Not knowing about the events that just happened in the control room, IVE and ITZY continue duking it out in the arena, and just as Chaeryeong predicted, Ryujin and Yuna were easily making through their side of the battlefield.

“Yujin-unnie? I thought you were on the attack with Wonyoung-unnie.” Liz says coming out of her hiding spot when she sees their leader walking around midfield calling their names.

“Oh, Liz, there you are! We had a change of plans. We found out they were sending four members on offense, so I led them away while Wonyoung snuck around the mountain edge.” Ryujin, disguised as Yujin, replies. While this was going on though, Yuna was teleporting from rock to rock right by the defense.

“It would be so much easier to just make one big jump to their flag..” She thinks to herself, still unhappy with the special rule change made for her.

High in the sky above though, Leeseo sees the black-haired girl and calls out to her teammate.

“Liz-unnie! Someone just got by!” She shouts. The maknae tries to dive towards Yuna, but as Sakura had noted, her flight control still needed a bit of work. It wasn’t so much a dive, but a controlled fall.

“You hear that, unnie? Someone got through!” Liz says before she is quickly tripped and pinned to the ground by Ryujin.

“Yujin-unnie, what are you doing??” The blonde girl asks as the puppy transforms back into Ryujin who had a sly smile on her face.

“Rule number one of this special ops business: not everything is as it seems.” The short-haired girl says. Liz responds by phasing into the ground which causes Ryujin’s face to hit the granite.

“Okay…nice move.” She says as she rubs her nose.

“I can do a lot more than that!” Liz then pops up from the ground and takes a swing at the veteran spy who easily dodges the attack.

Ryujin throws a jab back, but the blonde girl changes her body density such that Ryujin’s attacks went right through her.

Meanwhile, Yuna had finally made it to the flag area where Gaeul and Rei were waiting. The younger girl had heard the commotion and already prepared a metal javelin she’d molded from the mountain iron ore which she threw right at Yuna.

The black-haired girl teleports out of the way towards a stone wall, but just as she thought she was in the clear, the wall she was leaning on dissolves thanks to Gaeul. This gives Rei another opening to blast some iron shurikens towards Yuna, but again, the ITZY member manages to avoid them.

“Girls, I’m here!” Leeseo calls suddenly from the air, and that gives Yuna an idea. She teleports right onto the IVE maknae’s back and steers her flight right towards her Gaeul and Rei.

When the dust cleared, the three were knocked over like bowling pins leaving no one guarding the flag.

“Too easy.” Yuna quips before teleporting to Ryujin who was surprisingly still having trouble with Liz.

“C’mon, unnie. I have the flag, let’s go!” At this, Ryujin finally gets serious. While fighting Liz, she noticed that the blonde girl couldn’t keep herself phased for too long. The short-haired girl then waits for the right opening, faking a punch that causes Liz to phase. The second she solidified again, Ryujin struck with a perfectly timed roundhouse kick.

“Rule number two of the special ops business: Always study your opponent’s moves.” The older girl says, and with that, she and Yuna make their way towards the goal line.

~~~~

Back on Yujin’s side, she’d finally found the flag area and was in a 1v2 against Yeji and Lia. The puppy had initially thought her water would easily beat out Yeji’s fire, but she was mistaken. The ITZY leader’s flames were so powerful that they were just enough to turn all of Yujin’s water blasts into steam. She’d fought a cloned version of Yeji back on Jeju Island, but it was clear the original had strengthened herself in the past year.

All of this was made harder with Lia stretching her arms forward to jab Yujin from afar. The puppy kept diverting her energy to create water shields that would slow down Lia’s attacks. She couldn’t do this on her own, and it was at that moment that Wonyoung called her name from behind.

“Yujin-unnie! I’m here!” The younger girl jumped right into the fight and used her telekinesis to tie up Lia’s arms into pretzels.

“Yah, you’re gonna pay for that!” The flexible girl says as she extends her leg to hit Wonyoung in the face.

“Ugh, unnie, we should finish this soon.” The maknae says while wiping some blood off .

“I couldn’t agree more, Wonnie.” Yujin replies before turning her attention back to Yeji,

“Let’s see how hot your fire really is.” The puppy says as she raises her arms carry all the mountain water she could and shape it into a sphere. The ITZY leader responds by charging up her own ball of fire. They both fire their projectiles at the same time, and when the elements crash together, an explosion occurs that almost takes them off their feet, a heavy mist spreading everywhere. As Yeji waves her arm around to see, it was Yujin who took her by surprise and landed a clean punch that knocks down the already fatigued pyromancer.

Meanwhile, Wonyoung had just finished tying Lia into knots, much to the girl’s dismay.

“I promise I’ll untie you later after we win, unnie.” Wonyoung promises with an apologetic smile before picking up the flag, Lia complaining the entire time.

