Danger Zone - Top Gun: Maverick

11. The Need For Speed

Nova left the Kazanksy's house feeling pretty down. Sarah was a mess, and she tried to help her out in any way she could. She helped move boxes of Tom's stuff, played with the kids, and spoke to Sarah about the whole situation.

Maverick was still at this meeting most likely, or he went home. Nova didn't know.

She didn't want to be alone right now, but she also didn't want to bother Bradley after spending two days with him comforting her, so she headed over to Penny's house. Today was Sunday, the bar was closed, so she thought she'd find her there. She'd hoped at least one of them were home, Penny or Amelia.

Nova knew she'd have to go home tonight. She's been in and out of her house, and she dropped Bowie off at home this morning. He's been staying with Phoenix and Halo since Nova's been at her dad's, but now she has to take care of him, and she has to be at work the next morning. For now though, she wanted to see Penny and Amelia.

The drive from Sarah's to Penny's house was silent. Nova didn't even breathe loud enough for herself to hear, and her radio was off. That was new for her, not listening to music in the car. Normally she can't function without some kind of rhythm in the background, but for these next few minutes she just wanted silence.As she nears the big white house, she sees her father's motorcycle in the driveway and wonders if she should just head home. Then she remembers he just met with the admiral.

After fully pulling her own car into the driveway, she spots Mav and Penny sitting on the front porch steps talking.

She walks over to them with a half smile. Penny greets her, but other than that nobody says much.

"How was the meeting?" Nova asks Maverick, taking a seat on the step below them.

"They permanently grounded me." He sighs, running a hand through his short hair.

"What! Why?"

"I was only on this mission cause Ice wanted me to be. Simpson thinks I haven't prepared the kids enough for the mission, and without Kazansky, there's no one to save my ass from getting fired."

"That's such bullshit. They need you to teach. They need a role model, not an admiral. Simpson doesn't give a shit whether they live or die, because he thinks it's impossible to survive this anyway." Nova says.

"Well, he said I've proved to them that the mission is impossible, and they need to believe it can be flown."

"So show them it can be flown." Nova shrugs, an idea forming in her mind.

"How am I supposed to do that?" He asks cluelessly.

"Fly the course. Prove its possible." She says.

"Nov, I'm grounded. I'm not legally allowed to fly. I don't even have access to government owned planes anymore."

"You could just...sneak a plane. Remember when you took me on that joyride? You can just use your key card and let yourself in." Penny tells him.

Maverick shakes his head. "They took my card cause I'm not permitted on base. I don't have keys to anything anymore."

"I do." Nova says sheepishly.

Maverick slowly turns his head towards her, raising and eyebrow.

"You've got a key to Hangar 1?"

"I've got a key to everything." She smirks. "We'll just get there early tomorrow morning, I can sneak you in. As long as you don't fail the course and embarrass yourself."

"That's illegal, Nova. You could lose your job, or go to prison! I'm not letting you do that."

"I have an engineering degree, I'm never out of a job." She argues back cockily.