Kidnapping of Potential Victims

"We need a homeless person or a prostitute." "You mean someone who doesn't count." "They all count."

- Leslie Dean and Geoffrey Wilder

The Kidnapping of Potential Victims was an attempt by PRIDE to abduct someone who could be sacrificed to revive Jonah in lieu of Destiny Gonzalez, whose sacrificed had failed.

Background
"We're gonna need another sacrifice."

- Leslie Dean

For several years, the charity organization known as PRIDE secretly carried out ritualistic sacrifices in order to revive their benefactor Jonah using a Dematerialization Box which was being managed by Victor Stein. However, in 2017, Stein began experiencing problems with the Box which he struggled to solve. However, he chose to keep this information a secret, just like he told no one about the brain tumor he was suffering from. Therefore, when PRIDE attempted to sacrifice the young Destiny Gonzalez, the sacrifice actually failed. Remaining alone in the sacrifice room of the Wilder Mansion, Stein discovered that Gonzalez was alive in the Box and murdered her to cover up his failure. Stein dumped Gonzalez's body into the ocean, but it was ultimately washed out on the beach, where the LAPD found it. Thus, PRIDE figured out that they had to sacrifice someone else.

Kidnapping
"Robert, slice his Achilles tendon! Disable him!" "Are you insane?" "You ain't slicing shit, motherf...!"

- Victor Stein, Robert Minoru and Murray

Before meeting with any other member of PRIDE, Victor Stein took the initiative to kidnap someone himself. He hit a young girl with a tire iron and tied her up in his van, which he took to the Wilder Mansion, having informed Geoffrey Wilder and Robert Minoru. Stein remained deaf to the young girl's screams and drove to the Wilder Mansion, where Wilder and minoru awaited him. However, it turned out that the van Stein was driving was empty, and that Stein, due to his brain tumor, had simply hallucinated the kidnapping. PRIDE gathered in the Wilder Mansion, where they tried to discover what was wrong with Stein. Stein assured his associates that he was fine and Leslie Dean agreed that his idea of kidnapping someone outside of the Church of Gibborim, like a homeless person or a prostitute, was the right idea. As Stein insisted to do the kidnapping, Tina Minoru instructed her husband Robert to join him and make sure that Stein would not fail again. Stein and Robert took the van to a poor area of Los Angeles. They spotted Murray, a homeless man on a wheelchair who had seemingly passed out. While Robert suggested to simply take him into the van, Stein wanted to make sure that he would not wake up and said that he would hit him with his tire iron. Before they could proceed, however, Murray woke up and violently attacked them, trying to choke Stein.

However, the brawl was ended due to the arrival of a LAPD car patrolling in the street. In order to avoid trouble, Robert called Detective Flores, PRIDE's ally. Robert, Stein and Flores then met at the Los Angeles Police Station, and Robert and Stein were quickly free to go, although they had failed to kidnap their target, meaning that the Rite of Blood was still impossible.

Aftermath
"I just wanted to be by you." "And the sacrifice?" "We're trying. But it isn't going well. But we'll find someone. We'll find a way. I'm sure of it."

- Leslie Dean and Jonah

PRIDE's failure to kidnap someone to be sacrificed in order to revive Jonah was a cause of great distress for them, and especially for Leslie Dean, as Jonah's condition worsened and that they had to find another victim as quickly as possible. Ultimately, Geoffrey Wilder managed to take a wounded Andre Compton, who had been hurt during the Kidnapping of Alex Wilder, to the Church of Gibborim Executive Offices where he was sacrificed, which successfully revived Jonah.

While they were meeting with Detective Flores at the Los Angeles Police Station, Victor Stein and Robert Minoru were seen by Nico Minoru and Alex Wilder, who had come to report the murder of Destiny Gonzalez. As Nico recognized Flores as the detective who had been put in charge of the investigation following Amy Minoru's death, which concluded to a suicide which Nico did not believe, the Runaways figured out that they could not count on the police to help them against PRIDE.