Three Weeks Later…
"The Hostel" Bronson Canyon California
"Lame!" Talkback spat as he gripped his walkman. "It's been, like, a week and there had been on two sightings of Superheroes in the area! I still haven't heard anything about the Avengers or our psycho parents being taken down!"
Three weeks had actually passed since their encounter with Cloak and Dagger. The Runaways had been attacked by the couple thinking that the group had kidnapped Bruiser. But when she confronted the group, they stopped fighting and promised to get the Avengers on the case. Lucy In The Sky informed Jake (who took the name Predator) about what they were doing and they were able to see that they really could trust Jake.
"They weren't lying either." Miracle sighed as she dug into her bag of chocolates.
"Well look who's lie detecting is starting to suck ass." Talkback stated. "I bet they were working for our parents all along."
"They weren't." Miracle assured. "I know they weren't." She had seemed so hopeful. And Tandy (Dagger) was so nice to Miracle. She really looked up to Tandy, and to hear that she didn't help broke her heart.
"Hey, if they were working for our parents, we were lucky that we didn't tell them were our base was. Because if we did, our parents would knock this place down." Sister Grimm commented.
"True." Lucy In The Sky agreed.
"I did it!" Alex shouted from the stairs.
"Did what, Alex? Finally got your 'fro under control?" Talkback retorted as he turned to see Alex. "Oh, wait…apparently not."
Miracle giggled.
"Listen, I finally deciphered the abstract!" Alex cheered.
"The Pride's evil cookbook?" Sister Grimm asked.
"It's more than that, Nico. It's their entire history! How the whole Pride got started!" Alex seemed completely happy about this. "I mean, I haven't really mastered the Decoder ring I stole from Karolina's mom, but I've decoded the first few chapters or so."
"So, how does it start?" Arsenic asked as she walked towards the stairs. The group gathered around Alex and sat listened closely.
"How else, Gert?" Alex inquired. "In the beginning…"
Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, you have been summoned.
Dale and Stacey Yorkes, you have been summoned.
Gene and Alice Hayes, you have been summoned.
Victor and Janet Stein, you have been summoned.
Robert and Tina Minoru, you have been summoned.
Frank and Leslie Dean, you have been summoned.
Lisa and Rex Alfonso, you have been summoned.
"What the…" Leslie blinked. "This wasn't in the script."
"Where are we?" Frank asked as he looked around at the dark room.
"Holy…Aren't you Frank and Leslie Dean? From General Hospital?" Tina inquired as she pointed at the two actors.
Geoffrey pulled his gun out and pointed it at Leslie. "If this is one of those Bloopers and Practical Joke things, someone's gonna get a bullet in their-."
"NO!" Leslie cried as she exploded with color. She swung her flaming pink hands at Geoffrey and fired at him; sending colorful blast at him.
"How-?" Victor blinked.
"They must be mutants." Stacey said it as if it were poison on her lips.
"Yeah, this era is lousy with them." Dale agreed.
"Pathetic Sinners," Lisa said with a slight growl. "This woman is obviously an alien. Not one of those abominations you call mutants."
"I beg your pardon! If you have a problem with Homo-superior-." Gene started.
"I don't know why you Deviants kidnapped us from our own wedding…but you made a huge mistake." Tina growled as she and her husband pulled her hand up; a glowing ball of black ora building up.
"My bride and I may have dabbled in the dark arts, but we know enough to defeat you." Robert's voice was as deadly as his wife's.
"What are you talking about, you psychos!" Alice cried. "Gene and I had nothing to do with-."
"Rik hr Nisanti!" Tina shouted. Bats flew out of the black ora and flew towards the group.
"Creatures be gone!" A loud voice boomed throughout the room. The group of adults looked up to see three large giants; the group also noticed that they all had six fingers and toes. "The rest of you be silent. we are the ones who called you here, to our vivarium beneath the seas." The larger of the three paused. "We are the Gibborim."
