Chapter 338: Top Guns II
These TOPGUN top gunners sure did know who he was.
The truth about Alexander Creed may be a long overdue secret to the public but it sure is no secret to those in Base Miramar and the parties connected to it.
When did these special parties even turn their attention to a peculiar little fellow like him?
Must be a recent and curious development.
As for their special correspondence, what they wanted to pass along turned out to just be a card.
A white, blank, and business card-esque card.
At first glance, that is.
There's clearly more to this unsuspecting card but the guy that gave it was very tight-lipped about it.
Which goes to show that this nifty card may be blank but there should be something to it.
Sort of operationally clandestine, in a way.
Maybe the CIA, FBI, NSA, XXX, or some other secret government organization. Or maybe it's just the good old military complicating things.
Anyways, intriguing, is it not?
------
Even after a short round of military socializing, no clarification was given.
Still, that wouldn't stop Alexander from forming conclusions and deductions of his own.
Even Old Sullivan's curiosity was piqued. "What is it?"
"Don't know yet." Alexander didn't have much to go on.
Of course, he did some but not a lot.
"It could be braille." He surmised after feeling that the card's surface was not so smooth. Dots and spaces were apparent.
"It could be morse code." Braille wasn't the only thing that involved dots and spaces, after all.
"It could also have one of those invisible ink things." A guess that can only be proven when special light, flame, water, or whatever is involved.
"Those military folk were reacting weirdly..." Alexander hummed in thought. "...so it's not nothing."
Something so cryptic and puzzling is clearly not nothing. "Message, call card, key card, or just plain puzzle."
Old Sullivan was weirded out by those interactions as well but he did have his guess. "Recruitment?"
His old bones had joked about drafting the special boy to a special organization before.
It sure is no joke now, is it?
"Or maybe it's just for a talk." Alexander didn't rule things out. "It could be for recruitment as you say or it could be for the whole Watchmen-Chernobyl thing."
Or it could also be for what makes the Creed Chaos System special.
Of course, Alexander hummed at those possibilities.
This whole military collaboration proved time and time again to be useful in more ways than one.
Then, a curveball of a caveat like this appears.
He wasn't exactly surprised at this turn of events though.
Unlike Old Sullivan that was worriedly thinking of faking his talented grandson's death, Alexander felt that things were right on cue.
-----
As for things that weren't on cue...
It should be the unexpected ambush that came along the grandpa-grandson duo's card-mystified way.
Out of nowhere, a trio suddenly forced their own meet and greet, after all!
"I'm Don Simpson!" Gruffly introduced a tough, bearded, and dark-suited guy.
"Jerry Bruckheimer." Short and concise from a mellow-looking fellow with a bone to pick.
Of course, this duo was not just anybody, they were actually the old top brass of the old Top Gun production.
How come they were here?
This was the new Top Gun, not the old one.
Also, this was a mostly exclusive film premiere. Granted, the "mostly exclusive" part must have been the loophole.
As for their intentions with entering through such a loophole, it can't be anything good.
Of course, it wasn't anything good.
They were here for trouble. Make it double.
Actually, there are three of them, so make it triple.
"I am Ehud Yonay!" Of course, the third fellow introduced himself and was also not looking too kindly while doing so.
Alexander turned to Old Sullivan that was also perplexed. It would seem that after the card, there was another surprise.
"I organized this whole thing to just be a film premiere..." Old Sullivan took the helm. In his own weird way. "...how come it turned into some aggressive Mr. Universe pageant? Or is this an audition? Either way, you're acts need work."
The trio, which was blazingly charged with a mission, could only choke at that!
No matter. That wouldn't dissuade them from the righteous indignation that they wanted to voice out.
"Sullivan Creed, I think you already know why we're here and who we are." Bruckheimer said with stern.
"If you guys want my sponsorship for the pageant, then I'll have to decline." Old Sullivan said with a straight face. "To be blunt, I think it's very unlikely for you to win."
Was this the old man's way of saying that it's going to be a waste of money because they're ugly?!
Either way, this was so frustrating that Don Simpson almost snorted out the coke he just snorted in.
"If this is an impromptu audition, then I need context on which character you're playing." Old Sullivan added. "But as I said, you're acts need work."
"We are not pageant participants of here for some lousy audition, old man!" Simpson could only clarify.
Bruckheimer noted how random this old man was but to the point in hand. "We're really here to talk about Top Gun, Sullivan Creed."
"To be more specific..." Third-man Ehud Yonay interjected with passion. "...we are here to talk about MY Top Guns!"
Alexander and Old Sullivan could only exchange glances at that.
They're getting ambushed by this Top Guns, huh?
That's quite a surprise...
In a way...
But not really...
------
This whole debacle, if their guess is right, is actually as simple as this...
Simpson and Bruckheimer are producers most well-known for 1984's Beverly Hills Cop.
They are also the very producer duo that roamed around Hollywood with a California Magazine article as a foundation for a film project.... also regarding aviator pilots.
As for the aforementioned article... it is titled Top Guns!
By Ehud Yonay. California Magazine. May 1983.
Bold lined: At Mach 2 and 40,000 feet over California, it’s always high noon.
The article is mostly about two pilots named Yogi and Possum and how they navigated TOPGUN.
With two excellent sidebar stories about taking a flight in an F-5 and how to fly one.
Namely, SIDEBAR: DREAM MACHINE. Step into the Tigershark-the ultimate video game.
And SIDEBAR: THE AGONY AND THE AGONY. The truth behind yanking and banking.
Admittedly, these were the circumstances in which an original film could form itself from. Old Sullivan did not doubt that.
Alexander was even more than sure. After all, Simpson and Bruckheimer's Top Gun is said to not have been what it is if it wasn't for Yonay's Top Guns.
Anyways, if you put these facts together with the fact that Creed Pictures just happened to have premiered a film called Top Gun... then the motivation behind this team-up is pretty easy to deduce.
Coupled with their aggressive entry.
All of it is a dead giveaway that these guys are probably going for copyright infringement and all the lawsuit nonsense.
1983-1984-1985-1986.
With arguments such as the Top Guns article predates the Creed Top Gun script and whatnot.
Oh no...
Said nobody.
If anything, this only helped Alexander and Old Sullivan settle a long-time debate of theirs.
One of them was on the fence about whether this whole Top Gun-Top Guns thing could even happen...
Now, they finally knew who got it right and who didn't.
-----
On the other hand... Simpson, Bruckheimer, and Yanay were confused.
The reaction they observed wasn't exactly as they envisioned it to be.
Where was the shock?!
Where was the dismay?!
Did this old man even know what they were going to legally slap him with?
The three of them were serious. Why isn't the opposite party acknowledging it at all?
Did they miss something?!
Does their Top Guns argument even mean anything?