The Rescue of Leslie Dean was a mission orchestrated by Karolina Dean to release her mother from the Crater.

Background[]

In the aftermath of the Battle at the PRIDE Construction Site, which saw the apparent death of Jonah, PRIDE decided to disband themselves and Leslie Dean, in the continuation of this decision, sought to put an end to the Church of Gibborim.^[4] Indeed, the Church's main purpose for years had been to provide young teenagers to be sacrificed to Jonah through the Rite of Blood, which was no longer necessary due to Jonah's demise. Although faced with the disapproval of Aura and Frances, as well as her own husband Frank Dean, Leslie remained determined to carry on her plans.^[5]

However, Leslie was eventually outsmarted by Frank, who used his own killing of Oscar Gonzalez to thwart his wife's plans. Pretending to Aura and Frances that Gonzalez had been killed by Leslie, Frank rallied them to his cause.^[4] He later persuaded Vaughn Kaye, another member of the Church, to bring Leslie to a reconditioning session led by Frank with Aura and Frances by his side.^[5] Nevertheless, Leslie remained impervious to the brainwashing techniques, since she was the one who perfected them, which forced Frank to send Leslie to the Crater for a forced reindoctrination. There, she was reunited with her mother, Susan Ellerh.^[6]

Kaye felt immensely guilty for the part he had unwillingly played in Leslie's fate, and contacted Leslie's daughter Karolina to alert her. Although Alex Wilder disapproved, Karolina decided to go and save her mother, along with Kaye, Nico Minoru and Molly Hernandez.^[7]

Rescue[]

Karolina Dean, Nico Minoru, Molly Hernandez and Vaughn Kaye came close to the Crater, and spotted Frank Dean. Karolina decided to go in alone, so she could speak with Frank and convince him to release Leslie Dean. At first, Frank seemed to agree with Karolina, and told her that they would go and see Leslie together. However, Frank had actually seen through Karolina's lies, and tricked her into being locked into her own cell. Karolina pleaded to be released, but Frank refused, claiming that Karolina and Leslie were forcing him to behave so harshly.

Nevertheless, Karolina was released by Susan Ellerh, who revealed to Karolina that she was her grandmother. Ellerh was able to sneak Karolina inside Leslie's room, enabling the three women to be reunited. Although Ellerh insisted that Leslie and Karolina had to remain in the Crater to purge the Church of Gibborim of Frank's influence, they refused, stating that both the Church and the Crater had to be shut down.

Therefore, as the night came, Ellerh, Leslie and Karolina, posing as peaceful members of the Church, made their way through the Crater and were able to reach the gates. As they were on the verge of getting out, Frank saw them and screamed to the other parishioners to catch them, calling them apostates threatening to destroy the Church. The guards then took out their guns and aimed at the three women. Upon seeing this from afar, Minoru and Hernandez decided to intervene while Kaye passed out due to not understanding what was going on.

However, the fight was averted thanks to Karolina displaying her Gibborim-based powers. Slowly levitating over the crowd of Church members and guards, Karolina recited words taken from the Book of Gibborim, apprently fulfilling a prophecy known to the Church as the Radiance. This absolutely convinced the parishioners to side with her instead of Frank, and the guards stood down and opened the gates, enabling Leslie and Karolina to leave. Ellerh decided to remain in the Crater to lead the people in the Crater, and order Frank to be arrested and locked up.^[7]

Aftermath[]

Leslie Dean was taken to the Hostel, where the Runaways had been hiding since running from PRIDE. Although Alex Wilder was strongly against allowing her to stay, he was forced to accept this decision as Leslie explained that she was pregnant and had nowhere to go, and the other Runaways were willing to welcome her in the mansion. Nico Minoru apologized to Karolina Dean for not having found the courage to intervene earlier and use the Staff of One as she was afraid of its darkness, but Karolina comforted her, explaining that Minoru would soon learn to control and understand this darkness which was part of her.^[7]

References[]