Maverick was the only person that knew I had arrived back onto TopGun base. Phoenix, the day I left, had texted me, letting me know how upset she and the rest of their team was that I didn't say goodbye. In an attempt to keep the secret, I chose to ignore her message. So when maverick asked me to continue keeping the secret upon my arrival, I felt incredibly guilty.
But I knew why he wanted me to remain a secret.
I was in my jet, two days after arriving. For two days I had hidden in my room, Maverick bringing me food, all for this moment. In my jet, I flew away from the base, before swinging back towards where the Elite team would be training. Mavericks training exercise for the day involved me approaching the team while they practiced basic maneuvers, as an unidentified jet. It was an attempt to see how they would respond in an emergency. They would of course know who I was once they engaged, but that only meant we were transitioning into a dogfighting exercise, where I would do my best to get a lock on each of them.
I liked his idea.
So I flew away from the base, tuned into their chatter, but not saying anything. Maverick had them running a common drill we normally learned our second or third time flying. Hangman, of course, was complaining that it was to ease, and rooster was arguing with him.
"Maverick wants us to refreshed up on this." Rooster said with an annoyed tone. I chuckled to myself, my mic turned off for the time being. I heard Phoenix chuckle though, like myself. She was amused.
"I didn't join this team to be treated like a rookie." Hangman complained. I could practically see Roosters eye roll.
"You're welcome to leave." Rooster muttered instead.
"That's not the best way to encourage your team Roost." Maverick chimed in. Rooster sighed.
"Fine, sorry." Rooster grumbled.
"Hangman, it's your lucky day anyways." Maverick said. I had turned back towards base, knowing that the team was well into their exercise. "It seemed there's a bogie incoming on your eight. Rooster I want you and your team to engage." Maverick instructed.
"A bogie? Only one? Why is there a bogie?" Rooster asked.
"I don't know, why don't you go and ask." Maverick asked sarcastically. Hangman chuckled. I continued to fly over. I seen their flight.
"I have a visual." Payback said. Their four jets were coming towards me at about the same speed, I assumed, as I was going towards them.
"Do we shoot it down?" Rooster asked.
"If you can." I could hear the smile on mavericks face when he answered. I smiled under my mask, narrowing my eyes, getting ready. As I got closer, I heard my missile lock alert go off, before the jet second from the right, shot at me. I turned up and hit my flares, letting the missile blow with them. I then dived my jet down and spun, slicing through their formation.
"Did anyone read the name on the jet?" Phoenix asked.
"I didn't even see the name." Fanboy called.
"It was written in green, but I didn't catch it." Bob chimed in. I wasn't sure who, but one of them had started tailing me, staying a decent distance away. I swayed from left to right in random intervals, so they couldn't get a lock.
"He won't stop moving, I can't get a lock." Hangman said. So that's who was behind me.
"You need to learn now to hit a moving target." Maverick said.
"Open fire." Rooster demanded.
"Copy." Hangman said. I started swirling, right before he started shooting. As I swirled, I went right. "Son of a bitch, I missed." Hangman hissed out annoyed. I chuckled to myself, before suddenly slowing down. Hangman swore, before going up and over my jet. Behind him now, I sped up. He tried his best to sway out of my way.
"There's four of you, someone should have a lock by now." Maverick said.
"He's tailing me!" Hangman exclaimed, as he went up, then dived down, then took a hard right. His maneuvers were spur of the moment with very little thought. I kept up easily.
"I'm behind him." Rooster said. "Trying to get a lock." He added. My lock alerts went off again. I hadn't been swaying as much, as I was trying to get my own lock. "I've got it. Firing." Rooster said. My alerts blared rapidly, but I hit my flares, avoiding the missile easily. "Fuck, he used his flares." Rooster swore, sounding frustrated.
"We're coming to intercept." Payback assured Hangman. I got a lock.
"He's got a lock! He's got a lock!" Hangman exclaimed. But I didn't fire. Instead, I unmuted myself.
"You're dead." I said, before turning away from him. The comms erupted into a shocked chaos.
"Stitch!?!" Most of them exclaimed.
"Reporting to duty." I said, taking a sharp turn as I seen another jet. I was ignoring rooster behind me.
