“Over here!” Yujin yells to the others when she finds an unlocked door. After ushering everyone inside, she shuts and locks it. A few seconds later, they could hear the sound of footsteps following their path. Sakura motions at everyone to be as quiet as possible to which everyone nods. Eventually, the footsteps begin to quiet down until they were gone. This gives the group a chance to finally catch their breaths. When they look around, they realize they were just in a utilities room and begin searching for medical supplies to treat each other’s bruises and wounds.

“Okay, so now that we seem to be in the clear, what the hell just happened to us back there?” Nako asks in a frustrated tone, still likely not believing how easily she was beaten one on one.

“They planned for us. It can’t just be me who felt like they were reading our every move, right?” Hitomi replies, wincing because bandages Chaeyeon was putting on her burn wounds. The others quietly murmur in agreement.

“The files from campus…” Sakura says suddenly.

“What about them, unnie?” Wonyoung asks.

“Do you remember what they reported was stolen? Training logs and reports on every student on campus.” She replies. That info hangs in the air for a couple seconds as the group digests it.

“Wait, you mean to say they really do all our weaknesses and patterns?” Chaeyeon asks to which Sakura sadly nods.

“It’s worse than that though. Because they have all those files, they have the knowledge to defeat and capture almost everyone who was in the system and test on them too…”

“We have to find that data and destroy it then. You sure you didn’t see them on the main computer you were on? Actually, did you manage to download anything before you were attacked?” Yujin queries.

“No, I assume they’ll be at the laboratories since that’s where all the testing is done. It’s probably on an isolated laptop or USB since I didn’t sense it on the main network. As for the original data we came here for, I did manage to get a few files. I don’t think it’s enough though. I’ll need to go back in.”

“But what about that virus or whatever that attacked you while you were inside the machine? Won’t it still be there?” Chaeyeon interjects.

“That’s a bridge I’ll have to burn when we get to it.” She replies calmly before continuing.

“For now, we have to make another plan. If my theory is correct, you won’t need me to get rid of the stolen files. Just plug this into whatever console you see in the labs.” At this, she hands over a device that looked like a regular USB to Yujin.

“What does it do?”

“It’s a little virus I programmed back when we infiltrated the HKT building before that I thought could come in handy eventually. It should delete all the files in whatever network it’s connected to.” The tech girl says with a smirk.

“Why are you giving it to me though?” Yujin asks. Normally this would be something that would be given to Chaeyeon.

“Because Chaeyeon’s coming with me when we head back to the main room. The rest of you will go to the labs.” The others look at the older girl dumbfounded at that statement.

“Wait a minute, we’re splitting up again? After what just happened?” Wonyoung asks nervously.

“It might spread their forces out a bit. Chaeyeon and I can distract them from you girls. Besides, the labs are where Eunbi-unnie and the others are at, so you’ll be fine.”

“It’s not us I’m worried about, unnie. It’s you two.” The youngest girl says.

“Trust us. We’ll find a way. We don’t exactly have much time either.” Chaeyeon says.

“At least let me come with you two.” A voice says out of nowhere.

“Oh, Chaewon-unnie! Thank goodness you’re awake. Are you okay? You took a big hit to the face.” Hitomi says.

“Okay enough to realize that what Chaeyeon-unnie and Sakura-unnie are planning is a suicide mission.” She replies, wiping a bit of blood off her lip.

“Are you sure you have the strength to clone again though?” Sakura asks. Instead of replying with words, the brunette splits herself into two and gives a shrug.

“Alright, it wouldn’t hurt to have extra help. How are the others doing over there by the way?” Chaewon closes her eyes to get in touch with her other clone, but after a couple seconds, opens them again with a confused expression.

“I…I can’t seem to get a lock on her. Maybe something happened while I was unconscious. I think they need our help. Soon.” Chaewon says urgently. Sakura quickly grabs a roll of toilet paper from the shelf and writes something on it with her pen before handing it to Hitomi.

“Here, it’s a map of the base. Use it to get to the labs.” She says. The peach-cheeked girl nods in response.

