Johanna made it to the break room first. She had a monitor set up so she could get a reading from the planes in the air. A basic layout of the ground, along with obstacles, appeared on her screen, waiting for the blips of color that would represent the jets once in the air. 

Despite avoiding Javy when leaving the debriefing room, Jo knew she wouldn't be able to avoid him forever. But right now, she has a job to do. 

And right on time, because three blips appeared on the screen, Maverick further away from the grouping that was Rooster, Payback, and Fanboy. 

"Good morning aviators, this is your captain speaking," Maverick starts off. The group had split into teams, and one by one, they were all going up against him.

"We're gonna do some basic fighter maneuvers. As briefed, today's exercise is dog fighting, guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the hard deck of 5000 feet, working as a team you have to shoot me down, or else," he trails off. 

Never one to back down, Payback asks, "Or else what, sir?" 

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

Listening over the radio, Phoenix and Bob look at each other while Hangman is playing with a model toy jet. "This guy needs an ego check." Jo holds in the snort threatening to escape. Hangman had more ego than some of the people she had put away, and that was saying something. 

"We’ll see to that," another 2 aviators say, over by the Foosball table. (She didn't hold back the eye roll from that statement.) 

Back in the air, Payback has a proposition. "What do you say we put some skin in the game?" 

"What do you have in mind?" Maverick asks.  

"Whoever gets shot down first has to do two hundred pushups," Payback proposes. 

Johanna snickered back in the room, drawing attention to her, which she waved off. They were all going to be so sore after Maverick kicked their asses. 

Rooster, knowing exactly what Maverick is like, tries to get them back on task and focusing. "Guys."

Maverick, flying directly below the pair of planes, replies. "That's a lot of pushups." He doesn't sound worried at all. 

"Well, they don't call it exercise for nothing, sir," Fanboy replies cheekily. 

"You've got yourselves a deal, gentlemen," Maverick confirms. "Fight’s on. Let's turn and burn." He stops talking, gets into position, and aims straight for the other planes. 

"Fanboy, you see him?" Payback calls out to his back seater. 

He shakes his head, not seeing anything. "Nothing on the radar up ahead. He must be somewhere behind us." 

Maverick comes right up between the two jets, Rooster going one way while Payback and Fanboy go the other.

"Jeez." 

"Oh God." 

"Shit." 

All three men swear simultaneously.  

"Alright, Maverick, let's try not to get fired on the first day," he says to himself. He flies around the others, confusing them as to where he is. 

"Tally, tally, tally!" Fanboy calls out as he spots Maverick. "Break left!" he tells Payback as Maverick flies up from behind them. 

"Breaking left," Payback confirms. 

As he tries to lock in on them, Maverick questions, "Hey there, where's your wingman?" 

"Rooster, where are you?" Payback calls out. 

"I've got your back," Rooster answers. "I'll be there soon, hang in there, hang in there." 

"Come on, man, hurry up," Payback calls out as Maverick gets closer. 

"Break right," Rooster calls out. 

"Breaking right," Payback confirms. 

"Rooster may have saved your lives, but it's gonna cost him," Maverick says, trying to lock onto Rooster's plane.  

"Not this time, old man," Rooster says angrily. Rooster dives down, taking them both lower. 

"Rooster, you're too low, pull up!" Payback informs him. "You're hitting the hard deck." 

"Oh shit," Rooster realizes as his distance til hard deck hits the 3000s. He pulls up to avoid the hard deck but allows Maverick to get a lock on him. 

"That's a kill," Maverick says. 

Payback and Fanboy made their way back into the break room as Rooster went to Hondo. He was doing his pushups as the others watched from the windows 

"Should be us down there," Fanboy says as he and Payback walk over the window where Phoenix is, observing Rooster doing his push-ups. 

"But it's not," Phoenix says. "And now you know a little something about Rooster."  

Jo made sure to note Phoenix's statement as well. Even if she didn't fly anymore, she was also providing her opinion on the people going on this mission. Any information would help. 

