"What Am I To You?"

Issues

The next few weeks were rough for Phoenix.

She had flown so many times. She had chased so many planes out of their territory, and had the most aggravating team who didn't listen to her despite her being mission leader for their deployment.

She felt so casted to the side.

After one flight she landed, parked and walked over to a pilot who almost caused her to shoot him down. "Are you stupid!?" She said in anger.

He looked at her. "What's the problem..." he said with a chuckle.

"I told you all to provide back up when needed and to patrol. I was going after that enemy fighter and you decided to cut in front of me when my gun was firing!? Are you insane!?" He looked at her and chuckled.

"Natash-"

"It's Lieutenant Trace to you." She snapped at him. He looked her up and down.

"Lieutenant Trace, I can fly where ever I oh so please. And plus, you're good enough not to shoot me. Right?" She could barely believe it.

She held everything back to not slap him. It would've been on her.

"Fuck you..." she said as she started to go inside.

"Oooo really now? Now that would be one hell of a night." He said with a laugh.

Phoenix stopped herself and looked down. "Are you actually considering it?" He said teasingly as the other men around him started to laugh.

She snapped.

She turned and slapped him. He stumbled and frowned at her.

She turned and walked back down to her room. She teared up and wiped her eyes as she grabbed her phone to call Bob.

She realized he was probably in parent teacher conferences, and he told her he wouldn't be able to answer. She sighed and kept her gear on cause she knew she would be leaving to fly again shortly.

She then had and idea.

She pressed a name and placed them on speaker.

"Hello?" Maverick said.

"Hey Mav..." she said sadly. He sensed her frustration already.

"You okay?" He asked worryingly. She turned towards the phone and sighed. "No... no I'm not. I've been dealing with the most entitled and sexist men in my life." She said as anger grew in her voice.

"Give me names and I'll sent them to Ice. He's in Hawaii right now." He said as he typed on his computer.

"I'll sent them to you... it's so hard doing this. Like, I'm used to being around a bunch of men. But Hangman, Rooster, Bob, Payback, Fanboy and Coyote are all dreams to work with. We all get along... but these guys are just awful." She said as she thought of all the times they just bother her.

"How bad does it get?" Maverick asked with concern.

"To the point they make sexual jokes and don't even listen to me in combat. Like today, one guy flew right in front of me as I used my gun. Thank goodness I saw him and stopped shooting, but when we landed he told me I'm good enough to accommodate him. Then I said fuck you, and he was like "oh what a night that would be." She said as she sat up.

"I'll have that taken care of when you sent me the names." Maverick said with his father voice.

"Thank you Mav..." she said as the alarm went off. She sighed and grabbed her gear. "I'll call you after this mission. It shouldn't take long. Bye!" She had time to say bye since she had her gear on this time around.

She hung up and ran to the debriefing room.
"Phoenix, you're mission leader." The admiral said as he handed her mission file.

She read it and frowned. "So possible dog fight today." She said as the others showed up. She walked past them and headed out to her plane.

One guy rolled his eyes as she walked out. "She is so stuck up... she acts like we're always going to get into a dogfight every time we go out there." He said.

The guy who harassed her earlier chuckled. "Women are only good at worrying."

Phoenix took off first and then the others followed suit.

She placed her mask on. "Did you three read the mission file?" She said as they flew towards their location.

"Yep! Most likely there won't be a fight so we're good." One of the less annoying guys said. She rolled her eyes.

"You never know. Always be ready." She said as picked up speed. The others did the same to keep up.

The group flew for about 30 minutes before the guy who harasses her sighed. "Oh Ms. Phoenix... we can head back. There's no threat out here."

"We are supposed to be out here for an hour, we're not going back early." She said as she suddenly saw something fly in the clouds above her. She frowned. "Found them!"

She shot up and raced after the enemy plane. "USS Carl Vinson, be on standby. Enemy plane spotted. Expecting about 3 more." She said as she dived after the plane.

She switched to guns and started to fire at the enemy plane.

Suddenly the others were all in a fight with jets. "Guys!" She shot the jet down and raced after one of her rookies who was getting chased down by a jet.

Her harasser came up behind her.

"Hey! Go help the other guy! He was two going after him!" She said as she shot another enemy jet down.

"I can get this guy!" He said.

"I gave you an order!" She said seriously.

"And I don't have to listen to shit!" He yelled at her. She was about to turn when suddenly her wing was shot.

She was close to the water, and ended up not being able to eject.

The team went silent. "USS CARL VINSON. PLANE DOWN WE REPEAT PLANE DOWN. NO EJECTED WAS SPOTTED."

The group shot down the enemy planes and went in to land. They all got out and watched the emergency helicopter race out to the coordinates.

"We made a mistake..."