#maverick (idiot): alright sounds good to me!

[heatwavering]

bradley bradshaw circa 1998 looking up “patrick swayze shirtless advertisement calvin klein?” on the iMac in Tom Kazansky’s home office after Maverick forces him to watch Point Break (1991):

[callsigncurse]

Offense & Defense - (Pete "Maverick" Mitchell x Reader)

[Part Two of the Agents of Chaos series]

A beach day meant to be spent on team bonding has Maverick hot under the collar. Sure, you're his soulmate, but how the hell is he supposed to compete with Jake "Hangman" Serensin, the much younger (than him) pilot who seems to have a soft spot for you? Or, the chapter where Maverick nearly loses you for good. Warnings: Shirtless, Jealous Maverick (which is, let's be honest, is downright deadly) mentions of a bodily injury (to the reader) Disclaimer: Some of these lines (the ones marked with an asterisk) are copied directly from the movie, but I do not claim them as my own! All rights belong to Paramount Pictures and the writers. Words: 3.3K ← part one

flying idiots gc

Captain: We are meeting at the beach today. Bring water and wear your civvies. I'll provide snacks. Chaos: 🫡 Hangman: Hell yeah Rooster: 👍🏻 Bob: Ok Phoenix: Weird, but alright. Fanboy: Whatever you say, man. Coyote: you had me at snacks Payback: Let's goooo Agent: I'll bring the sunscreen 💕 Hangman: lame 👎🏻 Agent: I will kick your ass, Ken Doll Captain: I'm surrounded by idiots.

The sun is beating down on you when you step around the Hard Deck. The sand is hot to the touch, but the ocean looks cool and inviting. It's a beautiful, sunny day, and it lifts your spirits a little. It had been a rough and stressful few days.

You briefly wonder where Maverick is, looking around the beach to see if you can spot him. You haven't seen him outside of Top Gun since the night he walked away from you. You're just about to start walking further down the beach to see if you can find him when your tattoo constricts tightly around your wrist, alerting you to his presence.

He's standing not even a foot away when you turn around. His aviators are perched on his perfect face, his expression completely unreadable. He's wearing a worn black t-shirt and dark blue jeans rolled up, and he looks good. Really good. 

"Hey." He finally offers. It's the most he's said directly to you in the days after you'd first met. The fact that he's been ignoring you for over a week has a hollow feeling growing in your chest, and you merely nod in greeting.

You squeeze your eyes shut for a moment before you huff out an exasperated sound and turn away from him. It's like he's trying to pretend that nothing has ever happened between the two of you, and it hurts. He'd turned his back on your connection, running away from what could be.

"Sweetheart, please." A shiver wracked down your spine at the sound of his voice, pleading with you. You want to turn around, you want to see his eyes, and you want more than anything to love him. But he doesn't want you; he's made that perfectly clear. You weren't good enough.

"Hey, now wait, don't-"

The sound of your friends startles you, but you don't turn around. You just set up your beach chair and wait for them to settle in, too. You can hear Josh all the way in the parking lot bickering with Phoenix over something you don't quite catch.

You'd told Josh about your string appearing a few days ago, right after Maverick had left you standing on the front porch of your little bungalow. He'd fallen silent, completely in shock, but had told you that he'd keep it to himself. You weren't ready for word to get out about your soulmate, especially not wanting to explain that he was completely rejecting the bond.

Hangman reaches you first; his green eyes warm when he smiles down at you. "Hey there, pretty girl. You come here often?"

A strangled sound reaches your ears, and you turn your head to see Maverick gulping down water while Phoenix pats him on the back. He sees you watching him and waves you off. "Went down the wrong pipe; I'm good."

Bob arrives next, surrounded by Payback and Fanboy, with Rooster trailing behind him. You watch as Bob strolls over and bumps Phoenix with his shoulder to alert her to his presence. It was nice to see them getting along; most of you had gotten pretty close in the last few days.

"Alright." Maverick's voice rang out, and everyone turned to face him. "Today, we're gonna play a little game I like to call Dogfight Football. Offense and defense at the same time. Two footballs, two teams, each trying to score as many touchdowns as possible."

The team breaks out into excited chatter, already arguing over who would be on whose team for the game. You briefly wonder why he's got you guys playing games when you only have so much time to train before the mission.

Maverick must've heard your thoughts because you suddenly felt his presence in your head again. He wasn't looking at you, but he was there all the same. It felt like his hands were cupping your face, his thumb smoothing along your cheekbone, just like he had the first night.

"Trust me, you guys need this. It'll be fun, I promise."

His honeyed voice soothes the frayed nerves that have made themselves known over the last few days. You practically purr at the sound of him in your head, but you push that away as quickly as it came on.

"Whatever you say, Captain Mitchell." You respond, and you feel him flinch at the use of his official title. You slam the mental block down quickly, and he flinches again, harder this time. Only you and Hangman seem to notice the captain's strange behavior.

"You good?" Jake's voice breaks through the noise as he sidles up beside you. He throws an arm around your shoulders as he smirks. "You're looking a little jumpy there. Afraid we're gonna run you into the ground, old man?"

You can't hear him, but you can feel him. Maverick is seething, his jaw tight, while he stares at Jake through his aviators. If looks could truly kill, Hangman would've been gone and buried by now. You can't tell if you're more worried about Jake or aroused by the sight of Maverick; he's really hot when he's angry. You're not sure what he's more pissed about—the way Jake is talking to you or the way he's got an arm wrapped around you.

"We'll see." Maverick finally speaks, with a sharp bite to his voice when he answers. He's calmer now, at least, and you push your presence into his mind. Experimentally, you whisper in his head, your voice soothing.

"Relax. This is supposed to be fun, remember? Don't let him get to you."

He visibly relaxes and shoots you a grateful, beautifully crooked smile.

You were prepared for the game, but you really weren't prepared for a very sweaty, very shirtless Pete Mitchell. He'd shed his shirt halfway through the game, leaving his tanned skin glistening in the sun. Your breath had left your lungs immediately, and you were so focused on how gorgeous he was that you didn't see Fanboy running full speed in your direction.

Hangman sees it all go down and swoops in as quickly as he can. He's fast on his feet and has you up in his arms just a split second before Fanboy was about to crash into you. You're breathless, looking up into those impossibly green eyes with a dazed look on your face.

"Hey, pretty girl." He greets you, a smile flashing over his lips as he adjusts you in his arms. Yours are slung around his neck, your legs wrapped around his waist, and you wonder what it would be like to just lean in and kiss Jake Seresin. At least he acted like he wanted you, even if he was a little bit of a player. (Or, so the rumors said.)

"Hey." You answer, one hand gliding gently through the soft, golden hair at the nape of his neck. "Thanks for saving me back there; I thought for sure I was gonna be a goner. Fanboy is heavier than he looks."

That draws a laugh out of him, and you're a little too into the way the sunlight gleams off of his golden hair and tanned skin. "You got it, doll." And then he's setting you down gently on the sand, but he doesn't move away.

"Seriously?"

You jolt, and Hangman looks at you with disappointment in his eyes when he sees the flash of your soulmate string against your skin. "Ah, shit. Did I overstep?"

"Tell him to let go of you. Please."

His voice is a low growl in your head. You're not sure where Maverick even is, but you're sure he's somewhere behind you. You can feel his eyes boring into your skin as you look up at Jake, your face burning with embarrassment. "I'm not sure why he's even mad; he's made it clear he doesn't want to be with me."

"Chaos."

"It's Maverick, isn't it?" He murmurs, still looking down at you with a look of disappointment. "He's giving me a look that's actually a little terrifying right now." He admits, and his hands slip off of your skin and into the pockets of his swim shorts.

You sigh. "Yeah, it is. Just don't tell anyone, okay? He already made it perfectly clear that I'm not what he wants, so it doesn't matter, anyway." You can hear the sadness in your own voice, and Jake just sighs.

"I'll keep your secret. Scout's honor. And he'll come around, pretty girl." He sets a hand on your shoulder, yanking you into him so he can give you a hug. "But if he doesn't, you're totally welcome to give me a call anytime."

You hear Maverick's frustrated growl in your head again, but this time you just shut him out.

By the next day, you're still angry with Maverick. This game of hot and cold with him is getting old, quickly. You couldn't even hang out with Jake without your soulmate (the one who was constantly saying he didn't want a relationship with you!) getting jealous and getting all growl-y in your ear.

Things are tense; no one has yet to complete the mission. Either Rooster was going too slow and holding you up, or Hangman was going too fast and fucking up the rest of his teammates. You were ready to strangle both of them, even if you loved them both.

"Agent, do you have a lock on the target?"

"Negative, this laser is bugging the fuck out. I've got dead-eye." 

You curse out loud, and then your soulmate, the one who has done nothing but piss you off for two days, 'shoots' you down. The fucker even tells you across the radio that you're dead.

*"Coyote, we're out. Maverick got us." You tell him, not even trying to hide how utterly annoyed you are at the captain. Sure, he's just training you to make sure you cover all possibilities, but still.

*"That's a fail, Coyote. Return to base." Maverick repeats, but Coyote's plane is rising even further into the sky. He's not saying anything in the comms and you're getting a little worried now.

*"Coyote? Level wings." Maverick orders over the comms, a panicked edge creeping into his voice. You're watching with bated breath as Coyote's plane starts to nose dive, and then he's free falling through the air.

"Mav, he's in G-Lock. You gotta get tone on him!" Your heartbeat is slamming against your chest, watching your friend's plane start to plummet straight toward the Earth. You knew if he didn't wake up, he was going to die as you watched, helpless.

Maverick's plane goes screaming towards him and you can hear him yelling Coyote's call sign over the comms. After what seems like a lifetime, at the last possible second, Coyote's plane levels out and he starts climbing back into the sky. You can't help but laugh, relieved to see that your friend was alright.

"I'm alright, I'm good." You can hear Coyote now, and you breathe out a long sigh of relief. That had been way too close for comfort, and your heart was still hammering in your chest.

"Good job, Mav." Your plane levels out next to his, giving him a thumbs up so he can see it.

"You did good, Chaos. The tone idea was brilliant."

There's maybe a moment more of calm before the next round of chaos begins. 

"Bird strike!"

*"Shit, Chaos. Climb!" The left engine is out, and you pull hard on your stick to climb higher into the sky. Agent's voice is panicked when he follows up with, "Left engine is on fire!"

*"Throttling back. Shutting off fuel. Extinguishing fire." You rattle off what you're doing, flipping switches and pushing buttons on autopilot. This is what you've trained for, you tell yourself. Stay calm, and everything will be fine.

*"We’re losing the right engine." Agent's sounding a little more panicked, and you take a deep breath. 

*"It’s still spinning. I’m gonna try to restart it." You flip the APU switch and push the right throttle forward. "APU on. Throttle up. Shit, nothing's happening." Okay, now you're starting to panic. It would really fucking suck if you had to bail out.

*"The right engine is out!" Agent says, and yeah, he's full on panicking now. "Chaos, I think this is it; I've got every warning light lit up back here." 

*"We lost hydraulics; I can't control it!" The stick is useless in your hands, and you're starting to lose complete control. You're spinning out, and yeah, this is really not good.

*"Eject! Eject!" Maverick is practically screaming over the radio, "Chaos, Agent, eject now!"

You grab the handle and pull, and you watch as the canopy flies off your plane backwards. You're launched into the air, and there's only a split second before you see Agent do the same.

It's almost peaceful, floating down with a parachute. But then the plane crashes into the mountainside and something metallic shoots toward you, and the last thing you remember is thinking, "Ow, that hurt." 

The next time you wake up, you know you're in a hospital. The room is stark white; there's a heart monitor next to you and an IV attached to your arm. By the look of the clock on the wall, you know it's well past midnight. You wonder if Agent is here too, and if he managed to land okay.

The next thing you notice is the feeling of someone holding your hand. You turn your head, and you are absolutely flabbergasted to find Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, asleep in a chair that's been pulled up to your bedside, holding your hand.

You shift slightly, moving towards him, and you notice that his normally tan face looks pale. He looks like he hasn't slept in days, and his face looks swollen, like he's been crying. "Maverick?"

He twitches, but his eyes stay closed and his hand stays wrapped around yours. One more urgent whisper of his name, and those intense blue eyes of his slam open, and he looks at you like he's seen a ghost. "Oh, thank God." He leans forward, pressing his cheek against your joined hands, and breathes out a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Not that you mind that he's touching you or even that he's here, but you're beyond confused.

"Bird strike, you had to eject." He looks back at you, his other hand coming out to cup your hand in both of his. "Shrapnel came flying from your plane and hit you as you were coming down. Smacked you right in the chest. You were bleeding out pretty badly when they found you; you had landed hard and hit your head, too."

