pretty boy • bradley bradshaw

04

"You nervous?" A voice whispered onto the back of his neck.

Luke flinched away with a wince, turning to face Rooster with a timid smile.

"That obvious?" He asked, eyes shifting between his friend and the runway just outside the hangar they occupied.

"Yeah, little bit." Rooster showed a half smile, moving to face the runway with a heavy hand on the other pilot's shoulder.
"You're up first, huh?"

"Yeah." Luke shifted on his feet. "Phoenix and Bob are with me. No doubt they'll do great."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You'll lead 'em through it just fine." Bradley reassured, giving his shoulder a light squeeze.

"Ready to go, Pretty Boy?" Phoenix called out, branching off from the group she was speaking with to jog up to the duo.

"You bet," Luke muttered with a soft chuckle.

-

"Time to target is one minute thirty, we are two seconds behind." Bob voice of warning crackled over the radio. "Increase to four hundred eighty knots."

"We gotta move, Pretty Boy." Phoenix spoke up.

"Copy," Luke muttered, shoulders tensing as he increased speed. He looked down at his control stick before quickly eyeing the panel that showed their route. His eyes darted to look through the glass canopy to notice a mountain not accounted for in the course.

"Woah! Slow, slow, slow!" He shouted, tugging back on his control stick.

"Shit!" Phoenix shouted, lifting up before her jet collided into the back of Luke's. She went too high, causing the simulation's SAM to detect them.

-

"Why are they dead?" Maverick spoke up in front of the group, his eyes boring holes into Luke's own.

"We broke the three hundred foot ceiling. The SAM took us out." Phoenix looked disappointed in herself, eyes falling down to stare at her lap.

"No," Maverick looked to her before turning back to let his eyes fall Luke again. "Why are they dead?"

"I got distracted. I slowed down and didn't give them enough warning." Luke immediately explained, licking his lips nervously.

"Was there a reason you didn't communicate with your team?" His instructor murmured, tilting his head slightly to the side.

"I wa—" Luke began before stopping himself in the midst of Maverick's stare. "No. There wasn't."

Maverick nodded before immediately moving on to Phoenix.

"Why didn't you anticipate the turn? You were briefed on the terrain." He took a step towards her. Phoenix opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't tell me." Maverick interjected, tilting his head toward Bob in a jerky nod who sat beside her. "Tell it to his family."

Maverick turned back to the screen to watch Payback and Fanboy's collision with the course wall.

"What happened?" He flipped around again, eyeing Hangman this time.

"Well, I flew as fast as I could." Hangman smirked. "Kind of like my ass depended on it."

"And," Rooster began, raising a brow as he turned to him, hands clasped together near his face. "You put your team in danger and your wingman's dead."

"They couldn't keep up." Hangman held his smile, eyes still honed in on Maverick.

Rooster was up next in the hot seat as they looked over his simulation results.