“Okay, I think we lost them.” Yujin says tiredly. After running through alleyways for a few minutes, the group of four had managed to find refuge in a coffee shop a couple blocks away from Liz and Rei’s apartment. Just in case people would recognize them though, Yujin and Wonyoung decided to wear masks to cover most of their facial features.

“Who were they?” Liz asks, still trying to absorb what just happened.

“They’re likely from Hunter Geun’s group. When you have a voice and platform like his, it becomes easy to sway people to do his bidding in the name of his ‘cause’.” Wonyoung replies, putting air quotes around the last word.

“I’m more sure now than ever that they’re the ones who abducted your friend, Gaeul.” Yujin adds. Just as they were about to discuss more, a woman coughs to get their attention. The puppy turns around immediately in a fighting stance, but is embarrassed to see that it was just the shop owner.

“If you young ladies are going to take up a table, you better be ordering something.” She chides. Yujin nods apologetically and orders some iced americanos and iced chocolate drinks for the group.

“Alright, so since they know you have abilities too, it wouldn’t make sense to leave you two alone anymore. I messaged our leader, Eunbi, that we’re taking you two in.” The puppy says while sipping on her drink. Eunbi didn’t initially approve of the idea, but it didn’t seem like they had many alternatives. Everyone else was either on their own missions or too far away to get there in time for reinforcements.

“So, are you and Wonyoung like superheroes or spies?” Liz asks curiously.

“We used to think that too, but to be honest, we’re just some mutants who are trying to do good for others.” Wonyoung replies with a giggle before continuing. “Tell us about you two though. Like, what are your powers? We’ve kind of seen them in action, but a description always helps. Mine is telekinesis. Meanwhile, Yujin’s is water-bending.”

“I have the ability to control metals and mold them how I want.” Rei says, referencing how she managed to pull those manhole-covers up to them like a magnet.

“Meanwhile, I can phase through objects. Basically like walking through walls and stuff.” Liz replies.

“Those are some pretty cool powers. I’m sure they’ll be helpful in the place we’re going to. From the outside, it’ll look like a normal pharmacy, but these people always have some kind of hidden base connected to it.” Yujin says with a nod before going into detail about what their next moves were going to be.

~~~~

By the time they arrived at the pharmacy, the moon was already starting to rise. What immediately came to the group’s attention though was that the store was already closed, the lights shut and doors locked.

“That’s odd. Aren’t these places supposed to be open until late?” Rei asks.

“Mhm, which makes it red flag number one on why this place is suspicious.” Wonyoung says as the four sneak closer, eventually arriving at one of the side doors.

“Liz, do your thing.” Yujin says after peering through the windows and not seeing anyone. The blonde girl nods and walks right through the door as if it wasn’t there. After a couple seconds, the handle clicks and opens for the rest of the group. Rei gives Liz a fist bump on the way in.

“We were like that too on our first mission, right?” Wonyoung asks Yujin after seeing the new duo’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, well, the thrill hasn’t gone away for me yet, Wonnie.” The puppy replies with a small laugh. She always enjoyed going on missions because it was an opportunity to help others, and that feeling hasn’t changed.

Now that they were inside, the two more experienced girls took the lead in looking around for any clues on where the base entrance was. It still did look like a regular pharmacy, medicine and different types of tablets lined up on the storage shelves next to them, but they weren’t going to allow themselves to be fooled. There was always more to these places than meets the eye.

“There has to be a hidden button or lever around here.” Yujin mumbles while sifting through some drawers, but all she could find were log books that didn’t have any important information on them.

“Unnie, I think I found something.” Rei suddenly says to get the older girl’s attention.

“What is it?”

“I was just sensing around for any metal and felt something different over there.” She then points to a blank wall across from the entrance. Wonyoung walks up to it and knocks her hand on it, realizing it was in fact, metal compared to the concrete walls next to it. Rei then quickly uses her powers and pulls the hidden door off its hinges.

“Okay, I was hoping for a little more subtlety, Rei.” Yujin says, relieved that no alarms went off because of that.

“Oh, my bad, unnie. I can connect it back good as new once we’re inside.” The Japanese girl says in an embarrassed tone.

“Don’t sweat it. We all make rookie mistakes.” Wonyoung reassures, patting Rei on the shoulder before walking through the hidden entrance with the others. Rei then lifts the metal doors and reattaches them to the wall, copper wires melding themselves back to hold it together. The group followed the narrow path until they arrived at what appeared to be an elevator that only had two buttons inside.

“Going down, I guess.” Yujin presses the button and the group is lowered below.

