Chapter Text
Hangman isn't surprised when he receives a special invitation back to Top Gun for some extra training and a special mission. Why would he be when he was the best of the best? He graduated at the top of his class for a reason. And he wasn't surprised when Phoenix had gotten one too, she had after all finished close second in his class. Their rivalry had always managed to keep them on their toes in the academy, and they continued that banter well into their military career, up till now. Now, they're in the parking lot of the Hard Deck, in his car, as he attempts to slick back his blonde hair with the gel he kept in his glove compartment because of course he would, leave it to Hangman to keep gel in his car at any given moment, as she pulls her hair back into that sleek military style bun, borrowing some of his gel to hold it together.
"So do we need to go through the plan again or you've got this?" Natasha asks, checking herself in the reflection to make sure she tidied up, unlike Jake who was flexing a cocky grin in the mirror.
Jake looks over at his wife, who bites her lip nervously and he gently pulls her lip away from her teeth with his fingers, cupping her cheek. "Relax babe. We've got this. I walk in and find Coyote and you wait out here for your new recruits and we'll meet in the bar with the others."
Natasha winces at the name. "I never liked Coyote."
"Just because he was my best friend doesn't mean he had the right to be a dick to you and I'm sorry. If you feel uncomfortable later and need to leave, you know what to do." He gives her a wink, a short kiss on the lips before hopping out of the car and disappearing into the bar.
Natasha lets out a sigh and checks her watch, of course her 'wingmen' would be late. Turning off the engine of the car, she hopes out, slipping the keys into her pocket. They might come in handy later when she wanted to leave. She’s about to walk into the bar when they arrive and she lets out one last sigh before asserting her dominance and strutting into the bar, bracing herself to face Jake 1.0, the Jake she had known from her Top Gun days but not the Jake she had fell for or married, that Jake was a lot kinder of an asshole.
She spots her husband at the end of the bar where the pool table is, right next to Coyote. He turns to Coyote, plastering a smirk on his face. "Oh, come on! What do we have here? If it ain’t Phoenix!." She walks closer to her husband, so close she can almost pick up a scent of his cologne from the rest of the smells in the bar. "And here I thought we were special, Coyote. Turns out the invite went to anyone." What he doesn't say is,"I knew you would be here Phoenix to keep me on my toes," but they share a look and there's that mutual understanding, even if his words had stung a little.
Truth be told it had nearly taken her back to her Top Gun days where gender discrimination was very much a thing and even now as she looked around the bar there was no other female pilot in sight. She pulls it together, embracing the Natasha 1.0 in her to face Jake 1.0, "Fellas, this here’s bag man." She smirks back, but Jake can swear he saw her smirk falter a little.
"Hangman." Jake corrects her.
She smiles. "Whatever." She turns to her wingmen,"You’re looking at the only naval aviator on active duty with a confirmed air-to-air kill." As she states that, her heart swells with pride.
"Stop." He tells her gently and she doesn't push it, because she knows the story behind his kill and that he had no choice.
"Mind you, the other guy was in a museum piece from the Korean war." She finishes her story, wincing a little inside and takes note of how his smile falters.
"Cold war." Coyote corrects her, but Jake knows Natasha was right. It was a plane from the Korean War, he had told her that while everyone else assumed it was the Cold war
"Different wars, same century." Payback chimes in.
"Not this one." Fanboy adds.
"Who are your friends?" Coyote asks coyly, because what is he if not an exact version of his call sign but in human form.
"Payback." "Fanboy." Her two 'wingmen' introduce themselves.
"Hey, Coyote." Natasha says, resisting the urge to slip her hand into her pocket where the keys were, a sign to leave.
"Hey." Coyote replies but it feels more like an attempt to flirt with her so instead she turns to her husband.
"Who’s he?" She asks, turning her head to look at the pilot sitting by the side, giving off the nerdiest vibes ever.
"Who’s who?" Instead, Coyote turns and looks towards her line of sight, confused. That pilots brushes off crumbs from his lap, eyes widening. "When did you get in?"
"Oh, I’ve been here the whole time." He manages,somehow feigning a confidence Natasha wished she had when she first came face to face with Coyote and his pack.
"The man’s a stealth pilot." Jake quips, turning to Natasha with a glint in his eye. She bites her cheek, resisting the urge to giggle, because she couldn't do that here, not when she was supposed to look like she hated Jake Seresin despite being so madly in love with him.
"Literally." Coyote adds, because of course he just follows whatever Hangman does.
