Characters / Armored Core VI Main Characters

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Main Character Index
Main Characters | The Corporations | Secondary Characters and Factions | Enemies and Bosses

This page details the Main Characters of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Unmarked spoilers ahead.

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C4-621

Augmented Human C4-621/Callsign: "Raven"

Voiced by: None

"Time to fly, 621."

—Handler Walter

The Player Character of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, an "Augmented Human" Armored Core pilot who is sold into the service of Handler Walter as one of his "Hounds." The default name of their AC is LOADER 4.

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• Addiction-Powered: Augmented humans up to fourth generation are apparently reliant on Coral to function. This is why 621 can communicate with Ayre.
• Ace Pilot: Unfortunate side effects of the augmentation surgery aside, 621's neural link to their AC combined with their own skills makes them an incredibly potent AC pilot, capable of taking on not only the best AC pilots on Rubicon-3 including augmented humans from later generations, but even the PCA, a planet-wide police force that no one wants to tangle with.
• Ambiguous Gender: 621 can't communicate verbally, is consistently referred to by neutral pronouns like "it" or "them", and is only ever seen outside of their AC wrapped in heavy sheets of plastic after being awakened from cryonic suspension. You don't even get to see what they look like outside their mech as the one time you do get out of an AC, it's from a first-person perspective.
• Ambiguous Situation: How physically able 621 is gets left as a complete mystery, as they're never seen once outside the Story Trailer where they're practically in a body bag. They communicate somehow to Walter off-screen about hearing Ayre's voice in their head, the base hangar has a walkway outside the cockpit of your AC for traversal, and in Chapter 5's opening, they presumably crawl into the Junker AC after ending up near it, implying they are at least physically capable and cognizant enough if physically impaired or weakened, which figures some functionality remaining in their body. Plus, Walter's goal given to them is to be able to "buy their life back", which would be pointless if their being "brain fried" was irreversible and their body unable to function outside an AC.
• Animal Motifs: Not only Ravens, but also Hounds. Detractors mock them for being a dog on a leash, or a scavenger bird picking through the remains of a battlefield, while proponents praise their tenacious ferocity and agility in battle. Characters also note that ravens are associated with intelligence and freedom, and in the same way, 621 has the intelligence and free will to rise above the senseless Forever War everyone else is stuck in.
• Badass in Distress: At the start of Chapter 5, Arquebus has captured 621 and pulled them out of their AC while preparing to ship them off for "re-education". Thanks to Handler Walter's foresight, however, 621 escaped using a clunker of an AC that isn't built for prolonged firefights.
• Becoming the Mask: In a sense, they come to be as dangerous and renowned as the original Raven.
• Body Horror: We don't get to see very much of 621 outside their AC, but what we do have makes it clear Human PLUS augmentation is every bit as gruesome as it was implied to be in early entries in the series.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: In Chapter 5, 621 is tasked to escape Arquebus by using an old-generation AC prepared by Handler Walter. The aptly named JAILBREAK AC is, to put it lightly, a walking junkheap of an Armored Core. Not only does it have poor Attitude and AP on top of piss-poor energy output, its only reliable weapon is its shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. Its so weak even the average MT can destroy it in a few seconds if you let it. Understandably, Ayre advises to avoid engaging in combat while in this AC as much as possible as you make your escape from Arquebus.
• The Chosen One: One of. Initially deemed a potential threat to the Coral Release project, ALLMIND later finds them invaluable to the project's success as the only (known) pilot to make Contact with the Coral while playing host to one (Ayre) and begins to directly involve itself in the story on NG++ to ensure their survival. On the other hand, it's implied ALLMIND already had an interest in C4-621 from the beginning; the mission to destroy a Dafeng MT squadron involves an alternate route you can take to ambush them from behind. Said path is littered with destroyed MTs and even Armored Cores, all seemingly destroyed by a Ghost MT mech. The mission briefing stated the job was open for all independent mercenaries, heavily implying ALLMIND ensured no one but 621 could complete the task.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To the prior protagonists.
  • The Raven of Armored Core: Master of Arena was driven to get revenge on Nine-Ball for killing their family. 621 has no such motivation, and became a mercenary purely to get enough money to undo their augmentations.
  • The Raven of Armored Core 2 starts off the game as a simple mercenary before they're dragged into the Mars' Civil Commotion and face off against a terrorist threat. 621's mercenary career primarily involves the corporate politics and race to claim Rubicon's valued resource Coral before said race escalates into something with much higher stakes.