"Oh." You frown, reaching up with your free hand to touch the edges of the bandages on your chest. Now that he mentions it, it's throbbing uncomfortably. "What about Josh? Is he okay? How long was I out?"

"Agent is fine; he was treated for some light scrapes and bruising and released the next day. You've been asleep for three days. I've, uh, been here every night with you." He admits, and his eyes are still trained on your face. It's almost like he can't believe that you're awake and that you're okay.

"Shit, I've missed that much?" You struggle to sit up, but Maverick stands and gently pushes you back down onto the hospital bed. "Mav, c'mon, I gotta get out of here."

"No, you don't. Simpson has already released you from the mission." He tells you quietly, and your throat constricts. A chance of a lifetime mission, and you were completely out of commission. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you were hurt. You need to rest and heal."

You let out a wounded sound, angry at yourself for being in this position. Your plane was gone; you'd put Agent in danger, and now you were going to miss out on this special assignment. Things couldn't possibly get any worse than they are right now.

"Why are you even here?" That's the question that's nagging at you the most, and in your still-exhausted mind, you deserve an answer. "I didn't know you cared that much."

He looks taken aback, but his hands refuse to let go of yours. His eyes are trained on your face, and to your amazement, they're slowly filling up with tears. His lower lip was swollen from being constantly worried between his teeth, and in this moment, he looks almost delicate. Like he's about to break.

"I almost lost you," he whispers, and he sounds devastated. "I haven't even given us a fighting chance, and I almost lost you."

You turn as much as you can, staring at his face with wide eyes. The strongest man you'd ever met was breaking apart before your eyes, and you almost couldn't believe it. Did he really care that much?

"Of course I do." He swipes a hand at his eyes, catching the tears that had started to slip down his face. "I've never not cared. I'm just... Sweetheart, I'm no good at this. I've never been able to keep down a relationship; I have no kids of my own, and my only godson hates me."

You shift in your bed, moving as much to the side as you can before you pat the space beside you. "Lie down, Mav. You're exhausted; how long has it been since you slept?"

He looks like he's not going to do it for a split second, and then he seems to change his mind. He kicks off his boots and carefully climbs in, sliding his arm under you so you can lie on his chest. You're careful not to jostle yourself as you settle down.

"I care about you too, Mav." You tell him, your hand gently drawing patterns over his chest. "I knew the moment I first saw you that you would be everything to me, you know? And you denying us just... well, it hurt. I guess that's why I was letting Jake hit on me at the beach."

He makes a sound in his chest, and you can't help the exhausted giggle that slips out. "Easy, Pete. He's a great friend, and it won't happen again. Not unless you let me go for good."

"I won't." He answers without hesitation, and you tip your head back so you can see his face better. "I think this week has taught me that I care more about you than I thought. When I'm not training everyone, I'm here. I caused quite a stir the other night when they tried to get me to leave. Iceman had to call and make sure I got special clearance to stay with you at night."

Your heart thumps in your chest. "Hey, Pete?"

"Yeah?" He peeks down at you, his dark eyes studying you with that same intensity that always took your breath away.

"I really like you. And when I can get up and brush my teeth, I'm going to kiss you." Maybe it's the exhaustion you're feeling that's making you so bold, or maybe you're just drunk on the overwhelming affection you feel for him. "Because I really, really want to kiss you."

He stares at you for a solid moment, and then he carefully shuffles you so that he can lean down and press a sweet kiss to your forehead. And then he leaves one on your nose, and both of your cheeks. His lips graze yours, so softly that you can barely feel it. Regardless, your body lights up for him, and you meet his kiss with sweet affection.

"Get some sleep, sweetheart." He murmurs, brushing one last kiss against your lips. "I'll probably be gone when you wake up, but I'll be back before nightfall. I promise."

When you wake up the next morning, your bed is still warm from his body heat, and he's left a flower and a note for you where he'd been sleeping.

I'll be back soon. Don't miss me too much.

Love,

Mav.

[sunlightmurdock]

The Parent Trap | 0.1 | Bradley Bradshaw x Ex-Wife!Reader

♡ Prologue | Next Chapter | Masterlist

♡ In which, after a couple of years of listening to Peyton and Parker Bradshaw complain about their parents’ custody agreement, Grandpa Mav’s meddling goes a little bit too far.

♡ warnings: mentions of divorce throughout the fic, flashbacks to arguments and unhappily married people. Idiots who still love each other and don’t know it. (warnings will be added as story progresses).

…

“Alright! They’re here.” Maverick drops the curtain back into place and turns back towards his granddaughters. “Be cool.”

Peyton looks up, scrunches her nose just a fraction — she takes a moment to analyse what this might entail. Maverick sits back against the couch and opens his book up, picking a random page a couple of chapters in, settling into his position. Parker settles in equally easily, she drops down so that she’s sitting cross-crossed and immediately gets to work penciling in answers on her worksheet. Peyton inhales, then almost forgets to exhale, her mind racing as the sound of footsteps on the porch ring out over the top of Maverick’s soft soul album playing.

Finally, she drops down next to her sister and grabs a pencil.

“It’s been forever since I’ve seen Mav,” You muse, breathing out softly as you follow Bradley up onto the porch. It’s been forever since you’ve even been here, you’ve only seen Maverick a handful of times since you divorced Rooster. He was always kind to you. “He might not even recognise me.” You joke.

Rooster almost scoffs. Recognise you? — He hardly ever shuts up about you. It’s a good thing, probably, that his friends and family are so fond of you. It means he picked a good person to share his life with. It just makes things even more difficult now that the two of you have decided to go your own ways.

“He’s not that old.” Rooster settles with instead, keeping things lighthearted as he turns the door handle and opens the front door. He steps in first and holds the door open behind him for you. Taking a few steps forwards, he has a good view into the living room on the left.

The girls are both sitting on the floor, working on some school work together. Peyton’s helping her sister with math. Maverick is reading a fictional romance novel. One of Penny’s. Peyton is way worse than Parker at math. Damn it.

Maverick glances up from his book and even through the suddenly blurred lenses of his reading glasses, he can see the disappointment on Rooster’s face. Busted. But, as far as Rooster knows, this just means that the three of them spent the afternoon having fun and watching TV. Which isn’t entirely incorrect.

“Hi, Mav.” You step around Rooster sheepishly and lift your hand, waving it at him. Rooster looks you up and down, brows scrunching slightly. This is the man who drove you to the hospital when you were in labour and Rooster was an hour away in traffic. The same one who held you whilst you sobbed at the thought of not being a good enough mother and told you it was all going to be okay. The first person that the two of you told you were expecting.

And here you are, acting like he has become a stranger.

There are lots of aspects of divorce that hurt more than Rooster was expecting them to. Those hour long gaps in his Sundays now that he doesn’t have to go and put gas in your car. Getting home from work on a night that the girls are with you and his home being empty.

Now, Rooster doesn’t have much of a family. It was just Mav for a little while, and then Penny and Amelia came along. But, then he had you — and the girls, and you were all a big family. Now, Maverick is someone that you can only awkwardly say hello to. No longer family.

“Hey, honey! How’ve you been?” The book is discarded and Maverick is pushing himself up off of the couch, arms opened and walking towards you. Your body unstiffens, exhaling quickly as you let him envelope you in a hug. It takes everything in you not to rush out a pained ‘oh my god, I thought you hated me’.

Your mind jumbles, searching for the right words as Maverick squeezes you. He’s greyer than the last time you saw him, he still smells like the same cologne he wore when you met him. That means Penny’s still unsuccessful in making him stop buying the same pine scented spray that he wore in the eighties.

“Good! I’m — busy, but I’m good.” You manage out. He pulls back to look at you, catching your arms like you’ll disappear again if he doesn’t ground you right here with him. He looks over your face fondly. Both of you a little bit older, probably none the wiser.

Pete grins and nods his head. “I’m glad, I’m so glad.”

Rooster looks between the two of you, then back at the kids looking up at them curiously. As he glances back to Maverick, he knows that it’s only a matter of time before the old man starts spouting off some crap about how the two of you would probably be happier together.

“Mav, could we have a second alone with the kids? — We still have to get them home before their bedtime and stuff.” Rooster reminds his uncle gentle. Maverick jumps to his senses and pulls back nodding.

“Oh, right. Of course. I’ll — I’m going to go and start making dinner for Penny. I’ll be in the kitchen.” As he turns, his back to the two of you, his eyes on the kids, Maverick gives them an overzealous wink. It’s up to them from here on out. Then, he leaves and heads for the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.

Bradley moves first. He walks calmly into the living room and sits down in front of the two of them. You follow suit. There’s a beat of silence, the four of you looking at each other.

Finally, you’re the first to speak. “First, your dad and I just wanted to say that we’re glad you two can talk to each other, and that you wanted to help out your sister. But you know that this was completely the wrong way to go about it. Right?”

“We know…” Peyton agrees dejectedly, guilt in her tone and her body language as she twirls her pencil between her fingers.

You do your best not to make it a lecture, knowing that they’ll just zone out if you drone on at them too much. They’re still little and long lectures can be draining on their developing minds. You do your best to engage, asking them questions, keeping them involved.

It’s clear that they know what they did was wrong. You’ve got a sneaking feeling that this probably won’t be the last time they do something like it, but for now it’s resolved either way.

They’re going to write an apology to their teachers for switching classes again. You and Rooster had been texting about this all afternoon, you’ve considered making them write an apology to William — but he’s kind of a little asshole and his mother is even worse.

You check your watch and it’s already a little after seven. Their bedtime is eight. Luckily, Mav gave them dinner, so all you have to do is get them home and into bed. Then, you can get started with the mountain of work that you have left to do tonight.

“Alright, go say goodnight to Grandpa Mav, we should get going.”

“Can I drive home with Dad?” Parker asks suddenly. A quick glance towards your ex-husband, clearly tired after the day, relaxed back against the couch. He moved a while ago, complaining that sitting on the floor was hurting his back. You shake your head quickly.

“No, not today. It’s out of his way, and you two need to get to bed soon.”

“I just wanted to talk to him about the stuff with Billy,” She turns those big brown eyes towards Rooster and looks up at him, guilt filled and sorrowful. “I feel bad for not telling you about it. Can we talk?”

You open your mouth to correct her. Rooster, already suckered, sits forwards and nods his head. “Yeah, Peanut. We can talk about it.”

“You don’t have to, I mean, it’s—“

“It’s alright, I can take them back with me and we’ll just meet you at your place.” Rooster decides, running his fingers through his auburn hair and sitting up, readying to stand.

For the millionth time that day, your children catch you off guard. Peyton looks up, scowling, completely serious as she shouts, “No, I want to go with Mom!”

Rooster glances across at you, then back at her. Ultimately, he shrugs — it has been a long day and the twins’ favourite parent switches up routinely, he has learned to just take it in his stride. “Alright, so we’ll take one each. Just me and you, Parks.”

You’re more skeptical of this behavior, and your daughters recognise it immediately. You squint as you look between the two of them, and their sweet little faces. They’re probably up to something, but like their dad, you’re exhausted and don’t have time to investigate.

“Okay. One each.” You agree with a tired shrug, pushing yourself up from the floor. The girls rush off to say their goodbyes to Maverick, Bradley thanks him for watching them, then you’re all bundling out to the cars. You pause at the realization that Rooster has his bronco.

He catches your scowl as you pass him one of the booster seats. “She’ll be fine, I’ll drive slow.”

“I can take her, it’s not a problem.” You shake your head at the thought of her climbing up into that almost fifty year old, mostly metal, box. Rooster has always defended that truck to you, insisting that it’s safe. Still, you had made him buy something safer for when he has the kids. Their booster seats are still in the backseat of the fourth gen dodge Ram on his driveway, he never takes them in this.

“I’m going with Dad.” Parker insists. You both turn, looking up to find her already climbing on the side of the truck, having lifted herself up onto the step, now struggling to get the door open.

“We’ll see you at your place.” Rooster nods. With that, he turns away from you and wraps and arm around Parker’s middle, scooping her off of the side of his truck and opening the door with her under one arm.

You swallow softly and slide into the driver’s side of your car. Before you’ve even turned the key in the ignition, Peyton pipes up from behind you. “Was it weird being at Grandpa Mav’s house? — Did you guys used to be friends?”

“Alright, you buckled in?” Rooster looks up and checks his rear view mirror, finding his daughter’s smiling face looking back at him. He misses seeing those faces every day. She nods calmly and tugs at the seatbelt to prove it. Rooster nods, turning the radio down a little so that he’ll be able to hear her. The soft top cover will help, since the wind won’t be in their ears.

