❝show me what you're made of❞



"𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐊!" A voice called out as fighter jets flew by. The sound of chairs scraping filled the room as everyone snapped to attention. Harper winced at the bright light flooding through the hangar doors. To her left stood Hangman. Harper ignored him, focusing on the commander on the podium up front, silhouetted by a large American flag.

"Morning, welcome to your special training detachment. Be seated." The commander announced. He was an aged man with dark skin, streaks of gray throughout his dark hair. Harper followed the others and sat down, crossing her legs.

"I'm admiral Bates, NAWDC commander. You're all Top Gun graduates, the elite, the best of the best." That earned smiles from some. Harper glanced at the people surrounding, each top of their class. She had gotten acquainted with some at the Hard Deck, heading in after Rooster's performance.

"That was yesterday." The smiles faded off the graduate's faces. "The enemy's new fifth generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box."

At those words, Hangman shot a cheeky smile at Phoenix, earning a disguised middle finger from her. His eyes flickered to Harper, who gave him a unimpressed look and turned her gaze back to Warlock. He always did manage to find some way to offend people.

"Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader. The other half will remain in reserve." Harper saw Hangman turn his head to look back at someone in her peripheral vision. Like she said, leave it to him to be a dick.

"Your instructor is a top gun graduate with real world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death." The question that had been asked at the Hard Deck, who would teach the best of the best? Nobody knew what this mission was, what they were getting into, but they got a sense of it now.

"I give you captain Pete Mitchell. Call sign Maverick."

The aviators turned their heads to see a aged man with brunette hair walking down the aisle. Harper's eyes widened as she realized it was the man she helped at the Hard Deck. The same recognition came across the other faces of those who threw him overboard. Her gaze turned to Hangman, Coyote, and Payback, who were cringing and avoiding eye contact with the man. A small smile creeped onto her face. Any chance that Hangman was embarrassed was a good one.

Maverick walked up to the podium, looking out at the recruits. Determined young men and women stared back at him. "Good morning." Maverick's voice rang out.

He picked up the hefty book on the podium, a manual. "The F-18 natops. It contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft. I'm assuming you know the book inside and out." He looked up for approval.

His words earned a chorus from the aviators. "Damn right. Damn straight." Harper nodded.

"So does your enemy." Silence filled the room as Maverick threw the book in the trash, earning an eyebrow raise from Harper. At the sound, people shifted in their seats. A new interest filled the room, the intensity of the mission starting to sink in.

"But what the enemy doesn't know is your limits. I intend to find them, test them, push beyond. Today we'll start with what you only think you know." Maverick looked out at the sea of attentive faces, a new challenging glint in his eyes.

"You show me what you're made of."

The roar of jet engines powering up drowned out Harpers thoughts. Only now did the feeling of determination starting to sink in. This mission is either success or failure, no in between or improvising. Planes were lined up on either side of Harper. She walked down the tarmac, her flight gear weighing on her. She made her way to the plane with her callsign on it.

"Hey Sunny!" A voice rang out that made Harper almost roll her eyes. She turned on her heels, spotting the blond with a cocky smile crouched by the plane behind her. She squatted by her plane and opened the panel, sighing.

"It's like the good old times. You and me competeing, except I think we both know who's got what it takes." Hangman shouted over the roar of Harper's engine turned on.

"Oh and there you go again, like the good old times, making me want to sucker punch you in the face." Harper turned her head, giving him a sarcastic smile. She focused back on her jet, squinting from the sun. "Of course, you have some luck already. Made a great first impression throwing your instructor overboard."

"Just following Penny's orders." Hangman answered. Of course he looked all sun kissed in the San Diego heat.

"Did Penny know him? He looked like he recognized her." Harper asked, hoping the curiosity in her tone wasn't evident.

"Saw them talking when I bought a round and put it on his tab but I'm not sure. Think they might be old flames? Is Sunny invested in a little relationship?" Hangman smirked.

"No, of course not." Harpers scoffed. There he goes, ruining the conversation. She shouldn't expect anything less. The other aviators finished up with their jets, walking down the tarmac.

