Summer Smith tried not to move.
Her arms were stiff, every twinge caused the burning to get worse. Her torso and chest were also inflamed by the damage caused by having her concern over Morty override her own self preservation instincts. Not following standard operating procedure.
But she wouldn't call out.
She knew. Mom didn't say, but she KNEW that they were nearly out of 'just in case' equipment and medicine. Despite the smiles, the quiet assurances, it was a bit too obvious.
And Morty made her look healthy due to how damaged he was.
A missing leg was the LEAST of his issues. Bone was visible in several areas. Warped and twisted flesh on one arm, the other just twitching.
And this was AFTER most of the stabilization fluid had been used on him.
In comparison, the odd colors of her skin and the constant pain weren't worth worrying about.
Where was Grandpa? Morty had said SOMETHING about… An Ambush or something. Or maybe something not activating right? He had been barely coherent as it was, and as hurt as her actions caused her to be she couldn't regret catching him before he collapsed to the floor.
Though she did wish this pain would go away. Badly.
But Grandpa would fix it. Mom said, he always could fix it. Could fix anything! So… So she would just be strong, and wait, and make sure the last of the pain medication and stabilization fluids went to Morty.
Because he would fix her later. As long as he got home in time to fix Morty, she could wait.
She… She wasn't able to stop crying though. Maybe the evidence of her emotions would be hard to see, with her face damaged like this. And at least Morty was in a somewhat stable coma now, so he… He would get better.
The tears certainly made it hard to see mom coming in. "I… I think Morty is doing better Mom! We…" Stupid lungs, don't do that. "We just gotta hold on a bit more and…"
The blur took a step towards her. "Hush, sweetie. Grandpa's going to make it alright. I got some stuff right here that will help you sleep and I'll fix you right up. Alright?"
Her hearing wasn't working quite right either apparently, but if Mom said she had more of Grandpa's crazy science stuff, that was just like a miracle to her right now! "Kay. Mom, I was… I held on, didn't I?"
A warm hand gently patted her head, even as she saw the injection being applied. It was into part of her body that had lost feeling hours ago… And the relief was nearly enough to break her down into sobs. "You did great, sweetie. Grandpa's going to fix everything."
Love you, Mom. "G'night."
Her ears might not work right, but Mom's humming sounded soothing anyway.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah finished the tune as the hurt child fell into slumber… And sighed. "Thank me that Rick left some of that stabilization fluid at least." Though that stuff was intended for keeping drinks stable, it ALSO was a good first aid option.
Beth was standing near the doorway trying to be defensive while she kept an eye open. "So… Not my dad? Though the other Ricks Dad would bring home for visits were a bit more masculine by comparison."
She waved it off. "Complicated. All of it is complicated. Basically, you know about our dimensional travels and stuff?"
A nod. Sarah waved a green portal in the air, pulling a pair of medical pods from the Warehouse and installing them in the corner of the room. These ones were redesigned to be integrated with easy to apply Plasmids, serums, and Tonics, since this Jump didn't reject those. Thank goodness.
Lifting her damaged granddaughter carefully using her mind, she levitated the hurt girl into the pod that rapidly filled with medical fluid. "Well, you know we didn't take it well when… An event happened in the past?"
Beth winced. "Mom."
And that made HER wince. "Right. Well, all the places we go are connected to similar realities where some things are in common… But there is still an infinite amount of us."
She activated the medical pod and bubbles began ensuring proper aeration as the miniature thorium generator orb began ramping up to full power. The software would ensure only proper voltage and amperage were sent through to the devices as needed.
Next! To Morty. "Those of us who lost our loved ones, depending on how we reacted to those emotions, handled it differently. Your Rick was one of the many who wanted what was lost, and was willing to come home and spend time with everyone."
Beth followed her to the second isolation ward, frowning. "Then why did my Dad wait so long before coming home?"
Sarah's response was lost as she entered the second medical room and paused. "Oh. Damn, Morty, you really took a hit or two this time. Right, let's ensure he stays asleep and then get him fixed up." Another sleep serum dose and she levitated him towards the other room.
She glanced at her little girl, following them both. "You know your Dad thinks differently than most people, right?"
Her daughter snorted. "Yeah Dad… Uh." A glance at her well fitted suit. And 'assets'. "Mom?"