"Weapons systems officer, actually." The other pilot responds dryly.
Jake looks at Natasha with a glint in his eye. "With no sense of humour." As he says this, he hands her his pool cue, walking to the bar to get drinks for the pack.
"What do they call you?" She asks, fiddling with the pool cue last in her husband's hand now in hers.
"Bob." He replies, getting up.
"No, your call sign."
"Uh… Bob."
Natasha smiles. "Bob Floyd. You’re my new back seater? From Lemoore?"
"Looks like it. Yeah."
Natasha hands Bob the pool cue. "Nine-ball, Bob. Rack’em."
"Okay." He says walking up to the pool table.
Natasha sticks her hands in the pockets of her uniform, turning to glance at her husband ordering drinks at the bar. But before he notices someone else walks in and she removes her hands from that position, with a fake beaming smile "Bradshaw! Is that you?" She calls out, surprised to see that he was here, surely they wouldn't take the top graduates from her class, they already had Hangman, Phoenix, and Coyote. "This is how I find out you’re stateside?" She adds with a smirk.
"Yeah, I just thought I’d surprise you. Hmm." Rooster pulls off his sunglasses, hanging them on his tank top. He's the only one not in uniform. Natasha shoots for a ball, in the process making an effort to hit Rooster with the back end of the pool cue.
"I guess I surprised you back." She turns with a smile. "It’s good to see you."
"Good to see you too."
From the bar counter, Jake watches this interaction, that monster called jealousy tempting him to march over and rip Rooster's face off. They were best friends, nothing else he reminds himself one too many times. He thanks Penny as he grabs the four beers, smirking at the old timer. "Much appreciated, pops." He gives him a charming wink, one that would make Phoenix swoon if she was not in uniform at work. Jake makes his way over to the pack, "Bradshaw. As I live and breathe." He smirks, handing the beers around.
"Hangman." Rooster responds coldly. And out of politeness, he attempts. "You look… good."
"Well, I am good, Rooster." Hangman says as he grabs the pool cue out of Bob's hand. "I’m very good." Phoenix shakes her head. "In fact, I am too good to be true."
Coyote breaks the tension a little. "So, anybody know what this special detachment is all about?"
Hangman chooses to ignore it, putting the tension right back."No, mission’s a mission. They don’t confront me." Phoenix finds her eyes travelling down to her husband’s ass as he bends forward to take a shot, swallowing and trying not to blush. "What I want to know: Who’s gonna be team leader?" He takes another strike at the pool balls. "And which one of y’all has what it takes to follow me?" And Jake 1.0 strikes again,as Natasha rolls her eyes internally.
"Hangman, the only place you’ll lead anyone is an early grave." Rooster maintains coolly. Someone in the back cheers but Hangman's smirk falters a little and Phoenix winces inside. Jake makes his way to Rooster, passing Natasha on the way as she gives him a look, to which he responds with another look in his eye.
Their wordless communication put in words would have gone something along the lines of, 'Don't let him get to you.' and 'Relax babe, I've got this.
'"Well, anyone who follows you is just gonna run out of fuel." Hangman quips back, standing face to face with Rooster. "But that’s just you, ain’t it, Rooster? You’re snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment..." And he pauses, being overly dramatic about it,"That never comes." Slow ride plays in the background to emphasise his point as he adds with a snarky exclamation, "I love this song!"
And he walks away, going back to the pool table. "Well, he hasn’t changed." Phoenix says, eyes glancing quickly to her husband once again as he shoots her a wink.
"Nope. Sure hasn’t." Rooster adds.
More pilots file into the bar and Natasha returns to Jake's side, as Rooster heads for the piano, grabbing the beer in his hand. "You okay?" He asks, as one of his fingers slips into the pocket where she kept the keys. She shrugs him off as Rooster begins the opening notes of a familiar song.
"Hey, guys. Come on." She signals to the rest of the pilots as she makes her way over to the piano. Jake raises his hands in defeat but follows suit.
As he does Penny rings the bell in the bar and Jake flashes Natasha another cocky grin before he heads over to throw the old timer overboard. "Thanks for the beers! Come back anytime!" He mock salutes, something he would regret the next day.