~~~~

“There’s the goal line!” Yujin says as they climb up another rocky hill. To the duo’s shock though, Ryujin and Yuna were already much closer. The puppy scans her surroundings until she sees another stream.

“Wonnie, hand me the flag!” And with that, IVE’s leader redirects the water into a path that she slides down on with high speed.

“Go, unnie! You can do it!” Wonyoung cheers, but at that moment, a blur dashes right past her.

“Oh no, Yujinnie! Chaeyeon’s behind you!” It was too late though as the feather girl cuts off the puppy and trips her. This gave Yuna the opportunity to use her ability and teleport right across the finish line, securing the win for ITZY.

“Sorry I had to do that to you, Yuj. You were pretty close though.” The older girl says as she extends her hand and pulls the puppy up.

“Agh, we almost had you! I’ll really get you next time, unnie.” Yujin says with a pout.

“Good game, Wonyoung. Your new teammates have some potential, but it still seems like they have a bit to go.” Yuna said as she shook the younger girl’s hand.

~~~~

After a couple minutes, everyone had finally gathered back in the middle for closing. It was a formality that after every match, both teams meet back in the middle to share their thoughts and display a sense of sportsmanship.

“You girls were really good!” Leeseo says to the ITZY girls. Even though they were beaten, the youngest member of IVE relished the opportunity to learn from some more experienced mutants.

“Thank you. You weren’t so bad yourselves, especially Liz.” Ryujin says, pointing out the blonde girl who managed to stick with her in hand-to-hand combat for a while. Liz, like Yujin, was still upset about the loss, but she perked up hearing the compliment.

“Mhm, Rei and Gaeul also caught me off guard at some moments. I’m sure it won’t be as easy to dodge your attacks once you master precision. As for Leeseo, your flying still needs a bit of work, but your energy was great! You're starting your training earlier than Wonyoung did, so I’m sure you’ll be a pro in no time.” Yuna says with a respectful nod.

“As always, Yujin and Wonyoung always have some tricks up their sleeves.” Lia then says, acknowledging the two veterans on IVE.

“I might even have to see a chiropractor tomorrow.” She adds while stretching her limbs that were sore from being tied up which got the others to laugh.

“I think there isn’t anything else I can add to those words. You all did an admirable job for your first capture-the-flag,” Yeji says before giving the floor to Chaeyeon. As the bridge between both groups, the speedster steps in the middle.

“Thank you once again to ITZY for coming today, and I’m glad our newest team managed to give you a bit of trouble. I hope the next time you visit, we’ll have another fun match!” Chaeyeon then bows, the members of IVE following her lead.

“Since Wonyoung and I didn’t see your fights with Ryujin and Yuna, I’ll look over the film with Sakura’s thoughts first.” Yujin says, turning towards her members.

“Actually, speaking of which, shouldn’t Kkura-unnie have ended the simulation and opened the doors by now?” Wonyoung suddenly asks, realizing they were still surrounded by rocks.

“Huh, you’re right…” Chaeyeon looks up towards the control room and calls to her girlfriend, but doesn't get any response.

“Leeseo, can you fly up there and check where Kkura is? Maybe she went to the bathroom.” The youngest girl obliges and elevates herself towards the control room, and what she finds surprises her.

“Unnies! The windows are shut!” Leeseo announces to the girls down below.

“Someone locked us in here?” Chaeryeong asks out loud,

“There’s usually an emergency exit somewhere when the simulations get stuck. Rei, can you sense it?” The Japanese girl nods and closes her eyes.

“It’s right below where Leeseo is right now.” She says after a few seconds.

“Oh, behind that waterfall?” Yujin asks to which Rei nods.

When the group arrives, Chaeyeon clicks the exit button, but the door doesn’t budge much to everyone’s confusion.

“What in the world? Something must’ve happened upstairs. Yuna, can you teleport out and unlock the doors from the other side?” The aforementioned girl nods and disappears. After a couple seconds though, she teleports back in.

“It’s not opening from the other side either. From the looks of things outside, an alarm had gone off. I’ll go get help, but you should try breaking out yourselves just in case we still can’t.”

When Yuna leaves, Yeji takes a step forward and blasts flames at the door in an effort to melt them. At the same time, Rei was using her abilities to pull the metal doors apart. Eventually, the combination works, the door hinges being malleable enough now that the Japanese girl could pull them off their hinges.

“You girls find Eunbi-unnie. I’ll look for Sakura.” Chaeyeon says immediately and runs off to the control room.

“You’re not leaving me behind, unnie.” Chaeryeong says, following suit.

