HELL IS FOR CHILDREN

Part III

By Wesley Overhults

Los Angeles, Earth-171

“How do you suppose these kids found a dinosaur?” asked Wasp, tentatively petting Old Lace while keeping her distance.

“We’ve all seen a lot of weird crap,” reminded Daredevil. “Is this any weirder than jumping from reality to reality?”

The Leapfrog hurtled through the night air towards Sierra Towers. The Exiles looked to one another while they were in the cockpit of the huge amphibious vehicle and thought about their missing teammates. When Sister Grimm’s telepathy spell turned off, the Exiles had no way of contacting each other. They were flying blind and none of them enjoyed that.

“Can this thing tell us what happened?” asked Sandman.

“Leapfrog, tell us what happened to Master Chase and his friends,” ordered Goblin.

“Miss Nico Minoru betrayed Master Chase and his friends but she was deleted along with their progenitors. Master Chase and his friends stuck together, fought ‘bad guys’ as they called them,” explained Leapfrog. “There was one of them designated as Victor Mancha. He deleted all of the country’s superheroes. He petrified Miss Gertrude Yorkes, leaving Old Lace in disrepair. Master Chase downloaded his consciousness into Victor Mancha’s body and deleted Victor Mancha from the body. Master Chase and his friends then moved on, leaving Leapfrog and Old Lace behind.”

“That’s why they hate Nico so much,” realized Sandman. “They think it’s the same one that betrayed them.”

“Except according to the message we found, Alex Wilder is the real traitor,” explained Goblin. “Leapfrog, did Master Chase and his friends do this to the city?”

“Affirmative,” replied Leapfrog. “I have been monitoring news feeds from both inside and outside the city. I am . . . concerned for Master Chase and his friends, especially Miss Molly Hayes. She was . . . nice to me.”

“Target’s coming up fast,” interrupted Daredevil. “Next stop, Sierra Towers.”

Sierra Towers

“You did it without maiming her,” noted Alex as Machine Man pushed Sister Grimm in front of him, her hands bound by manacles of the same magic-nullifying technology used on the chair. “I’m impressed.”

“I couldn’t crack that thing,” replied Machine Man. “I think maybe I can siphon some power from it though. That might be enough to get the device going.”

“What’re you making?” demanded Sister Grimm though she wasn’t in a position to demand anything.

“Time,” replied Alex simply. “Your Tallus is just what we needed.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Sister Grimm.

“Time,” repeated Alex as he opened the door and Machine Man ushered Nico inside the vast room.

She stared in horror at the giant device before her though she didn’t even know what it did. They had torn apart complete floors of apartments to make the space but it was worth it. Alex and Machine Man stood before it with wonder and reverence in their eyes. It took them so long to build it but now the final piece of the puzzle was falling into place. Soon, everything would be ready and The Pride would be the most powerful group in all of reality.

“This is a time machine?” inquired Sister Grimm skeptically.

“In short, yes,” replied Alex. “This is the culmination of two years of toil and suffering but two years will be a blink of the eye once we get this thing rolling. With the energy signature from the Tallus, we can start conquering worlds. The Pride will be more powerful than anyone, even the Gibborim. We’ll be the ones rewriting creation instead of them and we’ll make sure we get it right.”

“You’re insane,” declared Sister Grimm, trying to break Machine Man’s grip.

“Hook her up to whatever you need,” ordered Alex. “I want this thing online as soon as possible.”

Something shook the building in that moment. The rumbling almost knocked everyone off their feet. Something was attacking them but who would be stupid enough to do that? Since they took over LA, no one had attacked The Pride’s lair. Many had tried but Starshine and her people were very harsh on such crimes. These days, no one even dared to come near the building.

“What the hell is going on?” asked Alex as he, Machine Man, and Sister Grimm rushed to the monitor room.

Nico couldn’t be sure but she thought Chase had finally lost it. He was actually laughing all the way to the monitor room and robots didn’t laugh last time she checked. Her head was still reeling from what Alex had told her. Her friends, who weren’t really her friends, were going to use a time machine to go back in time and rewrite history. Had she not experienced Scarlet Spider’s actions during the first mission, the idea alone would’ve seemed insane to her. The only thing insane about this was that it was her friends trying it.

