𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 ❝ 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 ❞ ✈ ✈ ✈ THE DUO OF CAPTAINS RODE DOWN THEIR WAY TO THE TOPGUN BASE ON THEIR KAWASAKIS.

It was something Faith would do, beside all her fellow Avengers as they'd drive to the base, and now, she was besides her uncle doing the same thing, a large smile on her face as her open chocolate waves floated behind her. She looked at Mav, right beside her on his own Kawasaki, returning the smile to her as always.

When they came up into the parking lot, immediately getting off their bikes to make haste and run up the steps leading up to the entrance of the familiar place.

Side by side, aviators in their hands, leather jackets worn, they walk inside, over the triangular Pacific Fleet logo on the tiles below them.

A few more steps ahead, and Faith could not hide her smile, taking in the picture of her father as the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Across Ice's photo, another large frame of him and Maverick shaking hands, from their first mission together, faces pulled into wide smiles.

Faith places a hand on Maverick's shoulder as he stares at the picture, they were getting a tad bit late. Maverick turns around, smiling at her as he puts an arm around her shoulder, both of them looking at Iceman's huge picture on the wall. ✈ ✈ ✈

"CAPTAIN PETE 'MAVERICK' MITCHELL. YOUR REPUTATION PRECEDES YOU."

Faith and Maverick stood beside each other in the briefing room, shoulders rolled back, chins up, feet parallel, hands by their front.

In front of them, seated on the chairs placed by the table, were Admiral Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson, and Admiral Solomon 'Warlock' Bates. They'd been Captains, assisting Faith with the squadron. Well, Warlock gave her actually useful advice, while Cyclone just rolled his eyes at her insights.

Well, the universe had to have Faith's name on the 'to annoy immediately' list. This sure was a big blast from the past. Don't get her wrong, Cyclone was a great instructor and mentor. But only Faith knows how she spent five entire years under his big, fat thumb and taunts. The man knew exactly how to ruffle someone's feathers.

Maverick opens his mouth to speak with a smug smile, "Thank you, sir."

Cyclone shakes his head once and back, responding back, "Wasn't a compliment."

Maverick's smile falls, and Faith could barely hold in her snort, covering it up with a cough. Cyclone ignores them, "I'm Admiral Beau Simpson. I'm the Air Boss. I believe you know Admiral Bates."

"Warlock, sir." Maverick and Faith acknowledge together.

Maverick continues, sharing a quick glance with Faith, "Must admit, neither of us were expecting an invitation back." Warlock is quick to reply, "They're called orders, Maverick."

"Captain Faith 'Archer' Wilson-Kazansky. Squadron Leader for the legendary Avengers. Not to mention, Budapest, a wonderful mission, perfect execution. Five years of your service with your squadron, and you leave, to become a test pilot. In the Mojave. Why is that?" There was past tension written all over his face.

Cyclone was the Air Boss. And she'd made the mistake of pissing him off when she left TOPGUN's Avengers to work with Maverick. But she was one of the greatest SL's the Navy had ever seen, he'd said so himself when he tried to persuade her into staying.

"As I've told you before, Cyclone, sir, the job was not quite my tempo." Faith passes him a quick smile before it drops to her ice cold work face. That face did wonders for her, not just at TOPGUN. People knew who she was. It was the exact same face Ice would give.

Cyclone would most definitely not disrespect Iceman's daughter.

"You three have something in common. Cyclone here was first in his class back in '88." Warlock tries to break the ice.

"Actually, sir, I finished second. To her dad. Just want to manage expectations." Maverick gives a jerk towards Faith when he mentions Ice, throwing a grin in Cyclone's direction. The Air Boss sighs, a mixture of amusement and annoyed all over his face.

Maverick's smile drops. For the second time. He was trying to clear the ice. Cyclone was not breaking. Faith decides she's had enough of Cyclone's shit, changing the topic with genuine curiosity, "The target.. sir?" Faith's eyes shift to Warlock, after an icy glare in Cyclone's way he manages to not see.

Warlock gives her a pointed look, a silent way of thanking for bringing more important matters up, before he's pressing a button, and the screen behind the two Captains shifts to one of what seemed like nuclear bunkers. Both of them turn their heads to look at the screen.

"The target is an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant," the screens pull back to show multiple such tankers, shifting to a view of an entire rectangular room filled with them, "built in violation of a multilateral NATO treaty. The uranium produced there represents a direct threat to our allies in the region. The Pentagon has tasked us with assembling a strike team and taking it out, before it becomes fully operational."

The screen shifts to snow white terrain, and Warlock continues to give further details, "The plant sits in an underground bunker at the end of this valley." Red circles form around the region, before it goes to another view of the hilly terrains, "Said valley is GPS-jammed and defended by an extensive surface-to-air missile array, serving a limited number of fifth-generation fighters which in turn are backed up by a plentiful reserve of surplus aircraft. Even a few F-14's. It seems we're not the only ones holding on to old relics." Maverick has to put a hand on Faith's shoulder to stop her from approaching Cyclone with her fist closed for a right cross.

