𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐯 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

❝ 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 ❞

✈ ✈ ✈

"ATTENTION ON DECK!"

Rumbles from a jet in the air echo around the room. Feet hit the ground as the candidates stand up to greet their superiors.

These words are heard to both Faith and Maverick, as they stand by each other, the F/A-18 NATOPS in her uncle's hands, behind the closed doors to the hangar, that had been assigned as their makeshift class.

Well, Maverick was standing, and Faith, she was pacing. Yes, she knew how it was to be a Captain. yes, she knew the now-how and the ones she was going to teach knew them too. But it was who, she was going to teach. Not all of them knew about the fact that she'd been promoted to Captain, or that she was Iceman's adopted daughter.

How she was going to get through these next couple of weeks, that was up to Him up above.

Iceman's words echo in her head as she stands still in her place, closing her eyes, and repeating his words like a mantra in her mind, her closed fist pressed to her closed lips.

Ice cold. No mistakes.

Cyclone and Warlock walk into the room, boots against the ground echoing. Then, Warlock's voice is heard, "Morning. Welcome to your special detachment. Be seated."

Warlock continues, "I'm Admiral Bates, NAWDC Commander. You're all TOPGUN graduates. The elite. The best of the best." Faith knows that around the entire room, smiles had splattered on all faces.

And then, Warlock's words must have made their smiles fall, "That was yesterday. 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." Faith could practically envision Jake looking at Natasha with that asshole smile of his.

"Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader. The other half will remain in reserve." Warlock ends his long speech.

Behind the closed doors of the hangar, Faith and Maverick share smirks, understanding this was their cue to make their entrance. Her nervousness and anxiety was pushed all the way to the back of her mind. Right now, she was completely focused on the mission, and the mission only.

"Your instructors are TOPGUN graduates with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master." At Warlock's words, Archer and Maverick make their way down the hangar, chins straight up and shoulders rolled back as they walk in practically dripping in confidence.

Faith tries not to falter at the gazes she was surely receiving as she walked beside her uncle, Warlock giving them a proper introduction, "Their exploits are legendary. And they're considered to be two of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. What they have to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death."

Natasha catches Faith's gaze, smirking back at the woman and leaning against the chair she'd taken a seat in. Jake's smile drops the second he turns to look at the pair of Captains walking beside each other, hand moving up to his forehead.

"I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, and Captain Faith Wilson-Kazansky. Call-signs: Maverick and Archer." Warlock steps aside the podium, giving the woman a smile as she's up on the platform with her uncle by her side. The pair of Captains turn around once they're beside each other, giving each other nods before they turn to meet the eyes of their students.

Faith gives a small smirk, when she catches Jake's eyes, who slumps further down into his seat. Maverick opens his mouth, and Faith's face falls into coldness, "Good morning." There's a moment of silence.

Faith takes the moment to look around the class, meeting Nat's smirking face and Bob's sweet smile. Coyote's slumped form in his seat, and Payback's sheepish smile. Then, her eyes unwillingly meet Bradley's. She takes a deep breath when her emerald eyes meet his hazel greens. She swore her heart beat even faster than it already was.

Her coldness was long gone, and her lips twisted the slightest bit upwards to give him a small smile, brows raising in hope, thinking to herself that perhaps he'd forgiven her.

The second she's giving him a smile, he looks to his side, avoiding her eyes. Her smile falls, and she slips back into her icy facade.

Maverick holds up the thick stack of papers that each and every one of them had damn well memorized and studied to Hell and back, "The F/A-18 NATOPS." Maverick hits the thick book with his palm twice, looking down at it once he's hoisted it back down, "It contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft." Faith points her thumb in the direction of the Admiral and Air Boss when Mav mentions 'they'.

"We're assuming you know the book inside and out." Mav speaks up, and his words are met with a response of, 'damn rights' and 'damn straights' and more 'yeahs'. Faith looks to her side, meeting Maverick's eyes crinkled by the huge smirk on his face.

With no more words, he hands her the manual, and she drops it into the trash can by the podium with her own smirk.

Everyone's shifting in their seats now, as they watch their Captains with concerned gazes replacing their excited ones.

"So does your enemy." Faith calls out, face void of any emotion. She tries to hide back a sheepish smile when she hears Hondo mutter to himself, "And we're off."

"What the enemy doesn't know is your limits. We intend to find them.. test them.. push beyond." Faith continues, her eyes meeting Bradley's when she says the word 'push'. Her promise to herself begins today.

