Sun was finally out when Chaeyeon woke up. She looked around the van and saw Yena and Yujin all cuddled up while Hyewon was still glued to her seat. "Why is Yena sleeping? I thought she'll stay up with you surveying the place." Chaeyeon stretched her limbs and moved to the front seat.

"Hey. Good morning. I'd offer you some coffee or water if I had found any but," Hyewon shyly scratched her head. Their situation dawned on her just now. How this rescue mission lacks from planning to almost everything. They're solely relying on luck today. "She dozed off midway so I just let her," Hyewon answered.

"Hm... Any suspicious happened?" Chaeyeon asked.

"Not really but I found our way in. It's the only way in and it's also probably our only way out," Hyewon pointed at the door that's locked with intense security. "I saw a staff enter and we need her key card. A few hours more and it'll be lunchtime. Hopefully, she'll go out to grab her lunch, the nearest place she can eat is a few miles away so it won't raise any suspicion if she took long to come back. That would be our chance... only chance probably. Worst-case scenario; they serve lunch inside," Hyewon explained with a deep sigh.

They're literally in the middle of nowhere. They're lucky enough to be able to park at the abandoned gas station. "How did you even find them? Are we even sure that Minjoo and Chaewon are here?" Yujin asked. The young mutant didn't bother to greet them.

"I don't know... I... I just had the gut feeling that they're here." Hyewon started having trouble communicating with her pup. Ever since her girlfriend got taken away, Yujin rarely talks to anyone unless it's about Minjoo's case. Hyewon heard Yujin scoff, she wanted to scold the latter but it will only damage their relationship more.

"We just have to understand her a little more. She's still a kid," Chaeyeon gave Hyewon a small smile.

"At least some of them understand me... I wonder how Eunbi's doing? I'm sure she's hella mad right now." Hyewon could only imagine that she's hugging the older mutant for comfort right now. But a part of her also tells her that Eunbi loathes her for endangering their friends and everybody else.

*****

Minjoo was laying on a cold metal table with tons of wires connected to every tip of her body. Her arms and legs were also tied to the table therefore twisting her body won't really help her to escape.

"Calm down, child. We're almost done. No more pain, no more struggling after this. I promise," a nurse said before injecting something in her vein.

Minjoo tried using her powers. She was desperate to jump back time, even for just a few minutes early before they put her on this table. She was not the strongest when it comes to combat but it would be better if she tried to fight them off until someone, hopefully, rescues her.

"Ready for extraction," Minjoo heard a different nurse announce.

A man was looking over her. His eyes were dark and dull. Minjoo finds it disturbing how the man appeals very emotionless like he doesn't have a soul. She was scared when she saw him smile. Even though she was wearing a mask, Minjoo was sure it was and it would be a lot scarier if he was not.

"Extraction done! Bring in the next mutant. Careful with that one, she's feisty." The doctor in charge changed his scrub suit and the nurse made sure to prepare a new set of tools. It was weird to see how they are careful and extra they are with the procedure.

"Dr. Kang, Suhyun is waiting for you at your office," his secretary informed him.

"Tell her to wait. She knew we're doing the last procedure today," Dr. Kang replied while he shakes his head out of Suhyun's stubbornness.

"Let go of me! I swear I'll kill you all once I break free!"

Dr. Kang took a few steps forward, "Ms. Kim, no need to get brutal. They're just doing their jobs. I'm sure your mother would be disappointed if she found out that her daughter just threatened someone in a very respectable field. You wouldn't want that now, don't you?"

"She'll celebrate instead when I tell her that you all are harassing me and my friend!" Chaewon spits at the doctor's face.

Doctor Kang isn't the type to accept insults. He slapped Chaewon hard enough to make the girl's lips bleed and left a mark on her cheek. "Put her on the table, up her dosage. I don't want her squirming around while we're doing the procedure."

*****

"That's her!" Hyewon pointed a girl walking out from the building across them. "I'm going. Everyone remembers the plan?" Her three friends nodded with determination so she did not waste any longer and fetch the staff.

They tightly tied the staff. They circled around her to avoid getting away and covered as well, they weren't sure if she'd be an ordinary staff or a mutant.

"We do the asking here, okay? Blink twice if you'll cooperate." Yujin was assigned to search for her ID. "Do you have Minjoo Kim and Chaewon Kim inside?" Chaeyeon asked and the staff blinked twice. "Are they still alive?" Yena asked earning her a smack from Chaeyeon, "Why would you ask her that?!"

"Ouch! What? We gotta make sure they are before we proceed to our plan!" Yena answered. "Are they hurt? Are you torturing them?" Yena follows up.

"Can you slow down? You asked her two consecutive questions and she can only answer us by blinking. Be considerate," Chaeyeon scolded Yena again. "Give us your answer 3 seconds apart." The staff didn't blink, instead, she shook her in a so-so motion.

"Found it! Her name is Doyeon Kim and she works in Financial Department." Yujin showed the staff's ID. "Hyewon, you can do the next step."

Hyewon carefully held Doyeon's head. She scanned through Doyeon's memory to make sure whether she was telling the truth or not. "She's clean," Hyewon informed after scanning. Hyewon proceed to their next step, instead of erasing her memory, Hyewon fabricated it. "As soon as you stepped out this vehicle, you'll remember none of these. You will drive home, file a vacation leave with pay then you resign."

After going through their plan one more time, they readied themselves to enter the building. Hyewon was still anxious to bring the three inside with her but it would be also dangerous to leave them here. "Remember to stay close. We don't want them to find out we're here," Hyewon said. The three nodded in reply.

