Author 's Note: I'm back a little earlier than expected. I'm gonna do something that may seem a little unique to the story so I'll let you guys the readers figure out what that is. For reasoning I'll just say that useless characters who's only purpose is to be in one scene and die is given more than more important people who are actually crucial to the story. I also just finished Damien's backstory to where he came from, it's not pleasant on what happened to him. One could understood why he snapped.

But for now, let's continue.

Chapter 15: The Dragons Nightmare

July 25th 2010 0945 Hours

Aboard the Fruition, The Adriatic Sea, Italian Territorial Waters

Inevitability, when I saw it I didn't even need to react because the with ever growing amount of shit that they kept piling up after I ran for it two years ago wasn't gonna come without consequence. The only thing I could bring myself to do was sigh humbly and be filled with calmness. But while I was nowhere near one of the victims, the US as well as its troops reputation had been utterly damaged to a point where it would be near impossible to repair. Once it hit the major outlets it then moved to almost every media website I was clicking on. Most of us were in the living room this morning but the TV was off, nobody had checked the news yet and I had to speak up on this.

"The White House, The Pentagon, and most assuredly Langley are totally shitting cinder blocks in their basements right now."

Karl then sighed heavily, he often got real annoyed whenever I started talking about politics. I found out I could use that to counter his bitching. Regardless of the fact that most of the crap I experienced was first hand.

"Ok what kind of mad conspiracy theory is it this time? Was it the aliens who landed at Roswell the real assassins of John F. Kennedy?"

"I'm not joking around this time. Julian Assange strikes again. I don't know how the hell he and his Wikileaks group got ahold of it all but he just blew the whistle on all the crap the US government was trying to keep under wraps on how bad the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan really are. Their calling it the Afghan War Diary."

There was silence around the room but even though he hid it well. John knew I was all too happy to hear that this had happened considering the fact only he and Koko knew about what happened to me.

"What's this diary saying?"

"Too much to go through in one explanation but apparently there's over 75,000 documents that dictate all kinds of crap. Accidental and intentional civilian deaths. Pakistani and Iranian weapons shipments to the insurgents. Spec Ops use greater than intended. In a nutshell, the press, certain human rights groups, and most definitely the American people are gonna have a field day with Congress and the White House."

Except for Lehm the rest of the crew still didn't know what my real personality and my real nature was. I remembered what Amalia was saying to Koko, we both hid behind a mask. The only difference between me and Koko was that she could take hers off. I didn't really wear what you would call a mask. More like a tremendous barrier that had to contain and keep a monster in check. But that monster was slowly withering away with the help of my new friends.

"I don't normally see you this excited about anything without pulling out your infamous jackass self. This has something to do with why you left?" Wiley asked.

I didn't answer, partly because he was right but there was also an even darker part with that. I stood up from my chair and took out my cell.

"Hey Koko, something good just happened and I think we should celebrate. Get ahold of the bridge and ask the captain if he knows of any nice beaches he can park the ship off of. Hold on. You guys up for some porterhouses for lunch?"

1220 Hours

Gulf of Manfredonia, Gargano National Park, Italy

I remembered what seemed like an eternity ago when I'd do beach trips like this was still in high school I'd try and get my dad to send me and a few of my school friends to my grandparents', on my mother's side, house in Panama City. Naturally due to my massive size I got more than my fair share of looks from the ladies, especially if we managed to go down there during spring break when almost every college student in the country went down to Florida. I'll never forget the look on some of their faces, both guys and girls, when I told them I still hadn't even graduated high school. Of course that didn't stop me from sneaking in a few beers and margaritas when the beach patrol wasn't looking. But the one today was more of relaxation and work at the same time. With the iPod system playing Red Hot Chili Peppers and everyone enjoying themselves I had to grill the meat and corn cobs. I had to keep my hair in a ponytail again so not to get anything on the food but I was gonna eat last. The combined heat of the sun and grill was burning me up and I needed to jump in the water and cool off.

"Hey Damien how much longer?" Tojo shouted.

"They're ready to eat now unless you want them a little more well done."

"Ha ha! You heard him guys! Chows up!" Ugo said eagerly.

"Not yet! Ladies first, Koko? Valmet?"

It was good I was wearing sunglasses so they couldn't see my eyes looking them both up and down. While Koko was wearing a blue beach shirt and that ridiculously large hat of hers she still wanted to maintain her complexion, she wasn't as revealing as Valmet. Her athletic body and a few other blatantly obvious features in that black bikini was nothing short of heart stopping and it could prove to be literal by her stabbing you in the heart if you looked at her wrong. But I didn't see the guys eyeing her up and down, either they were more subtle than I was or they were afraid to die.

