957/Return to Black Hawk Island

Return to Black Hawk Island
Date of Scene:	15 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Lady Blackhawk, Little Blackhawk

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Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    It's not a terribly long flight, especially with the Widow. Now if you want to get technical, there are actually about six "Black Hawk Islands" but most of those were simple FOBs in the pacific. Only one of those sits square in the Atlantic, and only one holds supreme as the central Black Hawk Headquarters. A few hours worth of time spent over the Atlantic, before it comes into view. A jagged, gnarled thing set out in the cold waters of the Atlantic all by it's lonesome. Imposing cliffs, and the remains of a volcano long since gone dormant. It's slopes covered in towering pines, which do well to hide the ancient guns below. From the air indeed the whole place looks untouched. It takes a radio transmission to wake up the landing lights, exposing that runway painted to blend into the terrain. Even then, the hangars and towers and all the rest is hardly visible until you're even on approach.

    Zinda brings that big Widow to a halt, before finally lifting a hand up to tilt that canopy partially open. Permitting the acerbic bite of salty air, and the more subtle aroma of pine trees. "Alright, just hold tight until I get us parked."And well it is a long slow taxi down paths carefully hidden until finally passing into the mountains itself. Hidden underground hangars, no wonder the place was left alone for so long right? The lights inside take awhile to flicker on, but they eventually do one by one.
    The white and red of Blackhawk Aircraft, XF5Fs, XP50s, Heck there are even XP55s amongst neat clean rows of other aircraft. Early jet fighters are present to, but well the number drops from 8 to 7 by then if only for obvious reasons. Walls hung with French, Polish, Dutch and American flags. Captured German, Soviet, Japanese and pirate flags. It's all out of date obviously, but things here have been preserved despite the salty air outside. So much so that the automated tow rig snags the Widow, gently guiding her into a clear spot near the end of the row and even turning the thing around. Only then does Zinda finally kill the engines, and start powering things down. "Elliot, go ahead and get us fueled back up whilst I finish up in here. We're the only aircraft here, so if we gotta scramble?"

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    "Yes, ma'am," Elliot responds easily. She's good at following orders. Elliot takes to any task with confidence, determination, and integrity, and disembarking from the Widow to fuel the plane is no exception. She does spend a few seconds gawking at history... But somehow it's just a little less distracting than it was the day before.
    Once the fuel is flowing Elliot takes a deep breath in through her nose, her chest swelling against the fabric of her top. The flightsuit fits well, so such movements are noticeable, especially when she flexes by leaning backward slightly. She looks around again, squinting very slightly as she does so.
    Just..." Ellie exhales sharply and slowly shakes her head. "I've only seen pictures of any of these," she half-whispers. Soon enough the girl's work is done. "How many of these are ready for flying right now?"

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    "Well.."Zinda offers as she slides down the Ladder, still peeling her helmet away as she does so. "Well, just the "Brothers-R" unfortunately. Planes don't like just sitting around, especially not the old stuff. Fabric control surfaces, wooden wing spars, rubber lines everywhere. With how long this place has been sitting around, I was only able to get a few of them up and running again."And well sure enough down the lines, every plane with an 8 on the tail? "Retribution, Reckoner, Ravager, Reprisal, Revenge" and yeah ok so Zinda has a naming convention for her birds. Most of which, seem present. Including that ME-109, tucked over there in the corner. "First thing's first, you get the tour because as of today this place is your home too. We can play with the loud dangerous machines later Sweet Pea, they won't go anywhere I promise."

