Disclaimer: I don't own Back to the Future.
Author's Note: And hereby we come to what could be argued is the climax of the whole story, in so far as the story is about Biff messing with time. It's kinda dramatic. But don't discard the story after this, because we've still got some character development coming up. Oh, and don't leave before reviewing! That's always appreciated. (Well, unless the review is a jerkish and unconstructive one. But I'm hoping the vast majority of readers wouldn't post reviews like that.)
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Saturday, November 12, 1955
09:50 PM PST
Hill Valley, California
It took them a few minutes to fly back to the High School to pick Marty up. The teenager was a bit annoyed about the time, but also optimistic as he reported his success with his younger self, and ensured Doc that George and Lorraine were headed towards a future together. The inventor was a bit worried about how the many interactions with their past selves might change this day and the impact it wrought, but he decided not to be concerned. They had an even higher priority right now.
By the time they arrived over the River Road Tunnel, the action there had already happened. Marty, who was on the look-out with binoculars, reported not without some amusement that Biff was trying to get out of his manure-covered car with as little of the filth on himself as possible. They flew on towards Lyon Estates, and after a minute or two Doc could see the familiar DeLorean in the distance.
"Is that Biff?" Clara asked, uncertainly.
Doc shook his head. "Can't be. Biff's DeLorean wouldn't have a flag string attached to it. No, that must be me – the me from 1985, that is." He sighed. "Poor guy. I remember the trouble I had trying to balance the time machine in this storm. Fortunately, the train is a bit sturdier than that fragile sports car."
"Well, it could've been better" Marty groaned, holding onto his seat for dear life as another gust of wind moved the train off course a few yards. "There's a reason they called this the worst thunderstorm Hill Valley ever faced, you know."
"I know" Doc replied. "In fact, you and I know better than anyone else how horrid this storm was. But it looks like we're managing to stay stable." He narrowed his eyes. "Now, what's going on up there?"
"I'm not sure, Emmett" Clara said, forgetting her fear of heights for a moment to look forward. "But it looks like the flag string is touching down somewhat."
"That means Marty is landing to burn the almanac" Doc said. "Good. But where's Biff? He should be here right now…"
"He certainly should" Marty muttered. "But I guess being ahead of him is good too. And it's not like there are any other places he could go."
"Well, he might be looking for his younger self to give him information about the future" Jules suggested. "I mean, now that younger Biff has lost the almanac, it's obvious that he would come here to interfere… and maybe that's just why he won't do it."
Doc shrugged. "As long as we stay here, we can always try to get the information out of young Biff later" he said. "It would be complicated, but we can figure a way out of that. No, I think staying here is our best option."
"You're right, Dad" Verne said, as his eyes widened. "There he is."
Doc turned to see the other DeLorean rush into view, on a collision course with the past time machine. He realized the consequences at once. "Great Scott, he's going to ram him – me!"
"What can we do?!" Clara asked.
"There's only one thing we can do" Doc muttered. "Intervene. We should have thought of this possibility before. Of course, if Biff were to ram my younger self, the other DeLorean could be destroyed – killing me and leaving Marty trapped in 1955. It wouldn't have done much to help his younger self, but it would at least have given him some of the revenge he probably desires."
"Wait a second, Doc" Marty said. "What exactly do you mean by intervening?"
Doc frowned. "Well, naturally" he replied. "Intervening to ensure that Biff's DeLorean won't catch up with my past self. We must take the burden for ourselves." He accelerated the train towards the younger DeLorean, which was fortunately still far away from the other time machine.
"But what if they see us!" Jules exclaimed.
"You think that's a problem?" Marty said. "Doc, we are at serious risk to get hurt in this! If Biff rams the DeLorean into the train…"
"Like I said, the time machine is sturdily built" Doc responded in a haven't-we-covered-this-a-million-times-already voice. "The train would survive such a crash – there might be some dents, but in the end, I'm sure it will turn out fine. As for the other time machine, I have my doubts… but those can be cast later. We've got a mission to accomplish now."
Marty sighed and turned away, as Doc continued to accelerate the train. With rapid maneuvering, he managed to position the train as a shield in the path of the present DeLorean, and still far enough away from the other DeLorean to remain inconspicuous. After a few attempts to go around the time machine, Biff's DeLorean suddenly turned around and took off again. The group let out sighs of relief.
"How's the situation down below?" Doc asked.
"I don't think your other self saw you" Marty said. "He probably couldn't have, with the winds and all. And as for me… I thought I saw me looking up one time, but I was looking down again the next time I saw him, uh, me." He grinned. "Maybe I got him thinking he's delusional after that stunt on the roof of the High School Gym."
"That would be a very negative development" Doc said, frowning. "But it certainly looks like we came out fine. You okay, Clara? Jules? Verne? No signs of erasure?"
"None whatsoever" Jules ensured his father.
"Same here" Verne chimed in.
Clara, however, was oddly quiet. Doc turned to her, worried. "Clara? Is something wrong?"
His wife managed a faint smile. "I'll be fine, Emmett" she said. "I… I had a stomach ache just a moment ago, but it's gone now. And I can't see through my hand or something like that."
"Well, I suppose we'll have to be satisfied with that then" Doc said. "We need to get off right away. We're on Biff's trail now, and I will not let us lose it again!"
"Check, Doc" Marty replied, as the train started moving after the DeLorean, which was accelerating in front of them. "You think he's planning to travel through time again?"
"I'd like to think he's used up his plans for today" Doc said. "If that's the case, he would need to think of what destination to choose for his next journey, and that would give us the opportunity to get ahead of him." He shook his head. "We can't rule out any possibility, though."
Clara and Marty nodded, and they just sat down as the train rushed through the sky. Jules and Verne were looking out of the window at the violent weather, Clara was looking anywhere but there, and Marty was looking at the newspaper again. Doc wondered what he was thinking of, but he figured that question could be answered later.