After that, Maverick continued to show the aviators he wasn't just some old dog. 

"Kill," Maverick says, shooting down the second team.  "Damn it," the pilot says. 

"Smoked," Maverick says, taking out Hangman. 

Hondo was enjoying his part in all of this a little too much. "It was all fun and games till you messed up, isn't it? DOWN!" 

Johanna perked up as Phoenix and Bob were up, although they were paired with Hangman. (She already loved Natasha, and Bob was a sweetheart. But Jake was an asshole and way too arrogant for her tastes.) 

"Hey Phoenix, why don't we tell everybody BOB stands for something," Hangman goads in the air. "Other than Robert, I mean." 

The woman in question rolls her eyes. "Don't take the bait, Bob." Phoenix says. "Wanna know why we call him Hangman?" 

"Oh wait, I got it. Baby on board," Hangman jokes as he laughs. But he's not laughing for long. "Shit!" He says as Maverick flies between them. 

(Jo smirked at his shout. She couldn't wait to scare this man with everything she had.)

"Greetings, aviators," Maverick says. "Fight's on." 

"Alright, Phoenix, let's take this guy out," Hangman says. 

Rooster, listening through the radio in the break room, speaks as though they can hear him. "Watch your back, Phoenix." 

"Breaking right," Phoenix calls out. 

"Where's he going?" Bob asks as Hangman flies away. 

"That's why we call him Hangman," Phoenix says, pissed off. "He'll always leave you out to dry."

"Leaving your wingman," Maverick says. "There's a strategy I haven't seen in a while." He was only seeing his younger self in this aviator, and he would be damned if he let Hangman continue on this path. 

"He just called you a man Phoenix. You gonna take that?" Hangman asks

"As long as he doesn't call you a man," she fires back. Johanna literally clapped at that, disregarding the stares she got from the others. Although Rooster did hold up his hand for a high five, which she gladly gave. 

"Where's Maverick," Phoenix asks Bob as they weave through the sky. 

"Jesus, he right on us, coming around," he replies

"Get him off me, Hangman," Phoenix yells out. 

"Sure, for you folks at home, this is how you bury a fossil," Hangman says while trying to lock on Maverick. 

"Alright, Hangman, time to teach you a lesson," Maverick says, just as he locks onto Phoenix. "You're out, Phoenix." 

"Son of a bitch," she says. 

"Alright Mav let's see what you've got," Hangman pushes. 

"Come get me," Maverick replies as he kicks it into high gear. 

"You won't be long, hangman's coming," Hangman says.

"Yea, you're good, I'll give you that," Maverick says reluctantly as he pulls the level and shoots straight into the air, blinding Hangman with the sun. 

"Shit! Phoenix I cant see him, how close am I?" Hangman asks. "Phoenix?!"

"I'm dead, dickhead," she says smugly. 

"See you in the afterlife Bagman," Bob says snarkily.  

"Where is he, where is he?" Hangman says as he looks around for Maverick. 

"That's a kill," Maverick says as he locks onto Hangman. 

Phoenix, Bob, and Hangman made their way to Hondo to do their share of pushups. Let's just say, Natasha was glaring so hard at Jake, it's a surprise the man didn't burst into flames. 

A few others had their flights, all failing miserably and incredibly quickly. But the last matchup of the day was the most interesting. 

Johanna sat up straight, gaze not moving from her screen. From what she had seen today and the obvious tensions between the three men in the sky, this last flight was going to be interesting, to say the least. 

"So Rooster, mind if I ask you a personal question?" Hangman asks, but not really cause he's gonna ask anyways. 

"Would it matter if I did," Rooster says knowing damn well it didn't. 

"So what's the story with you and Maverick?" Hangman doesn't skip a beat. "It seems like he's got you a little rattled."  

That was the question on everyone's mind. They could all see something was going on, but no one knew what. 

Unfortunately, Rooster wasn't up for sharing. "It's none of your business," Rooster says, "Now where the hell is he?" 