Jake watches as Natasha jams out to whatever Rooster plays on the piano and as much as he hates the guy, he can't hate him that much because he makes the missus happy. Phoenix flashes him a grin at some point and he resists the urge to kiss her right then and there, instead weaving through the small crowd gathered around Rooster to make his way to her, standing right her in close proximity enough that he could relax a little in her company but far enough so no one would suspect a thing. But everyone is too busy doing their own thing to notice a hand sneak around Phoenix's waist or Phoenix relaxing into Hangman, of all people, as the two sway along to the music.
As the sky falls, the pilots bid one another goodnight and leave, for the big day tomorrow. And slowly everyone is gone. Everyone but Phoenix, Hangman and Rooster.
"Need a ride?" Rooster offers.
Phoenix shakes her head. "I'm good. I'm just around the corner." Rooster nods and takes his leave too and it's just Jake and Natasha.
He holds out a hand, which she gratefully takes, and he leads her out to the car. She hands him back the keys. "We should have left a long time ago." He comments as he unlocks the vehicle and opening the passenger door for her. She gives him a confused look. "Don't play dumb love. Just before Rooster came in, you stuck your hands in your pockets. I should have just grabbed you then and there and left with you." He shuts her door, climbing into the driver's seat on the other side.
"It's fine." She whispers. He looks over at her and anyone who knew Phoenix and not Natasha Trace would have believed her, but he knew her all too well.
Reaching for her hand, he gives her a reassuring squeeze. "No, it's not. I acted like a dick, and I let my friends treat you like shit. You didn't deserve that."
"Oh my god, Hangman apologising? That's new." She smirks, feigning a swoon.
He clutches a hand to his chest, pretending to look offended."Hey come on. I apologise when I'm in the wrong." She raises an eyebrow. "But only to you because I don't care what anyone else thinks of me." He gives her a smirk as she shakes her head. "Besides, I have plans to make it up to you."
She returns a smirk. "You better."
And he drives like he's never driven faster before, all the way home, even if the home for now was a crappy motel ten minutes away from base.Because home was where the heart was, and his heart was with Natasha Trace and wherever she was he was home. And that night he made it up to her indeed.
But it's all back to the fake rivalry the next day when they arrive at base. Natasha hates being late, but Jake likes a dramatic entrance,so they find a compromise and show up just on time, handing the guard their IDs at 8.00am sharp. The guard looks between them with a knowing smile but lets the two pass. And when the pair walk in together but take seats on opposite ends of the room no questions are asked. Admiral Bates begins some long speech about how they're all pilots and no one is listening, Natasha and Jake included. Except when he says"Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box." and Jake turns to find Natasha giving him a subtle finger by the side of her temple, turning back to the front with a smirk as he whispers,"That's my girl" under his breath.
And then their instructor is introduced and he too, has a flair for the dramatics, choosing to walk from the back past all the pilots before making his way to the front. Jake catches a glimpse and instantly recognises him as the old timer from the bar and buries his head in shame, then pulling out the toothpick he was chewing in his mouth. Natasha holds back a giggle.
And as luck would have it, Phoenix and her back seater are up against Maverick with Hangman. She knows his strategy and knows that he would not leave her hanging if he could, but he has something to prove to Maverick.
"This guy needs an ego check." Hangman comments as he twirls a model of a plane in his hand, sitting in the common room as Rooster, Payback and Fanboy are the first up against Maverick.
Phoenix flashes him a look, you're the one that needs an ego check. Hangman gives her another, You like me cocky sweetheart. So, when he tells her, "Best of luck up there in the air sweetheart," She knows the outcome of this exercise. She rolls her eyes as he blows her a kiss.
And they take off, Hangman is up first, because he's the faster one of the two, or because Phoenix needs a moment to breathe before facing her cocky husband up in the air. "Say, Phoenix. How’s about we tell everybody “Bob” stands for something?" He asks the moment she flies up and is side by side with him.
"Other than Robert, I mean." Bob begins.
Phoenix cuts him off. "Don’t take the bait, Bob." She rolls her eyes. "Want to know why we call him Hangman?"
Before she gets the chance he cuts her off with yet another witty remark. "I got it. “Baby on board.”"
She can literally feel him smirking, like he's done multiple times on her lips whenever she crashes them into his. He chuckles, celebrating his wittiness but it's short lived when Maverick flies between them and he lets out a curse. "Shit!"
"Greetings, aviators. Fight’s on." They hear the cocky ringing voice of Maverick and Phoenix inwardly sighs, Hangman she could deal with, but two of them, this was going to be fun.
“All right, Phoenix, let’s take this guy out!” Hangman calls out over the radio, as Phoenix crosses her fingers and hopes her husband works well with her. “Break right!” He commands.
