Town Border, Storybrooke, Maine, 10:00am

"And you're sure that's what you saw?" Hickory asked as Patton put her armor back on; using the area behind her Humvee's open door as a makeshift dressing room.

"Positive. She threw a frikkin' fireball around the room. I asked around a bit, some people told me she was the mayor."

"Jesus." The Sergeant Major muttered, going back to the Bradley. He grabbed the phone hung to the outer hull of the vehicle as part of the TUSK upgrades and dialed back to Bangor. "Command, this is Duke. We do not have confirmation of radiological contamination; however, we do have confirmation of odd activity from local leadership. What kind of odd?" He proceeded to recount Patton's story. "Alright. Copy that, over and out."

"What'd they say, Sergeant Major?" Patton asked as Hickory hung up.

"They're saying stay tight, just in case." He sighed. "Staff Sergeant, I hate to do this to you, but I'm gonna need you to keep playing pretend for us."

"Sir, I don't think that's a good…"

"Acadia," He used her last name. This was serious. "I don't care. We can't just keep sending in new guys; they'll catch on eventually. Besides, you're the only one of us who went to acting school."

"I failed acting school…" Patton muttered to herself.

"Just go do your thing with 'little red riding hood' and report back to me." Evidently he didn't take it seriously, either.

David Nolan's Apartment, Storybrooke East Side, 10:30am

"We're gonna be fine, Snow." David told his wife, holding her close. "Regina probably doesn't even care anymore."

"Charming, we can't be sure of that, though!" Snow replied, very nervous. "What if she tries to kill Emma, or even Henry!?"

"That's ridiculous! I mean, she doesn't like Emma, but that doesn't mean she'll kill her! And Henry's practically her son!"

"But I…" There was a heavy knock at the door.

"Stay here." Charming grabbed his Colt Single Action and went to the door, opening it abruptly, gun aimed.

"Whoa!" Emma raised her hands up, looking in sudden fear at the gun before her.

"Emma!" Snow exclaimed, running to hug her daughter as Charming put the gun aside.

"What's with the revolver?" Emma demanded, wiggling away from the hug.

"Can't be too sure. Did you see what happened at Town Hall?"

"No, I wasn't there."

"You saw the tanks though, right?"

"Yeah. What was with that?"

"I don't know, but it can't be good. Come in." Charming shut the door behind her as they went to the kitchen.

"Now it all makes sense." Snow noted, mixing a pitcher of lemonade.

"What?" Emma asked, sitting down at a counter stool.

"Why you were always so close to me and Da- er, Charming. You weren't just our friend, you're our daughter."

"What are we gonna do now?" Emma asked, but Snow didn't listen.

"I mean, you grew up all by yourself, alone out there because of what she did. I'm so sorry we couldn't be there for you, but…"

There was another heavy knock at the door. Charming once again took his gun and opened it, to another blonde standing there. He recognized her as one of the soldiers from earlier. She raised her hands in surrender.

"What do you want?" Charming demanded.

"They told me to come here to talk to you."

"Who?"

"That crazy ass chick that thinks she's little red riding hood! Put the gun down, I'm not here to hurt anyone!"

"Get in here before someone sees you."

"Who's that?" Snow and Emma asked at the exact instant, both turning around.

"Imagine me with combat armor and a rifle." Patton quipped.

"Oh, you're one of the soldiers." Snow replied, sizing her up. "Why did you, uh, come to Storybrooke?"

"We got a reading for a massive EMP."

"EM…"

"Electromagnetic pulse. We thought it might've been nuclear, but you're clear."

"So why are you still here then?" Emma asked. Something told her she wasn't lying.

"Because that chick threw a fireball at me in that meeting of yours. I asked around to see who people trusted and everyone pointed me here."

"Alright. What do you wanna know, er, what's your name?"

"Staff Sergeant Patton Acadia. And first of all, what the hell was with her?"

"Regina? Well, she's the mayor, and, uh, this is gonna sound crazy, but she's not from here."

"Believable. Where's she from then?"

"Well, actually, none of us are really from here." Snow continued on, warily.

"What, like Britain?"

"No, not like Britain. Further."

Patton sighed. "What, am I gonna have to guess it? Sweden?"

"The Enchanted Forest."

"Great, you're crazy too." Patton muttered.

"No! Here, we'll show you…"

Just then, a very desperate radio call surged over Patton's walkie-talkie. "Staff Sergeant! Get down here now! We have a situation!"

"Sergeant Major! What the hell is going on?!" She could hear the rhythmic chattering of machine guns, and the lovely sound of the M242 Bushmaster mounted to the command Bradley. Apparently their air-cover Apache was getting involved too, as the thumping of helicopter blades almost drowned out the reply.

"We're under attack! Just come here fast!"

"Copy that, I'm on my way!" Patton rushed outside, almost sprinting to the town border.

Town Border, Storybrooke, Maine, 10:45am

Training had done Patton good. She had a killer figure, but that's not important. What is important is that she managed to close the distance between David Nolan's apartment and the skirmish at the town border in two and a half minutes.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded as she arrived. There had definitely been a fight; the Bradley's turret was pointed due west, aimed up, and the soldiers were all scurrying about in defensive positions. Their medic tended to a few wounded men lying beside the Humvees; and the Humvees in question all had their guns pointed in various directions, most west.

"Something attacked us." Hickory replied plainly, phoning command once more. "Command, this is Duke. We have come under attack by a… something at 1043 hours. Describe it? Best I can do is one of those dementors from those shitty magic movies. Yeah! Harry Potter, that's the one! We have two injured, one dead. Should we go to THREATCON Delta? Roger that."

"Are we at Delta?" Patton asked, panting slightly from the run.

"Yes, Staff Sergeant. We're staying put though until Augusta arrives."

"Augusta?"

"Yup. This is going all the way up."

"Am I still playing pretend for them?"

"Yeah, but stay away from anyone that you might think of as a threat, alright? I don't wanna lose anyone else." Hickory replied sadly as he looked at one of the fallen being placed in a body bag.