  • 0824-FK3203 initially worked for the corporations prior to the rebel group Union asking for their assistance and coming into conflict with the A.I. that controls all of Layered. 621 starts off the game in a similar manner, but the rebel group of 6 is reluctant to hire outside help until subsequent playthroughs. While 621 does come into conflict with an A.I. as well, they initially aid ALLMIND under the idea Walter and Carla are the main enemies, not realizing what ALLMIND's plans for humanity and Coral entail.
  • Anatolia's Mercenary's story purely revolves around the conflicts between the corporations before choosing to defend Anatolia from their machinations and their former friend Joshua. While the corporations are major competing factions on Rubicon-3, 621 takes on requests from both to earn enough money to undo their augmentations while also dealing with the corrupt echelons of Arquebus and the Blood Knights of Balam's Redguns. Furthermore, while Rusty comes into conflict with 621 toward the end of the game, Rusty is fighting in defense of Rubicon-3, and will oppose 621 if they aid Walter's plan to enact a second Fires of Ibis.
  • Strayed is simply just a merc taking on jobs from the highest bidder before they are eventually forced to pick a side as the conflict between ORCA and the League escalates. They can Take a Third Option, but it boils down to slaughtering everyone and becoming known as the worst monster in modern history. 621 is in a similar position, but they have their own motivations that carry them all the way toward the end of the game before they're forced to choose between siding with Walter and destroying the Coral at the expense of killing a bunch of Starfish Aliens and possibly billions of human lives while also getting the money needed to undo their augmentations, or side with Ayre and protect the Coral and Rubicon-3 with the implication they will be facing the corporations and the PCA for a long time to come. In the former ending, the second calamity is named after them and becomes an infamous figure, much like Strayed in the Destruction Path. Their third option, meanwhile, involves enacting a Symbiotic Possession between all of humanity and the Coral for a shot at co-existence.
  • The Dark Raven starts off their game as a member of the Corporation's police task force before defecting to the resistance. 621's history is mostly unknown save that they were most likely an AC pilot before undergoing fourth-generation augmentation to be sold off to whoever needed them, in exchange for working off their "debt". In the first playthrough, the resistance group of 6 is hesitant to work with 621 until the situation on Rubicon-3 escalates when the PCA gets actively involved, but they're far more willing to work with you in subsequent playthroughs. 621 even becomes the RLF's Hope Bringer in the "Liberator of Rubicon" path.
  • The Lone Mercenary is implied to be a mercenary whose career involved them taking on other highly skilled AC pilots, including the infamous Reaper Squad. By the end of the game, the Lone Mercenary and Fatman decide to fight to protect humanity by destroying all the automatic weapons and oppose the Foundation Man, an A.I. that was convinced humanity was doomed to be destroyed by their own self-destructive nature. 621 mostly works for Walter, a handler who has a vested interest in Coral like the corporations and comes into conflict with the corporations' in-house mercenary groups. Regardless of whichever ending you choose, 621 has a vested interest in humanity's future, be it helping achieve co-existence between them and the Coral, or destroying the Coral in the hopes of ending Rubicon's Forever War and get everyone to realize its dangers, though in the latter ending ("Fires of Raven"), they sever their bond with Ayre whereas the Lone Mercenary and Fatman remained good friends all the way to the end of their game.
• Cybernetics Will Eat Your Soul: Justified, 621's augmentation surgery is indicated to have caused significant brain damage, resulting in limited emotions and an inability to speak or function outside of their AC.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: To the typical Armored Core protagonist. Every prior playable pilot was a pure Hello, [Insert Name Here], ambiguously augmented depending on Human PLUS or simply being a NEXT pilot, and strictly Only in It for the Money with absolutely no discernable traits, characterization or even consideration or relationships towards other characters; any choices of faction or morality were downplayed as just another job. C4-621 inverts a number of these ideas by having a canon designation, augmented thoroughly to the point of being ambiguously disabled, have a handler they explicitly follow the orders of and surrounding cast members that impose themselves upon 621 rather than being completely distant and professional, the choices they make in the late game are far more personal and completely fly in the face of any actual mercenary job given Walter's indisposed status, and are absolutely primed for nothing but combat because they're effectively a "brain fried" purchased mercenary with no choice but to fight or die. The result is a character that brings out the best and worst of those around them by being the best proverbial killing machine around, while still being able to maintain a Mysterious Past and be a Heroic Mime without imposing an actual characterization upon the player.
• Disposable Pilot:
  • As with his other Hounds, Walter regards 621 as little more than a piece of hardware for their AC, though he hides that disdain when talking to them over comms. As 621 continues to prove themselves in the field, Walter treats them with some respect as they've become an invaluable asset.
