Free Falling

Chapter 4: FreeFall

The combination of nerves and exhilaration started to take over Annabelle as she did final checks on her plane before launching for her turn at dogfighting with Maverick. She had to beat Maverick. Thanks to the stunt pulled by Hangman the night before at the Hard Deck, in front of all the other aviators, she had to prove herself now more than ever. 

"Hey FreeFall!" Annabelle looked up to see Phoenix and Bob approaching on the way to their own aircraft. 

"What's up Nix?"

"Do me a favor and get us a kill up there, yeah? I'm in no mood to do another two hundred pushups today."

"I second that." Annabelle couldn't help but laugh at the seriousness of Bob's agreement. 

"I got you guys. You know I won't leave you hanging like Hangman."

"Better not FreeFall." With a quick fist bump to both Nat and Bob, Annabelle entered the cockpit of her plane and took off into the sky. 

-----

Maverick seemed to be continuing his habit of making a grand entrance, so Annabelle, Bob, and Phoenix patiently waited in the sky for signs of starting. It was quiet, but that was just how Annabelle liked it. 

"You remember how I fly, Nix?" 

"Yes ma'am."

"Bob, you're going to be doing most of the talking. I try to keep talking to a minimum in the cockpit. I'll give you orders as necessary, aside from that I'll be silent, so you need to keep me updated on comms, got it?"

"That is my job. I got you. You can trust me." A small smile graced Annie's lips as she looked over at Bob through the glass. 

"That was never in question." At that, Bob offered a smile in return, while Natasha rolled her eyes at the obvious flirting display in front of her. Normally, she'd have said something snarky to embarrass Annabelle, but she knew better than to do that with everyone else listening in over the radio. Besides, Maverick seemed to think it the right time to make his appearance. 

"Up ahead, on our nose!" Annabelle switched her gaze to the oncoming plane ahead of them. She took a long, deep breath, analyzed her options, then made her move. Fight's on. 

"Break right into a 180 on my mark." 

"Copy. Waiting for mark."

"Maverick's only 1000 ft. out FreeFall!" One, two, three. 

"Now!" Phoenix broke right just as FreeFall broke left, Maverick flying right past them in what would have been a head on collision had they waited any longer. As the team planes swung around in a 180, they found themselves perfectly on Maverick's tail, just as FreeFall had anticipated. They held onto their position for a while, but Maverick was moving far too fast for either plane to get a lock on him. Suddenly, he turned himself around back onto the pilots. Unable to anticipate such a rash and sudden decision, the team planes were forced to break in opposite directions, giving Maverick the upper hand. 

"Shit! FreeFall that was too close!" 

"Phoenix, he's on our tail. His nose is already coming around."

"A little help here, FreeFall!" 

"I'm en route." Maverick was already dangerously close to Phoenix and Bob. They wouldn't be able to evade him for nearly long as before if they couldn't gain some ground on him.