They had all been pinned behind a giant rock formation that made a fairly great place to take cover. Whenever anything poked out from their cover, a bullet shot out to hit it dead on, even if it was a mere lock of hair. Sometimes, he even shot out a round just to rattle them. All in the sky, ash obstructed most sunlight from peering through.

Shiso was trying to make up a plan to get out of the current situation, talking with Saffron and Hazel about how to do so. Violette had her back against the wall, crying her eyes out while Reva had her arm around her and assured that they were all going to be alright. Selicy had her eyes closed and was breathing heavily, trying to stay calm. Frost was forming around her body, spreading out from her chest but melting if going too far. Steam was still rising up from her skin.

When night had fallen, the firelands were taken by a layer of darkness only illuminated by the light of the magma peaking through the ground. It gave midnight an eerie glow.

“Haze, are you seeing anything?” Saffron asked. Hazel was peering over their cover with a periscope. Another shot rang out, causing Hazel to scream and drop her device. Its glass was shattered and a light blue sniper round was embedded in it.

“Not much.” Hazel lamented. “Can’t even get a good look at the guy.”

“Well, we’ve gotta get away somehow.” Shiso said. “Let’s each at least have an idea.”

“What if Hazel built some kind of machine to distract him while we all escaped?” Saffron suggested.

“What if he doesn’t buy it?” Hazel asked. “We’ll all be dead. I think that we should try and make a weapon to hit him from here. That way we don’t have to worry about looking behind us or getting picked off while we run.”

“But how’re we gonna fire off with him watching us so closely?” Shiso asked. “Hazel, did you see anyone else around?”

“Anyone else?” Hazel pondered. “Um… I didn’t see anyone besides him.”

“Hmm… most of the time, snipers have someone to spot for them…”

“These guys are the one man band of killing.” Saffron reminded. “They probably don’t need anyone to spot for them. If anything, we need someone to spot for us.”

“I’ve got a simple solution.” Shiso said. “It’s still hella risky, but I think it’ll be worth it if we can pull it off.” Shiso eagerly explained it to them. Hazel gave a small chuckle.

“Damn. That’s terribly simple. And you criticized my plan?”

“Well, how about it?” he asked.

“I think we’ve got a while until we can pull it off.” Saffron judged.

“Then let’s get started.”

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

Reva helped Hazel assemble a machine’s engine. Carefully and delicately, Hazel assembled a basic mana-powered engine with what parts she had in her pouch. Meanwhile, Saffron was connecting multiple semi-hollow cylinders together with a device with a tiny telescope on top. Meanwhile, Shiso was stuck making precise spirals on tiny solid metal cylinders with a special tool.

“Why am I the one doing this?” he asked.

“Because you’re the one who’s going to use this.” Saffron answered, growling in frustration as one of her cylinders formed a slight bend from too much force. “My end of this job isn’t exactly the easiest either. I wish I could just make a mana one.”

“We gotta work with what we get, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Violette, Reva, and Selicy were all discussing the plan one more time with each other. Reva seemed a bit upset and disturbed about it, but she agreed nonetheless. Selicy sighed and smiled when she heard the plan, looking as though she was going to someone’s birthday party. Violette on the other hand was completely quiet the whole time.

“You got a problem?” Selicy asked Vio. “I would’ve thought you’d at least been playing some music again by now.” Violette stayed quiet as she curled up on the ground with her violin. Selicy gave a slightly more cheery smile. “Hey, watch this.” she said. Selicy took a rock and threw it up into the air; as soon as she did, a long bullet came out of nowhere and decimated it. The shot made everyone jump.

“Damn girl, try not to give us a heart attack!” Hazel complained. The four of them gave her an angry glare before going back to work.

“Psh. Whatever.” Selicy disregarded. She looked back over at Violette, who looked considerably more rattled than everyone else. Vio’s small hat rested on the ground as her hair stuck out in random places and her eyes and hands slightly twitched in irregular intervals. “Hey, say something!” Selicy commanded.

