It had been two weeks since the two ran into Richard. Neither spoke of him since that day. Morty had decided quickly he would never use the serum, but he didn't know what to do with it. If he attempted to throw it out, there was a chance Rick might see it. Rick already hated Richard and was barely talking to Morty since that day. If he found out about the serum, he knew it would mean no more adventures.
Morty thought about just drinking it himself and then going to bed until it wore off, but he was too much of a coward. Maybe he could pour it down the drain. Then that brought up what to do with the vial itself. Rick was always home and when he left, he took Morty with him.
Finally, he figured out what to do while in math class. He would pour the liquid down the bathroom sink then bury the vial in the backyard. It was flawless. They had a dog so he could easily say the dog must have buried something.
When Morty got home, he ran up to his room about to open his sock drawer when he heard a loud burp behind him. Morty turned around in a panic to see Rick standing at the doorway. "C-c-come with me Morty."
"But I have school work and..."
"Come on. I need to see someone." Rick walked off. He had been short with Morty for awhile now. Morty closed the sock drawer following behind Rick.
The two got into the ship and started their trip to wherever Rick wanted to go.
Word spread quicker than wild fire about Morty's ability to hide Rick. Before they knew it, all Ricks had Mortys. The citadel was up and running. The council came back into power. However, along with several scientists being able to work together again came more experiments. With the Ricks knowing all they had to about the universe, they were focusing their attention on what a Morty can do for them. The theories and testing were becoming so numerous, every Rick had a focus on what Mortys could do. What made them special?
Morty was looking out the window at the open space they were flying through. He looked up when the ship came to a stop. "Why are we stopping at the citadel?" Morty asked.
"I have to grab something." Rick said as he landed the ship. Rick had been barely talking to Morty and when he did, they were always quick quips to answer Morty's questions. Morty hadn't been taken out of school, he barely saw space, he just existed. To be honest while the first few days were nice, he found life to be boring without the constant adventures.
The two were walking down the hall when his Rick stopped another who was standing around, "Hey A-143, you have the thing?"
"Yeah, I've been waiting for you." The Rick said. Morty watched as Rick A-143 looked over his shoulder then walked up close to his Rick whispering, "He's not coming, right?"
"Morty go walk around, I'll find you when I'm done." Rick said.
Morty sighed and started to walk down the hall. Everything was normal as far as he could tell. Ricks and Mortys hanging around, talking with each other. His Rick didn't come often, only when he needed something or the citadel needed something from him. He started down a long hallway that he never noticed before. Due to Morty being one of the first Mortys discovered, he knew the citadel pretty well. This hallway seemed darker and less welcoming than the other halls. There were closed doors on each side of the hallway, each held a sign that read 'Keep Out.'
Morty walked by an open door, he stopped peering into it. The room was so dark, he couldn't tell what was inside.
A Morty came running out in just his boxers. His eyes wide, his skin bruised and parts of him still appearing to be bleeding. "You have to help me!" the Morty yelled with wide eyes, grabbing onto his shirt.
"What happened?" Morty asked trying to calm the other Morty down.
"They're nuts. Don't trust them. Don't trust anyone!"
"Hault!" A Rick yelled running down the halls, his gun pointed at the two Mortys. Another Rick ran from the open door, gun also drawn.
"Don't let them take me back!" the Morty pushed him toward the Rick running down the hall. Morty put his hands up, "I…I…just want to go back to my family! I want to go back to my mom and dad!"
"You're family?" Morty repeated trying to turn around to see the Morty cowering behind him.
The Morty looked up at him, grabbing his shirt as if he thought that would make Morty listen better, "I was with Rick when he was killed and they found me! I want to go back to mom and dad!"
Morty was trying to figure out what was going on.
"To the side now." The Rick demanded as more Ricks ran up behind him.
Morty complied, standing up against the wall. Then the Ricks grabbed the Morty in the boxers, dragging him back to the room as he screamed for them to stop. He looked through the doorway at Morty screaming, "Please! Go get help! Remember! Ricks don't care about Mortys!" the Morty yelled. "I want to go back! My dimension is B…" The door closed.
One of the Ricks stood behind Morty, putting a hand on Morty's shoulder, "Ignore him, he's gone nuts since he watched his Rick die. Poor Rickless bastard, some of them just can't handle the stress and break down. He doesn't understand, we can't bring him back to his dimension in the state he's in. He would just be a threat to his family." Then the Rick walked off, not waiting for a response.
He didn't know how long he waited when he heard Rick, "Morty, th-there you are."
Morty still stared at the door.
"Morty lets go, I got what I needed."
His hand went for the knob, attempting to turn it. It was locked. Rick's hand went over his as if to say stop.
"What are you doing Morty? It's time to go." Morty heard Rick say.
"Well…I…I was just curious about…" He stopped talking. What could he say? Why was that Morty screaming? Why did they keep him locked up?
"Let's leave this hallway. Rick's only down here, read the signs."
Morty looked up where Rick pointed, surely a sign was hung up on the walls that read, 'RICKS ONLY.'
