RickFic Ch6. Girls Night
(Tags: +18 minors DNI/substance use/drinking/violence/manipulation/sexual situations implied)
—- HELLO —-
—- INITIATING DOWNLOAD SEQUENCE MEMORY CLUSTER #6 —-
—-PULLING UP EARLIEST ASSISTED MEMORY RECORDS —-
—- NARRATION SIMULATING NOW —-
Astrid lay scrawled out on Summer’s bedroom floor right at the foot of her bed, the girls had all drank a little and were listening to snake jazz on Summer’s music player. Both Summer and Jessica lay on top of the bed with their heads hanging off the end above Astrid while Nancy sat in her favorite spot on a bean bag just to the side of them.
“I know you showed us Snake Jazz a while ago but it’s still such a banger.” Jessica said smiling up at the ceiling.
“Yeah Grandpa and Morty seem to have gotten over it, but I keep wanting to listen sometimes. They normally over do it and get sick of things way too fast.” Summer said also staring up at the ceiling.
“So I guess that’s means snakes have recording studios in space…?” Nancy awkwardly joked while leaned back on the bean bag.
“Well… yeah. Duh. How else would we be hearing this…?” Jessica stated.
“I bet they look cute in little jazz bands performing.” Astrid said with a laugh, having already seen a snake jazz performance live.
“Oh totally. But I heard they were kind of dicks from Morty.” Summer snorted craning her neck back to look down at Astrid on the floor.
“So…. The last few times you’ve been over I noticed you and Rick talking in the garage. Is he being pushy? I had a feeling grandpa was going to keep making a big deal out of stupid stuff.” She asked Astrid.
“He just wants to make sure I’m not like a possible danger.” Astrid said reassuringly.
“Oh shit! That’s right you went on an adventure with them right?!” Jessica sat up on the bed and turned around to look at Astrid.
“You guys would never believe what a fucking beast Astrid is! It’s literally driving Rick nuts.” Summer said with an enthusiastic grin.
“Not going to lie… it is pretty funny how upset he gets. But… he mentioned something about Tammy last time…? I don’t think I’ve heard what happened…?” Astrid said while sitting up and also waiting for Summer to fill her in.
“Oh Tammy…. Yeah, Summer what did happen to Tammy..?” Nancy asked seemingly also out of the loop.
“I didn’t tell you..? Oh right…I forget Jessica was the only one I told the whole story to. Honestly it was a lot to process at the time. I think I was still in shock about it for a while. Like I thought she was all our best friend for real.” Summer explained with a hint of hurt in her voice.
“Tell them! It’s so insane what happened you guys like holy shit.” Jessica insisted.
All the girls then sat up and scooted closed to the edge of the bed where Summer began to tell them the details. Astrid felt a slight sting of guilt as the story started to sink in.
“So like… okay, Astrid you didn’t really see much of Tammy because all this went down before you started coming to hang out. She was like all our best friends. Well we thought she was. She turned out to be an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation.” She paused.
“Like Summer told me, she ended up trying to ambush them at her own wedding!” Jessica blurted out.
“Wait her wedding…? To that bird guy that’s friends with your grandpa?” Nancy asked trying to piece together info she heard in passing.
“Yeah.. so neither of you were around when Tammy had gotten engaged to my grandpa Rick’s best friend, Birdperson…. it was kind of weird the whole age gap thing but I tried to be a supportive best friend you know..?” Summer started to ramble on.
“Yeah but like turns out she wasn’t even a high school student anyways!” Jessica inserted again.
“We all showed up for the wedding and once they were in the middle of it she just pulled a gun and a bunch of Federation bugs just surrounded the place trying to arrest us.” Summer sighed and fell back on her bed defeated.
Astrid shifted awkwardly on the floor thinking about how painfully similar her situation might be to the topic. Nancy also seemed to shift awkwardly in her seat,
“So… was she an alien….? Or just a regular person but part of the Federation…?” She asked.
“Uhg! NANCY! I don’t know!” Summer snapped back.
Nancy recoiled and got quiet. Summer looked up from the bed and frowned feeling guilty,
“Sorry Nancy, I just …really don’t know what the fuck is up with Tammy. She lied the whole time. How should I know?” She looked over to the liquor bottle she had stolen from Rick on her desk and pointed at it.
“Here.” Astrid reached over and picked it up, she then handed the bottle over to Summer.
“Well good thing you got out of it! And didn’t you say Tammy stopped hunting your family now?” Jessica asked optimistically.
“Yeah. Apparently the new bug leaders don’t mess with Rick so he won’t mess with them. But I think Space mom still is fighting against the federation. So…I’m sure they fight all the time.” She said plainly, clearly tired of the topic already.
She took a few swigs of the bottle and passed it to Jessica.
“Okay… fuck this depressing shit! Let’s get the vibe back! Come on Nancy, have some!” Jessica then pushed the bottle into Nancy’s hand.
Nancy hesitated but changed her mind after seeing how sad Summer looked. She took a swig and her face made a disgusted look.
“WOO! NANCY!!” All of them shouted in surprise.
“Okay let’s get some good vibes cranked up!” Summer said trying to hype herself up.
She got up and walked over to the music player to change the music, changing it to one of her favorite current radio songs.
“Hell yeah! I love Megan the Stallion!” She yelled.
All the girls started to get up dancing around the room and passing the bottle back and forth. After a few more swigs Astrid felt like she needed a breather,
“I’ll be RIIIIGHT back y’all! I gotta go piss.” She said trying sound playful.
“Don’t fall in!” Summer called to her as she slipped out into the hallway.
