MILES'S POV
We walked into the lecture hall for today's briefing. This weekend was insane. We got to rehearse today's flight scene with the IMAX cameras in the jet and it was wild. It was so much harder to control the jet when your vision was slightly blocked. We had to learn cinematography because we are actually the ones who are going to make sure the angles are okay and the lighting are good. It was so much harder than I thought it would be. But we managed to rehearse it, everyone expect for Monica carried a bag of their own puke out of the jets, as usual.
I sat down next to Glen as the director and Lina walked up to the front. She looked so goddamn sexy in her flight suit. Her aviators were down, she had her helmet under her arm, flight gear on and her hair was in a perfectly neat low bun. Damn, she looked good.
"Good morning everyone." The director said.
"I'm gonna cut to the chase as we have a long day ahead of us." He said.
"Captain." He said and Lina took a step forward.
"Good morning, today is the day. You are shooting your first flight scene. We have rehearsed this, this weekend. You are all very well prepared for this. I'm going to be up in the air with you, far enough so I won't be in the shot but close enough to swoop in if anything happens. I myself have some preparations to do so keep out of trouble." She said and we all chuckled.
"For you who hasn't been informed about this, but Captain Cruise here is going to fly one of the fifth generation fighters in the movie. So, she will fly one of those today to prepare." The director said and our eyes widened. Why hasn't she said anything about this? It was a huge thing. She was going to fly one of the most advanced jets in the world, in this movie, with us. She was going to chase me with one of these insane jets! And she didn't tell me.
Suddenly we all heard her radio crackle. She turned to the side so we wouldn't hear. I looked over Glen who was furrowing his brows, her radio has never made a sound before. She looked up quickly and then glanced over at us and looked back to the side. Her aviators were down so I couldn't see her eyes but the rest of her face said enough, something was up. And then she just started sprinting out of the lecture hall. We all looked at each other with shocked faces.
"What the hell just happened?" Glen asked. I looked at him and a split second later we both sprinted after her with the rest of the cast close behind us. We got out of the lecture hall and heard a lot of commotion from the runway and we quickly made our way out there. I saw Lina sprint to one of the fifth gen fighters and a lot of the runway crew were working on getting the plane ready to fly.
"What the fuck is going on?" I asked. Suddenly another aviator pushed us aside and sprinted towards the other fifth gen fighter.
"This can't be good." I said.
"It's not." Tom said. I saw Lina almost jump into the jet and the canopy lowered above her head. The runway crew was working fast as hell to get these planes ready to fly. They suddenly all moved away as the jet started moving towards the runway.
"Hi." We heard the Chief of Top Gun say and we all turned around to see his distressed face.
"What is going on?" Tom asked worriedly.
"We spotted bandits on the radar." He said and our eyes widened.
"What!?" We all exclaimed.
"It happens very rarely that they are spotted over here, but we need to send up two jets to either scare them away or take them down." He said.
"Come with me." He then said and we started walking through the facility.
"Neither of you can mention this or talk about this ever, it's classified. But, let this be a teaching moment." He said as we walked into the control centre.
"Listen and learn and try not to get too scared. You are lucky we spotted them before you guys went up there." He said as he opened the door into the control centre, revealing two rows of computers and technicians and air traffic control workers. On the wall were big screens showing pictures of inside and outside the jets. I saw Lina in her jet with her mask on.
"Take this opportunity, listen to how the aviators communicate with each other and with the control centre, look at the screen and you will see how it actually looks like when you go up against bandits. You can use it. But like I said, one word about this and the whole production will be shut down." He said and we all nodded.
"Dagger 1, ready for takeoff." I heard her say.
"Dagger 1, cleared for takeoff." The ATC girl said.
"Dagger 1, away." She said.
"Dagger 2, away." She said as the second jet took off.
"You can see here on the radar, the two bandits." The Chief said and pointed at the radar.
"What kind of jet?" Tom asked.
"Fifth gen." He said.
"So, it's fifth gen against fifth gen." Tom said and he nodded. Tom started biting his nails, clearly worried about his daughter.
"Dagger 1, Comms, how far away are they?" Lina asked through the radio. The picture was clear as the sky. My heart was racing and this time not in a good way. My girl was up there, going up against bandits. And I knew that her mind was set on combat. I also knew that I was the last thing on her mind.
"1 minute away, you should be able to spot them." The ATC said.
"Dagger 1, I have eyes on the target." She said.
"Dagger 2, I also have eyes on the target." He said and I recognised his voice and then it hit me, it's Hurricane.
"Dagger 1 to Comms, the bandits aren't turning around. Preparing for interaction." She said.
"Fuck." I heard the Chief say.
"They are going into combat, aren't they?" Glen asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, they are." He said and I felt myself starting to panic. I looked over at Tom and I knew he was feeling the same way.
"Alright, Maverick, let's see if you are number one worthy." Hurricane cockily said and I rolled my eyes.
