The next day when String and Dom returned back to the cabin, closely followed by Michael and Marella, String looked madder than a hornet in a coke can. There was hardly a greeting and he didn't even bother to give her a 'hello' kiss. He flopped down on the stones of the hearth, sulking.
"Don't even ask," Michael told her when he moved past her. Dom poured glasses of wine for them. String was too moody.
"Lio?" Dom raised the bottle at her from behind the bar and gave her a broad smile.
"Very funny." Liona joined Dom at the bar. "What happened?"
"Hawke crashed Airwolf," Marella said, a hint of a smile in her voice.
"What?"
"During the simulation. He crashed Airwolf and now his ego is bruised." Marella almost sounded gleeful.
"I keep tellin' ya, the real Airwolf would have made it!" String spat, sounding disgusted.
Liona looked over at Dom.
"Oh, don't you go lookin' at me, kid. It felt very real to me. I already said, put some g-forces in that simulator, and nobody will be able to tell the difference."
"I could." String said, a dark scowl on his face. "Flying is flying and games are games."
"That's not very helpful, Hawke," Michael reproached him, his cane tapping against the wood when he too joined the rest at the bar.
"Could you put a percentage on how realistic you thought it was?" Marella asked curiously.
String shrugged his shoulders. "It's not exactly a perfect ten."
The answer visibly annoyed Michael. "Dr. Winchester would be the first to admit that. That's exactly why he needs your participation."
"That's another thing," String shot back, "how come Robert Winchester's in this program? He's a pilot, not a scientist."
"It is possible to be both." Marella raised a haughty brow at String.
"And to be a lawyer and a doctor as well," Liona quipped, referring to Marella's many doctorates.
Marella smiled and raised her glass at her.
"Winchester was one of the original bunch of Airwolf pilots." String got to his feet and sauntered over to where Liona was sitting. "Back when you were gonna make a fleet." He snaked an arm around her waist.
"His computer skills made him more valuable on the ground." Michael adopted a bit of a defensive stance.
"Well, I heard he washed out. He's great on instruments but had no natural ability. Now he's supposed to teach me to fly Airwolf?"
Liona could feel the tension in his muscles. He was extremely annoyed.
"But that's not what they're sayin', String." Dom tried to placate him. String huffed.
"No one can fly Airwolf the way you do," Michael sounded exasperated. "And that's the problem. We have no backup and no way to train them."There was an edge to his voice, something that told Liona he was holding something back.
"What happens if you go for a hike one day and don't come back? What happens ten years from now when your flying skills begin to erode?
"With Winchester's equipment, we can get a computer-perfect profile not only of Airwolf, but of how Stringfellow Hawke, in his prime, flies Airwolf."
"I can tell you how he flies Airwolf," Liona said, feeling very proud of him. When three faces looked over at her she smiled. "Extremely well."
They laughed and she could even hear String chuckle lightly near her ear where he pressed a light kiss.
"Some of the major-league baseball teams are using similar techniques to profile the perfect swing," Marella told them.
"I read about that!" Dom exclaimed. "Pete Rose will live forever!"
String obviously was still not convinced. "I'm not gonna take Airwolf anyplace the FIRM can get its hands on her."
"Each night you can fly it away to any hiding place you choose," Michael offered.
"Yeah, I'll think about it."
When they were alone, String was still very preoccupied. He hardly said a word and didn't respond to her touches at all. With a sigh Liona decided to leave him alone and she retired to bed.
It was much later when she could feel String press his body against her and hold her close.
"You'll have to come with us tomorrow."
The worry in his tone only minimally penetrated Liona's semiconscious state. "H-mm. Why?" she managed.
"Dom radioed me. He said somethin's going on at the FIRM. Something that has Michael worried. If somethin' has him worried… then I'm worried too."
The next morning String hauled her from bed at the crack of dawn and forced her to get ready to get picked up by Dom. Then, after a grueling blindfolded drive through some frozen territory and a quick flight with Airwolf, Liona was not having a good time watching String do some aerial tricks with Airwolf somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Though she did not mind the middle of nowhere, she did mind getting dragged from bed at such an ungodly hour.
Michael and Marella were sitting right next to her, looking flawless and impeccable as ever. Liona ignored the grins on their faces and felt only marginally better when Airwolf flew by and Michael had to hold on to his hat to prevent it from flying away. Marella demurely held her skirt in place, but otherwise she was the only one who looked perfectly unruffled.
Things got slightly more interesting when, some distance away, Airwolf started blowing up a few stationary vehicles. Then it got less interesting again when there was a bit of a cat and mouse game going on between Airwolf and a zigzagging jeep. Things didn't go 'boom' so Liona was not really interested. Only the majestic sight of Airwolf flying back to them and gracefully landing, was able to put a smile back on her face.
Soon, a parched String was pouring himself and Liona a glass of orange juice. He took a big swig, and, when he saw that the other three people standing near were not paying attention to them, pulled Liona in for a brief but intense kiss. By the time Michael looked over to them, String had already released her, leaving Liona with the zesty taste of orange juice in her mouth and him.
