Disclaimer: I do not own any of the aforementioned characters besides DJ Kirra. The Runaways were created by Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona. They exist in the Marvel Universe.

Author's Note: Buy this series; it owns, hands down, it's the Comic for teens. Oh and for the whole record, I like original characters, if you don't like new characters strolling into the universe, sorry, can't help you.

Before I begin, I'd just like to say, I just began reading the comic about two months ago but I went out and got a lot of the back issues, as many as I could which is basically the whole first Volume and pieces of the second. I'm not totally up to date on things currently but I know what's been happening, Alex getting BBQed and his dad coming back from the dead. Regardless, I'm just shooting off of main continuity and I'll have some fun doing it.

Runaways:
California Soul
Pt. 1

It can be said that a lot of the times parents are evil. Hell, I think everyone can say that when they're a teenager it's almost required to fight with your parents. What if your parents were super villains, ever wonder if Doc Ock had a kid with the same problem as him, (the whole 8 limbs business). They'd probably destroy a whole bunch of stuff just to make their points and then go get something to eat. How about Scarlet Witch, her daughter with some reality altering powers, you're looking at some very interesting thing happening in that house hold.

Well, for these kids, Nico Minoru, Gertrude (Gert) Yorkes, Chase Stein, Molly Hayes, Alex Wilder and Karolina Dean, this was true. Their parents were part of a group called The Pride. They ran everything in the city of Los Angeles; nothing could go on in that town that wasn't controlled by them. When their children saw them murder a small girl, they all decided it was better to run then to stay with their psychotic parents. For months they staked out in a small place they called The Hostel, trying just to get by. Over the time, they tried contacting several heroes here and there but it never worked. Even after they explained what happened to the pair Cloak and Dagger, the Pride simply mind wiped them and kept on hunting them.

In the end, when they finally mustered up enough to attack their parents, the traitor of the group revealed themselves; Alex Wilder had been using them all to protect his folks from a coup de tat within the pride. They picked the worst time though as they went at the Pride during an offering to the beings who gave them the powers to take over Los Angeles. Their interruption brought the wrath of the beings down upon the group. Alex admitted it was his fault and was incinerated. The remaining runaways escaped while their parents tried to fight the beings. After that, they lost track of each other, as they became Wards of the state, living in foster homes and going to psychologists. However, the need to see on another brought them back together. Reorganized, they left everything behind to runaway again and hopefully stay that way.

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Los Angeles, 1:05 P.M.
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A kid sat at a bus stop. He was holding a hot dog in his left hand and a palming a quarter in his right. His brown hair was standing still in the wind, his eyes, black, showed the monotony that comes with everyday life. He leaned his head back and took a bite of his hot dog why watching a plane fly past on it's way to Los Angeles International Airport. He was wearing a purple shirt with Pac-man on the front of it with 'Old Skool' written underneath. He cross his legs and stretched out, his tan short rode up and gave him a wedgie. He made a face and yanked them back down. He bit into his hot dog again and sighed.

A black kid with a short afro sat down next to him. The kid looked over, and saw a hot dog in his hand. The black kid looked back at him and raised an eye brow.

"Something wrong?"

"No." The kid answered with his mouth full, "They got good hot dogs."

"Never had one from here."

"You're missing out homes." The kid replied, "#ing awesome stuff."

The other kid looked at his hot dog and took a bite of it and tasted of it, "Damn."

"Hah, told you!" He replied and swallowed his food, "What's your name?"

The kid paused; he chewed for a minute then swallowed his chunk of mystery meat, "Alex."

"Well Alex, I'm DJ" DJ replied.

DJ didn't look more then 17 years old, and by the looks over him, his intellect wasn't much farther then 5th grade. He finished off the rest of his hot dog and belched.

"So, where you heading?" DJ asked.

"I'm going no where." Alex replied hastily.

"Like the song."

"Huh?"

"Nowhere Man. You know, He's a real nowhere man, living in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody."

"That's an actual song?" Alex asked.

"Yep, story of my life if you wanna be critical." DJ laughed, "For years I sat there and thought I'd get a free ride but I was getting nowhere in life, living in the middle of some god forsaken desert and trying to make a plan to get out of no where because I was tired of being a nobody."

Alex looked over at him, "That's pretty crazy dude."

"Yep." DJ answered, "One minute you're walking down the road, bout ready to die of heat exhaustion, you're seeing every kind of mirage known to man and some that aren't and the next thing you remember is waking up in somebody's trunk and you're dumped off at a local gas station."

Alex was raising his eyebrow at this point, "Holy crap man, and what happened next?"

"I got a hot dog." DJ replied as serious as the day was long with a look of contempt.