“Lols times infinity,” laughed Machine Man while plugging himself into the monitor banks. “Oh man, this is epic.”

Neither Alex nor Nico could believe their eyes. It was the Leapfrog. Sure it looked old and out of shape but it was obviously the Leapfrog. More importantly, it was attacking the building. A familiar face appeared on the monitor screen and Sister Grimm’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Hey, assholes,” said Daredevil. “Give me back my girlfriend and maybe I’ll leave you in one piece.”

“And give back Paige too,” added Goblin.

“Right,” agreed Daredevil. “Now, are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?”

“Oh you mouth-breathing sacks of meat never fail to entertain me,” said Machine Man with a smile. “Can you make it do a barrel roll too? Please tell me you can make it do a barrel roll so I can get some real entertainment. Hey, Nico, watch this.”

“Chase, what’re you . . .,” began Sister Grimm but she never got the chance to finish.

Her question became moot because she could clearly see what happened on the monitors. Without warning, the Leapfrog suddenly exploded. Nico screamed as she watched the fiery wreckage holding her friends plummet to the ground and land almost on The Pride’s doorstep. Machine Man fell backwards out of his chair and rolled on the floor with laughter.

“You didn’t think my old man was a complete dumbass, did you?” he asked while calming himself down. “The ‘Frog always had a self-destruct sequence and I just remotely hacked into it and triggered it. Really, Nico, that was your team’s brilliant rescue plan? Thanks for the lols though. I haven’t felt that human in years.”

“Good thing ya ain’t human,” snarled an unmistakable Southern drawl. “Wouldn’t want ya ta feel too much pain when I shove mah fist down yer throat.”

Machine Man looked up just in time to see Husk’s fist go straight through his face. His nanotech head morphed his face around Husk’s arm and yanked her forward. Machine Man grabbed the back of Husk’s head as she fell forward and threw her into one of the monitors.

“Bringz it on, meat sack,” he demanded, his hand morphing into a laser gun aimed right at Husk’s head. “I haven’t had to kill one of you in a long time.”

Paige moved seconds before Machine Man fired, the energy bolt striking the broken monitor screen and causing it to blow up in his face. She felt the pain in her sides as she greedily sucked air into her lungs. Her ribs weren’t doing her any favors right now but she had to get up and fight. Much as she was loathe to admit, the Exiles had grown on her and if they didn’t finish this mission then she would be stuck in this hellish reality forever.

“Hi, Chase,” greeted Bruiser before grabbing him from behind and locking his arms behind his back. “You wanna play?”

“Always, kiddo,” he retorted before slithering his way through Bruiser’s grasp and then shooting her in the back. “I always thought you were smart, Molly. It’s a shame you’re not smart enough to trust us instead of these n00bs.”

“Chase, do whatever you have to in order to get what we need,” ordered Alex.

“Whatevers,” replied Machine Man, discharging another round from his gun and slamming Bruiser into the monitor bank. “These two were no fun anyway.”

A module ejected itself from his palm as he made his way to Sister Grimm. Without any explanation, he connected the module to the Tallus and then used the cable snaking from his fingertip to connect the module to him. He watched the lines of code and data scroll across his field of vision before finally absorbing everything back into his body. In two seconds, he spit out a device similar in design to the Tallus. He tossed the device to Alex and wordlessly nodded before turning his attention back to his fun. The device would be a sufficient power source for their time machine though it paled in comparison to the actual Tallus. Still, it would satisfy Alex for the moment and, more importantly, it would further Chase’s own machinations.

“What was that thing?” asked Sister Grimm.

“More or less a copy of that thing,” replied Machine Man before turning his attention to Alex. “Just plug the thing into the control panel and you’re good.”

Husk chose that moment to strike again, her fist leaving a sizeable hole in Chase’s face. Machine Man smirked before gripping Husk’s arm and flinging her over his head, slamming her on the floor in front of him. Bruiser tackled Machine Man from behind, punching him through the wall of the room and out into the hallway.

“Ya need ta get after him,” ordered Husk, looking to Sister Grimm even though she was helpless thanks to the cuffs. “We gotta finish tha mission.”

