AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter begins an arc I've been planning for a while. Since I've been breaking the curse on people in stages, I wanted to have at least one of the characters learn about the curse and learn who they really are without really remembering. I've decided on it being Michelle/Mulan. As of now, the plan is for her to continue without her real memories until the curse if fully broken. I think it will add a fun twist to the story. The next chapter will be her actual reaction to the situation and her conversation with Aurora. It will also contain a flashback scene with how they first got together back in FTL. It will also have Red's reaction to her relationship with Dr. Whale/Frankenstein. The chapter after that will be Neal and Mr. Gold finally starting their reconciliation and will contain an appearance by Mother Superior/The Blue Fairy. (I just realized that while I referenced her a few times, she has yet to make an actual appearance in this story). After that, we'll have the flashback story of Tina, along with some more Regina and Robin interaction for Outlaw Queen fans. As their relationship progresses, it will present an interesting dilemma for Snow. Then, when Dr. Whale finally releases Emma from the hospital, we'll have the long awaited family dinner with Emma, Neal, and their parents.
"Where is she?" Red asks, looking through the crowd. "I don't see her."
"Maybe she learned we were here and took off," Aurora suggests. At this point Belle walks back to them.
"Look, she's over there," Belle says, pointing to Regina. "It looks like she's heading to my office."
"Who's that with her?" Aurora asks.
"It looks like Robin, the town locksmith," Red says, "and I think he has his son with him."
"Why are they going into Isabella's office?" Aurora asks.
"Let's find out," Red says. "Once she's in the office, we'll eavesdrop on her. Isabella, you keep a lookout and try to steer people away from the office while we're listening."
"Right," Belle agrees.
Red and Aurora head over to the office just as the trio close the door. The two press their ears to the door to listen in.
"What is this?" Robin asks.
"It's a small room with a bed that Isabella can use if she's feeling tired," Regina says. "Her husband had it built as a gift and she showed it to me once. I'm sure under the circumstances no one would object to your son using it."
"Isabella has a bed in her office?" Aurora asks, surprised.
"Keep your voice down. We don't want her to hear us," Red whispers.
"Robin Locke," Robin says. "I'm a locksmith."
"A locksmith with the last name Locke?" Aurora asks, being careful to keep her voice a whisper.
"It's the damn curse," Red says. "I'm a werewolf and it made my last name Moon."
"You're a werewolf?" Aurora asks, taking a step back.
"Don't worry I have my werewolf side under control," Red says, "and I don't think I can change in this world anyway. Now keep your voice down and keep listening."
"What am I going to tell my son?" Robin asks. "We've lost everything we own. My shop was on the same corner as our building, so I've lost that as well."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Regina says, "but I promise you that the town will help everyone who's lost their homes tonight."
"And who are you to make such promises?" Robin asks. "You said you were an elementary school teacher."
"Yes, but I'm also the deputy mayor," Regina says, "and the mayor is my best friend. I know her and she will do everything in her power to make sure everyone is taken care of."
"Then where is she?" Robin demands angrily. "No one I've talked to has seen her all night."
"Is she all right?" he asks, concerned. "She wasn't injured in all this, was she?"
"The man behind all this kidnapped her," Regina says. "From what I heard she wasn't harmed, but her secretary, Emma Swan, was when she tried to protect her."
"It sounds like she's genuinely concerned for her," Aurora says.
"It could just be an act," Red points out.
"I don't know," Regina says. "But I called Dr. Whale and his voice sounded grim. Mary was in such a bad emotional state that she had to be sedated."
"If she is acting, she's doing a good job of it," Aurora says. "And why would she be acting in front of Robin?"
"I'm not sure if I should tell you," she says. "After all I just met you and don't want this spread all over town."
"I'm sure given what happened tonight that whatever it is won't say secret much longer," Robin says, "and I sense it would help you to talk about it."
"Emma just found out she was pregnant a few days ago," Regina says her voice low, "and I'm afraid that all this stress might cause her to lose the baby."
