Chapter One:

(Los Angeles, three weeks ago)
It’s another gorgeous summer’s day in the City of Angels, and Karolina is sporting a new frock, courtesy of her carrying out some part-time cash-in-hand work at a local Los Angeles boutique - ‘Tech Blanc!’ Karolina doesn’t think it’s the greatest name for a clothes shop. It sounds more like an 80’s nightclub, but it pays for a few home comforts and the owner lets her try on anything she likes. She wanders around the shops, checking out the latest designs, before deciding to rest her feet at the local café. She orders a smoothie from a handsome actor/waiter, slips her shoes off and rests her feet on the chair opposite. Relaxing underneath a large umbrella emblazoned with Coca Cola logos, with the warm breeze circling her shoulders… Karolina is in heaven. Nearby, kids splash about in a fountain, but even the constant chatter and screams of children can’t upset her bliss.

As she slurps on the raspberry drink, she notices another girl by the fountain who appears to be of a similar age. She has long blonde hair, much like her own, and exudes a confidence that Karolina rarely sees in people, even in L.A! She watches the girl for a few moments before picking up her magazine and flipping through the pages. She becomes lost in the fashions, the stories and the general buzz of gossip central. She's so engrossed that she almost fails to notice the girl wander over and plonk herself on a chair next to her.

“Hi,” the girl smiles. Karolina raises her eyes and lowers her shades. She’s beautiful, there’s no mistaking it. “Hi yourself,” replies Karolina, reciprocating her friendly introduction. The stranger is dressed in a tight-fitting purple body suit, which Karolina finds strange. It isn’t exactly summer garb. The girl speaks to her softly in a giggly-fashion. “I couldn’t help noticing that you’re not from around here,” she remarks. “How long have you been on Earth?” Karolina almost spits out her drink as she quickly looks both left and right, making sure that no one else heard the question.

“Wh-wh… what do you mean by that?” she asks. The stranger smiles and assures Karolina that she won’t reveal her secret. She finds the fact that she’s an alien kinda cool. Karolina blushes hard, embarrassed that her 'alienness' has so easily been discovered. “Why do you think I’m an alien?” she enquires, not really looking forward to the response. “I scanned you from over by the fountain,” replies the stranger. “I have a thermal imaging array which picked you up immediately. Your energies make my sensors go wild!”

Karolina realizes that there’s no point denying it, but is nevertheless intrigued. “H-how do you mean you scanned me?” she enquires, wondering if she should be powering up at this point. The girl sits back and unleashes that killer smiles once again. “Well,” she replies, “We both have our little secrets. To look at me you wouldn’t guess that I was a mecha-construct… a living breathing android, would you?” In a normal situation, this might be construed as nonsense, but with her friend Victor only a few miles away, Karolina knows that anything is possible. The girl introduces herself as Social Butterfly, but adds that Karolina can call her Social, if she likes.

Karolina becomes a little nervous. She looks round again but sees nothing out of the ordinary. Social seems friendly enough, but the whole situation makes Karolina incredibly uncomfortable without someone watching her back. Even though she’d like to know more about Social (odd name, she thinks), she decides that getting out of there is a better idea. She smiles at Social and tells her that it’s been nice meeting her, but she really must get moving. Plenty to do, and all that. Social nods in an understanding manner, but doesn’t seem at all perturbed by Karolina’s sudden decision to leave. She places a friendly hand on Karolina’s back as she gets up to leave. Karolina turns, but Social is now wiggling her finger at an insect shuffling across the table.

When she arrives back at their new digs in Anaheim (courtesy of a disastrous fire at their Malibu house), she is overwhelmed to find Chase standing in the kitchen drinking coffee. Her face lights up and she gives him a massive hug. Chase groans as she squeezes. His ribs are still tender following his recent accident. She asks how he is and how he managed to find the new digs. He smiles, and assures her that he's fine. He's been in hospital for a while but there are no broken bones. Nico collected him earlier in the day by taxi. He likes the look of the new place, but wonders how they came to end up there. Karolina informs him that the new digs were donated by Warren Worthington III, otherwise known as the X-Men's Archangel. Apparently he had someone give Molly the keys when she visited the X-Men's headquarters in San Francisco. The house has both an internal and external state-of-the-art suppression kit to hide the fact that she is a mutant from anyone scanning the area. He figured she would never move to their new Utopia so he gave her a backup plan.

