Dell Lincoln Hunter (The Raider Timeline)

== Dell Lincoln Hunter (The Raider) ==
"You ever heard of the Texan Warrior, boy? This man has killed hundreds of rival mercs, criminals, and even innocents for a quick buck or two and is capable of doing contracts that most people wouldn't take up, even if their lives depended on it. He's fierce, he's brutal, he's ruthless, and he's extremely reliable as long as we pay him the amount he wants. Even though he looks like something out of a Wild West movie, he's a deadly force not to be reckoned." - Dean Mitchell describing the Texan Warrior in detail
Dell Lincoln Hunter (Infamously known as "The Texan Warrior") is one of the main characters and the main protagonist of his chapter in "The Raider" series. Dell is a notorious criminal and mercenary that was hired by the W.T.O. to retrieve a disk from a street gang but ended up being betrayed and hunted by the PMC after finding shocking evidence within the disk.
== Background ==
Born on November 15, 2045, Dell was born on a family ranch located in Waco, Texas, and has helped his family sell agricultural goods throughout the Southern United States. However, the business didn't last when an unknown disease from the crops began to infect the whole family, except for Dell, who didn't eat the infected crops and suffered a major injury while doing farm work. As the last surviving member of the family, Dell forced himself to kill his family out of mercy and burn down both the crops and the ranch.
As 19 years passed since the burning, a 19-year-old Dell became a drifter and began working with small street gangs (notably the Von Raines Family) to make some money for himself, having captured, tortured, and even killed rival gang members and innocent people. However, he joined the United States Marine Corps for 4 years and served in MARSOC for another 5 years.
After leaving the Marines, he quickly gained a position in the Vargas Gang after showing his physical prowess in a bar fight when three men mocked him for his muteness and clothing and for bringing back the money and drugs from a failed deal. Dell worked as a hitman in their organization until he left to pursue his interests in 2075. Throughout the years, Dell quickly became a notorious mercenary that worked for various groups to accept contracts, regardless if they fit his morals or not, earning him the moniker "the Texan Warrior". 
He also has a close partnership with Dallas Marlow, a notorious anarchist, and has participated in a string of high-profile robberies and heists with Dallas before moving to Europe after dissolving his partnership with Dallas.
After receiving a contract to retrieve a disk from his former allies (the Vargas gang), Dell came back to the United States and joined the W.T.O. to find the disk. After tracking down and wiping out the entire organization, Dell ends up finding the disk and after realizing that Jay was assassinated (revealing that Dell idolized him), Dell managed to turn against the PMC after being betrayed and nearly killed by several operatives following Dean's command to tie up loose ends and went into hiding in a family cabin, which resulted in most of the operatives killed and his uncle Eric, who sacrificed himself to allow Dell a fighting chance to survive. 
Fueled by intense anger and grief, Dell gears up for a one-man war against the PMC and released the video to the public, tarnishing the PMC's reputation and giving Dell a perfect opportunity to wipe out a huge number of Dean's operatives upon finding their main HQ, effectively dismantling the PMC as a whole.
While it's not shown, it's revealed that the N.A.T.O. defunded and decommissioned the W.T.O. after their constant hunt for Dell, and as for Dell, he has started a new life by rebuilding his family ranch and having a family consisting of his girlfriend Jess and her son James. As the family began to bond, Dell managed to regain his ability to speak because Jessica was a speech therapist.
However, Dell's dream began to turn into a nightmare when the New Waconian Division (or simply King's Waconia Cult), an extremely militant and religious cult led by three brothers (Matthias, Lucas, and Simon), attacked the city of Waco, Texas to rape, raid, and kill any citizen that resisted their methods. It's revealed by Dell himself that the cult attacked the ranch and kidnapped both his wife and his son, which resulted in them being raped, brainwashed, and killed by them.
Angered and fueled with an intense vengeance, Dell sets off on a quest to wipe out the cult by interrogating three followers and discovers that the cult has enacted a plan to wipe out the city of Waco with "holy fire", hinting at the fact that the cult has acquired military-grade equipment and several thermobaric weapons throughout the years. As Dell managed to weaken the cult by taking out their outposts, killing both Simon and Lucas and disabling their equipment (notably a train), the remnants of the cult managed to scavenge what was left of their equipment and prepare to launch their holy war.