“Did you see that Mommy got her hair cut? — I like it like that, it’s pretty.” Parker comments, dragging her backpack across the seat towards her and starting to rifle through it as Bradley pulls away from the curb. He glances up at her through the mirror, brows scrunching just slightly, lips quirked.

“I thought we were going to talk about this Billy kid.” He reminds her.

“We are,” She shrugs her shoulders and pulls her notebook from the backpack, along with a blue pencil. “I’m just saying, Mommy looked really pretty today, don’t you think?”

“Your Mom always looks pretty. Just like you, Peanut.” At first glance, it’s a nice thing to say. But, it’s what he always says. With the two of them sharing so many of your features, he’d never dream of saying anything bad about the way you look. Not that he has anything bad to say anyway. Still, Parker is looking for something a little better than that.

She stares at him, squinting for a moment, then persists. “Yeah. But don’t you think she looks especially pretty now?”

Rooster glances up again, lips quirking more, brows scrunching in amused confusion at the serious expression on her face. “Yeah, I guess. — What’s this about?”

“I’m just asking. Don’t you think about Mom when you aren’t with her?” Parker frowns, folding her arms over her chest. Rooster pulls to a stop at a red light and looks back at his daughter, baffled. He always knew that getting a divorce was going to bring up some questions from the kids, he just wasn’t expecting this level of interrogation today.

He gives a small shrug. “Yeah, I think about you guys all the time. Y’know, how you’re doing, if you’re safe—“

“No, not us. Mommy.” Parker interrupts. Rooster glances back again, finding her staring back at him with her pencil resting on the page, her expression impatient. He pulls away from the now green light and shifts in his seat, completely confused.

“Um… yeah, I guess I think about her when we aren’t together. Parks, where’s all this coming from?” He frowns.

“Nowhere. So, anyway… Billy.” She tosses the notebook to the side and rests her hands in her lap.

Peyton twirls a curl around her finger, bopping her head to the lyrics of a song from the noughties. “I just think it’s cool that Daddy gets to fly planes. Did you think it was cool when you met him?”

When you met Rooster, you were still a bartender, working part time in a local boutique. You worked for Penny back then. You were somewhat young, especially impressionable — and he was perfect. Tanned skin, sunglasses and sea-salt tangled curls, asking you how your weekend was going every week.

Listening to your stories, asking you out, telling you about his adventures. It was all so quick in the beginning and yes, he was so cool.

“He was alright.” You answer back, glancing up into the rear view mirror with a soft smile toying at your lips. Peyton grins, she knows what that means.

She’s heard this story a million times and yet she asks again, “What was your first date like?”

Things with Rooster had never been exactly traditional. You’d already slept with him a couple of times before he finally murmured into your skin that he wanted to take you out for real, that he needed to know more about you.

But, that aspect obviously remains between just you and Rooster. You tell your kids about the date by the beach, him trying to impress you with somewhat of a picnic. Pushing him over in the water, him carrying you back to the car when you cut your foot on a rock by the shore.

He was so attentive in the beginning.

By the time you’re pulling onto the driveway, you check the rear view mirror and Peyton’s got her head leaned against the car door, lips parted, dead asleep. You smile softly, shaking your head as you unbuckle yourself and let yourself out.

Rooster pulls up as you close the door behind you. He turns off the ignition and hops down from the truck, standing under the glow of a streetlight.

“Parker’s asleep, I’ll carry her in.” He calls to you, already walking around to grab her door. You shake your head fondly as you turn back towards your car.

“Peyton too.” You chuckle.

Rooster unbuckles his daughter and lifts her into one of his arms, grabbing her backpack from the backseat with the other. He tucks her in against his side, her head lulling onto his shoulder, not stirring from her sleep in the slightest.

You groan as you hoist Peyton up onto your hip, struggling to balance her and shut the car door at the same time. It tugs at your heart strings as you realise out loud, “They’re going to be too big for us to do this soon.”

Rooster chuckles and steps around you to shut the car door for you. He makes it look so easy. “No, they’re going to be too big for you to do this soon. I’ve got a couple more years.”

You hug her closer to you, struggling to keep her tight against you, wondering when she got so big as you fumble for your keys in the tight back pocket of your shorts.

“I’ve got it.” Nudging your wrist out of the way, Rooster dips his hand into your back pocket and takes the keys. It’s a quick interaction, probably not him trying to cop a feel — it’s too fleeting for that, but it leaves you stunned nonetheless. He works the door open and glances back to check that you’re coming, still balancing your daughter with ease as he sets the keys on the end table inside.

Realising quickly that you must look like an idiot just standing there and staring at him, your feet carry you forwards and you kick the door shut behind you. He carries Parker up the stairs ahead of you. It hasn’t been that long since he lived here, it looks kind of different — the pictures on the stairway wall are different, but not unfamiliar.

He rounds the corner and pushes the door to their room open. Now, this is different. White walls dotted with little painted blue flowers, big-girl beds. Long gone is the nursery and toddler furniture that the two of you had filled this room with. It makes sense, their room at his place isn’t that different from this one, but still, he wonders why you didn’t ask him to help.

He sets Parker down on the bed closest to the door, slipping her shoes off of her feet and dropping them down to the floor beside her bedside table. The room would be bigger if they had bunk beds, but after last summer’s top bunk fight, you had forever abandoned that idea.

“I’ll go switch the car seats back over, if you wanna get them ready for bed.” Rooster says gently as you walk past him to set Peyton down in her own bed. You lift your head and nod gratefully at him across the dark room. Leaning forwards, you flick the switch for Peyton’s nightlight, it’s soft white glow illuminating the room enough for you to see the smile on his face.

“Thanks. Could you come back in afterwards? — I wanted to talk to you about something.” You’re busy unlacing Peyton’s tennis shoe and so you don’t notice the elated smile that’s on her face as she feigns unconsciousness. Rooster nods calmly.

“Sure. I’ll wait downstairs.”

Getting them both into their pyjamas, tucking them safely under their covers and slipping their respective stuffed animals in with them, kissing them both goodnight, it’s all part of the usual routine. Rooster’s leaning against the kitchen counter when you return back downstairs, arms folded over his chest as he frowns at the sink.

Slowly, you come to a stop a little bit away from him, unsure of how to say what comes next. You inhale, fiddling with your hands in front of you. He isn’t even looking at you, it’s like he knows already.

“Does it always drip like that?” He asks, pushing himself up and crossing the room to inspect the faucet. Your lips part, brows furrowing slightly. You hadn’t even noticed. He cranes his neck to get a better look. “You should’ve said, I can fix it this weekend or something, if you’re around.”

“Um… I actually wanted to see if you were free this weekend.” You explain calmly. Parker’s mouth gapes open as she and her sister huddle together at the bottom of the stairs, trying to listen to the soft conversation happening a room away. Rooster glances at you over his shoulder, just as taken back by the idea as his kids are. “There’s someone that I want you to meet.”

Rooster turns around to face you, leaning back against the counter and resting his hands on the wooden countertop. “Me? — Who would you want - Oh. You’re seeing someone?”

Realisation covers his face; it’s neither a good or bad reaction, and after years of knowing him as intimately as you do - did - you wish you could tell. You try to act as natural as he does about it.

“Well, I’ve been on a few dates with someone,” You explain gently. It’s a sensitive topic, telling your ex that you’re trying to move on. You’re not naive, you know that Rooster has hooked up with people since the divorce, you have too. But it’s different now, it’s bigger. “I really like him, and I’m thinking of introducing him to the girls. But I want you to meet him first.”

Parker slaps a hand over her sister’s mouth to contain the gasp, both of them ducking behind the railing by the stairs, like they won’t be seen through the gaps. They exchange looks, a thousand thoughts at once, plans being drawn up internally already.

It’s quiet in the kitchen, bar the sound of the faucet dripping behind him. His eyes, a dark hickory, search over your features. It’s unclear exactly what answer he’s searching for in your expression, but it doesn’t take him long to find it.

“Alright,” He nods his head. He signed those divorce papers just like you did. He was there for the custody hearing, the division of assets, explaining it to the kids. Rooster’s been present and aware of what this divorce means every step of the way. It’s been two years of pretty much radio silence. Neither one of you have exactly hidden the little flings you’ve had in the meantime, but you’ve kept that from the kids and you haven’t made a point of telling each other either.

Rooster’s trusted your judgment for as long as he has known you. If you think you’ve found someone worth introducing to the kids, then he should be happy. It wouldn’t be fair to hold you back.

He gives another curt nod, “That’s… it’s great. Congratulations.”

Your racing heart settles just slightly at his approval. Its pace slows but the pounding remains the same as you slowly raise your eyebrows at him. “So, this weekend?”

“Oh. Yeah, I’m free.” He agrees, nodding his head slowly. He taps his fingers on the countertops and glances around the home that the two of you had bought together just under a decade ago, silently wondering if your new boyfriend has been over.

It’s nothing to be upset about, the divorce was for the best, you both agreed that there shouldn’t be any hard feelings about it — these things happen. But, still.

“So, what’s he like?”

Your tongue darts out to wet your lips as you shift on your feet. “Um… well, he’s a carpenter, and he owns a DIY place down the street from my store. His name’s Chris, he’s about our age. He’s nice, I think you two would get along.”

Not a convict, not too old or too young for you, owns his own business. Rooster can’t find much to complain about. Peyton’s brows furrow as she waits for her dad to fix this, to tell you to stop seeing that guy and be with him instead. Rooster’s face softens as he nods his head again.

“He sounds great,” He decides finally, his voice gentle as he takes a step towards you and opens his arms. “I’m really happy for you.”

You exhale deeply, relieved as he wraps you in a loose hug, every fibre of the interaction platonic. Just as quickly as you’re tucked in his strong, warm arms, he lets you go again.

“Text me a time and a place, the three of us can do something this weekend,” Rooster brushes some loose curls back off of his forehead and squeezes your arm as he steps past. Parker sighs, leaning her head back, crushed. He’s doing it all wrong. “And… um, thanks for keeping me in the loop about all this. I really appreciate it.”

Your lips quirk up into a soft smile as you nod at him. His footsteps grow closer, reminding the girls that they’re supposed to be in bed. It’s a quiet scramble, trying not to trip over each other as they race back to their bedroom.

…

@fadingbelieverexpert @jessirosebud @cowboybarbie @pinkpantheris @thedroneranger @a-serene-place-to-be @xoxabs88xox @unordinare

[midnightdevotion]

Storm

Phoenix x reader part 4 of prey!

Warnings: Slow burn, enemies to lovers, angst? hurt reader

a/n: sorry for this taking so long my loves, I hope you enjoy this part!

When you woke up this morning with a raging hangover and embarrassment pushing against your heart in a way that makes you want to stay in bed forever.

Sighing you sit up and square your shoulders. If you have to get through today then you might as well try and do it with your head held high.

Groaning as you recall Phoenix being the one who had taken you home. Instead of slamming your head into the wall you tighten the standard regulation boots around your ankles.

Thankfully nobody said a word about you doing anything embarrassing. Truthfully everyone's gotten a bit too drunk a time or two. You just expected yours to be the brunt of jokes today.

You feel like your skin is crawling until the moment you sit in your jet. It's like all the built in tension that started as soon as you woke up this morning is gone. Any worries or stress that clouds your mind is gone as soon as you are in your jet. The sound of the loud jets couldn't even get hungover you down. Sure it made your head pound a little harder but you weren't discouraged by that in the slightest.

The roaring sound is muffled by the headphones to talk to other pilots but you can feel the rumbling in your bones. It sparks your soul on fire every time.

"ready to kick some ass?" none other than your new found best friend echos through the mic.

"Oh hangman I'm always ready to kick some ass" his laughter chortles back. You're running drills together today- not dogfighting but it excites you all the same.

You're two runs in with hangman, trying to beat the time when Maverick crackles over the radio.

"you guys need to turn back now." he sounds urgent and serious.

"what why?" you guys were making good time this time around, and you didn't want to give that up.

"a storm changed directions and it's rolling in fast- get grounded as soon as possible" being caught up in a storm is something no pilot really wants, but you and hangman are so close to reaching the goal time.

So you do what any two cocky idiot pilots would do and you two press on. You're almost done anyways and then you can head back. In another minute and a half you and hangman curse, barely not beating the course by 5 seconds. 5 seconds too slow. Too slow-- words a pilot never wants to hear. You two turn to head back when you see the storm behind you.

"Uh jake you seeing this?" you swallow thickly- when maverick said storm you didn't expect the large black clouds billowing in and quickly.

"oh I see it alright. let's hustle" and you two did exactly that. Whipping through the sky above the canyon to avoid the need to slow down. You two make good time, not wanting to mess with the ominous sky. As hangman goes into land you circle around to get ready for your landing.

