Fifth time's the charm. The 80-year-old man stands with a hand holding the door. What if I just run? So he tries too, feeling unbalanced he slows down to walking, two masked people turn the corner and watch as the old man walks down the alley. They walk past him. He starts crying, tears of joy or tears of sorrow. Even he didn’t know. A life cut short for the cost of making it to tomorrow. Was it heroic, was he proud, no. But he didn’t think there was a way out, and he got out.

In a police cruiser parked by the road.

“Can you now tell me what we’re doing here?”

“There is a cafe that I want to go to.” He gets out of the car. An old man sitting on the sidewalk seems to light up when he sees the police officer. He wasn’t here last time.

“Oh, officer, I'm so glad you're here” Do I know you?

“Why is that?”

“My two boys decided to try and rob the fine cafe down the alley. Don’t kill my boys, they are quite explosive when dead. But they are nice when not.” If they are the grandfather, they should have also talked to us last time. Either the world changed after I returned or this person is also time-traveling.

“Are you time traveling”

“What?”

“You weren’t here last time.”

“How many times do you remember?”

“One time”

“Same here”

He’s lying, why would he ask if he has not gone through it at least twice?

“Are you their grandpa?”

“No, no I was trying to give you information without saying I have time-traveled”

“What do you think caused the time travel”

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“I think it’s because of that one guy exploding”

*whirr* The passenger window rolls down.

“One second, I have to talk with my partner”

“We just got a call for a 12-40 on that street over there”

“The guy’s name is Cris Dari. He's 5.9, weighs 180 pounds, has brown eyes, and did a series of light crimes before getting convicted of 1st-degree robbery.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve done this before, the first time someone working with Cris exploded, leaving behind a crater, It was probably their power given how strong the explosion was.”

“You remember the first time because of your power”

“Most likely”

“Do you know what Cris is trying to accomplish?”

“I’m guessing it’s a robbery of some sort”

“They’re trying to kill Stop Man.” The old man interjects from behind

“Who”

“Stop man, you know the superhero, who stopped things”

“The owner of the cafe”

“I believe so”

“Was he the one bleeding on the floor?

“No, stop man isn’t even at the cafe.”

“You also traveled back, and work at the cafe?”

“Don’t work there. I was just eating there.”

“Do you know anything else that can help us out?”

“Like powers” the driver adds on.

“I think we went over the two robbers' powers, Keven, he’s at the booth, he told me once he can hear plants or something like that. I don’t know what the barista's power is, but the guy who was bleeding out can seemingly camouflage, which he normally uses to tackle one of the robbers, It doesn’t go well after that.”

“Because he gets shot”

“Yes, or causes the explosion to happen”

“Was the last time the first time we made it to the cafe?”

“Ya, I had to trip the camo guy to make it happen, I feel bad about it, but look at where it led us, eh eh” the old man nudges him with his elbow.

“Did you trip him before coming out here”

“Oh no” the realization dawned on his face

Looking over a light brighter than the sun seeps out of the alley lighting the surroundings as if it was the middle of summer, the sound and blast of the explosion only momentarily stop by an invisible dome. The old man jumps behind the police officer for cover and the dome breaks. They’re sent flying. He only opens his eyes once he feels the ground, around him is a field of rubble. Where am I? He didn't know the blast launched him farther than he could imagine.