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    "Well, s'long as they're sticking around," Elliot replies witha grin for Zinda's benefit. Then she half-hops forward and quickly moves to join the taller blonde, standing close to her side. She surveys the room with a quiet intensity, close enough to Zinda to almost be able to share warmth. The girl takes another deep breath, holds it for a second, and then carefully exhales. "Okay. Tour." Elliot nods slowly, lightly biting her bottom lip. "And then we can be loud and do dangerous things. I'm starting to realize there are a lot of ways of doing that."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    "Relax Sweet Pea, there will be plenty of flying soon enough. First, you need to get shown around the joint. This is your home too now, right?"The base is sprawling, and mostly underground it seems. Old heavy bulk head doors, and a seemingly endless array of cavernous store rooms containing no small amount of what used to be valuable supplies but these days? The Armory is at least partially modernized, plenty of M16s at least. Even if they are stocked beside STG-44s and M1 Garands. Shooting range, gym, mess hall, rec rooms, it's a diverse and sprawling facility for sure. The personal rooms are, spartan but quiet and cool at least.
    The tour winds around to the "Museum of Victory", built after she'd been lost or so Zinda informs. Home to spears of destiny, Captured enemy uniforms and arms, heck there is even a photo of Killer Shark over there. Enemy war wheels, flying tanks, and a collection of mechanical flying fish just yaknow to be particularly well rounded. "Now then, you're a Blackhawk now. This, all of this? This is your home now too, your legacy. You understand, Elliot?"And well with a smile, Zinda cracks off a lazy salute. "Now, questions before we start playing with the aircraft?"

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    "THat's what I said!" Elliot responds cheerfully. "Tour and then flying. We're just repeating ourselves now." There's that playful grin and then Elliot impulsively moves to briefly embrace Zinda, right to the point hwere they step into the Armoury. Then the girl dashes off. She turns out to have limitless energy, moving too and fro from SZinda and around the various rooms and displays, then back again and enthusing about the items that are on display. Occasionally Zinda is forced to repeat herself but these are simple concepts so the most part Elliot is good to go.
    "Questions? I don't... Think I do," Elliot responds slowly. "I mean, I have a million. I am going to ask you all about all of these people someday. My legacy too, right? I need to know whose footsteps I'm walking in with you, right?" Elliot is much more somber now but that smile has not actually diminished as she walks alongside the pilot through her private base. "I'm sure I'll come up with some later...."

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    "Alright, you learn pretty quick so this should be easy."Down in the hangar, well from the rows and rows she stops at a lone P-36 down near the end of the line. "Well until we can get some combat aircraft besides the Widow, this here will be your aircraft."Nodding on towards the thing, left in all it's polished aluminum and bearing only the roundel of the Blackhawks. "Now she's hardly modern, nor was she all that great in her day. However she flies like a dream, and is about the most perfect bird to learn in I've ever come across. So go ahead and saddle up, time we get you taught right."
    And well Zinda just, kind of bails. Leaving Elliot to figure it out, which is interesting no doubt. It has most of the same switches and dials as the Widow, just fewer of them. Thankfully this is a military craft at least, so somone actually spent a little time to make it easy to figure out in a pinch. Zinda, claims one of her own former machines meanwhile. Sinking into the cockpit of "Retribution", One of the few XP-55s left anywhere in the world and arguably the only one that actually flies. <<Figure it out yet, Blackhawk 2?>> And yeah ok, Zinda's got her radio plugged in even before she kicks the engine over.

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Think so,>> Elliot responds after a half-second to copy Zinda and get teh radio going. "Hit this one here and... Yep. I've got it covered, Actual,>> the girl replies. Elliot figurres out the controls in what might almost be record time, settling into her seat with ease. It just takes some time studying the design and determining the layout is pretty close ot the Widow's...
    Elliot boggles for a second at a couple of the levers, her head tilted slightly to the left, but they end up not being essential in what she is trying to do here. <<I love it,>> Elliot responds seriously. <<Does she have a name?>> The smaller blonde is more than ready to get the party started when Zinda says the word. She's actually a hop or so away from doing it without her. But... She refrains, fortunaely.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Nope, He's yours to name.>> That Xp-55 slips foreward, neatly exiting the hangar at a leisurely pace and heading towards the runway. <<Alright two rules nobody ever talks about. All planes suck on the ground, never rush the taxi. Rule two this is a pusher prop with a right hand twist. So follow off my -left- wing to keep out of the turbulence. This is your first time, so don't get tight on me. Keep your spacing and take your time, understood Blackhawk 2?>> That 55 neatly comes to a halt at the end of the runway. Crowded over towards the right to give Elliot plenty of space. <<One big mistake is all it takes to kill you, so give yourself room to make mistakes and survive. That means taking it easy and focusing on getting comfortable.>>

