The awkward silence that hung over the radio channel for a few moments was finally broken, not by more confused questions from the pilots or befuddled orders from Tower - instead, it was a more feminine voice that spoke up with remarkable calm, given the situation. "FLAG Lead, this is FLAG 4. Seem to be losing fuel a bit fast."
There was a bit of neutral-toned chatter between the woman reporting her situation and the squadron's leader as Jane turned to check the situation. It wasn't terribly difficult for her to get over to FLAG 4's plane, out at the edge of the formation and oriented towards the rear. From the angle at which any of the other pilots could have viewed the fighter, nothing appeared wrong or out of place, leading some to question if her dropping fuel levels were a gauge problem. Jane was less convinced, easing herself out farther to check the other side.
It was from this alternate angle that she was able to see the problem. A leak, trailing out of the fuel tank on one side, the spray of fuel sputtering out just barely not visible from where her wingmates could see it. "That's not an instrument issue, you've got a-" She was cut off as the tear, under pressure from the winds battering the plane at supersonic speeds, suddenly increased the size of the tear by a tremendous degree. "-you've got a bigass hole in your fuel tank, getting bigger fast!"
"Uh, can we get confirmation on approximate size of 'bigass'?" The woman at the controls responded. Jane would've found her dead calm amusing if this wasn't such a dangerous situation. Rising up to the side of the cockpit, she held up her hands to show the current approximate width of the hole, though this was quickly becoming an understatement. "Ahhh, confirmed, that's a bi-"
Today seemed to be the day for cascade failures - her voice cut out as the electrical systems in her craft picked the worst possible time to die. Though Jane couldn't see the woman's face under her flight helmet, the pilot's movements started to grow a bit more frantic, hands dancing around buttons and controls in a vain attempt to regain control of the aircraft. Nothing seemed keen on responding as the currently asymmetrical nature of the plane caused it to begin to spin, banking off wildly amid a flurry of words between the control tower and the woman's wingmen.
Without really giving it any though, Jane tore after the rapidly-falling plane, intently focused on the subtle thigh movements that allowed her to keep pace and spin with the aircraft. She could see the pilot struggling to try and blow the canopy off to eject, and meeting with no success - she was stuck in a fancy metal brick currently on a terminal course towards a field below. The plane wouldn't hit anyone, but she didn't imagine that the pilot was going to hold up very well in the inevitable crash.
So, she did something a bit... brash.
Grunting beneath the cover of her helmet, she soared straight for the cockpit, doing her best to match up to its velocity as she reached out to grab hold of the plane near the glass window. Behind her own flight helmet, the pilot seemed to be staring in awe as Jane's other hand grasped the lip of the canopy and began to pull with all the might that could be mustered by the hydraulics in her arms. She could hear the gears and servos straining, but slowly, the glass section began to give, finally pulling free and hurtling off into the sky. The sudden buffet of wind pushed the pilot back, barely held in by her seat belt.
She wouldn't be held in there for long. Jane moved over slightly, putting her arm around the womans back as the other frantically searched for the release on her harness. There was no point in trying to yell, the winds making it too loud for her to possibly be heard, but at this point, the pilot in her arms didn't really have much other choice than to trust her. Growing frustrated with her failure to find a release, and noticing how close the ground was getting, she finally gave up and ripped the harness off with a growl, her immensely powerful mechanical limbs facing no difficult in completely freeing the pilot from the cockpit.
Instantly she turned her whole body to slow down, holding the pilot bridal-style as the plane sped on ahead towards the ground. Both of the woman's arms were tight around her metallic torso as she bled off speed as fast as was safely possible, banking around to head back towards the base. The other woman's head was pressed against her arm as the plane finally hit the ground, exploding out in a thunderous fireball that briefly shook Jane simply from the concussive force. In moments, though, she regained her steadiness, keeping a straight line as they rocketed back to the airfield.
There was already a parade of vehicles scrambling to meet them as she arrived, still carrying the pilot in her arms. With a surprising ease she glided right down to the side of the landing strip, her approach slowing until she came in for a vertical landing, descending slowly onto the ground and finally disengaging the engines at her hips. The pilot let out an enormous sigh of relief as her feet hit the ground, ripping her helmet off even as Jane's arms remained around her. Jane's own helmet retracted, allowing her patriotic hair to fall around her shoulders as she caught a glimpse of the woman she'd rescued.
Lieutenant Kate Baron, if she remembered right - someone who'd actually been pretty nice to Jane and the other grunts stuck down in logistics. There was a lot of sweat soaking her dark brown hair and the rest of her head, from brown down to that deliciously powerful jawline - and a whole lot of confusion to join in as she looked at her savior's face. "Holy shit - Evans?! Are - you - what the hell happened to you?!"
She shrugged slightly. "I uh... I don't really know myself, but it's-" Any further words were muffled as Kate suddenly surged forward, hands around the mechanical woman's neck and pulling her into a messy, passionate kiss. Jane was caught off guard, to say the least... but hardly unappreciative, her own arms pulling in the pilot a bit tighter. Even the airmen that had rushed out to check on the pair seemed content to simply stand there for the moment, watching how this bizarre scene played out.
When she pulled back after a moment, Kate was grinning like a mad woman. "That was SO! FUCKING! AWESOME!" She laughed excitedly, attention firmly on Jane still and not on the older-looking man approaching them. In a brief glance Jane recognized him as Colonel Park, the base CO, a man with an utterly flabbergasted look on his face. Quickly though her attention was returned to Kate by a series of pecks on her lips. "You were like a fucking... fighter jet superhero! Holy fuck, that is so badass!"
She pulled in for another deep, adrenaline-fueled kiss as Park posed what seemed like the only reasonable question in this situation. "What in the goddamn...?"