Nico nodded and turned to follow Alex. Paige was right in that they had to complete the mission, even if the others were dead. She promised herself that when she got out of the cuffs, she would rip Chase apart for what he had done to the rest of their teammates. Right now though, she had to deal with Alex and stop his insane scheme.

“Not so fast, traitor,” said Machine Man, his arm whipping out like a tentacle and clasping around Sister Grimm’s ankles.

Bruiser saw what happened and acted immediately. She grabbed the length of nanotech with one hand and then punched downward through it with the other, chopping it off and causing Machine Man to recoil in pain.

“Just go!” she ordered before Sister Grimm could say anything to her.

“Breaking my toys is very bad, Molly,” warned Machine Man. “I think you’re going to have to have a timeout.”

“I’m not a kid anymore!” snarled Bruiser, shrugging off the rounds from Chase’s cannon before running towards him and plunging both her hands into his chest. She viciously ripped him in half, scattering his liquid-metal body in all directions.

“Yeah, definitely a timeout,” said a female voice.

Coherent beams of light blasted the youngest Pride member from all sides as Starshine and her Majesdanian warriors surrounded her. Molly struggled to stay on her feet but the blasts battered her in all directions before she finally stumbled and fell to the floor. Karolina stood over her as one of her warriors unceremoniously threw Husk’s limp body into the circle with Bruiser.

“Coulda done that sooner, babe,” reminded Machine Man after reforming himself and standing next to Starshine.

“Can’t let you have all the fun,” replied Starshine with a grin in his direction before turning back to her warriors. “Warriors of Majesdane, prepare to execute this traitor and the outsider.”

Starshine, Machine Man, and the Majesdanians readied to blast Husk and Bruiser all at once. They, unfortunately, never got the chance. A crimson disc collided with Starshine’s arm before careening towards the leg of a Majesdanian. The blow crippled the alien man before the d-disc continued its path of destruction through the rest of its opposition. Husk grabbed Bruiser and the both hit the deck. A giant cocoon of sand sprung up around them to shield them as more d-discs bounced through the room and knocked The Pride silly.

“‘Bout damn time,” muttered Husk before the dome reformed itself into Sandman and the rest of the Exiles entered the fight. “Me an’ Molly had ta pick up ya’ll’s slack.”

“Woulda been here sooner if someone could reform faster,” explained Daredevil, launching himself into the gaggle of aliens and hitting anything that sparkled.

“You’re just lucky I took the hit for us,” replied Sandman.

“And you’re lucky my danger-sense caught that explosion before it was too late,” retorted Daredevil.

“Right, we’re all lucky for everything,” cut in Goblin before throwing a round of pumpkin bombs at The Pride. “Except the dinosaur because it’s dead now. Someone wasn’t as fast as they thought they were.”

Machine Man elongated his arm and turned it into a giant shield to stop the explosions before dropping it and letting the Majesdanians return fire. The Exiles scattered into the various open doorways along the corridor to avoid the blasts. Wasp looked across the hall at Sandman and wordlessly nodded. She shrunk herself down and zipped towards the glowing aliens while Sandman dissolved into his sand form and poured himself into the air ducts of the building. In seconds, both Exiles were behind their enemies without anyone being the wiser. As the Majesdanians turned to deal with this surprise attack, they forgot about the rest of the team. It one simple move, the Exiles had boxed The Pride in and turned the tables on them.

“Screw a bunch of this,” muttered Machine Man before liquefying himself and slinking away.

“Chase,” whined Starshine as her boyfriend left her high and dry.

“Where’s Nico?” demanded Daredevil.

“She went to get Alex,” explained Bruiser.

“Then I’m going after her,” announced the crimson-clad Exile before bounding in the direction Molly pointed towards.

“Osborn, you back him up,” ordered Sandman. “Ten to one that’s where Stein is headed too. The rest of us need to figure out what to do about these walking neon signs.” He looked at the surrendering Majesdanians and allowed himself to relax his guard for a fraction of a second. The mission wasn’t over just yet.

It was lucky for her that some of the walls in this building were exposed. All it took was a couple good hits against the piping for Sister Grimm to break the cuffs that were keeping her magical abilities in check. She twisted her wrists for a couple seconds just to make sure nothing was damaged and seemed satisfied with the results. Unfortunately, this slight detour from her plans cost her valuable time in chasing after Alex.