"Those are the people that my father was talking about." Miracle blinked. "The people who I hold their lives."
"Yeah," Alex nodded. "Apparently, it means Mighty Men in Hebrew. Um…well, heroes."
"The Gibborim are also mythical evil giants, who supposedly predate the Old testament.. I know they have six fingers and toes." Sister Grimm added.
The group gawked at her. She shrunk in her seat. "I just remembered I read it some where…I like monster books…sue me."
"So you're saying our parents are somehow connected to a bunch of ancient, super-sized, fantasy creatures with extreme deformities?" Arsenic asked.
"Well that would explain the six little piggies on the cover of the cover of the abstract." Alex nodded as he turned to book over to reveal that it did indeed have a foot with six toes on it.
Arsenic pushed her glasses up and rubbed her temple. "Okay, this is worse than the time I accidentally walked in on them."
"You guys seriously think this is real!" Talkback shouted.
"Chase, we have a Vampire, an Alien, and an Angel on our team. I'm pretty sure giants are real, too now." Arsenic said.
"No way, Giants are impossible." Talkback denied.
"Funny," Alex chuckled lightly. "That's exactly what your dad said…"
"Impossible!" Victor spat as he looked up at the giants.
"Geoff, what…what is that thing?" Catherine blinked.
"This is 1984, ain't it?" Geoffrey asked. "I'd say big brother has finally shown his ugly mug."
"We are not some figment from some imagination of one of you witless writers. The Gibborim were on this planet when it was still a peaceable Utopia…a state to which we intend to return it to."
"If you're interested in peace, what the deuce do you behemoths want with a Motley Crew like us!" Dale exclaimed.
"We no longer possess the life-force necessary to change the world on our own. We have bestowed it to two Angels on this earth. Whom of which you shall get a hold of their child soon enough. But, the Gibborim require a Pride and the old ways dictate that we call forth eight young pair bonds…
The Thieves
The Travelers
The Magicians
The Outcasts
The Wise Men
The Colonists
And The Demon Priests."
"What?" Miracle blinked. "Are you saying, they put their life-force in my real parents and they knew they would have a baby?"
"Apparently so." Alex sighed.
"And they were…Demon priests?" Miracle looked down. She then shook her head. "Whatever. Go on."
Jake reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. She smiled and looked up at him.
Alex sighed and looked back at the book.
Janet smirked. "Colonists? From where?"
"None of your business, "Wise Men"." Leslie spat.
"Demon Priests?" Victor cocked a brow.
"Satan's trusted advisors." Lisa gloated.
"With your help, we will restore Earth to the glorious paradise it once was." The Gibborim stated.
"How?" Rex cocked a brow. "By saving some whales or some crap?"
"No, by destroying all of humanity."
"What!" Tina cried.
"Interesting," Dean smirked. "But, what's in it for us?"
"Other than the entertainment value, of course." Lisa added.
"The Gibborim will augment each of your abilities, give you enough power to claim the entire city of Angels...and beyond." The Gibborim
"Beyond?" Lisa smiled deviously.
"Wait, but what good is world dominance if there's not a world left to dominate?" Victor questioned.
"It will take a quarter-century for you to supply the Gibborim with all that we need to reshape this once-pristine orb. Until then, it shall be your kingdom to do as you please." The Gibborim offered.
"Wait, you said your life-force is in two angels, right?" Lisa asked. "Why not take it back from them?"
"Because they hold our eternal life. It is in both of them. And once they conceive a child, it shall hold our lives in it. But the baby will not arrive until five years later."
"So what happens when the twenty-five years are up?" Alice stuffed her hands in her pocket.
"The seven of you will be permitted to join our New Eden, were you can all be granted Eternal Life." The Gibborim stated. "The other eight will PERISH with the rest of your miserable race."
"That's insane!" Stacey exclaimed.
"No, it is incentive." The Gibborim corrected. "The reward shall go to the seven apostles who serve us most faithfully."
