Chapter Text
Their breath came fast and ragged as they looked around. It was pitch black in every direction. Where were they? How did they get there? Where was Logan? Small green and red lights blinked in and out of existence around them, mechanical. And a smell. strong, astringent, medical. They could taste antiseptic on their tongue.
Malevolent laughter surrounded them, overwhelming their sense of direction. Their temple throbbed and hot, sharp pain built until they feared their head might explode from the pressure stabbing behind their eyes.
They couldn't lift their hands to hold themselves together. No longer in control of their own body, they were instead a puppet on strings.
A pale figure stepped from the murky darkness before them as if stepping through thick fog. Ominous red eyes below a glowing red gem embedded in his forehead. Mister Sinister.
His triumphant grin showed sharp glistening teeth as he reached out and grabbed them by the shoulders. He stroked their skin, ghosting down their back and digging his fingers deep into their flesh as easily as if they were clay to be molded. Making them change and contort against their will. His accented voice was oily silk pouring into their ears "I've got you, Kevin. You may think you got away, that you are safe; but do not delude yourself, you are mine. You will always belong to me and you will never escape." Sinister opened his mouth, lips curling back and jaw unhinging as he darted forward to tear Morph's throat. They could feel his breath on them as his teeth snapped shut.
Morph bolted up with a choked scream, limbs flailing in a panic as they struggled to escape the sheets. They had to get out, they had to run! They gripped the edge of the mattress to blindly throw themselves to the floor, whatever got them closer to the door, closer to escape!
Strong arms gripped their shoulders to hold them back from the edge and they screamed, trying to pull away "No! Stay away! Don't touch me!" their voice cracked as they pleaded but the grip holding them was firm and unyielding.
"Kevin! Kev! It's me, it's Logan. You're safe, bub. You were havin a nightmare."
Morph stopped flailing but still strained against the hold, unwilling to believe it wasn't some trick. Their breath came in sobbing gasps as they finally took in the dark apartment and Logan beside him. "Logan…?"
"I'm here." Logan's sleep-roughened voice was calm and his grip on Morph relaxed but didn't let go.
They wavered, instinct still telling them to run, that they weren't safe. Cold terror still gripped them and made them tremble. But another part of them wanted to burrow into Logans broad chest and stay there where they knew they would be safe. But that would be weak. They couldn't be weak. Logan wasn't weak and would despise their weakness and in turn despise them. Sinister would worm his way back into their head if they were weak.
It was too much, the nightmare, Logan, their own conflicting feelings between what they wanted and knew they could not have. This is why they shouldn't sleep.
They sagged in his softened grip and curled in on themselves, hugging their knees to their chest and hiding their face. They weren't going to cry, they weren't… But all the same, if their face was hidden, Logan couldn't see their tears.
Logan hesitated then wrapped his arms around Morph, pulling them into a hug. Morph didn't resist and slowly melted into his embrace, face hidden in his shirt as they trembled harder and tried unsuccessfully to stifle their sobs. Logan didn't rub their back or make nonsensical shushing noises or platitudes. He just held them and eventually started telling stories.
He talked about the trenches of world war one. Seeing the aerial dogfights overhead and trying to keep the soldiers around him safe from enemy bullets as they took on the second battle of Cambrai. He talked about the recovery so many of the survivors had to go through when the war was over and they had to reintegrate into a society that didn't understand the horrors they had seen. By the time he started relaying his spy missions of world war two with the famed Captain America, Morph had calmed and, with swollen eyes and tear-stained cheeks, sat listening, chiming in occasionally with questions.
The sun was well over the horizon and the birds singing in full force by the time Logan felt the time had come to leave the bed. he checked the time and nodded to himself before calling over his shoulder. "get dressed, we're going out." He grabbed clean clothes and headed to the bathroom to change.
Morph watched him as he moved around and cleared their throat, legs dangling over the edge of the mattress. "Where are we going?"
Logan's voice was muffled behind the door "We're going out for breakfast with Rickshaw. I caught him last night when the meeting ended and asked him to meet me for breakfast."
"Right, to talk him out of this whole evil crusader gig. You think it'll work?"
"I don't know. I've seen men like him and they can go either way. I just hope the Purifiers haven't dug their hooks too deep into him and he'll still see reason. Of course, you can't go as Kevin the Purifier wannabe if you still need to keep your cover. So, who do you want to go as?"
Morph considered the question for a moment then sat up a little straighter as their form rippled. They took the shape of a woman with dark amber eyes, dark hair that cascaded past their shoulders, and wore a rather low-cut Waffle House apron with nothing underneath. "So, I have an idea."
