automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

nineteen.

SOON AFTER THAT, THEY WERE ALL BACK IN THE AIR. SKYE WAS listening to fanboy and payback argue before she rolled her eyes, hovering her plane next to theirs. "you boys gonna come to an agreement, or should havoc and i just decide?" 

they were supposed to be making decisions on their next move in regards to the exercise that was currently doing anything but succeed for them. the two pairs were up against hangman and rooster, who were their own team. they were supposed to go head to head to see which group would be first to locate and drop a false bomb on a piece of "dangerous cargo". 

"we're thinking, riot, we're thinking." payback said. "nah, you think for us."

katia laughed. "we've already done one lap around this thing, where else could it be?"

"maybe on the top of the mountain?" fanboy suggested sarcastically.

skye thought about this possibility for a moment. "i mean, to be fair, we haven't looked there yet." 

they all looked to their left as rooster and hangman almost immediately moved in different directions, clearly not on the same page. "okay, while they're distracted, let's do another lap." payback suggested.

skye followed his lead around the mountain, cursing as she still didn't see anything. 

"how big is this dangerous cargo?" fanboy wondered aloud.

she shook her head. "i don't know. i'm gonna get lower, see if i can spot anything." she moved just barely above the hard deck, looking to her right as katia looked to their left. 

"i have sights on it." katia said suddenly, and skye looked to the left to see a small boxed package. 

"are rooster and hangman still butting heads?" skye asked. 

fanboy looked over at them. "looks like it. how are we gonna take this thing out?"

"payback?" skye asked, waiting for him to make a decision. 

"do you two wanna bomb it?" 

she shrugged. "i mean, kind of. gives havoc something to do." 

katia nodded. "it's so boring in the backseat half the time."

payback laughed. "go for it."

skye increased her altitude, moving the plane in a circle around the target before going down so katia could target it with her laser. "got it?" she asked.

"yeah, i got it." katia said. "bombs away." 

she landed the bomb expertly onto the target, and skye cheered before lifting the plane in time to watch as the fake bomb made a small disruption, breaking apart the box. 

"how's it feel to be a sore loser, bradshaw?" skye asked when she saw him back at the base. 

he laughed. "very funny, mitchell. you guys did good today." 

"thank you." she said. "what was going on between you and hangman? every time we'd look over, you looked like you were about to strangle each other." 

rooster shrugged. "i mean, realistically, we probably were. he was just, you know, being himself." 

she nodded. "ah, i see." 

"everyone's making plans to go to the hard deck tonight since it's our last night before christmas break." he said, walking by her side to see the display of their exercise. "you should go, we can have one last jukebox moment before the end of the year." 

skye laughed. "okay, yeah. speaking of christmas, is your calendar still free?"

"i'm following you back to mojave, we're meeting up with mav and iceman there, and then i'm staying with whichever one of them makes me want to kill myself the least." he summed up the plans of their trip, watching as she rolled her eyes.