“Girls, no one’s around. This is our chance!” Nako whispers after checking outside the door if the coast was clear.

“Stay safe out there, unnies!” Wonyoung says as the group splits up even more.

~~~~

Over in the labs, Eunbi’s group wasn’t faring too well. It appeared the others were dealing with something similar as the leader’s visions.

“Our parents left because of you, sis.” A familiar voice says to Yena. She didn’t know what was happening. One second, she was making her way towards the lights, the next she was back in her old home when she was a child with her brother in front of her.

“Sungmin-ah…I’ve been looking for you all for so long. What are you saying?” She says confusedly.

“Not only were you a burden because of your illness, you made things so hard for us all because of your mutant powers! They didn’t even care about me anymore, and then you ran away like a coward!” He yells.

“Yah! You’re lying! Mom and dad loved us both!” She shouts back, but the doubts start creeping into her head. Was he right? Was she the rift in the family after all?

“There you go again pretending like you understand…you were always different, Yena. No matter where you go, you’ll never fit it.” Sungmin sneers as he reveals a knife and runs towards her.

“NO!” Yena shrieks as she emits an electric pulse to defend herself. When the dust clears, she was horrified to see her brother lying on the ground, motionless.

“Oppa? Sungmin-ah? What have I done…?” She says as she shakes her brother’s body to wake him up, but it was no use.

“Oh dear…you’ve killed someone else. I’m not surprised though. That’s just part of who you are.” A new voice says from behind Yena. She turns around slowly, knowing who’s voice it was.

“…Yuqi?” It was clearly the same person she’d met a year ago when she joined that rogue mutant group, but they were all supposed to be dead. It was only then that she noticed the smell of a rotting corpse and saw the gunshot wound on the girl’s chest.

“We’ve been waiting for you for a long time, snitch…” The girl says as she slowly walks towards Yena, five others lurking in the shadows.

“Get away from me!” Yena screams as she turns and runs, but for some reason, Yuqi’s voice still echoed in her head.

“Always running away from your problems…you won’t get away this time.” She says.

~~~~

“Yena-unnie? Eunbi-unnie? Anyone? Where are you guys?” Yuri asks aloud as she wanders through the empty halls on campus. Eventually, she comes across her favorite duck standing in the courtyard alone.

“Yena-unnie! Thank goodness. Something’s wrong. One second, we were on this mission, the next-”

“Yah! Get away!” Yena suddenly says, firing a bolt of electricity on the ground to stop Yuri in her tracks.

“What…? Unnie, it’s me- Yuri.”

“I know it’s you, Yuri. I’m not going to be tricked by you anymore.” The older girls says.

“Tricked? Unnie, what do you mean? We have a mission-” Yuri is cut off again by another strike of lightning.

“You charmed me into falling in love with you, didn’t you? Why would you do something like that?”

“Charmed you…?” Yuri is heartbroken by her girlfriend’s words. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yes…you’ve kept me under your spell for months, but my head is clearer now. Your parents were right. Your voice is too dangerous.”  At this, Yena brings out a rag and slowly walks towards the younger girl.

“No, you are not going to gag me. Don’t come closer!” Yuri shouts. Yena stops in her tracks and grimaces.

“See, all you try to do is control others!” She says. Yuri takes a step back.

“Whoever that person is, it isn’t Yena-unnie.” She thinks before running away.

~~~~

“Ugh, what kind of trap did we walk into this time?” Chaewon asks herself when she blinked and realized she was back in her mom’s mansion. Everything looked the same, but she knew something was up. She was supposed to be on a mission saving Hyewon.

“Who’s there?” She asks when she hears movement behind her.

“Yah! Show yourself!” Chaewon shouts this time as the noises around her begin to multiply. Out of nowhere, one figure dashes up close and hits her in the back. When she gets up, ten hooded figures stand before her.

“Oh, you’re asking for it now.” She says as she charges and fights. To her surprise, every single one of her moves was being countered, as if the figures she was in combat with knew what she was going to do before she did it. Fatigue eventually begins to set in and one figure gets a lucky punch in, causing Chaewon to fall on her knees.

“Who are you people…” She asks.

“We’re…you.” Chaewon eyes widen in horror as the figures remove their hoods to reveal her face. They were clones of herself.

“What…?”

“You can’t control us anymore…” The one in front whispers as the group of clones jump at her, Chaewon’s screams echoing through the mansion halls.

