BRADLEY'S POV
"SMOKE IN THE AIR! GET LOW, GET LOW!" I heard Sienna say on the radio.
"Shit." I mumbled. They had gone through the radar.
"Payback. Popping in three.... two.... one." I said and we crested over the mountain inverted.
"Fanboy, where is my laser?" I asked as I was putting nose on the target, a scorching 45' dive.
"Targeting, seconds away." He said.
"Come on, come on." I said.
"SHIT! DEADEYE! DEADEYE! OUR LASER'S GONE. STANDBY." He said and I felt my pulse rising.
"We're out of time." I said.
"I'm working on it! Stand by." He said.
"No time, pull away." I said.
"Wait." Fanboy said.
"Great balls of fire." I said as I let the bombs go away and they vanish into the cloud of smoke from Sienna's bombs. I yanked back the stick, trying to keep from face planting into the mountain.
"BULLSEYE! I REPEAT BULLSEYE!" The coms tech said and I smiled. We had destroyed the target. We got over coffin corner without blacking out showing the bizarre view over the SAMs targeting Sienna and Maverick.
"Shit, they are everywhere!" I said.
"Glad you could join us." Sienna said, always joking away serious situations.
"Get low! We gotta get low!" Payback said. Easier said than done.
"I'm out of flares!" I said. I look back to see a missile coming, this is it. I'm done. I'm finished.
But all of a sudden another F18 fills my sight picture and my eyes widened.
"Sienna! No!" I said and I could see she released flares but too late. The missile hit her engine and turns it into a big fireball.
"SIENNA!" I shouted.
"NOOO!" I screamed in agony.
"Dagger 1 is hit!" Payback said.
"I repeat, dagger 1 is hit! She is going down." Payback said and I felt the tears burn in my eyes. No. No. No.
"Dagger 1, status. Status. Anyone see her? I didn't see a parachute." I said trying to push my tears back but failed miserably.
"She's gone." Payback said.
"We have to circle back!" I heard Maverick say.
"All Daggers flow to ECP. You have bandits headed for you." Comms said.
"What about Sienna?" I asked.
"Dagger, you are not to engage. Repeat, do not engage." Comms said a minute later and I banged my hand against the canopy.
"Dagger two. Return to carrier. Acknowledge." Comms said.
"Rooster, we cannot go back. The bandits are closing." Payback said.
"Dagger two and three. Acknowledge!" Comms said.
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SIENNA'S POV
"Fuuuuck." I groaned. I sat up and moved my shoulder. I could feel the taste of blood in my mouth. I looked down to see that my radio was broken. Great. I heard the distant sounds of a helicopter making me raise an eyebrow. Search and rescue could not have found me this fast, I'm not even sure they would've launched it. I looked around. Fuck. I'm out in the open. I started running towards the forest. I looked back to see the big black ass helicopter and I dove behind a fallen tree as they started firing. I pressed close by the tree as the helicopter slowly wheeled around looking for me. I needed to get going.
I started running with the guns firing behind me, following me like a laser pointer. This was it. Then all I could hear was BOOM! I looked back as I saw an F18 streak past.
"Wtf." I mumbled. And a few seconds later he was hit by an SAM.
"Shit!" I said. His plane caught on fire and trailing heavy smoke as I saw him eject. The jet vanished behind the ridge before slamming into the ground and all I could see was a big cloud of black smoke.
"Fuuuck." I said and started running, tracking the parachute. I sprinted through the trees in the deep snow, it must look pretty funny if you looked from a distance, a short muppet in a flight suit running through the deep snow like a Smurf.
I saw him on his knees from a distance, Bradley, you sick son of a bitch. I rushed towards him and he looked up at him with a small smile.
"You all right?" I shouted.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said and I shoved him hard so he fell into the snow.
"What the hell!?" He shouted.
"What did you do that for, you stupid idiot asshole!?" I shouted.
"What are you doing here, son of a bitch!?" I shouted.
"What am I doing here!?" He shouted.
"You think I took that fucking SAM for you to end up down here!?" I shouted.
"I saved your life just a minute ago!" He shouted.
"What the hell were you even thinking!?" I shouted.
"All we have been taught is not to think, just do!" He shouted and I was silent. He had a point.
"Sill." I said.
"But...." I said catching my breath.
"It's good to see you." I said and he smiled softly.
"You do understand that I couldn't leave you." He said.
"Yeah." I said and he brought me in for a hug.
