- "We handled our business. PRIDE's business. As you can see, it's far from the front page, and it says she died of natural causes."
- ―Tina Minoru[src]
The Assassination of Graciela Aguirre was an unplanned murder perpetrated by Tina Minoru due to Graciela Aguirre refusing to hand over to PRIDE a tape recorded by Gene and Alice Hernandez.
Background
- "It's not the children of PRIDE the media should be looking into. It's their parents."
- ―Graciela Aguirre[src]
Gene and Alice Hernandez discovered that the work they had been doing for Jonah could cause massive earthquakes in California. They recorded a video message meant for their daughter Molly and gave Graciela Aguirre the necessary indications for Molly to retrieve it if necessary. Years after their death, Molly managed to reclaim the VHS tape and brought it to the Runaways, who thus learned about the potential consequences of PRIDE's actions.[2]
As the Runaways were forced to flee from their parents in the aftermath of an intense confrontation, Hernandez sent the VHS tape to Aguirre so someone would be in possession of evidence against PRIDE. However, Aguirre made the mistake to go on TV and claim that she had seen proof of PRIDE's illegal activities. This caused PRIDE to target Aguirre, and although they did not want especially murder her in the first place, they remained determined to obtain the evidence Aguirre had mentioned before wiping out her memory using the Synnergy Serum.[4]
Assassination
- "You want me to shoot you, too?"
"Choke!" - ―Graciela Aguirre and Tina Minoru[src]
PRIDE members Dale and Stacey Yorkes went to Graciela Aguirre's house. Although they exchanged some civilities, Aguirre quickly deduced that the Yorkeses had come to reclaim the video tape which had been sent to her by Molly Hernandez. Aguirre pretended that she would willingly hand it over to PRIDE and briefly left to pick it up, while the Yorkeses prepared to inject her with the Synnergy Serum. However, when Aguirre returned, the Yorkeses saw that she was wielding a shotgun.
Dale and Stacey immediately hid behind a wall, while Aguirre taunted him and threw the video tape in the air before blasting it with her shotgun. Dale rushed to pick it up, but since Aguirre threatened to shoot them as well, both Dale and Stacey took refuge behind a couch, lamenting that they had dropped the dose of serum they wanted to use on Aguirre. However, as Aguirre prepared to shoot at them, Tina Minoru burst in, wielding the Staff of One. Aguirre threatened to shoot her, but Minoru immediately used the Staff of One to kill Aguirre by choking her.
With Aguirre dead, PRIDE reclaimed the fragments of the video tape and left the body of Aguirre in the house's kitchen.[4]
Aftermath
- "The important thing is we got what we needed, a tape made by the Hernandezes."
"Bullet-riddled. But I was able to scan it. We've all just watched it." - ―Leslie Dean and Tina Minoru[src]
The Runaways arrived in Graciela Aguirre's home shortly after the crime, as they had seen her TV interview and feared for her life. They quickly discovered her body and figured out that PRIDE was responsible for the crime, which greatly horrified them, especially Molly Hernandez. Before the LAPD arrived, Nico Minoru stole some money from Aguirre, admitting that it was strongly immoral but insisting that they needed it. They then left the house and went to a homeless camp, where Minoru held a Wiccan funeral in Aguirre's honor.
Meanwhile, PRIDE arranged for the death of Aguirre to be considered the result of natural causes and not appearing on the newspapers front pages. They also managed to retrieve the data from the destroyed video tape, thus learning about the potential earthquakes which could be caused by their drilling on the PRIDE Construction Site. This persuaded them to quickly move against Jonah, stating that he had become far too dangerous to be left alive.[4]
Hernandez was extremely shaken by the death of her cousin. Feeling that he superpowers gave her the responsibility to act so that no more innocent people like Aguirre could be hurt, she decided to turn into a vigilante, protecting the life of the innocent in Los Angeles[5], although her career was quickly stopped when it caused Topher to find the Hostel where the Runaways were hiding.[6] Hernandez heavily resented Tina Minoru for her crime, and when the Runaways confronted her, Hernandez violently punched her, claiming it to be payback for Aguirre's death.[5]