The Smith Residence...and then very much NOT; Dimension FH-001; Saturday Evening [02/20].

[somethingwithturquoise]

Things were quiet around the Smith household that evening. A little too quiet, considering what time it was and the fact that everyone else should have been back well before that time. Of course, Beth knew that they'd all gone somewhere for the time being, but she would have thought the intention was for it to not interfere with these dinner plans, and honestly, Beth Smith didn't know which emotion was running stronger in her at that moment: hurt, worry, or anger.

Jerry	"Beth, sweetie?" Jerry poked his head into the living room from the kitchen where he'd been cooking and she realized she could easily add annoyed to that list. "You know staring at the clock isn't going to make them get home any faster. If you said dinner's at six, then they'll be here by six. Stop worrying and come help me in the kitchen."
Beth	"It's almost six, Jerry!" Beth reminded him with a gesture toward the clock. "And you know how my dad can be. I told them it was a bad idea to go on some adventure this weekend. Is it really too much to ask to have a nice, normal dinner where nothing weird happens or, I don't know, half of the people eating are even here?"
Jerry	"Beth, honey, relax." Jerry moved in to place his hands on her shoulder and guide her over to the liquor cabinet. "Here, let's get you a nice glass of wine, it's just dinner, it's not a big deal."
Beth	"Not a big deal?" Beth countered. "Jerry, this is the first time our daughter has ever willingly brought home someone she was dating in pretty much ever. The closest we've gotten to that before was L'il Shiv. Do you remember L'il Shiv? And how excited she was that she was really making headway on getting him a day release from the prison he was in?"
Jerry	"That's not true," Jerry pointed out. "There was that one guy...with the blonde hair? We met him at Christmas that one time."
Beth	"Oh, Ethan? The one you didn't even know she was dating? She hid an entire marriage from us, Jerry! We are bad parents, Jerry. This is a chance to start getting thing right, to reconnect again with our daughter, and maybe do better."
Jerry	"So we're probably not going to win Parents of the Year anytime soon," Jerry allowed, "but would a bad parent really be getting this worried about messing up just a good old run-of-the-mill, get-to-know-you Sunday dinner with her bright, free-spirited, daught--"
Beth	And here Beth was just about to give in to Jerry's gentle encouragement and those first few sips of wine, when she couldn't help noticing something that that easily set any reassurance she was starting to feel back about a mile. "Uh, Jerry? Is that...smoke coming from the kitchen?""
Jerry	"...my lasagna!"
Beth	As Jerry went rushing back into the kitchen, Beth took a moment to glare at the clock again, glare at the door to the garage where she sure hopedd the rest of her family would be emerging from soon, and then she considered the glass of wine in her hand briefly before just switching it out with a swig directly from the bottle.
Barry	So. Barry was meeting the family today. Hopefully the incident on the toilet planet hadn't totally fucked this moment up with Summer's grandfather but there was also a part of Barry that didn't give a shit if it did. On the other hand, he did not want to piss off Summer's parents and her brother. So he promised himself he would be on his best behavior. Which is why he had brought a nice bottle of wine along with a certain nectar he had developed on his world when there was signs of bee population starting to dwindle and strengthen the hives. Hopefully Jerry knew how important it was to follow instructions so this world could avoid the whole murder hornets thing that happened during testing. Standing in front of the front door he took a deep breath and knocked. Let's do this shit.
Beth	Bold of you to assume Jerry could read instruction, Barry. Thanks in advance for the impending murder hornets, then... Beth, meanwhile, who conveniently could find herself needing a little more wine, looked not at the door when she heard that knock, but at the clock again. "Great," she muttered, mostly to herself. "So the guest is here even before the people who live here."
Jerry	Despite the muttering, Jerry still seemed to be able to hear her from the kitchen, where he was salvaging the lasagna from being only slightly scortched and called out, "Maybe it's Gene?"
Beth	"To complain about your Christmas lights still being up?"
Jerry	"It took a lot of work to get those lights up, Beth! We should be able to enjoy them as long as possible!"