Seriously those things can't be real.

"Just don't give me the largest one Damien."

"Got it Koko. Ok come on guys line up!"

After I was done I immediately ran for the water, I was on fire. After swimming a few times around I just let myself drift and I then started to think about this morning. If I didn't go crazy and finished my tour, there was no doubt that my name would have popped up on those documents somewhere linking me and a lot of other special forces operatives to the shit the CIA was pulling. But I got a feeling that all the stuff that was brought to light was something that the US government probably wouldn't lose much sleep over. While the fallout from this was gonna be nasty I seriously doubt that the CIA was stupid enough to leave a record of what happened at that black site. I didn't know if anything was really gonna change. As I then shut my eyes and continued to drift I heard splashing.

"Careful Damien. You keep drifting you're gonna end up in the middle of the Adriatic."

"Why you out here Koko I thought you were eating?" I said still floating with my eyes shut.

"I finished about ten minutes ago and you're the only one who hasn't eaten yet. I swam out to get you, you've been out here a while, take a look."

I began to tread water and noticed that I was quite a distance away from the shore.

"Must have got lost in thought again."

"That's normally the case when mermaids want to trap sailors at sea. But I think this one has a crush on you."

She then floated in front of me and the water was so clear I could see her. Her long white hair spreading around her like wings.

"But too bad for them cause they can't have you. You belong to only me Damien." She giggled. "Right?"

She's never been this up front before. Is she actually hitting on me? God I hope ain't blushing.

As we got back to shore I ringed the water out from my hair, grabbed a towel, and made for the grill.

"Ok no one had better taken my steak cause I'm…wondering what the hell happened to you?"

As I was drying my face off, R was holding a bag of ice over his left eye. Lutz and Tojo were flanking him and their eyes pointed to the obvious answer, Valmet. Curious to a fault, I had to ask.

"Renato man. What did you do?"

"I avoided getting killed, that's all you need to know."

It was only a guess but it looked like he tried to use his Italian charm and it backfired painfully.

"Ugh. Word of advice on alpha's. NEVER go with the forward approach."

2000 Hours

After our little beach party this afternoon it was gonna be back to the grind stone as usual. We continued along the Italian peninsula and our final destination was Pescara. We were in the ships meeting room and Koko was about to brief us.

"Ok guys if you look at the order I've just received in front of you its time…for an air delivery!"

Confused on why she build up the slight suspense, Lehm then spoke up probably to everyone.

"Things work better when there's no air travel. Seriously flying with her is never a good experience."

"Hey watch it Lehm. Jinxes like that are nothing more than manifestations of your subconscious anxiety. You got your brain all convinced that something is going to go wrong and it does it's as simple as that. Just let it go."

He leaned over to Wiley. "Didn't she just jinx us?"

"Ugh. Everything's gonna go smoothly on this flight and you be eating your words!" She said with frustration.

"I don't know Koko I gotta agree with Lehm. In the last five months on average a fire tends to start whenever we make deliveries or deals. It all depends on how much gasoline is around us when the match is struck."

"GAH! OK! No more negativity! This is gonna go smoothly nothing more or less!"

As she went into one of her hissy fits I glanced down at the form. The cargo will be at Pescara International Airport and will depart tomorrow morning at dawn with full instructions before flight.

Lehm called it. I hate sketchy shit.

July 26th 2010 0630 Hours

Pescara International Airport, Italy

I should have seen this coming but I had a feeling that we didn't always just deliver weapons. I didn't peg us for a traveling agency though. We were tasked at the last minute to deliver a team from the NGO Doctor's Without Borders into Kosovo, the only catch was that we had to land in Serbia. We were delivering artillery pieces to them, essentially supplying two sides that hated each other and we were gonna be in the middle of it. It appeared that they didn't want them in the country so the DWB decided to pay HCLI to sneak them in. Kosovo was already recognized as an independent republic by NATO but Serbia still wanted to make things difficult and claim that it was still part of Serbia. It seemed as though Europe never wanted war to end. Even though things didn't blow up entirely during the Cold War, except for a few uprisings, Europe had had enough after the World War II. But with the fall of communism, bred a whole new spread of problems, Yugoslavia being one of the worst. Since there was so many different ethnicities throughout the Balkan's naturally there were blood feuds specifically between the Croats and the Serbs. Similar to when I was in Burma except the war that followed was based on nationalism. This lead to a ten year stream of proxy wars that occurred all over the Balkans and ended in November 2001. But not before the displacement of over 4 million people and 140,000 dead. And with so many weapons that were literally left lying around, the Balkans became a new place for the arms trade. Naturally this place was one of Koko's distribution places but on this trip but Lehm's intuition paid off. I saw her eyes twitching as she was talking on her sat-phone. She preferred to selling to one party at a time.