~~~~

“Unnie? Are you okay? What’s going on?” Minjoo asks to Chaewon who was grabbing at her head in pain. When the lights had gone out, Minjoo had instinctively gone invisible and managed to avoid whatever initial attack hit her friends. She could hear a voice from the catwalk above that sounded awfully familiar, and right in front of her was a figure covered by the darkness. Using the dim glow of the pods around her though, Minjoo could just make out the person’s face and was shocked…Yunjin.

“What do I do? What do I do?” She asks herself as her friends continue to groan and writhe in pain. Yunjin was clearly powered up by whatever tests they were running down here, so there was a part of her that was afraid of facing Yunjin one on one. Looking at her friend’s pained expressions though made Minjoo realize she was all they had. She was never one start a fight. She was used to using her stealth to get by, but there was no other option right now. Minjoo recalls when she and Hyewon ran into Yunjin in capture the flag in what seemed like ages ago, and remembers how Hyewon won the fight.

“If you know it’s an illusion, it’s over.”

“Yah! Yunjin! It’s me! Let go of our friends!” Minjoo yells, finally revealing herself. Yunjin focuses in on her with an unimpressed look on her face. The sudden commotion attracts Dr. Park back to check in.

“Kim Minjoo. I would’ve imagined after your experience in Daegu, you’d be too afraid to come here, but it appears you’re as arrogant as your friends.” She says.

“We took you down twice already! We can do it again!” Minjoo replies defiantly.

“’We’? All I see is you. Alone. Yunjin, crush her mind like the others.” Dr. Park orders. Yunjin looks right into Minjoo’s eyes and begins creating another illusion.

~~~~

“Okay, Minjoo. Whatever appears when you open your eyes isn’t real.” She says to herself. When Minjoo does open her eyes, she finds herself in a familiar nightmare. She was back in her old room, and it really did feel real. When she steps out, she was in the campus cafeteria. It felt like a normal day; Many trainees were milling around, and talking with friends. Eventually, Minjoo spots Eunbi and the others and walks towards them.

“Eunbi-unnie? It’s me, Minjoo. You’re all in an illusion right now!” She shouts to no avail. No one heard her. Minjoo tries to grab her leader’s shoulder, but her simply passes through.

“Isn’t it nice for all eleven of us to finally have time to hang out?” Yena says.

“Yeah, there have been so many missions lately. I’ve been so exhausted.” Chaewon says.

“Eleven…?” Minjoo begins to panic as she looks at her own hands and sees them slowly turn invisible. She continues to wave and try to grab the group’s attention, but her whole body just phases through as if she was a ghost.

“There’s an empty seat here actually, unnie. Don’t you think we should add another person to make the team twelve?” Wonyoung asks cheerfully.

“Aish, Wonyoung. Eleven is a perfectly okay number. Twelve would be too much!” Yujin says with a laugh. As the group laughs and jokes, Minjoo begins to feel weaker. It was like she didn’t exist anymore.

“No. This isn’t real. Snap out of it, Minjoo.” She says to herself. Minjoo focuses herself again to calm down.

“These are just illusions…This isn’t my reality!” Minjoo shouts as she runs forward to the nearest wall and punches through, shattering the magic box she was placed in. Yunjin looks at her with a dumbfounded expression, but before she could recover, Minjoo throws another punch that hits her straight in the nose, knocking her out.

“It looks like I spoke too soon. Dr. Yang, dissolve clone experiment 107, and prepare to release clone experiment 108, now.” Dr. Park orders as she walks away.

“Are you girls okay?” Minjoo asks as she runs up to her friends who were lying on the floor.

“Min…? Is that you?” Chaewon replies, and gets a big hug from the younger girl. The other girls begin to get up, but there was still a mix of confusion and fear etched on their faces.

“Listen, I don’t know what Yunjin showed you, but it wasn’t real. We have to move and regroup now!” Minjoo says urgently while ushering them away.

“Wait, Yunjin? Is she under their control too? We have to bring her with us.” Eunbi says, but when they turn around to check on her, Yunjin was gone, a puddle of goo left in the spot she was at.

“There’s no time, guys! We need to find the others!” Minjoo urges, the sounds of guards beginning to approach where they were. With everyone still acting a bit lethargic, Minjoo focuses her energy and puts a cloak of invisibility over everyone. She’d never actually tried doing that with so many people because just cloaking one person sapped her energy a lot, but she had no choice right now. When the guards all walk by, she leads the group back up the stairwell they came from.

