____________________________________________

“What did you do?” Mina whispered gently near Akari’s ear. The girl’s entire body was shaking. Mina spread her feet into a more athletic stance to help support Akari’s weight, which was leaning entirely into her body. Akari’s face was only inches from Mina’s, and the older girl’s eyes looked slightly distant—as if staring off into another world. Mina had never seen Akari look this broken before.

Slowly, with trembling hands, Akari reached up and touched Mina’s face. Her fingers trailed down from Mina’s cheekbone to her jawline, staining Mina’s cheek with warm, wet blood. The feeling disgusted her, but Mina didn't flinch away from Akari’s touch.

“What happened, Akari?” Mina asked with a gentler tone. Her own voice trembled slightly at the sight of Akari like this.

There was only silence, though. Mina craned her neck back to look at Akari’s face. The girl’s eyes were now closed. “Akari?” Mina asked. The girl had clearly passed out.

Slowly and carefully, Mina laid Akari back against her bed. Then Mina lifted the girl’s feet up onto it so that she was laying on it horizontally. Mina ran out of her room to go find Miss Suzy, who was hopefully in her office. Flying down the hallway as if she had wings, Mina’s eyes were starting to sting with tears. What had Akari done?

On her way to find Miss Suzy, Mina passed by Jihyo and Tzuyu, who were walking hand in hand back to their rooms. The sight of Mina sprinting toward them with blood covering the front of her shirt made them both stop immediately. “Mina?” Jihyo called out. “What happened?”

Tears were freely flowing down her cheeks now as Mina let her feet carry her forward. She flew past Jihyo and Tzuyu. “I need to find Miss Suzy,” she yelled back to Jihyo without stopping or even bothering to turn around. Jihyo and Tzuyu looked at each other and then both took off in Mina’s direction, trailing behind her.

“Check her office!” Jihyo yelled to Mina, who soon disappeared around a corner. “There’s never a dull moment around here, is there?” Jihyo muttered as her and Tzuyu both continued to run after Mina.

Mina practically slid to a halt when she made it to Miss Suzy’s office. Luckily the door was open, and the professor was working on something at her desk. She looked up at the sound of Mina’s sneakers squeaking against the tile floor.

“Akari needs help,” Mina breathed out, struggling to get air into her lungs. She hadn’t pushed herself to run that fast in a long time.

At the serious look on Mina’s face and the blood staining Mina’s face and her light blue sweater, Miss Suzy quickly stood up. “Take me to her,” she ordered, and Mina began a light jog back toward her dorm room. Suzy stayed by her side.

“I found her in my room, covered in blood,” Mina explained on their way back. “She passed out...I’m not sure what happened.”

“You’re alright?” the professor asked.

“I’m fine...this is all her blood.”

“She’ll be okay,” Miss Suzy assured. Suzy had no idea how badly Akari was injured but she knew her healing powers could heal even the most deadly of wounds—so long as the person was still alive, that is. She’d never been able to bring someone back from death itself.

The two practically ran into Jihyo and Tzuyu, who immediately let them pass and spun around to follow behind them. “Can someone tell us what’s going on?” Jihyo asked. The moment was almost comedic—with the four girls running in unison—if it weren’t for the urgent nature of the migration back toward Mina’s room.

“It’s Akari,” Mina explained. “She’s hurt.”

“Can you go tell JYP?” Suzy asked Jihyo, who nodded and pulled Tzuyu around with her to go in the direction of his office.

Miss Suzy and Mina made it back to her room. They found Akari still on the bed with her eyes closed. She looked very pale and had grey circles under her eyes. Not to mention there was blood soaking her clothes and Mina’s comforter.

Miss Suzy gently placed a hand on Akari’s shoulder, examining the girl. She lifted up the sleeves of Akari’s t-shirt and revealed deep and gaping wounds which were the source of all the blood. Gently lifting up Akari’s shirt, Suzy and Mina could both see black and blue bruises covering her stomach and chest.

“Her ribcage...it’s nearly been shattered.”

Mina put a hand to and held in a sob. Miss Suzy took a breath and closed her eyes—concentrating on healing the wounds. Mina watched in awe as Akari’s skin began to regenerate and heal itself, covering the wounds until her skin looked completely clean and healthy. Even the bruises began to shrink and disappear. There was still blood everywhere, but no more blood would spill from Akari.

“She’ll just need some rest,” Suzy replied. “Let’s get her to the health wing and get you some new clothes and sheets, okay?”

After a few minutes, JYP arrived with Jihyo and Tzuyu in tow. After a brief explanation from Mina, he lifted Akari into his arms and began to carry her back to the health wing, where she could rest. “Tzuyu, can you come with me so we can head back to my office after Akari is taken care of? There’s something urgent I need to discuss with you.”

