Brotherhood: Putting on Airs
-or-
Who's Driving This Thing?
I hadn't planned on doing one story per member of the Brotherhood, but it seems to be happening. So, we'll explore a slightly more grown up, still not quite mature, Brotherhood in the employ of SHEILD again. Got to wonder how Fury's ulcer is doing.
---bh
When Fury had them take the tests, Todd was pretty sure he was going to fail. Sure, One-Eye told them they couldn't fail, it was to measure their potential. But they said that Fred was mostly normal. Fine, you couldn't fail a test that was already busted. They said stuff about Todd like "instinctive spacial awareness", "intuitive mathematical abilities", "unparalleled hand-eye coordination", "exceptional g-tolerances" and "elevated multi-stream cognitive ability."
Todd wasn't sure what most of it meant, but it sounded pretty damn spiffy. Fury told him it meant he might make a pretty good pilot. Todd didn't need a test to know that- he'd only ever played flight sims, and not only had he been the one to steal the jet, he was the one who flew it down to Mexico on Apocalypse-day. Didn't even scuff the paint landing. So he'd said sure, he'd try flight school. Heck, if Summers could do it, how hard could it be.
So he was their pilot now. And what a sweet ride. Pimped out Gulf V. Radar, flir, satcom, stealth paint job. New engines, new wings, she could cruise at Mach .9, and the thrust vectoring nozzles on the engines were pure milspec. She could turn like fighter, and they had mounting points for a couple of missiles under the wings. Rough field landing gear, she land on almost anything. This was his baby, he'd take her over a jetcopter any day they didn't have to land in a parking lot. He called her Magda. Or Hellbitch, if she was having a bad day. But he never used those names where he could be heard.
Someone might think he was crazy, giving a plane a girl's name.
Pietro was scowling at them from outside the hanger. He was still on crutches. Asshole never should have started that with his sister; if he hadn't, Fred wouldn't have tossed him out the window. Their quarters were on the third floor.
Toad stuck his tounge out his gimpy teammate as he finished his walk around. Nothing made a day suck as much as something wrong with your aircraft, even he didn't screw around with that. Always did a walk around unless they were getting shot at. He hopped up the stairs, and slithered into his seat. "Yo, someone shut the door."
He looked in the back. The extra fuel tank was in place, and the dirt bikes they'd need on the ground were strapped down tight. Fred's ATV was a little harder to get out, but he could toss it about like a toy and they had the ramp planks. Everyone's weapons were holstered or racked. Good- Todd liked his bird rigged like they were going to be in combat in the next ten seconds.
Fuel was good. Missiles checked out- they had Brimstones and Sidewinders onboard. Intell said that there might be an air threat. The idea made him giggle with glee- he had a secret weapon, Wanda. Green board, good board. He pulled on his head set. Comms checked, the flight line was clear. He was lord of all he surveyed. The engines ignited. They were taxing to the runway as he pressed the intercom button.
"Lady and gentlemen, welcome to Hellair flight 666. Please observe that the no smoking and seat belt lights are on. We'll have no stops, none of this layover crap, and no drinks cart- bummer, I could use a beer. In the event of an inflight emergency, just do I'll do. Cover your eyes and scream. We'll be landing in places unknown and unfriendly, where the weather forecast is for partially sunny weather with a chance of death. It is always AK-47 season, so put on your body armour and sunblock before we land, the bullets'll be thicker than rats on a dead hobo."
The others groaned. They were used to his preflights. Lance had told him it was worse than being with the X-Geeks. Their mutters were lost in the whine of the engines spinning up to max power, then they were pushed back gently into the leather upholstery of their seats.
---Author's notes:
In print and film, Toad (a different Toad, admittedly) isn't just a petty thief and mutant cannon fodder. He is an expert on security systems, and a skilled pilot and mechanic. As with his team leader, if Tolansky had had a better start in this world, maybe he would have been an X-man; instead, this Toad was nearly feral and a screw up.
Fury sees their potential.
For those that don't know, the Gulfstream V is a business jet, and also used for VIP flights by the US Air Force. Some of it's competators, such as earlier Cessna Citation models, were marketed for a variety of military roles like reconnaissance and subhunting, so the idea of hanging missiles on a bird like this isn't impossible. Sidewinders are a kind of air-to-air missile, short ranged and heat seaking. They are the little guys you see on the wingtips of F-16 and F-18s. Brimstone is a European made air-to-ground missile that is intended to replace the Maverick (which we started using in Vietnam) and the entire Hellfire-family; it can home on laser or radar designators or on a thermal signature in a fire-and-forget mode.