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Got it,>> Elliot affirms, nodding once in a flurry of blonde tresses and small ringlets incase it needs to be reaffirmed physically. The P-36 follows out carefully. Elliot is taking it nice and slow but at least she's moving properly without any real mistakes. She's pretty focused on the controls, which is another mistak that is more forgivable starting out.
    <<I won't try to do anything crazy until I've gotten her all figured out. Promise.>> A beat follows. <<I'm still going to pretend there're enemy fighters out there. Just really, really sloooow ones.>>

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    Zinda reaches up to give the wave off, before sliding her canopy shut. Then that XP-55 slips foreward, leisurely easing up into the air and sliding off into an easy right turn to await her wingman. <<For today, I just want you to follow me. Dogfighting usually comes down to who's got the best control of their aircraft, not many pilots can really push any plane to it's limits. So you will focus on aircraft control, navigation and gunnery for awhile. Dogfighting is to be the final lesson. Now give me a straight course at 185 degrees, make angels 5 and call airspeed at two five zero knots. Confirm Blackhawk 2?>>

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    "One-eight-five degrees, angels 5 and call speed at two five zero knots," Elliot repeats back. She moves to do just that, takng her time in her first takeoff. She spends a little longer on the runway before actually leaving the ground. But it's a solid takeoff. There's a deep breath from Elliot and then she adds, <<I'll fly true. Alright... Airspeed is-" And then they're off, into the air complete with the whistle of the air passing their cockpits. Elliot's excitement bleeds into her voice even though she keeps it from completely taking control.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Alright, looking good Blackhawk two. Maintain course.>>which gives Zinda plenty of time to slot herself into position. Putting the Xp-55 into a loose curling loop that begins a fair ways back and comes to an end a few hundred yards foreward of the hawk. Zinda is, well rock steady and smooth as silk. <<Alright Blackhawk two, maintain your distance and follow me as best you can. If we need to repeat something, we'll do so. Just relax and get comfortable, alright?>> and so it begins.

    Blackha-, Snakebite moves smooth and easy. Turns, banks, rolls, it's a catalog of basic aerial movement and displacement. Granted it's executed with the sort of precision that make it very clear exactly how comfortable Zinda actually is. None of it fancy, but it's the basics that Zinda tends to stress. Repeating the same drills with her own aircraft in different positions to give herself a closer look at Elliot's flying. <<Watch your slip, more rudder Blackhawk 2. You won't be able to hit anything you don't learn how to steady your aircraft, now do it again and get it right.>> Stern, demanding but not exactly a tyrant.

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    Certainly, some things need to be rpeeated once. But never twice. Elliot runs through the basic motions readily enough, and by the time they repeat the sequence she handles it like she's been flying these maneuvers for years and not, well, minutes.The biggest probglemElliot has is that she can be a little light on the stick. Trying not to overcomepnsate can easily lead to undercompensation. The problem is correcting itself already.
    Blackhawk-2 joins formation with Snakebite and for a moment they are flitting quickly through the clouds. Elliot laughs softly, audible over her radio. <<Oh my god. This is amazing! Can I do more of those rolls or am I still following the leader, leader?>> Zinda can hear the impish grin in Elliot's voice but so far she follows instruction perfectly. Always.

    It's literally Elliot's stupid human trick. She respects Zinda to an intense degree.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    <<It's a Warplane Blackhawk 2, not a butterfly. Use some muscle, the wings are your fingertips. Feel the air, don't react just move instinctively..>> And if your super power is super learning, dear lord is Zinda a teacher to end all teachers. She isn't good, she isn't great. Zinda Blake in an aircraft is perfect, using a real minimum of control input executed in perfect timing to get her aircraft to do exactly what she wants without fail. << Blackhawk 2, detach from flight. Blackhawk 2, identify. Sparrow 1 actual, confirm?>> And so a callsign is granted.