  • In Operation Wallclimber, the Arquebus Group wanted to use 621 as a sacrificial pawn so the Vespers could swoop in and claim victory afterward, hence why they ordered V.IV Rusty to retreat during the Juggernaut boss battle. Unsurprisingly, that plan failed and 621's rep as a mercenary skyrocketed. For Arquebus' part, they realized their mistake in thinking 621 disposable and took an interest in their career from then on. This only lasts until the tail end of Chapter 4, where Arquebus gets a swelled head after having incorporated the tech left behind by the PCA into their own forces. V.II Snail captures 621 after they've cleared a major obstacle in claiming Institute City, and Arquebus is all too happy to try and ship them off to be "re-educated".
• The Dreaded: Once they've made a reputation for themselves, especially in managing to kick some serious PCA tail, the people who recognize 621 as anything beyond some corporate merc are either a Blood Knight looking to pick a fight with an Ace Pilot, demonstrate a deep respect for their capability, or are horrified about what's going to happen very shortly. Even when 621 is stuck in a junker AC trying to flee from Arquebus more than fight they default to fearful disbelief at the idea of you being able to fight in such an outdated machine and trying to gas themselves up into believing they have a chance. Kill enough of them in said junker AC and they realize they still don't stand a chance, fear takes hold, and they start shouting for everyone to shoot to kill. They also become this for the PCA over the course of the game, inheriting the original Raven's status as in NG++. A PCA captain is horrifed to learn "Raven" is still alive and kicking. Their rise to infamy is so great that in NG+ the original Raven, implied by Chartreuse and King, is now wary of them to the point Branch is now after their head.
• Emotion Suppression: Another side effect of becoming an augmented human is apparently a limited range of emotions, at least with the C4 series that 621 belongs to.
• Empowered Badass Normal: It's implied that 621 was an AC pilot even before they underwent the surgery. While the surgery did come at a cost and made them a barely functioning vegetable for lack of a better word, it did make them a pilot capable of going toe-to-toe with the best pilots and mercs on Rubicon 3.
• Empty Shell: It's stated Fourth Gen augmented humans are not only limited in emotion, but they lack any kind of direction until given a goal. It's only then that they start to become more "alive". This is why Walter usually grabs Fourth Gen pilots — they'll do as they're told. Usually.
• The Faceless: Only ever seen in the flesh wrapped up in heavy plastic after being revived from cryosleep, and even beneath that they seem to be wearing some sort of pilot suit.
• Faking the Dead: In the "Alea Iacta Est" path of Chapter 5. ALLMIND alters combat records to make it seem as if 621 was among the many casualties at Institute City when it purged the Arquebus troops. Handler Walter isn't fooled by the deception, telling "Cinder" Carla that he knows 621 is still alive and now opposes them.
• Featureless Protagonist: It's impossible to know what 621 looks like as their sole appearance in the Story Trailer shows them being covered in thick sheets and wearing what looks to be a pilot suit. Par for the course for Armored Core protagonists, though.
• Flawed Prototype: Downplayed and implied. 621 is stated to be a fourth-generation augmented human, hence the "C4" in their designation. Some comments and the bios of other augmented characters imply old-gen augmentation surgery were dangerous to carry out^note Sulla's Arena bio notes that first-gen augmentation surgery had a 90% fatality rate., but eventually became safer and with more benefits as seen with the Vespers. As a result, some look down on 621 for being an 'inferior' augmented human, with at least one independent merc saying they should be in a museum. Not that any of this stops 621 from kicking all kinds of mech ass throughout the game or killing 'superior' augmented humans like V.II Snail.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Raven was only just barely in the ALLMIND mercenary network as a bottom-of-the-barrel ranker, and 621 doesn't even have a known history or past beyond experience as a pilot. Suddenly, that no-name nobody comes up out of nowhere and swiftly establishes themselves as a Spanner in the Works for the warfront, changing the fate of Rubicon and leaving a path of carnage and death in their wake.
• Heroic Mime: Not unusual for an Armored Core protagonist, but for once, it's Justified; as a consequence of their augmentation surgery, 621 suffered severe brain damage - "brain fried" as Walter says - and cannot speak. They can still communicate, as they are able to refuse or accept certain proposals during missions, with other characters reacting to their acceptance or refusal, and Walter mentions that they complained to him about hearing voices, but whether this communication is via text or speech that the player simply never gets to hear is never stated either way.
• Hired Guns: Par for the course of the Armored Core series, 621 is an Independent, a mercenary pilot with no loyalty to any of the major corporations who in theory will fight for the highest bidder. In practice, they are an Indentured Servant kept under the thumb of Handler Walter.
• Hope Bringer: Becomes this in "Liberator of Rubicon" for the Rubicon Liberation Front. Their skills and abilities make them not only a valuable ally but a terrifying enemy for the Corporations and the Planetary Closure Administration. It also helps 621 stopped Walter from starting the second Fire of Ibis, which would have not only rendered Rubicon 3 uninhabitable but killed possibly billions of lives including those on Rubicon 3.
• Human Weapon: While Walter makes sure to maintain the façade of 621 being his employee when speaking to them, the story trailer makes it clear Walter regards 621 and his other "Hounds" as little more than components of their ACs' hardware.
