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Chapter 18

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"A-are you guys really going to just leave me here?" Morty pouted as he looked up at the three Ricks standing before him. They each had a hint of discomfort in their eyes. Scar-Cheek Rick was hiding it the best, with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. Regular-Rick 2 seemed to try to look un-affected, but had a hint of tears in his eyes. Fat-Rick was actually frowning, looking like he just witnessed a kitten getting kicked.

"We have things we have to do, Morty... We'll come check on you soon..." Regular-Rick 2 noted.

"What if a random Rick who I don't even know comes and adopts me first?" Morty frowned. "Takes me all over the multiverse so you can't even find me..."

"He won't. Mortys stay at least ten days before being adopted so we can gather information, observation... We never adopt a Morty out so soon." The Rick who was presently watching over the Mortys at the Safe Haven noted.

Morty frowned as he looked over at the guy, who seemed completely fucking identical to Regular-Rick 2 and Morty's original Rick. This multiverse nonsense was so fucking confusing.

"You can call me MSH-Rick-4." The Rick told him. "Or just Rick-4 while you're here."

Morty furrowed his brows. That was a lot of letters and numbers with no clear reason behind it."What the hell does that mean?" He wondered.

"Morty Safe Haven Rick 4." The man laughed.

Morty exhaled tiredly. He hoped the other Morty Safe Haven Ricks didn't look exactly like this one. The little nick-names didn't mean shit if he couldn't tell them apart. He supposed he could just call them all 'Rick' not bond too closely with any particular one, and be done with it. At least the three Ricks on the star ship had distinguishable features.

"We know each of these Ricks." Regular-Rick 2 noted. "You're safe with them. Look for the MSH band on their shirt sleeves... If a Rick is wearing one of those, you know he's safe... But there shouldn't be any strange Ricks wandering around. We require them to use the front gate and wear visitor badges."

"What if they just portal in here?" Morty frowned.

"They won't. That's not allowed." Fat-Rick promised.

"Is it impossible to do?" Morty stared with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no... It's possible-" Fat-Rick frowned.

"Then it could happen... Especially with a Rick who doesn't respect your rules... Which would be the exact Ricks you wouldn't want to come in here in the first place." Morty pouted. "You guys are Ricks... Why are you expecting them to follow your rules? You know how Ricks are..."

"We have scanners on the buildings that scan everyone in the facility every fifteen minutes. If someone is here who is not in our system, an alarm sounds and we deal with it. It hasn't even ever happened." MSH-Rick-4 noted.

Morty shook his head. It didn't feel as safe as he would have liked. Fifteen minutes was along time. His Rick could portal in while Morty was alone for a minute, steal him, and be gone again before the scanner ever went off. When would they even notice he was gone? Hours later when they did some kind of roll call?

"Anyway, my arm band is green. MSH-Rick-1's is red, 2's is orange, 3's is yellow... So on and such like, in the order of the rainbow. Then we get into pink, white, black, brown, grey... Each one of us has a different color. So that's how you can tell us apart." MSH-Rick-4 noted.

Morty frowned and looked over his shoulder at Regular-Rick 2, Scar-Cheek Rick, and Fat-Rick.

"We've got something we need to do... So... we might be back tomorrow, maybe the next day. You're safe here. MSH-Rick-4 will take care of you." Scar-Cheek Rick frowned. "So will the others. All the Ricks here are decent."

"Okay." Morty exhaled. He didn't really have a choice but to do what they said. He couldn't force them to take him with them... He felt like he really liked the three Ricks... but he understood that he wasn't as special to them as they were to him. They rescued so many Mortys... This was a one-time experience to Morty... It happened all the time to the Ricks.

"See you, Morty... Call us if you need anything." Regular-Rick 2 handed Morty a card with a phone number on it.

Morty stared down at the card with a frown. There were at least twenty digits in the number.

"There's phones in our office." MSH-Rick-4 informed him.

"Great." Morty breathed. It wasn't like he was going to have time to run down to the office and call them if someone attacked him... And even if he did, they couldn't help him immediately... What if the Ricks who ran this place were abusive? What if his Rick or The Sultan's people showed up and stole him back?

"You'll be fine. The Ricks here will take care of you. They work alongside us. We know them... So just go to one of them first if you need anything." Regular-Rick 2 instructed. "You're safe here. Scar-Cheek Rick, Fat-Rick... Ready?" He frowned toward his friends.

They each nodded and followed him out the way they had come in.

Morty frowned and looked down at the ground. He trusted that Regular-Rick 2 and the others wouldn't flat-out lie to him. They at least trusted the Ricks here... And this one Rick he had met was nice so far... Even so, it was uncertain and strange.