"What the hell?!" Rooster exclaimed. "We've been shooting live! Why didn't you identify yourself?"
"Maverick knew It was me." I muttered, approaching the jet I seen. I got a lock quickly. "You're dead." I said over the comms.
"Fuck." Payback sighed, turning back towards base, like I assumed Hangman did.
"Mav you knew?! And still let us shoot?!?" Rooster exclaimed loudly.
"I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't confident she could out fly you." Maverick explained calmly, though I knew he was smiling, I knew he was amused. I spotted Phoenix and Bob.
"That was messed up!" Rooster said.
"A little bit." I muttered, pulling in behind Phoenix. "You might want to stop focusing on what could have happened and focus on trying to get another lock on me." I added.
"Stitch is right. Now that you know it's her, the next lock will kill her." Maverick chimed in. Phoenix starting an incline, swaying out of my way. Though, in her incline, I got a lock.
"Sorry guys, but you're dad." I said to her and Bob. "It's just us Roost." I added, smirking. I declined my speed, letting gravity grab my jet and pull me backwards. My jet turned sharply, pointing back towards Rooster, who had been tailing me.
"Shit." He said, making a hard left turn. I followed him quickly. He dived down, then turned up. I followed. His flight pattern became sporadic, similar to Hangman.
"You need to pick a flight plan." I told him. "What you're doing now will make you a target, because it looks like you're panicking."
"Why does he get pointers." Hangman complained.
"Because he's the only one left and he's also team lead. It's good for him to know this." I answered. Rooster took my advice and picked a flight plan. He started flying a common beginner dogfighting maneuver. The only problem was it was a defensive maneuver, instead of offensive, which is what he needed. "Wrong choice." I said, before getting lock.
"Fuck." He sighed, slowing down. I pulled up beside him, glancing over at him.
"Better luck next time." I told him. He shook his head, his red helmet popping in his cockpit.
"I can't believe you two did that." He told me. "We all thought you left."
"I did leave." I said, as we turned to head back to base. "I just came back a week later." I added with a shrug. I wasn't sure if he seen it though.
"I was pretty pissed you left without a goodbye." Phoenix chimed in. "And you didn't even reply to my text."
"Yeah sorry about that. I didn't want to accidentally ruin the surprise." I apologized.
We all landed, and when I got out of my jet, I was greeted by the others. The seven of us walked back to the familiar training room, where Maverick was waiting with a broad smile. He was very clearly amused.
"Stitch has officially joined our team". He finally announced. "She'll be sticking around for a while."
"It's about time another woman joined us." Phoenix said with a broad smile. I chuckled, but welcomed the congratulations and words of excitement the others shared.
"Still could have been announced better." Rooster grumbled, still annoyed, but with a playful smile. I met his gaze and smiled with a tilted head. His smile grew some, and he rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you're here." He added.
"Let's get settled down, Stitch is going to go over a few dogfighting maneuvers and strategies with us before we try again." Maverick said. We all walked over to the tables, except for me. I followed Maverick to the front to address the six others. Behind me, on the screen, a simulated dogfight began.
"Today I got the opportunity to see how you'd react during a dogfight." I started, looking over everyone. "You were sloppy and very clearly inexperienced. But, if you listen to my advise and lead, we'll be able to fix that. The most important rule in a dogfight is communication. You should always be calling out the maneuvers your transitioning to, if you have a tail and where you are. If you chose to have radio silence, you are almost guaranteed to be shot down. The next is stay with your wingman. You're an easy target if you're alone, but safer when with someone else. Yes, I'll admit there are times when you have to be away from your partner, but it's not often."
"What happens if your partner is shot down?" Hangman asked, I pressed my lips together.
"You find another group and stay with them. Don't try to be a hero up there. Don't try and get the shot if it's dangerous for you-"
"You do that." Rooster pointed out, cutting me off. I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it an sighed.
"You're right, I do." I started. "I do that because I'm team lead and it's my job to try and keep my team alive." I clarified, he nodded, seeming to accept my answer.
I talked to the team for another hour, going over important facts for dogfighting. I then went over a couple basic, but slightly more complex maneuvers. The maneuvers were ones I would teach the rookies on our first day together. They weren't for high skill level, but they were designed to help in the offence.
