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"Pilots, we have a rather... off-schedule lesson today," Viper began. "The navy are running a weapons and hand-to-hand combat lesson today. How to use one, how to maintain one, self-defence, offence, etcetera, etcetera," Mav raised an eyebrow. "Sir," He called. Viper nodded. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but we don't need to use hand-to-hand, we use the built-in weapons on our jets,"
Viper clasped his hands. "Yes. However, if your jet was shot down on enemy lines, would you know how to defend yourself? Or how to use a weapon?" He asked. Maverick hesitated. "To a certain extent, sir." He answered quietly. Viper nodded. "On that note, please welcome SWCC Amelia Lane. She will be your trainer for the day, in both weapon usage and hand-to-hand.
Maverick twisted in his seat to watch the SWCC walk through, passing glances over each of the pilots. She was quite beautiful, he had to admit. Slim, but not unhealthy so. Light brown hair tied into a ponytail and hazel eyes reflected the sunlight. She was dressed in a simple black t-shirt that accentuated her figure, and some black form-fitting leggings, paired with some white sneakers.
She smiled. "Hello aviators, my name is Amelia Lane, and I will be running through some basic hand-to-hand fighting and weapon handling with you all today. Any questions?" Maverick raised his hand with a smirk. She mirrored it. "Yes?"
"Maverick." He smirked. "What weapons are we handling today?" He asked. "You will all be handling a .38 Smith and Wesson 642, a single shot pistol and an automatic rifle." She answered. "Or, a revolver, pistol and rifle."
"Why aren't we learning about machine guns? And other kickass ones?" Somebody shouted from the back. Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Because of two reasons, mainly. 1) The chances of you encountering a spare machine gun, or kickass, as you put it, or slim to none. And 2) there are people within the SWCC who are specially trained in heavy weaponry." She smiled. "So fret not, just what I said earlier."
Maverick hid his smirk behind his hand.
~
"So, what you wanna do is hold the grip with your dominant hand with your index finger around the trigger." Amelia walked down the line of aviators. "Don't worry about pulling it, I've kept the safety on, so it won't shoot." She sighed quietly at how poorly they handled it. "With your non-dominant hand, you want to almost cage the one holding the grip. Like this,"
She walked over to the smaller one who spoke earlier. "No, like this," She said gently. She guided his hands to the correct way, trying to ignore the way her face grew hot. She did this with men and women most days, yet, being in such close proximity to this... Maverick was sending her heart into overdrive. "Like this?" He mumbled in her ear. She looked away. "Yes."
She forced herself away, ignoring the smirk he sent her way. "We'll practise actual shooting later on, but for now, to take the safety off of your gun, you find where it says safety and click it to off." She demonstrated. "For the love of god, before you hand the guns in, make sure you check that the safety is on."
After she'd shown how to use the pistol and rifle, she led them to the gym-turned-training room. They moved to change, while Amelia took off her t-shirt, leaving her in her training tank.
She took a drink from her bottle and re-tied her hair up. She pulled out her notepad and ran over the plans in her head before turning around. Many of the aviators were flushed in the face, god knows why, while the rest displayed polite smiles.
She clapped her hands. "Right. Who's got fighting experience?" She asked. When nobody raised their hands, she sighed softly. "Even karate as a child would do. Just something,"
She smiled when a few hesitant hands went up.
"I did karate,"
"I did ju-jitsu,"
She scanned the raised hands. She smirked at the cocky pilot from earlier. "You sir. Come stand in the middle," The group mumbled as the pilot stepped towards. "Follow my movements," She smiled.
As she showed defensive moves, talking through how to do them and what it would mean if they messed it up, Maverick followed perfectly. She moved onto offensive stances, again, talking through them all. "Wrap your arms around my neck, as if you're going to throw me over your shoulder," She directed.
His warm arms wound gently around her neck, almost taking her breath away. She forced her head to focus and took a breath. "What have you done wrong?" She asked. The room radiated confusion. "I don't know, Miss Lane... what have I done wrong?" He mumbled in her ear. Goosebumps raised on her body. "You ready?" She mumbled back.