"I do believe your girlfriend has a bit of a morning mood," Michael said with a cheeky smile.
"Not with the right incentive she doesn't."
Liona had to muffle a laugh at Michael's horrified expression. Even his ears burned bright pink. He quickly cleared his throat and directed his gaze at Airwolf. "Beautiful."
"She is, eh, better appreciated from a distance, Michael."
"I'm a man of my word. You're helping us, and I appreciate it. I've doubled security at the perimeter."
"Are you expecting problems?" Liona asked a bit worried.
"Not really," Marella answered, "but this is Airwolf we're talking about and a lot of people would kill to get it. You'd be safer sleeping here than out in the middle of nowhere."
String lightly put an arm around Liona's waist. "I like nowhere," he said with a grin, "especially the middle section."
"We already knew that, Mr. Hawke."
Then the day threatened to end on a sour note when two scientists, an older looking man and a beautiful woman with bouncy red curls, approached them. They claimed that String had only managed to hit 87% of the ground targets, instead of it being a perfect score. Something he struggled to wrap his head around.
"Well, you missed a couple. Surely you know that," the male scientist said… Winchester, if Liona wasn't mistaking.
"We didn't miss," String said adamantly.
Even Dom was not convinced that String would miss a ground target. "Each pass looked right
on the money to me, Doc."
"You were sitting in the back, Mr. Santini," Winchester said. "The computer had the best seat in the house."
"It was wrong." String was not about to back down and admit defeat, but then again, neither was Winchester.
"The machine has no reason to lie, Mr. Hawke. Unlike the pilot."
Liona didn't like Winchester's insinuation. "Then I would like to see the readouts, please," she said calmly, "and have a look at your system. I know my way around computer hardware and software. It will be easy to find out if there's a system error."
The woman turned a baleful eye on her. "There is nothing wrong with the system. I personally designed it and I am in charge of overseeing it. It's not the system's fault that Mr. Hawke missed a few targets."
Liona snapped her brows together in annoyance. "Have you seen him fly? 'Cause I have. And I'm not talking about these jump through hoops and zigzag tricks. This man can shoot a peregrine falcon out of the sky without fail. If he says he didn't miss, he didn't miss. And I have more confidence in his skill than in some computer system I haven't checked out myself."
The woman looked absolutely murderous, but String gave her a condescending smile. "You can stick that in your pipe and smoke it, lady. Come on, Dom… Lio."
String flew the three of them some distance away where they sat up camp and he and Dom put a camouflage net over Airwolf. Dinner consisted of a few packs of Mug-O-Lunch.
"Can you at least storm off after dinner, tomorrow?" Liona complained, picking at the instant pasta.
String briefly gave her an unfathomable look before he turned his head back again and stared dead ahead of him. He was huddled in his warm flight jacket, his arms folded and his booted feet crossed at the ankles.
Liona put the mug aside and snuggled closer to String. Dominic was lying not very far away from her. The campfire was on its last log of fuel, a percolator perched on top one of the stones near the fire. String had been brooding the entire time.
"If I say somethin', you won't get teed off, will you? Eh?" Dom asked.
String stayed silent, but turned his head to look at his friend.
"Sometimes, I just don't understand you, String," Dom said, "And before, you used to talk about how stupid and artificial this thing is."
String folded his arms tighter and an annoyed look crossed his face. He was ready to disagree with anything Dom might say further.
"But, when it gives you less than a perfect score, you – you act like you lost a war or somethin'. Hey, lighten up on yourself, will you?"
"We hit those targets 10 for 10," String grumbled.
"Yeah, sure looked that way to me, too. But, so what if the computer has a few bugs in it? Even Lio thinks that. Oh, great jumping Jehoshaphat! The way Lio talked down that, eh, Miss Norris?"
Liona saw that String had cracked a smile. Dom saw it too. "See? Don't take it so personally, String," he said.
String's brows snapped together. "Well, Winchester sure is. He's really enjoyin' crackin' the whip and making me jump through those hoops."
"String," Liona said, pressing a hand to his arm, "either that computer system really is faulty, or… or Winchester is lying."
Her statement gave both Dom and String some pause.
"How well do you know that guy?" Dom asked. String shrugged his shoulders. "I said hello to him on the flight line, across the room at parties. He was closer to Moffett than anybody."
"Moffett?" That was a name Liona didn't recognize. "Who's that?"
"Ain't he the guy who invented Airwolf?" Dom looked over at String and Liona noticed a pained expression flitting across String's features.
"Yeah," he said after a while, "they sort of spoke the same language."
Dom rolled onto his elbow and looked up at the full moon. "Hmm. Well, it won't hurt us none
to play trained pony for a couple of more days.
"Yeah," String said, pulling Liona closer to him. "Yeah, I guess not."
Suddenly a piercing howl tore through the silence. She stiffened in alarm, but relaxed when she heard String chuckle near her ear.
"Relax," he told her softly, "it's just a coyote."
Dom threw back his head in his neck and let a long, drawn out howl rip from his throat.
