Songbird & Rooster

NINE

Maverick suddenly jolts awake, laying in the snow. He looks around, surveying his surroundings, when he spots the warm glow of a fire a couple hundred feet in front of him. He brings himself up to his feet, detaching everything on him and running towards the light. When he comes over a small hill he spots the deteriorating shape of an F-18."Delilah!" He shouts running up. "Delilah! Can you hear me?" Pete runs up to the canopy spotting Delilah's limp body still buckled into her seat. "Shit," he mutters to himself. He reaches through the busted canopy and pops it open. "Alright kiddo, let's get you out of here." Mav pulls at the buckles, detaching everything and carefully pulling his daughter from the wreckage. He drags her back over the hill just as her jet explodes, knocking Pete to his back. He stumbles up, pulling Delilah further away from the growing flames. "No, no, no. Come on kid." Pete starts searching his daughter for any injuries. He finds minimal injuries, a laceration on her left leg which he stabilizes with a shred of his parachute, minor cuts and bruises definitely from the impact of the crash, and despite what his brain was telling him, he finds a pulse. He sighs a breath of relief. He gently lifts Delilah up, one arm under her back the other below her knees, and begins walking hoping to find a better spot for them to lay low in until search and rescue show up. Pete looks up at the sound of a helicopter and looks over to see one that was definitely not here to help. He starts running and dives behind a fallen tree, narrowly missing the shots fired at him but the tree doesn't provide much safety when the helicopter circles around, getting Mav and Delilah in their line of sight. Just before they could fire again, Mav watches it blow up. He looks up to see an F-18 fly by Rooster's bright red helmet glinting in the sunlight before he too is hit by a SAM.Just before Bradley was hit he see's Mav with Delilah in his arms and he smiles, it only faltering when he sees Delilah laying motionless in Mav's arms. Distracting him long enough to not see the missile heading right for him. Mav watches the jet go down and follows Rooster's parachute, picking Delilah up and quickly running towards where Rooster landed. Mav sets Delilah against a tree when he spots Rooster."You alright?" He asks, sprinting towards his godson. "Yea, I'm good. You alri-" Bradley doesn't have a chance to finish when Maverick shoves him to the ground. "What the hell?" He asked as he stood up."What are you doing here?" Maverick questioned, screaming at him. "What am I doing here?" Bradley shouts back."You think either of us took a missile just so you could end up down here too? You should be back on the carrier by now!""I saved your life!" Bradley protests."No, we saved yours! That was the whole point." Maverick shouts. "What the hell were you even thinking?""You told me not to think." Maverick shuts his mouth not saying anything else. "Is she... is she alive?""As of now, yes. But we need to get her back, now." Mav explains as Bradley walks over to her. He gently pulls her from the tree to his lap as he feels for a pulse, smiling softly when the light thumping of her heartbeat pulses through his hand. His eyes scan her body, noticing her pale face, too pale for his liking as his eyes lower to the colorful fabric tied tightly around her leg, already soaked in blood. He gently removes her helmet, clipping it to hang opposite of his own."So what's the plan? We clearly don't have enough time to wait for search and rescue.""Right, plan." Mav pauses before he helps Rooster pick Delilah up. "Lets go," he says as soon as Delilah his situated in Rooster's arms. After about 10 minutes of walking, Delilah stirs in Bradley's arms, a soft groan escaping her lips. Bradley stops in his tracks, gently setting Delilah down so she's resting on his lap."Hey, Princess," Bradley smiles softly as she wakes up but is shocked when her eyes shoot open."What the fuck are you doing down here?!" She shouts, jumping out of his arms. She doesn't stay angry for long as the adrenaline rush she just got fades quickly, the pressure she puts on her leg causing her to scream in pain and drop back down to the snow."Alright, kiddo, take it easy." Maverick tells her."Are you fucking kidding me?!" She screams through her clenched jaw when she sees her father, her labored breathing becoming more noticable. "I know I did not just risk my life for you idiots to get yourselves killed!" "Hey, Princess how about we put a pin in on you being pissed at us