"Minjoo~ Hurry up or we'll be late for the meeting!" A voice calls out to a girl taking a shower in the bathroom.

"In a minute, Chaewon! I'm almost done!" Minjoo says back, turning off the water, about to dry her hair.

"Come onnnn, you always take the longest time out of all of us. Don't make me barge in there and drag you out!" The older girl teases. Minjoo could only cringe, remembering one of their first interactions a couple months ago. So much has changed since then, and Minjoo was glad that they were able to move past that incident and become close.

"Yah, at least I don't spend the whole time singing in the shower like Yuri!" She jokes back with a laugh. Somewhere in the infirmary, Jo Yuri sneezes. Someone must be talking about me... She thinks absentmindedly.

When Minjoo finally dries off, she puts on a plain white blouse and a pair of jeans before stepping out of the bathroom to the sight of Kim Chaewon who let out a whistle.

"Well, hello, beautiful. Got any plans for later?" She said with a wink. Minjoo could only scoff, trying to hide her blushing cheeks, as she walks past the short-haired brunette who was laughing to herself. With all the flirtatious moments these two had, you'd think they were a couple, but nothing was actually set in stone yet. The only real couples so far among the twelve girls were Yuri and Yena and Eunbi and Hyewon, yet people around campus felt like it was only a matter of time before one of them cracked and confessed.

"So, have you heard any news from Yena-unnie about the mission?" Minjoo asks as they step out of the dorms, on the way to Lee Seunggi's office. Chaewon only shakes her head.

"She passed out the second she arrived, but I did see a news report with Yujin about it. Let's just say their stealth mission went up in flames...literally." She says before relaying what had been put out to the news:

Seoul Apartment Building goes up in flames due to rogue mutants. Four dead at the scene. Survivors report two mutants who had broken into the building to possibly rob it. If you see these mutants, please report them to the proper authorities. Thank you. A reporter had said. The channel then proceeded to post a quickly drawn sketch of two people who appeared to be Yena and Yuri along with a couple blurred photos of the two fleeing the scene.

"That doesn't sound good..." Minjoo says after gathering her thoughts.

"You think?" Chaewon responds sarcastically. "The masses' opinions are very fickle. It looked like people were finally starting to change their minds about us, and then this happens." She continues with a sad tone.

"It's not Yena's fault though, right? It can't be. She's never that reckless." Minjoo argues.

"You're right. Which is why we need to get to Seunggi-sunbaenim's office right now, to find out what really happened."

~~~~

"I see that everyone is present and accounted for." Seunggi, the head of the produce facility says seeing IZ*ONE sans Sakura's group arrive.

"So, the other day, we received word from Miyawaki Sakura of a hidden lab in Seoul containing some information on the Syndicate." He begins. "We dispatched Choi Yena and Jo Yuri to retrieve it, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the mission failed. Yena, would you please give your report on the situation." Seunggi was never the type to get angry at trainees, and even now, it just sounded like he was more worried about their welfare than what mess had been caused. Yena clears , turning on her serious mode, before stepping in front to speak, while Yuri observed from her seat, still recovering from the events of last night.

"Yes, sunbae. We definitely had the right place in mind, but we ran into a problem. We were ambushed by a group of five mutants, who stole our usb drive by force." At this, everyone takes a second to catch their breaths, surprised at the new information.

"They were definitely trained and coordinated, likely working for someone, given what they had said. One of them was the reason the building burned down, and they fled using one of their members' teleportation powers, leaving Yuri and I as the only two mutants the civilians could see." Yena ends her report calmly. On the inside, she was still kicking herself for getting complacent and letting those people take them out so easily, but she knew Yuri would just tell her that they couldn't have done anything, being outnumbered.

"That is certainly interesting info, Yena. So, one controls fire, and another can teleport. Are there any other powers you took note of?" Seunggi asks.

"One of them was incredibly quick to the punch, but other than that, I didn't have a chance to observe." She responds.

"Super speed, huh? You mean like Chaeyeon-unnie?" Wonyoung queries.

"I can't say for sure, but in the moment, it definitely felt as fast as her." Yena says, feeling the bruises she had gotten last night.

"Thank you for the report, Yena. I'll make sure to relay this with my contacts to see if they know anyone who fits the descriptions." Seunggi says before moving on to make an announcement.

"One more thing I must discuss with you eight before telling the rest of the trainees though is this. Starting tomorrow, I will be replaced as principal of the PD campus. The people in the government want me to be there when consulting with the treasury on funding for the continued support of education in the mutant centers around the country. I hope you can forgive me." That new bombshell shocks the group even more than the last one. Lee Seunggi, replaced? It didn't feel right.

"But, sunbaenim, who's going to end up replacing you?" Yujin asks.

"They'll send him in by tomorrow, but I had no say in who they chose." He responds before looking at the group's leader.

"Kwon Eunbi, I trust that you and the others can handle yourselves while I am gone. I know this is another confusing request, but the new guy they send in, please be careful and observe him. I don't know if there's anything fishy going on under the table, but as it stands, I can't refuse the government's request or else we might lose funding completely. I'll contact you girls if I find any important information." At this, Seunggi bows to the members who reciprocate it, adjourning the meeting.

