ℳ𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝒩𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 | Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 17: I always keep my promises

20 MINUTES EARLIER

Snow-white kept flying through the valley, just above the river. The enemy was gone, or so it seemed, yet she was still on edge. She believed it was a trap. Perhaps if she thought he was gone, then she'd fly more comfortably, up in the sky rather than near the mountains and trees, making her an easier target.
But to her surprise, she had reached the ocean untroubled. The blue sky mixed with the blue water towards the horizon, making it look infinite, but yet there was one thing that stood out from the blue skyline.
Two black dots were moving around. They almost resembled flies, but she knew they were planes.
She sped up to get to them. She couldn't tell who was who with the distance, but she knew it was a dog fight with one plane going up, gaining altitude, and the other following them. She was too far to do anything.
She looked down to see if she could go any faster, but it was already at full throttle. She looked up, only to see a cloud of dark smoke caused by another aircraft. Her heart stopped for a second, not knowing who had been the victim.

"Please, be ok." She whispered to herself, thinking about Maverick and Rooster being in one of those aircrafts.
She was getting closer, but still not close enough to know for certain.
Then she spotted another aircraft, and this one was coming towards the other two planes. That's when she knew it was the enemy because Maverick would never go directly towards two enemy aircrafts, especially not in an F-14.

The plane was closing in, but so was she. She kept on staring at her rival, trying to think of a plan.
The enemy launched a missile at them, and yet they didn't seem to move. She had to do something, and so, without thinking, she shot another missile to counterattack.
The missiles collided against one another, forming another black cloud.

"Hell yeah!" She threw a fist up in the air in celebration. Her confidence boosted. "Bring it on!" She flew through the cloud and right between the planes, then turned the plane around and aimed at the enemy. She was sure it was the one that had attacked her previously. "Let's finish what we started." She started shooting at it. The bullets that hit the aircraft sparked against the black metal.
She flew past him again, trying to get his attention, and it worked. He started following her instead. She tried to lead him away as far as possible, still using random tricks of flying just like she had done earlier.
The enemy started shooting, and she swerved and turned to try to avoid as many hits as possible, but unfortunately for her, the right engine was hit a few times. With no terrain to aid her, she had to switch the game around.
She slowed down suddenly and went inverted. She looked up to see her opponent, also looking up, she took the opportunity and gave him the finger. She flipped again, decreasing the speed of the aircraft whilst doing so. She was now behind him. She aimed the missile and shot quickly, but he managed to avoid it.
"Damn it!" She slammed her hand against the canopy. "I'm so sick of you." She switched to guns and started blasting, now she was the one mirroring him.
She stopped firing the moment she saw the man ejecting and the plane going down smoking and splashing into the water below. "Yes! Take that!" She cheered, slouching back, easing her nerves a little.

Now it was time to go back home. She went back, retracing her trajectory.
She flew until she finally saw the carrier. A sigh of relief leaving her lips. The relief soon turned into horror when she remembered she couldn't communicate with the carrier, meaning they couldn't prepare the boat for her plane to land. It got even worse when the right engine caught on fire. She looked at it and saw the flames coming out of it. She closed her eyes in frustration and sighed but kept going towards the carrier.

"Guys, you gotta get out of the way!" She shouted in frustration. And once she had gotten close enough, the people began to scatter around. Now, all she had to do was land. The tailhook of the plane caught on an arresting wire, but she was going too fast, and another plane was right in her way. She hit it, breaking one of the wings. The sudden impact made her hit her head against the cockpit. Everything was blurry for a moment. She felt dizzy and couldn't even lift her head.
Once the plane had stopped, she opened the canopy but still kept her head down, squeezing her eyes to regain some clarity of the situation. She was confused as to why she couldn't hear anyone.