"I'll see you when I'm making my victory lap." Hangman taunted, earning a glare from Harper. Her eyes flickered to Rooster and Maverick in a conversation. Rooster looked tense, his jaw set while Maverick was talking. Seemed like Penny wasn't the only one Maverick had history with.

"Good morning, aviators. This is your captain speaking. Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers. As briefed, todays exercise is dog fighting. Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the hard deck of 5000 feet. Working as a team, you have to shoot me down, or else." Harper leaned against the couch, listening to Maverick's voice on the radio.

She was in the team room with the others on stand by, each waiting for the turn to show Mav what they can do. Some like Harvard and Fritz played games while others sat on the couch. Harper glanced to see Hangman sitting beside Coyote on the couch, fiddling with a replica plane.

"Or else what, sir?" Paybacks voice sounded from the radio. He was first up in the air with his WSO Fanboy and Rooster.

"Or else I shoot back." Maverick replied. "If I shoot either one of you down, you both lose." Harper joined Phoenix and Bob by the radio, who exchanged a look.

"This guy needs an ego check." Hangman muttered, focused on the plane in his hands. Harper couldn't help but smile to herself. How ironic his words were.

"We'll see to that." The group of aviators playing games exclaimed, excitement contagious among them. Phoenix, Bob, and Harper shared looks, smiling to themselves. They were about to get their asses kicked, humbled real quickly.

"So what say we put some skin in the game?" Payback challenged, earning a wince from Harper.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Whoever gets shot down first has to do 200 push ups." Payback's tone was confident. Rooster tried to interject, but Maverick's chuckle cut him off.

"That's a lot of push ups." Maverick commented. Harper could hear the smile in his voice.

"They don't call it an exercise for nothing, sir." Fanboy chimed in, sharing the same confident tone as Payback.

"You got yourself a deal, gentlemen. Fights on. Let's turn and burn." With that, Maverick engaged. He flew upward, making his way to the two planes above him.

"Fanboy you see him?" Rooster said, scanning the flat terrain around him. No sign of Maverick.

"Nothing on the radar ahead, he must be somewhere behind us." Fanboy glanced at the radar then looked around.

Suddenly, a plane flew in between the two, causing Rooster and Fanboy to be pushed apart and taken off guard. The two planes split into different directions. Harper smirked when she heard a curse through the radio, then the insistent and focused voices of those up in the air as they tried to get away from Maverick.

The beeping sound of the target lock ended the fight, with Rooster almost breaking the hard deck. Harper took her place at the window besides Fanboy, Payback and Phoenix, who were watching Rooster do his pushups in the raging heat on the tarmac.

"That should be us down there." Fanboy sighed as he stared at Rooster.

"But its not, and now you know a little something about Rooster." Phoenix remarked and turned away from the window. Harper watched Harvard, Yale, and Fritz take a selfie with Rooster, shaking her head.

Curses rang through the radio as one by one Maverick got a lock on the confident pilots. Harper watched with satisfaction as those same cocky aviators took their turns doing push ups with pained looks on their faces. By the look on his face, Hondo seemed to be enjoying it too.

"Say Phoenix, how about we tell everybody Bob stands for something? Other than Robert, I meant." Hangman's voice sounded through the radio, that taunting tone back.

"Dont take the bait Bob, wanna know why we call him Hangman?" Phoenix interrupted before Bob could say anything.

"Oh wait I got it, baby on board." Hangman interrupted. His laughter was heard through the radio, making Harper shake her head. "Shit!" Hangman exclaimed as Maverick flew in between Phoenix and him, the wind pushing their planes to the side.

"Greetings aviators, fights on." Harper was joined by Rooster at the radio as Hangman's cocky voice sounded shortly after Mavericks.

"Watch your back Phoenix." Rooster muttered as Hangman started giving directions to Phoenix.

"Damn right, bet you ten bucks he'll pull the classic Hangman." Harper mumbled.