Sarah grinned, though that stung a little. "I may be a woman, but I was always…" No. No she wasn't. "Well, you'll always be Daddy's little girl. From a different reality, reborn as a clone, changed into a cat person or living a life of crime or heroism, you'll always be our little girl."
She seemed to relax somewhat. "But not always the same one?"
Moving Morty to the other pod, she nodded. "Not sure what happened to the Dad that was lucky enough to have you born. Maybe the same one recovered from our emotional downward fall to realize how lucky he was to still have you and came home. Maybe he passed away or got lost, and another of us stepped up to the plate to make sure you were taken care of."
Maybe some bastard Rick stole the DNA of his loved ones from happier families and tried to rebuild it all here. Maybe one killed the existing Rick, or heavily injured him, and all this mess was caused by revenge. Too many possibilities.
She began programming in the treatment options. Her new talents in robotics allowed easy inclusion of mechanical applicator limbs inside each Healing Pod, along with a few other schematic modifications. "However, I found all of you by searching for any family of mine that was in danger without a Rick to save them. The specific father you knew recently has… Well, it's hard to know how permanent the end of any of us would be. But it's best to treat him as having moved on."
Hopefully that Rick was dead. Because SOME Ricks would see the mess of this planet and just take another swig and LEAVE. Find a replacement family and forget this one. Fuckers.
Beth took a hesitant breath. "The children?"
Sarah pulled up some projected displays. "Both will be fine. Summer is the easiest, it is mostly biological damage." And her Jump Document purchases made that super trivial. "I won't even need to make her a new body! Just give her some medication to enhance herself conceptually, remove the damaged material, and have her regenerate to full health. Morty will take longer, but he won't hurt during his treatment sessions at least."
Beth moved closer as she… Oh, she could actually read those displays?
Huh. Right, Sarah hadn't bought the 'Genius' purchase that went with Rick's background option.
Thus the Jumper was only relying on Bioshock's scientist's background information, all the stolen data from Shinra, the new massive data vault provided by the engineering and bioengineering background information, and her centuries of survival experience and self medication attempts. And some of the local Jump's innate insanity that was part and parcel of being a Rick.
Sheesh, and normal Ricks could do stuff MORE insane than this while high, drunk, and partially unconscious. At a level fundamentally apart and beyond what this mess was already!
Thank GOODNESS Sarah hadn't gone for that perk, it was MUCH better for her sanity to only be beyond normally smart with perfect memory and the ability to make 'leaps of logic' and cheat with 'Research'.
Plus, it clearly let her document things down to the level that a STANDARD genius could follow, if Beth was able to read this much and follow along. Her baby was so smart!
Her daughter pointed at some of the Tonics. "And what do these do?"
Hmm? "Right, see the very first one, 'Enhance Self'? It is a psionic fluid that forces any changes to the body to be done in a way that conforms to the CONCEPT of who you are. No cancer, no odd mutations, anything that changes the patient can be refocused and redirected by this Tonic to ensure it only makes you MORE of what you are at the most basic level."
The list had side windows pop up for convenience. "Obviously as the children recover, I can remove damaged tissue and allow the raw healing serums and regeneration serums to work with 'Enhance Self' on its own. It will restore and enhance the parts most important for the health, safety, and happiness of both kids first, allowing me to more easily remove the unrecoverable parts and allow more healing."
Sarah glanced down the list. "Those you pointed at will ensure they stay clean more easily, have fewer chipped nails or split hair ends, and be able to resist puncture or slashing wounds and impacts with drastically lower tissue damage or bone fractures… Some basic preventative measures."
Beth lit up as she kept examining the data. "This… This is amazing mom!"
She winced HARD. Diane. "Just… Just call me Dad. My memories of the family come from the male versions of ourselves. Even if I am a woman now, I still consider myself your father. Just… A female version of him." She… She could do this. "Di… Diane will always be your mother."
The room got a bit quiet after that.
Beth eventually looked away from the data and the visibly recovering forms of her children. "Memories?"
Sarah sighed. "You know that your Dad might not always understand… Less technical concepts? Or refuse to acknowledge some that he feels don't apply to him?"
Her confusion was adorable. The Jumper smirked. "Like mercy or ethics."
Beth winced. "Ah. Yeah, no I understand."