~~~~

“Is the coast clear?” Chaeyeon asks as she, Sakura and Chaewon look around a corner.

“Yes, it seems most of the guards are being led to the labs where Eunbi-unnie and the others went.” The tech-girl replies. Even though they sabotaged the camera system earlier, Sakura still had the power to look through them herself. The trio now finally finds themselves back in the main headquarters.

“Yah! What do you think you’re doing over here?” A scientist asks in surprise. It appeared he was doing something on the main computer before they arrived. He was accompanied by two guards, but Chaeyeon takes them out quickly while Chaewon apprehends the scientist. Sakura now walks up to him and points to the computer.

“The virus you put in there, how do I remove it?” She asks.

“You think I’d tell you that? It seemed like the firewall worked pretty well the first time. You’re not getting back in.” He replies. Hearing this, Chaewon grabs his arm and twists it behind his back causing him to wail in pain.

“You better tell us while we’re being nice.” She says in a low voice.

“Okay! Okay! There’s a password to shut it off!” He says.

“And what may that be?” Chaewon asks.

“Seraphim! It’s seraphim!”

“A bit random, but okay. You can let him go now, Chaewon.” Sakura says while she types in the password into the computer to bypass security. The scientist looks at his bruised arm before turning to the trio.

“You wonder why we’re wary of you mutants when you do things like this?” He sneers.

“Oh, shut up, man. I literally just twisted your arm. I don’t need powers to do that.” Chaewon replies.

“What you guys do here, experimenting on living people, is much worse than anything we could do.” Chaeyeon adds. The two were about to lecture him more when a new person walks in through the metal doors, Chaeryeong.

“Guys! Where are the others? I came here because Chaewon sensed something was up.” She says as she walks towards them who looked at her with confused expressions.

“Yah, stay back!” Chaewon warns.

“What? What’s wrong?” Chaeryeong replies.

“You knocked me out earlier and fought Chaeyeon-unnie! You’re under their control or something!”

“Chaewon, calm down. What if we were just mistaken a while ago?” Chaeyeon interjects.

“Don’t let your bias cloud your judgment, unnie. You still have the bruises from earlier. You know only she could fight at the same speed as you.”

“Wait, girls, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Chaeyeon-unnie, it’s me.” Chaeryeong says, not following what they were saying.

“Fine, Ryeong. If you’re actually not under their control and playing a trick on us, tell me something only the two of us would know.” Chaeyeon says. The younger girl quiets down at this as she thinks.

“Okay…you remember when we were kids before we found out we were mutants? We talked about auditioning to be in a K-pop duo. We always did have a knack for dancing and singing. That dream…it faded after we were taken away for being mutants, but I know deep down you still want to go for it.” She says after some thought. Chaeyeon nods at this and gives her younger sister a hug.

“Are you sure they didn’t just scan her brain to find that memory?” Chaewon asks, still wary.

“This is our Chaeryeong. Trust me.” Chaeyeon says.

“Then who was that ‘Chaeryeong’ we fought earlier?” At that moment, Sakura wakes up from her trip inside the computer, a worried expression on her face.

