Lt. Sadie 'Casper' Perez walked into the Hard Deck after being called back to Top Gun for a dangerous mission, only to be met with a glare from another Top Gun pilot. Will the hate between them bloom into something more? (Hangman x OC)
Sadie had spent the night in Hangman's room, laying next to each other trying not to move too much so as not to disturb her ribs. He kept one arm on her thigh all night, rubbing small circles with his thumb. It was the happiest Sadie had been in a while, but like all good things, it was cut short by the blaring alarm the next morning. She carefully got dressed in her formal uniform knowing that she would be up top with Cyclone and Warlock on the ship. It was chaos when they arrived on base as everyone rushed around preparing everything and loading up any supplies they would need for the mission.
When they finally boarded the boat, the pilots where whisked away to their mission debrief and Sadie was ushered upstairs to the control room. She listened in as Cyclone and Warlock discussed the mission parameters another time and absentmindedly played with the necklace that hang around her neck. She flipped the coin over in her fingers a few times before freezing. Looking down at the lucky penny in her hand, she jumped up excusing herself from the room, running down to the loading zone hoping that she wasn't too late.
As she ran up she saw that Hangman was standing face to face with Rooster, the pair shaking hands with a look of mutual respect. She stopped, not wanting to interrupt their moment, but then Rooster was called away by Maverick, leaving Hangman to head towards his jet.
"Hangman, wait," she called causing him to turn back, grinning upon seeing her running to meet him.
"Casper, I thought you were in the control room already?"
"I was but I forgot to give you something." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively but Sadie ignored him pulling the chain from around her neck instead, holding the penny out for Hangman to take. "Just in case," she said. "I don't want you flying without your good luck charm today."
He pulled the chain over his head, settling the coin beneath his flight suit. As he looked up at her again Sadie lunged forward kissing him. "I also forgot to give you that," she said. "Be safe."
"I will," he replied pulling her into another kiss.
She stayed on deck until Hangman had to get into his jet, waving at her as he settled in. She watched from down below as Maverick took off, followed shortly by Phoenix, then Rooster, and finally Payback. She watched until the jets faded from view in the distance, the blue sky swallowing them up. She turned to head back up to the control room, making her way up the several flights of steps and slipping in to stand behind Cyclone and Warlock. Warlock looked over his shoulder seeing that Sadie was out of breath but didn't say anything about her disappearance.
"Dagger attack," Mavericks voice came over the radio. "Approaching target. Two minutes and thirty seconds to mark."
Sadie waited, too afraid to make a noise as the team passed the first set of SAMs, then the second. The clock on the screen ticked down so slow that Sadie had to look away.
"Dagger, we're picking up two bandits."
"What's their heading?" Phoenix questioned.
After hearing their position Rooster reassured everyone by saying, "They're headed away from us. They don't know we're here."
It was a small victory because as soon as the missiles hit the enemy base they were sure to turn around. Maverick dropped the first bomb, hitting his target dead on, meaning that miracle one was done. Over the radio Fanboy struggled to get his laser on target and Sadie clenched her hand so tightly that she felt the skin break. Come on, come on, come on, she thought.
"There's no time. Bombs away," Rooster called. The room was silent waiting to see if it would hit its mark.
Boom.
The whole room cheered, they had done it! Against all odds they had taken out the mine. The cheering quickly died down as they listened to the team fight off the enemy bandits.
"Dagger one down," Phoenix said. Sadie placed her hand on her chest struggling to come to terms with the loss.
"Does anyone see him?" Rooster's voice was frantic. Cyclone stepped forward, pressing the button to relay a message to the team.
"Dagger you are not to engage. Repeat. You are not to engage." Just get back Rooster, she thought. We can't lose anyone else. "Dagger, confirm your return."
None of the pilots said anything for several seconds. Each moment that passed only increased the tension in the room.
"He went after Maverick," Payback's voice cut through the silence.
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Sadie was standing on the landing pad watching as Phoenix and Bob landed, followed shortly by Fanboy and Payback. She ran forward the moment Fanboy's head appeared over the edge of the cockpit, pulling him into a hug, not caring about the pain in her chest. She needed to assure herself that he was really here. There was a small group of people gathered around offering their congratulations to the pilots but the loss of Maverick and Rooster had a clear effect on the mood.
She followed Fanboy back into the dispatch room. The radio was turned on and everyone was listening intently hoping that if they waited long enough that somehow they would hear Rooster or Maverick's voice on the radio.
"Sir, we are receiving a signal from Rooster's E-set. There seems to be a malfunction," a voice said.
"Have you lost it?" Cyclone responded.
"No, Sir. It's supersonic."
Sadie looked up, not believing what she was hearing.
"He's airborne..." Cyclone voice was full of disbelief. Sadie squeezed Fanboy's hand then pulled away, running up to the control room. She needed to see for herself what was going on.
She burst into the room out of breath from her sprint to see a dot on the screen accompanied with Rooster's name. Not far off were two enemy bandits clearly following after them.
"Requesting permission to dispatch Sir," Hangman said. Cyclone looked around the room clearly struggling to make a decision. "Sir, let me help them."
Cyclone sighed and nodded slightly so Warlock gave Hangman the green light to take off. The swoosh of a plane leaving the boat caused Sadie's heart to sink into her stomach. Her eyes were glued to the flashing dot with Hangman's name as he approached the jets. Every flash of a light disappearing from the screen was like a dagger to the back, thankful every time that it wasn't Hangman's name.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. This is your saviour speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing."