Karolina asks about his accident. They were worried sick about him, not knowing where he was and leaving the way he did. Chase is about to reply that he was hit by a car after believing a girl he bumped into might be Gertrude, but he realizes that it sounds crazy and says he'll let them all know in time. Now, he simply wants to get back on his feet and recuperate.

(present)
Victor and Molly are taking a leisurely stroll along Hollywood's Walk of Fame and they see the Capitol Records Building up the hill. They are quite familiar with the landmark, but have never actually taken the time to look around the area like tourists. Vic uses his powers to change the Walk/Don't Walk sign and they cross the street to nip into Ripley's Believe It Or Not, followed by the Virgin Megastore and American Eagle before turning the corner and heading up the slight incline, noticing the spike on top that Karolina used to communicate with them back in the day. As they saunter up to the front door, with Molly standing on John Lennon’s star, out of nowhere come two burly men in dark suits who appear behind them. Mol looks around, but it’s too late to stop one of the men, sporting a military haircut, aim what resembles a cattle prod at the back of Victor’s neck. A sizzling ‘Schtum’ noise accompanies the smell of burnt skin as Vic drops to his knees immediately and rolls sideways to the ground. Mol is temporarily shocked, and doesn’t react quickly, which provides the second man the opportunity to place a small round box in front of her face. He squeezes a small blue button on top and the box emits a gaseous vapour which worms its way quickly into Molly’s nostrils. She looks up at her assailant and clenches her fist, but her grip simply loosens as her eyes slowly close.

(soon after, elsewhere)
In the back of their armored green Humvee, Gothic Lolita and Stem Cell from Project Livewire are watching their monitors closely. Cornfed vomits a fresh batch of succulent nanorich skin onto Gothic Lolita’s neck; fresh damage from their latest outing. Lol and Stemmie scan several frequencies in the Los Angeles area but find no trace of their target. “You think maybe he’s out of town?” asks Stem Cell. Lol doubts that. The target generally operates in the city. Maybe shifting the scanning array to check for exotic metallic compounds would be worth a try. She alters the settings on the computer and hits go. The scanner whirs away for a few minutes before a positive reading comes back. Social steps inside and informs them that Karolina seems okay, kinda sweet really. She doesn’t think there’s anything fishy about this project.

The computer reads, ‘Compound: Adamantium. 22.3 grams. High-density formula. Location: Hollywood.’ A map pinpoints their target’s exact location and Lol smiles. “Fight time!”

(two hours later)
At the runaways’ Malibu hideaway, Nico is becoming nervous. Vic and Molly should have reported in half an hour ago, and it’s not like them to miss a call. She asks Chase what he thinks. Chase is in agreement. Vic’s internal biological clock is second to none, so something must have happened. He suggests taking the Vdub for a spin around Hollywood to see if they can see any sign of them. Nico reckons it’ll be way too busy with tourists at this time of day. She wonders if it might be worth contacting the local hospitals. If they are there, then a mutant and a cyborg will certainly attract plenty of unwanted attention. Chase has a better idea. He suggests they take the new Leapfrog and have a scout around with the ‘frog cloaked. If they can’t track them down, then maybe visiting some of their favorite haunts might achieve a result.

Moments later, Nico leaves Molly and Vic a note just in case they return home. The Leapfrog takes off from the roof and they head to Hollywood with Klara in tow. It takes only a few minutes for them to arrive, and they circle the area looking for Molly’s distinctive fish hat. After ten minutes there is no sign, and Nico asks Chase to land the Leapfrog on the roof of the Capitol Records Building - the designated meeting point should anything go wrong. Nico jumps out through the hatch and stands on the edge, looking down across Yucca Street. She summons the Staff of One which emerges from her chest, coming to rest in her delicate hands. She pauses a moment to think of an appropriate spell, before extending the staff outwards. “Heat Seek,” she whispers. The staff begins to shine and a misty trail slowly emerges from the glowing orb. The trail circles a couple of times before drifting down the side of the building. When it reaches the bottom, Nico and Chase watch as the mist forms a human shape.

They look at one another and decide to get down there, fast. They jump back into the Leapfrog and Chase bounces the craft over the side of the building and to the parking lot below. Still cloaked, Chase hopes that the traffic is quiet enough not to disturb their precarious parking spot, half-blocking the sidewalk and car park entrance. Nico climbs out and wanders over to the mist. It forms a shape that looks just like Victor lying on his back. The mist swirls around and two larger figures form, one with his arm extended towards Victor. Finally, the mist moves sideways and Molly’s shape appears, crouched on the floor as if injured or asleep.

