Chapter Text
Rick was currently tracking Morty's location on his watch and he could not even begin to fathom how his grandson had managed to get so far in such a short amount of time.
Morty had managed to flee nearly five city blocks in less than ten minutes. Rick supposed it was probably easier to run greater distances as a ten year old than as a four year old.
He stopped when Beth suddenly grabbed the back of his labcoat and he looked up to see what she was now pointing at. They were standing outside of an apartment building in a nicer, obviously more bougie area of the Citadel. Every apartment had a balcony and on one of those balcony's was-
"Morty!"
"Hi, moms! Hi Grandpa." Morty was sitting on the edge of a balcony several floors up, happily kicking his legs back and forth as he watched them approach. "Man, you guys took foreeeeeever to find me."
"Morty, honey? I don't want you to fall and get hurt. Can you please come down from there? "
He tapped his chin and let out a loud hum as he pretended to think about it. "No, I don't think I will."
"Stop being a shithead, Morty."
Morty scowled down at him and fearlessly stood up on the balcony ledge, sticking his tongue out at Rick. "You want me? Come and get me, old man."
It was official.
Rick loved toddler Morty, but ten year old Morty was an absolute nightmare and he flipped Morty off at the mention of being old. "Game on, motherfucker. You are screwed when I catch you."
Morty simply laughed at that and formed an 'L' with his thumb and forefinger, holding it in front of his forehead. "Good luck catching me from down there, losers."
"Dad!" Space Beth watched as Morty disappeared back into the apartment building. They were supposed to be bringing him back to the Re-Build-a-Morty, not antagonizing him.
"Relax. He won't get far." Rick scanned the apartment building's schematics and, as far as he could tell, the front door was the only way in and out of this building. An extremely poor design choice in his opinion. As his space daughter approached the front door, he noticed there was fishing line attached to the handle and it ran down the length of the door and disappeared underneath it. Almost like it was connected to- "Woah! S.B, wait!"
He wasn't quick enough to keep her from turning the handle, so he quickly yanked her back and threw his arm out, activating the shield in his watch. A large explosion blew the front door off its hinges and, if he had been even a second slower, they'd have likely been killed by the blast.
Space Beth's eyes were wide as she stared at the now broken front door. "What the fuck was that?!"
Rick knelt down to examine the components of the explosive. It was shoddy work, done by someone with very little experience but a very large amount of enthusiasm.
And Rick only knew one person who fit that criteria.
Morty.
"Your son's handiwork. He reaaaally doesn't want to go back." He cautiously poked his head through the door, scanning the room with his cybernetic eye for any other traps, and he was alarmed to find tripwires at they start of every hallway. "Stay close. He's home alone-ing this shit."
The words had barely left his mouth when the floorboards suddenly splintered under his foot as a bear trap slammed shut around his leg. It didn't do any harm and wouldn't leave any kind of damage, but it was still annoying as shit. "Motherfucker!"
Rick couldn't deny he had found Morty's behavior funny, when he wasn't the one having to deal with it. He'd already seen how psychotic his daughter could get as a kid and he did not want to know if Morty would surpass kid Beth in terms of psychopathy. "MORTY, YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE WHEN I CATCH YOU!"
As soon as his foot was free from the trap, he pulled out a plasma gun and shot at the trip wire in front of the stairs. He didn't bat an eye as a pipe with scissors taped to it swung down from the floor above, but both his daughters let out gasps of shock and horror. Rick simply continued up the staircase, keeping an eye out for any other tripwires or lethal traps.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with him?" Space Beth had heard her father mention plenty of times that she and Domestic Beth had been violent, psychotic kids, but she found it hard to believe they were quite this vicious. Hell, she found it hard to believe Morty could be so vicious.
"Oh, please. It runs in the family. The only reason he didn't initially turn out like this was because he had Jerry as a father and you guys were smart enough to get him on Risperdal until he was a teenager."
Beth found it hard to believe that her husband had such a huge role in Morty turning out to be a normal, non-violent teenager. "So you're saying if I'd raised him on my own, he would have been some sadistic, psycho preteen?"
There was no way to know for sure, but Rick was pretty positive in his hypothesis. "Yes, I was a single parent for a time or two after my Diane and Beth were killed and you were exactly like Morty."
Rick reached the next floor and rounded the corner, only to immediately duck back behind the wall and he held out an arm to keep his daughters from reaching the top of the stairs.
"What's wrong, dad? Is it Morty?" She kept her voice a whisper, not wanting to alert her son if it was him.