"Emma's pregnant?" Aurora asks.
Red nods. "I just found out myself when I rescued her and Snow from King George," she says. "Snow says using strong magic in her condition is not good for her."
"I'm just so worried about Mary," Regina tells him, her voice barely a whisper. "After the attack on her house and the kidnapping of her daughter, I feared she would never be able to smile again. In this last month since Emma arrived and David woke up, Mary has started to brighten up. I fear that if Emma does lose this child, it may push her over the edge and nothing will be able to put her back together again."
Red is silent as she listens to Regina talk. She hears genuine concern in her voice and can scarcely believe it. Regina has no reason to put on such a strong act for this man, so Red has to conclude that she does not have her real memories just as Isabella said.
"I don't believe it," Red says in shock. "She is actually concerned about Emma. I wouldn't have thought it possible for her to ever be concerned about another human being."
"Well, it was the curse to end all curses," Aurora replies, "but still, I wasn't expecting it to be able to alter a person's personality so completely."
"Snow once told me that before her mother and Rumplestiltskin warped her, Regina was actually a kind person," Red says. "I never really believed it before now, but maybe taking away all the negative experiences she had, returned her to the sweet girl she once was."
"We can theorize about that later," Aurora says. "For now at least, we confirmed that she had nothing to do with the attack and hasn't regained her real memories."
"Well then, let's collect our prisoner and get down to the sheriff's office." Red says, "We need to start interrogating the surviving members of George's gang to determine if..."
The door to the office opens interrupting her in mid-sentence.
"Ruby. Amelia," Regina says in surprise at seeing the two of them standing at the door.
"Regina," Red says.
"What are you doing here?" she asks.
"Um..." Red says at a loss for words.
"We wanted to see how things are holding up here," Amelia explains.
"I'm holding things together for now," Regina replies, "but as to where we're going to put all these people, I have no clue."
"That is going to be a major problem," Red agrees.
"Your grandmother has volunteered the use of her inn, but there's no way it will be able to accommodate so many people," Regina tells her.
"Well maybe it'll be easier to come up with a solution after things are more stable," Amelia suggests. "We can call a meeting at Town Hall tomorrow afternoon. Someone's bound to think of something."
"Good idea," Regina says.
"Well since you appear to have everything here under control, we'll take custody of the surviving hostage taker," Red says. "I've contacted the coroner and he should be arriving soon to take the two dead people to the morgue."
"Good," Regina says. "Jim put them in the basement storage area, but I'll feel a lot better once they're out of here."
Red and Amelia walk off, but as they go, Regina realizes that the two of them appeared to be standing at the door for some time. She idly wonders if they were eavesdropping on her conversation, but can't come up with a reason for why they would want to do that. Then, she sees more kids crying while Dr. Hopper tries to help them, and pushes the thought out of her head. She probably just opened the door at the same time Ruby and Amelia arrived at it and imagined the rest. Right now, she has work to do.
After leaving Ruby and Amelia, Michelle heads back to the gym where the trio left the two thugs locked up in a small supply closet. She has her gun drawn in case the pair escaped. She sees the two thugs that her girlfriend killed are still lying where they died and a small shudder passes through her. While she is glad that these men are dead, considering the fate they had in store for them, she still can't understand how her girlfriend managed to kill them so easily.
Thinking back on the fight, Michelle realizes that Amelia handled those men exactly as she would have done. Amelia told her that she had trained her, but she hadn't…had she? Did she somehow lose her memory? But she saw the fear in Amelia's eyes. She would have sworn that she didn't know how to fight at the start of the fight, but during the fight, something in her fundamentally shifted. It was like when the men pushed her, she transformed into a completely different person.
Even though she's only spent a matter of minutes with Amelia since then, she can already see the changes in her. She is still the woman she loves, but she is more confident. Gone is the weak-willed woman, who doubted herself, she looked brave and self-confident, taking charge of the situation where before Michelle is certain Amelia would have cowered in fear. She can't explain it.