Maverick's up again, "Today, we'll start with what you only think you know. You show us what you're made of." Faith has a permanent smirk on her face by the end of her uncle's speech, she was ready to take class. A certain thought crosses her mind.

Let the games begin.

✈ ✈ ✈

THE SQUADRON AND CAPTAINS MAKE THEIR WAY DOWN THE RUNWAY, DISPERSING OFF ONE BY ONE WHEN THEIR AIRCRAFTS COME UP.

With their gears and helmets in both hands, aviators perched on their noses, Faith and Maverick walk beside each other, right behind Bradley who trailed at the back of his squad-mates.

The Captains share a glance, before Faith is calling out for him, "Rooster." No response.

"Bradley." There's hidden pain in her voice at saying his name, but there's silence once again as a reply.

There's a sense of deja vu running through her mind, from eight years ago, when he'd pulled the rank card on her.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw." At that, he's turning around, meeting her gaze from under his aviators, he speaks to her, for the first time in eight years, "Yes, ma'am." And he's pulling the rank card on her once again.

She freezes, not knowing what to say.

Maverick jumps in with a shake of his head, "Let's not do it like this." A brief moment of silence, before Bradley asks him, "You gonna wash me out?"

Another pause.

"That'll be up to you, not us." Faith jerks her head to Maverick by her side, speaking up. Bradley meets her eyes, again, and she wishes his aviators were off to display his hazel eyes she loved. But then he opens his mouth to snark back, "Am I dismissed?"

"Bradley, listen-" Faith wants to clear if all out. She could call whatever it was between them a mistake if he wanted to. But then he's walking away, once again, leaving her to stand in the heated rays of the sun on the tarmac, instead of the heavy pouring rain, like eight years ago.

Maverick and Faith watch as Bradley walks away from them.

Trying to lighten up the mood, Faith turns to Maverick, her hand brought up forward, before she's asking, "Rock, papers, scissors to see who goes up first?" The man says nothing, bringing his own hand forward to play.

First, a tie. Then, a rock, and another rock. Third, a paper, Faith, and a rock, Maverick. The man groans in defeat as Faith claps the back of his shoulder with a victorious laugh, moving towards her jet, while he makes his way back to the hangar, glaring at a laughing Hondo as he walks across him.

✈ ✈ ✈

ARCHER IS READY AND UP IN THE AIR, FLYING CURRENTLY AT 500 FEET.

She knows the team is high up above her, but she has an idea.

She's filled with happiness and pride at being back.

Her mask is off as she's greeting on the radio, "Good morning, aviators. This is your Captain speaking. Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers." She pulls the yoke to herself, to gently ascend as to be invisible below the team in the air and off the radar.

"As briefed, today's exercise is dogfighting. Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the Hard Deck of 5,000 feet. Working as a team, you get to shoot me down, or else." At her words, Payback cuts in on the radio, "Or else what, ma'am?" She knew he was smirking from under his mask.

"Glad you asked, Payback. Or else, I shoot back. If I shoot either one of you down, you both lose." She ascends further higher up into the sky, falling amongst the clouds.

"What say we put some skin in the game, Arch?" There's a smile on her face at the nickname as she responds to Payback, "I'm listening..."

"Whoever gets shot down first has to do 200 push-ups." Oh, he knew her well.

"Guys..." Rooster's voice cuts in at the request, knowing how much Faith hated doing push-ups during training, briefly wondering if she still felt the same, when she's replying back to Payback, "That's a lot of push-ups, Fitch."

Rooster has a hint of a smile on his face, some things never change.

Then Fanboy's speaking up, no doubt with a smile of his own, "Oh, well, they don't call it an exercise for nothing, ma'am." Archer remains silent, before a heavy sigh is heard from her side.

"Alright boys, you got yourself a deal. Let's turn and burn." With that, Archer pulls her eye glass down, and the yoke to herself sharply, not bothering to even groan as the jet is immediately ascending altitude and gaining high speed.

"Fanboy, you see her?" Rooster calls out, looking around the sky, and Fanboy responds just as fast, "Nothing on the radar up ahead, she must be somewhere behind us."

She looks up through the canopy of her jet, smiling when she sees two jets not even a hundred feet from her. She twists the jet when she's higher, so that she's flying between Payback and Rooster, who break to opposite sides in instinct, cursing in surprise.

"Damn it!" Rooster tries to level out after he breaks left.

"Oh, what the hell!" Payback is caught off-guard, twisting his plane too much, and ends up inverting it.

Well, some things have changed, Rooster thinks to himself when he sees Archer fly above them at nearly 580 knots.

