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)
Sadie slumped into the chair next to Fanboy the next morning. She had gotten little to no sleep after Hangman had stormed from the room as she tried to figure out what had happened. Even now, she looked to where Hangman was sitting trying to see if she could read what he was thinking on his face but he was avoiding eye contact with her. The door swinging open and the loud clicks of Cyclone's shoes on the floor as he marched to the front of the room. He stood in front of the group looking solemn as he addressed them.
"The uranium plant will be functional earlier than we thought. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in 10 days time. Your mission has been moved up one week."
"Sir, no one has successfully flown a low level course yet," Coyote spoke out.
"Nevertheless, you've been ordered to move on. Captain?" Cyclone said stepping out of the way for Maverick to take his place.
"We have one week left to focus on phase two of this mission, the most difficult phase. It's a pop-up strike with a steep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles. This phase will require teamwork and precise coordination to succeed and survive."
Sadie sat up straighter in her chair, determined to succeed on this practise run. The screen flipped to show a visual of the uranium mine while Maverick continued.
"As you know the plant is located between two mountains. On the final approach you'll invert directly into a steep dive. This allows you to maintain the lowest altitude and the only possible attack angle." The screen zoomed in to focus directly on the mine. "Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide. The first pair will breach the reactor by targeting an exposed ventilation hatch. This creates an opening for the second pair. That's miracle number one. The second team will deliver the kill shot. That's miracle number two. If either team misses the target, the mission is a failure."
Maverick went on to explain that the mission would end with a steep climb up the second mountain that would push the limits of both the pilots and the jets.
"Sir is this even achievable?" Phoenix said, asking what everyone was thinking.
"That will come down to the pilot in the box."
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Sadie took a deep breath as she took off from the base, followed shortly by Phoenix and Bob. Maverick was already waiting for them on location. This was going to be Sadie's fourth run through, having failed everyone prior either by crashing into the imaginary mountain or by missing the target. This time she was determined to succeed.
She sped up as she approached the spot marking the first mountain pulling up into a steep climb. Her stomach flipped as she inverted and shot back down towards the ground.
"Bob, help me out here buddy," she called over the comms. "Where's my target?"
"I'm working on it Casper. Give me a moment," he said through clenched teeth as he focused on lining up the laser.
On the dash in front of her, right beside her keychain, a light flashed indicating that she had a target lock and could shoot. She dropped the bomb, pulling up sharply into another climb. The force was like nothing she had ever felt before, pushing her back into her seat and leaving her lungs gasping for air. She fought to keep her body from passing out, even as black dots started to blur her vision. Behind her she heard Phoenix swearing over the radio meaning that she must have failed to keep up the climb, but a flashing green light told her she had hit the target. This only made Sadie push herself harder.
Her chest refused to expand fully meaning that no air was entering her lungs, and all feeling left her fingers as she continued. She blinked, seeing that all of a sudden she could see the ground out of the window in front of her rather than the open sky. Another blink and there was the faint sound of alarms ringing in her ears. Everything felt as if it was moving in slow motion, as she tried to keep her eyes open. The screaming alarm was getting louder and louder in her ears and her breath was quickening.
All at once, everything snapped back into place. She saw the sand below her approaching rapidly, and acting on instinct pulled up sharply on the wheel. Over the radio Maverick was yelling her name.
"I'm ok," she said struggling to get the words out. "I'm here."
She was still fighting the disoriented feeling when she heard Phoenix yelling, warning of a bird strike. She whipped her head around looking for any hazards in the air but was jolted forward, head crashing into the wheel in front of her as Phoenix and Bob's jet crashed through the wing of her own.
Again she felt weightless as her jet spiralled towards the ground. Her hands were shaking as she fumbled to reach for the ejection handles above her head. She felt like she was going to be sick as she struggled to pull the handles. Finally her hands grasped the fabric and she pulled hard, shooting up into the air, away from her plane. One her ascent she felt her body clip the side of the cockpit, and felt a searing pain shoot through the entire left side of her chest. She felt the parachute above her open in the air slowing her fall before everything went dark.
