Chapter 1 - A Girl and A Mystery

It's common knowledge among the Rick's, that they all suffer a similar state of loneliness. This is why XX1 decided to do the logical thing.
"It hasn't really come to this, has it?" On XX1's transparent touch screen is all the Rick's listed by happiness. There aren't many that even rate out of the negatives. "Fuck-it, it'll be a good business venture at least," he rationalizes as he slides his chair back. "Morty!"

Rick XX0, is awoken by an alarm alerting the household of an intruder.
"Again?" he groans.
"Rick! Turn that off so I can get some sleep! I have a thing tomorrow!"
"I don't care about your thing Summer!" he shouts back over the alarm while storming into the hallway. Ready for a fight, Rick barrels toward the garage, but the alarm suddenly goes silent before he can reach it.
"W-what does that m-mean?" Morty asks, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Rick throws the door open.
XX1 stands before him one hand to his chest soaked in blood, the other holding up an unconscious woman. Honey-chestnut curls flow down to the floor. Her eyes are closed but a faint smile is on her coral lips.
"Here!" XX1 thrusts the petite woman into XX0's arms. "Hide her!" XX1 demands coughing blood onto the confused family that has gathered in the hall. They've seen plenty of this, so Beth returns to her room. XX1 coughs until he collapses.
"Do you want me to go get the shovel?" Morty asks.
"No-, if we b***ury him, it'll be that much harder to find out what happened."
"I- I didn't think you'd care about what the other Rick's were up to."
"Not normally, because what they're doing is fucking lame." Rick sets down the mystery woman to help Morty drag XX1 into the garage.
"So, who's she?" Morty asks.
"Did you n***not just witness the same reality as me? How am I supposed to know?"
"Well jeez Rick, you're always upset. I just asked a question. I thought asking questions is good. How am I supposed to learn, yah know?"
"Whatever Morty, just drop him here." Morty does as he's told. Rick takes a cable very much like a phone cord and touches it to the back of XX1's neck. "Aren't you going to ask what I'm doing?"

"No, I'm not going to ask anymore questions if you're just going to keep snapping at me. Like- we're a-always doing stuff that's new to me, I'm going to have questions."
"You picked a really bad day to be a pussy Morty."
"Fine, just tell me what you're doing!"

"A lot of Rick's keep important information locked in a kind of memory vault. It's pointless, but I guess this schmuck found a use for it," he says as he looks up at the screen the cord is connected to.
"This video is to document the 'Daphne' project. To anyone watching this, especially another Rick, Daphne is not dangerous." The Rick on the screen points. "I repeat, -***- not dangerous. She's human and I don't want anything to h-."
Rick stops the clip. "I'm tired, going back to bed. This is boring."
"But that Rick seems really serious. What do we do with her?"
"I don't care, Morty. She's safe in the lab - we'll figure it out in the morning."

Daphne wakes with a soft groan. I'm awake. Her memory is made up of only two. One is a compilation of feelings, the other is her waking once before on a shiny old table. Her vision was blurry but she heard a man's voice.

"It's okay, you're safe here."