Faith has folded her hands to her chest by the end of Warlock's explanation, one hand going up to her face to play with her lips in nervousness. This.. could very much be a suicide mission. She looks at the man who gave the details, then to the Air Boss, before turning back to the screen, hands moving back down to her side.

"What's your read, Captains?" Warlock ends, voice lingering in the air.

Maverick and Archer share a glance, glints and wisps of a pure mix of anticipation and somewhat fear in their eyes.

Her uncle speaks out something on both their minds, "Well, sir, normally, this'd be a cakewalk for the F-35 stealth," Faith cuts him off before he can continue, "but then there's the GPS-jamming." She waves a hand. Maverick points his index at her in agreement.

Faith continues, taking the opportunity to move closer to the screen to point towards the terrains, "Surface-to-air threat necessitates a low-level laser-guided strike, which is perfect for the F/A-18."

She nods again, looking back at Maverick who suggests, "Two precision bombs, minimum."

The only woman in the room throws her calculation out into the conversation, "Five aircrafts, four in pairs, one's solo."

Maverick points around the terrain, "That is one hell of a steep climb out of there, exposing them all to surface-air missiles. You survive that..."

Faith ends it for her uncle, "It's a dog fight the entire way home." There's a silence, filled with a multitude of emotions, with fear, grief, anxiety, guilt.

"All requirements for which you both have real-world experience." Warlock's quick to dissolve the tension building.

"Not the same mission, sir." Maverick retorts back.

The mission's laid out all in front of them. There's one thing that lingers on both Maverick and Archer's minds, and they speak it out in unison.

"There's a chance not everyone's gonna make it back home."

"Someone's not coming back home from this."

The uncle-niece duo share a flash of vulnerability in their eyes as they look back at one another.

Cyclone breaks their moment as he rushes them, "Can it be done or not?"

"How soon before the plant becomes operational?" Maverick asks, slipping back into his work face.

Warlock stunts a quick reply, "Three weeks, maybe less."

There's a look in her uncle's eyes, the one he'd given Hondo, hours prior. Faith understands that he's ready to put his life out on the line. And like always, mostly since the past three years she's spent with Mav in the Mojave, she'd rather follow him here than follow Cyclones anywhere.

Faith steps forward as Maverick does before her, him burdening the both of them with the mission, "Well, it's been a while since we've flown an F/A-18 and.." Mav takes a deep breath as he continues, "I'm not sure who I'd trust to fly the other two, 'sides Fae." Her uncle sends a quick smirk to her, punching her shoulder as she hides a smile.

Faith continues for Maverick, "We'll make it work, sir." A nod and a smile is flung in their bosses' directions, but Warlock's words dissolve both the uncle and niece's smiles, "I think you misunderstand, Captain."

The woman questions, confused even more, "Sir?" Her hands fold across her chest, as one of her brow raises.

"We don't want you to fly it, Maverick, we want you to teach it. Archer's here to fly." Well, shit. Cyclone must've had fun seeing Mav's face fall.

There's a question that leaves Faith's mouth before she can process it going out, "You'd trust me after Budapest?"

"Frankly, Captain, no. But I realize, that after pulling off a mission like that, there's no way TOPGUN's gonna let you go. Hurricane's assigned you here, Wilson. Take it, or leave it." Cyclone glares at the woman. Faith returns it with a narrowed gaze.

Cyclone decides to be the bigger person, pressing a button to list all the chosen ones for the suicide mission, "We've recalled 12 TOPGUN graduates from their squadrons. We want you both, to narrow that pool down to six. Them, and Archer, they'll fly the mission."

Faith looks at the screen after Maverick does, when she's noticed the pure terror written on her uncle's face. She knows what it is. How much of a mess it was going to be.

Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw's face was displayed on the screen, and she knew it. But she wasn't prepared. When she turned to look at the picture of his, she finds herself frozen in her position.

Eight years. Technically, eight years, three months and fifty-five days was the total amount of time she'd spent pining after him. Eight years, since she'd last heard from him. Since their kiss. Since she'd looked into his hazel greens, since she'd leant against his shoulder, since she sang him a song, since they'd sung a song together.

Eight, fucking years, and the hold this man had over her till this day, she knew she'd let it consume her whole, no doubt it hasn't already. She was sure she wouldn't have it any other way. Her heart was his. To do whatever he wanted to do with it, that was all up to him. He'd mended it, made it race, made it beat. And then he broke her heart when he left her.

She would be guilty. Guilty of naming her heart his, guilty of dropping her hundreds of problems to solve a single one of his. The way she'd kept tabs on him after all these years. The way she'd still smile the same way when she looked at one of their pictures together. The way his soft but rough lips still lingered against hers' till this very day, as she stood here, right now.

Faith is shaken from her trance when Maverick presses a comforting hand on her shoulder, sharing her pain.

"Is there a problem, Captain?" A question Cyclone pointedly asks Maverick. He knows what it is, yet he brings it up, his own twisted way of trying to shake Maverick. Faith gave him an icy glare at his choice of words.

Her uncle gazed down for a minute, a second where he looks up to meet her annoyed eyes, before he replies, "You know there is, sir."