Once in the hallway alone Astrid took a deep breath. She started to feel the guilt of her identity weigh down even harder. She briefly debated the idea of telling Summer the truth but ultimately shook it out of her thoughts again. There was no way telling any of the Smiths would be a good idea. She grappled around in her jacket and pulled out her bowl and lighter. She then silently snuck downstairs and out the den sliding door to the backyard. She sparked up and took a deep hit. If she couldn’t be honest at least she could be high. She exhaled another puff of smoke and felt her eyes get dry. The song “I Can’t Escape Myself” by The Sound played in her earbuds. She stood there looking out at the yard thinking about the situation. If she just kept up the act she was playing maybe things would turn out fine. They all had awareness she wasn’t quite normal. She could continue to micro-dose them with information. That way she wouldn’t be lying right? They could just slowly get to know the real her? But until when? Until she finally got the order to go after Rick? Until the order was given for a new mission elsewhere? She rubbed her face in frustration. Astrid had rarely come across situations that made her want to blow her cover.
“Fuck I should have just stayed out of it..” she whispered to no one in particular.
A loud clanging came from the garage and she snapped back into alertness. The distant yelling of Rick from the garage signaled to Astrid that he and Morty had returned from their duo mission. Astrid quickly put out her pipe and snuck back through the house quietly up to Summer’s room again. Before entering, Astrid waited outside the door to see if she could hear anything being said. She stood with her back against the wall, one ear towards the room and one towards the top of the staircase.
“Haha! Omg! Brad was totally hitting on you in gym class!! SHUT UPPP ITS OBVIOUS!” Jessica screeched from inside the room.
“Y-you know Rick, y-you can’t keep doing that type of shit and always expecting it to work!!” Morty also shouted in frustration at Rick from downstairs.
“C-come on MORTY!! It worked didn’t it?!” He demanded back.
“D-did you have an aneurism!? WE ALMOST DIED!!” Morty screamed back as he started to storm over to the stairs.
Astrid having heard enough, opened the room door and joined the girls again. She walked in just as Nancy was wrestling Jessica back for her phone.
“No don’t!!” Nancy pleaded to Jessica.
“WHAT?! He’s never going to make a move if you never talk to him!!” Jessica playfully yanked the phone back and continued to text something into the phone.
Astrid snorted and sat down on the bed next to Summer who was clearly buzzed at this point, laughing at the girls bickering.
“You know what? This is the perfect time to play some truth or dare.” Summer wiggled her eyebrows while an evil smile curled around on her face.
“Noooo!” Nancy pleaded.
“YES!” Summer and Jessica pressed.
They both pulled Nancy back down onto the beanbag while they situated themselves on either side of her on the floor. Summer then looked up at Astrid and patted the ground indicating for her to join them on the floor.
Right as Astrid walked over she heard a very delayed creak from the stairs. She instantly knew by then Morty should be in his room by now unless he had stopped to listen in on the girls. She then heard his footsteps quickly pass the door to his room followed by a loud slam of his door shutting. Astrid wanted to laugh but kept it to herself as she joined the girls back on the floor.
“Okay we can all go in a circle asking the other group members what they’d choose. So like I’ll ask all three of you which you choose, I’ll come up with something for each of you and then it’s the next person’s turn to ask.” She said with mischievous intent.
“Please you guys….! Don’t make it too bad…” Nancy insisted again but more defeated this time.
“Uhg fine. I’ll start you off with an easy round Nancy but you better get with it as we play longer!” Summer said rolling her eyes.
“So you three choose! Truth or dare?!” Summer asked arching her eyebrows.
“Dare!” Jessica said confidently.
“Truth!” Nancy said covering her face with her hands.
“Dare.” Astrid said calmly.
“Ooo, great start! Jessica, I dare you to message Thomas and tell him your waisted! Nancy… oh! NANCY DO YOU LIKE BRAD?! Yes or no?!” Summer screeched.
Jessica giggled and proceeded to text Thomas exactly as Summer instructed. Nancy’s face quickly turned red as she kept her hands glued to her face.
“I… umm… I don’t know….. I guess he is pretty cute…” Nancy struggled to let out.
“GOD WE KNEW IT!” Jessica and Summer both chimed in.
Everyone proceeded to pass the bottle around again. Just as they were all settling down again Astrid heard a small creak coming from the hall near Morty’s room. He must have gotten curious about the game the girls were playing. But then Astrid’s attention was quickly snapped back to the girls as Summer set her sights on Astrid.
“Okay Astrid. I…. Umm.. DARE you to go snatch another liquor bottle from Rick’s garage without being caught!” She blurted out.
“Uh…you sure? Won’t your grandad get pissed at you if he finds out…?” Astrid checked before getting up to go through with it.
“Um… yeah. It’ll be fine! If he catches you and gets super mad just blame me. He’ll get annoyed but he knows we’re just having a bit of fun. Worst case scenario he’ll make me do chores for him for a week.” She thought through for a second.
Astrid got up and rolled her eyes at the door for a second, not wanting to cause more problems causing Rick to dislike her. But she looked over and saw Summer’s curious face. Astrid wondered if this was some kind of test with a deeper meaning. If it was, then of course she had to get on Summer’s good side. That way, no matter how much Rick wanted to bitch about Astrid coming on missions, it wouldn’t matter because Summer and Morty would still want her around.
“Umm okay….! But y’all need to keep being loud up here so he doesn’t suspect anything weird is going on.” She said trying to cover her reluctance.
“Yeah yeah! We got it! We will play the next round and you can just catch up once you get back!” Jessica reassured.
Astrid then turned and opened the door quietly, hearing a shuffling in the hallway, she assumed it was Morty. She closed the door behind her and stood silent for a second until the girls all started chatting loudly again. She looked over towards Morty’s door which she noticed was ajar. She knew this would be the perfect opportunity to get in good with him as well by making him feel included. She knew he wouldn’t question her weird behavior if she didn’t question his.
“Morty!” She whispered, “I know you’re there, come out for a second.”
Morty quickly popped his head out shyly with wide eyes expecting to be made fun of. Astrid motioned to him silently to come closer.
“H-hey Astrid… uh.. I swear I wasn’t like-….” He tried to explain himself but was cut off.
“Morty would you do me a solid and help me with this dare?” She asked plainly and unbothered by his obvious spying.