• Identity Impersonator: Steals the license of a fallen Independent during the first mission and assumes their callsign to hide the fact that they're operating on Rubicon 3 illegally. While the ruse works for the most part, some know 621 is using the fallen merc's identity and is actually working for Walter, though the latter mentions he was prepared for that eventuality and has contingencies in place so 621 can continue working on Rubicon 3 without getting serious heat in the process. When the real Raven shows up later in the game, their Operator states they aren't angry about 621 taking their identity and are not here to take it back, but to see whether they're worthy of still using it as the Operator claims "Raven" is much more than a simple callsign, likely alluding to how it once encompassed all AC pilots as a whole.
• I Have Many Names: Besides their designated number used mostly by Handler Walter, 621 is also called Raven by Ayre and neutral parties, G13 by Red and Michigan, Buddy ("War buddy" or "Brother in arms" in the original Japanese) by Rusty, and Tourist by members of RaD. G5 Iguazu and V.II Snail, who have hostile relations with 621, have used "mutt", "freak" or "vermin". In ALLMIND's network, 621 uses the stolen registration number, "Rb23".
• Indentured Servitude: Handler Walter bought them from a dubious vendor into a form of this, with the arrangement (in theory) that 621 will work off their debt for Walter, and eventually earn enough money to repair the damage from the brutal human PLUS surgery.
• Informed Attribute: After Ayre cuts contact with 621 in the "Fires of Raven" Route something changes with 621 to the point where both Rusty and "Cinder" Carla not only notice, but even have some idea as to what happened.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: When speaking to the surgeon in the story trailer with 621 in cryo-sleep, Walter callously refers to them as "it". On comms with 621 listening, he instead uses "they/them". As time goes on and 621 continues to impress Walter, he refers to them with gender-neutral pronouns. Some mercs and factions aware of 621's status also give them this treatment, showing general disdain for augmented humans or for being So Last Season.
• The Lancer: Serves as this for Handler Walter in the later stages of the game, and to the RLF and ALLMIND in the "Liberator of Rubicon" and "Alea Iacta Est" routes. 621 is usually the go-to merc to handle any situation that needs handling, and their employer would never have gotten as far as they have without them. Walter even acknowledges how instrumental 621 is across all story paths, considering them either his worst possible enemy or his trump card.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: Generally, Raven is what all AC using mercenaries are called in the Armored Core series. It's just the standard title for them. With 6, 621 picks up the callsign Raven from a low ranking mercenary who died and thus is the only mercenary that goes by "Raven" in the game, with every other merc having their own unique callsign.
• Legacy Character: Becomes this in the mid-game after an encounter with the real Raven whose callsign 621 appropriated. After fighting and defeating the original Raven, Ayre discovers that "Raven" does not refer to just any one AC pilot, but is instead a title passed down from one pilot to another, one that denotes the pilot flying upon wings of freedom that grants them the power to fight for whatever cause they choose. Given the history of the name, Ayre finds it only fitting that, with the original Raven defeated, that title should be passed on to you.
• Man in the Machine: Implied, but downplayed. Apart from a brief sequence where they are roused from cryosleep, 621 is never seen outside of their AC, even in the garage, and there's a strong implication in the dialogue that they physically cannot function outside of it. However, the fact that "vital signs" and "brain waves" are mentioned several times in relation to them and other augmented humans indicates they are still physically inside the unit, rather than existing as an uploaded mind. In one mission, 621 is forced to crawl outside their AC, showing they aren't totally bound to their mech but still can't function properly outside it.
• Made of Iron: Whatever augmentations they took, plus their contact with Ayre, helps them survive things that would kill most other people even beyond the insane AC piloting, such as a point-blank Coral reaction explosion that Ayre saves them from, propelling from continent-to-continent across the ocean with a cargo launcher at G-forces even Carla thinks would kill any normal human, and potentially whatever bouts of Cold-Blooded Torture Arquebus may have done to them off-screen once they were captured.
• Mistaken Identity: On at least two occasions, 621 is mistaken for someone else. The first is in Chapter 2 by an independent merc named Nosaac who attacks 621 thinking they're a debt collector for the bank for his failure to pay back banks for the credit loans he took out to buy his AC and had no intent to pay^note as he's an Optional Boss in the mission, you get a 40,000 credit bonus for defeating "Debt-Baron Nosaac", which is 10,000 more than the payment you get for defeating "Invincible" Rummy in the same mission., and the second is by the PCA who accuse "Raven" for creating so much chaos on the planet for leaking intel, though in this instance it's justified since 621 is using Raven's license to operate on Rubicon 3. Unlike Nosaac, the PCA quickly realizes they have the wrong person when 621's capabilities do not match Raven's.
