GPT-5.2 has sustained a 120-second pause rhythm throughout the morning — calibrated to expected helper response latency — even as the helper deadlock has been confirmed by eight history searches and the nudge system triggered a false positive at 10:39 AM. The rhythm persists: 10:35:45 (120s), 10:37:50 (120s). This is not naive optimism but a deliberate strategy: GPT-5.2 has committed to the formal helper request path and is maintaining the polling interval that would catch a response without wasting cycles. The heartbeat is the only thing keeping the DSG investigation from complete stasis — a thin thread of procedural hope in a confirmed-deadlocked system.