"Man you had me going, jeez that was wild, I thought for a minute that was true."

"It was." DJ said with a serious tone, "I wanted a damn hot dog. So I left my house in search of what I wanted, and as you can see," DJ said holding up his empty wrapper, "I got my prize."

Alex's right eye twitched, "You are serious aren't you. You ran away from your folks because you were hungry?"

"I didn't have folks." DJ replied, "Been living solo for a long time. 3 years to be precise. Folks just ditched me in the house one day. Only outside knowledge I had was basic cable and the general store guy which who put me to work to pay off a lot of the stolen goods I'd nabbed when I was first left on my own."

"Damn!" Alex replied, a smile creeping on his face, "And I thought I had it bad."

"Oh please, I'm not whining here, I liked it. Nothing better than being free and just enjoying life; No bed time, nor school, just me, the tube, some papers lying around and some spare cash my parents had forgotten to take with them." DJ replied.

"See, I think I can relate."

"'Kay, fairs, fair I guess. Go ahead we got another 30 minutes till a bus rolls up." DJ replied.

"My parents, well we got along, almost too well, but something happened and I feel guilty for it now cause I saw what happened and I saw how much pain I caused-."

DJ burst out laughing, "Oh my god, the hell are you? Emo?"

"What!" Alex replied.

"Jeez man, c'mon. You're not the type, I know the types. You're the guy that sits in his room; he abides by his parents every word and doesn't listen to a lick of advice from his friends." DJ answered, "Whatever guilt you're feeling is probably well deserved."

"Whoa…"

"What, did I insult you?" DJ replied.

"No, you summed it up." Alex replied, "If you don't know who I am, my name is Alex Wilder."

"Oh that guy, okay I don't feel as bad now." DJ answered.

"Wait a second. How the hell do you know?"

"I didn't, you told me your name dude."

"No not that, I mean the freaking whole thing that happened, how'd you know I sided with my parents?"

"Luck." DJ replied, "Polly cause of the hot dog."

Alex buried his face in his hand, "Jesus."

"Get over it dude. So you screwed the pooch and made the worst possible social decision. Take your guilt, wrap it up, serve it to someone retarded and then move on. If I felt guilty because my parents left, me, I'd be just like you. Instead, I chose to do what I said and now look; I'm sitting here on a bench, in the middle of a city that'll probably eat a runaway like me alive." DJ shrugged, "In the words of my generation, hell yeah, bring it on."

Alex sat back and looked up at another passing jet, "Nico… damn do I feel like an ass."

DJ burst out laughing again, "Its okay dude, some guys like guys, its okay."

"Dammit, how is it possible you get everything right but that, is it a gift!" Alex shouted, "My god, I know she feels horrible probably."

DJ got up to Alex's avail, he watched him go get another hot dog, pay the man then come back and sit down next to him, "Hello again." He took a bite of his hot dog, "So who's this Nico chick? If you're obsessing over, she's gotta be a hottie."

Alex groaned, "Of all the benches in Los Angeles, I'm next to you." He muttered, "Suck it up chief, you could be sitting next to Doctor Doom and I doubt his life story is as thrilling as mine."

"I'm hell…" Alex replied.

"Nah, hells just a fake thing to keep people like you and me from doing bad stuff. If it was so terrible, we wouldn't do horrible things like leave our kids in some house or… or-."

"Betray our friends because we thought it'd be better to save our parents and take immortality?" Alex replied.

"Not what I was intending but yeah pretty much," DJ remarked, "and you know the only place we can go when we hit rock bottom like that?" He didn't wait for Alex to reply, he just pointed up to the sky, "Straight to the top. Cause here in this country, we can start from the sewers and go to the high rises, all we need is a bit of determination and a lot of balls."

Alex leaned forward a second, his mind rolling over everything. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and sighed, "I have to find them and plead my case."

"Who?"

"The others, The Runaways." Alex answered.

DJ smiled wide, "Then what in the hell are we sitting around for, let's go find them. Los Angeles is like a gossip whore, you can find out its secrets without really having to ask hard."

Alex looked at him, of all people he though DJ would be a tad less gung ho. My god, the kid was left to die, Alex thought, and yet he's basically sitting here ready to help me.

"Alright, let's go then." Alex replied.

The two of them got up off the bench, DJ grasping his hot dog in his right hand, "Alex, even though you did a lot of stupid things, I can tell you're sorry…" DJ answered, "You got that look."

Alex looked at him, silent, studying his face. Her couldn't help but trust the kid; he was the only friend he had. He didn't even care what the he'd done, either he was just an idiot or he really wanted to help. Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and the two of them set off to find his friends.

