“… ing… mother…” Jennie was, at last, able to pull herself back into a standing position. She looked up, still clutching her throbbing back as the pain receded, “H-holy ..”

   The aftermath of the skirmish was a mess. Lisa had crawled her way over to the unconscious Yerim, and was wrapping the girl’s heavily-bloodied thigh with strips of her own shirt. Dalgom sat beside Lisa as she took care of the older girl. The woman who had been attacking them lay motionless, her limp body forgotten off to the side, her entire neck area reduced to a large splatter of crimson, her glassy eyes staring up into the sky.

   Jennie walked over to the other girls, using the of her rifle to keep herself steady whenever her back decided to implode again. Lisa glanced up from dressing Yerim’s wound for a moment to affirm that it was only Jennie who was approaching them. The scowling brunette reached out her free hand and scratched Dalgom behind his ears. Even in his injured state, the perked up, opening his jaws, his tongue lolling out, revealing a set of blood-stained teeth that put a soft smile on the young girl’s face.

   “Good boy,” Jennie crooned, “Mama Jisoo is gonna be so proud of you.”

   “Alright, sick-o,” Lisa said, and despite the sarcasm in her voice, Jennie felt a wash of relief that the blonde was at least somewhat able to joke around with her, “Help me get Yerim into the car.”

   Jennie nodded, slinging her rifle (carefully) over her shoulder before assisting Lisa in carrying the light brunette over to Rosé’s pickup truck. They laid Yerim down in the backseat, Dalgom following close behind and tucking himself up against her in order to prevent her from moving around while they drove.

   “How bad is she?” Jennie asked, shutting the truck door.

   Lisa limped over to the other side of the truck, presumably inspecting Yerim’s condition before answering.

   “She’s lost a lot of blood. I need to get her back soon. The robots can patch her up no problem, but every second I spend here just makes it worse.” Lisa replied while pulling herself into the front of the truck, grabbing the spare set of keys from the glovebox.

   “Then get going.” Jennie said sternly, jogging over to Lisa’s side of the truck and glancing through the window, “I’m going to go help Rosie. She was fighting that other black-haired when I saw her last.”

   The blonde winced as she buckled her seatbelt, and Jennie was filled with anxious worry. She wasn’t sure that Lisa could drive all the way back to the city on her own, but she also refused to leave her love behind to fend for herself.

   Lisa must have seen the conflict on Jennie’s face, for she gave a small smile before throwing the truck into drive.

   “I’ll be fine, unnie. Go help Rosie out. Give ‘em hell for me.”

   Jennie gave a smile back before turning on her heel, that familiar nervousness creeping into her mind as she moved as quickly as her recovering back would allow, heading towards that thin strip of land that led to the bay. Although Jennie considered herself the least religious person she knew, she found herself praying that her Rosie was okay.

***

“, we lost her,” Seulgi cursed, frantically scanning the crowd of robots for any signs of their leather-jacket clad companion, “What do we do now?”

    Seulgi couldn’t deny it; she was flat out terrified. The rush of robots moving around her didn’t help, only adding to the anxiety that threatened to overtake her. Noises blended together as she darted her head back and forth, up and down, linking the frantic discordance of her mind with her body. The buildings above them felt alien and monolithic, like giants that were watching the scene below with disapproval, ready to strike them all down at any moment. The full moon glared at her, its glow radiating out into the night like a poison. There was too much happening; she had no idea where her friends were, no idea what was going on, and-

    Jisoo reached over and grabbed Seulgi’s arm, pulling her close and locking eyes with her. The younger girl’s steady gaze helped to soothe the unstoppable tide of anxiety welling up within Seulgi, the chaos falling away and replacing itself with a stern, yet kind face, one that represented salvation and comfort.

    How did I ever live without you? Seulgi thought to herself, resting a hand on the side of her lover’s face.

    “Jennie can handle herself. Knowing her, she’s going to find Rosé. We have to find out what’s going on around the island. See if we can talk to the pirates, let them know you haven’t been harmed.”

    Just as Jisoo finished her sentence, a screech rent the air, pounding against the eardrums of both girls as it passed. The noise was immediately followed by a crash that shook the entire area, one that was punctuated by the sound of metal scraping on metal as something nearby began to collapse. The robots around them began to shift direction towards the source of the impact, some using ers built into their bodies to avoid the effects of the ensuing quake. Jisoo and Seulgi were not so fortunate.

    Seulgi clung as hard as she could to her lover, holding Jisoo up against the side of a nearby building to prevent them from getting separated in the ensuing madness. She could see a billow of black smoke rising in the distance, from the opposite side of the city. The alarms that had previously been blaring somehow became louder, threatening to deafen to the two girls.

When the tremor died down, they detached from one another, tailing the rushing tide of androids as they migrated en masse.

    “Talk about deja vu, huh?” Seulgi practically screamed as they broke into sprints.

    Jisoo replied by grinning and offering Seulgi a firm smack on her behind, inadvertently prompting her to run a bit faster. The younger girl knew just how to keep Seulgi relaxed, even at such a pressing time.

The two girls found that they were able to move quicker than the robots, who marched as a cohesive, yet sluggish unit. The monolidded girl found herself questioning the intelligence of heading towards the location of a suspected bombing, but she reasoned that it was a better plan than wandering off into the jungle in the dead of night - at least the two girls had sufficient backup and cover here.

