Disclaimer: I still don't own Back to the Future.
Author's Note: Another complex and tricky chapter, this one. And that complexity isn't going to end soon. But well, that's what you get with time travel. Hope you can enjoy my work anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Saturday, November 12, 1955
09:05 PM PST
Hill Valley, California
Marty stared at the scene, bewildered. In the Packard, Lorraine was still desperately struggling with Biff, a struggle she would not be able to upkeep much longer – which hadn't mattered in the original timeline(s), because there she had been able to give it up after George emerged. However, it was becoming increasingly obvious that George wouldn't emerge – not for quite some time, at least.
"What can we do?" he asked, desperately.
"There's only one thing I can do" Doc muttered. "I'll run over and try to free George from Biff. You monitor the situation from here, and be prepared for the first sign of erasure."
Marty gulped. "Ten-four" he muttered, weakly. Doc smiled faintly, and ran off towards the phone booth.
As the teenager then turned back to the scene, which he and an equally stunned (though more surprised) 1985 Marty were still watching, 1955 Marty suddenly ran around a corner. He stared at the Packard with horror, and doubled his speed. Within no time, he had reached the door and roughly pulled it open.
"What the hell?" Marty could clearly hear Biff swear. "I thought I'd ordered my goons to dispose of you!"
"Marty!" Lorraine exclaimed, relieved.
"They didn't do their job well, Biff" 1955 Marty said, ignoring Lorraine's cries. "Now leave Lorraine alone, or you're going to be in serious trouble."
Biff laughed. "Oh, really?" he taunted. "Then what are you going to do to me, huh?"
In response, 1955 Marty balled his hand into a fist and angrily reached out to punch Biff. His nemesis caught the arm just in time, though, and as Biff stepped out, he twisted 1955 Marty's arm against his back.
"Biff!" Lorraine called out, horrified. "Let him go!"
Biff smirked. 1955 Marty, in the meantime, attempted to wrestle free from Biff's grip, punching the bully several times with his free left arm. "You're not going to get away with this, you know" he muttered, angrily.
Biff smiled, shaking his head. "Oh no?" he taunted. "Then what are you going to do about it, chicken?"
1955 Marty glared at him, angry. "This" he replied, kicking Biff in the groin. The bigger bully released him, and present Marty felt a sigh of relief. At least his younger self was free… but George still hadn't shown up.
Marty's younger self shoved Biff off him, and turned to Lorraine, who was sitting in the car and had a faint smile on her face. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Lorraine smiled at him and nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you so much, Marty, but… look out!"
1955 Marty barely had a second to ponder that as Biff, having re-emerged from his moment of weakness, seized Marty's younger self by his throat. "You son of a bitch" he hissed. "Now I'm going to finish you off for good!"
Just then, George ran into the scene, coming to a halt as he saw Biff. "Oh no!" he exclaimed, horrified.
"McFly!" Biff shouted. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"George" 1955 Marty moaned, his voice weakening as Biff was nearly squeezing him. "Help! Help… Lorraine!" He tried to struggle loose, but failed.
George stared at Lorraine, whose dress was still disheveled, at Biff who was nearly squeezing Marty, and gulped. Marty felt his heart beating louder in his throat. If George didn't act now, Old Biff's intent would have succeeded and he would never be born.
However, George did act. He stared at Biff, Marty, and Lorraine, and took a deep breath. "Leave them alone, Biff" he whispered, quietly.
Biff smirked. "Excuse me?" he said. "Don't try to act braver than you are, McFly. Beat it. I'm letting you off easy this time."
George shook his head, his heart beating audibly. "No, Biff" he muttered. "You go away."
"What the hell?" Biff asked. He stared at George, then smacked 1955 Marty forward onto the ground. Marty winced as his younger self hit the parking lot, knocked out. He looked at Lorraine, who was watching the whole scene with a mixture of fear and horror, and then back at Biff. Biff had put George's arm behind his back and was twisting it.
"Oh no" Marty muttered, horrified. "Oh no."
"I can echo the sentiments, Marty" Doc muttered. Marty turned to see his friend having appeared next to him. "If your father doesn't act now, not only may he never get together with your mother, he might also end up with a broken arm."
Lorraine seemed to share that opinion, as she got up. Her eyes shot from Marty to George and back, and then finally she practically jumped on Biff. "Let him go!" she called out. "He didn't do anything to you! This is a matter between me, and you, and Marty – don't involve him in it!"
Biff then pushed her to the ground, laughing. Lorraine landed and stared up at the scene, helpless. As Marty looked back at George, he could see his look changing from horror to rage. Extreme rage. His hand clenched into a fist, and while Biff was still laughing, George hit him right in the jaw. Biff spun around, hit the car, and fell on the ground, knocked out.
