“This must be the place.” Hitomi says once the group reaches the 5th floor and sees a sealed door.

“Looks like we need an ID to get in though.” Chaewon replies, noticing the scanner next to the entrance.

Leave that to me, just plug in the USB. Sakura comms over. Chaewon nods and takes the flash drive they’d been given out of her pocket. After fiddling with the cover, she then attaches it to the scanner.

Sakura could feel the connection the second it happened from all the way up the 10th floor. The Japanese girl then closes her eyes and focuses her consciousness towards the USB. It was a neat trick that she was glad she could use a second time, being able to connect with her tech from far distances.

After a few seconds of waiting, the door opens with a satisfying click, allowing the Chaewon’s group to get inside.

“Thanks, Kkura-unnie~” Chaewon whispers through the comm device.

On the inside of the office space were rows and rows of computers and servers that could be holding the keys to fighting the androids. Because it was late at night, and there was a party going on downstairs, the room was empty. This didn’t stop the four girls from doing some checking around just in case something was amiss.

“Hmm, looks like everything’s good here. Let’s get to digging.” Hitomi says after the security sweep. Chaewon nods and plugs in the USB to the closest computer.

“Alright, Kkura-unnie. So how does this work?” Chaewon asks.

You navigate through the folders, and if they’re encrypted, I’ll unlock them. Sakura responds.

“Understood. I’m going through them now.” Chaewon immediately moves the cursor to the files explorer and searches for keywords related to their target like water and androids. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be showing.

“Maybe they're listed under a specific code?” Minjoo suggests.

Hmm, give me a second. I’ll try something. Sakura says before scanning the computer for the most accessed files.

Got it… She eventually thinks when she sees a folder labeled Aqua Vision. When she accesses it, she sees files containing schematics for what the android’s eyes were supposed to do. As she reads it though, an audio file begins playing unprompted. It was a singing voice, but she couldn’t figure out what it was saying.

Huh? What is… this… Sakura feels herself getting a bit drowsy now for some reason.

“Kkura? Kkura-unnie? What’s going on?” Chaewon asks when the Japanese girl suddenly goes silent.

Before Chaewon could ask Hitomi to contact someone else though, Minjoo points to the screen.

“Look, unnie. I think this is it.” She says, causing everyone to gather and look at the file that was now being displayed in front of them.

“So, the eyes on the androids can scan iron. I don’t see how that affects us though.” Chaewon mumbles until they scroll down a bit and find out the answer.

“Wait, the Jirisan water?” Nako notices when she sees the brand pop up again. The blueprint showed the nutrition details that they’d already stolen before, but something was different. There was a new line that mentioned it was infused with a high dose of special… iron.

“Tomi, call Wonyoung now!” The short girl says when she realizes what this entailed. Hitomi nods and turns on her comm device while Chaewon downloads the files.

“Wonyoung! Get out of there! The water-” Before she could finish her sentence, the connection was cut, as if the signal was being blocked. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

“No, no it isn’t.” A new voice says from near the entrance. Chaewon recognized it clearly though.

“Girls! Don’t look!” She says, scanning behind them until her eyes catch a mirror, and in the reflection is a familiar foe, Kim Sohye.

“So, you’ve gotten smarter since the last time we met! Good for you, I’m afraid I can't let you get out of here with that data.” She replies in a smug tone.

“Oh yeah? You and what army?” Nako taunts, which causes Hitomi to grimace because she already knew what was coming. Sohye snaps her fingers and androids begin dropping down from the ceiling above. The group was now outnumbered four to seven.

“Do you want to surrender now? I kind of hope you don’t though because this would be a lot more fun.” Sohye says with a laugh.

“Girls, let me handle, Sohye.” Minjoo whispers.

“Yah, she has those special glasses. Your invisibility won’t work, Min.” Chaewon replies.

“Yes, but if she’s wearing them, she won’t be able to use her powers.” Minjoo argues.

