Nadia was set up in the break room after Lex set her down. He was next to her, watching her pull up all the stats for the four pilots in the air, one of which happened to be Payback.

The rest of the detachment filed in and listened to the radio that was connected to the ones in the air.

"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?"

Nadia rolls her eyes. Of course, Payback was trying to make a bet.

"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." 

Lex makes eye contact with Nadia. “Yea, cause he doesn't need one himself.” Nadia only nudged him in the ribs, worried he would say something a bit too loud.

"We’ll see to that," another 2 aviators say, over by the Foosball table.

This time, Nadia and Phoenix locked eyes. “Men,” they said in sync.

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.

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. (Nadia isn't sure how she feels about Reuben having a partner in crime when it comes to his bets).

"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.

Lex is called out for the next group, giving Payback's shoulder a pat as he passes the returning aviators.

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

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

Nadia notes all of the behaviors as she waits for the next set of data to reach her computer. She likes to know the people she's working with.

"Kill," Maverick says, shooting down the second team. 

"Damn it," Lex curses. He got taken out pretty quickly. This old timer was good, alright.

"Smoked," Maverick says, taking out Hangman.

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

It can not be stated just how much Nadia has rolled her eyes whenever Hangman opens his mouth. “You know, your eyes are going to get stuck if you keep doing that,” Lex jokes with her.

"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.
"Shit!" He says as Maverick flies between them. (Served him right).

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

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

Phoenix watches his movements. "Breaking right!”

"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 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. Ivy was going to love this woman.

"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. 

Even if she's not supposed to, Nadia cheers slightly.

"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.

The team landed and went to Hondo as a few more ran the course.

In that time, Payback had ended up with Nadia, looking over her shoulder as she worked. He had helped her and Ivy on occasion when it came to cars, but never in this capacity.

“So,” he started. “Anyone in your life I need to be having a talk with?”

Nadia let out a sigh, keeping her focus on her computer screen. “What is with you and your sister? I swear, you two have nothing better to do than gossip and meddle in my non-existent love life.”

Unbeknownst to her, Mickey was close enough to listen in without being obvious. And he had a small mental celebration in discovering she wasn't seeing anyone.

How, he didn't understand. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. How she was still single was a mystery, but he wasn't going to question an opportunity to swoop in.

Unfortunately for him, Lex was also near the group. And he could clearly see Fanboy perk up at Nadia's little piece of information.

Reuben wasn't the only person Ivy gossiped with. He would have to tell his girlfriend about this potential development.

Before anyone could continue the absolutely riveting conversation about a thrilling dating scene, they all tuned back into the radio.

It was the last run of the day. And it was Hangman and Rooster, the two who clearly held animosity towards each other.

But it was also obvious there was tension between Rooster and Maverick. And it resulted in what the team could only hear as a standoff between the two.

Nadia was mildly freaking out as she saw the stats coming in from the jets. There were getting too low, their altitude running way too close to the ground for comfort.

Before she could try to manually override any of the mechanics, something that would potentially get her discharged, Maverick pulled up.

A sigh of relief was heard from everyone in the room. And once Maverick came back into the room, he dismissed the group for the day.

Nadia and Lex had dinner plans with Ivy, so they said goodbye to everyone and headed out.

Payback watched his WSO who only had eyes for Nadia. She was completely oblivious to his stare, invested in whatever topic Lex had brought to her attention.

Oh yeah, he was going to have fun matching these two together.

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Word count: 1,544

So we got some official confirmation that Nadia is single and Mickey celebrates that fact!

And half the team is going to be attempting to set them up, so get ready for some shenanigans to ensue.

But this was a pretty movie heavy chapter, so I hope you enjoyed it. See you next chapter.

Bye guys!!