A/N: Information about the Dizzy Dragon ride is copy-pasted from the Palace Playland amusement park's website. As stated, the park is located in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is "an electronic clearinghouse of crime data that can be tapped into by virtually every criminal justice agency nationwide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It helps criminal justice professionals apprehend fugitives, locate missing persons, recover stolen property, and identify terrorists. It also assists law enforcement officers in performing their duties more safely and provides information necessary to protect the public." (Source: FBI website) And while it actually contains multiple databases, Regina probably wouldn't be so clear on those specifics.

Chapter 21

"A movie?" Belle repeated.

August shrugged. "We've spent the last couple of days traipsing around on foot. I thought maybe you'd like the chance to spend a couple of hours sitting down for a change."

Gold's eyes narrowed. "Which film?"

"Well," August said, "actually, it's going to be three of them. There's a Leslie Caron retrospective going on now. Tomorrow, as it happens, they'll be showing An American in Paris, Lili, and Gigi." He noted Gold's faint smirk and met it with a grin. "Hey, I didn't name them. But I've seen them."

"Romances, I take it?" Gold asked in a mockingly merry voice that reminded Belle of the imp he'd been when first she'd met him.

"Well, they're billed as musicals," August returned, "but, yeah… there's romance. And while the first item on the bill is pretty much feel-good fluff—which happened to win Best Picture for 1951, by the way—Lili's a personal favorite of mine. For reasons that should be obvious to you when you see it." He hesitated. "Unless you'd rather not?"

Gold hesitated. Then he glanced to his left. "Belle?"

Belle flashed him a smile. "I wouldn't mind. Un-unless there's something else you'd rather do?" She sighed. "I have to admit I am a bit curious." She looked away in embarrassment. "I feel like I did when I finally got out of the asylum and I was the only person in town who'd never tasted iced tea," she ticked off her fingers, never had a hamburger, or-or ketchup, didn't even know what the 'top 40' was, forget being able to name a single song in it…" She smiled at Rumple again, a bit self-consciously. "Maybe I could be one of the only people in town who has seen a movie in a theater." She hesitated again. "With popcorn?"

"Hey, what's a movie without popcorn?" August laughed.

Gold regarded them for a moment, his face revealing nothing of his thoughts. Then he smiled. "You do paint an appealing picture," he conceded. "Very well."

And he'd try not to roll his eyes too broadly at the absurdly happy endings that were certain to be forthcoming.

"So," Belle said, "As fun as the tour bus was, yesterday, I think I'd like to do something a little quieter. More off the beaten track." She glanced at Gold. "Not so… overwhelming."

Emma nodded. "Got somewhere in mind?"

"Well, I was looking up a few places on my phone last night," Belle admitted. "I've read about J.P. Morgan. The financier," she added. "I picked up a book about a financial crisis over a century ago, something called the 'Panic of 1907' and the picture they painted of Morgan intrigued me enough to want to learn more. I already knew that he'd resided here, but I hadn't realized that after his death, his home was eventually converted to a museum. And his library…" she warmed to her topic. "Well, just look at these images."

Rumple smiled. Although he didn't have quite the same love for reading as his wife, he did have an appreciation for old books and art. "I can see why you're so excited," he smiled. He looked to the others. "It's doable?"

"Not only is it doable," Emma grinned, eyeing the address. "It's practically around the corner. Well… about four blocks from here, anyway."

"Are you sure it'll work?" David asked dubiously. "I mean, don't misunderstand, but I never thought about whether magic could interact with this world's technology like this."

"Aye, mate," Hook said slowly, "but I can name one other instance where it did. When the Dark One coerced me into helping him, he used his magic to erase his own image from a security recording, so that it looked as though a certain vile act was perpetrated solely by myself."

He turned to Regina. "So, I suppose we know it's possible."

"Yes," Regina said, wondering once more why the shepherd had let him tag along. "But there's an added wrinkle. That recording was one cassette and it wasn't connected with anything outside this town. Inserting a false record into a national database might be trickier. I don't know what's going to happen to that record once it's online."

"Henry was able to track down Emma over the internet," David reminded her.

