Saffron wasn’t done vomiting from the ride on Reva’s shield. Reva had put Saffron to lay down in her shield while she dragged it along the ground with a rope. Reva and Shiso had been trying to pass the time by playing “I-Spy”, but it hadn’t been so successful.

“I spy with my little eye… something brown.” said Reva. Shiso walked with slumped shoulders and drooping eyes.

“Is it a rock?” Shiso asked dully.

“Yeah, on the mark. Your turn.” she said.

“I spy with my little eye something blue.”

“Is it the sky?” Reva asked dully.

“How’d you guess one of the two things for miles?” asked Shiso, groaning. Saffron stood up and gave a big yawn.

“Can’t we speed up this process?” asked Saffron.

“I don’t know,” said Shiso, rubbing his eyes. “Maybe you could find some way to make it more fun.” Saffron rubbed her chin before, then snapped her fingers.

“Fun... I've got it!”

“Kid, you don’t actually have to-” Shiso began. Saffron ran up to Shiso and slapped the back of his head. His eyes popped out of his head as he looked at Saffron running away from him.

“You’re it, Shiso!” Saffron shouted at him. Shiso quickly gave chase to Saffron, catching up after about a minute.

“Saff, watch out!” shouted Reva. Shiso tried to tag Saffron, but she swiftly dodged. Shiso gave a flurry of tags, but none of them landed. Reva stood in the background, laughing hysterically at the interaction between Saffron and Shiso’s game of tag. Shiso turned around and slapped Reva’s shoulder.

“You’re it, knight.” Shiso remarked as he ran away from Reva. She gave chase, but Shiso and Saffron ran much faster than her. Saffron thought it was weird to hear Shiso laugh, but it was what she was hearing. His laughing came to a stop though, as he suddenly halted in his tracks and grabbed Saffron and yanked the back of her shirt.

“What’re you-” Saffron started.

“Reva! Be careful!” Shiso shouted. She stopped behind Shiso as well.

“What’s wrong?” asked Saffron. Shiso pointed at the land in front of them.

“Look closely at the ground.” he said. Saffron and Reva looked close at the ground and took a step or two back; Saffron had almost run headfirst into a minefield.

“Who put this minefield here?” asked Saffron.

“I think they did.” said Reva, pointing at a small figure in the distance. Shiso took out a pair of binoculars and stared at the person.

“Who is it?” asked Saffron. Shiso gave a loud groan. The figure with giant hair in the distance was doing a little dance and giving various rude hand gestures to Shiso.

“Someone who’s going to get a bullet in their leg.” said Shiso. Reva patted his back,

“Maybe we can talk before resorting to pulling the trigger.” Reva said, earnestly.

“Well, maybe we should worry about how we’re going to get across this minefield first.” said Saffron. Shiso sighed.

“You’re the scientist here, do you have something that’ll get rid of them?” Shiso asked. Saffron dug through the pockets of her coat and brought out a few spell cards. After reading a couple, she shoved one into her Field Bracer and summoned a bomb out of thin air.

“Guys, after I throw this, we need to get behind Reva’s shield.” They both nodded. She threw the bomb and huddled behind Reva and her shield. The bomb blew up and waves of kinetic energy burst from all sides of the bomb, setting off an intense chain reaction that was setting off the entire minefield. Shrapnel flew past them at blinding speed and embedded itself in the ground and plinked off of Reva’s shield. Suddenly, it all stopped; Saffron, Shiso, and Reva all fell over and laid down.

“That… could.... have… killed… us…” said a shell shocked Shiso. They all sat and waited as their hearing and other senses recovered.

“You wanna go shoot them now?” asked Saffron.

“Yeah kid, just help me up.” said Shiso. Reva was the first to heave herself up; then she helped up Saffron, who helped up Shiso.

“Come on old man, don’t throw out your back.” Saffron quipped.

“Watch it, kid. Let’s get going.” Shiso said. The gang, now recovered from the immense blast, ventured on to see who laid down all those mines. It wasn’t long before they came across a tiny steel circle embedded into the ground.

“Well I’ll be… I didn’t know the ground could grow pimples.” Shiso dryly said.

“They don’t.” Saffron said seriously. She searched all around the side of the tiny bunker like she was looking for something.

“Whatchu looking for, Saff?” asked Reva. Saffron didn’t answer; she kept searching until she found a mark on the bunker. It was a brown “H” with a wrench going through the center of it. Saffron furrowed her brow and pounded on the bunker.

“Hazel! Hazel! Open up, I know you’re in there!” Shouted Saffron, as if she was trying to force her voice through the steel. A lot of shuffling was heard inside the bunker before the entire thing popped out and folded up into a small metal disk the size of a frisbee. It left just a woman standing where it used to be. Shiso, like always, readied his gun for potential combat.

“Hey Saff, long time no see.” said the woman who emerged from the bunker. She had large brown hair that was somehow shoved together using a hair tie. Her pink shirt was covered by blue overalls, which were complemented by her black, almost knee length, buckled boots. She also had a small utility belt around her waist and a larger brown handbag over her shoulder. She held a small wrench in one of her gloved hands. Saffron gave her a big hug.