"Been here the whole time," Maverick says as he flips the plane so he is inverted over Rooster. 

"Holy shit," Hangman says, very impressed and slightly worried. (And all those in the break room wished they could see what was going on, but Johanna's system only showed blips, not footage.)

"See me now? Come on let's get it over with," Maverick tells Rooster. 

"Fights on!" Rooster says angrily. They engage in a spiral drop, flying in circles around each other

"What is with these two?" Hangman questions, confused as to what the hell just happened. Such a good question with no answer. 

"Alright, you put us here, how are you gonna get yourself out?" Maverick questions Rooster. 

"You can bail out anytime," Rooster snaps back. 

"How long you wanna do this?" Maverick fires back. 

"I can go as low as you sir," Rooster says. "And that's saying something." Well he was certainly pissed off. 

"What's past is past," Maverick says. 

"You'd like to believe that would you?" Rooster says.  

"That's 5000 feet fella, you are running out of room," Hangman says over the radio. In the break room, everyone is around the radio, Phoenix looking worried. Johanna was furiously typing in her notes while simultaneously trying to figure out what to do if either of them crashed. 

"Your strategy is about to run us into the ground, Rooster," Maverick says as the altitude hits 3000 feet. 

Maverick pulls up first as the altitude drops below 1000 feet, Rooster following right after. 

"There you go, don't think, just do," Maverick encourages Rooster. 

"Come on, Rooster. You've got him," Hangman calls out. "Drop down and take the shot!" He had always thought Rooster was a decent pilot, happy there was someone he could go toe-to-toe with when verbally sparring. But the man was too safe on the course and that was just as dangerous as Hangman himself. 

"It's too low," Rooster calls back. 

"Too late, had your chance," Maverick says as he hits the brakes and flies behind Rooster. 

"That's a kill," Maverick says. 

"Damn it," Rooster cries. 

"Same old Rooster," Hangman shakes his head. 

"Go see Hondo about your push ups," Maverick tells Rooster. 

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Once Rooster was back inside, sore but alive, they all regrouped in the briefing room.

Johanna stood at the front of the room, leaning back onto the table. She watched as each person walked in, observing their temperament and body language. Everyone was, understandably, tired. She wasn't going to keep them long, just go over some basics. 

“Ok, now that you all know who's going to be teaching you to fly, I'm going to be teaching you the more subtle aspects.” 

That statement got quite a few looks from the aviators, not appreciating her insinuation. She was once an aviator, just like them. She knew exactly how to get under their skin. 

Johanna only smirked at them. “I won't keep you long. My job is to prepare you if, God forbid, something goes wrong and you get captured. Now, most of my training I've had over the course of many years. None of you will be at my level or the level that is expected of me in three weeks.” 

They all listen with rapt attention. They all knew the chances of capture were slim but it wasn't out of the question. If they were ejected in enemy territory and not rescued, they would more than likely be tortured for information or be killed. 

“The basics I will be teaching you are evasion techniques, primarily used to keep someone talking or for them to reveal their plan. As well as ways to get out of binds and how to observe your surroundings.” 

Phoenix is the one to speak up. “Don't we already know how to observe our surroundings? I mean, we wouldn't be doing our jobs properly if we didn't.” 

The other aviators agreed with her, all nodding. Johanna also nodded. “Yes, you all know how to observe your surroundings. But you do not know how to observe them with the idea of escape. How to figure out the best place to lie in wait, to hide in the shadows, find the quickest way out.” 

She faced the group, face hard, head swimming with memories of her own challenges. 

“I'm teaching you how to survive.” 

✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Word count: 2,203

Mostly movie stuff, but we had Jo thrown in and doing her thing. Now, I'm basing her official role in this off of the NCISverse. I am not a professional in any of this, so I am kinda throwing together techniques I've seen used across the shows. 

But what do you all think? Does it make sense? 

Also, I PROMISE, more Javy and Jo content is coming. This is one of my first times writing a couple that isn't already established, so I'm trying to balance it all out. 

So I'll see you all next time. Bye guys!!