Tracking down and finding an abandoned prison where the cult is partying in a blood orgy, Dell launches an all-out assault against the remaining cult members by gunning down and running down any single one of them, except for Matthias, who's managed to fight against the mercenary with relative ease by using improvisation. After leaving his now disabled vehicle, Dell kills the last of King's followers and fights Matthias in a brutal hand-to-hand encounter. As the two brutally fought each other, Matthias quickly got an advantage and managed to beat Dell in the fight, but as soon as Matthias grabs an axe to swing down onto Dell while taunting him that he can't be killed, Dell quickly grabs his revolver and shoots both of his kneecaps, effectively injuring him. As Matthias tries to justify himself and slowly begs for his life to make Dell spare him, Dell coldly shrugs it off and claims that he's out of mercy before executing Matthias without hesitation, avenging his family and ending the cult's reign of terror. Dell leaves the scene as the camp is surrounded by slain cultists and destruction.
While it's never known about Dell's status, it's hinted that Dell left Texas and moved to France to retire from his past and forget what's happened in Waco. It's also hinted that Dell has now started his own life. However, Dell was eventually captured while in France by Dallas, who is revealed to be hunting down Dell. It's later revealed that Dell betrayed Dallas due to his anarchistic viewpoint and took the Queens of Hearts Ruby as "payment". Dell managed to escape and killed several of Dallas' men, including Marcus (Dallas' brother), which enraged Dallas, and using the found ruby, he funded and staged a large-scale attack on the United States by using thermobaric bombs (which he took from the cult) and detonated them in major U.S. capitals. 
Knowing that Dallas is launching his war, Dell (with the help of Sam Hunter, who is revealed to be his long-lost son whom Dallas saved and trained) managed to weaken Dallas' goals by destroying his army's equipment. Dell eventually launched a full-scale attack on his compound, killing the last of Dallas' army and engaging Dallas in H2H. Unfortunately for Dell, Dallas managed to get the upper hand on Dallas and as he was just about to end Dell, Sam sacrificed himself to save Dell, which quickly resulted in Dallas killing him, giving a fully enraged and blood-lusted Dell an edge against the trained anarchist, eventually causing him to become trapped with an aerosol bomb on his leg. Dell sets up the bomb and leaves the compound, leading Dallas and any surviving men to their demise as the bomb blew up. 
As shown in the end, Dell eventually moved to Mexico to avoid being caught and managed to change his identity and began founding his own business in Mexico.
== Personality ==
In his origin story, it's shown that Dell is a hard-working, compassionate, and naive person who is willing to help out by any means necessary to keep his family business in line, showing strong regard for hard labor and family tradition. 
However, after losing his tradition and family, Dell has devolved from the once naive and compassionate boy to an apathetic, brooding, and hardened individual that never batted an eye about harming or killing people, regardless if they're innocent or not. As rumored by most criminals, Dell is revealed to be an extremely ruthless, amoral, and cunning individual who's confident in his ability to complete a task by all means necessary and enjoyed fighting and killing people (innocent or not) as long as he got paid, showing his nature as a bold, violent mercenary who was more than willing to accept risky and immoral contracts that most criminals couldn't do. Dell is shown to be extremely vicious and aggressive when forced into a blind rage, making him far more dangerous due to his increasingly darkening nature.
Dell is shown to be extremely greedy and arrogant, having forced crime bosses and mercenary leaders to increase more money into his contracts through power-plays and intimidation, and has taken a sadistic delight in tormenting and aggressively beating his enemies down in various fights. He's shown to be very capable of cold-blooded murder and lacks any remorse or mercy when hunting down his enemies, strongly revealing that Dell has completely embraced his darkening nature as a cold, cunning, sadistic, and ruthless mercenary that's willing to use any means necessary to make money for himself, even if it means killing a family to accept his agenda.
Despite his brutal and cold demeanor, Dell isn't completely heartless and even considered himself a quick-thinking professional who's only in it for his agenda to make some cash. He's shown to have a strong moral code and is willing to let his targets go if he was paid an unknown amount of money. Despite his profession as a ruthless mercenary, Dell is shown to be level-headed, friendly, and even sympathetic to both his contractors and his targets, showcasing a professional and good-natured persona if needed. As seen with his interactions with Eric, Dell is seen crying at a picture of his deceased family, hinting that Dell greatly cared about his family and it's revealed that Dell only gave in to the criminal life to rebuild the family ranch and to continue the family tradition as a rancher, which provides a strong reason why Dell became part of the criminal underworld. 
