Lt. Sadie 'Casper' Perez walked into the Hard Deck after being called back to Top Gun for a dangerous mission, only to be met with a glare from another Top Gun pilot. Will the hate between them bloom into something more? (Hangman x OC)
"Yesterday you were up against me," Maverick said. "Today I want to see how you stack up against each other. You will take turns in pairs, acting as attacker and defender of the drop zone we have set up for you. Attackers are trying to hit the target within the allotted time, and defenders are responsible for keeping the target intact until the time runs out. Any questions?"
No one spoke up. This was a slightly modified version of an exercise that was used during regular Top Gun training, so everyone already had an idea of what to expect. Sadie had been assigned to work with Phoenix and Bob for the second run going up against Hangman, Fritz, and Halo. Sadie looked at Phoenix out of the corner of her eye smirking. They had this in the bag.
The group that was assigned to the second run settled into the lounge room where they could listen to what was happening in the air. Hangman spread himself out on one of the couches in the room, taking up as much room as he physically could.
"I can't wait to see how quickly this is over," he said.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Sadie asked.
"Just that Rooster is sure to choke. Coyote is going to make short work of him. We'll be up there in no time."
Sadie rolled her eyes turning back to face the radio. Hangman leaned back, arms folder underneath his head propping it up. Over the comms they listened as Rooster and his wingman lost the first round as defenders. Without looking, Sadie was sure that Hangman was grinning from ear to ear. Rooster managed to turn thing around for the second round, causing Sadie to smirk. It was short lived though because Coyote's cheer through the radio signalled that he had won the third round.
"What did I tell you?" Hangman said from his spot on the couch. "Choked. Always does. Must be something in the water over in Hawaii. They seem to keep turning out mediocre pilots."
"Excuse me?" Sadie said standing up with enough force that her chair fell back.
"I'm just saying, there seems to be a pattern. You, Rooster. Neither of you have the guts to take risks when needed."
"Bold words coming from someone who's father is an admiral. Pretty easy to take risks when you know daddy is always going to be able to pull your ass from the fire if you fail."
Hangman's eyes narrowed as he got up from the couch stepping close to Sadie. His nostrils flared and Sadie felt the warm breath hit her face.
"You have no idea what you're talking about."
"You mind your business and I'll mind mine. Just stay out of my way Seresin," Sadie said storming from the room to grab her helmet.
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In the air, Sadie flew side by side with Phoenix and Bob, acting as defenders for the first round.
"Bob keep an eye on the radar," Sadie said over the comms, "we're not loosing this."
"Will do Casper. What's the play?"
"Stick together. We can't let them split us up. They'll be coming in strong."
As expected, Hangman and Fritz took an aggressive approach to the exercise, attacking as soon as they'd been given the go ahead. Sadie and Phoenix flew in sync keeping the attackers at bay as best they could. There was a few close calls but they managed to secure a win for the first round. Hangman and Fritz managed to win the second round, meaning that it all came down to the third.
Sadie and Phoenix were on the attack again and as they got the green light to start the exercise, Sadie couldn't help but replay Hangman's words over in her head. Mediocre pilot. She needed to impress Maverick if she was ever going to get team lead.
"We're never going to get anywhere waiting for a break in their defence," she said to Phoenix and Bob. "I'm going to draw them away and you go after the target."
Phoenix raised her hand to signal that she understood and took off out of radar range. Sadie took a deep breath in preparing herself. This was either going to be a great idea or it was going to backfire completely. Either way she had to commit.
She hit the throttle, flying in causing Hangman and Fritz to roll their jets out of the way and begin to follow her. She felt the g-force pushing her back into her seat as she took evasive maneuvers to ensure that neither of the other pilots could get a lock on her. Any time Hangman or Fritz moved to break away to defend the target again, Sadie circled around as close as she could get to them to draw them back in.
From the corner of her eye Sadie saw Phoenix approaching the target and Fritz turning off to intercept her. Sadie, determined to win this round turned without looking to chase after him. Hangman who had been following her closely had to accelerate to keep from hitting her but still ended up flying too close for comfort and throwing Sadie's jet systems off balance.
Alarms pierced the air as her engines sputtered and her plane started to drop. Sadie's mind flipped into autopilot and her hands started hitting buttons and switches in a desperate attempt to get her engine up and running again. Her teammates and Maverick's voices were shouting over the comms and into her headset but Sadie was too focused to pick out any specifics.
On the dash, her altitude was shooting down before her eyes, a constant reminder that she was running out of time. Her breathing quickened as she spammed the button to restart her engine hoping that it would take effect. The engine roared to life causing the rapid descent to stop immediately as the jet took off back to the open air above.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Sadie felt her stomach settling itself again as she evened the jet out.