As Seulgi and Jisoo took a short detour down an empty alleyway in order to catch their breath, Seulgi noticed that there were some robots coming from the opposite direction as the others. She also noted that they were much shorter than the robots she was used to seeing, and were shaped differently. They looked like little cubes, very primitive in comparison to the others.

It was only when two of them turned into the alleyway, plasma pistols drawn and aimed at the two girls, that Seulgi realized they were foes. She sprung into action, grabbing the doubled-over Jisoo and pulling her behind one of the pipes that lined the side of the building beside them.

“What the are those?” Jisoo yelled.

“Different robots,” Seulgi replied, “Not our guys.”

Jisoo nodded and took a deep breath before peeking her head out from behind their cover, bringing her rifle to bear and filling the alleyway with a stream of energy bolts. Seulgi pivoted and stood above her crouched companion, sending out a barrage of bullets from her revolver. The two robots were indeed inferior to their sleeker-looking counterparts; neither had the chance to respond before they were riddled with scorch marks and bullet holes.

The two girls high-fived before continuing forward, hugging the walls and moving from cover to cover. When they arrived at the mouth of the alleyway, they peered out from each side, nonverbally promising to warn the other of impending danger from their side.

The streets here were filled with debris and smoke from whatever had been shot at the city. Seulgi could see the iris-searing flashes of plasma as the two factions of robots fought one another. Though the visibility was low, she could also make out the forms of the androids as they battled; it was a fierce fight. Those that were missing limbs carried on, throwing their husks at their enemies and doing all they could to rip them apart before they themselves were shut down. While the Plastic Beach robots were quicker and more intelligent, the pirate robots were more durable and had numbers on their side. It was impossible to tell who was winning.

“We gotta get through this!” Jisoo yelled, crouching low, “Let’s keep moving! If we get to the edge of the city, we can see what’s going on!”

Seulgi followed at a staggered pace, zigzagging through the field of scrap and cement. For the most part, the two factions of automatons ignored Jisoo and Seulgi in favor of firing upon one another, though there were rare times when the pirate-bots turned their weapons on the girls. Though close-quarters, all out war was the opposite of what Seulgi had learned how to fight in, the principle was the same, as was the odd, zen-like state she took on in the heat of battle. It was a state that allowed her notice the stray laser bolts that drifted their way, or the swift turn of an enemy robot as it raised its gun to her, never quite managing to get a shot off before it was cut down. Her weapon went off on its own accord, each bullet puncturing a fat hole in her target, incapacitating it or allowing Jisoo to finish it with her own shot. There were several occasions where she was forced to retreat into another alley, or to drop down onto her stomach in order to avoid a more heated area of skirmish. It was Jisoo who initiated their retreat or backtracking, as her reflexes and sense of direction were impeccable and almost innate despite the confusion.

The smoke thickened before it cleared, though by then they were close enough to see what the explosion had been: one of the taller buildings (it was a skyscraper, like the ones Seulgi had seen millions of years ago, in another life) had been hit by a missile. Owing to the sturdy material it had been made of, the building remained standing, though its topmost floors crumbled into a mess of metal and sagging support beams. Chunks of the structure dropped at random intervals, tumbling into the streets and digging out wide craters, crushing the combatants below.

Seulgi and Jisoo departed from this area after a brief inspection of the damage.

Once they’d cleared the zone, they stopped to catch their breaths on a side street, one where the atmosphere was more conducive to optimal lung function. As Seulgi leaned up against the wall, watching the robots rush by, the ground rumbled. It was deep and resonating, as if it were coming from the core of the city rather than an external source. It built into a massive swell before peaking as a pointed crack that split the air.

It was followed by the distant sound of a splashing impact.

“Looks like Plastic Beach is fighting back,” Jisoo said solemnly.

***

    Irene was thrown backwards as the ship jolted on its side. The overhead lights cut long enough for the woman to return to her feet before they flickered back on with a sluggish hesitance.

    Around her, many of the deadly war instruments lay strewn across the floor, some cracked and broken, all useless without the proper owner to wield them. Irene supported herself against a shelf and rubbed her elbow, which had taken a nasty beating in the fall. As she started to make her way towards the door, it bisected itself and retreated into the wall, revealing a concerned Seohyun, rifle slung over her shoulders.

    “Are you alright?” she ran to Irene and inspected her body for injury.

    “I’m fine,” the older girl said, straightening up, “What was that?”

    “A plasma bomb. It didn’t hit us head on, luckily.”

    “I didn’t know they were this well-armed,” Irene remarked as they left the weapons room, grabbing an intact plasma pistol from the floor as she went and double-checking that the knives at her belt were fastened in place.

    “Neither did, I to be honest. It calls for a change of plans,” Seohyun directed Irene down an alternate hallway, one that opened into a spacious docking bay lined with sections that could hold hundreds of docking pods. Many of them were empty, revealing the white foam and green murk of ocean beyond their sealed entrances.

    “We’re abandoning ship?”

    “No,” Seohyun said, the corners of twitching, “Well, sort of. This ship is controlled exclusively by robots. We’re the only two humans on here. It’s built for battle and stealth, and it can definitely take a few more hits, but the maneuvering required to participate in a battle like this is… dicey.”

    “We’re safer going ashore than we are staying here,” Irene reasoned.

    “Yes. In theory,” Seohyun walked up to the nearest occupied docking section and typed in a series of characters at the keypad beside it. It unlocked with a hiss, and Irene saw that the interior was a clone of the pod she and Seulgi had ridden in when they’d been rescued.

