“Is that it?” Yena asks, pointing at a ferry boat that was beginning to take in passengers.

“Yeah, you all have your tickets, right?” Eunbi then asks the rest of the group who nod. After dinner, Eunbi had contacted Seunggi about their need for transport, and he managed to hook them up with a set of tickets. The only downside was that they had to wait until morning to get on. Having the twelve of them sleep in the bus was not exactly the most comfortable experience.

“Make sure to wear your masks, okay? We can’t afford for them to recognize us.” Chaeyeon reminds everyone.

Once they all finished double checking their things, they step out onto the docks and begin lining up to board. As they got closer though, Eunbi noticed something worrying.

“They’re looking for our faces.” She whispers, seeing one of the ticket inspectors holding a board with the group’s pictures on them.

“Don’t worry, unnie. I have a plan.” Yujin replies just as they get to the front of the line.

“Good morning, miss. Apologies, but may I ask you to remove your mask? We’ve been notified that there are some fugitives on the loose that we have to watch out for.” The ticket inspector says.

“Ah, you see, I have a bit of a cold right now. It might be contagious.” Eunbi says quickly. The woman was persistent though.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but we’ve been given strict orders to-” Before she could finish her sentence a large wave crashes into the dock and drenches everyone. When Eunbi looks back, she can just make out Yujin’s mischievous smile.

“Ugh, didn’t the forecast say calm seas today?” The woman says exasperatedly. “You can all go in. Just show me your tickets.”

~~~~

“Yah, Yujin-ah, a little warning next time?” Yena complains while Yuri pointed a hairdryer at her. The twelve girls were now gathered in one of two rooms that Seunggi had reserved for them.

“Yeah, we don’t even have any extra clothes. At least you’re waterproof.” Chaewon adds.

“Would you have rather gotten caught and arrested again? You should be thanking me!” Yujin replies with a laugh.

“Thank you???” The two girls say incredulously.

“You’re welcome.” The puppy replies, grinning ear to ear. Just before Yena and Chaewon can pile on Yujin, the sound of their leader clearing grabbed their attention.

“This isn’t the time for arguing girls. We’re on the boat now and that’s all that matters. It’s going to be a long ride, so just make yourselves comfortable.” Eunbi says while drying her own hair.

“No kidding, three and a half hours, right? We should finalize our plans while waiting. We don’t even know where exactly the base is on the island.” Sakura mumbles, looking through a laptop Jiheon had lent her for research on Ulleung Island.

“From what Jurina said, it’s somewhere near the center of the island, so it’ll probably be easy to track from there.” Hitomi replies.

“Alright, we can start strategizing with that in mind. Those who want to join the plan meeting can stay. If you want to rest, you can sleep in the other room or take a walk around the boat. Just make sure to meet back here when the captain says we’re close to arriving.” Eunbi says and with that, the group disperses.

~~~~

“There you are! I was wondering where you wandered off to.” Wonyoung calls out to the figure leaning on the ship’s railings.

“Heh, I guess I got tired of Yena-unnie’s snoring.” Yujin replies with a chuckle, continuing to gaze out into the ocean. Wonyoung smiles and walks up closer to her girlfriend.

“Tell me, what’s actually on your mind?” She asks, seeing right through her.

“Have I always been that obvious?” Yujin asks back, leaning her head onto Wonyoung’s shoulder.

“Of course. I just didn’t want to point it out all the time.” The bunny replies with a smile.

“I guess… I’m wondering how much longer this is going to go. Don’t get me wrong, I love going on missions to help people in need. I just wish our fellow mutants didn’t always have to be in constant danger.” Yujin ends up saying. “We were so young when we first became a part of this team, and on IVE, Leeseo is even younger than we were.”

“I know what you mean. I remember us having this discussion before. We were given a big responsibility to protect people, and because of that, I don’t think we’re ever going to have normal lives. I don’t really mind it though as long as you're by my side.” Wonyoung says, planting a kiss on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “We’re in this together forever.”

“Aish, you’re getting mushy at a time like this?” The puppy laughs. “I never said I wanted to quit, but we should at least go on a vacation after this mission. Is your father still in the States? We should go there!”

“You say that, but I’m sure we’ll probably face a mutant problem there too.” Wonyoung replies, also laughing now.

“Well, what did you say? ‘As long as you’re by my side’? It’ll be fine. My English is pretty good too, you know!” Yujin barks back.

“Fine, I’ll have a chat with him. Let’s just focus on getting back alive from this mission first.” The bunny says, giving Yujin’s shoulder a supportive squeeze.

