"So, Marlene, if that's who you are. What brings you here, to the past, in a time where your father also is?" Emmett interrogated. He, Marty Sr., and Marlene were gathered together in the blacksmith shop, near some horses in a stall.

"It was a mistake, I swear!" Marlene said, noticing the expressions on the faces of both her father and his best friend.

"If that's the case, then tell us the truth!" Marty Sr. interjected.

"Careful, Marty. You don't need the future spoiled for you!" Emmett said.

"But Doc…" Marty Sr. complained. 'She's my daughter, I have to know."

"Well, I'm just acting in the timeline's best interests, Marty." Emmett reminded him.

Marlene understood the magnitude of the situation, and quickly said the first thing that came to her head. "In the future, you have an apprentice, and he made a time machine too!" It wasn't a total lie. But Emmett was sixty-five, so he likely didn't expect to have kids, and she certainly didn't want to do anything to possibly eradicate Verne's existence.

"An apprentice? You mean, not me?" Marty Sr. asked, much to his daughter's shock. It was almost like seeing her dad as a cool person with aspirations. Speaking of which, she definitely wasn't going to reveal how "uncool" he would become.

"Oh, you know. You're too busy doing… typical Dad things." Marlene said.

"Thank you for not spoiling anything about the future, Marlene. So, what did this apprentice of mine do?" Emmett asked.

"Well, he built a time machine that sent me and MJ on a time trip, but there was a glitch and,.. We were sent back to 1885." Marlene was shocked at how easily she was able to leave stuff out. Still, Emmett was Verne's father. Nothing good could come from meeting him early, at least not before Clara made the scene. She had been a calming presence for Marlene, often acting as a surrogate grandmother while her own were driving her parents crazy.

"Must have been residue from previous treks across the timeline that culminated in a temporal glitch." Emmett explained.

"So, what does it mean, Doc?" Marty Sr. asked.

"It means that we have a key to getting back to the present day with the time machine Marlene and her brother are using," Emmet explained.

"What? Why can't you use your own?" Marlene asked. She was worried about the prospect of time machines getting into the wrong hands.

"We're not able to. It runs on ordinary gasoline, and I presume your car is electric?" Emmet guessed.

Marlene was surprised. "That's right. But how did you-"

"Easy process of elimination. I am planning to develop electric technology."

"Doc, you don't mean you're leaving the Old West, do you?" Marty Sr. asked.

"Of course not, Marty! I meant here in the West, and I don't even have to share it."

"Well, as long as you don't wreck the timeline. I found out I ended up as Mayor of Hill Valley-" Marlene admitted. Both Emmett and Marty Sr. were shocked.

"And they didn't research your past?" Emmett inquired. "That sounds like a change of the most intense proportions!"

"I'm a bit of an adventurer…" Marlene admitted.

"Well, I can see where you get it." Emmett chuckled, grinning at Marty Sr, who was still trying to process this information.

"So, we need to gather every other time-traveler together? This is just so heavy, Doc." Marty Sr. said. "I don't know how we're gonna get out of this mess."

"It's the exact reason I'm regretting inventing time-travel, Marty, because of mistakes like this. But we should learn from them. Unless, of course, there's a problem?" Emmett asked.

Marlene thought hard about this question. The DeLorean she and Junior had wasn't the original DeLorean. Jules and Verne seemed to have copied the blueprints, at least, but made it better. It was one of the world's worst cars for a reason.

"Uh, no, no problem, as long as you leave blueprints. Your apprentice was just inspired." She hastily added. Emmett appeared deep in thought for a second.

"Well, that's good then. I'm sure I informed him of the consequences?"

"Uh, yes, that's right." Marlene said. Emmett and her father had always been so vague about "that October weekend", as they called it. Most of what she had picked up was from Verne, and he wasn't always the most reliable of sources. Just then, a loud thump was heard outside.

"What the hell was that?" Marty Sr. asked.

"Dad, language." Marlene teased.

"Just like your Aunt Linda." Marty Sr. replied.

"Oh no. It must be Mad Dog Tannen." Emmett realized, smacking his forehead. This put an abrupt stop to the father-daughter banter, to Marlene's dismay..

"Wait, there are Tannens here?" Marty Sr. asked. Marlene couldn't believe her father had asked this, but maybe he hadn't had as much time-travel experience as she thought.

"Of course, Dad! You're just not thinking fourth-dimensionally!" Marlene said. It was one of Verne's favorite lines to use if she or Marty Junior were ever making questionable choices. Not they would make much of those.

"I presume my apprentice taught you that?" Emmet asked. "Anyways, we have a fairly… cordial relationship."

"Brown!" Tannen's booming voice rang as he banged on the door.

"Doesn't sound very cordial, but you're the doc, Doc." Marty Sr. teased.

"Why's he so angry?" Marlene asked. "I mean, why are all Tannens so angry?" It was a legitimate question. She had never known a truly happy Tannen.

Tannen busted down the door and stood there, his angry face definitely resembling the face of his great-great-great grandson. It seemed odd to Marlene that he hadn't used a key, but maybe they hadn't been invented, or Tannens just didn't have manners at all. She wasn't the history expert Marty Junior was. She looked over at her father and Emmett. Marty Sr. definitely seemed nervous, but Emmett looked like he could handle it. With a stride in his step, Emmett approached Tannen.

