Wade McGowan (Raider: Last Blood)

== Wade McGowan ==
Wade McGowan (known as Big Wad) is a supporting character and antagonist in the "Raider: Last Blood" series.
Wade is the half-brother of Evan Rogers and a lieutenant of the White Viceroys.
== Background ==
Born on April 14, 2022, Wade was born in Alabama and lived with his family in Odessa, Texas after moving around the Southern United States for a home. However, his family was attacked by hired hitmen from the Las Vatos Cartel, seeking vengeance on Evan, who killed Gustavo (their distributor) and most of their men, leaving Wade as the sole survivor and letting him be raised by his grandmother. 
He later found out that he is Evan's half-brother from an old family photo and on March 4, 2038, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and joined the White Viceroys, where he became the lieutenant of a street section of the gang. Despite hoping he could become a high-ranked member because he is Evan's brother, he never became one. Despite their strong brotherly love, Evan does not like Wade because he is lazy, saying he is like their grandma's bulldog "Warden".
As an alias, Wade uses "Big Wad", much to his grandmother's disgust and Evan's annoyance. Wade is shown to be a lazy person and easily scared due to his status and incompetence within the gang describing him as "a bad combination" of being ambitious but lazy due to his assumption that if anything happened to Evan he would be the next in line to command the Viceroys, however both Evan and the rest of the gang are quick to put him in his place when called for due to being weak and repeatedly making mistakes.
== Biography ==
Wade is first seen in the first chapter when he steals one of the Club's briefcases containing the guests list for the auction. Evan mocks him, saying that business matters more to him than Wade himself. Later, Wade is blackmailed by Jay Roberts to help him infiltrate the White Viceroys at Russo-Green to hack their servers. Jay records numerous compromising speeches from him. To his shock, Wade never sees him and thinks he is an undercover police officer or a Club spy.
Wade sneaks inside Russo-Green, helped by Jay who controls the nearby security cameras. However, he can only get a partial download before being discovered. Evan interrogated him, demanding to know what he knew about Juliette Ehrmantraut, and when he became convinced that Wade knew nothing, he spared him. Wade then called Jay, informing him of what he had just learned and Aiden agreed to cut him loose. It's unknown what became of him after Evan's death and the ensuing gang power struggle. He is mentioned when after killing Evan, Jay says that Wade has the chance to stay away from the Viceroys forever, and hopes that he will take that chance.
However, Wade appears in the 14th chapter, now leading the remnants of the Viceroys and providing additional security and protection for Moretti's army. Despite their professional relationship, Moretti distrusts Wade due to his failure to capture Jay, so Wade tries his hardest as seen during the Marsh Plaza Attack and the Freedom Ranch Attack. Despite this, Wade's lack of professionalism and recklessness cost him his life when Moretti orders Vincente to kill him, ending the Viceroys for good.
== Personality ==
Wade is ambitious but lazy. He lives with his grandmother and is shown to care for her. Wade has a sense of entitlement, believing that his brother would provide for him and make him a high-ranking member of the Viceroys simply due to them being family and not because Wade was willing to put any effort into it, leading him to become arrogant and cunning, a mistake which he regrets later when his plan to overthrow Evan was used against him. Despite his tough guy act and arrogant attitude, Wade can easily be intimidated and blackmailed, as even the smallest blackmail on him was able to convince him to turn on Evan and sneak into their secret server room.
Unlike his cousin Evan (who lost his redeeming qualities over time), Wade is not above empathy and compassion, as he could understand and even sympathize with why the blackmailer wanted him to sneak into the server room once Jay revealed that Evan may have been indirectly involved in the death of someone close to him. Wade even went on to secretly call Jay and tell him about Juliette Ehrmantraut, without Jay asking for any information. Wade even demonstrates his love for his grandmother when he refuses to leave her and skip town even with Jay blackmailing him.
After years of reforming the Viceroys into a small-time operation, Wade has become much more ruthless and violent than his brother and proves himself to be quick-thinking and perceptive, having kept his group under cover to avoid law enforcement, working with a known terrorist to better arm his group, and knowing that Jay will hunt them down and tries his best to take him down. However, he still has the same reckless and arrogant attitude, which leads him to unsuccessfully catch Jay at every opportunity and has been threatened by Moretti to make some results. After losing a brutal fight and almost close to being killed, Jay spares him due to the fact Wade has more potential to change than Evan did, making Wade realize that he's more than a killer and tries to make up for his wrongdoings by helping Jay put away Moretti behind bars, but it's all for nothing since Wade tries to kill him shortly after, causing Jay to knock him out and retreats.
In his last moments with Moretti, Wade maintained his composure and a remarkable display of courage, refusing to sacrifice his dignity and defiantly glaring at his killers before realizing that Jay was right before trying to shoot Moretti, dying as a brave man with honorable traits and redeeming himself by putting his empathy above everything that his brother had.
== Appearance ==
Wade is an American man, standing at 5'9. He has short brown hair hidden in a beanie, blue eyes, and heavy stubble.
In the first chapter, he wears a blue hoodie, gray sweatpants, and black athletic shoes to blend in and to make himself indistinguishable from the Viceroys.
In the 14th chapter, he wore a more professional uniform, such as a gray polo shirt, a tan tactical vest, olive cargo pants, and dark combat boots.
== Skills ==
== Equipment ==
* Springfield XD-9: Wade's sidearm. He notably carries it in his hip holster or his waistband and uses it to threaten Gator (one of the Viceroy soldiers) and kill Jay, but both attempts fail.
== Deaths ==
== Death ==
Killed by:
* Rupert Moretti (Indirectly Caused)
* Donald Vincente (Directly Caused)
After failing to kill Jay twice, Moretti orders Vincente to kill Wade for his failure, but Wade, anticipating the betrayal, tries to shoot him. Unfortunately, Vincente stabbed him through the chest and snapped his neck to make sure he was dead.
== Trivia ==