After a few minutes, the DeLorean and train got to Eastwood Ravine without much of a change in the situation. Neither had gained ground on the other. Suddenly though, a violent wind swept through the sky. The train inhabitants clung on for dear life and even Jules and Verne were distracted from observing the outside sky. However, the DeLorean was much more instable, and seemed to be a toy of the winds more than anything else. After about thirty seconds, the wind finally seemed to quiet down.
"Now!" Doc called out, mostly to himself, as he accelerated the train towards the still-shaking DeLorean. "If we can ram him before he regains speed, we might be able to force him to land!" He looked at the enemy time machine intensely as they got closer.
Then, a lightning bolt shot through the sky all of a sudden. Clara screamed and Doc hit the brakes. Marty gasped, but not just because of the bolt but rather because of its target. "Doc, look!" he called out.
Looking out of the window, Doc could identify the other time machine being covered with electricity. He imagined this bolt to be at least as intense as the one that had struck… or perhaps still would strike… his other self. Suddenly disregarding their own peril, Doc simply stared at the time machine, wondering whether it would travel through time like he had.
However, Biff was not so lucky. Perhaps it was sheer bad luck, perhaps the time circuits were off, perhaps there were other causes. It didn't matter. When the bolt ended, the DeLorean was still in the same time period – and it started dropping. Rapidly. The Browns and Marty gasped in horror as the time machine took a nosedive to the ground. After just a few seconds, it impacted at the bottom of the ravine with a horrendous crash.
For some time, silence reigned. Neither of the train's occupants dared to speak, as if speaking would make what they had just seen more real. It took up to thirty seconds of exchanging nervous looks that Marty finally got the courage to say something.
"Doc" he whispered, horrified. "Is he…"
Doc nodded solemnly. "The statistic probability of anyone surviving a crash like that is less than 0.2 %" he replied, sighing. "He is dead all right."
"D-dead?" Clara repeated. "Good heavens, Emmett… I know he was bad, but…"
She was saved from having to speak further by another gust of wind pulling on the locomotive, reminding everyone of the task at hand. Doc rapidly took back control of the steering wheel. They didn't speak again until the machine had safely landed on the ground, near the edge of the Eastwood Ravine.
"Dad?" Jules asked, insecurely. Doc looked at him and sighed, wishing his son wouldn't have had to see this. "What… how…"
"Relax, Jules" Doc replied, trying to smile. "You and Verne best sit down. I… I don't think we're leaving this place any time soon."
"What?" Marty asked. "Why?"
"Because I can't leave the DeLorean behind" Doc said. "If anyone finds it, it could alter history greatly." Marty frowned. "Don't worry" the inventor reassured him. "I'll work on recovering it on my own, tomorrow at dawn. It's too dark to collect anything right now."
"So, are we just going to stay here all night?" Verne asked, looking outside. Rain was beginning to pour down in great amounts, which made the prospect of going out unpleasant… even so, Doc could understand his son wouldn't like to sleep in a train.
"I'm afraid there's no other way to do this, Verne" Doc said. "Of course, I could simply take the train forwards a few hours… but we all need some rest right now. Cleaning out the remnants of a time vehicle won't be an easy task."
"Yeah, I guess so" Jules muttered. "What are you going to… do with…" He gulped, wishing he wouldn't have to say this. "…Biff?"
Doc sighed, and put a hand on his elder son's shoulder. "I'll… make sure you won't be able to see anything nasty in the DeLorean remnants" he finally settled on. "Don't worry. I'll find a way."
Jules smiled faintly. "Guess you will, Dad" he said. "You always do."
Doc smiled back at him and walked over to the back of the train, opening a cabinet and pulling out some blankets. Marty frowned. "You've got those things stored in your time machine?" he remarked.
The inventor shrugged. "I figured that it might come in handy, and there is enough space for it" he replied. "You know as well as I do that we can't exactly go to a motel every time we're stuck in a different time period, so this is the best option. I'm afraid I don't have mattresses, though."
"That's all right, Emmett" Clara said, smiling wearily. "I'm so exhausted right now that I think I could sleep until noon tomorrow."
"Well, if all goes well, we shouldn't be in this time period that long" the inventor replied. "I will… clean up the time machine wreckage right after dawn, and then we can go back to 1895 straight away. Of course, I'll still need a different detour to return Marty to 1885, but that should be a rather short errand."
"You sure you can't just return me to 1985?" Marty asked. "I think I get why I need to go back to the Old West, but I'm not happy with it."
"I'm afraid there's no way around it" Doc replied. "You need to live through the events of September 7th, or history will be changed irreparably. We're lucky your presence here hasn't caught up with us yet – you'll need to return soon to stop that from happening." He patted his best friend's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be fine."
Clara nodded. "Emmett's right" she said. "There are a lot of things that happened on that date that I would like to change, but all in all, I suppose it's for the best that we leave it the way it is."
"Indeed" Doc muttered. He looked at his wife. "How are you, anyway? Is that stomach ache still bothering you?"
Clara shook her head. "I told you I'm fine, Emmett" she replied. "There's no need to fret. It hurt for a while, but now it's gone." She looked outside. "I think that the weather is going to be more of a bother in falling asleep. The thunder is horrible."
Doc smirked. "If you've been up as long as the boys have, I wouldn't worry about that" he said, pointing at their kids, who were leaning back in their seats, yawning loudly and with their eyes closed. "I'd better get the blankets in order."
"You should" Clara agreed. "It's been a rather hectic day – tomorrow, we'll be able to look at everything with a fresh perspective again."
Her husband nodded. Perhaps in the early morning light, the world around them would look better. After all, it wasn't like it could get much worse.