"Let's go see your room, Morty." The Rick he was left with suggested. "We typically call our Mortys by what dimension they're from to avoid confusion, since you're all named Morty... You're Morty Q-405."

"I am?" Morty frowned.

"Yes." MSH-Rick-4 nodded. "We Ricks at the Safe Haven often just go by our numbers rather than the whole MSH thing too... So I'd just be Rick-4. It's easier. Rick-5 does the night shift into the morning. Ricks 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10 cover meals and cleaning. Ricks 6, 11, and 12 do home visits to check on our Mortys... They also work around the facility when they aren't doing that. There's almost always four staff present."

Morty stared with his mouth hanging open. That was a lot to remember. "Do they all look identical? I mean... On the ship, one had a scar, one was fatter... Do you guys have stuff like that? Like some of you being taller or skinnier or longer hair or something?"

"Very minor things... It's quite hard to tell us apart. That's why we adopted the colored arm bands." Rick-4 answered.

"So later Rick-5 will come? And his arm band is um... what color?" Morty frowned.

"Blue... At any rate, I'm telling you all this about names and dimensions because you've got a room mate, Morty XB-4. That's his dimension - that's why I brought it up... He's non-verbal at the moment... Very shy, skittish if you try to catch him... He won't cause you any trouble..."

"N-non verbal?" Morty frowned, unsure what exactly that meant.

"He doesn't speak. We found him in a giant horn-beast's nest... It ate his Rick alive right in front of him." Rick-4 grimaced. "We got that much out of him eventually, through guessing and getting him to nod or shake his head... Rick's bloody bones - well, a few of them - were found nearby... Poor kid's been so fucked up. Real hard to adopt."

"Jesus Christ..." Morty whispered, feeling his eyes growing wide.

"Yeah... We try to get him to come out sometimes... And he does if you're really calm and careful about it... But he's just so scared of everything. We'll have to find him a Rick who doesn't like to travel as much - one who won't put him in any type of situation where he'll get scared..." Rick-4 shrugged. "Anyway, here's your room..."

Rick pushed open a door and flipped the light on. A Morty who had been sitting on the lower part of a bunk bed immediately jumped off the bed and ran into a closet, closing the door behind him. Rick closed his eyes and shook his head.

Morty blinked his eyes a few times. It was weird enough seeing duplicates of his grandfather. Seeing other versions of his own self was definitely the weirdest moment of his life. It was kind of creepy.

"Morty XB-4... This is Morty Q-405... He's gonna be your room mate for a while. He's just come from a really wild, eventful ordeal, so you might get something outta talking to him if you want to. Or just listening to him if he wants to talk to you. He had a lot of fucked up shit happen to him." Rick called out, glancing back toward Morty and shrugging. "You don't have to come out if you don't want to." He added in a low shout.

Morty frowned. This Morty seemed even more traumatized than Morty felt. Even with a Rick who abused him, Morty would have been terrified to watch the man be eaten alive by a monster. As much as he realized he shouldn't, Morty still loved his Rick.

"The top bunk will be yours." Rick noted. "We'll be issuing you two pairs of pajamas, two t-shirts, two pairs of pants, underwear, socks, shoes... We've got three meals per day, snacks as you see fit as long as you don't over-do it. If you're here more than a week, we start school classes as needed. We've got a rec-room... Mortys don't like sports, but we do have a gym with some shit you all hardly ever touch. We've got a library... again, a bunch of shit in there you'll hardly ever touch. We don't let you Mortys search porn on the computers. I know, I know... Bunch of buzzkills..."

Morty looked down and cleared his throat. It was weird that this guy he only just met kind of knew a lot about him. Most Mortys seemed to have a lot in common, and this man already knew dozens of other versions of Morty... Of course, Morty could probably come up with some likely truths about Rick-4 too, just because he knew how other Ricks were... He probably liked to drink, probably wouldn't say no to a new drug he hadn't tried... probably had a short temper, was always right even when he wasn't, might sell Morty and all the other Mortys to anyone who wanted them if they named the right price...

"Come along and I'll show you the rest... Then we can head to the cafeteria for lunch. Meals are at nine, one, and six... Bells toll for each one and you'll have an hour to get through the line and finish. If you do sleep through or whatever and end up hungry later, we have snacks as I said... But try to attend meals." Rick suggested, heading out as Morty followed behind him. "We don't allow Mortys to just live off grapes and chips and crackers... You need actual meals."

Morty nodded. That seemed fair enough.

As they walked, Morty looked around. The Morty Safe Haven looked a lot like a school. There were even a few classrooms complete with desks. That was good, that the Ricks cared about Mortys getting an education... Maybe in case they were stuck here long-term... If no one ever wanted to adopt them because they were too traumatized... Like Morty XB-4.

