In the morning, Olivia woke up and realized she was in her bed, it wasn't hard to guess that Fitz brought her there last night. She brushed her teeth, showered, dressed and then headed to the team kitchen for breakfast. Afterwards, she headed to their daily training session.
When she walked into the room, Fitz was already there with Zeus and a few other people.
"Hi Zuzu," she said as she walked up to them both.
"Please, Liv, his name is Zeus, Zuzu is very feminine and he doesn't like it."
She smiled, "Zuzu is a big boy, he's also comfortable with his sexually so he doesn't need to be overly masculine to prove anything to anyone, you should maybe be a little more like Zuzu."
Fitz bent over and belly laughed loudly.
"I'll remember that," he said as the laughter subsided.
"I hope you do," she quipped.
By now, everyone had congregated in the workout room, including Mellie who was back from the medbay. After Fitz's instructions, they got in position and began the session.
A little later in the morning, Fitz called all deltas to the deck. Olivia was in her room when she heard the announcement and went to find them as quickly as she could. When she arrived she saw everyone standing beside a brand new fleet of sleek black jets.
"What's going on?" She asked as she joined the group.
"We got a delivery last night," Scott said, "and it's time to take them on a test ride."
Fitz clapped his hands, "yep, all flight qualified deltas will pilot and unqualified with ride in the copilot seat, I want everyone familiar with these new planes, they can go up to Mach 10 which is the fastest planes they have gotten us so far, they are ideally made to chase missiles not for combat, that said, I want everyone paired up, we have three planes so we'll take all three out in turns. Liv, you're with me. I need two more pairs."
"I'll take Duke," Scott said.
"I'll take Anton," Akio said.
"Perfect, we'll limit the flights to half hour runs," Fitz said.
Fitz turned to Olivia and handed her a flight suit along with a survival vest and harness. He helped her get her suit on over her workout clothes, he already had his flight suit on.
"Why are we wearing suits now, we didn't wear them last time?" She asked.
"These planes are new, it's just as a precaution."
"They're safe right?"
"Yeah, of course, it's not exactly a fighter plane though, so it's defensive capabilities aren't great for combat."
"What is it for then?"
"It's for chasing missiles and shooting them down, it has a specific target system just for that reason."
"Oh okay."
He helped her into the cockpit and then got in after her. After he helped her to strap in, he strapped himself in the pilot's seat in front of her. They both put their flight helmets on.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"For a ride."
He closed the windshield over their heads and then she watched as he tinkered with a few buttons on the dashboard. Once everything was set, he drove the plane up the northern runway.
"Where's Scott? She asked as she looked for his plane.
"He's directly behind us, you won't see him."
"I knew that," she said quickly.
Fitz chuckled and continued driving the plane down the runway to get in position for takeoff, he was guided by the runway workers with their glow sticks. Once he was in position, the side hatch for the base that was a door about 200 feet wide dropped open letting in cold Antarctic air. He drove the jet down runway and took off smoothly into the air.
"Okay, let's see what this baby can do."
He climbed it straight into the stratosphere and propelled it forward.
"Fitz, you there," Scott asked over the intercom.
"Yep, going Mach 6 and faster by the second."
"Yeah, just climbing it into the stratosphere. It didn't expect it to be so light in the air."
"Hi Scott," Olivia said.
"Hey Liv, how you liking the joy ride?"
"I love it."
"Scott I'm testing it at Mach 10, try the same and let me know how it feels."
"Okay big bro.."
Scott cut the intercom off. Fitz push the jet to the limit at Mach 10 for a few minutes, by that time he had flew past Australia and slowed his speed to that of a regular commercial airplane. He was still cruising above the clouds when his radar picked up five fighter jets around him.
"What the fuck?"
Without warning his radar begin beeping.
"Weapons target locked," the systems announced.
"What, what does that mean?" Olivia asked.
"That means they've locked weapons on us."
Seconds later a missile crashed into their jet, slightly damaging the wing of the jet. Olivia screamed frightenedly.
Fitz dipped the plane below the clouds and seconds later three more missiles were headed there way.
"Oh my god, why are they shooting at us," Olivia said in a panic.
Fitz dipped the jet lower until it was just above the ocean water and once the missiles were close enough he deployed the jet flares.
"Flares," he commanded the voice control system in the jet.
Light flares projected from both sides of the planes throwing of the missiles targeting system and landing them in the water.
"Commander, you just deployed flares and your jet is reporting damage, what is your status," one of the mission control men from the base said over the intercom.
