𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱𝐢𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

❝ 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 ❞

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AS LIEUTENANT FAITH WILSON-KAZANSKY WALKED THROUGH THE LONG HALLWAYS OF THE ACADEMY SHE'D TRAINED MERELY A WEEK AGO BEFORE GRADUATING, HER HEART FEELS HEAVY.

Maybe it was because Hurricane's emergency call in the middle of the night, or the fact that it was her first time walking these halls as a graduate, someone of higher authority, an official lieutenant.

Faith's thoughts are scrambled around in a hot mess of a pan called her consciousness, and the mission was like the sweet milk on it.

Though, her mind is brought away from the race ongoing in her mind as she enters the makeshift briefing room, otherwise known as Hurricane's cabin, though he was nowhere to be found.

There was a group of people stood in their flight suits huddled around each other as they talked in hushed voices with each other. Something about them seemed very familiar.

As she clears her throat to herself and gazes down at her boots, Faith feels a pair of eyes on her. Looking up with a face bare of any emotion and cold eyes, she was caught off guard when she met the hazel green eyes she'd learnt to love.

"Oh my god, hey." Bradley says nothing more as he moves closer to wrap an arm around her back in a quick hug. He pulls back, too fast, if you ask Faith, and tells her with deep hope, "I was wondering why they wouldn't call the best pilot of 2012." She simply smiles back with relief in her eyes, "Glad to see you, Bradshaw."

When she looks around, she sees more of the aviators who trained and graduated by her side, Phoenix, Payback, Fanboy, Tango, Coyote and Jake. A sense of comfort glazes over Faith as she greets them all with a nod and smile.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Archer." The usual smirk on Jake's face replaces the complete boredom from before. "Always a pleasure, Bagman." She hears chuckles around the room.

Faith's smirk replaces the genuine happiness and relief she felt at seeing Bradley, her face masked by amusement and annoyance at the Texan blonde who crossed his arms to flex them on her appearance.

The blonde and the brunette engage in a silent staring contest, moving towards each other and standing barely a feet apart with crooked smiles on their faces. Natasha could barely hold in her snort at Bradley's fuming face from behind Faith, she pushes her face into Payback's shoulder, who places a hand on his face at not only Bradley's jealousy, but Faith and Hangman's puny challenge.

The duo's staring contest, however, is broken when Hurricane walks into the room, and everyone scrambles to stand in a single file, their backs undeviating, shoulders back, chins up, and eyes straight ahead, hands beside their thighs but not touching.

"I hate to break up the party before it really gets out of hand, but there's work to be done. All of you have to depart immediately. We have a crisis situation." Bradley and Faith share a side-eyed glance at Hurricane's words and tone.

"Phoenix, Tango. Payback, Fanboy. Hangman and Coyote." Hurricane calls out, handing them the mission papers as they mutter, eyes furrowing in concentration as they read the briefs. "Yes, sir."

"Rooster." Hurricane calls, and the man grabs his papers and falls back into place beside Faith as they share a glance of worry.

"Archer." Her Commanding Officer gives her a nod as he hands the papers, a depiction of determination as he claps a hand on her shoulder.

Hurricane gives them a minute to read every single detail mentioned in the papers he handed them all, catching everyone's expression of determination and nervousness at their first rodeo. He gives them a name, which had been his own once, which had been passed down from the older pilots.

"Daggers." Everyone looks up from their paper after a minute of quick reading at the new name.

"Make your way to the locker rooms. Your gear's are set out for you. Call your families and tell 'em you're not gonna be home for a while. Prepare yourselves. And remember." Hurricane pauses in his words as he looks at each and every pilot in the room.

"Come back home."

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THE DAGGER SQUAD WERE FLOATING ON THE INDIAN OCEAN NOT MORE THAN TWENTY FOUR HOURS LATER.

The air around them was tense and straining. One could also describe it as downright suffocating. They sat in vertical columns of two and rows of four, gears and helmets in their hands, eyes and ears perking up as Hurricane begins to brief them with intricate detail. Sweat beads over their figures as they listen intently.

