Hazel closed her eyes tight and looked away, as if holding back tears.

“Sorry Saff, I hope you’ll understand someday...”

Turrets fired from every direction, locking on to their closest target. Shiso went to work, shooting turrets and trying to dodge shots. Saffron had seen his moves before, but she couldn’t remember where. On the flipside, Saffron was desperately casting as much defensive magic as she could on herself.

“Defend! Defend! Defend!” she kept shouting. Every shield she threw up kept shattering from the barrage coming at her. She felt a painful shot rebound off her forehead, knocking her backwards and off balance; Saffron now felt the full extent of Hazel’s “non-lethal” rounds. She fell to the ground and curled up into a ball, trying not to get hit in important areas on her body.

Shiso yanked Saffron by the back of her shirt’s collar to get her behind cover with him. He had used rocks and broken turrets to make a mass to hide behind. Saffron was breathing heavily and was laying on her back, not willing to make sudden movements. Shiso periodically shot from behind cover and reloaded his gun. Although, Saffron noticed that the turrets weren’t shooting at their cover anymore. Saffron looked around.

“Hey Shiso,” she asked.

“Yeah, kid?”

“Um, we have three party members, right?”

“About that…'' Shiso pointed to something beyond their hiding spot and Saffron peaked out. She was stunned at what she saw.

Reva was standing in the middle of the firing zone for all of the turrets, taking every last painful hit; although, it didn’t look painful when looking at Reva. She was taking every hit and laughing about it. Her face was a bright red and she was supporting herself on her shield, unable to fully stand from laughing so hard.

“Does that even hurt to her?” Saffron asked.

“I don’t have to be a psychologist to know that woman’s got a screw or two loose.” Shiso said with a sigh. “Although, I wouldn’t trust someone with all their screws tightened.”

In the distance, Saffron saw the silhouette of Hazel fixing turrets at record speed. Shiso ran out from the cover and ran at Hazel, while Reva was absorbing most of the hits. Saffron started to prepare a spell, knowing she had to do something to help.

Shiso was face to face with Hazel, with each looking into each other’s eyes. No turrets were shooting within three feet of Hazel, being programmed to not activate within her vicinity.

“The kid made you sound like some sort of hero.” Shiso said. “Did you really have to spit on that image?” Hazel broke eye contact, almost as if ashamed of herself.

“Do you really think there’s any heroes left in this world?” Hazel asked. “Who’s going to kill the good ‘ol Gatekeeper, huh?”

“We are. I’ll even give you a spot if you cut the crap now.” Hazel spit on the ground.

“What makes you guys any different than the endless ones before you? You think we can save the world or something? You think some assassin is gonna make me go?” Hazel and Shiso started to circle each other.

“Bounty hunter; I’m a bounty hunter. It’s not all black and white, sweetheart. Don’t think about the world; the world ain’t worth saving. Think about the close ones; those are the only ones worth saving. Save your person, save the world.” Hazel gave a small chuckle.

“That’s real rich. What’re you fighting for?” Shiso tightened the gloves on his wrists.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You wanna stick around and find out the hard way?” he asked.

Shiso advanced on Hazel, knowing that he’d definitely lose the ranged battle. Hazel wasn’t exactly on board with fighting barehanded, so from her hip pouch, she pulled a giant wrench that looked to be even taller than her. Though Shiso definitely wasn’t expecting that, he had seen weirder. Shiso continued to fight Hazel fisticuffs, occasionally pulling out a knife.

Hazel’s combat prowess surprised Shiso, being able to easily use the weight of the wrench to swing around and even use it as a lever. She kicked Shiso, sending him slamming into the ground. He put his hand to his earpiece.

“Hey kid, you got something up your sleeve?” he asked.

“Yeah, I got something.” Saffron said. “You’ll need some cover though.”

“Got it. Keep charging, I’ll find something.”

Shiso jumped up and started throwing barrages of knives at Hazel, which she stopped by throwing down a glass marble, causing a wall to erect out of seemingly nowhere.

“Reva, you there?” Shiso asked, panicked. Although, Reva’s mad laughter made him more uneasy than anything.

“Hahaha! Yeahahah! I-I’m Here Hahaha!” she said, taking barely any breaths. She berserked through the shots and smashed some turrets. Shiso felt a newfound fear for the woman.

“Listen, can you prepare me some cover in about 30 seconds?”

“Yeah, count on me. I can do it in half the time.” she suddenly said, not laughing and taking a serious tone. After that, Reva immediately hung up. The sky started to darken, as if it was about to start pouring rain. The sun looked like a vague area of light as something a bit thicker than the typical cloud covered the horizon.

Shiso ran for Reva, who was signaling for him to get over to her quickly. He slid under her as she put her shield towards the sky to shield against whatever disaster was about to strike.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saffron just finished the spell. She looked up at the sky as smoke and ash started to block out the sun. She got up and ran at Hazel, knowing that they both needed cover. Most of the turrets were focused on Reva and Shiso, so she had little competition against getting over to Hazel. Her brown hair swayed back as Saffron tackled her.

“Saff?” she exclaimed. “What’re you do-” Hazel was cut off when Saffron ripped a metal ball off of her hip and threw it on the ground. The ball shattered and quickly constructed a bunker around them both. Saffron sighed as she put a finger to her earpiece.

“You two okay, Shiso?” she asked. She could periodically hear something smashing to the ground, and the destruction of metal.

“We’re fine for now kid, but how long is it gonna rain hellfire on us?”

“I couldn’t do more than about a minute, but that’s all it needs.”

“Gocha. Over and out, kid.” Shiso said before hanging up.

Hazel rolled out from under Saffron and looked up at the bunker ceiling, not wanting to look at Saffron. Saffron sighed and laid down next to Hazel, hearing a barrage of hits from outside the bunker.

“Are you going to talk, or do I need to make the first move?” Saffron asked.

“Are you disappointed in what I’ve become?” Hazel asked. “In trying to protect you, I’ve probably put you all in even more danger.”

“What do you think I should be disappointed in?”

“Your teacher who tried to knock you all out to forcefully hold you in my care. I’m not a good person anymore, Saff.”

“You never were.” Saffron said plainly. Hazel looked like she was going to cry. Saffron continued. “I never was, Shiso never was, Reva never was, nobody is a ‘good’ person. Good isn’t something you are, it’s something you do.” Hazel wiped away a tear.

“What comic book did you rip that out of?” she asked with a smile.

“Are you still going to knock us out?” Saffron asked. Hazel sighed.

“I would if I could, but I’m not confident anymore.” The sound of blunt trauma against metal had stopped outside, being replaced with gentle knocking.

“I really hope both of you are in there.” Shiso said from outside. Hazel chuckled and hit a button on the side of the bunker, compacting it back into a ball, albeit with many dents and loose metal sticking out, making it look more like an instrument of torture.

“Hey Saff, are we good?” Hazel asked.

“Not now,” Saffron answered. “But we can work on it.”

“Hey kid,” Shiso interrupted. “I know you’re reconnecting and all, but I think she really needs help.” Shiso pointed over at Reva, who was slowly getting shot in the head repeatedly by a half broken turret. Her armor and shield were both covered in scorch marks, so it seemed like it was possible she couldn’t move at all. Even then, she was still laughing like a mad warlord.

“Don’t worry.” Hazel said. “The rounds are only rubber. They probably won’t put a dent in your suit of armor.”

“That’s not what I’m concerned with here.” he said. Hazel shrugged.

“I’m not one to judge. Maybe she needs a reboot or something.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Saffron. “A reboot… Maybe we should start with a concussion test.”