Archer levels her plane out after inverting it once or twice, muttering to herself, "Easy, Arch, let's try not to get fired on the first day, huh?"

"Tally, tally, tally! Archer's coming in!" Fanboy's yells make Faith wince a bit, at the loudness, and at the fact that she could very much get fired upon. She's flying vertically downwards behind Payback and Rooster.

"Break left!" Fanboy calls out for his front-seater, who responds with quick instincts, "Breaking left!" Within seconds, Archer is right behind them, and she decides it's time to push, asking on the radio in a somewhat scolding tone, "Payback! Where's your wingman?"

No doubt the chicken was sat high on his perch at this moment. She looks straight ahead, maneuvering her plane so as to get tone.

Archer has no reply, but Payback's yelling for his wingman, "Rooster, where are you?" To which he responds, "I'm coming, hang in there. Hang in there!"

And then he's hopping off his perch, into the field to save the day.

"Hurry up, man! Hurry up!" Payback urges his wingman, trying to escape from Archer's lock.

She's in a sharp turn in the air against g's, almost near at capturing lock, before Rooster's jumped between her and Payback. Archer shakes her head, knowing she was right about Rooster.

Yes, he'd save the day, but who'll save him?

"Payback, break right!" The pilot immediately does so at his wingman's words, announcing his leave from the trail, "Breaking right!" Archer lets Payback go, instead following right behind Rooster, and pushing him on, "Rooster just saved your life, boys. But it's gonna cost him."

The green square is right on Rooster, as she trails behind him. Before she can press the red button to fire, Rooster calls out for her on the radio, "Come and get me, Arch!" She swore there were actual butterflies in her stomach, heart fluttering at hearing the nickname escape his mouth.

And then, he's inverting his plane multiple times before levelling out and flying below.

Assuming that he was going to break to the side, hard, she breaks left, groaning when she realizes he's falling below. "Don't let him get to you, Arch." She speaks to herself. Immediately, she's pushing the yoke forward, jet tilting to the side before she falls down to follow after him.

Rooster grunts at the g-force, and Faith finds herself doing the same, having completely disregarded the dangers of the heavy force. Rooster twists and inverts, and Faith does the same, completing the exact trail he left behind.

Then, she's right behind him, moving her jet to make sure the green circle and square were perfectly aligned for tone.

"Rooster, you're too low! Pull up! You're hitting the Hard Deck!" Payback warns from above the two of them amidst a dogfight.

"Oh, shit." Rooster's curse is heard on the radio, an automated voice calling out altitude multiple times, before he's pulling the yoke to himself, ascending above.

"That, was a mistake. You almost had it, Roos." The target is clear as Rooster flies perfectly vertically, an easy target as the circle and square line up, turning red.

The tone's loud as Archer speaks up once again to end the fight, "That's a kill!"

✈ ✈ ✈

MAVERICK TAKES THE NEXT COUPLE OF FLYERS, AND FAITH TAKES BRADLEY'S PUSH-UP COUNTS.

The both of them had taken off the top of their flight suits, tying the hands at their waists. Faith leant against the ladder of Bradley's jet, counting down his push-ups, "Down! 109!"

She only took this opportunity to gawk, oh, uh, mention his mistakes between counts.

The next few fighters walk up from ahead of them down the runway, chuckling and laughing as Rooster does his exercise, shaky breaths escaping, "Down! 110. Down!"

"Hey, hold that tarmac down till we get back, brother." The boys walking up beside them stop, one of them, Harvard, pulling out his phone to snap a selfie of Bradley, who looks up at them, on the tarmac doing his push-ups, and the trio of his putting up peace signs and huge smiles.

Faith's icy glare was hard to ignore as the boys look at her, saluting in a single file, "Ma'am!"

And then they're off in the air.

She counts down for Bradley till he's reached 160, hands folded as she stands still leaning against the ladder of his jet, as Hondo nods at her in greeting, standing beside her and taking up the count.

The selfie flyers return not ten minutes later as Bradley completes his push-ups. The trio of them, completely knocked out of breath, stand in a single file before her and Hondo, and she orders, pointing at the tarmac, "Get down, boys." They do so, waiting for her command to begin.

Bradley watches from afar, as he walks towards the hangar to get to the break room, his back facing the hanger, watching as the boys get down in push-up positions before Faith.

About ten push-ups in, and the boys are already shaking.

Taking up the chance, Faith pulls out her own phone, pulling Hondo beside her who kept count when she looked down at the device.