"Daggers, this is bulls-eye." Their Commanding Officer speaks in a stark tone which reminded Faith of Ice's. "The communication ship, SS Layton has become disabled, and has wandered into foreign territory." Hurricane continues as he brings his hands to his hips, eyes wandering over every student he'd taught this year.

"A rescue operation is to begin within the hour. Your mission is to give air support to that rescue. There are highly lethal MiG's in the region, and tensions are high. If you witness a hostile act, you will return fire. Those MiG's carry the Exocet anti-ship missile, and it can be fired from hundred miles away." Hurricane paces around the room, and Faith leaves a shaky breath from her mouth as she watches him. If Hurricane was pacing, then this was definitely the real thing.

"This is what you've been trained for. You are America's best. Make us proud." Another determined nod, before Hurricane assigns them their positions, "Hangman." The blonde responds with a "Yes, sir?" The CO calls out again, "Phoenix." Trace repeats with Seresin's previous words, and Hurricane orders, "Sector two." The only women in the room share an annoyed glance at Phoenix's pairing with Hangman.

"Archer. You back 'em up with Rooster on Ready Five." Hurricane's pointing stick shifts between the three of them. The woman nods, looking up to her CO as she responds, "Yes, sir." Her eyes drift to her side where Bradley sat when he places a hand on her knee, looking up at him with pursed lips.

"Rise!" Victor calls out from beside the door, and everyone's up on their feet within seconds at the order, ready to head out the doors and fly into the sky.

"Daggers," The squad stops in their positions, turning back to look at their Commanding Officer and long time mentor, who looks in each and every one of their eyes, a mutter escaping him, "Good luck."

With their gear and helmets in their hands, the squadron makes their way onto the runway, walking towards their jets in a single file. They disperse pair by pair with salutes and nods directed towards their teammates, before the three single flyers are left walking forward still.

Hangman gives Archer a nod when they reach his jet, before he salutes his team who help him prep his plane. Now, just Rooster and Archer remain behind as they walk several steps ahead.

Bradley's jet is beside Faith's, the beautiful morning sun brings a shine about their faces and their jets reflect it off. He grabs her hand with no warning, gazing through his aviators at her, as she turns to look at him through her own pair. There are no words said. Two hearts beat faster as their eyes catch each other's from under their shades, chills running down both their spines at the feeling of their hands in each other's.

Bradley's lips curve up from the sides, his eyes crinkling at the corners, as he speaks their usual chant before they flew, "I feel the need..." He begins.

Faith's own lips purse into a smile as she continues with their ritual, "The need..."

And then they speak in unison, pointing at each other with their indexes, "For speed!" The pair break out into chuckles leaning against each other.

Rooster walks towards his jet on the side, his hand still in Faith's, but as he walks further towards the plane, he leaves a lingering feathery touch on the tips of Faith's fingers before they lose contact as he moves away from her.

Faith's eyes lose their spark as his hand leaves her's. Her smile was long gone, a replacement of coldness falling in as Ice's voice plays in her mind when she reaches her jet and touches its side.

With a salute to the crew helping her prepare the jet, her helmet on and gear in place, the Daggers are ready for combat.













































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ARCHER AND BRADLEY'S JETS ARE BY EACH OTHER'S SIDE AS THEY WAIT ON READY FIVE.

Hangman, Phoenix and Payback are already in the air by the Layton to provide air support.

The duo still on the carrier look down at their radars as their ears pick up Hangman's request, "Mustang, when you get the chance, can you give me a mode-four check?"

Controls immediately replies, "Voodoo three, you've got a pair of bogeys, 12 o'clock, 15 miles."

"Voodoo three, 090 radar, contact 15 miles." Phoenix's voice is heard on the comms as she points out from beside Hangman. Tango, Phoenix's back-seater notices, "They're doing 500 knots."

Control confirms, "Roger, that's your bogey."

"Got 'em dead ahead, 15 miles, air speed is 600 knots. Bogey's air speed is 650, we're a little close together. Let's take a wider split." Hangman pipes up. Phoenix splits from her pair with Hangman, her gaze on the radar with utmost attention, "They're at 15,000 feet now, dead ahead, ten miles. Air speed is still increasing." Archer shifts in her seat at the front of her plane, hand moving to the side as she touches the glass canopy.