That's when everything goes wrong though. A wind burst hits your right engine in a way that makes it stall, you're too close to the ground to try and get the engine up and running again.

"My-My engine stalled- going in for a landing with one engine, don't have another option."

"What! you'll come in way too hot!"

"I know that's why I'm going to turn and run the runway backwards- i'll hit empty field not building"

"tiger You can't do that you'll get seriously hurt"

"You got another option for me? I can't eject- too close to the ground- if i turn off to turn on to fix the stall I'll crash. Landing unsteady has to be it" Silence crackles back at you, and you know that while he doesn't like it he agrees.

"Please be careful"

"have some faith" and with that you make the turn, lowering your altitude and targeting yourself to the runway.

Your wheels touch ground roughly, and too quick. Your body whips around like a rag doll. The last thing you see is the rough field quickly approaching before your head slams into the window and you black out.

----

Phoenix was never fond of running, she could do it sure- but on the days it was time to run laps she hated it. She could deadlift more than half her weight but running was the bane of her existence.

This time though, she hadn't even realized she was running. Blood was rushing in her ears so loud that she can't even register the yelling going on around her.

She's halfway down the runway when Bob finally catches her, stopping her by grabbing her shoulders.

"Phoenix stop" her eyes lock on his and her brain comes into focus.

"She's hurt bob"

"I know- the medics are already out there helping her, you would just get in the way and she doesn't need that right now."

"bob-- I-" He nods his head and pulls her into a hug.

"I know, she will be okay and you can tell her yourself."

Thirty minutes later Phoenix is pacing in the waiting room of the hospital. Nobody had anything to say on your condition and it was driving her mad.

How did nobody know how you were doing? The whole team was sitting in the waiting room around her and she could see their nervousness too. Rooster bouncing his knee, bob tapping his thigh, Hangman being shockingly quiet and biting the inside of his cheek. Maverick was up at the nurses station trying to find anything out, even though he knew they wouldn't give him anything.

It's four cruel hours later that a nurse finally comes in and breaks everyone out of their anxious stares at the stark white walls.

"y/n" when the nurse says your name the entire team shoots up.

"yes- how is she??" its a frantic question and Natasha isn't sure who asked it but that's not important.

"She is pretty banged up, has a severe concussion and a broken arm and fractured ribs but she should be fine" Everyone breathes out a simultaneous breath of relief.

Nobody says anything as Jake lets out a watery laugh.

"you guys can go see her- she's pretty out of it but that's normal. One at a time would be best too, we don't want to overwhelm her." Everyone nods their understanding and everyone but Jake heads to the waiting room just down the hall from her room. Natasha can breathe again for the first time since your wheels touched the tarmac, but she knows Jake needs to see you first.

---

Groggily you open your eyes, the bright white lighting making your eyes water and your head pound harder. The doctors had explained everything to you in confusing medical terminology but from what you understand you will be okay.

Sighing as you look down at your arm, an orange cast that mocks you. A reminder that you can't fly for the next couple months and it makes your heart hurt.

Your parent's had been notified and were flying to California as soon as they could. Realistically you knew how dangerous the stunt you pulled today was, and it's a miracle you are still alive and the jet didn't just crash and burn with you in it.

The door to your room creaks open and there stands a green in the face Jake Seresin.

"Hey partner" your voice is rough but you crack a smile at him anyways.

"I'm so sorry" that makes you furrow your brow.

"Jake none of this was your fault. You didn't make the storm switch directions, you didn't make me finish that course and you didn't cause my engine to stall"

"I should've had you land first"

"that would've made no sense you were ahead of me in the formation" logically he knew this, but you could see the guilt in his eyes as he glanced at your arm.

"shit happens seresin, I got a cool story out of this"

"that's not funny" he grumbles but there is a crack of a smile on his face.

"too soon?" and then he laughs.

"I just need by best friend up in that sky as soon as you're better alright?"

"try and stop me" you two share grins for a moment and he gives your aching body a hug. He informs you that the whole team wants to see you as well but they are only allowing one person at a time, and that he will see you later because there is no way you're sleeping in a hospital alone.

Everyone trickles in one and a time, and next thing you know you're exhausted. Who knew crashing while hungover would make for such a draining day. Maverick, the second to last visitor stands, promising he will have hangman pick up your favorite dinner rather than the mediocre cold food the hospital provided.

You rest your eyes for a moment before Natasha is sent in. When the familiar sound of the door creaking open sounds through the room you crack an eye open.

"I'm still a better pilot Trace" Her quiet laughter rings out

"Next time you need an excuse to get out of a mission just say that" you laugh back at her. This newfound lightness between you two is strange, but refreshing. You didn't realize how much energy it took to hate the small brunette everyday. A moment of silence lulls between you too, struggling to know what to say in this new terrain of friendship.

"you really scared us today" you close you eyes and grin.

"well you know, sometimes everyone needs a near death experience just to keep things interesting" She doesn't laugh and you don't open your eyes. So when you feel her hand grab your cast free hand it startles you.

"please don't ever do that again" you squeeze her hand

"trust me I don't plan too" she squeezes back and it's as if you two reach an understanding that there are things unsaid but you can't find the courage or energy to say them.

To be fair, almost dying is a pretty draining way to spend the day.

So is worrying about the person you love dying.

------

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[teaspacebar]

not bad, for a pipsqueak

if you’re wondering how Pip got her nickname - here’s me going down a rabbit hole. the Juno boys are here and there’s plenty of Salem content because y’all are thirsty for him.

this is technically not an official ��war of hearts’ chapter, but has information that will be used in future parts.

words: 2k+

taglist:@morganas-pendragons @deathlessdays @obiorbenkenobi @painkiller80 @abovethyfold @the-lady-of-stars

It was safe to say that you were nervous for your first solo mission.

You were at the transport, Jedi robes off to the side. You’d never tell anyone, but you felt far more comfortable out of your robes than in them. It was like shedding a layer, a freeing feeling washing over you. Especially during times like these, you’d take any small comfort you could get. The ship you were on wasn’t one of the usual carriers. It was bigger and it looked...lived in.

“What’re you doing here?” You jumped, caught off guard while your head was in the clouds. Turning around, a trooper with bright red hair entered your vision. You sputtered for a moment, trying to find the words to introduce yourself. Before anything could even leave your mouth, he turned around to yell, “Hey Mav, we’ve got something here!”

“Flare, you didn’t have to yell, I was right outside.” Two more clones walked onto the ship. The one who spoke had the usual clone appearance, dark hair cut short and no tattoos in sight. 

The other was completely different. His hair was bleached - so much that it was basically white - and fell a bit into his eyes. A geometric tattoo was visible on his neck, disappearing into the armor he was wearing. There was a look of disinterest on his face, “Who’s the pipsqueak?” 

“That’s what I was wondering,” Flare added. 

More men started to flood in as the one he called ‘Mav’ approached her, “This would be our new Commander, boys.” Flare cursed - you’d have to ask Reed what it meant later - followed by murmurs from the rest of the men. 

Pushing the nerves down, you smiled at them, “That’s me!”

“She doesn’t look like she could cut down a single droid,” the same white-haired man cut in, arms crossed. 

“Salem, she’s a Jedi,” a raven-haired trooper hissed, nudging his elbow into the man next to him. 

“Still a pipsqueak.” 

You sighed, willing yourself to keep the smile on your face. You had expected this after all. Cale and Reed had both admitted to underestimating you when they first met you. Once you had proven yourself, the respect came readily. “I know that you all probably think that you had no need for a Commander. From the specs, your squadron has been extremely successful. I’m not here to point and expect you to follow. I’ll be by your side, working with you and listening to your opinions.” You leveled your gaze at Salem, “Truth is, I have less experience in war than you. Trust has to be built - on both ends. And I hope that you’ll give me the chance.”

The cleaned-up brunette held out his hand, “Captain Maverick, sir.” You grasped his forearm, gripping it tightly. His eyes widened for a moment, before he returned the grip and shook your hand once. You’d have to thank Cale for that tip later. “Alright boys, let’s load up.”

-

A few days into your mission with the Juno Squadron and you had won over most of the boys.

There was Bailey, who took to you almost immediately. He reminded you a lot of Cale and Reed, trying to make you as comfortable as possible. The raven-haired man stuck to your side most times, unless he had to go blow something up. 

Ziggy quickly followed after you started talking to the astromech droid - Zag. Most squadrons didn’t have their own droids, but Ziggy got Volts to fix up Zag, and the two were inseparable. 

The Captain, Maverick, was kind and followed your direction easily. You noticed he watched the rest of the boys closely, taking account of every variable he could. 

Phys, the squadron’s medic, warmed up to you when you took interest in the med kits he was putting together. Having worked at the Grand Medical Facility, you’d picked up on different medical techniques, which the two of you discussed for a few hours. 

Volts was a tad eccentric, choosing to spend his time crafting modifications with spare parts for his blaster rather than talk to you. 

That left Flare and Salem -  the former seemingly frustrated and the latter completely ignoring you. You had realized that Flare’s irritation came from how much he cared about his brothers. You were a new addition that changed the whole squad dynamic, his reaction was understandable.

But it was Salem that threw you off. After calling you ‘pipsqueak’ he hadn’t spoken a word to you. He watched you, though. You could feel his eyes boring into you from wherever you were. You hoped by the end of this mission that you would find common ground with the sharpshooter.

-

When would the mission end?

What was meant to be a one week escapade, had now turned into a month long problem. The Separatists had a bigger force on the planet than the Republic had thought. And they weren’t planning on sending any reinforcements. You were told to get off the planet as soon as you were able.

But knowing you, Obi-Wan had given you a look that you could almost feel through the Force. 

“Master, I’m fine.”

“For that I am glad, but you should get back to your transport as soon as possible and get back safely.”

“There’s children, Obi-Wan.” Children were always a weakness of yours. Any child in pain made the Force ache in your chest. 

A resigned look passed over his face, “Do what you must, but know we cannot interfere with dealings that are not in our jurisdiction.”

“Of course, Master.”

“May the Force be with you.” The hologram disappeared, and you leaned against the wall of the cave you currently resided in.

“You want to save the kids,” Salem appeared from the entrance. 

You spared him a glance, nodding as you tugged on your belt to tighten it. “I’ve been told that it’s a problem of mine.”

“It’s against orders.” 

You finally looked at him head-on. It was almost as if he was testing you. “They said we had to get off the planet as soon as possible. The route back to the ship goes around the Separatist base. We would be making the trip shorter if we just went through it.” Walking past him to leave the cave, you continued, “If Volts could find a way to get us inside, Bailey would know where to place the charges. Have Ziggy, Flare, and Phys grab the transport and meet us back here.”

“It could work,” Maverick chimed in, having joined your side after you had stepped outside the cave. 

“And what would I be doin’?” Salem crossed his arms.

“Keeping our exit clear. If droids come up behind us, we won’t make it before the charges go off.” Brown eyes met yours. “We blow up the base,” you trailed off.

“We save the kids,” Salem conceded. 

“We save the kids.” 

-

The plan was going well. The charges were set, Ziggy and his team had made it to the ship. 

You were almost out.

“Commander, we’ve got a problem!” Maverick’s voice blared through the comms. 

“What is it?” You cut down a battle droid, sending others flying as you Force-pushed them. 

“Salem had to move from his position and now droids are heading to our exit.”

“Kriff.” The curse spilled from your lips without thought. “Is he alright?”

“M’fine, just get outta’ there before the whole thing blows,” crackling cut some of Salem’s words off. You jumped over a group of droids as Bailey threw a few ion grenades, making them fall. 

“Where’s Ziggy?” You ran up to Maverick’s side, eyeing the droids that walked toward you. If your pilot made good time, you’d be gone before the droid reinforcements got there. 

“Almost here,” the captain replied.

“And Salem?” At Maverick’s frown, you froze. “Salem?” This time, you spoke into the comms. 

“Some clankers found my location,” Salem’s voice barely came through. 

You tossed the detonator to Bailey, “When Ziggy gets here, you go, alright? Blow this place up and then find us.”

“Commander-”

“That’s an order, Captain.” And then you ran into the fray.

- 

A one week mission turning into a month long excursion ended with the whole team making it out with barely a scratch.

Well, almost without a scratch. 

You had plenty of bruises and you got shot in the arm after you jumped in front of Salem to block blaster fire from some droids. Phys had fixed you up quickly after Volts pulled the two of you onto the ship. As Ziggy flew you all away, you watched as the Separatist base fell. You were proud of the boys, and exceedingly happy that they were alright. 

“You’re an idiot.” You blinked, looking up at Salem in confusion. You sat on the ground of the transport, eating some nutrient paste. “There was no reason to get me.”

