"Attention on deck!" A voice calls out, prompting everyone to stand at attention.

Admirals Warlock and Cyclone walk into the room, with Hondo taking a seat in the back. He nods at Nadia, who slips in quietly as well.

"Morning. Welcome to your special training detachment," Warlock starts, "Be seated.
You're all Top Gun graduates, elite, the best of the best."

Nadia observes from the back as Hangman puts a toothpick in his mouth, smirking proudly at Warlock’s statement. She catches Lex’s eye, giving him a small but comforting smile.

"That was yesterday," Warlock brings them all back to reality. Everyone's faces fall in realization of what he just said. Lex chews on his lip as he digests what this detachment is about to be.

"The enemy’s new fifth generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. Success now more than ever comes down to the man or woman in the box," Warlock continues, making sure they all understand the severity of the situation.

Nadia can't lie. She would kill to get her hands on some of that new tech. It didn't matter that it belonged to the enemy. She just wanted to study the machine. That didn't mean she wasn't worrying.

She notices Hangman looking patronizingly over at Phoenix as Warlock continues. And without missing a beat, she subtly scratches her face, giving him the middle finger. (Yea, Nadia had a feeling they were going to get along just fine.)

"Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader." Hangman simply smirks at Rooster when the mission leader is mentioned. "The other half will remain in reserve."

Lex had to be honest. While he would love to prove himself in this mission, this debrief was starting to scare him. Lex and Nadia had both lived through enough to give PTSD for the rest of their lives, no need to add to that if this mission goes wrong.

Warlock continues looking out at the twelve pilots, "Your instructor is a Top Gun graduate with real world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary."

Footsteps are heard as Maverick begins walking toward them from the back of the hanger. Nadia watches as he continues forward. Clearly, this man held himself with enough confidence to fill the entire room.

"He is considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced," Warlock continues his praise of Maverick.

Everyone looks back at the man walking through the chairs.  Hangman,Coyote, and Payback all realize just who Maverick is. They sink in their chairs, finally realizing their instructor is the same man they threw out of the Hard Deck the night previous. Lex can only smirk at the reactions.

"What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death," Warlock states in a serious tone. "I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign Maverick."

Rooster glances at him before looking back down, jaw clenched in anger.

Maverick stands at the podium Warlock just left, looking out at his students for the next few weeks. His eyes linger on Rooster before he composes himself and addresses the room. (Nadia takes note of both reactions.)

"Good morning," he begins. Hangman nodded with an embarrassed smile as Maverick looked forward. Rooster looks away immediately, trying with everything in his power to not look Maverick in the eyes.

"The F-18 NATOPS," he says, holding up the manual. "Contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft," he indicated to the Admirals. Patting the book, he continues, "I'm assuming you know the book inside and out." He knows, just as he was once a long time ago, that these pilots are the best and they know it.

And the responses he gets back prove exactly that.

"Damn right," Payback calls out.
"Damn straight," Hangman, without hesitation.
"You got it," another one states.

Maverick takes the book and throws it right into the trash. Everyone looks slightly shocked, checking around to make sure he just did that. Lex turns to look at Nadia, who can only shrug. This was certainly the weirdest method either of them had ever seen.

"So does your enemy," Maverick says seriously. All he is trying to do is make sure these pilots, no matter how good they are, know that someone with superior technology is out there.

"And we're off," Hondo whispers from the sidelines.

"But what the enemy doesn't know is your limits," Maverick informs them all. "I intend to find them, test them, push beyond," he continues. "So today, we'll start with what you only think you know. You show me what you're made of."

Before they can be dismissed to fly, however, Cyclone steps forward. “In addition to Captain Mitchell, you will also be working with Lieutenant Novak.” He gestures for Nadia to come up front.

She awkwardly makes her way to the Admirals, Lex shooting her a thumbs up as she passes.

“She is your lead mechanic for this detachment. Any issues you may have with your planes, bring directly to her. I don't want any of you messing with them, thinking you can fix the problem.” He sends a clear warning to all those in the room, as Nadia sends them all a smile.

Warlock calls out to the room. “Get to your jets and be ready to fly.” And with that, they are dismissed, the Admirals walking out of the room.

Lex walks right up to Nadia. “You little bitch. Why didn't you tell me you were assigned to this mission last night?”

Nadia shrugs. “I still have to surprise you occasionally. Can't let you have all the fun.”

He only shakes his head before throwing his arm over Nadia’s shoulders. He shakes them a bit as they begin to walk.

But Payback is quick to stop them. “How you been, Nadia?” He gives the woman a quick hug. He and Lex do the quick ‘bro-hug’ as well.

She returns the embrace. “Doing good. Some days are worse than others, but this mission is priming me for a promotion.”

He smiles as he nods at her. “That's awesome. Hey, we can't wait too long. You, me, Lex and Ivy for dinner soon?”

Nadia and Lex both nod. “Tell me when and I'll be there.”

As the rest of the detachment start to file out, many of them catching the two interactions, Nadia turns to Lex. She gives him the big eyes, which he often gives her.

Lex immediately shakes his head. “No. I'm not doing it. That look doesn't work on me.”

She only sticks her bottom lip out, just a little bit, in response.

“No.”

She gives up the act and looks him dead in the eyes. “You're really going to deny your crippled sister a piggyback ride?”

Lex rolls his eyes as anyone within earshot looks at the pair. They don't look relationed and from what they can see at the moment, she doesn't look crippled. But looks can be deceiving.

He turns his back to her as he crouches down. Nadia is quick to climb onto his back, as Lex clasps his hands around her legs.

“You're lucky I love you,” he mutters as he begins his journey to the break room. The others can only smile or laugh as he passes.

Nadia simply kisses his cheek in return.

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Word count: 1,250

So we've got the official Nadia intro to the detachment. I know, no interaction between Fanboy and Nadia, but I promise we start to lay down the foundation in the next chapter.

Also, Lex and Nadia have my heart. I would 100% bully my, essentially, brother into giving me piggyback rides if I didn't feel like walking lol.

But I hope you all enjoyed! See you next chapter. Bye guys!!