"Are you telling me were sitting on a powder keg and you want us to light up cigarettes?"

…

"STUPID! MORON! DUMMY! JERK!"

And…she's pissed again.

"Still think it's all in my head Koko?"

Koko just pushed Lehm aside as she went to address the pilot Holtz and, to my insane surprise, co-pilot Ugo. My brain was going through enough stress as it was I didn't wanna know how the hell he managed to learn how to fly a plane.

"Holtz! Ugo! We got more cargo coming with us! 700 kilograms of doctors!"

"We can barely manage that." They said in unison.

"You both said barely so that means you can do it. So do it!"

With their primary title of Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Swiss based humanitarian group has been traveling all over the world helping out nations in need since the 70's. They wanted to treat peoples diseases and injuries and they didn't care who they did it to. While rather noble, they always drew attention from really unpleasant people. Naturally they normally tended to go to war zones and places where they weren't really wanted so there was a constant danger. Even though they never really officially said it they tended to bring along those that had the job of keeping them safe. But that wasn't gonna be the case with this job. Drop them off and leave, nothing more. The big blonde guy with a French accent with scar's on the right side of his face and his posture told me he was anything but a doctor.

"Miss Hekmatyar, before we get started I wanted to personally thank you for doing this for us."

"Hold on Dr. Riviere. You do realize what I really am?"

"I'm aware yes. But our job is to help people regardless of ethnicity, religion, or political opinion."

"Very well. But I want all of you to understand, you're cargo not passengers. If I have to I'll have to put you in a shipping container."

A woman in her mid-thirties spoke up. "We're used to it."

It got a laugh from the other doctors but the French guy, obviously their leader, clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Ok MSF. Pack up we'll be departing soon."

As we started strapping our gear on we then made our way out to the tarmac. Our ride towards Serbia was an HCLI modified C-130 cargo plane. When I was walking towards the tail of the plane I halted and noticed several devices on it. IR jammers on the wings and flare launchers on the tail.

"Something wrong Damien?" R asked. His eye still black from Valmet's punch.

"Just glad Koko's taking every precaution. There's quite a few anti-air devices on this bird."

"Lehm did tell you that flying with Koko was never a good thing."

"Who knew she actually would listen?"

As we both started to laugh we heard her behind us.

"I hate to interrupt something amusing, BUT GET YOUR ASSES ON THE DAMN PLANE!"

Wondering how she managed to yell over the engine roar. I found the only open seat in the crammed bird to be in between Tojo and the lady doctor from earlier.

"Hope you don't mind miss. It's not my fault I take up too much room."

"Not at all. What's your name?"

"Damien Andrushko."

"Margret Messner. But please call me Maggie."

"You an American? How long you've been working for MSF?"

"About six years now. And I take it from the length of your hair you've been out of the military for a while now."

"That's kind of a complicated subject, how'd you guess I was a soldier anyway?"

"I've traveled all over the world with other peacekeeping forces but I know our men and women in uniform when I see them. I visited Iraq rather frequently."

Good thing that was all she saw me as, anything more and it would have turned ugly. Koko then came on the horn.

"So far it's smooth sailing. See Lehm? I told you it was just your imagination!"

"Yeah yeah."

The flight across the Adriatic Sea was rather short it only took about an hour to get from Rome to Belgrade so where we were going was gonna be shorter. We were ten minutes out from the base we were gonna land at. The leader of the doctors, Riviere, addressed his flock again.

"The Balkans are Europe's munitions magazine and the district where we're heading to now is a great example. Even though the Yugoslav Wars were one of its worst, the fighting over lands and between ethnicities have been going on since the 14th century. Slobodan Milosevic and his ethnic cleansing policies pushed the people he oppressed into doing the exact same thing to others. Naturally when a militia forms enough power to be declared a standing army, it's hard to reign control of the violence. A man named Dragan Nicolaevich is the head of a militia group known as the Balkan Dragons, or Baldra. His father was a high ranking general in the Serbian army during the Yugoslav Wars. When he was ten he was already a delinquent, when he was in his twenties before the Iron Curtain fell he traveled throughout Western Europe where his crimes ranged from robbery to murder. But his father was tired of bailing him out so he gave him an ultimatum. Join the army or be cut off forever. Naturally when the Bosnian War happened he took a rather intricate part in it, he was one of the many execution officers for the Serbs. He's in his 50's now and he still thinks he's trying to let the world know that it can't touch him and that the war is still going on. We're dealing with world class scum here."