"Yeah, what's the idea?" He left the bathroom at last and laid eyes on Morph, his eyes widening and a chuckle escaping him before he could stop it. "Really?"
"Okay, so- Stop laughing. Look, hear me out."
The diner was bustling as they arrived with the late morning breakfast crowd. Morph, a feminine appearance in place and wearing a sunny yellow tank top paired with white calf-length skirt, clung to Logan's arm as a waitress showed them to a booth.
"Think he'll actually show up?" Morph perused the menu with one eye trained on the door
Logan shrugged noncommittally "Who knows. in any case we can have some breakfast and I'm sure they have better coffee than what I can make in the flat."
"You had me at breakfast but better coffee is really what sold the pitch and got me out the door." they laughed.
"Yeah, well I figured you deserve it after the morning you had. No need to make it worse."
"I'm sure it can only get better from here."
They fell into a comfortable silence for a little bit as they read over the menus until Morph set theirs down.
"So, I'm curious. What made you decide on being a private investigator after you left us? Was it a career change you made right away or is it a more recent decision?"
Logan sighed and put down his own menu "It was a decision I made around perhaps two years ago." He paused as if that was all he wanted to say before Morphs raised eyebrow prompted him to continue. "I'd been traveling around Canada and living rough for around a year and… I caught a scent on a mountain trail and followed it to a stranded hiker. He'd slipped and gotten trapped on the side of a bluff. I got him outta there and back to civilization and just thought… I don't know. Maybe I could do some good by myself. Help people. PI work has plenty of cases that just require a keen sense of smell and a little patience so I got a license."
"I get it. Sometimes the aliens and cosmic threats get to be too much and you need to step out and clear your head for a bit."
"It's not just that, it's… I needed to be alone."
Morph saw the flash of pain in his face and opened their mouth, but closed it when they saw Rickshaw walk through the door. They gently nudged Logan's side to get his attention and leaned into him more, a soft smile playing on their lips as they got into character.
Logan smiled and lifted his arm to wave Rickshaw over. "Adam, over here!"
Adam walked over and looked between them, eyes lingering a little longer on the pretty dark haired woman hanging on Logan's arm as he sat down across from them in the booth.
"Good morning." Rickshaw glanced down at the menu in front of him before looking back at them, unsure.
"Good morning, Adam. I'm glad you could make it here. This is my wife-"
"I'm Sydney, it's nice to meet you Mr. Rickshaw" Morph extended their hand delicately for him to shake. "My husband told me about what you boys have been up to and, well…"
Logan chuckled "She insisted on coming along this morning."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Sydney. Mayhaps Your husband could bring you along next time, I think we'd all be happy to have you join us; Right, Logan?" He chuckled, encouraged by their returned smiles.
They all ordered a round coffee and took turns ordering breakfast when the waitress came back to their table.
"So, how long have you been married?" Morph leaned forward and pointed out the gold band on Adams left ring finger.
"oh, about ten years now." he played with his ring idly as he spoke.
"That's such a long time, you're so lucky. So many couples I hear about don't even make it two years without a divorce." Morph gushed "We've only been together for five and I can tell you, we've had our fair share of struggles, right, hon?" they leaned against Logan amiably.
"Ain't that for sure. You got any kids, Adam?"
"Not yet, but we've talked about wanting a few. To be honest, things haven't been so great at home as of late." he frowned, the lines around his mouth deepening.
"Oh no, honey. What's been going on?"Morph purred "You, know, nine times out of ten you'll find talking about these things can help."
"Well…" Adam sank his head into his hands "I don't know, it feels like there's been so much change in the world lately. I'm scared about my job. I don't know how to do anything else but construction and these muties keep popping up that can do things so much more efficiently than me. What if we had a kid and I can't support my family no more because I get replaced by one o them?"
"To be honest, It's unlikely." Logan cut in gruffly "Sure, there might be a handful of them that might be more efficient at construction but think, how many of them are actually going to want to go into construction?"
"Not to mention the structural damage that can happen when those super powered types clash. I'd think that would actually give you construction types more work, wouldn't it?" Morph added, making a little flourish with a perfectly manicured hand.
Adam looked between them. They could see the gears turning slowly in his head as he considered their points. "I… suppose…"
The waitress came back briefly to deliver their coffee before going away and Morph wrapped their hands around their mug to feel the warmth. "Have you talked to your wife about these worries?"
"no… I don't want to worry her. I don't… I don't want her to think I'm weak or I can't take care of her."
"she ain't blind, bub. Chances are she already knows something's going on with you and it scares her more that you ain't sharing it with her."
