𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛 {Bruce Banner}

A Short Story, By Nick

Curie's voice throws Tesla back into time. She looks up at Bruce watching as the Watchers appear out of nowhere. They grab him, and Tesla moves forward, ready to try again. The Watchers vanish with Bruce even faster than before. Tesla groans and waits to be taken back to the lab with her thumb pressed on the band.

"They're not trapped in the loop, are they?" she questions, taking a deep breath and standing up straight. "They can move through time like a Traveler?"

With a shake of his head, Dr. Curie gives Tesla an answer, "Not quite, they can't move through time like Travelers. When you see them appear and disappear they're not traveling through time, but they are traveling through space."

"Teleportation," she replies, nodding slightly. "Okay, but that doesn't explain the loop." Tesla steps off the platform. She needs more information; she wants to understand.

"Well, sure it does," the old man replies, like it's as easy as identifying what a tree is. "They can't travel to different places in time, but when they're in that loop, there's space so they simply move through that. Each outcome can be different than the last with Watchers."

"But it's not," she points out, her brown eyes narrowed in confusion. "They do the exact same thing every time I'm there."

"That's because they know who you are."

"A Traveler," she answers. "But I thought Travelers and Watchers worked together."

Curie shakes his head once again. "No, Tesla, not anymore."

"Well, what happened—" she starts.

Nick sighs, "I have a story, but promise me you'll keep your questions until the end?" Tesla nods her head once. Nick gestures to the wall of filing cabinets. "It's on VHS."

Tesla hurries over to the cabinet and finds the VHS. She places it in the old TV and watches as it gets sucked in. Nick was the kind of scientist that liked to keep everything in order—if it wasn't being used then it shouldn't be out on the tables—but after a bit of convincing Tesla managed to keep the TV on the table off to the side so they wouldn't have to take it out and put it away every time they needed it.

The video starts up with Nick and Albert in front of the camera again.

"Welcome back," greets Albert with a smile. "You know, I feel like we should have a name for these videos." He looks to his friend for a response.

"How about VHS number seventeen?"

Albert rolls his eyes and sighs, "Well, anyway, today we found out...well...I'm not really sure where to begin."

Nick sighs heavily, his shoulders drooping a bit. "We've made this VHS today to talk about something we've only just discovered."

"Not us, so to say, but Travelers and Watchers in general. The lot of us, really."

Nick nods, glancing over at his best friend. "You see, I'm a Watcher—part Watcher. We're a species, not just a—an occupation. My mother is human, and my father is a Watcher. Part of a Watcher's job is to make sure their Traveler, in my case, Albert, never Travels alone. If anything were to happen to Al, he'd have to signal it back to the lab. He can't come back by himself. That's what the wristbands are for."

Albert hums in agreement. "Not just a fashion statement, I'm afraid. Like those lovely green jumpsuits. They're to keep our bodies intact, so our atoms don't get trapped in the Quantum Realm."

Tesla's eyes widen. "The Quantum Realm?" she mouths, shooting a look at Nick. He shakes his head, as if to say, another time.

"Traveling through space and time isn't an easy thing to do. The suits are laced with magnetic poles and little tiny particles of pigments that absorb light. The magnetic poles make the green hue in the suit, and darker colors attract more light. Since light is the fastest thing known to man, it makes sense that that's what we use to help us Travel," explains Albert.