Christina has gone through relationship after relationship. Her most recent one ended just as bad as the others. Luckily, she was leaving to join the Navy. Ready to put all of it behind her.
Years later, she's the best of the best. They call her 'A...
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Not only did I have a good feeling about working with my fellow pilots, but also I was still feeling my high from a few things. Rooster and my night together, dog fight football and surfing. It all gave me a pep in my step. And I'm pretty sure that not even Hangman could dampen my style. "Athena!" But I might be wrong. His voice calling my name gets my attention from where I was waiting for the door to the briefing room to be opened by one of the instructors. I thought I was the only one here. Being so early but I guess I'm not. My head lifts from my phone and looks over to see him jogging down the hall. "Morning Hangman." I say with a slight annoyed tone. When he reached me, he stands opposite me. "I had an idea on the way here today." He announced. I pressed the off button on my phone and crossed my arms, pressing my phone into my bicep. "That must've hurt." He continued, ignoring my comment. "Since Rooster was slowing you down the other day, I was thinking that you and I should pare up to fly the course." With his right hand, he points to me and then at himself. "With our speed and skills combined, we could kick ass." He said with a cocky smile. "I would rather not run into run into a wall and die. Thanks anyway, Bagman." I say. He chuckled and rolled his green eyes. "Come on Athena." He pleads, then leans over. Resting his left hand on the wall above my head. "We would be unstoppable. And we definitely would make it on time." he tries to convince me. His eyes looking down at me. "We'll go up first, show this team who's boss. Then maybe when I'm appointed team leader, I'll make sure you're my wingman." He smirked. "And if I'm team leader?" I asked, also smirking. "Then I'll be ready in reserve." He shrugged his shoulder. I let out a light chuckle. Rolling my eyes slightly before looking back up at him. My steel blue eyes giving him a hard look. "Fine." I gave in. Making him crack a smile. "But if I die, I will haunt your ass for all eternity." I warned. He chuckled. "I wouldn't mind." His eyes darted me up and down. Abort, Athena, abort. Before I could slip away, a wall just appears in front of me. Rooster gets in Hangman's face. I bite my lower lip. He's being protective. Without Rooster even saying a thing, Hangman's hand lifts from the wall and he backs up. Walking into the briefing room as Maverick opened the door. I try to not smile but I couldn't help it. Something about Rooster making Hangman back off of me made me feel tingly inside. With my exes it was always them making me feel shitty by flirting with other people. But then the moment someone talks to me, not even in a romantic way, they would get all protective and yell at me for cheating. This was way different. He turns his body to face me, his eyes still glaring at Hangman inside the room. "What did he want?" He asked in a low voice. His eyes slowly looking over at me and my smirking face. "He wanted to be my wingman today." I say, my arms slowly uncross. I've learned over the years that I cross my arms whenever I want to put up a wall between me and someone. It was a natural response for me when it came to talking with hangman. He raised his eyebrows. "What'd you say?" He asked. Suddenly I was worried to tell him. "I told him, yes." I say hesitantly. "Why?" He didn't seem mad. Just confused. "I'm going to give him a shot." I say with a shrug. To avoid any more questions from him, I turn and head inside. Slipping my phone in my pocket as I walked to the row that me and Rooster usually sit in. The briefing starts and Mav basically says we are working on the same thing as we did two days ago. Hangman must have voiced how he wanted us pared up together because that's what Mav dismissed us with. "Athena, Hangman, you're up." He said. "You're dismissed." I get dressed in my flight suit. Setting my phone in my locker. Once both me and Phoenix are ready, we both leave the locker room. Before we separate and I go to my jet, she gets my attention. "Good luck with Bagman." She said with a smile. "I'm gonna need it." I chuckled. Making her laugh as well. I step out into the sunlight from inside the building. Putting my sunglasses on as I head to my jet. Texas was there and waiting for me. With a very unexcited look on his face. I walked up to the jet, my hand running along the nose like I do before every flight. "What is it?" I asked him. "Why Hangman?" He asked with a discouraged tone. "Does your dad want to punish you for the fight or something? Making you two work together?" I shake my head. "This was Hangman's idea." I say, regretfully. Texas rolled his eyes before climbing into the jet. I waited on the pavement as he gets situated. