The initial shock of bullets from the Cathedral had been a problem, but from there, the somewhat-more-cautious and definitely forceful infantry found gaps and flaws in their Imperial defense and pressed on. Unable to stem the tide of soldiers and coordinated fire, their control over the area swiftly began to fold, the strong position wavering and breaking down as they got in close with minimal amounts of fuss. The Federation had thrown superior numbers at the problem and the math checked out. Many of their own troops had cleaned out the area leading to the Cathedral and now that gigantic monument lay before them with enemy soldiers more trapped than fortified now. Of course, they still had to [i]take it[/i]. With no sign of Middleton, Isaac (gladly) defaulted to Jean's authority, as would many in the 15th. His orders were simple. He, Lucia, and Britta were to keep on pressing towards the front-and-center of the Cathedral, going for the main entrance. At the same time, Isaac would be heading off to the side - presumably to one of the side or back ways in - to clean out any trooops still outside and gain entry there to take them by surprise. You might be thinking now [i]'Split the two Gunners? They'll never do that! Not after all they've been through!'[/i], except you'd be wrong. More than just being properly trained and [i]knowing[/i] that this was strategically the right move, they trusted each other and their skills. When Jean declared the intent for all of them to get out of this together, they both nodded. [color=ed1c24][b]"We will."[/b][/color] [color=f7941d]"Without question. C'mon, Diana."[/color] The Lance-Corporal would get a move on, likely with Diana following. We'll leave that for now and focus on Britta's end of things as she prepared her gun to oversee those still here with Jean. They proceeded, along with a number of other soldiers they didn't know, towards the Cathedral proper now. There were wrecked cars and rubble all over the place, not so much that you couldn't get through anywhere because of the width of the street, but...it was a bit of a mess. However, before long, everybody had to duck into some kind of cover - Britta reflexively letting loose a few bullets back at the attackers as she ran - as machine guns opened fire! [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMVH9E1xSr4[/youtube][/center] It was their worst fears confirmed, or at least...one of them. There were machine gun cars on the approach. [i]Of course[/i] they'd be here! This place was a lynch-pin in the entire Amone conflict! From her cover with Jean and Lucia, Britta waited carefully before sighting their actual positions, raising her helmet on the end of her on the end of her machine gun with her actual head peaking up a few seconds later about a foot-and-a-half away from that. She'd been quick enough to avoid fire to helmet or head, but dammit...they had good coverage here, and because those were armored, there was almost no point in firing back, except to try and get at those narrow slits for visibility. That would distract, but practically never penetrate without lots of luck. That's when a bunch of men with some...very basic rifles and modified explosives with them. The rifles were firing heavy single-shot slugs and the bombs were basically anything flammable or explosive they could tie into a wad. [i]That[/i] would've been nice to be able to get back at the line, but [i]nooo[/i]... That all aside, Jean asked her to take some of the riflemen to a pile of stone rubble. It looked like she was working cover and a bit of decoying for his team, which she nodded at without even speaking. She instead turned to those she was taking with her and said... [b][color=ed1c24]"One or two at a time, only. I'll cover you, but I can only do so much to that thing."[/color][/b] And it was, admittedly, not that much. Even still, they knew what to do and - one by one - they all transferred over with a minimum of potential harm. At much, Britta felt something [i]kinda'[/i] close as she ran and fired for herself before taking a dive. Here, they would be suppressing with bullet-fire, trying to take some of the attention from Jean and Company, which mostly worked, at least until one of the cars swiveled and shot at a window that'd been fired out of. There was the occasional Imperial soldier out to support the cars, but they actually looked like they were running from something else...like Isaac. [i][b][color=ed1c24]Alright, he's made it back there, and Jean's got one of the cars stitched up, but what about the other one...?[/color][/b][/i] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Isaac and Diana would be heading around to flank the Cathedral. It wasn't long, though, before he heard a familiar sound and reflexively flinched. While he, the female rifleman, and whatever other unnamed soldiers were going around, picking off whatever Imperials might've been wandering or even shooting from windows, it sounded like Jean, Britta, and Lucia were facing off against heavier combatants. Isaac couldn't let that slide. He'd asked him and Diana to come back here to flank the enemy and make this easier, but those things were as much an obstacle to them as the frontal assault! They came within few, and could see the backs and at least parts of the side of one of them. It was at this point that Isaac saw a bunch of Imperial soldiers looking to use their armored friends as cover against the first team and immediately, he opened fire, everyone else following suit. Imps took cover back the way they came, plunged forwards more into the open, or were cut down, but still...the same problem remained: The cars. Now, it looked like someone was giving [i]one of them[/i] hell via improvised explosives, but that didn't really help Isaac's position...unless... [color=f7941d][i]The exhaust grill...[/i][/color] The vehicle was armored, and you couldn't harm the Ragnite engine, and you probably couldn't even do much to the underside of the vehicle [i]except[/i] maybe ruin the brakes or something. But...there was one possible chance here, something they'd overlooked when they modified this car. Isaac looked among those with him. [color=f7941d]"Have we got a Shocktrooper here?"[/color] [b]"Uhh, me!"[/b] One guy only. Damn... [color=f7941d]"Got any bombs?"[/color] [b]"Yes, but they're not going to penetrate-"[/b] [color=f7941d]"Don't want 'em to. You see that grill?"[/color] [b]"Yyyes? Why?"[/b] [color=f7941d]"Try to hit it, best you can. If we can get it off, we get a hole with alot of heat coming out of it. My father's truck once got its whole thing blocked up after a storm and the truck nearly overheated when he started it. You and me, we'll knock it off. Everyone else, gather anything you can to stuff into that hole. Socks with dirt and rocks, loose shirts, whatever you got!"[/color] With that order, the few others around would start to do that. If Diana wanted to help shoot instead of doing that or watching their OWN flanks like some of the troops were busy doing, that was up to her. He was trading shots with this other car, letting the Shocktrooper with...sadly only two grenades...try to lob that grill off with combined machine gun fire when somebody else up front - probably Britta and some others who [i]appeared[/i] to have some kinda' different rifles - tried their luck at the main gun.