“Wish I’d paid more attention,” she mumbled to herself as she tried to remember where the time machine was.

She managed to stumble into a room that definitely wasn’t where she was supposed to be. However, there was something in it that concerned her more than the time machine. Standing in the middle of the room in some sort of stasis tube was a statue of Gertrude Yorkes. To be more specific, it actually was Gertrude Yorkes. During their encounter with Victor Mancha, the psychotic cyborg had used Gert’s time-warping technology against her and had petrified her into a living statue. Nico cautiously approached the statue and looked at the vital signs displayed on a monitor embedded in the tube’s control panel.

“Leapfrog said she was literally petrified,” explained Daredevil, arriving in the room with Goblin behind him. “We found a recording in Stein’s old workshop. Whatever the Nico in this reality did, she did it because Alex told her to. Gert uncovered the truth but she couldn’t tell the others before this happened to her.”

“So Alex got away with it,” murmured Sister Grimm sadly. “Get this thing open. I think it’s time I had a heart-to-heart with my best friend again.”

Both of them studied the control panel before Goblin pushed one of the buttons. The tube begin to lower, pulling itself down into the housing at the base of the machine. Nico reached out and touched the stony face of her friend.

“What’re you going to do?” he inquired.

“Make things right again,” confirmed Sister Grimm. “IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME!”

Magical energy shot from her hands as she touched the stony face of her best friend. The energy came in roiling waves that spread across the statue one after the other. Each wave washed away more and more of the stone to reveal the flesh and bone underneath. Nico’s spell wound back the hands of the clock until the damage done by Victor Mancha so many years ago was undone. Gertrude Yorkes blinked underneath her glasses and the two girls stared at each other for a few moments.

“A Cher song,” said Gert. “Really, Nico? Really?”

“It was the best I could come up with on short notice,” replied Sister Grimm. “Gert, I . . . it’s really good to see you again. I’m not the . . .”

“Yeah, I know,” stated Gert. “C’mon, we’ve got a big mess to clean up and you need to get home.”

Chase always delivered the goods when it came to his mechanical marvels. The time machine hummed to life as Alex Wilder furiously typed on the control panel. Finally, it was all coming together. He thought his entire plan was wasted years ago when the Runaways discovered there was a mole in their ranks. He had to act fast so he conned Nico Minoru into helping him. However, he never counted on the schism in The Pride. The whole thing turned into a debacle that claimed the lives of all their parents and Nico’s life as well. So Alex decided to flip the script. Though he was the one trying to destroy them, Alex painted himself as the Runaways’ savior. When Victor Mancha went rogue and tried to implement his core programming, it made Alex’s plan even easier. Victor helped clear the board of any worthy adversaries and it allowed Alex to lock down the playing field even further through controlling Los Angeles completely. Now it was time for the final stroke of brilliance. With the ability to control time, Alex would become God. He would become more powerful than his parents, any other villains, even the Gibborim themselves. The whole of creation would soon march to the beat of his drum.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he confessed to himself as he stood in a rapturous stupor, unable to pick the first timeline to fall to The Pride’s power.

“Got a suggestion for you then, boss.”

The metallic spike plunged through Alex’s back and shot out of his chest, turning his heart into nothing more than a cube of meat on a kabob skewer. Machine Man grinned maliciously as he retracted the spike back into his nanotech body and watched Alex slump forward to sprawl across the control panel.

“Why?” he gurgled with his final few breaths. “Why?”

“Why did I just totally own your pathetic soul?” inquired Machine Man. “You always thought I was a clown, Alex. You thought I was just some dumb jock, some grease monkey who didn’t know shit. Did you really think someone wouldn’t figure it out? I got Gert’s little note that she left for me in my workshop years ago. When we ran into Mancha, I saw my chance. Gaining his body gave me everything I wanted, everything I could ever need to get my revenge on you. You got Nico killed and in a way you’re to blame for what happened to Gert. Don’t worry, you’re only the first to suffer. It’s gonna be epic, Alex. Promise.”