"What's down here?"
"Lost and found I think, maybe storage." Rick said quickly, "Now let's go."
"We can't leave yet. I saw a Morty run out of that room Rick! He was scared. He was bleeding. He was begging me for help."
"It's fine Morty." Rick said dismissively.
"We need to help him. He said he watched his Rick die and..."
"No we don't!" Rick suddenly screamed. "If a Morty loses his Rick, that's on him. It has nothing to do with you or me."
"What?! How can you say that?" Morty screamed back.
Rick grabbed Morty's arm forcing him out of the hall.
Morty finally was let go, "Rick we can't just leave him here. It looked like they were torturing him."
"It doesn't matter Morty! That's between him and them. If his Rick isn't here to save him, that's not our problem."
"It IS OUR PROBLEM!" Morty yelled making many turn to stare at the two.
Rick glowered, "Morty, keep it down." Rick looked up at two Ricks that were close to the two, "Keep walking ya nosy bastards!" Everyone looked away.
"What are they doing back there?"
"Look Morty, let me reason with you." Rick knelt down so the two could see eye to eye, talking to him as if talking to a three year old. "There are a million different universes and each has a different timeline. We are insignificant specks of dust. We are nothing in the grand scheme. But in every timeline every Rick seems to screw up. You know Mortys hide a Rick's brainwaves. You remember that right? You were there. So we use Mortys for each of us. However in a big place like this, we can't hide everyone. So a select few Mortys who don't have a Rick are chosen to hide everyone here."
"So they are just kept in a room?"
"Yeah, they are just kept in a room. A big group of Mortys just sitting around in a room."
"So they aren't hurt or anything?"
"Well they are kinda…" Rick started mumbling.
"What was that?"
"It's a science thing Morty, I wouldn't expect your tiny brain to get it."
"Don't you care at all if they are being hurt?"
"Not my problem."
"Do you care about me Rick?"
"What kind of dumb asinine question is that?"
"You heard me Rick, do you care about me?"
"Yeah, sure of course. Let's just go." Rick grabbed Morty's arm and dragged him to the ship. "I don't have time for this sudden need for attention Morty. I came here for something, I got it, now lets go."
Morty walked in on his side sitting down in the seat. He buckled himself in, but stayed silent. Rick walked in on his side, taking a swig from his flask then started driving. Morty glared at him.
"You can look away for two seconds, I'm not going anywhere. Sheesh. The saying if looks could kill is about spot on right now." Rick spat after several minutes of Morty staring.
Morty turned away, forcing himself to look out the window.
Once they were home, Morty left Rick in the garage. That night was uneventful. Rick never came out of the garage when Beth called for supper. After dinner she reminded Morty that both her and Jerry would be out at a friends party until late at night and Rick would be in charge. As soon as Beth and Jerry drove off, Summer walked down the street, Morty assumed to go see a boyfriend. He stayed up for a little watching television until he yawned. Then Morty went upstairs to bed. He had a hard time sleeping as he tossed and turned, thinking of that Morty. Did he really just go crazy or were they hurting him. Finally he started to feel his eyes get heavy.
Morty was sleeping when he was suddenly lifted up by the shirt. Morty panicked as he opened his eyes to see Rick in front of him. The smell of alcohol fuming off his breath. "Rick? What the…"
"What were you going to do with it?" Rick yelled.
"Do what?" Morty asked attempting to get out of Rick's grasp.
"You were going to drug me! Weren't you? You piece of shit? I knew it was a drug and I got it checked today and I was right!" Rick yelled at him.
"No, I…what are you talking about?"
Rick held up the vial from Morty's sock drawer.
"How long have you had that?" Morty asked.
"Of all the things, I can't believe you thought you'd hide it in your sock drawer! I mean that's the first place people look when they know you're hiding something!"
"Rick you're scaring me."
"I'm scaring you? Good you little shit!" Rick held up a knife, "I'm not done with you yet! Keep trying all this shit, you'll end up like that one you saw at the citadel. You want that Morty?" Rick shook Morty by the shoulders as he screamed at him, "You want that you shit? You think I care about you? You think I want anything to do with you? I only use you to hide me!"
Morty attempted to move away, his grandfather's grasp too strong. "Rick your drunk, you have to go lay down."
"I…I'm going to…" Rick belched as spittle fell onto Morty's face. Suddenly Rick passed out on top of Morty, snoring. Morty struggled for several minutes until he was freed from under Rick. He quickly grabbed the knife from Rick's hand throwing it across the room. Morty sat against the wall starring at his grandfather. After he caught his breath, he felt around Rick looking for the vial. His hand touched the flask in Rick's pocket. How long was Rick stewing on this vial? Morty had no intention of using it on him.
Morty picked up the vial, it was half empty. Did Rick drink it? What did he do with it? Morty was still shaken as he held the vial in his hand. He then grabbed Rick's flask twisting the cap, he took a large swig expecting to cough on the harsh alcohol taste, instead it went down sweetly. Morty lifted the flask to his nose smelling it. It had the alcohol smell Morty was expecting. Morty took another sip. It was odd, it had the alcohol smell, but it tasted sweet. Morty let out a loud belch that he couldn't hold back.
