It was back to business as usual. Johanna and Javy couldn't carry whatever personal feelings they had about the weekend effect this training session. 

The detachment was still running the course, everyone acting more like a team since the Dogfight football match on the beach. 

A few runs had been completed, although no one had achieved the goal in the allotted time just yet. That wasn't to say they weren't getting closer. Multiple teams were well within range to do this after a few more runs. 

It was finally time for the last run of the day. Johanna was in the main hanger room with the others, monitoring the run from her usual perch. Maverick, however, was nowhere to be seen. 

"Talk to me, Bob," Phoenix calls back to her WSO as they fly the route. 

"We're 12 seconds late on Target. we gotta move, we gotta move!" he replies. 

"Copy, try and stay with me," Coyote says over the radio, leading this team. 

"Uh, wait, who's that?" Bob asks after seeing a boogie appear on his radar. 

"Blue team, you've been spotted," Maverick says over the radio. Jo smirks from her spot. The others laughed to themselves, as they didn't have to face Maverick in their own trials. 

"Shit, it's Maverick," Coyote realizes. 

"What the hell is he doing here?" Phoenix questions. 

"I'm a bandit on course to intercept, blue team. What are you gonna do?" Maverick asks. 

"He's 12 miles left, 10 o’clock and closing," Bob informs the others. 

"Your call, what do you want to do?" Coyote asks Phoenix. 

"Continue, we're close," she says. "Stay on target."

"He's swinging around to the north," Bob says. 

"Stay ready for the pop-up," Coyote advises. 

"Be ready with my laser, Bob!" Phoenix tells him. 

"Copy, I'm on it," he responds. 

"Blue team, bandit is still closing," Maverick informs them. 

"Popping up," Coyote says as he pops his plane up. 

"Talk to me Bob, where's the bandit?" Coyote asks. 

"He's 5 miles out. He's coming fast," Bob responded. 

"Targets in sight," Phoenix confirms. 

"Where's my laser, Bob?!" Coyote asks. 

"Dead eye, dead eye! It's no good, sorry I can't get a lock." Bob calls out. 

"We're out of time, I'm dropping blind," Coyote says. He sends the missile. "Damn it! Miss!" 

They start the steep climb out of the canyon, but Coyote goes into GLOC. 

"That's tone," Maverick says as he locks onto Bob and Phoenix.  

"Shit, we're dead," Phoenix says. 

"Blue team, that's a fail," Maverick informs them. "Level out Coyote " Coyote doesn't respond. 

Jo sits up straighter, but that's her only outward sign of concern. Hangman, worried for his best friend, was also paying attention. 

"Coyote, talk to me," Maverick tries again. "Coyote, come in! Coyote level wings." 

Still nothing. Now Jo was getting scared. Nothing on her screens indicated problems with the plane. But Javy wasn't responding. 

"Oh my god, he's in GLOC," Maverick realizes. "Coyote, Coyote!" 

Her eyes went wide as Maverick's words registered in her head. Jo's eyes snapped to meet Jake's, both of them extremely scared. This wasn't supposed to happen. 

"He's gonna burn in!" Phoenix worries. 

"I'm going after him," Maverick says, punching his speed. "Come on, give me tone, give me tone, give me tone." 

He gets a lock on Coyote, using the sound to wake him out of GLOC. "Snap out of it, Coyote, come on, come on. Break right, break right!!!" 

Jo's whispering under her breath. “Snap put of it Javy, snap out of it.” She can't appear worried to the others. She needs to show strength right now. 

Coyote wakes up just in time to steer away from the mountain. 

"There we go, kid, you ok?" Maverick asks him. 

"Yeah, I'm ok," he replies. "I’m good." 

Johanna and Jake both let out the breath they had been holding. Jo hadn't realized just how badly she needed to hear his voice. 

"Good, good. That's enough for today," Maverick releases a breath. 

"That was close," Phoenix says as she flies up to Maverick's wing.  