"I'm well aware. But all that proved was that electronic data can get past a curse or spell shielding the town from outsiders. Magical hacking, on the other hand? Well, I think it's safe to say it's never been done before."

"How necessary is it?" David asked. "I mean, does there really need to be an outstanding warrant on Zelena?"

"There does if there's a chance that she might try to keep Robin in New York by using Roland." Her expression was deadly serious. "All she has to do is… keep up her cover and claim that she and Robin have been going through some difficulties and she suspects that he's about to kidnap their son and take him out of state. We know she's had spies on many of us in the past. If she can get a court order in effect before we get back home, and if she gives the license plate number to the authorities… We're going to have a lot of explaining to do if we get pulled over."

"We could take another car," David suggested.

"It won't help if she or her minions can see the new plate. No, Emma was right. We need an outstanding warrant on Zelena as leverage, so that if she tries anything, she'll be the one taken into custody." She opened the file that Emma had sent her the day before with the proper templates. "All right," she said, getting down to business. "Name. Marian…" she paused. "...Hood," she typed with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Now, for alias…" she thought for a moment. "Alias Zelena West." She set about filling out the particulars as best she could. "Extortion… attempted murder… kidnapping…"

"Don't overdo it, your majesty," Hook suggested. "If she'd done half that list anywhere else in this realm, I believe that her name would be known far and wide. If all you need from this document is leverage… why not leave it at attempted murder and bail jumping?"

The pirate had a point. Maybe he could be useful after all. Marginally. Regina's gaze panned from Hook to David.

"I like it," David nodded. "Serious enough to warrant crossing state lines to bring her in, but not so high-profile that it would have made national headlines." He glanced at Hook. "Thanks."

"No worries, mate," Hook smiled. "I only wish I were going with you. Tell your daughter I'm… thinking of her."

David's jaw set. "Pure thoughts, I hope," he said, one hand straying to the butt of the revolver at his side almost on reflex.

"Of course," Hook replied. Then, in a voice almost too soft for David to hear, he added, "Well, some of them, at any rate."

"All right," Regina said, before David could reply. "The warrant's done. Now, let's hope I can get it into the NCIC database." She frowned and focused her power on the computer monitor before her. White light—and David still wasn't entirely used to seeing that in place of purple smoke—flashed from her fingertips. For a moment the screen went dark. Then it lit up once more.

"Did it work?" Regina asked. Seeing the others looking at her expectantly, she caught herself, realized that she was the person in the room best suited to answer her own question, opened a new tab on her browser, and copied the url that Emma had sent her to verify. "It appears to be in order," she remarked. "But I'll text Emma and ask her to check things out on her end, too."

"It's there," Emma said with a smile. "Thanks, Regina." She'd moved away from the others as soon as she'd gotten the text notification.

"And it will stand up to scrutiny?"

"It should," Emma replied. "It looks fine to me."

There was an audible sigh of relief on the other end of the phone. "We'll see you tomorrow afternoon, then."

"We'll be there." She was just pocketing her phone when August walked up.

"We're about ready to move on," he said. "What's up?"

Emma shrugged. "Just touching base with Regina."

"Everything okay?"

She smiled. "Yeah, uh… fine."

August frowned. "You're sure?"

"Sure, I'm sure."

His frown deepened, but all he said was, "Okay. Then let's get back to the others."

As Emma fell into step behind him, she was wearing a frown of her own. Creating a phony criminal record was, of course, illegal. But impersonating some guy's dead wife so you could ruin your half-sister's chance at happiness had to be against the law, too. Fraud or identity theft or… or something. Not something that could be made to stick in a modern court, though; not when the impersonation was being helped along with a glamor spell. Maybe it would have been different back in 1692—in Salem. Somehow, Emma doubted that Zelena would be obliging enough to open another time portal and step through it to a time when most people believed in magic—and believed in executing its practitioners. Come to think of it, Emma wasn't entirely certain she'd want to risk visiting it herself.