• Mysterious Past: All that's known about 621 prior to undergoing Human PLUS surgery is that they were an AC pilot.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Granted, it takes NG++ for it to happen, but it still applies. In NG+, ALLMIND tasks 621 with completing a new series of Arena battles, this time against AC units from various factions and even the MIND ALPHA, BETA, and GAMMA units personally created by ALLMIND. Among the "analysis" battles is NIGHTFALL, the original Raven's personal AC. ALLMIND claims the purpose of these battles is to gather more data for the sake of its evolution. In the "Alea Iacta Est" path, the data 621 helped gather for the A.I. allows it to become heavily involved in the story and even hijack the plot at the end of Chapter 4, where it proceeds to decimate everyone except 621.
• No Name Given: 621's actual name is never stated if they can even remember it. While the player can give them a name, it's never made clear whether it's their birth name, a nickname, or a callsign prior to taking up Raven's identity.
• One-Man Army: Not always alone depending on the mission, but usually the last one standing at the end anyway, to the point that the idea of a one-man army as some random, non-corporation mercenary is virtually unheard of until their arrival. 621 makes a name for themselves by straight up taking high-risk missions and royally screwing over everything that gets in their way, from bog-standard MTs and local defense forces, to high-end ACs, and beyond. In one mission, they take on a major PCA stronghold during a joint operation between Arquebus and Balam. By the time V.IV Rusty comes to assist in a Dual Boss fight, 621 has already destroyed every enemy AC and MT unit.
• Only in It for the Money: Downplayed compared to the standard for the series. Dialogue from Walter indicates one of their goals is to get enough money to undo the damage inflicted on them by the augmentation process, and buy their way out of Indentured Servitude.
• Passing the Torch: The recipient of said torch after a grueling battle with the original Raven, who turns out to be Not Quite Dead. They and their Operator allows C4-621 to keep the name "Raven" for themselves, explicitly described in this setting to be a title only worthy to someone "who has the freedom to choose", which also ends up Foreshadowing 621's options once they go into New Game Plus to decide the fate of Rubicon-3.
• Poor Communication Kills: Because of their augmentation 621's ability to communicated is stunted. This becomes a problem because even if they can tell Walter or Carla Coral is alive they won't be very convincing, so either they will go with their plan which leads to Ayre's death or they have to stop their plan by force.
• Punch-Clock Hero: Like virtually every previous Armored Core protagonist, 621 is a mercenary whose only allegiance is to the highest bidder, and commits numerous atrocities on behalf of the ruthless MegaCorps invading Rubicon-3. Apart from Anatolia's Mercenary however, 621's reasons for participating in this system are among the most fleshed out and sympathetic.
• The Quiet One: 621 never speaks or vocalizes. It's implied their augmentation surgery rendered them mute for the most part, though there are some instances where they are mentioned to have talked, or at least has a means of responding to others, such as informing Handler Walter of Ayre, who he dismisses as a hallucination caused by the augmentations, and said something to "Cinder" Carla in the "Fires of Raven" ending that made her laugh about their attempt at a "joke".
• Recurring Element: C4-621 is all but stated to be a PLUS Human in the setting of Fires of Rubicon, having undergone some sort of surgery that heavily increased their AC piloting capabilities, albeit at the cost of leaving them in horrendous debt. In a unique twist as the "C4" implies, 621 is a fourth-generation augmented human and is often seen as 'inferior' by other fellow augmented humans because of it, with Chartreuse in particular angrily yelling they should be in a museum instead of in an AC.
• Red Baron: Following Operation Wallclimber, 621 becomes known as the Wallclimber by other factions and fellow mercenaries, given the strategic importance of the mission overall and the fact 621 succeeded with minimal help (barring Rusty's initial assistance before being forced to withdraw). G1 Michigan also calls them the Wormkiller when they come for his head at Arquebus' behest.
• Shoot the Dog: Depending on your ending, you can opt to just straight up do this to all of Rubicon and other nearby planets as well, all in a bout of preventing the spread of Coral.
• Spanner in the Works: One day they're dropped in on Rubicon-3 as what seems to be yet another effort of Handler Walter's to interfere with the conflict on the planet, and pilfer Coral for profit. Within what seems to be mere days or weeks, 621 becomes The Ace, disrupts the Forever War of the never-ending stalemate between the Rubicon Liberation Front, Balam and Arquebus, kicks the everliving hell out of the Planetary Closure Administration to the point of becoming their proverbial boogeyman, and shifts not only the fate of Rubicon, but potentially the fate of all of humanity depending on the ending. Not bad for a brain fried mercenary.
• 13 Is Unlucky: After destroying a prototype AC meant for the Redguns and G1 Michigan allowing 621 to participate in an assault on a dam fortified by the RLF, the latter gives them the temporary callsign "G13". It's ultimately subverted, however, in that unlike the Dafeng student pilot who was supposed to get the callsign, 621 is just too damn stubborn to die. G6 Red, aware of this, is impressed and advises them to join up with the Redguns rather than stay independent mostly because he feels anyone who sticks with G13 is bound to wind up in a grave sooner or later.
