Top Gun: You Can Be My Wingman (Maverick X Reader)

Urgent Clearance.

A loud huff leaves Stalker as she sits herself down opposite me, her tray of food clattering against the metal table loudly, causing other staff to send us confused and disgruntled looks. At her odd behaviour, I raise an eyebrow, glancing at Maverick questioningly, to which he responds with a brief shake of the head.

"What's up?" Hawk greets her from his place beside Maverick, just as confused as we are.

"Jolt's being an ass again." She growls in frustration, picking at the sandwich on her plate, "He really gets on my nerves."

"What did he do this time?" I inquire, rolling my eyes a little at the familiar reason behind her irritable mood.

"The same as always, critisizing me for being friends with you guys. I don't know what his problem is, I really don't, but he knows exactly how to get under my skin." The pilot explains, looking at us almost apologetically even though she has nothing to apologise for.

"Well, it's not up to him who you are friends with, so he can take his nose out of your business." Merlin points out from beside her, a frown etched on his face.

"I wish he'd take that advice." Stalker grumbles, before digging into her food, barely registering as a member of ground staff charges in through the doors, racing over to us in urgency.

Surprised and confused, we all watch as he skids to a halt near us, trying to catch his breath before speaking.

"The eight of you are needed on the runway as soon as possible." He reports, sweat coating his brow as he looks over us, only just realising there are only five of us at the table, "Where are the rest of you?"

"Iceman and Slider are in their bunk room, and I have no idea where Jolt is." Maverick responds, shrugging his shoulders as he goes to stand, taking his tray with him. Groaning, the staff member quickly looks around at the other people in the room, trying to discern if the missing RIO is present. As we get up, we move past him, only to be pushed out of the way as he runs back out into the corridor, heading towards the bunk rooms, obviously expecting to find all three of the needed aviators in that area. Together, the rest of us head over to the changing rooms, where we swiftly get into flight gear, going out onto the runway to receive instructions from someone, most likely a commander.

Sure enough, a tall man in commander's uniform makes his way over to us as soon as  we get into a line, his face lined with worry and concern, hair messy and disheveled from where he's most likely run his hands through it. He doesn't even stop to make sure we're all present, starting his commands immediately.

"Just north of here, a few patrolling pilots have been ambushed by an escort of seven enemy jets, and have been shot down. They are alive, but we need help clearing the range, so that is where you come in." He looks over our suddenly surprised faces, all of us shocked by what we've heard,"You are to take them out, even if they retreat - they fired upon your comrades as they were doing so, waiting for backup before defending themselves."

Saluting him, we swiftly confirm we've understood, waiting for him to gesture us forwards, quickly running over to our jets, most of is climbing up, Stalker remaining outside hers, jittering nervously on the spot as she waits for Jolt to appear. As Hawk and I buckle up, hands shaking in anticipation, we glance up to check the changing room doors, only just registering as Iceman and Slider burst through them, obviously having heard the instructions and situation themselves, both aviators racing to their jet as quickly as possible. I pull on my helmet, switching on the engines as I do so, enjoying the feeling of the aircraft vibrating beneath me, even if my mind is dead set on one thing: not getting shot down by the enemy.

"Quicksilver, please take up your place on the runway, you are to take off first." The tower officer orders through the mics, rolling off further instructions to the others to follow as I taxi the jet into position.