    “There’s a contingent of our soldiers invading the island as we speak, specifically towards the city. They’re programmed to neutralize any non-human targets that might fight against them, and to capture any human targets that they find. We can join them in searching for Seulgi.”

    At the mention of her old friend’s name, Irene’s heart dropped, and unconsciously set itself into a hard line.

    The older girl brushed past Seohyun and began buckling herself into the seat of the pod.

    “I’m assuming it’s gonna be a rough ride?”

    Seohyun sat beside Irene, pulling the top of the pod shut as she did so.

    “No, actually,” the pirate replied, though she followed Irene’s example, “The hardest part will be getting up to the city. We’ll have to take a set of loading elevators.”

    Seohyun pulled a palm-sized datapad from her pocket and regarded it.

    “It’s going to be bottlenecked. I think we’ll have to wait for an opening to-”

    The younger girl froze, slack-jawed and staring at the screen.

    Irene furrowed her brow and leaned over to get a better look.

    The pad was displaying a direct feed from one of the robots’ cameras. Judging by the height, it was an eye camera, showing a torn-up, smoke-filled lane. Plasma blasts flickered in an out of view from different angles, but the robot was focused on a thin side-street, about one-hundred yards diagonal of where it was located.

There stood Seulgi, loading bullets into her revolver as she scanned the street. Behind her was another girl, one that appeared apparition-like, hazy in a way that had nothing to do with the display.

“No way…” Irene muttered, seizing the pad from Seohyun and squinting to get a better look.

“What is it?” Seohyun asked, “Did something happen to Seulgi?”

Irene shook her head.

“No. I… I think I know the girl who’s with her.”

***

    “Seulgi! Jisoo!”

    The words came in a desperate cadence, bringing Seulgi to a snapping halt.

    Jisoo, who’d been a few steps ahead, turned back and gave her a questioning nod.

    The monolidded girl pointed over at the spot the voice had come from. There lay the badly burnt remnants of a pirate-bot, the button above its grate-like speaker mouth miraculously still flashing.

    Jisoo looked around at the few robots left on the street with them, noted that they were occupied with trying to finish each other off, and ran over to the ruined hunk of metal. Seulgi followed.

    “Yes,” the older girl called at the robot’s body, unsure of what she should be speaking into, “We’re here. Is that you, Irene?”

    “Yeah,” Irene’s tone was frantic and static-filled, “Is that Jisoo with you?!”

    “It is, she-”

    “Watch out!” Jisoo grabbed Seulgi by the shoulders and threw her aside as a hail of plasma bullets crossed the spot that they’d just been standing.

    Reinforcements from both sides of the conflict had arrived, and the street was becoming a full-fledged battleground once again.

    “We can’t stay out here,” Jisoo said as they ran to the next alleyway for cover.

    “I know. But we need to find a way to contact them.”

    Jisoo offered no response, instead running a hand through her hair in exasperated agreement.

***

“You need to call off the attack,” Irene demanded as their pod lurched forward, detaching from the ship and shooting out into the water, “Can you do that?”

“No,” Seohyun said, though she appeared to be making an attempt, her fingers tapping away at a display that gave her harsh beeps in response, “I don’t have the clearance for it. Tiffany programmed everything for the assault. I can’t even call the ship off.”

“Damn it,” Irene slammed her fist into the cushion of the seat beneath her, “Why don’t we try contacting them again?”

“It’ll be tough. The robots are still ordered to fight, and try to capture any humans, unless Tiffany or Taeyeon changes them. So while I can make them talk, I can’t control them.”

“Then get in touch with Tiffany or Taeyeon. And speed this thing up, if you can,” Irene stood and stared at the control panel, hands twitching with the need to act.

Seohyun reached over the console and pushed one of the three throttles forward. There was a palpable jump in acceleration.

“We’ll make landfall in six minutes.”

Irene sat back down and let her head drop into her hands. Seohyun joined her, and after a bit of contemplation, rubbed Irene’s back in awkward but soothing circles.

The older girl allowed it.

***

    Seulgi caught Jisoo as they came to the greenest part of the city: a mile-long park located directly in the center of the structure.

The journey there relied on stealth as they were forced to weave through roundabout, convoluted detours in order to evade major frays. The nearer they drew to the beachfront, the more intense the carnage was. Chunks of molten steel and inorganic detritus littered the crumbling towers, exposing their smoke-filled, dusty interiors. It reminded the girls of a different city they’d visited. Desolate and empty.

It’s missing a one or two zombies, though, Seulgi thought to herself.

The park was lined on all sides by a cast-iron gate, the kind with tall, pointed spikes, striped with rust and peeling paint. The ground seemed to rise from each opening in gate, culminating in a steep hill that served as the epicenter of the park. Within its confines was a tree-dotted lawn crisscrossed by four asphalt walkways, converging on a single point at its center, where a six-metre tall sculpture stood, its cylindrical base strobing on and off in alternating hues of yellow. Benches and picnic tables dotted the sides of each path. The trees that grew here were of the deciduous variety.

“It’s quieter here,” Jisoo commented.

Seulgi answered with a grunt of agreement.

None of the telltale signs of strife - plasma scores, ruined android bodies, shattered glass - had touched the lush greenery and fauna around them.