~~~~

“Hyewon-unnie? What happened here? Where’s Sakura?” Chaeyeon asks when she sees her friend and some other mutants inspecting the control room.

“Chaeyeon? Oh god, I’m glad you girls found a way out. We got alerted to a security breach, and started looking around. By the time we reached here, we found Sakura unconscious on the ground and the computers jammed. We tried to get you out, but someone had fried the system.” Her friend replies. “The cameras outside didn’t see anything, and the ones in the control room had been shut down. The only person who might know who’s responsible for the break in is Sakura, but she’s still in the infirma-” Chaeyeon didn’t even let Hyewon finish her sentence before dashing off again to the infirmary just as Chaeryeong got to the room.

“Ugh wait, did Chaeyeon-unnie run off again? I got lost for a second.” The younger girl says.

“Yes, she went to the infirmary for Sakura, but I need you to stay here and give your account of what happened in the simulation.” Hyewon replies as fast as she can knowing that Chaeryeong was about to follow her older sister. The ITZY member nods and begins recounting her version of events,

~~~~

“Kkura! What happened to you?” Chaeyeon asks when she sees her girlfriend laying down on an infirmary bed with an IV drip attached to her. The tech-girl had been asleep for the past hour but was awoken by the younger girl barging into the room and asking about her.

“Seoyoung…she’s back.” She says quietly. At this, Chaeyeon’s face goes white. They fought and defeated Seoyoung about a year and a half ago, but on their way back to the facility, her transport had been hijacked. They hadn’t heard from her since, well, until today that is.

“Wait, why would she ambush you though? Why was she back here after disappearing for so long?”

“I think it’s time to tell you about the project I’ve been hiding because she took my laptop which had a copy on it. I’m sure that’s what she was after. Let’s go meet the others now. I’m fine already.” Sakura replies, trying to get up and remove her IV drip.

“Woah, woah, you need to rest, Kkura. If Seoyoung attacked you, that means she took a lot of energy from you.” The feather girl says, trying to put Sakura back into bed, but the older girl was adamant.

“Don’t you want to know what I’ve been working on the past few months?” Chaeyeon eventually relents at those words. She couldn’t deny it as it’s been what has kept her on edge for so long.

“Alright then. Let’s meet up with Eunbi-unnie. IZ*ONE members only.” Sakura says.

“Wait, what about ITZY? I think they deserve to know about this too.” The tech girl considers Chaeyeon’s request for a second and nods.

“Fine, but only Yeji and your sister. We can’t let everyone know just yet.” And with that, the duo make their way over to their meeting room.

~~~~

Given that some of the IZ*ONE members like Chaewon, Minjoo, Yuri, and Yena were in the city, and Nako and Hitomi had already gone back to Japan, there were only eight girls in what Eunbi had called the ‘war room’. It was a new secluded room in the library where the group would hold their planning sessions and meetings for missions.

“So, to give the rundown. An intruder, identified by Sakura as the rogue mutant Park Seoyoung, infiltrated campus using camouflage. This likely means one of our former trainees- Chaejeong- was killed.” Eunbi begins to say, knowing that for Seoyoung to gain permanent access to a mutant’s abilities, she’d have to take all their life force. At the mention of Chaejeong, the members wince. Though they didn’t have good experiences with her in the past capture-the-flag missions, it was always a somber moment whenever a mutant would pass away.