“Oh! Uh… yeah! Of course! W-what do y-you need me to do…?” He said now enthusiastic after not being made fun of.
“Okay so I know this might be asking a lot… but Summer dared me to snatch a bottle from your grandad. Could you maybe distract him away from the garage just long enough for me to get in and out?” Astrid asked in hopes of Morty playing into her plan.
Morty rubbed his neck awkwardly while thinking and then looked up at Astrid. “Y-yeah… I think I could do that. How long do you need..?”
“Hmm.. he has those beers in his mini fridge right…? Where does he keep the liquor bottles?” She thought about how long it might take her to find said items.
“Oh uh, he has some under his work bench in the shelves sometimes… he has a whole liquor room under the garage in the basement lab but you’d need the code for that….” He said hesitantly.
“Wait…. There is an underground lab under the garage….?” Astrid’s curiosity was peeked, she wanted to grin but acted as if it was no big deal. “Wait- of course he does. Why am I even surprised?” She said waving away the new information.
“Look, don’t worry about that.” She quickly said to Morty to keep him from feeling uneasy. “I’m not going to ask for the codes. Just distract him long enough for me to check the shelves and we’re good.” She said making up her mind.
“Okay! I-I got you!” Morty said confidently before rushing down the stairs.
Astrid quickly followed behind him hiding against the wall in the dining room to wait.
She heard Morty open the garage door and call out for Rick. But instead of his voice coming from the garage it came from a different part of the house Astrid hadn’t been before.
“M-Morty! I’m in my room.” He shouted from down the hall.
Morty quickly ran in the direction of his Grandfather through the dining room, giving a determined nod to Astrid as he passed her. Astrid then slinked over to the garage quickly leaving the door slightly cracked behind her. She went over to Rick’s work bench and started opening shelves. She spotted a single liquor bottle that had fallen over behind a few nondescript boxes and containers of sci-fi junk. She snatched it and closed all the shelves behind her. She pulled it up and noticed the bottle was already half empty. She sighed and decided it would have to do. Astrid then walked over to the door and listened to hear what might be on the other side. She heard Morty stuttering trying to grab Rick’s attention as footsteps got closer to the door. She quickly holds her breath while pressed up against the shelf next to the door, trying to make herself as flat as possible. With a quick jolt the door sprung open and Rick stomped through into the garage right over to his work bench. Morty caught a glimpse of Astrid as he scuffled in behind Rick. His eyes went wide but Astrid held a finger to her lips indicating for Morty to keep quiet and calm. He quickly nodded and rushed over to the other side of Rick near his work bench striking up a loud and distracting conversation. Astrid slipped out quickly just as she heard the two of them start to bicker over the mission they had just gone on. Something about Seahorses and how the men got pregnant…. She shook her head and rushed back up the staircase to Summer’s room. Once inside she presented the bottle to the three girls with an awkward grin.
“Aww only half…? Eh that’s grandpa for you.” Summer said after being met with the sight.
“Yeah… honestly Summer, I get that those dares might be fun for you guys but.. I don’t know… I feel like I’m a little too old to be doing stuff like that if you don’t mind.” Astrid said playing with her hair casually in hopes of guiding Summer away from giving her immature dares.
“Oh right…. Uh sorry Astrid. Sometimes I forget you probably don’t want to do those kinds of things cause they’re stupid…” she said embraced.
“Hey! It’s okay! Just keep in mind it’s a little weird for me, technically I’m kind of a teacher so I don’t know…. Maybe I’ll stick to truth more in the next few rounds.”
“Yeah okay! If you do pick dare I’ll think about something more fitting next time.” Summer said feeling more relaxed now that Astrid seemed chill about it.
The girls all continued on with their game. Astrid mostly stuck to choosing “truth” in hopes of not being asked to mess with Rick’s stuff again. But this too quickly made her stick to giving vague information about herself. Such as:
“First crush!?” Nancy asked shyly.
“Um… a boy in the same program as me. He gave me my listening earbuds…. He got me really into music I guess you could say….?” Astrid struggled to admit without giving too much information.
“Program? Like as in when you went to school..?” Summer asked confused.
“Uh… yeah. Our schooling…” Astrid squeezed out a little white lie that wasn’t exactly inaccurate.
After a few more rounds of chugging from the bottle and the girls started to get real spicy with their questions. Suddenly it was Astrid’s turn to answer another question truthfully.
“Who was your last relationship or fling? And how was it?!” Jessica giggled asking Astrid.
All the girls looked at her curiously wanting to know more about the mysterious life of Astrid.
“Well… I’m not sure what to call it exactly… “ she awkwardly pondered still feeling the sting of the past situation.
A creak was heard outside the door of Summer’s room in the hall, Astrid instantly knew Morty had been listening the whole time. She rubbed her face in frustration and decided to get it over with.
“I guess it was more of a fling…. She was my ex co-worker… Reagan. My agency sent me to partner with their company and so I guess some of her office buddies kind of thought it would be funny to meddle with our relationship… things just got sticky I guess. It’s like weird trying to explain all that… but basically it ended off confusing.” Astrid said while looking up at the ceiling thinking about it.
“Agency…? Company…? What did you do-?” Nancy asked before being interrupted by Summer.
“YIKES….I totally hear you. You know… that’s honestly how I felt after me and Ethan’s relationship. It just got so messy and confusing… I mean we were both younger and I guess what’s how teen relationships go…?“ Summer rambled on not paying attention in an attempt to relate to Astrid.
“I remember that! Honestly Summer you were way too good for him anyway. He was kind of a loser.” Jessica input.
“So I guess it’s my turn to ask you all Truth or Dare?” Astrid hurriedly asked hoping Nancy’s questions would be forgotten about.
“Okay since we’ve been doing a lot of dares already I guess I’ll choose truth this time!” Summer answered.
“Not me, I want another Dare!” Jessica quickly replied.
“Um…. I guess since Astrid did a dare she didn’t want to do earlier I’ll choose dare too…” Nancy said having a bit of courage.