The park was ignored by both the forces of Plastic Beach and the invading pirates. Seulgi found this puzzling; wouldn’t the center of the city be a highly-contested area, especially given its higher-ground advantage? In fact, the robots were giving the area a wide enough berth that the chorus of war around them faded into semi-background noise.

“Why is it so empty?” Seulgi inquired, slowing to a walk.

Jisoo pointed at the missle-shaped monument before them.

“That thing keeps them away, I think,” she said, “It’s been like that since before the invasion. The robots don’t come around here. It’s a good place to rest.”

“A good place to rest?” Seulgi demanded, her tone saturated with disbelief, “Jisoo-”

The younger girl placed a steadying hand on her partner’s shoulders, silencing her mid-sentence.

“It’s also the most central point in the city,” Jisoo whispered as her thumb kneaded into Seulgi’s deltoid, “It’ll be much easier, and safer, for Irene to find us here.”

“But how will her and Seohyun know to come here?”

“Well that’s the issue, right? They won’t. But it’s our best shot. Wandering through this hellscape maze is much more likely to get someone hurt.”

As they arrived at the sculpture, Jisoo crouched down and took a seat with her back against it. Seulgi joined her and found that the glowing material was warm.

“Waiting ,” Seulgi muttered, draping an arm around Jisoo.

“I know.”

The younger girl fished around in her pocket and pulled out a single, crumpled cigarette. She picked away the broken parts before lighting it.

“Wanna share?” she inquired.

“No, I’m okay.”

Seulgi allowed her head to sag onto the stolid form of her girlfriend.

***

    “Taeyeon and Tiffany are on the northern side of the island,” Seohyun talked while she ran, each stride long and filled with a cool, effortless elegance, even as she dodged between robots, “We can take the pod to get there, but we should meet up with Seulgi first.”

    Irene, who was close behind but having some trouble due to her comparatively short legs and lack of experience running on loose sand, grunted in response. She continued following Seohyun, who navigated them across the slim outcropping of sand that marked the southern coast of Plastic Beach. Looming above was a mushroom-shaped bloom of chiseled rock, connected to the ground by dozens of tall cargo elevators. Warbling alarms and crimson pulses tore through the night, bathing the smoldering city above in a harsh, fluorescent red glow.

    The Plastic Beach robots hadn’t descended the elevators yet, but Irene felt that this was on purpose, as the top of each collection of steel beams was alight with plasma fire. Some of the shafts had been warped and rendered unusable.

    “I think I found a clear one,” Seohyun glanced up from her data pad and pointed.

    Irene squinted in that direction, barely making out a slim grey streak at the edge of the cliff face. Half of the elevator car seemed to be hanging above the water. The robots likely hadn’t approached that spot because of its inaccessibility and inconvenience.

    Seohyun and Irene took a hard diagonal turn back towards the water so that they were running along the shore, separated from the crowd of soldiers, making it easier to maneuver.

    The cart’s location presented a mild annoyance to boarding it, and Seohyun managed to get herself half-soaked in the process, not quite making the jump from sand to iron. Irene would have done the same, had it not been for Seohyun’s hand grabbing her at the last second and pulling her up to the platform.

    “Alright,” Seohyun said, inspecting the heavy set of double doors before them before poring over her datapad, “I can open up the doors and call the elevator down, but I can only detect that there are no robots up at the top. No guarantees that the cart itself will be clear.”

    Irene unsheathed one of the knives from her belt. Though they felt well-balanced in her palm, they weren’t conventional throwing knives. Each weapon was energy-based and outfitted with small propelling devices at the bottom of its handle. She had never used such a weapon before, but there was a certain familiarity with gripping the rubber-coated hilts that she was confident there would be no issue. The person who’d taught her how to fight with throwing knives had been much younger than her (almost a decade younger) but they’d been quite knowledgeable, and one point in their lessons that was stressed repeatedly was that in battle, going with your gut was necessary for survival.

    “Bring the cart down,” Irene thumbed the energy knife to life, and its svelte blade flickered in the moonlight, “I’ll take care of anything in there.”

    Seohyun paused as if in deep contemplation, poised to respond in hesitancy, before thinking better of it and returning her attention to her device.

    “Hang tight. This may take awhile.”

    Irene assumed a defensive position a few steps in front of Seohyun. Though she didn’t doubt the younger girl’s shooting abilities, she knew that Seohyun might not be fast enough to respond to a threat if she was still controlling the elevator.

    After a tense minute of stillness, a minute in which Irene remained locked in place, staring with intent, her nerves firing at increasing intervals as the seconds slogged by, there was a jarring clunk as the rickety car began its descent. Irene watched it come down, a shallow pressure thudding against her muscles, willing them to act, to set themselves loose on whatever being unfortunate enough to meet her. Her body was charged up, ready to deliver her deadly strikes, but her mind was silent. The tunnel-vision of engagement had set in.

    Her hands did not tremble.

    The elevator doors parted, revealing two splindy robots wielding raised rifles. Irene sprung as they fired, moving like a mad acrobat. The blasts sizzled by her contorting limbs. Seohyun was unable to keep up with the older girl’s motions. They were mere blurs of half-cartwheels and flips, releasing the throwing knives at random intervals in their arcs. The flesh of her hands became lightning, and three of the weapons were launched before the robots could fire again. Both androids fell with cauterized, blackened holes through their exoskeleton-esque skulls.

