2. Project IZ*ONE II

Chapter 3- Breakout

"On your left, unnie!" Hitomi calls out seeing another guard appear from a hallway, a metal baton in his hand. Chaeyeon uses her speed to dodge his first swing and launch a flurry of punches, easily knocking him out. Hitomi was no slouch either. Even with the lack of plant life around, she still had her combat training from AKB and PD. It also helped that she was a cheerleader back in grade school as it helped her gain some acrobatic skills. She'd dodge attacks by backflipping and immediately transition into flying kicks.

"We're almost there, Hii-chan. Just a few more cells!" Chaeyeon says. The four of them had split up once again to make themselves more difficult to track. Nako had gone with Sakura while Chaeyeon went with Hitomi. It had been easier for them to acquire their targets' locations this time with Sakura as she simply placed her hand on a security panel and searched from there. Jurina was being kept on the bottom floor, where the most dangerous prisoners were. She had just found out herself that she and Chaeyeon were scheduled to be moved down there if they managed to capture their other two friends. Hitomi's parents on the other hand were located on the second level, as they were just regular humans.

After a few more fights, Hitomi and Chaeyeon finally arrived at their destination- a cell similar to the one they'd found Sakura and Chaeyeon in, except a bit more worn down. Hitomi realizes now that when HKT first built this prison, they probably only had one floor for prisoners. As time went on, they expanded below to make room for labs and isolation areas for strong mutants. Hitomi approaches the bulletproof barrier and sees two figures, a man and a woman, staring out trying to figure out what the commotion was.

"Mom? Dad?" The peach-cheeked girl asks, catching the two's attention. The man runs up to the barrier when he hears her voice.

"H-Hitomi?!? Is it really you?" He asks in disbelief, tearing up. Behind him, the woman, Hitomi's mother began to cry tears of joy as well.

"Yes, dad...it's me. We're here to break you two out!" Hitomi then brings out their stolen cardkey and tries to scan it.

Error. Access Denied. The screen displayed.

"What? Why isn't it working?" Hitomi asks aloud.

Access Denied. Access Denied Access Denied. It repeated.

"What's wrong, dear?" Her father asks with concern.

"They must've blocked out this card's credentials. Chaeyeon, we're going to need to put in the code manually!" She says while staring at the 4-digit passcode in front of her.

"I'll go ask Saku-chan right now!" Chaeyeon responds. Sakura, what's the passcode? We've been locked out! She projects in her head using the mental link.

We're heading down to the tenth level...i-...might...g-...choppy. The message started off clear, but quickly devolved, becoming unintelligible. It appeared as though they'd gone too deep and were now too far to communicate clearly.

"We're on our own, Hii-chan." Chaeyeon says regretfully.

"Wait, so what're we going to do? Guess?" Hitomi asks frantically, but the worst was yet to come. A new message began to display on the monitor now.

Too many incorrect attempts. Prisoners are being broken out. Commence fail-safe protocol. The words blare in red in front of them as green gas begins to be released from within the cell...poison.

"Hitomi, what's happening?" Her father asks, beginning to cough. The young girl taps at the door, desperately trying to break her parents out to no avail.

Those monsters... Chaeyeon thinks. She knew they had extreme methods, but the Japanese were really willing to do anything to keep the upper hand. She stares at the code panel, thinking of what the code might be. Time was running out, so Chaeyeon decided it was all or nothing now.