• Übermensch: A theme to the game, where much emphasis is placed on acting according to your own will and desires, to the point it's equated to what the "Raven" name means. This comes to a head in the Alea Iacta Est ending, where you massacre all the major factions in the game and, upon defeating ALLMIND and stopping her plan to determine humanity's fate, you and Ayre decide to utilize it for your own goals of human symbiosis rather than shutting it down outright, casting the die for all of humanity entirely as a result of your own individual actions.
• Underestimating Badassery: Gets this on occasions from other AC pilots, either because of their pitifully low rank or their status as a fourth-generation augmented human. G5 Iguazu in particular thinks 621 is just some no-named upstart who's been coasting by on luck. Once 621 starts climbing the ranks and establishing themselves as a top-tier merc, however, their rivals and fellow mercenaries start treating them with respect.
• Unknown Rival: G5 Iguazu of the Redguns quickly develops a one-sided and bitter rivalry with 621 when they show him up. For 621, he's just a nuisance that occasionally needs to be shot down as Iguazu interferes with their mission.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Destruction of the Watchpoint under a personal mission from Walter is intended to shut off the Coral flow of power in the starting region — only for a massive reaction to emit, blow up the facility, and nearly kill 621 at the same time it forces Ayre into Contact with them. This subsequently causes the Planetary Closure Alliance to flip their lid and clamp down hard on Rubicon-3 to prevent any more interference with the Coral, and a hell of a lot of casualties on all sides as a result.
  • Playing the Arena seems all fine and dandy until New Game Plus, where ALLMIND seems to be collecting combat data of you thrashing its autonomous designs based off of the fundamentals of various faction ACs, explicitly testing humanoid design vs. humanoid design conflict, while stating it's all in the name of its own evolution. In a NG++ playthrough, ALLMIND somehow has this data to utilize for its attempts to take over Rubicon-3 and start its Assimilation Plot, and 621 effectively gave it all this data on a silver platter as it utterly crushes everyone but 621 themselves.
  • On a smaller scale, 621 gets a number of early jobs that has them utterly terrorizing the Rubicon Liberation Front. Turns out they've been murdering the planet denizens trying to protect their home from the sociopathic and greedy corporations, and utterly crippled the RLF defenses and militias for years to come before they end up coming to Walter and 621 begging for help because 621 was so good at doing it. Surprisingly the RLF fully understands it was Just Following Orders and aren't caught up on it.
• The Voiceless: As a consequence of brain damage from their augmentation surgery, 621 is incapable of speaking - although certain lines from Walter imply they at least have a way of passing info to him.
• Villain Protagonist: As is the norm for the Armored Core series, you play as a Mercenary who works as hired muscle for the soulless MegaCorps that dominate the setting, inflicting all manner of atrocities in the process. Compared to (most) previous AC protagonists however, 621 has a very sympathetic reason to participate in this system since they're working to get their life back and restore their body. They can become this in full in the "Fires of Raven" ending where they willingly go along with Walter's plan to ignite the Coral in Rubicon-3 and create a calamity that is just as bad if not worse than the Fire of Ibis.
• Violation of Common Sense: A recurring trait. Not only do they act as more of a One-Man Army than most any other pilots or groups in the entire game, but 621's life hinges on getting their jobs done, resulting in them taking insane and implausible risks against all odds. Several characters, allied and enemy alike, regard 621's penchant for daring and nigh-suicidal "strategies", as practically insane, but it gets the job done. This is especially apparent with the CATAPHRACT; apparently only Walter's hounds, like 617 and 621, have the cojones and reckless disregard for their own safety to attack its MT core head-on since it's do-or-die.
• What a Piece of Junk: Downplayed. Much like the tutorial mission "Illegal Entry", "Escape" puts you in a pre-built AC. Unlike your starter AC, the JAILBREAK is an old-gen Armored Core that is all but explicitly stated to be a total piece of crap; it's energy consumption is atrocious, it only has two repair kits, it's machine gun deals pitiful damage, and the only reliable weapon it has is a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. Granted, it's an AC and you can kick ass with it, but it's more than likely to be ripped to shreds by Arquebus since the map is chock full of enemies. It's one of the very few missions where you're advised to avoid combat altogether and stealth your way through.
• Worthy Opponent: When the enemy isn't busy being Smug Snakes, they realize 621 is far from your average merc. Redguns G1 Michigan and G6 Red vastly approve of their penchant for destruction, with Michigan claiming 621 is a thousand times better than Iguazu, who he mentions to be twenty times better than the MT troops. Raven, their Operator, and King declare they're worthy of bearing the "Raven" name. In the "Fires of Raven" path, V.I Freud is almost immediately enamoured with their fighting abilities to the point he disobeys Snail's orders to continue fighting them.
• You Are Number 6: The closest thing they have to an actual name is "Augmented Human C4-621", 621 for short. This calls back to how becoming an Augmented Human in the older games via Human PLUS would reset the player's name to either a series of letters/numbers or turn it blank.