She follows his lead, “Breaking right.”
He disappears. “Where’s he going?” Bob notices from the backseat.
Phoenix shakes her head, “That’s why we call him Hangman. He’ll always hang you out to dry.” Phoenix is disappointed, but not surprised, but a part of her is hurt, even if she had anticipated this.
“Leaving your wing man. There’s a strategy I haven’t seen in awhile.” Maverick says, flying after Phoenix.
“He called you a man, Phoenix. You gonna take that?” Hangman quips into the comms system.
“So long as he doesn’t call you a man.” She replies and if he wasn’t busy being such an asshole, he would have been proud of her. “Talk to me, Bob. Where’s Maverick?” Phoenix panics a little, as neither Maverick nor Hangman is in her line of sight.
“Jesus, his nose is already coming around!” Bob yells, instantly panicking.
“For all you folks at home, this is how you Bury a fossil.” Hangman calls out as he angles his plane so that Maverick is in his line of fire, completely ignoring the fact that he had left his wingman, or wing woman, or wife, behind,and normally he wouldn’t do that, but he had to, to attract attention somehow. It was a sacrifice he had to make for the greater good. “Let’s go, Mav. Let’s see what you got. Evil be gone. Hangman’s coming.” He adds with a smirk as he chases after Maverick, but soon loses him again. “Shit.” In desperation, he calls for his wing woman, “Phoenix, I can’t see him. How close am I?” When she doesn’t reply he panics. “Phoenix?” He bites down on his tongue, resisting to let the ‘babe?’ slip out as he plays the role of a concerning secret husband.
“I’m dead, dickhead.” Comes the annoyed reply from his wife.
“See you in the afterlife, bag man.” Bob adds and Hangman sighs.
Hangman looks around, still not find Maverick “Where is he? Where is he?” And the dreadful beep comes, as he flies back to the carrier.
Two hundred push ups, that’s the punishment for getting killed and as Hondo yells out the number of push ups and the pilots go down each time, Phoenix and Hangman share a look, only it isn’t a look of love this time, she’s fuming, and he knows it, but he makes no effort to apologise, because he has to stay in character as the asshole try hard. He makes a mental note to make it up to her later, even if it’s impossible to get her flowers or chocolates or some grand romantic gesture since they’re on board a carrier with little to no resources. She doesn’t make an effort to hide her anger,choosing to stick next to Rooster for the rest of the day, much to his annoyance, even after Rooster gets into trouble.
He walks by the common room,on his way in, when he stops short of the door as he hears her yell, “But if you get kicked out, you leave us flying with Hangman.” He decides against entering the room,giving her space to cool down, and she’s so mad she doesn’t even notice him when she stalks out of the room in anger, down the hall to their room,technically his, but she moved in when they got on board. He enters the room,sulking, until he notices the photograph hanging on the wall. And he realises why Maverick is so hard on Rooster and why Rooster defies the orders, and he knows that he would not be chosen for the mission and his heart sinks, because Maverick has to make it up to Rooster’s old man.
Hangman knocks on the door of his own room, and avery pissed Phoenix opens the door to a crack, before slamming it in his face.He knocks again, but she calls out, “Go away.”
“Oh come on, it’s my room.” He knocks again, although this time it’s like he’s banging on the door.
Phoenix opens the door,her eyes red and puffy, it’s clear that she’s been crying, and Hangman moves into the room, closing the door behind him. “I’m sorry.” He begins, but she continues to ignore him. “Look, you and I both knew there would be problems hiding this, and this is it, you know, for worse or for better, this is the worse. And if we can get through this, then we can get through anything.” He pauses, trying to find the words to calm the storm. “I know, I shouldn’t leave my wingman hanging out to dry, but sometimes when I’m up there, I forget that you’re more than just my wingman. And I shouldn’t even care so much about impressing Mav, cause we all know I’m not the one he’s gonna pick after all of this.”
This causes her to look up at him, for the first time since he entered the room. “What do you mean?”
A simple and straightforward question, yet he fumbles for the words. Sinking down on the bed next to her, he lets out a sigh. “Mav flew with Rooster’s old man. The stories they told of the one who went down with him, that’s the one. So obviously he has to make it up to him somehow, he’s the one that’s going to get picked.”
Natasha finds her hand interlacing with Jake’s by some natural instinct and moves her body closer to his. “That doesn’t mean you’re not a damn good pilot, because you’re the best I’ve seen, even if you leave me hanging.”
