When the Runaways try to escape from their parents, they find themselves stopping at a convenience store to purchase things to eat and drink. Before entering the store, the Runaways find three people holding up the store. The Runaways feels like it’s their responsibility to stop the crime, so they enter the store and fight the perpetrators. Two of the criminals, both adults, escape and leave behind the third teenage boy named Topher. Topher explains to the Runaways that the two people who escaped were actually his parents. He also explains that his parents worked in a power plant, but there was an accident that imbued them both with super strength and super speed and made them mentally unstable. They were fired from the power company and turned to robbing convenience stores, forcing their son to tag along and assist.
Feeling sympathetic to Topher’s predicament, since they are in the same one, the Runaways extend their hand in friendship and allow him to join them. Together they all go back to their makeshift headquarters, The Hostel. Nico Minoru decides to give Topher a tour of the Hostel and find themselves in Nico’s bedroom, talking about their current predicaments, which leads to a kiss. Nico feels bad, since she has expressed a romantic interest with her teammate, Alex Wilder, and stops Topher from continuing.
While Alex and Nico discuss things the next day, Topher meets up with Karolina Dean and begins to kiss her, getting caught by Nico. Nico and Karolina get into a fight, which is stopped by
Gertrude Yorkes. Feeling emotional, Nico runs away from the Hostel, followed by Topher.
While outsider, Topher reveals that he is actually a vampire, and the two people he called his parents were actually his servants. Nico fights back against Topher, but to no avail as he can heal himself quickly. Alex shows up, hitting Topher in the face with a flame torch. They retreat back to the Hostel so they can get the rest of the Runaways and escape.
Topher recovers quickly and faces the Runaways, defeating most of them quickly. He then faces Karolina, wishing to make her into his servant, and she willingly accepts this fate since she is tired of her situation with her parents and having to run away. When Topher bites into her neck, he lurches back quickly. Karolina’s alien physiology absorbs solar energy, and her blood is toxic to Topher, effectively killing him.