THE NEXT DAY ARRIVED, AND IT WAS TIME FOR SKYE AND KATIA TO REENTER THE DOORS OF TOP GUN. their training two years prior had been an absolute blast, but they were worried about what the new mission would mean. every one of the people called there had been taken from various squadrons. the best of the best.
skye herself had called it a suicide mission. she was fully confident in both her and katia's abilities, of course. but it seemed like this would be the mission someone wouldn't come back from.
she'd tried to keep all of the negative thoughts out of her head as she brushed her teeth, sloshing her mouthwash around her mouth. "who do you think's gonna be teaching?" katia asked next to her, spitting out her own toothpaste. "think they'll bring panther back?"
skye shook her head. "no, i don't think so."
"what makes you say that?"
"i wasn't gonna say anything about it last night in front of rooster because of.. obvious reasons." she said. "but my dad being here doesn't seem like a coincidence."
katia tilted her head. "you think he's gonna teach us?"
skye shrugged. "i think there's a pretty high possibility that he just forgot to mention it last night."
the two women finished their breakfast before putting on their flight suits and heading off to work. they arrived nearly exactly on time, since they were both almost always late, and sped their way into their seats just in time.
"thought you two would never arrive." phoenix said from her seat next to bob.
skye shook her head, sliding into one of the two empty seats in front of rooster as katia took the other one. "beauty sleep, you know?" she joked.
"as if you need it." rooster mumbled so quietly that she thought she misinterpreted him. skye was about to turn and question him when a woman standing to the side cleared her throat.
"attention on deck!"
skye stood with everyone else, fighting the urge to turn to look at rooster. she instead looked at katia out of the corner of her eye, seeing that she was smiling.
admiral warlock moved up to the podium, encouraging everyone to sit back down. skye obliged, giving katia a look that said 'holy shit.' she was so preoccupied in her thoughts that she stopped paying attention to warlock for a moment, looking back up as he caught herself.
"i'm admiral bates." he introduced. "you're all top gun graduates. the elite. the best of the best."
skye smiled at this, looking to see everyone else having equal reactions.
"that was yesterday." warlock continued, and everyone adjusted in their seats awkwardly. "the enemy's new fifth generation fighter has leveled the playing field. details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box."
hangman turned to phoenix, who flipped him off, before making a similar glance over his shoulder at skye and katia, who both ignored him.
"half of you will make the cut." warlock continued. "one of you will be named mission leader. the other half of you will stay behind on deck for backup."
skye didn't miss the way hangman turned around to look at rooster, and she would've been more upset about it if rooster hadn't easily blown it off as nothing.
"you will be trained by a fellow top gun graduate. his exploits," warlock said, "are legendary. and he's considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. what he's going to teach you may very well be the difference between life and death. i give you captain pete mitchell. callsign 'maverick'."
skye looked to the side as her father walked by, a book in his hands. she shook her head with a soft smile at the fact that she'd been right. she then risked a glance behind her, seeing rooster's unsurprising look of annoyance.
"did you know about this?" he mouthed.
"had a hunch." she mouthed back before turning around.
"morning." maverick said as he took warlock's place behind the podium. "the f-18 fighter manual." he introduced, slapping a hand on the book as he held it up. "it tells you everything you need to know about your aircraft. i'm assuming you know it inside and out."
hangman smiled. "damn right."
maverick dropped it into the trash can on his side. "so does your enemy. but what the enemy doesn't know, is your limits. i intend to find them. to help you pull beyond. today, we'll access what you do know. let's gear up."
skye couldn't help herself from smiling at her father's monologue, wondering if he'd practiced it in the mirror that morning. "fancy seeing you here." she said as she walked past him.
he chuckled. "surprise?"
"count me surprised." she replied.
she joined katia in the break room, moving to sit next to the radio. fanboy, payback, and rooster were all up in the air first. "good morning aviators." skye heard her father say on the radio. "this is your captain speaking. welcome to basic fighter maneuvers. as briefed, today's exercise is dogfighting. guns only, no missiles. do not go below the hard deck of 5,000 feet. working as a team, you have to shoot me down, or else."
"or else what, sir?" payback asked.
"or else i shoot back." maverick replied simply. "if i shoot either one of you down, you both lose."
"this guy needs an ego check." hangman mumbled from his position on the couch.
harvard and yale laughed. "we'll see to that!" they said before high fiving one another.
"that your old man?" hangman then asked, turning to skye.
she shrugged her shoulders. "what's it to you, bagman?"
"just curious." he replied. "if he's a mitchell, maybe he won't be too hard to put in his place."
phoenix glared at him. "watch your mouth, bagman."
skye shook her head. "it's fine, phe." she replied. "you know, it's about time i add another air to air kill under my belt." she mumbled, referencing to shooting down hangman.
"sir, what do you say we put some skin in the game?" payback suggested, drawing the attention back to the radio.
"what do you have in mind?" an amused maverick replied.
payback was smiling. "whoever gets shot down first has to do two hundred push ups."
rooster didn't seem amused. "guys.." he groaned.
"that's a lot of push ups." maverick replied.
fanboy laughed. "well, they don't call it an exercise for nothin, sir."
"you've got yourself a deal, gentlemen. fight's on." maverick said. "let's turn n' burn."
skye listened to the radio as her father completely shocked all three of them. she heard rooster save fanboy and payback, who were being pursued by maverick for a while.
"rooster just saved your life, fellas." maverick said. "but it's gonna cost him."
skye could practically see the anger in rooster's eyes. "not this time, old man."
"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.