1. Project IZ*ONE

Chapter 21- Stand Off

15 minutes ago...

"Chaeyeon-unnie! Over here!" Chaewon yells as she finds a door to an empty room. They'd been chased around the facility for a few minutes already, but without Yena or Sakura to lead them, it was pretty difficult to navigate. It's felt like they've passed the same hallways five times already, and Chaewon was starting to get tired. She'd managed to save some energy by having the clones above ground meet and merge to guard Juri and Noe, but there was still so much going on. Somewhere in this same facility, another one of her clones was hiding Sihyeon and Goeun. It was starting to get really disorientating, but she was trying to fight through it.

When the two get inside, they lock the door and try to stay as silent as possible. A couple seconds later, they hear footsteps of soldiers running by, and they breathe a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one..." Chaeyeon says as she leans against the wall. She was already injured from a while ago, and carrying Gaeun around wasn't helping.

"Okay, while we were running, I got a message from Eunbi-unnie. They've found Seoyoung, and Saku-chan and the others are on their way." She reports.

"That's good to hear. What about your other clones? Are they all doing okay?" Chaeyeon asks.

"Chaewon-one is just watching the perimeter with Yujin. Nako and Hyewon are trying to breakthrough Seoyoung's cell, and it looks like they made some progress. Chaewon-two is fine. Just got word from Seunggi-sunbaenim that they're almost here. Noe and Juri are still knocked out. As for Chaewon-3, she used us as a distraction to get Sihyeon and Goeun to the elevator. She was closer than us, so she remembered where to go, which reminds me, I should ask Sakura for directions." Chaeyeon was in awe at how Chaewon managed to keep track of everything her clones were doing at once. She has truly mastered the art of multitasking. After a few seconds, Sakura relays a message to them.

"Hi guys. This is Sakura. I'm going to send a mental map of the route to the elevator. It'll be marked in red. I'm not going to be able to maintain it for long though, so make sure to memorize it. There should be some signs around to help at the very least." She says.

"Thanks, Saku-chan!" Chaeyeon responds.

"No problem. I'm sorry to cut things short, but I gotta go. There's a situation with Eunbi-unnie's team."

"What situation are they talking about, Chaewon?" Chaeyeon then asks the younger girl.

"Uh-oh...well, it looked like a trap when we walked in, and it definitely was one. That scientist, Park Eunseo, is giving a villain monologue, and Seoyoung is now free from her prison. Looks like it's gonna be a fight."

"Should we go back and help?"

"No, we should stick with the plan. Gaeun is still out cold, and she should be our priority." Chaewon understood that Chaeyeon wanted to help their friends, she did too, but they had a mission to accomplish. They just had to trust that the others were strong enough to beat Seoyoung without them. Well, "them" being Chaeyeon because Chaewon-one was already there.

~~~~

When the coast was clear, and they had finally caught their breath, they began to move again. As it turned out, Sakura's advice was really helpful. The path was a lot simpler than they originally thought.

"Okay, we should be getting close now. Just a couple more turns-" Chaewon gets cut off by a sudden pain in her arm. At first, she thought it was nothing, but the pain slowly began to spread to her whole body.

"Aghhh!" Chaewon screams in pain, falling to her knees.

"Chaewon! What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Chaeyeon lays Gaeun down against a wall and goes back to the younger girl. Something bad must've happened to her other clone.