“You’re the one who’s lacking intelligence if you don’t think there was a reason for me to save you,” you challenged. “Your life is just as important as those kids we saved today. This is your family, Salem, I wasn’t just going to leave you to die.”

A moment of silence passed between the two of you, until the side of Salem’s mouth quirked up, “Not bad...for a pipsqueak.” You rolled your eyes, accepting his hand to help you stand.

- 

“C’mon you pipsqueak, you can make it.” 

It was another one of those situations where you had told them to go. Another situation with children. 

Salem knew how you felt about kids. He’d seen you interact with Commander Tano. The smile on your lips and the happiness in your voice was evident. Whenever kids were involved it was like your self-preservation switch would flip. Nothing was more important than the children.

And so they let you go across the bridge that was steadily falling apart. 

“She’s coming back,” Bailey shouted. You were running, child in hand. You deflected blasts, tugging the kid with you back over the bridge. As you made it across, a scream tore through the air. The bridge collapsed, and right before his eyes, Salem watched the child fall. You yelled, voice sounding nothing like your own as you attempted to reach out - to grab her with the Force, with anything. 

“Haar'chak,” Salem cursed, watching as most of the droids fell with the rest of the bridge. He let the boys take down the remaining clankers as he ran to where you were knelt on the ground. “Hey, we gotta go.” More droids would be there in a matter of minutes. The sharpshooter waved off Maverick, who had began to walk toward them. 

When you didn’t respond, Salem knelt next to you. He could see tears fall from your eyes as you stared blankly at the canyon. “Pipsqueak, there’ll be more here, we’ve gotta move.” 

Nothing.

“Pip.” Salem put his hand on top of yours, and you finally turned to stare at him. His heart lurched, but he maintained his composure, “C’mon Pip, we have to go.” 

A beat passed, then you nod. He helped you to your feet, blocking your vision of the canyon as you walked back to the boys.

-

“She’s taking it hard,” Phys commented.

“Of course she is,” Bailey huffed, “the kid was torn right from her, how do you think she was going to react?” 

“Bailey,” Maverick chastised, “not helping.” 

Salem ignored his squadron as he spotted Commander Tano walking up to you. You grinned upon seeing the Jedi, pulling her into your arms. The younger Jedi said something that made your eyes light up for the first time in the past few days. 

“We’ve got to do something,” Ziggy murmured to him, pulling his attention back to the group. 

“Pip’s strong,” Salem voiced. “All we can do is be there when she needs us. We are a team, after all.” All six of the boys stared at him with confusion. “What?”

“Where’d you go? Did Bailey go and dye his hair to pretend to be you?” Volts poked him in the side.

“No, you di’kut.”

“Maybe you’re the pipsqueak,” Flare snickered.

Salem growled, “I will cut all your hair off.” 

“It suits her though - Pip.” Bailey had a dreamy smile on his face. 

Salem’s gaze slid back to you as Commander Tano began tugging you out of the room, “Yeah, it does.”

[currently-in-fanfiction-hell]

XZero Week Extra Day: Spy (Free Prompt)

Axl had noticed something.

He was sure it wasn't just a feeling.

As of late, X and Zero had been leaving HQ a lot more, it was true that they weren't called in for missions as of late, but something felt...off.

Yes, he was aware that they often went out together, but recently they've been going out of base more often, for longer periods of time.

He was sure of it.

They had to be dating.

Of course, he talked about all of this with Palette, who had more or less the same suspicions.

Together, they had set up a little mission.

The next day, they'd both take a pocket camera with them and follow X and Zero around, if anything special happened, they'd snap a few photos.

They didn't have much of a plan, actually.

----------------------------------------------------------

Axl peeked his head out from the wall, making sure that his targets couldn't see him.

The corridor was empty, he was in the clear.

"Phew!" He let out a huge sigh of relief, every second he was on the edge of his seat, at the risk of being spotted.

Carefully, he walked across the corridor, trying to minimize the sound of his footsteps as much as possible.

He had reached the end of the corridor, peeking his head out of another wall, his targets had just exited the base.

Now, he was in a bit of an impasse, he could follow them out of Maverick Hunter HQ, but at the risk of being spotted by anyone on his way out, or he could wait it out to avoid suspicion, but at the cost of losing track of his targets.

He needed to play it smart, and quickly, but how...?

Screw it, he thought, thinking of a strategic plan was going to take too long, without hesitation, he dashed straight for the door.

He didn't care if he was spotted by anyone else but them, he wasn't a ninja, he just had one objective.

Photos.

That was all he needed.

Shoot, he'd lost sight of them.

He ran and ran, stopping on a random sidewalk to catch his breath, surprisingly, his targets were nearby.

Suddenly, he heard a beep.

He took out his mobile phone, it was ringing very loudly, Axl sighed, bracing for impact.

"Axl, what the HELL were you thinking?! Alia called, asked if you had anything to do with them since you decided to FREAKIN' DASH OUT OF THAT DOOR AFTER THEY LEFT, DO YOU REALIZE THAT IF ANYONE DECIDES TO CALL ONE OF THEM, WE'RE SCREWED?!" Yelled an angry Palette through the phone.

"Hey, Palette, shhhh, they're nearby, any louder and they might overhear this conversation." Axl whispered.

He could hear Palette sigh, "If only you were this serious during missions."

"But this is a mission we're both taking part in, you wanted to do this."

"This poor excuse of a 'mission' was your idea, stupid." She said, she wasn't yelling, but very, very angry.

"Okay, but you still wanted to help out, quite enthusiastically, I might add."

Palette groaned, "Okay, fine, you win. Anyway, you've got your pocket camera, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Anyways, I think you should focus on snapping those pictures."

"Right, I'll call once I snap a few pictures, they're stopping to have a conversation, I'll fill you in if something special happens."

"Right, thankfully your idiotic move gave me a reason to head out, I told them I was going after you, I might be able to catch up soon."

Beeeeep.

Axl hid behind a lamppost, trying to listen in.

"Hey Zero, what do you say we stop for something to eat after this? I'm getting a bit hungry."

"Sure, what about that cafe nearby? Roast and Relax?"

"Sounds great!"

Axl quickly took out his phone and messaged Palette.

"They're headed to Roast and Relax."

Send.

Palette responded faster than he thought.

"Roger, surprisingly I'm nearby, I headed from a different route, thankfully."

"Alright, I think I can see it from my location, I'll use my Copy Chip to look like a regular civilian Reploid, then I'll just casually walk there."

Send.

"Right, see you there! :D"

Axl was grateful that he had a Copy Chip, staying how he was is too big of a risk.

He felt his body change, in a flash he turned into a random civillian.

He casually walked past his targets, going for an outdoor seat when he reached the cafe.

Just a few moments later a random Reploid girl walked up to him, "Hey, you got here faster than I expected."

"Hm? Who are you?" Axl asked, this wasn't anyone he recognized.

The girl sighed, "Axl, it's me, Palette, don't forget that I'm a new-gen too."

Axl was a little shocked, and a little embarrassed, "Riiiight, sorry about that-" He paused, "wait, how'd you know it was me?"

"Random guess, if I was wrong I'd be in an awkward situation I didn't ask for." She shrugged.

They both shifted their gazes to X and Zero, coincidentally (and rather conveniently), they also went for an outdoor seat.

Palette sat down next to Axl and they both watched watched X and Zero intensely from a distance.

The waiter came to X and Zero's table, due to the heavy chatter in the atmosphere, they couldn't hear anything they said, but they were sure the good stuff would come when their food arrived.

After taking their own orders, Axl and Palette continued spying on X and Zero, starting a random conversation with the other occasionally in order to not look like creeps.

After a while, X and Zero's food came.

A delicious, creamy slice of chocolate cake.

"Whoah, that looks...good." Palette gazed in awe.

"Palette, you're drooling." Axl giggled.

"W-what? You saw nothing!" She wiped her mouth, embarrassed.

They turned to look at X and Zero, who were starting to eat their cake.

Axl had his camera prepared, just in case.

And then it happened.

Jokingly, X held up a small piece of cake to Zero's mouth using a small spoon, although embarrassed, Zero opened his mouth as X put it in his mouth.

Click, snap.

"I got one!" Axl squealed excitedly.

"Shhh, they'll hear you!"

There was much more, X placing his hand on Zero's, drinking a milkshake from the same glass using two straws, Axl and Palette took pictures of it all.

Eventually, their own food came, they golfed it all down in a matter of minutes.

But then came a problem.

"Uhhh, what are we gonna do about the bill?" Palette asked.

"Shoot...you got money?" Axl asked, he didn't have a good feeling about this.

"No, that's why I asked you." Palette said, worry settling in her face.

"Shoot."

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Came a voice from right in front of them.

Oh no, Axl thought, it's them.

"I-it's nothing!" Palette stuttered, "we were just discussing the bill, that's all."

Her body was tensing, she didn't know what to do, in a state of panic, she accidentally dropped her camera.

She reached out to grab it, but X's hand reached it before hers could.

"It's alright, I find it nice to help out," X smiled, "here you go-"

Oh.

Oh no.

Axl saw the look on X's face as he saw the pictures, a mix of shock, confusion, and worry.

Zero took a look as well, a while later, he glared at them, on the verge of shouting, "Who are you two? Explain yourselves this instant." He demanded.

They sighed, there was no hiding it.

"A-Axl?! Palette?!"

"Look, it's not what it looks like-"

"It was Axl's idea." Palette said.

"Why'd you do that?!" Axl yelled at her.

Freakin' snitch.

"You two planned this out, didn't you?" X asked, he seemed very angry.

"Sigh...yes." Axl gave in, Palette left him with no other choice.

"You two are going to be in a lot of trouble when we get back." Zero told them.

Thankfully, they were still nice enough to pay for the bill.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Look, we didn't have any malicious intent, it was just for fun." Axl tried to reason.

"Yeah, we just wanted to know what you two were up to." Palette pitched in.

"Sigh, we'll let you off as long as you delete those photos." Zero told them.

"Fine..." Axl grumbled.

"W-we just wanted to tell you, we support your relationship! We won't tell anyone at base, at all, we promise." Palette said.

"Thanks." X said, "You still owe us for the bill, though."

-FIN-

[adversaryproject-blog]

Love Song Drabbles: I Found

Love Song Series

There is a playlist on Spotify called ‘You and Me’. I have decided to start a loosely affiliated drabble series based on these songs - one for each song. This drabble is part of that series. 

Welcome to ‘Love Songs’.

I Found

Word Count: 1344

Summary: Tyler is expecting you to show up at a major hometown show, but you are missing. Hurt and confused he gets some news he wasn’t ready to handle and finds some feelings he didn’t know he had. TylerxReader

Notes: This drabble is based on the song ‘I Found’ by Amber Run.

Warnings: Mentions of past injuries and hospitals.

Dedication: @ohprettyweeper

“The tickets will be waiting for you at the box office,” you could hear Tyler’s smile through the phone, “so make sure you bring an ID to pick them up.”

“Of course,” you tried to sound excited through the pain.

“And I assumed you would be bringing Marie, so there are two tickets,” his voice changed from excited to concerned.

“Thanks,” you count out the painkillers in your head before picking them up from the counter.

“Are you alright?” his voice was small, “you seem distant.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you wince, you weren’t doing as good a job as you thought, “I just have a headache is all.”

“Another one?” his voice was serious now, “you had one just the other day too.”

“It’s just stress from work, is all,” you pop the pills into your mouth, “promise.”

“As long as you are taking care of yourself,” he seemed to relax.

“I am,” you quickly swallowed a glass of water.

“I’m so excited to see you,” Tyler said softly, “it’s been too long.”

“Yeah,” you smiled. It had been almost a year since the last time the two of you had spoken face to face - too long. While you had been close since about your sophomore year of high school, this growing thing between the two of you had never really been addressed. You didn’t keep in touch with other friends from fifteen years ago like you did him, and there was something that wasn’t there before. It sat between the words you did manage to say, like a weight on a scale, tipping your feelings in his direction.

“I’m going to let you go, so you can get some rest, okay?” he yawned.

“Okay,” you resisted the urge to yawn as well.

“Good night, Y/N,” he paused for a moment. “Sleep well, Lollipop.”

You felt your heart skip a beat, he hadn’t used that name for you since before the band had gotten big. It had been years.

“You too, Maverick,” you returned the gesture, hoping it sent some of your feelings silently over the phone.

“See ya.”

“Yeah, see ya,” you hear the silence settle on the other end before lowering your phone from your ear.

You would talk to him tomorrow after the show. You had to. About everything.

Tyler threw his arms in the air, the roar from the crowd washed over the stage like a breaking wave.

Another glance over his shoulder, towards the side of the stage - the tech shook his head.