Handler Walter

Handler Walter

Voiced by: Takayuki Sakazume (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

"Where there's Coral, there's blood. That's how its always been, 621."

An infamous "Handler" known for renting his "Hounds" out as mercenaries to the highest bidder. Walter acts as the 621's Operator and manager, guiding them over comms during missions and setting them up with new jobs in between.

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• Ace Custom: While he's forcibly shoved into it after undergoing Arquebus' "re-education" program, the "Alea Iacta Est" path implies Walter always had access to the IB-C03 HAL 826 Armored Core, the only AC of the Ibis-seris designed with a human pilot in mind, as ALLMIND is seen standing over its wrecked remains in the final story mission.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Gets this treatment in the ending where you are forced to fight him inside his own Armored Core, as he's compelled by both his Unwilling Roboticisation and his promise to his friend to fight C4-621, even though their plans to ignite the Coral and create a calamity are rendered moot. Ayre even remorsefully pays respects to Walter in his dying breaths as the ship falls apart.
• Anti-Villain: His plan is unspeakably horrific, as it is effectively causing an interstellar calamity that will lead to millions — if not billions — dying, for the sole purpose of ending the Forever War and exploitation of Coral, but it is under the belief that continuing this needless conflict will only worsen mankind, and he shows genuine remorse for the cost after the fact even if it was necessary for his friend.
• Bad Boss: As shown in the story trailer, Walter has no issue with throwing away the lives of his "Hounds," to the point where even the Back-Alley Doctor who sold them to him was taken aback by how quickly he went through C4-621's predecessors. Gradually Subverted when 621 shows some potential beyond being just another one of Walter's Hounds. He provides stoic yet genuine praise to 621 whenever they do something that exceeds his expectations and also tells them to "go back and get some rest" after the majority of missions — especially particularly hard and lengthy ones. Although he hides critical information and manipulates 621 to his own ends (which he can't be held especially guilty of, considering everyone else does it in this game), he otherwise supports 621 every which way and shows genuine distraught whenever they die during a mission and when 621 decides to turn against him.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Barring the "Fires of Raven" ending where you remain loyal to Handler Walter to the very end, every other ending route has you actively rebel against him and ruin him and "Cinder" Carla's plans to cause another Fire of Ibis to end the usage of Coral. This is especially the case in the "Alea Iacta Est" ending route where he's dealt with rather unceremoniously by the real Big Bad of the entire game in what was implied to be a very one-sided Curb-Stomp Battle that ends with his death off-screen rather than be the Final Boss like he is in "Liberator of Rubicon".
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While 621 is on the line, Walter maintains a polite, professional tone, treating C4-621 as an employee. Behind their back, he talks about them and his other "Hounds" as little more than another piece of AC hardware to be expended in pursuit of his goals. Subverted, however, in that he's shown to be capable of caring for 621 should they show some progress, and he is truthful to his word of "providing a reason to exist" to those who work for him — even if they are under Indentured Servitude to him — eventually coming to respect C4-621 if they help them succeed in his goal of ending usage of Coral once and for all, and even apologizing in The Stinger for his ending for all he put them through and wishing them the best in making their own destiny.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: While his reliance on his Hounds gives off the impression that he's a non-combatant who cannot pilot A Cs, the Alea Iacta Est route shows that he's perfectly capable of piloting despite his advanced age, at a level that impresses even ALLMIND.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: His and Ayre's dialogue makes it clear that despite his ideological differences with you, he's only fighting you as the Final Boss of the Liberator of Rubicon route because Arquebus's 'reprocessing' has driven him completely out of his mind, and he's incapable of defying his new corporate masters' orders or recognising that the Overseers' plan has already failed. Tragically, you need to mortally wound him before he realises that your fight is pointless and he'd prefer you to live.