~~~~

As the group files out, Eunbi is deep in thought. She had been coordinating with Representative Lee on a lot of matters regarding the education project and now he was being called away. Eunbi agreed with what he had speculated though and was already preparing for whoever the government would send as Seunggi's replacement. The timing just felt off.

"What's on your mind?" The voice of Hyewon asks out of nowhere. Though they'd been together for a month already, there were still times when the older girl would get surprised at Hyewon's presence. As compared to Yuri and Yena, there story wasn't as flashy. The two were just up late one night, looking over logistics for school books and teacher salaries, when Eunbi suddenly felt the urge to confess her feelings. She'd always liked Hyewon since they'd become roommates. There was just something about the quiet girl that attracted her. When Hyewon had responded, saying she liked Eunbi back, the older girl was over the moon, but from there, they tried to keep their relationship on the down-low. The only reason they were found out was because one of Chaewon's clones, who was multitasking chores, managed to see her steal a kiss from Hyewon, thinking no one was around. Don't worry, unnie. You're not the first people I've seen fooling around on campus. Besides, I always knew you two would make a good couple! The young girl had said with a wink. Eventually, the rumors started to fly and they eventually just came clean to get people back to minding their own business.

"Unnie? You okay?" Hyewon asks again, jolting Eunbi back to reality.

"Sorry, just...a lot of info to take in from that meeting." The older girl says.

"Yeah, I agree. Do you have any idea about the group that attacked Yena and Yuri?"

"Honestly, no. Choyeon's the only fire user we know and she's been on campus the whole time. I've never met someone who could teleport either. They could be from anywhere in the country." She responds with a tired sigh.

"Same thoughts. Though, about the speedy one, I know that Chaeyeon's in Japan but...no, never mind. It couldn't be." Hyewon dismisses her prior thought, thinking it probably wasn't the case. "Anyway, do we have a plan to try to get that data that was stolen from Yena back?" She asks to change topics.

"I haven't really thought much of it either. Maybe we can just wait for the new principal tomorrow and discuss it then." Eunbi responds, to which Hyewon nods in understanding.

"Alright, wanna grab a bite to eat now? Maybe it'll ease the stress." Eunbi suggests.