“Judging by your little quarrel, I’m just going to assume you want to fight. Fun! Androids, eliminate them.” Sohye orders.

“We don’t have time. I’ll be fine, unnie. Just trust me.” Minjoo says before going invisible.

“Min! Wai-”

“Watch out!” Nako says before pushing Chaewon out of the way of an energy blast.

“We can’t let Minjoo fight Sohye on her own!” Chaewon tries to say as another attack was blocked, this time by Hitomi.

“Well, we kind of don’t have a choice here.” The peach-cheeked girl says before impaling one android with a sharpened root. To her shock though, the machine simply pulls it out and snaps it like a twig.

Nako tries to land a punch on another, but unlike the first android they’d fought back in Japan, this one was obviously stronger, catching her fist and tossing her across the room.

On the other side, Sohye was laughing to herself watching them struggle just before a punch connected with the side of her head.

“Deactivate those robots!” Minjoo says. Sohye gets up, rubbing her jaw in annoyance.

“Cheapshot.” She mutters as a sweeping kick undercuts and knocks her down again.

“Yah! Quit that!” Sohye tries to focus her vision around, but without direct eye contact, she wasn’t able to use her ability. After another sneaky jab to the stomach, Sohye had finally had enough.

“Alright, brat. I don’t need my powers to take you down.” She says as she takes out her special glasses and puts them on, the thermal outline of Minjoo now visible to her.

Sohye immediately goes on the attack, and the difference in fighting skill quickly becomes apparent. Minjoo could barely get in a counter with all the quick strikes Sohye was throwing her way. She was knocking the brunette around like a ragdoll.

“You have no technique. All you know how to do is fight scared!” Sohye says before landing a kick to Minjoo’s groin, sending her flying into a table.

“MINJOO!” Chaewon yells from across the room when she sees her girlfriend’s invisibility cloak drop. She tried to get over to her, but two androids jumped in front of her to block her way. With Nako and Hitomi busy fighting two machines each as well, there was no opening for Chaewon to get through.

“It’s unfortunate you had to go out like this…” Sohye taunts while taking out a pistol from her pocket. “You girls picked the wrong side.”

Sohye slowly aims the gun towards Minjoo, but just as she was about to shoot, a dashing blur speeds in and knocks the weapon out of her hand.

“Wh-” In another blink of an eye, that same blur runs a quick circle around Sohye, leaving the woman with her glasses duct taped to her head.

“That should stop her from wiping our memories.” The voice of a woman says, and when Minjoo comes back to her senses, she realizes it was Chaeryeong, and right behind her were Yeji and Lia.

“I told you it was the fifth floor!” Lia complains.

“That’s only because you heard the fighting.” Yeji replies.

“W-what are you girls doing here?” Minjoo ends up asking.

“We could be asking you the same question, but let’s wrap this up first.” Chaeryeong says as Sohye starts getting up again.

“You insolent fools!” She yells angrily. The ITZY girls were getting ready to fight, but Minjoo stopped them.

“You need to help my friends!” The brunette pleads, pointing in Chaewon, Nako and Hitomi’s direction where they were getting beaten badly.

“What about you?” Chaeryeong asks. Minjoo looks at her determinedly before replying.

“I think I can do it this time.” She says.

“If you say so.” Yeji replies before firing a beam of fire right towards an android, engulfing it in flames. Chaeryeong speeds over and knocks another one down. Finally, Lia launches her elastic hands to constrict one of the androids fighting Chaewon. It was now an even six versus six.

“You must be really brave or really stupid if you still think you can handle me alone. When I’m through with you, you’ll wish I’d wiped your mind instead.” Sohye says, still being able to see Minjoo’s outline. The brunette takes a quick glance at her friends struggling against the androids, particularly Chaewon who was physically outmatched due to her opponent’s metal skin, before turning back towards Sohye.

“How about a little bit of both?” Minjoo says before taking a deep breath and focusing on her anchor. Sohye charges straight for her, but before she could land a hit, Minjoo disappears completely.

