Isaac hadn't really gotten any luck trying to flag anyone down for a bit of help, at least not until Michael returned, along with a Staff Sergeant. It wasn't good news. Apparently, Middleton wanted Lucia back at his side. Was it because they were both Assani? Somehow, it didn't seem likely that there was really any loyalty to your people going on here, except maybe to the Atlantic Federation itself. It was a bit hard to place Middleton, except as sort of an asshole of a commanding officer, a man with reputation and duty before common sense and decency in his head. To return Lucia to him was...a little too much. Hell, when Michael woke her and she was told herself, she too objected. However, orders...were orders. Middleton would only get cross and shoot someone, perhaps, and then he'd repeat the order. How did Isaac know he'd do that? Because he'd made this girl shoot someone herself. With a heavy heart, Isaac allowed her to go, allowing Michael to reassure her as best he could and adding... [color=f7941d]"You're one of us now, Lucia. Don't forget that."[/color] Hopefully, that would help her in dealing with what lay ahead, be it the war with the Imperials or her war with the Lieutenant. She didn't have one pillar. She had many. That was, sadly, the last nice thing that Isaac was going to see for a while. It was a calm respite after having to Holy Shit his way across a battlefield and nearly get shot all-throughout. Whoever made it through this war, he was buying the damn drinks! He came back to the group with the others - Jean, Kalisa, Diana, etc. - as Jean was still talking with them, berrating himself for some other perceived failing. [color=f7941d]"Jean, at some point, you're going to have to accept that it's your first day and that you're doing okay. We're here, we're alive, we're..."[/color] [i][b]POW![/b][/i] Oh no... [i][b]POW![/b][/i] Oh shit... How could he have forgotten that? [i][b]POW![/b][/i] Isaac's eyes widened as he suddenly realized in the forebrain what he'd been seeing and forgetting to remind himself. Artillery! There was no artillery here! He'd assumed that the reason it stopped and that they had the machine guns to deal with was that they had problems, like they were actually out of shells and needed to re-supply, or someone had been incompetent with them, or something! He didn't even think about them as he got here! Did any of them? Did anyone think 'Hey, there aren't really any cannons [i]here[/i]...'. No, they didn't, because the cold and unforgiving war sat right in the middle of their minds, drawing them from the rather important details. Now, what was that shout they taught him in basic training? Oh yes. [color=f7941d]"INCOMING!!"[/color] His warning came in at about the same time as Jean and Michael shouted. They had only two choices run, exposed to the world with no cover at all and hope that nothing hit and nobody could shoot you...or take cover and hope that the trenches do the job that they were most certainly intended to. Everyone dropped or dove for somewhere to use as protection as the shells plummetted loudly and destructively. One had been a little too close to Isaac's spot in the trenches. It'd been around the bend, not too far from where he and Lucia had been asleep, but the bend had prevented him from taking any shrapnel. The blast had knocked him senseless, though, or near enough. It was the concussion, really. A blast around a corner doesn't lose ALL of its force because it hits the corner, just a considerable amount. If you're close enough, you will still be affected, and that was why Isaac was suddenly holding his head, hearing nothing but a whine as he'd felt something thump his entire body. He'd never been near an explosion before, and to those of you who [i]still[/i] have never been around one...he wouldn't recommend it. Someone pulled him back so, so he wouldn't suffer anything like that again. The world started to come into focus on... [color=f7941d]"Britta?"[/color] She was saying something witty, but he couldn't hear her at the moment. For those whose senses were still about them right now, she said [b][color=ed1c24]"And a nice day to [i]you[/i] too."[/color][/b], putting on a smile, though she'd obviously been winged by something and was trying to put on a good face about it. She was also making a comment about how hard it was to dive properly when they weigh you down with all these bullets for this machine gun. Isaac would've agreed if he could hear her properly. When the last shell struck, his hearing was [i]starting[/i] to return...as was his sense of pain...which gave him a headache. [color=f7941d]"Agh..."[/color] [sub][color=ed1c24][b]"That bad, is it?"[/b][/color][/sub] [color=f7941d]"What? ...yeah."[/color] They got up. Isaac had to remind himself that his team looked after him too, as Britta went to tell the others that the two of them were alright-ish. Hmmm. He hadn't been paying close attention before, but did it seem like Diana was a little attached to Jean now? Well, ties will be formed, he guessed. This all seemed normal to him. He was pretty sure that nothing strange would come about from [i]that[/i]... Then, rather unexpectedly, Middleton was here to direct them to get back down the hill, and that he was apparently staying up here to make sure everybody else got back down. That was fine with him, but it didn't seem right that he was STILL talking down to Jean. Well, maybe he'd talk down to him later, too. Couldn't be sure. It DID seem like the Lieutenant hated them all, somehow. Still, they were leaving now, presumably before the cannons - which they must've sent further back in the Imperial lines - were reloaded. [color=f7941d]"Alright, we're moving! Michael, Daniel, Kalisa, Britta, Diana - Everybody! Out, out, out!"[/color] He was mostly naming names of people he's actually [i]learned[/i] the names of, hoping that everybody just caught on and got out like they were ordered. Everyone started moving out of Hill 58 and back down the way that they came, advancing now back to the lines they started in. Because he was still a Gunner, he fell in to be the support for everyone, in case something happened, right alongside Britta. [color=f7941d]"Now, what were you saying before? Because I couldn't hear."[/color] [b][color=ed1c24]"I was pointing out how hard it was to get around with these heavy packs and guns we have to lug around."[/color][/b] [color=f7941d]"Yeah, I'm starting to notice that, just now."[/color] But they would make it back. He just hoped that [i]enough[/i] of them made it...