Have we recovered from the shock of the last chapter?
It's all going to burst.
Chapter 11:
Previously on Chicago Fire
A devastating attack
The Hines VA Medical Center is blown to high hell, firefighters are fighting the fire, Nathan kicks down the door before losing his temper with the owner who says, "That was my back-gate, you'll pay!" "Bill it to the Mayor, maybe he'll pay your damn gate!"
The other firefighters watch Nathan's outburst and start to sense his stability rocking.
The pressure becomes too much
Nathan imagines hugging his dead mother as she says to him, "I love you, my baby." "I love you, Mama, I wish you could help me." "I'm with you, my son. You've made me proud, my baby."
Nathan looks around as tears pool in his blue eyes as he sinks to the floor finally realising he's breaking apart, piece by piece.
Arrested?
2 CPD Officers arrive as Nathan Delaney looks at them in shock.
Nathan looks at them as he says, "What the hell do you mean, I blew up Hines VA?!" "A witness at the scene says, you blew it up laughing about it too."
Casey looks at the officers saying, "He weren't there, he was here in this firehouse."
The other firefighters agreed with Casey as the lead officer says, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stand the hell down."
Casey backs up as they turn to Nathan saying, "We need you to come downtown, just to clear this all up." "Go to hell and tell whoever sent you to stick this up their asses."
The lead officer came towards them saying, "Sir, don't make this harder than it has to be, just put your hands in the air, or we will add charges to your name." everyone looks at Nathan as he begins to think to himself as he says, "Do I need my Rep?" "We'll contact the Union for you." The officer says.
Nathan realises he has no options and only running will make it worse for him as he says, "Alright, take me in, I got no options here."
The patrolmen secure Nathan as the firehouse watches in despair as Kelly says, "Don't worry, Nate, we'll think of somethin'." "Thanks Lieutenant."
Nathan walks to the police vehicle as he spots Woods smirking at him as he says, "Nathan Delaney, you're under arrest." "Screw you, Woods, you made a mistake." "I think not, take him away, boys."
Woods begins to walk up to the firehouse as Nathan watches on in fear seeing a rectangular shaped parcel is in his hand as he murmurs to himself, "Oh Crap."
Meanwhile, in Chicago at Peter Barton's house, Peter is watching the news as he sees something important as the Newscaster says, "And in a startling new development, the Chicago Police Department have finally arrested a suspect in the bombing at the Hines VA Center, the facility was bombed yesterday leaving many dead and no survivors. The suspect is Chicago Firefighter Nathan Delaney, a decorated 4-year Navy SEAL veteran, awarded the Navy Cross for bravery in combat. He's currently in custody, at the moment and the jury is amassing in the case."
Peter looked at the News report seeing Nathan dragged through the crowds that have amassed as Peter looks on in shock as he says, "Sonofabitch."
Peter turns off the TV as he dials a phone number which answers saying, "What's wrong, Chief?" "Irish has been arrested, alert the team, Steel, we gotta save our boy." "Shit, copy that, Knight. Where we meeting?" "Abandoned warehouse in Cicero, better bring some heat." "Acknowledged."
Peter disconnects the call as he heads down into the basement as he gets his rainy-day stash out of the basement, he loads his personal side-arm and walks out of the house heading to his blue pick-up truck. As he heads in the truck driving to Cicero.
At the Ivory Tower, the headquarters for Chicago PD, Nathan is in the interrogation room, he is sitting in there waiting for someone to turn up, but nobody had turned up. soon the door opened and in stepped Denny Woods, who disabled the cameras and microphones as he said, "Sorry, just wanted a personal conversation."
Nathan smirked folding his arms across his chest as he said, "I believe I asked for the union rep, but you didn't want me to have an advantage, did you?" "Obviously the smart-ass, shame it didn't work for you or your family?"
Nathan's blood boiled at the mention of his family as he said, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, you want to piss on me and my name, you better have both barrels pointed at me, better yet, you speak about my family and I'll make you piss your pants." Denny chuckled evilly as he said mockingly, "No one's comin' for you, you're all alone here, no NYPD Sergeant Daniel Delaney, you look like him in a way. The eyes maybe, but you have his honor and pride. Your mother though, quite beautiful as well, you have her kindness, that ain't going to help you in here, though."
