Deep in the forest, fallen leaves blew along the ground. The wind blew quietly through the trees, and the faint sound of a city could be heard from the distance.

“I did it…”

Arthur layed on the ground, eyes wide as he stared up into the sky through the bare branches of the trees.

“I did it!”

He stood up and ran towards the city.

“‘weather men’...”

He fished the discarded clothes out of the dumpster and put them on.

I'm finally beginning to make progress…

He swung the door to the orphanage open, startling Sofia, who was asleep at the front desk.

“Woah! C-can I help you?”

“Yes. Please tell Steven and Charlie to come down.”

“Alright, wait here for a sec.”

She ran up the stairs.

After a few minutes, Steven and Charlie walked down the stairs together.

Steven smiled brightly at Arthur.

“Hello! How can I help you?”

Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Steven, Charlie, my name is Arthur. I've come here from the future.”

Steven tilted his head with a confused look on his face.

Charlie's eyes went wide as he stopped in his tracks.

“Um… is that so? Well, uh, do you nee-” Steven said, before being interrupted by Charlie.

“No, hear him out Steven. I think he's telling the truth.”

Arthur walked up to the locked basement door.

“That makes this easier. Steven, please unlock the door.”

“I-I can't do that, there's, uh… private stuff in there.”

“I already know what's down there. A ton of custom guns made by a friend of yours.”

“How did you-?!”

“I told you, I'm from the future. Now please unlock the door, I'll explain everything down there.”

Steven looked at Charlie, unsure.

“Trust him.” Charlie said.

“Alright…”

Steven walked up to the door and unlocked it, heading down first.

Arthur and Charlie followed closely behind.

They entered the basement, and Steven turned towards Arthur.

“Alright, now please explain.”

“As I said before, I am from the future. Specifically, I traveled back to this time from around 30 years in the future using a time machine Charlie creates.”

“Why?”

“The world gets taken over by an oppressive dystopian government within the next 15 years. I came back to stop that from happening.”

Charlie spoke up “and how did you know I was here? And why are you involving Steven in this?”

“You know how your time machine works, right? If the user ends up dying, they're sent back once more to the time of their arrival. I've died 4 times so far.”

Charlie nodded.

“I see. What happened in your previous lives?”

“The first time I came back, I made my way to this orphanage without knowing you were here. I ended up living here for 3 years. During this time, I discovered Steven ends up becoming a founding member of the rebellion in the future. After those 3 years, we began our first mission. I was sent to spy on a meeting between a few influential politicians and businessmen, in order to find out if the meeting was about the dystopian takeover. It wasn't. They discussed selling weapons to the conflicting countries in Asia. I was going to just leave the meeting after this, but a group of men in suits and bowler hats showed up and killed everyone in the building, including me.”

Charlie nodded, beginning to write something in a small journal he brought with him.

“After that, I came back here again and told you two what happened. We spent two weeks trying to find out who it was who killed me, but we couldn't find anything. Until, we discovered the politician Adam Reed gets killed by them as well.”

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Steven spoke up.

“But Adam Reed is at a meeting in France right now, it says so in the newspaper.”

“He is killed upon his return in exactly a week. So, I killed myself in order to go back in time and witness the murder myself. My first attempt failed, but my second attempt was a complete success.”

Charlie put his journal down and looked up at Arthur.

“So, what do we need to do?”

“The name of the group is ‘weather men'. We know exactly where and when they're going to be killing someone, so I think we should blackmail them.”

“That seems pretty dangerous though.” Steven said.

“Yes. It probably is. But if we can get them to talk, we’ll get valuable information. Worst case scenario, we learn who they are and what their motivations are, so we’re able to avoid running into them in the future. Best case scenario, they're related to the dystopia and we’re able to finally get some targets.”

Charlie smiles.

“I like it! What do you want me to do?”

“Make a post online about how there's a group called weather men doing shady stuff or something. It doesn't matter what you say really, as long as you imply you know who they are.”

“Alright, I'm on it.”

Charlie walks back upstairs to get his computer.

Steven almost speaks up, but hesitates with a conflicted look on his face.

“What's wrong Steven?”

“I don't know… I just… I feel like we shouldn't be provoking these people. They seem dangerous. Far too dangerous for us to handle.”

Arthur walks over and puts his hand on Stevens' shoulder.