Beth	"It's almost March, Jerry!" Beth called back, as she made her way, finally to the front door. "They need to go do--" Of course, by that time, she'd reached to door and cut herself off as she switched gears almost seamlessly between complaining to her husband to being a cheerful, welcoming hostess as she opened the door. "Hi! You must be Barry. I'm Beth, I'm Summer's mom...Oh, good, you brought wine. Come on in, here, let me take that off your hands. Jerry's still in the kitchen, finishing up with dinner. Everyone else....should be here..." Was that a faint twitch in her smile? "soon." They had better be, or so help her... One thing! You ask for just one thing, and now she was pretty sure there was going to be an explosion or an alien coming out of the bathroom or, who knows? Maybe it would rain blood all over again like the last time one of Summer's boyfriends was in this house! Because that one thing, of just having a nice, normal family dinner to meet your daughter's significant other, was just too much to ask for, apparently!
Barry	"Hi!" Barry stood there with a grin plastered on his face and now realizing there was no girlfriend to buffer this entire encounter. Well. Shit. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Smith," he said politely, letting her take the bottle of wine. Yes he had researched what Beth's favorite was. Yes, he might have broken a couple of laws doing it. Sure he could have asked Summer but that would have been the sensible thing to do. But hey... favorite wine! He looked a little hesitant walking in. Not because he was afraid of meeting Summer's parents. Mostly because he figured that Rick might have set up some bio sensor to set off an explosion if Barry had shown up at the house. "This is a very lovely home. Is there anything I can do to help while we wait for the rest to show up?" Like take down the Christmas lights? Scan for possible bio weapons that could be triggered by Barry's DNA?
Beth	"Oh, wow," said Beth, her eyes lifting now that she saw what the wine actually was, "you brought--" Was it a little suspicious, that he just so happened to bring exactly her favorite wine? It wasn't, right? Summer probably said something, that was all, she was clearly thinking too much into this, especially since the Dr. had been a very nice touch.
Jerry	"Is it Gene?" asked Jerry, who was now poking his head around the corner, and, seeing that it was not, in fact, Gene, and his face lit up. "Oh! Great! You must be Barry!" The oven mits were coming off so that he could make his way over and offer out a proper handshake. "Good to," actually, "finally meet you, Barry! I'm Jerry, Summer's--hey, would you look at that? Jerry." He pointed to himself. "Barry." To Barry. "Our names rhyme! You know, you don't really realize it until they're right there next to each other!" It was probably actually a good thing, then, that the girlfriend buffer wasn't there, because then that girlfriend would be dead. Stone cold, completely dead of utter morification just then.
Beth	Beth almost felt like she was feeling residual mortification by proxy. That bottle of wine could not get open fast enough. "Can we get you something to drink, Barry?" she asked. "Wine, maybe?" Before she drank it all? "Coffee?"
Jerry	"Tea?" Jerry threw in eagerly. "Maybe with a nice slice of lemon? And some...honey?"
Beth	"Oh, god, Jerry..." Beth had been hoping they could make it five minutes before bees got brought up into the conversation, but she'd clearly been too optimistic."
Barry	Barry’s grin was still plastered on his face. And there was a fake chuckle that emanated from Barry’s throat which even he wasn’t sure where that came from. And then. Then there was the offer of tea. Yeah. Jerry is never going to see that nectar. Nope. That’s all it took to keep from murder hornets swarming all over Summer’s Earth. Jerry Smith’s own mouth was the savior of the world. And while Barry didn’t drink there was no hesitation in his response: “You know what? Wine is good. I like wine.” Barry did not like wine. But he could see why Beth did. “So. Summer has told me so much about both of you. It’s nice that we could finally meet and get to know each other better. I’m sure you all have questions about me and I’m sure you have embarrassing pictures of Summer so we should get started on that process, right?” And Barry laughed nervously at his own joke as he reached out for that glass of wine Beth was no doubt about to hand him.
Jerry	Jerry tried not to look too crestfallen that wine had won out over an opportunity for him to flex on his honey a little, though he didn't do a very good job of it, shoulders falling with his expression. But there was still plenty of time left in the evening to try and shoehorn it in there oh so naturally again! All of dinner, in fact! And probably dessert! "Well, I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for that later," he said, "especially since everyone else really shouldn't be too long. At least I hope not; everything ready, so now it's just probably going to get cold. I hope you like lasagna, Barry! It's vegetarian, too! Summer mentioned you don't eat meat..."
