ROMANOGERS: PAST TO PRESENT

Chapter Thirty Six

"Hey! What're you doing?" Someone shouted over my headset. The formation broke apart into two separate groups as predicted. They split apart one group to the right the other to the left. They were trying to flank us.

"Clint let off the gas!" Hope encouraged. Watching my radar I could see the two squads making their way behind us. There was a slight opening before they would re-merge as one big group. I knew what Hope was up to. Completely releasing the accelerator the plane shot backwards at an alarming rate and began to drop. The two groups fired as I flashed briefly in front of them. Not a single bullet hit me. Instead two of their own planes went spiralling out of control. As they struggled to pull up ,to avoid crashing into one another, Hope and I had managed to get behind them again.

"Haha!" I laughed excitedly firing again. A plane's wing began to smoke. Hope banked right, she swung out wide before turning and coming in for a pass. The group seeing her move shot straight up into the air avoiding the wave of gunfire from Hope's plane. As the enemy jets continued to decrease I couldn't help but pre-celebrate. Man the universe loves laughing at me. As another enemy dropped out of the sky dozens of other dots blinked onto the edges of my radar.

Gazing through the cockpit glass I searched for the other planes. The radar showed dozens of dots coming directly towards us and dozens more flanking and coming up behind us. We were entering the warzone, now we didn't just have our enemy shooting at us, but the resistance forces as well. Planes suddenly burst through the clouds in a swarm bullets rained down on my jet plinking loudly. My radar lit up like a Christmas tree. Desperate to get out of sight I punched the plane upwards hoping to observe the fray from above.

"Hope pull up!" The sound of bullets ricochetting off my jet receded. Safe up above the main maze of aircraft I took note of what was going on. Dozens of Red Legion planes were darting about confronting resistance troops. It was a swarm of angry gunfire and flames. Planes exploded and plummeted to the ground at an alarming rate. Up ahead I was able to see the beacon of fire signalling another city. The others. "Hope, the others."

I studied the far away town knowing Tony, Thor, Scar, and Bruce were there leading an assault. "Clint. We can't our job is to weaken air support." Hope sounded conflicted.

"We have to get over there somehow!" I protested. Stray bullets zipped by bringing me back to the fight below. The resistance was severely out numbered and they were dropping fast. "If we go in there it's suicide!"

"We have to try." Hope stated and in an instant she shot off back into the fight guns blazing. Damn it! What the hell? With out much caution or care I accelerated back into the fray. It was a Confucian Ness at first but eventually my senses sorted everything out. I spun right avoiding a missile and fired at an enemy plane. Two resistance troops rode my tail tasting blood. Nose diving downward they followed me. The ground slowly grew bigger. Pulling up I shot back into the sky opening up gunfire on the underbelly of the fire fight. Planes exploded and ripped apart as I tore through them. Fire decorated the sky like mini bombs were erupting.

"This is plane 256 of the resistance. Are you a rogue?" A voice bellowed over my headset.

"The name's Hawkeye sir I'm here to help." I stated plucking another jet out of the mess. An excited yell came over my headset from the resistance man.

"Haha! Fall back we're regrouping tell that buddy of yours we're now at your service." Moments later the resistance planes slowly withdrew from the fight regrouping behind the enemy. There were at the most two dozen compared to over fifty.

"Hope, it looks like we've got ourselves some help." I called pulling back so that I rested in front of the group. Hope responded pulling up next to me.

"Alright, any plans?" One of the resistance members questioned though I was confused as to how they located my headset frequency.

"We're outnumbered but your planes are smaller. We have better maneuverability. Make sharp turns and angles. If we split them up the fight will fit into our hands better. Draw out eager stragglers you should be able to beat 'em on a one on one fight." With my orders I pulled out left drawing out two enemy jets. They hugged my turns as I darted left then right. Spinning in a three sixty they somehow managed to follow. "Come on, we gotta shake em."

The young girl next to me leapt from her seat and sprinted to the back of the jet while opening a button. "Hey what are you doing?"

There was no reply but moments later I heard the sound of air sweeping into the plane. Someone had opened the landing gear. Moments later the rush of air ceased and an explosion brought both planes to the ground. When she returned unscathed I couldn't help but be surprised. "What did you just do?"

She signed furiously back while trying to act as a co-pilot. "I tossed out a spare fuel tank."

"You're clever. If we get out of this remind me to get you an internship at headquarters." Looping back around to the main fight I noticed that our ranks had dropped by half though we had made a dent in the other forces. They were dropping like flies as well but the question was would it be enough?

"Clint we've got to string this out. Head to the city." Within I redirected the plane to head to the smoke plumes.

"Copy that. Hey, drop out to the city we're taking a beating! We have to string this fight out!" Two resistance planes fell victim right in front of me. Pushing the accelerator we thundered towards the town. The sky shot by and soon we were hovering over the chaos that raged below. Glancing out the window I saw Bruce as his large green alter ego rampaging through the city. He slammed into a building sending it crumbling to the ground. Soldiers littered the streets firing frantically. A streak of red and gold rocketed by chasing a resistance plane.

"Hope I've spotted the others."

"Alright. Let's kick it into high gear we can't take much more if we're hoping to help down below." Jerking the steering stick I spun to face the enemy for what felt like the last go around. In our retreat we had lost more fighters. There were now five besides me and hope. The enemy outnumbered us three to one. "Wait. Fire!"

Our line of defense fired at the incoming storm, only two jets succumbed to the rally of bullets. "Everyone bank right!"

At the last second our line darted out of the way causing the enemy to have to wheel around to face us. Turning the plane so I was at a one hundred and eighty degree vertical angle I cut through an enemy plane, but in doing so I received for on my under belly. An alarm went off signally damage. Cursing I checked the damage report the right wing was damaged making turning more difficult. Another resistance plane went down. Hope and I wove in and out of enemy fire. Bullets and missiles darted across the open expanse of sky and as our forces dropped I started taking more and more of it. When the last resistance plane fell the enemy had dwindled to ten, but my radar ignited again with dozens of more dots.

"For God's sake!" I yelled angrily as Red Legion jets ascended from no where. Hope cursed through the headset. This was going to end badly.

"What now?" She asked banking left and knocking down an enemy fighter.

"We take the high ground and pray to God we've slowed them down and pray to God that Steve and Clint got out." Gritting my teeth I pulled up knowing the strain that I was putting on my damaged plane. I could feel it shuddering dangerously. Another missile slammed into my tail end and for a moment my engine faltered. It spring to life but it didn't keep me from worrying.

"Hope I'm pushing the limits here." I could see the steam coming from the plane. Wheeling around I entered a nose dive with Hope following suit.

"This is it! Come on. Come on. Come on!" I opened fire yelling like a banshee as I passed through smoke and fire. I could hear bullets slamming into me not caring about the repercussions. I emerged from the smoke and fire with little control over the plane but as I looked to the horizon I saw something that I couldn't believe. The sky was dotted with dozens of other aircraft.

"Clint...are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Hope asked in disbelief. I knew my plane was done I would have to attempt a crash landing but what I saw was one of the most beautiful things ever. The ground rushed towards me and I pulled up on the stick. Just before hitting the blanket of snow I saw a symbol painted on the wings of the jets.

"Shield."