Chapter 6

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Trilogy Hill Valley

7:36 P.M.

Doc stared at the gun, heart beating like a trip hammer. The shock of being greeted like this temporarily froze his brain. "C-Clara?"

"That's Mrs. Brown to you," Clara growled. She didn't look anything like the sweet and pretty woman he had encountered outside. Now she wore a terrifying snarl. She looked almost ready to pounce on him.

"Mrs. Brown," Doc quickly nodded. "Can I ask what's the reason for this?"

"You know why. I'm not letting anything happen to me or my family this time around." Her voice began to shake a little. "Not after what happened with the last one."

"Last one?" Doc asked, completely baffled. He could tell Clara was quite frightened of him, and he didn't understand it at all. Why would she be scared of me? I look just like her husband, don't I?

"It's none of your business!" Clara shouted, her voice growing steady again with rage. "Get your hands above your head."

Doc obeyed immediately. Despite the fact he knew being shot couldn't really hurt him, he didn't really want to have to experience that pain. Plus, it probably wouldn't help his situation if Clara saw him heal that quickly. "Please, there's another way to handle this," he said nervously.

"No there isn't. Now you're going to answer some questions. Where's my husband?"

"My other self? I don't know. I swear. I'm not even sure how I ended up in this dimension."

"Then where are you from?"

"A different version of Hill Valley. One where I have a different wife. Mysteria." He looked at her pleadingly. "We just got married. Please, Mrs. Brown, I -- I just want to go home. I'm not going to hurt any of you. There's no reason to threaten me like this."

"Oh yeah? I can think of one good reason. Where's my husband?"

"I don't know! As far as I can tell, he's either lost in time in his DeLorean, or he ended up in my dimension!"

Clara nodded, her eyes like ice. "For your sake, he'd better be here. Sit down and be quiet." Doc nodded and sat. She backed out of room, and then slammed the door shut. Doc heard the lock click. "And don't try to get out!"

Doc waited for her to go away, then shakily got to his feet. What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton just happened here? Why would Clara threaten me with a gun? I'm not her husband, granted, but I haven't done a thing to hurt her or her family. I'm still Emmett Lathrop Brown. Why doesn't she trust me?

He went over to the door. Should I force my way out? A little lock shouldn't be able to hold in a vampire. No, that would just convince her she has reason to fear me. Best to stay in here until either my other self comes back or she comes to her senses and realizes I'm not a threat. He sat down, listening carefully to see if he could figure out what she was up to. He located her voice and the other Marty's downstairs. "Whatcha do to him, Clara?"

"Locked him in Emmett's study. He wouldn't tell me where Emmett was. Said he didn't know."

"Jesus. I hope nothing bad's happened to the Doc."

"Me too, Marty. God, this brings back some bad memories."

"Mama, will Papa be all right?" Verne's voice asked.

"I hope so, Vernie."

"Did you really have to lock this other one up? He seemed nice," Jules complained.

"I'm sorry, honey, but you don't remember what happened with the last one. I'm not going to put us all in danger."

As if to provide an ironic counterpoint to her words, Doc heard a door suddenly fly open. "All right, everybody on the ground!"

"What the--" Clara gasped.

"Jiff! Bill!" Marty yelled. Jiff? As in Jiff Tannen? Great Scott. "What the hell are you doing!"

"Taking this place, McFly. So on the floor or the kids get it."

"Don't you dare threaten Jules and Verne!" Doc could almost picture Clara aiming her rifle at them. "Now you get out, or I'll shoot you!"

"Go ahead, pretty lady! We aren't afraid of you!"

Doc bonked his head against the door. "You really shouldn't have said that, boys," he muttered. He heard Clara pull the trigger --

And nothing else.

Clara was understandably baffled. She tried again. Still nothing but a click. Doc heard her snap the gun open, then moan loudly. "Oh, no. . . ."

"Let me guess," came Marty's miserable voice. "Doc didn't reload it."

There was a pair of cruel cackles from downstairs. "Trust us, our guns are loaded. On the floor, bitch."

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

VD Seattle, Washington

7:34 P.M.

With a loud triple boom, Emmett and his entourage arrived over Seattle. "All right," he said, feeling satisfied. "Random time travel does not lead to random dimension skipping."

"So far," Mystie qualified. She looked out at the river pouring down from the sky. "Christ, is it always like this here?"

"I'd rather be here than in certain parts of California," Emmett said, grimacing. "Was my other self mugged twice in L.A. visiting Emily?"

"Yup, in 1984," Marty nodded.

"That's what I thought. I thought maybe it -- well, why wouldn't it have happened? We're still basically the same person. It takes only one major divergence to create a truly alternate reality. Up until 1985, our lives may have been virtually identical."

Marty was about to say something else when he spotted something hanging in the air. A sort of -- shimmer, a few feet to the left of them. He watched it for a moment, making sure it wasn't some sort of visual trick caused by the rain. Mystie noticed his intent look, then saw it herself. "Doctor, what do you make of that?" she asked, pointing. "It looks like a time ripple to me."