Nico wonders what on Earth has happened. She again raises the staff and uses the spell, “Trail.” The mist circles a couple of times once again, before drifting up Vine Street. Jumping into the Leapfrog once again, Chase pilots the craft in pursuit of the mist. It takes them all the way up Vine and onto Primrose Avenue, up to the end of Holly Drive where a large black Chevrolet Suburban sits with its windows blacked out. It looks rather suspicious in this area. The mist continues into the dusty hills beyond and into the grasslands that extend up into the Hollywood Hills.

The Leapfrog follows quietly, as the mist dips into valleys and sails over ridges. Finally, after about five minutes, the mist slows to a halt outside a large, inconspicuous-looking building, surrounded by a rickety wooden fence and a small forest. Nico reaches into her purse and grabs her cell phone to call Karolina who is still at the house in Anaheim, calling the hospitals. Nico asks her to get over to Hollywood fast, to the hills above Holly Drive not far from the reservoir. She advises her to keep her lightshow to a minimum when she’s within a few hundred meters or so. Karolina is a little excited. She’s been itching to jump back into action again. It’s been a while. She opens a bedroom window, spreads her arms wide and takes to the air, heading to the hills.

Chapter Two:

(inside the house, a hundred meters from the Hollywood Reservoir)
The two burly black-suited abductors have tied up Victor and Molly together, back-to-back, with an incredibly strong non-metallic cable. Vic’s electromagnetic powers and Molly’s super strength are negated by a power dampener, one of A.I.M.’s latest creations, even more powerful than usual. Molly is unconscious. Seated behind an old wooden table, half hidden in the shadows is the thug’s mysterious boss, Lawrenson, both a dietician's and a pognophobe’s worst nightmare. He rolls a coin through his fingers until Victor comes round, slowly and hazily. He drops the coin just the once but continues with it. He saw it in a movie once and thought it looked slightly intimidating. A patient man, he waits for Victor to look like he’s up to spilling a few beans, and when Victor’s eyes start becoming less hazy, he decides to begin his line of questioning.

"Hello Mr. Son of Ultron. I’ll make this brief. We need to get inside your head, and there are two ways in which we can go about it." He wheezes as he speaks, clearly not a fit man. His ruddy face shows sign of stress and his slouched shoulders imply that this isn't a task he normally enjoys carrying out.

"Wh-who are you?" Replies Victor.

Victor turns to see Molly, still unconscious. He returns his gaze to the man and then to the contraption to which he’s been secured.

"One, we ask you what we need to know and everything goes smoothly," replies Lawrenson. "Two, we prize open your skull and rip the information out ourselves. It’s a simple choice. One you live. Two, you d-don’t." He struggles to keep his nervousness in check. Why didn't they ask one of the interrogators to do this? he wonders. Why him? He's a tech analyst. He hasn't been out in the field for fifteen long years.

"What… what… Is there a reason you think I have what you need?"

"We’ve been following you, Mr. Mancha. We know who you are, where you live, who your associates are, where you came from and what makes you tick. We know your hidden secrets: how you are scared of spiders, are allergic to soap and that you cover your occasional acne with your friend Nico's foundation. All we require is the software than runs everything. Hand it over willingly and we can forget that I know these things. Make it difficult for me, and I assure you, you won’t be the only one who suffers." Lawrenson grins internally, proud that he pulled off that last sentence without missing a beat.

Victor closes his eyes momentarily, trying to think of a possible way out. There’s no way he wishes to involve his friends in this nonsense, though it's a little late for poor Molly. He tries accessing his powers but nothing happens. He struggles a little, but without his augmented strength, he barely moves his shackles.

"Don't even think about it," Lawrenson warns. "You'll do yourself a mischief."

Outside, the building, the rest of the gang has gathered, hiding in some bushes around two hundred yards from the building. Klara stands beside the crouching Karolina, whose energies are temporarily switched off. Nico returns from doing a quick recon, scuttling in between the others, and Chase gets back from the Leapfrog after retrieving his Fistigons. “Whaddya reckon?” asks Chase. Nico suggests that a little stealth might be wise. She’s checked the one entrance that they’ve found and discovered it to be well-defended, with two armed guards, closed-circuit television and several hi-tech-looking perimeter sensors.