"Ain't the time for arrogance, Hurricane." She said.
"Dagger 1, ready for combat." She said.
"Dagger 2, ready for combat." Hurricane said. We could see on the stats that they were both going low and we were all holding our breaths as we could see the bandits only 200 feet away from them. Glen put his hands on my shoulders as he knew how nervous I was and by the look on his face, he was just as nervous.
"Alright, Hurricane. Let's turn and burn." She said and pushed her throttle forward and when she had blazed past the bandits she put in the brakes as she pulled up getting just behind them but they both managed to turn away before she were able to put a missile lock on them.
"Don't do anything stupid." We heard the Chief mumble.
"Hurricane, where are you? Quit painting your nails." Lina said, breathing heavily.
"I'll talk the little bitch on the right and you take the little bitch on the left." He said.
"Got it." She said and braked a hard left, following the bandit. But he was good, he was really good. He gave her a hard time.
"Come on, come on, come on." She said as she chased him.
"Fuck it." She said and pushed the throttle forward as she blazed ahead of the bandit, making him confused and he slowed down. She hit the brakes and then as she pulled up she rolled inverted over him.
"Goddammit, Maverick." The chief said and banged his hand on the table making us all jump.
"Good morning, asshole. You ruined and made my day." She said looking down at him and he was too shocked to do anything.
"You had your chance." She said, hit the brakes again rolled upright and got a missile lock on him. She launched the missile.
"BULLSEYE! BULLSEYE! BULLSEYE!" The ATC exclaimed and we all cheered.
"Now that's what I'm talking about." She said happily as she flew through the smoke from the exploding bandit.
"Hurricane, how are you doing?" She asked.
"Just give me one second." He said.
"Where are you, why aren't you on my radar?" She asked.
"Missile lock." He said and launched his missile.
"We are right behind you." He said and we all could see the panic in Lina's face.
"You are wh-?!" Was all she managed to say before the pictures went black and everyone got up.
"Dagger 1, status." The ATC said and I covered my mouth. I looked over at Tom who was doing the exact same thing.
"Dagger 1, I repeat, status." She said.
"Dagger 2, can you give us a status report on Dagger 1?" She asked and I looked over at his picture and he looked shocked.
"No." Was all he got out and I felt the anger build inside of me. What did he mean no? He must've seen what happened to her?
"Aaaagh, that was fun. Wish I could've seen all of your faces for that one." Lina suddenly said and her picture came back on making us all take a breath of relief.
"Good thinking, Hurricane." She said and I looked over at Glen who was chuckling.
"Not a dull moment with her around." He said and I chuckled.
"Dagger 1, living and breathing." She said.
"All Daggers, fly back to the facility." The ATC said.
"Copy kill." She said and I chuckled. She was just something else. We all walked out of the control centre to see their arrival back at the runway. We could see in the distance two jets approaching the facility. But they weren't slowing down. They were going too fast to land. They suddenly turned sideways and went even faster and blazed by the facility in a victory lap.
"Goddamnit, Maverick!" The Chief shouted and I looked over at Tom who was just chuckling and smiling proudly.
They eventually slowed down and landed safely on the runway. Their planes finally stood still and the canopy opened and they stood up as everyone cheered and they took off their helmets as they looked at each other and both gave each other the finger making them both laugh. Lina got down from the jet and we all walked over to celebrate the victory. In the big crowd she spotted us and she made herself over and Monica was the first one to hug her.
"You crazy son of a bitch." Glen said with a wide smile and she chuckled and they hugged. She looked over and our eyes met, my heart was racing. I was so relieved her plane hadn't crashed. I was so relieved she was standing here in front of me without a scratch. She smiled softly at me and I just didn't care anymore. I confidently walked over to her, put my hand on her waist and the other one on her jaw and pulled her up to my lips making everyone cheer like crazy.
"I fucking hate you for that." I mumbled, referring to her little stunt and she laughed into the kiss. But I just couldn't stop kissing her. It was physically impossible. We eventually had to pull away and Tom walked up to us.
"I'm so glad you are okay." He said and she smiled softly as I still had my hand on her waist.
"I'm always okay." She said and I looked down at the beautiful girl who was standing next to me.
"I'm just grateful." He said and she smiled softly and pulled him in a hug. And we heard someone clear their throat behind us and we all turned our heads to see Hurricane.
"Great work up there." Lina said.
"You weren't half bad either." He said and she chuckled.
"Almost number one worthy." He added. No matter what, you could always count on Hurricane being an ass.
"At least one of us is." She clapped back and he chuckled.
"Lover boy, Maverick, fake Maverick, great to see you all." He said before walking off making us all chuckle.
"God, I hate that guy." She said and we chuckled again. I pulled her closer to my side and kissed the side of her head. I didn't care about him, all I cared about was that she was standing here, alive.