Nathan Caldwell (Raider: Last Blood)

== Nathan Caldwell ==
Sergeant Nathan Rodney Caldwell (known as Nathan Caldwell or Commander Caldwell) is a supporting character and major antagonist of the "Raider: Last Blood" series. 
Serving as the secondary antagonist of the 5th chapter, Nathan is the founder and CEO of the Green Hive who answers directly to Secretary of Defense Trevor Bachelor, often being considered his right-hand man or mocked by everyone as his lapdog.
== Background ==
Born on November 6, 1996, in Vancouver, Canada, Nathan grew up in a military family and after moving to and growing up in Austin, Texas, he worked with his father in acting before leaving the acting business and joined the United States Marine Corps at 18. He eventually became an operator in the elite MARSOC Raiders. However, at some point, Nathan began to feel disillusioned with the military, thinking that the uniform he once proudly wore limited and held back men like him.
After leaving the military, in 2022, Nathan set up his own private military company, which he named the Green Hive. The company specialized in troop, air, and maritime deployment anywhere in the world, mainly employing former special operations members from around the globe; the most skilled of these employees were hand-picked and recruited by Nathan himself. 
In 2023, Nathan and the Green Hive caught the attention of local resistance militias who were looking for assistance in the Russo-Ukrainian War after it started. The Green Hive was hired by the militias to locate and capture high-ranked Russian military officers even though they failed to do so, The Green Hive remained in Russia to fight against the Russian Armed Forces under the militias, loosely.
Later, Secretary of Defense Trevor Bachelor, impressed with Nathan's abilities, began to contract the Green Hive tasking them with covert black ops missions around the world; most being in support of Task Force 181 (The Reapers).
== Biography ==
During a recon mission on July 15th, 2022, Nathan, Jay Roberts, Ned Philips, Bachelor, and Green Hive took out General Ahadi, a high-value target, via a ballistic missile strike in Al-Jazīrah.
A month later, on August 12th, Caldwell oversaw a clandestine operation with Bachelor as Green Hive was covertly transporting 3 American ballistic missiles to allies fighting in Ukraine. The convoy was ambushed by a coalition, leading to the death of all Green Hive's contractors and the loss of the missiles. The group provided the missiles to Arman Hakimi and The Taliban as Hakimi plotted his vengeance against the United States for the death of Ahadi. Caldwell and Bachelor began a cover-up campaign to hide their involvement in the illegal shipping and loss of American weaponry.
Intel gathered by Karim indicates that Arman is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. To find him, Bachelor sent Task Force 181, aided by Caldwell and his men, to Nuevo Leon to find Arman. There, Jay, Ned Phillips, and Diego Santos, accompanied by the Los Toros searched around a village in the mountains for Arman, but the endeavor proved unsuccessful, as the Cartel had already moved him away. The trio then went to the cartel compound, calling upon Caldwell and Green Hive to support them overhead while inside an AC-130. After successfully killing Arman, the team passes through a village in which they are ambushed by the Cartel, which prompts Caldwell to engage them.
To gather more information about the location of the stolen Missiles, Caldwell assisted Phillips and Diego in infiltrating a mansion and capturing Santiago Chavez, the leader of the Las Vatos Cartel, who is also known as "La Muerte Sin Nombre". Through interrogation, Caldwell found out the location of the second missile, which resulted in him and his group, accompanied by Task Force 181 and Diego, embarking on a mission to find the stolen missile and destroy it on an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Immediately following the event, Caldwell announced his intention to leave TF 181, further working with Trevor. After Jay and the rest of TF 181 left Mexico, Caldwell and the Green Hive aggressively interrogated townsfolk in a small town far from Nuevo Leon, even killing many of them and their Mexican Spec Ops forces, in an attempt to take the Cartel's weaponry and equipment for themselves and for their illegal arms deals to aid Ukrainian allies in Russia. 
As Jay took down their operations upon finding out about Amberwood and Trevor's intentions, Caldwell fled the United States and the "terrorism" incident prompted an investigation by the FBI - to which Caldwell responded by appointing his subordinate, Tyler Moss as the Interim Commander of Green Hive. At the same time, he continued to operate Green Hive behind the scenes somewhere around the globe.
22 years later, Nathan took back his position of leadership and followed with the plan of destroying the US with nerve gas. He and his troopers find Elena's camp, but no one is inside the tent. Elena ambushes them, injuring two of them. Nathan, visibly shocked by her accuracy, asks Elena to hold her fire so that they can talk, only for her to emerge from the darkness with a rifle. Impressed and amused, Nathan smiles and says he's here to offer her a job. Nathan is with the first group of soldiers, including the newly recruited Elena who he hired to kill Jay. She gears up for the mission and ignores Caldwell's attempts at conversation. Nathan tells her that he needs to see when he's dead and hands her a radio. Elena takes the soldiers to hunt him down as Nathan watches from behind and sends another group of soldiers to eliminate the remaining TF 181 members.
