"So what am I gonna do about a plane? Clearly my J-10's a write-off  and you're gonna need me up there ASAP." Handong raised an eyebrow, looking up at the base commander who merely adjusted his shades on the bridge of his nose in response.

"Go see McCoy. He's bound to have something you can use."

-

And that was how Handong, in the same flight suit she wore the day she landed in Area 88, but with all the PLAAF patches ripped off,  found herself in front of a hangar full of weather-beaten planes, an armed guard behind her (as was required for any pilot that was part of the penal squadron). A hawkish-looking man in a vest, who the base staff and pilots knew as McCoy, led her over to a  plane covered by a dusty tarp. 

He then pulled the tarp off, revealing the plane to be an ancient-looking F-4 Phantom. Specifically the E model, with its shark-nose and gun under the nose. The plane was painted in desert colors; two different shades of brown that had since faded to a somewhat sand color on top of a pale yellow color, that had faded so much, it looked like a flesh tone. Random blotches of dark olive green served to break up the three tones of brown and yellow. 

"All yours for 300k. American Dollars of course." Handong had raised an eyebrow at the price, knowing that a pristine Phantom was quadruple that. But since she was in need of a plane, she was in no mood to argue, almost casually handing over a cheque to McCoy, mentally thanking the fact she managed to stash nearly double that amount in an overseas account that she'd been careful to hide from her superiors and squadron mates in the PLAAF.

-

She spent the next two hours in the cockpit, the Phantom's user manual in her lap as she fiddled with the various switches and gauges. The Phantom had lacked the various digital and LCD displays she was used to. It had been a long time since she flew with analog instruments and now would be as good a time as any to learn. 

Her attention was distracted as she heard someone climbing into the backseat. She raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the manual, her free hand reaching for her sidearm (which McCoy somehow found and she had managed to buy it back from him.)

The intruder suddenly spoke up as soon as he heard the click of her pistol's safety being turned off. 

"Hey now don't go shooting up friendly pilots." 

"Oh it's you." She scoffed. The voiced belonged to Taehyun, the one they called the anarchist. 

"F-4E Phantom II. Interesting choice." Taehyun chuckled, giving the side console to his left a pat.

"Well it's the only plane I could afford. And the one I flew in with is written off so." Handong shrugged, deciding to accept his presence in the cockpit. Him and the other four pilots were the only other ones to speak to her, as the other mercenaries on base seemed to have a special dislike towards the penal squadrons.

"You're gonna need a co-pilot. This thing wasn't modifed like Mickey's aircraft." Taehyun added, referring to one of Area 88's late top aces, who flew an F-14A that was modified to be able to fight with just one person in the cockpit.

"What's in it for you?" She retorted, her grip on her sidearm tightening.

"I'm the only one in the penal unit that knows how to operate a Phantom." She raised an eyebrow at his words, sliding her pistol back into its holster as she thought them over. Well. Better him than the other two wannabe hotshots she managed to game out of their savings the night before. 

"And you're gonna need a co-pilot like I said. Besides. My plane's still grounded and awaiting spares. I can talk you through flying this thing."

"Fine. But you're flying in the back seat."

-

A formation of 5 planes lined up for take off as an air raid siren blared. Handong's Phantom would be the first, followed by Hanbin, Junhoe, Chanwoo and Mino in their own planes, four F-5Es. Each of their planes had strikes, noting the severity of their infractions. Handong's Phantom had one strike. Hanbin and Chanwoo had two strikes while Junhoe and Mino's plane had 3 strikes respectively.

"Hey you, the pilot of the Phantom." It was Chanwoo. Handong remained silent, only raising an eyebrow to the sound of her squadron mate's voice in her helmet's headset.

"As you probably know, in this squadron we all make bets on each other. I've got good money on you making Ace today and surviving. Don't let me down yeah."

"So what do I get in return if I live?"

"I'll give you 40 percent of the winnings."

"Fine. But if you're gonna con me, I'll shoot you myself."

A rebel squadron buzzed overhead, explosions rocking the base. Handong watched as a line of fighters on the right side of the runway disappeared in bright orange fireballs. 

