At the Town Line

Alice had spotted her mark shortly after Red and the medics had carted D off, but by necessity, she needed to take the witness, too. Greg couldn't continue their work, so she had to. She pressed heavily perfumed cloths to the faces of both the puppet man and the ten-year-old, waited until their sleep deepened, and she began carting them off to her car. This would be the proof she and Greg desperately sought for their benefactor. Finally things were falling into place.

She just had to pull this off without tipping off the sensitives.

OUAT

Morraine pulled Bae behind a tree. They were close to the road now, which bore a red line that matched up with a sign. This must have signaled the town line, though what purpose it originally served was anyone's guess. As they continued to survey the area, Bae realized why Morraine had pulled him behind a tree. A strange vehicle was careening toward the line. Several others followed it. Morraine threw the sword, which crashed through the window. The driver ducked and swerved, striking the sign and coming to a stop. The other vehicles soon stopped, too.

Bae recognized among the people gathering at the line Gerhardt. He also recognized the woman on crutches, but he didn't recall her name. "Okay, go," Morraine said. They emerged from behind the tree, to the surprise of almost everyone there. "Who's in there?" Morraine asked, gesturing to the crashed vehicle.

"A live puppet and an elfin boy," the woman on crutches replied. This statement only seemed to surprise Gerhardt. She made her way over to the trunk and popped it open. Morraine walked around the car and retrieved her sword. The driver, a woman with freakishly yellow hair, looked shell-shocked.

Out of the trunk climbed, bound and gagged, a live puppet and Peter Pan. Bae couldn't help but pause.

The woman wrenched the sword out of Morraine's hand and lunged at her. Morraine jumped back, but her mind instantly went back to the Sheriff of Nottingman, in Nottingham proper, holding Alan a-Dale at the point of the blade. Her blade. She raised her hand. It jerked in the woman's hand, but she held fast.

Gerhardt and D untied August and Peter Pan, and D looked up at the struggle of wills that Alice and the young woman engaged in. Finally, the young woman tore the sword out of Alice's hand, and about then Gerhardt and D had finished untying the two hostages. "Get to town," D said. "Get help. We can still get her."

"Are you sure?" Peter asked.

"We have no choice. You guys, you're lucky. If it was somebody else, if it's somebody who was sent here..."

"We better go," August said. Peter looked at him.

D said, "He's right." She nodded and turned to Alice and the young woman. The boy behind them had nocked an arrow and was watching the situation closely.

Morraine sank a little into her stance and watched Alice. "What're you going to do now? You're alone and unarmed, and if you're looking at forcing someone to leave when they're not supposed to, then good luck with that. So far as I can tell, you're trapped."

"What do you know of me?" the woman replied.

"Only what I see in front of me, but I see a great deal."

The woman lunged at Morraine, and Bae fired. The arrow found its mark in her shoulder, and she fell back and glared at him. "If you think she's the least of your problems, you're right," he said, drawing another arrow. She merely glared, her hand on the wound.

Other people started showing up. Small town, D thought, turning to face them. "D," Emma said, getting out of the car. "What's going on?"

"Attempted kidnapping," D replied, glancing at Alice.

"Yeah, August called. Here I was thinking he turned into wood."

"He did."

"Magic brought him back?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll think about it later. Who's the kid?"

"Peter Pan," the boy said.

"So far everything's relatively under control," D said, ignoring him. "Alice needs a doctor and then a jail cell. Doctor first, of course."

"You think this is funny?" Alice snapped. "You think this is funny, bitch?" She lunged at D, who struck her across the temple with a crutch. Gerhardt glanced at the gun in his hand.

"Hang tight," D said to him. Alice staggered to the side. She'd torn the arrow from her shoulder and was now ready to use it as a weapon against them. D balanced on a crutch and her good leg, and she turned the other crutch to use as a weapon.

"What's everyone in this town got against me?" Alice asked, shaking her head. Her eyes had taken on something of a raving quality that really set D on edge. "I didn't do anything bad." Now she started to sound like a child.

Gerhardt blinked. This was the girl that disappeared from his land all those years ago. This was one of his and Victor's childhood friends. "Is there anyone in this town that can help her?" he asked on a whim.

"Help her how?" Emma asked.

"Psychologically."

"I think our shrink needs a shrink, being kidnapped by Cora and all."

"I'm perfectly fine," Alice raged. "I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy." She lunged forward. D caught her with the shoulder pad of her crutch, but she was shoved aside into a car.

Bae turned to the woman who was assaulting the other woman on crutches, and he drew again. "Let her go," he said.

Morraine stepped up to his side. "Do you want both of us on you at once?" she asked.

Alice looked up, and D steadied herself against the car, fighting off a wave of dizziness and remembering the doctor's words. She leaned to one side, fought off the urge to put weight on her bad leg, and tried to focus on Alice, predict her next move.

She never would've predicted her pulling out a knife and throwing it right over her head, right at the young archer.

OUAT

When Rumpelstiltskin appeared that night amid the crowd and the fight, he knew he could just as easily have cast a spell on the woman, but the only thing he did was pluck the knife out of thin air and examine it while the crowd stared at him in awe. "You know," he said, looking at the woman who threw it. "You've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble." He turned and threw the knife into the dirt. "I think I'll let the sheriff sort this one out, though. Have a nice evening." He started to walk back toward Storybrooke proper.

"Wait, you are Rumpelstiltskin, right?" Morraine asked, approaching him.

"Last time I checked. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some rest." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Bae and Morraine looked at each other.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"I think he's getting better, finding himself again," he replied. She nodded, but to him she looked uncertain. "We should probably go." He glanced at the blonde woman who was handcuffing the crazy one. "It looks like everything here is under control, for the most part." She nodded again, and while everyone's attention was on the woman on crutches and the woman they arrested, they slipped back into the forest.