━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎𝑹𝑬𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑪𝑨 𝑴𝑰𝑻𝑪𝑯𝑬𝑳𝑳✈︎
"You're here early." I turn my head to find Phoenix. I'm relieved to see her, I haven't talked to her much since she got back into town. Finally I can talk to a girl that's not my mom or little sister.
"Thought I'd get an early start." I run my hands through my hair as I braid it back so it's out of my way. She stands at the sink beside me. "Early bird gets the worm right?"
"What's the worm in this scenario?" She giggles.
I shrug. "No idea. In all honesty, I didn't feel like fighting with Amelia this morning. She claims I take too long to get ready, and she has a test so she's stressed."
"That's nice of you."
"I told you, I can be nice when I want to be." I tie my elastic around the ends of my hair, I tried to braid my hair extra tight so it wouldn't fall out.
"So how is everything?" She inquires. I don't know if she's referring to Top Gun, Rooster, or just life in general.
"I'm a bit stressed, not gonna lie. But aren't we all." I look over at her.
She bites her lip as if she's about to regret asking her next question. "And uh how are things with the Rooster?"
I sigh turning my focus to the sink drain. "Good, I think." She give a look. I take a deep breath in. "I don't know. I want there to still be something there but I also don't want to get hurt again."
"Do you think he still has feelings for you?" She quirks a brow at me.
"He's hard to read. But yes, I really do." I mumble. I hate being vulnerable but with Phoenix it's easy.
"Then that's all that matters. But maybe deal with it all after the mission. Let him come to you about it." She heads for the door.
"Good talk, Phoenix." I pat her shoulder and leave the bathroom with her. It's almost time for us to start training again.
"Cherry Bomb!" Hangman yells from up the hall. "Just the girl I was looking for."
"You got this under control?" Phoenix whispers.
"Yeah I can handle Barbie." I nod my head towards Hangman. She laughs, patting my shoulder. She walks into the "classroom" giving Hangman a glare as she goes by. I sigh stopping in front of him. "What do you want, Hangman?"
"I want you to help me make sure I'm not seeing things here." He holds up a photo. A really old one. "Is this Bradshaw?" I look closely. It is actually. Baby Bradshaw. It was taken a few days before Goose passed.
"Yes it is." I look up at him. "Can I go now?" I walk around him but he grabs my arm.
"Not so fast. Who's that?" He points to a little girl in the background of the picture.
My stomach drops.
In the background of the picture, it shows a little girl in between a man and a woman, laughing, smiling, cutting up. "Now call me crazy, but that-" He points at the man. "-looks like Maverick and that-" He points to the woman. "Looks just like Penny Benjamin." I gulp loudly. "So the question I need you to answer is, who is that?" He finally points to me.
It was a sweet picture but it was sickening in these circumstances. He knows. Hangman of all people knows.
"Jake..." I squeeze the bridge of my nose.
"So the truth comes out." He smirks.
"You cannot say a word." I whisper.
"Why's that?" He asks. Some movement at the door catches my eye. I look up, it's Rooster. Hangman follows my eyes. He smirks, licking his teeth. "He doesn't know, does he?"
"Nobody does. And I would've liked to have kept it that way." I snatch the picture out of his hand and rush into the room before the we start. I plop myself into a seat on an empty row. My heart is practically beating out of my chest. I try to steady my breathing, I feel as if I just ran a mile.
"Becca!" I hear Bradley whisper behind me. I say nothing. "Bec!" I don't think I can do this right now. I feel movement beside me, Bradley has moved to sit beside me. I turn away from him and try to focus on the aircrafts outside. "What's going on with you?"
Gosh I hate myself.
***
"Time is your worst enemy." Mav starts as a timer appears on the screen behind him. "Stage 1 of the mission is to advance at low altitude in two teams. You will navigate through this narrow canyon to your target. The area smells of radar-mounted heat seeking missiles, defending the area. These missiles are deadly." You don't say? "But they are designed to protect the sky above, not the canyon below."
"That's because the enemy knows that no one is crazy enough to try and fly below them." I scoff.