“Oooooo!!” All the girls cooed at her proudly.
“Okay okay! Hmm… Jessica I dare you to tell us who you have a crush on.” Astrid said thinking of something that seemed pretty simple.
“Well… I’ve already told Summer but I think her dad Jerry is kinda hot-“ Jessica said in a suggestive tone before Summer interrupted her with a scream.
“EWWW STOP JESSICA NO!!” She screamed while shoving two pillows against her ears in disgust.
“Ewww…..!” Both Astrid and Nancy chimed in.
“Oh whatever!! Obviously both your two moms seem to like him for the same reasons!!” Jessica huffed.
“Yeah but like….. they’re all adults! You’re way too young!” Astrid said slapping her hand against her forehead in disbelief.
“Uhg come on! Like… I know that! Calm down old lady!” Jessica defensively joked back at Astrid.
“Hey! I’m not that old……! I’m probably only a little younger than Jerry!” Astrid laughed while wiggling her eyebrows at Jessica.
All the girls erupted into laughter as Jessica snatched one of the pillows from Summer. She then playfully started hitting all of them with it. While the laughter died down. Astrid quickly took a peek at the bedroom door and noticed a little shadow underneath it in the hallway. Like she had thought, Morty must have been quietly listening in still.
“Hey Nancy, I dare you to like a photo on Brad’s instagram. You know his insta don’t you?!” She said with a laugh, thinking about how silly this was.
“Wait…. What if he thinks I’m creeping on him??” She asked looking back embarrassed.
“Nancy! Brad has already flirted with you! If he wonders how you found his insta just say it popped up on you recommend accounts.” Summer snickered.
The girls all silently waited and watched Nancy go to his profile on her phone and like the most recent picture of him backpacking on a hiking trail.
“See! That wasn’t so bad! Okay let’s keep playing.” Jessica said while turning back to Astrid.
“Anyway…. Okay uh Truth for you right..?” Astrid turned to Summer and asked.
“Yeah! Ask me anything!” Summer said with a smile.
“Hmm…. Well…” Astrid thought for a second wondering what she might want to know. “So I’ve kind of figured out the situation between your moms and dad… so then what’s the deal with Rick? Do you have a grandmother…? Are they like divorced or something? I’ve never seen her around…” Astrid asked curiously.
“Oh grandma…? Honestly I’m not really sure what the back story is…..other than her passing away.” Summer replied.
“Oh gosh… sorry I didn’t mean to bring up a sore topic….” Astrid said remorsefully.
“No don’t even sweat! I never knew her. She passed before I was born, I never heard much about it from the family. But it is odd though… even in other dimensions it seems none of the other Ricks have wives either…? I’m sure that’s more secret Rick lore or something.” She said casually wondering.
“Hu.. weird.” Astrid also pondered.
“But granddad is always having like raunchy ass flings, believe me. He’s literally such a dog!” Summer laughed really hard while continuing the conversation.
“Oh really? I’m guessing he hooks up with a bunch of Alien girls?” Jessica also asked seeming surprised.
“Not just ladies! Grandpa is like super gay. He’s probably hooked up with every and any type of alien gender that’s even out there! He’s messed with like… aliens, mutants, animal people, planets… uh even a hive mind…” Summer started to list off the ones she knew about.
“A hive mind…?” Astrid asked suddenly feeling a memory of her own tingling in the back of her head.
“Oh yeah… um a hive mind is like a thing that takes over multiple brains of alien species kind of… and then they all share a mind and it can communicate and function through all of them…? It would make more sense if you met one I guess… but yeah anyway he hooked up with a hive mind called Unity.” She continued to try and explain.
“Unity..?” Astrid muttered to herself shocked.
“Yeah he was such a a dick to it too! Unity was so nice and grandpa just kept using it. Morty and I brought up how wack things were and then things quickly fell apart between them I guess.” Summer continued to go more into details about the failed relationship, however Astrid had already tuned out of the conversation after hearing the name “Unity” .
Astrid grimaced as an old memory of hers surfaced. Astrid was no longer in Summer’s room with the girls. They now stood stairing down at the metal floor of the agency’s transportation ship as it neared a planet somewhere in space.
“We’re nearing the drop off point!” The ship pilot shouted back to Astrid as large sliding doors opened at the back of the ship.
“Got it!” Astrid shouted back and tapped their ear communicator to open a channel to their then handler.
“I’m nearing the sight.” Astrid copied.
“Good.” A voice replied through the ear piece.
“Remember, you’re trying to find out what happened to all our missing agents at the cargo outpost we set up there a few months ago. Keep your cover as a tourist in the village. Keep alert and get back in a timely manner if possible. Make sure to give me updates. I know this is one of your first solo missions, don’t think this is an opportunity to slack off. Do what you need to do to gain trust and information but try to do it as efficiently as possible. If I haven’t heard from you by tomorrow with an update we’ll send in the squad.” The voice ordered.
“Understood.” Astrid replied before turning the communication button off on their ear piece.
“Okay we’re at the drop sight! Get going!!” Shouted the pilot.
“See ya later!” Astrid shouted as they ran toward the open doors at the back of the ship.
Cueing up one of their favorite alien songs, one their fellow agent Jax had shown them, in their earpiece. Right as the song started to play Astrid leapt from the ship and went soaring down towards the planet through the atmosphere. Their heart raced in excitement for the new mission. They shifted to form black bird like wings once they neared the ground. They then glided on past some simple but beautiful terrain into a forest off to the side of the village. Astrid then gabbed hold of a branch as their wings shifted back into their person. They used the branch to flip themselves and then land on the ground. They looked back up at the sky watching the ship disappear back out past the atmosphere.
“Astrid?” Summer called again.
Astrid’s vision focused back on Summer’s face, “Oh, ha! Sorry I zoned out there for a second.” She laughed.
“We were wondering what was going on.” Jessica said with a smile.
“You getting tired? I mean it is getting late. Do y’all just want to watch a movie downstairs like last time until we want to go to bed?” Summer asked also getting tired.