    Irene retrieved the throwing knives from the fallen robots, a mild pout on her lips as she did so.

    “I should’ve only had to use two,” she huffed, “Guess I’m a little rusty.”

    “You call that rusty?” Seohyun said with a chuckle as she followed her companion, “It was beautiful.”

    Despite herself, and the situation before her, Irene blushed.

    “Thank you. Now let’s get moving,” she said shortly, though she graced Seohyun with a mischievous, feathery kiss on the cheek, “We have to find Seulgi and Jisoo.”

***

    Seulgi was not the type of individual to contemplate the concept of eternity. What it meant to her as a person never crossed her mind until that night, as she sat up against an enigmatic, glowing monument, listening to the far off clamoring of shots and crashes that signalled a great conflict was raging around her. Time ceased to exist as a concrete notion, instead morphing into an anxious overlay of worry and impatience, marked by the sharp scents of fresh grass and burnt tobacco. She had voiced her concerns regarding their inaction thrice now, and though Jisoo had shown no signs of annoyance, the monolidded girl decided it might be best to remain silent for awhile.

    The monotony was broken when Jisoo tossed the spent roach of her cigarette aside and stood, leaning up against the monument and stretching herself out.

“Alright,” she said with a sigh, “I’m getting impatient.”

Seulgi grinned and joined her.

“I’ve been impatient. I’m glad we agree now.”

Jisoo shook her head and started to pace. Seulgi’s grin transformed into a frown.

“No, we have to remain here. It’s too much of a risk to go looking for them.”

The older girl dropped back to the ground, resisting the urge to scream in frustration.

“I know… and I know I’ve said it a million times now, but this ing .”

“It does,” Jisoo agreed.

Seulgi was about to suggest they come up with a different, more proactive plan when she noticed that Jisoo had halted her walking back and forth and was staring into the distance. The monolidded girl tracked her gaze to the park exit opposite the one they’d come in from, and saw two figures, one short and one tall, adorned in the telltale bodysuits of pirates.

“That’s them!” she exclaimed, “Irene and Seohyun!”

“Are you sure?” Jisoo asked, her hand on the of her gun.

“Positive. They’re far away, but I’d know Irene’s walk anywhere.”

Jisoo frowned.

“Okay, but proceed with caution. Are you sure this Seohyun girl is on our side?”

“Yes, yes,” Seulgi dismissed as she rushed forward.

The younger girl trailed close behind, finding herself on edge despite her awareness that she recognized Irene’s unique gait as well. As the couple approached the newcomers, Seohyun and Irene broke into sprints. Even when it was abundantly clear that both women had put away their weapons and were wearing wide smiles of relief, Jisoo still couldn’t relax.

Irene, Seohyun, and Seulgi met in a three-way embrace of laughs of squeals and beams. Jisoo stood to the side, secretly watching the path behind the pirate in order to be sure they weren’t followed.

“Holy ,” Irene said with a sniffle, holding Seulgi out at arm’s length, “You’re okay. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Of course I am,” the monolidded girl replied with a sweeping gesture to her partner, “Jisoo’s here.”

Irene surprised the younger girl by walking over to Jisoo and giving her a tender hug. Jisoo was almost caught off-guard enough to try and wriggle free, but was able to contain herself.

“It’s more amazing to see you alive again,” Irene said, “Are all the other girls here? Rosie and Lisa and Jennie?”

“Yeah,” Jisoo was about to correct Irene by adding Yerim to the list, but stopped herself. Given that Lisa and Yerim were now romantically involved, she believed that it was better to wait until after things had settled down to break the news to Irene.

When Seulgi hopped over in excitement, however, Jisoo realized that she hadn’t accounted for her girlfriend’s occasional tendency for overzealousness.

“And you won’t believe who else is-”

“Guys,” Seohyun cut in, “This isn’t the time, nor the place. We have an issue.”

“Of course we do,” Jisoo said coolly, “There’s a senseless battle going on here.”

“No,” the taller girl spoke with a grave tone, “No, something’s wrong. I just lost Yuri’s signal.”

Seulgi and Irene stood stock still.

“We need to go, now,” Irene said, addressing Seulgi and Jisoo, “To the southern beach, where we just came from. We have submarine pods there, we can get back to the ship and intercept Tiffany and Taeyeon before it’s too late.”

“I don’t think Yuri would turn her transponder tag off for no reason,” Seohyun murmured to herself more than anyone else, “We may already be too late.”

“If we are,” Seulgi said as the quartet mobilized, “Then we need to hurry before this gets even worse.”

As if on cue, the city fired another one of its defense mechanisms, shaking the ground with such intense force that the girls had to crouch down and brace.

Up above, an arcing, blue-white sphere of plasma crested the horizon, bathing the buildings in an eerie glow as it passed over. Its intended course was halted by a similar-sized projectile that came from the south, no doubt fired by Seohyun’s ship. The two combined into a sun-like starburst that rained fiery globs into the city below.

“We got lucky. That was pretty far away from us,” Jisoo said as she regained her footing, “Let’s move before that happens again.”

“Agreed. We have a pod parked on the beach here. We can take it back to the ship. It’s the fastest way to get to Taeyeon and Tiffany,” Seohyun turned and headed back the way they came.

The others followed.