and we come back to it when we get home?""You know what, no! You fucking promised me you'd go home! No matter what! No heroics!""You promised to be waiting on that damn boat! You wanna keep going on the broken promise train?" Delilah freezes. She knew she broke her own promises. She just didn't want to admit it. She takes a staggering breath when she finally has a moment to breathe."You okay, Lilah?" Mav asks as hears her muttering to herself."One, two, three, four." She takes a deep breath and counts again."She's counting her breaths." Bradley says, helping Delilah to stand straighter so her lungs open more."Why?" Delilah finally asks as she feels her panic reel back."After you got shot down, I ran out of flares and Mav took a missile for me. Then I blew up the helicopter shooting at you two before getting shot down myself.""You pulled me out?" Delilah questions looking at her dad. He nods, ruffling her hair. "How are you feeling?" "Like I just crashed a multi-million dollar jet." She laughs. "Where's my helmet?""I got it," Bradley tells her, she sighs, leaning against her boyfriend. "Well, at least I didn't have a panic attack." Delilah says softly, taking another deep breath to keep to that way."We gotta get moving now, I can carry you the rest of the way if you want?""No it's fine, just, help me walk." Delilah says, pulling away from Rooster and holding her hand out for Pete to pull her up, who does so. Bradley is quick to wrap his arm around her waist to support her weight. "Please just let me carry you.""Bradley, I swear to god." She groans, pulling her helmet from his other hand.No one says anything as they trudge their way through the snow, coming up on the airfield they had bombed earlier.Mav pulls out his binoculars and searches the jets, spotting an old F-14. He passes it to Rooster who sighs upon seeing what Maverick was looking at."You're not serious." He passes the binoculars to Delilah who audibly groans at the sight."Seriously? And F-14?" Delilah looks at her father. " I shot down three MIGs in one of those.""We don't even know if that bag of ass can fly." Bradley asks."Let's find out." Mav takes off down the mountain and Delilah quickly follows leaving Rooster behind."Delilah." Rooster calls out, running after her. "Okay.""Come on, there are people everywhere.""Yea let's start running." Mav directs and Delilah starts to jog, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming in pain. They run to the small hangar as Maverick inspects the F-14. "Oh she'll fly.""And what about how all of us are going? This is the only jet and there's only 2 seats, 3 people." Delilah questions. "I'll stay behind." Bradley volunteers. "Someones gotta pull the pins.""Hell no!" Delilah protests."I'll stay. You two go." Maverick says."No!" Delilah exclaims. "Dad, we don't know how to fly this thing. I was your RIO when you took me out on one. Bradley hasn't seen one of these since we were what, four?!" She looks at Bradley who just shrugs."How about Delilah and I sit in the back?" Bradley suggests."It's super dangerous Bradley...""But could we make it?" He questions."In theory, yes." "Okay, problem solved." Bradley helps Delilah into the back. "What do I gotta do?" Pete explains every step Bradley has to do before they can take off. Not long after, Pete is sitting in the pilot's seat, starting up the jet. Immediately, Bradley starts pulling pins and disconnecting hoses before he jumps on the wing and climbs in behind Delilah, loosening the straps so they'll go around him with Delilah in his lap."Canopy?""Clear!" Delilah reports."Both runways are cratered. How are we getting this museum piece in the air?" Rooster questions. Maverick doesn't answer, instead, opens the wings. "Mav, why are the wings coming out?"Mav pulls out to the taxiway and both Delilah and Bradley start freaking out. "Dad, this is a taxiway!""A very short taxiway, Mav!" Bradley adds."Just hang on." Mav mutters.Suddenly the jet launches forward and Bradley leans to the side to avoid his and Delilah's heads colliding."Dad!""Holy shit!"Maverick mutters as the jet picks up speed. "Come on, come on, come on." Once it hits 1600 knots he pulls back on the joystick, lifting the F-14 into the air, narrowly missing the water towers that sat at the end of the taxiway, only taking off the front landing gear."Holy shit." Delilah sighs. Bradley opens his tracker, hoping the signal will reach command."Okay, kids, get us in touch with the boat.""I'm working on it." Delilah says, messing with a few of the buttons, groaning when she bumps her leg against the