“I’ll never leave you hanging.” He adds sweetly.
She shakes her head. “But you did.”
“And I’m sorry. For like the millionth time, andI will make it up to you when we get off this ship. And I mean if you want we could always come out with it and I wouldn’t need to feel shitty every time I treat you like jerk in front of everyone else. Because you deserve more respect than that.” Jake says, letting out a sigh.
“Who are you and what have you done with my Jake Seresin?” Natasha teases.
The rest of the training during the week, Hangman tries his best not to step on Phoenix’s toes, choosing to direct his insults to Rooster instead, but is occasionally met with a glare from his wife. He would rather not pick on anyone, but he had a reputation to keep. But he takes it too far when he brings up Rooster’s old man, and his pretty face nearly gets punched.The tension is thick in the air and nothing could cut it, and Phoenix knows that while he did this to protect her, the team would never function because of these alpha males asserting their dominance everywhere.
When Maverick surprises the team with a dogfight football match by the beach instead of training to get some team bonding happening,Phoenix and Hangman are more than happy to be paired on the same team, but they make an effort not to show it. They’re both competitive, and want nothing more than to win the match, so as Jake scores a touchdown, Natasha throws him a high five, although their fingers remain intertwined for a little longer.
When Bob scores a goal and is thrown upon Rooster’s shoulders, everyone goes around to congratulate them, even the sore losers that Natasha and Jake now are from losing. But all if forgotten as the team tackle one another into the water, as shrieking and screaming sounds like teenage boys wrestling comes from these Top Gun graduate pilots.
At one point, Natasha finds herself pinned under Jake, as a bunch of other all pile up on top of him. He steals a kiss, before shaking them off and offering a hand to pull her up. She takes his hand,although her eyes don’t leave his torso. “Like what you see?” He whispers for her to hear, before chasing after Coyote and Rooster. She shakes her head, looking for her towel to dry off, walking up towards the sand, where Penny gives her a knowing smile. She smiles back, turning to look at the boys frolicking and playing like boys, but her eyes are on only one of them, Jake.
Two weeks later, they’re sitting in a mission brief, as Maverick runs through the details of the mission, picking Phoenix and Bob, and Coyote.Hangman sneaks a glance at her, as her stoic expression and focus on the mission at hand causes him to chew even more nervously on the toothpick dangling in his mouth. On the way out to her plane, she stops in front of him, plucking the toothpick out of his mouth, as he wishes her good luck, followed by a signature wink. She flashes him her best smile before she catches up to Bob. Rooster glances in his direction for a second and Hangman, still on the fence with Rooster, simply shrugs.
They’re good and they nearly get the target, until Maverick shows up last minute as a bandit and fails them. Coyote goes into G loc from the climb and Phoenix is fine until a bird strike screws up her left engine. She and Bob both eject, and Hangman is the first to run to the medical bay, but no one makes a comment or says a thing.
Phoenix is fine, aside from the scratch on her lip, and a few bruises here and there, both her and the baby are fine, the doctor reassures him. He then turns wide eyed to the doctor, “What baby?” Jake asks,suddenly on the verge of panicking again. “Oh my god, I need to see her.” The doctor leads Jake to Natasha’s room, and he finds her lying there, eyes shut, looking more peaceful than ever. “Does she know?” He asks and the doctor shakes his head, before mumbling some excuse about another patient and leaving Jake alone with Natasha.
Jakes pulls up a chair, sitting by her bedside as he runs his fingers through her hair, detangling the knots before braiding it out of habit.
She stirs and he kisses her cheek, as she flutters her eyes open. “Hey Seresin.” She says with a weak smile.
He tries to stop the tears from welling up in his eyes, but they do anyway. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“I thought I was keeping you on your toes.”
“God, I thought I was gonna lose you sweetheart, do you know how scared I felt?”
She chuckles, “I have a faint idea.”
He smiles, knowing what she means, the last time he nearly died in a plane crash she had flipped out and abandoned her mission a thousand miles away.
“But we’re okay,” She says, taking his hand and squeezing it. “All three of us are.”
Jake looks at her wide eyed. “You knew?”
She shrugs. “I had a feeling, so I took a test the morning before the flight.”
Jake panics. “You knew and you still went on a flight, and you nearly died?” He’s almost shouting. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted to make some grand gesture out of it, because I know you have a flair for the dramatics.” She says, her hand squeezing his as he runs his other hand through what would normally be a meticulously combed and styled hair but was now a mess.