Creating a false warrant and hacking a state database to add it to the registry might not be legal, but this was a clear case of the ends justifying the means. Roland was a total innocent in all of this and there was no reason to think that Zelena would see him as more than either a nuisance—to be tolerated or disposed of at whim, or leverage—to keep Robin away from Regina. In order to protect a small child, they needed some leverage of their own. What Emma had suggested to Regina might not be ethical, but it was necessary.

She seemed to hear Henry's voice again, repeating something he'd told her long ago.

Good has to play fair. Evil doesn't.

But how could endangering a five-year-old be good? No, Emma was just ensuring that they were doing what had to be done. And if she didn't want to share her actions with August, it was only because she didn't need another lecture about not letting Gold rub off on her and because she generally liked to keep things to herself.

Roland had to be protected.

The ends justified the means.

She wasn't doing anything wrong.

Was she?

"If I rolled down the window, you'd probably stick your head out," Regina commented acidly.

David pulled his eyes away from the window beside him and flashed an embarrassed smile in her direction. "I've never been outside Storybrooke before," he pointed out.

"And I left it once, twelve years ago, to adopt Henry." Twice, she remembered, but she wasn't about to tell David that the second time, she'd nearly given him back. "But you don't see me gawking at third-rate amusement parks like some uneducated country bumpkin."

David shrugged and checked the side mirror as Old Orchard Beach receded into the distance. "I wonder whether between them, Marco and the dwarfs couldn't build something like that. Maybe we could stop on the way back and take some pictures."

"We aren't doing any sightseeing," Regina snapped. A note of affection crept into her voice. "Besides, I don't think we'd be able to get Roland to leave, once he sees those pastel dragons."

David smiled and punched something into his phone. "The Dizzy Dragon ride," he read aloud. "Dizzy Dragon includes four large dragons rotating in a large circle and the passengers control the spin of each individual dragon. Younger children may choose to spin slowly while others may want to—"

"We are not stopping on the way back." She sighed. "Anyway, the tourist season's over. The park wouldn't be open now."

David typed something else and frowned. "Well, how about that? We're a month too late."

"Still," Regina mused, "I suppose we could devote more time to lifting the curse on the town line on our return. Then coming back this way next summer might be more feasible."

David raised his eyebrows.

"And since Henry's been dying to get behind the wheel again ever since you coached him into destroying one of the mailboxes on Main Street, I'm sure he'll enjoy the bumper cars."

"Uh… Dodg'em," David corrected with a smile. "According to the webpage, they call their bumper cars, the Dodg'em."

"Fine," Regina said with mild exasperation. "Dodg'em"

But though she was staring straight ahead at the road, David could see the corner of her mouth turn up in a slight smile. He grinned and turned back to the window.

The movie theater was tucked away on a side street. While the building was several decades old, its façade was bright and clean. "We should actually come back here at some point," August said. "There's a lot of history in the Village and a lot of it's been pretty well preserved."

"Some of the novels I've read mention it as being a place where many future artists and musicians began," Belle nodded.

"It was," August nodded back. "That's died down a bit, since gentrification drove the housing prices out of the range of most struggling performers," he admitted. "But there's still stuff if you know where to go. Like here, for example." He gestured to the theater with a casual smile.

"Okay," Emma said, pulling the ticket receipt out of her purse and holding it out. "The first show starts at noon. It's only a quarter to eleven, so you've got time to walk around and get coffee or an early lunch or whatever."

"Probably coffee at this hour," August remarked. "Most of the restaurants won't open before the movies start."

"We did just have breakfast," Rumple said dryly. Then he looked away. "Forgive me," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to sound ungrateful." He just hated being out on the town with the woman he loved and without even two coins to rub together.

August didn't seem to take offense. "No worries," he smiled. "Okay. We're supposed to rendezvous with Regina and David at two," he reminded them, "but once we do, we're going to have to fight traffic to get to Robin's place. Which is why you've got tickets to three shows; as much as I'd like to say we'll be back here around the time that Lili ends, depending on when the others actually get in, how long it takes to get to Robin, and how smoothly things go when we do…"

"You may not arrive until some time after the third film has begun," Rumple finished.

