Chapter Text
Everyone was talking at once: voices that he’d tried to forget ever existed, rising and falling and colliding with each other in tandem:
“But this doesn’t make any sense!” argued Domestic Beth, “Jerry isn’t this badass—”
“Season ONE Jerry IS—”
“What the hell, Dad?” Space Beth chimed in, “What’s this ‘Season One’ crap?”
“Wouldn’t YOU like to know!”
“He’s my original Dad, Mom,” Morty piped up from behind Summer, “he’s been stuck on our home planet, and he’s the only human left be-because everyone was transformed into horrible mutants—”
“ Your work, I presume?” Space Beth deadpanned dryly looking directly at Rick who remained suspiciously silent.
“Takes one to know one!”
“What the hell does THAT mean—?”
“It means, I Know What You Did Last Summer—”
“What?” interrupted Summer, who everyone conveniently ignored.
“He means that this Jerry and I are from the same dimension,” Morty tried to explain again but nobody seemed to listen.
“He looks feral,” Summer snorted.
“He’s had to survive eating mutants, Summer!” Morty glared, “what do you expect?”
Summer snuck a glance at the ship’s lone inhabitant. “Where’s HIS Beth and Summer?”
“Dead.” Rick took a swig from his flask.
“Fuck,” Space Beth muttered. “That sucks.”
“What about OUR Jerry?” Domestic Beth sapped. “We’re just going to leave him in his new dimension now?”
“Don’t see why not,” Rick shrugged smugly.
“But Dad!” Beth exclaimed with shock, “We’ve come too far in our relationship to just let it all go—”
“Yeah hon—” Rick rolled his eyes. “Sure you did—”
“Hey–” Beth snapped, “we’ve come a LONG way—!”
“Suuuure, Beth.”
Beth’s eyes filled. “We DID—!”
“EVERYBODY QUIET!”
Everybody turned towards the ship where Jerry Prime was now standing beside, and to everyone’s surprise, he was holding a GUN : a little black handgun he'd seemed to materialize as if from nowhere: and the gun was pointed directly at THEM.
“DAD–!?” Morty gulped in disbelief, “Wh-wh-what are you—”
“SHUT it, MORTY.” Jerry cocked the gun directly at Morty’s face. Speechless, Morty nodded and refused to move a muscle.
“Jer-JERRY—?” Domestic Beth stammered. “Wh-wh-what the hell are you—”
“QUIET!” Jerry screamed. “Now LISTEN UP and LISTEN GOOD because I am ONLY going to say this ONCE! You are ALL going to GET IN THE DAMN SHIP,” Jerry ordered in a voice so calm it made Morty shiver, “ NOW. And you are going to ALL DO WHAT I SAY,” Jerry declared darkly, looking directly at Rick (who remained curiously silent). “INCLUDING RICK.”
Rick held up two hands in mock defeat. “Listen, Jerry—”
“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Jerry screeched and everybody jumped including Rick (who was definitely not expecting that reaction—sure, he expected something , but definitely not that). “I’m SICK of EVERYONE LISTENING to YOU, you SICK, SELFISH SLIMY, COLD-HEARTED BASTARD—”
“DAD!” Morty yelped, and after the gun pointed at him once again, immediately falling silent.
“And NO MORE of this ‘DAD’ stuff, Morty, because you GAVE UP THAT TITLE when you ABANDONED US and YOU SUCK ASS,” Jerry sneered, “and EVERY BODY KNOWS IT!”
Morty’s eyes widened only to immediately fill with tears. Helpless to do anything to defend himself, he could only stare down mutely at the floor.
“You ALL should know what THESE TWO did to MY original dimension,” Jerry declared, “and I will be HAPPY to INFORM you on the ride to your house where I am SURE that Rick has a box labeled ‘Time Travel Stuff’ in the GARAGE—”
“Uh, Jerry—” Rick started to protest but was again immediately silenced by the gun practically shoved in his face. Any other time Rick wouldn’t have been afraid (because Rick could reverse almost any bodily harm) but a blow to the head was another story—the brain was irreparable—and Jerry was holding the gun to his temple with the intent to shoot him dead on the spot. “OK, OK—” Rick backed away as Jerry followed unrelentingly. “What—what the hell do you want?”
“I want YOU to turn back TIME,” Jerry hissed, “because I KNOW that you can.”
“Pretty sure that box is just for decorative purposes—” Summer flinched as the gun turned towards her.
“You’re on his side too, huh?” Jerry glowered at this strangely smug and self-assured alternate version of his daughter. “Figures,” he muttered, “you never did like me in my dimension either….”