Astrid looked out the window and was surprised to see it was now pitch black outside. She rubbed her head and face while standing up to stretch. The girls all did a variation of the same thing before heading downstairs towards the living room. They all got comfortable in various spots on the couch as Summer flicked on the Tv and changed through various channels. Astrid started to drift back into a daze thinking about that past mission of hers just as Morty came downstairs to try and join them. The siblings started to argue about what to watch.
“Report!?” The voice demanded in Astrid’s ear piece.
Astrid jolted up awake from a bed in the local village’s inn. They looked around the room to get their bearings before answering. They quickly recounted what had transpired the previous night. They had gotten roped into partying with the locals and seemed to have made a few new “friendships” as well.
“I was welcomed into the village as a tourist. The people seemed to have already been celebrating some type of occasion when I showed up. However most of the villagers I interacted with were not sober so I wasn’t able to get solid intel. I was able to get a few names of villagers to further question who might know more about the outpost and previous “tourists” that have come before me. I’ll be perusing that today.” Astrid quickly informed their handler.
“Good. Keep at it. Report back tomorrow morning.” The voice stated.
“Understood.” Astrid said as they clicked the earpiece off.
“Tell him Astrid!!” Summer yelled frustratedly at her.
“Um….” Astrid snapped back to the present and looked at Summer who had put Morty in a headlock in front of the Tv while the other girls laughed.
“H-hey!! Stop it Summer!! OW!” Morty squirmed trying to get away.
“God Morty. Least you could do is not be rude. You’re crashing our girls night.” Jessica snorted.
“I-I just wanted to watch movies too!” He scrambled to defend himself.
“Yeah but don’t come in here trying to tell us what we should watch then! If you want to join then shut up and watch!” Summer teased as she let go of Morty and shoved him into the arm chair next to the couch.
“Yeah I really wanted to watch this movie!” Nancy perked up looking at the screen.
Astrid shifted on the couch taking in the moment. Summer sat back down on the couch and cued up what looked to be a romance movie. Morty then let out an annoyed sigh before being shushed at angrily by the girls.
Astrid leaned her head against her hand on the arm rest of the couch trying to pay attention, but that quickly faded.
“Oh uh…. Gross! I’m so sorry!” The village bar tender said sympathetically to Astrid. “Gosh I’m so sorry about that… some of our regulars get a little too plastered sometimes….here I’ll get you a towel!” He said as he ran to the back room.
Astrid sat at the bar wiping what looked like vomit off the side of their face and shoulder. They looked down on the ground where a random local laid unconscious on the ground next to them. Moments ago, said local had grabbed Astrid, pried their mouth open, and proceeded to try and vomit into their mouth. Obviously Astrid instantly knocked him unconscious before anything got in. Astrid lifted up their glass and took a swig. They had seen weird shit before but never had someone try to vomit into their mouth like that.
“Here! Also… next drink is on the house! I hope that’s good compensation after this weird.. misunderstanding.” The bar tender returned and handed Astrid a towel.
“Uh yeah.. sure. Does this guy do that often…?” Astrid asked while poking the local on the floor with their shoe.
The bar tender filled up Astrid’s glass again ignoring the question, “You must have an insane liver! You’ve been knocking these back for hours!” He said with a jovial laugh.
“You think so? If you’d believe it, I actually just started drinking for the first time a few months ago.” Astrid laughed and slammed the drink back quickly.
“Ahhhh! A real hearty lass!!” Cheered another local coming into the bar with some friends.
The small group of alien locals all surrounded Astrid at the bar ordering drinks. Astrid noted that there seemed to be three ladies and four men in the group, all smiles and grins, exuding warm and friendly energy. Astrid then remembered these aliens where the ones who had made Astrid join in on the party the night they had landed on planet.
“Oh hey you guys! Remember me from the other night? You all were so drunk I won’t take it personal if you don’t.” Astrid beamed.
“Oh that’s right! Hello hon!” One of the women greeted sweetly.
“You’re not from around here right…? I don’t think we’ve seen you around before other than last night!” Another of the women asked curiously.
“That’s right! I’m just popping by the planet on my way to visit a friend. I heard some friends of mine came through here a while ago though. I was wondering if any of you might have seen them?” Astrid asked sweetly.
“Hmm I don’t reckon we have! Then again you might want to go ask Jillion down at the docks. He takes care of boat transport and fishin!” The main gentleman answered heartily.
“Thanks! I’ll go ask him.” Astrid said setting their glass down and pulling out their wallet.
“Hey wait! The party just started friend! Why don’t you join us for a few rounds?! We just got here!” One of the other guys chimed in.
“Well….I…” Astrid hesitated but didn’t want to seem rude.
“Don’t worry about it! Jillion comes around the bar a little later anyways!” The third woman said with smile.
“Well, okay. Show me what you got!” Astrid said with a grin.
Astrid shifted on the couch and looked over to see Summer wiping tears off her face. She then looked over to see the other girls, even Morty, were also all crying while watching the Tv. The main love interest was in the protagonist’s arms dying. Astrid snorted not taking it seriously at all and looked back at the kitchen.
“Hey Summer, can I snag a soda from the fridge?” Astrid asked.
“Sure. *sob* oh gosh this movie is so romantic…” She trailed off still glued to the movie.
Astrid got up and went into the dark kitchen. The kids had turned the lights off for a more “immersive” movie experience. Once alone Astrid sighed while glancing at the garage door.
“I guess we have a lot more in common than I thought Sanchez….” Astrid murmured to herself while opening the fridge thinking about Unity.
Astrid thought back to when things really started to get weird on that planet. A couple of days had come and gone in a blur. The towns people sure seemed to like partying. Every morning Astrid would wake up hung over practically forgetting most of the company they had kept while there. This lead to Astrid hooking up with a few of them. After not being able to locate the person called “Jillion” multiple days in a row, Astrid continued on with their report.
“I’m starting to notice a strange pattern with the town’s people. I think I’m on to something.” Astrid concluded to their handler.