"We've come under enemy fire and we've been hit," he said quickly into the intercom.
Fitz was about to take the jet back into the stratosphere when four more fighter emerged from the opposite direction, leaving him flanked on both sides.
"Weapons target locked," the jet system said again as the alarms in the jet blared.
"Fitz, mission control said you were in trouble, what's going on?" Scott said over the intercom.
He propelled the jet forward, hitting the wing of one of the fighter planes as he passed, the fighter jet crashed into the water and once the missiles were close enough he deployed the flares again.
"Flares," he commanded again, throwing the missiles off target.
"Commander, mission control said you've come under attack? I'm flying to your location," Akio shouted over the intercom.
"Olivia I need you to press that red switch on your left side, that's the defense control, you need to shoot some of these planes down."
They locked weapons on them again.
"Weapons target locked."
Fitz sprung the jet forward but the damage to the wing was preventing him from going fast enough to outrun the enemy planes.
Olivia was in the back tinkering with the defense system until she managed to get it online.
"Weapons system online," the jet system said.
"I've got it," Olivia yelled.
"We can't outrun, them we have to fight- FLARES-," the flares shot off the side of the of the jet and deflected three of four missiles. The fourth missile slammed into the back of their jet.
"Structural damage 32%."
"Fitz, I'm in over the Atlantic Ocean, I'm coming as fast as I can, hold on," Scott shouted over the intercom.
"Olivia I'm gonna flip the plane, I need you to shoot everything."
"Okay."
Fitz flipped the jet so they were up sided down and Olivia used the fire control to shoot one of the jets out of the air. The jet shot off flares but that didn't stop their weapons system from reaching the plane, their weapon system was flare proof.
"Weapons target locked."
"Oh my god," Olivia screamed in a panic.
Fitz positioned the jet so she could shoot another plane and then deployed flares but they were so many missiles that one of them hit the other wing of the plane. Fitz kept his calm and maneuvered the plane so Olivia could target and shoot.
"Structural damage 46%."
There were only two planes left after a two minute fight but then one of the missile hit them in the engine.
At that point Fitz knew they sure couldn't escape in the jet, it was too damaged. They also only had one more round of flares and had two missiles headed for them.
"Structural damage 66%"
"Flares," Fitz barked.
The flares deployed and they escaped both missiles.
"Flare artillery depleted, missile artillery depleted," the jet system announced.
"Olivia we have to eject."
Olivia looked down at her harness strapped around her body. At that moment she was thankful she was she got in the plane with Fitz, she was sure if it had been anyone else they would have died along time ago, he was masterful at piloting.
Fitz swung jet around, it had smoke coming from the wings and engine and headed toward the last two fighter jets.
"Why are you heading toward them," Olivia screamed.
"When I say eject, you pull that lever," he barked.
Fitz flung the plane into one jet as another missile headed towards it, once the jet crashed he headed for the other jet as the missile was still chasing them. As he inched closer and closer to other jet, he pressed the intercom to speak with Scott.
"Scott, I'm going to eject."
"What, no, just wait I'm coming."
"No, go back to the base and bring a search party-"
The line got staticky and Fitz could barely hear him. By now, Fitz was a second away from the plane and second away from the missile crashing into them.
"EJECT," he screamed as their jet collided with the enemy jet.
Olivia laid on the wet, warm sand. Her limbs felt like jello. She slowly opened her eyes and raised her head and the first thing she saw was a huge 8ft Komodo dragon headed towards her. She jumped up and screamed and ran into the water hoping it couldn't swim but it followed her straight into the water.
"OH MY GOD," she said as she ran back to the shore. It chased her and she was surprised at how fast it was. She screamed as she tried running as fast as she could, her flight suit and heavy survival vest made it hard for her to move quickly to but she tried. She ran straight to the jungle ahead of her and climbed the first tree she saw. The Komodo dragon stood underneath the tree hissing so loudly that she didn't realize the snake hissing on branch beside her. She screamed and almost fell out the tree trying to get away. She managed to climb to the opposite branch to put some distance between them. The only thing she was more afraid of than a Komodo dragon was a snake, she been afraid of them since she was a child.
She waited shakily on pins and needles for the Komodo dragon underneath her to wander off. As soon as it was out of eyes reach she jumped out of the tree and ran back to the shore. She looked around at the island and tried to remember how she got there and where she was. She swam for hours and she was so tired that when she reached the shore, she collapsed.
