"Alright here we go!" Rick exclaimed with a devilish grin as he backed the ship out of the garage slowly. Morty couldn't help but laugh loudly at Rick's excitement as the ship ever so slowly inched out of the garage. "Well if this is any indication of how this trip is gonna go, I might just take the day off." He joked and Rick frowned at him. "Wha-what do you-you want from me Morty. She's an o-old ship okay." He said defensively but it only served to make Morty laugh harder. "She?" he asked, wiping away a laughter driven tear.

"Yes, sheee Morty." He replied without skipping a beat. About ten minutes later they were up in the air and headed into space. "Well "she" is faster in the sky at least." Morty said after a while and Rick grinned at him. "Da-damn right." He agreed. "So, what are we doing?" Morty asked as he knew nothing about what was planned today. Rick had dragged him out of bed at 7am to go on an "adventure" and he hadn't had time to ask what they were doing as he packed a bag. The only info Rick had given him was that he would need a couple changes of clothes so he could guess they might be out for a while.

"I'm building something and I need a crystal from the planet, Dasacan as well as a few other things. The trip might take some time because I haven't quite tracked down all the parts yet." He explained and Morty simply nodded. "Is this gonna be a level 3 trip or more like a level 10?" he asked, referring to the scale of danger they had come up with long ago. Rick seemed to contemplate this for a moment and then responded, "Level 2."

"Level 2 my fucking ass!" Morty shouted above the sound of gunshot's from where he hid behind the counter at a bar. Rick was crouched a few feet away under the same bar. Occasionally, he jumped up and fired off a few shots of his own from the laser gun he always kept in the side pocket of his coat. "Okay! Maybe it's more of a level 3!" He shouted back as he shot an alien who looked half human, half boar through the head. "Level 3-!" Morty shouted in disbelief but was stopped short by a bottle of vodka exploding above his head and shattering all over him. A particularly big shard struck his cheek and left a thin line of blood behind.

"Fuck!" he yelped holding a hand to his cheek he looked back over at Rick. "You got a plan!" He yelled just as an alien jumped over the side of the bar only to be shot dead at Rick's feet. "Kinda making it up as I go along Morty!" he called back. Morty saw his opportunity and slid forward to grab the alien's gun. It was weirdly light and bright blue but he shrugged and jumped up to fire a few shots before ducking back down as a bullet flew by his left side, grazing his shoulder. Shit! I am not as good at this is Rick is. He thought to himself. From what he could tell from his quick time above, there were about three aliens left. Rick fired off another two shot's and Morty heard the resounding squeal's of pain as two of the aliens went down.

"Morty! To your left, second booth down!" Rick called out. He would have gotten the alien himself but his laser gun was currently cooling down and couldn't be fired yet. Morty nodded at him and waited till he heard a moment of silence to jump up. He wasn't prepared of course for the last alien to be standing right in front of the bar with his gun aimed directly at Morty's head.

Morty froze and prepared for impact but felt nothing. "Drop your weapon boy." The alien said in a deep garbled voice. Morty didn't take his eye's off him as he slowly lowered his gun. "Now tell your master to hand over the crystal." He continued and Morty glanced at Rick who was still ducked beneath the counter with a stricken look on his face that Morty rarely saw. Morty glanced back up at the alien and smirked before ducking and lashing out to knock the gun out of the alien's hand. "Morty!" Rick screeched from the floor. The gun fired off and bullets hit the wall behind his head. Before the alien could recuperate from his shock, Morty was hopping the counter and slamming a fist into the side of his face. Stunned for a moment, the alien stumbled back but it wasn't enough to knock him out and soon he was stumbling back forward and connecting a kick to the side of Morty's ribs. He tried to block the hit the best that he could, but it still managed to knock him to the ground and he gasped as the air was knocked out of him.

Rick took the chance while the alien was distracted to jump up and fire his laser gun. It hit the alien between the eyes and Morty watched as his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor. Before he could even get his breath back, Rick was crouching over him with a new look of fury on his face that Morty had never seen before. "What the absolute fuck did you think you were doing?!" He shouted angrily. Morty gasped a few more times before slowly answering in a hoarse voice. "Saving…your…ass…" He huffed back and then groaned loudly as he pulled himself up into a sitting position with his hand on his ribs. Rick snarled in anger and grabbed Morty by the collar of his shirt to yank him forwards.

"You could have died!" He growled but Morty simply starred at him without answering. After a few terse moments filled with the quiet sound of Morty wheezing and Rick breathing heavily from his own anger, he released Morty and let him fall back against booth behind him. "Get up. We need to get moving before more of them come." He said quietly and Morty simply grunted as he pushed himself off the floor.

Rick knew that he was being a bit harsh as they trudged their way back to the ship. He could hear Morty wheezing a few feet behind him as they walked and when they finally got to the ship, he didn't offer to help the boy into the passenger seat. He was too enraged to even look at him. All he could think of was how for a moment, he had almost lost Morty again and he hated that feeling. He hated the fear and panic that had frozen him to the spot when he saw the gun pointed straight at his head. He hated that it had transferred him back to that moment a year ago where a different alien had pointed a gun at Morty and he knew that if he opened his mouth he would only say something he would regret. So he stayed quiet but it seemed that Morty had a different idea.

As Rick landed the ship in front of the cabin they would be staying at on a more rural part of Dasacan, Morty decided to push his luck. "Why are you still so mad?" he asked and Rick gripped the steering wheel tightly in his fists before opening his door and sliding out of the ship. He ignored Morty as he made his way to the front door of the cabin and unlocked it. A few seconds later, Morty stumbled in after him. "Rick!" he called and the genius tried his best to ignore him once again. Morty huffed out a breath in aggravation and then carried on.

"Rick it wasn't even a big deal! Were fine now right-." He started but was cut off by Rick whipping around to face him. "It wasn't even a big deal?!" he quoted angrily, and Morty realized he may have pushed the man a little too far but there was no going back now. "Morty you piece of shit! You almost died!" He shouted and Morty tried his best to hold his tongue. "What would I have done then huh? Did you- you fucking think of th-that?" Rick continued and Morty could feel his own anger and desperation begin to rise out of his control. "No you-you didn't think about it because you don't think! Do you Mort-."

"Why does it matter if I die Rick?!" he suddenly yelled. Rick froze and starred at him in shock. "Wh-why does it even matter?" he continued on. Rick felt his heart drop to his stomach and his rage from earlier completely dissipated. "Dad would barely care, Mom and Summer would get over it! And you! You don't even care at all! All-All you care about is hav-having me as your fucking assistant! Doin- doing all this dangerous shit and the-then getting mad when I fu-fuck up!" Morty found that once he had said it, he was unable to stop. All the anger and self-hate from the past couple months was flowing out of his mouth and he was powerless to its whims. So powerless in fact, that he didn't notice the tears flowing down his face.

"N-nothing matters Rick! No-Nothing matters even wh-when you try your hardest! It doesn't matter- I don't matter-." Morty was cut off suddenly, when Rick reached forward and smacked him across the face but he didn't have time to think about it because Rick followed it up by crushing their lips together.