String laughed at the sound, the rich laugh she fell in love with the one time she'd heard it. "What kind of a lame coyote is that?" he said in a teasing tone.
Liona chuckled seeing the look of indignation on Dom's face. "Lame? I suppose you can do better."
The challenge was accepted and String gave a short bark, before he followed up with a steady howl, though it sounded a bit rough.
"Coyote!" Dom huffed. "That's the kind that paints his own fingernails," he said while wiggling his fingers in a suggestive manner.
"You callin' my coyote a sissy?"
Liona guffawed, wondering how the hell String managed to ask that question with a straight face.
In response, Dom again howled in the moon… it was pretty terrible.
"That one is definitely in its death throws!" Liona laughed and String and Dom both joined in.
Later – Dom had already fallen asleep – Liona and String were snuggled in a sleeping bag together, both still awake.
"Thanks," String whispered, "for earlier. For sticking up."
"I was merely stating fact. I really don't believe for one moment you missed a target."
He tightened his arms around her in response. "You really think it could be a… computer bug?"
Liona rubbed her cheek against his chest, then winced when her skin scraped against the zipper of his flight suit. "Either that… or there's something else going on. They wouldn't let me anywhere near the computer or the readouts. That spells FISHY to me."
A loud shuddering snore made Liona bolt upright. She looked over at Dom and glared at the blissfully sleeping and loudly snoring man. "Damn, he sounds like a dinosaur!"
"Yeah," String agreed, "a dino-snore!"
Liona giggled, settled back down and looked into his eyes. Her giggle faded when she noticed a peculiar look in his eyes. He curved his fingers along her jaw but said nothing, just kept looking at her and suddenly it felt as if every cell in her body got struck by lightning. I love you, she thought, and the unexpected thought nearly made her gasp.
For a moment she was afraid that String could read her thoughts in her eyes. Since they never talked about their relationship and what direction it should take, love at never been mentioned or discussed either. She knew about his past relationships and the tragic ways they'd ended, so, she wasn't even sure if he wanted to hear such an admission. Then she wondered if she could handle it if she'd never hear such an admission from him. Suddenly feeling inexorably sad, she averted her eyes and tried to get some sleep.
\A/
The next morning Liona had to do without the company of Michael and Marella. Instead, she was stuck in the computer lab with Dr. Know-it-all and Miss High-and-Mighty while String and Dom were having fun in Airwolf.
"Rocket fire, rocket fire." Liona heard String's voice over the radio.
Then, not long after, "How am I doin', Teach?"
"We don't analyze maneuvers one at a time, Mr. Hawke," Dr. Winchester replied. Both he and Miss Norris looked suspiciously gleeful. "The next run-"
String cut him off, "You tell me if that was a hit or a miss, or I'm vectoring out of here right now."
Liona leaned over the metal railing and kept a close watch on both scientists. She noticed that Miss Norris gave the good Dr. Winchester an almost imperceptible shake of the head.
"You missed him," Dr. Winchester said after a long pause. Liona narrowed her eyes at him, 'You missed him' my ass! she thought.
"Winchester, I want to talk to you right now. Alone."
U-oh, String did not sound happy at all! Well, even if he did ask to talk to Winchester alone, that didn't mean she had to stay cooped up with Miss Norris. Liona decided to follow the scientist to see if she could find Dom.
She found him all right… standing right next to Airwolf, well within earshot of the discussion that was taking place between Winchester and String.
"That bird was square on line with the target box." String sounded as if he were about to explode.
"Maybe you clutched at the last minute," Winchester suggested.
The audacity of that statement made Liona ball her hands to fist. "Hateful man!" she spat.
She heard String state with absolute certainty that he didn't clutch. When Winchester said it wasn't his fault that String kept missing the targets, Liona couldn't stand it anymore. She walked away from Dom and stalked right up to them.
"We recalibrated this morning..."
"I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, Winchester," Liona said with a low voice. "You still haven't shown me a single readout of the results! And you wouldn't let me near when you were supposedly calibrating that machine."
"That machine is perfect!"
"It's either screwed up. Or you're lying!" she hissed.
String put a placating hand on her shoulder, and in her anger she nearly shrugged him away.
"I've had AirwoIf in combat," String told Winchester, sounding a whole lot calmer now. "I know her. You don't."
"I know her," Winchester disagreed.
"Then why aren't you flying her?" String demanded. "Instead of throwing the clay pigeons."
"Bureaucratic stupidity."
Liona snorted at the answer and she took a step forward to give him a piece of her mind, but String
pulled her right back.
"It's too bad they didn't make two of them," String said and his voice sounded challenging.
Winchester paused for a moment and gave String a calculating look. "I can simulate two. Airwolf versus Airwolf. Full on dogfight."
"No!" Liona blurted. It suddenly dawned on her that this could be the very reason why String had been 'missing' his targets.
"With you pushing the buttons?" String said derisively, ignoring Liona's protest.
"No tricks. I wanna beat you even odds."
"Don't do it, String. I wanna bet a hundred bucks that this was his goal all along. To hook up Airwolf to…"
"Let's do it."