Daphne holds onto this memory as she rises and finds a door into the house. She passes a window and sees two sparrows singing past. She smiles, listening to their song as she explores. When she reaches the kitchen she finds she is not alone.
"Well hello, I'm Jerry."
"You look hungry Jerry," Daphne responds. She opens up their fridge. "How about some french toast?"
She starts working on the meal while the rest of the family rises. Summer and Beth accept their cups of orange juice as they enter. The family settles in without question.
Daphne is portioning out french toast to the cheering family when Rick is finally awake.
"Good morning!" Daphne beams, handing him a 'mostly mimosa' before she continues her work. Rick narrows his eyes at her. Her eyes are a sparkling purple, unnatural.
"So who are you?" he asks. Daphne pauses for a moment as she's about to set french toast in front of Jerry. His eyes are large, focused and waiting for his portion.
"I don't know really. I know I'm human and my body is nineteen. I know a lot of recipes. Maybe I was a chef or something?"
"Do you have any memories before waking up in the garage?" Morty asks, trying to help.
"Yes, but only two. I believe I heard your voice before." She points to Rick. "I remember you telling me I'm safe."
"I know what's going on here-" He takes a swing from his homemade breakfast cocktail. "Alternate me must have been making perfect partners to sell to other Rick's. I've considered it myself but I've never been pathetic enough to go through with it."
"Perfect partner?" Morty asks around a mouthful of syrupy toast.
"Most Rick's are lonely. What do you want me to say Morty? You want to hear about your grandpop's sad love life?"
"See! You're doing it again!" Morty stands.
"Whatever Morty."
"So what's going to happen to her?" Summer asks. Daphne notices some of them have already finished and are picking up their plates.
"I guess the other Rick w***wasn't lying about her not being dangerous. So, I really don't care where she goes."
"Sweety, you can stay as long as you want," Beth tells Daphne.
"Thank you. I'm going to go explore."
"Don't go in or out of the garage without Rick!" Morty calls after her.
Daphne leaves the house. Are they right? Am I some sort of experiment? She quickly decides she does not care. It's the result that matters and she's going to use her life for something great, she just knows it.
Before long she's found a spot next to a guitar player by a fountain. She dances with the happy tune. People drop dollars into his case and he smiles at her. She continues to twirl in her white dress until she spots a colorful store just down the road.
"Goodbye sir!" she chirps as she starts off toward the store.
"Wait!" he calls. He holds out a bundle of the money. "Take your half. You deserve it."
"Thanks." Before she can head to the store, a portal appears in front of the fountain. The man from earlier steps out.
"Come on!" he says grabbing her wrist.
She falls away, falling into the fountain.
"Hey, what the fuck you think you're doing?!" the guitarists growls. "Leave the little lady alone!"
"Seriously?" complains Rick. "I'm not dealing with this."
Daphne feels herself being lifted from the fountain and the next moment she's being pushed into a chair. Her handful of money falls to her feet as her hands are placed in restraints. She suddenly is stricken with cold. Realizing she's still soaked and her white dress has become transparent, she lifts in an attempt to cover herself.
"Don't look!" she pleads.
"You programmed her to feel shame?! W-Why would you do that Rick?!"
"I didn't do anything. XX1 did, and she's human, so there's no 'programming'."
"I thought you didn't care where I went! Why did you come after me?" Her panicking dies down in a moment as her first memory comes back, soothing her.
"I don't, but I started watching these videos on how you were made and I want to speed up the process. If I don't have to watch twenty hours of rambling-" He sticks what looks like a q-tip into Daphne's mouth. Just as quickly as he moves to pull it out her eyes flash up to meet his. A string of drool follows the device.
"I'm human," Daphne remarks, "You're not going to find much modification because they're aren't many."
He drops the q-tip like device into an opening in the counter.
"Look." Rick stares her down. "Your last Rick died and I need to know why or you can't stay here."
"You got what you wanted, can I go now?"

With her money in her fist she backtracks to the flashy store. A nice, but pinched faced woman helps her as she has lots of questions. She leaves with a silver kimono to cover herself and a small bag to keep the rest of her money.
Daphne sits on a bench and considers her options. Should she stay with the Sanchez family? Or should she just find a job and leave?

***

The next morning the family wakes to sounds of sizzling oil and smells of bacon and syrup. More than happy to get up they fill up the kitchen.

Dancing along with Summer mp3 player she swishes and twirls as she flips bacon onto paper towels and begins to pour everyone something. She finds that she can guess everyone's particular tastes by looking at them.
"Sorry," she giggles as she removes the headphones as the song finishes. "I found this on the couch but I should have asked first," she tells Summer as she hands her music back to her along with a glass of grapefruit juice with a sugar coated rim and a straw just for fun. "You're quite good at making playlists."
"Thanks!" Summer gushs. "Don't worry about it. Anything that matters is on my phone anyway. That thing's a relic."
"H-how'd you sleep Daphne?" Morty asks. She'd slept on the couch.
"Very well, thank you Morty." She smiles brightly handing him his cup of chocolate milk. "You look exhausted."
"R-R-Rick had me up a-all night watching those videos with him. He's really fixated on w-who killed that Rick."
"I'm not fixated," demands Rick as he enters. "While the rest of my idiot family is possible-***- threat in favor of watching you dance around the kitchen. I'm trying to neutralize it before we have a huge problem." Rick's made his way to the kitchen drawers.
He grabs Daphne's wrist roughly and touches the lighter he'd pulled out to her hair. The long strains are set ablaze. She feels suddenly warm, her heart races, but she freezes. Her panic is stifled by a feeling of ease. "You're safe here."
"This Daphne is under the protection of Rick XX1. Any harm to her will be considered an act against me," blares an alarm. Everyone's hands fly to cover their ears. The heat is replaced with a chill as she finds herself soaked through again. Rick sets his glass down.
"XX1, huh? Alright, come on Morty," Rick orders, dragging Daphne with him. When Morty doesn't move he looks back. "What?! I d***didn't hurt her. She's fine. This XX1 must have mixed potassium bicarbonate into her shampoo like some kind of overprotective dance mom."
"We're going to XX1's dimension?" Morty deadpans. "I'll go, but only because Daphne d-deserves and I want to get some sleep."
"Why to ruin the adventure before it's even started, Morty."