~~~~

At this point, Yujin and Wonyoung had been in several of these hidden bases, so they were rather calm as the elevator descended. On the other hand though, the gravity of their mission was only just setting in on the two newbies.

“So, the guards here are going to have weapons, right? Do we just knock them out?” Liz asks nervously. While she and Rei had a level of excitement earlier at using their powers, the prospect of actually fighting people like the ones who attacked them earlier hadn’t fully sunk in. Wonyoung and Yujin had dealt with them fairly easily, but if two of their older teammates were captured down here, that meant they’d be facing something much worse.

“I’m gonna be honest. It will be dangerous, but in our lives, when is anything not?” Yujin replies after some silence, sensing their apprehension. She and Wonyoung were lucky to have the older girls to take the lead in their first missions, but they didn’t have that luxury this time. The puppy thought about what Eunbi would do in this situation and felt a mix of realism and optimism would be the best course of action.

“We have to trust not only in our powers but each other to keep each other safe. We’ll try to sneak around as much as we can to not alert anyone, but when push comes to shove, we will have to fight.” Rei and Liz look at each other before returning a nod to the older girl. It wasn’t a matter of if they were ready, but more of that they had to be ready. A couple seconds later, the elevator dings, announcing they have arrived at their destination.

Wonyoung peeps around the corridors first, and signals the group to move when the coast is clear. The place didn’t seem nearly as guarded as they expected it to be. Then again, if this was just the remnants of Ahn Joon-young’s syndicate, it made sense that they’d be understaffed.

“That must be why they’re partnering with Hunter Geun and his cronies…” The bunny realizes. Despite the lack of security, they still had to keep their guard up. Sakura and Chaeyeon were caught for a reason.

Eventually, after sneaking through the white hallways for a while, ducking and hiding from the occasional guards, they arrive at the control room. Liz motioned to phase through and unlock the door from the other side, but Yujin stopped her.

“You don’t know what’s on the other side.” She whispers. Instead the group waits for a bit inside a nearby utility closet until they hear the voices of a couple scientists approaching.

“This new gig is better than I thought. I think Dr. Park and Director Ahn really over complicated things with the clone idea.” A man says. Yujin slightly opens the door to get a closer look and recognizes him from Sakura’s file as Dr. Yang. Next to him was a middle-aged woman- Dr. Jeong. The puppy gives Wonyoung a knowing look which the younger girl seems to understand, raising her hand to fiddle with something inside Dr. Yang’s lab coat.

“Don’t get in over your own head just because we managed to catch a couple mutants. Their friends will be here soon, so we have to prepare the trap again. The boss might even give us promotions if we can catch the rest.” Dr. Jeong replies as she takes out her ID to scan against the control room’s sealed doors.

“You coming?” The woman asks her colleague who seemed to be looking for something.

“I-I think I left my ID in the break room. I could’ve sworn I had it with me.” He says quickly which elicits a facepalm from Dr. Jeong.

“Just catch up then. I’m not walking all the way back.” She says, entering the control room, the doors automatically closing behind her.

“Ugh, where could I have put that damn thing.” Dr. Yang says after checking through his pockets for the fourth time. With a sigh, he eventually decides to make his way back to where he thought he left it. When the middle-aged man was out of sight, Yujin and the others exit from their hiding spot.