“What is this?” Sohye asks confusedly before getting struck in the chest. She looked around frantically, but even Minjoo’s thermal outline was gone. She couldn’t even hear her movements as another blow from behind knocked her to the ground.

Minjoo, full of determination, wouldn’t let up and kept swinging by, hitting Sohye with a flurry of jabs and kicks until the older girl was down for the fourth time.

“How do we stop those androids?” Minjoo asks, finally revealing herself standing on top of Sohye.

“As if I’d tell you. Figure it out on your own.” Sohye replies before flipping Minjoo over. By the time she recovered, Sohye was already on the run.

Minjoo wanted to follow, but she couldn’t leave her friends behind. With a sigh, the brunette turns back to help.

~~~~

“Yah, these things won’t stay broken!” Nako says after ripping off another android’s arm only for it to come flying back to its socket.

“They’re definitely more durable than before, that’s for sure.” Yeji replies. The ones her team had fought back at JYP would melt under her flames, but the one she was fighting right now was somehow resisting the heat. Even the weak spot she’d targeted before wasn’t being affected anymore.

“I can’t fight for much longer either. The next punch I throw is definitely going to break my hand.” Chaewon quips as she dodges another energy blast. She’d split herself into three, but every swing she’d make only hurt her and her clones back.

“Well, we’re going to need an idea soon!” Chaeryeong says before avoiding an attack going towards her.

“Wait, I might have something!” Hitomi realizes when she sees the damage done by the energy blast targeted towards Chaeyeon’s sister. “Force them to aim for each other!”

To test her theory, the Japanese girl commands the vines to wrap around the hands of the robot in front of her. As expected, it begins charging up an attack to blast through, but at the last second, Hitomi yanks the vines in the direction of the android fighting Chaeryeong. The energy beam easily rips through the vines and scores a direct hit on the other android.

“Nice one, Tomi!” Nako cheers, but in her distraction, she gets swung on and knocked against a wall.

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that…” The short girl mumbles, wiping some blood off her cheek before running towards her adversary and jumping on to its back. Despite its armor, Nako’s hits were definitely denting it which gives Yeji an idea of her own.

“Nako! Smash the back right shoulder!” She yells while dodging another attack.

“Didn’t have to tell me twice.” Nako replies before doing as she was told. After a couple more strikes, Yeji orders her to get out of the way and blasts a beam of fire right towards the softened area. When the dust cleared, the android was on the ground, its core melted.

“Two down, four to go!” Chaeryeong cheers before coordinating with Lia to destroy another one. Chaeryeong began running laps around another robot, and once it tried for its energy blast, she darted straight towards Lia who had used her elastic arms to hold her own android in place. It was now six versus three in their favor.

“Can I get a hand next then?” Chaewon asks from her side of the room. Having clones distracting the android may have been a good idea initially, but that was until one of them got hit. Chaewon yelps in pain as one copy takes a direct hit and dissipates.

“Chaewon!” Hitomi shouts, too far away to create a shield for her. Chaeryeong tries to rush in to help, but one of the remaining androids decides to get in her way.

As Chaewon laid on the ground in pain, a part of her contemplated if this was the end. The android aims its cannon right at her, but just before it can fire, a familiar figure comes into Chaewon’s view- Minjoo.

The brunette jumps in and cloaks Chaewon in invisibility, causing the android to hesitate for just a second, a second that was long enough for Yeji to retake its attention with a fire blast.

“Y-you okay, Chae?” Minjoo asks, still holding Chaewon in her embrace as the others start finishing off the rest of the androids.

“Yes… Thank you, Min. I owe you one.” Chaewon replies, her heart beating incredibly fast.

“I’m sorry. I let Sohye get away.” The brunette whispers, but Chaewon wasn’t about to hear it.

“Yah, you saved me, dummy. We’ll find her again. I promise.” She says, leaning her head into Minjoo’s shoulder.

After a couple minutes, all that’s left are heaps of torched and crumpled metal. The seven girls are heaving from the effort, but ultimately still alive.

“We need to go help the others. They must’ve been ambushed too.” Hitomi says.

“Ryujin’s in the ballroom with Yuna right now to keep tabs on the president.” Yeji replies.

“Wait, Wonyoung, Yujin, Eunbi, and Hyewon are down there too. They might’ve found each other already.” Chaewon interjects before a couple loud rumblings are heard from above and below.

“Oh god, Kkura-chan. We lost connection with her earlier.” Nako remembers, her eyes drifting upwards to the ceiling where the lights were beginning to flicker on and off.

“Then it’s settled. We’ll go down to the ballroom while you girls go up to help your other friends. We can meet up at the park a couple blocks from here after.” The ITZY leader suggests to which everyone nods.

“You should take this with you then, just in case something bad happens.” Hitomi says, handing Yeji a USB. “It’s another copy of the data we got. Can’t risk losing it or having it destroyed while we’re upstairs.

“Thank you. Now let’s move.” The orange-haired girl says before heading off. Lia follows, but before Chaeryeong does, she looks back at them.

“Keep Chaeyeon-unnie safe, okay?” She says.

“Of course. You keep our friends safe too.” Minjoo replies with a smile. Chaeryeong nods and then zips away to catch up with her teammates.

“Alright, girls. Let’s get a move on as well.” Nako says, and with that, the group of four begin running upstairs.