***

Daphne pulls herself away from Rick's firm grip, rubbing her wrists.
Rick XX1's lab is very similar but the home is dark and empty. Two candles sit by the door, long since burnt out, with a picture of Rick and Morty leaning on the white plaster door.
"Damn-" Rick purrs as he opens up a compartment in the wall. "He really was going to mass produce Daphne's."
A body falls to the floor. Daphne sees the girl looks identical to her. She still has a plastic cap over her hair and her face is colorless, but it's undeniable."
"It's safe here," she reminds herself. Not wanting to see the body anymore she tucks her hands behind herself and peruses a series of jars.
"He must have a trapdoor around here somewhere…"
"Found it," Morty drone, tapping a statue that clearly doesn't belong. There's a click and an opening in the floor appears.
"I'm going to stay here-" she begins, but Rick is already pulling her with him into the basement. Morty, still bitter, follows.
She's relieved when they discover that the space has been totally cleaned out. What's left is spills and rubble.
"Fucking damnit!" Rick complains. Daphne kneels down to look at a blue fluid. It looks sticky. "There's not even anything left to throw!"
"W-whoever must have killed Rick XX1 must have been here," Morty declares.
"No dip-" Rick begins, but stops when he notices Daphne tugging on the bottom of his coat. "What do you want, tiny dancer?"
"Isn't this footprint from a Harriblexeon?"
He lowers himself next to her to check her work. "That it is. They're the -***- only I can think of that have feet like giant lego's."
"How do you know about Harriblexeon's, I don't even know about Harriblexeon's." Morty suspiciously narrows his eyes at her.
"The same way she knows how to talk and not shit -***- herself."
"What's next? Do we interrogate Harriblexeon's?"
"No. It's a big planet and these are probably bounty hunters or the like. Not your common Harriblexeon."
"They're fairly peaceful," she shares with Morty.
"Then what now? We've learned nothing!"
"God, calm down Morty. Here-" Rick pulls out shiny blue gloves. "These should protect your skin f***rom most things in this room. Just look everywhere."

"Face it Rick, we're done. There's no conspiracy or something that killed the other Rick. He probably died trying to steal something from a Harriblexeon or whatever and only had the time to drop off Daphne."
Rick ignores him. Having turned over everything in the room, they still don't have any answers.
"If we just sort all the rubble-"
"Rick-" Daphne pleads, dropping a hand onto his shoulder.

He pulls away. "Don't. I'm not like this loser. I don't need you."
"Good, because I'm not yours. I don't care about all this, but you do. We don't have to stop, but we do need a new angle."
"Let's just go home," Morty groans.
"Fine!"

Morty goes back to his room to make up for the sleep he missed, while Rick sits on his chair and starts to fiddle with this and that.
"You really should get some sleep…" Daphne prods.
"Why don't you fucking make me?"
Daphne sits on his desk with a sigh. "I know you're not doing this for me, but thank you." Rick doesn't respond as she kisses his cheek, slides off the desk and goes for the door.
"Hey-"
Daphne turns. "Yes?"
"I may have misjudged you."
"You definitely did, but I won't hold it against you. I know you don't need anyone's help, but I'd like to." Then she steps out of the garage.
Daphne decides to go for a walk to get some more groceries for the family. She has some spectacular ideas, so she spends what feels like hours just looking at the backs of boxes. She adds these recipes to her already extensive knowledge.
She returns once it's already dark. She brings the bags into the kitchen and starts to put them away when she hears someone clear their throat.
"The couch can't be comfortable. You can share with me if you want."
"I'm going to assume that's a very nice offer," she laughs. "You going to kick me out if I snore?" she teases. "Thank you. I'll be around after I finish up here."
Rick leaves behind a thick scent of bourbon and… pine? No… that's not right. Daphne bites her lip. "Maybe I'll figure it out later?"
When she's finished, she takes a deep breath at his door. Her mind races, considering what his motives could be. He's probably just drunk and lonely. She opens the door to find he's already asleep.