"Now what? It's not like search and rescue will find us." He said.
"We need a plane." I said and his eyes widened.
"A plane? Where do you think someone will have that lying around? Here in the woods? Don't think so." He said.
"No, but the enemy army base, dumbass." I said and started walking.
"For the love of god." He said and walked after me.
________________________
"You are not serious?" He asked as we were looking at enemy territory from behind a rock.
"Let's find out." I said and got up and moved closer.
"You've gotta be shitting me." He said as we looked over at an unattended plane.
"An F14?" He asked.
"Why so skittish? Man up." I mumbled and he gave me a glare.
"Dad shot down three MIGs of in one of those." I said.
"Your dad yeah, have you flown an F14?" He asked.
"Once." I said.
"We don't even know if that bag of ass can fly." He said.
"Let's find out." I said and started walking towards enemy territory.
"Sienna!" Bradley said after me.
"Ohkay." He then said and started jogging after me into enemy territory.
"There are guys up there, Sienna." He said.
"Yeah." I said, just continuing moving towards the plane.
"There are more over there." He said and I rolled my eyes.
"Okay." I said to the nervous child behind me.
"Let's....ehm.. let's start running." I said as I noticed we needed to get moving.
"Yeah, run, run." Bradley said and we started jogging towards the plane.
We managed to get to the plane and we jogged over to the start cart that was the size of a goddamn dumpster. I had to go far back in my mind, dad had taught me this when I was younger. When he actually tried to be a part of my life. I needed to get this piece of crap back to life.
"Keep a look out." I said to Bradley as I was inspecting the start cart.
"C'mon dad, talk to me." I whispered and pushed a button making to growl back to life. Thank god.
"Once... once I give you the signal for air, flip this switch until the needle gets to 120." I said as I was trying to remember everything my dad had taught me about the F14.
"When the engine starts you're gonna pull out the pins and disconnect everything." I said and he looked over at the plane and nodded.
"Understand?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said and I headed towards the plane.
"Once I'm up, stow the ladder." I said and he rushed over to me and just kissed me. Out of the blue.
"Just in case I don't get to do it again." He said and I smiled softly and stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.
"You will." I said and climbed up the ladder. I got into the plane and he stowed the ladder.
I sat down and looked at everything.
"Jesus Christ." I mumbled and then I got the engine started and signed to Bradley to pull the pin. The engine started running smoothly and Bradley disconnected everything before hopping up on the wings and sat down in the passenger seat.
"My god this thing is so old." He said and I chuckled. I pushed forward the throttle and the plane moved forward.
"Canopy?" I asked.
"Clear." He said and buckled up as the canopy lowered above our heads. We exited the hanger and I quickly hit the brakes.
"Both runways are cratered." He said. Yep. They sure were.
"How are we gonna get this museum piece in the air?" He asked and I looked at the runways in front of us. This is not good. I switched to engage the wings. There was only one way out of this.
"Why are the wings coming out, S?" He asked as he was looking out on the wings banging his helmet on the canopy. I pushed the throttle so the afterburners go on full.
"S, this is a taxiway, not a runway." He said. God he was so worried and skittish.
"This is a very short taxiway, S." He added and I rolled my eyes at the anxious little child.
"You just hang on." I said as I pushed down the gas and the jet accelerated down the runway.
"Hoooly shit!" Bradley said trying to get comfortable with the force that pushed us back in our seats.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon. Needle's alive. C'mon." I said under my breath.
"S?" He asked as a big building was coming up ahead of us.
"That's it, come on." I said under my breath as the needle was rising to fifteen and I smiled.
"All right." I said and pulled back the throttle making the plane lift.
"Holy shit." He said as the plane were heading straight to the building.
"Come on." I mumbled as I pulled the throttle back even further, squeezing every ounce of lift this plane had and we soared over the building.
"Yes!" I said.
"That's my girl." Bradley said.
"Putting on my ESAT." He said. Maybe we had a chance of them sending some help.
"Bradley, you need to get us in touch with the boat." I said.
"Working on it, honey." I said and I smiled. Well, if I was going to die in any kind of way, this was it.
"Radio's out, no radar. Everything's dead back here." He said.
"Great." I mumbled.
"What do I do? You have any idea?" He asked.
"First the radio. Throw the... uh.... fuck.... the UHF-2 circuit breaker, try that." I said trying to remember what my dad had told me.