"No, it's another Rick."
"Moooorty. Where are you?" The Rick wandered down the hall, clearly not aware he had company based on how loud he was being.
He wasn't sure why exactly other Ricks were after his grandson. Perhaps to try and clone him? After all, Morty production had stopped as soon as Evil Morty destroyed the Citadel during his destruction of the central finite curve.
Rick peeked around the corner and watched as the Rick opened one of the apartment doors, however his counterpart only managed to take one step through the doorway. A bucket fell from the top of the door and the Rick began yelling as something corrosive coated him from head to toe. In less than a minute, he was laying dead on the floor. "Jesus Christ. Where the hell did he find acid?"
"Was that meant for us?!" As much as she wanted to find her son, Beth wasn't entirely sure she wanted to risk her life in the deathtrap Morty had managed to put together.
"Alright, fuck this." Rick scanned the floor above them, looking for a specific heat signature, and he pulled out his portal gun as soon as he found it. He shot a portal beneath their feet and, moments later, they were standing in front of Morty.
The first thing Rick noticed was a number of dead Ricks around the room and he had to wonder if all those traps hadn't been set for him and the Beths after all, but for the rogue Ricks that were apparently after him. His attention shifted to Morty, who had his arms crosed over his chest as he glared up at them.
"Hey, no fair! You fucking cheated!"
Rick scowled at that. "Do you think this is a fucking game, Morty?"
"Yes. It. Is. And I make the rules." Morty waved something in the air at them and it was only then that Rick noticed what exactly Morty was holding.
A detonator.
There were no explosives in the room, at least none that Rick could see, and he had to wonder what exactly Morty had planned. He'd like to believe that Morty was simply bluffing, but that was unlikely given the traps they had already encountered thus far.
"Morty, give me the detonator."
"Or what?" Morty took a step back, holding the device close to his chest.
Rick didn't get a chance to finish his ultimatum. Several explosions went off outside and the building began shaking. "You little shit. Are you trying to fucking kill us all?"
Morty's expression was one of genuine surprise. "That wasn't me."
Rick rushed past Morty to the window and groaned when he saw a group of Ricks far below, watching the building crumble. "Nice job, dummy. You pissed the Ricks off enough that they'd rather kill you than clone you."
"Dad, we need to get out of here." The floor began crumbling beneath them as the building began to collapse. "Morty, come here, please!"
As much fun as he had had leading his moms and grandpa on a wild chase, Morty knew it was time to listen and he stumbled towards the doorways where his moms were waiting. However, the floor fell out from under him and he let out a shriek as he began to fall. "Mom!"
Rick moved quickly, shooting a portal under Morty, and his grandson's scream ended when he fell out of another portal and right into Rick's arms. "Still think Grandpa's a loser?"
Morty clung tightly to him, his heart racing in his chest at his close call. "No way. You're my fucking hero, grandpa."
Rick tried not to let those words go to his head. He was Morty's hero! He leapt across the gap Morty had fallen through and joined his daughters in the hallway. There was no way they'd successfully navigate back down to the first floor and, as much as Rick didn't want to overuse the portal gun, it was their best option right now. He opened one more portal and gestured for his daughters to go, before following them through it.
When they came out of the portal, they were back in the Re-Build-a-Morty. Rick set Morty down, but kept one hand on Morty's shoulder. "Can I trust you not to run away this time?"
Morty had the decency to actually look ashamed and meekly nodded, even following Rick over to the aging device. He could hear his moms let out sighs of relief at that and felt the slightest bit guilty about his behavior.
Rick started making the final adjustments needed to the machine, but froze when he heard Morty mumble something. He turned his head as he continued working, so he could split his attention between it and his grandson. "What'd you say, Junebug?"
"I'm sorry."
When Rick finished, he turned and knelt down in front of Morty, gently gripping his small shoulders. "I know you are. But, if you really want to make it up to me, then get in the aging device."
Morty gave him an unamused look and rolled his eyes at that, but complied and stepped into the machine. "Asshole."
"Takes one to know one, buddy." Rick slid the door shut and started the machine back up. The power thankfully stayed on this time and, after several long minutes, the door slid open one final time.
Rick was excited to see his fourteen year old grandson emerge, however, that feeling of triumph didn't last long. Morty managed to take only one step before collapsing to his knees. Rick was at his side in an instant and checking him over. He could hear both Beths rush closer as well, but they gave him space for the moment, waiting for him to give them the okay to approach.
"Rick?"