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. But Mav telling me about his talk with Ice yesterday made me rethink everything. As much as I do want to compete to become team leader, we will still be working as a team whether we like it or not. And Hangman isn't a terrible pilot. As much as I hate to admit it. "Try to keep up, Athena!" Hangman's voice made my turn my head quickly. I smiled as I see him. "Don't make me regret this, Seresin!" I call back. Making him laugh and shake his head. I climbed into my jet and got situated. Taking off my sunglasses and putting on my helmet. Hangman gets in the air first and I soon followed. Keeping my mask off for now as we fly to the entry point of the course. "So Athena, ready to show these pilots who's actually the best?" Did Hangman mean both of us? Or just him? Because it seemed like he meant both of us. "Try not to count your chickens before they hatch, Bagman." I reply. As much as I wanted to say 'hell yeah!' I didn't want to put down the other pilots. Especially not Rooster and Phoenix. Who are both incredible. We just are humans and we all make mistakes. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. "Let's not get our hopes up here, alright? The last time you got cocky, you lost your wingman." I warned. "We'll you're my wingman now." Of course he's the one to put down his fellow pilots. "And Gods help me..." I mumbled. Putting on my mask as we entered the start area. And the time starts. We manage to get up to 600 knots. Weaving through the simulation. I felt my lungs being crushed under the weight of the Gs. I focused on the hud through the clear part of my vision as the my peripherals soon turn to a vignette. I keep up with Hangman. Flying through the canyon. I had gotten used to it after trying it for the first time the other day. Not saying i'm better at it, just more used to it. "Increasing speed to 660 knots." Hangman warned. Making me speed up as well. "Increasing speed." I confirm. I don't know if he's increasing his speed to over 660, or if I'm falling behind somehow but he gets a little too far for my liking. I gently pushed my speed further to catch up with him. If he goes any faster, I am going to bitch at him to slow down. Even though the whole reason why he wanted me to fly with him was because I was frustrated with Rooster for going slow. My hand slowly pushed the throttle, keeping up with him. And, I bet we are a head of schedule. I can see why this gives him confidence. As he turns suddenly to avoid the walls of the canyon, I feel the sudden shake of the cockpit around me. I may have gotten too close. The a few lights on my warning panel start flashing and beeping reaches my ears. "Shit! Jet wash!" Both of my hands grip my stick. Pulling up to get out of the jet wash. Breaking the 300 ft wall. My jet starts to spin. I use all of my strength to try and level her out. "Athena!" I hear Hangman's panic voice over the coms. "Athena, engine one is out!" Texas warns. Because I rapidly changed the throttle to overcome the stall from Hangman's jet wash, the C1 blades stall and stop feeding air to the engine. "Changing throttles." I quickly flip the throttles back and level out before engine two can go out. "Restarting engine." I say. Flipping the switch. Both engines become stable and I slow myself down. Letting out a breath. "You alright Athena?" Hangman pulled up next to me. Instead of the joking tone he gave me at the beach when he tackled me down, this time he asked with a genuine tone. I turn to my left where I see his jet hovering next to me. "Yeah, I'm okay." I nodded. He didn't leave me hanging. He gave me a nod back. "See you back at the base." He banks left slowly and leads the way back. I follow behind, not as close as I was before this time. We both land and eventually get out of our jets. As Tex climbed down onto the tarmac, my eyes scan over him. He was okay. He's here and he isn't hurt. He sees the look on my face, giving me a reassuring nod. Every time I do something stupid, I always check on him. After what happened with Goose, I can never be too careful. Texas walked past me, heading inside to change. I sigh. My head dropping and forehead resting on the palm of my hand. "Chris?" Hangman's voice reaches me yet again. I turn to see him rushing to me. Sweaty from being in his cockpit and his helmet in hand. "I'm really sorry-" I interrupt him. "Hey, its not your fault. It's okay. We all make mistakes. Even you." I say with a smile to show no hard feelings. He shakes his head. "No, this was my fault. I didn't warn you I was increasing speed more because I was trying to impress you and if I told you how fast I was going you wouldn't have had to try and keep up with me." He was trying to impress me? "So you were speeding up?" Hangman nodded, ashamed. Looking down to avoid my gaze. "I'm sorry. I could have gotten you killed." "Hey." I reached up, cupping his chin and lifting his gaze to meet mine. "I'm alive. Both me and Texas are still here and so are you." I looked into his eyes. "I was able to take back control." He