Chapter 8: Close Encounters
The Volkswagen pulls up in front of the hospital and both Emma and Crystal climb out. Despite it being dark out, they could see the forms of Regina and Rumple, their silhouettes contrasted in front of the lights of Storybrooke General Hospital. The lights in the building are flickering constantly and the place looks like it's sustained some damage from the strange blast, including shattered windows, cracks in the brick structure, and seemingly other minor superficial damage. The four of them knew that the major damage was on the inside and they had to get the place back up and running for the sake of the patients inside.
As the two women get closer, they can see several nurses and the infamous Dr. Whale, aka Dr. Frankenstein standing out front. They were all in deep discussion, but it seemed the loudest voice what Whale's, no surprise to anyone.
"What do we have?" Emma asks.
"Power outages, most of the windows are blown out and some cracks in the foundation," Regina answers, reiterating what the employees of the hospital had told her. "The major damage is inside though."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Crystal says confidently. "How about Emma restores the power and we do the rest."
The pregnant sheriff rolls her eyes, again sick of being seen as delicate. "I can still help."
"Magical repair is draining," Regina says.
Emma's eyes roll back into her head in annoyance. She ignores any other concerns and starts letting her hands illuminate with pale white light.
Immediately, the other three hurry forward to help with the load. Their magic begins to work its way through the area; the shattered glass floats back to the panes and becomes whole again, the severed wires pull themselves back together and return to their designated places and the cracked bricks and concrete merge back to their original state. Soon, the place looks as good as it did before.
Once their hands stop glowing, they take a breath and Crystal leans forward to catch her breath. Emma even stumbles back a bit, a little dizzy but okay, the baby kicks to let her know that it's noticed the change.
"I know, magic isn't your favourite right now," the Saviour says to her slightly rounded abdomen. "But we're done for the night kid."
"Now there's just the issue of the inside," Whale whines.
"I'll take care of it," Regina says. She follows the doctor and nurses inside to finish up anything that was missed.
This time, Rumpel conjures up water bottles and even a little Gatorade to bring everyone's energy back up.
"I feel like a battery sometimes," Crystal mutters, ingesting some water and energy drink.
"It doesn't help that the town treats us like a magical construction crew," the Dark One grumbles.
"Dad don't start," Crystal warns in annoyance. "I don't want to have to fight you the DAY that I come home."
Gold shoots his daughter a resentful look but turns his attention to his Gatorade bottle as a distraction.
"The price of being a hero sometimes," Emma says smugly, using the Dark One's favourite word against him.
"Perhaps such things should be handled by construction crews," the imp mutters.
"And eat up our entire town budget?" Regina asks, returning to the group. Crystal tosses her a bottle of water, which she happily accepts. "And what if we face an actual emergency like a flood or tornado or even a snowstorm that knocks out all the power and heating? We may have to do it the old-fashioned way? And lawsuits are not out of the question either." The queen looks back at the hospital, knowing Whale would be just such a person to do that… more money to spend on himself and his flashy car (even if it was very outdated due to the town being trapped in the 80s for so long).
The Dark One looks at her skeptically, knowing that their town was hidden by magic and could easily be protected from such natural disasters. "How was this situation not considered an emergency?" Rumple inquires. "Considering the damage Storybrooke sustained?"
"Do we count magical disasters under that?" Crystal wonders. "Because I've made my fair share."
"How can you be sure that this was even magical?" Emma asks.
"You expect it to be natural?" Rumpel asks, raising his eyebrow.
"We can't unless Leroy and Happy discovered something," Regina answers.
Just then, Emma's phone rings. She's expecting it to be her husband or parents, but instead, it's Happy.
"Speak of the devil," the blonde says. "What's up Happy?"
"Emma," the dwarf's voice was in a whisper like he was trying to stay quiet. "W-We have a problem."
"What is it?"
"Someone from the outside just came across the town line. Right through the barrier!"
"What?! How?"
"I…I don't know, maybe the explosion weakened it or something. Leroy is going to confront the guy now."
"WHAT? NO! WHY?" the sheriff squeaks in panic.
"He… he thinks he can make him leave."
"NO! Don't move, we're on our way!" she says before hanging up.
"Wrong number?" Crystal jokes.
"That was Happy, apparently someone just came over the town line."
"What? That's impossible!" Regina says, her eyes wide with panic and concern.
"Apparently not," Emma answers. "And that's not the worst part, Leroy is trying to send the guy back over."
"Oh god he's going to start a war," the queen says. "He's not exactly the best negotiator."
"Or the most even-tempered," Crystal adds.
"My sentiments exactly," Emma agrees. "We need to get there now!"
She rushes to the car, with Crystal at her heels.
"Call Killian and then my parents," Emma orders, handing the phone over to the girl and putting the Bug in gear. "We'll pick Killian up on the way."
Regina makes it to her car and drives towards the town line. Rumple does the same but takes his time, driving the legal limit to get his wife and then head to the site. He is apparently pleased with this new development. Of course, he might be needed in case memories had to be wiped.
The three cars all take off in different directions in preparation for what might occur next. Regardless of where this person came from, they had to appear as normal as possible, considering they were most likely from The Land Without Magic.
…
Killian wastes no time getting into the car when his wife pulls up. Crystal migrates to the back seat to allow the couple to be in the front. Also, Happy had called Snow and David after Emma and they were already on their way, leaving Neal with Granny.
The headlights of the vehicles seem to pierce through the blackness surrounding their town. The woods did not help the atmosphere either, making it eerier than anyone wanted or preferred.