Dad smirks. "That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do." My eyes widen, everyone's eyes widen actually. Bradley's face twitches"On mission day, your altitude will be 100 feet. Maximum. If you exceed this altitude, the radar will catch you." The screen shows a missile hitting an aircraft. "...and you are dead."
This is going to be harder than I had thought.
"Your air speed will be 660 knots. Minimum. Arrival time at destination 2.5 minutes. That's because of the 5th generation warplanes waiting at the nearby airport. If you encounter these planes in an F-18 you will die. So before these planes even have a chance to catch you, you must enter, hit your target
and disappear. This makes time your biggest competitor. Your navigation system has a simulation of the canyon. The faster you cross this canyon the more difficult it will be for you to stay under the radar and stay away from enemy planes. As the turns get harder, the force of gravity on your body increases exponentially. It compresses your lungs. It forces the blood in your brain to flow. It affects your decisions and reaction time. They asked me not to overload you. So your altitude is 1,300 feet and your time to destination is 3 minutes."
Definitely not overloading us.
"Good luck."
***
"We are 1.30 minutes away from the destination."
Coyote, Phoenix, and Bob were up first. The rest of us sat inside and listened to everything through the radio.
"Let's place bets. Who do we think will screw up first?" If I hear Hangman's voice one more time today, I'm going to lose my crap.
"Seriously?" I scoff.
"Fine. Who do we think will do the best?" He winks.
"Why does everything have to be a competition with you?" Rooster crosses his arms over his chest.
Jake shrugs. "It's more fun this way? Don't ya think?"
"Nothing is fun when you're around.." I mumble. "You're like a little mosquito that we can't seem to get rid of."
"Coyote!"
***
"Why did they die?" Mav gazes at Coyote coldly.
"We crossed the 300-foot limit and the missiles took us down." Phoenix mumbles.
"No." Mav shakes his head. "Why did they die?"
Coyote sighs. "I slowed down and didn't give them a proper warning. It was my fault."
Mav nods. "And why is that your fault?"
"Because he didn't communicate with his team." I answer.
He nods. "Exactly."
"I'm sorry, sir..." Coyote gulps.
Mav turns to Phoenix."Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were informed in training." She opens her mouth but he doesn't give her a chance to finish. "Don't tell me. Tell his family." He points to Bob who looks quite frightened.
***
"Hangman, ease up ! The canyon is getting tighter." Payback comes through the radio.
"Negative, Payback. Increase your speed." Hangman says smoothly. I can't see him but I'm sure he has that stupid grin on his face.
"Come on Payback." I whisper.
"You're going too fast, man!" He yells. I look to the screen. He was right. Hangman had to be booking it. "I can't stay on course!" They continue yelling. A beeping sound goes off. They messed up big time.
***
"What happened?" Mav asks.
"I flew as fast as I could." Hangman shrugs. "As if my life depended on it."
"And in doing so he put his team in danger
leaving Payback and Fanboy dead." Rooster adds.
He smirks cockily. "They couldn't keep up."
Maverick shakes his head looking my way. "Rooster, Cherry Bomb, Harvard, and Yale. You're up." We nod and head out.
"You need to do what ever you can to make sure we reach that target." I whisper to Rooster. He nods.
***
"Rooster! Pick up the pace! We are 20 seconds behind!" Yale calls out.
"We are fine! Maintain your speed." Rooster says calmly.
"We're going 500 nautical miles. We're going to be late!" I sigh glancing at my watch.
"You said do what I can to get us there. Are we dead yet? No." He spits.
I roll my eyes. "We only have a minute left. We won't make it in time."
"Just focus on your switches! I'm the pilot here. Not you!" I hold my tongue although I wanted to verbally attack him.
"Rooster, we're running late!"
"We're alive though. We'll make up for it later." He says, maintaining our slow speed.
***
"Why did you die?" I slump in my seat. I'm not ready to feel the wrath of my father. "You are the team leader. Why are you, why is your team dead?"
"Sir, they were the only ones who made it to the target." Phoenix tries to justify our wrong doings.
"Yeah a minute late." I spit hatefully. "He gave the enemy planes time to land us, all of us."
"Which makes you dead." Maverick nods.
"You don't know that." Rooster shrugs.
"You're not flying fast enough. You don't have a second to waste." I spit.