The two were just about to head back to their cabins when a woman called their attention. She looked like part of the crew, but she seemed rather young.

“Excuse me, you two. I hope you’re enjoying the ride. May I just check your identification? We didn’t get a chance to complete the screening process because of the incident at the dock.” She says.

“Uhh, we actually left them back in our cabin. Would you mind waiting here while we go get them?” Yujin replies.

“Oh, I’m sure you could just lead me to your cabin instead to save time.” At these words, Yujin notices just a hint of red in the woman’s eyes, and that’s when she realizes they were in trouble.

“We wouldn’t want any stowaway mutants on this ship, now, wouldn’t we?” The woman says, her gaze now locked on Wonyoung.

~~~~

“Ugh, can’t people appreciate me as a singer? I’ll never get why me being a mutant matters.” Yuri mutters as she reads through the newspaper that was provided in every room. On the front page was a story about how top idol, Jo Yuri, was involved in another terrorist attack and arrested.

“Tell me about it. There have been times I’ve been rejected from an audition solely because I was a mutant.” Minjoo replies with a sympathetic smile.

“You’d think that having special gifts would be more appreciated in this world. I’m really hoping exposing KYB will be the big tipping point.” The hamster says before a new voice interjects.

“Yah, even if it isn’t, that doesn’t mean we’ll stop fighting for it.” Yena mumbles.

“Heh, weren’t you supposed to be resting?” Yuri jokes as the duck sits up, her hair in a lopsided mess.

“Pretty difficult when you girls are talking away.” Yena replies, still half asleep.

“That’s rich coming from someone whose snoring caused the maknaes to run out the room.” Minjoo quips before looking at Chaewon who was still sound asleep. “I don’t know how she does it.”

“She’s slept over at Chae’s house more than you. Of course she’s used to it.” Yuri says.

“Yah, I do not! I’m sure Minjoo’s stayed over there way more than we know.” Yena quacks back, causing Minjoo’s cheeks to redden.

“Yahh, stop insinuating. I usually stay at the dorm my agency gave me.” The brunette says to defend herself.

“And how many times has Chaewon gone over? Hmm?” Yena replies. Yuri can only facepalm at the duo’s unseriousness.

A part of her though was definitely glad she had these goofballs by her side. She’d been complaining about how the public viewed her when she had so many people who supported her. Aside from IZ*ONE, she had other mutant friends as well from ITZY and the members of IVE and Le Sserafim. She also had her fanbase, Glassy, that would always stick up for her. They didn’t care that she was a mutant. None of them did. Fighting to change the mindsets of the public will always be their cause, but Yuri realized that there were also more people standing with her than she thought.

Yuri smiles at this thought and decides to give Yena a kiss on the cheek, which also manages to stop her argument with Minjoo.

“Hmm? What’s up, baby?” Yena wonders. From across the room, Minjoo makes a gagging motion at the duck’s words.

“Nothing, I’m just glad to have you.” Yuri says before looking at Minjoo. “All of you.”

“Agh, I can’t take it anymore! This is too cheesy!” Chaewon shouts, immediately sitting up. She’d been pretending to sleep for the past couple minutes, but it had finally gotten too much for her.

“And you!” Chaewon then points to Yena. “The only reason I can sleep with you around is because I wear earplugs! Also, for the record, I spend way more time with Min than you!”

Yena can only stare, speechless at Chaewon’s outburst. Meanwhile, Minjoo was covering her face which was now red as a tomato and Yuri was just laughing her off. This was the chaos the hamster loved from the group. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door.

“Eunbi-unnie, is that you?” Yuri asks only to get no response. She looks to the others, but they also seem to not know what it was about. “Fine, I’ll get it.”

When Yuri opens the door, she sees a young man in the ship’s crew uniform.

“Good morning! We’ve been requested to complete our screening of the passengers because of the incident at the dock earlier. May I have some identification?” He asks.

“Oh… someone actually came by earlier and we already confirmed it with them.” Yuri replies, lacing her words in charmspeak.

“Really? I don’t recall anyone making the rounds yet. May I just see them again to double check? I apologize for the inconvenience.” The man says, not seeming to be affected by Yuri’s spell. Just as Yuri was about to try making up another excuse, a loud rumbling rocks the boat.

“What was that???” Chaewon asks.

“Probably just some strong currents! The waves were pretty strong at the dock.” The crew member says. “Now, about that iden-”

Before he could finish his sentence, a lightning bolt catches him right in the face.

“Unnie?? What was that for?” Yuri says, the blast barely missing her.

“It’s an android.” Is all Yena says before the man gets up. Half of his face was fried off to reveal metal plating, but other than that, he looked fine.

“It appears that you are the mutants we’ve been searching for.” He says before firing an energy blast at them.

“Yah, what’s going on here- oh my god.” Eunbi says after stepping out of her room to a projectile battle. This sound catches the android’s attention as he turns and aims his next attack at her. Luckily for Eunbi, Hyewon had appeared to create an ice barrier just in time to block it.

“We need to get rid of him discreetly or they might turn the boat around.” Sakura warns.

“We can handle this one then. You go and help Yujin and Wonyoung. I’m sure the boat rocking earlier was because of them!” Yena says as she fires another electricity beam towards the android in front of her.

