DISCLAIMER: I own Derrick Bolris. The Misfitverse this story takes place in belongs to Red Witch, the characters of G.I. Joe belong to Hasbro, and everything else belongs to Marvel.
Chapter 12: Interesting Developments
A month passed after Xavin's wedding to Karolina. Despite the chaos that ensued after the ceremony, seemingly keeping in tune with the norm for super-powered weddings, Karolina and Xavin did quickly fall in love. With influence from Karolina, the other Runaways managed to fully accept Xavin as one of their own.
This, of course, meant that she would assist her new team in their supervillain-fighting.
"Come on, hold still!" cried a massive man in a costume resembling a humanoid rhinoceros. At present, he was throwing various objects at Karolina, attempting to hit her.
"Sorry, can't do that," Karolina replied, firing off a beam of energy straight at the man called Rhino. Though it hit him in the chest, it did rather little.
"Leave her alone!" Xavin, in Skrull form, roared. With her love for Karolina fueling her, she used her shape-shifting abilities to transform into a Triceratops dinosaur that rammed Rhino in the stomach, knocking the supervillain onto his back.
"Hey!" Rhino yelled as he got up. "Nobody does that to the Rhino!"
"Someone just did," Derrick pointed out before blasting Rhino in the face with a lightning blast from his palm. "And someone also just electrocuted you."
"Nico, mind finishing this up?" Gert asked.
"Don't mind if I do," said Nico, pointing her staff at Rhino. "Hotfoot!"
Rhino's feet suddenly caught fire, and in a fit of screaming, he hopped from one foot to the other in an attempt to put out the flames. This, however, left large potholes from where he hopped, and after twenty minutes he tripped and fell through a building. When he fell, however, he somehow plummeted even deeper, screaming again for another few seconds before finally landing.
"Maybe that wasn't the best idea," Nico observed, looking over the damage done to the street.
"What just happened?" Chase asked.
"That was awesome!" Molly cried happily.
"Guys?" Karolina said. "I think something weird is going on where Rhino fell."
"Yeah," Gert nodded. "Last I checked, the street wasn't that deep."
"Should we investigate?" Xavin asked.
"Might as well," Nico shrugged. "We'll need to get out of here, anyway. The police should be too busy getting Rhino out to worry about us. Xavin, can you get us down there safely?"
"Of course," Xavin nodded as she returned to human form, and with a movement of her hands, the Runaways were surrounded by a force field bubble that she levitated down the hole Rhino had made.
****
Minutes later, the Runaways had left the unconscious Rhino behind as they explored the rather spacious area where he had fallen. Machinery littered the room, one of which was a tank containing a white-haired boy who appeared to be in his late teens.
"What is this place?" Gert asked. "Looks like some bad sci-fi movie set."
"And who the heck is that?" Chase asked, pointing at the boy in the tank.
"We may be able to find that out," Xavin said, gesturing towards a computer console. "I think we can access that console."
Xavin went to the console, and after she fiddled with the buttons, the machine turned on. Ten blank spaces appeared across the computer screen.
"Please insert password," droned the computer.
"We…may have a problem," Xavin said.
"No, you think?" Gert said sarcastically.
"Let me try," Chase said.
"You know the password?" Xavin asked.
"No, I just want to try out something I saw in a movie," Chase said, moving Xavin aside and delivering a swift kick to the console.
"What good would that--?!" Nico began, but the computer interrupted.
"Password accepted," beeped the computer.
"I don't believe it," Derrick shook his head. "A movie stunt actually worked for once."
"Well, now that the unorthodox tactics are out of the way," Xavin said, "let's see who this is."
Unbeknownst to the Runaways, a small twitch of movement had occurred in the tank when Chase kicked the console.
"Hmm," Xavin hummed. "This is…rather disturbing."
"What is it?" Molly asked.
"Well, according to this," Xavin began, looking to the boy in the tank, "his name is Noh-Varr. He is of an alien species the Skrulls have been at war with for ages, the Kree."
"He's an alien?" Karolina said. "He doesn't look like an alien."
"I can, too, when I want," Xavin smiled. "But you're right, Noh-Varr looks little different than any human. He is actually of the White Kree, which have a more human appearance than the normal Kree."
"So what's he doing here?" Gert said. "Can't be for LA's avocado and cream cheese rolls."
"No," Xavin said, "he crash-landed here some time ago. He apparently declared war on Earth after the organization called S.H.I.E.L.D apprehended him. The ones holding him here now had requested Noh-Varr to be transferred here in order to try and 'reform' him."
"So who're the guys keeping Novar in that big tube?" Molly asked.
"Noh-Varr is being held captive here by…hold on a minute," Xavin said, "I'm trying to figure out what this word is."
"What word?" Nico asked.
"The people holding Noh-Varr call themselves the, uh," Xavin said, attempting to figure out how to pronounce the word. And then she said it. "They call themselves the Illuminati."
"Illu-no-what-y?" Chase repeated.
The tank suddenly shattered, and the Kree called Noh-Varr stood in the wreckage.
"Illuminati," corrected Noh-Varr, glaring at the Runaways. "Where are they?"
****
"Okay, if you could be any superhero," a portly teen asked a dark-haired Latino boy as they walked down a sidewalk far away from the commotion, "who'd it be?"
"Easy," replied the Latino. "Spider-Man. No question."
"Spider-Man?" scoffed the larger boy. "You're off your meds, Vic. The correct answer is Mr. Fantastic. You know, big brain of the Fantastic Four?"
"Yeah, well," Victor Mancha said, "I'm not particularly interested in getting an NBA contract via stretching powers, Jorge."
"Missing out, man!" Jorge laughed. "You moved in here a month or so back, so why don't you try and live life? Like my dad always says, when you're old, you don't regret the stuff you did, you regret the stuff you didn't do."
"Whatever, Jorge," Victor rolled his eyes. "I'm going to my house."
"Okay, man, see you!" Jorge said as he and Victor went their separate routes.
Victor came to the front door of his house. He put his hand on the doorknob, but turned his head to the sky before going inside.
"Wish I could be a superhero," Victor said to himself before entering.