Promise Me // Bradley Bradshaw x OC

Five.

Phoenix had pulled her eyes away from Bob as they were nervously glancing at each other. "Is this even achievable?"

"That comes down to the pilot in the box," Maverick said in that same tone.

It became time for my turn at the training exercise, and all I could think about at this point was Jordan because she had an ultrasound this morning that I had to miss because I had to be here. I didn't even have my phone, so I couldn't check up on her to see how it went. It was in my bag in the debrief room.

I was acting as team leader and Yale and Omaha were in the other plane. They kept telling me that we were falling behind and needed to pick up speed.

"Negative, Yale, keep your speed!" I said as I glanced down at the map to make sure I was staying on course. "Speed is good."

"We're falling behind!" He yelled back.

"We're alive. We'll make up time in the straight away," I said back firmly. "Keep your speed."

After our run in the simulation, we were back in the debrief room, and I was already angry with myself because we had made it to the target, but not on time.

"Why are you dead?" Maverick asked. "You're team leader, so why are you, and why is your team dead?"

"Sir," Phoenix interjected. "He's the only one who made it to the target."

"A minute late. He gave enemy aircraft time to intercept him at the target, and he's dead."

"You don't know that," I said as I sat up in my seat. "You don't know what could happen."

"You get to the target a minute late, and think you could survive a dog fight in an F18 against fifth generation fighter planes?" He asked back. I could feel my cheeks getting hot, but not from embarrassment.

"It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot," I said as I was doing my best to keep my temper. This was the most we'd interacted since day one.

"Exactly."

The room went silent as Maverick and I maintained eye contact, and I maintained a straight face while my heart continued to beat in my chest. "There's more than one way to fly this mission."

"Rooster, you're not flying fast enough," Hangman poked in, always feeling the need to add in his two cents. "You fly like Maverick, or you don't come back at all. No offense intended."

"Yet, somehow, you always manage," Bob said as he peered over Phoenix.

Hangman shook his head with that stupid smirk he always wore and turned back to look at me. "We're going into combat, Rooster. On a level that nobody's ever seen, not even Maverick," He said as he stopped to look up at Maverick. "Now isn't the time to be thinking about the past."

"What's that shit supposed to mean?"

"Rooster-" Maverick interrupted before he got cut off by Hangman.

Hangman turned in his seat so he could fully look at me, and I could feel my blood boiling in my veins.

"I can't be the only one who knows that Maverick flew with his old man, and that Maverick was the one in the plane when-"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence because I had flew up out of my seat and was going to throw my hands around his neck when everybody else got up after us and started pulling me back.

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled as Payback had one, Phoenix the other, and Bob behind me had my shoulders.

"Hey, hey, I'm cool," He laughed as he brushed Maverick's hand off of his shoulders. "He's not ready for this mission, and you know it."