“What’s wrong, Kkura? What did you see?” Chaeyeon asks. The older girl glances to Chaeryeong, only acknowledging her presence now and speaks.

“Clones…they’re all clones…” She mutters.

“Wait, clones? Didn’t you say they were missing my DNA last time?” Chaewon replies.

“Yes, and apparently on your last visit, they got it.” Sakura says pointing at her hair.

“Oh…” Chaewon is left speechless as she grabs at the back of her head, the small tuft of hair that was ripped from her still growing back. Sakura turns to interrogate the scientist again, but he was gone.

“Yah, where’d that guy go?” She asks.

“He must’ve gotten away while we were distracted.” Chaewon realizes.

“We need to find the others. They’re in big trouble.” Chaeyeon says as she leads the group of four to the labs.

~~~~

“Yena, break all the door locks!” Eunbi orders when they arrive up the stairwell. The lab they were in was empty for now, giving the group a chance to recollect themselves. The leader knew that guards would be approaching soon though.

“Is everyone okay?” Minjoo asks, undoing the invisibility cloak she’d put on them.

“Honestly…no. Not really.” Yuri admits. She realized now after Minjoo explained that Yunjin had cast some illusions on them, but she was still shaking.

“What happened, Yul? What can I do to help?” Yena asks after short-circuiting the last door mechanism.

“No…it’s nothing actually. Just a scary nightmare.” The hamster quickly says.

“Okay…if you need space, it’s fine. I’m always just here if you need me.” The duck responds worriedly.

“Wait, no, don’t listen to me. I mean, listen to my actual voice; Or, ugh, I don’t know anymore!” She ends up shouting before covering . Yena rushes over immediately and gives her a hug.

“Shh, it’s okay, Yul. Don’t worry. I’m here.” Truthfully, Yena was still reeling from her own vision, but that didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered most to Yena right now was making sure Yuri was okay.

“Thank you, unnie…” Yuri says as she stifled a sob. She was just gaining confidence in learning to control her voice, but that vision just set her back. Now, she was even doubting if Yena had fallen in love with her because she did or because the younger girl had charmed her. Yuri knew though that her voice would be important if they wanted to succeed on this mission. She couldn’t afford to hold back. Whatever worries she had right now could wait until after they got back home.

On the other side of the room, it appeared that Yuri wasn’t the only one hesitant to use her powers.

“Chaewon-ah, how are your other clones doing? Did Chaeryeong meet up with the other group already?” Eunbi asks.

“Uhm…I’m not sure actually. It seems like the connection is off. I’m sure they’re on their way though.” Chaewon says. She hated lying to Eunbi, but she was honestly afraid to check. She recalled that one incident around a week ago when one of her clones returned from Daegu and actually spoke to her. It was an odd experience at the time, but when combined with the vision of losing control of her own clones, she was definitely a bit more hesitant in splitting up again. What if they all actually turned against her for ordering them around.

“That doesn’t make sense though. They’re all me…” Chaewon thinks. Before she could ponder more though, she’s surprised by a tap on her shoulder.

“Woah, easy Chae. It’s just me.” Minjoo says before Chaewon could turn and fight her.

“Oh…my bad, Min. I’m just feeling a bit lightheaded.”

“What did Yunjin show you?” The younger girl asks out of curiosity.

“My clones…they all me. What if I split during a fight and lose control over them?” Chaewon admits.

“If you did lose control over them, why would they fight you though? They’re you.” Minjoo says, echoing Chaewon’s own thoughts.

“Yeah…it’s a bit silly, I know.”

“It’s not. It’s a valid fear to have. Yunjin conjured up our worst ones and probably made them feel more real.” Minjoo says. Normally she was the one who had to be comforted by Chaewon, so she was happy to be able to return the favor in some way,

“What did she show you? You managed to break through when we couldn’t.” Chaewon queries. She realized that they’d never actually asked because they had to run right away.

“Well, I got a bit lucky. I wasn’t hit by the initial attack and saw it was Yunjin. Knowing it was an illusion really helped me overcome it. She showed me being so invisible that I didn’t even exist anymore. IZ*ONE was only eleven instead of twelve.” She replies.

“That’s nonsense. IZ*ONE is always twelve.” Chaewon says.

