Love Struck Delusion

Chapter 292 - My pale companion.

Raptor's POV, Pakistan capital, Four hours later.

My arrival was greeted by Hecan's men who were waiting for my landing out on the helipad. Familiar faces stood outside my chopper as we just touched down. Inside the chopper itself were only Char and I. I was back in my G.U.N uniform for this moment. It still felt weird to me and I think Char noticed it as I decided to stay inside the chopper for a few moments after touchdown. He was just calmly watching over me as I gave the upcoming meeting some more thought.

I don't know if I was ready for this. Part of me wanted to spare Drake knowing his side of the tale now that I got to know him a bit more than as just my enemy. But the other part of me was on the edge of my seat. I think my issue was deciding where my feelings really stood and I mean that morally speaking. Could I accept this one last task and see the end of my life through?

Char was kitted out just in case, but the bottom line to anyone outside looking in was that he was my security. No ill intent would be thought of. He blended in and thankfully I knew he had my back. No one else could be sitting in his shoes.

"You ready to do this?" He asked me quietly as I looked down to my lap to find Shadow's M1911 resting there. Slowly taking the gun and putting it away in my hip holster, I looked up at the wolf to reply.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Char helped me up and from there he got the door open. When the sun came beaming through I had to adjust my eyes. By the time I took my first step I found Pierce and his men ready for me. The captain came right to my side to offer his hand which I took and shook at first sight. With a smile and a gentle pat to my arm he asked me.

"Raptor. How are you feeling? You look exhausted."

Nodding my head, I replied as Char stuck to my side like glue.

"That's because I am. I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible and get back home."

With Pierce offering me my way off the helipad, he then stated to me.

"I can relate. I go home next week. Can't wait to just rest for once."

"You've earned it Pierce. You and all your men."

Chuckling the man led the way to the capital and as we walked inside he expressed his own opinion into the subject.

"I don't know about myself, but my men sure have. It'll be a good break from this kind of active duty. They're upstairs waiting for us." He added as we took the first climb up.

Halfway there I asked him calmly.

"Any trouble yet?"

Shaking his head as we reached the top he replied.

"Nah. Drake is surprisingly collected for this meeting. Hecan is Hecan and I've never seen the man lose his cool too early. I doubt there will be problems yet. They've kept their conversations tame and Drake hasn't yet asked any questions. Like I said….they're waiting for us."

I proceeded to hum to myself out of concern for the situation. Once we had reached the room where Juper could be seen standing guard outside of, I looked to both of them to wonder.

"Is everything ready to go for when this goes down?"

Nodding Pierce replied quietly so not to draw attention.

"We're all set. Hecan will be giving the signal. Trust me….this ends here."

"Alright." I mumbled as I looked back at Char to ask him.

"Are you comfortable coming in with us? Or would you rather stay out here till it's over?"

Giving me a straight face he replied.

"I didn't come with you just to back out now. We do this together."

"Damn striaght." Juper added as I looked back to Pierce to see him smiling.

Collecting my last chance to make sure I was prepared, I took a deep breath and reached out to open the door. The second I walked in I found Hecan and Drake sitting around a small desk. The two of them got up to greet me as Pierce and Juper got the door shut and secured. Char remained behind me as I reached out to shake their hands one at a time. Once I had gotten a hold over Drake's hand did he ask me.

"How was the trip over here? You look like you're struggling."

Nodding my head as we all retook our seats, I replied.

"My legs are still sore to no end. Walking is painful and my last dose of medication still hasn't kicked in to numb the pain."

"How's the rest of you doing Voltz?" Hecan wondered as I scratched my face casually to reply back.

"The rest of me? I'm tired. Still trying to readjust. The coma I was in did me no good. Memory is still a little hazy, but all and all? I think I'll live. I just need some time off to rest."

"Hopefully once we get done here, we can figure out that date to go public with the finalized treaty and call this war officially over. Then all that's left is sitting down and talking out what your plan will be for the future steps of the government. It'll take some time, but you'll have more than enough time to relax." Hecan said to me as I looked back at Drake. The wolf nodded his head very slowly and started out our conversation by saying.

"Time you've earned Raptor. I don't want to pretend like I'm not grateful. I owe you my life and I think it's safe to assume Hecan does too. Without your effort, we might as well still be locked in those cells. So let me get this out of the way so there is no confusion between us. Thank you. From as far down as my heart goes, I really am thanking you."

