automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

thirty-three.

"rooster, you're too low!" payback warned. "pull up, you're hitting the hard deck."

"oh, shit!" he exclaimed.

"that's a kill." maverick said, and rooster cursed as he got out.

rooster arrived back to the tarmac, and skye and katia watched as he effectively worked two hundred push ups, each of them counted by hondo. "that should be us down there." fanboy sighed.

"but it's not." skye replied, knowing full well that rooster would sacrifice himself for anyone on the team.

phoenix nodded, looking out at him. "and now, you know a little something about rooster." she commented before turning away.

skye rolled her eyes as harvard, yale, and fritz took photos of themselves in front of rooster, who was still finishing his push ups. "real mature." she mumbled to katia.

the three of them were soon after all shot down, and doing push ups of their own. skye saluted them as she walked by, chuckling to herself.

"looking good, boys!" she said. "defeat looks real good on you three."

she listened as hangman, phoenix, and bob got up in the air, waiting for her turn to go head to head with her father. "so, phoenix, how's about we tell 'em bob stands for something?" hangman was suggesting. "little robert."

"don't take the bait, bob." phoenix replied. "wanna know why we call him hangman?"

"alright, i got it." hangman interrupted. "baby on board." he got distracted as maverick did something skye couldn't see. "shit!"

"greetings, aviators." her father said. "fight's on."

hangman, as expected, left phoenix and bob out to dry, and they almost immediately got out. hangman then chased after maverick, and was asking phoenix for help, unable to see him. "i'm dead, dickhead." she replied simply.

"see you in the afterlife, bagman." bob added, making skye chuckle.

the three of them were then doing their own set of pushups, and skye and katia were gearing up. "you coming with, roost?" skye asked, watching as he made his way over to them.

"nah, just wishing you good luck." he said, giving katia a pat on the back and then looking at skye, not quite sure what to do. "yeah, so, um.. good luck."

she laughed. "thanks."

coyote was in the air with them, and their two planes were hovering next to each other. "so, this is really your dad?" he asked, a slightly amused smile on his face.

"as far as i know, unless they got something to tell me." skye replied dryly, hearing katia chuckle behind her. "speaking of him, where the hell is he?"

katia looked behind her, still not seeing anything. "no eyes on him yet."

"you guys talking about me?" maverick asked, his plane hovering behind them.

skye smiled, seeing him. "sup, old man?"

he chuckled. "okay, that's it. fight's on!"

"coyote, break right!" skye instructed, breaking left herself. maverick followed coyote, who was trying his best to speed out of the way.

"little help here, riot!" he said.

skye nodded. "yeah, yeah, i'm trying." she worked to gain as much altitude as possible, noting that her father was completely distracted by coyote. she then lowered her jet down, feeling her body surge forward from the force. "aye, coyote, break right again for me."

he followed her instructions, and skye was then immediately on maverick's tail. she grinned triumphantly as she got a target lock and a tone, listening as katia laughed.

"that's a kill." she smiled. "for those of you listening at home, that was how you fucking do it."

"aye, language." maverick replied. "how the hell did you do that?"

skye chuckled. "there's a reason only one of us graduated at the top of their class, mav."

when she and katia arrived back on the tarmac, everyone was cheering for them. rooster immediately gave them both a celebratory smile. "the winners!" he said.

hangman, however, wasn't impressed. "she only won cause she's his daughter." he mumbled.

skye tilted her head. "that's rich coming from someone who lost, hangman."

he rolled his eyes. "we'll see who gets named team leader. won't we, rooster?"

rooster shook his head, not wanting to give in to any of hangman's taunts. he and hangman, unfortunately for him, were the last group to be going up against maverick.

"say, rooster." hangman said over the radio when they were hovering side by side. "mind if i ask you a personal question?"

"would it matter if i did?" he replied.

hangman didn't skip a beat. "so what's the story between you and maverick? seems like he's got you a little rattled."

"it's none of your business." rooster said. "now where the hell is he?"

"been here the whole time." maverick replied. skye could practically see him doing his classic inverted move, just to spite rooster. "see me now? come on, let's get it over with."

"fight's on!" rooster yelled.

hangman chuckled. "what is with these two?"

"you got us here." maverick told rooster. "how are you gonna get us out?"

"you can bail out anytime!" he replied.

maverick seemed nonchalant. "how low are you gonna go?"

"i can go as low as you, sir, and that's saying something!"

skye rolled her eyes. he was so goddamn dramatic all the damn time.

"what's past is past, for both of us." maverick said.

"you'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?" rooster countered.

she listened as rooster eventually got out of the way, after significantly breaking the hard deck. he ended up getting bested by maverick, though, and was on the tarmac doing his pushups. skye made her way outside, running a hand through her hair, which she'd taken out of its bun. "breaking the hard deck?" she asked. "insubordination? are you trying to get kicked out?"

rooster, who knew she was talking to him without turning to look, shook his head. "it doesn't matter."

"what doesn't matter?"

"it doesn't matter what i do." he said. "i'm never going to be good enough for him."

skye squatted next to him, her brows furrowed. "what are you talking about? he loves you."

"not enough, apparently." rooster countered, though skye had no idea what he was talking about.

"is this about what he said to you during christmas?" she asked. he'd never opened up to her about what it had been. all she knew was that it was enough to have made him cry, and to make him resent her father.

he only shook his head. "it doesn't matter."

skye reached out to grab his hand, but he pulled it away. "i want you to know that you can talk to me, bradley."

rooster chuckled dryly. "not about this, i can't."

she frowned. "why?"

he stood up, wiping his hands on the pants of his flight suit. "because he's your dad." skye was about to try to come up with something to say in response, but rooster had already walked away, leaving her standing there with hundreds of questions.