Morph nodded supportively "oh yes, us wives know when there's something going on with our man. You need to remember, honey, that marriage is a partnership; and partnerships don't work if you're keeping things to yourself. She wants to support you the way you support her but she can't if you aren't letting her in."
"I… No, You're right. I don't know what I've been doing. Why I stopped talking to her… I guess I've been getting home so late and I've been so mad about… about mutants. I would just… I tried to tell her… They're evil… She wouldn't listen."
Logan gave a sharp laugh and sat back in the booth, at ease. "They're no more evil than you or me, bub. They might look different and have more easily identifiable talents than us, but they're just people. They get scared and angry, happy and sad the same as us. They're flawed, but not evil and they aren't out to take our lives or our jobs."
Morph hesitated and spoke gently "Hon, you talked about wanting to have kids. You also gotta think about these kids you want to bring into this world with your wife. You don't get to choose how they turn out any more than they do, life decides that for you both. Whether your kids are boys, girls, neither, both, human, or mutant; whether they share your likes, dislikes, and hobbies; and whether they look like you or not. You need to ask yourself if you'll still love and support them for who they are and who they grow to be, not just the idea of them you have in your head."
"Oh…" Adam looked up from his coffee. There were deep creases in his forehead as he looked from Morph to Logan with his eyes showing the desperation of a drowning man reaching for a lifeline. "you're saying all this but… Logan, you were at the meetings. You said all those things… but, now you're going back on all that? Why?"
Logan shrugged and adopted a sheepish look. "I realized I was wrong and I'm man enough to admit it. I won't be going to anymore of those meetings and I aint gonna tell you what to do, but I'll suggest you don't go to any of them anymore either, they'll get you into nothing but trouble. Go home to your wife and talk to her. tell her where you've been and what's been bothering you. Let her be your partner again and have those kids you two have talked about."
They were interrupted once more by the waitress bringing them their orders and they began to eat, the two of them on one side watching Rickshaw on the other. he was thinking it over as he ate, they could tell. The man really couldn't hide his feelings to save his life. he wanted so badly to do what Logan suggested, but it was at war with the fear that had been instilled in him by the Purifiers.
Morph interrupted the silent war "you don't need to make any decisions right this instance, hon. Talk to your wife first, Think about it, spend time with her, okay?"
He nodded absently as he swallowed a mouthful. "I forgot to ask… do you two have any kids? You talk like you have kids."
Morph fought the urge to glance Logan's way, they hadn't talked about kids when they'd come up with this cover so they'd have to improvise. "We foster kids, so technically yes, we have a lot of kids. Sure, they aren't blood related and can be a handful sometimes, but family is something you choose and it's worth it to have them in our lives. They make us better."
They wrapped up the meeting over the next half hour and after a brief argument where Logan and Adam both insisted on covering the entire bill. Logan finally conceded and they both wished Adam Rickshaw well when they split ways in the parking lot.
Going back to where Logan's bike was parked, Morph took the opportunity keep hold of his arm, telling themself it was to keep up appearances.
"well then, I think that went pretty well."
Logan let out a long sigh "It could have gone a lot worse, that's for sure. You did a good job with the kids angle."
"People tend not to think about how their beliefs affect a child, or how their child will affect their beliefs. Some double down on their beliefs and cast out their child then blame anyone but themselves for that separation. The Purifiers are full of those types. Everything is evil except themselves and whatever else their cult leader tells them. Nothing is ever their fault, it's the demons." they waved their hands in mock terror as they said it.
"Don't I know it, Bub… History is a damn circle"
"How many times have you seen history repeat itself like this?"
"Too many times." Logan looked up as he said it, watching the clouds track against the sky. What had started as a bright and clear day had begun to darken as a wall of purple edged clouds blew in from the northeast.
Morph followed his gaze "looks like we'll be in for some bad weather later."
"That's good, it'll make working our way through that warehouse much easier. No one will hear us over the sound of rain. Let's get going. I need to stop by my office to wrap up this Rickshaw case and we can go over tonight's plans as well." He hesitated "Do you still want to do the heist tonight?"
Morph looked at him blankly "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"You were just, really shaken up this morning."
Morph frowned slightly and their eyes narrowed. "Logan, I'm not a child or an invalid. I've done hundreds of missions since you've been gone and barely broken a sweat doing them. so I get nightmares still every so often, so what? That's most of us at the mansion these days. no one lives this kind of life and doesn't collect a few scars, you know this." Their voice was smooth but had just enough bite to it to signal they were irritated. "Now lets get to your office, I'm not going to be able to hold this form much longer and I don't want to lose it in a diner parking lot where someone could see us."