~~~~

“Wonnie, watch out!” Yujin yells, diving towards her girlfriend as the woman’s arm shifts to a cannon and launches an energy attack. “Yah, are you crazy? There are civilians on this boat!”

“My orders are to bring in the mutant fugitives by any means necessary.” Is all the machine says before launching another blast.

“You made a big mistake messing with us.” Wonyoung replies, holding her hands out to keep the android’s arms subdued. “Now, Yujin!”

The puppy nods and begins pulling water from the ocean next to them and forming a ball like she had a couple nights earlier, but before she could finish, the android opens its mouth and begins emitting a screech.

“Agh… what is that…” Yujin asks, losing focus and covering her ears. Wonyoung was affected similarly, as she ended up letting go of the android. She could just make out the word ‘yield’ projecting into her eardrums.

“It m-must be… a new feature.” Wonyoung struggles to say, the machine now walking closer to them with its palms charging up another attack.

Despite her ears ringing in pain, Wonyoung just manages to use her power to flick the android’s aim astray at the last second. Still, the soundwaves being directed towards them were starting to become unbearable. She didn’t think she could deflect another attack.

The android was now standing in front of them, and both girls now felt helpless with another beam on the way. Yujin was trying with all her might to harness the power of the sea, but it somehow felt heavier than usual. Again though, the duo was saved just in time as the robot’s eyes dim and its arms fall to its side. When it collapses on the ground, they see Sakura whose hands had just been on the android’s back. Next to her were Nako and Hitomi, the former of the two looking slightly upset at not being able to get a swing in.

“We’re going to have to study this for the remainder of the trip because I already know Yena and the others thrashed the other one.” The tech-girl says. Yujin and Wonyoung both look at each other before asking the same question.

“The other one?”

~~~~

Sure enough, by the time the five girls returned, the second android was in pieces. Yena and Hyewon had made quick work of it, freezing and electrifying it while the others played distraction. Apparently, Yena’s first strike managed to cut off the android’s screech attack that gave Yujin and Wonyoung trouble earlier.

“Where’s Yuri?” Sakura asks.

“Off with Minjoo to convince the crew and passengers there was just a firework show and not murderous androids on the loose.” Eunbi replies before inviting them inside their cabin.

“So, it seems like they’re not done adding tricks to these tin cans.” Chaeyeon says after hearing about the maknaes encounter earlier.

“Yes, from what I’ve gathered so far, this android’s speech box was fitted with a combination of the whistle that was used against us in Jeju and Busan and a vocalizer that amps up its strength. The reason it’s so disorienting is because it’s layering two different sounds over each other at the right pitch.” Sakura explains.

“Wait, layering soundwaves? That sounds like what Yuri told me when they were experimenting on her. They must’ve integrated a part of her power somehow.” Yena butts in.

“That would explain the faint words I was hearing within the screeching noise. It definitely felt different from the whistle.” Wonyoung says.

“Ugh, so they can do that now, and if what Gaeul said was true, they now also have the ability to heat themselves up to prevent physical attacks too.” Yujin adds.

“All the more reason to take them down before they can give them more weapons.” Chaewon comments as the PA system turns on above them.

“Hello, guests. This is your captain speaking. Apologies for the unannounced turbulence earlier. Some of our entertainment props were set off by accident. With that being said, we are about an hour away from Ulleung Island, so please do enjoy the rest of the trip.” A man with a deep voice says before the speaker cuts off and goes quiet again.

“Looks like Yuri and Minjoo did their job. Now, we can start telling you all the plans.” Eunbi announces.

“Hmm, we might have to make some slight adjustments though given the presence of these androids here.” Sakura says, causing the leader to look back at her confusedly.

“How come?”

“Well, if these androids were checking for mutants heading to Ulleung Island, then us taking them out of commission must’ve alerted them, right? They might be waiting for us at the port.” The tech-girl replies.

“Oh yeah. When these two don’t check in, they’re going to notice.” Eunbi realized.

“How about working your magic then, Kkura-unnie?” Yena suggests.

“It’s not magic, Yena, but sure, I’ll try something. Don’t get your hopes up though with what you did to that one.” Sakura replies, pointing at the remains of the first android.

“Fine, I can help you put it back together then.” The duck whines as if she wasn’t the one who put it in that state in the first place.

“Okay, while they’re doing that, Hiichan and I will just go over the strategy we came up with to find the base and what we’re going to do once inside. Gather around, everyone.” Eunbi says.

