"THEY WEREN'T KIDDING ABOUT AN EARLY START." SKYE JOKED AS she and katia ascended into the air. they had barely been there for a day before they were in the sky, working on some test or other. the admiral had told them that they were going to be simulating what it would be like to fight one of the enemy planes, something to the modern equivalent of a mig. "do you see him?"
kat turned in her seat, putting a hand on the canopy. "no, i don't have eyes on him." skye moved the plane up a bit higher, hoping it would give the blonde a better view. "i got him, i got him." she then said. "he's on our tail."
skye broke right, effortlessly shifting the plane through the sky in an attempt to shake the other plane. "talk to me, havoc, what's he doing?"
"he's still on us," katia replied before her eyes widened, "oh, yeah, yeah, he's closing in on us. he's closing in fast. go go go."
"i'm going." skye grunted, moving higher. the gained altitude sped her up, and she had to swerve to the right to avoid hitting straight into a mountain. "he still back there?"
katia looked back over her shoulder. "oh, yeah."
skye continued shifting sides, trying to keep clear of the guns of the plane behind her. "i'm gonna.. i'm gonna do some pilot shit." she said. "hold on." she kept the plane moving straight ahead for a moment before she inverted it, making katia laugh. they hovered there for a second before she moved the plane behind the other one.
the other plane sped up, and skye followed it through the sky before finally landing her target on it, cheering as it turned red. "we got him we got him!" katia cheered.
"hey, this is riot and havoc, we're requesting a fly by." skye said, a smile on her face.
"that's a negative." a voice on the comms replied.
katia shrugged her shoulders. "i mean if we get kicked out, it'll be your fault more than anything."
skye smiled and circled the plane around the base before doing a couple of tight spins in the air. "come on, you can't tell me this isn't a good time."
when they got out of their plane, they were almost immediately met with the other pilots. phoenix was the first to reach them, and she smiled. "you guys are one of the only ones who managed to pass."
skye ran a hand through her hair, which she'd taken out of its bun. "who else passed?"
hangman smiled. "little old me."
"go figure." katia replied, making everyone around them laugh.
"rooster passed too, he's just too humble to brag about it." phoenix said.
skye nodded. "of course he did."
"what is with you two?" the other woman's brows furrowed.
she didn't reply. "so, we're gonna be up against hangman and rooster in the next round? are they going by themselves or is one of them gonna backseat?"
"maybe one of them can sit on the other's lap." katia suggested.
phoenix only shrugged in response. "i guess one of them might be your wingman."
skye tried to avoid visibly reacting to this, walking with katia over to the monitor where they could see their performance. she watched as the plane that was marked as theirs successfully flipped and then landed what would've been the final shot on the other plane.
"you guys did good out there." a voice behind them said, and skye turned around to see rooster. "for what it's worth, it would be an honor to be your guys' wingman tomorrow."
katia smiled. "thanks, roost."
skye nodded. "i'd much rather fly with you than with bagman."
the other woman nodded. "yeah, i was talking to some of the other pilots earlier. the fang guy? he said that they call him hangman cause he always leaves you hanging. he'll steer you wrong every time, supposedly."
"let's keep our fingers crossed, then." skye replied, her eyes moving back to the monitor. "you and fang?" she asked once rooster had walked away.
katia shook her head. "i really don't want to talk about it."
"i want to talk about it."
"jesus christ-"
"what all else did you guys talk about?"
"his name is jake."
"mhm."
"jake logan."
skye then frowned. "that's an asshole name."
katia sent her an offended look. "no it's not."
she tilted her head. "eh.. it kind of is."
"whatever." she rolled her eyes. "he's nice, i think you should talk to him sometime."
"he still has an asshole name."
katia groaned. "no."
"yeah."
"okay, hear me out-"
"no."
"he's not an asshole-"
"no."
"oh my gosh."
skye then laughed, patting her on the back. "i'm happy you're meeting new people, dude." skye always wanted her best friend to pull out of her shell. katia was constantly insecure, what with living in her father's shadow. she rarely ever made an effort to talk to new people, but she would talk your ear off if you were one of her few closer friends.
skye hadn't really understood until she was in high school why katia only wanted a few friends. they both then became further distanced from those around them. some would call it cocky, or say that they thought they were better than everyone else.
the truth was, they were afraid of not being able to follow in the legacies their fathers had presented. katia was worse about it than skye was, and skye would often find herself reminding her friend that she was enough.
despite all of her teasing about it, skye was genuinely excited for katia for making new friends. she hoped this meant that her friend would start opening up more, maybe even start taking her own advice.