“Sure,” Tzuyu replied, feeling her skin crawl at the word “urgent”. Was this about the information they’d extracted from the scientist earlier? If so, that was rather quick. Jihyo gave Tzuyu an encouraging nod as she followed JYP out the door.

“Stay here and get changed, okay?” Suzy said, looking at Mina, who had moved forward to follow JYP. “She’ll be back at the health wing when you’re ready. She’s not going anywhere.” And then Suzy disappeared out the door as well.

“Mina, let’s get you cleaned up,” Jihyo replied, gently placing her hand on Mina’s back and guiding her toward her bathroom. Mina compiled without a word.

“Let’s get you out of these clothes, hmm?” Jihyo murmured. She helped Mina pull the sweater off over her head and placed it on the bathroom counter in the sink so it wouldn’t stain anything else with blood. Mina’s cami managed to be blood free, but her arms and bits of her face were red.

Jihyo looked under the sink and found a stack of wash cloths. She took one and soaked it in warm water, then she grabbed some of Mina’s body wash and soaped up the cloth. With a delicate touch, she began to softly wipe the skin on Mina’s arms, getting rid of the blood that was caked on.

“Jihyo?” Mina lifted her downcast eyes to look at the girl who was doting on her.

“Hm?”

“Do you think we’re better off with Akari here?”

Jihyo was silent for a moment, letting the question settle in her brain. “She’s better off being here with you,” she finally answered. “She needs you.”

Mina swallowed and watched as Jihyo continued to gently wipe off her arms. “I think I need her too,” Mina admitted. It felt nice to say it out loud. Perhaps not in the same way she needed Chaeyoung, but a part of Mina just couldn’t let Akari go and would probably always care for her. Their fates were too intertwined for her to not want to be a part of Akari’s live anymore.

“You don’t have to feel guilty for caring for more than one person, you know,” Jihyo interrupted Mina’s thoughts, and then it crossed Mina’s mind that Jihyo could hear everything she was thinking now. She often forgot Jihyo had that power.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.” Jihyo smiled at Mina apologetically. “Your thoughts are just kind of loud right now.”

“It’s alright,” Mina smiled back, but her cheeks were reddening slightly. At least she wasn’t thinking of anything too embarrassing.

“There’s different levels of love, I think,” Jihyo continued. “We love our friends and we love our family, but it’s not the same kind of love. You can love Chaeyoung and love Akari too, for different reasons. Chaeyoung will understand that, as long as she knows the way you see Akari and the way you view her are different.”

Jihyo rewet the cloth and began to lightly pat Mina’s cheek that Akari had touched only minutes ago and stained with her blood. The blood was smeared from just below Mina’s eye to the corner of her lips.

“Chaeyoung and I...we’re together now.”

Jihyo smiled knowingly. She could see the memory of Chaeyoung and Mina sharing their first real kiss in Mina’s mind clearly. “I’m happy for you. It was only a matter of time before you two lovebirds got together.”

“Like you and Tzuyu?” Mina responded, curling the corners of her lips into a knowing smile as well.

At Jihyo’s suddenly flustered facial expression, Mina let out a laugh. “You two are obvious. It’s cute.”

“After things are settled with her powers, we’ll figure things out.” Jihyo lightly patted a spot on Mina’s chin where blood had dripped down.

“Don’t wait too long to tell someone you care about them,” Mina warned.

Jihyo nodded, a bit surprised that Mina had suddenly turned the lecturing back around to her. “Okay, you’re all cleaned up. Now dry off and I’ll meet you outside. We can walk together to see how Akari is doing.” Jihyo threw a towel at Mina and smiled again at the younger girl before exiting the bathroom and leaving Mina alone.

Mina turned to face herself in the mirror, seeing that Jihyo had thoroughly scrubbed all the blood off her skin. She wiped herself down and exited the room, grabbing a sweatshirt and slipping it on over her head before she walked with Jihyo into the hallway.

Mina and Jihyo walked quickly to the health wing, where Sana had been recovering from her stab wound only weeks ago. They found Suzy making Akari comfortable. She’d managed to change the girl into a gown and out of her tattered and blood stained clothes. Laying on the bed with her eyes closed and her hair fanned out across the pillow, Akari looked almost angelic.

“She’ll probably be out for awhile,” Suzy stated as she covered the girl with a blanket. “Even though her wounds are healed, the pain will still linger. Broken ribs are incredibly painful...nearly shattered ribs are agonizing.”

“What could have done something like that?” Mina asked.

