Legacies •Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw•

Chapter 2

Lani pulled up into the Hard Deck parking lot. She hit the kickstand down after turning off her motorcycle and taking her helmet off before shaking out her hair. As she entered the Hard Deck she did a quick scan of the room, it wasn't hard to spot her new teammates as they were all dressed in uniform, huddled around the pool table. Her eyes scanned over the bar before they landed on a familiar silhouette. A smirk crossed her lips as she made her way to the bar and took a seat next to the familiar figure. "Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, reporting for duty I hear," Lani said. Maverick's head turned in her direction when he saw who was sitting next to him, the biggest smile spread across his lips, "Jellybean?" Lani giggled as they hugged, "hey, Uncle Pete." The nickname "Jellybean" was something only her father and uncles called her, no one knows how it started but once it did, it stayed. "I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been, kid?"

"I've been good. I got an RIO now," she replied. Maverick nodded, "I heard, how's that going for you?" Lani smiled, "it's good, Silver is a good RIO." Pete took a sip of his beer, "I heard that you two have a hard time staying out of trouble. Much like me and Goose back in the day, although people expect more from a Kazansky, however, you do take after your mother." Lani laughed, "don't forget my three favorite uncles loved to teach me a bunch of shenanigans." Maverick playfully rolled his eyes, "how could I forget."

Penny came up to them from behind the bar, when she saw Lani she stopped, "no way." Lani looked up at her, "oh, no way, Penny Benjamin?" She smiled at her, "hey, kiddo, been a while." Penny made her a quick margarita before sliding over to her. Winter picked it up, "you remembered?" Penny smiled, "of course I did, drinks are on Mitchell by the way," she said before moving to serve another customer. Lani looked at her uncle with a raised brow. "I had my phone on the bar," he informed her with a sigh. "I guess this is a welcome back to the both of us," she said with a laugh before doing a small cheer with him. "So, you are training us then, dad told me," Lani informed as she looked at the group of pilots. "I am. You aren't going to say hello to your new teammates?" They were both looking at the group, "I don't recognize anyone from the sheet. This means I haven't flown with any of them, and they have no idea who I am," she said with a smirk. "You're seriously scouting out the competition?" Maverick said with a raised eyebrow and Lani just shrugged. "Well, you know that one," Maverick added as he nodded towards the door. As Lani turned to look in that direction, she saw Bradley Bradshaw walk through the door and make his way to the group of aviators. Winter groaned, "unfortunately."

"Whatever happened between you two anyways, you guys used to be best friends?" Pete asked. "Well, Uncle Pete, I am the wrong person to ask, because my guess is as good as yours," she said as she looked in Rooster's direction and watched him get nailed in the abdomen with a pool stick. "Maybe you should take to him?" He suggested. "Yeah, him first. I donut he even knows who I am. I haven't seen him in years, and haven't talked to him in even longer," she replied. "You can't hold onto the past forever, Jellybean," Maverick added. As they were talking Lani noticed Maverick and Penny sharing glances. "Perhaps not. However, I will worry about the chicken boy. You, on the other hand, worry about Penny Benjamin," she said as she wiggled her eyebrows and got up from the bar with her margarita.

She made her way closer to the aviators, she watched the intense interaction between Rooster and Hangman she couldn't help but let a small laugh escape her lips. This caught the attention of both Rooster and Hangman. Hangman looked behind Rooster with a raised eyebrow and Rooster turned around completely looking at the short girl. "Sorry, it's just that... well, men are so intense for no reason," she said as she sipped her drink. Rooster eyes her closely, he couldn't help but think that she looked familiar, but he just couldn't place his finger on it. Lani had changed a lot over the years, once she realized that Bradley didn't recognize her, she relaxed a bit but wanted to scoff. Hangman looked her up and down, "well, and what might your name be?" Lani raised an eyebrow, "Hailey, and you are?" He moved past Bradley who just rolled his eyes and moved toward the piano. "Hangman," he answered with a smirk. "Hangman?" Lani played dumb. "It's my callsign," he replied. "Oh, you're a pilot!"