The only scenario she can come up with is that both she and Amelia were the victims of some kind of government test, one that she didn't think existed outside bad Hollywood conspiracy films. Maybe they were both soldiers in the same unit and the government gave them fake memories as a psych experiment and then the stress of the attack caused the effect of the drugs to wear off on Amelia. She can't quite believe that, but she can't come up with a better explanation.
Then there's the dragon. She keeps coming back to the dragon. Amelia didn't doubt her for a second when she said she saw a dragon. Instead, she acted as if she were afraid of it. Nothing makes sense right now.
"Enough of this," Michelle says aloud. Amelia promised she would explain everything once things calmed down, so she decides not to keep dwelling on it. She needs to focus on her current task. With her gun still drawn, she opens the closet to find the thugs still tied up where they left them. The man with the broken arm is groaning, while the man who was unconscious when they left has now revived.
"You!" the formerly unconscious man screams. "You're going to pay. I'm going to get out of these ropes and then I'm going to rape you until..."
Michelle goes over to the man and puts the gun to his forehead. He immediately stops talking. "You have the right to remain silent," she says. "I suggest you use it. Now we're going to be heading down to the sheriff's station and if you get the bright idea to try to escape, I'd like to remind you how the four of you fared in your fight against Amelia and that I'm a lot tougher than she is. Do you understand?"
"Yes," the man says meekly, looking to where the bodies of his two dead comrades lie.
"Good," Michelle replies.
"Excuse me, I think I should be headed to the hospital," the other man says, clenching his teeth in pain. "I could really use some painkillers."
Michelle curses aloud as she remembers that his arm is broken. She takes out her phone and calls David at the hospital.
"Hello, Michelle," David says. "What's wrong?"
"I'm at the gym and I was about to transport the two surviving thugs that attacked Ruby, Amelia, and me, but I forgot one of them has a broken arm," Michelle says. "I really need to get back to the station to start interrogating the suspects, but this guy needs medical attention. I hate to ask this of you, but could you meet me at the hospital entrance and watch this guy while he's being examined?"
"No problem," David says. "Dr. Whale gave my wife a sedative, so she'll be out until morning, and Emma is still being examined."
"Do you know how badly she's injured yet?" Michelle asks.
"Not yet," David says the worry evident in his voice.
"Well, I'll meet you at the entrance in about ten minutes," Michelle says. "Tell Neal we're all pulling for Emma."
"I will," David says.
"Oh," Michelle says, just remembering something, "and contact the medical examiner and have him come over here to collect the dead bodies."
"Will do," David says.
Fifteen minutes later, Michelle arrives at the sheriff's station with her three prisoners in tow. She made a quick stop at the hospital to drop off the guy with the broken arm and while she was there, David gave her Chris Early to take to the sheriff's station. She was a bit surprised to see him awake since the fire chief told her that he would be out for a couple more hours. David said he had some kind of resistance to the sedative and given all the people the hospital was treating from the fire, they really didn't have the staff to watch two prisoners.
Michelle enters the sheriff's station cautiously, in case Albert has any more men lying in wait. She looks around, half expecting someone to attack her at any moment.
"What are you looking for?" Chris asks.
"I'm checking to make sure you don't have any men stationed here," Michelle says.
"We don't," Chris says. "There were only ten of us, not counting Albert himself. Albert gave all of us specific locations. Phil here was sent to watch the apartment, three guys were sent to kidnap Isabella and secure the library..."
"Shut up," the surviving thug from the gym says. "Didn't you hear this bitch explain our rights? We have the right to remain silent."
"And this man was one of the hired thugs we sent to the gym," Chris says. "No one was really keen on using the four sent against you, but we needed more muscle and they had a serious beef with you."
"Why you," the thug says attempting to tackle Chris, before Michelle stops him. "I'll kill you," he screams as Michelle escorts him to a cell. "You hear me, you weasel. You're a dead man."