"Too close," Maverick agrees. 

"Bird strike, bird strike!!!" Maverick yells. Phoenix and Bob pull away, but it's too late. 

Now, it was time for the entire room to panic. “Shit, shit, shit!” Jo exclaimed, trying desperately to see if she could do anything from there. 

"Phoenix, left engines on fire!" Bob exclaims. 

"Climbing!" she responds. "Shutting off fuel to left engine, pushing fire." 

"Right engines out!" Bob calls out. 

They are still spinning, trying to restart the engine. 

"Phoenix, it's on fire!" Maverick tries to warn her. 

"Oh god, we're on fire!" Bob yells out. 

"Igniting engine," Phoenix tries to remain calm. 

"Phoenix, Bob, punch out! Punch out!" Maverick yells. 

"Hydraulic failure," Bob informs. 

"I can't control it!" Phoenix calls to him. "We're going down!" 

"You can't shake it, eject, eject," Maverick insists, not wanting to lose anyone else like this. 

"Eject, eject, eject," Phoenix says as she and Bob grab their ejection handles. They manage to eject just before the plane crashes.

The second Johanna got confirmation they had both ejected safely, she pressed her finger to her ear, activating her comm. 

“I need search and rescue to these coordinates immediately. Lieutenants Trace and Floyd had to eject from their craft after a bird strike. Injuries are unknown, but both parachutes were deployed and seen by Captain Mitchell. Inform me as soon as you have them.” 

She then turned back to the rest of the aviators. “I need to go inform Cyclone. Wait here for Maverick and Coyote to return.” 

And she did just that. As soon as she was out of that room, Johanna sprinted to Cyclone's office. He was up and out before she even finished, telling her to dismiss the detachment for the day and file her report. 

As she walked back to the hanger room, a few of the aviators walked past her, saying Maverick had dismissed them for her. 

But all of that went out of her head the minute she saw Coyote walk out of that room. 

Johanna had zero thoughts in her head as she practically ran to him, throwing her arms around the aviator. Javy stumbled back a bit, not expecting this. 

But he was quick to wrap his arms around her waist, clearly happy to be alive and in them. No matter their complicated relationship right now, going into GLOC had scared him beyond what he thought possible. 

Johanna was grounding him, giving him a chance to breathe. Something he hadn't really been able to do since his run had started. 

Soon enough, though, both of them realized they were still hugging and let go, albeit reluctantly. While they had talked some things out, this was not the time, nor the place. 

Jake, who had walked out with Javy, had witnessed the entire episode, smirking at the two adults. 

Jo cleared her throat. “I'm glad you're okay, Lieutenant. Have you gotten checked out?” 

Javy hadn't been able to force through words out, so Jake stepped in to help him. “I was just taking him to medbay, not letting him out of my sight. Promise.” 

Although he meant it, having been incredibly worried during the entire incident, Jake had a smirk plastered onto his face that could be seen as sarcastic. He even added a quick, yet hard, slap to the back, hoping to snap Javy out of whatever trance he was still in. 

“I feel fine, just letting the adrenaline come down. I'll be back to normal by tonight.” Javy was trying to play it off, but the others could clearly tell he was still scared. 

All three of them knew the risks of flying, but none had ever experienced GLOC. 

Jo nodded her head. “Well, you should still get checked out. Let me know what the doc says, I'll need to include it in my official report on what happened.” 

No one mentioned that the information would be added directly to his file and that she was not required to add any of that information. It was obvious she just wanted to know he was alright. 

And for Javy, that was a step in the right direction. 

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Word count: 1,360

We've got movement people!!! I know, this ship is moving slow and you likely want to bang both of their heads into a wall. BUT, we are getting close to finally being together! 

I'm not sure if I properly conveyed Johanna's worry in this chapter, but we will be delving deeper into those feelings next chapter. 

Speaking of next chapter, we have some special guests showing up for a not so happy event. 

Stay tuned and see you next time. Bye guys!!