The world held no beauty for Chase Stein anymore. There was only cold, hard reason. The world was a cruel place, an ugly place where life had no significance. In compiling his research on time travel, Machine Man had learned the harshest truth of all. Nothing mattered. Billions of alternate realities were created every day. Nothing mattered in the grandest scheme of things. Human beings were flawed and imperfect. In their irrationality, they truly believed that they controlled their own destinies. Chase laughed at that concept and yet . . . wasn’t he still human? No, he had killed that part of himself long ago, killed it with fire. Nothing mattered anymore. The only logical thing to do was destroy everything. It was the only decision that had any meaning. It was the only choice that mattered, the choice to create or destroy. He chose destroy. It was the only thing he was programmed for, born for.

“Come on, baby,” murmured Machine Man to his greatest creation as he initiated an imbalance in the machine’s warp core. “You and Daddy are gonna turn out the lights on everything.”

“Chase!”

He turned and saw her but it was through different eyes this time. Emotions flooded his memory banks but they were all old files, useless and outdated data. Was he a machine now or was he a man? No, he was something in between but that only meant he was in constant pain. The pain was why he had to end everything because when he lost her, he lost everything already. So now that he saw her again, did that mean he could regain everything? No, it was all pointless anyway. Nothing mattered.

“It’s too late to stop it, Gert,” he declared. “You can’t stop the machine. It’s pointless to even try.”

“I’m really done with you,” decided Daredevil, flipping towards Machine Man with his batons ready. “I don’t know what you did but this ends now.”

“Epic lols,” retorted Machine Man, morphing his body around Daredevil’s strikes before backhanding him away. “You think your weak-sauce meat body is better than mine? You think that tiny speck of gray matter between your ears means you understand the universe? You understand nothing and you are nothing!”

A stream of liquid-metal nanotech shot from Machine Man’s arm and threw Daredevil into the far wall of the room. Chase’s legs coiled like springs before launching him towards Daredevil. Johnny bounced off the wall and came back at Machine Man, meeting him in mid-air and hitting him in the jaw twice. Machine Man took the blows in stride, rockets firing from the bottoms of his feet to keep himself in the air. He grabbed Daredevil by the throat and shrugged off the vicious kicks to his head that the Exile delivered in retaliation.

“He needs help,” realized Sister Grimm, readying another spell to rescue her boyfriend.

“We all need help,” stated Gert, looking at the time machine’s core and noting that it was glowing white-hot with energy. “This thing is based off of tech my parents designed and that I used for a while. He’s created an imbalance in the warp core.”

“So what’s going to happen?” asked Nico.

“Best-case scenario, the world blows up,” replied Gert, adjusting her glasses and trying to figure out what to do. “Worst-case scenario, he basically creates a black hole in reality that starts sucking literally everything else into it.”

“I’ll warm up a spell to deactivate it then,” countered Sister Grimm.

“This thing’s made up of that metal they use to nullify magic,” replied Gert. “You deal with Chase. I’ll figure this out.”

“Right,” agreed Sister Grimm. “We’re helping Johnny.”

“Throwing ourselves at him won’t stop him,” explained Goblin. “It’s going to take a huge electrical surge to short out the receivers in Stein’s nanotech. Without the ability to coordinate all his molecules, he’ll fall apart.”

“I’ve got the juice if I can get close enough,” assured Sister Grimm as the Exiles regrouped after Machine Man reformed and threw Daredevil at them.

“You’re too late,” promised Machine Man, firing off the myriad of laser cannons that sprouted from his arms.

Goblin grabbed Sister Grimm and flew to dodge the incoming projectiles. Daredevil immediately understood what he should do. He sprang at Machine Man, drawing his fire so Goblin and Sister Grimm could get the drop on him. D-discs stunned Machine Man but the android fired back with his own weapons. Johnny weaved through the barrage and took the fight to him with hand-to-hand combat. Daredevil hit him with a roundhouse kick before Chase kicked him back and then swatted him away.

“Say hello to extinction,” jeered Machine Man before sending an energy blast at Daredevil that would’ve decapitated Johnny had not his danger-sense saved him again.

“You go first,” decided Sister Grimm, jamming her hand into Chase’s back and then closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the destruction of her former friend.