"Why did Albert ever hire these guys?" Phil asks.
"I recognize you, you're Phil Waverly," Michelle says. "When Albert was mayor, you received tens of thousands of dollars in bogus contracts."
"That was never proven," Phil replies automatically, then sighs in defeat and sits in a nearby chair, "but I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. After tonight, fraud is the least of my worries."
"I want to remind you that you both have the right to remain silent," Michelle says, "and anything you say can be used against you in court."
"There's no point in saying silent," Phil tells her. "You and I both know there's no chance of us getting out of this."
"Yeah, I wave my right to silence as well," Chris adds. ""Maybe if we tell you everything, the jury might be lenient and we might not get the death penalty."
"I'm pretty sure Maine doesn't have the death penalty," Michelle says.
"Really?" Chris asks. "Are you sure?"
"Not one hundred percent, but I'm almost certain," she answers.
"Well, in either case, we both know we're going to be spending a long, long time in jail," Phil says, "and besides, Albert didn't tell us everything either. I was listening in on Albert's conversation in that apartment and it was insane, all this talk about other worlds, curses, and everyone in this town having fake memories. Until I saw that giant fire monster, I thought Albert had really gone nuts."
"Giant fire monster?" Michelle and Chris ask at the same time.
"Sure the giant magical fire creature that Albert summoned from the magical amulet," Phil says.
"Um, did you hit your head?" Michelle asks.
"You mean they didn't tell you about it?" Phil asks. "You can ask David, Amelia, Ruby, or Mr. Gold. They all fought it."
Michelle is about to tell him there's no such thing as fire monsters when she remembers the dragon she saw. She also realizes he said something about false memories. She feels her heart begin to race.
"I don't think the insanity defense is going to work," Chris says, incorrectly guessing that Phil is trying to appear crazy to get off easier.
"No," Phil says. "I know it sounds crazy, but there really was a fire monster."
"Let me put Chris in the second cell, then I'll take you to the interrogation room, and you can tell me all about it," Michelle tells him.
About half an hour later, Red and Aurora arrive at the station with their prisoner. They would have arrived much sooner, but once Red was spotted at the library, she was swamped with anxious people wanting to know if the attack was over.
She told the people the truth, that as far as they know, all the bad guys involved in the attack are dead or captured. She told them that she was going down to the sheriff's station to interrogate their prisoners to find out if anyone else was involved. She told Jim to remain cautious, but she doubted there would be any more trouble tonight. She doubted Albert/George would have kept any of his men in reserve, and even if more people knew about the attack, after it failed they will most likely keep it to themselves and hope nobody catches them.
Red enters the police station to find Chris Early and one of the thugs from the gym in separate cells. "Chris, I thought you were given a sedative and would be out until morning," she says.
"Apparently, I have a high tolerance for sedatives," Chris tells her.
"Amelia, you will pay for what you've done, you lesbian whore," the thug says as she places the thug from the library in his cell.
"Shut up!" Red, Amelia, and Chris shout at the same time.
"Seriously this guy has the IQ of a pet rock," Chris mutters to himself.
"Can I go into the other cell?" the guy from the library asks.
"Wait, where are the other two prisoners?" Amelia asks, ignoring the man's question. "And where's Michelle?"
"Michelle's in the interrogation room with Phil," Chris answers, "and the other guy she had in custody is with David at the hospital. He had a broken arm and needed to have it looked at."
"Well, you certainly seem helpful for a person who was trying to kill us all earlier tonight," Amelia says.
"We lost," Chris says, sounded defeated. "I'm going to be spending the rest of my life in prison."
"You're right on that count," Red says. Looking at Chris, she recalls that he was a commander in King George's army. In the final weeks of the war, he started kidnapping the wives and children of men who served in Snow and James' army to try to break their spirits and lure their soldiers into traps. For this act of supreme cowardice, Snow and James sentenced him to life in the same prison as George. "How long has Michelle been interrogating this Phil for?"
