What do you do with your new toy?

Return the watch

Thinking about all the cool things you could do, you stop that train before it starts. The watch isn't yours to keep and anyway if the old man is smart enough to build a watch that stops time, he's smart enough to put the pieces together and figure out that you took it. You briefly weigh the thought of having your fun first and then returning the watch before the guy even knows it was gone, but you know that once you get going, it's going to be that much harder to give up that power. So, with a deep sigh, you walk up to the front door and knock.

After a few moments the door swings open, the old man, still dressed in his lab coat stands in the doorway with an annoyed look on his face. "What did you not learn your lesson?" He starts fumbling around in his pocket.

"Sir, I'm really sorry about earlier," you start. "You're right. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going." The old man still hasn't found the watch he is obviously looking for in his pocket, but your words have at least temporarily paused his search. "Anyways, you dropped your time machine watch outside, so here it is." You hold out the watch in your hand. His eyes go wide as he quickly snatches the watch out of your hand, but the anger in his eyes quickly fades.

"Come inside," he says to you. "Quickly!" He ushers you into the entranceway. Once you're inside, he closes the door behind you and he ushers you into the living room. "Now who said anything about a time machine?" he asks.

"Nobody. Well, I did just now, but nobody told me. I hit the button on top after I picked up your watch and everything stopped," you explain. "Hence, time machine."

"Hmmm interesting." The old man takes a seat in a cushy recliner and gestures for you to sit on the couch. "And after using this time machine, you decided to just give it back to me?"

"Well yeah. It's yours. And as much as I'd like to keep it, I couldn't just steal it from you like that."

The old man leans back in his chair looking up at the ceiling. "Perhaps I was too quick to judge you. You'll forgive me if I was a little annoyed at our encounter." He gives you a serious look. "I'm Dr. Brown and what you have returned is the culmination of a lifetime of work. Would you like to keep the watch?"

That was not a question you were expecting. "Umm yeah that would be great I guess."

"Yes, yes it would. Son, how would you like a job as my assistant?"

"Oh! I guess I could fit that into my schedule. I already work part time at the bookstore and with classes that doesn't leave a whole lot of time..."

"Son, your job will involve using a watch that stops time. You have all the time in the world!"

"Oh yeah... Then yes, I'll take the job."

"Excellent! I've been looking for a replacement ever since the phasing incident with Richard." Uh...what? "So hard to find good help... But what's more trustworthy than someone bringing back my watch after they found out what it can do? Now some ground rules: One- You'll need to check in with me every couple days. We'll go through your experiences with the watch and check your physical status to make sure there are no adverse effects. Two- Feel free to use the watch as you see fit, but I don't want to see any art mysteriously disappearing or vaults being emptied. Capeesh?"

"You said an incident?" an ounce of concern weighs on you.

"You have nothing to worry about. Probably. That was several versions ago. I've used this watch dozens of times with no ill effects. But to be safe, you should avoid using the watch near poprocks and Coke. Any other questions?"

"No I think that was the major one," you answer, with your concerns at least partly assuaged.

"Good! Then it's settled. You might have noticed already, but the red hand on the dial is your charge meter. At full charge you get 12 minutes of stopped time. Once fully drained it takes 60 minutes to get back to 100%, so be careful and don't leave yourself in a bad situation like Jimmy did. Poor bastard didn't stand a chance against that lion... Anyway, we need to get a baseline physical before you get started."