"Mr. Tannen! What can I do for you? Is this about your horse?" Emmett asked.

"You is damn right it's about my horse!" Tannen exclaimed. "He's done thrown off the shoe you gave him!" Marlene found it odd to hear horses described this way when she was used to thinking of them as fun animals to ride on, but figured Emmett had to be this era's equivalent of a mechanic, and the horses were mere cars.

"I understand, Mr. Tannen. Now, if you'll excuse me-" Emmett began, but it was too late. Tannen's eyes went over Marty Sr.

"Eastwood! The hell are you doing here?" Tannen barked. Marty Sr. gulped, but Marlene still didn't understand why he failed to accept this whole time-travel scenario. Or maybe he was just surprised to hear the Eastwood surname from someone who didn't hear the alias beforehand. Presumably, Marty Junior had encountered Tannen. But considering the type of person Tannen was… Oh no. Marlene thought. This can't be good.

"Uh, Doc… the blacksmith was just fixing my wagon!" Marty Sr. said. Marlene thought it was a flimsy excuse, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next. Mad Dog Tannen was looking her right in the eyes. She almost wanted to punch him right out, but knew that probably wasn't the best thing to do for a woman in 1885. At least she understood that much.

"Looks more like a mightily-pretty lady." Tannen chuckled. Marlene felt very disturbed by this. "Say, Eastwood, you mind if I took her to that town festival that's a-comin?"

"No, you may not!" Marty Sr. snapped, much to Marlene's surprise. She was used to her dad being something of a pushover. "Leave her alone!"

"You ain't gonna tell me what to do!" Tannen growled. "I run this here town!"

"I saw the world where your great-great-grandson did, and let's just say it wasn't pretty." Marlene snapped back. She couldn't take being treated this way, even if this was supposed to be a more sexist time period.

"Ooh, she's feisty. How much for her, Brown?" Tannen wondered.

"She's not for sale!" Marty Sr. added before Emmett could respond.

"Why not? You yella?" Tannen laughed. Marlene wasn't sure what that word meant, but it turned out it was pretty obvious from her father's response.

"Nobody calls me… yellow!" Marty Sr. yelled. There it was. Her dad's stupid chicken problem, which always caused him to make bad decisions. Marlene was desperate for it to end, somehow. She didn't want to change the future too drastically, but there had to be something she could do.

Tannen laughed. "Fine. If you ain't a yella, I invite you to a duel this Monday! You better be there at 7 PM sharp! I do my killing before breakfast!"

"Make it 8! I, uh, do my killing after breakfast!" Marty Sr. said. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Deal's a deal. I don't need your horseshoes, Brown. I just need to get rid of these stupid kids who think they own the place!" Tannen said. Emmett was confused, but nodded.

"Do not make me use my weaponry, Tannen." He said.

"You make a reasonable argument, Brown. But at the party, you may not be so lucky!" Tannen said.

"What do you mean?" Emmett inquired.

"If you ain't gonna let me duel with that young friend of yours, that girl is gonna get it too!" Tannen said, before storming out. Marlene gulped. She couldn't let her father die. Or herself, for that matter. She knew about paradoxes a bit, but maybe the best idea was to do what was best for the timeline, even if it caused an alteration to her own life. Before Marty Sr. and Emmett could respond, Marlene decided to walk to the center of the room. She looked her future father directly in the eyes.

"Dad, what the hell is wrong with you?" Marlene asked.

"What do you mean?" Marty asked, worried. "Am I a good father?"

"Stop! You might reveal too much about the future!" Emmett warned.

"Screw the future!" Marlene replied. "He becomes a complete loser pushover who can't say no to anything!"

Emmett gulped. "Well, it's too late now, I guess. Hopefully, this doesn't negatively affect-"

"Doc, I don't want to become this way!" Marty Sr. said. "Isn't the future unwritten?"

"She's literally your future daughter." Emmet reminded him.

"But the way I am, the reason I'm here, the way he is, it doesn't affect it at all. It doesn't affect me at all." Marlene said, a pleading expression on her face.

"Doc, please? Can we make an exception just this once?" Marty Sr. asked.

"Okay, fine." Emmett replied. "But only because I don't want either of your names on the gravestone, or we could have a major paradox!"

"Great Scott!" Marty Sr. said.

"Yeah, I know, this is heavy." Emmett added.

Marlene was a bit confused by this, since, again, she probably wouldn't be treated as a human being in this era, so being shot did seem a bit strange. "But I'm a woman. Would Tannen really shoot me?"

"Yes, he would." Emmett said. "I've known this particular Tannen a long time. He always keeps his deals."

"Maybe there's something we could do. Arrest Mad Dog or something." Marty Sr. suggested.

"Well, first, you should know he hates being called Mad Dog. And second, we need to find your brother and whoever else he's with. We can't risk more damage to the timeline than what we've already done." Emmett clarified. Marlene and her father both nodded with comprehension. If they were going to keep the timeline intact, they couldn't risk any more alterations.