“Is that all you can say after you’ve been gone for so long, Hazel?” Saffron asked. Hazel shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her green eyes.

“I didn’t have the biggest choice on whether I wanted to stay, now did I?” she said. Hazel looked over at Shiso, rushed towards him, and took his earpiece.

“Hey, what’re you-” Shiso started.

“What make and model is this earpiece? How long have you had this thing?” Hazel seemed too curious for Shiso’s tastes. She snagged his earpiece back and put it back where it belonged.

“Who’s your kleptomaniac friend, kid?” Shiso asked. Saffron seemed pretty excited.

“Put the gun away, Shiso. Guys, this is Hazel, my old engineering friend! She taught me most of what I know about building things.” Saffron wrapped her arms around Hazel.

“Me and Saff go way back, guys.” Hazel said. Shiso rolled his eyes.

“You can’t go back that far. The kid isn’t that old yet.” said Shiso.

“What do you know, Revolver House Cat?” Hazel snorted. Shiso was quite visually mad at this point.

“Why don’t you go sit down?” Reva asked Shiso.

“I don’t need to-” Before Shiso could finish, Reva seized him by his scarf and began pulling him away by his neck. Hazel reached into and rifled through her bag before pulling out a metal square.

“Here you guys go!” shouted Hazel before throwing the square at Reva and Shiso. When the square hit the ground, it began to expand out until it became a small bed. Hazel winked before Reva raised her and in thanks and judo threw Shiso onto the mattress and forced him to stay down. Meanwhile, Hazel also threw down a portable bench for her and Saffron to sit on.

“So, any reason I haven’t seen you in years?” asked Saffron. Hazel gave a painful sigh.

“Well, that’s a hard one to answer. I’ve been here, and I can’t exactly leave without pretty much d-” Saffron interrupted her.

“Why couldn’t you have contacted me though? Don’t act like you can’t communicate with the outside world, because Shiso is clearly up to date on the world, and that guy’s been here for quite a while.”

“Look Saff, first, I’m not gonna argue or anything about my choice. After they attacked, I only escaped because I activated every single piece of machinery in the Factory. I’ve been laying low out here for a while. Second, that guy looks like he got his weapons from Clint Eastwood.”

“Zel, I thought you were gone. Really scared me, having no one like you around.” Hazel took an assortment of parts out of her bag and began to fiddle with them, not quite sure what she was making.

“Saff, I’m really sorry, but once you get here, you can’t leave. I had my shot, and it was a game over for me. Now, I just try to make fun things that blow up monsters.” Hazel scratched the back of her head. “Quite frankly, I don’t know what to do anymore.” Saffron grabbed her hand and stood up.

“Come with us to Eden then! We can all make it together.” Hazel laughed, which gave Saffron a frown.

“Saff, I don’t think you’ve seen the gate guardian. You know the story about the angel that guarded the Garden of Eden? It’s basically that; totally unbeatable.” Saffron kicked Hazel’s bench.

“I don’t care what you think is unbeatable! We’re doing a job here, and you can join us or not.” Hazel stood up, just as angry.

“No Saff, you don’t know! If you lose, you’ll become a guardian for sure!”

“You don’t have to care for me that much!” Hazel stopped being angry and looked at Saffron, confused at her statement.

“Wait, what did you…?”

“Yea, I said it! We’re not children anymore; I don’t need constant protection!”

“Saffron, wait! You-” Saffron didn’t listen to the rest. She started to march away and signaled Reva and Shiso.

“Come on guys,” she said angrily. “We’re leaving.” Reva looked confused.

“Isn’t your friend, Hazel, coming?” she asked, concerned.

“No, she’s not going to help; the coward she is.” Suddenly, Saffron felt something hit her in the back of the head. She turned around and looked at the ground to find that it was a small mechanical bird, kind of like a finch. She shoved it in her pocket and turned around. Shiso started to stretch after getting up.

“Hey kid, where’s your-”

“She’s not coming, Shiso!” Saffron shouted. Shiso stepped back, having not seen Saffron so angry. Her fists were clenched, her veins turned a light tint of blue, and she started leaving purple footprints.

“SAFFRON!” yelled Hazel from behind them. Saffron swiftly turned and shouted.

“I thought you-” Hazel interrupted Saffron though.

“No, I can’t let you pass. She may just make your friends into guardians, but she'll probably kill you for being a guardian turning on her.” Hazel had a distraught look on her face and looked like she was holding back tears. “This is for your own good.”

“What do you know about-” Saffron’s backlash was interrupted by a sharp snap of Hazel’s fingers, which made a whole squadron of turrets pop out of the ground from all around the group. Hazel closed her eyes tight.

“Sorry Saff, I… I just can’t let you go. They’ve got non-lethal rounds, but it’s going to hurt a lot. I’m just… so sorry. I can build as many machines as I wan’t, but I can’t build another of you…”