It was ridiculous just how happy Rick got, hearing his name come out of Morty's mouth. "You actually remember me?"
Of course, Morty remembered Rick. He wasn't sure why his grandpa would ask that question. Though, now that he thought about it, he had an overwhelming amount of memories from an undetermined amount of days. In fact, it was a little overwhelming. Perhaps, that's why Rick was asking.
"Yeah, I.... I think so. I have so many memories.... it's making my head hurt."
"I can take care of that when we get home." Rick wasn't too surprised at that. Morty had basically gained a decades worth of memories in the span of a week. "Welcome back, Junebug."
~
Morty sat on the countertop in the garage and warily eyed the mindblower Rick held in his hands. As often as the device was misued, even Morty had to agree it was probably best that it be used this time.
He had so many memories from the last week. Rick told him he'd basically lived ten years in the span of a week and, based on all the migraine inducing memories he had, Morty had no trouble believing that.
"Alright, you ready to lose your toddler and preteen memories?"
Morty didn't mean to, but he hesitated and he could see Rick's expression subtlety change.
"What's wrong?"
"Rick, would I.... would I really have been that violent as a kid? Is it genetic or something?" Morty had been sifting through all his memories over the last few hours and he was very disturbed by all the violent things he'd done while they were on the Citadel. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
He'd set up bear traps, acid traps, explosives and that was just the stuff he remembered.
Rick lowered the mindblower as he thought about Morty's question. Beth had asked him something similar. "Honestly, I don't know, Morty."
That was not a comforting answer.
"What do you mean 'I don't know '? How can you not know?"
"Well, you were raised by two parents and, when you were younger, they got you on an antipsychotic to manage the irritability associated with your autism, so that could be why you turned out so normal. In every other dimension, Diane was killed and the Rick left, so Beth's childhood was pretty shitty. I'm not saying that's why she was such a psycho as a kid, but it's very likely the reason."
Morty hadn't thought about it like that. He wouldn't say he had a great childhood. After all, his sister had found him annoying and ignored him, his parents had constantly argued and yelled at each other, and he was relentlessly bullied at school. However, he did have both parents and they were a constant, stable presence in his life.
Morty shuddered to think of how insane he could have turned out. Would Rick still like spending so much time with him if he had ended up so psychotic? He blurted that question out before he could think of a reason not to. "Would you still love me if I was a psychopath?"
Rick had known Morty was going to stress over his ten year old self's behavior. It was such a Morty thing for him to do, but Rick wasn't irritated by it. He'd long since accepted that Morty would likely always overthink and obsess over the small things. "That's a stupid question, Morty. Obviously I'd still love you. My daughters were regular wannabe serial killers growing up and I still love them."
Now that was an answer Morty did find comforting and he couldn't help the big smile he flashed at Rick.
"Okay, any more questions? Or are you ready?"
He couldn't help the anxiety he felt as Rick raised the mindblower once more, but Morty took a deep breath and nodded. There was a flash as Rick pulled the trigger and then Morty's world was plunged into darkness as his eyes rolled back.
When Morty's eyes fluttered open, he was laying down on Rick's workbench and he looked over to see his grandpa sitting in a chair beside him. "What happened? Why am I in the garage?"
Rick didn't bother to hide the mindblower when he was done. Morty always woke up with questions whenever Rick mindblew him and this time was clearly no different. He handed the device to Morty, who predictably glared up at him.
"You used the mindblower again?" Morty didn't even bother trying to recall what exactly had been removed.
"Woah, take it easy, buddy. This time I had your consent to use it. I promise." Those words immediately put Morty at ease and, though he still looked a little suspicious, his anger faded.
"What did you remove anyways?"
Rick was not about to get into details. That would defeat the whole purpose of using the mindblower. But he'd give some vague explanation. "Memories of you being a psychopath."
Morty's face grew pale as he realized Rick was likely referencing his violent tendencies, which means he'd likely lost control again.
"Stop stressing over it. It wasn't that bad, Morty. You didn't hurt any of us."
"Are you sure?" Rick nodded and, while Morty did want to push it, he also knew he didn't truly want to know what terrible things he done. Instead he sent Rick a sly smirk and nodded his head at Rick's portal gun. "Sooooo, you wanna go loot some stores on the Citadel?"
Morty took a step back at the scowl that crossed Rick's face and his grandpa seemed to realize his mistake because he quickly schooled his expression. "Sheesh, I'll take that as a no."
"Fuck that, Morty. We're done with the Citadel. Let's go watch some interdimensional cable."