"Rec room." Rick gestured toward a room as they passed it.

Morty peered into the doorway. Four Mortys were sitting on a couch together watching television. They laughed and chatted like they were friends. Morty smiled. Seeing all the Mortys was definitely bizarre, but they looked like they were doing okay. That meant he could do okay too... Maybe if he did get stuck here, it wouldn't be too bad. He could get along with other versions of himself... Who could possibly understand him more than himself?

"Lounge." Rick gestured at another room.

Morty looked through the door to see two Mortys looking pretty much just confused as they stared down at a chess board. Morty wondered if they knew how to play. He didn't. Another Morty seemed to be taking a nap on a large, very comfortable-looking chair. Three more sat on a carpet in the center of the room, looking at comic books.

Morty felt another smile spreading on his face. The Ricks knew that a lot of Mortys liked comics and got some for them. They looked like new ones too.

"Library, Gym." Rick gestured to the left and then the right, then kept walking. "Bunch of the Mortys use the gym for slumber parties... They play video games on the computers." He rolled his eyes. "Bathroom - there's showers in there. We'll get you a little shower caddy for your toothbrush and soap and all that." Rick noted.

"How many Mortys are here?" Morty wondered.

"Twenty eight right now." Rick answered. "No. Twenty nine. You make twenty nine. We've got two in the process of being adopted, but we check references, do background checks. I mean, we're lenient as far as background checks go... We realize we're dealing with Ricks..." He laughed.

Morty frowned. "But you're dealing with Mortys too... If Ricks aren't capable of-"

"No." Rick interrupted, shaking his head. "Ricks are often thieves, they break and enter, do the occasion line of cocaine... Harmless stuff. We just check for things like child abusers, sexual predators... We're not lenient on that."

"Oh... W-well good..." Morty looked down. He wasn't sure how he felt about living with a Rick who snorted cocaine and broke into people's houses, but he supposed making sure the guy wasn't going to beat or molest him was a start.

Rick-4 put his hand lightly on Morty's arm. "We're very careful... Ricks aren't rule-followers... We excuse things that don't seem important, or else there's going to be no Rick left to adopt Mortys. If a Rick stole a car or got arrested for running through the street naked while shitfaced..." He shrugged. "We just make sure they don't do anything that's directly harmful to their Mortys. No one is perfect, but there are things we don't let slide."

Morty swallowed and looked down. "W-well thanks for checking on that stuff..." He breathed. "Do I get any say in which Rick adopts me? Like, if you choose one, and I just really don't like him, can I refuse?"

Rick-4 shrugged. "Potentially... but if you start refusing everyone, we might end up forcing you to go with a Rick we think can handle you. If there's a reason you don't like him though, tell us. If he threatens you or hurts you in some way, just tell us. We won't make you go with someone like that."

"Okay..." Morty exhaled. He supposed that was tolerable. He just hoped he didn't end up with an awful, abusive Rick who didn't show his true colors until he took Morty far, far away from here. He lived through it once already, and definitely didn't want to do it again.

"So let's head down to the lunch room. Bell's gonna be ringing any minute now." Rick-4 noted. "I'm gonna sit you with the blue-table Mortys. They've kind of adopted a seating chart... Creatures of habit... I think you'll get along well with them. I've got to take Morty XB-4 some lunch... so I'll see you around."

"Okay." Morty nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat. He was still nervous about the whole situation... There was no doubt about that... But he had to admit that things were looking far less scary right now than he'd feared.

When the other Ricks talked about the Morty Safe Haven, Morty had pictured pretty much a prison in his head. He figured there's be hundreds of Mortys, sleeping on floors, walking around a cold prison yard with nothing fun to do, wearing orange jumpsuits with holes in them, eating cold oatmeal and stale bread. He sort of guessed the Ricks in charge would be more like his grandfather... He imagined they'd be impatient, mean, violent. He figured they'd hit and yell at the Mortys for any mis-step.

But it wasn't like that at all. Rick-4 was bringing Morty XB-4 food directly to his room because he knew that Morty was scared to come out. There were games and sports to play, books, computers, classrooms, a lunch room with tables. It smelled nice in the facility. It was warm... The Mortys here seemed happy.

With each new step he took away from his original Rick, Morty was seeing more and more that things really were better... Other Ricks really could be nice. Now he just hoped he'd be placed with one of the good ones. That was the next hurdle... the most terrifying one... The one that made him want to try to run away from this whole place.

He supposed he'd wait it out, see what happened... He could always run away from the new Rick if he needed to... But maybe he wouldn't have to.

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