This was a story I knew all too well. While I had to stay with my Uncle Eric, my dad's second older brother, my father was part of the group that had to collect evidence on the numerous war crimes that were going on in the Balkans on all sides. While it was the Serbs who did most of the mass executions, it also included the Croats and Muslims. But after the massacres at Srebrenica and Markale, NATO had had enough of the senseless bloodshed and brought the war to a swift halt. While most of those who were responsible, namely Milosevic, were apprehended not all of them were caught. They used a bunch of red tape and political connections to keep going on with their lives like nothing happened. Ratko Mladic was in the UN spotlight several times but they still haven't arrested him and dragged him out of Serbia for the shit he pulled. I'd also heard of this Nicolaevich guy before, when I was doing bodyguard work for a crooked casino owner in Montenegro. It never surprised me that communists tended to use the worst people to get their shit across. Desecrating remains, rapes, torture, this is one of those guys I'd kill based on principle. But I wouldn't blame the Serbs themselves on whatever shitholes that guys like Nicolaevich crawled out of. It's not possible to save everyone in the world, no one can be everywhere.

"Miss Hekmatyar's business is only for the Serbian State Army but if Baldra shows up then this will get ugly. For both of us unfortunately. But it doesn't change what we have come here to do. Whether it be Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Palestine, The Congo, Somalia, anywhere, it's our job to help people and let the world know what we see!"

I then checked my watch. I then got Maggie's attention.

"You see that container at the very end of the plane?"

"Yes."

"We're not unloading that one. Once we touch ground you and your crew will be disguised as cargo so you'll have to hide under a tarp."

"What if they find us?"

"It won't come to that. I won't let it come to that. I may look like a gorgeous slab of meat but I'm actually quite smart and my group is some the best in the world."

She then looked up and smiled at me. I had no intention of failing to get these people where they needed to go.

0715 Hours

Osonica Air Base, Serbia

The cargo to deliver to the Serbian army was three 122mm D-30 Howitzers. No longer in production in Russia but it's old satellites still had factories that would produce them and were still being used today. Quite the interesting design it had, mobile and could be placed in one spot and have a 360 angle of fire. We off loaded the guns and the Serb captain was ready to do business with Koko.

"I can't thank you enough for making this delivery Miss Hekmatyar. You're a lifesaver, now I can train my men on some brand new equipment."

"There's no need for such praise. Thank you for doing business with HCLI."

"I do have one more question if it's not too much trouble. I understand that usually you come with more than enough cargo to fill an order and you'll part with the excess goods if the price is right."

Oh God. Please don't let this be another greedy asshole.

"Afraid I have to disappoint you captain. It's true we make those kinds of deals on maritime delivers, the amount of weight we brought on our plane put us at maximum capacity. We couldn't bring anything else."

"Ohh...my misunderstanding I didn't think of that." He said apologetically.

I shut my eyes and relaxed my shoulders. That was a relief.

"Well let's make a payment, if you check your banks, HCLI should be getting the deposit now."

"Of course. Damien, the papers."

As I was telling the captain where to sign Koko made her way towards Mao. He was eyeing the artillery.

"Feeling a little nostalgic?"

"Nah. Just remembering how often I shot these things."

"Well the moment Damien is done with the paper work we leave."

As the captain was finished signing I noticed a black Mercedes Benz pull up and men with black beret's stepped out and approached us. I didn't speak Serbo-Croatian but I didn't need to figure out that this guy was about to chew the captain out.

"Najam nepozvani gosti lutaju okolo kapetan? Da li ste budala?"

(Letting uninvited guests wander around captain? Are you a fool?)

Oh shit don't tell me this guy is who I think he is.

He then looked at me with a slight moment of confusion but then acknowledgment and then towards Koko and addressed her in English.

"Miss Hekmatyar pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'll cut straight to the chase yes? You have something on board that you're not supposed to have, please show me."

"Mr. Nicoleavich."

She hid it well but I didn't need to figure out that she was freaking out on the inside. A very large and angry group of hornets was right on top of us.

"I don't like repeating myself. Let me make that easy for you, I know full well you got ten doctors inside your plane. I want them now!"

"I'm sorry I have no idea what you're talking about and you're not my client in this transaction. I'm not about to discuss my cargo let alone show it to you. That plane is also a part of my kingdom and I choose my guests."

This guy had a very short fuse. And his thugs were itching for a fight as well. I had to brace for the inevitable so I flicked the safety off my carbine as discreetly as I could.

"Your giving me lip? This part of the country belongs to me and you're on it. We're wasting time, kapetan!"