She asks for Karolina, on her word, to create a distraction and carry out a fly-past to attract the guards’ attention. Karolina asks what then. Nico thinks they'll have to improvise. Without knowing what's inside, they're going to have to play it by ear. Nico then tells Klara that she’ll need a quick wall of thorns to separate the guards from the entrance and for Chase to program the Leapfrog to begin blasting the doors. Chase, idly creating a small pair of boxing gloves with his Fistigons, asks what she’ll be doing. Nico replies that she will ensure that Molly and Victor are safe.

They wait a moment whilst a guard reaches into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. This seems like the perfect moment to strike: while their opponents are not concentrating. Nico looks around at her friends and smiles. “Do it fast and do it right,” she asks, “And let’s bring Vic and Mol out safe. Remember… try not to die!”

Nico stands, but once she reaches her full height, she whispers, “Wait” and quickly drops down again. Karolina is semi-powered and she quickly turns her lightshow off. “What is it?” she enquires. Nico look across at the roof of the building and notices a small amount of light, shining against the dark roof tiles. “Something’s up,” she replies. “Hang on a sec.” She asks Chase for the binoculars and he passes them to her. She places them against her eyes and scans the roof. She can’t believe what she’s seeing.

On the rooftop, Hollowpoint Ninja, a member of Project Livewire, is using what appears to be a large rifle to laser his way through the metallic roof. Hollowpoint has done a thermal scan to ensure there’s no one on the upper two floors so a little light show should go unnoticed. He finishes cutting an almost perfect circle with the laser before plunging his fingers into the red-hot seam and tearing the metal back. Out of nowhere, Social Butterfly and Stem Cell drop into the hole having leapt all the way from the ground. Once they are through, Hollowpoint himself drops into the space, away from view. They are blissfully unaware that the runaways have found this place independently.

Nico has no clue who these newcomers are, or what they want. She decides to stay put for a moment just in case anyone else appears. She doesn’t have to wait very long, as out of the nearby bushes rushes another young girl, strangely dressed in a short black & white stripey dress. She moves at high speed, much faster than a normal person could sprint. She surprises the guards waiting outside the main entrance, punching one in the stomach, winding him, and taking the second out with a kick to the chin. She turns back to the first and punches him unconscious before turning once more to face the door.

Cornfed has already placed the video on a loop so those monitoring will notice nothing different, but unfortunately he forgets to cancel the laser sensors. They pick up Gothic’s unauthorized body signature and take aim. Lol doesn’t have time to react before one of the blasts takes her left arm off at the elbow. Lolita rolls to her left, grabbing the severed arm as she does so. She then uses it as a club, smashing the laser-weapon into the ground. The second gun fires at her, so she hurls the arm with great force directly into the blast. It splits her forearm in two, but the laser is smashed into little pieces when the remnants connect with it. Lol sighs, picks up the remaining fragments of her arm and places them inside a small bag with a blue smiley face on the outside.

Up near the roof, Social Butterfly takes the lead, with Stem in the middle and Hollowpoint guarding the rear. They move quickly down the staircase a level to where several armed guards are patrolling a long corridor. Security’s pretty flimsy for an A.I.M. facility. Maybe they weren’t expecting any trouble? Social winks at Stem Cell and informs her that this is what she does best. She leaves them hiding in the doorway of a stock room and saunters down the corridor. Immediately, upon seeing her, several guards aim their guns in her direction. “Come now, boys,” she smiles. “Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good day?” Her gentle manipulation of their brainwaves, the microsignals her facial muscles give off and the harmonic teasing of her vocal muscles ensure that the guards slowly lower their weapons and take a strangely keen interest in what she has to say. Moments later, with the guards now happy sitting in a circle, humming tunes to one another, the team moves on.

Cornfed contacts the others by IM and informs them that he has finally managed to get a direct feed to Victor. He apologizes for how long it’s taken, but reckons A.I.M.s anti-spyware programs have been keeping him from prying too much. Cornfed then opens up an IM feed inside Victor’s cyborg brain and says hi. Victor is surprised, and asks who’s there. He informs Victor that they are there to free him and his companion, so he should sit tight and let them do their job.

As Nico and the others watch the building, Cornfed appears before them out of nowhere. Nico steps back a little and Chase quickly raises his arms, aiming his Fistigons at him. Cornfed is rather surprised that they've shown up so soon. He half-smiles at them and asks them not to worry. He is about to inform them that his friends will retrieve Victor and Molly for them, but Chase uses his Fistigons to chin him. Cornfed wasn’t expecting that, and he drops to the ground. As he rolls onto his back, he tries to point out that they are not equipped for this kind of job, but all that comes out is, “….b….yw….” before his eyes close. The IM feed inside Victor’s mind vanishes, leaving him a little confused as to what that was all about.

