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

Author's Note: And the next chapter. Hope the ending isn't too cliff-hangery for you. Yes, the situation looks uncomfortable for both Marty and Doc, but just remember that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything! That's one of Doc's greatest quotes. And remember to review! That's not one of his quotes, but it's fitting nevertheless.

Chapter Ten

Tuesday, June 7, 2016
04:00 PM PDT
Tannen Valley, California

About half an hour later, Marty was almost certain that his initial conclusion had been right – Emmett Brown, or at least the man who claimed to be Emmett Brown, was a complete nutcase. And he was just as nutty to at least partly have believed him.

He had been looking around Cliff's office for around three quarters now, while his beloved brother had once again gone off to watch a movie with some girls. What Cliff's obsession with girls was all about, Marty had never been sure of. He liked women too, and it wasn't like he didn't have girlfriends like Cliff did. However, the radical way his brother handled them, and always preferring there to be as many girls as possible… Marty shook his head. He had never understood his brother on that and he never would.

Anyway, he had spent quite some time in Cliff's office now, but he hadn't found any secret button. Not under his desk, not under the main table itself, not even behind any of the paintings Cliff had put all around his office (to show off, Marty thought). He'd been through every obvious place and quite a few non-obvious places. If there was something around here, he would have to have had a sixth sense to find it.

Eventually, he gave up, and walked back to his own office. He tried to laugh miserably, wondering how he had ever gotten himself into this. How could he have believed some nutcase who talked about time travel, of all things? Who had had a picture of a younger him in 1885, yes, but that could've been photo shopped by anyone. Although the picture did look very real, at least at first glance…

Marty tried to shake it off. What was done was done. No need to get all angry about it, after all, the guy who had told him all this nonsense was going to get executed the next day anyway. He entered his office, and leaned down against his chair. Maybe he should call some girls up, too – he knew they would like it. He paid them just as much as Cliff, but he wasn't as demanding. And they had normal conversations, too. Marty knew that Cliff's girls were only supposed to say 'yes' and 'no' when Cliff demanded it from them. He shook his head at his brother's silly ways, then looked at the button he pressed whenever he needed something. He smirked. At least this button was no secret thing. After all, this was his office, and there were no secrets Cliff could hide from him in here.

Could he?

The forty-seven-year-old frowned. He recalled Emmett's last words to him – don't forget to look what's right under your nose. Right under his nose was this office, and if Cliff had hidden anything related to 'the family secret' in here, there was no way Marty could have ever thought of going to look for it. He wouldn't ever have done so… until today.

Marty looked around, and a smile curved on his lips. He could make a final quest through his own room. See if he could find anything that hinted towards Cliff being in a conspiracy against him and against Emmett. If he didn't find anything, he would be able to rest assured that executing Emmett was perhaps tragic, but not as great a mistake as it would be if any of his stories were true.

He looked around the room, gazing at the various paintings. Of course, his paintings didn't have secrets behind them. He knew – this was his office, after all, and he regularly checked the paintings for dust. There was one painting he had a safe with money behind, but that was one Cliff knew of. Marty smirked as he thought of that safe. It was designed in a way that even if someone took away the painting, it would still look like an ordinary wall. Only those who knew of the safe would know which spots in the wall to press to reveal the secret content. Marty figured he could go look for a mechanism like that along the walls or perhaps on the ground – now that should be something Cliff would be able to keep hidden, especially if it was in plain sight and therefore unlikely to attract second glances. Of course, if he did try to go look for it, Marty figured he wouldn't be done until Emmett's head was already on the chopping block.

There was also the possibility that something was under his desk. Marty thought that theory was less likely, as he should have been able to notice if anything was amiss. Nevertheless, he decided to check it out. After a few minutes, though, he came to the conclusion that the desk was unlikely to contain any sorts of secrets besides the one he knew of. He was here too often for Cliff to have hidden anything he wouldn't have stumbled upon. And he knew that his family would realize he wasn't dumb enough to check it out if he found some entry to a passageway. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair, having exhausted the alternatives. What was left for him to do?

What was… left…

Marty stared at the chair he was on. It was loose from the ground, but moved rather heavily. He'd always deemed that kind of strange. It wasn't until now, though, that he really paid attention to it. Why did the chair move so inconveniently compared to any other chairs its size? Curious, Marty got off his seat and knelt down next to it, examining the sides thoroughly. His hand slid along the back of the chair until he felt a place where the material seemed a little too uneven. There could be… wires, behind the façade of an ordinary floating chair. A button activating a remote, cleverly concealed?

"Here goes nothing" he muttered, as he slammed his hand against that part of the chair as hard as he could. He heard a loud buzz, and…

…and suddenly his desk moved up from the ground. Actually, that wasn't true. The ground was actually moving along with it. Marty stared, dumbfounded, as the ground his desk was on rotated 90 degrees. The gaping hole that was now inside his office revealed dusty stairs leading down.