I couldn't disagree with him. Nether could Hecan who just nodded his head to what his underling said. However once that was out of the way, Linnen went on to say with a shifting tone.

"But during my stay there I fear I may have heard some things I was not supposed to. Things I assume are safe to discuss among the people here around us. Yes?" He wondered as he looked to Hecan for the answer.

Keeping himself calm and ready the president replied.

"I'd assume that to be a safe bet. Raptor? Can you speak for your friend there? I'm sorry by the way. I don't remember your name."

I looked back at Char who respectfully replied back.

"My name is Char sir."

"And he's aware of this business. You have my word he's good people and safe ears."

Hecan took that answer easily and proceeded to look back at Drake as if to urge him to continue. Which is what Drake did as he questioned.

"Then I have to ask. What's really been going on behind my back? I know enough to have my concerns with both of you. The most important of which is about Gorgon."

I took control of the situation this time and explained my end of the dirty business at hand.

"Gorgon is the important business, that I agree with you on Drake. But allow me to explain to you the details."

Drake seemed all for listening now. His face showed just how hard he was working at it. Sitting myself up, I came clean.

"Before Gorgon I had no intent of working with Hecan Moore. No intent on working together. No intent of surrendering. The rebellion's plan was to hold fast. Hold fast and slowly make our moves in hopes of potentially killing you in Pakistan. There were no talks of peace, I promise you. But Gorgon made me think outside just the war. When he killed my family and nearly myself, I saw only red. When I came through to what I had lost I struggled to focus on anything else. I wanted nothing more than to kill that man for what he did to me, but my own people refused to step in and help me. People I trusted. I fully understand why they didn't want to help, but I couldn't accept that and took matters into my own hands. By first contacting Hecan."

Drake was still just as focused as Hecan took the lead.

"I worked with Shadow Robotnik in the past. I helped him get the first treaty very early into my first term as president. What came from that aid was for sure one of the main reasons I got reelected. People saw progress on an issue that most thought would be impossible to fix."

"But why take the risk at helping Voltz? Back then he was killing our own people. A risk like that could be fatal to your position sir." Drake stated as Hecan quickly explained himself.

"You have to understand Drake that I'm not a man who approves of this war. I don't want to fight anyone. I don't want to send people out there to die. I can't live with myself when I make those kinds of choices. All I want for this world and for G.U.N, is to find peace. Peace between all. And keep in mind that I already knew about Voltz's past with G.U.N. I had a strong feeling he was much like Shadow in terms of his political beliefs. He doesn't want to fight a war either if it can be helped.

Hecan was speaking from the heart.

"I already had a plan for another treaty. One that worked for everyone, but it goes agonist some things people in congress go agonist. Mainly the issue that comes from having a presence in the middle east even after that war ends between both sides. A lot of people believe the middle east can operate on their own. That isn't possible. Not after everything. There needs to be some hand holding if we wish to get this place back on its feet. Raptor can't, nor would, want to fix every issue himself. He'd die from the stress within a week. No offense Raptor."

"None taken." I replied as I knew he was speaking the truth. Pressing it on I told Drake confidently.

"I can speak for the middle east. There are plenty of people living here that want us to cut all lines of communications between G.U.N and ourselves; after a treaty is signed. But I've known my country my whole life. There is no one else like myself. We don't have leadership. We don't have the resources. We don't have the structure and after everything that has happened between Pakistan and the first few storms, I'm out of money to help rebuild what has been lost. Even if I still hated G.U.N, I couldn't see my home getting better without your help."

Going right on back to Hecan, he muttered as he got a sip of water down his throat.

"We need to work together. When he came to me Drake, I answered because I knew the situation. You told me about his so-called "death" and clearly it wasn't true. Yet at the time, Raptor's issue was getting his hands on Gorgon and his team. Men who you knew personally. Men who are quite frankly the best we had to offer, but at the same time they're all traitors. Including yourself."

Drake's presence shifted clearly as the subject was raised. He knew he was in trouble for it by now and just looked away as Hecan told him bluntly.

"You men acted agonist Commander Ash Lore. A man who was in charge of the situation going on well before the treaty was at risk of being voided out. A man who had good intentions and might have made a major difference if given the chance, but sadly was murdered by his own men."

"He…?" Drake tried to defend himself by explaining, but was immediately yelled out by a surprisingly angry old fox.

