One Hour Ago

"Arrgh", Kolade groaned and hissed as he dressed the wound on his chest with a white cloth. He got the wound from one of the people in the mob, although he didn't see the face correctly.

It was a close call. He would have died if not for Caleb. He should probably head over and appreciate him—and Lucy from talking him out of working alone.

His door made an opening sound, and Lucy appeared at the entrance. "With these injuries you obtained, I presumed you finished the job", she said. "Yes commander, I think you should know", Kolade nodded with respect.

Lucy smiled and sat on the bed. "You said you weren't gonna go alone", she said. "No, I didn't Lucy. I went with a partner", Kolade answered without looking up.

"And who might that be? Because last time I checked, the 2018 boy was not in his room", Lucy's smile waned, replaced by a stone face. "I'm sorry commander, but I'm not used to partnering with anyone except Nnamdi", Kolade replied.

"So taking a teenager to such a dangerous mission happened to be your great idea Kolade?" Lucy's voice pitch rose with each sentence. Kolade couldn't answer the question.

"You are placed on probation, for one month", Lucy said and walked out of his room. The news shocked Kolade to the bone, so he ran after her. "Lucy--"

"Call me commander from now on agent", Lucy cut him without looking back. "Commander, please don't do this. Alright I messed up, but as you can see, he's fine", Kolade tried to reason with her, but Lucy wasn't having it.

She stopped in her tracks and glared at Kolade directly in his eyes. "Caleb saw you kill a woman carrying a baby. Do you know what that can do to a teenager like him?"

"Lu—Commander, that woman--", again, Kolade was interrupted. "Was destined to die, right? Yeah, Caleb mentioned that you would say this exact word to me. The mission was to close wormholes with little to no casualty, but no, you chose to disregard two of my orders.

"Go back to your room, and don't come out unless asked otherwise. The probation stands", Lucy said and walked away, leaving Kolade stunned.

* * * * * * * * * *

Caleb tried to sleep, but the nightmares kept waking him up, so he simply gave up and took a trip to the kitchen. He took a cup and filled it with water.

Then, he heard footsteps approaching. Caleb immediately became alert, but the appearance of Lucy made him calm down. "You can't sleep", Lucy said. "Mhhmhh", Caleb shook his head gently and gulped the water.

"I understand. Witnessing a murder for the first time has that effect on people", Lucy smiled and sat on the chair next to the counter. "No, that's not it. I'm fine with that bloodshed. I was just thinking about my mum", Caleb muttered and took another sip from the drink.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you", Lucy said sincerely and sighed. "I also lost my family", Lucy said with a low voice. "I just marked my three years in marriage then. Sophie, my daughter and I were just coming from a grocery store when she told me that she forgot something in the store, so we decided to go back.

But she ran ahead of me and entered before I did. But I couldn't see her when I entered the store too. She had probably entered an emerging wormhole, taking her to god-knows-when.

"Weeks passed, and I couldn't function properly, knowing that my daughter would have died on the other end. So when I was opportune to work with scientists on project Time-Machine, I quickly agreed, believing that I could use it to find my beloved daughter".

Caleb listened to the story and felt bad for her. "But you didn't find her", Caleb asked solemnly. "Yeah", she whispered. "You see, I wasn't the only one with a sob story like this. Everyone had a tragic story that led them to this place.

"That was why we founded this organization, the Time Monitoring Force. Until we figure out a way to end this random wormhole emergence, we can't stop. Otherwise, the world would have been long gone", Lucy said and stand up, preparing to go.

"Hold on", Caleb stood up from the stool. "What about these black figures attacking us? Why were they trying to kill me?" Caleb asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. These figures began this attack not too long ago. Somewhere around eight years or so", Lucy said.

"Lucy".

"Hmm?"

"I know this might sound crazy, but I think I like going on this kind of mission", Caleb declared. Despite his multiple close calls with death, he still found it educating and thrilling, mostly thrilling.

Lucy looked at him with a surprised expression. "You want to go to missions? But you almost died in the last one", she said doubtfully. "I know, but I still loved it", Caleb said lamely.

"Go to your room and rest. You must be very stressed", Lucy said flatly. "I'm very okay if that's what you're worried about. Since I'm not going home anytime, what's the point of staying in this bunker staying in my room all day?" Caleb reasoned.

Lucy thought what he said made sense. She studied Caleb's deep brown eyes to make sure he was hundred per cent sane. He stared back at her with a determined expression.

"You're too young. Besides, you are not even trained at all. Go back to your room", Lucy waved off and left the kitchen. But Caleb wasn't done with her.

"Then train me, please. I've lived all my life without anything fun. I always live a lonely and pathetic life back at home. This is an opportunity to at least butter up my experience", Caleb followed her and begged.

"So you want to go to missions to have fun?" Lucy asked with a frown. "No, that's not it--", Lucy quickly cut him. "Then we're done here. Go rest up. Henry will give you a job to do here. Besides, Kolade is under probation, so he won't go for missions for some time", Lucy said and walked away.

Did she put Kolade on probation? He guessed because he made him follow him to the mission without Lucy's approval. He had it coming though.

But without Kolade out on the fields, it was the end of his time-travel adventure. He wasn't allowing that. Although it was his fault, he won't let Kolade bear it.

The watch he obtained from the black figure might help him in this situation. He unhooked the pin and this time, he reversed the long hand to an hour earlier, just to be safe. Then pushed the pin back in place, and his vision turned white, and the wobbling sound vibrated in his ears.

* * * * * * * * * *

One Hour Ago.

"With these injuries you obtained, I presumed you finished the job", she said. "Yes commander, I think you should know", Kolade nodded with respect.

Lucy smiled and sat on the bed. "You said you weren't gonna go alone", she said. "No, I didn't Lucy. I went with a partner", Kolade answered without looking up.

"And who might that be? Because last time I checked, the 2018 boy was not in his room", Lucy's smile waned, replaced by a stone face. Kolade was about to reply when the door whined open, and this time, it was Caleb.

"Caleb, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked. "Because I wanted to tell you that I was the one that followed him, so it wasn't his fault", Caleb said.

The time jump worked as expected. After his jump, he realized that he was too far from the marked time. When he dropped, he and Kolade were yet to come back.

Which was scary, because he didn't know what would happen if he saw his earlier self. So he hid at the toilet until he heard himself come to enter his room before he made his move.

Then, Lucy appeared in the hall and walked to his door, but when she saw him, she frowned her face. "Why are you staying up? You should be resting up", she said.

"I know, but I can explain everything", Caleb said.