nodded. I never thought I would see him like this. Looking so ashamed of himself and showing emotions other than cockiness. "I guess you are the better pilot. Out of both of us." He slowly smiled. I pull my hand away from him. A huge smile forming on my face. "I'm sorry, what was that?" I teased. Leaning my ear closer to him. He chuckled and shakes his head. "Don't make me say it again, please." "Say what?" I asked innocently. He sighs, dropping his head. Defeated. "That you're the better pilot." He mumbled. "Eyes on me." I put my hands on my hips. He lifts his head. "You're the better pilot." He said clearly, with a genuine smile. "Music to my ears, Seresin." I smiled back. "Shut up!" he gently shoved my shoulder with his hand. Making me laugh before turning to walk to the building so I could change out of the hot flight suit. "If you tell anyone I said that, I will deny it until the day I die." He said, following me. Making me laugh more as I walked. "Athena!" Maverick's voice gets my attention and I turn from behind the jets. Seeing him running across the pattern to me. I rushed to meet him. He instantly pulls me into a tight hug. Swaying us from side to side slowly. "I'm okay, dad." I say reassuringly. He suddenly pulls away from me. Seeing Hangman walking to us. "You!" He changed from worried to mad in a split second. I had to get my temper from somewhere. He pointed at Hangman angrily. "You have gone too far, Lieutenant!" He stormed angrily to Hangman. I instantly stand between dad and Hangman. "Dad!" I plant a firm hand on his chest. Making his attention switch to me. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine." I throw myself into the fire of his rage. "I didn't warn him that I was increasing my speed above 660 knots. I got way too cocky and too close to him. So when he turned through the canyon, I got caught up in his jet wash. It was my fault. Not his. Yell at me, not him." Maverick visibly calmed down. Turning to go back into the building. Not yelling at me. It has been a stressful day for everyone. I glance at Hangman before we both walked inside to take off our flight suits. We walked through the halls, side by side. Helmets in hand. "You took the fall for me." Hangman said as we walked. "I did." I nodded. Stopping at the locker room. Turing to face him as he walks by to the men's locker room. "Why?" He asked. Stopping as well to look at me. "Because, you know what you did wrong." I say. "You didn't need Maverick yelling you. Plus, I'm used to him." "Thanks Athena." He said, with an appreciative smile. "You're welcome." I smiled back. "You're alright, Jake. You're alright." I declared. Pushing open the door to the locker room, seeing his smile as I walked inside and the door closed behind me. When everyone retreated back into to the briefing room at the end of the day, everyone was just as stressed as we were before team bonding. Maverick went over everyone's mistakes. Including mine. The schematics of what happened on the screen. "Why are you dead?" He asked, not as intensely as he was. "I flew too fast." I held his gaze, everyone's eyes on me. I took the fall for Jake, therefore I will stand my ground and take criticism. Which, of course, is all Mav is going to do. Criticize. "I didn't warn him that I was speeding up. So I got too close and got caught up in his jet wash." I explain. "I should have flown faster." Hangman speaks up. Making me jerk my head to look at him. We made eye contact before looking at Mav. "She saw that we were making good time and doing well so she thought it would be good for us to get ahead of schedule." He's trying to pull the blame back on him. Maverick shakes his head and was about to speak but I spoke up first. Keeping my eyes on Hangman. "But I should have communicated that I was speeding up. Then at least you could have the chance to tell me to maintain my speed." I argued. "Communication is key in a team and I did not communicate." In reality, he didn't communicate. He looked at me before looking down at his lap. The whole briefing was like this. Just arguing back and forth. Maverick criticizes everyone on what they did wrong. Making each pilot in the room feel terrible. "This isn't helping." I snapped. Stopping Maverick from ranting at Phoenix. Her and Rooster had been too slow like Rooster was with me. Except this time, Phoenix got distracted and ran into a wall. Rooster looked over at me, surprised that I took this tone with Mav. My eyes drifted up to see him giving me a hard look. Just like when I was a kid. But today, he would listen to me. "You're supposed to be our instructor. You're supposed to teach us. Now, I might be speaking for myself here but you're just making us more nervous by just criticizing us. We know what we did wrong, what we need to know is how to fix our mistakes. With all do respect, sir, you're sending us in the opposite direction of where we need to go." I have nothing against my dad. And I never will. But I can see why he didn't last long instructing at Topgun.