A huge lightning storm erupted from Nico’s hand and poured into Machine Man’s nanotech body. The lightning raced through his systems and pushed his surge protectors to the max before finally overloading them. It was too much for his systems to handle. He squawked and cursed as he tried to get away from Sister Grimm but the damage was already done. Before her closed eyes, Machine Man started to melt. His nanotech body couldn’t keep itself together under the electrical surge and it wasn’t long before all that was left of Chase Stein was a puddle of liquid metal on the floor.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” reminded Goblin.

“I know,” replied Sister Grimm, wiping the goo on her jeans and then squeezing her eyes shut so no one could see her crying.

The Exiles raced towards the time machine as Gertrude Yorkes tried to figure out what to do. The machine was based off her own tech but Chase had obviously overhauled it. She didn’t even know what she was doing but she had to do something. She didn’t spend what felt like an eternity with her consciousness trapped in dead space only to come back for the end of all reality. If only she could figure out how to shut the damn thing down. No, that wasn’t the answer. She suddenly realized what she could do. The answer was right in front of her all this time.

“Time,” she muttered to herself even as something crashed through the ceiling.

“What’re you suggesting?” inquired Goblin as the Exiles, Molly, Starshine, and the Majesdanians crashed through the hole.

“Someone better do something!” shouted Sandman.

“I can’t stop this thing from going off but I can lessen the explosion and put it where it won’t hurt anyone,” explained Gert before grabbing the Tallus copy from the control panel and connecting it to the gauntlet on her costume.

“Wait, Gert?” realized Bruiser in confusion. “You . . . I thought we lost you. Oh my God, what’re you doing back?”

“I’m sorry, Mols,” apologized Gert. “This is the last time we’ll see each other.” She knew she would have to go with it. She would take it into the dead space that she had inhabited since the fight with Victor Mancha.

“You can’t!” cried Bruiser. “Gert, you can’t leave again!”

“See you around, Molly,” said Gert. “Take care of your friends, Nico. Maybe they’ll turn out better than we did.”

Gertrude clicked a button on her gauntlet. She shimmered for a moment before she and the smoldering and smoking time machine phased out of existence to another time. The battle stopped for a moment and everything was still. Everyone held their breath and a thousand worlds away the time machine exploded. The explosion rippled across reality but only registered as a flicker in everyone’s perceptions. Gert knew from personal experience that nothing could escape that space of dead time. She had saved all of reality at the cost of her own existence. Even if she managed to survive the explosion, she would be trapped forever in that space once again for all time.

“She did what she had to do,” whispered Sister Grimm as she held Molly close to her and let the younger girl cry. “Guys . . . the Tallus says we’re pulling out. Mission accomplished.”

“Please stay,” murmured Bruiser tearfully. “There’s no one left and I need someone. Please.”

“I’m sorry,” replied Sister Grimm, the remorse dripping from every word. She didn’t get the chance to say anything as the Exiles departed as suddenly as they arrived.

Somewhere Else

“I thought you might be here.”

Nico Minoru silently finished her prayer and then looked to see Daredevil crouched on one of the church’s pews. She turned her gaze from him to the rows of candles lit to remember the passing of loved ones. It was only a few moments ago that she lit some of them for the friends she had just lost, the friends who weren’t even her real friends in the first place. She remembered so many good times with them even after they all lost their parents and then lost Gert. What if Machine Man was right? What if none of that mattered?

“I just wanted to pretend like my life was normal again,” she muttered, getting off her knees and wearily walking over to sit next to Daredevil. “I guess I failed.”

“You can’t think like that,” warned Daredevil after flipping to sit next to her on the pew. “Those people weren’t your friends.”

“They turned into that because they didn’t have me,” she countered. “If I hadn’t left . . .”

“That’s pretty arrogant and self-important,” he admitted. “C’mon, Nico, you mean a lot to me and to your friends but do you really think we’d all fall apart without you?”

“Yeah, it’s stupid I know,” she agreed. “It’s just . . . it’s hard not to think that after what I saw.”

“What you saw was a possibility, not a certainty.”

She didn’t want any more words. She kissed him tenderly before resting her head against his chest, curling up against him and clinging to him like a life raft. He didn’t say anything either. He just held her in his arms and let her cry for as long as she needed it. It was almost dawn before they both awoke and realized they had fallen asleep in each other’s arms.

Next Issue: The Exiles go up against the Legion of Losers and someone’s finally going home.