Miss Suzy shook her head. “Someone incredibly strong. A mutant, perhaps.”

Mina couldn’t imagine how someone could have done this to Akari, who was trained in combat and could simply teleport in a flash.

“I gave her some pain killers to help, so she should be as comfortable as she can be. I have some work to finish up, but if you need any help please come and get me.”

“Thank you,” Mina replied, bowing gratefully to Miss Suzy.

“There’s no need to thank me,” Miss Suzy assured. She took Mina’s shoulders and gave the girl a brave smile before she left Jihyo and Mina alone with Akari.

Mina pulled a chair close to Akari’s bed and sat down. “I’m going to wait here until she wakes up.”

“And I’m waiting with you, to keep you company.” Jihyo pulled another chair over next to Mina. “You really don’t know what happened to her, huh?”

Mina shook her head sadly. “She just told me she did something bad.” Mina’s stomach churned as she envisioned what trouble Akari had gotten into to have her ribs broken like that.

“We’re back!” Sana had chimed as soon as her and Nayeon had entered Sana and Momo’s room. Momo had been waiting anxiously for her friends and girlfriend to return from their mission to help Tzuyu get her powers back. To pass the time Momo had done some intense ab workouts and then taken a nap.

Momo bounced up from her bed and immediately ran to Nayeon, engulfing her into a hug. Nayeon let out a laugh as Momo clung to her like a child. “How did it go?” Momo asked as she pulled away from Nayeon and stepped back.

“Hey, don’t I get a hug too?” Sana pouted and looked at Momo pointly. Momo simply rolled her eyes and made a face of pure judgement in the direction of her roommate.

“We might’ve found a way to help Tzuyu get her powers back,” Nayeon replied, completely ignoring Sana. She’d had enough of the girl’s antics for today. “It might be risky and costly, but it’s possible.”

“That’s good,” Momo sighed in relief. “I was so worried. I hate seeing Tzuyu so sad all the time.”

“Hey, do you wanna take a walk?” Nayeon asked, taking one of Momo’s hands and intertwining their fingers together.

“Sure.”

Nayeon began to pull Momo out the door. “You kids behave now, ya hear?” Sana called after them with a big smile on her face.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Nayeon explained after she gently closed the door to Sana and Momo’s room.

Momo’s face instantly grew worried. Her brow furrowed and her lips pressed together into a pout. “What’s wrong?”

“Something happened...let’s talk about it once we get somewhere private.”

“Okay.” The walk down to the library was one of the longest walks of Momo’s life. She had no idea what Nayeon was gonna say to her, which caused her to feel nauseous. She just kept squeezing Nayeon’s hand in her own. Nayeon would squeeze back, and that made Momo feel slightly better.

“So…” Momo began once they sat down in the back. The library was empty due to the fact that it was a Friday night.

“I messed up. Like colossally.” And then Nayeon leaned her head against Momo’s shoulder and she cried. She cried and cried. Momo held her girlfriend and let her cry in silence. She ran her fingers through Nayeon’s long red hair soothingly.

After a few minutes, Nayeon stopped crying and just continued to let the silence engulf them both. Momo patiently waited for Nayeon to start talking.

“I almost tricked Akari into leaving. I pretended to be Mina and told Akari she should stay away.” Nayeon’s words were said in a dead-sounding, monotone voice. Nayeon simply laid down the facts like cards on a table. Everything was out in the open. Still, Momo waited for Nayeon to continue explaining before she spoke.

“Mina found out what I did. Luckily she stopped Akari but...what if she didn’t? Akari could’ve flipped out. She could’ve just left and Mina would’ve been heartbroken without an explanation. I thought I was doing the right thing to keep everyone safe, you know? I just want everyone to be safe. I can’t let something happen to anyone else I love.” Nayeon began crying again and Momo rubbed her back while resting her chin on Nayeon’s shoulder.

“You did what you thought was right,” Momo said, finally. Her voice was soft and not at all demeaning. “It might not have been the best way to go about it, but you did what you thought was best for everyone. You just tried to protect everyone, as usual.”

“Mina probably hates me now…hell, she deserves to.”

“No, I’m sure she doesn’t,” Momo assured. She knew Mina was probably incapable of hating anyone. “It might take her awhile to forgive you but...I know she cares about you. She will let you back in given some time. This situation is...not ideal. No one really knows what to do. We’re all just trying our best to cope.”

Nayeon lifted her head off of Momo’s chest and began to dry her eyes. “Since when did you become so wise?”

“I have my moments,” Momo smiled gently down at Nayeon’s red-from-tears face, causing the older girl to both laugh and cry at the same time.

“You deserve better than me.”