“Nice work, Wonnie!” The puppy says, the aforementioned girl waving Dr. Yang’s ID in her hand. “Okay, be ready to fight, everyone. The scientist mentioned a trap, and if it’s what I think it is, we’re going to have to hold our breaths.”

Wonyoung scans the ID, and the doors finally open. As with any of the other syndicate labs they’d infiltrated, there were rows of computers everywhere. At the edge of the room was a glass-lined wall that was likely overlooking the testing rooms or holding cells. Sitting at one of the computers typing away was Dr. Jeong.

“You found your ID pretty fast. Did it just fall in your shoe or something?” The woman absentmindedly says when she hears the doors open. Much to her surprise though, she’s lifted up into the air without being able to react.

“Dr. Jeong, we presume?” Yujin asks as the scientist flails in the air.

“Mutants??? Are you here for your friends?” She asks back in a panicked tone that one would probably have if they were suddenly floating ten feet in the air.

“Yes, and if you want to get down, it’d be very helpful if you could direct us to them.” Wonyoung says, fake-dropping the scientist to show they meant business.

“Okay, okay! They’re down below this room! Please let me down!” She finally responds. Liz and Rei run over to the glass and see that there were indeed four cells down below.

“What’s the catch? We know you were setting up a trap.” Yujin asks, now face to face with the scientist. At this, a voice begins to project from the room’s speakers.

“The trap would be the room you’re in right now.” A deep voice says with amusement as white gas begins to seep through the ceiling vents. The puppy’s eyes widen, realizing what it was and calls out to her teammates.

“Guys, don’t breathe!” The girls nod and do as told as Yujin looks around the room for anything that could help. They wouldn’t be able to hold their breaths for long. Eventually, she sees a couple water dispensers and hatches a plan. The puppy forces the liquid out of their containers to form a bubble around the four of them. The gas surrounding them felt like it had been displaced by the water, allowing the group to catch their breaths.

“Impressive. Maybe you are the best of the best after all.” The voice speaks again, except from the opposite door the group had entered from.

“You again…” Yujin sneers at Hunter Geun. “Let our friends go!”

“And why would I allow those mutants to roam free? Your kind are nothing but rats that need exterminating.” The burly man says as he pulls out a pistol and fires it right at Yujin.

“No!” Wonyoung shouts defiantly, stopping the bullet midair before it could hit the older girl. Geun grunts at this and takes out what appears to be a whistle.

“Oh, not that thing again. We can’t let him blow that whistle! It’ll knock us out!” Yujin says. Rei nods and raises her arms to crush the metal item just as Geun was about to put it in his mouth.

“Okay, that’s it!” Geun decides to go for the direct approach and charge at the group with a maniacal grin. Yujin couldn’t drop the bubble or the gas would nullify their powers. Wonyoung tried to push him back with her telekinesis, but it appeared that stopping that bullet and a small whiff of the gas had weakened her too much. Rei couldn’t do anything but throw computers in his way that would only slow him down. It was then Liz’ turn to step up as she called everyone’s attention.

“Hold on to me! I have an idea.” The blonde girl says, and just before Geun can take a swing at Yujin and break the bubble, the four grab hold of each other and immediately sink through the ground.

A/N: Hello again, and belated IZ*ONE 5th anniversary! Apologies for not getting this out on time, but I couldn't use the computer during the weekend. I did include some of my thoughts on my twitter (@TofuBeagle22) if anyone wants to check it out. To sum it up, I'm just really appreciative to IZ*ONE for inspiring me and giving me the courage to post these stories.Their impact goes beyond music and beyond them being in the same group. I'm always wishing them the best in their current paths. These stories are like my contribution to the WIZ*ONE community that has so many incredible and lovely people. I'm glad that something I made in IZ*ONE's name gave a lot of people joy.

Anyways, as you can tell, there's still one more chapter for Venator. I realized I couldn't squeeze it all into just four, so I didn't want to force it. I hope it was still good though!

Thanks again to all the support through likes, comments, or even just quietly reading the story! I appreciate you all! Happy IZ*ONE anniversary again, and I'll see y'all in the next one!