"Of course." Hyewon says with a smile as the couple walk to the cafeteria, the younger girl's favorite place on campus.

~~~~

"It'll be so weird without Seunggi-sunbaenim around, don't you think Wonnie?" Yujin asks to the girl lounging on a bed across from her, looking through something on a laptop. Part of the initiative for the education project was to provide technology to the trainees to help them be more in touch with the world through the internet. Each room had one laptop provided, but most of the time, the trainees would just use them for watching funny videos rather than their studies.

"I guess it will, but how bad could it be? We only ever met with him for missions. Besides, we still have the trainers around." She responds, without looking. It seemed like the youngest member of the group had mellowed out a bit during her stay here in the PD campus. She had managed to fully recover from her injuries from Busan, and that whole experience really gave her some perspective of the world. Yujin wouldn't admit it out loud, but she could tell more than anyone that Wonyoung had matured.

"Yah, I'm just worried about what he warned about. Who knows what kind of person the new principal will be." Yujin calls out, feeling she wasn't being listened to.

"Will you calm down? I was just looking for something about the people Yena-unnie mentioned a while ago." Wonyoung says. "And I think I found something. Get over here!" When Yujin walks over, the younger girl turns the screen towards her showing a few articles. It appeared to be a series of recent attacks on tech firms and data centers by a group of supposed mutants similar to Yena's descriptions. Five dark-clothed figures sneaking in at the dead of night and stealing things.

"Woah...you think those are the people Yena-unnie and Yuri-unnie really ran into?" Yujin asks, still observing some of the security footage caught. They saw the mutants with fire, speed and teleportation powers, but in addition, they saw one that appeared to have shapeshifting abilities and one with some sort of elastic power.

"We can't be too sure, but they look dangerous and trained. I think we should show this to the others..." As Wonyoung says this though, a video request pops up on their screen.

"Who could that be?" She asks aloud.

"Be careful, Wonyoung, it could be a scam!" Yujin warns.

"Tsk, how in the world would they have our contact details if it wasn't someone we knew." Wonyoung chides before clicking accept. After a couple seconds of loading, the faces of Nako and Hitomi finally appear.

"Unnies!" The two young girls greet at the same time, clearly happy to see their friends again, but that mood doesn't last long.

"We don't have much time to talk, girls. This is our burner phone and we're connected to café wi-fi right now." Nako says quickly. This must've been urgent because the group of four only ever used the burner phones for emergencies, so they wouldn't be tracked.

"What do you mean? Are you four okay? Where are Chaeyeon-unnie and Sakura-unnie?" Yujin asks.

"They were captured. We were sneaking around the HKT building when we were ambushed." Hitomi whispers quietly, trying to avoid suspicion.

"What?!? Do you need our help? What can we do?" Wonyoung asks frantically.

"As of right now, nothing. We just wanted to leave a message here just in case we were taken too. If you don't receive an update from us in the next 48 hours, then assume we were captured and plan accordingly." Nako says.

"We'll be fine, you two. This is just precautionary." Hitomi says, seeing the two young girls' worried expressions. "Just relay our message to Eunbi-unnie. They were taking Chaeyeon-unnie and Sakura-chan to a place in Fukuoka called Chuo Ward. We assume it's a holding facility, so it'll probably be heavily guarded." She continues.

"Can we trust you two to do that?" Nako asks. Wonyoung and Yujin salute back, acknowledging orders. "Alright, we have to go now. People are starting to look in our direction." She whispers once more.

"Stay safe, girls!" Yujin and Wonyoung both say as the call goes black.

"Damn...that's gonna be a lot of things to report." Yujin says exasperated by the information overload.

"Let's get a move on then, they're counting on us!" Wonyoung says, grabbing the older girl's hand and pulling her along to meet the others.

~~~~

"Let's hope it doesn't come to the point that they need to send the others over here to save us." Hitomi says as she and Nako walk out of the café.

"Yeah, highly secure holding area versus...the two of us. Should be a breeze." The shorter girl responds sarcastically, earning a smack on the head from Hitomi.

"Try to stay positive, Nako-chan." She chides.

"Alright, alright, so what's the plan? We still have to find the place first, you know."

"I've got it covered." Hitomi replies, the two making their way now across the city to find their friends.

~~~~

About an hour later by train, thanks to some map reading and asking for directions, Nako and Hitomi finally arrive at the subsection of Fukuoka, Chuo Ward. Though it was still a big place, Hitomi had been telling Nako that she knew where to start as they were walking around.

"If I were making a confinement facility, I wouldn't be making it in a crowded area." She said. "What's one thing that we've known about the Syndicate and their bases?"

"That they're underground?" Nako replies unsurely.

"Bingo. So, a non-crowded area where you can hide secret entrances to go underground. That's why I think we should start here at Ohori Park." She deduces as they end up at the aforementioned park's entrance. Nako nods, impressed at her friend's critical thinking and timing.

"Sakura would be proud." She says with a laugh, earning a grin from the peach-cheeked girl.

"Alright, now for step two." When they got to the middle of the park and were sure no one was looking, Hitomi places her hands on the ground, feeling the earth using the tree roots around her until she felt a disturbance. Gotcha.

"There should be an entrance nearby." She announces, and after walking around a bit more, they find it at a stone formation in one of the open clearings. The thing that gave it away the most was a stationed guard dressed up like some tourist with a camera around his neck. That alone wouldn't have been fishy, but the fact that he'd circled those rocks for five minutes without taking one picture was what sealed the deal for them.

"How are we going to get past him?" Hitomi wonders.

"Leave that part to me." Nako says before grabbing her arm and pulling themselves out of cover.

"Hey there, mister! I was just wondering if you could give my friend and I some directions to the exit." She calls out in her best aegyo, bringing out one of the maps they'd been carrying around. Hitomi could only cringe, mumbling. "No way this is gonna work." The man furrows his eyebrows for a moment, but then smiles.

"Of course, I would be happy to!" He says as the two arrive in front of him.

"Yeah, we got lost on our way out because I got distracted by all the pretty flowers and butterflies around here."

"Well, missy, according to your map, we're here. And the exit would be-" While the man was looking down to point at the directions to the exit, Nako uses the opportunity to wind up a big punch and hit him right in the face, knocking him out instantly. Nako waltzes over and fishes a keycard from his pocket and waves it at Hitomi who could only shake her head in disbelief. Nako's cute-acting could really fool anyone.

"Okay, I guess now all that's left is to get Kkura-chan and Chaeyeon-unnie out of there." Hitomi says after finding the scanner for the keycard on one of the rocks. The doors open to reveal an elevator that the two step into.

"Don't worry girls. Help is on the way." Nako announces as she presses a button and the elevator carries them below.