Beth	"And that's almost all she's mentioned," Beth followed up as, yes, the glass of wine was being handed over, but there'd been a slight delay, as she was refilling her own again first. "Except maybe a few things here and there. So what is it you do, Barry?" She had to get a better idea of what level of judgement needed to be applied here. The wine had put him on a strong, albeit still uncertain, track, though."
Barry	"Thank you, Mr. Smith," Barry said with the grin still plastered on his face and the slow rise of nervousness creeping up his spine. There had been a plan. A plan they had put together. A cover story for both of them that would have led to an early exit and no raised eyebrows. "Well, I just came back from doing some peace corp activities in third worlds for the last ten years and decided to go back to my alma mater to teach," Barry said keeping to the story. And technically? The truth. It was actual worlds. "As well as do some scientific research on the side. Summer and I met at one of the school activities and just hit it off. You should be very proud of Summer. I don't know anyone else at school who works multiple jobs and teaches on top of it. She's really one of the most dedicated and hardworking people on the island." This was supposed to be the part where Summer was supposed to get accolades from her parents. But she wasn't here and Barry didn't have time to record their reactions. And there was no grandfather to say a snarky thing which then Barry would laugh off and make a toilet joke. Barry was starting to perspire just a little bit. There was a plan, damn it. And without Summer here to guide the conversation it was all on him! "And I forget. What is it that you do Jerry?" He knew it was going to be about bees. Maybe that could stall out the conversation for a good 5-10 minutes to give Summer time to arrive.
Jerry	Was that a derisive snort from Beth at Barry's question that she quickly tried to hide with a sip of her wine? Probably, if Jery's brief, disparaging look her way was any indication. Sure, he understood how this unexpected turn in events irritated her, but did she have to take it out on him? Now? In front of their daughter's very nice and honestly pretty impressive and somewhat intimidating boyfriend? "Well, Barry," Jerry decided he would just ignore his wife's judgement for the time being (he had plenty of practice, after all!) and focus all of his attention to someone who could clearly appreciate it more, "--and please, call me Jerry--you could say I'm a bit...between careers at the moment, but in the meantime, I've been getting into beekeeping lately! And actually, I've been developing my own brand of honey. Maybe you've seen it in the store? Summer said she would start carrying it..."
Beth	And just as he would feel those first trickles of doubt that maybe after that initial photo op, Summer had lied to him about that, there was a sound coming from the garage that sounded like the door opening and vehicle pulling in. "Oh, thank god," said Beth, who was already dreading where bringing up the honey might have been taking them, topping of her wine. "They're finally home, and we can maybe get started on dinner." As she considered setting the bottle down and apparently decided to just take it with her, the sound of laughter drifted from the hallway.
Rick	"Y-you wanna know what, Mor--" The belch interrupting the name gave a good indication of who was speaking well before they made it to turn the corner into the living room, "--ty? I'm real proud of ourselves. We kept it real classy. Didn't go for that low hanging fru--" The laughter died abruptly as Rick and Morty showed up in the open doorway to the hall, taking in the scene that had clearly taken them a little by surprise. And Rick's eyes immediately honed in on Barry and narrowed. "What's he doing here?"
Beth	"Um," said Beth, staring Rick down with no small amount of incredulousness in her eyes, as she tried to weigh whether she should just put on a good front in front of their guest or if this was just a step too far to be ignored or set aside for later, "dinner, Dad. Remember?" She was willing to bet that he did not, although it still seemed kind of strange that Summer would just let him forget like that...Especially when she'd been making such a big deal out of it.
Barry	Oh. And if you thought Barry's eyes didn't narrow at the sight of Rick? You would be wrong. Totally wrong. They were definitely narrowed. The grin only faltered for a moment though. "And you must be Morty," Barry said offering his hand to Summer's brother. "Heard a lot about you. So glad we could finally meet." Which is true. Especially about the robot sex slave. And then he turned to Grandpa Rick. And smiled. "Rick. So good to see you again under more... pleasant circumstances. You know, we got off to a bad start. Should we start again? Fresh start?" There had been a lot of calculations at this moment. But based on the fact that Rick was in front of his daughter there was a slightly higher chance he didn't want to look like a piece of shit so this whole thing could go smoother. In fact Barry and Summer had-- Wait. "Where's Summer? She went with you guys, right?" Right?