"We're going to go back out there and practice. I want you to stick with your wingman and apply everything I just told you. While I fly, I will act as bogie and lead. So I will try to shoot you down, but also be calling out what to do." Everyone nodded, before we all left the training room once more. The others took off first and I let them get to a safe altitude, before taking off myself.
"Phoenix you're with me." Rooster said over the comms. "Payback with Hangman. Fanboy and Bob, keep an eye out for Stitch, call it if you see her." His instructions were simple, but helpful for the team.
"Don't forget, you're taking the offence right now. I don't want you trying to get the kill, I just want you practicing to evade. If you can stay alive for longer then fifteen minutes, you're doing something right." I told them over the comms.
"And if we don't?" Hangman asked. I could see them above me.
"200 push-up." Maverick chimed in. I chuckled. "For every person still alive after the 15 minute exercise, Stitch has to do 100."
"Oh you're so on." Hangman agreed.
"Guys, Stitch hasn't lost a bet yet. That's probably not the best idea." Phoenix said.
"Too late." I said, flying up between two of the jets, in a similar way Maverick did when he had first taught us dogfighting.
"Holy shit." Payback said. I looped around, going back towards the four jets.
"Start calling your maneuvers." I instructed as the group turned to fly away from me.
"Phoenix and I will go left. We'll do a barrel dive if Stitch follows." Rooster said, as he turned his jet to the left.
"We'll go right and stay on course with a leap frog." Hangman explained.
"Not bad. Be careful in the leap frog and make sure to tell your wingman if you'll be changing strategy immediately, otherwise you could crash into each other. As for the barrel dive, when you start, make sure to watch your G's. It's easy to G-Lock in it if you're not." I said, before turning left after Rooster and Phoenix. They would be easier to get a lock on, based off their current strategy.
A barrel dive was essentially just diving towards the ground, spinning with your partner, before each pulling up and levelling out, avoiding the enemy. The issue with the dive, was if the bogie was able to keep speed, it was easy to get a lock on one of the jets.
"She's on is." Bob said. Phoenix was slightly behind Rooster, and their current positions would make it easy for me to shoot them both down in their barrel.
"Dive down." Rooster said.
"Your dive won't work." I stated simply. "You need to be in sync."
"I'll speed up to pull in beside you." Phoenix said, doing just that. Once their noses were even, they started diving. I noticed that they were diving and spinning too fast.
"You need to slow down." I said.
"Phoenix, we're going to fast." Bob said in an airy voice.
"I know." She sighed, before pulling out of the maneuver completely.
"You're dead Phoenix." Maverick said. She cursed, then flew back towards base.
"My wingman is down. What's your 20 Hangman?" Rooster said, pulling out of the dive.
"On your six, about 500 feet above." Hangman answered. I glanced up, seeing him and Payback coasting above us.
"Copy, coming your way." Rooster said, flying up towards them. I stayed on him, though his swaying kept me off the lock.
"Good, now there's three of you. Leap frog won't work. What's your new strategy?" I asked, flying behind them.
"We should do a Dutch braid incline." Rooster said.
"Copy." Hangman agreed. The three jets then started to go up, braiding themselves together, making it more difficult to lock onto one of them. A Dutch braid incline was meant for three or four jets. Each jet acted like a strand of hair, to braid through each other, swaying back and forth, and side to side.
"Hangman, you're going too fast. You'll collide with one of the others if you don't slow down." I said, before watching hangman almost clip Paybacks wing.
"Holy shit man!" Payback exclaimed.
"Sorry, slowing down." Hangman said. Then I got a lock on one of them.
"Fuck." It was rooster. He pulled away from the braid and went back to base.
"Good job guys, there's five minutes left." Maverick said. "Keep it up." He added.
"Go into a leap frog." Hangman said, levelling out.
"Copy, leap frogging." Payback agreed.
"She's closing the gap. You might want to increase your speed." Fanboy said, glancing at me from the cockpit. I focused on getting hangman out, bobbing with his jet until I figured out his momentum and got a lock.
"Shit, you're on your own guys." Hangman said, pulling away from the others.
"You're alone now, what's your game plan?" I asked over the comms.
"1 minute 30 seconds left." Maverick added.
"A swan dive." Payback said, before pointing the nose of his jet down.