"I'm not sure," Chris says. "I haven't been keeping track of the time, but she's been in there since we got back. I imagine she's having a hard time getting anything coherent out of him."
"What do you mean?" Red asks.
"He was spouting some nonsense about curses, other worlds, and fire monsters," Chris explains, "although now that I think about it Michelle was saying something about a dragon earlier. Maybe Albert was using some kind of hallucinogenic gas and they were both affected by it."
Red and Amelia both look at one another. However before they can start to discuss it, Michelle re-enters the room bringing Phil with her.
"Okay into the cell," Michelle says, placing him in the cell with Chris.
Michelle then motions for Ruby and Amelia to follow her to Ruby's office. Once they are inside, and out of earshot of the four members of Albert's gang, Aurora turns to her girlfriend.
"Michelle, about what that guy told you..." she begins.
"He told me a lot of things. Most of it sounded completely crazy, but in the context of what I saw tonight, it sort of makes sense," Michelle says shaking her head, "but you can tell me if what he told me was true or not later, right now we have work to do. According to Phil, it appears we caught or killed all the men involved in the actual attack, but five others were aware of Albert's plans. Four of them were comfortable supporting Albert's plans, but didn't want to be involved in the actual attack. The fifth wanted to be in on the action, but his father wouldn't let him."
"His father?" Red asks.
"Chris Early's fourteen year old son, Mortin," Michelle says. "From what Phil told me, he knew about the entire plan and even attended a few of the meetings. He recorded a taped message to lure rescuers into a trap. Phil says he was adamant about wanting to do his part to kill people, but Chris told him that he would have plenty of time to kill people later."
"That's horrible," Amelia says, "teaching a child how to be a murderer. How could his mother allow this?"
"From what Phil told me, his mother doesn't know," Michelle says. "He told me that part of the reason Chris didn't want Mortin along tonight was so he could watch his mother to make sure the sedative he gave her didn't wear off, so she wouldn't come wandering down to the mine."
"What about that other kid with Mortin?" Red asks.
"According to Phil, his mother, Martha Bess, is one of the town's former treasurers. She helped the mayor in his scheme to steal money from the town," Michelle says.
"If she helped steal the town's money, why isn't she in jail?" Aurora asks.
"Because we were never able to prove anything against her," Red says. "When Sn…Mary took office, she fired Martha, but we didn't have enough evidence to take her to trial. Her reputation was ruined and she's been unemployed ever since."
"According to Phil, she's been living off alimony payments from her ex-husband," Michelle says. "He told me she pressured her son into going along with their scheme in exchange for Albert paying her fifty thousand dollars and the promise of her getting her old job back when Albert was back in power."
"We have some real winners for the worst parent of the year award here," Red groans in disgust. "What about the other three?"
"Phil claims he doesn't know their names," Michelle says, "and he doubts any of the others would know besides Tony, the former deputy mayor. From what Albert told them, their support was contingent on their identities remaining secret until his plan succeeded."
"Where is Tony?" Red asks.
"I think he was one of the men killed at the library," Amelia answers, "which will make learning these three people's identities that much harder."
"From what Michelle just told me, these three probably won't cause us much trouble once they learn Albert and half his hired thugs have been killed," Red says. "They'll probably go to ground, hoping they won't be found out. Right now we should focus on picking up the two people whose names we have."
"Amelia and I will go and get them," Michelle says. "In the meantime, why don't you start interrogating the other prisoners in case Phil is mistaken and they do know something that can help uncover the other three people's identities?"
"Good plan," Red agrees.
"I think you should probably skip talking to the thug from the gym," Amelia says. "I doubt Albert would have trusted those guys with anything important, and even if he had, that guy probably wouldn't tell us anything anyway."
"You should probably start with Chris," Michelle suggests. "Both he and Phil have pretty much accepted they've lost and said they would cooperate fully in the hopes of getting some kind of leniency with the judge."