side. "Radio's out. No radar. Everything's dead back here.""What do we need to do? Talk us through it." Bradley calls"Okay, first the radio. Throw the UHF-2 circuit breaker. Try that.""There's 300 breakers back here. Anything more specific?" Bradley questions."I don't know. That was your dad's department." "I'll figure it out." Bradley mutters. "Princess, please stop moving." Bradley says as he turns to the other set of breakers."Sorry, trying to see what I can do from up here." She looks over to where he leans and spots two bandit jets. "Dad, tally two, five o'clock low." She says as she leans to where the other jets won't spot her."What do we do?" Bradley asks."Okay, listen. Just be cool. If they knew who we were, we'd be dead already." Mav explains."Well here they come, what's your plan?""Just put your mask on. Delilah, stay out of sight." Mav says as he clips his mask. "Remember, we're on the same team. Just wave and smile.""What's that signal? What's he saying?" Bradley questions."No idea. I have no idea what he's saying." Mav says as he signals that their comms system is down."What about that one? Any idea?""No, never seen that one either." Mav sighs looking behind them. "Oh shit. His wingman is moving into weapons envelope. Alright, listen up. When I tell you, you grab those rings above your head. That's the ejection handle.""Dad, can we outrun these guys?" Delilah questions."Not their missiles and guns.""Then it's a dogfight." Bradley says."An F-14 against fifth-gen fighters?" Mav questions."It's not the plane, it's the pilot." Rooster tries to give Mav a pep talk. "You'd go after them if we weren't here.""Yea, but you are here.""Come on Mav. Don't think, just do." Bradley says in all seriousness. Suddenly the jet pulls to the right, Mav firing on the first bandit, knocking out both of its engines."Tell me when you see smoke in the air." Mav calls out as Delilah starts messing with switches again."Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!" Bradley shouts."Hang on!""Yea, Mav! Splash one! Splash one!" Bradley turns around in time to see another missile. "Here comes another one!" Mav pulls up and Delilah bumps her head on the wall. Even through her helmet she felt the impact."Ow, shit!""Rooster flares! Now, now, now!" Mav calls.Rooster launches the flares, gaining impact with the impending missile. "Switching throttles, coming around." Maverick manages to end up on the tail end of the bandit. "Give me tone, give me tone." He locks on."You got him, Mav! You got him!""Taking the shot." The bandit stalls, just barely missing the missile as the trio flies past him."Holy shit!" Delilah gasps,"What the fuck was that?" Bradley asks."Hang on, we gotta get low. The terrain will confuse his targeting system." Mav calls as he heads for the canyon below."Here he comes!" Bradley calls out. Suddenly the bandit starts firing on them as Maverick expertly avoids his shots."Talk to me, kids. Where is he?" Mav shouts."He's still on us!" Delilah shouts back.That bandit starts firing again and lands a couple shots. "We took a hit! We took a hit!" Bradley alerts everyone."Damn it!" Mav mutters"Come on, Mav! Do some of that pilot shit!" Rooster calls out."Brace yourself." Mav warns as Delilah braces her hands against the canopy as Bradley's arms wrap around her waist. Mav slows the jet to make the bandit fly past, just as he had done a million times during training exercises. "I got tone," he calls as they level out. "Taking the shot!" Right then the enemy had launched some flares, defending against their missile. "Out of missiles, switching to guns." Mav announces as he begins firing on the bandit. He lands a couple hits but not enough to do any real damage. Delilah and Rooster continue working on radar and comms. He fires again. "One last chance." He calls out."You can do this!" Bradley encourages."You got this!" Delilah says. Mav lands all of hit hits, taking down the bandit."Yes!" Delilah and Bradley cheer. Delilah reaches over and flicks the last untouched switch."Dad! I got the radio on!" She shouts."Outstanding! Get us in touch with the boat." Mav directs,"Copy that!" Delilah acknowledges.Suddenly an alarm in the cockpit goes off. "Oh my god.""Where the hell is this guy?" Rooster asks, searching their tail."He's on out nose." Mav mutters. He tries to fire on him but it doesn't work. "Dammit we're out of ammo." Suddenly the new bandit fires a missile at them. "Smoke in the air! Rooster flares." Maverick spins the jet out of the way of the incoming missile."We're out of flares, Mav.""Shit! He's already on