Morty	Yeah, it did not take long at all for the one very key missing element in all of this to dawn on either Rick or Morty, pretty much before Beth was finished answering Rick's question. Which meant that Morty's eyes were wide and his expression a bit limpid as he stared at Barry while taking the proffered hand.
Beth	"That's right," said Beth, seeming to realize exactly what Barry had at right around the same moment he did. "Where is Summer? Did she have fun, too?"
Morty	There was another pause. "Oh," said Morty, brow furrowing, attention shifting to Rick. "Uh...um..."
Rick	"Summer," Rick ventured, the confidence he was trying for failing as he returned Morty's look, "...was..."
Morty	"With us!" Morty chimed in, a smile now plastered eagerly on his face.
Rick	"There," added Rick, his grimace of a smile now focused on Beth. "You saw us," he continued, pointing to Beth, then to himself, "take her...in the car with us....Yes! Yes. Of course..."
Morty	"That's what happened!" Morty chimed in cheerfully.
Rick	"And now," Rick ventured, "she's...."
Morty	"Sleepy!" Morty supplied, with a lift of his hand, and feeling pretty proud of himself for that one until he met Rick's renewed glare turned his way. "Um." Doubt started to creep in, but it was too late now, he had to go for it. "She's...she's sleepy. Really sleepy. That's why she's not here--"
Rick	"So sleepy." Rick's added emphasis almost overrode the last of what Morty said, and he started to take a step back into the hallway. "But...dinner...with her...boyfriend...is ready, so we'll just go...wake her up now." He was deeper into the hallway now, with a hand on grandson's arm, trying to pull him back as Morty just sort of chuckled nervously and grinned over eyes that bounced between Beth and Jerry and Barry. "In the car. Where she's sleeping."
Barry	... Barry’s smile had dropped completely and looked over at Beth to see if she was buying this line of bullshit. He didn’t look at Jerry. And with that he was following after Morty and Rick. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered under his breath.
Beth and Jerry	Beth, for her part, was mostly just staring after Rick and Morty and the space they had just occupied, and then there went Barry, too, which left her to look over toward Jerry. "They forgot about her again, didn't they?" he asked. "Yup," Beth confirmed, sucking in a deep breath and shaking her head. Jerry started moving immediately toward the kitchen. "I'll start putting the food away."
Rick	Meanwhile, even if Barry wasn't sure where exactly it was Rick and Morty had gone, he'd be able to figure out pretty easily by the argument that erupted the moment they got into the garage. "She's sleepy?" Rick threw up his arms, marching his way over to his ship, so they could get in and get back before...well, it was pretty much too late now, all they could do at this point was go back and try to find Summer and hope no one wanted to make a big deal out of it or anything by the time they got back. "What the hell was that?"
Morty	"I didn't see you trying anything!" Morty argued back defensively.
Rick	"Shitting the bed isn't better than not shitting the bed!"
Morty	Morty's hands flew up to his head as if that could help contain the building stress he was feeling and the fact that this argument was getting them away from the important detail they should be focusing on, but the panic was clearly starting to leak out. "Where's Summer???"
Barry	Barry rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Morty. Pull your shit together," he said pulling out his phone and bringing up his tracker that kept track of Summer's bracelet and checked her vitals. "She's fine. Now can we stop sitting around here with our dicks in our hand and go get her?"
Rick	Oh, there was going to be so many narrowed eyes and glares throughout the course of the evening, weren't there? "We?" It was impressive, really, the amount of icy contempt that could be forged into a single syllable. "I don't care what you do with your dick, Barrr--" Interrupted by a derisive burp, or course, "--rry? But Morty and me? We've got this handled." And to prove it, he opened the doors to his ship with every intention of just getting in and leaving him in the dust. "And we don't really do guest stars. Shouldn't you be back in the living room, playing parental ass-kissing?"
Barry	"Yeah. You handled it so fucking well you left your grandaughter behind," Barry said as he tapped a few things on his phone. Suddenly shimmering lights blinked into the room and then a backpack appeared next to Barry that he grabbed and began to strap on. "Plus, I know exactly where she is. So do you guys want to fuck around for hours or get there faster and just maybe avoid a fucking lecture on irresponsibility from Jerry and Beth?" Or at least get a shorter one.
