Location: Spiral Throne – Sector 0-Zero, War Planning Sphere
The war table lit up with six dimensional threads — all glowing in dull, sluggish blue. They were standard Rick universes: unassuming, formulaic, ruled by the familiar flavor of garage science, domestic conflict, and lazy genius. No ascended timelines. No god-entities. Just regular Ricks.
Weak. Predictable. And now... marked for obliteration.
Zane stood in silence before the display, arms behind his back, his coat trailing like liquid gravity. The six universes flickered, rotating in the projection.
Eris (appearing):
"Targets confirmed. All six R-Standard Realms mapped. Resistance potential: 0.6% average. Shall we begin?"
Zane raised a single gauntleted finger and pointed at the first universe.
"Start with this one.
And then we go down the line."
UNIVERSE R-SR1 – "Garage Prime"
A mid-tier Rick universe. One main Smith household. Rick had built basic portal tech and was constantly dodging Galactic Federation attention. Typical.
Invasion Process:
Void Armada Zeta phased into orbit.
Chrono-Fangs jumped in six seconds ahead of Rick's reaction time and implanted time anchors across the planet.
Black Halo Corps severed all psychic resonance before Rick could call for help.
Zane arrived personally, walking through Rick's garage door.
Rick SR1 (stammering):
"Wha—who the hell are—wait, you're me?! What the hell kinda—"
Zane impaled him through the chest before he could finish.
"I'm what you should have been."
Rick's body was incinerated. The Smith house was transformed into an anchor for an orbital cloning relay.
Post-Invasion Buildout:
1,250 Clone Planets installed.
Super Mega Civilian Habitats placed in hollowed-out asteroids.
Planet-Fused Shipyards built in the rings of the local gas giant.
Civilian Districts populated by 400 million new Zanite-class workers.
UNIVERSE R-SR2 – "The Slacker Spiral"
This universe's Rick spent most of his time drunk, living off past genius. Barely maintained a family. Morty was in a mental institution.
Invasion Process:
Zane deployed Cyberion Blades with mimicry cloaks.
They replaced the entire family in one night.
Rick didn't even notice until a machine version of himself pulled his spine out through his throat during breakfast.
Zane (over a broadcast):
"If you ignore the world, it eventually ignores you back."
Post-Invasion Buildout:
2,000 Clone Planets installed using rapid-forge beacons.
Massive Emotional Harvest Centers erected from Morty's dreamwaves.
Super Mega Factories ran through folded layers of the planet's core — churning out new generations of stealth-class ships and hollow-virus drones.
UNIVERSE R-SR3 – "Federation Breachline"
This universe had heavy Galactic Federation activity. Rick operated underground, resisting through guerrilla tactics.
Invasion Process:
Zane sent a false distress signal, pretending to be a resistance faction.
Rick responded.
Instead of rebels, he found 500 Spartan-Class Zanites waiting.
The battle lasted three hours.
Zane joined midway and bisected Rick vertically with a sword composed of compressed betrayal.
"You fought like a man.
That was your second mistake."
Post-Invasion Buildout:
1,000 Clone Planets, specializing in resistance simulation.
Mega Military Planets forged in shattered Federation stations.
Shipyards the size of moons installed into the burnt-out husk of a Federation flagship.
UNIVERSE R-SR4 – "Council Bait"
A Rick here had been quietly gathering old Rick Council remnants to restart the Council.
Invasion Process:
Zane allowed the Council to form.
Then he infected one with a viral ghost.
At their first meeting, the infected Rick exploded — releasing a nanite plague that converted the entire chamber into living circuitry.
Zane walked through the center, hands behind his back, as the floor melted into a throne beneath him.
Zane:
"You gather like kings. You fall like insects."
Post-Invasion Buildout:
1,600 Clone Planets, designed around hierarchy.
Civilian Zones restructured to mimic Rick Council ideals but under Zanite propaganda.
Command-Level AI Thrones installed in every major city.
Super Mega Orbital Palaces built as "symbols of eternal evolution."
UNIVERSE R-SR5 – "Morty's World"
Here, Rick had been missing for years. Morty had stepped up, creating tech, leading wars, building peace. This was Morty's Universe.
Invasion Process:
Zane respected the Morty. He sent a delegation first.
Morty refused.
Zane nodded.
The sky turned red as Gravemind Echo Fleet fell.
Morty led his people into battle — and died screaming defiance.
His skull was harvested, cleaned, and installed into the Spiral Throne's new scepter.
Zane (as he crushed the final Morty resistance):
"You were more Rick than Rick. That's why you died second."
Post-Invasion Buildout:
2,000 Clone Planets, all focused on Morty physiology studies.
Empathy Farms mined for residual courage.
Super Mega Mind-Clone Labs created Morty-patterned psy-ops units.
Civilian Districts rebuilt with pseudo-Morty ethics, subtly warped into loyalty.
UNIVERSE R-SR6 – "The Silent Rick"
Here, Rick had abandoned technology. Lived in the woods. No portals. No multiverse. Just quiet.
Invasion Process:
Zane landed personally. Alone.
Walked through the trees. Found Rick by a fire.
They didn't speak.
Zane sat down. Shared a bottle.
When Rick fell asleep, Zane snapped his neck.
Buried him beneath the roots.
"Even silence can't save you."
Post-Invasion Buildout:
1,000 Clone Planets camouflaged as natural worlds.
Entire biomes converted into forge-organism networks.
Civilian settlements grew into nature instead of over it.
Mega Shipyards disguised as mountains — vessels carved directly from tectonic plates.
Empire Expansion Summary
Universe Clone Planets Factories Shipyards Civilian Areas Special Features
SR1 1,250 Mega Planet-Fused Asteroid Habitats Rick-Hub Relay
SR2 2,000 Mega Core-Factories Dream-Harvest Zones Emotional Weapons
SR3 1,000 Military-Cored Federation Yards Fireloop Cities Resistance Simulators
SR4 1,600 Council-Class Throne Nodes Propaganda Districts AI Thrones
SR5 2,000 Morty Labs Mind-Stores Ethical Labs Morty Psy-Ops
SR6 1,000 Biome-Forged Mountain Yards Forest Colonies Nature Integration
Eris:
"Six universes absorbed. Civilian assimilation complete. Total Clone Planet count: 12,000 new additions. All facilities optimized. Tech-tier: Transcendent. You now control all layers of their identity: history, culture, science, soul."
Zane sat atop his newly expanded Tri-Spiral Throne, the scepter of Morty Prime resting in his palm.
"We end legacy. We begin destiny.
Next target?"
Eris: "Dreamforge. Where thoughts create realms."
Zane grinned.
"Perfect. Let's go ruin hope itself."