"Right," Emma nodded. "We should be back before it ends. But if we aren't, don't worry. We might be late, but we will be back for you." A random thought came into her head and she smiled. "This isn't some modern version of Hansel and Gretel where we take you into a strange part of the city and abandon you."

"But," August said, as Belle giggled and Gold snorted, "if you do want to get back to the hotel ahead of us," he held out two subway tokens in the palm of his hand, "closest station is on West Houston at Varick. And," he added, "while it's spelled the same as a well-known city in Texas, here in New York, it's pronounced like I just said: 'House-ton,' not 'Hews-ton'."

"Got it," Belle said, taking the tokens as Rumple reached for the tickets.

"Uh, Mr. Gold? A word?" August motioned to him to follow him around the corner. When Rumple did, August pulled out his wallet. "It's a loan," he said quickly, pretending he hadn't seen Rumple's face flush. "You can pay it back whenever you're able. No pressure." He took three twenties out. "I'd check prices here first, though," he added. "Some of these places charge like they're selling you the whole restaurant along with your lunch."

"Because anyone who can afford to pay the rents in this neighborhood is less likely to balk at the cost of dining."

"That's the theory. It doesn't take into account the people who are only able to pay the rents because they aren't spending much on anything else, of course. Don't worry, though. There are plenty of places where the food's decent and the cost's more in keeping with what you'd expect. Just… check prices beforehand. And don't go with the décor," he added. "Some places like to look plain and simple, but charge through the nose for it."

Rumple nodded and took the money. "Thank you, Booth," he said seriously.

August shrugged. "I know you're good for it."

A fleeting smile flashed across his face as he pocketed the money. Then the two went back to rejoin the women.

"We were wondering what was keeping you," Emma greeted them. She glanced at August. "Are we ready to get going? If not, I need to feed the meter."

"I think we're set," August said. He turned to the others. "You're okay here?"

Both nodded. "If we run into any trouble," Belle said, "I can call you, but I think we'll be fine."

"Okay. We'll call or text if we're going to be later than we think. Or you can call us if you want to walk around a bit and meet us somewhere else."

"Got it," Belle said.

"Be careful," Rumple said. "We know Zelena is using a glamor spell. We don't know what other magic she may have carried with her."

"Understood," Emma nodded. "Have fun."

Gold slid one hand into his pocket to check that the three folded twenties were still there. He smiled. "We shall endeavor to do so."

August's expression was troubled as Emma's bug inched along through the Manhattan midday traffic. "I hope this all goes down without a hitch," he said. "But if Zelena puts up a fight, or-or calls the police to say Roland's been kidnapped or something… I mean, you and I have records out here. But if anyone tries checking out Regina's ID or your dad's, and nothing turns up… things could get a little intense."

"Already one step ahead of you," Emma said matter-of-factly. "If Zelena tries anything, she's the one getting hauled in."

August frowned. "How did you swing that?"

"Pre-emptive first strike," Emma replied, wondering why she was suddenly feeling that earlier twinge of uneasiness.

August wasn't letting it slide. "Meaning what, exactly?"

Emma sighed. "I know what a criminal record looks like in the NCIC and I coached Regina on how to insert one for Zelena."

"For what?" August demanded. "Practicing witchcraft without a license?"

Emma shrugged. "Beats me. I left that up to Regina. The important thing is, if Zelena calls the cops, they'll run a check on her, too. That's standard. And once they do…"

"So, you framed her."

Emma's hands tightened around the steering wheel. "After everything she's done…" she muttered.

"Funny. You didn't buy that argument when I explained how I rationalized what I did to Gold. You know, I think your judgment's getting a bit muddied there."

"Well, hopefully, we won't need to use that leverage," Emma said. "But if it comes down to it? I'm not risking Zelena using Roland to hurt Robin. And if a bit of phony paperwork will get her to back off, it beats knocking her out and locking her in a storage room." She paused for a moment. "Which is what I did with the last person who attacked someone I was with."

"Should I be glad you're not contemplating a more permanent solution?"

Emma was glad that they were stuck in traffic, because she probably would have slammed on the brakes to avoid an accident while she gave August a piece of her mind. "Murder?" she exclaimed. "Are you kidding me?"