Feeling his heart drop a little lower, his fingers found the keys for the next song and he shook his head, a little harder than normal to adjust his thoughts. He needed to be here, to be in the now - these people had come for a show and he would give them one. They were important and should be his priority. But the empty stage left, and the unclaimed backstage passes slowly ate away at him as the night wore on.

“This next song is for my main man, Josh,” he pushed through, he always did.

“What’s going on, man?” Josh wiped down his face with the white towel. “You’ve been off tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” Tyler’s fingers massaged his forehead. “She didn’t show up.”

“Y/N?” Josh frowned as his shoulders fell, “so, Marie didn’t either?”

“No,” Tyler’s voice was quiet.

“You should call them,” Josh put the towel down and stretched his sides, “something might have happened to them.”

“Yeah,” Tyler dug through his dressing room bag, “I just hope they’re alright.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing serious-” Josh was cut short by the look on his bandmates face, “what is it?”

“I have sixteen missed calls from Marie,”  he rubbed the back of his head as he pulled up the voicemails, “I think I might need to go.”

“Yeah man,” Josh watched Tyler pace as he listened to the panicked sound in Marie’s voice over the phone.

Tyler’s eyes were wide as he jumped between messages. “She’s at Wexner,” he cut off Marie’s last message, “let’s go.”

He paused in the doorway of the small hospital room. It was dark except for the small fluorescent light near the bed. Marie turned in her chair to look at them, there were tears in her eyes. She bit her bottom lip before turning back around.

Tyler slowly crossed the room. Stopping at the end of the bed.

And I’ll use you as a warning sign. That if you talk enough sense, then you’ll lose your mind.

“She looks so small,” his voice was barely audible. The number of things hooked up to your body was overwhelming. “What happened?”

“They think she blacked out,” Marie’s hands were in her lap, she was wringing them together, “she ran a light and hit a tree.”

And I’ll use you as a focal point. So I don’t lose sight of what I want.

“Blacked out?” Josh stood behind Marie, resting a hand on her shoulder gently, “is that something she does?”

“It’s happened a few times before,” Marie glanced up at him. Tears ran fresh down her face, “I should have taken an hour off work,” she began to gasp for air, fighting back sobs, “I should have driven her. She had been having headaches, I knew it wasn’t good for her to be driving alone.”

“Hey, hey,” Josh came around the chair, “this isn’t your fault.” He took her hands in his.

Marie was trying to regain composure.

And I've moved further than I thought I could But I missed you more than I thought I would

Tyler’s hands slowly found their way towards yours, “she had a headache last night.”

“Did she?” Marie wiped her cheeks, “you should tell the nurse when she comes back. She didn’t mention it to me, so I wasn’t sure when her last one was.”

“Why was she getting headaches?” Tyler’s fingers wrapped around yours, “what are they from?”

“She was in a really bad car accident almost a year ago,” Marie’s hands squeezed Josh’s, “the Doctor’s aren’t sure why she keeps having them, or why she’s blacking out. She’s been getting tests done.”

“Why didn’t she say anything to me?” Tyler’s eyes began to fill with tears. He continued to stare at your face, all bruised and cut up from the collision.

And I'll use you as a makeshift gauge Of how much to give and how much to take

“You were touring,” Marie sighed, “she didn’t want to burden you. It seems silly now, but she was so determined not to be a bother. Not to dissuade you from what you were doing.”

Tyler clenched his jaw, “yeah that sounds like her.”

Marie stood up, “I’m going to go get some coffee. Give you some time with her.”

“I’ll go with you,” Josh trailed after her. “That is,” he paused and glanced at Tyler, “if you’ll be okay.”

He only nodded.

I'll use you as a warning sign That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind

“You’re an idiot,” he mumbled to the room, “you should have told me.”

He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the back of your hand.

“If you don’t wake up from this,” his voice caught in his throat, “I’ll never forgive you, you know.”

He felt some pressure as your hand gently squeezed his. He looked up. Your eyes were still closed but he could tell you were listening.

“I sang a song for you tonight,” he ran his finger tips over your knuckles, “it’s an old one, I’m sure you’ll remember it.”

He inhaled and began to sing, his voice quivering, “The only difference between life and dying, is one is trying, that's all we're called to do. So try to love me and I'll try to save you. Won't you stay alive? I'll take you on a ride, I will make you believe you are lovely.”

And I found love where it wasn't supposed to be Right in front of me Talk some sense to me

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

HASO, “World War V.”

I realize the title would be a lot more clever if V wasn’t also the roman numeral for 5, but whatever.

I know this one is a bit over the top but in the immortal words of one of my favorite authors “err on the side of awesome.” and I will not apologize.

But I am interested, at the end, comment what two songs you would use in this scenario. I am intrigued. I will tell you the songs I imagined at the end of the story :)

“So, your plan is to…. Intentionally wake the dead?”

“Wake the, very long hibernated, and then blast them with hard rock music while we mow them down with machine guns? And…. remind me YOU are the GA armada Admiral? And this is your tactical genius.”

Admiral Adam Vir adjusted the chestplate of his space suit, “Well say anything in that sort of voice and it will sound stupid, but hear me out. It is much easier to take something out all at once than it is to go hunting them down one by one and having to worry about missing something. We bring in the helicopters, and the vibration of the rotors will disturb the ground causing the infected vrul to rise. Now knowing the Vrul, and knowing that complicated beats affect their ability to navigate, move and completely wipe out their fine motor control. Furthermore, they seem attracted to vibrations in the air and through the ground which means we will be able to confuse them even more and keep them away from the city. Barring that, the Vrul have their force fields up, which are more than a match for light machine gun fire and will even keep out the strange pollen.. There is no better time to deal with this.”

He tucked his helmet under one arm, “I trust that makes sense to everyone?’ he turned around to the docking bay where over fifty men and women stood in neat rows of polished flight suits, helmets tucked under their arms. As he spoke, their heels snapped together with a loud crackle, and their hands rose into a salute.

Behind them double the amount of marines raised their hands into the air and chanted with loud voices that rose into the air with a roar.

Admiral Vir turned to the commander of the 113th graduating class of Earth’s UNSC Airborne Helicopter division, which he had brought in on special loan. These men and women were yet to fly any real tactical missions though they had all logged thousands of hours of flight already in their careers. Many of them had never left earth until this moment, and their first mission was going to be on the face on an alien planet.

He smiled, “if you knew as much as I did about aliens, Major, you might understand why we are doing something that seems so ludicrous, but sometimes when dealing with extraterrestrials, this is what we have to do.”

He turned to where a line of fifty pod shaped objects were being loaded one by one onto a rolling rail leading towards the airlock. Beside it half a dozen small fluffy shapes were busy overseeing the attachment of fifty identical Sonic cannons to the front bottom of each. There was a break in their work as one of the small creatures came waddling across the deck.

Admiral Vir Knelt down setting his hand on the floor and allowing Lord Avex to step onto his hand and then onto his shoulder as he stood back up.

The rest of the crowd watched in wide eyed awe, though they were, luckily, well trained enough not to do or say anything stupid despite their large eyes and quivering lips, which suggested they wanted nothing better than to cuddle the stuffed-animal esque alien that rested on his shoulder, “The cannons are in place, Admiral, and I have examined each of the pods, and the yare ready to be deployed.”

“Thank you Lord Avex, your work is much appreciated.”

It was just then that Sunny walked across the deck to join them. She was wearing her space suit as well and carried her helmet under one arm. The new recruits staired on in shock as she walked over to stand next to him, “The machine guns have been mounted and are ready to go Admiral, A few of our number have volunteered to go with the marines as extra support. Behind her at least a dozen other Drev raised their fists into the air and chanted their excitement not all that different from the line of marines on the far end of the hanger.

Admiral Vir nodded turning back towards the group of young pilots, not much younger than himself, and stepped up onto the nearest crate.

“On behave of the Galactic Assembly and the Vrul council, I thank all the men and women here for agreeing to accompany us on this mission today. You will be the first airborne unit in history to participate in an operation off Earth as their first assignment. You are thousands of lightyears away from home, orbiting an alien planet thousands of years older than our own, and today your mission is not one of destruction, but of liberation. For thousands of years the Vrul have been trapped inside their walls, until time and tradition made them forget about the dangers lurking outside.” he turned his eyes to look over every last man and women that stood before him, “What we are about to face is like nothing humanity has ever faced before, below the soil of this planet lies a plague dormant for thousands of years, a horde like locusts ready to rise up and infect the city. Now we have our protections, we have our suits, and the Vrul have their shielded city, but it is our job to start riding the planet of it’s plague.” He smiled, “Plus it always helps to have door mounted machine guns and a little rock ‘n roll.”

There was a sharp cheer from the men and women before him who raised their fists into the air. Behind them the marines joined in, and so did the Drev, who, he was pleased to say, had taken to rock like they had guitar solos for breakfast.

Still grinning, he reached up, pulled on his helmet, “Right, let’s get this done.”

He pointed to Sunny, Ramirez, Maverick and a few others, “With me in the elad chopper. The rest of you split off and gear up.”

His words were obeyed almost immediately as he stepped  over to what had once looked like a pod, but was now clearly a very specialized sort of chopper. 

As he slid into the pilot’s seat, and the others strapped in behind, he heard, “I thought you were a fighter pilot, not a helicopter pilot.” They pulled on their helmets.

Adam adjusted his harnesses, “I can fly anything from space ships to paper plans, you can bet your ass if it leaves the ground, I know how to fly it.”

Maverick buckled herself into the door gunner position, “Yeah, but if it has wheels, you better bet he’s probably gonna back it over your mailbox.”

“Put a sock in it Maverick, that is hardly my fault. I never really got the opportunity to practice.”

The door at the back shut and locked tight.

All around them other doors were being locked into place, and once all of the pilots had indicated they were ready to go, Admiral Vir gave the signal, and he felt the ship change course. He adjusted his comms set and called up to the bridge where Simon would be piloting them into position.

“How are we looking, Somon.”

“Almost in position Admiral.”

“Now remember to pull back into low orbit once you let us drop, or else the gravity well is going to pull you in, and it is going to be a bitch to get her back out.” “Yes sir, I know sir.”

“Good.”

He turned his eyes forward as a red light burst into life above their heads. Everyone evacuated the airlock as the fifty pods were brought by rail towards the doors. Behind him he could hear the others chanting something, though his heart was hammering so hard he could hardly hear what they were saying.

Funny thing is he bet he felt like every one of those new pilots getting ready for their first mission. He didn’t know if it was just him, but it felt like this every single time, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world. He ignored the tingling sensation in his bladder as the light blinked green before the airlock door, and the ramp slid open.

All went silent, and below him he watched as the light of the vrul homeworld washed over the deck before him pouring like golden honey.

The sight was breathtaking, steeling the air from his lungs as he looked down.

“Damn.” 

It would just never get old.would it.

“Prepare for drop, in three, two, one, drop.”

The latch on the back of the rail released, and suddenly they were falling away from the ship. Adam was pressed back in his seat as they accelerated downwards towards the open atmosphere.

Lights blinked on the console ahead of him and the tracking screen picked up his target.

They were approaching, and they were approaching fast.

They were entering the atmosphere now, and he felt it as their pod began to rock and rattled around him and fire began to lick up on the southside of his pod. It was almost deafening as they roared into the atmosphere. He turned on his comms watching as other pods roared into the atmosphere back and behind him. He could see them on his radar as they roared downward.

He had to wonder what it must be like for them.

Their first mission, and they were doing a high altitude drop onto an alien planet.

He almost envied them their excitement. Because he had done stuff like this before, and he was still grinning like an idiot.

Light rose up around them as the sky behind them turned blue. Clouds passed below them in great swaths, and he reached down to the controls ready to deploy.

He set of a general count for the rest of the pilots.

Three 

Two

One.

He pulled the release, and the engine roared to life. There was a sudden firing as the engine spurted downward, lifting them airborne for a second and slowing their descent. His innards dropped as G force allowed his stomach to crawl into his feet. Then the rotors deployed like a fan. There was a sharp chunk and then a whirr as they began to fall again, and then the rotors caught, and began to spin. The rear rotor did the same sliding into position. Both caught with a roar, and he whooped with adrenaline.

He toggled his radio.

“Alright, ready the door gun.”

Behind him the doors were slid open, causing a rush of air to blast into the open carriage as Maverick rolled the gun into position and locked it at the door with a loud snap. On the other side Maverick was doing the same. Beside him. Sunny took control of the extra rear mounted guns set in place especially for this mission.

Adam had the guns already built into the chopper, as well as missiles if he felt like it.

Beside him and below him, he watched as the fifty other choppers deployed like his. Some of them were a bit wobbly, but everything he saw seemed to go well.

“Alright everyone take it in low, and on my mark deploy the cannons.”

