✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ Starscream [Top Gun Maverick]✔

08

This mission was deadly and what Mitchell had planned was equally deadly. His plan resembled a game of chance. A bit of Russion Roulette, where the skill of the pilot mattered. It was deadly card counting at poker or blackjack.

"What exactly happened to Bradshaw then?" asked Jake as Kim prepared the presentation, pointing to the wall where, among other things, hung the photo of the eighty-six year old, "There must have been something more going on between the good Rooster and Maverick."

"Why are you asking me of all people?" since Jake was acting dumber than he actually was, he couldn't expect a reasonable answer from Kim either, "You should surely have found the answer by now."

"Mitchell, Bradshaw, Kazansky," Jake began to enumerate and walked straight towards a particular photo the pilot was pointing to, "The second generation here together. Their kids. Maverick doesn't have any though; Goose's son Rooster and you, Frost, Iceman's daughter. Who, if not you guys? If it really was an accident like everyone says, why is Rooster mad at Maverick?"

"His dad is dead. When it comes to loss, not all people think rationally. Shouldn't that be explanation enough?" after one last checking to make sure everything was saved, Kim took down the tablet and approached the group photo, stopping right in front of it, next to Jake, "Would you do me a favor? Don't even start calling me Frost. Just because I'm his daughter doesn't mean you have to continue this ice track with me. I know who I am, so I don't need to have it rubbed in my face all the time or have it communicated to me in some way what is expected of me. When you hear how people talk about Iceman and think of him, the expectations for the kids are naturally high, without ever being told, you know it. Some things don't need to be said out loud. And now, to be given the name 'Frost' says it all, doesn't it? 'You are nothing more than your father's daughter. You are.... will never be him.' You know what my name is, Hangman, and that's my name."

For a brief moment, Kim's gaze lingered on the photo with Nick, Pete and her dad before she turned toward the door and left the room. On her way across the hall to the room where the briefing was held, she stopped in the hallway all at once and stared at that photo taken of Maverick and her dad after the two had landed again and joined hands. An image she was all too familiar with.

Without any sign or warning of what was about to happen, Kim slammed her fist against the glass of the picture, right on the spot where her dad was standing, and then, breathing heavily, shook her hand.

No one will be able to replace the original. Everyone knows that. For Kim, since her first flying lesson, it was as if she wasn't a person in her own right. Building something of her own or not being associated with Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky for once didn't exist for her.

Cramping, Kim kept opening and closing her hand into a fist and looking at her knuckles, which were bleeding slightly.

The glass of the picture frame was cracked, there were individual splinters on the floor and many a person who was nearby could have heard something. No one came to see what had happened or what had caused the noise. Thus, no one had noticed Kim's little outburst of rage. To her luck.