Snow-white ran until she was near the runway. She ducked down and used her binoculars to see if luck was on her side, praying that a plane was still intact.
Whilst looking, she potted them, Maverick and Rooster. They were in what looked like an F-14. It was old.
She could have easily run to them, but there was no way all three of them could get home in an aircraft and she also knew that if they knew she was there they'd give up their chance just to stick with her. At least Rooster would.
She had to find another way or die trying.
"How the hell are you gonna fly that fossil?" She whispered to Maverick, knowing well that he wouldn't hear it.
She directed her gaze towards the end of the runway and saw two buildings. The runway was short, but Maverick could probably make it. That man was a cockroach. Nothing kills him.
"Come on, Mav. You got this!" She whispered to him again, pointlessly.
The plane sped up, and she held her breath. They took off and flew away just above the towers.
"YES! You did it!" Snow-White cheered.
Now, it was time for her to find a way home.
Her chances of finding an aircraft were slim but that doesn't mean it was impossible.
She walked into the base, acting like she knew the place. Looking for a plane or some form of transport, preferably with a radio. She assessed the damage of the Tomahawks and noticed a pattern. The main impact point was towards the start of the runway, the far end of it looked much cleaner and less damaged compared to it. That's where she was going to go.
She looked at every hangar, every corner, into the smoke and there it was, in the very last Hangar, an F-18, seemingly untouched by the Tomahawks.
Snow-white was glued to the spot, staring at the aircraft in front of her. She couldn't believe her luck. Finding one plane was lucky enough, but two of them were a miracle. Another miracle.
She got ready, jumped on the plane, and turned on the engine. It was working.
She positioned herself onto the runway.
"Ok, Em. Yes, this is a taxi way... a very short taxi way. But if Mav can do it, so can you."
There was barely enough space to take off, but with the right speed, she figured she could make it work.
She accelerated and sped down the runway. It was going fast, and the crater was getting closer.
"Now or never!" She exclaimed while pulling up.
To her surprise, the plane took off.
"YES! Alright." She started flying in the direction of the carrier.
Snow checked her ESAT, but it wouldn't work. Radio was also dead, causing her to sigh.
Just then, a plane flew past her at a very high speed. It seemed to be those fitfth-gen Maverick warned them about.
"This can't be good." She followed it, trying not to do anything suspicious since they hadn't seemed to notice her.
Then two more came, but this time, one of them stopped right next to her.
"Of course you had to stop." She looked over to him and waved. He signed something.
"What the hell are you saying, dude?" She whispered, keeping her cool, waving at him.
He moved back towards his wingman.
"And here we go again!" She sighed and got ready to fight the two pilots.
"Ok, Em. It's the pilot, not the plane. You got this."
The dogfight began. Snow-white started shooting at one of the two planes, and it went down immediately. His wingman was now on her tail.
She sped up, moving the aircraft with no pattern because right now, unpredictability was her only advantage. She didn't know the way that pilot flew but neither did he know her way. She flew up and he followed, she swerved and so did he. It was like he was mirroring her. He started firing at her. She tried to dodge but it hit her plane a couple of times.
She flew down towards the trees below her. The river would give her space to fly by, and the terrain would confuse the targeting system, giving her a better chance of survival.
She flew as fast as she could. She was so focused on not crashing against mountains that she had failed to notice that the enemy wasn't following her.
She couldn't see where he was, and that was the worst part.
"Come on, son of a bitch! Where are you?"
He not only had a better jet, but he knew the terrain, an advantage that she did not have.
She kept flying forward, paranoid about her attacker's next move but nothing had happened. The pilot had gone else where. But where? Why?
╚»★«╝
Rooster and Maverick had successfully avoided getting killed by the two fighter jets. They had taken quite a few hits, though. The plane could give out any time now. All they could do was pray that it wouldn't happen.
On the bright side, they had finally reached the sea. A sense of false freedom washed over them.
"Mav, I got the radio on!"
"Outstanding. Get us in touch with the boat."
