My eyes snapped open, and I was immediately hit with the familiar sterile scent of the cloning chamber. Ugh, not this again. "Huhhhp," I groaned, sitting up, the cold reality of another near-death experience settling in. I glanced over at the adjacent pod. Morty was stirring, groggy and disoriented.
"Rick? What... what happened?" Morty asked, his voice hoarse, still shaking off the shock of transferring into a new clone.
I rubbed my temples, piecing together the events of the battle. "Jerry happened, Morty. Huhhhp, that idiot actually got the drop on us." I grabbed a flask from the side table, taking a long swig to drown the bitter taste of defeat. "He's gone and made himself a goddamn superhuman. And worse, huhhhp, he's got our bodies."
Morty stumbled out of his pod, still shaky from the transfer. "But we're... alive?"
"Yeah, Morty. Because, unlike Jerry, I plan for this crap. I don't lose." I slammed the empty flask onto the table, the sound echoing through the cold, metallic chamber. My mind was racing, faster than it had in a long time. Jerry had crossed a line, and this wasn't just about bruised egos anymore. He was dangerous now. A threat I couldn't ignore.
Morty looked at me, his usual anxious expression replaced with something more serious. "So, what do we do, Rick? How do we stop him?"
I glanced at Morty, already calculating several moves ahead. "We're gonna make Jerry regret ever thinking he could outsmart a Rick." I grabbed my wrist device, flipping through potential blueprints and contingencies. "First, we need to analyze what he's got. The fact that he could beat us both so easily? That means he's working with something bigger, something we haven't seen before."
My mind churned through the details of the fight. Jerry's movements had been faster than mine, his strength off the charts. The serum he'd injected himself with wasn't just making him smarter or stronger. It had transformed him into something entirely new, something dangerous.
But every strength has a weakness. I just had to find it.
"We're gonna need weapons, tools, something to counter whatever the hell he's turned himself into. Huhhhp, I've got a few ideas." I flashed a grin at Morty, though the weight of the situation hung in the air between us. We were playing a different game now, but the rules hadn't changed. Jerry might have had his moment, but this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
"Get your stuff together, Morty," I said, heading toward the lab section of the underground base. "We've got a Jerry to bring down."
....
I stood at the edge of the Citadel's grand hall, watching the chaos unfold before me. My eyes swept over the scene. Ricks scrambling to maintain control, Mortys running in fear, and the once-proud Council now reduced to panicked bureaucrats, desperately trying to hold onto power. They never saw this coming. Fools.
One by one, I'd taken out the key players, the Ricks who had built their thrones on arrogance and domination. Their time was over. Now, it was my turn. And unlike them, I wouldn't waste my rule on maintaining a broken system.
"Bring him here," I ordered, turning to one of my loyalists. A Morty, toughened by years of watching his own Rick dismiss him. He gave a curt nod and dragged the body of a fallen Rick forward, dumping it at my feet. The once-great leader of the Citadel now lay crumpled, defeated, barely clinging to life.
"You… you won't get away with this," the Rick wheezed, blood dripping from his mouth. "The Citadel… the Ricks… they'll come for you."
I leaned down, my eyes locking onto his. "Oh, they'll come, alright. But they won't find what they're expecting." With a swift motion, I ended his life, the knife sliding cleanly between his ribs. The struggle ceased, and with it, another piece of the old Citadel died.
The halls were quieter now, the remnants of my takeover echoing in every corner. The Citadel was mine. I had eliminated those who opposed me, and those who remained were either too afraid or too smart to try. Control was a delicate thing. You couldn't just seize it. You had to dismantle everything that came before, rebuild it in your image. And that's what I was doing.
I wiped the blood from my hands, straightening up. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the multiverse took notice. Before Rick C-137 took notice. And when he did, I would be ready.
The Citadel had always been a symbol of Rick superiority, a monument to their supposed intelligence and control. But in reality? It was a prison. A prison built on outdated ideas of power and hierarchy. I was tearing those walls down, brick by brick.
I turned to my loyalists, the Mortys who had rallied behind me. "We're not done yet. There's still work to do. And when we're finished, there won't be a single Rick left who doesn't bow to our rule."
A ripple of agreement swept through the room, the Mortys watching me with a mixture of fear and awe. They knew what I was capable of, what we were capable of. And soon, so would the rest of the Citadel.
....
We arrived at the Citadel, the ship landing smoothly on one of the outer platforms. Something was off. The usual hustle and bustle of Ricks and Mortys moving about, the arrogant posturing, the endless back-and-forth of their mundane lives, it was quiet. Too quiet.
Morty shifted uneasily beside me, his eyes scanning the silent corridors. "Rick, this… this doesn't feel right. Where is everybody?"
I narrowed my eyes, my mind already running through a dozen scenarios. The Citadel didn't just go quiet. Something had happened. Something big. "Stay sharp, Morty," I muttered, stepping forward.
The Citadel felt… abandoned. But as we moved deeper, it became clear that it wasn't abandoned. It was purged. Bodies of Ricks and Mortys lay scattered through the halls, remnants of what looked like a brutal, systematic takeover. I stopped in front of one of the bodies, kneeling to inspect the wound.
"Someone's been busy," I said, my voice grim. "And I've got a pretty good idea who."
We moved further into the Citadel, the signs of conflict becoming more apparent. But as we entered the main chamber, the truth became undeniable.
Morty stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide with shock. "Rick… what the hell happened here?"
I knew. I'd known the moment we'd arrived. "Evil Morty," I said, my voice low, almost a growl. "He's taken over."
The chamber was empty, save for a few terrified Mortys cowering in the shadows. The council was gone, their thrones vacant, their power stripped away. In their place, the banner of Evil Morty hung over the hall, a symbol of his conquest.
"He used Jerry's chaos to his advantage," I muttered. "While everyone was distracted chasing Jerry, he made his move."
Morty looked at me, fear and confusion written all over his face. "Rick, what are we gonna do? This… this is huge. We can't take on Jerry and Evil Morty!"
I clenched my fists, my mind racing. He was right. This was bigger than anything we'd faced before. Jerry was out there, evolving into something beyond any Rick, and now Evil Morty had seized control of the Citadel. The multiverse was spiraling into chaos.
But I wasn't about to back down. Not now. "We don't have a choice, Morty. Huhhhp, we deal with Jerry first. Then we come back for Evil Morty."
I turned to leave the chamber, my thoughts already spinning into action. But as I moved toward the door, I paused, glancing back at the empty thrones, the broken remnants of the old Citadel.
"This ain't over," I whispered to myself.
And it wasn't. Not by a long shot.