He resists the urge to laugh, “Some grand gesture alright.”
“Sorry,” She mumbles, as he kicks off his shoes and climbs in bed next to her, just holding her close, one arm around her shoulder and the other drapes just above her abdomen.
And he finally gets the courage to ask her a thing that he would otherwise be killed for if she was not in such a vulnerable state. “So, are you pulling out of the mission?”
Phoenix returns to work the next day, acing all the medical tests for combat fitness, and Hangman doesn’t dare ask her again, but sticks closely to her side the whole time, to the point where she was annoyed, but he doesn’t back off.
“I’m not dying, I’ll be fine,” she assures him when they’re alone, but he’s not convinced. “I’ve passed all the tests, and I feel fine, I’m okay.”
He lets go a little, but still tries to keep an eye on her, finding himself seated next to her more often during briefings, but she doesn’t complain as much when she gets to rest her head on his shoulder and he kisses the top of her head, or when their fingers intertwine in the middle of training sessions. The rest of the team was either oblivious or chose not to care, they suspected the latter.
Maverick gets himself into trouble, because of course he does,but is just as quickly reinstated again, this time as team captain. And as everyone gathers around for one last, Maverick picks the team. Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob. Rooster as his wingman.
Hangman shoots Phoenix an ‘I told you so’ look, as he pulls her away later. “You sure you should be flying this? I mean, I won’t be up there to you know, protect you and all that and what if that happens again and I lose both of you for real this time?” Natasha cuts his rambling off with a kiss, butas she pulls away, she sees the look of panic in Jake’s eyes. “I know, I should trust you and all, and I do. It’s Rooster I don’t trust, what if he’s too slow and sabotages it all.”
“Jake,” Natasha begins, his name soft on her lips. “Relax, it’ll be okay. I’ll be home before you know it.” He rests his forehead on her shoulder, sighing against her. “And besides, you’re on standby, so if anything goes wrong, you could always swoop in a play the hero.”
“Okay.” He finally relents, as she crawls into bed, and he crawls right in next to her, holding her closer than he normally would, but she doesn’t complain, instead relaxing into him.
As the team sends their regards the next day before the mission, Hangman lingers on the deck a little longer, watches as his wife climbs into her plane and straps herself in, letting out a sigh, praying and hoping for the best. He catches her eye and give her the signature smirk, and she mouths a ‘Relax’ to him and his shoulder tighten, but he relaxes a little inside, or so he hopes.
He climbs into a spare aircraft, “Dagger spare, standing by”, and hears his wife’s voice over the comms, letting out a sigh.
Hangman tries not to wince with every passing minute, as command after command is yelled through the comms. He holds it together when the laser malfunctions, and when they approach coffin corner. But as soon as he hears that the SAMs spot the pilots he panics. He listens closely, making sure he can still hear Phoenix yelling orders at Bob through the chaos and is slightly relieved when he does. And then Maverick gets hit. The rest of them are fine, but Maverick is down.
“Dagger spare request permission to launch and fly air cover.” He asks with an air to his voice because he knows that if he doesn’t try someone will turn around for Maverick, and it wouldn’t be Payback and Fanboy, it would be either Rooster or Phoenix and Bob.
He’s relieved when the one who turns back around is Rooster and makes sure that Dagger three lands safely again on the carrier, the worst was over.
When he hears that Maverick and Rooster escaped on an F14, whilea fifth gen was hot on their heels, he doesn’t wait for clearance, he just takes off. And as he spots the fifth gen lock on the F14, he locks on the fifth gen in the nick of time, with a smirk, over the comms, his wit makes an appearance once again.
“Good afternoon, ladies, and gentlemen. This is your saviour speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions… And prepare for landing.”
“Hey, Hangman, you look good.” Rooster says, looking over when they’re side by side.
Hangman smiles, “I am good, Rooster. I’m very good.” He breaks away, flying towards the ship, with one goal in mind. “I’ll see you back ondeck.”
Maverick lands, with no front wheel and no engines, and the crowd goes wild. In the midst of all that, Hangman find Phoenix and Rooster.
Hangman holds a hand out as Rooster shakes it. “Chalked yourself another kill.”
“That makes two.” Hangman beams proudly.
“Mav has five. Makes him an ace.” Phoenix looks at her husband, a proud smile on her face, as he embraces her in a hug that lasts forever.
“I love you so much,” he whispers.
"I know." She replies.