"Are you sure it was a good idea to come over here?" Chaeryeong asks her sister when they arrive at one of the island's tourist spots.

"We lost all our supplies, Ryeong, and if you hadn't noticed, the girls eat a lot of food." Chaeyeon says with a laugh. The place looked relatively normal with sightseers milling around the different stores lined across the boulevard. After scanning past the shopping and souvenir shops, they finally spot a convenience store. The older sister was about to zip on over, but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Unnie, you gotta slow down a bit. You do remember that the police are out looking for a mutant who runs fast, right?" Chaeryeong reminds her.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. It slipped my mind." Chaeyeon says feeling a bit embarrassed at being chided by her younger sister. Part of her felt a bit good though since she hadn't experienced hanging out with her consistently for a while. Despite being born a year apart, the two had always treated each other like best friends.

Eventually, they managed to sneak their way to the store which was filled with snacks and candies on the inside. The store clerk welcomed them cheerfully, but Chaeyeon hesitated, recalling the story the others told her about being arrested at one of these places.

"What's wrong?" Chaeryeong asks.

"Just...keep your guard up, sis." Chaeyeon whispers back as she continues to grab gummies and chips to put in their shopping basket.

To Chaeyeon's surprise, nothing went wrong at the store. They stocked their baskets with piles of food, and paid the cashier, who didn't seem to think anything was off. The two were just about to head back when something caught Chaeryeong's attention.

"Yah, unnie. Look over there." The younger siblings says before pointing over to a couple of armed guards that seemed to be patrolling the area. That normally wouldn't have been a big deal, but there was a familiar patch on their shirts.

"Yujeonja Tech Solutions..." Chaeyeon mutters.

"At least we know we're close. Should we alert the others?" Chaeryeong asks.

"Hmm, maybe go bring back the food alone first and let me scope it out on my own." Chaeyeon suggests.

"What? No way you're going near those guards by yourself." The younger argues back.

"It'll be fine. Besides, we still don't know if there's still some remnant of their technology left in you that they can reactivate." Chaeyeon replies, trying to think of any excuse instead of just admitting she didn’t want her sister to be in a dangerous situation without backup.

"Okay, you win. Eunbi-unnie's going to kill me though for letting you pull off this stunt."

"Yeah, I'll handle it. The second I feel danger, I'll be back to you guys in a flash." Chaeyeon says with a laugh.

"Don't you get tired of that joke?" Chaeryeong asks sarcastically, remembering how Chaeyeon would always say that quip when they were younger.

"Just make sure to get the food to them and rest for a while. If I don't come back in 30 minutes, then you can come look for me." Chaeryeong gives one more worried look at her older sister before heading off.

~~~~

When she was sure Chaeryeong was out of sight, Chaeyeon locks her eyes on the two guards again who were wandering around. It seemed like they were just out on their lunch break because they stopped at a tteokbokki stand and bought some food which reminded Chaeyeon that she hadn't eaten yet either.

Damn, I should've asked Ryeong to leave me some jelly. She thinks to herself.

After a couple minutes of eating, the guards cleaned up and began to leave. Chaeyeon continues following from a safe distance while trying to not look too suspicious for passersby.

Eventually, the two guards veer off the tourist path and walk into the forest. Chaeyeon debates internally for a second, wondering if this was really a good idea after all, but ultimately forges onward.

"You hear of the plane that crashed, right? The boss' plan seems to be working fine." One of the men suddenly says.

"Yeah, with those mutants, we won't have to do any of the dirty work anymore." His partner jokes.

"Reports say that they survived the crash though. They'll be coming."

"Don't worry. Like you said, the boss' plan is working. They'll have another one out and defending soon." This last bit of their conversation catches Chaeyeon's attention.

Another one? She thinks to herself.

At the end of the path was what appeared to be a solid stone wall dead end. The guards keep going though, and when they arrive at the wall, one of them places his hand on a rock. This action seemed to trigger a door mechanism that slowly revealed a cave on the inside causing Chaeyeon to let out a gasp.  She continues to scan the surroundings for when she reports back later, but she was interrupted by a sharp pain at the back of her head that knocks her down. Someone then pulls her by the hair and yanks her up before she could recover.

"Looks like we have a spy..." The newcomer, another guard with the same uniform, announces. The two guards Chaeyeon had been following turn around in surprise, but their expressions quickly become smug.

"Dr. Park better give us a raise for this." One of them says. Chaeyeon was still groggy from the attack, but she could still make out what was being said.

"There's no way I'm going to be one of your lab experiments." She mumbles. The man who had captured her laughs, pulling her by her hair again.

"Keep telling yourself that, girl." He grabs his baton which he'd used to hit her the first time, but before he could swing it, Chaeyeon springs into action, quickly landing a kick right at her captor's groin. Turns out she'd just been playing possum to get him to let his guard down.

The other two guards reach for their guns, but Chaeyeon was too fast, disarming them in seconds. The first guard she hit though manages to regain composure and use his walkie-talkie to call for backup.

"Yah, we have a mutant here at the front. She's with the wanted group!" He yells. When Chaeyeon hears this, she rushes towards him and swiftly knocks him out. She then makes a run for it before the backup could arrive.