"Eight hundred knots, dead ahead, now, eight miles." The bogey was closing in fast, and Hangman's voice was slowly being painted with concern. "Coyote, you got 'em?" Hangman asks his back-seater.

"Not yet, can't see them." Coyote responds in a rush as he looks around in the sky.

"They must be close." Phoenix pipes up in a worried tone.

"Alright, 'Nix, I'm taking the lead, let's identify them, yeah?" Hangman slips back into his usual cocky self, Archer and Rooster share an annoyed glance with scoffs.

"Roger, Bagman, you got the lead." Phoenix comes back at him, Rooster looking towards Archer with his mouth in an 'o' position as she reads his lips when he mutters 'oh shit', making her chuckle.

"I'm by your left, little low." Hangman alerts as he swerves below by Phoenix's side.

"Hey, 'Nix, my bogey's still locked up, he's drifting to the left. Still maneuvering course 090." Payback brings up as he observes on the radar.

Archer pulls her mother's dog tags from her chest pocket, running her hands along it before grasping it tightly in her hands as she hears Phoenix reply, "Alright, let's bring it to the right, and we'll get a better angle on them." Phoenix and Payback make their way to the right as the bank to the side in hopes to catch the bogey with a definite shot.

But their decision turns it's back on the pair, when the radar beeps twice and alarms them, "Hangman, we got a problem here. We're breaking out four aircrafts on the radar. Not one pair, two pairs. Repeat, four bogeys." The enemy aircrafts were moving in fast on them.

Rooster and Archer share a worried glance before they turn their attention back to comms, "Wrong! Make that five!" Payback alerts. There's an exclaim from Hangman, "Oh shit! He's got radar lock on us!"

Archer scratches the back of her neck, wondering why there weren't any orders for her and Rooster to get into the air for support.

"Get out of there, Payback! Get outta there, goddamn it!" Hangman's practically yelling for them to move out of the way. Loud beeping is heard from all over the radio now.

Phoenix warns Payback when Tango sees smoke in the air, "Break left!" Payback tries to move out of the way, but then he's shot with the missile, and he shouts, "We're hit! We're hit! We're coming apart, I can't control it! Hold on, Mick."

Fanboy yells out next as he ignores the loud beeping, hands moving towards the ejection handle, "Zero for twenty! We're going down."

Phoenix calls out for Control, "Payback's hit! He's hit! Send in Archer and Rooster already!"

Payback and Fanboy are able to eject out before things could get worse. Phoenix confirms the presence of the pilots' parachutes and their proper working as they float downwards. "We've lost Payback and Fanboy! I see their parachutes!"

And then their call comes in from Hurricane in Control, "Launch Archer and Rooster on Alert Five. Get a bearing on Payback and Fanboy, launch the rescue team immediately."

The duo on the carrier share a glance and determined nod, before Archer's making her way down the runway with Rooster on her tail She salutes and waves at her team who prepped her jet, and then she's off the carrier with a heavy jerk, immediately making a move towards Hangman and Phoenix's position with an invert. Rooster follows closely beside her once he's off the fleet.

"Archer and Rooster, airborne." The duo fly right beside each other as Rooster calls out, "Phoenix, what's your position?" The woman is quick to respond in a rushed voice, "090 at 180 miles."

"We're coming in left!" Archer breaks a hard left in unison with Rooster as the ascend with high speeds and heavy forces ignored.

"Three MiG's, dead ahead, coming down the left side." Hangman warns as he shakes off the bogey with turns to the sides.

"I'm going after 'em, bringing it around to the left." Phoenix alerts as she falls out of line behind Hangman to the other side to chase the bogeys.

"We got four on our tail, that makes six!" Hangman is quick to warn, his voice loud in their ears as he makes desperate measures to move the bogeys off his back. Coyote's question sparks an idea, "Who do you think is hooking in the guns range?"

Hangman switches to gun with a flick of a button, "Opening fire." But the bogey beats him to it, firing his own rounds, and Hangman swerves to protect themself, "He's firing, break right!"