Not even caring that I was standing next to him he hit him with his radio and made a rallying gesture. Several trucks were coming to the plane.

"Sta si mislio je doveo na ovu bazu, kao i on!? Da li znate ko jo ovo!? Ovo je nocna mora."

(What were you thinking letting her on this base as well as him!? Do you know who this is!? This is the Nightmare.)

"Gospodine, ja ne znam ko je to. Nema potrebe da se ovo u veliku stvar."

(Sir, I don't know who that is. There's no need to make this into a big deal.)

I couldn't understand what they were saying but the way he looked at me and the way the words nocna mora sounded I didn't need to figure out that Nicoleavich had known of my exploits in Eastern Europe. I probably capped one or two of his so called friends. As the rest of his militia came out of the trucks and formed into a platoon, Koko pulled me and the captain over to her.

"Well son of a bitch. The dragon just laid it's eggs."

"I'm sorry for that display, I didn't like it any more than you did."

"Don't worry, I'm just glad you're not bleeding that bad."

I took out one of my field dressings and handed it to him. He hit him harder than it looked.

"Why do you let that communist leftover get away with that shit? You guys are a real army shouldn't you be able to flat out tell the militia to get the hell off this base?"

He sighed deeply. "That may be true on paper Mr. Andrushko but that weasel is somewhat of a hero in this part of the country. He keeps pulling in poorly informed patriotic thugs to help expand his power."

"Where are your men anyway?"

"I gave them an order to withdraw to the hangers and stay there. Miss Hekmatyar I won't ask what you have inside the plane. But for you Mr. Andrushko he knows who you are and of the bounty on your head."

"I kinda figured that. It's not the CIA's bounty am I right?"

"Yes. I suggest you get out of here while you still can."

Koko then addressed him. "You're a wonderful man captain! We'll do just that."

Then came the distinct sound of guns racking.

"Don't think that you're getting out of here that easily. Those doctor's as well as you Nightmare are going to die. And all that money that was placed on your head will do quite well to support my militia. Of course I'll need proof that I did capture you. Who doesn't love a good snuff film?"

I didn't know how the hell he found out that I was with Koko's company but at this point I didn't care. He was prying into my violent side and if he didn't back off it was gonna blow up in his face.

"I'm only gonna warn you once you pile of dragon shit. Don't test me, you know what will happen."

The man had the same arrogant smirk Kasper did. He really didn't know what the hell he was doing.

"Why do you think I came prepared? But I'm honestly more surprised at you Miss Hekmatyar. You know who this man is and you think he really works for you? Everywhere he goes it's nothing but destruction and bodies and if you think for one second that you have a monster like this under control trust me, you don't."

As I turned to Koko I saw a part of her I'd never seen before. Her composure was calm but her fist was shaking and her eyes were full of seething rage. I knew she always liked to cling on me cause I thought she just like to play around. But even with all the horrible things I've done, she something different in me. What, I don't know but she wouldn't allow Baldra to take me.

"Damien belongs to me. He's part of my family and he saved my life. Whoever you think he is, he's not that monster anymore!"

After a few tense seconds, R and Lutz spoke up.

"Doctor! What are you doing out here!?"

"Get back in the plane!"

Fuck.

He slowly stepped off the plane and stood a considerable distance between Baldra. Me, Koko, and Valmet in the center but not within their line of sight.

"Colonel Nicoleavich, I'm Dr. Riviere of Medecins Sans Frontieres, Miss Hekmatyar brought me here because I pressured her to do so. I'd also like to speak with you if you please hear me out."

"Sure."

He then pulled out his sidearm and shot him the shoulder. Valmet and I immediately got in front of Koko.

Well that went as expected.

"Doctor please I know who you are, you patch up the people I shoot. That makes you my enemy."

He then fired again, the round chipping the side of his face. I then eyeballed Lehm and he used our hand gestures.

You take his left. I'll take his right.

"Valmet, stay with Koko."

We both moved subtly to Baldra, the asshole having a little too much fun to notice.

"Stop squirm-AHH!"

Lehm knocked his sidearm out of his hand.

"That's enough shooting for today I suggest you behave yourself."

His lackeys began cursing at Lehm but I snuck up behind them both and grabbed the backs of their necks. Using my height advantage and superior strength I forced them both face first into the tarmac. Blood, missing teeth and screaming came from both of them.

"Koko?" I said like a curious child with a devilish smirk.

"TAKE'EM OUT!"

Dragons are just make believe fairy tales. Human beings are a hell of a lot more terrifying cause we're real. My friends and I are gonna prove that to you Baldra.