The Rooster and The Wolf | Bradley 'ROOSTER' Bradshaw

TWENTY SIX

"Okay, Rooster. Get us in touch with the boat." Maverick commanded.

"I'm working on it." Rooster responded, "Radio's out. No radar. Everything's dead back here. What do I do? Talk me through it."

"Okay, first, the radio." 

Maverick muttered to himself for a moment, trying to remember everything he'd learnt from years ago, "Throw the, uh, the UHF-2 circuit breaker. Try that."

"There's three hundred breakers back here. Anything more specific?"

"I don't know." Maverick laughed. "That was your dad's department."

"I'll figure it out." Rooster smiled. 

Just then, Rooster caught wind of enemy aircrafts, "Mav! Tally two, 5 o'clock low. What do we do?"

"Okay listen. Just be cool. If they knew who we were, we'd be dead already." Maverick said, but his nervousness rang true.

"Well, here they come."

"Just put your mask on and follow my lead. I promised (y/n) I'd get you home alive. Just wave and smile."

Rooster did as Maverick said, letting him take the lead as he waved his hands around in reply to what ever gesture the enemy pilots were throwing to them. 

"Oh, shit. His wingman is moving into weapons envelope. Alright, listen up. When I tell you, you grab those rings above your head." Rooster looked up. "That's the ejection handle."

"Mav, can we outrun these guys?"

"Not their missiles and guns."

"Then it's a dogfight."

"In an F-14 against fifth-gen fighters?" Maverick laughed bitterly.

"It's not the plane, it's the pilot." Rooster said. "You'd go after 'em if I wasn't here."

"But you are here." Maverick replied, tears forming in his eyes.

"Come on, Mav. We've both made promises to (Y/N) that we gotta keep. Don't think, just do."

Maverick was silent, reviewing Rooster's words. 

He had made a promise - to get Rooster home safe. 

But he saw that kiss, not that he'd let on, yet. 

He saw the way you and Rooster had ran to each other before take off. He knew then that Rooster had promised you, too. 

He took a deep breath, and then with lighting-fast motion, he turned the F-14 on its side, shooting bullets down the back of the first enemy plane before swerving and increasing speed to get away. 

The fighters were not ready for a fight, so Maverick had caught them off guard.

"Tell me when you see smoke in the air!" Maverick called.

Almost immediately, Rooster responded, "Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!" as a missile flew towards them.

Maverick skilfully manoeuvred the aircraft, leading the oncoming missile straight into the falling enemy plane that he'd shot just moments before. 

"Yeah Mav! Splash one! Splash one!"

Another missile was released, not giving them enough time to celebrate Maverick's fourth kill of his career, deploying flairs to avoid catastrophe. 

He twisted and turned, giving an excellent display of what over 30 years in the business could do, getting his own missile lock on the enemy. 

With encouragement from Rooster, he took the shot, but at the last minute, the enemy plane turned in a way that completely evaded the bomb, flying backwards past them.