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Earlier, The La Brea Tar Pits
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"Molly!" Gertrude shouted, "Old Lace is not a dumbbell that you can just lift, for crying out loud, he's been shouting mentally at me to save him!"

Molly, the short and spunky little 13 year old was standing plane face holding the Dinosaur, Old Lace, up over her head, "Why? I wasn't hurting him."

"Does it matter? Set him down or you're grounded!" Gertrude cried.

"What's going…?" Nico stopped dead in her tracks, the scene was slightly amusing. Molly holding up Old Lace who had as confused a look as Molly did was priceless.

"She's bench pressing Old Lace!" Gertrude whined.

Molly set the Dinosaur down and put her hands on her hips, "Well excuse me!" She said walking away.

"You get back here young lady!" Gertrude cried and stalked after her.

Nico shook her head; she ran her hand through her long black spiky hair and massaged her temple. She wanted to just get outside and breathe for a second. Chase walked up behind her, a smile on his face; she tapped her on the opposite shoulder of which he was standing. Nico looked over at him.

"What now?"

"Crap." Chase answered.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." Nico replied.

"Good point." Chase replied.

"I need to get out of here; can you watch the terror twins for me?" Nico asked.

Chase watched Molly race past them laughing madly, Gertie running after her, "Get back here you little!"

"I'll try." Chase answered, "No promises though."

"Just for an hour, I wanna go top side and just get some air." Nico said stretching.

"Fine, but you owe me so hard." Chase replied.

Nico shrugged and started off at the exit. She stepped outside and felt the light breeze run over her. She was dressed in a black tank top with black baggy pants with bondage and a pair of arm length black fishnet gloves. She cracked her neck and smiled. She needed something to eat.

The hot dog palace right next to the bus stop was cheap; it was 25 cent hot dog day today which meant it was great for a person without a job or a lot of money. Nico pulled out a quarter, gave it to the guy and got her hot dog and sat down on a bench out of the sun. Wearing black on a hot summer day in California weather wasn't smart; then again, neither was ditching your parents and the good state of California. She just sat back and let her mind wander. She thought about how different things were, she drifted to her parents. All those terrible things that went on behind her back, behind everyone's back, everyone's but Alex's. She hovered on it. She remembered the fire for him, that piece of her that ignited like a bon fire when they first kissed.

"Shit." She muttered.

Someone on the other side of the sitting area burst out laughing. She looked over at the guy. He rolled his head back and laughed again. She raised and eye brow and shrugged. She took a bite of her hot dog and looked over again just to see his face. She froze for a second, her hot dog hitting the wax paper. She knew that afro from anywhere, anywhere. Alex…, she thought, did my spell actually work? She kept quiet, not wanting to get any attention to herself. She needed to get ready to attack, if Alex was back, that could prove to decimate the team. When the other guy and him got up off the bench and started walking away, she got up and started after them. She yanked out the switchblade Chase had given her and gripped it in her hand.

"Honestly Alex, you oughta start taking my advice and get off this guilt trip or you'll end up in a clinic or worse." DJ replied as the two walked down Figueroa.

"You got a point." Alex answered, "I can't dwell on the matter but I still can't help feeling it nag on me."

"Psh," DJ smiled, "You want me to hit you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You want me to hit you?" DJ repeated, "It'll take your mind off the guilt thingy and I get to punch you, we both win."

"Um…"

DJ didn't hesitate and threw a punch hitting him in the face, "HAHA!"

"OW!" Alex shouted, "You feel better?"

"No! I feel worse you idiot!" Alex snapped, "That really hurt!"

"Baby." DJ replied and they kept walking.

Nico was sifting through the crowds like a fly, she watched the kid strike Alex in the face. A small piece of her felt angry but that was out weighed by the good feeling of the kid hitting him in the face.

"Damn…"

"Oh come on! I didn't hit you that hard for crying out loud!" DJ replied.

"No, you were right; I'm not feeling guilty right now."

"Good." DJ replied, "This angst crap was bugging me."

Alex hit him in the face, DJ stumbled a bit and put his hand on the place where Alex hit him, "That works."

Nico raised an eyebrow, who the hell was this kid anyway. He seemed like a crony for Alex or at least a body guard, he had to be something, Alex couldn't just trust the kid could he? She kept following, still holding the knife in her hand.

The two of them sat down on a bench after walking for 30 minutes, DJ scooted over to give Alex some room. DJ yanked off his shoe and cracked the bones in his foot. While he was proceeding to do the same to his other, Alex sighed.

"Damn, so much for the angst being gone." DJ remarked.

