Sorry for the delay had two essays due two hours ago. Any way here's the next chapter. Please read and review. Enjoy :).
After about an hour of listening to dad kick terrorist butt without any visuals he finally said, "Okay, time to call it a night."
"That's it? It's done?" I asked. There were no cameras in the village besides the ones in dad's suit and he blocked them from me after I screamed in his ear about the guys with giant guns using kids as human shields.
"Yup everything's clear. All the weapons are destroyed in a blaze of fiery glory. The civilians are safe we're good. I should be back in Malibu in a few hours. Call it a night kid. You did good, well except for the screaming but not bad for the first time out."
"How many more times are we going to do this?" I said while checking any news coverage in the area and any chatter the military.
"What getting tired of spending time with your old man?" He replies in a futile attempt to try and get me to loosen up.
"Tired of watching my dad getting shot at." I mutter. All of a sudden the military detection system I hacked into lights up. "Uh dad, you have company."
"What do you mean?" and that when I hear planes whizzing by dad over the speaker. "Oh that company."
"I don't think they're happy to see you." I say
"Well hardly anyone ever is unless I have my checkbook." He retorts "Oh Rhodey's calling. Nora I'm muting you."
"Dad don't you dar-" and he answers Rhodey's call
"Hello?" dad greets. No one's buying the innocent act Dad. We all know that means your doing something we'll want to yell at you later for.
"Tony?"
"Who's this?" Really dad? Life and death situation and you're playing coy.
"It's Rhodes"
"Sorry, Hello?"
"I said its Rhodes." Note to self, fix the wiring in the helmet so you can hear call in flight.
"Speak up please,"
"What in the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asks getting annoyed
"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down." Dad answers casually.
"Yeah well, I need your help right now."
"It's funny how that works, huh?" Oh great dad playing the victim. He's gonna make Rhodey suffer for a bit.
"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive." Uh oh, they noticed that fast? Got to see what else they've seen.
"Well, that's a hot spot." Dads trying to play it off. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?" And now he's rubbing it in.
"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Probably because he forgot to account for the friction and air resistance when programming the cooling system. I would not like to be his dry cleaner when he drops that off later.
"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." Oh like he's going to buy that.
"I thought you were driving?" I told you so, or I would have if you hadn't muted me.
"Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog." The man has never jogged a day in his life. It's starting to show.
"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" None that was sold with his knowledge.
"Nope!" Dad replies out of breath.
I finally managed to get into the US Air Force's comms and the first thing I hear is : "Bogey spotted!" and that gets answered with : "Whiplash, come in hot." Oh this is bad. This is very, very bad.
I text dad a message:
They're on to you. They're going to shoot! Tell Rhodey NOW!
"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come." Rhodey tells dad this and that's when he panics. Again I told you so.
"That's my exit." Dad says and hangs up. Then he finally unmutes me and asks "How close are they?"
"They're on your six" I answer trying to remain calm. "And they have a clear shot they're just waiting for orders"
"Okay this buys us some time. Hey we can finally test the limits of the suit." He taunts.
I don't hear dad try to lighten the mood what I do hear is:
"Ballroom, this is Whiplash One. I've got the bogey in my sights."
"Whiplash One, what is it?"
"I've got no idea."
They don't know what they're seeing. They don't know dad's in there. And then shit hits the fan.
"Then you are clear to engage."
"Dad they just agreed to shoot you down. Do something!" I yell. My heart is pounding, my palms are sweating, I feel a giant weight on my chest. I am freaking out right now.
And then I hear it. The flight stabilizers on the suit are working at supersonic speed. About time. He's safe we are in the clear and then:
"I got a lock!" Oh shit!
"Dad they have a clear shot. Might be a good time to call Rhodey."
"Kid relax, I've got this handled." And then they fired a missile. A freaking missile. Luckily dad timed it right and released some flares. "See it's all under control." They try to fire another missile and dad released the flap.
"That thing just jumped off the radar" Nicely done dad. Wait… Where did he go?
Then I hear Rhodey, "Hello?"
"Hi, Rhodey, it's me." Dad says out of breath and obviously freaking out now.
"It's who?" He's getting pay back
"I'm sorry, it is me." Wow he actually apologized."You asked. What you were asking about is me." About time he told him.
"No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?" Uh Oh, the disappointed annoyed parent tone. Lets hope dad doesn't let it slip I'm helping.
"This is not a piece of equipment. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" Well cat's out of the bag now.
Lucky for dad Rhodey makes the call. "Mark your position and return to base." He orders
"Roger that, Ballroom." One of the pilots says and as he tilts to fly the other pilot sees the suit.
"On your belly!" Oh shit, shit shit!
"It looks like a man! Shake him off! Roll! Roll!" I don't know what happens next but then one of them looses control of the plane.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!"
"It's confirmed. He has been hit." I hear over the comms. Thank you Captain Obvious.
"Punch out! Punch out!"
"Whiplash One down."
"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?"
"Negative! No chute, no chute!" Oh shit that's a big drop.
"My chute's jammed!"
"Dad do something!" I exclaim
"On it" He responds.
Then Captain Buzzkill decides to make a dumb move; "Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it."
Rhodey intercedes, "Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at. Call off the Raptors." I am getting Rhodey an awesome birthday gift this year, if I can remember when his birthday is.
"That thing just took out an F-122 inside a legal no fly zone! Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!" What a hard-headed moron.
"You've been reengaged. Execute evasive maneuver." Oh crap, no wait…
"Keep going! Good chute! Good chute!" I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in.
"Tony, you still there?" Rhodey asks dad
"Hey, thanks." Dad responds out of breath as well
"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch. You owe me a plane. You know that, right?" I let out a laugh.
"Yeah, well, technically, he hit me." Dad argues. "Now are you going to come by and see what we've working on?"
"Wait we?" Oh shit here comes the lecture. "No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better." That was close. "Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"
Dad looks tempted to let out a press release about his involvement when I step in and text dad what to say.
"Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?" dad plays off. Glad he went along with it.
"It's not that simple." Rhodey responds and Dad and I both scoff
They end their call and dad says, "You okay kid you sound a bit tuckered out?"
I let out a yawn. "It's been a long exciting night. You on your way home?"
"Yeah should be back in a few hours. Got an idea on how to find out who's selling weapons on the black market."
"Okay be careful. Call if you need me."
"I will, get some sleep you sound tired."
"Of course I am someone forgot about time differences. By the way is it still called jet lag if you weren't technically flying in a plane?"
"Good night Nora." He hung up on me.
The next morning:
I turn on the news and there's a press conference about the events of Gulmira and the plane that crashed.
Rhodey is standing behind a podium feeding them the usual BS "An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report
that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved." Well its half the truth, better than no truth at all.