"Copy that." Rooster was optimistic, but that optimism was short-lived as soon as the plane started beeping.
"Oh my god!" Maverick's heart dropped yet again. He tried to look around to spot the enemy.
"Where the hell is this guy?" Rooster did the same.
"He's on our nose." Maverick tried to shoot, but it didn't work. "Damn it! We're out of ammo."
A missile was now heading towards them.
"Smoke in the air. Rooster, flares!"
They managed to avoid the missile.
"That was close." Rooster watched as the missile hit one of the flares.
The plane flew right past them.
"We're out of flares, Mav!" The plane spun around, facing them again. "Shit! He's already on us." He started shooting at them. "This is not good!"
Maverick tried to dodge the bullets. He did the best he could, but it hit the left wing.
"We took another hit!"
"No, no, no!" He was worried, even scared.
The pilot kept shooting, and this time, the damage was pretty bad.
"We can't take much more of this!" Rooster stared at the panel in front of him. Everything was beeping and flickering.
"We can't outrun this guy. We got to eject."
"What?"
"We need altitude. Pull the ejection handles the second I tell you." He had already lost a daughter that day. He was not going to lose a son as well. He would have done anything to save him.
"Mav, wait-"
"Rooster, there's no other way." He flew up as fast as he could. "Eject, eject, eject!"
Rooster tried to pull, but it did not work. "Rooster, pull the handle! Eject!"
"It's not working!" He pulled and pulled with all of his strength, but nothing happened. They kept on flying upwards, and the jet was right behind them. They were starting to feel tired, about to pass out just like at coffin corner.
"Mav!" He was out of breath.
"I'm sorry, Goose. I'm sorry, Snow."
The plane launched a missile, but what the enemy didn't know was that someone had already had a lock on them. The enemy aircraft blew up alongside the missile.
They both looked back in shock and confusion after hearing the explosion.
Another aircraft popped out from the smoke.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your saviour speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, turn your tray tables in their locked and upright positions, and prepare for landing."
It was Hangman. And you could tell from his voice that he was going to brag about saving them, but it didn't matter in that moment.
He pulled up next to their plane. Looking directly at them.
"Hey Hangman, you look good." Rooster said.
"I am good, Rooster's. I'm very good." Hangman then looked around. "Snowie?" He asked, a worried expression on his face.
Maverick simply shook his head as an answer. "God damn it!" Hangman said quietly, hitting the cockpit lightly. He wanted to let out the anger that he was feeling, but even he knew this was not the best time.
"Oh shit! Not again!" Rooster sighed when he heard the beeping again. "Just leave us alone!"
"Enemy aircraft inbound." Hangman spotted the aircraft that was speeding towards them.
"There's one more..." Maverick spotted the other one. It was coming from their right side.
"What do we do?" Hangman asked Maverick. "You're the expert fighter."
"I don't know." He said quietly. "We're outnumbered. I'm out of ammo."
Hangman inhaled deeply. "I got them! You guys get back to the carrier!" He was ready to fight them both.
"No, we're not leaving you as well!" Rooster's voice cracked a little.
"There's no time, Rooster!" Hangman shouted.
The aircrafts were getting closer, especially the one on the right.
"Mav, what do we do?" Rooster shouted in panic.
Maverick felt helpless again. He felt exactly like when Goose had died, and he could do nothing but wait for the rescue and hope that his friend was going to be ok. It's always that false sense of hope that breaks you the most.
He didn't want to leave Hangman behind. He surely wasn't skilled enough to fight them both, but if he didn't, then chances are neither of them are going to make it out alive. What was he to do? Sacrifice the life of a former pilot? Or the life of Rooster? He thought of the promise he had made Emily, to bring him home no matter what. He thought of Carol and Goose. He felt like a hypocrite because suddenly there was no "Don't think. Just do." Now all he could do was think. Think of his morals, of his family, of his pilots. He felt guilty for taking Snow and Rooster on this mission.
For the first time in so many years, Maverick didn't know what to do.