Disclaimer: I don't own Back to the Future.

Author's Note: All right, new chapter. Stuff happens. Please read and review.

Chapter Seven

Tuesday, June 7, 2016
06:10 AM PDT
Tannen Valley, California

The woman who had been supposed to become Marty's wife but was now apparently some strange kind of resistance leader stared at Emmett. "Good to see you've heard of me, at least" she said. "But I would expect a little more politeness from someone who's just been rescued from near-certain death in the Tannen prisons."

"Near-certain death?" Emmett stammered. "I was under the impression they were just holding me prisoner in their cells. The situation wasn't great, but I don't think I was going to die any time soon."

Jennifer smirked. "Ah, the naivety of those who have barely set foot into that mockery of a home for opponents of the regime. You're right – you wouldn't die right away. I can assure you that a long, drawn-out death isn't much better, though. Most prisoners get tortured every once in a while, get too little food. They keep you alive but only just barely, toying with you like a cat with its prey while you're on the verge of dying. You can use up your reserves in there efficiently, but when you've lost them… you'll die eventually. It's a slow process, which gives them the excuse to attribute it to 'natural causes' and 'accidents', but you'll die eventually."

Emmett gasped. "Still, I don't think that would have happened to me" he insisted. "The food amount I got wasn't perfect, but it wasn't extremely little. And I hadn't been brought to a torture cell… yet."

"Well, then I can only say I'm glad you haven't found out the true extent of the Tannen horrors" Jennifer replied. "Come with me. I'll let you accompany me on the ride to our shelters – I can imagine you've got a lot to ask me, and I have a few questions for you, too."

"Such as why I was arrested in the first place?" Emmett asked. He was beginning to get an idea of that but he felt reluctant to tell Jennifer, especially this radically alternate version of her.

"That would be one of the questions I had in mind" Jennifer responded. "But we'll see about that later."

Emmett nodded reluctantly, and followed his friend's former wife into a relatively small limousine. Though it wasn't big, the limousine still had a lot of the decadence style that was associated with most of them – a television player, a small refrigerator, and even a small display with a keypad that Emmett managed to identify as a future computer from his previous visits to the 2010s.

"Surprising luxury for someone who runs a resistance movement" he told Jennifer once he'd sat down on his seat. "How long has your movement been around, anyway?"

Jennifer seemed startled by his sudden questions. "We've been protesting Tannen's rule since 1997" she replied. "That no-good family has been running the town since before I was born, and those citizens that didn't want to listen to their propaganda eventually got fed up with them. We recruit citizens with potential from all over Tannen Valley, explain to them what the Tannens have done, try to shake them out of their brainwashing, so to speak, and if they understand what's going on and want to help, they become members of our movement. If they don't – well, we certainly can't release them, so we mostly imprison them, and some of the more radical opponents of our movements have to be disposed of in… other ways."

"You execute them?" Emmett said, gasping.

Jennifer's mood turned dark. "It's either to kill or be killed these days in Tannen Valley" she replied. "We cannot spare mercy for people who are liable to tell the Tannen family exactly where we're hiding and what we're planning as soon as we release them. It's not a nice solution, but what else can we do?"

"Nothing, I suppose" Emmett muttered. This reality had degraded so much more into anarchy and chaos than he'd first expected. All in all, it only strengthened his resolve to fix history as soon as possible. "Listen, um, miss Parker." He hesitated. "Is it miss or Mrs.?"

"Mrs." Jennifer replied. "I've kept my maiden name to avoid being associated with my husband – it would only get him in trouble with the Tannens."

"Your husband" Emmett said. "Who, if I might ask, would that be?"

"You may not ask" Jennifer said, smirking slightly. "I can't just tell everybody who I'm married to. For all I know, you could be a Tannen spy who was imprisoned for no good reason just because they knew we were going to plan an operation soon anyway and wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to rescue you."

Emmett smiled. "You're a smart woman" he complimented her. "Very well then, I'll address you as Mrs. Parker for now. But anyway… I need your help."