For a moment, Marty just stared, stunned. Then, he cursed softly. The mere thought of it! That Cliff had been hiding all this from him, his own brother! He knew it had to be Cliff's work – in the apparatus installed underneath the ground below the desk, he clearly recognized the handiwork of assistants of the Tannen family business. He simply stared at it for a while, not knowing what to do. "This is heavy" he groaned.

Suddenly, Marty heard voices coming down a hallway near the stairs. He could hear them reasonably well, which made him wonder why he had never heard anything in his office before. Probably, Cliff had the whole thing made sound-proof so his brother could not be disturbed… in any way. Marty balled his fists and slowly got on the ground, trying to listen to the voices.

"What do you think of the new project?" one of the voices asked. "I think it has some potential. The latest perfections to the mind influencer seem promising."

"Yeah, looks like the labs inventors clearly show that not only Dr. Tannen can work scientific miracles" the second voice said. "If this works, we'll be able to influence people through the genes to obey the Tannen family. At last, the last miscreants of Tannen Valley can be brought to compliance."

"Of course it works" the first voice said. "The Tannen family hired those inventors, and they always do good work. And now, everyone will realize just how great they are."

Marty cursed again, softly. The voice sounded familiar – it was the tone of voice nearly everyone in Tannen Valley had when they talked about Marty's family. Marty had always thought that was because they really adored them, and even when he grew up, he had taken that adoration for granted. But to hear someone say things that implied that it was all the result of brainwashing…

"Oh no" he whispered, stumbling back to his seat. "Oh no! NO! NO!"

"Did you hear something, Ted?" the second voice asked.

Not waiting for the mechanic's counterpart to reply, Marty rushed up from his chair again. He pushed the plate on his chair and the desk reverted to its normal position. After all that was done, he checked twice whether it was now solid again, then leaned back in his chair, his brain raging with emotions and thoughts. It was an odd, instable mixture of horror, disgust, fear…

Everything he had ever taken for granted seemed to be bent on collapsing around him. Marty had accepted the fact that the Tannens needed to use some wild tactics to gain money and power from the populace. He had always accepted that. But to think it all relied on some strange mind-warping technology 'Dr. Tannen' – that had to be his granduncle, this world's Emmett – had developed…

Marty frowned. He noticed he was thinking about Emmett as being his granduncle's other self, and nodded slowly. It was true. All of it was true. And since it was, there was only one thing he could do now. He had to save Emmett and save Tannen Valley. No, Hill Valley. Marty's face changed into a smile. Hill Valley was what he needed to save.

oooooooo

Over the next few hours, Marty tried to figure out a plan to save his new accomplice without having to revoke the execution bill. If he tried that, he would need Cliff's permission, and his brother would get suspicious and the entire plan could blow up in his face. So that meant he needed to work within the existing perimeters. Marty knew that he needed to distract the guards long enough for Emmett to escape. The execution site would be too late, as Emmett would then be surrounded by a large crowd of men and he could never sneak away easily. In the cell, it wouldn't work either. No, the only way to rescue his alternate timeline friend was to do it on the way to the execution site.

The police chief had thought long about the implications such a rescue might have. He knew it meant that he would not remain safe either. The chances were big that it would become clear he was aiding Emmett, and if that happened, Marty wasn't sure Cliff would be willing to stand in for his brother anymore. And the forty-seven-year-old didn't really want to go plead with his brother for anything either. Not after all he had seen and heard. Right now, he knew the only way out was to leave Tannen Valley.

It was thus that, throughout the evening, Marty continued to gather important documents, all while preparing their joint escape. Emmett was blissfully unaware of all this, but Marty visited him late in the evening to rely the details of his plan. The inventor was largely enthusiastic, although he worried about the success of Marty's plan – after all, Tannen Valley was a big place they might not be able to escape as easily as Marty presented it. However, Marty shrugged off his concerns. He had this plan well-prepared, and was confident that it would work. Eventually, Marty's confidence helped to get Emmett more excited as well, and he agreed in principle to the plan. Not that Marty would have listened to him if he hadn't agreed – subconsciously, Marty Tannen still felt that he held some kind of authority over his prisoner.

He eventually turned in at 11 PM, after worrying half the evening about whether or not he would be able to leave his hometown. He knew the situation demanded it, but Marty felt extremely reluctant to leave everything behind. He had lived here for years, happy, powerful and safe, with his family…

Well, there was no going back now. The past had been messed up, and Marty knew they needed to build a time machine and fix it. Or at the very least, he needed to get Emmett out of town. The forty-seven-year-old hoped that things would naturally progress from there.

Of course, in the end, it would turn out not to be that simple.