Everything That Never Was - Marvel's Runaways

ix. why bother

Just as Jules finally felt herself drifting off to sleep, Alex came bursting into her room again.

"Did you hear the news?"

Groggily, Jules sat up, glaring at the intruder.  "How could I hear what happened if I wasn't awake?"

Taking her sarcasm in stride, Alex simply turned on her television and flipped straight to the local news channel.  In the large bold print at the bottom of the screen read BODY OF LOCAL GIRL WASHES UP ON SHORE. And on the right next to the reporter was a face Jules had gotten to know all too well recently: Destiny Gonzalez.

"Oh my god," was all she said, but in her mind she was screaming, "I knew it!"

Not even ten minutes later she and Alex were waiting for the last of their group to sign in to their video chat.

The other teens were bustling in the chat, discussing their theories and their disbelief, but Jules was silent. It was all real to her now. What her father had said was true. She now had proof.

She wasn't safe there, she knew that, but she also knew that staying meant that she was closer to proving her father's innocence. If she could only catch them in the act...

When Nico's face finally appeared on the screen, her attention quickly snapped back to what they were saying.

"What are you doing?" The goth teen asked, eyeing everyone suspiciously. She obviously hadn't heard the news.

"Group Wiztalk," Chase replied. Though he may have tried to hide it, Jules heard the hint of pure arrogance in his voice. "I think your mom invented it."

"And why are we doing it?" She was still oblivious.

Alex looked at the girl with wide eyes, like her ignorance was a shock to him. To be fair, Jules wouldn't have known either if he hadn't have told her.

"You haven't heard the news?" He asked, though they all knew the answer.

"What news?" Nico replied, sending the teens into individual minor freak outs. When they were all done, Nico still looked confused. "Yeah, that cleared nothing up."

Jules sighed, realizing it was time to tear off the bandaid, "Destiny's dead, Nico."

"They found her body," Gert clarified.

There was a moments pause where Nico was obviously comprehending what they had told her. "Gotta say—" her eyes darted around the screen as if searching for the right words to say— "I called it."

"Nico, wha-" Karolina stammered as if in shock to the girl's indifference. But Jules knew the feeling. There comes a certain point where you've witnessed so much pain, that it isn't a surprise anymore.

"It doesn't make sense," Gert interrupted.

"Yeah, none of it does." Chase added.

"They found her body on the beach"—Gert continued— "not in that weird box which we found in Victor's garage empty."

Jules hadn't known that they found whatever that strange coffin was. She scolded herself for not paying closer attention.

"Did you find anything in your parents lab?" Alex asked, obviously intrigued as he tried to piece together the puzzle and the role each parent had to play.

"No, nothing at all," Gert replies almost immediately. Jules could tell she was just as frustrated as Alex.

"Well," Chase interjected, "not nothing. Gert saw something. Wanna say what?"  He seemed amused, but Jules had no idea what about the situation was so funny.