"I don't care what he did! I don't care what he wanted! I don't care if he ordered you to shoot kids Drake! When you were still part of that team, your orders were to obey him and handle the dirty work! Do the things others couldn't! You weren't trained to defy orders! You weren't being paid to second guess your superiors! Bottom line is that you and your friends killed him! Killed him and thought you'd have gotten away with it! And for the time leading up to when I was being tortured in that cell, I always knew the truth!"

"Then why didn't you act?" Linnen had to ask. I remained quiet this whole time as Hecan replied after lowering his voice.

"Because like I just said, you men were the best we had to offer and there were still plenty of things we had yet to sort out as a government. You stayed above ground and out of a cell because you were useful. Don't think of it in any other way. That was the sole reason I kept quiet."

Drake nodded to himself as Hecan attempted to switch up the focus by going back to me.

"Raptor came to me wanting those men dead for what they did. Including yourself at the time Drake."

Drake and myself locked eyes and very calmly I nodded my head at him. Drake then looked back at Hecan who went on to state.

"I'd gladly see those men killed off. Raptor was the perfect man to have under my wing at the time. A perfect man to run the head of this part of the world. His men and his people trust him with their lives. No matter what he wants, I'd be willing to bet they'd stand by his side through it. Even if he wanted to…..let's just go out on a limb and say he wanted to take his war to the states. I'd bet my life we'd have a problem. But I had a way to avoid all that and I knew if I helped him get to Gorgon; he'd be willing to at least listen to my offer. Which I'm grateful he did."

"My past history with G.U.N is unknown to a lot of my men. Only a few people know the truth of my uprising."

"What kind of past do you have?" Char asked me as the table and the three of us went silent to turn and look at him. Char sensed he might have spoken out of place, but I quickly reassured him it was okay by replying.

"I joined G.U.N when I was eighteen. Well before a war ever became a thing. My father was the man who was put in charge of the first rebellion and it's direction. A man I hated for never being there for me. I wanted a dad back then. I wanted attention Char. I wanted him to stop fighting and just focus on me as his son, but that never could happen. So I gave up on that dream and focused my effort on just hurting him anyway I could. Which was by joining the other side he was fighting and helping any way I could."

"However Commander Lehigh quickly found out who he was and put him to work at ending the rebellion before it could even begin to fully form." Hecan added on as I nodded and just said it bluntly for Char to hear.

"It led to me killing my father one night outside of Iraq's borders. I murdered him in cold blood Char and I honestly loved it. I needed very little in ways of motivation to pull the trigger. Do I regret it now? Yes. But back then it was ether that or have Lehigh come murder my first wife and child. It wasn't hard to cover it all up. The body handled itself and no one close to my father knew about our relationship, so I was never considered a suspect in his disappearance."

"How did your family react?" Char asked as I calmly replied after sipping some water for myself from a nearby unopened bottle.

"Killing my old man came with also killing my mother and sister. There couldn't be any loose ends. My brother was already in jail, so he was the only one spared."

"Jesus." Char mumbled under shocked awe as I simply assured him.

"I'm not a hero. No matter what I do with my life. I'm a monster. Always have been. I'm sorry Char, but that's the truth. I've done this all for myself."

Him and I went back to being quiet not a moment after it had come to pass. Hecan took that as his moment to continue our talk by saying.

"After Gorgon had paid the price, our dealings became a matter of making sure Raptor could get back into office with as little trouble as possible. That plan involved routing out those who would stand agonist him and his new found opinion of the war that the rebellion was waging. Men like Archer. Men like Mason, who was in charge of Afghanistan's division."

"I already explained this all to you Char. You know why I did what I did. I loved Mason. I loved Archer. But…..in the end they were both going to be problems. Archer was already resentful of what happened to him leading up to Wreak's passing. Mason was just never going to be comfortable letting what I did to go. He knew about my position before anyone else. He knew about the treaty. He knew about Hecan. He knew too much and I couldn't let any more information slip out. I did not expect Archer to kill him, but what's done is done. Those men are gone and I'm right where I needed to be from the beginning."

"No one standing in his way." Drake muttered as I stared right on at Char. He took the information well and went back to listening as I looked back at Drake to inform him.

"Yet that's not the issue here between us Drake. I won't sugarcoat my next sentence. I know you're not an idiot. Your concern is how I managed to capture Gorgon. Correct?"

The wolf nodded as Hecan went on to admit.

"The plan started thanks to my help. My men, the ones standing right here now are responsible for the operation."

Drake quickly looked to Pierce as Hecan continued.

"They were assigned as Raptor's inside source while we were operating in Pakistan. They were ordered to help him make it happen. No matter the cost. What happened to get Gorgon under control is a prime example of the degree they had to go to make it happen."