"Hey, just checking how far you'd go," August shot back. "I mean, you're already breaking the law."

"August, there is a huge difference between creating a phony criminal record for a real criminal and killing them!"

"Emma," August said slowly, "did you read Regina's story in Henry's book? She didn't start out as the Evil Queen. It was something small. Maybe you could even argue it was justifiable. She shoved her controlling, power-hungry mother through a portal to another realm. And discovered that she had a talent and a love for magic."

"Which Gold corrupted," Emma said.

"Yeah, he manipulated her. But he didn't force her to make the choices she made. He just made them seem like her best options. That's how it begins. With doing something a little bit gray to someone who probably has it coming. And then it builds. Next time, the person might not deserve it as much, but you convince yourself that your needs are greater and they'll understand when it's all over. And then one day, you stop caring whether anyone understands and just do whatever the hell you want." He turned his face to the window. "Our village was lucky. Regina only threatened us. In Carter's Haven, she slaughtered every man, woman, and child—right down to the infants in arms."

Emma let out a long breath. "We can't delete the record now. Unless you've got some mad hacker skills I don't know about. But once we get back home, I'll take care of it."

"And you won't use it against Zelena?"

"That was never the main plan," Emma said. "It's more insurance to stop Zelena from trying to fight us. That's it. If she tries involving the authorities, she'll get burned." She paused. "I'll warn her. Probably smart in any case; the cops might get sloppy and not run the check. Or they might just arrest us all and sort it out later. If she knows what we cooked up, that might be enough to convince her not to make waves."

August was silent for almost a full minute. "And you'll delete that record as soon as we're back in Storybrooke?"

"I don't know how," Emma admitted. "But I'll do my best to convince Regina."

"Okay," August said. "I still don't like it, but I guess that's the best you can do at this point."

They inched forward for another couple of blocks before Emma spoke again. "So, how does it feel stepping into Archie's shoes?"

August smiled. "I'm not," he said. "For one thing, Archie—Jiminy—could be a real pain in the butt. Which I never am," he added.

"Pleading the fifth, here," Emma murmured, her eyes intent on the road. "Is there another thing?"

"Yeah. Jiminy's job was a lot harder. See, I didn't have a conscience of my own. That's why Blue gave him the job being mine. I might not have been dark, but if you've been laboring under the impression that I had any kind of innate moral compass, sadly, all Blue's spell did was bring me to life. I had to learn the rest of it on my own. Well. With Jiminy, but I spent a lot of time trying to run away from him."

"From your conscience."

"Yeah, well when that still small voice isn't inside of you, that's actually doable. But, see, Emma, that's why Jiminy's job was harder. You've got a moral compass. I just had to get you to check the calibration."

"Thanks."

"Just… be careful." August wasn't bantering anymore. "Seriously. I know you want to do the right thing. For Robin, for Roland… for Gold. But—"

"But it's not enough to do the right thing if I don't go about it the right way," Emma nodded. "I hear you."

"Okay. How are we for time?"

Emma turned right onto West Street. "Well, it looks like we're out of the gridlock, finally," she said. "So, with any luck, we'll be at the Cloisters in about twenty minutes. Still almost two hours to go before we can expect Regina and my dad to show up."

"Well," August said, "I suppose we could always walk around the grounds. Maybe even go inside. We can text Regina to let us know when they get there." He smiled. "I might be a village kid at heart, but some of the architecture reminds me a bit of the places Father and I passed through when we'd travel to pay court to your parents. I can show you which parts."

"This isn't going to be like that time you took me out for a drink, is it?"

"You liked that water." He laughed. "It's something to do while we wait. And the Cloisters are definitely worth seeing. But two hours probably won't be enough time. So, I guess we can always come back here with the others in a day or so."

"Unless Gold shows us he's ready to go back home."

August hesitated for a moment. "Yeah," he said. "Unless he shows us."

Emma couldn't help noticing that his smile was a good deal more strained than it had been a second earlier. Just like she couldn't help being glad that the phony warrant was still in the NCIC database.

Just in case it was needed.