Nathan chuckles, "Delaney family got more honor in them than Chicago's Finest. All you have are corrupt cops, hell. We don't kneel like a whipped dog. You're the type of dirt on my boot I find every day. You ain't nothin' compared to me, you can torture me all you want. You ain't goin' to get what you want."
Denny smirks as he pulls out a rectangular-shaped parcel as he says, "You know how your firehouse promised to get you out of this mess you're in." "Yeah, I do… why?"
Denny pulled out the file on Nathan as he looked shocked saying, "How'd you get this?" "I got people as well, more like a mutual friend of ours, the firehouse was quite shocked when they saw you torturing men, women and children to get information."
Nathan's face paled, he turned instantly white as he said, "What? What did you say?" "Your past as a SEAL, all your memories…" "Stop, just stop, you can't do this." Nathan begs Woods.
Woods laughs evilly as he says, "How about all the people you tortured, the families you've taken. Every last person you've killed, Sylvie as well, she was horrified at what happened, it was very, very heart-breaking for her, to see what you've done." "Stop. Please." Nathan asks. Nathan's eyes close trying to halt the darkest memories of his life from flooding his brain.
Woods keeps going, he makes Nathan see every last bit of pain and horror that he had inflicted get returned to him in kind. Nathan just says, "I had orders, I didn't like them but I did what I was told, for the sake of my duty." "Duty, honor and country. Those principles you tried keeping alive. All destroyed by a simple file. I wonder if I can show these to the judge as well."
Nathan stands up shouting, "DAMN IT STOP! I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS! YOU AIN'T GETTING AWAY WITH THIS, ASSHOLE!" "Quite the temper, Nate, be careful!" Woods mocks Nathan as he walks away piling all the photos into the bag. But before he does, he simply says, "The good people…like you, they always die." "Whereas… the bad people like you, they'll die too." Nathan quotes.
Nathan sinks to his seat, as he says to himself, "Oh fuck, all hell has been brought to the gates." Nathan tries to think of something, a plan to turn this around, but all he thinks about is what everyone at 51 is thinking of him. His ghosts that have stayed with him in his life. All the things he had done, he did without question, failure to follow those orders would have been a court-martial approved offence.
In the warehouse in Cicero, Peter Barton arrived at the warehouse as did everyone else including Angela Daniels as they gathered around Peter who said, "Alright, people it's happened, Nathan Delaney's been arrested, Denny Woods is amassing a grand jury, if he's found convicted, all hell is goin' to break loose. Our job is to get him out and clear his name."
Danny then put his hand up and said, "What about the VA Center that got blown to hell, we know who did it?" "I had Angela go through the footage finding it, and we got an ID on the guy, it was Denny Woods himself." "That bastard, we kill him?" "No, we're leaving him alive, only then the cops will take care of him. I made a deal with the Chicago PD Intelligence, thanks to Nathan, they're building their own case, but our ulterior motive…"
Charlie then said, "Is to get him out of jail?" "Exactly, then Nathan goes after Woods himself and we continue our op and find Bates and Canary." "All we know is that Denny's tied in with private security Mercs, these boys are good…" "But we're better, we're getting our boy out. No man left behind, are we a go?"
Everyone looked at Peter as they all nodded saying, "Let's get our boy home." "Hoo-yah!" "Hoo-goddamn-yah!"
The SEALs then headed to work hoping to free their brother-in-arms.
Nathan was in a jail cell exercising as he saw the guard who said, "Delaney! On your feet, you got a visitor!" "Who?" "Paramedic Brett."
Nathan stopped exercising as he looked in despair as he said, "Who else apart from Brett?" "It's just her." "Alright." Nathan said with much reluctance.
Nathan walked out of the cell heading to an interrogation cell where he saw Brett in a chair opposite him, it wasn't the fact that he was glad to see her but it was the fact, that he didn't know how to truly explain the things she saw. Sylvie then said, "Sergeant, you can leave the cuffs on." "Are you sure?"
Nathan nodded saying, "Yeah, could you do that, please?" "Alright, I'll wait outside, let you two talk."
