I own nothing. I am only writing this for my own amusement and that of my readers.

Warnings are in the first chapter.

A Jaded Phantom Chap #4

Morph POV

I woke up still clutching Danny close. I was going to take him out today. I would steal some money and take him to get some real food at a restaurant. The reason for this little endeavor of mine? One of the many questions I asked him when trying to get him to open up was when his birthday was. I knew it was hard to keep track of the days down here but I made sure I didn't miss today.

I gently shook his shoulder. "Danny. Danny wake up kiddo. I've got a surprise for you."

He opened his eyes a bit, showing off an adorably bleary look. "Morph? What? What surprise?" He asked dazedly. He yawned and sat up stretching his wings and arms.

I doubt he knew what today was and that made it all the much sweeter. "I'm taking you out to a real restaurant today."

His eyes suddenly didn't look so tired. He looked at me wide eyed. "But why? What's the occasion?"

"It's March 19th kiddo. Happy birthday Danny."

He broke into a 101 watt smile and launched himself at me. "Thanks Morph!" He said hugging me. His landing knocked the wind out of me so my laughter sounded like wheezing.

I patted his back and said for him to get ready. He nodded and ran off to the cleaning room which thanks to the combined forces of some of our fellow morlocs used rain water for indoor plumbing. I chuckled and stood up. I went to get ready myself.

When we were ready to go we left through one of the secret exits I showed Danny. This one led to an alley way in the tourist area of the city. I changed my clothes into something more normal and stole Danny some cleaner clothes. I now wore blue jeans and a grey T shirt with normal blue running shoes.

Danny was wearing a black T shirt and black bowling shirt over it. Dark blue jeans and black running shoes replaced his old clothes. He was wearing his ring, cross and dark trench coat to hide his wings. Two freshly cut slits were parallel to each other on the back of his shirts for his wings to slip through if needed.

"Danny if anyone asks, say your big brother is taking you out for your birthday." He smiled at me and nodded. I morphed my face and body to how I really looked, a 17 year old boy, because I don't think anyone would believe Danny would have a brother old enough to be his dad.

My features were softer now. Not so angular and my body was less muscular. I was also slightly shorter. My raven hair and sky blue eyes remained though.

I told Danny to wait here for a little while so I could pick-pocket some wallets. I used an old technique that I learned when I was younger. There are two things you need to be in order to be a good thief. Fast and lucky. It's not just a skill it's an art. With practice I have become pretty good at it. This technique is very simple. Just bump into the mark and slip your hand into his pocket. Get what you want and get out quick.

I did this three times before I had enough for what I had planned for today. I was going to take Danny for breakfast first then we were going to the Spiderman Festival I heard about. Then lunch and we would go see the Statue of Liberty, (Made for Americans, Built by the French.) then the Empire State Building and finally we would get dinner at this great pizza joint that is by the way one of the only mutant friendly places in town. I was determined to make him have so much fun he would be talking about this day for weeks.

I made my way back to Danny and smiled when I saw him waiting patiently for me to come back. He noticed me and smiled brightly running over. I took his hand and told him we were going to breakfast. We walked until we arrived at the Flashback Diner. This was a great place. It had good food and fast service. We got in and ordered our food.

The waitress put her pen back in her bee-hive hairdo and walked off to get our food. "Hey Danny."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever heard of Spiderman?"

"Yeah! He's really cool!" He said with enthusiasm.

"Great, cause after this were going to this festival where he's supposed to make an appearance."

His reaction was loud and I am happy to say, very positive. We finished our food, I paid the bill and we left. We made our way to Central Park which was where the festival was being held. There were tons of people there, most of them dressed in red and blue. I bought Danny a Spiderman hat. He thanked me and we made our way over to the stage. We were a bit far back and Danny was too short to see so I picked him up and put him on my shoulders.

I chuckled when he yelped from the surprise of being picked up off the ground. He was so small. Even for a kid his age and it made him seem younger. For a kid who had a life as rough as his he was surprisingly innocent. The music started, signaling that the show was about to start.

