concept artwork is bing ai-generated, these are not prod. images
So what gives? One of the big questions here is who or what kills Pascha? (Is this a spoiler alert? Not sure.) That answer is written as the penultimate mystery in the story. It's probably got to be somebody who wants or has wanted him dead. At every turn, we're reminded that he's got a great many enemies dating back to 1978; now he can add a plus-one to that list, courtesy orders of none other than the Secretary of Defense himself.
The opera's genre is classified as mystery, and not action. Still, reaction becomes a subset of the former precisely because of who our protagonist/antagonist is. We're reminded that people who have nothing to lose, well, have something to gain, and Pascha has been cornered into extreme conditions. He will be forced to rely on his past military training and experience, which in this case makes him forfeit any semblance of protagony, thereby relegating him to antagony. That side of his character is what is causing paramilitary-like city-wide destruction, and drawing the response of the United States armed forces led by special ops commander, Iggy "DOLPHIN SIX" Veracruz.
"It's only one guy, how hard can he be to kill? Take these moments to relax, soldiers, we're going to enjoy this. Bet, if I catch him first, I'll double your checks." - Iggy Veracruz
Iggy is an asshole, who revels in being an asshole. Through the years, he's been lauded, commemorated, decorated, and honored by his country for being an asshole as such. This imposing figure relishes his role. He lives for his next assignment. And even scarier is that he's entirely ready to die in combat, just as long as he can take others to the 'other side' with him. In his mind, no one is innocent (and never was). His orders are absolute. He leaves everything out on the battlefield, and expects those with whom he works to do the same. And now, that energy and his squadron have come searching for old man Pascha, the face of insurrection. 
Pascha has proven himself time and time again to be no easy target🎯. His legend precedes him. Iggy is up for the challenge. This task and his bounty check come directly from the Pentagon: Pascha must be brought in dead or alive. They're coming to kill this motherfucker. Go, get em!This role needs someone in excellent physical shape to play it because we're running around at night, swimming in a non-shallow dive, and carrying lots of weapons. Filming the war scenes is undoubtedly the most demanding. I had to learn a great deal of military science that went into the writing. Military brats want their hypothetical exercises to seem as realistic as possible, even though they never expect them to actually occur. My compromise was to settle for believability rather than realism (reality can be too expensive). I got into a few head-butting, fist-clenching arguments with these types because I thought a bomb-dropping would take care of most warfare, but was challenged on the tactics that leads up to munition acquisition and post-usage, to my chagrin. But they're called consultants for a good reason.
My aunt suggested Eddie George for the part (she and his mom had the occassional friendly run-in around town). {That's "I let him win the 🏈Heisman Trophy for me" winner Eddie George.😁}
I actually made this casting years ago, when things were first being pieced together. George brings a few things to the table that I am looking for for this role: he's a big guy (6'3''), fit, his phenotypic look is believable for someone whose heritage is supposed to be from the Mexican state of Veracruz (those people arrived via the TransAtlantic slave trade, hence the surname), and he has satisfactory acting + military (training) experience. It helps that he's a native Philadelphian, went to THE Ohio State University (greatest school in the world), and we're both fans of SWV.😉