The silence was deafening. Adam was all on his own, standing by the APC, waiting for the moment to charge out and do his job. He had already gotten back inside the APC, engine on, ready to move out at the drop of a hat. To that end he had kept the hatch open so he could hear the sounds of gunfire as they began. The APC dampened a lot of sound, after all. However the stillness in the air, the wait, was far worse than anything else. He was tense only because he was not there with them. But he trusted them to finish the job, he had to.
Some time passed before a shot rang out. A single shot. Not a volley like was planned. Had something gone wrong? Adam couldn't be sure. He had no angle to view the building in the distance. All he could do was wait for the signal. Any signal. Which he was worried would never come.
However his fears were immediately pushed aside as the sounds of dozens of rifles, rockets, lasers, and any number of other things rang out over the stillness of the night. Whatever that first shot had been it seemed the plan was still going ahead in spite of it. Or, perhaps, because of it. Adam didn't waste any time though. He needed to move, now.
He pushed the pedal to the floor as the APC sped around the building, around the corner, and down the bit of street to a firing position where the APC would be best used.
Once the APC was in position Adam threw himself into the gunner's seat, grabbed the controls, and swiveled the 105mm cannon towards the front entrance. The gunner's sights were actually very well calibrated and very versatile. They had a lot of settings but the most important one was the zoom and distance feature. Through the sights he could see the firefight that had broken out between the cultists that seemed to either be more prepared than expected, or had recently been reinforced, and the 3 groups of Adam's allies that were firing at them, mostly keeping them pinned.
Adam could see the numerous bodies lying on the ground, out of cover, dead, it seemed like the first volley had been successful though perhaps not as much so as they had hoped. Though that's where he came in.
The remaining cultists out front were all in a mix of cover set up outside the front entrance. No time for a headcount but probably around 10. They were clustered together, lucky for him.
The 105mm shell exploded through the air with a thunderous roar before landing amongst the cultists near dead center. The explosion was beautiful.
Of the 10 or so cultists in cover by the entrance most were blown to smithereens. One was mauled, another was lit aflame, and only one seemed to have escaped any visible damage. However that one shell alone had done its job.The explosion destroyed most of the cover and, with the number of cultists dwindling, the assault group was able to mop up the few still living stragglers.
Adam swiveled his sights towards the sides of the building in time to see reinforcements coming around to help. The groups were scattered, so the 105mm did not seem the best bet. Not just because the shells were expensive and hard to come by. Instead Adam made use of the two 72mm cannons on the front. After all, if there were two of them why not use them both? Of course one gunner was not expected to use both at once, even if the controls are there, but Adam was alone, his options were limited.
So with a quick swivel of both ball turret guns he aimed the rounds to the sides of the building and fired both barrels. One round, the round on the right, landed almost exactly where he wanted it to. He had led the shot and the shot had killed a number of cultists before they could even join the fight in the front. Though not all of them were dead, the explosion was enough to cow them into slowing their advance. The second shot, however, missed.
Naturally, Adam was trying to pull off a miracle by firing both barrels in different directions at once. So no one would fault him for failing. Some might fault him for trying, however. Still, the round flew clear over the heads of the cultists advancing from the left and hit a building in the distance with a satisfying explosion.
Then, as Adam turned his attention to the front where the reinforcements were moving to engage with the assault forces, he saw someone on the roof. A man holding a rocket launcher. And the rocket that was fired right at him.
He saw the rocket propelled explosive curve through the air on its way towards him. He had no time to react, only brace. However, perhaps by an act of god, the rocket bounced off the sloped armor at the front, ricocheted upward, and exploded in the air a few seconds later.
Adam was not questioning the outcome, instead he chose to capitalize on it. This APC was good for firepower, yes, but it was also an indispensable asset, virtually irreplaceable. He couldn't afford to lose it.
Adam quickly hopped back into the driver's seat, threw it into reverse, and then gunned it. A second rocket was not fired at him. Why, he could not say, but he was able to easily retreat from a position where his APC could be targeted from the factory and returned it to a place out of sight.
Once the APC was safe Adam wasted no more time and hopped out through the hatch and charged forth to the battlefield where the sounds of gunfire were still on going.
Adam joined one of the squads at the front. This one had Sgt. Fyre, who was screaming at communists, Percy, and a few hunters. Adam quickly joined the firing line and laid down his own laser fire at the scattered and panicked cultists at the front who were firing back but with ineffectual effect compared to Adam's team.
"Die communist scum! Feel the might of liberty grace your red bodies before you perish!" Sgt. Fyre yelled out as he laid down round after round of plasma fire.
"Glad you could join us, was worried you would miss all the fun!" Percy said with a joking tone as he fired a round off that planted itself right into a cultist's head who had just popped out to fire.
"I had my own fun." Adam joked back, as he fired down rounds of laser blasts, mostly to keep the cultists suppressed. "A rocket nearly took me out."
"Yeah I saw that. Don't know what's going down on the roof."
"So we have no information?"
"Don't got an angle on them so I can't say. What I can say is after waiting for a bit I heard a shot being fired from up there, then, moments later, we began our volley. We are winning, that's for sure, but I can't say how many of the roof team are okay." Adam grimaced and fired again only to take cover himself as he watched a Hunter's head get blown open by a round connecting with him. Adam was ever so slightly covered in brain matter. Not a fun experience. It momentarily took him out of the fight as he ducked behind his own makeshift cover, wiped the goo off of himself and steeled himself to continue.
"Looks like we are advancing in. I'll catch up when I can." Percy said as he stood up. Adam noticed that everyone else seemed to be charging inside, to handle the remnants inside the building. Adam felt bad for Percy, who clearly wanted to run inside with the others, but he didn't have time for sentiments.
"Cover our backs, Percy." Adam said as he gripped his laser rifle tighter.
"It's what I do best." Percy said as he lifted his revolver and loaded a new round into the empty cartridge slot. Adam then nodded to him and ran, joining with the others in the assault push as they began to storm the factory.