Rick	"Jesus Christ, is that a fucking backpack?" Boy, Summer, you really hit it out of the fucking loser park with this one, didn't you? Rick was going to just pinch the bridge of his nose for a moment to come to terms with the fact that this was what his life was right now. But the two simple words came into his mind: Collateral damage. How easy would it be to just conveniently manage to get rid of this out-of-his-league shitstain in the chaos and the shuffle? Sure, Summer would probably be pretty pissed at him about it, but it would be worth it to not have to deal with him anymore. Besides, he'd give it a week, two tops before Summer got over it and just moved on to the next stupid thing that Summer got herself into... "I know where she is, too," said Rick, because, duh, they'd just left, "without all the creepy stalker bullshit. And we'd be there already if it weren't for you and your little self-righteous tirade like you've never left behind a granddaughter before. But fine. Get in. You can have your white-knight rescue moment, and if we stop pissing around, maybe we can even get back before Jerry passes out watching fucking Night Court reruns."
Barry	"I don't have a fucking granddaughter, asshole," Barry snarked back as he pushed his way past Rick and onto the ship. "And I'm nobody's fucking white knight. Jesus fucking Christ. Summer can take care of herself. It's you two dipshits that need watching. I'm just coming along so you don't fucking forget her again."
Rick	"Did you ever think," said Rick, once he got everything in order and gunned it out of the garage as fast as he could, because then sooner this annoying obligation was out of the way, the better, "that maybe Summer wanted to be left behind?"
Morty	"Aww, geez, Rick," moaned Morty, who up until this point had mostly been staring at the both of them in morbid fascination at their whole exchange, slumping in his seat a little, "don't..."
Rick	"What, Morty?" Rick countered. "I'm just telling it like it is. Keeping it real. You and I both know Summer's got a bad track record of just running away from her problems, and you know how she is once she gets an idea in her head. She was the one to suggest this trip in the first place..."
Barry	"Riiiiiiight," Barry said rolling his eyes in the back seat. "Blame the person you left behind because you forgot them. No one is buying that shit. Just because she wanted to spend time with you doesn't mean she's to blame for anything. Jesus fucking Christ, stop being pathetic and admit you did something wrong." Barry began to dig through his bag which was really an extradimensional space which contained his "go bag" of items "So what kind of bullshit are we up against?"
Rick	"Hey, Morty," said Rick, narrowing his eyes at the infinity of space beyond the windshield, "remind me when we get back to check the engine on this thing. All I can hear is this annoying, persistent whine..."
Morty	At which point Morty almost rolled his eyes, too, because he couldn't see why Rick was being such a jerk about all of this. Like, it seemed that Barry really actually cared and was willing to step it up and go all out for Summer, or something, which was, y'know, kind of cool of him, and stuff? Like, not a whole lot of other guys would probably do that for his sister, so he turned a little in his seat to look back at Barry and hopefully be more helpful. "We don't really know, actually," he admitted. "We kind of blew out of there pretty fast, y-y'know? But there was, um...these sort of, like, face-hugger things? They were latched on pretty good, but then mine got loose, and...it was like...waking up from a coma or something. Maybe there was some...mind-control stuff, or something?" He seemed to really latch onto that idea with some sort of confidence and maybe a little excitement. "Yeah, that had to be it! And that's probably why we forgot Summer! Because we didn't even know where we were when we came out of it! So see?" His attention shifted imploringly toward Rick. "It's nobody's fault. Except maybe the face-huggers."
Rick	There was a small moment of silence at that, before Rick reached down between the seats and pulled something out to foist over at Morty. "Oh, right, here," he said, as the wilted corpse of one of the aforementioned face-huggers squished into Morty's arms. "Put this back on your face."
Morty	"You kept it?"
Rick	"Oh, did you want a new one? Sorry, Barry, looks like you're shit out of luck. Guess that's just what happens when when you force yourself into something where you're not needed or wanted."