*****

Everything happened too fast. They were in the control room looking for two friends and the next they know, everybody in the building knew they're inside. They were left with no choice but to separate to speed up their plan. Chaeyeon and Yujin were assigned to go and fetch their two friends in the laboratory located in the basement while Yena and Hyewon will try to hack the system and copy every data related to the experiment as evidence before deleting it.

"Is it wrong that I find this place amusing despite how scary it looks?" Yena rhetorically asked.

"Yena, focus!" Hyewon scolded.

"Right, right!"

While the two were busy figuring out how hacking works, the other two mutants successfully found their two friends. Yujin immediately hugged Minjoo as soon as she saw her. Despite only being gone for a day and a few hours, it is evident that Minjoo and Chaewon went through a lot. The two looked beat tired. Minjoo can't even walk and Chaewon was barely walking.

"We need to go now," Chaeyeon said in hurry. Her arm was wrapped around Chaewon's waist for support. Yujin decided to carry Minjoo on her back, it would be faster for them to rendezvous.

They struggled but they managed to get out. "I'm going back. They probably need help." Yujin didn't argue with Chaeyeon. Hyewon was still her friend no matter what and she can't imagine what would happen if her two other friends end up in danger.

"How did you find us?" Chaewon asked after Chaeyeon left.

"Hyewon did. We just tagged along," Yujin replied as she tries to nurse Minjoo.

Chaeyeon's ability wasn't much of help because of the low ceiling but her training combat did. It was hard and tiring to fight armed and big men alone but it will be easier as soon as she reach her two friends.

While Chaeyeon was busy fighting her way to them, Yena and Hyewon faced their own problem. Suhyun had found them.

"You shouldn't be meddling with the grown-ups' stuff, Hyewon." Suhyun easily threw Yena to the side.

"And you're supposed to be stopping them the moment you knew you they were doing something wrong." Hyewon launched herself to attack but Suhyun dodged it with ease.

Yena gets back to her feet and tries to help Hyewon. "No! Check our progress. I can handle this," Hyewon said. Yena was torn because she doesn't know Hyewon can really manage and if she did not, she's done for. There's no way she thinks she could get out alive without Hyewon's help.

Yena did what she was told. She settled she'll deal with this first then help Hyewon in any way she can after. "50%. We're close, Hye. Just hang on a little longer!" Yena cheered for her friend.

The two mutants haven't been able to land their punches successfully. They are both trained side by side for years so they knew what would be each other's next move.

"You've gone slow, Hyewon. Aren't they training you there? Or it wasn't challenging enough for you so you held back?" Suhyun teased when she finally landed a kick on Hyewon's chest.

"Stop talking. You came here to fight," Hyewon tried to pin Suhyun down but it went to Suhyun's favor, she was pinning Hyewon instead.

"Can't you move any faster, you piece of junk!" Yena shouted at the computer. The machine was moving slower and slower as the data transferring percentage rises. "Argh! You're driving me crazy! How did this pass quality control? My PC back home works faster than you and it's an old one!" Yena shouted at the computer again. “Chaen!” Yena called when Chaeyeon finally found them. She was still panting when she entered the room. Fighting at least twenty big men exhausted her.

“You’re not still done? Why?” Chaeyeon asked as she still trying to catch her breath. “There computer ! That’s why! Go help Hyewon!” Yena said.

“What are you doing here? This is not part of the plan. You’re supposed to take them back to the Academy,” Hyewon said when Chaeyeon stood next to her.

“Do you want Eunbi and Yuri to kill me? Heck! Sakura will definitely kill me. I can’t die thrice!” Chaeyeon replied.

What Suhyun did next shock them both, she duplicated herself. “Now it’s a fair fight.”

Chaeyeon was no match to Suhyun’s skills but she tried her best and managed to do a few damages. Hyewon tho was starting to feel tired. She hasn’t been able to rest last night and she knew to herself that fighting Suhyun will consume her energy the most if not the guards trying to eliminate them while escaping.

“98%. We’re almost done!” Yena announced. “Should I help them now?” she asked herself. It took her by surprise when another Suhyun was standing in front of her. Suhyun has now two more of herself. Yena once again flew to the other side of the room and hit the wall. “Ouch! Damn! She doesn’t really hold back,” Yena thought. She immediately ran back to the computer when the third Suhyun tries to stop it, Yena tackled the copy.

The room became a warzone. Yena and Chaeyeon are both bleeding. They could only take a few of Suhyun’s heavy attacks. Hyewon noticed how beat her friends are. “Yena, is it done?” Hyewon asked while she and Suhyun started a staring contest. “Yep!” Yena coughed as she slowly tries to get up from the floor.

“I have a proposition for you, Hyun. If—”

“What made you think I’ll accept it? The only thing I want right now is to have my hands drenched on their blood when I pull their hearts out,” Suhyun gathered back her two duplicates.

“How can she say that as if it’s not a big deal? Just how many lives has she taken?” Chaeyeon thought.

“Let them go. I’ll stay… I’ll cooperate, I won’t even try to fight. Just… Just let them go, Hyun. Okay?” Hyewon put her both hand in the air like she’s surrendering. Suhyun thought it for a second. She and the organization got nothing to lose; they already got what they want with the two mutants from the Academy and with Hyewon’s offer, they could gain everything and more.

“Fine… I’ll help them escape too. The place is mots likely swarmed with guards by now.”