It's worth mentioning that it's not as though the two Gunners had professed anny sort of binding declaration of affection.  What they had was [i]something[/i], but as stated in the White Hart, all they knew was that it [i]was[/i] something.  Whether it was out of love or just a feeling of lonelyness and isolation, a void to be filled in a war where both their lives were in doubt, had yet to be determined.

This is a fairly-important distinction, as it was a heavy contributor to the fact that Lucia just blew them out of the water.

The initial strike caused the two of them to stop, with Isaac thinking [color=f7941d][i]'What, what?'[/i][/color] and Britta likewise going [i][b][color=ed1c24]'WHAT did she say?'[/color][/b][/i] in her head, while her face was starting to go red.  This carried on further as Lucia kept talking rather casually about their impending marriage, causing Isaac to stare in shock and for Britta to choke as she was swallowing, which brought about a sudden coughing fit.  Here they are, all going off to some serious combat and being mentally prepared for it, and just out of the blue she starts talking like...

[i][color=f7941d]I know we're fairly obvious at times, but DID YOU HAVE TO?![/color][/i]

NOW, he understood why Britta reacted the way she did to some of the things he said!  And Jean?  Not helping.  Well, not entirely.  His mouth disapproved, but his smile said otherwise.  Well, at least he wasn't feeling terribly depressed.  Lord knows the guy needed a break.  Didn't realize his gun support was to be sacrificed to that.  Oh well.  The two of them recovered and managed to chuckle at this in the age-old practice of having a decent sense of humor.  Though the whole thing caught them off-guard, it had to be admitted that they were awfully close and not partcularly cagey about it.  There just wasn't anything committed officially to the whole thing.  They DID share a glance and a brief smile.  I mean, if the 'children' of this squad don't disapprove...can it be all that bad?  Moving along, though, Jean asked them if they were ready for the day's work on this scummy morning misery.

[color=f7941d]"We are locked and loaded, Jean.  Just another day in Edinburgh, for me."[/color]

[b][color=ed1c24]"I'll bet you never had to stand in it for as long before being in the army."[/color][/b]

[color=f7941d]"You would probably be right.  The work doesn't exactly do well in the rain."[/color]

It was after this that Jean reminded them of what was coming, how tough it would be.  They knew.  That's why they prepared letters to their families ahead of time, and had Rikes send them to dispatch.  They'd keep him a while and he would be out of immediate trouble, at least until he did something like break away.  Might happen, but Isaac didn't know for sure.  The Gunners both nodded.

[color=f7941d]"I know.  We're prepared for this to get bad."[/color]

[b][color=ed1c24]"We'll do our best to keep everyone alive, I promise."[/color][/b]

That was when they all heard it.  Not so much about Diana's declaration upon finding the group, but rather what followed after from Lucia.  Good god, was [i]everybody[/i] gonna get it from her?!  Isaac was holding his mouth shut.  Britta's expression was that of barely-held-in silent laughter.  After the initial surprise bomb that Lucia had hit them with, they were having trouble keeping that one to themselves.  The walking, talking morale booster was on a roll!  Anyway, Jean took time now to check his rifle and such.  Isaac and Britta had done that, so they had little more to do than stand around before things got started.  They simply fell in line nearby when it seemed right, though not before.  The rain was, after all, miserable, and they'd had to walk through it to get here.

Beholden to them now, looking upon their ranks, was a man they all knew and hated - Captain Grumpus - and another who was...[i]not[/i] so well-known.  He was older, moustached, and smiling.  This, to Isaac, meant that he was an officer of some high rank who would not be joining them on the battlefield, where they would all get shot at in this heavy offensive to about the same degree as the enemy itself could expect.  To wit, ALOT of gunfire.  This was confirmed by his rousing speech about how this position was REALLY hard to take and that they should feel happy to go and take it.  Some people cheered, but those who were under Middleton's thumb in the 15th were not so enthused.  This was followed by Middleton stating that they had information on probably locations of the enemies forthcoming, only it could as much as not, so that basically made it useless.  And then, he said that they were to try and capture any Imperial officers that they found - Good luck on [i]that one[/i]. - and to kill them of they wouldn't cooperate.

[color=f7941d][i]And of course, he won't be leading because he gets the luxury of staying behind with this Major, and not have to deal with ANY of this.  God dammit on a silver platter...[/i][/color]

Soon, they would be charging into a town and...well, it wasn't going to be the same as open land, but it was still gonna be brutal.  The only real advantage that they seemed to have here was that they now had experience in the field, where before they did not.  But then, the Imperials had their damn machine gun cars and other things, for sure.  They still didn't even know WHAT caused that explosion.  This wasn't going to be easy...  Middleton prepared to let off a whistle.  Soldiers were preparing to let off some noise.  It suddenly occurred to Isaac, [i][color=f7941d]'Why the hell are we letting them know that we're about to charge?'[/color][/i].  They could hear this, right?  The Imperials had men with scoped rifles and binoculars, people who could see and hear them?  Why were they [i]helping[/i] the bastards with all this noise?

Still, the whistle was blown.  The charge was sounded.

They began to move like a tide, each of those who shouted not realizing that the noise they made ALSO drowned out when they were getting shot at, or when someone could [i]warn them[/i] about such things.  Morale is one thing, but survival is another.  The wolf does not bark.  It only howls to reach the ears of another, farther off.  This was a signal, but it was to the wrong recipient.  Isaac and Britta got out there, moving with the rest of the charge, and once covers had been found, the two of them nodded at each other, and spread out.  They were Gunners, supportive fire.  They worked together, but they were suppose to be spread out to be more effective in their coverage of the troops.  They too were making their way to the Cathedral, but they were going to make sure that nobody could just take them both out with a grenade or something.  They checked for anybody poking their heads out of windows or rooftops, plinked 'em with a burst of gunfire if there was anyone, and moved on.

The Cathedral lay ahead, effectively a fortress and inappropriately used as such.  Granted, it was built as a sanctuary to those in need, but this wasn't the same thing.  And they were no less guilty of that act, as they would demonstrate as soon as they took it for themselves.  There was, in fact, little chance to marvel at the wonderous human creation...before someone fired at them.  Actually, it was several someones, which is why Isaac suddenly had to backpeddle so quickly into cover as he felt the [i]presence[/i] of bullets lance into the ground near him, Britta immediately slamming her back against a wall, as she'd been more cautious.  Isaac was on the ground, quickly inspecting his leg.  He'd felt [i]something[/i] zing across his leg.  He'd been near some men, some who DID get hit, and he found that what actually got him was not from a bullet, but from a piece of the [i]road[/i] chipping off and striking him.  Then, he inspected another spot on his side that he'd felt something give and...that was a piece of his armor vest damaged, right there.  It was on the edge, where it would soon meet flesh.  That's why it stung as well, but not as badly as being gunshot.  There was just a little blood from a graze is all.

[color=f7941d][i]Okay, Isaac.  That was your first and last warning.  Don't let that happen again.[/i][/color]

Once that was sorted, though, Jean called out and Isaac brought out his machine gun and opened fire!  He did what he often did with Britta, trading times to spray their bullets at the enemy, and on this occasion it was coming from different angles, so initially the riflemen at the church were probably taken off guard!  If it had a gun or a head poking out, they were going to fire in, and they were gonna take that Cathedral!