“I’m not on anybody’s side,” Summer snapped, glaring back, “but you should know you SUCK as a Jerry—”
Jerry’s hand curled tighter around the gun. “Hey, you know NOTHING about me!”
Summer smirked, “I know enough.”
“Summer—” Rick warned from behind.
“QUIET!” Jerry barked. “EVERYBODY GET IN THE CAR!”
Morty grabbed for Summer’s hand as she led him and followed everyone else into the car.
“Alright Rick.” Jerry held the gun pointed at Rick’s head from the backseat. “Drive.”
“The-the car has to recharge, Jerry—” Rick gripped the wheel. “I-I can’t just force it into hyperdrive anytime I—”
"DRIVE!"
Rick bit his tongue, put the throttle into gear and, slowly, the ship began to move.
"Faster Sanchez," Jerry snapped, "I know you can do better than that---"
"Working on it!" Rick choked the throttle and the ship began to sputter, then slowly, finally, begin to increase its speed.
“This is SO messed up,” Space Beth muttered from the backseat.
Jerry glowered at her. “QUIET, Badass!”
Space Beth blinked. “Excuse me?”
Domestic Beth leaned over. “He said ‘Quiet, Badass’---”
“I know what he said—”
“Seriously!?!” Jerry snapped, “I will shove you both into the void right this second if I have to!”
“Fine, Psycho,” Space Beth rolled her eyes. “Have it your way.”
Jerry snickered. “You didn’t tell me she was a bitch too, Morty.”
Morty wisely ignored the remark, sunk back as far as he could into the seat and pretended to disappear.
Finally the car began to pick up significant speed, moving faster and faster through space. They warped through a wormhole, taking them directly to Earth, and finally they were home, but nobody cheered. They were shellshocked and silent as they piled out of the ship.
“Everybody get inside!” Jerry herded them like sheep into the garage. “Alright, Rick,” he growled, “about that box of ‘Time Travel’ stuff—”
“Like Summer said,” Rick interrupted, “it’s just for show.”
“Suuure it is.” Jerry strode directly over to the box with purpose and began rummaging through it. “What the hell is this shit?” He narrowed his eyes at Rick holding up a fake rubber alien with purple tentacles, a spinning top, and a toy replica of the TARDIS from “Dr. Who”. “You shitting me right now?” Jerry glowered at Rick, “this is a box full of props—”
“Er—” Rick’s face was unusually red. “She DID try to warn you Jerry—”
“SHUT UP!” Jerry barreled like a bull towards Rick shoving him hard against the far wall. “EVERYBODY OUT!” he screamed, “and if you LEAVE you DIE!”
“Jesus Jer—” Rick groaned, “dramatic much—”
“FUCK you,” Jerry growled, “this is BULLshit!” He began to stomp around the garage like a toddler throwing a fit as Rick unstuck himself from the wall and rearranged his lab coat. “I just want everything to go back to normal!” he screamed to the sky. “FUCK—” Jerry slammed the gun down on the table. “I didn’t want it to be this way!” Rick watched silently as Jerry dropped to the ground. “I just want them back…” He curled into a ball, whimpering like a child. “I just want them back,” he sobbed.
Rick watched him somberly for a moment. Then he spoke. “Me too, Jer,” he nodded, “Me too. Time travel? It doesn’t work. Trust me,” he laughed bitterly in spite of himself, “I gave it a shot but—it just left everything in a time loop. It’s not what you think—”
“What—” Jerry lifted his tear-stained face to stare up at Rick, blinking with confusion, “what are you talking about—?”
“You think you’re the only one to lose their family?” Rick laughed darkly. “Think again, Jerry. Your story isn’t original. And this shit—” He picked the gun up from the table and emptied the cartridge. “Enough.”
Jerry sat on the floor blinking at the older man in front of him—suddenly understanding a lot more about this man who he’d always hated—but with whom he suddenly seemed to have something in common—and he looked away as his eyes filled with tears. “I-I’m sorry, Rick…” Jerry shuddered as he realized the implications of the other man’s words. “I-I didn’t know….your wife,” he whispered, “too—?”
Rick nodded silently. “And daughter.”
Jerry watched mutely as Rick gathered all the items he had dropped on the floor and shoved the box marked ‘Time Travel’ against the wall for safe keeping. “Who?” Jerry asked, face pale.
“Another Rick.” Rick quickly turned to face the wall. “And I’m going to find him soon,” he declared, pounding his fist. “And I’m going to get my revenge.”