Emmett looked. "Time ripple? You mean a visible change in time's course?"

"Yeah, exactly. We've seen them before. They can get pretty nasty." Mystie cocked her head. "Although -- that's just staying in one place. Time ripples move."

"What if it's not a time ripple?" Marty said, abruptly getting an idea. "What if it's some sort of doorway back to your dimension, Doctor?"

Emmett and Mystie both turned to look at him, surprised. "Do you really think so?"

"Hey, look at the facts! This is where both of the Docs came for their test, and where they both ended up after the switch. It's not inconceivable to think that when they changed dimensions, they opened up a sort of door, right?"

Emmett was stunned -- impressed, but stunned. When had Marty learned to think so logically? Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out, but -- the way he had said it -- it was almost like it was him who was talking. Indeed, Marty and Mystie appeared to have recognized that fact as well -- Marty was blushing while Mysteria smirked. "Very good thinking there, Marty. That may very well be what had happened."

"Test it then," Mystie said. "See if you can travel through that ripple."

"I fully intend to." Emmett turned the car in the ripple's direction, disengaging the time circuits for safety's sake. "Though, this is very risky. We might end up in a totally foreign world, you know."

"We gotta take that chance. For Doc."

Emmett smiled and nodded. "I thought you'd say that. Hold on." He stomped on the accelerator. Everyone braced themselves, shut their eyes, and hoped for the best.

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Trilogy Seattle, Washington

7:35 P.M.

Mysteria held on for dear life as the car shook violently. "What the hell!"

"We must be entering another dimension!" Emmett yelled. "I remember this from entering your world!"

"Does it really have to be like going into a blender?"

Marty glanced around, looking nervous. "Ah -- Dr. Brown? Do you remember this stuff too?" he asked fearfully.

"Remember what stuff?"

"It's kinda hard to see, but there's a -- ripple of some sort going through the car. It just went through me."

Emmett and Mystie looked around and indeed saw, through the shaking, what looked like a ripple moving through the structure of the car. "Not much we can do about it," Emmett shrugged. "Just have to hope it's another symptom of dimensional passage."

Finally, the car stabilized. Seattle was still spread out before them, and rain was still pounding on the car. Mystie peered outside. "It all looks the same to me. Did we make it?"

"We made it," Marty said confidently.

"How do you know?" asked Emmett.

Marty smiled, and pressed his hand firmly against his heart. "Call it a hunch."

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Trilogy Hill Valley

7:41 P.M.

Doc stepped out of his study prison, having broken the lock. He looked around, searching for either the other Brown family or the Tannen intruders. There was no sign of either one. Doc frowned, cursing softly to himself. Jiff and Bill had taken over the house fairly quickly, apparently tying up Clara, Marty, Jules, and Verne, and moving them to another location before going on a search for material goods. Doc just wished he had been able to get out quicker -- the lock had been an old, thick one, and required a few minutes to break.

He sniffed the air. The freshest scents were his and Clara's, meaning they had been the last ones up here. He went downstairs cautiously, keeping on his guard for the intruders. Even though he certainly couldn't be killed by gunfire, being shot was not an experience he cared to have. Best to avoid danger if I can.

He picked up the Tannen scents as he got downstairs. He followed them down the hall, through the kitchen, into the foyer, and toward the basement stairs. As he came closer to the door, he heard muffled grunts from below. They must be down there. Well, time to prove to Clara I'm no threat.

He was just about to open the door when Jiff appeared, gun in hand. "Oh, so the man of the house is here!" he chuckled, leveling the gun at Doc's chest.

Doc snarled at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're looking for your dough, Brown."

"Well, you tried the kitchen already. Would you expect it to be anywhere else?"

"Ha ha ha. Where's the moolah, Brown?"

"You have no idea what you're getting into, Tannen," Doc said, straightening to his full height.

"No, you don't. This thing is loaded. And I'm ready to shoot." He chambered a round. "So fess up. Where did you hide your money?"

"I don't have any money to hide," Doc bluffed. He didn't know if this was the truth or not, but why give Jiff the satisfaction? "Where's Bill?"

"Downstairs. Butt-head has a weak tummy, so I let him take the easy job."

Doc's eyes narrowed. "You're aware I can have you arrested on felony charges?"

"Not if you're dead," Jiff smirked. "But I'm willing to cut a deal. Show me the money and I'll let your family go. Keep being a butt-head, and I'll let Bill pick them off one by one. Right in front of you if I have to."

"You're an evil, evil, kid," Doc hissed. "You'll get to them over my dead body."

"That can be arranged." Without further ado, Jiff fired twice.

Doc fell to the floor. Jiff smirked. "Idiot," he said casually, walking up to the dead body.

Only to see it turn over.

Jiff froze as Doc slowly got up. One hand went briefly to his chest, and a look of shock and joy passed over his face. Then it turned into a look of pain as he got on his hands and knees. "Jesus, you are one tough old bastard," Jiff said, impressed in spite of himself.