“Guns… smoke… rubble… burning…” Violette whispered. Selicy recoiled a bit when she realized that Vio probably needed a therapist before she could help.

“You just… stay there.” Selicy said, backing away. She maneuvered her way over to Hazel and Reva.

“What do you want?” Hazel asked, annoyed.

“Anything I can do to speed this process up?” the sassy ice woman asked.

“Yeah, you can build this.” Hazel pulled a blueprint out of her pocket, which had a very detailed roadmap of how to build her wanted mechanism.

“Sorry, I can’t build this. My degree wasn’t in mechanical engineering.”

“Have you ever put together furniture using the instructions from Ikea?”

“Yeah. A few times.”

“Then you’re certified enough. Just do it and I’ll help you where you need it.”

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

Gunner laid in his sniping spot, looking straight at the six people hiding out behind their cover of rocks. He took another sip of water from his canteen, but didn’t take his eye out of the scope. He stared like an eagle.

Suddenly, movement stirred from the side of the rock pile. Something quickly emerged that was giving off blue vapors into the air. Even if Gunner couldn’t see it well, he could recognise that it was probably the blue woman, who had been giving off vapor the whole time. He guessed that she was having enough of staying put or something. Either way, it was a stupid decision.

He quickly aimed without even thinking and pulled the trigger without hesitation. He watched as the mana bullet traveled extensively fast and hit its target, which caused a scream to ring out. Suddenly, the field that he was looking on was obscured from a massive blue fog that erupted from the woman he shot.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The group wasted no time as their cover erupted into blue smoke. Reva ran away from the rocks with Hazel and Violette behind her shield while the rest stayed behind. Saffron felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You alright?” Selicy asked, fanning some of the smoke away.

“Yeah. You?”

“Never better.”

As the smoke slowly began to clear, the two could see Hazel’s mana-powered machine which was still sputtering out as much blue exhaust as possible. The bullet had hit it dead in its fusion chamber, causing the mana to go everywhere.

“You ready to get his attention?” Saffron asked. Selicy smiled and nodded.

“Whenever you are.”

Saffron peaked her head above the cover and jumped onto the top of the rocks, still being able to hide behind the smoke. She held out a spell card and readied to cast it. In her hands, a giant green bow and arrow was summoned. She struggled to keep it straight though, as the spell was very powerful and unstable. Unexpectedly, Selicy saw Saffron’s struggle and jumped up on the rocks with her.

“If you needed help, you could’ve just asked.” Selicy laughed. She grabbed the bow and arrow on the opposite side of Saffron, holding it still with her. Suddenly, the weapon in their hands began to freeze over until the entire thing was a meld of green energy that was frozen completely over.

“Frigid Snipe!” they both shouted, releasing the arrow and falling backwards from the recoil. The giant green and blue arrow pierced a hole in the smoke.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Gunner began to calm down as the vision-obscuring haze started to dissipate. There was still plenty of it, but he was starting to gain some visibility back. From the corner of his eye, he saw something green move.

Before he could check it out, the haze immediately in front of him began to clear at a single point. His eyes widened and he only managed to barely roll both him and his weapon out of the way of the giant icy arrow that totally cleaved the spot where he was staying. He wiped melting ice shards and rubble from his hair.

“Nice one, guys.” he said to himself with a laugh and smile. “Killer firepower, I’m not going to lose today.”

Gunner shoved a spell card into a small slot in his sniper-rifle and shot a round. As the bullet traveled above the rocks, a giant gust swept away all of the smoke, revealing the broken down machine.

“Damn, guys. You really got me with that one.” He took aim at the rocks and waited once again. He carefully took aim.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“You think we’ve got his attention?” Selicy asked. Suddenly, a bullet fired overhead and all of the blue smoke was swept away, leaving them completely vulnerable again.

“I’d say so.” Saffron said. “At least, it looks like he forgot about Reva and the Runaways.”

“What now?” Selicy asked. She was exuding even more steam now than before.