Momo quickly took Nayeon’s chin in her hands and lifted the girl’s head so they were both making eye contact. “Don’t you ever say that,” Momo warned. “You’re beautiful and kind...and you might try to hide how sensitive you are behind your sarcasm and teasing but I see right through you, Nayeon. I know exactly who you are and I love that person. I love you.”

Nayeon’s breath caught in and she felt like she was choking on air. “You...love me?”

“Yup.”

“Momo…” Nayeon looked intently into the younger girl’s eyes, as if to confirm that this wasn’t all a dream. This was happening. Her girlfriend who she’d been crushing on for over a year confessed to her. “I…”

“You don’t have to say it back if you don’t want to,” Momo assured, smiling warmly at Nayeon. “You can take your time.”

“No, Momo...I love you too. I’ve loved you for awhile now, before we even started dating.”

It was like Momo’s brain short-circuited because her eyes glazed over and she stared out into space. After a moment, Momo gathered herself and took a breath. “...Really?”

“Yeah,” Nayeon admitted. Her bunny-teeth smile lit up her face and Momo couldn’t help but smile shyly back. She suddenly had a hard time looking Nayeon in the eye now that both of their feelings were laid out on the table.

“You’re so adorable,” Nayeon squealed, pinching one of Momo’s cheeks. “And I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

The two of them started giggling.

“Are you feeling any better?” Momo asked.

Nayeon nodded. “I am, thank you.”

A few hours later, Akari awoke with a start, gasping for breath. The girl tried to sit up but Mina was on her feet in a flash and holding the girl down.

“You need to rest, it’s okay. Lay down,” Mina instructed.

Akari had wild eyes, but they softened slightly at the sight of Mina hovering above her. Akari did as she was told and laid back down. “Ow,” she whined, putting a hand to stomach.

“You were badly hurt but Miss Suzy healed you,” Mina explained.

“Akari, can you tell us what happened?” Jihyo asked, standing up beside Mina.

Akari her dry lips and took a breath. “I was...on the internet.”

The statement was so absurd that Mina nearly barked out a laugh.

“I was bored and Somi was showing me how to use the computers in the library,” Akari continued. “I was looking at the news and just doing research to pass the time. And all the sudden everyone got notifications––news alerts on their phones––and Somi showed me footage of something that was broadcasting live. There was a mutant terrorizing the streets.”

“So we’ve got a rogue mutant on our hands?” Jihyo asked.

“Rogue is one word for her,” Akari muttered.

“Did you try to stop her?” Mina asked, looking down at Akari with concern. It explained the rough shape Akari had been in.

Akari turned her head–ever so slowly–to meet Mina’s eyes. “I tried,” her voice dropped to an almost whisper, “and failed.”

“How did...someone beat you?” Mina was dumbfounded that the most powerful mutant she knew had somehow been bested.

“She was more powerful than I’d ever seen…” Akari said. Her eyes looked somewhat haunted.

“Who was she?” Jihyo prodded.

Akari took another breath, as if steeling herself to deliver information she knew wouldn’t be taken well. “Tzuyu. It was Tzuyu.”

“That’s impossible!” Jihyo replied, crossing her arms and sneering at Akari. “Tzuyu was with Mina and I out on a mission for the past few hours! She never left the van!” Jihyo looked at Mina for her support. Mina wore a confused expression but nodded.

“I know,” Akari assured. “But this was Tzuyu. Everything about her was the same. How she looked...even her powers. She had super strength. She was destroying everything in sight. Throwing cars, busting down buildings. It was chaos.”

“Still impossible.”

“I thought so too, so I had to make sure of it. I went out to find her in person. I teleported there as soon as I saw the live videos to try to stop her. But she was more powerful than I imagined. When I got there I realized she had more than just super strength. I couldn’t even start frying her brain before she did the same to me. She had me on my knees in a instant,” Akari confessed with downcast eyes, clearly ashamed. “That’s when she started beating me, and I thought I was going to die.”

“How did you escape?” Mina asked.

“She got distracted by the cops. They finally showed up, but before they even got to shoot the girl had them dropping one by one. A few of them shot a few bullets off at her but she dodged them with ease. It was like time slowed down for her. She could move...incredibly fast. While she wasn’t looking at me I managed to take a few steps and teleport to the first place that came to mind.”

“My room,” Mina whispered.

“So you’re saying she had super speed too? And she could fry your brain just like your own power?” Jihyo stood there with her arms crossed, looking both skeptical and stunned.

“She has multiple powers, yes.”

“So that couldn’t have been Tzuyu then. You know she’s been stripped of her super strength!”

