"What Am I To You?"

Brief

Everyone watched Bob and Phoenix's interactions as they were packing up their rooms. Bob was more silent than usual, and Phoenix was much harsher than usual as well.

Hangman and Rooster tried to offer them help but they only got the response of the Phoenix ushering them all out and shutting the door.

Phoenix walked over to their picture board and started taking pictures off the wall. She stopped when she saw a picture of the two of them after their first battle with Maverick.

Bob had picked her up bridal style and she smiled with her arms in the air despite them losing. She smiled softly and tucked that picture into her flight suit pocket and then continued packing.

Bob was going through a drawer and saw a loose photo of her. He held it and saw it was her smiling with flowers in her hair.

She looked happy. He then remembered he took this photo. He smiled softly and put the picture in his flight suit pocket.

"We need to head down to the briefing." She said as she grabbed her flight suit. She pulled it over her shorts and sports bra and zipped it up.

Bob nodded and did the same. He grabbed his boots and laced up as she opened the door. Everyone was out there dressed and ready to go.

"We uh... figured we could go together." Payback said. She nodded as she walked ahead of the group anyways. Bob saw her leave and simply lowered his head and held it.

He sighed and just got up. "I'm driving myself." He said as he walked the opposite way Phoenix went. The group looked at each other almost in shock. They all felt like they were witnessing a break up.

"What is going on..." hangman said.

The group made it to the briefing room. Phoenix was sitting on the completely opposite side of Bob. And trust me, everyone noticed.

It was hard to miss. Everyone took their seats as Maverick walked up to the front. "Todays mission was given to by the COMPACFLT." He said as Iceman sat in for this class without anyone noticing him.

"Ah how fun." Hangman said as maverick gave everyone a file.

"This will turn into a dog fight."maverick said seriously.

"You each will have a wingman. So, Rooster and Hangman" he said as he handed them one folder.

"Payback/ Fanboy and Coyote." He handed them a file.

"Phoenix and Maverick/ Bob." Maverick gave Phoenix the file. Everyone watched in shock.

"She's your wingman and she's solo?" Fanboy said. Maverick looked at him. "Yes. She has proved herself to be able to handle herself on her own in combat. I... I've learned I need a back seater." Maverick said.

Bob looked down slightly as Maverick pulled up the mission information on the board.

"This strike will need to be done in 2 minutes. It is a simply task of blowing up an enemy base and runway, but, there will be a dogfight." He said seriously.

He pulled up a picture on the screen. "The enemy planes are 5th generation fighters like yourselves and will not hold back. Last time the previous COMPACFLT sent six F/A-18s into this zone, only 2 came out."

Everyone was shocked by that. "So... you all must understand the seriousness of why we need to remove this base and runway." He said.

"There will be three fighters in the air about 40 miles away. But the moment we blow up the base and runway, we need to get the hell out." He said as Phoenix read through the file.