The Mayor himself gave a long and boring speech about how the city owes Spiderman and all that stuff. Finally it was time for bug boy to swing in. Danny was ecstatic when he saw the guy. Unfortunately the fun was ruined when some mutant hating nut case decided he didn't like the wall crawler and tried to bomb the place.

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Danny POV

BOOOOM! The sound scared everyone in the area and the shock wave knocked down a couple of stands. The next one was on the stage. It began to fall. I saw Spiderman and a bunch of other people about to be crushed. "NO!" I reached out my hand and a green shield appeared above them. I looked at it in shock. Then I noticed that my hand was glowing a similar green. The people didn't stick around long enough to find out where it came from. They and Spidey got out from under it and I let it drop.

Morph noticed this little light show. He looked as surprised as me that I had another power. We heard another explosion and he realized that we needed to get out of there. He took me off his shoulders and onto his back. He told me to hold on and morphed into a horse.

We took off and got to the entrance of the park. We later on heard that Spiderman caught the guy who planted all of those bombs. Morph and I both decided to complete our plans tomorrow and go home for now. We walked to one of the more used entrances of our home.

Horrified was the perfect word for what I felt when I saw the MRD going down into the hidden door in the alley way. They were armed with automatic rifles and other weapons that I didn't recognize. I grabbed Morphs hand and made us both invisible. Before long I saw them walking out with some of the morlocs in nullifier collars and handcuffs.

To my horror I saw more body bags than morlocs. They were carrying one of them out on a stretcher. It had a blanket over the entire body. The arm of whoever was under it fell out into view. It had pink skin and a green sleeve and it was clutching a crystal dagger in a death grip.

Still invisible Morph grabbed me and ran in the opposite direction of these murderers. He kept running with me in his arms until we were at least a two miles away from them. I dropped the invisibility sometime while we were running. I was crying into his shoulder.

The tears started falling as soon as I saw Blink's hand. I was scared and sad for my friends. I hated them… I swore I would get revenge on the MRD.

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Morph POV

As soon as I saw Blinks hand I grabbed Danny and ran. I held him close as I ran. My shoulder felt wet and I realized that he was crying. I wanted to kill the MRD soldiers for doing this to us, to our family. I swore at that moment that I would do anything in my power to protect Danny.

We couldn't stay in New York. We needed to get to another city to survive. Start fresh. I thought of places that were highly populated and full of people to steal from. New Orleans! We could go there. I had to figure out how but I could worry about that latter.

I stopped in an alley way about two miles away from there. I sat down with Danny now in my lap. I rubbed his back comfortingly and hugged him close to me.

We stayed like that for a while. Eventually he calmed down and stopped crying. Then I realized he had cried himself to sleep. I got up, still holding him and left the alley.

I had enough money for a hotel room left over so I walked until I found a hotel. I didn't bother to remember the name. I walked up to the front desk and saw a teenage girl painting her nails. She didn't notice me so I rang the bell.

She didn't even look up. "How my I help you?" she asked dryly.

"We need a room." She looked up and I mentally cursed myself for forgetting to morph myself to look older.

She eyed me for a minute then Danny who I was still carrying. "…Runaway?"

I almost snorted at her bluntness, but then I remembered the reason we were here. "I just want a room for me and my little brother. One night. We'll be gone by morning."

She stared at me for a moment before huffing and rolling her eyes. "Fine. $20 for the night." I got out my wallet while balancing a still sleeping Danny on my hip. I still can't believe he was so small for his age. I got the money and gave it to her. She gave me a room key card in return and told me we were on the second floor, room 23B.

I nodded and started walking towards where she said the elevators were. I turned the corner and there it was. I walked over and got in. I pressed the button for the second floor. When we got off I walked in the direction of our room, entered and found the bed. I put Danny down under the covers and lied down beside him. I fell asleep holding him close to me.

So what did you think? Good? Bad? Please review and thanks for reading. I am going to make this a really long story. And just so you know I might make some sequels in the future. This still has a long way to go until I can think about that though. Love you guys!