Back to You // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Five

    "Talk to me, Blaze." Haley said, scanning out over the desert. The exercise included trying to shoot down Cypher before they were shot down first. They were working with Rooster to prevent that.

    "I don't see him anywhere," Blaze said behind Haley, monitoring the radar.

    Silence was coming from Rooster's coms, though he was flying beside them. Haley glanced over at him, but it was hard to see with his helmet and mask on. She looked around again to see if Cypher was near them. After a moment it was clear where the admiral was.

    Cypher flew up between the two jets, causing them to have to swerve out in opposite directions. Rooster went left and Haley broke over to the right. Haley flew after him, as Blaze was monitoring in the back. "Rooster, he's on your tail!" Haley shouted over the coms. She saw Rooster's jet take a dive with Cypher right behind him. Rooster seemed to be handling his own, so far he hadn't been caught in missile lock. Haley continued to try to get the shot in. She decided the only way to do this was to whip out some of her hurricane style. She flew the jet low, briefly going below the hard deck. She had a plan and was sticking to it. It was dangerous, and there were several ways it could go wrong. Haley was confident of her abilities, though. Blaze had no arguments from the back, trusting Haley to do what she needed to.

    "You're flying too low!" Haley heard Rooster shouting over the coms system.

    Haley ignored this as she swooped up and over Rooster, and flipped the jet over his. She landed upright behind Cypher, and had him in missile lock. She got him, but not before he got Rooster. Blaze was cheering regardless at their success, but they'd lost their team member. Therefore, they technically lost the exercise. Haley wasn't sure how many points they'd receive overall since they did shoot Cypher, but they lost their teammate doing so.

    Once back on the ground, they disembarked from their jet. Haley pulled her helmet off and put her sunglasses on. It was only a few seconds before Rooster came charging up to her.

    "What the hell were you thinking?" Rooster demanded.

    Haley took a step back, surprised. Where had their friendly interactions gone? She had no idea why he suddenly had a stick up his ass. She knew he was serious when it came to work, but this felt different. Significantly different than the night before. She wondered for a moment if he really was past how things went last summer. 

    "I was thinking about how I had a plan to take out Cypher. And I did." Haley responded as if that was obvious.

    "And you could have gotten yourself, or your WSO killed. Do you even think about that?" Rooster didn't wait for an answer. "I forget sometimes how reckless you fly." He shook his head.

    Haley was confused, not understanding where all of this sudden concern was coming from. She didn't fly any different than she had at the academy. "And we were fine. Lighten up, Bradshaw." She responded, though she felt a little hurt he came at her the way he had. It felt personal. Blaze walked up at the end of the exchange between the two.

    "Your lack of confidence hurts, Rooster. I'm wounded." Blaze said, fake pouting, then giving Haley a high five. "Sorry we got you killed though. It was a hell of a shot though, Hurricane." He added. Rooster rolled his eyes in response and walked off.

    Haley watched him leave, wondering what the hell had gotten into him. She turned back to Blaze and gave a nod. "Thanks," She replied, "Not sure how many points we're going to get." That part was discouraging. Her move had been pretty badass, and they had managed to take out Cypher, but there was more to the exercise than just that. It involved working with a team.

    The two walked back up toward the hanger. She saw her brother heading out onto the runway with Phoenix and Bob. They were the three going up next. Phoenix and Bob didn't look too thrilled to be Jake's wingman.

    "The bird wouldn't have been shot down if he flew quicker," Jake told Haley in passing. They had been listening on the radio to their group. "Better luck next time, though. I'll happily take your points." He added with a wink. He headed over to his jet.

    "It'd be almost worth losing points to shoot his ass down." Phoenix commented, with a glance at Haley and Blaze.

    Back inside, Haley sat by the radio listening to the exercise going on. She was taking mental notes of what was going on, thinking of ways she could improve next time. If she wanted to finish first in their class, she needed to do better. She didn't want to admit it, but had she not pulled her little stunt, she may have had a different outcome. Haley glanced over at Rooster, who was sat on the other side of the room. He was leaning in his chair with his head against the wall. If he was paying attention to the other groups exercise, he wasn't letting it show.

    Haley wondered if she and Rooster really could move on from what had happened. It was a big deal to be about to talk to someone about a relationship and have the other person bolt. It had seemed like they had made amends, but his behavior didn't reflect that out on the runway. She didn't like being the source of his foul mood. Throughout their four years of being friends, they had rarely had arguments. That was before last summer, though.

    "Hey," Blaze said, snapping Haley back to attention. She turned back to face him. She mentally scolded herself for zoning out.

    "Yeah?" Haley asked.

    "Ignore him. You did good today." Blaze told her, sincerely. "Was it ballsy? Yes. Could we do better next time? Yes." He continued, "It was just the first exercise. We will catch up in points. Plus, there may be people that don't even shoot Cypher down, meaning we have an advantage there."

    Haley knew he was right. The points were on her mind, but so was Rooster. She looked back at the radio as Phoenix was explaining to Bob why Jake was called Hangman. She knew at that moment what her brother had just done to the pair of them, hung them out. Her brother was a good pilot, he was the only current generation aviator to have a confirmed air combat kill, but he needed to learn to be a team player. Sure enough, Phoenix and Bob were taken down. Moments later, Jake was signaling for their help. To which came Phoenix's reply,

    "We're dead, dipshit."

    Haley and Blaze looked at one another, and shook their heads laughing.