As they pass the Storybrooke sign, they see the dwarves' van and further ahead, several figures. The shorter one is obviously Leroy/Grumpy, but what alarms all of them is that there are not two figures at the town line, but four.
"Bloody hell, I thought he said it was just one!" Killian says.
"Just getting better and better," Crystal mutters sarcastically.
"Not the time!" Emma snaps.
The cars pull over, flooding the area with light. Everyone gets out of the vehicles.
"Leroy!" Regina's voice calls out.
The four figures change their gaze towards this now approaching mass of people.
As they get closer, the group can see the group is definitely not magical and "appear" non-threatening. Of course, they still
A man with light brown hair and brown eyes, dressed in a gray shirt and blue jeans, looks at them, fear and confusion prominent on his face and this was most likely due to Leroy having his pickaxe out like a weapon. He stands protectively in front of a woman with long, bright red hair, hazel-brown eyes dressed in a gray plaid shirt under a leather jacket with black leggings and boots. The two people look like a perfectly ordinary couple just scared at being confronted like this, and when Emma looks at their hands, she can see wedding bands. It's the third intruder that is the most unusual… almost alien. He has green eyes and dark brown hair which is styled and gelled very precisely. But it's how he's dressed that causes all of them to pause. The man wears a light brown tweed jacket with elbow patches, a bow tie, suspenders, dark pants, and black, ankle-high boots. In his hand is something long and metal, that was glowing green at one end.
When Emma sees the device, her hand hovers at her holster in case it was a weapon.
The one in the bowtie, upon seeing the new group, steps forward without any fear.
"Ah, good more company. Hello everyone." His accent is definitely British. "Always nice to be welcomed by welcoming party. Would have preferred some jammie dodgers and a spot of tea too, but this works just as well. Lovely night, isn't it?"
Killian looks at Emma, perplexed and a little freaked out, Snow and David look at each other in utter confusion, Regina raises her eyebrow suspiciously and even the Dark One is confused.
"Weather is a little cool for my tastes, but America is cold this time of year," the stranger rambles on.
"Who are you?" Regina finally asks, cutting off his random ramblings.
"Ah yes, the question of the hour isn't it. I'm the Doctor. Well, most people call me the Doctor and I don't really know why. I call myself the Doctor and I still don't know why."
"The… Doctor?" Emma asks. "What kind of name is that?"
"Doctor who?" Snow asks.
The man smiles in some kind of knowledge like it was an inside joke that only he understood.
"What are you a doctor of?" David asks.
"Not really sure and never will be, and these are my trusty companions, the Ponds. That's Amelia and that's Rory," he points them out. "And you are…"
"Uh… Regina Mills, Mayor of Storybrooke," the queen answers.
"Mills, powerful name, and what about you luv?" he asks towards Emma.
Killian clenches his teeth and grabs Emma's arm, not used to other people using that word, especially on his wife.
Emma ignores his reaction and flashes the badge on her belt. "Sheriff Emma Swan," she answers.
"Swan, what a lovely name… right out of a fairy tale. Just like Amelia. And the law woman of this town, glad to meet you and congratulations by the way."
"For what?" the blonde says, almost dumbly.
"Your child-to-be," this man… the Doctor answers, pointing to her stomach.
Emma is confused at how he could tell… her middle was not exactly swollen enough to make it appear as though she was pregnant. Honestly, it looked like she had just had a big lunch. But how did he automatically know, especially when it was dark out and she's wearing her red leather jacket that further conceals her bump?
Killian just stands closer to his wife, trying not to let jealousy overwhelm his current confusion and suspicion of this person.
"And the man here, glad to meet you. What's your name?"
At first, the pirate doesn't answer, but he decides to play along with the charade and perhaps establish his role of authority.
"Deputy Killian Jones," he says.
"Deputy Jones, happy to be amongst the law here. Tell me do you always welcome people into your town with pickaxes and police?"
"Not a lot of people come here," Leroy grunts.
Everyone sucks in their breaths when they realize how suspicious that sounds. Regina's ready to use magic on the idiot dwarf for blabbing like this, but it was too risky."
"I suppose that would be true considering your entire town is concealed behind an energy bubble."
No one from Storybrooke speaks, they're all completely at a loss for words and not sure how to even begin to explain this.
The man then turns and waves the strange glowing tool around. Emma's hand goes over her gun and everyone else takes positions to use magic if needed.
Rory and Amy look at them, finding the poses strange and a little awkward. They are concerned that the Doctor is going to get them arrested or worse. Unlike him, they'd seen that the Sheriff was armed and were worried about what might happen next.
The only one who has not been paying full attention to this exchange is Crystal. The girl is staring intently at the three intruders, and she lets her special vision take over.
The couple close to each other is as normal as can be. Their forms are gray, as most humans from The Land Without Magic are, with just their beating hearts. However, when she looks at the man who is talking, she stops breathing.
She blinks a few times to make sure her vision is working correctly and even rubs her eyes, but it's there…
The man… if he's even a man, has two hearts.
She sucks in a nervous breath, unsure of what to say.
She steps forward and goes to where Regina is. She continues to look him up and down and pinches herself to ensure that it's not a dream or hallucination.
The man in the bow tie turns after scanning the magic around the town line.
"It really is quite something. The highest degree of concealment technology. Only wish the TARD…"
He trails off when he locks eyes with the young woman… something in her face told him that she knew what he was. How she'd figured it out remained to be seen but he gave a slight nod to affirm what she appeared to be thinking.
"That's right, I'm not from this world either."
A/N: A new chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you like the title and what should happen next. I'm always open to suggestions