"You have no idea," Doc whispered. With a cat-like jump, he was on his feet and fully vamped.

Jiff shrieked, and automatically fired again. The bullet blasted through Doc's stomach. The wound opened, only to close again almost immediately. Doc advanced, fangs fully extended, wings spread. This will be probably the only time in my life I'll want to look like a soulless vampire, he thought with an inward chuckle.

"What the fuck! Bill, get up here!"

There were footsteps behind him, then the door opened. "What -- holy shit," a voice whimpered. Doc turned to see a boy who looked almost exactly like Jiff, eyes as wide as dinner plates. One needed only to look at the wet stain on his pants to see how scared he was. "I told you we shouldn't have done this, Jiff!"

"It's gotta be an illusion," Jiff muttered, trying to bolster his failing nerves. "There's no way he could really be like that." He suddenly threw himself on Doc, trying to both knock him off balance and see if the wings were real.

The wings were real, and he did knock Doc off balance. Doc stumbled into Bill, trying his best to remain upright. Bill fell over, grabbing onto Doc's wings in an attempt to break his fall. All he succeeded in doing was dragging everyone down the basement stairs.

Doc caught a glimpse of Clara as they landed on the concrete floor. She was shaking, obviously terrified. He hated to scare her further, but it was that or see her and her family get hurt. He pushed free of the pile and pulled in his wings.

Jiff, his nose bleeding, grabbed hold of his leg. "Hold him, Bill! We gotta hold him!"

Bill, however, had no desire of trying to hold him. Doc shook Jiff off and swung around, fangs bared again. Bill screamed and bolted upstairs, one arm dangling at a funny angle. Jiff, dead white, backed up. "I don't believe this is happening," he muttered desperately to himself, searching for a weapon. "It's -- it's gotta be some sort of illusion -- yeah, he's like Mysterio, he invented this crazy gas or something--"

He says that after jumping on me, Doc thought, rolling his eyes. He attacked again before Jiff could get on-balance.

Bill ran to the front door, hissing in pain over his fractured arm. Just as he got there, it opened, and Emmett came through. Bill gasped and fell over. "No! No!"

Emmett looked down at him, astonished. "Bill Tannen?"

"I surrender! I surrender!" Bill cried, holding up his one good arm. "I'm sorry! Jiff talked me into it! Just don't change!"

Emmett really wasn't sure what to make of the pathetic mess before him. "Bill, are you all right?"

"Just don't turn into that monster thing," Bill whimpered. "Throw me in jail, just don't hurt me. I've already got a broken arm."

Mysteria and Marty came in. "What's going on?"

Bill blinked. "Marty? How did you get loose?"

"Huh?"

"He says a monster version of me was terrorizing him," Emmett explained, shaking his head. "Bill, have you been sniffing glue or something?"

Mystie and Marty shared a nervous look. "Uh-oh," Mystie murmured. "How do we explain this?"

"I think we'd better find our Doc f -- OUCH!"

Everyone's heads snapped toward Marty. "Are you all right?" Emmett asked, concerned.

"Felt like a roundhouse to the jaw," Marty muttered. "Is anyone else here?"

"My brother Jiff," Bill said, trembling. "I though he had Dr. Brown here downstairs with the hostages. Please don't hurt me."

"Just stay there and we won't," Emmett promised him. "I -- hostages?"

"Yeah. We wanted to rob the place. Jiff convinced me to do it."

Emmett went pale. "Great Scott, Clara!" He rushed to the door of the laundry room. Mystie and Marty ran after him. "And of course this would happen today," Emmett grumbled. "When I have another version of myself in the house."

They all reached the stairs about the same time. "Maybe we should go down first," Mystie suggested, hoping her husband was all right.

"My house, my family," Emmett said simply, pushing past her. Mysteria and Marty could only follow, praying Doc wasn't in his changed form. "Clara! Jules! Verne! Marty! Are you okay?"

Jiff was unconscious at the foot of the stairs. Emmett just barely kept himself from tripping over him. Doc was leaning against the wall, his back to the group. Judging from his bent over posture, he was completely exhausted. Clara was free from her bonds, and was in the process of getting Jules loose. She looked up as they rushed down. "Emmett? You're the right one, I hope," she said, looking rather shaken.

Emmett smiled. "I'm the right one, Clara Emile Clayton Brown."

That appeared to be all the proof Clara needed. She welcomed him into a hug and kiss. "Welcome home. Are you all right?"

"Fine, fine. They took good care of me. Are you all right?"

"Yes, thanks to your other self." Clara looked over at Doc with a touch of apprehension. "Although -- I'd really like to know how he ended up like that."

"Like what?" Emmett asked, turning to face his other self.

Doc slowly turned around and lifted his head. To Mystie and Marty's shock, he had remained in vampire form. "Like this," he said laboriously.

Emmett promptly keeled over. Doc wasn't too long in following.