"hey, what about you and rooster?" katia asked after a moment. skye's eyebrows shot up, and she watched as the blonde shook her head. "not like that. i mean, have you talked to him yet?"
skye shook her head. "nope. if i get a time that it makes sense to talk to him, then sure."
katia processed this for a second before frowning. "hey, why'd you react like that at first?"
"what do you mean?"
"you and rooster."
skye rolled her eyes. "no. absolutely not."
"i mean, it makes sense, you know? you've been close for so long, and now you've both grown up, you've matured, you've both had respective glow-ups, you know. it makes sense."
"absolutely not."
katia gave her a look. "why?"
"because he sees me as a sister."
the blonde blinked. "and is that the only reason you're saying no?"
skye groaned. "oh my gosh, are you for real, with this, right now?"
she laughed. "i'm just saying! it kind of makes sense. like.. i mean, yeah, it sucked that he didn't talk to us for a while. but he's a brother to me. we're on good terms no matter what. but.. i mean, not to invalidate you being upset, but you were really hurt by it."
"yeah, because he-"
"no," katia shook her head, "i'm not finished. you missed him ten times more than i did and you know it. now whether that's a testament to your super awesome friendship or what, i don't know. but i do know that you need to talk to him about whatever this is. because even though you won't admit it to yourself, i know it's hurting you."
skye sighed. "i hate it when you're right."
"you must have a lot of hatred in your heart, then, riot, cause i'm always right."
the next morning, the two put their flight suits on and prepared to be told who they were going to be flying against, and who they'd be flying with. "the mission is simple." the admiral told the group. "don't break the hard deck, don't hit a mountain. first to target the stealth plane we're calling a mock-bandit," some of the men laughed, "wins. riot and havoc, you're up first with rooster as your wingman."
as soon as they were dismissed, katia and skye were performing their handshake and grabbing their things. "seems easy enough, right?" skye asked as she grabbed her helmet.
katia nodded. "sure. just keep your head in the game."
skye laughed. "i quit basketball four and a half years ago, hav, and i wasn't ever even good at it."
"that's why," katia put her helmet on, "you're keeping your head in the game."
the two climbed into the plane, and skye was clear for takeoff. "i'm glad you're my wizzo." she said as they hovered in the air.
"wizzo?" the other woman questioned.
"wso is too many syllables." she insisted.
katia laughed. "well, i'm glad i'm your wizzo too, ri."
"is rooster up here yet?"
"been here the whole time." he said, moving so his plane was next to theirs. "what's our gameplay? you guys seemed to have this pretty figured out yesterday."
skye shrugged. "i think we can probably just-" before she could finish explaining her thoughts, the mock-bandit was detected on her radar. "shit, you see him, hav?"
katia turned in her seat. "not yet." she looked over her shoulder. "oh, yep, right behind us. dead behind us. like, move right now behind us."
"moving now." skye said, breaking towards the right. rooster followed her lead, the two planes shifting around the mountain. "rule number one, don't hit the mountain." skye said as rooster got dangerously close to hitting it. "okay, what do we do?"
"uh.." rooster trailed off. "i mean, i have an idea. it's kind of bad, though."
skye laughed. "we'll take it!"
"what if we switch directions and confuse him?"
"what?"
"you go right, i go left."
skye's brows furrowed as she kept close to the mountain. "what, like the at-at's in empire strikes back?"
rooster was silent for a second. "uh, not exactly."
"he's still on our tails." katia reminded them both.
skye groaned. "it's the best idea we've got. what do you say, havoc?"
"i say we go for it." katia shrugged.
"on you, rooster." skye said.
he moved next to them. "one, two, three!"
skye moved to the right as rooster went left, and katia turned in her seat. "okay, he's going after you, rooster."
rooster moved higher up, attempting to keep moving so he wouldn't be in the strike zone. "you guys got him?" he asked, his voice strained.
"yeah, i'm trying." skye replied, moving to follow him. because of her going to the right, she had a further distance to go to get back to rooster. "keep shaking him, we're on him now." she said as she got closer.
"c'mon, skye, i can't shake him much longer." rooster said.
skye was close to lining her targeting system up with the plane, but the mock-bandit ended up getting to rooster before they did. "damnit!" skye cursed, dropping her head back on her seat.
whatever any of them would try to say to her, she knew it was her fault that they'd failed the mission. now, hangman was going to be the default winner, and the thought of that made her feel even more upset with herself.
hell, it was skye who had said that the mission was going to be easy, and it should've been. so her ego was bruised, and she was embarrassed that she'd managed to mess up, and had made rooster look like he was in the wrong for getting out first. but they all knew it was her fault.
she landed the plane and wordlessly got out, hearing katia follow behind her. "skye." she called. "skye!"
the brunette didn't reply, dropping her helmet at her locker and replacing it with her motorcycle helmet, driving back to their shared apartment.