    <<Sparrow, pursue Snakebite to the best of your ability.>> And with that, Zinda rocks the Xp-55 to the left and then in a brief dense pop of cloud she's just...gone. It's like sleight of hand, poof into thin air. Cleverly disguising a full roll and a dive, for a right turn. Enveloping herself in dense cloud cover and, well she'll return once Elliot has started looking for her in earnest.

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Sparrow 1 confirmed. Reading you loud and clear, Snakebite.>> Elliot is breathlessly effervescent but her voice is strong and clear. The girl follows Zinda for a second and then they are in the clouds... And When Elliot emerges Zinda is nowhere to be seen. The plane comes around in a tight turn and she scans the clouds over carefully, brows furrowing.

    <<I think I've lost you, Snakebite,>> The girl starts right away. The searching is just beginning. Elliot squints, surveying the clouds. Then she does something surprising. <<Snakebite, you're on my five forty meters back. Please confirm?>> Somehow Elliot figured out where Zinda was.

    The girl certainly didn't find her by LOOKING. She pretty lost a second ago.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Correct. Your task is to pursue me, you're not doing that Sparrow.>> Zinda waits for another puff of cloud, before sliding out oncemore. Working her way down, across and then across the beam of that hawk. Her eventual location is above, putting that 55's climb rate to work to position herself perfectly in the sun. The whole idea isn't to dogfight as much as it is to start stringing rolls and turns and all the rest together instinctively. To do something which requires instinct, something even distracting and difficult. Controlling the aircraft whilst searching for a target obviously, but the point isn't to succeed in tailing. It's to maintain control over the aircraft.

Little Blackhawk has posed:
    <<You're- right,>> Elliot responds, her cheeks flushing slightly. <<I didn't want to risk crossing wings.>> Then Elliot flips her bird. Forty meters on her five is now rapidly approaching as she swings around in a maneuver she learned only seconds before. It takes some aerial acrobatics to adjust the nose of the little P-36 to actually be tailing the 55 as it passes above her, and Elliot's plane wobbles as it spirals to readjust the angle. She's far from perfect but after dipping a little she's managing to pick up the tail just in time to be lost again.

    Which is pretty incredible for a beginner, really.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    Zinda's not scolding, nor is she complaining. She wants to stress Elliot, and well the fact that she bootstraps her aircraft into position is enough to satisfy Zinda for now entirely. That 55's roll rate is stunning, as is it's acceleration in a dive. Granted it's a much more advanced aircraft, but distance is safety for this kind of thing. From there things steadily increase in difficulty, and with just how much actual aircraft management is required to keep that Hawk on course. Rolls, dives, splits, Scissors, spirals, displacements and turns hard enough for that 55 to throw off long beautiful contrails from it's wingtips. All executed in snappy precise fashion, as if she's reading the air currents. Her path devoid of the various bumps and rolls generated by random air currents, it's predictive and beautiful.

Little Blackhawk has posed:
Elliot watches how Zinda flies, how the plane responds to being controlled, and the subtle variations it causes and her flight smooths as well. She loses Zinda several times as they spiral through the air and then crash downward toward the water below, back and forth through the sky, circling and bobbing through the air. But the girl always catches up, even if she doesn't always do so by actually executing the maneuver she was shown properly. Even Elliot has to practice something a few times first to get it right, after all. Some of the flying she is being asked to do is well beyond where she should be. It isn't precise and it isn't terribly beautiful the whole way through but the girl's dogged determination to succeed ends up counting for quite a bit. It's a good thing she started on the P-36; she might have stalled a finnickier plane.

Lady Blackhawk has posed:
    <<Sparrow, operation complete. Divert bearing two eight zero. Target two miles, large orange balloons. I want short bursts, take as many passes as you need. Confirm.>>Zinda finally throttles up, and yeah ok theres no catching her. Zooming off to a position well above the target area where she'll be able to watch. The targets are, yeah ok large tethered balloons about two hundred fifty feet up. They're easy prey, but then again thats kind of the point.<<Remember you have two seperate arm switches, your convergence should be set at six hundred yards. Take your time, we're not keeping score Sparrow.>>