He's also shown to be very vengeful and destructive, having exposed Dean's involvement in Jay's assassination, destroying the entire W.T.O. HQ, and even killing Dean for the deaths of both his uncle and Jay to avenge them. After enacting his vengeance and managing to hold off any operative that came after him, Dell managed to survive long enough to reform his family business, effectively renouncing his antagonistic ways and embracing his true self as the same compassionate and hard-working person he was before. In short, Dell was shown to be a dark and brutal mercenary that forced himself to do horrific acts of torture and murder to collect huge sums of money to rebuild his family business empire and managed to renounce his old past to focus on his future as a rancher.
However, Dell is forced back into fighting when the New Waconian Division attacked his ranch and killed his family, causing him to revert to his brutal nature. During his war against the cult, Dell has become more vicious, sadistic, and bloodthirsty as it progressed and was shown to be more cold and merciless as he torments Matthias about his brothers' death at his hands and executes Matthias, besides the latter's pathetic attempts to spare him. Despite that, he was willing to spare the cult if they gave up Matthias' location and surrender as shown when he realizes that the compound had women and children when facing Simon or facing down Lucas on the train when encountering him and two armored followers. After wiping out the cult, Dell quickly turned back into his true self and left the country, possibly to avoid more violence and to start a new life, revealing that Dell has managed to let go of his past demons and moved on to succeed.
Despite letting his past go, Dell is still shown to be slightly resentful of his choices and after getting captured by Dallas, Dell is completely revealed himself for the first time becoming fearful and remorseful for his past actions and is even trying to convince his son to leave before things got worse. At this point, Dell is shown to be more resourceful and tactical for the first time, having planned out the attacks against his former associates. Despite this, Dell wasn't as ruthless and confident as before, which almost led to his near-death by Dallas (who was similar to Dell in the past) and it only took the death of his son to bring back his ruthlessness and aggression to eventually beat Dallas. Even though he got the edge on Dallas and was eager to kill him with the intent of vengeance, Dell quickly snaps out of it and regains his composure, showing that he has completely renounced his antagonistic ways and even left Dallas to die. 
All and all, Dell was an individual that was forced into a life of crime to rebuild his family tradition and it took the dark side, the loss of family, and self-realization to bring him back into reality and change for the better, turning the former destructive and greedy mercenary back into the same compassionate soul he was when he was a teenager.
== Appearance ==
Dell is an American man with dark blue eyes, black hair, and a tanned complexion. He stands at 5'7 and over 185 lbs. Due to his history doing manual labor, Dell is shown with a muscular build that made him look more intimidating, despite his height.
As seen in his family photos, Dell is shown to have longer neck-length hair and is clean-shaven. He's revealed to be in his early teenage years.
Before becoming the "Texan Warrior" upon joining the Vargas gang, Dell was 28 years old, shown with a buzz cut and heavy stubble. He began to wear a brown vest, a red v-neck shirt, dark blue jeans, and dark brown chaps. He also wore a brown 10-gallon hat and brown cowboy boots. 
As of 2086, Dell is shown to be in his 40s and was seen wearing the same attire since he was 28, except with a red polo shirt, black pants, and tinted aviators. He is now sporting a scar on his left cheek and various tattoos on his body. He's also shown to be completely bald with a 5:00 shadow beard. As his war against the W.T.O. progressed, Dell sports new scars throughout his body, most notably a scar on his neck from a failed hanging attempt. Now as a rancher, Dell now sports a long beard, wears flannel shirts and jeans, and his facial scar faded.
As of 2090, Dell is shown to be still in his 40s and is seen sporting a beard. He was seen wearing all-black clothing in his interrogation of the three followers he later killed (denim jacket, t-shirt, jeans, and boots). Dell also wore combat fatigues (ACU OCP pants, a tan flannel shirt, and a plate carrier) while fighting against Lucas on the train. For the climax, Dell wore his infamous outfit (except for brown pants and without the spurs, the hat, and the aviators).
As of 2095, Dell is in his 50s and is seen wearing business casual clothes and sporting a beard and longer hair. During his war against Dallas' army, Dell wore the infamous outfit (with blue jeans, a white shirt, and a plate carrier).