“Fine. But hurry it up. The Agency isn’t going to like how long this is taking. Give me something useful by tomorrow morning or I’m coming in to assist on the mission.” The voice ordered.
“Understood.” Astrid replied like usual.
After hanging up Astrid pieced together bits of information they had gathered from their past few drunken days. It was always the same. Astrid would wake up, give their report and head into town to get breakfast. After wandering around town for a bit in an attempt to snoop, they would always be intercepted by town’s members seemingly welcoming Astrid to join them in celebration. For what celebration? The answer would always be vague. Like: “good harvest”, “a beautiful day”, a “great bounty” after a hunt, so on and so on. Astrid would then always end up at the bar plastered with the same group of “friends”. Which then normally lead to a quick drunken hook up. But then Astrid had another one of the locals try to vomit in their mouth again last night. Astrid jolted out of bed and rushed to the Inn room window.
“Why would two different individuals try to vomit in my mouth….? The bar tender acted embarrassed for me but what did he say it was when he offered me a free drink….? A… misunderstanding….? Misunderstanding of what..?” Astrid rubbed their temples.
Astrid even started to remember how in some conversation with individuals they seemed to know things that had never been talked about between the two of them. Astrid pondered this harder. It wasn’t like mind reading, it’s not like they knew things Astrid had never said before. But it was like they knew things Astrid had spoken about with other towns members about. How did they all do that? How could they discuss Astrid while right in front of them? Then a blurry memory of the hook up they had last night surfaced, remembering it made Astrid uneasy. They remembered being in the local’s bedroom and looking at some type of forest animal just watching them in the middle of sex. But any time eye contact was made the creature would always look away or continue on with munching on leaves. But the eye contact felt too sentient for Astrid’s liking. An eerie feeling creeped down Astrid’s spine.
The day had come and gone, it was already night time again and Astrid had been chumming it up with the usual group of villager “friends”. Except this time Astrid had been cleverly making sure all of them had been drinking so much that they must have been black out drunk by now. Astrid would make sure none of the friends noticed when pouring any alcohol from their glass into others’. However the bar tender seemed to keep asking Astrid if they wanted another drink. A bit too often… Astrid then pretended to be too drunk to stand while trying to get up to go to the bathroom. Motioning to the bartender for help knowing the friends were all to trashed to stand themselves. The bar tender left from behind the bar and let Astrid lean on him as they hobbled around the corner behind the bar to the bathrooms.
“Ha!! Thanks…. I’m s-sorry I’m such a m-mess.. I’m sure y-you have to do this toooo much w-with how rowdy your crowd gets!” Astrid blubbered on with a shy smile.
“It’s no problem really…. You’re pretty cute…It’s been a while since I’ve seen strangers come in to town… I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself here with us.” He said nervously still helping her down the hall.
“Awww you’re sweet… all of you are sooooo sweeeet!” Astrid giggled and stumbled a bit causing them to bump up against the wall.
“I’m actually pretty surprised… you didn’t even drink that much tonight compared to other nights.. but you seem so hammered. Did we really wear you down finally?” He joked awkwardly.
“Oh you noticed…?” Astrid drunkenly looked up at him with sad eyes. “You see… I’m not actually on vacation…” Astrid said in a pained voice.
He looked down at them in worried surprise. “Wait… then why are you here? You’re not looking for your friends?” He asked searching Astrid’s face.
“No.. you see.. I- I’m looking for my partner… we had just gotten m-married but she came here for work and then never- never came back…” Astrid started to sob.
Astrid continued to sob while looking up at him and noticed a huge look of guilt written across his face. They then shoved their face into his chest and sobbed some more. He patted Astrid’s head and mumbled,
“I’m so sorry hon…” he said continuing to hold on. “Here, let’s get you some tissues from the bathroom.” He pulled her into the restroom and sat them down on a side table next to a vase with flowers in it.
Astrid took the tissues he handed them and blotted their eyes. They then looked up to see that the bathroom door had just shut behind the two of them.
“Oh I was meaning to ask…. W-Why did you think I was looking for my friends…?” Astrid asked still sobbing a little.
“Oh I uh… must have overheard you in the bar the other day talking about it.” He said casually.
“R-right.. duh..” Astrid said putting their hands in their face.
“Hey hey! Don’t cry…” he said putting his fingers under their chin and pulling their face up close to his.
He looked down at Astrid with sad eyes as well. Astrid met his gaze with large hurt eyes.
“I don’t know why I keep fucking up…. But I wished I could make that pain go away….” He muttered softly to them.
“Oh by vomiting in my mouth?” Astrid said stone cold sober, their eyes switching to cold reptilian looking slits.
“W-what the…what are you?!” He recoiled away slamming into the opposite bathroom wall.
Astrid heard a few glasses shatter from the main bar area right after his reaction.
Astrid lunged at him, pinning him tightly against the wall by his throat. They let out a laugh and got up close in his face, many of their teeth turned sharp and animal like.
“Nice try.” Astrid said with a smile before knocking him unconscious.
Astrid quickly picked up the flower vase and smashed it on the floor next to him. They shifted back to how they looked before and proceeded to stumble out of the bathroom still pretending to be drunk.
“Let’s see where this goes…” Astrid mumbled to themself with a hunch before coming back into the main section of the bar.
“Uh- um help!! I w-was stumbling and the b-bar tender had a vase h-hit him on the h-head…!” She breathed out harshly still keeping up the act.
Astrid looked up to be met with the sight of everyone in the bar staring back terrified not wanting to move a single inch closer. Instantly Astrid realized they all knew what had actually happened in the bathroom so they dropped the act. They’re eyes changing to demonic black pools. They then snatched the nearest person in the bar by their hair. In a flash they held a laser gun to the hostage’s head and looked at the crowd with a smile.
“Wait!!” They all said panicked in eerie unison.
