Mistakes (Marvel Runaways)

~14~

*POV: Oaklyn*

After Nico and I confronted Topher about the mysterious vial, he sighed as the rest of the gang, minus Karolina, gathered around. Topher sat on the steps of the grand staircase with Molly while the rest of us stood in front of him. Topher then told us how he used to live in the suburbs, just like us. That was until his parents kicked him out, causing him to live on the streets ever since.

"I'm so sorry." Molly said to him with remorse.

"Everybody's got a story, right?"

"And that's a good one, but you still haven't answered my question about what's in here and why it's so important." Nico said to him as she held the small glass bottle in her hand, looking at the crushed black powder within.

"Why do you care?" Topher asked her defensively. "You don't see me asking questions about your magic wand, eh?" He said pointing to Nico with her staring straight back at him.

"The girl with the different sized knives?" He pointed towards me as a stared at the ground.

"Those metal gloves One Direction here carries in his backpack." He said to Chase leaving him with his expressionless face.

"Or the dinosaur? Anybody want to explain that? 'Cause I'm all ears." He said as Gert stood there with her arms wrapped around herself.

"This is about our questions, okay, not yours." Alex said to him.

"And accusing us of hypocrisy is not gonna get you off the hook. That is called 'Whataboutism,' and it's a logical fallacy." Gert rambled.

"She was on the debate team, and we're not as trusting as we used to be." I said to him.

"Also, was the One Direction thing an insult or a compliment?" Chase said, looking towards me. I leaned on his shoulder while patting his other one, mostly out of embarrassment and a little bit out of disappointment.

"If you want me to go, I'll go but... I'm taking that with me." Topher said as he got up from his spot, walking over towards Nico to receive the vial.

"No, that's not what we want." Molly said as she shot up from her spot on the staircase. "Well, that's not what I want. Don't leave. My parents are gone,
Graciela's gone. Just answer the question, please."

"Okay. I'm just afraid my answers
are gonna let you down." He said to her

"Try me."

Topher then turned around and walked back to where he sat, beginning to tell the origin story of the glass vial.

"Little while after I left home, I, uh... I was digging in the trash downtown. Hungry, cold, just... wondering if I could even survive on my own..."

"'It was a dark and stormy night,'
we get it." Alex interrupted with.

"Fast-forward to the part about this." Nico said as she again held up the small glass container.

"I found one of those... how do you say, um... terrarios." He asked Molly, considering she was the only one that knew Spanish fluently here.

"A terrarium? Like, for a lizard?" Molly questioned.

"Exacto. Inside were these rocks. They were glowing. I picked them up. And the second I did, I felt freaking incredible. Then I saw myself in the glass. My eyes. They were yellow. I felt like I could do anything. That rush. I went from wanting to die to just... never feeling better. And it wasn't even just me that was fuerte. Just for a minute, it..."

"Everything was right with the world." Molly finished his sentence.

"That sounds like something that should require a prescription." Gert said.