DISCLAIMER: I own Derrick Bolris and the Skrull who has issues with Xavin. 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 15: Misfit Attack?

"Avalanche," Derrick growled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take you down," Lance replied. "And so are the other Misfits."

"That so?" Chase said, flaring up his Fistigons.

"Yeah," Lance smirked, stomping with his free foot and sending a shockwave of earth towards the Runaways. Molly, however, had something to say about that.

"Get off of me, you big jerkface!" Molly roared, throwing a screaming Lance off of her and through the ceiling.

"Blob!" called Lance as he was rocketed through the ceiling.

In several seconds, Fred 'the Blob' Dukes dropped through the ceiling and landed on the floor of the Hostel, fists clenched and ready for a brawl.

"There's no way you're getting off easy this time!" Fred barked as he charged the Runaways.

"Xavin, trip him up!" Nico cried.

"It shall be done!" Xavin replied, using Mr. Fantastic's power of elasticity to stretch out an arm in front of Fred's legs, tripping the large mutant and causing him to fall flat on his face.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Fred roared as he got up.

"Let's see just how tough that skin of yours really is!" Chase yelled, using his Fistigons to surround Blob with a tornado of fire. "Can you break through that?"

"I know someone who can turn your own power against you!" Fred retorted. "Quicksilver, do it now!"

In a blur, the flaming tornado was vanquished by a tornado of wind, and in Fred's place stood a skinny boy with white hair. This was Pietro Maximoff, known as the vain and prank-loving Quicksilver.

"Think you're so tough, huh?" Pietro smirked.

"More than you," Nico said as blood trickled from her finger courtesy of her switchblade. "When blood is shed—Unh!"

Pietro suddenly snatched the Staff of One out of Nico's chest, abruptly ending her usual recital. He now stood leaning on the wall, absently twirling the staff in one hand.

"Uh-huh," Pietro smirked. "You're pretty much nothing without your big stick. You know that, right?"

"I know you make supermodels look like they don't give a damn about how they look," Derrick retorted, shooting a bolt of electricity above Pietro's head.

"And what was that supposed to do?" Pietro quipped.

"Oh, just drop some rocks and mud and dirt on your brainless head," Derrick smirked.

"I'm not--!" Pietro began to counter, but then looked up at the described objects about to fall onto him. "Oh, no."

The minor rockslide buried Pietro completely, and the Runaways put their backs to each other, waiting for any other Misfit attack as another earthquake from Lance started up.

"Why are the Misfits only attacking one at a time?" Karolina asked.

"It doesn't really make sense," agreed Gert, "unless of course they just wanted us to get Quicksilver out of their hair."

"Has to be Wavedancer," Derrick growled. "That arrogant Ariel rip-off thinks that she and her team are so much better than anyone who isn't associated with G.I. Joe. She's just using this tactic to prove it."

"I guess I need to have a little chat with Wanda," Nico growled, Old Lace handing her the Staff of One. "I honestly didn't think she'd tell the other Misfits."

"Yeah, well, they're not sending us back to foster care!" Chase vowed, holding up his Fistigons, only for a wad of slime to suddenly slam into them. "Oh, come on!"

A long, green tongue suddenly shot from the shadows, aiming for Chase's Fistigons again, but Old Lace managed to catch it in her teeth.

"Good catch, girl!" Gert encouraged. "Now, pull!"

Old Lace complied, and with a violent yank, another teenager with lighter brown hair stumbled out of the shadows, withdrawing his tongue back into his mouth. Although this appeared to be Todd Tolensky, the Misfit codenamed Toad, Nico knew otherwise.

"Wait a minute," Nico said before she pointed her staff at 'Todd'. "Revelations!"

A red beam of light struck "Todd" in the chest, and immediately afterward, the supposed Misfit's skin began contorting in the same manner Xavin's did whenever she shape-shifted.

"Wha-what's happening?!" cried the false Todd as his true form was revealed.

The Skrull in the red-and-black jumpsuit.

"Wait, Toad was a Xavin?" Molly asked.

"They all were Skrulls," Nico explained while Xavin merely stared harshly at the unknown young Skrull. "Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, and Toad…they were all this Skrull."

"Which would explain why they were only attacking one at a time," Gert said. "There was only one of him."

"From what Nico told us from her trip to Doc Strange's, though, I don't think Derrick's guess was too far off from the truth," Chase snorted.

"You," Xavin said, changing into Skrull form. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to make you pay for betraying the Skrull Empire!" the Skrull snapped.

"You know this guy?" Karolina asked.

"His name is Ri'ann Parrn," Xavin explained. "Back in the Super-Skrull training program, we were…rivals."

"That's putting it mildly!" Ri'ann snapped. "You always thought you were better than me, just because you had Kl'rt's powers! And one month ago you ran off with your precious bride while I was the only one out of the two of us who remained loyal to the Empire!"

"Xavin's not like that, pal," Derrick said, "though Wavedancer from the Misfits probably is."

"Speaking of which," Ri'ann said, turning to Nico. "How did you know that I wasn't the real Toad?"

"Simple," Nico said. "I met Scarlet Witch a few months back. She said that Toad, Xi, and Wavedancer were in Japan, and will be for a while. In other words, turning into Toad was your giveaway."

"Why frame the Misfits, anyway?" Karolina asked.

"Well, I had hoped to stir up anger amongst Earth's superhumans so that they would war against each other," Ri'ann answered, "or at the very least against the Misfits. Then, the planet would be in chaos, allowing my people to invade without casualties to our side. That, of course, was just a small side bonus compared to the true reward for killing that traitor!"

"I was only doing what my parents arranged for me, Ri'ann," Xavin said, narrowing her eyes.

"True," Ri'ann admitted, "the war with the Majesdanians was a waste of time. It wasn't really getting our people anywhere, anyway. Still, you left the Empire, and for that, you must pay!"

Ri'ann's declaration was used in conjunction with Lance's powers, triggering an earthquake that once again gave the Runaways a difficult time keeping their balance.

"Let's take this out into the open!" Ri'ann shouted, thrusting his arms to his sides, the earth beneath his feet taking himself and the Runaways through the wall and into the streets of Los Angeles.

****

There was now a large circular mound of earth in the middle of the park, though since there were only some rocks there anyway, it didn't really bother anyone. What bothered people was the fact that Ri'ann and the Runaways were present on top of the arena-like structure.

"This matter concerns only myself and Xavin," Ri'ann stated. "The rest of you, even the Dean girl, aren't allowed to interfere."

"No!" Karolina cried, but Xavin looked to her.

"Karolina, this may be the only way to get Ri'ann to leave us be," Xavin said. "I have to face him…alone."

"If it makes you feel any better," Ri'ann said, "I, like Xavin, can't use all of my powers at once. Aside from different powers, it's a fair fight…like it should be."

"Well…good luck, Xavin," Nico said as Karolina gave her partner a hug for good luck.

Xavin stood at one side of the arena, with Ri'ann at the other. Both Super-Skrulls-in-training stared each other down. And then Ri'ann spoke.

"Let the battle begin," said the vengeful Skrull.