Nico looks down at Cornfed and wonders if they did the right thing. He sure doesn't look like a standard A.I.M. operative. Regardless, there’s no time to worry about him. With the exterior guards already down, courtesy of Gothic Lolita, the runaways head for the door. Inside, the place is almost in darkness, and Karolina uses her energies to light up the long corridor that leads inside. “The place is bigger than it looks, “ remarks Chase. “Kinda like my pop’s old shed. It's like the T.A.R.D.I.S.” They sneak inside, with Klara growing a thick thorn bush outside to prevent anyone from following too easily. They head slowly inside into the unknown, with only a little bravado and a desire to rescue their friends keeping them going.

Chapter Three:

(flashback, two weeks ago - A.I.M. North Pacific Headquarters, somewhere near San Francisco)
A large, overweight, bearded man named Lawrenson, one of A.I.M.’s chief industrial designers, is working at his desk when his phone rings. He picks up and a subordinate informs him that a buyer is on the line. He passes the caller through and the designer asks what they want. The buyer, a regular customer, informs him that he is looking for a specific technology: namely the original programming software written by Hank Pym for Ultron. Lawrenson replies that A.I.M. doesn’t have any Ultron tech. It’s notoriously difficult to get hold of. Several operatives have died in the last month trying to bypass Ultron’s security systems.

The buyer is quite insistent, reminding Lawrenson that they pay top price for the right product. Original Ultron programming is still second-to-none as far as hack-prevention goes, not to mention the fact that the technology is extremely durable and seems to go on forever, regardless of the host's position. Pym seemed to know what he was doing when he created Ultron in the first place. They can’t get that kind of kit anyplace else. Lawrenson pauses and sits back in his chair. “I think I might have an alternative…” He asks the buyer to hang on while he speaks to the head of A.I.M.’s black ops team. Moments later he returns to the buyer and asks him to put his request in writing. He doesn’t think that acquiring Ultron tech will be as difficult as he first envisaged...

(back to the Lawrenson interrogation)
Victor realizes that help might be on its way from his fellow runaways or not. They're not going to give up on them so easily. If this is the case, he must stall Lawrenson and hope they arrive in time. Molly is looking like she might be gaining consciousness, so Vic looks Lawrenson in the eye and tries an old-fashioned bluff. “You realize that my programming has safeguards fitted which even I am unable to control. My body contains a tamper-proof defense system, though 'pops' didn’t state exactly where. I understand it's high-explosive and could probably take half this county down. I wouldn’t mess if I were you.” Lawrenson smiles and sighs. “Mr. Mancha. We know that’s not true. We’ve done a full scan of your internal workings and there’s nothing much more than batteries, microchips and cheeseburger in there.” Vic looks at him, blankly. “You’re looking in all the wrong places,” he replies. “Ultron’s tech is far superior to yours. I should know. Also, have you thought of how he might react when he finds out that you’re messing with his son. He doesn’t take kindly to people messing with his belongings.

Lawrenson laughs. He knows Vic is stalling for time, and decides to get the information the hard way. He orders his men to bring in the extractor. Two burly guys disappear and come back a few moments later with an aubergine-colored metallic box with several cables extending from the side. Vic doesn’t like the looks of this. It's awfully crude. He shuffles again, trying to wake up Molly and find a weakness in his bindings, but there are none, and Molly is still a little hazy. One of the men places a cable onto the side of his right temple, the end of which lights up. He sticks another onto the back of his neck. A third cable is attached to his chest. Vic is becoming increasingly concerned for his welfare. This isn’t looking good!

Meanwhile, the Livewires continue making their way down through the building until Hollowpoint calls for them to stop. He peers through an open vent into the large room below. He can see Vic, Molly and the bad guys below them. He IM’s Stem Cell and asks for a filament wire. Stem churns her internal engine and coughs a length of filament wire up. Hollowpoint attaches one end to a socket in the palm of his hand and the filament lights up. He then traces a body-sized hole in front of him and uses his other hand to grab the section he’s cut. Stem Cell then creates a few thousand nanolockpicks for Hollowpoint. They are minuscule, but when they are activated they can connect together to form an electronic key. Hollowpoint removes the section of ceiling slowly and quietly so as not to alert those below. He then uses a blowgun to fire the nanolockpicks at Molly’s shackles. They hit their target first time and immediately begin to work feverishly.