Drake was still unsure of how to react or what to really say, but regardless he tried to piece it all together by asking me personally.

"What did you do?"

Keeping my voice down but relaxed, I replied.

"At the time we needed to get Gorgon out from your hands, you were just starting to get the upper hand over the rebellion. I don't want to say you were on a high horse, but you weren't going to just let me have that man for free."

"What happened is my fault." Pierce announced which got all our attention. Drake was still unsure what was happening, but quickly questioned.

"What's your fault?"

"The power plant. We had someone slip an explosive charge onto one of the reactors. The captain here went undercover acting as a PMC who was in the country hunting Gorgon. You should remember the phone call." I informed Drake shortly after he asked what that was. I think I said enough, so I just now stared at him and waited for some kind of reaction. It took him a few minutes to even do that and as he began he looked to Hecan in complete loss of control. His eyes came back to me a second later to question.

"Are you all out of your fucking minds? How was that even authorized? Hecan?"

Shaking his head the fox replied.

"I told you this many times Drake. Sometimes we need to make sacrifices."

"That sacrifice killed over two hundred people!" Drake shouted out as Juper was slowly making his way around towards his side of the table. Drake paid him no mind as I begged the wolf.

"Lower your voice."

"Fuck you! You have no right to defend something like this! Are you fucking serious?! All this trouble for one fucking guy!? You've got to be joking! Do you know what I went through to help that city!? To help all those people!? What you guys did is an act of terrorisim! One that's on it's own complete fucking scale!"

"What's done is done Drake." Hecan stated which only made the wolf madder. Yet he somehow managed to keep his mouth closed as Hecan went on to say.

"We can't change history. The plan worked and thanks to it we're right where we need to be. We need to be focused on making things better. The operation was covert. No one knows about the bombing."

With Juper now standing right behind Drake, we all listened as he questioned.

"How can you claim you want peace when you allow something like this to happen?!"

"I can allow it because I know at the end of the day the payout will have been worth the stress. I don't regret what happened." Hecan admitted.

Drake went to stand up and yell at us, but was quickly met with Juper who had pulled a small needle out from his front pocket. Unaware of what was coming, Drake tried to start his rant, but was stopped the moment he felt Juper prick his neck.

"What the…..?!" Drake proceeded to look back at Juper. At the same time sending a heavy hook in his general direction. Juper easily got out of the way and we knew from there that the jig was up. However Drake was now feeling the effects of what was in that needle.

Stumbling over his own feet and managing to knock the chair he was sitting on over, Drake looked back to where I was to shout.

"What the hell is going on!? What are you….?"

His eyes were starting to get heavy and with it he began to fall over. Once on the ground did Hecan look back up at Juper to ask.

"Is he done?"

Juper nodded his head and replied.

"Yes sir."

I let out a small sigh as Hecan himself got up to suggest.

"You should get him out of here. This office isn't suited for what your planning Raptor."

I stood up very slowly to question.

"Are you sure this is alright?"

Nodding Hecan replied.

"Perfectly fine. I already told you not to worry. Leave the fallout to me, but do me one favor and make sure you bury any evidence once you're done. Hopefully this is the last time we need to do something like this, but regardless Raptor, be careful. Keep a clean nose and call me when you're finished."

Char helped me up from my chair and once I was on my own two feet did I ask the nearby Captain.

"Pierce? Can I trust you to get him there without trouble?"

Approaching Juper he replied.

"Leave it us. Shouldn't be a problem. Just get moving. No need to linger."

Reaching over and putting my hand on Char's back, I gently guided him out of the office and back into the hallway. I kept him at my close side and whispered as we began our exit from the capital.

"What happens next Char isn't going to be pretty."

"I figured." He replied as I then had to ask him to be sure.

"Are you sure you want to be around for this? Because I can promise you right now you won't like what you see."

We kept walking till we reached the helipad where our chopper was parked. Looking at me directly as we got back on the bird, I added on to my last statement; slash warning.

"I'm trained to get people to talk. No matter what. No matter who they are or what they do."

"This isn't about making him talk though. Right?" He asked me back as I shook my head to reply.

"No. It's not."

With that being said, Char just nodded his head. I ordered the pilot to get us airborne and once we were back in the air I heard him say.

"One last time. One last time this has to happen. No more fighting. No more hating. We do this and we go home."

Looking right back at the kid I replied.

"Yes sir."

mT Shadow.