== Skills ==
* High Intelligence: Dell is extremely wise and is shown to be self-taught in street smarts, having hustled, conned, tortured, and beaten several men for the money. He's very methodical throughout his criminal life, using his title to con high-profile criminals into surrendering their profits to avoid being killed. He was capable of using military tactics to outwit and outgun the W.T.O., despite having superior numbers and equipment. He also deduced that the cult acquired thermobaric weapons and figured out that it was the "holy fire" that the cult claimed. Dell (with the help of Sam) managed to form an effective plan to demoralize Dallas' army by taking out their comms, weaponry, and other supplies.
* Criminology: As a former criminal, Dell is shown to have exceptional insight into how illegal activities work, and having joined and fought against several factions in the criminal underworld, Dell displayed extensive knowledge about crime deals, narcotics, weapons, and the structure/functionality of the gangs.
* Intimidation: As the "Texan Warrior", Dell is widely known in the criminal underworld as a deadly combatant and he is so feared that even the most dangerous organizations paid him lots of money to avoid being at the end of his wrathful nature. Using his combat abilities and title, Dell used it as a warning to scare anyone who tried to kill or capture him.
*Hacking Skills: Despite not receiving training, Dell is somewhat capable of hacking into security systems with relative ease and has shown to release Jay's assassination video to the public, showcasing his skills as a novice (if not intermediate) hacker.
*Skilled Physician: Dell is shown to be capable of healing and treating his severe injuries. Given the fact that he was seen treating his infected relatives, it's assumed that Dell is taught basic and intermediate first aid by his family.
*Master Tactician: As a mercenary, Dell is a highly capable and serious combatant, having fought, captured, tortured, and killed various criminals and mercenaries throughout his life. He has shown to be capable of casing out, setting up, and executing plans with ease, as shown with the raid of the W.T.O. HQ. 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's capable of setting up, planting, and detonating explosive devices with relative ease and can use any weapon system if given time. He's quick to adapt to his environment if forced to, showcasing his quick wit and intelligence.
*Stealth Mastery: Dell is extremely skilled in stealth, espionage, infiltration, disguises, thievery, and eavesdropping. He's well adept at blending in with his surroundings with ease, albeit with minor difficulty.
*Connections: Having joined the underworld, Dell has a vast set of connections that he can use from weapon dealers to criminal informants.
*Forensics Specialist: Dell is very knowledgeable and is capable of making his jobs look "cleanish" by minimizing mass damage and carefully setting up a scenario by using and observing his environment.
*Expert Driver: Throughout his life as both a hitman and mercenary, Dell is more capable of driving vehicles (manual or automatic), motorcycles, and armored vehicles with relative ease, showcasing exceptional driving skills, and is shown to outrun and evade rival gangs.
*Master Marksman: Dell is an unmatchable and deadly expert when it comes to handling firearms, especially his custom Colt SAA revolver. He is an expert marksman and is shown to be extremely proficient with various firearms, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and especially heavier weaponry such as grenade launchers, flamethrowers, light machine guns, and mounted weapons. He's frighteningly precise with eliminating targets in both close-range and long-range distances and can calculate bullet trajectories in milliseconds to unexpectedly hit his target with inhuman precision.
*Master Martial Artist: Dell is a (surprisingly) incredibly skilled expert in hand-to-hand combat, ranging from street fighting and professional martial arts (Notably Boxing, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, and Wrestling) at times. Unlike most protagonists and antagonists alike that are trained and skilled in MMA, Dell is extremely capable of holding his own in a fight through brute strength and sheer creativity. Due to his quick wit and adaptability, Dell can quickly adapt to his opponent's fighting styles and can make use of dirty tactics such as eye gouges, biting, and groin strikes to gain an advantage. As his fighting style shows in the series, Dell can use a strong and fierce combination of hard punches, knee and elbow strikes, headbutts, throws, and dropkicks to either subdue or kill an opponent.
* Knife Mastery: Dell is highly skilled in wielding and throwing any kind of blade with relative ease. Due to his quick habit of adapting to his surroundings and having fought in various fights, Dell has shown to be self-taught in Kali. Despite not being trained or experienced, Dell is shown to be somewhat capable of using various swords and axes to gain a slight advantage.
* Peak Human Condition: As a former mercenary, Dell is capable of displaying peak human physicality for a man of his age. He's extremely athletic and his physical attributes are in top condition.
* Peak Human Strength: As hinted at by many allies and enemies alike, Dell is shown to have extreme amounts of strength for a man of his age. He's very physically capable of breaking walls during his hand-to-hand scenes and as shown in the climax, he flawlessly breaks a car window to fight Dean Mitchell with relative ease. His strength is mostly the reason why most enemies feared him to a degree.
