Wildfire | B. Bradshaw

3

The Past

"Hopefully, nothing goes wrong today." Ace said to Wildfire. "At the end of the day, it's up to both Rooster and Maverick to put their differences aside. Yesterday... a little insane." Rue said. "First off, nosy asses and second, it is up to the two of them to work things out." Wildfire said. "And third, when the hell are you two going on a date?" Rue said and Ace snorted a bit. "We are friends Rue." Wildfire said. "Friends... the way you two look at each other when one is not looking... friends my ass." Rue said sternly. The door opened, "We'll talk about this later." Rue said.

Maverick made his way to front which everyone had their focus on him. He stood in front of a monitor that displayed a flight simulation. "Phase one of the mission will be a low-level attack. You'll be flying along the narrow canyon walls to the target. The surface-to-air missiles defend the skies above, not the canyon below." He explained.

"That's because no one is insane enough to fly below." Rooster commented. "That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do." Maverick responded. He described the low altitudes and high speeds the pilots would be flying for today's simulation. It was an improvement from the actual altitude and speed required for the mission, but it was still worrying. No pilot had ever flown a mission like this before, not even Maverick. "Time to target is two and a half minutes." "Holy shit." Wildfire thought. "Fifth-generation fighter jets wait at a base nearby. You need to get in and you need to get out. This makes time your greatest adversary." Maverick explained.

...........

"Damn it to hell!" Wildfire said as she was a minute late to the target like Rooster was. "Hey hey, Wildfire, relax, we need more practice besides not everything is going to go smoothly on the first time." Rue said as she tried to assure her. "She's isn't wrong." Ace added. "But if it was real, real, you two would be dead.. I would too." Wildfire said and it was complete silence on the way back to base.

..............

Looks like everyone didn't succeed in this phase of the training, Wildfire was still on edge and Maverick took notice of it. Maverick kept prodding at the other pilots, Rooster looked at her. "Why are you dead, Wildfire?" Maverick asked her. She was in a daze as the pilots looked at her. "Wildfire?" Maverick asked her. "Maverick, she made it to the target sir." Rue replied. "Just like Rooster." Ace added. "Yes, but was a minute late." Maverick responded. Maverick knew he wasn't going to get Wildfire to answer, so he moved on. Wildfire sighed as she shook her head. "Hey, everything doesn't always go perfect." Phoenix assured her. "Yeah." Bob agreeing with Phoenix. "Yeah, but it was real and something would happened to one of you... I would never forgive myself for it." Wildfire said.

"What happened?" Maverick questioned Hangman. A smirk appeared on his face as Wildfire rose her brow. "I flew as fast as I could. Kind of like my life depended on it." He replied. "Last I recall this isn't a race, your suppose to stay with Bob and Phoenix, hell your team in general." Wildfire replied. "You put them in danger and now your wing man is dead." Rooster criticized. "They couldn't keep up." Hangman replied. "Once again this isn't a race and your team counts on you, you know." Rue spatted.

Maverick turned to Rooster. "Why are you dead?" He asked Rooster. "Just like Wildfire here, he also made it to the target." Rue replied. "A minute late, which gave them for the enemy aircraft to shoot them both down." Maverick responded.

"You don't know that." Rooster argued. Hangman sighed. "You're not flying fast enough." He replied. "You aren't thinking smart enough there, if I were you I would take Wildfire's advice from earlier, this isn't a race." Rue replied to Hangman. "Rue..." Maverick warned her, she huffed.

"Wildfire and I made it to the target." Rooster replied "And superior enemy aircraft intercepted the both of you on your way out." Maverick stated as he looked at both Hangman and Rooster. "Then it's a dog fight." Rooster said and Wildfire bit her lip. "Against fifth generation fighters?" Maverick questioned him. "Yep, the guy takes risks." Rue muttered as Ace nodded.

"We still have a chance sir." Rooster said not taking a defeat. "In a F-18?" Maverick questioned once more with rueful chuckle at him. "It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot." Rooster replied. "Exactly!" Maverick flings back. Both Rooster and Wildfire looked at him for a moment and sighed. "There's way more then just one way to fight on this mission." Rooster added.

"You really don't get it do you." Hangman then butts in. "In this mission, a man flies like Maverick here or a man does not come back." He said then he looks at Phoenix and Wildfire. "No offense." He said to them. Phoenix scoffed while Wildfire rose a brow at him. "Yet somehow, you always manage." Bob said as he made eye contact with Hangman. Wildfire smiled and gave Bob a fist pump.

"Being kiss ass won't help with anything you know, believe me, my older brother was the same way." Rue told Hangman. He looked at her, "You think Wildfire over there has a shot at being leader for this mission, her and her father are quite different in flying, quite different." Hangman shot at Rue while Wildfire glared as he brought up her father. "Yes my father and I are quite different don't forget there, pilots are in my family, hell my mother was a pilot there hangman so yeah each of us have difference in flying, I know for a fact you won't get chosen besides it's the pilot that Warlock, Cyclone or even Maverick thinks whose worthy to lead the mission." Wildfire shot back. Maverick just stood there. "Don't forget princess, you had help from Iceman." Hangman shot back at her. "Correction, it was guidance, dumbass... huge difference." Rue spatted. "Rue!" Ace exclaimed. "What... it's true and your know it Ace!" Rue exclaimed back.

"I don't mean, by any chance to criticize your conservative, that's all. We're going into combat. on a level no living pilot has ever seen. Not even him." Hangman said as he looked at Maverick. Maverick gave him a look. "It's no time to be thinking about the past Rooster." Hangman said. Wildfire's eyes widened as she knew that he was about to bring up his father. "What's that suppose to mean?" Rooster questioned him.

"Rooster." Maverick called out but he ignored him. "I can't be the only one that knows Maverick flew with his old man and Wildfire's." Hangman said. "Okay that's enough." Maverick warned Hangman. "And that Maverick was flying when his old man-." Before Hangman could finish, Rooster leaped out of his chair and tried to go after him, Wildfire, Phoenix and Bob helped grabbed him while Fanboy, Payback and Coyote grabbed Hangman.

"That's enough!" Maverick barked. "You son of a bitch!" Rooster exclaimed at Hangman. "Hey, I'm cool, I'm cool." Hangman said with a smile on his face while looking at Rooster. Wildfire told Rooster to relax. "You know I'm right." Hangman said to Maverick as he left. Wildfire rolled her eyes. "You're all dismissed." Maverick said. 

Wildfire shook her head and walked out. 'Wildfire!" She heard Rooster exclaimed. Then she looked back at him, "Yes, Bradshaw?" She questioned. "You wanna... go out for a ride?" He asked as he pointed at his Bronco. She smiled. "I would love too besides Rue and Ace took my car anyways... why not." Wildfire said.

..........

He parked outside of her home, she looked over at him and smiled. The two... they caught up, they cleared some things that was holding them back. "Well tonight, was a blast." Sydney commented. "It was... thanks...  I needed to clear my head, why talking to you... really helped." Bradley said and she smiled. "I'm glad... to fair Bradshaw ... I loved hanging out with you tonight, I can't wait to do it again." Sydney said. 

"Well that's something I thought I would never here... it's a start of something new." Bradley said and her heart fluttered. "Yeah, something new." She said with a smile. She stepped out of his bronco and looked back at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow Bradshaw." Sydney said. "See you Darling." Bradley said, she smiled at him.