At an abandoned shack, Elena's group of soldiers enter the building, searching for Jay. However, three of the men set off a booby trap, causing the inside to explode, killing all the soldiers inside. After a few hours, Nathan's group arrives at the shack to see the aftermath of what has happened and finds one of his men, half dead, so he mercifully kills him. Nathan angrily radios Elena, demanding to know what the hell that was. An unrepentant Elena simply tells him that she drew them out and that she's doing this her way. Nathan angrily states that her way got his men killed, but Elena calls it collateral damage and discards her radio. A Green Hive soldier states they will find Jay and Elena and an unhinged Nathan tells him they are better dead.
Jay notices Nathan and several Green Hive soldiers approaching outside the cabin. Jay shoots Nathan through the window but only succeeds in grazing his face. As the soldiers storm into the cabin, Elena and Jay escape out a window. Entering the cabin to find Elena and Jay gone, an enraged Nathan declares it's time to "call it off." He radios Trevor and tells him that now they will take the country out.
With the last missile, Nathan prepares to launch it while he and his unit are located in a heavily fortified facility in the Texan desert. Jay, Elena, and the Ghosts (with Garnett's assistance) attack the facility and during the firefight, Caldwell tries to hold them off until they reach his building, forcing him to retreat. Reaching a practicing ground, Nathan attempts to kill Jay with a tank. However, Jay used a detonator, revealing skillfully planted C4 explosives that Nathan put in the tank (as a safety precaution), resulting in a powerful explosion that engulfed the tank and killed Nathan for good.
== Personality ==
Nathan initially seems to be a fair, intelligent, and charismatic man who wants the best for the Green Hive and according to most people, Nathan is extremely loyal to the Hive. He has a deep level of respect and trust for Trevor to an extent since both men fought in battle and respected each other's goals. He is usually described by many as a very bold and ambitious man, something he is sometimes both praised and berated about, mostly by Trevor himself. He treats his men and those he works with deep respect, telling his operators to treat the Reapers as "brothers", showing deep respect and admiration for them and even risking his mission to save his dying men from the Ghosts by trying to send more men.
However, beneath his friendly and charismatic facade, he is nothing more than a vicious, merciless, and bloodthirsty man who's eager to engage in combat from the skies or with his men on the ground by all means necessary, even if the bloodshed includes civilians. He is also very sadistic and even more violent, even more so than Trevor and the other operators, gleefully hunting the rest of the Cartel and murdering numerous Mexican civilians just for his sheer enjoyment. He was also shown to be very excited when he tried to kill Jay and seemed very determined to do so by giving himself an unfair advantage with a tank. As the series progresses, Nathan becomes progressively more unhinged as time goes on. He hires Elena to assassinate Jay and becomes extremely angry when she gets his men killed and goes rogue, to the point he angrily throws his walkie-talkie and orders her to be killed alongside Jay and orders his group to eliminate anyone in TF 181, finally revealing his true nature as a violent and sadistic mercenary who enjoys killing people for both financial gain and sheer enjoyment.
In his last moments, Nathan shows some level of self-control, and upon seeing that Jay detonated the charges, Nathan smirks and closes his eyes, accepting his demise rather than escaping or begging for his life, dying as the violent monster he always was.
== Appearance ==
Nathan is a Canadian-American man, standing at 6'2. He has tanned skin, medium-length brown hair, dark brown eyes, heavy stubble, and a muscular frame. He has a notable deep scar on his right cheek, most likely from his stint in Afghanistan after being captured by ISIS insurgents. While it's never shown. Nathan has the USMC logo tattooed on the back of his neck.
Nathan is seen wearing the standard-issue Hive uniform, but without the helmet in some scenes, and some missions, he wears a white polo shirt and jeans and tinted aviators to blend into public situations.
== Skills ==
* High Intelligence: Nathan was shown to be a highly intelligent, sharp-witted, and methodical man and was highly adaptable to any situation given to him. He is extremely level-headed and can handle extreme stress to get out of dangerous situations by using incredible street smarts. He was capable of using his charm to gain the trust of enemies to blend in and complete his task without them knowing that he was there within their organization.
* Intimidation: Due to his exceptional combat abilities, Nathan is well-known and feared within the Hive and is so infamous that even his presence strikes fear and terror into the hearts and souls of his enemies who incurred his wrath.
* Master Tactician: As a former USMC Infantryman and MARSOC operator who fought in combat, Nathan is highly capable of casing out, planning, and executing plans, assassinations, and raids. He is a keen judge of character, often correctly assessing the correct intentions, flaws, and capabilities of both allies and enemies just by watching them. He is a skilled negotiator and interrogator, capable of presenting facts and telling lies without inducing intense emotion. He is a very effective leader and mentor, having trained, fought, and led his fellow Hive operatives into various battles with strategic facts and thinking, as seen as he ordered many soldiers to kill Jay.
* Expert Spy: Having worked with the Hive, Nathan is extremely skilled in stealth, espionage, infiltration, disguises, thievery, and eavesdropping. He's adept at blending in with his surroundings as well as sneaking around heavily guarded outposts and compounds with ease.