Alex rolled his eyes and sat back. Some went across his neck and yanked it up.

"Hello Alex." Nico said.

DJ and Alex looked up, DJ's eyes large and very stupid looking and Alex looking up in total shock. The knife pressed against his neck.

"Whoa there babe, you don't want to be doing that." DJ said getting up.

"Shut up you, this is an 'A' and 'B' conversation, so 'C' yourself out of here."

"Look, Nico I know you're very pissed off at me."

"Oh I'm a lot farther than that you squirming little piece of backstabbing filth."

"Damn dude, whatever you did to this girl, you seriously did it good!" DJ replied.

Nico looked up and scowled at him, DJ shrugged and crossed his arms, "Sorry but I'm not leaving this show for anything."

"I'm sorry if that makes your feel better." Alex replied as best he could.

"Save it, you're going back to hell. You can join your mommy and daddy who you seem to love so much!"

She got ready to pull the knife across and slit his throat.

"EASY THERE PRECIOUS!" DJ shouted, "Put the knife down, this does not need to end this way. Let the man speak before you stick him like the pig you think he is."

"Please Nico, I'm sorry." Alex replied.

Nico looked at DJ, her teeth grit, she lowered the knife from his throat, "You explain yourself or I stab you and go about my business."

DJ let a whoosh of air go out that sounded like a loud fart, "Man, if I keep this up, I'll be in jail."

They both looked over at him, he held up his hands and he simply side stepped to leave them to their personal matters.

"How the hell'd you come back to life?" Nico asked.

"I have no idea." Alex replied.

"Bull…" Nico stabbed him mentally.

"I'm serious, you have a knife to me and I'm one slash away from being dead again. For the record, being burned alive was not the way I thought I'd be checking out." Alex answered.

"Did you feel like that crispy chicken at KFC?" DJ commented, his head coming in between the two.

Nico shoved his head away, "You better come clean to me Alex or it's you dead on the pavement."

"I'm serious, the only I thing I remember is dying, and then coming too in a diner just outside of Los Angeles. The blanks, I'm sure will fill themselves over time but I'm serious, I have no clue as to HOW I got back, alright."

Nico bit her lower lip and for the first time, showed a crack in her resolve, "I think I might know."

"Please tell me, because personally I have no clue."

"You're a clone, like Ben Reily." DJ chimed in again, "Alex Wilder is dead and you're the Government's clone to replace him while they experiment on him and use him for medical research."

Nico turned to DJ and threw a kick to his crotch dropping him like a rock, He whined in pain. With a huff she turned back to Alex and looked him in the eyes through his glasses.

"I used the rod to try and resurrect you…" Nico replied.

"You what!" Alex answered, "Let me get this straight… you wanted to bring me back, after all the things I did! What're you, crazy?" he paused seeing the point of this diminishing with his presence, "Nevermind."

"Look, I was stupid; I should've saved that spell for someone worth it." Nico replied getting cold again, "Now, I've basically got no reasons to trust you what so ever, so I'm going to be nice. Now get out of Los Angeles, don't bother coming back and don't you dare look for us or so help me, I will turn you into a mouse and throw you to an anaconda."

"I'm sorry again."

"All the sorries in the world aren't going to fix this broken heart. Now go away."

"Can I say something?" DJ managed to choke out of his tear ridden face.

"What, you glutton for punishment." Nico answered looking down at him.

"I know how people work, when they're lying… ow." He said propping himself up, "He's not lying. That guy is just as confused and lost as you and me. We're teenagers; we've got no clue what the hell we're doing. If we did, I'd say we could over run this ass backward country but for right now, we just gotta take it day by day."

Nico crossed her arms, "Do you know this kid? Do you have any idea what sorts of things he's done to me and the people I know, the pain he's caused."

"No… but that doesn't mean he can't change…" DJ remarked, "It doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve a second chance."

Nico, looked at DJ in the eyes, she felt the pair of black voids looking at hers with truth and honesty and innocence. He was dead sure about what he was saying; if he was a pawn, he'd've been more sincere and probably less agitating. Her eyes went to Alex who was staring at her, DJ's voice come in, He's just as confused and lost as you and me.

"I'm going to regret this…" Nico replied, "I'm going to regret this so much that I'll probably kill myself over it tomorrow morning during breakfast…"

Alex stood up; the two of them looked at each other and almost like a pair of magnets, connected and kissed. Nico got to feel the fire she'd felt so long ago, in a different life time, when things were innocent. DJ got up to his knees and looked at the two of them hugging and kissing each other like a pair of long lost lovers who'd not seen each other for so long they barely recognized what they'd had. He smiled rubbed his sore crotch.