Fair enough. "Well, one of us decided to make a cloned decoy copy of our family. The idea was that if some other Rick or an unrelated enemy tried to attack them, the decoys could act as a warning system."
Though the biggest danger to any Rick tends to be OTHER Ricks. It wouldn't surprise Sarah at ALL if the reason so many Rick and Morty pairs existed was due to Morty's ability to hide Rick from sensors preventing OTHER Ricks from being… Too Rickish. An unnatural selection, as it were.
Her daughter blinked… And winced. "Yeah, I… I was less than thrilled when I found out I had been cloned. Though Space Beth turned out to be pretty kick ass if I do say so myself."
ALL her daughters were kick ass! "Well, a Rick was clearly worried that it might cause even worse issues. So he made an experiment. Guy set up a custom dimension, had lots of us make clones of our families, and then forced us to hunt each other down to both test the protocols AND see how we recovered and rebuilt our own decoys after a near wipeout."
Sarah focused on Morty in the pod, ignoring Beth's shock. "Not all the decoy families worked out right. The more decoys that made decoys, with each clone that made clones… Well, you know your Dad can get lazy. Mistakes from lack of care. It certainly didn't help that the experiment was designed to restrict our minds, limit our supplies, and ensure compliance."
The image of the dead flesh in little Beth's cloning chamber. "I… My cloned family didn't survive. And the body I had at the time was clearly so beyond the common Rick form, and my mind so damaged, that I couldn't quite fall into line as programing required."
The days of trying to recover. "Improving yourself was forbidden. Escape was forbidden. Improving tools for projects was capped beyond certain levels of advancement. Healing yourself or others was banned. And… Well."
A warm hand on her shoulder was MORE than welcomed. "Yeah. I got out, you know your Dad can do near anything! But… Well, I'm less Rick than any Ricks you met before. I even go by Sarah D. Sanchez the First now! And I'm still super awesome and cool, honest! But, Uh. You can always call me…" No, she couldn't say it. "I mean, You'll always be my little girl."
The hand turned into a hug from behind. "You came when I needed you Dad. That's more than enough."
The warm moment was a bit ruined by the snort though. "Also, you doing magic and being sober was sort of a big hint SOMETHING was going on. And the being a woman thing, that somehow stood out more than that time you were an onion."
Sarah chuckled. "My memories had Rick become a pickle. Also, not magic. It's just more psionic bullshit. Magic reacts badly in this series of dimensions. Almost anything magical you find out about or see is basically psionic trickery… Hell, some of the more odd technology taps into the same bucket of fun."
Beth blinked. "What, so I could do it too?"
She hummed. "I'm not going to use any Plasmids or Tonics on you, or offer any magic-like additional benefits to the kids, until you can see that they will be alright first. That I'm actually helping."
Sarah blinked at a beeping and moved over to Morty's pod readout. "Ah, clone instability. Easy enough to fix, but I'm glad I caught this early."
Beth paused… And frowned. "That's right! What the hell is a 'Voucher for a Replacement Morty'?"
...Hoo boy. "Let's check the lab first before I answer, there are so MANY Ricks out there I have no clue what specifically he did or didn't do until I access the logs. I know that some of my alternate selves used clone body backups for emergency transfer, used as a safe healing method."
She swore to Adam, if this Rick was one of those fuckers that kept killing and replacing his Morty out of negligence she was going to scream! This emotional shit was hard enough without THAT mess on top!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
A flicker near the garage door blinked as Beth waved at it. "I couldn't get in, and I was getting pretty desperate."
The interface activated. "User: Daddy's Little Girl: Detected! Warning! Administrative Rick is no longer active. To gain Administrative Control: Please enter or state the passphrase!"
Her Dad, now apparently 'Sarah', sighed. "Damn it… 'Shut the fuck up and let me in already.'"
Beth blinked. "What?"
The door hologram flashed green. "Passphrase: Accepted! Welcome home, Rick!"
Sarah waved it off. "Designation altered to 'Sarah', provide admin access to the following module." A green portal again formed out of nowhere, no gun required, and a tiny shining ball fell into her Dad's hand.
Beth frowned. "Wait, what!?"
