Chapter Text
It was a perfect day for flying, really. Or falling.
Bob stared blankly at the blue sky above him. Adrenaline was still racing through his veins, making his fingers prickle and his stomach pulse, heart beating with enough desperate force to shake him in his parachute straps. His mind, though, was paralysed, paused, as if stuck back up there – or down there, now – in the burning cockpit.
What the fuck just happened?
No, he knew what happened. His and Phoenix’s plane ate a bird, and they lost control, spiraling towards terrain until it dawned on them that the plane was unrecoverable, and they punched out. No, but- wait, go back- why did a couple of birds kill their engines? The F/A-18 can eat twenty birds for breakfast and not even belch – why did a couple measly bundles of feathers cause catastrophic engine failure?!
Shut up , he thought to himself, but the sentiment was lost as he replayed the scene again. Phoenix’s alarmed calls echoed in the back of his skull.
‘Shutting off fuel to left engine! Extinguishing fire!’
Bob’s brow twitched into a frown. That- that’s not how the checklist should go. Throttles should have been set to minimum practical first, before Bob spun around to check the side on fire… Why was everything going so fast?
Back to the beginning. No, later.
‘Right engine is out!’
‘It’s still spinning! Try to restart it!’
Mav’s voice joined the chorus. ‘Phoenix, it’s on fire, don’t start-’
‘Throttling up.’
Why? Why? The engines are too close together for asymmetric thrust to force them to depart-
Still, his mind pressed on, phantom lights flashing in his eyes from the dual engine caution.
‘We’re on fire! We’re on fire!’
‘Dammit! Extinguishing right engine!’
Stop there, he willed himself. She’d already extinguished the left engine - that one was no more good - now they had no more engines - shit, why - what did they think was going to happen? No more thrust, no more control, a completely and utterly unrecoverable dive, spinning towards the ground - no hydraulics, no, couldn’t control the surfaces anymore, because both engines were extinguished-
The altitude warning had sounded once, twice, and they’d punched out before they met with the fireball on the side of the mountain that used to be a plane.
The sound of rippling fabric and a hot wind on his face jerked him back into the present. He sucked in a breath, then another, chest heaving, blinking away the mess of a control panel that he could still see in the back of his head. His mask dangled to the side of his face - he couldn’t remember ripping it off, but muscle memory must have kicked in and ran the checklist for him.
He gripped the straps on his chute so hard that the coarse fabric could have dug into his hands were he not wearing gloves. Yes, that’s right, he was falling. Not screaming fast - the chute was still intact - not drifting and slow, but falling nonetheless.
Faintly, he noted that he was still breathing too fast. He didn’t do anything about it. Adrenaline squeezed him again.
He’d ejected over the deepest rift in the narrow canyon below him. Of course he did. It was a long way down from twelve thousand feet, even falling at this speed. He turned his head, left, right, looking for Phoenix. Shit, his neck hurt.
Wait. Shit. He hoped that wasn’t serious. Ow. Now he was aware of it, his back was aching, too, from the forces he was subjected to during the ejection. The fight-or-flight was probably still protecting him from the worst of it. But - where’s Nat-?
It took him a moment more of blinking and squinting (and wincing through the neck pain as he turned his head) to realise he’d lost his glasses. Ah. That would be why nothing was in focus. He could only see the blue of the sky, white blotches of clouds, the pale sides of the canyon around him, and - there, in the distance, the burning wreck of his plane. No Phoenix.
Maybe she’d ejected over the ridge? No, that couldn’t be right, the ejection seats blast out at the same time once the handle is pulled - had her chute opened properly? Was she already crumpled at the bottom of the valley? Bob struggled with his gear, trying to look down. A gust of wind interrupted him, punching him forwards. He cursed as the wing of his chute started to sag. Don’t you fucking collapse on me!
No, don’t panic, not that he wasn’t still already panicking from the bird strike, no sir, he still had plenty of altitude before he touched down. Deep breaths. Slow down. Brake and shift your weight to the side that’s collapsing. Easy, now. Yes! The chute billowed back to its full size. Another squeeze of adrenaline. Funny, his neck didn’t seem to hurt anymore. Back to looking for Phoenix.
The canyon was surrounding him, now, blocking him in on all sides with sparsely-vegetated rocky walls. Bob tried twisting around, he was getting so close to seeing if there was any sign of life all the way down there back from where he’d come, when the ground started accelerating towards him and he barely had time to think brace! before slamming into the dirt feet-first.
The adrenaline didn’t save him from how much that hurt.