One of the guards looks upwards after sensing something above him, and notices a small light coming out of the darkness. He spots the danger straight away, and calls for back up on his radio. Lawrenson is shuffled away by the other guard as Victor looks upwards to see what’s going on. From the shadows, he sees several figures emerge, dropping down to the ground. Hollowpoint Ninja is first to hit, with Stem Cell and Social Butterfly close behind, crouching as they land. The guard with the radio sprints right for them and smashes Hollowpoint in the face, really hard. It becomes clear to Hollow that this guy isn’t human. He quickly scans him and determines that it is a Prime Sentinel, presumably captured and reprogrammed by A.I.M. for their own purposes. This won’t be easy. Social Butterfly sprints after the second guard and Lawrenson whilst Stem Cell heads towards Vic and Molly.

The nanolockpicks have done their job and Molly’s shackles drop open with a clunk. She moves her wrists and looks around, with everything still a little blurry. More trouble arrives when a huge panel slides open and out comes one of A.I.M.’s secret weapons - a giant Mecha, roughly five meters tall and almost the same width. It is armed to the teeth with small laser cannons on its shoulders, a pulse cannon on its chest and massive hydraulic grabbing hands. Stem Cell realizes that she’s the only one around to deal with the monster, and for a newbie, this isn’t the kind of test she had in mind so early on. Luckily, Stemmie has speed which the Mecha is sadly lacking. Being a prototype model, it’s movement hasn’t been perfected just yet. It lumbers towards her, firing the pulse cannons in a steady pattern. Stemmie leaps from side to side, focusing on its momentum to stay ahead of the game. There is only one way to fight this thing, and that is to get up close and personal.

She dashes underneath it, but the Mecha’s legs extend upwards in a similar fashion to Stilt Man’s, allowing it to tower over her once again. Stemmie’s stomach goes into overdrive, and she begins creating a couple of things to assist her as she evades the phase cannons and lasers that join in the fun. Stemmie coughs up the first of her devices - a magnet, but no ordinary magnet. Borrowing some online specs from the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and mingling this with some radical theoretical physics, the magnet that Stemmie’s produces is more powerful than any pretty much any previously dreamed up on Earth, condensed into an object less than five centimeters in diameter. Highly creative, if she thinks so herself. She then coughs up a second one and holds one in either hand.

Rolling out of danger, avoiding the lasers and leaping over the phase cannons’ searing blasts, Stem Cell leaps at the Mecha and slaps one of the magnets onto it’s chest. She then clambers up its body, ensuring the powerful grabbing hands don’t catch her, and sticks the other one onto what counts as the Mecha’s forehead. She then coughs up a third device which she sticks to the ground. She then activates the device. The small metallic object on the ground activates the two magnets and the Mecha whips onto its front in an instant, stuck to the ground, helpless like an upside down turtle. She then ups the power on the magnets and the Mecha begins to turn in on itself. Metal grinds and churns as the arms and legs fold inwards and the body begins to cave in. In mere seconds, the metallic components have been compressed to the size of an armchair.

Hollowpoint, meanwhile, suffers continuous punches from the Sentinel, and feels he is engaged in a losing battle. He calls Stem Cell, but she is too far away from him now, trying to free Victor. The Sentinel grabs Hollowpoint and smashes him against the floor. It then crushes his left arm and uses an elbow to dislocate Hollow’s head unit. Fearing that this might be his last hurrah, Hollow dumps all but a small section of his memory into Vic’s brain in a burst transmission. Vic reels from the massive download as Stem Cell manages to prize open his shackles. Vic jumps out of his seat and sprints towards Hollowpoint. He now has access to all of Hollow’s pre-programmed fighting techniques. Not only that, but he feels the electromagnetic energy flowing through his body once again.

The Sentinel stamps on Hollow’s chest, caving in the tough chest plate that protects his internal workings. The Sentinel then reaches inside the cavity and yanks numerous cables and wires out with his powerful fingers. Hollow swings at the Sentinel, but he makes little impact. Hollow is dying, and he knows it. He tries to roll away but the Sentinel lands a powerful punch in Hollow’s lower back. He gasps, and attempts to pull away once again. He is too late. The Sentinel grabs his head and twists it left, then right and then almost clean off, leaving it dangling by the spinal cord.