Barry	"Oh no," Barry deadpanned as he pulled out his image inducer. And then continued to drone on. "Whatever will I do? All is lost. Hope is gone." And then he took a picture of the face hugger and started to implement the features in his image inducer. "If only there was some way I could somehow create a holographic mask to go over my face that looks like a reject from a Ridley Scott film. Woe is me."
Rick	And now Rick was taking a moment to do some quick calculations in his head on how to best deal with Morty if Rick's hand were to accidentally slip on the eject button on the dash and just space this annoying piece of shit once and for all, forget waiting until they got to the planet and letting chaos take him, but, then again, the kid apparently brought some little toys with him, so that'd only probably just make him even more annoying... Jesus, Summer, did you sure know how to pick them or what... Thankfully, they were approaching on the planet by now, so Rick focused instead on ignoring Barry and turning the car toward it, a meteorite-like body cloaked in a dark smoke, the surface gashed in several spots with fires still burning brightly from when they'd left. And, as they drove closer, the devistation became even more apparent with the tall, smoking buildings engulfed in tireless flames.
Morty	"Geez," said Morty, frowning as he peered out the window, down at the carnage that left behind, struggling to keep his face-hugger in place. "Aw, man....y-y'know..." He sat back, crossing an arm over his chest, brows furrowed in distress. "Maybe we went too hardcore on these guys..."
Rick	"Yeah, why do you think we never go back to a place we've already been?" asked Rick. "Do you know how many more adventures we could have gotten out of Purge Planet, Morty? Gear World? I don't sequel. It's called integrity." With that, they landed, the doors opening and Rick exiting his side with a shower of empty bottles clattering to the ground. Morty did the same, and the two of them started forward with an air of nonchalance through the rubble and the people doing what they could to mitigate the damange and go on with their lives. "S'up?" said Rick, lifting a hand.
Morty	"Yo," Morty added. And, for a brief moment, it seemed it might work, until someone cried out from atop of heap of concrete. "Oh, shit! It's them! The worst thing to ever happen to us!"
Rick	"...yeah," Rick allowed, as the crowd of people turned their attention that way and began to rally up a cry of indignation and rush forward like an angry mod, "that makes sense." He turned to the watch on the wrist, pressing it, to engulf himself and Morty in a shimmering blue field of energy. "Sorry, Morty," he said. "We tried pussin' it. Time to go in hot." He then pulled a small device from inside his labcoat. "Rickputer," he said into it, " initiate unecessarily badass suit-up." He threw the device up in the air, where it spun and whistled and transformed out into a helmet that landed squarely on Morty's head. The force of it knocked him down to his hands and knees as the helmet then expanded out into more armor, encasing his whole body, complete with jetpack and wings. Morty pushed himself up, reached behind himself to pull out a long shimmering sword. While this finished, Rick crouched and grimaced, holding out his watch, which shone with a red light for a moment before exploding out and then encasing him in a similiar set of stylized robotic armor. He, too, drew out his sword, glowering over the gathering masses. "Let's lick tits." And with that (and probably a significant amount of swelling, dramatic music), the fight was on.
Barry	The last time Barry got into a balls-out fight? Probably about 15 years. And even then it was only because his systematic defenses for his house were down. "Great. Needless violence. Just fucking great," Barry deadpanned as he pulled out a phaser rifle (that was much longer than his bag) and primed it. "You guys are a class act you know that?" He pressed a button and an energy field surrounded him giving him protection from a bunch of faced-hugged creatures, only firing on those that were directly threatening him.
Morty	Thankfully, then, not a lot of citizenry was paying much attention to you, Barry; they were much more focused on the two assholes who'd attempted to completely annihilate their planet barely even an hour ago. But Rick and Morty were making quick work of the angry mob, anyway, slicing through them with ease, shooting the occasional rocket off the arms of their mech-warrior suits, until a ring of bodies started to pile up around them amid a ceaseless shower of green, gloopy blood. "Shouldn't we be finding Summer?" Morty pointed out, after flinging someone off of his sword after they'd made a leap for him straight onto it.
