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Chapter 20
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As soon as they were through the portal, Rick yanked Morty's arm roughly and let go of him, causing the boy to stumble forward and trip, falling hard onto the ground.
Morty whimpered as he looked up and around himself. He didn't recognize this location. It was cold, with walls and floors made of stone. Several torches hung on the walls, chains were bolted to the floors, ceilings and various beams throughout the space. It looked like an old dungeon. Was this the Sultan's castle? Down below? The part Morty hadn't seen yet?
"R-Rick..." Morty whimpered, shrinking down against the ground and shivering as he looked around the space.
"I can't believe you've been acting like this, Morty..." Rick shook his head, reaching down and grabbing Morty's arms, dragging him backwards, quick enough that Morty couldn't really manage to get his feet on the ground long enough to try to walk on his own. "You fought back against The Sultan and his guards, got twelve of them killed... You lost my money, won't accept the alternative payment... You actually fucking ran away... like a complete fucking little brat. So fucking disrespectful... To everyone. We owe The Sultan, Morty, and it's your fault. You actually fucking owe him your cooperation. It's your debt and you're expected to pay it. You're not a victim in this, Morty. You fucked up and now you've gotta fix it."
Morty breathed in a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut as he grabbed at Rick's shirt sleeves so he wouldn't stumble backward as Rick dragged him quickly across the floor. "Please don't leave me here again, Rick... We can find another way to pay for the orbs. I r-ran away because I was scared... I didn't want them t-to hurt me..." He whimpered.
"They weren't going to... They probably will now." Rick scoffed, rolling his eyes as he pulled Morty's arm roughly up.
Morty gasped a shocked breath as he felt a cold ring of metal snap around his wrist. His eyes shot open and he looked up as Rick yanked his other arm sharply upward, snapping a metal cuff around it too, so that Morty was standing with his hands secured to a pillar above his head.
"Rick... Please... Please don't leave me here..." Morty sobbed, pulling uselessly at his wrists. "G-grandpa... Th-they're going to hurt me. Y-you can't leave me here... Please!"
Rick didn't even seem to notice Morty was speaking to him. Instead he felt around in his lab coat. Morty wondered what he was looking for. Maybe his portal gun - so he could leave. He'd brought Morty back to The Sultan, and now he could go... forget he was ever here. Forget that he left Morty here to suffer all alone.
"R-rick..." Morty whimpered. "Y-you're m-my grandpa... You're supposed to protect me, Rick..."
"No, Morty. You're supposed to be competent when I give you a fucking job to do." Rick growled, abandoning whatever he was searching for in his lab coat and glaring down at his grandson. A muscle near his mouth twitched before he reached his hand up and slapped Morty across his face.
Morty choked out a shaking, pained, but mostly heartbroken cry as he shrunk down. Rick was wrong. Morty did try to be careful when given a job. He did try to do things right... He was just not very good at it. He didn't deserve to be abused when he made a mistake. The other Ricks knew that. Morty very purposefully pressed buttons on their control panel, having no idea what it would do. He traveled to a dangerous dimension after being specifically told not to, broke the portal gun... He hit and kicked them when they got too close... None of them hit him back. They didn't burn him, push him, abandon him on foreign planets, or sell him to rapists.
"I try, Rick..." Morty's voice shook. "I don't mess up on purpose... Y-you're supposed to protect me anyway, even when I fuck up... B-because you're my grandpa. You're supposed to love me, to not want to hurt me even when I mess up, just because you love me... You have an obligation to-"
Morty was cut off with a sharp gasp when Rick slapped him across the face again. "I'm not obligated to do shit, Morty." He disagreed. "Maybe if you were smarter, less annoying... If I could see you as close to an equal instead of as a dumb fuckup mostly just getting in my damn way and making everything I do twenty times harder..."
Morty looked down as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Th-the other Ricks didn't hurt me. They said you're wrong to leave me with these people... I know I mess up sometimes... B-but I don't think I d-deserve to be hit... or... raped..." He whimpered.
Rick all but ignored him, producing large scissors from his lab coat and sliding the blade up under Morty's pajama t-shirt. "Your Morty-Safe-Haven buddies give you this?" Rick growled, snipping quick, rather scary snips up the front of Morty's shirt. "They just think you're precious don't they. Fuckin' creeps."
Morty choked out a shaking sob. "Rick... W-what... What ar-are you doing? Please don't..." He breathed, somewhat unsure of what exactly Rick was going to do. Rick wasn't ever abusive in a sexual way... Why did he want Morty's clothes cut off him? Maybe he just didn't want Morty to be wearing it since the other Ricks gave it to him. Maybe this was some strange sort of jealously.
"And they gave you cute little pants too." Rick mocked after cutting the shirt completely off of him and throwing it to the ground. He grabbed at the waist of the garment and pulled the fabric down Morty's thighs, all the way to his ankles, pulling them completely off, along with Morty's socks so that he wore only underwear.
