Cerebra's Files
Talkback
Full Name: Chase SteinAffiliation: Runaways
Relatives: Victor (father, deceased), Janet (mother, deceased)
Powers & History: None (human). Chase’s parents were brilliant inventors, and it seems that he may have inherited some of their skill with machinery. However, he usually acts like a stereotypical dumb jock. He uses various bits of equipment to help in the Runaways’ battles, mostly stolen from his parents, including his X-ray goggles and his Fistigon flame gauntlets (both of which were destroyed when he gave them to Alex), the Leapfrog ship that he pilots, and the switchblade he uses as his primary weapon and which Nico uses to free the Staff of One. He now also has a telepathic link and control over Old Lace, which Gert passed on to him before she died.
Chase’s dad was often violent towards him, but Chase almost always defended his actions and didn’t bother to fight back. He was against Alex’s plan to fight their parents, suggesting that they hide instead. The other Runaways usually make fun of him due to his apparent lack of intelligence, especially Gert, but he often has insights none of the rest of them see. He fell in love with Gert after she saved his life, initially attributing it to ‘brain damage,’ and missed most of the battle with the Pride through injury. However, he proved tougher than Alex thought, able to recover long enough to smash the Leapfrog through a wall, indirectly rescuing Karolina.
Afterwards, with no real weapons to go into battle with, Chase mainly took to piloting the Leapfrog as their getaway car during missions. His relationship with Gert also continued onwards in a rather healthy way until one day, a future version of Gert, calling herself Heroine, traveled back in time to warn them of a future evil. This Gert died in Chase’s arms as she told him how she never told him she loved him. This drove him to find this villain, just a kid known as Victor Mancha who didn’t even know he had powers at this time, and stop him. However, after finding the guy and helping to stop his father, the evil Ultron, the Runaways brought him into their group, despite hesitations from a couple members, including Chase.
However, Chase eventually became closer friends with Vic, possibly because he is the only other male on the team or that he saved Gert while they were in New York is some other reasons, but Chase also admitted he admired Vic for his smarts as that is what his parents always wanted out of him when he was growing up. Also while they were in New York, Chase was paired up with Nico in their investigations to help Cloak, and when they found themselves confronting a supernatural drug pusher, Chase bluffed that the Pride was still alive and that he had a violent past, which might not have been a bluff, and got them out. After which, Nico surprisingly kissed him, which he didn’t return, and wanted to keep it secret from Gert.
This proved to be a mistake, because when they returned to L.A., a new Pride, led by a young Geoffrey Wilder, attacked them and used a spell to show everyone the kiss. This drove a huge wedge between Gert, Chase, and Nico, even leading to Gert breaking up with him. Things didn’t get any better until Karolina unexpectedly returned to the team to break up the tension and mend bridges, though Gert didn’t make up with Chase. When the team finally confronted the Pride again, Chase risked his life to run into a burning building to save some of the others, only to put himself in harm’s way instead. Geoffrey fought Chase and was about to kill him when Gert arrived and convinced Geoff not to kill him, but he stabbed her instead. Chase took out Geoff and rushed to her side, but was unable to get her to hold on and she died, but not before turning control of Old Lace over to him. After the battle, he had an argument with the rest of the group over what to do with Gert’s body and left the group for a while, but was seen with a copy of the Abstract and one of the rings to decode it, which could lead to some major problems for his enemies.
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