Cinder

30 - According to Plan

Maneuvering the Spitfire around to fit where he intended it to, Davis swung the stock into the glass of the Gremlin's window, smashing it open and allowing a torrent of air to rush into the car as they continued to speed towards the compound. Flipping it around once more, he poked the barrel out of the newly made orifice and opened fire.

At this range, Gates was doubtful he'd hit anything, especially with the recoil of the LMG; but with how deep the ammo reserves were on that thing, there wasn't any harm in hoping a stray round or two caught something important.

Perez yelled out again, his voice rising as he kept the turret firing. Another wave of bullets peppered the outside of their car, Gates and Davis instinctively ducking down at the noise- but the Sergeant refused to yield, simply spraying and hoping he didn't run out of ammunition at this point. Especially this close-

She saw the sudden incoming missile far too late, and tried to turn. As the tires slid against the red grass of the fields they drove through, she cried out, "BRACE!"

A moment later, the projectile impacted against the ground on the side of the Gremlin. Lifting the car into the air, all three occupants felt the telltale sign of freefall in their gut as they were promptly sent rolling up ... and then came crashing back down.

The sudden cessation of momentum snapped Gates' head forward onto the steering wheel, and she yelped in pain. For a few seconds, her vision was bleary- then, everything began to come back into focus.

The Gremlin was now upside down, and gravity was taking its toll- both she and Davis were now lying against the roof of the car, their shoulder blades bearing most of their weight. Pulling her legs out from the pedal area, she retracted them down to her and then adjusted herself so that she was upright once more. Davis mirrored her action, then turned to look at the backseat where the turret had been.

"Perez? You okay?"

"I've been better," grunted the rifleman, shifting his weight so that he too now laid against the ceiling-turned-floor of the Gremlin. Gates gave a sigh of relief, having feared that the grunt would have been far less fortunate with his position than he had been.

"C'mon," she ordered, crawling through the shards of broken glass and metal fragments that littered the interior. Davis' side of the car was nearly completely crushed, but hers had been more fortunate- the door's window frame had been relatively undamaged, and it didn't take much effort to shatter the weakened glass of it to create an escape opening.

Dragging herself out into the light, she kept herself crouched behind the cover of the car as she looked out to see the status of the compound and the other teams. She could see the many parked Gremlins and Samsons, the massive hole in the front gate as they'd blown it open, and she could hear the sounds of gunfire from here.

"This is Red-1, what's our status Red-Team?"

"Red-5 here, we've moved on the facility! Assaulting the control room now!"

"Copy that, we'll be there ASAP." Turning to look at the other two occupants of the Gremlin as they crawled out of the wreckage, she retrieved her R-201 from her back and flashed a wolf's grin that they couldn't see so much as feel it under her helmet.

"You wanted fun, Davis? Better hurry, or we'll miss it!"

...

Vale stared blankly at the many monitors around the hangar showcasing the battle as it progressed. Both the IMS Nautilus and the MCS Unforeseen had been destroyed, and the IMS Persephone and EOS Marcus Graves were on their way out if they didn't get more covering fire soon.