***

    The sound of boots splashing through wet sand punctuated each of Jennie’s steps as she hurried towards the bay. She was midway across the partially-submerged path when a flash of movement to her right caught her eye. At first, she was unwilling to stop moving, solely honed in on finding Rosé. However, upon getting a better glimpse of the object that was skimming across the waves, roughly five-hundred feet off shore, Jennie froze.

    It was a behemoth of an aquatic vehicle, sporting a sleek, jet-black design that was only visible due to the searchlights installed at regular intervals along its hull. It cut through the water like a knife, heading in the same direction as Jennie: towards the bay. Behind it was a similarly designed ship, a smaller boat that was less than half the size of the carrier it was pursuing. Jennie could see large, neatly scooped out chunks of metal missing from the top of its hull at irregular intervals, as if it had been bombarded by plasma projectiles. The sight of them caused Jennie’s stomach to drop; they weren’t Plastic Beach machines.

    Jennie returned her attention to making it to the bay. At this point, she’d grab Rosé, retreat, and regroup with the robots and the other girls back at the city. The city’s defenses (which were the likely culprit behind the holes in the smaller ship) were much more suited to this kind of large-scale combat.

    Jennie’s view of the ships was obscured as she cleared the remainder of the path, coming out into the rock-surrounded bay. She could see the action up ahead. There was an empty pod-like submarine that was docked in the center of the bay. She surmised that it was the vehicle that delivered the pirates to shore. There were only three individuals on the beach. Two of them (Jennie’s heart began to race as she saw the telltale violet hair and slender form of her beloved) were engaged in combat, their laser weapons flashing streak of against the darkness of the water. The third, a shorter girl with orange hair, wearing the same jumpsuit that the now dead pirate had worn, was running across the sand, heading directly for the pod-like vehicle.

    Jennie broke into a sprint, unslinging the rifle from her back and making a beeline for the orange-haired girl. Neither Rosé nor her opponent noticed the brunette’s presence until she had already passed them.

    “TAEYEON!” the black-haired pirate yelled.

    Jennie turned back to see that the girl had disengaged Rosé and was now running full force toward her. Jennie brought her rifle to bear and fired. The pirate deflected her shot with a sweep of her blade, causing the plasma bolt to fly harmlessly into the open air. The agility and precision required for such a move caused Jennie to become stunned, although she was able to react to the snarling, furious-looking pirate just in time; the brunette ducked out of the way of the oncoming sword, dropping her rifle in the process. Jennie rolled backwards in the sand as the black-haired girl advanced with astounding speed, raising her blade in the air in order to strike Jennie down.

    “Jennie!”

That sweetly angelic voice called out to her, and the pirate was knocked to the side by a kick.

“Get the away from her,” Rosé growled, re-engaging the pirate in combat.

The black-haired girl was rendered unable to answer as Rosé’s relentless flurry of slashes bombarded her.

Jennie was about to get to her feet to help Rosé, to finish this girl off once and for all, when something heavy knocked onto her already throbbing back. The pain caused her vision to go black for two full seconds, and she would have cried out in pain had she been able to; Taeyeon had her in a headlock. She writhed, facedown in the sand, as she struggled for air. She could feel the uncertainty that came with the pirate’s motions. The way she would let up when Jennie fought back hard enough, her lack of a secure grip… in any other circumstance, this girl would have been an absolute joke to the well-trained brunette. But, in her injured state, she lacked the strength to knock the shorter girl off. Jennie could feel her consciousness slipping away as she struggled to release herself. There was little opportunity to retaliate. Jennie steeled herself before thrashing as hard as she could, managing to pull both her and the pirate into a roll across the sloped beach. The brunette focused on slamming herself onto the orange-haired girl whenever they completed a full roll. As Jennie did so, her back would scream in protest, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer. Just as the pair reached the shoreline, the cold, frothy white foam beginning to lap at their bodies, Jennie felt Taeyeon’s grip slip up enough for her to get through. And that’s all the younger girl needed.

Jennie threw the orange-haired girl off of her, grabbing her by the arm and flinging her backwards. Taeyeon tried to get her footing in the water, but couldn’t. Jennie dove into her legs, tackling her over and scrambling to get on top of her, straddling her in much the same way that the other pirate had been straddling Lisa. The orange-haired girl below her looked terrified as she raised her arms in an attempt to block the barrage of Jennie’s fists and elbows. The brunette struck with purpose and precision, disregarding the pain in her own knuckles, focused on taking down this orange-haired girl. Images of Yerim’s bloody leg, Dalgom’s injured side, and Lisa’s wincing eyes flashed across her vision as she pummeled Taeyeon with all of her might. It was only when the orange-haired girl spoke that Jennie was able to think straight again.

“P-please… stop it… No more...” Taeyeon pleaded, her voice coming as a weak whine, and it was at that moment that Jennie realized that the older girl was crying.

The brunette ended her assault as Taeyeon’s hands dropped limply to her sides. Her face was covered in both her own and Jennie’s blood, puffy and bruised, her formerly pixie-like features now deformed and broken. The brunette felt as if an anvil made of guilt was dropped on her. The orange-haired girl was clearly not a fighter, and she likely wouldn’t have engaged Jennie had she not been trying to protect her comrade.

Jennie stood, although she quickly doubled over in pain from both her back and . She spit into the seawater, frowning as she noted that her phlegm was streaked with pink. To her left, Jennie could hear the low hum of machinery. She wanted to look up to see what was going on, but she needed to recover. Jennie did notice, however, that the orange-haired girl was less than half-conscious at this point, and that if she remained here, in the water, she would drown. The brunette grabbed her by the wrist, and, with a large heave, began dragging Taeyeon back onto the beach.

