- "We tracked you and we stopped you from committing several murders. That seems like a win to us. Now we take you back and we bring you to justice."
- ―Chase Stein to Alex Wilder[src]
The Chase of Alex Wilder was a confrontation between a future Chase Stein and a future Alex Wilder from 2028 after Wilder traveled back in time in order to kill Nico Minoru, with the Runaways from 2021 helping 2028 Stein.
Background[]
- "Future Alex doesn't specifically know who planted the bomb, so he's coming after all of us."
- ―Chase Stein[src]
In a timeline having resulted from Gert Yorkes' death, Alex Wilder suspected one of his former teammates, the Runaways, to have planted a bomb in his office at Wilder Innovators in an attempt to kill him. Since Wilder did not actually know the culprit, he decided that he would take revenge on all of them. However, instead of attacking them in his time, he decided to travel into the past using a technology he had helped Chase Stein develop. Stein, who became aware of Wilder's plan, decided to go after him, even if meant delaying his own plan of saving Yorkes' life.[1]
Chase[]
- "Okay, you all remember where you were on this day. Go find yourselves, go guard them. Lay low, try not to change anything that happened, and under no circumstance are you to interact with your former version. I have no idea what type of time paradox that could create. We get Alex, we get out."
- ―Chase Stein to the Runaways[src]
Chase Stein was able to track down Alex Wilder in 2021 as he was targeting his first victim: Nico Minoru. Although Minoru was already able to hold her own against Wilder, blocking the bullet of his Energy Pistol without even needing the Staff of One, Stein stepped into the fight and briefly brawled against Wilder, eventually causing him to flee as Stein and Minoru locked themselves up in Minoru's apartment.
Once he had explained to Minoru who he was, Stein urged her to gather the Runaways once again, and they all met at the Hostel, including the 2021 version of Wilder, and barring the 2021 version of Stein. Stein explained the future Wilder's motives to the Runaways and that he had to be stopped. Upon learning that he could come after their loved ones, the group decided to check on Julie, Karolina Dean's new girlfriend, and arrived just in time to save her from Wilder, who had already knocked her unconscious and nearly shot Dean before being stopped by Minoru once again.
Despite this setback, Wilder was able to escape through time, using his time machine to jump further into the past. Using his own device, Stein managed to track him down to year 2017, at Atlas Academy on the day before the original Runaways were assembled by the past Alex Wilder. Stein provided the future Runaways with their own versions of the time machine, and they time traveled after the future Wilder in an attempt to stop him. Upon arriving at the school, Stein instructed the Runaways to find their past selves and watch over them.
As the Runaways completed this task and Stein even got the chance to interact with the past Gert Yorkes, Wilder and Minoru spotted the future Wilder and began chasing him through the school. They ran after him until he was taken aboard a bus by Kwan, who had mistaken him for the past Wilder taking part in an ethical hacking field trip. Stein was able to stop the bus and quickly saw Wilder attempting to hide. In order to avoid capture, Wilder took another student hostage and accused Stein of being the real villain of the story.
As the situation got even more complicated with the past Wilder catching up with the bus and seeing a future version of himself, Minoru decided to cast a powerful memories-erasing spell that briefly rendered Kwan and the other students, as well as the future Wilder, all unconscious, even though she disliked such practices. With the future Wilder now in their custody, Stein instructed the Runaways to take him to the school's gym so that they could interrogate him.[1]
Aftermath[]
- "Listen. Now that I know about him, I'm gonna do everything in my power not to become him. And I hope that in the future, when we meet again, that we're friends. For good."
- ―Alex Wilder to Chase Stein[src]
As per Chase Stein's instructions, the future Alex Wilder was taken to the gym and tied up to a chair, where he was confronted by his 2021 counterpart, who expressed nothing but disgust at the sight of the killer he was supposed to become. Upon sensing that being in contact with his future self was not healthy for both Wilder and the timeline, and with Nico Minoru being willing to put the Wilder she knew in quarantine, Stein insisted that he should return into his time. Wilder accepted, promising Stein that he would do everything he could to become better than what the had seen.
With Wilder having been captured, Stein could now focus on his main objective: returning to the day of the Battle at the Hostel, during which Gert Yorkes had been killed by Morgan le Fay. Upon learning his true plan, the Runaways decided to help him, despite the future Wilder warning them that such a change in the timeline would erase their current versions from existence. Since Stein could not afford to leave the future Wilder isolated and pick him up later, the Runaways took him with them during their last time travel mission.[1]