"All right!" Marty exclaimed, then blushing as he realized that he shouldn't be heard. Fortunately, his 1985 self was distracted enough not to notice, and George and Lorraine were only staring at each other. "Are you okay?" George asked her.
As Lorraine nodded, 1955 Marty groaned audibly besides them. He opened his eyes and stood up, disorientated. "What… what happened?" he asked.
"George punched Biff out!" Lorraine replied, smiling broadly. "He saved me!"
1955 Marty smiled weakly, still dazed. "That's… good for you, George. That's awesome."
"What?" George asked.
"Never mind" 1955 Marty muttered.
Lorraine turned to 1955 Marty and blushed. "Um, Marty," she said, "I don't know how to say this, but well, you know… when we kissed, it felt… a little odd, didn't it?"
"Uh, yeah" 1955 Marty replied. "It did."
"So, I was wondering, I hope you don't mind, but maybe I could go to the dance with George instead?" Lorraine proposed. "No offence, but well… I was just wondering if you felt the same way. If you don't, I'm still willing to go to the dance with you. I know it's silly to break up over a thing like that, and maybe we shouldn't make too much of some kissing peculiarity, but I just felt…"
"It's all right, Lorraine" 1955 Marty said, somewhat uncomfortably. "Why don't you try going out to the dance with George? I'm sure he wants to, right George?"
"Yeah, sure" George replied, shyly.
"That sounds all right" Lorraine said. "We could still be friends, after all – and if going out with George won't work out, we could always attempt to resume our relationship." She smiled at Marty, gave him a peck on the cheek, and then offered George her arm. He took it, and they walked off to the dance. 1955 Marty stared after them, then looked at his photograph and ran off.
"Well…" Marty muttered, staring at the scene. "I suppose we should be glad it worked out in the end."
"We should" Doc replied. "At least your parents are going to be together – and if what's going on at the dance still works out as it did in the original timeline, they will stay together and you'll be born."
"Then we can go back to chasing Biff?" Marty asked.
To his surprise, the inventor shook his head. "I'm afraid not" he muttered. "We need to make sure nothing else happens. The original timeline has suffered major disruptions, Marty, and there's no way to know what will happen next. I think we've suffered a delay in the schedule of at least three or four minutes compared to the original timeline. Besides that, we must make sure that your second self still loses the almanac to Biff – or else we won't ever chase him, I won't get struck by lightning…"
"Right, right, I get it" Marty muttered. "We would have the paradox problem again. Okay, but then who'll make sure where Biff is going? If he's left the dance, then he's either going to leave this era or he'll be after you instead – either of you."
"You're right" Doc muttered. "And since I can't imagine him leaving this day of opportunities for him, I'm afraid he will try to get rid of me." He sighed. "I wish there was any way we could warn them, uh, me… but that would only create more temporal problems."
"Why don't you go after him?" Marty suggested. "I can stay here and make sure nothing else happens – and if it does, we can just use the walkie-talkies again."
Doc considered that for a moment. "It is an idea" he finally admitted. "Not a great one, but probably the best we can conceive under the circumstances. All right, we'll try your plan. I'm going to the train with Clara and we're heading towards the Square – he'll probably think that a younger me who hasn't got a flying car at his disposal will be easier to kill, so he'll probably be after my first self. You stay here and guard your other selves and your parents as well as you can. Remember, you must ensure that your parents stay together, that your other self gets away to the Square in time – although I'm sure he'll be looking out for both of those goals himself – and you must make sure your second self loses the almanac and watches Biff leave towards the River Road Tunnel!"
"Gotcha!" Marty replied, smiling faintly.
"Good" Doc muttered. "Then I'll leave the situation up to you from now on. Good luck, and you know where to find me."
Marty nodded, and watched as Doc ran off. He then turned towards the scene in front of him, where 1985 Marty was contacting Doc after getting the almanac. That confirmed his memories – but the scene he saw in the distance, where Biff's goons were once again being chased off by the Starlighters, didn't.
A moment later, though, he made the connection as he saw his younger self standing with them. He remembered how Biff's gang had tried to assault him shortly after he got the almanac back. In this timeline, the order of circumstances must have been altered so that Biff's goons got back to the gym earlier, and tried to attack 1955 Marty instead of 1985 Marty – and the Starlighters had helped him chase them off.
Marty stared at his 1955 self, who was walking into the gym. He was going to turn out fine in the end – even though he might end up having some more painful erasure moments due to this delay. He wasn't so sure on his 1985 self, though, who was practically beaming as he walked in the direction of the roof. He had to do something about this soon, or Doc's wife and kids would be history.
The older Marty sighed. Why was he always presented with these difficult, complicated tasks?