~~~~

"-and you just let her go???" A flustered Eunbi asks Chaeryeong when she heard what had happened. She would've yelled more, but Chaeryeong was still new to the group. She didn't want to be too harsh.

"I was worried too, unnie, but I trust her. Chaeyeon-unnie always finds a way." Some of the others had been watching the situation unfold while eating their newly delivered snacks.

"Yah, how can you girls be eating at a time like this? Chaeyeon-unnie might've been captured!" Minjoo asks worriedly. Yena finishes chewing her jelly candy before responding.

"Chaeyeon said to trust her." The duck says with a shrug. "If we can't take her sister's word, then who else can we trust? Look at Sakura, she's fine." As described, Sakura was still calmly reassembling the com-device they had picked up. On the inside though, she was definitely panicking.

Not again Chaeyeon...You don't always have to play the hero. She thinks. Every time they're on a mission, Chaeyeon always chooses to make a risky play for the sake of the group. It usually turns out fine, but that doesn't make it any less stressful. In general, she had no problems making adjustments to plans though. It was their team's philosophy to stay flexible after all. Sakura just wanted to make sure any adjustments were well thought out and executed. Chaeyeon's plans were more on the spontaneous and random side.

"Chaeyeon-unnie said if she isn't back within half an hour, we can go look for her, but she should be back-" Before Chaeryeong could finish her sentence, a blur blows by and stops in front of the group.

"Right now!" Chaeyeon says, making an exaggerated triumphant pose.

"Yah, you made us worried sick!" Eunbi nags.

"Us? Unnie, it was just you and Minjoo. We trusted her just fine." Chaewon points out. 

"Aaanyway, Chaeyeon-unnie, you find out anything important?" Wonyoung asks before another argument can start.

"Yeahp, I can lead us there, but the security might be a bit tougher." Chaeyeon replies, recounting her experience.

"Hmm, so it is Yujeonja Tech here in charge of everything. At least we got some incriminating evidence on Principal Ahn." Yuri says.

"What do you think they meant by 'another one' though? Another mind-controlled mutant?" Minjoo asks.

"I think that's what we'll have to find out when we get in." Chaeyeon responds.

"Alright, sounds good. I think we should get on the move soon though. They might've followed you." Eunbi says.

"There's no way that happened, unnie! I was way too fast." The younger girl says with a confident expression.

"I wouldn't say that too soon, Chaeyeon." Sakura says as she holds up the newly repaired com-device.

"Security cameras showed a strong gust of wind heading into sector A of the forest. That must be the speedster." A man says through the radio.

"Remember, Chaeyeon. You're fast, not invisible." Sakura nags in a tone the others normally didn't hear from the reserved girl.

"Okay, I'm sorry, unnie. Maybe I did get a bit ahead of myself." Chaeyeon says while scratching the back of her head, embarrassment rolling over her.