"Wrong answer." I muttered, following him.
"Did she just say wrong answer?!" Fanboy exclaimed. A swan dive normally only worked if you were close to the ground. It was a straight dive, where you'd pull up last minute in hopes the bogie behind you either stopping tailing because of the ground proximity, or didn't pull up in time and blew on the ground. We were about 5000 feet up, which meant payback and fanboy would G-Lock before getting close enough to the ground for it to work. And because it was a straight dive, it gave me the perfect opportunity to get my own lock.
"45 seconds." Maverick said. My sightings lined up, before turning red, letting me know I had a lock.
"You're dead." I said, pulling out of the dive.
"Shit." Payback sighed, pulling up as well.
"Head back to base. You got some push ups to do boys." Maverick chuckled. We flew back, landing just after Hangman. When I got out of my jet, I seen Phoenix, Bob and Rooster in the middle of their push ups. Hangman sighed and joined them.
"Good form guys." I chuckled, watching them. Payback and Fanboy then joined as well. Maverick came over and stood beside me.
"So what did the team do wrong?" Maverick asked.
"Phoenix, your speed in the dive was too fast, but Rooster, your call for the barrel dive made you a target. It's easy to get a lock. Your call for the Dutch braid was good, but I just chose a target and kept up. You need to remember not to stick with the same thing for too long, for that reason. Same goes with the leap frog. It was a good call, until I was familiar with the pattern. Payback, as for the swan dive, you were too high up. That maneuver is mean to scare the bogie in to crashing or fleeing. You could have went into G-Lock before that happened, and you made yourselves an easy target." I explained, looking down at each of them as they continued their push-ups.
"Stitch was going easy on you. Next time she won't be." Maverick added. Hangman scoffed, but continued his push ups. "When you're done, you can be dismissed for the day." Maverick added, then looked at me. "I have a date."
"Oooh, a date, with Penny?" I clarified, he nodded with a wide smile. "Make sure they finish their push ups, then you can go too." He added, patting my shoulder before walking off.
"Speaking of dates." Rooster said in a breathy tone. I looked at him, seeing a glistening of sweat bead off of his forehead. He went down, then came back up. "We should go on one." He said, looking up at me. I couldn't fight the smirk that came to me.
"Is that so?" I asked.
"Oh barf." Hangman groaned out. "Could you two hit on each other somewhere else?" He asked.
"No, I don't think so." Rooster chuckled, going down again, then coming back up once more. "What do you say? Dinner tonight?" He asked, looking at me again. I pressed my lips together in a tight smile.
"Sure." I answered.
"Great, if you give me your number-"
"Nope, sleeping compound C room 23. You can pick me up at 7." I cut him off with a soft chuckle.
"Still refusing I see." Phoenix said, sitting up as she finished her set of push-ups. She was covered in sweat and her face was bright red. Her breathing was uneven. Bob sat up with her. "How long are you going to make him suffer?" She added, grabbing a water bottle. I shrugged.
"I'm not sure. Until it's not funny I guess." I answered. Rooster shook his head, but chuckled softly.
Another few minutes and the other men were finished their push-ups. Rooster came over to me with uneven breath and a sweaty face. I looked up at him with a side smirk, amused.
"You're torturing me with the number thing." He told me before taking a sip of his water. I shrugged, turning to walk towards the training room to get out of my flight suit.
"You'll survive." I told him over my shoulder. I heard him chuckle, before he took a few large strides to walk with me. "So where are you taking me tonight?" I asked as we walked.
"Yeah, I don't think I'm going to tell you." He told me, with a small smirk. "Hopefully you like surprises."
"Not exactly, but I'll learn to deal. Dress code?"
"Dress code?" He chuckled, I nodded.
"I don't want to get dressed in a fancy outfit to go to a pizzeria or something. I want to be dressed appropriately."
"Somewhere between pizzeria and a 5 star Michelin." He answered, I rolled my eyes, but nodded.
"Alright, I can work with that." We were inside now, getting out of our flight suits. Once mine was off, I looked at Rooster. "I'll see you at 7." I told him, winking. His smile grew.
"See you then." He called as I left the room. I bit my lower lip as I walked out of the room, thinking about the pending date, and found I could hardly wait.