She looked around at the white sand and clear blue waters, she couldn't see anything but the vast ocean in front of her and the dark green tropical jungle behind her. She could hear all sorts of animals croaking, hissing, chirping and roaring.
"Fitz," she said as realized she was alone on the island and it was almost sundown.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she said over and over in a panic.
She had no idea where he was. When she ejected from the plane, it flung her into the water rendering her parachute useless because they had been so close to sea.
She took off her survival vest and began searching the pockets. There was a lighter and tinder to ignite a fire, a small thermal blanket folded in the back of the vest. There was a fishing line, a few protein bars, pliers, water purification tablets, first aid kit, electrolyte tablets, safety pins and a lot of other small tools she was sure would be helpful if she had any idea what to do with them.
She looked out into the horizon, it would be night soon and she had no idea how she was going to survive on the island alone throughout the night. It seemed like it was deserted but she decided to walk the perimeter to see if maybe there were any locals that lived there. She strapped her vest on and trotted in the sand in search of another human.
It was sunset and she hadn't come across anyone or anything that could offer refuge. She was on the brink of panic because Fitz was missing, she had no idea if he was dead or alive and even worse, she had no idea how she'd survive alone on a deserted island. Once the sunset and the moon rose and it was too dark for her to keep going. She really didn't want to light a fire that would attract any unfriendly animals so she sat on the sandy shore through the night, her only source of light was the bright full moon that seem so close she felt like she could touch it.
It was a long night. She jumped at every croak and every twitch in the jungle she heard until the sun rose again. She drank a little of the water from the small plastic pocket of water from her vest and ate a protein bar and then stood and dusted the sand off her butt. She couldn't feel the exhaustion because she had so much anxiety and adrenaline running through her body.
She began walking again, she was a great distance away from where she had originally landed on the shore and now she could see other islands in the ocean. Most of them were just huge pillars of rock or green hills of grass that protruded from the waters, they was no beach or shore and nowhere to stay on the islands if she decided to swim out to it.
She continued walking until she heard rustling of leaves in the bush and jumped up. Two men appeared, they were wearing flight suits so she correctly guessed that they were some of the pilots in the fleet of fighter jets that ambushed her and Fitz.
She stepped back and they took a step forward without a word, she didn't have any weapons and upon realizing that unfortunate fact she broke out into a sprint but they caught her immediately and seconds later she felt a knife at her throat.
"Don't fight," one man said roughly into her ear. She noticed his accent was american and then she realized that something was terribly wrong. They must have been mercenaries. She was as sure as she could be that it wasn't her father, he'd never harm her and if they were his men they'd know who she was, she was sure of that and the only way he'd attack was unless he didn't know she was in the jet but a random attack also wasn't apart of the plan so she didn't know what to make of the attack. They pulled her up and forcefully walked her into the tropical jungle.
"No, I'm not fucking going in there," she screamed.
One of the men yanked her by the arm angrily.
"I said don't fight," he barked.
They grabbed her by the nape of her neck and shoved her into the jungle. They trotted for some time, she had no idea where they were taking her or what their plan was but as she was walking she tried to think about how she was going to get herself out of the predicament she was in.
As she was walking, she stepped on what looked like a tree vein on the floor but turned out to be a snake. It turned around and hissed at her and she screamed so loudly it echoed through the forest.
Fitz heard Olivia's scream whistle through the jungle and immediately pulled out his gun and headed in the direction it came from. He didn't have time to rejoice that she was alive, all he knew was that she might be in danger and he had to get to her. As he was running he heard her scream again.
"I will hit you if you scream again," he heard one man say.
He walked a little further and he saw Olivia and two men through the tree vines and branches. He got as close as possible before he stepped out from behind the tree so they could see him.
Olivia's breath hitched when she saw Fitz appear, joy wasn't the word for what she was feeling, there was no word.
He aimed the gun in the direction of the man that had the knife at her throat. Upon realizing that all they both had were knives he shot the second man without a word. The sound of the gunshot echoed through the jungle and the animal screamed and croaked loudly in response.
"Drop the gun or I'll slit her throat."
"Before or after I shoot you?"
"Drop the gun, I'm going to count to five-"
"I'm gonna count to three."
Fitz stepped forward.
"Don't come any closer or I'll kill your woman."
"She's not my woman."
The man yanked Olivia and she yelped.
"LIV-" Fitz screamed.
"Ah ha, so you do care about her, drop your gun or I'll kill her."
Fitz straightened up and loosened his posture, dropping his arms to the side.