Astrid stood there for a second and thought about something they had learned in passing at the Agency, a life form known as a hive mind. But in all honesty Astrid had never considered they might actually meet one in real life so soon into their first few missions.
“Oh so this is what this is….. you’re a hive mind…?” They asked it.
“Yes.” They all answered back scared.
“So you’re the reason our agents went missing…?” Astrid asked curiously.
“Yes… I did not realize your agency would send in a being like you….” One of the women in the crowd stepped forward and answered.
“Well you got our attention alright.” Astrid said while quickly tapping the button on their ear piece.
“Reporting. Seems like the whole town is infested with a hive mind.” Astrid reported to their handler.
“No! Please!” The whole group in the bar lunged at Astrid.
A shot rang out and the hostage fell to the floor dead, the whole crowd grimaced in pain for a second as the handler’s reply came back over the earpiece,
“Exterminate it.” The voice ordered.
“Understood.” Astrid said with a wicked smile as a full on bar fight broke out between themself and the hive mind..
“M-Morty!!” Rick shouted drunkenly from the garage causing Astrid to snap out of it.
She closed the fridge quickly after picking up a sprite. Morty then entered the kitchen and looked at Astrid in the dark,
“Y-You okay Astrid…?” He asked a little weirded out seeing the look on her face while just standing alone in the kitchen.
“Oops ya caught me zoning out again, my bad.” She said with a smile.
“Ha- n-no worries… I’m just going to uh…” he said awkwardly scooting by her towards the garage.
“Sorry, excuse me.” Astrid said moving out of the way for him and then returning back into the den.
Once arriving she saw the movie credits were rolling and the girls were rubbing their eyes from tears.
“That was heart breaking.” Nancy said with a sniff as she was curled up in a ball.
“That made me so sad I just want to go to bed now!” Jessica sobbed out.
“Uhg me too!” Summer sniffled and rubbed her nose.
“Aww you all going to retreat so soon?” Astrid asked while sitting back down on the couch.
“Honestly… yeah I think I’m going to go lay down…” Nancy said defeated while leaving to go upstairs.
“I’m ganna go check on her.” Jessica said before getting up to leave as well.
“I’m guessing you’re having a second wind? Your night owl status creeping back up?” Summer said trying to joke to make herself feel better.
“How’d you know?” Astrid asked while playfully arching her eyebrow at Summer.
“Well.. definitely feel free to hang out and watch whatever you want…sorry if the movie wasn’t really your thing… you seemed pretty bored.” She replied.
“Eh don’t worry about it. I’ve just had my fair share of heartbreaks so I’m not as fazed by sad romance I guess.” Astrid said just as another memory surfaced.
“P-please! Don’t kill me..! I’ll do whatever you want!! Please!” The last living villagers gasped out as Astrid proceeded to choke her to death in the bar.
Everyone had quickly been slaughtered by Astrid within minutes after being given the order to exterminate. They sighed looking down at the lady, they had to make sure this was the only one left. So Astrid let go and tossed the woman against the bar hard, causing her back and head to make a loud cracking noise.
“Ah!!” She screamed out in pain.
Astrid quickly grabbed a fork with one hand and the woman’s throat with their other hand. They pressed them painfully against the bar top, making the lady gasp for air.
“Tell me, is there any of yourself left in the village?” Astrid asked calmly as if asking about the weather.
“I thought we were becoming friends…!” She whimpered out.
“I’m sure that’s what you wanted me to think.” Astrid said emotionlessly pressing the dull fork up to her neck.
“No! It’s true I tried to assimilate you.. twice…. But after that I realized I couldn’t!! All of tonight I was trying to figure out a way to tell you so I tried to get you drunk.. I was nervous you might freak out!” She insisted.
“Tell me if there is anyone else left first. Then I’ll humor your charade.” They replied plainly pressing down with the fork already creating bruises on her neck.
The hive mind host wheezed as tears fell down her face, “p-please! Please….. it’s just this host and the unconscious one in the bathroom. Please hear me out!” She grimaced.
Astrid dragged her to the bathroom and threw her against one of the stalls. They then locked the door behind them. The woman host coward against the stall coverings her face. Astrid crouched over the unconscious male host on the floor holding out the dull fork above him.
“Okay let’s see how earnest you are.” Astrid looked up at the woman with a grin. “So where is the rest of you?” They asked while slamming the fork down through the male host’s hand.
The woman screamed out it pain as the male also let out an unconscious yelp and whimper.
“I’m sorry!! I’m sorry! Please…..!” She gasped.
Astrid tilted their head up and waited. Astrid’s black emotionless eyes staring through the woman. She looked up at them, eyes full of tears.
“There is a few more of me sleeping in a hidden cellar in town… some of them are probably your fellow agents! I kept them hidden while you were here!” She insisted.
“Ah so there it is. You’re going to try to blackmail me into getting them back from your assimilation is that it?” Astrid annoyedly grinned back.
“No….” She looked down at her feet. “I’ll bring them to you… I’ll reverse the assimilation.”
“You know that’s not going to be enough. I need all of the other yous. Even the non agent ones.” Astrid smiled back sarcastically.
“I know… you can have them. I won’t hide them from you anymore… I know you need to prove you fully got rid of me in town…. But please just let one host slip away…. Please?” She crawled forward a little towards Astrid keeping her head down.
“You really think I’m going to fall for this?” Astrid laughed. “My Agency told me to exterminate the hive mind. Not to extract my fellow agents.” They replied plainly with a casual look.
The woman host started to shake in fear, “please… I’m new to being a hive… I didn’t even know there was anything outside of myself and random organisms…. I didn’t even know there were beings besides my own species that couldn’t be assimilated… “ she begged.
“Well I guess natural selection has brought you to me then.” Astrid said playfully.
“I remember! I remember all the things you said when you were drunk…. I saw how sad you were.. something horrible happened to you Astrid! That’s why I wanted to make it go away by having you assimilate… I could have made all of it stop!” She sobbed.
Something felt like it was cracking inside Astrid, what did she even mean by that….? Sad? Sad about what…? Something horrible..? What the hell was she going on about? But that cracking started to feel more painful.