The two of them smile into the camera as Faith captures the moment of the boys who taunted Bradley, who were doing their own push-ups now right behind her and Hondo. They put up their hands in peace signs, as they smile at the camera, snapping multiple photos at various angles.

Faith turns back around, looking at the boys who were shaking as they did their exercise, "It was all fun and games in that selfie, wasn't it?" The boys can barely peer up to meet her gaze before she's yelling rather loudly at them, "Down!"

Bradley finds himself smiling just the slightest bit when he turns around the corner of the hangar doors at Faith's words.

✈ ✈ ✈

ARCHER'S BACK IN THE AIR AFTER WINNING ANOTHER GAME OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS AGAINST HER UNCLE.

This time, she's up against Phoenix and Hangman. Her best friend, and the asshole.

Speaking of the asshole, his voice is heard on the radio as him and Phoenix fly side by side, "Say, Phoenix! And how's about we tell everybody 'Bob' stands for something? Other than Robert." Archer audibly scoffs at his words, and Phoenix replies just when Bob was about to, "Don't take the bait, Bob."

"Want to know why we call him Hangman?" Phoenix is cut off by Hangman, "Oh, wait, I got it. 'Baby on Board'." His laugh is heard on the radio.

From right on their nose, Archer flies between the two of them, making them twist their planes hard to the side with curses escaping their mouths on the radio, "Shit!"

Phoenix laughs, knowing just how Archer flew, calling out for her on the radio, "Take it easy, Arch, you said it yourself. Don't wanna get fired on the first day."

Archer promptly shakes her head with a smile, twisting her jet to fall behind the pair. "Greetings, aviators. Fight's on." The two flyers level out their planes, Hangman echoing on the radio, "Alright, Phoenix. Let's take her out! Break right!"

Phoenix breaks a hard right, "Breaking right."

And then, Hangman pulls the douche-iest douche move. Leaving his wingman.

"Where's he going?" Bob asks Phoenix, who replies, looking around for a sign of Archer, "That's why we call him Hangman. He'll always hang you out to dry."

Archer's high above them, one hand against the canopy as she watches Hangman ascend above her, "Leaving your wingman. There's a strategy I haven't seen in a while."

Ice'd be mad if he was here.

"She called you a man, Phoenix. You gonna take that?" Archer wishes she was in Hangman's jet to slap the back of his head multiple times. Before she can stand up for her best friend, Phoenix snarks back, "So long as she doesn't call you a man." Archer snickers rather audibly on the radio.

"Talk to me, Bob. Where's Archer?" Archer is flying right behind them, twisting her jet to the sides multiple times as she listens to Bob announce, "Jesus, her nose is already coming around!"

"Get her off me, Hangman!" Phoenix urges Hangman, and then he's trailing behind Archer when he descends below, his southern drawl coming to light when he speaks up, "For all you folks at home, this is how you bury a legend!"

"Aw, I'm a legend, Bagman?" Archer continues with sharp consecutive twists to her sides, trying to get tone on Phoenix.

"Okay, buddy, I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson, alright?" Without another warning, she's gotten missile lock on Phoenix, "You're out, 'Nix!" The other woman just curses loudly, snapping, "Son of a bitch!"

Archer twists her jet to her left, muttering, "That's it." Hangman's following her trail, "Let's go, Arch. Let's see what you got!" Archer jerks her head to the side, a bit pissed off at Hangman's antics, "Come and get me, Bagman."

Her jet's shifted to the side, horizontal in the sky, a loud rumble behind her as Hangman trails behind. "Evil, be gone, Hangman's coming." He tries to get lock on her.

"God, damn it, dude, do you ever shut up?!" Archer pulls the yoke to herself with a heavy jerk, ascending vertically into the sky, grunting at the force. Hangman takes the bait, continuing to trail after her.

She squints her eyes as she gets closer and closer to the white hot sun, looking back and making sure Hangman's still on her trail. She pushes the yoke to her side, falling out of Hangman's line of sight, and she hears him curse, "Shit."

Then, the blonde has the audacity to call for his wingman, "Phoenix, I can't see her. How close am I? Phoenix?" He continues to fly vertically forwards, still ascending, when his wingman answers, "I'm dead, dickhead."

"See you in the afterlife, Bagman." Bob calls out for the other man in the air, receiving chuckles from both women.

Hangman doesn't reply, looking to his sides, "Where is she, where is she?" And then Archer pulls up from behind him, a proud smile on her face, "That's a kill, bud."

Faith had a lot of fun taking counts of Phoenix, Bob, and Hangman's push-ups the first day.