Bob tumbled to his side and groaned as pain lanced up his shins. He was swiftly plunged into darkness as his chute settled in a tangled mess above him. He fought through it, emerging gasping from the heap into the sunlight. In the quiet, his ears had started to ring. He shook his head - as though that would do anything - and yanked his helmet off, holding it at his hip. Without his glasses to aid him, everything was still more or less a blur, but he squinted into the distance anyway, down the valley where he couldn’t see before.
There - a khaki fleck in the distance.
‘Phoenix?’ he whispered, mostly to himself. He was surprised at the rasp in his voice.
He drew himself up to his feet, slowly, his shins protesting. Then, louder. ‘Phoenix!’
Nothing seemed to be moving. But, then again, his stupid short-sighted eyes wouldn’t be able to pick up anything from that far away. He cleared his throat and tried again, louder, straining to hear through the ringing in his ears. ‘Phoenix! That you?’
And then, echoing towards him, a shout: ‘Bob! You okay?’
Yes! It was her! ‘Coming!’ he called, hastily unclipping himself from the chute. Grimacing, he took a step, then another, willing himself to ignore how his shins felt like they were getting ripped from his legs with every impact. Another step, two more, faster now, and then he was jogging towards her, and he could barely feel his legs anymore but it was okay because now he could make out her silhouette coming towards him, fast, his breathing was ragged as the distance between them closed, and then she was in front of him, and - wow, how did he end up on the ground?
‘Bob? Shit, man, you good?’
Her voice was clear. No echoes. She was clear, too; she was close enough that he could see the lines of worry in her face as she peered down at him, her fingers gripping the dog tags around her neck. He closed his eyes for a second, two, three, and when he opened them again, she was sitting quietly next to him. Bob made an undignified sound in his throat as he heaved himself upright again.
Phoenix turned her head slightly towards him. ‘Feeling better?’
He winced as sensation crept its way back into his body. ‘Adrenaline’s wearing off.’ His shins were throbbing, his neck aching, and strangely, he could feel something running down his face. Sweat? He brought up a still-gloved hand to wipe it off, and when he pulled his hand away, the fabric was… red?
‘Shit. My glasses must’ve shattered before I lost them.’
Phoenix turned fully towards him, now. A sharp intake of breath. ‘Bob!’
‘What?’
‘You have some nasty cuts above your eyes. You sure you can still see? Nothing got your actual eyeball?’
‘Miraculously, no. I can’t even feel anything. Must look worse than it feels.’ That was a lie. Now he was aware of them, they stung like an absolute bitch. He wiped away another drop before it fell into his eye, trying not to react when his glove scraped over the cuts.
‘Lucky.’
‘Phoenix, are you okay? You’re not injured?’
Phoenix looked up towards that wide blue sky. ’I can feel some bruises on my shoulders, and my back aches a little, but other than that? No. Just a twisted ankle when I landed. Walked it off on the way to you.’ She stretched. ‘Wonder when search and rescue will show up.’
Bob breathed out. Soon, he hoped. ‘Mav saw where we went down. We won’t be stuck here long.’ He twisted to pull the PRC-149 radio from his vest, fiddling with some buttons to set the frequency to 243MHz. ‘I’ll keep an ear out for the radio.’
Phoenix nodded. ‘The sooner we get back to training, the better.’
Bob made a face. ‘We’re probably out of the mission, now.’
Phoenix uncoiled herself and sprung back onto her feet, walking over to pick up Bob’s helmet. Bob watched her. She wasn’t limping, she wasn’t holding her arms weird, her posture was fine. She was fine. Good. He averted his eyes as she returned, setting the once-white helmet down beside him and crouching back down. It was covered in dirt and dust, now. He wiped his sleeve over his name on the front, scrubbing away some of the grime.
‘Don’t talk like that,’ said Phoenix.
‘Like what? Phoenix, we crashed our fucking plane!’
‘It was a bird strike! Dual engine flameout, unrecoverable! Mav will understand.’
Bob could feel anger boiling under his skin. ‘Don’t act like you weren’t the one who put us in that dive.’
Phoenix’s head snapped towards him, eyes narrowed. ‘What?’ she asked in a dangerously low voice.
Bob swallowed. He knew this wasn’t a good idea. But he was frustrated, and the fear from the ejection was still running through his veins, and he rose to the bait. ‘You didn’t follow the checklist. You were moving too fucking fast! Pressing buttons like your life depended on it, like you didn’t even think to keep our plane under control.’
He saw Phoenix set her jaw. He’d really done it now. Still, he wanted to finish. ‘And then an aileron roll? Really? Is there no time for safety in your cockpit? No time to- to keep us both alive? You know the procedure, you’re the best fucking pilot I’ve flown with, of course you- just- what the hell happened up there with you, Nat?’