“What do you know?!” They stood up, “You’ve never even known pain until this night!” Astrid roared back, smashing the male’s skull under their heel.
“Aaahhhh!!!” The lady wailed in agony.
“Come on, you’re going to let me clean up your mess!” Astrid dragged her out of the bathroom and out of the bar.
“I’m sorry to hear that….” Summer said with an awkward sigh. “But thanks for wanting to hang out still. I’m glad we’re becoming good friends.” Summer said with a smile.
Astrid felt a slight pain in her heart after hearing Summer say that, “I’m glad we are friends too Summer.” She smiled back.
“Also sorry if Morty or Grandpa get loud or annoying… they tend to be night owls too. Just come up and hang out in the room and do whatever you want if they start being too much. The girls and I are heavily sleepers so you won’t bug us like those nimrods do in the garage.” Summer stated.
“Okay I’ll keep that in mind!” Astrid whispered back playfully.
“Night!” Summer jokingly whispered back to her.
“Night!” Astrid copied.
She then slouched back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling after Summer left.
She nervously hummed to herself softly while recounted the last part of the mission from forever ago.
“Any more sweet lies you want to tell me in hopes I’ll let you go?” Astrid turned back to look at the woman host on the ground.
The woman looked up at Astrid’s arm that had transformed into a blade, dripping with blood. She looked on behind their legs and saw scattered dead bodies and the house with a hidden cellar was on fire.
“No. I just want to get some things off my chest before you kill me…” she said tiredly from the pain or losing all the other hosts.
“Ohh. Do tell.” Astrid grinned.
“I never personally felt what falling in love was like…. I just could remember through my various hosts what love had felt like to them.” She stated.
“Ah so your the sentimental type.” Astrid joked.
“Yeah.. I guess I am… even through your new to drinking you sure don’t seem new to killing…I’m guessing you’ve done this whole rodeo too many times by now…” she stated again.
“Yep. I’ve seen all the tricks life forms try to pull when wanting to survive.” They admitted.
“There is one thing I want to experience before I die.” She said struggling to stand up in front of Astrid.
“Oh yeah?” Astrid grinned anticipating it was going to be a tactic they’d already seen before.
“Kissing someone I have feelings for.” She said softly as she grabbed Astrid’s hand and pulled in towards them.
As their lips met, Astrid’s eyes went wide in surprise. Just as they were about to pull away they noticed their arm wasn’t moving like normal. They looked down to see the woman had shoved their blade arm right through her abdomen.
“Wait- No!” Astrid breathed out in shock feeling as if they had been tricked somehow.
“Ha! I guess I win….I pulled a trick you haven’t seen before.” She whispered while collapsing into the ground.
“No! ….no! No this isn’t how it was supposed to….” Astrid clumsily grabbed at her to keep her head from dropping.
“I’m glad I got to meet you Astrid.” She said weakly.
“Your name!! What’s your name..?!” Astrid started to tear up. “Or does your species do that kind of thing…?” Astrid shook the woman awake.
“I’m Unity…” she replied faintly before slipping into unconsciousness.
When she woke, she saw Astrid sitting next to her on the inn bed. She patted her stomach in surprise realizing she wasn’t dead and that there wasn’t even a scar left.
“I’m alive-?” She questioned before she felt a gun pressed to the side of her head.
“You’re going to leave far away from here. If you ever assimilate another agency member you better kill them and then run far FAR away from where you found them. If I ever catch wind that you’re causing issues for me again I will destroy you. No amount of space will hide you from my grasp.” Astrid looked at her with red glowing eyes.
“But if you’re letting me live why can’t I see you sometime-?” She earnestly asked before being cut off.
“Don’t you get it?! I never want to see your faces again. You’ll only cause me problems. If I even hear a rumor about you surfacing near me I will hunt you down and put and end to this clear mistake I am making now.” They hissed.
“Astrid… I want to be with you really….” She teared up.
“I don’t care. I’m leaving. You’re leaving. We will act like none of this ever happened.” They said standing up and going to the door.
“Astrid….please..” Unity asked one more time.
“I’m sorry.” Astrid replied before disappearing.
Astrid looked up from the couch just as Morty ran from the kitchen back upstairs muttering to himself angrily,
“I can’t fucking believe this… stupid old man.” He said storming to his bedroom followed by a loud slam of his door.
“M-Morty…! Come on….morty!” A tipsy Rick stumbled into the den holding a bottle.
“Had enough already…?” Astrid joked craning her head back to look at him.
“Oh it’s y-you.” He mumbled and swayed back and forth a little in the kitchen doorway.
“Y-yeah it’s me.” She mocked copying his drunken speech.
“H-hey! I…. I don’t have to t-take this!” He said annoyed turning to leave.
“Wait. I’m just fucking with you. Want to smoke…? It’ll probably make you feel better.” Astrid asked pulling out her bowl.
Rick whipped his head around making that puckered face while scrunching his eyebrows at her. He then turned back around,
“T-this some kind of joke o-or…?” He asked suspiciously.
Astrid rolled her eyes and got up, sliding the patio doors open and motioned for him to come outside.
“Come on old man, not everything is a trap.” She said with a grumpy tone while sparking up.
“Y-yeah yeah. Fine.” He said while stumbling outside to join her.
She passed him the bowl and he clumsily tried to light it. She then snatched the lighter from him and sparked it instead.
“I’m not a baby…. T-thanks through..*COUGH*” he tried defending himself but started to cough profusely.
He hit the bowl a few more times and then swayed a little and stumbled back, sitting himself in one of the lawn chairs. He stared up at the sky quizzically then back at Astrid.
“H-hey… this isn’t Earth w-weed…!” He whispered at her loudly now starting to feeling it.
“Oops ya caught me.” Astrid said sarcastically lighting up the bowl.
—- PART SIX COMPLETED —-
—- SHUTTING DOWN —-
—- GOODBYE —-
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