"Oh, thats a bet I'd lose so quickly." Rooster smirked. The two shared a smug look as Hangman unsurprisingly pulled his classic move: leaving his wingman. Despite his best efforts to "bury a fossil" and "evil begone," Hangman fell to the same fate as others before him with the beeping sound of target lock.

Harper watched with some satisfaction as Hondo stood above the three, focusing on Hangman's figure in the sun. His face is covered in sweat, letting out sharp breaths. He looked pissed, and Harper was enjoying every second of it.

She took her turn with Payback and Fanboy. The rush of being in the air, the drop in her stomach as she lifted off the runway, gave her a smile that couldn't be erased. They flew over the flat terrain, looking around, but no sign of Maverick.

"So Sunny, I'm wondering how you earned your callsign when you're unusually silent right now." Fanboy's voice sounded over coms.

"Just taking it all in. Thanks for the 200 push ups by the way, not that you're not going to be paying for it on the tarmac later." Harper giggled, earning groans from Payback and Fanboy.

"Lesson learned, got it. No faith in us?" Payback chuckled.

"Even the best of the best can't defeat Mav. We're in for one hell of a mission." Harper mumbled. She was cut off by Fanboy's urgent voice over the radio.

"Shit, Mavs coming in hot! 6 o clock." And just like that, the chaos began.

Judging by the beep of the target lock on her, it didn't go too well. They picked one hell of an instructor, thats for sure. Her plan stayed in the back of her mind. Hangman and Rooster took their turn as Harper struggled with the push ups, sweaty as the California sun beamed down on her. She collapsed on the ground immediately once Hondo called out 200.

"Tell Payback and Fanboy I said thank you." Hondo laughed, earning a sigh from Harper. Hondo helped her up.

"I'll relay the news." She chuckled. "See you tomorrow Hondo." She waved, walking back to the team room.

"See you tomorrow Sunny." Hondo called out. Harper arrived back in the team room sweaty. Payback, Fanboy, and her did the walk of shame back into the room. Harper spotted Phoenix, then saw a funny look on her face. She made her way over, plopping down on the couch beside Phoenix.

"What is it?" Harper asked, slumped back against the couch in exhaustion. She studied Phoenix's face, her clenched jaw and tense posture.

"Rooster is gonna leave us flying with Hangman at this rate." Phoenix muttered.

"That bad?" Harper winced.

"Yup," Phoenix replied. "I'm gonna go give him a piece of my mind, and then try and figure out what's going on with him. See ya." She offered Harper a small smile and left her sitting in the team room.

Harper remained in the team room as others flooded their way in and out. Hangman sauntered in after his push ups, hair ruffled and sweaty. He and Coyote examined a picture, peering at it with curiosity. Harper ignored the two, gazing out at the horizon. Coyote left shortly after, leaving Hangman still staring at the picture.

"How's team leader working out for you, arms sore yet?" Hangman straightened at the sound of her voice, a smile making its way to his face.

"How's your snooping between Penny and Maverick going, still betting on a romance? Oh wait, even better, that's your strategy to get team leader, Maverick loosens up, gets all distracted, and will pick you?" Hangman taunted. Looks like even he isn't out of fuel. Harper opened her mouth to make fun of him.

The banter in the team room ended but it never left Harper's head, not even as she made her way home. She undressed in the locker room and drove home with the windows down and music blaring, "Wont Get Fooled Again" playing on the radio. Even then, she still couldn't stop thinking about it.

If Maverick was set up with Penny, it could be a distraction. And besides, the man would finally find love. It's like some rom-com movie. Harper could swoop in, find Maverick a date, and then he definitely wouldn't pick Hangman as team leader. Maybe he'd even get distracted enough in the air, more relaxed, that Harper could get a lock on him.

"Oh my god, am I actually entertaining this idea right now?" Harper muttered to herself, lying in bed in the dark and staring at the ceiling. The sound of trees rustled by the wind outside her window kept her company.

When she got ready in the morning for work, she thought it over. She needed someone who knows Penny, knows what she likes. She needed someone who could get the details.

There's only one person who came to mind: Hangman.