Back To You | B. Bradshaw

04.00

The control room was always so dark. Poppy would never understand why it was always dark. Whenever she enters this room, she usually trips on the wiring. Carefully, she goes to her side of the room and looks toward her technician, Peaches.

"Status?"

"Units, Delta, Charlie, and Zulu are stable and ready for take-off." Peaches replies, looking at her before turning back to the computer. 

Satisfied with the answer, Poppy turns to Cyclone, nodding.

"Whenever you are ready, sir."

"Let's start the exercise." The admiral announces and nods towards Poppy giving her control.

"Mission control, Clear for take-off?" Her dad asks as his voice echoes in the room.

"You are clear for take-off."

She watches the three jets take off on the screen and fly to the designated training grounds. Feeling eyes on her, she waits for data to stabilize before nodding.

"Let's begin."

With that, everyone jumps into action, checking the input from the 3 jets. An officer opens the communication box, and the voices of her dad, Fanboy, Payback, and Rooster echo into the room. She takes a seat next to her Data Process Engineer, Grease.

"Greeting Aviators, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to basic fighter maneuvers. As briefed, today's exercise is dogfighting. Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the hard deck of 5,000 ft. Working as a team, you have to shoot me down or else." Her dad briefly explains the rules over the telecom.

"Or else what, sir?" Payback asks, curious she shares a brief look with Grease, who gives her a shrug.

"Or else I shoot back. If I shoot either one of you down, you both lose."

"Sir, what's say we put some skin into the game."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Whoever gets shot down first has to do 200 push-ups."

Chuckling at the bet the aviator places on behalf of the entire squad. Feeling sorry for them already as their asses will get handed to them.

"Guys, that's a lot of push-ups."

"Oh well, they don't call it an exercise for nothing, sir." Fanboy's voice chimes in, backing up his partner's bet.

"Pretty sure it's about nothing to you guys."

"Okay, Sir, how about who gets to shoot you down gets a date with your daughter."

Poppy scoffs in disbelief at the lieutenant's words. She could feel some eyes on her. She rolls her chair towards the communications officer and nudges them to the side; she presses on the telecom entering the conversation.

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself, boys?"

"Aww, Engineer Mitchell, it's wonderful to hear your voice."

She rolls her eyes at the lame flirting of Fanboy.

"Take em out, Dad."

"Copy that."

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Glad that her dad is one hell of a pilot. She wishes she could eat popcorn as she enjoys watching him beat the entire squad. Not worried and satisfied with the outcome, she taps Grease's shoulder before telling him she's going to the bathroom. He nods in response before turning back to the screen. Once exiting the room, she bumps into Payback and Fanboy, dragging their bodies towards the briefing room. Laughing at the sight of them, she crosses her arms.