A blaring alarm screams through the facility as red lights flash. The scientists scramble in chaos, yelling orders and pushing buttons that do absolutely nothing. Rick's eyes light up like a kid on Christmas. "Aww hell yeah, time for the best part — social collapse!"
Summer ducks as ceiling panels fall. "What the hell was that?!"
Richard casually unbuckles himself from the chair, brushing off the straps like lint. "That," he says, still munching, "was people revolting against the government because there is too little water on this planet."
"What? There was too little water; how did this happen? We saw an advanced irrigation system when we came here," Summer protested. Richard just said after swallowing the cookies.
"I mixed a simple addictive on the water, not by much, just basic alcohol, and then they turned into a beast that needs to drink, otherwise they turn aggressive relentlessly." Rick and Summer looked at Richard like he did something horrible or something, but he responded with "What I don't like lower intelligence people talking shit to me?"
"*Wistle* Damn Richard, remind me never to piss you off" Rick said completely ignoring summers horrified expression, Richard smiled and said
"Nah, you are too useful to kill. I will just turn you into a mindless robot that will teach me stuff." A second explosion rocks the east wing. The glass cracks around Rick and Summer.
The head scientist shouts, "Secure the male! He's destabilizing the environment with his toxic aura!"
Richard raises an eyebrow. "Lady, I just said I caused this. How did you build even a tin can home without even realizing that much?"
Rick punches a button on the wall, opening the emergency lockdown doors. "Time to bounce, kids! Grab your patriarchy and let's vamoose!" A swirling portal tears open in front of them, humming with unstable energy.
"Where does that go?" Summer asks, ducking a flying pipe.
Rick grins. "Home." Without hesitation, Rick and Richard jump through. Summer glances back once at the crumbling lab, then dives in after them.
{Morty's room}
The portal slams open, flinging the trio into a chaotic disaster zone. Morty's room is trashed. Burned comics, shattered shelves, half-eaten plushies, and black scorch marks line the walls. "Ugh, smells like fried teenager in here," Rick mutters, sniffing the air.
"Morty?!" Summer yells, scanning the room. "Morty, are you—"
Suddenly, they hear a distant roar, not from a creature, but a person in total rage.
{Earlier that day}
Morty is running around, panicking as Morty Jr., now seven feet tall and covered in coarse, spiked fur, punches through walls and breathes fire-like gunk from his nose. "You SAID I could explore my identity, DAD! Now watch me ascend!" Morty Jr. bellowed, growing bulkier with every breath, his skin glowing faintly red as something inside him mutates.
"Wait! Junior, listen to me—" Morty pleads, narrowly dodging a chair hurled at his head.
Morty Jr. growls. "You abandoned me! You all left me here with nothing but Tumblr philosophies and anime rage compilations!" He unleashes a sonic screech that shatters every window in the house.
{Back to the present}
Rick flinches as the sound hits them. "Yikes. Kid's in his edgy villain arc. We need to contain him."
Richard's expression remains passive as he heads upstairs. "You two do that. I'll handle the mystery box on the top floor."
Summer's eyes widen. "Wait! What mystery box?!"
Richard, halfway up the stairs, looks over his shoulder. "The one that didn't fall apart like the rest of this house. Summer, get Morty away from Morty Jr. I'll handle the rest."
Rick cracks his neck. "Come on, kid. Time to calm down your little demon nephew."
{Moments later}
Morty's trying to shield himself with a couch cushion as Morty Jr. winds up for a devastating punch. "STOP! I'm your father!"
"Exactly!" Morty Jr. roars. "And I inherited your spine! Which means I'm angry and confused all the time!"
Just before the blow lands, Rick teleports Morty out of the way with a quick gadget flick. "Okay, enough sentimental garbage. You need a nap and probably a frontal lobotomy."
Rick whips out a containment gun, but Morty Jr. smashes it with one slap. "Rick, this isn't working!" Morty shouts, ducking behind a broken fridge.
"I noticed!" Rick snaps back, pulling out another tool that instantly melts in his hand. "Oh great, he's absorbing tech. That's new."
Suddenly, a sharp bang! Echoes through the house. Morty Jr. stops. His pupils dilate. His claws retract. His breathing slows. He stumbles, eyes wide. Richard was standing at the stairwell, calm as ever, lowering a sleek, silver pistol.
"I modified his genes," Richard explains under the betrayed eyes of Morty, who immediately calmed down after hearing that, sliding the pistol back into his coat. "Infused them with panda DNA. They're too lazy to fight unless bamboo is involved."
Morty Jr. wobbles, then collapses with a massive thud, now a furry, oversized panda-human hybrid softly snoring on the floor. Summer pulls Morty into a corner. "He's gonna be so confused when he wakes up."
Morty shudders. "I already am confused…"
Richard tilts his head. "Well. That was a fun break. Now let's deal with where to keep him?"
Rick wipes his brow. "I hate to admit it... But that was badass."
Richard smirks. "Don't worry. I'm not trying to replace you. You're still my favorite screwup."
{Timeskip}
As the rest of the house smolders in ruins, Richard climbs the stairs with casual indifference. Everything below is wreckage, but up here? Silence. Clean air. Pristine floors. He steps into the hallway, untouched by the destruction. No cracks. No dust. The door to his room is perfectly intact, glowing faintly with layered energy seals.
The door hisses open as Richard enters. The room is immaculate — glowing monitors line the walls, arcane circles swirl in the corners, and a gravity-stabilized tea set floats midair. "Ah, home sweet lab," Richard murmurs.
He snaps his fingers, and a holographic assistant flickers into view. "Status report."
"Sanctum integrity: 100%," the assistant chirps. "Would you like a victory drink, Master?"
"Make it chilled." He collapses into a zero-gravity chair. "The rest of this dimension can burn. Daddy needs a nap and an existential podcast."
{Meanwhile}
Morty Jr., now a massive panda-mutant hybrid, is curled into a fetal position, snoring softly with a bamboo pillow Rick somehow conjured from his lab coat. Morty looks down at him. "Is… is he okay?"
Rick shrugs. "As okay as a genetically modified panda-demon-kid with daddy issues can be."
Summer snorts. "Honestly? That's better than most of our family."
Morty sits down beside them, exhausted. "So… what now?"
Rick eyes the stairs. "Now? Richard gets his room. You get therapy. And I? I get drunk. Let's just hope he doesn't do anything stupid up there."