~~~~

"Ugh...my head." Chaeyeon manages to say as she starts to get up. The last thing she remembered was clearing a path for Nako and Hitomi to escape, but after that, just blackness.

"Oh, finally, you're awake! I have good news and bad news." Sakura says when she hears the younger girl. She had started to get worried when Chaeyeon was still unconscious. The tranquilizer must've affected them differently, she guesses

"Wait, what? Where are we?" Chaeyeon asks when she finally realizes that they were in what appeared to be a jail cell.

"That's the bad news. HKT guards brought us over to Chuo Ward and locked us up." She responds. "The good news though is that this is where Jurina and Hitomi's parents are locked up." Chaeyeon could only look back in more confusion as to what was going on.

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't able to share the information I had mined before they caught us." Sakura realizes, beginning to relay everything she'd found. From the schematics Sakura had seen in the short amount of time she was in the HKT database, it was an underground prison located under Ohori Park with many, many, levels.

"Okay...so we just break out of here, then somehow find where our targets are located and break them out too?" Chaeyeon asks to make sure she had everything together.

"Well, not somehow. If I manage to get in touch with any computer in this facility, it should be easy. The problem is that I can't hack myself out of this cell. The walls are projecting something that is binding our powers from being used."

"Nako and Hitomi are probably the key to breaking us out then. I'm pretty sure they at least know where we are." Chaeyeon says.

"There's only two of them though. Are you sure they're going to be able to punch their way in?"

"Don't underestimate those two, unnie. I trust them to get here soon." Chaeyeon rebuts.

~~~~

"Yah, are you just going to punch your way in?" Hitomi asks aloud as Nako bulldozed through another five guards. The two had just managed to get into the main security deck on the fourth level after Nako had gotten tired of sneaking around.

"Well, I don't see any plants around here, so I'm just trying to keep you safe." The short girl responds. "Just try to find out where Saku-chan and Chaeyeon- unnie are located. I'll hold these goons off."

"Right." Hitomi nods before getting on a computer and searching for their friends' names. "They're on the sixth basement!" She ends up yelling.

"Alright! Let's get a move on then!" Nako says after throwing another guard into a wall.

"I don't think so..." The voice of a woman speaks out, flanked by even more soldiers. It was the same person who had been giving out orders when they were ambushed the first time back at HKT.

"Dr. Koyama..." Nako says with a distasteful look. They were currently outnumbered, and she had a feeling that she couldn't hold off all of them at once.

"Ah, Yabuki Nako, you haven't changed a bit. It's nice to see you again. That was quite the display you put on with...Honda Hitomi, is it?" Hitomi can only glare back as the doctor continues. "In any case, I'm afraid your little rescue operation ends here. Using Sakura and that Korean as bait worked like a charm. You were never in our plans before, but now, you two know too much. Guards!" She orders, but in that moment, Hitomi made her move.

While the doctor was monologuing, Hitomi was frantically looking around for anything that could be of use to them when she spotted a single potted flower, a red rose, on the desk next to the guards. She focused her energy and waited for the right opportunity. By the time they knew it, the flower had grown exponentially, thorns spreading across the room, before it swept everyone off their feet. As the soldiers tried to shoot, it simply grabbed a hold of their weapons and tossed them away.

"Nako-chan, let's go!" Hitomi yells as she grabs the shorter girl's hand and runs. The flower had done its job in aiding their escape, and now the two were on their way to break Sakura and Chaeyeon out.

~~~~
"What was that?" Sakura asks warily after they felt the ground rumble above them.

"I would like to believe that it was our ticket out." Chaeyeon says, and at that, they see their two friends arrive at their cell, panting from running. Hitomi quickly places the cardkey they had stolen on the scanner, and the cell is opened.

"Took you long enough!" Chaeyeon jests.

"Yah, unnie. I promise, we went as fast as we could." Nako responds, playing along.

"Enough with the pleasantries. We have to get out of here!" Hitomi warns because the flower she'd taken control of could only hold the enemy off for so long.

"Not yet, Hii-chan. There are still a couple more things we need to take care of." Sakura interjects.

"And what might that be?" She asks back.

"Jurina is in here...and so are your parents, Hii-chan." Sakura then begins to give a quick rundown of what actually went on inside her head at the HKT building.