Rick	"Oh, right," said Rick, blinking a moment with his hand to his head. "Gee, sorry. I got caught up again. G-god." Morty kept swinging as Rick postulated, mostly to himself. "D-do I need to take more Adderall? Or am I taking too much Adderall?" But, either way, he held up his wrist to pull up a virtual screen to disclose Summer's location, somewhere underneath where they were right now. A glance over to the ship, where it sprouted legs to push itself up so that a high powered laser drill could emerge from underneath it and blast a hole for them through the planet's surface. Out went the wings on the mech-armor so that they could leap down easily, with a brief moment of considering a sarcastic quip of gratitude toward Barry for just how helpful he was being, but that would mean aknowledging him at all, and Rick decided firmly against that, and just head down and continued forward, fending off a few more attackers as they made their way toward where the tracker had shown Summer to be at a nice, casual stroll. "Man," he noted, "really shouldn't have gone with swords."
Morty	"Y-yeah, I know," Morty agreed. "My wrists are killing me!"
Rick	"Flame-throwers next time," Rick decided, "for sure."
Morty	"Can I get a laser whip?"
Rick	"Okay," Rick allowed, "but there's no way you don't chop your dick off..."
Barry	Barry looked at the carnage and decided what Rick needed was Clozaril, not Adderal. "Or... You could just fucking stun people instead of killing them," Barry said rolling his eyes at both of them. "Or maybe opening up a tunnel directly to Summer first before you needlessly kill a bunch of people." Yeah, Barry's being a killjoy here but honestly the needless bloodbath was making him feel like he was 11 again. And in retrospect he didn't like the person he was when he was 11.
Rick	"Literally no one wanted you or your opinions here, Barry," Rick felt the need to remind him. "That's not how we do things; maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to latch yourself onto this adventure. I'm pretty sure I'd rather have one of these," he kicked at one of the face-huggers on one of the bodies at their feet, "latched onto my asshole. It would at least be less annoying. "But it's good to know where you stand on the whole 'accidental debris potentially crushing your girlfriend' of it all," he added, "because we don't know what kind of situation she might be in in there. But, we're about to find out. She should be," one quick second to check his watch and the holographic locator map that sprung from it, a quick glance, and a narrowing of his eyes, "right behind this wall." He glanced to Morty, who nodded in response, and the two of them slashed their swords in an elaborate pattern to blow through the wall. "Sum-sum!" he caled. "Come with us if you want to live... "...at a lower standard than this," he realized, once he got a look at the scene, "I guess. God damn."
Summer	The wall had opened up in a chamber, with the suggestion of an oppulence not quite seen in the tunnels that lead them there or the smoking ruins of the metropolis up above. A smattering of people, and, at the center of it, on a large canopied chaise, flanked by broad-shouldered soldiers and fanned by servants, was Summer, draped in luxuriant red and gold with a tiny little creature curled up at her side, in the middle of a pedicure, and clearly at least a little taken by surprise. "Empress?" asked one of the servants, who held in his hands a bowl a oblong turquoise fruit, that he had, until that moment, been feeding to her. "Is everything alright?" Summer's brows furrowed with concern for a moment as she regarded the servant and his question. "Ummmmm...." She looked toward Rick and Morty and...Barry?...there at the opening in the wall, looked like she was going to say one thing for a brief moment before her expression hardened and she pointed an accusing, directing figure. "Seize them!"
Rick and Morty	"Seize them?" Morty gawked. "What?" The charging of the laser guns being pointed at the intruders nearly drowned out Rick's incredulous response. "Summer! You bitch!" "You gotta be kidding me!"
Barry	So. There's a lot to unpack here for Barry. First of all he felt totally vindicated in his assertion that Summer was safe and fine and that really the people who needed babysitting was Morty and Rick. So when Summer then made the order to seize them, he at first laughed because he assumed it was a joke. Until the face-hugger controlled people started to actually seize him. "Oh. Shit. Really?" There was a moment where Barry watched Summer's face for some kind of reaction. Some kind of expression that this was a joke or- Nope. She was serious. "Oh! Fuck! Me!" he complained as he was sudden seized upon. "This fucking sucks. I should have come here alone god damn it."

[[ Many, many, many thanks to the wonderful badassprodigy for letting me inject him all up into my canon (she says, as if these two weren't totally destined for comixing sci-fi bullshit). Taken heavily from Rick & Morty S04:E07, "Promortyus", Part I of III, all the wonderful typical alphabet soup applies! ]]