"You can make it up to us later when you show us the base. Now, come on, girls! Let's move to a new spot so we can make an infiltration plan!" Eunbi announces, and the group runs off.

~~~~

After moving non-stop for an hour, the group finally finds refuge at a cove near the edge of the island. It was already around noon, the sun shining in the sky above them. Under normal circumstances, this weather on Jeju Island would make for a wonderful day of relaxation, but today was not one of those times. The group was exhausted from walking so much, and even though Eunbi wanted to move again as soon as possible, she recognized that the group needed some rest to treat their injuries and rest. They had just jumped from a falling airplane just a couple hours ago after all.

"Sakura, any reports?" The leader asks.

"They're still looking for us, but they're currently focused on the forests. We should be fine for about an hour." The tech-girl responds, still being attentive to any new messages coming from the com-device.

"Okay, that's good enough for now. Everyone get some rest, but be ready to move at any time in case they come closer." Eunbi says before taking a seat by one of the rocks and releasing a big sigh. There were hundreds of scenarios going through her head about how the mission might go. Normally, Hyewon would help keep her calm, but without her, she was slowly getting more stressed.

"What's wrong, unnie?" Chaewon's voice asks suddenly. Eunbi looked over to see the younger girl walking towards her with a worried expression. Was it that obvious that she was losing composure?

"It's nothing, Chae. Just a lot to think about, you know?" Eunbi replies, but Chaewon doesn't seem convinced.

"Unnie, I've known you the longest here out of anyone. You don't have to hide your worries from me. Where's the chic and cool woman who convinced a runaway like me to come over to Woollim?"

"I'm just worried about Hyewon. I know we have a goal here, exposing Ahn, but I also really want to make sure Hyewon is okay first." The leader finally says.

"It doesn't have to be one or the other. We'll probably be able to do both of those things." Chaewon replies with an optimistic smile.

"Easy for you to say. You'll be joining both groups when we split up. The main objective is really important, and I'm going to have to be on that team to lead them."

"You know you don't have to, right? We can take care of ourselves now because of your leadership. Look at me and Yujin. You put trust in us, and we managed to lead at different times too. You also have Chaeyeon-unnie who's always done well when called upon . We've all become better individually because of the trust you've given us." Chaewon says. Eunbi has always been a role model for Chaewon ever since she'd met her. Though there were times that the younger girl still made rash choices and goofed off, Eunbi continued to put her trust in her, just like what she did with all the others. She wouldn't admit it to her face, but Chaewon really wanted to be a leader like Eunbi one day.

"Thanks...I think I needed that." Eunbi says with a small laugh. Chaewon was right. Everyone here was already capable enough to pull through in this mission without her having to micromanage each member. She was glad to have been surrounded by such great friends.

"Glad I could be of help, boss." Chaewon replies, giving the leader a reassuring hug.

~~~~

On the other side of the cove, Sakura was sitting quietly with her eyes closed. She was feeling around for a technological current that would give her a mental map of the secret base for when they had to go in. Chaeyeon giving the approximate location made it easier for her to pin the place down.

From what she could gather, the base went deep into one of the mountains. She could feel a lot of energy emanating from that area. Unfortunately, it appeared that there were only two entrances- the one Chaeyeon found and another across the island. If they wanted to save time, then the closer one was their only option. She was going to start thinking of a plan when a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Saku-chan! Hey, Saku-chan!" The voice Chaeyeon calls.

"What?" Sakura responds in an irritated tone before opening her eyes.

"Okay, jeez, unnie. Sorry to rile you up" Chaeyeon was surprised at the older girl's reaction. Sakura wasn't usually the type to get upset easily.

"I was just gonna ask if you had any updates on the base layout." She continued. Sakura rubs her temples, realizing she may have come off a bit too harsh.

What's going on with me? She asks herself. Chaeryeong's words echo back to her- You don't really understand love. It's not some equation you can just calculate...you just gotta take that leap, be a bit fearless. Sakura shakes her head at those thoughts, not wanting to think about it right now.

"The entrance you found is the only way in if we want to make good time. It's going to be heavily guarded, so we need to prepare to fight. I'll have the details of where the important rooms are in a bit." She eventually responds.

"Alright, understood. By the way...is everything alright with you, Kkura-chan?" Chaeyeon asks. Sakura had been acting a bit strange since they’d crash landed, and she didn’t know why.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said it was nothing." She says with a small smile. Chaeyeon could always see right through her, so she didn't bother denying anything.