The Sergeant left the pair as Nathan said, "What you saw, I'm uncertain how to explain it to you." "Was it really you, that did those things?" Sylvie asks. Nathan stays silent as Sylvie susses it out saying, "Of course it was you, you betrayed our trust, why couldn't you tell us?" "There are some things I couldn't tell you, I was scared to tell you the truth that you'd react with hatred, fear. I'm not perfect."
Sylvie then says, "I thought you were a good man, but all I see is a monster inside of you." "Sylvie, I was there alongside you when that Medical Center blew up, I wouldn't blow up…other war vets that fought ever day for this country, that ain't me, that ain't me. I would never do such a thing, I was set up."
Sylvie shook her head saying, "Stop talking…" "I got baggage that's never goin' away, but I never blew up that Med Center." "Just shut up, Nathan, you aren't the man I know, but you aren't who you were, but I hope that you burn for what you've done, to 51, to our family. Just die." Sylvie said with her voice breaking.
Every word stabbed Nathan, it broke him more and more, as Sylvie walked out of the room and headed for the Firehouse. Nathan was escorted back to his cell, he laid down on the bunk, thinking about every word Sylvie said, it tore him apart, breaking even his own mentality into pieces, the bed he was laying on even broke.
Back in Sylvie's car, she begins to let tears fall down past her face as she begins to contemplate what happened. Thinking she fell in love with a monster.
Nathan POV
I've cheated death many times, got right up close to it, it's not something that I was a fan of but what comes with it are feelings: Anger, pain, guilt, relief. You experience the present as an inevitable destination of every step you've taken towards it. In that same moment a new path takes shape in front of you.
Good men and women have fought and died for wrong causes, the corrupt men, cloak themselves in righteousness. Most men are convinced they're on the side of angels. I fought for what was right, for honor, duty and country, instead it came back to bite me in the ass. I fought against a powerful enemy and I came up short against them. Now all I do, is wait to pay the price.
Pay the price.
Main POV
The next morning, Nathan is awoken as he says, "Delaney, on your feet! Time for court."
Nathan stands up as his arms are attached to a long chain that extends to his ankles as they cart him into the corrections van. In the distance, Peter and Danny are watching as Danny says, "We're running out of time, Chief." "I know. We're goin' to get him out, I spoke with Sergeant Voight, they've put in one of their boys with him, they'll loosen the cuffs and then… we have the go ahead." "Hope we can do this." "I hope so to."
The drive to the courthouse was long, the driver was taking them the long way around, but the man with them had a feeling, something was going down. The man pulled up his cap and it was Olinsky who was inside the van with Nathan.
Olinsky who was posing as a guard then said, "Hey, how comes we're takin' the long way?" "Bad traffic from here to the courthouse, we've been advised to take the long way." "Well that's just perfect."
Olinsky patted Nathan as he revealed a bit of paper saying, "I'm on your side, we're getting you out." Nathan then hand-signalled Olinsky saying, "Who's we?" "Mutual friends who care about you. Better strap yourself in, it's going to be bumpy." Nathan looked confused as he was punched lightly as soon they were hit by something loud as the van flipped one time.
Nathan was unconscious shielded from before in his mind they heard gunshots on the outside to which Nathan was oblivious to.
On the next chapter of Chicago's Bravest
A risky escape attempt
Charlie, Peter and Danny attempted to get Nathan Delaney out of the truck as they bust the door open. Danny opens the door as Charlie says, "Is he alive in there?!"
Danny looks at the pair as they try to decipher what happened.
News gets out
Woods is in his office as an aide walks in, "Sir, the vehicle transporting Nathan Delaney never made it to the execution zone." "Send 2 squads to find out what happened." "Sir."
Woods is now beginning to feel the pressure on him, as he looks at his phone before answering, "Woods…"
The fighting is about to begin
Angela spots 2 vehicles approaching the ambush site as she says, "Paladin Bravo, we got 2 squads of footmobiles inbound to the vehicle location, is he awake?"
"Copy Guardian Angel, we're setting up now. Paladin-1 is currently…"
I hope this is to your liking. Up next, all hell is about to break loose.
