Chapter 516: The Citadel
Edward used a spell to temporarily turn into one of the Ricks, assuming the identity of Rick E-345. He knew the citadel had ways to track the Portal Guns of the Ricks, so he ensured there were no problems while capturing them.
Afterward, he and Morgana calmly opened a portal to the citadel. The place was vast and contained myriad places of entertainment. So, he went to get some ice cream.
Half an hour later, he said: “How is it?”
“The security of this place is insane,” replied Morgana in Morty’s voice. Edward had to hide a cackle, making her stare at him.
“What do you expect? One of the smartest individuals in the world created it?” replied Edward, ignoring her violent reaction. “How long would it take you to crack it?”
“At least five months.”
“So long?”
“Whoever created this system made sure it could only be cracked from the inside,” she replied, shaking her head.
“We don’t have five months. So, let’s take it down from the inside.”
Wang Wei’s plan to take down the citadel was simple and direct; he used the same method Rick-C137 used. He secretly transferred his mind from one Rick to another until he controlled the Rick with the highest Security Level in the Citadel.
With that access, he entered a virus into the citadel’s system, allowing Morgana to infiltrate from the inside. Three days later, they had complete control of the thing.
“Beautiful,” commented Edward, reviewing the citadel’s blueprint before him. This thing was purely technology, so there were many things he did not immediately understand.
However, based on what he deciphered, this thing was truly a masterpiece.
“This thing is truly the highest order of technology,” nodded Morgana. After gaining the inheritance of the Technomancer, the Empire’s technology tree rapidly developed. However, even with the recent update, the technology before them can be described as “very advanced.”
“Are we still going to scan C-137’s Life Code and get his memories?”
“Of course. As the main designer of the citadel, it’s imperative we get his memories. Furthermore, all signs show he might be the smartest of all the Ricks.”
“That’s fine, but you should be more careful than usual when dealing with such an intelligent individual.”
“I am aware.”
People like Rick Sanchez and Doctor Who are similar to him, individuals whose intelligence or talent surpassed the limitations of their worlds. So, he would never play around when dealing with them.
However, he still has an advantage of information when dealing with these people, so he knows how to approach them.
Edward soon put his plan into action. Before landing, he ensured he arrived at a specific time when Bett and Jerry were separated in Season 3 and before Rick destroyed the Citadel.
He approached Bett as a fellow veterinarian and flirted with her. With his natural charm, her loneliness after the divorce, and a few spiritual hint spells, Edward successfully convinced her to have dinner with her family despite not being ready to date so soon after her divorce/separation.
The dinner went smoothly, and nothing expected occurred. Edward was charming and spoke with everyone. Although Rick only gave him a look and was mostly quiet, the kids loved him.
After the dinner:
“So, what do you guys think?” asked Bett.
“Holy shit, mom, you’ve hit the jackpot,” said Summer. “How could you pull something like him?”
“What does that mean?”
“Summer is right, Mom,” said Morty. “I’m not into men, and I want him to marry me.”
“So, you guys are okay with him? You don’t mind me dating so soon after your father?”
“With a hunk like this, screw dad.”
“Summer, don’t talk like this about your father,” she reprimanded; however, her eyes seemed to be smiling. Finally, Bett looked at Rick:
“Dad, why don’t you say something? Don’t you like him?”
“Something doesn’t seem right,” said Rick before rushing into his garage. He soon returned with a few pieces of equipment and scanned every room in the house, focusing on the dining table.
Of course, he did not find anything since Edward was so careful. His body was a walking light bulb to advance energy detection. As such, although he was confident in his Mana Control, he could hide it, but he wanted to be extra careful, so he sent a clone to meet with Bett and her family.
Before leaving, he did not leave any bugs or even remain of a spell in the house.
Meanwhile, Rick was not satisfied after not detecting anything. So, he scanned the family. Unfortunately, nothing unusual was detected besides the slightly elevated hormones released from Bett’s body.
As for the hormone anomaly, it was expected when people were excited and believed they were in love.
After not discovering anything, Rick decided to keep an eye in case his hunch was correct.
Three days later, Edward invited the family to a fancy dinner, and he was as charming as ever.
Floating City:
“How is it?”
“We have successfully scanned his brain wave, Life Code, and received his memories,” replied Morgana, making Edward very satisfied. In the show, Evil Morty used a similar method by inviting Rick C-137 to the citadel for dinner and used the short time to scan his brain and acquire the secrets of the citadel.
With that knowledge, he broke through the Central Finite Curve, leaving the small Multiverse where Rick was the smartest man in the world.
With these two meetings, Edward’s scan was more thorough–especially since he already had the information from the other Ricks.
Looking into the distance, he sighed deeply, “I’m sorry, Bett.”
After that, he did four things before leaving. The first was to take away the citadel and put it inside the floating city. Sadly, he could not take away all the Ricks.
Despite this man’s great intelligence, his self-destructive tendencies are too extreme. Only one of them is enough to throw the Empire into chaos, let alone a thousand of them. However, Edward was satisfied with having a history of the council so he could learn how to better deal with the inter-political relationship of his own council.
The second thing he did was to gather more Portal Gun technology. Rick was not the only one who invented this technology, and there is a sentient race of dinosaurs who even improved on his design. He was more than satisfied after getting his hands on it.
The third thing was to go to the magic dimension called Draygon. He stole all their magical knowledge and learned a new magical language. From his memories, he knew wizards developed portal spells similar to Rick’s Portal Gun and was interested in this magical knowledge.
The last thing Edward did was capture a creature known as Unity. It was a hivemind creature, so he was interested in studying such a unique species.
After everything was done, he entered the void and headed home.
“Boss, we were lucky.”
“What do you mean?”
“I spotted a void creature.”
“Again?”
“Yes,” nodded Morgana. “Luckily, it only glanced at us and did not pay much attention.”
Edward sighed in relief; he did not even ask her why he did not remind her. He knew trouble would follow if she dared to pay too much attention to such a creature or even record it.
“The Void seems more active than usual,” muttered Edward, thinking of Merlin’s long absence; he started to worry about the Old Man.
“We got what we wanted, so let’s return.”
The group returned to the Empire, preparing for the next step.
—-
(AN: I know some fans might have wanted this arc to continue since Rick and Morty have plenty of potential–especially with the many world-defying technologies. However, the last season I watched was the 4th one, so I don’t remember much.
(Furthermore, I have prepared for the next few worlds to be this short, and I don’t want to deviate from my outline like I did for the Naruto World.)
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