Five minutes later, after obtaining the addresses of Martha Bess and Chris Early, Aurora and Michelle are in the sheriff's car on their way. It turns out that they live on the same block, with only three other houses between them.
"So how do you want to do this?" Aurora asks, as she starts driving. "Should we split up and each take one of our suspects, or go together?"
"I'd feel more comfortable if we went together," Michelle says. "It's been pretty chaotic tonight, and while half the town is still confused about what's going on, there's a strong possibility that they've been waiting for news of the attack. If they know it's failed, it's possible they may be worried we could discover their identities and will be waiting for us."
"Good point," Aurora says. "I think we should probably go after Mortin first since, from what you told me, has was gung-ho to shoot someone."
"I agree," Michelle says, and then shakes her head. "Man, what is the world coming to when fourteen-year-olds are eager to commit murder?"
"I agree," Aurora says, as she thinks that in both the worlds she's lived in it was a shame for fathers to teach their children to commit such disgraceful acts. Aurora is silent for a moment, unsure of how to broach the subject she wants to bring up.
"Don't worry," Michelle says. "I know you're unsure how to tell me everything you need to. Once we have these two in custody, we can have a long conversation about it."
"Okay," Aurora agrees. "I just want you to know that I still love you."
"I love you, too," Michelle says, "and no matter what you have to tell me, nothing will ever change that."
"I'm glad," Aurora says, smiling. She then turns serious. "We're here."
"Just be careful," Michelle says.
"You too," Aurora says. They exit the car and head for Chris Early's house to arrest his son, Mortin.
At that very moment, Mortin is sitting in his living room, waiting for word from his father. It has been about an hour since Emma's apartment building exploded, which means that Emma and the mayor are now dead. The sheriff and her friends are also probably dead by now, depending on how long those four thugs wanted to torture them, and Albert's men should have wiped the fire department out by now too.
His thoughts have him so caught up that he fails to notice his mother coming down the stairs.
"Mortin," she exclaims upon seeing him. "You're home."
Mortin freezes. It was his job to make sure she didn't wake up until morning. Before he can say anything, his mother rushes over to him and hugs him tightly.
"Oh, I was so worried about you," she says. "Are you okay?" she asks as she releases him and starts looking him over.
"I'm fine," Mortin says.
"Look at you," his mother says. "There's not even a scratch on you."
"Yeah," Mortin says. "I was very lucky. Unfortunately..."
Before he can finish the sentence, the door flies open and two women come rushing in.
"Freeze, nobody move," Michelle commands, with her gun raised.
"What's the meaning of this?" his mother asks, while Mortin just looks shocked.
"We've been deputized by the sheriff," Michelle says. "Your son is under arrest for his part in tonight's attack."
"What?" his mother asked confused. "What attack?"
"I don't understand," Mortin says, his face going pale. "You were supposed to be raped and killed."
"What!" his mother says, unable to believe what she just heard.
"Albert's plan has failed," Aurora says. "He's dead along with half his thugs. Your father and his remaining cohorts are currently in jail."
"I see," Mortin says. Then before anyone can do anything, he pulls a gun out from behind his back and shoots at Michelle. Upon seeing the gun, Michelle quickly dives out of the way. Aurora immediately returns fire, hitting the boy and causing him to drop the gun and fall to the ground.
Upon seeing her boy hit, his mother starts screaming.
Aurora quickly runs over to the boy, takes his gun, and then checks him for other weapons. She finds another gun and several knives, which she removes. She then looks to see where she hit him.
"Mortin!" his mother screams. "Mortin!"
"I only hit his arm, so he'll be fine," Aurora says. "Michelle, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Michelle says, getting up. "Good shooting."
"How could you do this Mortin?" his mother asks, feeling like she doesn't know her son at all. "How could you shoot at someone?"
Mortin merely stays silent, knowing now that he failed and both he and his father will be spending a long time in jail.