Phoenix stared at him a moment longer, the muscle in her jaw twitching. Bob sorely regretted using her name, bracing himself for an earful.
Then, she hung her head in defeat, rocking off her haunches and slumping back. She mumbled something under her breath.
Bob waited. Phoenix never mumbled. Her speech was always assertive, a no-bullshit voice that always knew what to say and when - among many things, he envied that about her. He considered reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder, but abandoned that thought when she spoke.
‘You’re right.’
Bob blinked.
‘Bob, you’re right. I’m sorry.’ She sighed. ‘I thought about it on the way down. I don’t know what happened. My head was thinking we were already in a dual flameout, even when only one engine was on fire to start.’ She shook her head, frowning. ‘Stupid mistake. How does that even happen?’
Bob did reach out this time, cupping a hand over her shoulder, squeezing gently. She didn’t protest, or shrug him off.
‘I think maybe it was my fault. You know, I saw a flock of birds on takeoff. Right as we taxied.’
Bob didn’t say anything. He kept his hand there, gently, on her shoulder.
‘I don’t know.’ She sighed again. ‘I don’t know what the hell went wrong.’
A long moment passed. Wind ruffled the grasses around them. The sky was blue as ever, thin strips of clouds drifting higher than even their planes could reach. Bob brought his hand back to wipe blood off his face again. Phoenix still hadn’t moved an inch, except for her fingers fidgeting with her dog tags.
He pressed his lips together, trying to conjure up the right words to say. He settled with an, ‘It’s okay, Phoenix.’
‘It’s not. We’re basically out of the mission because of me.’
‘Mav likes us. If we train hard, like you said, we still have a chance.’
‘You think he’ll still like us after that stunt I pulled?’
‘Come on. It wasn’t a stunt. You were just under a lot of pressure, and it got to you.’
Phoenix scoffed. ‘I need to work on that.’
Bob smiled. ‘Super-cool Phoenix, admitting she needs practice. Never thought I’d see the day.’
With a laugh, Phoenix cuffed his shoulder gently. ‘Shut your mouth, Bobby. Since when am I super-cool? With my callsign, shouldn’t I be super-hot?’
‘Hey, watch who you’re calling Bobby!’ Bob tried to hit her back, but fell short as his body protested. ‘Ah, shit.’
‘Never thought I’d see the day when you swore, actually, though it’s happened five times now. You good?’
Bob half-laughed, half-grunted. ‘What, am I not allowed to loosen up around my best friend?’
He shut his mouth then. Was that a weird thing to say? He shouldn’t have said that. What would Phoenix think? But she didn’t say anything. Just waited.
He looked away, swallowed, and looked up at the sky again, still so perfectly blue. They should be up there, speeding through the air at Mach 1, practicing for the mission like their lives depended on it (because they did).
A deep breath, again. He was starting to shake. No more fight-or-flight keeping him alert, now. ‘Yeah, I’m good. Hit the ground too hard. And probably got whiplash from ejecting.’
‘We’ll be alright,’ Phoenix reassured him, after a beat. ‘You and me. We’ll get through this.’
Bob nodded, not trusting himself to speak without his voice wavering.
A rustle of clothes, and Phoenix was up on her feet again, stretching her hand out in offering to Bob. ‘Let’s find some shade. Don’t want to get dehydrated. Or burnt.’
Bob hesitated, acknowledging the shooting pain up his shins. ‘I don’t think I can walk.’ Not to mention, his muscles were starting to clock off now his body didn’t believe he was in danger anymore, and he would probably- definitely- fall over as soon as he tried standing.
She didn’t budge. ‘I’ll help you.’
So, he reached his hand out to hers. She dragged him up to his feet with a firm grip, her palm warm against Bob’s fingertips. Bob stumbled as his legs encountered his weight, and Phoenix caught him, pulling his arm around her shoulder, letting him lean on her. She was almost a head shorter than him, but she was just as strong, and definitely sturdier. Together, they staggered into the shadow of a looming canyon wall blocking the afternoon sun.
Bob practically collapsed once they reached the shade, trying his hardest not to make a noise of pain, gasping in relief once the weight was off his legs. Phoenix knelt down much more elegantly beside him, uncapping the small bottle of water attached to her vest and downing half in one go.
‘Do you reckon the others are giving Coyote shit for his GLOC?’
Bob barked a laugh. ‘I pity the man. Hangman’s definitely on his ass about it.’
Phoenix laughed, too. ‘We’re the ones they should be pitying.’
Bob returned a smile, and settled into the quiet.
They sat there, waiting, shoulders not quite touching, while the shadow stretched out slowly in front of them.