"For what?" He asked. She grinned over her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, lurched forwards and threw the young pilot over her shoulder. He hit the safety mat with a thud and groan. She smiled sweetly. "And that's how you get out of a headlock."
~
"So, are you gonna be back to teach?" Amelia hummed over her shoulder. "Oh, probably not. I'm not a teacher. I'm a fighter," She answered. Maverick leaned against the door in a white t-shirt. Amelia swallowed at the sudden flushness that overcame her body. His arms looked very nice in the tight shirt.
"Well, I thought you did a good job," He smiled. "I felt suitably taught," She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, if I ever do come back, you'll be the first one I test," She smiled. "Seriously though. I need to fill out my reports to both Viper and my boss, but be rest assured, you definitely stood out the most," For more than one reason.
He reached forwards with an open hand. Amelia smiled genuinely as she took it. Surprisingly, it was warm and soft. She felt her cheeks grow hot. "Well, Miss Lane. I hope to see you again one day," He brought her hand up and kissed it gently.
Amelia fully blushed.
She sighed wistfully as she gazed upon the classroom. "As per the rules of admission, you must undergo hand-to-hand and weapon training." The guy at the front began. Amelia was thrown back to her first run at Top Gun, well over 30 years ago. She usually wasn't present for the intro, 9 times out of 10 because she was in a briefing meeting.
But this time, she'd arrived a few days early from her last trip and checked in ahead of time.
"But first: please welcome Captain Pete Mitchell. Callsign: Maverick,"
Amelia gasped sharply at the name. God, she hadn't heard his name in well over 20 years. "Good afternoon everyone," He began. Amelia was thrown back to their very last encounter, 20 years ago. Their last date together before she was shipped out up to San Francisco, where she stayed.
"-Lane."
She blinked herself into focus and walked down the way, nodding at each student. One, she'd remember his face, rolled his eyes and turned away. She narrowed her eyes. Amelia flashed a brief smile to her old flame and turned to face the students. "Hello everyone. My name is Amelia Lane, and I've worked in the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft department for the last 33 years. I will be teaching you all how to use hand-weapons safely and how to keep yourself alive in hand-to-hand combat." She nodded to the guy who narrowed his eyes. "What's your name, sir?"
"Jake," He answered snidly. Amelia smiled. "Well, Jake. My first rule is you get the same respect you give out. So, for the eye rolling earlier, you owe me 100 pushups," She said sweetly. Pete cleared his throat from behind, while the class mumbled. "If you continue to be rude and disrespectful, it'll go up to 150, 200 and so forth."
Jake grumbled quietly, but didn't say anything else.
Amelia clasped her hands. "Now! Who knows what this gun is?"
She grinned over her cocktail. "Its certainly been a while, Mr Maverick,"
"That it has, Miss Lane," He replied, grinning. She hugged him tightly. "Oh, it's good to be back," She inhaled his comforting aftershave that threw her back 30 years. "How are you? How was San Fran?" He asked. Amelia nodded to two teenagers talking with Penny's daughter. "Taylor and Emily," At Pete's frown, she smiled. "They're my daughters,"
She laughed when he choked on his drink. "18 and 16," She smiled proudly. They seemed to get on well with Penny's daughter, also called Amelia. "You're married then, I suppose?" Despite it sounding quite nonchelant, Amelia quirked her eyebrow. "Because I have children, I have to be wed?" She asked. Pete flushed and stumbled over an excuse. "Relax. I was, but I'm not now." She took another sip of her cocktail. "That's part of the reason I moved back."
She didn't miss the way his eyes lit up.
"Well, in that case, I was wondering if you would like to join me for a drink tomorrow evening, down at the beach?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" She hissed through her teeth, chuckling at his face. "Make you a deal. If your students can pass tomorow's class with perfect scores, I'll join you for dinner and a drink," She smiled over her glass. "But you've only just started today!" He exclaimed.
She winked. "Where's the Maverick I knew, 33 years ago? He would've loved the chase," She egged him on. His eyes scanned her face, slowly forming into a smirk. He tipped his glass.
"Very well. Consider it a deal, Miss Lane,"
.