Time Loop vs Ethiopia

Chapter 1

Ok. So here's the thing.

Dick knew he was in a time loop.

In fact, he'd figured it out a week ago (loop time). But the thing was, he didn't know why .

Ok, that wasn't true. He knew it was because he had accidentally touched the weird alien thingy-majiger so that Kid Flash didn't cause wanton property destruction of said alien thingy-majiger while on a delicate diplomatic mission in space. In other words, he had tried to catch it when Wally had knocked over its pedestal.

(Dick thought he had heard it smash though, before the world shifted and he was waking up in his bed in Bluudhaven. Hm. Maybe that was why the loop wouldn't end.)

Regardless, understanding what had caused the loop didn't really help Dick in his quest to end it. Especially since, even if he did have the power to get back to the alien planet before the day reset (He didn't. He'd tried.), Dick didn't think he could actually fix the artifact anyway.

And the Titans were weeks out from earth and well beyond the range of any communication Dick could send. (Again. He'd checked.)

So.

Dick was kind of stuck.

Not that he was panicking or anything, but he might have been getting kind of– just a little bit– desperate.

Bruce and Jason were gone. Alfred had said something about... Africa? Which, weird. But also extremely inconvenient, since Alfred couldn't seem to reach them.

Superman and the rest of the League were caught up in some big something on the opposite end of the country. All of the magicians Dick knew were also out of reach for one reason or another.

And Dick was standing at a bus stop in Bluudhaven as he racked his brain yet again for what might be causing this loop.

He thought he remembered hearing something about... fixing or something incomplete or saving/repairing (Kory wasn't positive about the exact translation), so Dick had figured, sure. There must be someone to save in Bluud.

He'd tried patrolling. Over the course of this week (loop time) he'd saved 49 people (some of them multiple times) from muggings and the like. Nothing.

He'd gone over to Gotham and stopped 2 robberies, 4 car thefts, and 20 crimes of other types. Nada.

He'd even gone out as Dick Grayson! Given out money to local shelters, volunteered around the area, checked into work for a day on the force. And yet every day, no matter what he did, he went to sleep and woke back up in bed with the clock blinking 7:32 a.m. on this blasted Tuesday.

Dick slumped slightly, leaning his head against the edge of the bus stop structure, and sighed. Same crowd as always. Most of them weren't using the covered benches since the bus was supposed to be here in a few minutes. (It would run 2.5 minutes late. It always did. No matter how much the married couple standing to his right complained at the 1 minute mark.)

The air swirled with smog above them, and the walls of the buildings across from them were the same dark gray. The only bright spot was the small patch of grass under their feet.

A bus approached in the line of cars from the left, and several of the people around Dick shifted, pulling bags higher on their shoulders, checking their phones, bustling to be first in line. Too bad this wasn't Dick's bus.

Gosh, he missed his bike. (It was in New York. Where he had parked it before boarding for the Titan's Space Mission a month ago (not loop time).) Too bad dropping the alien thing hadn't also teleported his bike. Maybe if he wasn't so slowed down by public transportation, he would have figured this loop out already.