Chase Stein

Chase Stein is the son of Victor and Janet Stein, two brilliant scientists secretly serving the Pride. He grows up in an abusive home, so when he discovers his parents’ crimes during the Ritual of Blood, he runs away with the other children and helps form the Runaways. Chase steals his parents’ Fistigons from their workshop, takes refuge with the group at the Hostel, and becomes part of the new family they build while opposing the Pride and the Gibborim.

Chase’s story becomes heavily tied to Gertrude Yorkes. Their relationship grows while the Runaways fight to survive, but Geoffrey Wilder kills Gert during a rescue mission, and she passes her psychic bond with Old Lace to Chase before dying. After that loss, Chase becomes darker and tries to bargain with the Gibborim to bring Gert back, but he later finds another chance to save her through time travel and brings her back to the present.

Appearance: Chase Stein has light tan skin and a tall, lean athletic build with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and defined arms. His hair is coppery blond, medium length, and heavily layered, with long pointed strands sweeping back from his head and several loose pieces falling across his forehead. He has light brown eyes beneath thick brows.

He wears black goggles across the top of his head, with wide round lenses marked by pale yellow cross-shaped symbols. The goggles have a thick dark frame and long side straps that hang beside his temples. A high-collared tan trench coat covers most of his upper body, with broad folded lapels, heavy seams, large cuff straps, and dark buttons. The coat flares outward behind him and partly reveals a fitted blue shirt beneath it. Dark brown pants cover his lower body.

Both hands are enclosed in large black mechanical gauntlets. The gauntlets have rounded armored shells, segmented finger plates, raised knuckle components, and circular side joint. Dark ribbed fabric wraps the lower wrists beneath the metal plating.

Personality: Chase Stein is cocky, sarcastic, impulsive, and emotionally guarded. He hides pain behind jokes because his home life with Victor and Janet Stein left him angry and defensive long before he ran away. He often acts like the least serious member of the Runaways, but he is deeply loyal once he considers someone family. His bravery usually comes out when someone else is in danger, even if he does not always think through the cost first.

His strongest bond is with Gertrude Yorkes, whose death leaves a lasting wound and pushes him into desperate choices. After Gert passes her bond with Old Lace to him, Chase becomes the dinosaur’s caretaker and partner. Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, and Alex Wilder are tied to him through the original Runaways, though Alex’s betrayal damages the trust that held the group together. Victor Mancha later becomes complicated for Chase because of his hatred for his own father, but that tension also forces Chase to face what kind of person he wants to be beyond Victor Stein’s shadow.

Chase Stein is a tough, quick-thinking street fighter whose strongest skills come from survival, instinct, and experience with the Runaways. He is good under pressure, can drive and pilot the Leapfrog, handles dangerous tech better than his slacker attitude suggests, and often protects the team through fast decisions rather than formal training.

His main equipment is the Fistigons, weaponized gauntlets stolen from his parents’ lab that can fire powerful bursts of flame and give him a heavy ranged attack in battle. He also inherits the psychic bond with Old Lace from Gert, making the deinonychus his partner and giving him a living combat ally beyond his stolen gear.