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Hangman saves their lives, and instead of making a perfect landing on the carrier with the barrier that Hondo has certainly put his heart and soul into creating, the plane decides to go down.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Rooster says. Maverick, who is very furiously trying to keep the plane from killing them, does not have the time to shoot him a glare or remind him that it got them out of there alive. Right now he’s more focused on keeping them alive. He points them away from the carrier; they’re running out of options.
“Get ready to pull those ejection handles, kid.”
“They’re broken,” Rooster points out. “Remember?”
“We can try again,” Mav says. “Eject!”
Nothing happens.
“Shit!”
“Water landing?” Rooster suggests. “Can this piece of shit even do that?”
“Watch how you talk about her, she saved our lives,” Maverick says, and Rooster actually laughs. Mav tries to fight back a smile. But the kid’s right- he could try and do a water landing. “Command, be advised, we’re going to attempt a water landing. Only thing that might save our lives.”
He’s not sure if they get a response from command, because the plane’s going down faster and faster.
“Brace!” he yells, and he pulls back on the throttle as they skim the water. They skid for a long time, but thank God eventually they come to a stop.
“Okay,” Rooster says. “Okay, Mav, now what.”
“Uh,” Mav says.
“Mav,” Rooster says again, voice panicked. “Mav, please tell me you know what we do now.”
“Yeah,” Mav says. There’s absolutely nothing running through his mind but shit shit shit shit shit. If the water doesn’t kill him, Ice is certainly going to. He goes to open the canopy and- nothing happens. “Try the ejection handles again-”
“Nothing. They’re not- Mav, I think we’re sinking.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“We never got to have that talk.”
Mav tries to turn around as best as he can. Rooster isn’t looking at him.
“I’m sorry,” Mav says quietly.
“Tell me the truth, then,” Rooster says without missing a beat.
“Your mom asked me to make sure you never flew. I didn’t want you to hate her.”
“I could never hate her.”
“You hated me just fine.”
Bradley turns to look at him.
“I never hated you,” he says. “I was mad. But I never hated you.”
There’s silence for a moment. The water’s begun to reach the base of the canopy now.
“I’m sorry,” Maverick says again.
“I’m sorry, too.” Then, “I’ll try to be better.”
“I don’t know if we’re making it out of this one, kid.”
Water’s leaking in. Bradley glances down, then up to the heavens. If Maverick didn’t know any better, he’d think the kid was praying. Hell, he might actually be.
“We’re making it out of this one,” Bradley says firmly. “We’re making it out.”
Silence for a beat. The water’s up to Mav’s waist. He looks up. Wonders if Goose is looking back.
“I should’ve done things differently,” Mav says. “I should’ve-”
“Don’t blame yourself.” It’s probably a bit harsher than Bradley intended, but it’s not like it stings. Bradley’s said worse to him. Mav’s said worse to himself. “Seriously, Mav. If we’re gonna die, we’re gonna- we’re gonna die without regrets.” His voice shakes a little bit, and Mav wonders how much of it has to do with Hangman. He’s seen the way they’re at each other’s throats, it’s exactly the way he and Ice were.
Ice. God, Ice. They always thought- with the cancer and everything- they always thought Ice would be the first to go. Mav hadn’t accepted it, but Ice had. And now- Jesus Christ, Mav thinks, he’s not going to leave Ice behind, he’s not going to let the kid die, he’s going to get them out of this. He tries raising the canopy again, to no avail. Starts pounding on it instead, not that he’s expecting it to move. Bradley joins him.
The water’s up to chest level now, and rising fast. There’s crackling over their comms, and Mav just now remembers that control can probably hear everything they’ve been saying.
He isn’t really expecting Bradley to rip his helmet off and start slamming it against the canopy, but hey, what can you do?
“Kid,” Mav says. “Kid, I don’t think that’s gonna-”
“Fuck!” Bradley yells, dropping the helmet with a splash. He starts looking around wildly. Water at neck level, stirred up by Bradley’s jerky movements. “Fuck, fuck-”
“Kid,” Mav says. He closes his eyes. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be okay,” Bradley says. Water at chin level. They’re both tilting their heads up. “We’re getting out of this. It’s gonna be okay.”
And he says it with such surety that Mav thinks he must have accepted it, they’re going to see Goose and Carole again, everything’s going to be fine even though they’re going to die.
They’re both pressed up against the canopy now. Bradley takes a huge breath in, and then he goes under. Mav waits for a count of one, two, three before the water’s past his mouth and nose, and he sinks back down.
He wonders what drowning will feel like.
Before he can ruminate too much, Bradley is tapping on his shoulder. He turns around and sees- a handgun. Bradley is holding a fucking handgun, and with his other hand he’s flashing a thumbs-up.
Mav almost wants to roll his eyes.
Bradley passes him the gun- thank God for enemy soldiers, he guesses- and Mav shoots at the canopy a couple of times. He manages to get his legs up and starts kicking out, once, twice, three times, four times, they’re still sinking but he can see the sun above them and they are not going to die here today and-
There’s a crack as the canopy opens. He manages to shove it up with Bradley’s help and then they’re both pushing off, plane abandoned, going for the surface as fast as possible, kicking wildly.
Mav breaks the surface first, takes in a huge breath of air. Bradley is right behind him, treading water, and then they’re both laughing as they swim toward each other. They embrace in the water just as they spy the helicopter on the horizon, coming to get them out of this, and holy fuck Maverick thinks this is going to be one hell of a story.
They get safely on the helicopter, both of them still holding their helmets, grinning at their rescuers. Cyclone is there, looking for all intents and purposes like they’ve just risen from the dead, floated out of their own watery grave.
“Hey,” Mav says as the medical personnel wrap blankets around both of them, the helicopter flying back to the carrier. “How’s it going?”
“You, Captain Mitchell,” Cyclone says slowly, “are something else.”
Mav just grins. Bradley laughs.
They touch down on the carrier and Mav knows they’re going to be rushed to the medbay immediately, but they’re going to have a tough time of it considering the amount of people that are gathered around waiting for them. Bradley is off the chopper first, diving into the crowd with a hell of a lot of bravado. Mav sees Phoenix and Bob slamming into him, followed closely by Hangman, who hugs him for a long moment and doesn’t let go until the medical personnel start literally pulling Bradley away.
“You never do that again, you hear me?” Mav hears Hangman say to Bradley, and he sees his godson’s cocky grin.
“Yeah, I guess,” he says, and Hangman shakes his head fondly. Fondly. God, Maverick is going to enjoy telling Ice about all of this.
They’re ushered down to the medbay, checked over for any injuries and then ordered to rest under observation. Someone gets Admiral Kazansky on the phone and offers the receiver over to Maverick, who takes it quickly.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” is the first thing Ice says, voice scratchy, but so impossibly full of adoration. “Are you okay?”
“Really thought I wasn’t gonna make it out this time,” Mav admits quietly, knowing full well that Bradley is listening. “But we did.”
“You did,” Ice agrees. “Put the kid on the phone.”
Mav hands the phone over to Bradley, who takes it with a grin. He talks to Ice for a bit before passing the phone back.
“I love you,” Mav says, just because he hasn’t said it yet.
“I know,” Ice replies. “I love you, too. No matter how dangerous you are.”
Mav grins. Bradley- who’s still eavesdropping, of course he is- grins too. They’re still going to have a hell of a lot to talk about, he thinks, but now they have all the time in the world to do it.