"You've already got my help" Jennifer pointed out. "If I hadn't been alerted by the local delegation of our spy network that there was someone imprisoned, I wouldn't have attempted to get you out." She shrugged. "I might not have done that anyway – can't rescue everyone the Tannens arrest. But our spies had never seen you before, and they heard the guards that arrested you admitting they didn't know what you had done. This of course still didn't make them question why you were arrested." She scowled. "I figured liberating you, a clearly innocent prisoner, was as good a statement to make as any."

"Thank you for that" Emmett replied.

"You're welcome" Jennifer said. "But if you are really grateful, I'd like to ask you what we ask every prisoner we rescue: would you like to join our organization? If you do, it's a good way to get back at those who threw you in jail. But you'll have to be courageous, because if you're caught again, you won't escape so easily."

"What are you planning to do if I say no?" Emmett asked.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Why would you do that? I thought you would say yes for sure." She smirked. "Anyway, I'll be honest with you – if you do say no, you'll be brought to a yet undetermined place far outside of the civilized world where you'll be left to continue your life."

"After you take everything useful I've got on me as a reward for your services?" Emmett asked.

"You are a very good guesser, Mr. Brown" Jennifer said, smiling. "But is that really the fate you want for yourself? Wouldn't you much rather stay and help our cause?"

"Perhaps" Emmett allowed. "But I think I've got a better way to do that than most of you. In fact, what I've got in mind will enable you to remove the Tannens' rule for once and for all."

Jennifer frowned. "You're making me curious."

"And not without reason" Emmett replied. "But I'll explain once we get to Saville Avenue."

"What makes you think our journey will take us there, Mr. Brown?" Jennifer asked.

"I need to be there" Emmett simply replied. "And if you really want to end the grip the Tannens have on Hill Valley – yes, not Tannen Valley, Hill Valley – then you should want me to go there as well."

oooooooo

Marty McFly was furious. And for a change, he was not furious with his brother, who usually got on his nerves at least three times a day with his attention for hookers and gambling. He was also not furious with his employees, although he knew he could at least slightly blame them for what had happened. No, this time he was mostly furious with himself.

He had left the cell of the prisoner they had named 'Brown' in their files for lack of anything better – the man kept insisting he was Emmett Brown, and even whatever ID had found on him had indicated that (although the dates made clear that they were all fakeries, with some supposedly dating from the Nineteenth Century) – in the conviction that "Emmett" would never get a chance to escape. That this man was a lunatic, crazy and completely out of his mind, but at the same time harmless. It was therefore that when he heard the prisoner had escaped – albeit with help from the anti-Tannen group – he had been furious with himself first of all, for having been so naïve that he hadn't considered Brown a threat.

Well, he would make up for it now. He would make up for all of it.

And that was why he was currently driving personally towards the place the anti-Tannen group limousine had been last spotted. Certainly, he was accompanied by the usual group of policemen and aggressive bullies who didn't care whom they were beating up as long as they would get paid, but he usually wasn't with them. Marty had to admit it did unnerve him slightly to be surrounded by people like that, which made him linger at the office until the dirty work was done. This, though, this was personal.

Ah, well. At least they were going out for a good cause. The anti-Tannen group had been plaguing Tannen Valley for years now. Their leader, Jennifer Parker, could not be much older than he was (if she was older at all) but she had already built up a movement powerful enough to shake the core foundations of their city. Marty figured that on some accounts, his brother was right. They couldn't always go on with a soft approach, trying to convince members of the resistance to defect. They needed to strike hard and fast, so that Parker and her gang would never be a threat again.

And now, it was time to deliver the first blow in that strike.

The radio crackled to life. "Mr. Tannen?" a voice reported. "The rebels have been spotted. They are driving out of town, in the direction of Saville Avenue."

Marty smirked. At least their tracking satellites worked perfectly today. The rebel movement had been practically incapacitated before they found a way to deceive them, and even after that, they hadn't used their equipment against the Tannen-run satellites all the time – Marty didn't know why, but he guessed that it might be too hard for them to mess with all the satellites that were around, all the time. At least now, they weren't active, so the satellites were working without a glitch and could track down the location the ex-prisoner and his rescuers were to within about thousand feet distance.

Marty grinned. Now that they had tracked down the resistance group, all they had to do was capture them. Perhaps today, he would finally get rid of some of the nuisances that had been plaguing his police force for years. And even if that didn't work, it would still be worth it… as long as he got prisoner Brown back.