“It'll be fine. We have dirt on them, they won't be able to make any rash decisions.”

“I hope so…”

6:00 AM

“Alright, I've got it typed out. I'm ready to hit send whenever you want me to.” Charlie said as he stretched his arms above his head.

Arthur stopped pacing the room and walked over to Charlie.

“Good. Don't send it yet, I'm gonna get ready to leave so we can meet up with them as fast as possible.”

Steven walked into the room holding a cup of coffee. There were large bags under his eyes, and he was still in his pajamas.

“If I knew we were going to send the message today I would have gone to sleep earlier last night…”

Arthur put his hand on Steven's shoulder as he walked by him to go upstairs.

“It's fine. You can go back to bed if you want, we’ll be fine doing this on our own.”

“No. I'm staying up. I need to be ready in case anything happens.”

“If you say so. Don't blame me when you're exhausted tonight though.” Arthur said as he walked up the stairs towards his room.

Well, I say that, but I can't help but be worried too. We don't know anything about the weather men besides their name. Frankly, we have no idea of what they're capable of.

He opened the door to his room and walked inside.

I can only hope they fall for our bluff and peacefully meet with us.

He quickly put on a pair of pants and a loose fitting shirt and headed back downstairs.

“You ready?” Charlie asked as Arthur entered the room.

“As ready as I'll ever be. Send it.”

“Got it.”

Charlie clicked something on the screen and stood up.

“It's sent. Now we just have to wait.”

6:40 AM

“Got anything yet?” Arthur said to Charlie, yawning.

“Nope.” He said, leaning back in his chair, “nothing.”

“Still awake Steven?”

Steven was asleep in his chair.

“Guess not. Well, I'm gonna go get some food. I'll be right back.”

“Be quick, we could get something any second now.”

“I will.”

Arthur walked upstairs and entered the kitchen, where Sofia was making breakfast.

“Good morning!” She said enthusiastically as he walked in.

“Good morning.” He responded.

He took a box of cereal out of the cupboard and poured some into a bowl.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

6:55 AM

“I'll get it!” Sofia said, already running towards the door.

“Sofia, wait!” Arthur shouted.

A gunshot rang out, and Sofia fell to the ground.

“Sofia!” Arthur ran over to her and clutched her body.

Charlie came running up the stairs, holding a large gun that he obviously did not know how to use.

“What happened?” He said.

“Run! The weather men are here!”

Charlie's eyes went wide, and he rushed back down the stairs without saying another word.

“Sofia…” Arthur looked at Sofia's body, now creating a pool of blood beneath it, one more time before following Charlie down the stairs.

“Steven, wake up!” Charlie screamed.

“What's happening?!” Steven yelled back as he jolted awake.

“The weather men are here! They already killed Sofia!” Arthur yelled as he came rushing down the stairs, almost tripping over every step.

Steven shut his eyes tight and looked down.

“I see. So it's already all over.” His voice shook as the words came weakly out of his mouth.

“I'm getting a message from someone!” Charlie yelled.

“What does it say?!” Arthur rushed to the computer.

“I don't know yet, they're still typing!”

“Steven, please go hold the door. We need to see this message!”

Steven nodded and ran up the stairs.

“I'll go as well.” Charlie said, following Steven.

“It's all up to you now Arthur. Stay alive until you get that message.”

“I will.”

7:00 AM

The sounds of heavy footsteps on the floors above him grated Arthur's mind, the seconds of waiting for the message feeling more like hours due to the adrenaline.

Over time, the screams and disorderly ruckus above him were replaced by an eerily orderly march. The sound got louder and louder, Arthur could tell they were coming back down to check the basement.

Come on, send the message already!

Arthur gripped the gun in his hand tight. He knew he couldn't beat them alone, and he knew it wouldn't matter after he died and got sent back, but he still wanted to kill at least a few of the weather men to avenge everyone else in the orphanage.

Ding!

Arthur turned around and looked at the computer in awe. He read the message over and over again in his head, unable to believe what he was reading.

“Come meet me!”

Was all the message said. Attached was the address to a building not far from the orphanage.

That's it? It took that long… for that?

Arthur laughed.

I win.

He threw the pistol he was holding aside, and grabbed a large assault rifle from the wall.

I guess I'll let off some steam before going back.