~~~~

Somewhere on Ulleung Island…

“Have all the preparations been made?” Kim Yong-bum asks on the phone.

“Yes, sir. We adjusted the timeline just as you said. The attack will be in place soon.” Officer Hwang’s voice responds.

“Good, while those mutants focus on coming here, their home along with their friends will all fall.” KYB says before hanging up and turning back to the scientist who was standing next to him.

“Are you sure about this, sir?” She queries.

“Yes, I’ve thought about it for a while. I want to see what the so-called strongest mutants can really do.” He replies with a psychotic grin.

~~~~

Back at PD Campus…

“One more time, tell us what KYB’s plans are. Maybe the authorities will go easy on you if you spill it.” Gaeul says to the scientist that was locked up in their holding cells. They were actually pretty lucky that when the campus was compromised, and IZ*ONE was arrested that they hadn’t checked down here. Right now, Gaeul was trying to interrogate their captive because she didn’t like the idea of just sitting around doing nothing.

“Those same authorities that arrested your friends? I’m sure they’d be happy to know you kidnapped me.” Dr. Han laughs back.

“What’s so wrong with us for defending ourselves? We never tried to hurt anyone!” Liz complains.

“It’s about the danger you may pose. That’s why you used to wear those gloves, right?” The scientist asks, gaze directed at Gaeul.

“Well, yes, but I should be the one to choose how I want to protect myself and others. From what your boss said, he just wants to use us for profit.” The short-haired girl replies defensively.

“In any case, you girls don’t stand a chance against the androids’ final form anyway. Besides, I’ve been locked up in here for almost a week. I’m sure any information I know is outdated now. You’re wasting your time!” Dr. Han says with a smug grin.

“Agh, she is so frustrating.” Gaeul murmurs after taking a step back to compose herself. There was a part of her that found it hard to counter the scientist’s words because they were all pretty on the mark. Aside from the Fromis squad, most of the police were in league with KYB, and from the company’s big dinner the other day, a lot of government officials were too. It also didn’t help her thought process that there was a part of her that was afraid of her own powers being dangerous. It was always stressful for her to hide her abilities by wearing those gloves. She still does sometimes, just because she’s afraid of losing control despite the amount of training she’s had over the months. Gaeul tried to fight it, but there was certainly a small part of her that considered if KYB was right. Those thoughts were pushed away though once she heard the voice of her maknae call her attention.

“Keep calm, unnie. There’s still time before the attack. I’m sure Yujin-unnie and the others will finish this mess.” Leeseo says, trying to be supportive just as Rei comes running into the hall.

“Girls! It’s bad! Saerom-unnie just called!” The Japanese girl says.

“And what is it?” Gaeul asks and when Rei replies, the whole place goes quiet.

“The attack… it got moved up to this afternoon.”

 

A/N: Hi again! I had some time during the weekend, so here's the next chapter! There were a couple action sequences in it, but that's just a sign of things to come. This is the last relatively chill chapter until the end as we're heading into the ! Hopefully y'all enjoyed the fluff I added in the middle here!

From what we know now, IZ*ONE's gonna make their final stand at Ulleung Island where KYB appears to have one more secret weapon. Meanwhile back in Seoul, it appears the attack was pushed up, so it'll be up to the other members again to step up.

I know I said last chapter that there'd be only four chapters left, but I realize now I meant like four segments to write (this counts as one), so depending on how long the last three take to make, there could be an extra chapter. 

Some news as well, I've been assigned to go to work onsite for the next two weeks, and if you're from the Philippines, you know how horrible the traffic here is. I'll have to wake up at 5am to get to work at 8am and get home at around 8pm if I'm lucky. That means the final chapters might take a bit longer. I'll try to free up some time on the weekend so I can get at least one out though.

Anyways, thank you again for taking your time to read this story! I say it a lot, but it means so much to me, seeing votes and reading comments, no matter how trivial the reaction appears. I try not to take any of it for granted.

Have a wonderful day, everyone, and I'll see y'all in the next one!