“Moving on, it appears that Seoyoung’s target was Sakura. She ambushed her, took her laptop, and locked IVE and ITZY in the training room so they couldn’t follow. Now, Kkura, would you like to tell us what’s so important on that laptop that she came to steal it.” At this, all eyes look at the tech-girl expectantly who was mentally preparing herself for the scolding she was about to get.

“Okay…so after the recent events with Chaewon’s clone, the masked singer, Tomi and Nako’s android, and Hunter Geun, I felt like we were getting surprised way too much. With that and the real possibility of any of us becoming hypnotized or controlled…I decided to build up a catalog of every mutant or threat we knew. On one of the files in the laptop were everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, and last known locations.” A heavy silence settles over the room with this new information.

“YOU WHAT?” Chaeyeon eventually shouts. The ramifications of that leak were huge. If Seoyoung had that, she or whoever she was working for could theoretically hunt down and know how to defeat all of their mutant friends and allies. Chaeyeon was in absolute shock.

“Wait, you mean us as well? Without our permission?” Yeji follows up. Her tone was even-keeled, but it was clear she was upset as well.

“You do realize this is exactly why we’re against the mutant registration act that Geun and his association were lobbying for, right?” Yujin says, betrayal laced in her voice.

“I know…but I really thought about the pros and cons.” Sakura tries to defend herself, but Chaeyeon interjects again.

“Clearly you didn’t think about it enough. Did you not trust our ability to take on any enemy?” The feather girl asks.

“Listen, I’m sorry everyone. I really am. I just became paranoid. What if somehow it was the twelve of us who were kidnapped? I even had a contingency plan for myself. I wanted to be prepared.”

“And yet you couldn’t prepare for someone stealing that information?” Hyewon says with an eyebrow raised.

“Okay, everyone, no need to pile on her. What we need to do now is figure out how to find Seoyoung and take that file back.” Eunbi jumps in, realizing the environment was getting hostile. Of course, she was also upset that Sakura had done that, but fighting right now wouldn’t amount to anything positive.

“I’ll try and fix this. I’m truly sorry.” Sakura says with a bowed head, the guilt starting to weigh heavily on her. After a few more seconds of silence, Eunbi calls for a break, so they could come back with lighter heads. Sakura tried to talk with Chaeyeon, but the younger girl was still angry.

“I know you had good intentions, Kkura. You always do. But, why didn’t you consult with the others? Consult with me? What you did wasn’t something you could freely decide on your own. How do you think the younger trainees like Leeseo will feel when they find out their information was leaked? Everyone is in danger now because of you.” The younger girl says, poking the tech girl’s shoulder as she says it. Chaeryeong sees this and immediately gets in between the two.

“Sakura-unnie, I think you should give Chaeyeon some space for now. I’m a bit peeved at you too right now, but I can understand to a degree why you did it. I think Chaeyeon will come around eventually too. Just, give it some time.” And with that, Chaeryeong walks her older sister away leaving Sakura on her own.

“What am I going to do…” This was the first time in a long time that Sakura did not have a plan.

~~~~

Somewhere on the outskirts of Seoul…

“Good work, Seoyoung. We’ll tell you who your first targets will be soon.” A mysterious voice says. Seoyoung then bows respectfully before leaving the room.

“The Agamemno Contingency Plan…those mutants will meet there end one after the other very soon.” 

A/N: Heyyo, as promised, here's another chapter! Quick turnaround again, right? I made sure to finish the chapter today because I'm going to be busy the whole day tomorrow. The Philippines' government offices always take a long time to go through unfortunately. 

Anyways, I'm starting to realize with this kkuchaen story that it's actually a bit longer than the others. Maybe I should've made this a standalone lol. I hope you can all follow the plot so far. Some new characters will be introduced in the next chapter, and I've been hinting at them for a while. Also, I hope people get the reference i was trying to make with the name of the contingency plan HAHA. Lot of media i consumed growing up influenced the events in the stories. 

Thank you for all the love and support again! Upvotes and comments always appreciated! I'll see y'all in the next one.