"Alright I'm going to make this quick." Commander Vashtal's voice crackled over the radio in a haze of static. "You lot will be known from here on out as Outlaw Squadron. Which is fitting given what you guys were in for. The rest of you already know your callsigns. Lieutenant Han's callsign will be Outlaw Five. Think of it as your prisoner number for the air." 

"Control. Could you kindly send me up first?" Chanwoo was growing impatient as the guys in the control tower kept dragging their feet with the take-off clearance. 

Control didn't respond, instead turning their attention to Mino who had decided to cut the line in front of Hanbin and started taxiing. 

"Outlaw Three. You're not cleared for take off! Obey orders!" 

"To hell with your orders. I'm not waiting any longer." Mino had a shark-like grin plastered on his face as he pushed the throttle to full. 

Taehyun was silent, his face in his palm at the chaos unfolding. Handong merely rolled her eyes at the control tower stating the obvious as Mino forced a take off. 

-

"Outlaw Five, you're cleared for takeoff. Go now."

ing finally. Handong's Phantom roared down the tarmac, quickly leaving ground as she raised its flaps along with the nose, the jet's twin engines pushing it to twice the speed of sound as it soared skywards. 

"Song Mino, when you land, your is grass! Security, toss Outlaw Three into solitary when he gets back." She heard someone yell over the radio in response to Mino's whooping and cheering, then turned her attention into gaining more altitude, intending to dive on the enemy MiGs  that had turned around to make another strafing run on the base's runway.

"I, Kim Hanbin will be taking over command. Any objections?" A chorus of laughs had followed Hanbin's announcement.  

"Who the 's gonna dance to your lying tune?" Chanwoo snickered, shooting down a Mig with a heatseeker as he then roll over, letting its wingman shoot past as he then prepared to shoot again..

Handong and Taehyun remained silent, their focus on an enemy bomber in front of her. The growling tone of the Sidewinder missile Taehyun had selected increased in pitch and tempo, telling him he had had a lock. 

He then pulled the trigger.

Only to grumble a dozen curses as the missile's motor failed to ignite, the now-dud missile dropping like a rock. 

The next Sidewinder locked on and fired- then exploded before it hit the target. 

An annoyed Handong drew in a breath, attempting to control her frustration as her Phantom climbed up, then dived down for another pass. 

"Well looks like I'm going to shoot McCoy later. Damn missiles are useless. Going for guns."

"Hope you remember what I told you about maneuvering in this thing before we took off."

She pulled a wide loop as the Phantom's turning radius was too big for her liking,  she then rolled into a dive, guns blazing and shredding three Migs in one pass as she banked, then turned around, intending to trail the formation as she then waited, shooting only as the silhouettes of her targets filled the head-up display in front of her.

-

"I can only see Outlaw Five, Outlaw One and Outlaw Six doing most of the work. You three are the only ones earning redemption points today." Commander Vashtal tapped his chin, his expression growing into one of irritation as he watched three blue blips flying in formation, along with one blue blip flying out of bounds. The red ones had all disappeared, the three aircraft managing to quickly down most of the attacking planes, with the Phantom scoring the most kills. 

"Speak of the devil. Where's Junhoe?" Hanbin glanced around, scanning the skies and the desert below. In the formation, Handong's Phantom was the centre. His F-5 was in the lead with Mino and Chanwoo's F-5s alongside. 

"There's the dip." Handong was the first to spot Junhoe's aircraft, a mere speck in the distance as he tried to flee the battlefield for the umpteenth time.

An annoyed sigh came from Hanbin, followed by Chanwoo's annoyed mutterings.

"Of course. He'd try to use the chaos of the air raid to run." 

Handong dived at full throttle as Taehyun switched to the Sparrow missiles half-buried in the Phantom's underside. Aiming the nose at the growing speck in the distance, which morphed into the faint shape of an F-5, Handong's co-pilot in the back waited for the bleeping of the Sparrow's lock on tone to turn into a continuous beep. Then he fired the last of their missiles.

Two dropped like rocks. One failed to lock while the other maintained its lock and flew straight at the F-5.

And before the sleek fighter went up in a fireball, its pilot grumbled a dozen curses before ejecting. 

Over the radio, the feed went wild with hoots and jeers from the rest of the Outlaws as Handong circled around, confirming the shoot down before turning back towards the base.