McFly July Day 24: The Atrocity Channel
so. i may have been very tired yesterday and had 0 ideas for the prompt, so day 23 was skipped. As a bonus, have an extra-long scene! I've been excited about this one.
Lizzy picked at the skin around her nails as her father refueled the Mr. Fusion and frantically tried to usher Marty into the DeLorean. They hadn't anticipated someone else being outside with him, and she wasn't sure how Dad was going to get rid of her-
"Just bring her along, this concerns her, too!"
I'm sorry, what?
As Marty and Jennifer (?) squeezed into the backseat of the DeLorean (which really, truly was not designed to fit this many people), Lizzy glared pointedly at Dad, waiting for him to notice.
It took a while.
In fact, it took so long that probably-Jennifer noticed her first. "Marty, what's going on? Who is she?"
That got Dad's attention. "This is- er-" He stumbled over his words as Lizzy gave him a dirty look.
"I'm Lizzy," she broke in, turning to shake the older girl's hand. "Elizabeth Brown."
"Oh- uh, I'm Jennifer Parker." Knew it! Jennifer shook her hand awkwardly, seeming very taken aback. "Wait- Brown?"
Lizzy leaned back in her seat and raised an eyebrow at Dad, who thankfully caught it this time. If he's going to make spontaneous additions to the plan, he can deal with the fallout.
"Yes, well- this is- she's- er, she's my daughter. Anyway, there's no time for this, we've got to go."
Smooth, Dad.
Marty cut his girlfriend off, which was rude but probably necessary. "Hey, Doc, you'd better back up- we're not gonna have enough road to get to 88!"
"Roads?"
Lizzy had to bite down on a laugh as her father grinned cheekily at her before flipping his visor down.
"Where we're going, we don't need roads."
They'd only flown the car a few times, so she didn't really blame herself when her stomach dropped as they took flight. Dad gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before stepping on the gas.
With a BANG, they arrived in 2015- only for the three passengers to scream and get flung halfway across the car as Dad swerved violently and abruptly to avoid another vehicle.
"What the hell was that?"
"Taxi cab," Dad replied, flicking the wipers on.
"What d'you mean a taxi cab? I thought we were flying?"
"Yes, but by 2015, so it everyone else," Lizzy explained. "And you were in the wrong lane, so technically-"
"Yes, yes, alright, but considering how precise I have to be to end up on the road at all-"
"Alright, Doc, what's going on?" Marty cut them off. "Where are we? When- did you say 2015?"
"Considering this is still just a time machine, Marty, it's probably pretty safe to assume we're still in Hill Valley," Lizzy snarked good-naturedly.
Marty leaned forward and shoved her, and she turned to retaliate with a squawk.
"None of that," Dad sighed. "I'm glad to see the two of you getting along, but I need to concentrate. Lizzy is correct- we're descending towards Hill Valley at 4:29 p.m., on Wednesday, October 21st, 2015."
"Marty, what's going on? How can we be in 2015? Did she say a time machine?"
"Uhh...Jennifer, um..." Marty spread his hands and shrugged. "Yeah, she- that's really the best explanation. We're in a time machine."
Wide-eyed, Jennifer stared out the window. "God, so- you weren't kidding! Marty, we can actually see our future!"
As the teenager rambled on about all the things she wanted to see, Lizzy nudged Dad's shoulder. Once he looked over, she jerked her head in Jennifer's direction, eyebrows raised. What are you going to do about that?
Surreptitiously, he raised a small gadget and shook it slightly, keeping his eyes on the road.
The sleep inducer? What does he- "You can't just knock her out!" she hissed, trying to keep their conversation under wraps.
"You know she can't be here, it's too dangerous. If I didn't need Marty for our plan-"
"Then what in the name of Rosalind Franklin did you bring her along for in the first place?"
"I had to do something! She saw the time machine; I couldn't just leave her there. This way, she'll think it was all a dream."
Before he'd even finished, Lizzy was shaking her head. "No, no, no, no. You- what are you going to do with her in the meantime? Leave her on the side of the road?!" She glanced over her shoulder at the teens- luckily, Jennifer was still absorbed in what she thought the future would be like, and Marty was still absorbed in his girlfriend.
"Well, what do you propose we do with her?"
Massaging the bridge of her nose, Lizzy sighed. The plan hasn't even begun, and I already have a headache. "Alright. You don't really need me for the plan, right? So you handle Marty; tell him what to do and all that. Meanwhile, I'll distract Jennifer and keep her from seeing anything too revealing."
Dad drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "I suppose it'll have to do- what about her clothes?"
"I'll take her shopping!" she realized with a snap of her fingers. "That'll-"
"Everything okay?" Marty poked his head into the front seat, making them both jump.
"All is well," Dad laughed nervously. "Here's our exit."
As they turned off the freeway, he leaned close to her and muttered, "Just be careful. I don't want you two ending up on the Atrocity Channel or bumping into your future selves or who knows what else."
"We'll be fine, Dad. How much trouble could we get into?"
*1 Hour Later*
"I! Am going! To put this in the trash!" Emmett seized the almanac and was heading towards a LitterBug when his visor began to beep. There was only one person who could be calling him, and she wouldn't do so if it weren't important. "Lizzy? What's going on?"
His daughter appeared as a hologram in front of him, seemingly running in place. "Dad, we've got a problem."
Emmett leaned against the DeLorean, forehead resting on his palm. "What now? Please tell me you didn't run into-"
"Not ourselves, but someone else! I looked away for 2 minutes and some lady named Tiff came out of nowhere and thought Jen was her future self."
"Damn! I knew something like this would happen. Then what?"
"I couldn't-" Lizzy ducked down behind something and began to whisper. "I couldn't interfere and Jen tried to get out of there, but Tiff offered her a ride home and- shoot- there wasn't really a good reason to say no."
"She could encounter-"
"A good reason that we could tell Tiff," she explained, exasperated. "I followed them, but they're getting into a hovercar and there's no way I can keep up with that."
He groaned. "Stay where you are. We'll pick you up and then head to Marty and Jennifer's house."
Tossing the almanac into a nearby bin, he ushered Marty (who'd heard the whole conversation) into the passenger seat. After tracking her location, he took to the skies. "We're on our way, but the freeway is jammed. With any luck, everyone else will be similarly delayed and Jennifer will run no risk of running into her future self which, need I remind you, was what I warned you might happen."
"Need I remind you that if you hadn't brought her along, none of this would have happened!"
Emmett paused. Yes, they were pushed for time, but Lizzy sounded more than anxious- she sounded close to tears. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sure you did the best you could. We'll be there soon."