* Stealth Mastery: Nathan is a master in stealth tactics, such as understanding the use of disguises to enter authorized locations and using the environment around him to blend in, even in plain sight, to avoid detection. He's also capable of luring enemies into certain scenarios where he can easily eliminate them or pass by them to move to the objective.
* Skilled Engineer: Nathan is a very skilled mechanic and engineer who is capable of manipulating and using objects and machinery around him to gain an advantage. He's also capable of using makeshift traps out of military weaponry to deter his enemies.
* Skilled Scientist: Nathan has shown to be knowledgeable in poison and was able to use poisons to either incapacitate or kill his enemies. By doing assassination jobs, Nathan can use poison whenever he sees an opportunity in the form of food and is capable of using it efficiently to make the death look like an accident.
* Connections: Having worked with the US DOD, Nathan has a vast set that he can use from Trevor to gain an advantage on his enemies, even with weapons dealers, criminal informants, and government officials.
* Forensics Specialist: Nathan is very capable of doing a "clean job" by using the silent approach to minimize mass destruction. Whenever he kills his targets, he tries to make the deaths look like either a gang attack, terroristic threat, or a simple accident.
* Expert Driver: During his time in the Hive, Nathan has shown exceptional driving skills to the point where he is even capable of driving manual cars, mechanicalized vehicles (tanks, APCs, boats, and helicopters), and motorcycles with ease.
* Master Marksman: As shown in various fights, Nathan is extremely proficient with firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns, as well as being frighteningly precise with eliminating targets in both close-range and long-range distances (as shown during his fights). He's also skilled with using and firing heavier weaponry, such as grenade launchers, light machine guns, and flamethrowers as well as using mounted weaponry. Due to his extensive knowledge of guerrilla tactics, Nathan has shown to be extremely skilled in scavenging and using whatever firearm that the enemy has to achieve his goals.
* Master Martial Artist: Having been trained in the USMC, Nathan is shown to be an incredibly skilled hand-to-hand fighter. His fighting style is mostly improvised and consists of Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Eskrima, Kempo Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Sambo, Hapkido, Wing Chun, and Savate. He can quickly outmaneuver, outmatch, and outlast his opponents, even capable of taking on multiple opponents at once, as rumored by Trevor. He managed to last 30 seconds, fighting Jay, despite having the slight advantage in surprise.
* Knife Mastery: Nathan is highly skilled in wielding and throwing blades, such as knives and axes. Combined with his extensive knowledge of anatomy and intense experience in Kali, Nathan can use blades to find a suitable angle to either wound or kill an opponent in a fight and has shown deadly expertise with a machete as shown during his fight with Jay, but was quickly disarmed by Jay.
* Improvised Weapon Mastery: In addition to his skills with firearms and martial arts, Nathan is very good with using whatever tools he sees during his fights to gain an advantage over his opponents, as such a metal pipe to kill a Hive operator. Due to his engineering skills, Nathan was very capable of making makeshift traps with minimal resources to maim and kill opponents and creating scenarios for the news with explosives.
* Peak Human Condition: As a former soldier of the United States Marines, Nathan has displayed peak human physicality for a man of his age. He's extremely athletic, and his strength, stamina, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and pain threshold are in top condition. He's strong enough to take harder punches from Jay and managed to survive a near-fatal shot to the shoulder, thanks to his thick jacket.
== Equipment ==
* H&K USP Tactical Compact: Nathan's main sidearm. He notably carries it in a hip holster.
* Colt M4A1: Nathan's primary weapon. He notably carries it throughout the series and notably wounds Ned and Jay with it. His M4 is customized with Magpul accessories, such as P-Mags, a MOE CTR stock, Ranger plates, a vertical grip, and an EoTech HHS VI sight.
== Deaths ==
Murders committed by Nathan:
* 68 Iraqi Insurgents: Shot, stabbed, and mutilated.
* 85 Russian Military Officials: Shot, stabbed, and blown up.
* Miles Harper: Tortured to death.
* 2 Hive Defectors: Shot to death.
* 100+ Civilians: Shot
== Death ==
Killed by
Jay Roberts (Directly)
As Nathan fights in a tank and prepares to shoot Jay, he notices a ticking sound and finds several C-4 charges inside the tank, revealing that Nathan placed them inside every tank and vehicle as a safety precaution for potential deserters. Realizing that he was going to die, he smirks before the tank explodes in an engulfing flame. As the tank burns, Nathan's right arm and a burning chunk of his skin (revealing his USMC tattoo) fly onto the ground, leading Jay to pick it up and confirm his kill.
== Trivia ==
* Despite being one of the most violent antagonists, Nathan appeared to have some positive traits, such as his respect for Trevor and that he didn't want to kill Jay and claimed to himself that he was following orders, which leads to his true motives being unknown to most characters.
* Unlike most operatives, Nathan is considered by many people as Trevor's lapdog and given the fact that Nathan seems to enjoy bloodshed, it's possible that Trevor might need him to do the most dirty jobs and that Nathan is more capable of doing more physical work.
* Caldwell is ambidextrous, as he can be seen switching to handle his M4 with his left hand during the fight with Jay.