"Go ahead, kill her," Fitz said.
"What?" the man asked.
"You won't kill her because if she's dead then you're dead so let her go and I'll give you about five seconds before I come after you, more than enough time for you to get a good head start."
The man stood there for a moment as if he was mulling over his chances of escape and then suddenly he shoved Olivia to the ground and ran. Fitz shot him on the back of his leg and he fell to the floor and screamed in pain. Fitz walked over to him and shot him in the other leg, he screamed again then he walked over to Olivia and helped her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
She burst into a sob and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly with her head buried under his arm.
"Oh my god, I didn't think I could be so happy to see one person, I could kiss you."
"You already did that," he quipped.
She let go of his waist and hit his arm as she chuckled.
"You're okay though right?"
Olivia wiped her eyes and pointed to the men on the ground.
"Yeah, I'm alright."
"Good, come on let's go, the komodo dragons like eating dead flesh, I'm sure they'll sniff him out pretty soon."
Fitz walked back over the man that was alive and bleeding out on the floor and took his knife then he grabbed one of his legs and began pulling him through the jungle with Olivia holding his hand as the went to a small clear area in the jungle. Fitz let go of the man and then faced him.
"Why did you attack us? How did you know where we were going to be?"
"Why would I answer you, you're just going to kill me," the man choked out.
"Yes but when I kill you I can make it quick, so quick you won't even feel it or I can drag it out and make it hurt, or I can leave you here alive and let the animals take care of you. If I were you, I'd go with the first option."
The man stayed silent. Fitz sighed and kneeled beside him and dug his finger inside the bullet wound in his leg and twisted his finger around. The man screamed and Fitz pistol whipped him across the face to shut him up and blood drained from his nose.
"Shut the fuck up."
Olivia stood back, she was almost immune to Fitz violent side because she'd seen it so much, almost, she could never get used to the silent rage and amusement he seemed to have whenever he was hurting someone.
"Just kill me," the man screamed.
"You'd like that wouldn't you but I can't let you get off that easy, you put your hands on her, more importantly, you almost killed us when you shot at our plane, I can't forgive that."
Fitz dug his finger a little further into his flesh and got a scream of pure agony from his victim.
"I -I -I d-don't k-know who, I heard about the job f-from a b-broker. "
"How did you know where we'd be?"
"I can't tell you."
Fitz was running out of patience, he knew he'd find out anyways, they always did.
"Okay."
Fitz stood up and cocked his gun and then shot him in both knees, shattering the bone and walked back to Olivia leaving the man on the ground screaming.
"Let's go."
The man screamed, "KILL ME! KILL ME!"
Olivia looked over to the man on the ground and the turned back to Fitz, she held unto his waist as he led her out the jungle back to the shore. When they arrived to the area of the shore that Fitz led her to, her mouth fell open. Fitz had a small tent built from branches and large leaves. He had a bunch of bananas, coconuts, mangoes, pineapples and papaya. He dug out a small spot in the sand where he small bonfire that was no longer burning. He had banana leaves spread out on the ground for a makeshift bed.
"Have you been marooned before?" She asked.
"Plenty of times, luckily were not in enemy territory or you'd really be pissing yourself."
He walked over to his bed and plopped down, he'd been smiling their entire walk and now as he sat on his bed, he was still smiling.
"What are you so happy about, we're stuck on an island, who knows when we're going to be found, or even if we're going to be found."
She panicked at the thought of never leaving the island.
"First of all, I'm happy because you're alive," he said pointedly.
Olivia smiled.
"And they'll find us, although I'm not sure when, they're are about 18,000 islands in all of Indonesia and we are on one of them so it's gonna take a while."
"We're in Indonesia?"
"Yep," he replied, "aren't you hot in the flight suit, it's like 95 degrees out here."
"I don't want any bugs crawling on me."
"Oh, so you'd rather die of a heat stroke then?"
Olivia realized he had a point and unzipped her survival vest and dropped it to the floor and then stripped off her flight suit. She had on black leggings and a black sweater, she took the sweater off and was left in a sports bra and then she sat beside Fitz on bed of leaves.
"When did you do all of this?" She asked.
"Yesterday."
"What happened when you ejected?"
"I ejected and it flung me in the water, I looked for you but I think it flung us both in the opposite direction, when I couldn't find you I swam to shore. I searched the jungle to find water and food, which I did."
"Where's the water?"
"There was waterfall at the base of the hill, I actually bathed in the lagoon near the sandbank, it has fresh water from the waterfall."
