𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 | 𝘛𝘰𝘱 𝘨𝘶𝘯

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 || 𝐅𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

"𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨" 

- 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥

𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓 awaiting Maverick's arrival. She caught the eye of Jake as he gestured to a tiny paper plane he had made with a tiny piece of scrap paper. Cassie cracked a small smile before snapping her head towards the front of the room as Maverick entered, standing in front of a monitor displaying a flight simulation.

"Phase one of the mission will be a low-level attack. You'll be flying along the narrow canyon walls to the target. The surface-air-to-air missiles defend the skies above, not the canyons below." Maverick explained. Cassie felt a pang of worry hit her as Rooster spoke up.

"That's because no one is insane enough to fly below." Rooster retorted. "That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do." Maverick responded, the silence in the room was deafening.

Maverick began to explain the low altitudes and high speeds. Cassie found herself slightly zoning in and out of the information. The worried feeling became more intense. "Time to target is two and a half minutes." Maverick inhaled before continuing. "Fifth generation fighters wait at a base nearby. You need to get in and you need to get out. This makes time your greatest adversary." Maverick elaborated as the realisation of danger filled the room.

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Time and time again the aviators failed to successfully fly the simulation. Cassie could feel the anger and frustration of her fellow pilots as she entered the briefing room for a debrief on the previous failures.

Maverick looked towards Cassie first questioning her. "Why are you dead?" Cassie took a second. She would never admit she froze. She didn't have time to freeze in a real mission. "I couldn't keep up with them." Cassie answered gesturing to payback and fanboy.

"Why is she dead?" Maverick shifted his gaze to Payback and Fanboy. "We were going to fast, sir. We could'nt keep our control" Payback answered giving Cassie a sorrowful look.

"What happened?" Maverick asked a cocky looking Hangman. "I flew as fast as I could, kinda like my ass depended on it." Hangman answered. Cassie was taken back by the sudden attitude.

"Yeah and you put your team in danger and now your wingman is dead." Rooster retorted. "They couldn't keep up." Hangman reasoned as Maverick moved along to the next person.

Maverick was unsatisfied, no one in the room spoke. Maverick shifted his gaze once more to meet Rooster's. "Why are you dead? Why is your team dead?" He questioned once more. "Sir, he was the only one who reached the target." Phoenix commented. "A minute late, you gave enemy aircraft time to intercept." Maverick said looking towards Rooster. "You don't know that" Rooster retorted.

Cassie could feel the tension between them, it could be cut by a knife. "You're not flying fast enough" Hangman criticised, Cassie watched, worried about what would be said next.

"I made it to the target." Rooster says looking Maverick in the eye. "And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out." Maverick stated giving Rooster an accusing look.

"Then it's a dogfight." Rooster reasoned. "Against fifth generation fighters?" Maverick questioned becoming more frustrated. Cassie wanted to intercept the heated conversation, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

"We still have a chance sir." Rooster said, refusing to admit defeat. "In an F-18?" Maverick questioned, disbelief laced his tone. Cassie looked over towards Phoenix, they shared a worried glance.

"It's not the plane sir, it's the pilot." Rooster replied. "Exactly!" Maverick exclaimed. The air was sucked from the room once more, eyes trained on the two men. "There's more than one way to fly this mission." Rooster says.

"You really don't get it do you?" Hangman turned his head back towards Rooster. "This mission. A man flies like Maverick here  or a man doesn't come back." He shifted his gaze towards Phoenix and Ace before adding. "No offense." Ace and Phoenix scoffed. Cassie could not believe what she had heard.

"Yet somehow, you always manage." Bob said making eye contact with Hangman for a moment. "I don't mean to criticize. Your conservative, that's all. We're going into combat son; on a level no living pilot has ever seen. Not even him." Hangman continued look straight, dead into Maverick's soul. Maverick was taken aback.

"Its not time to be thinking about the past." Hangman said as Rooster's eyes widened. Cassie felt nauseous, it was too late to intercept now. "What's that supposed to mean?" Rooster questioned meeting his gaze.

"Rooster" Cassie warned, everyone sat on the edge of their seats. The conversation was going south quickly. "I cant be the only one who knows Maverick flew with his old man.."

"Okay that's enough" Maverick and Cassie exclaimed at the same time. "And that Maverick was flying when his old man-" Before Hangman could finish Rooster leaped from his seat as he tried to go after him. Cassie being the closest was the first to get in between the two men as the others grasped on to either of the two.

"That's enough!" Maverick barked. "You son of a bitch!" Rooster exclaimed anger filled his eyes. Cassie had never seen him like that. Cassie looked towards a troubled maverick; he appeared frozen in time.

"Hey I'm cool, I'm cool." Hangman said with a sly smile on his face while staring at Rooster. "He's not fit to fly this mission." Hangman stated looking towards a shocked Maverick and Cassie a hint of disbelief in Cassie's blue eyes as they met his bright green ones.

"You know I'm right." Hangman muttered before exiting the room. "You're all dismissed" Maverick said as the aviators streamed out of the room. Cassie stood in front of Maverick sadness filling her features. "It wasn't your fault uncle Mav." She patted his shoulder.

"You didn't deserve that." Cassie added before silently exiting the room, letting him think and process. She walked out to where she suspected Rooster might be, stopping as she watched Phoenix comfort him. She knew what to say.

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After collecting her belongings she walked out in the parking lot to her car. She spotted Jake leaning against his truck. She ignored his gaze as she opened the door to her own car before setting her belongings inside.

"Cassie wait, I wanted to apologise" Jake tried toreason with her, she wasn't having it. "Apologise to who Jake?" Silence filled the space between them. "To me?....no you need to apologise to Maverick and to Rooster. 

"They did NOT deserve your bullshit." Cassie retorted before entering her car and shutting the door.

Jake watched her pull out of the parking lot. He knew right then and there. He messed up.

Big time.

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞:

So...I'm back. I had to deal with some life sh!t. But I'm back, and I'm motivated and determined to complete this fic. If any of you lovely people are interested, I have also started a Footloose fan fic. The love interest is Ren McCormack. Thank you to those who add this to reading lists and vote, you guys are the reason I pushed myself to dive back into this fic so a big thank you. Next chapter will be heart-warming to soothe the current heart break. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you all next upload 😊.