Chapter Four:

Vic is horrified at witnessing Hollowpoint's lifeless body, but he finally reaches the Sentinel and delivers a deft kick to its la-la's. This does little more than anger the Sentinel, so Vic charges up an energy assault and unleashes it at the target. The Sentinel is thrown hard against the wall as the electromagnetic energy frazzles a few of its sensors. It rushes Vic, but he uses some of Hollowpoint’s agility to leap over his assailant, grab the top of its head and leap into the air. He runs across the wall a few steps, twisting the Sentinel’s head as he turns. He then uses both hands to slam the Sentinel into the ground before picking up Lawrenson’s chair and bringing it towards him magnetically. He takes the chair, snaps one of the legs off and thrusts the leg into the Sentinels’ brain. He then charges the leg with thousands of volts, which find their way to the Sentinel’s main chip. It doesn’t get to its feet after that.

As Social Butterfly chases the second guard carrying Lawrenson through a labyrinth of corridors, barely keeping up, Stem Cell picks up Hollowpoint Ninja’s body. She’s rebuilt them once and she can do it again. Fortunately for Social, help arrives in the form of the runaways who have finally arrived on the scene. Chase, Nico, Klara and Karolina block the corridor ahead of them. The stocky Sentinel guard doesn’t fear them but Lawrenson is becoming increasingly concerned for his own safety. Chase lays down a wall of flame between them, but the Sentinel turns and leaps straight through, keeping Lawrenson away from the flame. Lawrenson screams as the fire licks at his shoes but the guard keeps a firm hold of him. He turns and continues running, placing an arm out before him to fend off any opponents.

Karolina realizes that the guard probably isn’t a normal human, but can’t do too much damage just in case. She points her fingers at the guard’s feet and zaps the ground with a flash of alien rainbow energy. The ground crumbles and the Sentinel trips as it struggles to maintain its footing. Nico then uses her Staff of One to create a spell - ‘Bolas.’ The Staff of One glows and a large set of bolas appears, whipping its way towards the Sentinel. They wrap themselves around his powerful legs and pull them tight together. The Sentinel drops to the ground, letting go of Lawrenson as it hits the ground hard. Nico creates a second set of magical bolas and ties the Sentinel’s hands up with it. It looks up at her and its eyes glow. Chase realizes the danger immediately and leaps at Nico, knocking her to the ground as an optic blast hits the wall behind them. Molly comes running through the corridor and sees what’s going on. She smashes the Sentinel on the back of the head, and it bounces forwards before flipping back with its head split open. She then clocks Chase. She is momentarily stunned, but quickly dashes over to him, leaping onto him and sending him sprawling to the ground. "You're back!" she cries with tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Chase smiles back and tells her that he couldn't leave her all alone. Who's gonna buy her donuts and cookies?

Lawrenson tries to make a break for it, but Chase uses the Fistigons to create a circle of flame around him. He brings the flames inwards a little, just to keep Lawrenson on edge. “What do we do with this guy?” asks Chase. Lawrenson replies for them. He warns them that backup will be arriving within moments. They may as well give themselves up now and save themselves the embarrassment of being killed. He’s clearly nervous, like a school bully without his gang. "B-b-b..." he cries. "Enough with the consonants," replies Chase. "Gimme some vowels to work with." Lawrenson manages to order them to back off, but still, Nico knows that Lawrenson is probably telling the truth. They need to get away as soon as possible. She uses a spell – ‘Mindwipe,’ and all memory of the runaways and the Livewires is removed from his mind. She calls to everyone to regroup. They should get going. Molly knows what to do. She curls her fingers into a fist and punches the wall as hard as she can. It disintegrates, leaving a sizeable gap leading outside. They hear the sound of A.I.M. troops making their way over to them, and run for the open.

The Livewires decide to abandon their Humvee. There isn’t enough time to recover it, so they sprint across the open ground towards the waiting Leapfrog. Out of nowhere, a large craft appears over the horizon. It is of A.I.M. design and it’s closing in fast. It spots the Leapfrog and the pilot realizes that it’s their enemies' escape vehicle. The ship turns and flies towards the Frog, with several guns emerging from the undercarriage. The runaways look on in horror as it begins to open fire, but are surprised to see a large explosion from the top of the ship and a stream of flame and smoke shooting out from inside it. It lurches backwards as gunfire hits the trees, harmlessly. The engines then cut out and the ship drops from the sky, exploding on the ground in a huge ball of fire. From the flames comes Gothic Lolita. She lands in front of the gang and swats a few metal fragments from her shoulder. “Another top ruined,” she sighs.

