[b][I]Raven Rivers[/i][/b]

The blood price had been paid; violence for violence, grief for grief. As Raven had his Shadow Hawk begin retreating along with the convoy, he said to the enemy, "Console yourselves in your defeat - It will mean nothing in the end."

His mech began running for the storm, following his commanding officer - Ingrid - and the rest of the convoy, realizing that his outburst would get him a stern talking to (at best) from the Colonel once they were back home. But he knew how useful he still was and how his actions hadn't endangered the group... Yet. He can get through the long talk and remind the Colonel that while the latter had his love interest imprisoned, he had a lawfully wedded wife and son in that same imprisonment and risk of execution.

[i]Wait, no, that's a bad idea. The Colonel does not know he loves the Captain yet, and tugging on his heartstrings might get me a worse punishment than a talking-to and maybe the first level of punishment.[/i]

Colonel Gaius Wayne was a friend, a friend who had grown somewhat distant from the chains of commanding others, but still a friend. He needed to save this friendship; he cannot lose more ties with other people. But considering how his wife and son were still in enemy hands, how they can be tortured in unspeakable ways at any moment, then killed, how can he [i]not[/i] lose it? This was his family he was talking about; every second they were in the enemy's prison was a second of uncertainty that gnawed at his heart.

He had thought that fighting in the battle would remove some of the uncertainty; it did, but it took a psychotic outburst to cleanse himself of some of it. Rage had freed him of his feelings for a few seconds, and that was alluring, addictive, and above all, [i]dangerous[/i].

The sound of raindrops could be heard hitting his mech, and as his cockpit cooled, Raven knew this: That if this continued, if he surrendered again and again to his rage, he'd lose the Colonel's trust, and may have already lost Ingrid's, and will lose everyone else's.

Katrina and Andrew's faces flashed before him, driving away guilt and regret as he whispered to himself, "Katrina, Andrew, I [i]will[/i] rescue you... Whatever it takes."