“What are you doing?” the orange-haired girl muttered, in fearful incoherence, “Please don’t hurt me anymore… please…”

“Shut up,” Jennie hissed, her voice coming raspy and weak.

When Jennie reached the powdery, dry sand once again, she collapsed to her knees, releasing Taeyeon’s wrist and attempting to catch her breath. Once she’d gotten enough rest, Jennie gave one last look at the pathetic-looking girl beside her.

    “I’m sorry,” Jennie whispered, almost imperceptibly, before looking up.

The first thing she did was locate Rosé. She was still dueling the black-haired pirate further down the beach. Just as before, they fought on similar terms, with neither having an obvious advantage over the other. She noticed that there were two more pods that had come ashore, as well. There were four figures in all climbing their way up from the far shore. It was then that Jennie understood the gravity of the situation; these people were backup for the pirate who was fighting Rosé.

The brunette ran forward with all her might, disregarding the fact that they were outnumbered, that she was too injured to fight even one of these people, let alone four, and that she was unarmed.

“Rosie!” Jennie screamed, straining her already failing voice, “Behind you! Run!”

Rosé’s gaze flickered as she tried to register what Jennie said. The black-haired girl attempted to use this as an opening, but Rosé reacted accordingly, knocking her back with a particularly powerful double blow that sent the pirate several steps backwards. Rosé then spun around and started sprinting in Jennie’s direction as the pirate behind her gave chase.

    Rosé flicked off one of her swords and locked eyes with Jennie. The younger girl understood. She outstretched her hand as Rosé tossed the hilt, sending it into a spinning arc that landed perfectly in Jennie’s palm. She flicked the blade to life as Rosé dropped and slid across the sand, ducking under the crescent of heat that Tiffany sent towards her, an attack that was met with a parry from the brunette.

    Rosé got to her feet and stood beside Jennie, the former wielding her blade horizontally and the latter letting the tip of her own brush the sand near their feet. Tiffany paused, regarding the two girls before her with a mixture of fear and anticipation, her chest heaving up and down in exhaustion.

    Jennie and Rosé lunged forward in unison.

    On its own, Rosé’s swordsmanship was intricate and swift, a style that was more suited to frequent, feathery strikes, aside from the rare all-out barrage that she would employ once she’d weakened her foe enough. The violet-haired girl could more than hold her own against even the most skilled blade-wielders - she’d trained with plasma swords her entire life, and had it not been for Tiffany’s prowess, their skirmish wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did.

    Jennie’s style, on the other hand, was a brutal series of swings that came at a calculated, gradual pace, hail-mary slashes that were meant to incapacitate or kill right off the bat. The brunette understood that this style was far from efficient, and it was the reason that she avoided using plasma swords, as most trained fighters would be able to pick apart her openings and take her down with ease, at Rosé had done many times in their training.

    When those two styles came together - Rosé’s grace and Jennie’s fury - the combination was a dance, an intimate flash of light and limbs and flourish, a display of pure synergy that Tiffany had no chance of keeping up with. They filled in each other’s gaps, moving as one frenzied unit. Each slash, each stab, each kick, each elbow was broadcast across some pseudo-telepathic channel that existed between the lovers, and their bodies, liquid and lithe in the glassy starlight, turned about one another. They were intertwined by gravity, it seemed, destined to continue their cosmic revolutions in equal degrees of individuality and togetherness, residing in a thoughtless void of reflex and muscle memory.

Unbeknownst to either of them, their lips were set into smiles. Genuine smiles of content that grew with each passing second, even as the sweat dripped from their bodies and their breaths came in short, harsh pants.

Tiffany backed away. They were ruthless and efficient. It took all of the pirate’s concentration to avoid being torn to shreds by the duo of demons before her. Even with her best efforts, with the adrenaline flooding through her skull and her heart bouncing with fright, she faltered, sometimes fatally. Every time, she awaited that killing blow, that hot searing sting through her chest, or her stomach, or across , that would signal her end. But it never came. Instead, she was met with an alternate fate, one that was punishing, but never fatal. She was bruised, burned, and bloodied, but always intact and able to continue.

It didn’t take long for Tiffany to realize that they were playing with her. It was a twisted game to them, two bloodthirsty predators nibbling at their helpless catch as it twitched and writhed and floundered for an impossible escape. She wanted to scream, but found there was no opportunity to do so. She could only run. And that’s what she did.

Rosé acted as the pirate turned heel, throwing herself shoulder-first into the center of Tiffany’s upper back, knocking her off balance. Jennie reached out and held Rosé by the crook of her armpit, yanking her back with just enough force to steady her. The brunette utilized the leftover momentum to complete Rosé’s action - she punched the pirate in the back of the head, her already battered fist throbbing as it connected. Tiffany dropped to her knees, arms sprawled out in front of her, lit weapon rolling aside as the tips of two sizzling energy blades came to a halt on either side of her neck. The residual heat dried and cracked her skin, giving it an angry red sheen, but she remained still.

“STOP!” a familiar voice came across the wind, and all three girls turned their heads - Rosé and Jennie in disbelief, Tiffany in excited surprise.

Two of the four girls had caught up to them, their bodysuit-clad muscles pumping as they sprinted over. The shorter of them dominated Jennie and Rosé’s attention, a woman with soft features and an elegant face that (had they not known better) could have bespoke royalty.