"I'll tell you if we get out of this mess alive. How about that?" She offers. Chaeyeon doesn't like it, but nods anyway, accepting the compromise.

"You better try your best to stay alive then, Kkura." The younger girl says casually, as if it was just another day at campus.

"Always." Sakura responds with a giggle, a rare occurrence for her. Chaeyeon was one of the few people who could make her laugh consistently.

"Okay, I'll leave you to do your techno-wizardry stuff now." Chaeyeon says before walking towards Eunbi who had been talking with Chaewon.

Almost there, Sakura. Just one more mission, then you can tell her how you feel. She says to herself. At the back of her mind though, there was a nagging voice reminding her that the odds of success for this mission were still low. Sakura closes her eyes again, pushing the negative thoughts away and goes back to mapping out the base.

~~~~

Deep inside the mountain, through a snaking network of tunnels and passages, two scientists are arguing with each other.

"You're lucky we kept our jobs, let alone our lives after that screw up back in Daegu." Dr. Yang chides.

"Yah, don't remind me. I was ordered to get an extra soldier and she was there so I took her inside. What did you expect I was going to do?" Dr. Jeong responds.

"Well, we got the hair sample from that girl at least. Also, we may have lost the data on the invisibility, but if reports are correct, that group will be back again to save their friend soon enough."

"Don't you think they might just overrun us or sneak in again?"

"Aish, just because you were fooled once, doesn't mean we'll allow ourselves to do the same. The guards are better equipped here, and we also have the other test subjects. That one girl already tried to escape and failed. The security will be fine." At the mention of that last bit, Dr. Jeong heaves a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, you might be right. I don't think they'll be able to get through this time." She says as she looks down at the labs below their control room.  Several pods with humanoid specimens line the room with a familiar face in one of them...Hyewon.

~~~~

Several hours earlier…

Hyewon hadn't felt this feeling for a long time...she was cold. She'd just woken up from the worst headache and found herself in a human sized test-tube with an oxygen mask attached to to help her breathe while in this cold blue liquid. The last thing she remembered was agreeing to go along with ITZY at the request of her former boss in 8D. When Hyewon got onto a getaway helicopter, she ended up having a conversation with Yeji.

-------

“So, what do you want me to do?” Hyewon had asked.

“Whatever our boss asks, but right now, we just need you to away from that team of yours.” Yeji replies, her fierce eyes boring straight through her.

“And what if I don’t?” Yeji smirked and took out a picture of IZ*ONE, presumably taken by a spy. She lifts her finger, a small flame dancing on it, and singes the image.

“If you don’t follow orders, your friends will be taken out one by one.”

“They’re already being tracked by the government though.” Hyewon counters.

“You and I both know that it's not the government they should be worried about. If you continue to be defiant, we’ll take them out personally…” Yeji says with finality before taking out a drink and handing it to the older girl.

“Drink up…it’s gonna be a long trip.”  Hyewon looks at it hesitantly, but ultimately drinks it. She was immediately overcome with a sense of drowsiness, and is knocked out shortly after, amused expressions from the ITZY members being her final view.

-------

In the pod, Hyewon uncharacteristically shivers. Normally, because of her powers, she never felt it when temperatures were freezing. The last time she felt cold, she was just a child; her powers weren’t developed yet. Something about the pod must’ve been suppressing her abilities. To confirm her point, she tries to freeze the liquid around her to no avail.

Where the hell am I... Hyewon thinks to herself. Her old boss’ voice sounded very strained over their phone call earlier. Principal Ahn must have blackmailed him or something to get him to give her up to them. As much as she wanted to ignore his order though, Hyewon owed his organization too much for picking her up off the streets.

She was just a child when she had her first real incident with her powers, accidentally freezing the school’s pool during swimming class. It was a miracle that there were no casualties among her classmates, but that event was enough for her to be outcasted by her peers in fear of being frozen. Even her own parents disowned her, forcing her to run away and fend for herself. It was 8D that took a chance on her when they found her one day, giving her a home in exchange for training under them and undertaking missions. As an avid anime fan growing up, Hyewon was always eager to be just like the characters in her favorite shows. She’d need all that training to come in handy now to get out of this mess.