“We start the real battle.” the scientist replied with a grin. She took a small radio out of her pocket and flipped it on.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Suddenly, Gunner’s static-silence radio jumped to life as it got its first transmission in years. It surprised even Gunner.

“You there, Gunner 492-6Y4?” said a woman’s voice.

“You’re not my crew or my operator.” Gunner blandly replied. He heard a light gasp on the other side before the radio shut off again.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The radio that Saffron made was exponentially clearer than the ones that were placed around by that Gunner. Both her and Selicy gasped before Saffron cut the transmission. They now knew what he really was.

“Was that…” Selicy said in disbelief. Saffron nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right.” She clicked the earpiece and told all her friends at once. “Everyone, the plan just got more complicated.”

“Complicated?” Hazel rang back. “Complicated how?”

“That soldier…” Saffron said grimly. “He’s a child soldier.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Gunner 492-6Y4, do you copy?” rang out his radio again.

“I told you, you’re not my crew or-”

“Stop the fighting, kid.” growled the sudden deep voice of a man. “It’s not worth it. I think even after so many supposed years of fighting, you don’t get it.”

“You’re just saying that because I’ve got you all pinned!” Gunner gloated, putting the radio down and peering back through the sniper-rifle’s scope.

“Oh, do you now?” the man asked skeptically.

Before Gunner could question what the man meant, he heard a very loud explosion. It wasn’t like one of the modern mana-fire guns. It was a gunpowder explosion. An impact hit his weapon and threw him off of his vantage point, now leaving him behind a hill of rocks. His radio fell with him.

“This is war, kid. Turn a blind eye for one second and the enemy gets the jump on you. In this sniper v. sniper fight, you were three steps too far behind.”

Gunner examined his rifle, which was now damaged too much to use. He pulled out one long bullet that he stared at in wonder. It was a bullet in the style from before Gunner was even born. It had a spiral pattern on it.

“Give the enemy an inch and they’ll take your life. Wave the white flag whenever you want. We’ll be waiting.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Shiso was laying down on his stomach peering through the small telescope put on top of Saffron’s hastily made sniper rifle. He sounded as tough as possible to try and intimidate the kid, but in reality he was in extreme pain. Saffron didn’t have enough time to ensure that firing the gun wouldn't feel like getting a brick to the shoulder.

“Did you shoot the kid?!” Saffron gasped at him over the radio.

“No, I only took out his weapon. The kid can’t fight us if he’s got nothing to use.”

“Good.” she sighed. “Are we going to wait him out?”

“No, I’m going to move in on foot. You guys should do the same.”

“Copy. We’re going to move in too.”

“See you there.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Shiso, Saffron, and Selicy met up in front of the rock formation that Gunner was behind. They all nodded at each other.

“Are the other three safe?” Shiso asked.

“They should still be running on their way.” Saffron said.

“So, the kid’s just behind there?” Selicy asked.

“Yeah…” Shiso said grimly. “Let’s just kick his ass and get it over with. Even I can agree that nobody needs to die this time.”

As the three of them walked up on the rock, a low hum could be heard from the other side. They all barely had time to get down as a blue laser pierced through the landscape. The Gunner was running right at them with a gigantic gun on his shoulder.

“What was it you said?” Gunner laughed. “Give them a mile and they’ll take your life?!” He charged his gun to fire another blast, but Shiso quickly lept into action.

Shiso quickly ran at Gunner and raised his leg and kicked his massive gun right off his shoulders. Then just as quickly, Saffron and Selicy ran up to the kid. Selicy swept his legs out from under him while Saffron took a metal wrist-cuff out of her pocket.

Saffron slapped the wrist-cuff onto Gunner’s right hand. Suddenly, the cuff shot a rope of energy out that wrapped around Gunner’s other arm and both of his legs, binding him to the ground. He struggled profusely.

“Sorry kid,” Shiso said. “If your goal was to get the jump on us, you started a couple years too late.”