Capture of Molly Hernandez

"Hi, Molly. So nice to finally meet you."

- Flores to Molly Hernandez

The Capture of Molly Hernandez was the arrest of the youngest member of the Runaways by a corrupt branch of the LAPD led by Flores. Hernandez was taken to the Black Box for interrogation, but later freed by the rest of the Runaways.

Background
"LAPD called us earlier and told us to watch out for a group of teenagers that might show up here. Apparently, these kids are dangerous."

- Gordon Hotel Security Guard

Despite being forced to flee from his former life, Alex Wilder remained determined to have his parents and all PRIDE to be arrested for their crimes. Wilder was even more so determined after learning that his friend Darius Davis had been murdered and framed for the death of Destiny Gonzalez. In these endeavors, Wilder could count on the help of Livvie, Davis' sister-in-law who he briefly dated and who was determined to clear Davis' name. This became more urgent as Livvie was targeted by a branch of the LAPD on PRIDE's payroll because of the evidence she had supporting Davis' innocence.

Therefore, Wilder decided to find evidence for the murder of Davis, as he was convinced that Davis had been murdered by his father Geoffrey. Wilder, Livvie and the rest of the Runaways thus went to the Gordon Hotel where Davis had been killed so that Wilder could hack into their video surveillance system to find evidence of his father's involvement. However, it turned out that the real killer was Wilder's mother Catherine. Before Wilder could process the reveal, the Runaways were informed by Nico Minoru and Molly Hernandez that the LAPD was coming for them, forcing them to flee.

Capture
"There's nothing worse than hurting a kid to get information. But I will."

- Flores to Molly Hernandez

Alerted by Nico Minoru and Molly Hernandez, the Runaways and Livvie attempted to flee from the Gordon Hotel via the elevators, but were confronted by a group of security guards. They thus rushed to the stairs to go downstairs and reach their car, with Hernandez barring the door behind them by breaking a pipe. However, Hernandez knew that the pipe would not hold off their chasers for long, and decided to remain behind and allow herself to get captured so that her teammates could escape. As a result, Hernandez was taken into the hotel's basement by the staff while her friends managed to leave the hotel. Strapped to a chair, Hernandez used her superhuman strength to break free and attempted to leave as well, but she was soon confronted by a group of corrupt LAPD officers led by Flores and AWOL, who restrained her and tased her. Hernandez was then taken to the Black Box and initially confronted by AWOL. Remaining fearless, Hernandez taunted AWOL, calling him nothing more than Flores' lackey. Flores then arrived, dismissing AWOL and remaining alone with Hernandez.

Flores proceeded to interrogate Hernandez, demanding to know where the Runaways were so that he could deliver all of them to PRIDE. However, Hernandez kept her defiant attitude and refused to answer. This prompted Flores to threaten to torture Hernandez if she did not comply, and that she would no longer smile after that. Nevertheless, before Flores could proceed, Hernandez once again used her superhuman strength to break free and easily defeated Flores. The rest of the Runaways arrived at this moment, blasting the door with the Fistigons, and the reunited team left while leaving Flores in shock.

Aftermath
"It raises you in my esteem to know you didn't get your ass rolled by Little Miss Molly. But it raises some questions as well."

- AWOL to Flores

Immediately after Molly Hernandez was rescued, the Runaways got rid of their phones so that Flores and the LAPD would be unable to track them down.

Hernandez's escape caused dissensions within the LAPD strike team as well as between Flores and PRIDE, since Flores blamed PRIDE for not having warned him that the Runaways could display superhuman abilities. However, this also eventually caused Flores' own downfall. Indeed, he did not alert AWOL and his men about the superpowers either, which caused AWOL to question Flores' loyalties since he considered that Flores had put his life and his men's in danger by keeping secrets. As a result, Flores and AWOL had a violent argument in the Black Box about the Runaways, which caused AWOL to decide to turn on Flores. He revealed to PRIDE that Flores had kept evidence of their crimes he could use against them at any time, and offered to get rid of this problem. Subsequently, AWOL murdered Flores, taking leadership of the strike team.