Comet Lovejoy, Magic Wand
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Micheal had to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose at Rick’s antics.
“Yes. Unfortunately Rick is always like this. And he isn’t my life partner. We broke up a while ago, for obvious reasons.”
Comes the extremely pointed and sour response from Micheal, casting Rick a harsh look for his behavior before turning away to look at Kenneth and Quz, his expression turning a mixture of sour and exasperated.
This conversation was going nowhere fast. And was extremely frustrating. Not only was the torturous ghost of Flannax haunting him but Rick was very much not making things easier either. The fact that Kenneth seemed to have no idea of what actually happened in the prison was an unexpected cherry on top of the shit sundae. Mike felt like he was at the mental limit already.
“But he is right in that we should be allowed access to the Giga canon. As well as some lab access now that we’re talking about it. Rick and I are the ones who know most about Lizardperson and thus how best that weapon can be used against the creature and it’d be best if we were just allowed to work on our own.”
And he also remembered just how those controls worked, but not because of any formal training….
“Oh.”
It was obvious that Kenneth was only mildly surprised to hear the news of the breakup. He looked between his old friend and his apparently ex-life partner, awkwardly clearing his throat.
“Well. I can certainly see why…”
Rick tried to give a proper stone-faced glare in response to the degrading commentary, but the upturn in his brow gave away the true insecurity he was feeling about being the butt of the joke. “H-hey!”
It would be best to simply brush off the human’s distress and dismay for now. He was a noisy thing, and there were far more pressing subjects to discuss that didn’t involve his flimsy emotions. Namely addressing the list of demands that Ken was being faced with.
He couldn’t help but let a doubtful expression cross his insectizoid features. “Remind me again why you require a laboratory setting?”
“Seriously?” Rick chimed in like he hadn’t just been informally discarded from conversation. “Hell-ooo? D-do you even know who I am? I-I’m like, part of a-a well known group of scientists extending over a-aaan untold number of dimensions. We eat, sleep, and breathe laboratory!”
Scrimblo Kenneth couldn’t resist his own urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Rick was really something. “I meant specifically.”
“W-we need it so me and Mike can put together th-the thing that’ll send Lizardperson back to the nega dimension w-where he belongs. Duh.” The blue haired so-called scientist tsked, acting for all the world like he was speaking to someone stupid. “We build the machine, shoot th-the shit out of Lizardperson, a-aaand then send him to hell. Simple n’ easy.”
This pricked Ken’s interest. “You can build such a device?”
“I-I did it once, I can do it again,” Rick shrugged nonchalantly. “So. Lab for us, established. Now, d-do I get Giga Canon access or not?”
“No. Absolutely not.” Kenneth doubled down, curling his claw into a fist and letting it fall on the table. The flesh ape was wearing his patience razor thin and starting to grate on his nerves. He seemed to relax a bit when he turned to his old friend. “You, Mikey, I would trust with the Giga Canon controls - against what my peers would certainly advise.”
He looked over at Amy, who had played her dutiful part of quiet observer. “Perhaps she can be permitted to witness.”
Because of course the Feds would be against a woman of feminine and dainty disposition playing any part in operating a mechanism of such stature.
Finally he turned to Rick, his handsome face pinched in exasperation, caution, and… disgust? “But the human? We don’t even know what side he’s on.”
Rick, who had been inspecting his nails until now, whipped his head in the Grand Leader’s direction with a start. He was clearly taken aback by such a staunch accusation. “E-excuse me?!”
“Do you take me for a common idiot?” Ken questioned harshly, arching a brow. “I have read the reports. I have seen the footage of your murderous rampage in cooperation with the beast.”
Rick made quick work of sliding his feet off the table and stamped them down on the floor, leaning forward in his seat to point a finger across the table at the oh-so great Grand Leader.
“Y-yyyYyou don’t know shit about w-what the fuck you’re talking about!” He cursed. “I-I had to do what I had to do! I-III didn’t enjoy it!”
“You were laughing in the video.” Ken emphasized, giving the human a long suffering look.
“I-! I-I—!” Rick stuttered, then clenched his teeth and rubbed his forehead in frusturation. “I w-was higher than high on venom, o-okay?! Lizardperson messed w-with my head!”
“What’s more, you betrayed my Commander as he intended to save you - and you’re not even sorry for it!” Kenneth exclaimed, throwing out his arms in a grand show of his frusturation with the tiresome argument. “It’s not happening. Perhaps we can broker a deal for a laboratory - under supervision - but as far as I am concerned you are not to be trusted. To even suggest such a thing is—!”
RRRRRRRRRRRRRR
A thunderous rumble quaked through the opulent war room around them, vigorously shaking the very chairs they sat in. The silverware on the table vibrated, ripples forming in cups of water.
And just like that, the mysterious anomaly ceased. Leaving some of the occupants at the table very tense and confused. Rick was more than a little uneasy.
“Uh… w-what was that?”
“That is why I said I needed to meet with the generals and fellow commanders. Immediately.” The Grand Leader informed, rising from his seat with urgency. “Please, follow the guards and return to your rooms. I have to take care of this.”