He angled them lower roaring towards his target.

Below them, the Vrul city was a glassy blue purple bubble against the orange, brown landscape.

He took point, and the other choppers fell into flight beside him, clustered in ten open groups of five helicopters each, and together they rolled in low over the landscape, not twenty feet above the ground in some cases, though those were only the pilots who were comfortable getting that close. From here he could see the thudding of their rotors causing the dirt to shake and the strange trees to quiver. 

The wildlife began to roll out in different directions, racing across the ground and away from the roaring choppers as if they knew what was coming, He scanned the ground, with Maverick and Ramriez leaning on the machine guns behind him.

“See anything yet?”

“Not yet.”

He opened his comms to everyone else, “Alright everyone, deploy sonic cannons in three, two, one go.” 

The first line of lyrics, and the first drumline rolled from the directional cannons, blasting the ground with a focused beam of sound like a laser for noise.

He whooped bobbing his head to the music, the sound so powerful he was able to hear it over the roaring of the rotors.

He sure hoped the Vrul had taken his advise and hidden in inside bunkers for this.

They roared over the landscape turning in a huge clockwise circle over the landscape.

“Report if you see anything.” he ordered.

At first, it didn’t seem like anything was going to happen, and he worried that his idea, which had seemed so cool and tactical to begin with , was nothing but a waste of resources. How embarrassing was that going to be to explain to the UNSC.

Yes, I borrowed the entire 113th graduating class to go on a joyride around the Vrul capital city, yes here is my rank and gun, I will now go live on the moon in exile never to show my face again.

“Sir! I have something.”

“Go.”

“Just south of the city, sir. I have movement coming from the trees in thermal.”

“Same here sir.” 

He was at the point of the circle, so he wasn’t likely to see it, made sense.

“Alright , let’s give it a pass. I want as many of those bugs out of the ground before we start shooting.”

They roared over the ground with the sound of the base rattling the stone below them. As he watched, one of the strange animals he had seen running, tipped over as the cannon passed over it and fell to the ground twitching. Apparently pattern tolerance was not something that many things on this planet had.

“Sorry guy, but things are going to be better when we are done.”

Rocks jumped and rattled as they took a wide turn around the city.

He could see the shield pulsing against the sonic waves that were bouncing off the ground and back into the air.

The blades of the helicopters cut through the air so fast it was like a light grey translucent wall against the sky.

They had almost made a full rotation.

“Holy shit.” for a second he wondered who had spoken until he realised that it was himself.

They were everywhere, swarming like ants over the landscape, turning the ground black in some places as they crawled over each other in confused circles. As the music got closer, their purposeful movement turned into awkward confusion.

“Stagger!.”

The formations staggered, falling behind each other so that everyone was always covering one segment.

“Ready to deploy the  sonic attack on my mark, in three, two, one, mark.”

It was a guitar solo this time, one that he had listened to thousands of times, and one that he couldn't have resisted using to kill zombie Vrul.

Th drumline cut in as the third obvious pattern in the song, and as it roared over the wave of Zombified Vrul, there was an immediate reaction as they all began staggering and falling to the ground, behind him he felt as the guns opened fire on either side with a sharp burrrr as the rotating barrels started spitting hot lead at 1,000 rounds per minute.

He laughed with something like maniacal glee as the powerful rounds poured into the infected creatures ripping them apart sometimes four at a time sending a wave of yellow pollen up into the air, to be kicked up by helicopter blades as they passed over. His circle kept him closest to the wall, so he was able to catch the majority of them before they could even attempt to make it to the city.

He toggled his own guns, and stitched a line of bullets over a completely black mass, which erupted into a burst of yellow. His circle took him around to where the Vrul had managed to make it to the wall of the city, and had begun climbing each other like they planned to create a ladder using bodies to the top of the wall. He gunned them down with great prejudice. As they moved along the wall, more and more of the creatures had piled themselves higher and higher, but that is not a trend that they allowed to last long. One of the piles managed to make itself three quarters of the way up the wall before their sonic attack hit them, causing the tower to collapse as both glorious drum lines and bullets roared into them.

He carved a circle through the sky coming over their first line of attack, where dark bodies were doing the best to crawl over their fallen brethren and pools of yellowed pollen having fallen to the ground. Ahead of him he could see a cloud of yellow where the following helicopter was stitching tis way over the landscape with great prejudice.

Behind him, he thought he heard Maverick cackle like a swamp witch as she loaded another belt of ammunition.

Yeah sure people back home were cool, but they would never be this cool, flying over an alien landscape, killing alien zombies while listening to a little ACDC, They could dream but nothing would ever be more awesome.

He couldn’t wait to tell his siblings.

His sister would be so jealous.

She had always been a fan of the zombie genre.

“Admiral, Admiral I think some of them are starting to fly.” Came the nervous comment over the com.

“Alright, remember the drill, just keep calm, and go higher if you can, then when you have enough clustered below you, drop one of the canisters.”

There was an acknowledgement over the comms.

With that announcement still running through his head, he got ready to drop one of his own canisters.

He was in view of the last helicopter as it rose into the air pursued by hundreds of little black dots that would erupt into yellow spores as they were hit by machine gun fire, and then something dropped from the bottom of the chopper, and then exploded just above the rising infected.

Thousands of tiny organic needles rained down on the vrul, cutting straight through their helium sacks, and sending them crashing downwards, into their companions, and finally to the ground where they erupted on impact, killing even more of their companions.

Up ahead, a wall of black rose before him, but he was faster.

They rose into the air and he roared over the wall, dropping one two and then three canisters in quick succession causing a wave of them to drop to the ground. The following helicopters followed his lead. He was having to rise higher and higher into the air, but still he was managing to keep ahead of them, they were slow and he was fast, but that didn’t stop a few of them from getting in front of him. 

There was a jolt as his rotors hit one of them, and he gritted his teeth, it was fine, one or two was fine as long as he didn’t allow them to gum it up.

He pulled back and up and continued to drop more and more of the caisters.

One or two of them floated high enough to make it close to his sonic cannon, but they were blown back and the pressure caused their helium sacks to rupture.

***

The Vrul council stood on the wall overlooking the outside of the city as a wall of the Vrul infected rose into the sky obscuring everything in a wave of dark bodies. Human helicopters roared in a wide circle around the city, and everywhere they went yellow spores erupted into the air. All of them wore safety masks as a precaution, but that didn’t stop the fear that rose up in them as they stepped back arms held out in shock. Dr. Krill stared on in fascination and awe. He wasn’t wearing hearing protection like the others, he could handle human music to a certain degree, and it was pretty muffled through the shielding.

He watched in shock and awe as one of the helicopters cut too low, and rolled right into a dense thicket of the floating bodies. There was a horrific eruption of yellow as the rotors caught hundreds of the creatures, and then the helicopter itself began to spin out of control crashing and rupturing Vrul as it roared towards the ground.

The emergency systems deployed firing one last time to slow the chopper’s crash. The sudden burst of flame ruptured a line of the Vrul infected before it finally plowed into the ground sending up a wave of yellow spores.

“Sweet Nebulon.” one of the council muttered.

Two more helicopters went down, and it looked as if there weren't going to be enough bullets.

What had they done!”

***

“Everyone, On me, increase sonic cannons! Now!” he had seen the three choppers go down, and he had seen all three of their safety measures deploy, but he couldn’t be sure if any of them had survived. “Avoid the crash sites. Everyone on me!”

The entire fleet of remaining choppers clustered together turning up the volume on their sonic cannons, and the combined force was so powerful that some of the bodies began to rupture even without gunfire though it still tore downwards.

They took two more passes before he saw his ammunition running low. That was fine. The Vrul bodies were no longer coming in waves and it would be harder to hit them from above, now that they weren’t just coming in a wave.

He aimed for one of the crash sites.

“I want a group of us to set down. Only choppers with Drev on them!”

There was agreement as ten choppers split off to the three crash sites.

Adam roared down from the sky, and set down on a smoking heap of yellow coated bodies.

He cut the engine , and reach back to pull his spear from where it was attached to the floor of the chopper. It wasn’t a Drev spear and it wasn’t a human spear but something in between, with the reverse spike on the end like they had done with the NeoSpartans.

He turned in his seat just in time to see the two marines push their machine guns out of position and one of the infected Vrul to come charing at Ramirez.

A spear appeared in his hand in that moment, and he ran it through the face.

Sunny was behind him a second later, and together they were out the door, three of them armed with spears, maverick armed with her assault rifle, and together they made their way towards the downed chopper.

Making it there just in time to see as a pile of clustered Vrul was ruptured from within, and a very angry Drev came roaring out.

He recognized from the height who it was.

“Kanan!” he heard Sunny yell.

They ran over to help, sweeping through the cluster of Vrul zombies before they began fanning out across the open plane.

He turned up the speakers on the outside of his suit and allowed it to blare music as he raced towards anything that still looked to be moving. A few of them were still floating into the sky, but the remaining helicopters were taking care of those, and Maverick from the ground on occasion.

He ran one through the face, turned and clubbed the other in the head like he was swinging  for a home run.

His blad sliced straight through the neck of one as he staggered over the uneven ground.

To the side of him, sunny was cutting through them with impunity like a god of war, touching them though they never touched her, the yellowed gore spattering her suit.

As more and more of the Vrul were cut out of the sky, more and more choppers landed, and men and women filed out, running in open lines, using whatever the could to dispatch the remaining bodies.

He saw one of the new pilots grab a Vrul by the neck, and twist it like he was breaking the neck of a chicken, surprised when the entire head came off. He kind of hoped the Vrul council did not see that.

By the end of the battle. Four of their choppers had been downed. Two humans were dead, both of them in the crashes, and at least four more critically injured.

He felt bad about it.

But he couldn’t have predicted that.

At least none of the pilots had died.

Two of his marines had though, tossed from the choppers as they were falling from the sky. It made him sick to think about their families, the ones that he would have to send letters to, but he tried not to think about that for now.

Thousand upon thousands of the vrul zombies were dead, and even as he thought this dozens more were being dispatched by hand by humans who were no more than walking radios at this point, having chosen their own theme songs to fight zombies.

Some of thor picks were quite surprising, though he couldn’t blame them for their humor or their irony.

They still had a long way to go, but at least he knew how it could be done.

Vrul past, hopefully, would never come back to haunt them. 

The two songs I imagine Adam picked for this was 

First: Raise Hell - Dorothy

Second: Thunderstruck - ACDC

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Revelation.”

This needed to be done. I know I went a different direction than a lot of you were expecting, but I thought it was best. If you want my reasoning for anything I will be happy to answer. 

It took him a second to figure out what was going on. Ramirez let him go and stepped back his dark amber eyes crinkled with concern. Turning his head to look around the rest of the room, he saw the others, Sunny, Krill, Katie, Three adaptids, Maverick, Jackie, Narobi, and his dog all staring at him with expressions of concern and frustration.

Krill stepped forward to say something, but as the little creature was doing so, he felt something as his mind and body finally caught up with each other. Heat rushed into his face and head as he was overcome with near blinding rage.

He stepped away from Ramirez, chest beginning to rise and fall heavily. He felt his face contort as his skin reddened with blood. His hands clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. He was so mad he could barely think. How dare they invade his privacy like this, go into his room and search through his things, and then confront him.

He wanted to scream at them, to throw things to march across the room and grab one of them by the throat.

But he was too angry even for that.

The rational part of his mind, which was barely functioning at the moment gave him one more option.

He turned on his heel and marched right out the door. A red hue had taken up his vision encroaching in from the darkness bleeding into silhouettes. He felt like his arms begin to tingle. His body was too light as adrenaline rushed through him. His head was light, his legs were light.

Footsteps behind him, “Adam!”

No, he knew what would happen if they caught up, and he was at least rational enough to avoid that. He sped up his pace listening to the footsteps behind him, they sped up to, and he broke into a flat sprint.

No one could keep up with him in a sprint, the repurposed steel-eye prosthetic he wore would make sure of that. The only two people that had a hope of catching him were Maverick and Rmirez, and even they couldn’t match high performance machinery. 

He raced through the ship leaving the people he passed barely enough time to register he was there before he was gone again. He burst out into the cargo bay and pelted down the ramp. He ran as hard as he could as fast as he could until he could barely breathe and then skidded to a halt.

He had made it to the side of the launch feild, where there was nothing more than grassy knolls and distant electric fences to keep prying eyes away. No one was here and the closest figures were merely back dots moving about the tarmac  He paused here pacing one way and then the other. His hands shook.

WIth no relief he turned his head back and screamed, ripping the cap off his head and throwing it to the ground as he sunk to his knees on the grass and dirt. His uniform pants were likely to get stained, but he didn’t care.