us!" Delilah calls glancing behind them."Ooohhh! This is not good!" Rooster shouts as the bandit fires on them. Maverick skillfully dodges the rounds only getting caught by a couple. "We took another hit!""No, no, no, no, no!" The bandit lands more hits, causing multiple alarms to go off."We can't take much more of this!" Delilah shouts."We can't outrun this guy. We got to eject." Mav orders."What!?" Delilah and Bradley both shout."We need to eject! Delilah, use those D clips to attach your harness to Rooster's. Roostr, pull the ejection handles the second I tell you.""Mav, wait!""Rooster, there's no other way!" Mav immediately pops up and begins shouting. "Eject, eject, eject! Rooster! Pull the handle! Eject!""It's not working!" Rooster calls. "Mav!" Rooster calls as Mav continues to climb."Dad!""I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Goose." "I love you." Delilah says between shallow breaths, leaning back into Bradley."I love you too." Bradley responds, his grip around her waist tightening. Suddenly, the bandit blows and an F-18 flys out of the smoke."Good afternoon, lady and gentlemen. This is your savior speaking." Delilah, Mav, and Rooster let out a sigh of relief. "Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions," Delilah and Rooster bust up laughing as Hangman levels out beside them. "And prepare for landing. Mav punches the canopy, giving Hangman a thumbs up."Hey Hangman! You look good.""I am good, Rooster. I'm very good." Hangman breaks off as he calls out. "I'll see you back on deck."As Hangman lands on the carrier, Maverick calls out to command. "Maverick is downwind. No front landing gear. No tailhook. Pull the cable and raise the barricade."Maverick performs a flyby, giving the flight crews time to bring up the barricade."Woah!" Delilah cheers as Bradley laughs from behind her"Great balls of fire!" Delilah laughs as Mav loops around heading down the land when the jet suddenly shakes. "Don't tell me we just lost an engine." Bradley sighs."Okay, I won't tell you." The jet has a rough landing but comes to a complete stop on the other side of the tarmac. "You two good?" Pete calls."I'm good!" Rooster calls back."As good as I can be!" Delilah calls out as the flight crews run up to extinguish the F-14's engines. Pete pops the canopy and is the first to climb out, helping Delilah out as Bradley follows behind her. Both men help Delilah off the jet's wing and onto the ground where they are surrounded by the flight crews and their friends.Delilah and Rooster branch off receiving hugs from Phoenix and Bob, Delilah and Phoenix holding each other a little tighter. Hangman comes up shaking hands with Bradley."Chalked yourself another kill." Bradley nods to him."That makes two," Hangman smiles."Maverick and Songbird each have five. Makes them Aces." Bradley gives Hangman a knowing look and pulls ybn into his side."That's my girl."Maverick is shaking hands with a few people before he turns around. "Captain Mitchell! Captain Mitchell!" Bradley calls, him and Delilah moving over to Mav. Maverick says nothing but pulls the two into a hug. "Thank you for saving my life." Mav says to Bradley."Its what my dad would have done." Bradley says. "Don't let her go again, Bradshaw. She really likes you." Mav point to Delilah who still leans against Bradley, softly smiling "Yes sir." Maverick smiles pulling both of them into another hug."Alright, as much as I love this moment," Delilah says softly, her uneven breathing still not improving and eyes fluttering as she pulls back from the hug. "I think I need a medic no-" She suddenly dead weights Bradley, who catches her before she hits the ground."Hey! We need a medic!" Bradley picked her up bridal style and carried her through the opening crowd towards the gurney that was being rolled out. "You're gonna be okay, Princess. I promise." He says as the doctors take off towards the medical helicopter. Bradley and Mav follow them but they only allow Maverick onto the helicopter. "Sorry kid, family only.""I'll text you when we get to the hospital," Maverick tells him as they shut the doors and take off towards land.Bradley stands there staring at the helicopter as it disappears. He only breaks his stare when Phoenix places a hand on his shoulder."She'll be okay." She comforts him. "Come on, we got a debrief in ten and then they're sending us home. We'll go straight to the hospital when we land." Bradley nods allowing Phoenix to lead him inside.Although his body didn't show it, he was freaking out on the inside. I can't lose her again, he thinks. Not like this.