Hyewon now takes note of her surroundings and sees many more pods just like hers. She realizes that this must be the lab on Jeju Island that the team had been referencing for the past few days. She wanted to look around more, but with her powers suppressed, it would be pretty difficult to break out. Hyewon kicks at the glass for a couple minutes, and even tries smacking her head against it. Despite this, the glass holds and stays intact. She would’ve tried wriggling harder, but it would be risky if she accidentally disconnected her oxygen supply.

Is this really how it’s gonna end? She asks herself. In the shows she watched as a child, the heroes always made it out and found a way.

You were never really a hero though…you were just a mercenary. A voice at the back of her head says. Hyewon looks back on her life until now and heaves a sigh. Maybe her doubts were right. At 8D, she mainly worked as an undercover operative, and the PD campus was no different…at least until she met her friends in IZ*ONE. Would they still bother to come and rescue her? There was obviously a mission to expose Principal Ahn, but would they bother to come look for her and possibly jeopardize the mission? When she told Eunbi back on campus to trust her, she had lied. Hyewon didn’t really have a plan or knew what she was doing. She just wanted to follow orders because that was what she was used to doing. It didn’t help that Yeji had threatened her too. She had to work with the assumption that she was on her own.

Just as she was about to slip back into unconsciousness due to tiredness, a door opening catches her attention. A scientist walks in with a couple of guards, inspecting each pod, and Hyewon pretends to sleep. This might be her only chance to escape. Every forty-five seconds, she hears buttons being pressed and pods opening, likely to check on the condition of the person inside. Hyewon internalizes this pattern, counting down the intervals and preparing to strike. Eventually, she can hear the scientist at the pod next to her. He begins going through the routine inspection while Hyewon quietly observes.

Forty-two…Forty-three…Forty-four…Forty-five…And at that moment, the water drains from her pod and the hatch opens. Hyewon strikes immediately, opening her eyes and jabbing at the scientist’s face. Before the guards can react, Hyewon drops low and sweeps the two off their feet. She wanted to freeze the place, but her powers were still coming back. Instead, she runs while her captors recover. The scientist gets up, rubbing his nose that was now bleeding and yells.

“We have a runner! Alert the other guards!” Hyewon continues to run until she gets out of the room only to be greeted by another set of pods of a different color. There were plenty more in here than the last room she was in and each one had red liquid inside.

“Over there! Get her!” More guards yell over blaring sirens. Hyewon runs into the maze of different test subjects thinking of how many mutants Ahn had really captured. After a few turns, she thinks she finally lost the guards since the voices toned down. Hyewon takes a deep breath to recollect herself and examines one of the red pods next to her. There was a bit of mist fogging up the glass, so she decides to wipe it, and is shocked when she sees her face in there. She staggers back, and looks at another pod...her again.

“What…” She says out loud. Hyewon couldn’t compute what was going on in these labs. The entire row of pods next to her were all copies of her.

“Very ingenuitive mutant we have here…” A voice speaks from behind. “You’re as skilled as the last time I saw you. I can tell why you were brought onto Seunggi’s team.”

Last time…? Hyewon slowly turns to face the scientist they’d faced months before.

“Park Eunseo…” Hyewon says.

“That’s Dr. Park to you, Ms. Kang, and I believe play time is over for now.” The woman says with a smile. Hyewon then gets smacked from behind and falls to the ground.

“I told you not to disobey their orders…” Yeji says, holding up a phone to Hyewon’s face of a plane crashing into a mountain.

“No…” Hyewon wanted to believe Yeji was bluffing…that the video being shown to her wasn’t carrying who she thought it was carrying, but before she could speak up again, Yeji knocks her out cold.

~~~~

A/N: Hello, everyone! Long time, no chapter. I'm a couple minutes late, but I finally finished writing this chapter! Putting this out by my birthday was kind of like my gift to all you readers who've been waiting patiently. Academics really dragged me down in May honestly, and it's a relief to finally have had time to write again. I'm just really hoping I didn't make any continuity errors here. If there are,  I'll address them, but I am fairly sure I read through the old chapters and even the first story again just in case I mixed something up. 

Thank you all again for all support! I appreciate each and every one of you! See you all in the next chapter!