Moving from angry to despondent, he stared out at the launch field as tiny black silhouettes crawled across it like ants on a nest. The Sun was growing low behind him casting his shadow long over the grassy knoll. 

A shadow appeared  distantly, and he watched it as it snaked its way up the tarmack turning towards him. He flipped up his eyepatch to get a better look zooming in on the figure.

Waffles zig-zagged over the tarmac, her nose twitching as she snuffled at the ground, her tail in a low wag her ears back.

Surprisingly he felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. 

She continued to follow her nose lifting it on occasion until she saw him silhouetted against the sky and ran towards him pausing a few feet away. He frowned watching as she tucked her tail so far between her legs that it was touching the underside of her belly. Her ears were back as she approached him, her nose still twitching ears flat against her head.

What was wrong with her?

She scooted forward some more crawling onto his knees and pressing her snout against him like she was supposed to do when he was having an attack. 

She must be malfunctioning, he was fine

He pushed her off, but she returned hesitantly a moment later trying so hard to get him to respond.

“I’m fine dumb dog.” He snarled pushing her away again.

Her big dark eyes didn’t understand. She was just trying to do her job.. 

She was worried.

He tried keeping her away, but ever time he moved, or pushed her away shed come right back behaving how she was taught when responding to significant mental distress. He tried scooting back, but she followed him forward eventually growing frustrated herself and using the last thing in her arsenal she had.

She crawled on top of him and then just lay down flat on his chest pinning him to the ground chin resting on his neck.

He could have pushed her off, but lying there in the grass staring up at the blue sky he was slowly coming to a realization. The dog whimpered from where she lay against him, her ears still flat against her head.

Dogs didn’t lie.

They couldn’t.

And she was acting like he was having a serious episode. He didn’t feel like he was but, then again what was he doing here lying in the grass after running away from his ship. The anger faded, replaced with guilt, first guilt for treating her so poorly, thinking about how hard she was working and how ungrateful he was being made his eyes tingle with moisture. 

“I’m sorry girl.” he whispered, stroking her ears, running his hands through the fur on the side of her neck, “I’m so sorry.” she whined, “Your not dumb, of course you aren’t. You’re the smartest girl in the galaxy and I’m….I’m the idiot.” He continued to stroke her ears apologizing repeatedly until she started nuzzling at his chest again.

Right, no obsessive thoughts, even if it was to apologize to your own dog who you were being a massive dick to.

He stroked her ears some more and told her she was a good girl instead. Slowlyher tail began to wag beating against his leg, and she stepped off of him letting him sit up, though she imposed herself right before him as he sat.

He continued to stroke his hands through her fur, and she closed her eyes.

“So, thinking about all of this, there was only one option.” He said to her, her tail thumped more at the sound of his voice, “You seem to think I am in significant psychological distress, but I don’t feel like I am, and the conclusion to that only means that I….. well it means you’re right and I’m wrong.”

She snorted as if she agreed.

Her ears had perked back up.

He looked up at the sky closing his eyes as he tried to take a few deep breaths. What did he feel?

“Well, I am stressed, out of my mind stressed. I don’t think it’s anything big honestly, but it all sort of compounded.” Waffles continued to listen, “Started with the Burg war and putting that suit back on, fucked me up, and it probably wasn’t the best idea.” He looked into her deep brown eyes, “We could have just set up some kind of rocket launcher at the opening and then killed them all without stepping foot inside. I never had to put the suit on.” his voice faded away as he continued to think, “It’s like I feel like I have to do everything because it's better if I die than other people do.” 

She grumbled.

“Yeah I know, doesn't make sense.” She rested her head on his lap as he continued to talk outloud to her, “Why do I feel like I have to save the universe single handedly. There are thousands of men and women, multiple ships and other captains who can help do all of these things .” He glanced down at the dog again, “I may be the fleet commander which by default makes all the things I said earlier true, but…. I keep trying to do everything myself. It’s not physically possible, and I know that.”

He listened to the sound of jets roaring overhead, “And while I’m at it, I blame myself for everything too. Took a freaky ass ghost or whatever the hell to tell me to knock that the fuck off. What else do I blame myself for?”

He sat there thinking for a long time waffles listening intently with her head cocked.

“I need to change things. I need a structure I can rely on so that I can do my job better, and everyone else has a chance to do their job too. I need people who are smarter than me to advise decisions and workout problems because next thing you know I’ll be trying to fix the ship myself, and that would be a disaster.”

The dog’s tongue lolled from her mouth as she panted. 

That was good, she only did that if she was relaxed.

“And I’m still not alright. I’m stressed and my PTSD is returning, but I think that has more to to with the stress than the PTSD itself. I got over the war years ago, and I can be over the cannibal if Iwan’t. I SHOULD be over the prison thing, and it isn’t my fault that someone took my DNA to create an entire herd of hybrids….. I will help them, but that doesn't mean I have to take care of them as much as it hurts me to say that since I still feel responsible.” 

He tapped his feet on the dirt, “I’m close to cracking, and if I crack….”

He stood rubbing his temples. “I need a different perspective, someone who is less emotionally attached than me.”

Waffles fell into step beside him, “No one who is too emotionally invested so that gets rid of Sunny, and Krill for sure. I want someone who can be serious with me without sounding like they are lecturing. Ramirez, Katie, Narobi, and Jackie are out. Conn was never an option. He can read my mind so maybe I’ll talk to him later about what my real problem is, but I think I need some blunt straight to the face advice. A second opinion that’s not afraid to crack down and tell me I’m being an idiot….. I don’t need understanding right now. I need to be told off.”

The dog looked up at him, “And I think I know just the person.”

***

The door to the ship’s chapell hissed open casting light over him as he sat contemplating the books stacked on on the self to the side of him, from where he sat on one of the pews. He reached out and picked the top one up flipping through it absently. 

Waffles lay at his feet napping.

The footsteps behind him paused as the door hissed closed, and then they approached up the aisle.

“How do you think he did it? Walk on water I mean? That would be a cool trick.”

Maverick paused at the end of the pew eyebrow raised, “Are you done with your little tantrum?”

He smiled as he turned to look at her, “Yes, I am done with my tantrum.”

She took a seat at the end of the pew hands clasped on her lap.

“In fact that’s why I came here to talk to you.”

She looked skeptical, “Talk to me or at me.”

He shook his head, “No… I… Waffles helped me realized that you guys are right, I’m not alright, and now I need a place to go from here.”

“Finally.” She grumbled.

He smiled, “Go on let's hear it.”

“You don’t want to do that.”

“Do what.”

“Give me permission to give you one of my lectures.”

He tilted his head, “Your what?”

“I have this habit of coming up with just what exactly I would say to people when I’m going on a run or taking a shower. They are really mean so I usually don’t say them.”

“Go on.”

“Your funeral,” She muttered as she stood, “Your being an idiot, a selfish idiot.” 

That was a good start.

“Everything with you is about me, me, me. I have to save the world, I have to win the battle, I have to get everything done all the time. It's a shitty way to act and it makes the rest of the crew feel like you don’t trust them, and then when we try to help you just blow us off like you can handle it. Which I might not care about so much if you had proven that you CAN handle it. But no you get all heroic and sad like no one understands what it means to worry about the galaxy. Like the rest of us don’t stay up at night wondering if the burg are going to come back, and this time with better weapons. I don’t give a ship about what you do with your free time or how you commander our ship, you can do it in heelies wearing a funny hat if that's what you need to stay relaxed, but right now you're not commanding a ship, you  you….. You know what you really are.”

He waited wide eyed.

“You are a total control freak.”

He blinked not having expected that.

“That’s it. You have to have your hand in absolutely everything don’t you.” he went to open his mouth but she held out a finger, “No, shut up and let me finish. You are a total control freak, yeah you are the Commander but that doesn't mean you control everything. You’re like the president, your job isn’t to control everything, its to veto dumbass ideas and make quick decisions, while everyone else does their job and reports to you on the more important stuff. You behave like a child wanting everything your way all the time, and then when it doesn't you throw a fit and run off to do whatever you want anyway. It makes it hard for the rest of us to work, and we worry about you, a lot. You are a good commander, and I think with some work you could be the best, but you need to figure something out soon because if you crack and go psycho, everyone else is going to suffer for it. We need you commander, but not in the way you think we do.”

She went quiet

He waited.

“I’m done.”

“Ok cool.” he took a deep breath, “First thing’s first. I need to rework our system.

***

He stood nervously at the head of the command deck a notebook in hand. He had tried to do his work on a tablet but found that writing by hand gave him more clarity. He had been up all night working, but not in a bad way, thi felt good, like he was moving towards something. A good portion of the crew had been assembled, most of the upper echelon officers and some of their seconds.

A soft murmuring rose up from the group, and scanning his eyes over them he could see where Sunny stood at the back of the room her arms crossed over her chest. Krill floated beside her with Dr. Katie.

As far as he could tell everyone was here, so he cleared his throat and allowed the room to quiet. They were sitting at the tables in the mess hall, and he tried to just stand in front of them but found he wanted to see their faces, so he stepped up onto the bench to get a better look.

“Alright everyone, quiet down. Now the sooner we get this over with the sooner I can have a nap.”

Half chuckle form the crowd.

“It has come to my attention recently that this crew needs a bit of an…. Administrative overhaul. We are a mess, and that is mostly…. Well no it is entirely my fault, and I know a lot of what I am going to say is probably a no brainer for most of you, but just bare with me for a few minutes.” He adjusted his notes, “I haven't been trusting you with your own work, and I am sorry for that. As you can probably tell, I have an issue with thinking things through before I do them, but that is something I will be working on.” He turned to look at them, “So what I have done, and what I should have done a long time ago is give the department heads complete charge of their departments.”

The group shifted, “That means all requisitions, staffing, internal problems, all of those will be covered by the department head. I don’t want to know about it unless there is a problem that only I can fix. So If you are missing equipment take it to the quartermasters and their requisitions office,and they, not me, will determine if we have it in our budget.” he turned to the chief quartermaster, “I am honestly putting the most work on you, because I am expecting that you acquire all the equipment this ship needs to keep running including food, ammunition and spare parts. You’ll have to work closely with engineering in order to get all of that done. I want all the departments speaking closely with each other. 

He lifted his head and looked back at Sunny, “Sunny.”

He lifted her head.

“As chief weapons specialist and one of our experts on close combat. I will be giving control over to you on battlefield tactics. That’s what Drev generals do isn’t it?”

SHe seemed surprised.

He turned to look at cannon, “Cannon the Drev clan’s needs are yours, I need you to make sure you guys have everything you need. If there are disputes, you determine how to settle them.”

He sighed, “I do expect full reports from each of the department heads where you will make it clear if there is anything you need me to do, but otherwise, this ship needs to be able to function without me sticking my nose in everyone’s business. If I do, you have full permission to tell me to fuck rite off. Though as commander I reserve the right to Veto any decision you make if I think it will be detrimental to the ship or two the mission, furthermore, there are a lot of people in this room much smarter than me, so I am going to use that, and i am putting together a council of sorts, kind of like the jedi council, and you are going to help me make decisions. I need all of your knowledge and perspective if I want to lead this ship correctly or even the fleet?”

There was a surprised muttering in the crowd.

“Now we will be on leave for the next few months, which give you time to think on this project a little if you are worried, but I have a feeling you guys can handle it alright. Anyway, get on out of her, go home, and make sure to get those psych evals and physicals sent to dr Krill in a timely fashion.” He looked over at the doctor, “You will be in charge of determining who is and is not ready for active duty, also I will be hiring a few new hands as an attachment to the medical department. We need to expand psych, get a real psychiatrist for how crazy you all are.” He smiled as the group chuckled, and he stepped down from his chair.

The room slowly emptied leaving only a few people left…. The same people for earlier.

Sunny was still quiet and Dr. katie had her arms crossed.

He sighed and walked forward, “I’m sorry about earlier.” he said to them.

“You should be?”

“And what about getting yourself help?” 

He turned to glance at Maverick, “I had a discussion with Mav earlier, because i thought she would be the most brutally honest with me…. She was. I will be doing a psych eval, but towards the end of leave.”

More frowning.

“I won’t be seeing a psychiatrist.” he raised his hands as the group began to mutter, “No it's alright, I've thought it through, and I have determined that for me it isn’t the best course of action. Medication has never been for me either. I know it's helpful for most people, but I just need to relax, clear my head and find a way to relieve stress. So, I’m going home for a few months.”

They still seemed skeptical, but they relaxed enough not to argue.

Ramirez seemed the first person to accept his apology and smiled, “Well good luck commander.”

A few other murmurs rose up from his friends.

He looked at Sunny, “I promise, when I get bac. I will be better, and I will do better.”  

“