~~~~

“Kkura? Kkura, wake up.” Chaeyeon says while shaking the older girl. Sakura had just been communicating something over with Chaewon’s group before she suddenly lost consciousness, her head falling down to hit the control panel. Yena had tried to zap her awake, but that hadn’t worked either.

“The others aren’t picking up. The signals must be blocked.” Yuri says after trying to contact Eunbi and Chaewon’s group through their comm device.

“Something’s wrong. Yena-unnie, can you go check the perimeter? Maybe find Hayoung again?” She asks.

“Sure, I’ll be right back.” The older girl says. “You two lock the door, and don’t open it unless you hear me.”

A couple minutes go by with Sakura still unconscious when Chaeyeon and Yuri hear commotion from down the hall followed by the computer screens next to them as well as the lights above flickering on and off.

“Yena might be in trouble…” Yuri whispers. Chaeyeon was conflicted because on one hand, she wanted to go check outside, but on the other, she didn’t want to just leave Yuri and Sakura here alone. Before she could make a decision though, someone begins knocking on their door.

“Unnie? Is that you?” Chaeyeon asks, no response coming. Yuri tries to approach the door, but the older girl stops her.

“What if it’s actually Yena? She might need our help.” Yuri argues. As Chaeyeon thinks, her eyes begin to drift towards the security cameras, and it’s then that realizes that without Sakura, they were back in service.

“No… that’s not Yena outside.” Chaeyeon says, the camera right outside the door showing a masked woman staring right at them.

“Oh no, unnie. Cover your ears!” Yuri tried to say but it was too late, a humming sound beginning to fill the air.

 

A/N: Hello again! As I was writing, i realized this chapter would be pretty long if I kept it as one so i've chosen to split it in two so it's more digestible and you guys get to don't have to wait long.

So, after infiltrating KYB, Chaewon's team figures out what the android's new skill and its relation to the Jirisan water. Those androids are even stronger than before too. Minjoo gets into a full one vs one fight for like the first time too and defeats Sohye with a little help from ITZY. 

In the next chapter, we're going to see how Chaeyeon's team does against their adversary as well as what's going on downstairs with Eunbi's group.

Thanks again for the love and support! I appreciate it all! Again, the twt tag is #ProjectIZONE_AU if you wanna talk about it, but if you're shy, I also got a cc linked in my twt, @TofuBeagle22.

Have a nice day, everyone, and I'll see y'all next time!