"There's 300 hundred breakers back here, anything more specific?" He asked.
"I don't know, it was your dad's department not my dad's." I said.
"I'll figure it out." He said.
"S, tally two, five o'clock low." He said and I looked out to see two fifth generation fighters approaching.
"Fuck me dead." I mumbled.
"Sure, but when we get back." Bradley cheekily said and I rolled my eyes.
"What do we do?" He asked.
"Just be cool." I said.
"If they knew who we were, we would be dead." I said.
"What's your plan?" He asked and internally, I was panicked as shit. Our chances of taking down fifth generation fighters in F18s were slim and here we were in this museum piece of shit.
"Just... put your mask on." I said and we put on our masks.
"You know, we are.... on the same team." I said.
"Just wave and smile, babe." I said.
"Just wave and smile." I said and as the plane levelled up next to us we slightly waved at him and I signalled that the radio was broken so we couldn't get in touch with them and the pilot signalled back.
"What's that signal? What's he saying?" He asked
"I have no idea, you?" I said.
"I have no idea." He said. Shit. He signalled something else.
"What about that one? Any idea?" He asked.
"Nope." I said. Fuck. We are screwed.
"Shit, his wingman is movie into weapon's envelope." I said. Yep, we were fucked.
"If anything happens you grab those rings above your head, that's the ejection handles." I said.
"Can we outrun these guys?" He asked and I sighed.
"Not their missiles and guns." I said and we both knew very well we are deep in a pile of shit.
"Then it's a dogfight." He said.
"An F14 against fifth-gen fighters?" I asked.
"Like your dad says, it's not the plane, it's the pilot." He said and I sighed.
"You'd go after them if I wasn't here." He said, knowing me very well that I would risk my own life but not someone else's.
"But you are here." I said.
"Come on, S." He said.
"Don't think, just do." He said and I closed my eyes for a split second.
"Talk to me dad." I said under my breath. Without thinking an extra time, I grabbed the throttle pulling it to the side and the fight was on. I pressed the gun switch and fired upon one of the planes, it hit, ripping open their left engine and sending it to descent.
"Nice, nice, nice." Bradley said.
"Tell me when there is smoke in the air." I said as the fight was fully on.
"SMOKE IN THE AIR! SMOKE IN THE AIR!" He shouted as the fifth gen launched a heat-seeking missile.
"Hold on." I said and dove in front of the crashing plane and the missile heading for us diverted to the higher temp Fifth Gen, destroying it in a colossal explosion.
"SPLASH ONE! YEEHAW!" Bradley shouted.
"Here comes another one!" He shouted.
"Hit the flares! Hit the flares!" I shouted back. He hit the flares and the missile detonated below us as I had sent the plane into a neck breaking vertical climb.
"Splitting the throttle!" I said.
"Coming around." I said as I rolled inverted behind the fifth gen.
"Gimme tone, gimme tone." I said and got a missile lock on him.
"You got him." Bradley said.
"Taking the shot!" I said and launches the missile.
The fifth gen pulled a manoeuvre we've ever seen before, he used his trust vectors to fly vertical and then in a close-range loop around the missile.
"What the fucking fuck!?" I said.
"Holy shit! What the fuck was that?" Bradley asked.
"Hang on, we gotta get low!" I said
"The terrain will confuse his targeting system." I said heading towards the ground.
"Here he comes!" Bradley said as he was following us down. And he started firing his guns. I steered the plane in every direction I could to not get hit.
"Talk to me, Bradley, where is he?" I asked.
"He's still on us!" He said. Fuck. He started firing again.
"We took a hit! We took a hit!" Bradley said.
"Fuck my life!" I said.
"Come on S, do some of that pilot shit!" He shouted.
"Brace yourself!" I said as I fly upwards in a steep climb, splitting the throttle pushing the F14 into a pirouette at fill power.
"Hoooly shit!" Bradley said as the force was insane.
I can down behind the fifth gen, gaining the advantage. Putting a missile lock on him.
"I got tone, taking the shot." I said and launched the missile. The fifth gen released flares and the missile detonated.
"Kill me now." I mumbled.
"Out of missiles, switching to guns." I said and fired.
"You got him!" Bradley shouted as I got a hit on the second round.
"One last chance." I said as I only had one more round.
"You can do this, S." Bradley said and I fired again. And it hit, both engines, sending him into the mountain wall.
"Yes! SPLASH TWO!" Bradley shouted.