Cyclone says nothing. He presses a button, and the screen zooms in on Bradley's stupidly handsome face Faith has to alarm herself not to keep staring at, looking over the other students.

The sandy blonde with a, for some reason, extremely sexy mustache, was hard to ignore as is, but now, it seemed he wanted to be the only thing stuck on her mind when Cyclone brings him into the conversation, "Bradley Bradshaw, a.k.a Rooster."

Faith closes her eyes, trying to escape looking at the photo of her life's only love, but her memories with him flash. All the laughs they shared, all the conversations, those days of just sitting on her couch and watching Brooklyn Nine Nine. The volleyball game. The accident. The time her father had shown up at the Hard Deck and Bradley had right crossed him so hard, he sent the asshole to the floor. The day after the accident when she'd sung to him, and it felt like it was just the two of them in the whole, entire world. When she'd taken him home that day, and when it struck her in the silence, that her heart was his to do whatever he wanted to do with it.

"I understand you used to fly with his old man. Archer trained with him, as well as another few from this group. What was his call sign?" A deliberate question, Faith felt Cyclone was bringing up the past to scare Maverick off before they even began.

Maverick, somehow manages to keep his calm, replying, "Goose, sir." Faith brings her hand up to her uncle's shoulder.

"Tragic, what happened." That's it.

Faith had enough of Cyclone's taunts, standing up for her uncle, "Captain Mitchell was cleared of any wrong-doings, Goose's death was an accident." That seems to shut Cyclone up.

For a freaking second.

And then, he's attacking once again, "Is that how you see it, Captain?" Maverick doesn't reply, trying to calm himself down with a deep sigh.

Cyclone, or Cycloner, as Hurricane and Faith used to call behind the man's back, further questions, pushing Maverick farther and farther off the edge of the cliff he stood on, "Is that how Goose's son sees it?"

Faith could see Maverick was pissed off as well, now, as he turns around to face Cyclone. Now, her uncle's trying to be the bigger man, "With all due respect, sir. I'm not a teacher. Neither is she." Mav jerks his head to the side where Faith was.

"You were a TOPGUN instructor before. And she was a squadron leader. A damn good one, seeing how Budapest was a big success." Jeez, this man had an obsession with Budapest. But seriously, Faith really did do an amazing job with how many lives were saved that day under her orders.

"That was almost thirty years ago. I lasted two months. It's not where either of us belong. She lasted a total of three years before she got bored." Maverick points a thumb in her direction which Faith slaps away with disbelief on her face.

Cyclone was not taking either of their shit, cutting in, "Well, let me be perfectly blunt. You were not my first choice. In fact, you weren't even on the list. You are here at the request of Admiral Kazansky. Now, Iceman's happens to be a man I deeply admire." Faith just rolls her eyes at Cyclone's tactic of sucking ass.

"And he seems to think that you have something left to offer the Navy. What that is, I can't imagine. You don't have to take this job. But let me be clear. This will be your last post, Captain Mitchell. You fly for TOPGUN, or you don't fly for the Navy ever again."

At this point, Faith makes a mental reminder in her head to throw away and suppress the emotions of pure rage and anger she felt for this asshole sitting in the chair in front of her. She'll be sure to tell Iceman about this when she goes home.

"As for you, Captain Wilson-Kazansky, you have four air-to air kills. You've been an SL for three years, stationed at TOPGUN, Fightertown. And you've given your all to bring the team where it stands today. It wouldn't have come so far without you. So there's no doubt that comes to my mind when I say, you will fly this mission. And those are orders, Captain." Cyclone's shown his final card. The rank card. Faith knew it was coming sooner or later anyway.

She just lets out a deep sigh at the Admiral's words, a quiet nod to herself as words of preparation and encouragement build up in her mind.

Maverick looks down at his shoes. Faith keeps her glare on Cyclone's face steady. Folding her hands with the usual icy face, no doubt Ice had taught her with Sarah slapping the back of his forehead from behind, it takes everything within her not to comment back at him.

Deciding that she'd had enough of Cyclone's face and taunts, she wraps her hand around Maverick's forearm who winces silently at the force she'd done so. He makes a mental note to get her that chocolate ice cream she'd always liked since the day he first met her, the day when Ice and Sarah brought her home with them.

"Thank you, sirs." Faith and Maverick salute their superiors, before she's pulling the older man out of the room.

Maverick is silent, giving Warlock a grin as he's pulled out of the room by the woman. When they're outside the room, he wraps an arm around her shoulder, and she looks at him with the Kazansky glare. But her uncle's used to it at this point. Three years in the Mojave, and neither of them would trade it for anything having spent their time with each other.

"Let's get a drink, shall we?" Maverick pulls her closer, nudging the woman's head with his fist and messing up her hair. She dodges him with a gentle punch to his shoulder, before gesturing towards the exit door with a mutter that leaves him glaring at her, "Boomers first, old man."

Maverick grumbles under his breath as he mimics her, face twisting into weird expressions as he folds his arms to his chest like a child, walking out the door she'd opened for him, her smiling out the door as she follows behind him.

God, she loved her uncle.