"And why should we trust you?" Rex pointed.
"Exactly, how do we know you're not going to 'Fee Fi Fo Fum' and slaughter us when we're done serving you?" Dale questioned.
"Tomorrow is always uncertain, you know that Traveler, but the power we can give you today is not." The Gibborim paused. "Still, you can deny our offer and head back to your lives of quiet desperation. None of you are difficult to replace."
"What about the baby?" Lisa asked. "I mean, I'm in. But does that baby stay with the Angels?"
"No," The Gibborim answered. "If the baby stays with them, the baby will never get to hone the powers it has and will never be able to serve us."
"So we have to get it, then?" Victor asked.
"The Demon Priests must."
"That's fine with me." Lisa shrugged. "I'm in."
The rest seemed to agree as well. Though they were told that they were to meet every year for the Rite Of Blood.
"Uh, Footnote!" Lucy In The Sky interrupted.
"Oh," Alex flipped some pages. "The Rite Of Blood-."
"Is an annual ceremony which requires the sacrifice of an innocent soul." Miracle finished. "I don't know how I knew that. So don't ask. It just came to me."
"Hey, didn't you say you were, like, connected to them? Don't they know everything in the world? So wouldn't that mean you do, too?" Scavenger asked.
"Oh, god. I hope not." Miracle grabbed her head.
"Wait, so you're telling me that every year they got to their basement and kill innocent souls?" Lucy asked frantically.
"A female soul." Alex corrected.
"Not necessarily." Miracle shook her head, her eyes looking at the floor. "The Gibborim will accept any soul. As long as it's pure." She grabbed her head again. "Goddamnit!"
"But where do we fit into all this?" Sister Grimm asked.
"That's about three years later..." Alex looked back at the book.
"We're pregnant." Janet looked up.
"What?" Leslie gave her a harsh look.
"Well, just me, actually." Janet clarified. "But Victor is equally to blame."
"Is this the right time to tell everyone about our business?" Victor asked. "We have a young lady who we need to-."
"You're not actually planning on keeping it, are you?" Leslie spat.
"Of course I am." Janet defended. "What do you take me for? A monster?"
"Janet," Catherine said softly. "Don't you think we've all been thinking about a family? But we can't exactly bring a child into the world we're trying to destroy."
"Seriously," Lisa said from the corner. "The only baby here should be the one that's carrying the Gibborim's life. And we have to wait two more years for that one to pop out."
"Look, I decided that if the Gibborim select for Victor and I to be in the paradise, I intend to give my spot up for our offpring." Janet's voice was soft.
"I told you," Victor put his arm around his wife. "I have no interest in living forever without you."
"Oh, that's so...romantic." Stacey fawned.
Rex rolled his eyes. "Barf."
"Oh, hush up, Alfonso." Tina growled. "You get one for free and-."
"Hey, beats child birth." Lisa shrugged.
"Something that WE probably won't be able to do!" Alice cried. "Because of our mutant gene, we probably can't conceive!"
Geoffrey took a contemplating look. "Well, we still don't know which seven the Gibborim are going to choose for immortality, but if we each donated our place to a single child-."
"You're out of your mind wilder!" Frank snapped.
"Seriously, fuck that!" Rex agreed. "I'm not giving up my place for some stupid kid! Especially one that's not mine!"
"Stop!" Miracle cried as she put her hands up. "Stop reading, please." Her voice cracked. "Please..."
Lucy stood up and wrapped her arms around her; holding her tight as she slowly began to cry.
"Can we just skip to the end?" Bruiser said quietly.
"Seriously," Talkback agreed. "What more do we need to know. Everything they've done is in that book and that's MORE than enough to lock our parents up."
"So we take this down to the LAPD then?" Scavenger asked.
"We can't," Alex shook his head. "The LAPD is under our parents payroll."
"Yeah," Said a deep voice. The teens turned to see Lieutenant Flores with a troop of armed Swat team members behind him. "And we just go a raise."