Rooster licks his teeth. "We reached the goal."
"And superior enemy planes intercepted you on your way out." We glance between Maverick and Rooster as they go back and forth.
"Then it's a dogfight."
I look at him as if he's stupid."Against 5th generation warplanes."
He turns to look at me, his face hardens. "Yes, but we still have a chance."
"In an F-18." Dad scoffs.
"It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot." He says curtly.
"Exactly!" Dad spits.
Bradley's eyes soften and his jaw tightens. He's trying not to lose his crap right now and you can tell. "There is more than one way to fly this mission."
"You really don't get it do you?" Hangman turns in his seat. "In this mission a man either flies like Maverick or he doesn't come back." Hate to say it but he is right. "No offense intended.."
"Yet somehow you always manage." Bob pipes in before sliding back in his seat.
Hangman rolls his eyes and looks to Bradley. "Look I don't mean to criticize. You're conservative, that's all-"
"Lieutenant." Maverick holds a hand up. "That's enough."
"We're going into combat, son." Hangman looks to me and Rooster. "The kind that no living pilot has ever seen." He looks back to Maverick. "Not even him." Mav tucks his lips in between his teeth. "Now is not the time to think about the past." My eyes just about pop out of my head.
Rooster furrows his brows and slowly looks to him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Rooster." Dad warns.
Hangman smirks and turns back to face the front. "I can't be the only one who knows that Maverick flew with his father."
"Jake. That's enough." I say, barely above a whisper.
"Or that while Maverick was flying with his old man-" Rooster flies out of his seat, lunging at Hangman.
"Hey! Hey! Enough!" Phoenix, Bob, and I jump up and try to hold him back.
"You son of a-" Bradley tries to push us off of him.
"Bradley stop!" I jump in front of him, separating him from Jake. I've never seen him this upset. His eyes are so full of anger, I do believe if given a chance he would kill Hangman. I grab his shoulders, he stops jerking around. "Just ignore him. Look at me." I whisper, patting his cheek. His jaw tightens and he pulls his eyes away from Jake.
"No hassle. I am fine." Jake pushes past us. "He's not fit for the job." He leans toward my face. "You know it. He knows it." He clicks his head towards Mav.
I look to Dad, giving him a desperate look. "You two can be excused." He nods.
"Thank you, Sir." I grab Bradley's arm and lead him out before he kills somebody. I lead him out to my car. He hasn't said a word. He slumps into the passenger seat. His fists are clenched, knuckles white as snow. "Bradley?" I whisper. His face stays the same, brows furrowed, eyes narrow. I hesitantly grab one of his hands. He starts loosening his grip, intertwining our fingers with no hesitation. Not exactly what I was going for but I have no problem with it. Then again I don't know what I was hoping for when I grabbed his hand. "Please don't listen to him, don't let him get in you head. He's a douchebag and he doesn't know what he is talking about."
"Is that what he was talking to you about in the hallway this morning?" He finally speaks up.
"Huh?" I ask.
"I saw you guys talking this morning." He traces the lines along my palms with his index finger. "I'd thought that maybe that's what this was about." Was he watching me?
"They found a picture from the 80's of Goose and Maverick. They managed to put the puzzle together themselves." That's not a whole lie. "They did ask me about it."
"Is what he said true?" I quirk a brow at his question. "Do you think I am not ready for this mission?"
"No I do." I whisper giving his hand a tight squeeze. Gosh I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss this. "I just don't think you're ready to take orders from Maverick or any one for that matter. You've become very stubborn these last few years." I giggle quietly.
He leans over, bringing me closer to him. He wraps his arms around my torso and brings his face up to my neck. I relax my tense body and wrap my arms around him. "Please bear with me. I really am trying here. He just makes thing hard, ya know?"
I run a hand over his head and through his hair. "I do know, believe me. And It's okay. But you need to listen to us." I pull away from him. I cup his cheeks and force him to look at me. "It's for your own good."
He smiles, the caterpillar resting on his upper lip that he calls a mustache tickles the end of his nose. He uses his free right hand and runs it over the side of my head. My heart beats and goosebumps form on my skin and all I can think is one thing.
Gosh I really want to kiss him right now.