It was Irene Bae.

“Seulgi,” the taller girl commanded over her shoulder, pointing over to where Jennie had left the orange-haired girl, “Taeyeon’s over there. Get her back to one of the pods.”

Seulgi, who’d barely caught up, let out a puffing sigh in response and turned to jog away.

“What did you do to her?!” Tiffany demanded, attempting to stand.

Rosé brandished her sword dangerously, and the pirate acquiesced.

“Put your weapons down,” Irene said, stepping forward, “This is all one big misunderstanding.”

“What do you mean?” Jennie demanded, her fiery gaze remaining fixed on Tiffany, “Did you see what they did to our friends?”

“What?” Jisoo interjected urgently before Irene could speak, “What happened to them?”

“One of the pirates,” Jennie spat the word as if it were poison to her tongue, “Nearly killed all three of them. Shot Dalgom, beat the out of Lisa, and stabbed-”

Tiffany laughed sardonically, cutting off Jennie's response.

“That must have been Yuri,” the tall woman beside Irene said.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Jennie said with a shrug, “Dalgom payed her back double.”

The pirate’s grin disappeared, and she moved like lightning. She rolled backwards with a rage-fueled agility that neither Jennie nor Rosé anticipated, pulling a sidearm from her boot and raising it, the barrel pointed squarely at Jennie’s forehead. The brunette flinched backwards, knowing that she didn’t have the time to avoid the projectile, but no shot ever came. Between her and the pirate stood the unarmed taller girl.

“You need to stop this now, Tiffany,” she said, “These girls didn’t do anything wrong. They had no idea what happened here. And they didn’t kidnap Seulgi. She knows them. They’re friends.”

“They killed Yuri!” Tiffany screamed, her pistol still pointed at Jennie, albeit from an odd angle now as she tried to avoid pointing it at her fellow pirate.

“She attacked us first! You all did!” Jennie regarded the girl between her and Tiffany with such contempt that Rosé placed a hand on her shoulder to placate her.

“And what about Taeyeon? Did you kill her too?” Tiffany ignored the brunette’s accusation.

“She’s alive,” Jennie replied shortly, “I made sure of it.”

The older girl seemed to relax a bit, but did not lower her weapon.

    Before anyone could speak, the hum of machinery increased further. There were a handful of pods landing ashore, their curved fronts opening to reveal droves of the cubical robots from before. There must have been twenty of them, spilling out onto the beach in a sweeping formation as they marched forward.

    “They must have come from the command ship…” Seohyun muttered before addressing Tiffany, “Call them off, Tiffany! Right now!”

    Tiffany reached into her suit pocket with her free hand and pulled out a phone-like device. Without looking, she pressed one of the small buttons on it and the robots stopped moving forward, although their weapons remained pointing towards the girls, their bodies still alight with flickering bulbs.

    “Okay,” Irene began, stepping forward towards the older girl, “We can work this out, Tiffany. It’s all one big misunderstanding.”

    “I don’t care,” Tiffany said, turning her weapon to Irene now, causing the girl to take a few steps backwards, “I want Jisoo.”

    “Jisoo? That’s me. I’m right here.”

    Jisoo strode between Irene’s body and Tiffany’s gun, hands raised and jaw set.

    “You’re Jisoo," Tiffany said, her tone flat.

    “I am,” the girl replied, “Any issues we have are between you and me. We don’t need everyone else involved in this.”

    “You’re Jisoo.”

    Jennie didn’t have to hear anymore. By Tiffany’s tone, she knew exactly what was coming next. A small voice in her brain questioned the fact that Jisoo remained still, her face apologetic and resigned, as if surrendering herself to the mercy of the black-haired pirate. However, Jennie moved, ready to sprint over in order to knock Jisoo over, to get her out of the way, to do anything she could to prevent her friend from being killed.

    There was a single, echoing gunshot, followed by a scream. Jisoo lay in the sand, body covered by another, more delicate-looking form, a form with svelte features, a form that was all-too familiar to Jennie, a form with long, violet hair that cascaded down and around her like a blanket, a form with a growing splotch of crimson on her side.

    It was Rosé.

-------------------------

After nearly two-years of waiting... I finally finished this chapter!

It's a small start in terms of the story, but this chapter was really tough for me to write. Managing 9+ separated characters is a lot to juggle, and I think part of me delaying it so much was how badly I thought I'd do.

One thing this whole ordeal has helped me realize is the jump in writing quality from Part 1 to Part 2. The first part was mostly written a year and a half ago. The second was written within the past few weeks. Even after editing Part 1 to improve it, I couldn't really make it sound like the current level of writing that I'm at without redoing the entire thing, and I didn't want ot keep you guys waiting any longer. I'm thrilled that I've come this far, and can't wait to write the remainder of this story (and the finale to the trilogy, "Humanz").

I've been doing a lot of thinking regarding POV and after this story is over I'll probably narrow it back down to Blackvelvet POVs, focused on a few particular characters that play HUGE roles in the future plot. This doesn't mean that other characters won't appear, just that they won't be the focus.

Thank you guys for being so patient! I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I promise it won't take NEARLY as long this time. If you haven't already, check out my completed fic, "Peek-a-boo", in which Wenjoy from this AU makes a little appearance (in case you aren't getting enough of there interactions in this story).

Thanks for reading<3