Morty couldn't explain what was going on, his mind never felt clearer. He was pretty sure he was smarter. He opened a school textbook, it was math. He looked at an example he found halfway through the textbook. He could do the whole equation in his head. Morty looked over at Rick, was Rick a normal person? Was it the stuff in this flask that made him suddenly superior. Morty was looking at everything all wrong. Rick wanted to play like he was the smart one, Morty could play that too. He walked down to the garage grabbing rope. He was going to get answers.
Rick woke up feeling like he was hit by a freight train. It wasn't much different than he normally was. He picked his arm up to rub his face when he realized it was tied to a bed.
"Finally woke up?"
"Morty? What's going on?" Rick asked. He attempted to move each limb feeling the rope get tighter when he pulled.
"You like? I learned how to tie a knot where when you pull it gets tighter. It's called a slip knot. I also know how to make a noose in case that's necessary. They used them a lot during the Salem Witch Trials."
Rick looked over at Morty who was slouched in his desk chair. Then his eyes looked down at the flask in Morty's hands.
"My flask? When did you get it?"
Morty smiled, "It's empty. Where do you have the refill?"
"Morty, let me go and give me back my flask!" Rick yelled.
Morty stood up stumbling as he did so. "Where is there more of this?" He asked.
"Morty, when I get out of here, I'm going to make you wish you were never born you asswipe."
"Where is there more? Tell more I'll cut your balls off!"
Rick stared him in the eyes, "You wouldn't dare."
Morty had to think this through, his attempt to get information wasn't working…he stuck his hand in his pocket feeling the vial.
He knew what he had to do. He climbed onto his bed, attempting to force Rick's mouth open, "What the fuck Morty?" Rick yelled as he moved his head around, "Stop!"
Morty didn't say anything as he opened the vial with one hand forcing the liquid into his mouth. Rick attempted to spit it up as Morty forced his jaw closed. The blue liquid slowly spewing through Rick's closed lip. Morty covered Rick's mouth and nose.
"Swallow it if you want to breath." Morty said.
Realizing Morty won, Rick swallowed down the liquid. As soon as he did, Morty moved his hands.
"There! You happy you little shit?" Rick yelled as soon as Morty let him go.
Morty knew he was in trouble now. He had gone too far. He backed away from his grandfather who was struggling against the ropes.
"When I'm free you're going to pay!" Rick yelled.
Morty had gone this far, he couldn't turn back. "How so?" he asked worriedly.
"I'll probably just scream at you."
The serum had worked, he told the truth.
"Morty, let me go now. You won't like any answers I give you."
"What do you put in the flask?"
"A mix of mega seed extract and a few chemicals to counter the loss of bodily functions."
"What does it do?"
"Increases your brainwave length and allows you to retain information better while still giving you some loss in motor skills. It all around makes you smarter."
"Weren't you smarter before this?"
"Yes, But this makes me so much smarter. I can think faster with it even while drinking."
"Where's the extra?"
"In my safe. I'll just say it because it will be your next question. My safe number is 9205. Go ahead you little shit go get it. You won."
"Actually my next question was going to be, where do you keep the recipe?"
"In the safe."
Morty looked down at the flask, knowing he didn't want to ask the next question, "The Morty back at the citadel, what were they doing to him?"
"Torturing him"
Morty took a deep breath, "Why?"
"A Morty in pain can hide our brain waves so much better. We can congregate in a large group and no one will be the wiser. The more Mortys in pain you have, the better a shield you have."
"Last question Rick." Morty paused looking down at the flask, "Do you care about me at all as a person? I'm talking really care, not just because I can hide your brain waves."
"No. Almost no Ricks care about Mortys. You would be hard pressed to find a Rick that did care."
Morty stared at the flask in his right hand, empty vial in the other. Was the knowledge of all that worth what he did? He felt warm tears in his eyes, he looked away so Rick wouldn't see them.
"Now you're going to cry? You make me tell you the truth and then your going to cry?" rick jeered him on. "Look at yourself, no one will ever want you. Anyone you meet will just use you for their own needs."
"Shut up Rick." Morty said as a tear fell from his eye.
"The truth hurts! Don't it Morty! The truth is the worst thing you can ever tell yourself."
Morty heard enough, he ran out of the room as Rick was yelling behind him, "The truth will always hurt Morty. Don't you ever forget that!"
Morty ran down the stairs into the garage. He looked around the room until he found the safe. He opened it up grabbing a clear bottle and an index card. He stared at the index card which had a recipe on it. He was going to prove to Rick that he could be more than a stupid shield.
He was more than Rick!
He would rise above Rick, some Mortys had to be smart, there was a first for everything!
Soooo, I was away for a long time! and I know that!
Let me explain, I got engaged to my partner last year and then I had to get a second job to be able to plan and pay for my wedding. Then life kept coming up. I hope you guys can forgive me!
You know how much I love reviews.