Her Dad pulled her into the room even as the lab coat wearing woman absently inserted the orb into some hidden panel behind the washer. "Basically all Ricks are overconfident, lazy, and have huge egos. Most of the security WASN'T in the door OR the system, most of it is based on automated identification systems. You could have opened the door at any time despite security, but it would put all our stuff into lockdown to keep you safe."
Well that… It didn't make her feel great, but at least knowing she hadn't been kept from helping her children due to not testing out if the garage door was even locked made her feel better. Not knowing one way or the other helped her hold out a bit longer too, sort of.
She watched in numbed amazement as the room unfolded. And unfolded. And unfolded.
Hidden shelves, covered tunnels, disguised chambers, ladders, stairs, passages, levers, buttons, chains, tubes, more and more of the Lab seemed to unfold itself.
Her Dad glared at the mess. "Sigh, how random. No wonder I can never find my shit when I need it."
A hand held out.
"[[
Harvest.]]"
And everything flashed green and vanished.
Sarah didn't even pause. "Garage! Continue unlocking resource layout seven through cappa, reset each configuration after collection."
The garage pulsed. "Yes, Sarah."
Beth blinked. "What?"
The woman waved her off. "Not actually alive, it is a near sapient intelligence. Most Ricks make lots of these to keep us company during the darker times, or when we are separated from our remaining loved ones. Hell, most of our vehicles can actually reach sapient levels of thought if we aren't cautious."
Beth felt more bemused than anything as her Dad gently shifted her to one side allowing a wall of what seemed to be human butt guns to unfold from the floor. "What… What IS all this stuff?"
Her dad pointed. "This layout is for the more random weaponry that we personally find humorous, or that managed to make one of our Beths laugh in the past. The various Rick organizations catalogue the mess and include it with most of the Garage Lab default configuration installation cubes."
Huh. "How do we find out about my son? Check the logs or whatever."
Sarah pointed back at the closed wall panel. "I have a personal system outside of near anywhere and that orb from earlier is connected from my personal stuff to this house and the defenses now through the lab. I'm extracting all the data and preparing for a new home construction project as we speak."
Beth blinked. "New home? No, later. What did you find out?"
More of that interactive display stuff showed up, to her hidden joy. This was SO MUCH more understandable and handy than most of Dad's random stuff!
Sarah pointed. "Your Morty IS the same one from this reality, but over time most of his body had been replaced with cloned material. Some of the more risky and esoteric damage can require stuff like that to help fully recover. It's BECAUSE your Rick didn't want to just replace your son that he didn't have one of those vouchers on file."
Beth was already digging into the data. It was more than just healing, it seemed some of those 'enhancements' Dad mentioned required modified body parts and some subtle reinforcement of bones and organs. A tense knot of concern began to unravel inside. "Good."
She would have loved her boy regardless, but the idea that one of her children had died or vanished or been left somewhere? That she wouldn't even KNOW, to be allowed to grieve? "I NEED something like this. A way to keep in contact with the kids, with YOU, and a way to get off world if something crazy like this happens again and no one else is nearby."
Her Dad didn't even shrug before a glittering vial filled with an odd liquid came out of a small green portal. "If you want to use my technology you need a more stable psionic aura. After we make sure the grandkids are alright you will drink this, and I will design a mechanical tech suite for networking and hive mind synching."
Beth was eyeing the warm vial in fascination before realising she had even picked it up. "What is it?"
Another data screen. "That is the non-injective form of 'Enhance Self'. The quality of the Tonic is too high to not use when allowed by the current reality, and it will let you better connect to my hardware while also helping you resist corruption, mental control, and even hacking attempts."
She blinked at her Dad as the scientist continued to empty out the garage. Heh, maybe the family could actually park a car here someday.
Looking at the vial, she shrugged. This was FAR less risky than normal stuff her Dad did, and honestly having a sober father was a fairly unique experience so far. Not like waiting would actually prove anything, if she didn't trust this version of Dad she wouldn't have allowed them near her kids.
Beth blinked after she drank deep. Hmm. Smelled like apples, but tasted like pears.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam was FRUSTRATED. <<Oh my god Sarah, without your memories the security is insane. WITH your memories, it is negligible!>>
His jumper mentally sighed. <I know, I know.>
He was still [[Harvesting]] chunks of the planet far enough away to not cause waves near the house, but as far as 'Research' could tell? Earth itself was somehow constantly liquid after that disaster.