“I know, I guess we all have those things we’re really afraid of deep down. We just have to remember that our fears only control us to the extent we let them. I know you’re strong on your own, but being able to clone yourself into a lot of copies has helped us on multiple occasions. Besides, it’s always nice to see multiple of you.” Minjoo’s cheeks redden as she adds that last bit.

“Yah, Kim Minjoo, since when were you such a sweet talker.” Chaewon says with a smirk as she gives Minjoo a kiss on the cheek.

Eunbi looks on around the room at her four friends trying to deal with the recent ambush, and mentally kicks herself. She should’ve expected something like that given their past fights with the syndicate. It also didn’t help her psyche right now that the moment shown to her in her nightmare kept playing over and over: the friends she’s come to treat as family all dead because of her actions. She’s had those moments of doubts before on whether she was capable of leading this team, but that illusion brought those fears back front and center. She couldn’t afford to crack under the pressure now though. Eunbi had to trust that her beliefs were stronger than her fears.

“No one is dying on my watch…” She thinks determinedly.

A few seconds later, just as everyone had begun to settle down, a banging was heard from one of the doors, startling the group. The five get into a defensive position as the banging gets louder, ready to fight.

“Be prepared for whatever is on the other side of this door, girls. We don’t know what else they’ve made in these labs.” Eunbi says. Eventually, the metal doors bust open to reveal…Yujin and the others.

“See, who needs short-circuiting or hacking. All you need sometimes is a bit of strength.” Nako quips before noticing who was in front of them.

“Unnies!” Wonyoung cheers as she runs up to the group and checking if they were okay.

“What are you all doing here?” Yena asks.

“There’s a file Kkura-unnie told us to look for.” Yujin says as she scans the room.

“According to the map, the main labs are still deeper inside.” Hitomi replies after looking at the map Sakura had made.

“Care to get us up to speed first?” The leader asks. The younger girls nod as they talk about the stolen files.

Meanwhile, Chaewon is face to face with one of her clones. She didn’t know how to react despite being around her copies so many times before.

“What’s wrong? You look nervous.” The clone asks suddenly, startling Chaewon. This is only the second time a clone has spoken directly to her. She wonders if whatever happened in Daegu had permanently affected her clones. Minjoo takes her hand and holds it tightly to calm her down. It seemed the clone picked up on this and closed her eyes to sense what was going on.

“I see. That’s a lot to take in, but at the end of the day, you have to trust us, I mean you, or me? You get what I mean.” The copy says with a slight chuckle. It appeared that she did understand what Chaewon had been feeling.

“I realized you girls are more than just mindless clones; you’re all a part of me.” Chaewon says.

“I know.” The clone nods as she steps towards Chaewon and merges back.

“You did a good job, Chae.” Minjoo says with a smile.

“Okay, listen up, girls.” Eunbi announces to gather everyone’s attention.

“We have to continue with the original plan, but with another objective: finding the stolen training files from the infiltration a couple weeks ago.” The others nod at this and begin opening up the door on the other side of the room.

“What about Kkura-unnie and the others?” Wonyoung asks.

“They’ll catch up. I trust them.” And with that, the next phase of the plan was in motion.

A/N: Hi again! Quick update, huh? My final year of college was starting up in a couple days so I made sure to get in another chapter before it started. It also helped that I enjoyed writing the scenes in this chapter. Time flew by really quick!

We're fast approaching the final couple chapters, and I'm thankful to all the readers who've stuck around this long. I will tease right now that I've been thinking of plots for spin-off stories but that's still far in the future. Hopefully you all enjoyed  (and hopefully no one takes offense to me making Yuqi an old enemy of Yena, that was for plot only, I like her group too). 

Comments and likes and questions are always appreciated because I like interacting with the audience to get a feel of what they think. 

Anyways, thanks again for being on this journey, stream Yena's Smartphone M/V!!!