"Mustang, this is Voodoo four, we are completely defensive Launch the alert fighters." Hangman's request makes Archer increase her speed from 650 to 700, wanting to get to them within several seconds, "We're supersonic, be there in 30, hang on 'Nix!" The duo ascended higher with more speed.

"Move your ass! Get up here, I'm engaged with five!" Phoenix yells out for the other woman in panic as she breaks to avoid being fired, ignoring the constant beeping in her jet.

"One MiG, twelve o'clock high!" Rooster yells out as he looks upwards towards the MiG chasing Phoenix. "Watch your back, Phoenix!" He warns as he falls into the chase by Archer's side. The bogey shoots a missile and Archer's yelling for Hangman, "Break right!" The man just looks off to his side as he looks at the missile still smoking in the air having missed him. "Shit, that was close!"

Hangman yells out for her when he notices Phoenix's bogey is shot down by Archer, "How 'bout some help down here, Archer? Where the hell are you?" When Archer sees the number of MiG's following Hangman around she mutters to herself in disbelief before shaking it off and falling right behind the bogey, "Jesus Christ." It's a constant twist and turn with both Hangman and Phoenix as they create commotion on the radio, yelling for Archer and Rooster who were still yet to swoop in and save the day, "Rooster, engage goddamn it!" Hangman yells out for Archer's wingman.

Rooster doesn't reply to him, looking off to his side when he sees smoke in the air behind Archer and warns, "Arch, there's a MiG on your tail!" Archer looks behind her to see a bogey following right behind her. She looks back front, wyes widening when she sees another MiG coming at her from ahead, breaking left to avoid a clash.

"Shit, I just flew through his jet wash! Getting control!" Archer flies in twists and turns as she descends height, her grip on the yoke becoming loose and loose by the second. It's a struggle for her for a minute as she's constantly yanking the yoke to different sides to gain control, holding it with both hands. There's a voice in her ears as she gains control back, Rooster calls out, "Good recovery, Arch!"

The woman is immediately making a move towards Phoenix and Hangman still struggling with Rooster by their side and MiG's on their tails. She watches as she feels the sky and hurried movements around her slow down, her eyes drifting upwards as she calls out for some help, "Talk to me, mom." She breathes in a shaky breath, and lets it out all the same.

Archer makes the move, breaking to the right as she enters into the dogfight, swerving past a MiG. "I can't shake him off!" There's a bogey on Rooster's tail. She jumps behind the bogey, capturing lock when she pipes up for him, "Roos, I've got your MiG dead ahead. I've got him dead ahead." The target lock beeps consecutively, a significance of proper lock, "Good tone."

Archer mutters to herself, flicking the safety off her guns. Once she hears a single long beep, her eyes widen, "Firing!" And she presses the button to dispatch the missile, swerving a hard left when it hits the bogey to avoid getting hit with debris.

She flies beside Rooster as he alerts her with his observations, "Two MiG's, dead ahead, closing in at 800 miles per hour." Archer nods, immediately capturing sight after he speaks up, "I see 'em, I see 'em. I'll take them down to the right." Another MiG flies right above the two.

"He's firing, break left, break left!" Hangman warns for Phoenix and she swerves to the side to avoid a hit.

Archer alerts on the radio, "I'm coming in, Hangman, 'Nix. I'm right here." She sets her eyes on both targets.

"Check the guys to the north!" Hangman asks Archer as he looks to his side. He warns her as he yells out on comms, "There's a bogey behind you, Arch!" But she would not leave Rooster's side as the bogey chases from behind him. "I'm not leaving my wingman." With that, she's on the bogey's tail, following his course to capture him. She flies under his belly, before inverting over him so that the nose of her jet was ten feet from the bogey. She shoots her shot, descending below as she falls out from the debris radius, bringing the jet back in line.

Just another MiG left.

Archer tells Phoenix and Hangman, "We'll handle this one, guys, you get going towards the carrier." With agreements, the duo head off with 'good luck' and 'give 'em hell, guys.'

It was just her, Rooster, and the bogey now. And the bogey was nowhere to be found. All of a sudden there's a whoosh in the air, and the bogey flies between the duo's tails as they flew side to side. They break to opposite sides to avoid clashes.