"There's a lagoon?"
"Yeah, other side of the island, it's hidden by trees but it's close to the ocean. The water is so clear that I saw this really good looking man in the reflected in the water."
"There's another person here?"
"No, I spent about 10 minutes waving to him before I realized it was my reflection in the water."
Olivia punched him on his leg and laughed.
"You're such an idiot."
She sighed and hugged him again.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you, I thought I was gonna be here all alone."
"Nope, I'm right here with you," he said as he rubbed her back.
She smiled and leaned up.
"I'm starving and I'm so tired, I couldn't sleep last night."
"I slept like a baby."
"How can you, aren't you afraid of the animals."
"Nah. So what happened to you?"
"I swam back to shore and collapsed on the shore from exhaustion, I don't think I slept for long but when I woke a bloody Komodo dragon was heading towards me."
"What?" He said as he laughed.
"Not funny."
"What did you do?"
"I ran but those little fuckers are fast, I ran to the jungle and climbed the first tree I saw and hid in the branches, only to realize a snake was right beside me, I almost fell out."
Fitz chuckled and shook his head.
"What happened after that."
"He left and I climbed down and I walked the shore to find you, a local, anyone one but I didn't and I ended up sitting on the shore all night then once the sun rose, I ate one of the snack bars and drank some water because I was going to keep walking, that's when the guys found me."
"What did they say?"
"Nothing, they just took me, I didn't know where they were taking me."
"Why did you scream the first time?"
"I stepped on snake and it hissed at me."
Fitz laughed again.
"I thought they'd hit you or something."
"I'm terribly afraid of snakes, I'm afraid of bugs and every animal that isn't a dog, I'm even afraid of cats because you know what they remind of?"
"What?"
"Tigers, lions, panthers, leopards, things that can eat me; being in the jungle is my worst nightmare." She sighed, "do you know why they attacked us?" She asked.
"Nope but I know a couple of things: they had to have been told we were going to be in the area, they were practically waiting for us, I'm going to find out who told them, they had weapons locked on us before we even picked them up on our radar and we were in stealth mode, there's no way they could have tracked us. It would have been an accident if it was one fighter jet, even two but 10 of them meant it was a planned ambush."
"What are you going to do?"
"For now, I plan to enjoy the nice tropical weather on this paradise, when I get back whoever planned that will probably regret it. It's not the first time people have tried to kill me or take me down, it won't be the last."
"How do you know we're going to get back?"
He took the index finger and lifted her chin so she could see him.
"We're going to get off of this island, I promise," he let her go and laid back on his banana leaf bed, "until then just enjoy the island, it's beautiful."
"No, I'm not going back into that jungle, I don't want to get eaten."
He chuckled.
"You're safe with me, no one, no man or a beast, is going to hurt you when you're with me, unless they kill me, then you're on your own."
"Nice touch."
"That is what I'm known for, by the way aren't you hungry, you should eat."
She turned to the mountain of fruits piled up beside the tent.
"Aren't you afraid the animals will come and try to eat it."
"Why would they come out here for food they already have in the jungle?"
"Good point, I will stop talking now," she said with a chuckle.
"You've been up all night, eat, get some sleep and relax because it'll probably take them a week or so to find us."
"A week or so?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Yep."
She sighed and walked over to the mountain of fruits and took a banana.
"I want a coconut, can you open it for me."
"Sure."
Fitz got up and took on of the coconuts and broke the husk against the sharp edge of a rock buried in the sand.
"Here you go," he said as he handed her the coconut.
"Thank you."
She took the coconut and drank the juice from the shell, some of it spilled down her chin and she wiped it with her hand.
"That's really good."
"See…" Fitz said as if to say 'I told you so'.
She sighed and leaned back on the bed.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Saving me from those to men, making sure we didn't die in that firefight."
"Like I said, you're always safe around me, no need to thank me and you played a part too you did a pretty good job of shooting those planes down, I should thank you."
"Don't remind me, they deserved it but I'm not happy I had to be the one to shoot them down but we were a pretty kickass team weren't we?"
"Yes, we were."
She laid lazily for a while, she was substantially less anxious, she truly felt safe and now that she had company she could relax, so much so that she fell asleep a short while later. Fitz watched her as she unconsciously snuggled next to him in her sleep and since there was nothing to do but lay and watch her sleep, he did just that.
A/N - Olivia and Fitz stranded on an island, what could go wrong or more importantly… what could go right?