"Rick..." Morty squeaked, trying to back away from the man. Would Rick hurt him like this? Would he do what The Sultan and his men tried to do? He never had before... but why take away Morty's clothes? Was he proving some kind of sick point? That he could do whatever he wanted and that Morty was wrong to question it or fight it?
"God damn... You look like fucking hell." Rick frowned as he took a step back and frowned down at Morty. "Fuck..." He reached down, running his fingertips along the bruises on Morty's ribs. "Did I fuckin' do that?"
Morty squeezed his eyes shut and let out a choked sob. Did Rick not realize how much he hurt his grandson? He'd seen the bruises he made before. Rick hit him and grabbed him too hard almost every day, and Morty never bothered hiding his bruises from the man. Rick was responsible for so many injuries of Morty's over these past few years, burns, cuts, bruises, broken bones... At least half of them were very deliberate.
"Well... That's the least of your concerns now." Rick laughed.
Morty shivered, trying to shrink down as he blinked his eyes open and stared up at Rick. "W-what are you gonna do?" Morty whispered.
"I'm not gonna do anything... But The Sultan is fucking pissed at you... Pissed enough that I've been fucking working here so he doesn't execute me... Actually working, Morty. I'm like his employee right now, trying to make up for you freaking out and running off. Morty, I'm god damned so fucking mad at you..." Rick shook his head, balling his hand into a fist and breathing in a shaky, angry breath. "If I didn't owe the god damned Sultan payment for those orbs, I'd probably fuckin' strangle you to death right now, you little shit."
Morty felt his lower lip quiver as he looked up at Rick. "Why don't you j-just take them and go? W-why can't we j-just go home?"
"He'll find us, dumbass. These people aren't stupid." Rick growled, slapping his hand against the back of Morty's head so that the boy winced and squeezed his eyes shut. "Besides, looks like you found a new home... With daddy-Rick's daycare center... Where all the way-too-nice Ricks who just fucking have to have some sick fucking ulterior motive can coddle you all, pat your little heads, jack off your tiny dicks."
Morty sniffed back tears as he shrunk back as much as he could. "Th-they're not like that..." He whispered.
"Yeah, sure. Not yet..." Rick scoffed, rolling his eyes again. "Why would a bunch of old men my age want like thirty dumbass naive little boys all around 'em all the time? And Mortys are so clingy, quick to want hugs and shit. God. I bet they're getting off on you running to them for help, crying and hugging them. They probably just fuckin' loved it when they found you in the woods without your clothes... Did they make every excuse to hug you then, Morty?"
Morty shook his head. "They tried to help me and I got scared and hit them... B-but they still didn't get mad and still didn't hurt me."
"Well, they should have." Rick scoffed. "If you think they're nice it's because they're fuckin' grooming you and the other Mortys to be their sex slaves. What better target than a dumb, desperate fuckup little kid like you? All they have to do is tell you you're special and pretend to give a shit about you and you'll fuckin' melt... God damn, Morty... That's what people like that do. People who are too nice? That's why they're like that. They're fuckin' grooming you. You think a normal Rick is going to hug you and tell you they love you and fucking actually care about you? Ricks don't do that. You realize those Ricks are probably legit pedophiles, right? You realize that, don't you?"
Morty shook his head. "They're not. They're just good people, Rick..." He disagreed... "B-but if you th-think that's so gross and awful... w-why are you g-gonna let The S-sultan d-do it to me?" He stammered, his voice shaking in fear.
Rick shook his head. "Because we fucking owe him. We don't owe the merry band of perv-Ricks. I'd let you go off and let them suck you off to your and their hearts' content after this, but you belong to me and I don't want them to get too attached. That, and just knowing I gave my Morty to some fucked up little-boy-fucker-Rick really makes me wanna fuckin' puke, Morty..."
"B-but, The Sultan-" Morty started.
"We owe him." Rick repeated. "And he's not an alternate version of me. It's less fucked up. You belong to me though, so I can choose who to whore you out to, and other Ricks are off-limits. Sorry." He laughed. "God, that's fucked up..."
"I d-don't belong to anyone." Morty glared.
"Well, right now you do. You belong to The Sultan. Then me... Good luck fighting it, kid." Rick laughed. He turned away and started walking toward the stairs.
"R-rick! Wait!" Morty called after him.
"What?" Rick looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.
"W-what's gonna h-happen?" He whispered.
"I actually don't really know. Just doing what I was asked. He won't kill you. I know that much. I wouldn't let him do that, so there's some fodder for your 'grandpa-loves-me' boner. Don't know what his plan is beyond him promising you won't die from it. You'll see, I guess..." Rick shrugged and turned back toward the stairs, walking up and out of Morty's sight.
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