* Peak Human Durability: Dell is very capable of tanking through nasty injuries, as shown when he got stabbed by Dean during their fight and was still capable of holding his own. Due to his history of fighting against various enemies, Dell is a tough man to kill since he had been shot, stabbed, and even brutally beaten during his time as a mercenary.
* Peak Human Reflexes: Dell is shown to be very reactive and quick to react. Due to his constant missions as a mercenary, Dell is shown to be quick on his feet and is capable of dodging and evading physical blows, gunfire, and incoming grenades with ease and with the grace of an experienced gymnast as he does various spins and flips to evade enemies. 
* High Pain Tolerance: Combined with his brute strength and durability, Dell (next to Jay and some antagonists) is very physically capable of demonstrating a high pain tolerance, having survived near-fatal injuries such as a knife to the chest and having been brutally beaten by a hardened and muscular operative.
== Equipment ==
Weapons:
* Colt Single Action Army: Dell's sidearm. Throughout his years, Dell heavily relied on the Colt SAA to kill several criminals and rival mercenaries and to land inhuman precision shots and ricochets on his enemies. As he found the W.T.O. HQ, Dell quickly switches his Colt revolver to a reliable pistol. It's revealed that Dell lent his Colt SAA to James and as the cult kidnapped him and raided the ranch, Matthias kept it for himself and began to use it as his sidearm until Dell took it back and now keeps it. His Colt SAA is the Artillery model with blackened steel metal and ivory grips.
* FN Five Seven USG: Dell's primary sidearm. During his raid at the W.T.O. HQ, Dell mainly used the pistol to kill or injure several of the operatives and due to the round's ability to pierce through soft body armor and its decent reliability and accuracy, it's a solid sidearm for Dell to use in his one-man war.
* Colt M1911A1: Dell's main sidearm. He acquired the Colt from one of the cultists he encountered and is seen heavily using the pistol against the cult on several occasions. The Colt M1911A1 is shown to be a Rock Island Armory M1911A1 GI Standard by the logo, the chrome ejection port, and the dark parkerized finish.
* Remington 870: Dell's main primary weapon. He is seen using the shotgun several times and discarding the shotgun after running out of ammo. His Remington has walnut furniture, a bayonet lug, a heat shield, an extended magazine tube, and a shell holder.
== Deaths ==
Murders committed by Dell:
* 10 Family Members: Mercy killed.
* 150+ Soldiers, Cops, and Rivals: Shot to death.
* 59 Vargas Gang Members: Shot, stabbed, and neck snapped.
* 200 WTO Operatives: Shot to death.
* Dean Mitchell: Beaten to death.
* 91 New Waconian Cultists: Shot, ran over.
* Simon King: Shot in the shoulder, shot in the head.
* Lucas King: Beaten, thrown off a train.
* Matthias King: Beaten, shot in the kneecaps, and shot in the head.
* 500 of Dallas' Army: Shot, beaten, stabbed, etc.
* Marcus Marlow: Shot in the throat.
* Dallas Marlow: Beaten, leg pinned, blown up.
== Trivia ==
* Dell is notable for his trademark muteness, which came from his traumatic past when he forced himself to mercy-kill his family and burn down the ranch.
* Dell is the only protagonist that came from an agricultural background before turning to a life of crime.
* Dell is the only mercenary that only did his contracts for an organic reason (to rebuild the family business) than most of the rivals that came for money or power.
* Standing at 5'7, Dell is the shortest protagonist to date and is the only one of the main 4 (Roberts, Rook, and West) to survive his encounter fighting against a common enemy.
* Due to his self-taught fighting style, quick adaptability, and inhuman marksmanship, Dell is considered to be the second-most deadliest combatant in the "Raider" series, next to Jay Roberts.
* Dell is the only antagonist to ever join an infamous mercenary group.
*Dell has 1,016 kills (6 antagonists included), giving him the second-highest kill count in the Raider series.
* As revealed by Dallas, Dell was trained and taught by the group how to fight, steal, and adapt to plans, which explains his combat proficiency.
* While it's never revealed in the series, Dell was a former member of MARSOC (part of the Marine Raider Regiment) and was rumored by most employers to be mute unless necessary. His strong combat proficiency, use of AR rifles/1911 pistols, and tactical mindset are strong signs of Marine combat training.