"Damn." I said happily as we flew out over the ocean.
"S, I got the radio on." He said.
"Outstanding, love." I said.
"Get us in touch with the boat." I said.
"Copy that." He said.
"Oh my god." I said as the alarm started beeping. Someone was close by
"Where the hell is this guy?" Bradley asked looking around.
"He's on our nose." I said looking straight ahead to see the plane coming right at us.
"Damn it, we are all out of ammo." I said as I tried to open fire
"We are fucked." Bradley mumbled as he saw the plane launch a missile.
"Smoke in the air! Bradley, flares!" I shouted as o pulled the throttle hard left and he launched the flares and the missile detonated.
"We're out of flares!" He said as the plane came up behind us.
"Shit, he's already on us." Bradley said and the plane fired guns at us and got another hit.
"No. No. No. No. No." I said.
"We can't take much more of this!" Bradley said as we got hit again and the alarms went off.
"We can't outrun this guy, we got to eject." I said.
"S." Bradley said.
"We need altitude. Pull the handles the second I tell you." I said.
"S, wait!" He said.
"Bradley, there is no other way!" I said and pulled the throttle to give us some altitude.
"Eject! Eject! Eject!" I shouted.
"Bradley, pull the handles! Eject!" I shouted.
"It's not working!" He shouted and I realised that we were doomed. This was it. The fifth gen followed us, we couldn't shake him.
"He got a missile lock on us!" Bradley said and I sighed.
"I'm sorry, Bradley." I said.
"I'm so sorry, dad." I said under my breath and the fifth gen launched his missile and suddenly the jet exploded along with the missile. We turned around heads and saw an F18 streak out of the smoke.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your saviour speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their upright and locked position and prepare for landing." Hangman said and we laughed as he levelled his plane next to us.
"Hey, Hangman, you look good." Bradley said.
"I am good, Rooster, I'm very good." He said happily and we chuckled.
"I see you back on deck." He said and we watched as his jet circled back, doing a hotshot twirl of the wings, a victory roll.
We headed to the carrier and saw Hangman landing.
"Shark, is downwind, no front landing gear." I said as we had lost them during takeoff. And I let out a chuckle as I thought of my dad.
"What's so funny?" Bradley asked.
"Nothing. We are just gonna have some fun." I said and pushed the throttle forward and we blazed by the tower at high speed, rocking the tower and I knew my dad was insanely proud right about now, pulling one of his signature stunts. And suddenly an engine exploded.
"Please don't tell me we lost an engine." Bradley said.
"All right, I won't tell you that." I said with a chuckle and he let out a grunt.
We smashed down, sliding across the deck on the plane's nose, showering sparks, spewing smoke until it slams into the barricade , ripping it forward before snapping into a violent halt. We were finally on solid ground. We were safe.
They rushed around with fire extinguishers and we looked around just taking in that we were home.
"You good?" I asked Bradley.
"I'm good, honey." He said and I smiled. We saw everyone rush towards the plane, staff members, pilots, everyone. The canopy opened and we took in their cheers. We lifted off our helmets and stood up. Bradley got down with the widest smile on his lips I've ever seen, he walked over to the driver's seat and placed his hands on my waist and helped me down. He looked at me with that wide smile and kissed me passionately as everyone cheered at our safe return. We pulled away and he brought me in for a hug.
We were greeted and hugged by our fellow aviators who were happy we were safe and sound. I saw Hangman walk up to Bradley and they looked at it each other with wide smiles. Hangman reached out his hand and Bradley shook it and both of them smiled as each other, putting down their previous feud.
"Chalked yourself another kill." Bradley said.
"That makes two." Hangman said and they chuckled. I looked up at Admiral Simpson and Bates who smiled and gave me an applause making me smile.
"Lieutenant Mitchell. Lieutenant Mitchell." I heard a familiar voice say and I turned around to see my dad. I smiled softly and he walked up to me. We looked at each other for a second before we hugged, tightly.
"You did good up there." He said and I smiled.
"I only did what you would've done." I said and he let out a chuckle.
"I'm so proud of you, Sienna. So very very proud." He said and I smiled and brought him in for another hug.
"Captain Mitchell." We heard Bradley say.
"Thanks for saving my daughter." He said and Bradley looked over at me with a smile.
"What don't you do for the people you love?" He said and I smiled and he brought me in for a side hug. He looked down at me and we smiled at each other.
We were all safe back home.