A small army of A.I.M soldiers exit the building and begin opening fire, but Klara uses the roots from some nearby trees to whip their guns from their hands. This takes a considerable amount of skill and accuracy.

Nico thanks Lol for the save, and the team climbs into the faithful new Leapfrog, followed by Social Butterfly, the now conscious Cornfed and Stem Cell, who is still carrying Hollowpoint Ninja. Chase quickly activates the cloaking device and starts the engines. He asks everyone to hang on as the Frog takes to the skies.

Mission accomplished.

Chase is rather blunt on the way home. “So what the hell was that all about?” he asks. Vic breathes heavily and admits that it’s kinda his fault. Having Ultron as a dad has more than its fair share of downsides. Cornfed informs the team that if Vic has what A.I.M. are after, they won’t stop coming after him. Nico understands. She speaks with Stem cell privately and after a quick brainstorming session, they devise a plan. Nico creates a spell, ‘Memory Worm’ which she places inside Cornfed’s control chip. Cornfed then hacks into A.I.M.s otherwise impenetrable computer and places the spell inside their system like a non-resident virus. This quickly goes to work, removing all mention of Ultron, Vic, the runaways or the Livewires from A.I.M.’s system.

Before long, the kids are in Anaheim. The Livewires have earned their respect and trust in breaking Vic free. Nico asks why they helped them out in the first place. Stemmie informs her that wherever there is some mecha action to be had, they’ll be there. They caught wind that A.I.M. were interested in Victor a while ago whilst doing a routine computer scan of the prominent villainous organiations (A.I.M., Hydra, the Hellfire Club, most high-street banks etc.) and used Social to check on Karolina, just to see if they were on the up and up and it wasn't some kind of trap. She's an expert in reading people. When A.I.M. struck, it was a case of action stations. They knew they were working on some serious mecha but didn't know exactly where, only that it was based around the Hollywood area. Following Vic's capture, they put two and two together and determined that he would probably be taken to the R&D/storage facility housing the mecha. They had fun, despite Hollowpoint’s obvious physical state. Hollow's lifeless eyes stare back at Stem Cell, and Stemmie sighs. Another repair job to be cracking on with.

As the members of Project Livewire exit the Leapfrog, Social turns and winks at Vic. Nico sees it clearly, and is secretly pleased when Victor doesn’t respond in kind. Gothic Lolita informs Vic that from now on, he is an honorary member of Project Livewire. He has Hollowpoint’s memories and skills, and if he ever wants to join them on a case, he’s quite welcome. Vic thanks her, but doesn’t think he’s really cut out for fighting mecha. He’ll ensure Hollowpoint’s memories are safe and give them back whenever they have his physical body back in shape. Stemmie replies that there's no time like the present, and she whips the memories straight from Vic's mind into her own memory for future transference. Nico asks what they’re going to do now. Lol replies that the Mecha that Stem Cell took down won’t be A.I.M.’s only example. They need to do a little more investigating and ensure that the prototypes never makes it to production. However, she lets on that before she took down the large A.I.M. craft, she planted a couple of devices which might tickle A.I.M.'s fancy. She activates a switch inside her head and massive explosions rip through the Hollywood factory, destroying the existing mecha prototypes instantly. The Livewires watch a live feed from A.I.M.'s CCTV. Lol smiles. That was fun.

Stem Cell, Cornfed, Gothic Lolita and Social Butterfly then say their farewells and disappear into the distance. The runaways are pleased this is all over. They realize that with the Livewires out there watching their backs along with the likes of the Young Avengers and their friends, Cloak & Dagger, they're not alone in the world. They climb back aboard the Leapfrog and Chase starts the engines. He smiles. "To infinity, and... " Molly interjects. "Oh, grow up, Chase," she grins.

The end.

Notes:
This fan-fic story takes place after Runaways (3rd series) #14. The Malibu house is destroyed, Chase is out of hospital and the team have relocated to Anaheim. The Livewires were mostly destroyed in their own mini series, but since then, Stem Cell has repaired them good as new.

Tech Blanc is a play on Tech Noir, the nightclub seen in the first Terminator movie.

The Sentinels would initially have found Molly and Victor due to Molly being a mutant.

Molly visited the X-Men in Runaways (3rd series) #10.