Archer closes in on the bogey in pure rage at his audacity, as Rooster questions, "What are you doing, closing in?" She just responds with, "I'm bringing him in closer." The bogey moves out of her peripheral once again, this time falling behind Rooster to get missile lock as she hears his yells over the radio, "He's behind me, he's right behind me! Shit, I'm outta flares!"

Deciding there was no other choice, she hears the frantic beeping on the radio from her wingman's side. "When I tell you, break left, alright Roos? Break right!" Rooster immediately argues, "No, I'm not leaving your side!" She pleads for him to listen to her, "Bradley, please! Just break left!" And then there's that long single beep from his side which makes her heart beat impossibly faster.

"Break left, break left, break left!" Archer yells continuously, as she moves to take Rooster's spot in front of the bogey, just fifty feet from it. Rooster falls low behind to her left, watching as the scene unfolds.

Archer presses a button on the side, to activate the flares and send them out. The flares clash with the bogey's missile, and Archer takes this opportunity to fly over the enemy aircraft, and pull up behind him with a perfect missile lock. She takes a deep breath, realizing this was the end of the fight, pressing the red button on the yoke with her thumb.

The missile perfectly hits the bogey and the aircraft blows up in pieces. With utmost happiness, Archer calls out, "Splash three, splash three!" On the radio, she hears the control room and her fellow teammates erupt into cheers as the final bogey was shot down.

"You did it, Arch!" Archer sees Rooster pull up beside her as they fly back towards the carrier. She chuckles loudly at his words, in pure joy and pride at the way she'd flown today. It was an intense dog fight, but everyone's going to make it back home.

Another chuckle she lets out as Rooster cheers for her over the radio, and she responds, "Let's get going, shall we?"

They fly beside each other, permanent smiles on their faces as the ship nears closer and closer. An idea strikes her in the head, and without anything else, she speaks on the radio giving Bradley a smug smirk to which he just shakes his head with a chuckle of his own, "Mustang, this is Archer, requesting flyby."

The reply from Control was not satisfactory as Archer's smile drops and she hears Rooster chuckle even louder at Mustang's words, "Negative, Ghost Rider. Pattern is full."

Archer just looks at her side to Rooster, who gives her a smirk of his own, and Archer returns it as she blurts out without thinking, "Well, we're going anyway." The duo fly closer to the fleet, and see the main deck in a flash, an instructor in yellow jerks back with the heavy vibrations as Rooster and Archer fly one behind the other in a flyby by the fleet.

When they're safe and jets are on the runway of the fleet, they skid to a stop. A large crowd of crew, pilots and instructors gathers around their planes as their canopy hatches click open. Faith removes her helmet once the canopy's fully open, throwing it down to Payback who catches it. She jumps down the jet from her seat, and the cheers get largely louder as Bradley makes their way towards the team and her.

Immediately once she catches a glimpse of Bradley on the ground, Faith is pushing through the crowds to pull him into a hug. Bradley too pushes people to the side as he nears her. When they finally reach, their chests clash with a loud smack, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulls him down into the hug. He wraps his arms around her back, pulling her into his chest and warmth, face moving into her neck.

They pull away together with huge smiles on their faces, turning towards the large crowd surrounding them and cheering them on. She's met with Natasha wrapping her arms around her, congratulating the taller woman on their first successful mission. Jake gives her a toothy grin before he wraps his arms around the two women making them let out annoyed groans before melting in his arms and chuckling. Reuben and Javy join in on the hug with Tango right behind them. Bradley, too, is pulled into the hug when Faith pulls him closer to wrap an arm around his back, leaning against him.

Their first mission as a squadron, and they came out victorious after a long, intense dog-fight. Their instructor calls out the squad name, "Daggers!" He moves through the crowd to stand before them, as the crowd lets him walk closer. "Good job." And he's giving them the biggest smile they'd ever seen him give. Javy pulls the man into the group hug, and Hurricane gladly accepts, placing his hands on Bradley and Faith's backs as he sends her a brief nod.

The squad pulls away, arms wrapped around each other's waists as they stand in a circle, and they howl and laugh at each other in glee. They jump in their positions in excitement and thrill, and Faith swore at this moment, she'd never felt so happy.







































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