory from the time during which she had been possessed by Darkseid. "That's what Darkseid is after. Completing the Anti-Life Equation."

"Lot of help that is," Barry huffed, lacing his fingers behind his neck and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table, garnering a brief look of disdain from Claire which prompted him to plant his feet back on the ground, leaning his elbows on his knees. "What are we supposed to do, Google it?"

"We know that there are at least three steps to Darkseid's plan. Gather his Hounds - I think that must be what he calls his followers. His big bosses. That's the lady from the orphanage, and Desaad."

"So, too late to stop step one, gotcha."

"Step two, find another Mother Box," Claire continued, pacing back and forth on the other side of the table. "Step three, complete the Anti-Life Equation. And we have no way of knowing just yet how close he might be to achieving either of those."

"A little too close to completing one of them if we don't move quickly."

Claire and Barry both looked up upon hearing Bruce Wayne's voice coming from the direction of the front door, and Claire crossed her arms, steeling her posture at the sight of him. Bruce, however, strode into their midst, his eye contact predominantly with Barry, and continued speaking.

"Distress call came in from Arthur about an hour ago. He needs us on his turf -"

"You mean in Atlantis?" Claire asked in disbelief. "What's going on?"

"He didn't make time for details. You know him," Bruce shrugged, earning a begrudging, lopsided grin and a chuckle from Claire who indeed knew all too well - Arthur Curry preferred to say as little as possible to communicate what was needed. "We're heading out right now. Are you with us?"

Claire paused. The question, while direct and meant only to pertain to the situation at hand, was a loaded one. For a moment, there was an electric silence, fueled by direct eye contact and stiff posture for a good few seconds until Claire swallowed hard and uncrossed her arms, nodding resolutely. This was, after all, what it meant to be what she was - who she was. Personal woes aside, she was still in a strange way part of this team.

"I'm in. Let's go."

A/N:
A brief interlude chapter, mostly just as an excuse to write a brief author's note and inform all of you - I'm back! The past year has been a very rough one for me, and I have gone through a lot of things in my personal life, but I have some content pre-written that just needs to get transcribed and edited, which means that updates are coming!

Thank you to all of you who have messaged me from time to time and reminded me that you are all still out there. I'm excited to continue this story arc, as it's getting to a part that is both challenging and exciting for me as a writer to bring a bunch of moving parts together. I appreciate all of you sticking with me and not forgetting about me. I am slowly regaining my bearings and can't promise that updates will be the fastest just yet, but they are coming, and I am back! Until next update! Cheers!