No mountains, no pits, no. Just a liquid orb that didn't even have a solid core now, one that at least still orbited the sun. So, small victories.
And yet, any joy the Warehouse had over the situation was blunted by the digital database he was pulling from this house. <<You got a week. Tops. After that, this house of cards will just fail, the fields will collapse, and the house will sink and almost INSTANTLY convert into liquid. Anything not pre-installed and pre-setup for defensive needs was slapped on top with gum and gumption! Literally in some cases!>>
Sarah sighed. "Yeah, I'm going to have to rebuild the house. My other self didn't plan on this place surviving on liquid material above lava temperatures indefinitely, and several side projects of his weakened the support systems."
Adam held back a snort. Weakened? It seemed like it was COMMON for a Rick to deconstruct and harvest their own premade lab construct components instead of just MANUFACTURING new material and parts for their projects.
Because it was faster. Lazy bastards!
Fucking hell, half the [[Harvested]] material Sarah was stealing from this Rick's stash was just stupidly powerful psionic components and enhancers, allowing the owning Rick to slightly warp reality to make his equipment and products work as needed… Rather than bother to fucking build it RIGHT! Damn it all.
His Jumper's adorable daughter seemed surprised. "What!? Rebuild the HOUSE!? But how? The kids need treatment first!"
Sarah waved it off. "Those healing pods are portable, have their own power sources and several protective systems installed and activated. They would be fine even if we pushed them out into space or into the mess out there, no. The issue here is US."
She pointed out the open garage door, past the damaged U.F.O. style vehicle that Morty probably returned in. "None of that stuff is good for this house's defenses. I'm going to build a new facility, probably one that flys, and either duplicate this home on it or make something better."
Beth seemed hesitant. "I… Alright. If that would keep the kids safe, I guess? But would you even have time? Or materials?"
Sure. Making new homes was easy because the other Ricks ensured that most Beths lived in the same locations and in houses that shared the same style for convenience sake if nothing else… So automated and mass produced 'Fix the home before Beth finds out' devices were common. Hell, there had been two [[Harvested]] already just from looting!
Sarah grinned. "We got some time, more than enough… The real question should be 'Is there anything you want to change or improve?' Think about it, while I get this done. Or we can do it with the kids!"
The lab coat swished as she began to pace! "It can be a family project! Because I'm first going to duplicate this place, move the kids over to the undamaged and reinforced floating home for safety, then safely get rid of THIS deathtrap before something explodes… And then we can talk together about what kind of new place to set up for a more long term solution."
Beth hesitated… But Sarah's girl was made of strong stuff. "Right. And I know Summer wanted more closet space, and Morty has always been at that awkward age where he really wants privacy."
Poor bastard was nearly a tradable commodity to help mentally damaged mad scientist grandfathers escape each other's murder attempts, of COURSE he would love some alone time. Though he probably wanted solitude for masterbation, the family was oddly open about sexual stuff with each other… Maybe a cultural issue? Or Adam and Sarah were just prudish?
Anyway, let's organize this mess for Sarah to review!
<<I suggest, since the other family members except Morty don't know about the underground facilities, we just scrap all that. Use the space to put some material and electrical generation that is self contained AND not reliant on this Jump's customized environment to function… It would be harder for other Rick's to scan and detect that way.>>
Sarah was already happily designing with Beth, not really realizing how tenderly she looked at the girl or the 'learning to ride a bike' feel of the situation. Though her daughter clearly recognized it and was managing to enjoy some 'Father Daughter Time' as they modeled new homes, discussed ship or floating island designs, and argued about what kind of equipment would be reasonable to embed in someone's ribcage.
Idly, Adam took a few breaks while the automated systems continued to help his Jumper clean out 'her' garage and laboratory. Might as well scan the rest of the house and ensure lots of food, toiletries, clean clothing ([[Harvested]] and replaced, but close enough) and so on.
It would all get recycled later as new, NON-Irradiated versions were moved to the future island house… But at least Adam could make sure the home was put in order to keep the mother's stress level's down while watching over her kids and interacting with her new female Dad.
Hang on... What was this? A
room filled with liquidized extracted memories in a secured underground bunker!?
Oh, 'Research' was going to love this! Yoink!