“Don’t believe me, look at any Korean news outlet now. I’m sure there’s videos and pictures plastered everywhere. She might still be terrorizing the city since I wasn’t able to stop her.”

Jihyo’s face turned into one of panic. She pulled out her phone and quickly opened up the main news site. Immediately she saw the headlines.

Rogue Mutant Terrorizes Seoul—10 Dead, 30+ injured.

She scrolled down on the article and saw the pictures. Her heart immediately constricted. Even though the pictures were blurry—taken by civilians’ iPhones—she could tell the girl did look an awful lot like Tzuyu.

Jihyo clicked on a video link, which had been posted on Youtube. Mina moved to stand beside Jihyo and peeked at the girl’s phone screen as well.

The video shot portrayed this rogue mutant lifting cars as if it were nothing, and throwing them down the street like toys. They crashed on top of the road, other cars, and even the sides of buildings. Screams could be heard as people rushed inside to find safety.

This video was shot using a more professional camera, and the cameraman zoomed in on the rogue mutant’s face. Sure enough, there was Tzuyu...or a girl that looked exactly like her. Jihyo nearly dropped her phone.

“But…” Jihyo sputtered. and tongue felt numb.

“A twin she doesn’t know about, maybe?” Mina suggested.

“She’s an only child,” Jihyo answered. “This must’ve been what JYP had to talk to Tzuyu about in his office...he must’ve just found out about the attack himself. He can’t believe she did this...he can’t possibly think—”

“Of course he doesn’t.” Mina put her hand lightly on Jihyo’s forearm. “We all know Tzuyu is powerless. She couldn’t hurt anyone even if she wanted to.”

“The attack isn’t still happening, is it?” Akari asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position with a grunt.

Jihyo shook her head. “No, it looks like she retreated...she just left, shortly after you did, actually. There’s reports of her attacking you in this article too. You’re the other unidentified mutant.”

“Thank god,” Akari muttered. “The police were no match for her. If she’d been at it any longer then I’m sure the government would’ve begged us to take care of her. But why did she retreat? She was unstoppable...”

“I need to talk to Tzuyu…” Jihyo said, backing up from Akari and Mina slowly. “I need...to talk to her,” she spun around and walked out of the room, heading toward JYP’s office, where Tzuyu was most likely still being held.

Jihyo walked quickly back toward JYP’s office in a bit of a panic. She didn’t bother knocking before throwing open the door, as she could sense Tzuyu was on the other side. She could hear the girl’s thoughts—wild and erratic.

Both JYP and Tzuyu looked up in surprise as Jihyo entered. Jihyo bowed apologetically to JYP and then explained herself. “I’ve come to tell you that Tzuyu is innocent!” Jihyo declared. “She was with Mina, Sana, Nayeon, Dahyun and I this entire afternoon. During most of the attack she was here! And you know she doesn’t have her super strength! It’s impossible that she has anything to—”

“Jihyo,” Tzuyu held up a hand, silencing the older girl immediately.

“We all know Tzuyu is innocent here,” JYP assured, “but it’s the rest of the world that doesn’t know that.”

“They’ll listen to us, won’t they? They have to believe us when they see that Tzuyu doesn’t have any powers! She can’t possibly be...accused of this…” Jihyo’s voice began to die out when she got a good look at Tzuyu and saw pain behind the girl’s eyes.

“This is a very serious matter and I’m doing all I can to protect Tzuyu.” JYP’s voice was serious yet also gentle. “I’ve already been in contact with the government and the police force. They’re sending officials here to investigate.”

“People were killed, Jihyo,” Tzuyu said. Her expression was laced with guilt and sadness. “People can’t be blamed for assuming it’s me who did this.”

There’d be more people poking and proding at Tzuyu, but Jihyo wouldn’t let them take her away. She couldn’t handle the thought of Tzuyu being condemned for something she had nothing to do with. “Who is this mutant?” Jihyo asked.

“When I was taken by the HCA, one of the scientists that operated on me told me they had big plans for me,” Tzuyu replied sadly.

“This girl is most likely a creation of the HCA. Their goal is make people afraid of mutants. By unleashing a rampant one on the streets, they’ve succeeded.”

“Akari mentioned this thing had super strength, super speed and could manipulate the brain…”

“Tzuyu, Momo and Akari. These are the three people who’ve been in direct contact with the HCA,” JYP explained, causing a lightbulb to go off above Jihyo’s head.

“You mean…”

“They’ve taken DNA from all three girls to construct a super mutant.”

______________________________________

Uh-oh. A super mutant? All you superhero fans out there might get my chapter title reference. I wanted to give you some more Namo since you haven't heard from them much recently. Jeongyeon will be more important to the plot soon, I promise!