Dream State…
As soon as the memory had come back to him, the invisible binds keeping him down lifted and he was able to sit up. Glittering blue eyes blinked a few times, willing the grogginess away. He stared out the window at the raging ocean, the rain so loud that it almost sounded like hail beating down. The dark tendrils of panic reached up and gripped his feeble heart, squeezing tightly to remind him that he still didn’t know where Rick was, or why he’d been stuck in this bed unable to move.
Rickley splayed a hand on the soft bed to steady himself as he stood, his legs feeling weak and wobbly. His vision swam for a moment before steadying, as if the spell he had been under needed a moment to wear off. He cursed to himself before finally managing to stand up straight, taking unsteady steps towards the door of the room. A trembling, pale hand gripped the door frame and he gazed out into the empty hallway.
“R-Rickley, wuh- where are you?”
Relief washed through him like cool tides on sunscorched skin. He gathered the strength that he could find within him to speed up his steps down the hall, eager to see the face of his lover. Confused as to why they’d been separated. He couldn’t seem to remember the circumstances that led them to this in the first place, and whenever he tried to think about his his brain slowed down like sludge.
He shook off the thought as he rounded the corner, the breath he’d been holding finally expelling from him and he rushed all at once into Rick.
“Rick–!”
Thin arms darted out to pull him in a melting embrace; trembling fingers curled into waterlogged blue locks and stroked gently. “Rick, where did you go?”
His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke, his long, fluffy hair surrounding them as he leaned his head to press against Rick’s. “I.. I missed you. I was stuck in h-here. I couldn’t.. I couldn’t move..”
He pressed his face into Rick’s neck, breathing in the scent of fresh rain laced with sea salt. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried, they were always separated. He wanted to hold Rick and never let go. Rickley couldn’t wrap his poor mind around another second of this seaside hellscape. He wanted it to end.
He pulled away slightly from Rick, his brilliant seashore blue eyes staring into his.
“Where do we even go from here, Rick?” His voice lilted with tiredness and anxiety, “I just s-somewhere that we can be togeth–!”
Rickley was cut off by a loud crack of thunder that shook the little beach house on its stilts. The whole building swayed back and forth, creaking and shaking, as if in disapproval of what was happening. A ceiling tile fell from above suddenly and crashed right next to them, shattering whatever moment of peace that they could have. Rickley made a strangled noise of surprise and jumped off of Rick, frozen from the sudden scare.
“Sh-shit..” He mumbled, staring down at the broken tile and then back up at Rick. It felt like the whole house was going to collapse.
Hope was truly lost. Rick felt like a dead man walking, a hollow shell of himself. Stumbling into the familiar house, perfectly clean of the inch deep stagnating blood that had squelched between his toes hours earlier, felt like stepping foot on an alien planet. He just wanted something familiar, something real. He just wanted—
Rick’s dim eyes lit up with bright recognition at the sweet, sweet sight of Rickley in the hallway. The warm light from the downstairs bedroom framed him like an aura; he was beautiful, with all of his pinkish scars layered over features as delicate as flower petals.
“R-Rickley—!”
He was pulled in all at once against the safety of a soft sweater and an eternally too-bony rib cage, cradled in stick thin arms. Awash in utter relief, he foolishly allowed himself to melt into the embrace, lulled by thin fingers combing through his slicked down hair. He wondered if they were like this on the outside - in the water - with limbs tangled around one another’s like lovers buried in a tomb.
Where did he go? Oh, if only he could tell Rickley the truth. Their foreheads touched gently, and Rick couldn’t bring himself to look away from those soulful blue eyes boring into his own. They were intense and sad and they drew him in like the tides, pulling at every fiber of his very being.
“C-couldn’t… move…?”
What had Tick been doing to him while he’d been absent from the simulation? Anxiety clutched his chest in a vice, threatening to suffocate him. He wanted to get away, too, but it was an impossible feat. Their future together was nothing but a farce—!
Bellowing thunder cut through their tender moment like a cleaver, threatening to rend the house down to its very foundations. Rick’s head snapped upwards when the ceiling tile fell, a particular brand of newly inspired fear swelling in his stomach as the walls of the beach house swayed around them like they were caught in an earthquake.
That had been a warning. A very clear one.
Rick stumbled backwards away from Rickley, desperate to place space between them. He needed to put his head on straight. He needed to keep it together! He needed to focus, not feel.
He swallowed the sensation of his heart strings straining and steeled himself, schooling his worried frown into a flat, unfeeling line. Building his walls up, bricking off the gut instinct to rush to his lovers side and comfort him in the face of the frightening storm. The one that flashed golden through the windows, dying everything it touched in the hue of watchful eyes.
When he looked back to Rickley, Rick’s face held no signs of emotion. His eyes were as dead and cold as a corpse, void of light.
“W-we… Neither y-you or I are going anywhere in th-this storm, Rickley.” He stated pragmatically, turning his cold gaze away from him. It was almost as if it was difficult for Rick to look at him dead on. “M-maybe… maybe you should just go back t-to bed.”