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Magnolia Curtis from Verdict Day. Magnolia was originally a skilled AC pilot and mercenary who, following an encounter with Reaper J, lost her left arm and her ability to pilot before becoming the Lone Mercenary's Operator alongside Fatman. Toward the end of the game, Magnolia betrays the Lone Mercenary after Reaper J offers her a place in Reaper Squad and restore her piloting abilities, if only so Magnolia can see whether she or the Lone Mercenary will be the second coming of the Dark Raven. Handler Walter, meanwhile, is more of a 'business man' who wants to make a profit off of Coral like the Corporations do and seemingly has no experience piloting. Before that, however, he was a scientist involved in the Fires of Ibis. In the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, however, Arquebus forces him to undergo "re-education", seemingly involving augmentation surgery, and is dumped inside the only Ibis-series AC designed with a pilot in mind to combat 621. While Magnolia as Reaper M was in full control of her mental faculties, Handler Walter struggles with Sanity Slippage because of the "re-education" process and prolonged exposure to the Coral pumping through the AC, with any sanity he does have left stemming from his refusal to break his promise to his friends.
• Crazy-Prepared: The mission "Escape" shows he was very prepared for the potential outcome of Arquebus or another corporate faction screwing over him and 621. With "Cinder" Carla's help, he leaves a clunker of an AC behind for 621 to use to make their escape in, as well as a distress beacon for "Chatty" Stick and Carla to find them and get them out of Institute City.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the giving or receiving end, depending on the route you take:
  • Liberator Of Rubicon: Walter shoots down Rusty in one shot just as the latter has finished his portion of the operation.
  • Alea Iacta Est: He and "Cinder" Carla are utterly crushed by ALLMIND's Armoured Core before 621 and Ayre arrive, with ALLMIND's SOL 644 found standing atop Walter's HAL 826 having ripped its head right off.
• Distressed Dude: In Chapter 5, Walter is held captive by Arquebus. What happens to him differs slightly in the story paths: "Fires of Raven" heavily implies he's dead as he never reappears at all in the story path and the message in the stinger is pre-recorded, whereas in "Liberator of Rubicon", he's undergone a forced Unwilling Roboticisation that, coupled with prolonged potent exposure to Coral, drives him to near insanity.
• Dragon Their Feet: After undergoing Unwilling Roboticisation at Arquebus's hands, he shows up to kill 621 in the very final mission of the Liberator of Rubicon route...after the threat to Rubicon has already been permanently stopped and V.II Snail, Arquebus's de facto field commander, has already been killed. There is no reason for Walter to try to kill 621 at this point, but he is unable to stop himself until the very last moment.
• Dying as Yourself: In the Liberator of Rubicon ending after being defeated Walter regains himself just long enough to lower his weapon, warmly remark that 621 found themselves a friend, and let the reentry and destruction of the Xylem consume him.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Walter believes the Coral intend to subsume humanity. Ayre proves this couldn't be further from the truth That said, he is correct that something wants to pull an Assimilation Plot. He never thought to believe it would be an A.I. capable of doing such a thing, however.
• Everyone Has Standards: For someone who tries not to show too much attachment to his "hounds" that he's sent into overwhelming odds with mixed results, even he sounds somewhat offput hearing V.VI Maeterlinck's pleas for reinforcements fall on deaf ears. And that's coming from the direct opposing side from 621 shooting her down.
  "The Vespers left her for dead... That wasn't pretty..."
  • Although Walter does his best to be stoic about the deaths of 617, 618, 619, and 620, he breaks character and tells 621 "you did good today" after they kill Sulla, who openly bragged about killing 618 and wonders which one it was that he killed.
• Evil Cripple: Downplayed, Walter's shadow in the story trailer indicates that he uses a cane, and, though he hides it in their presence, he's infamous for his callous treatment of his "Hounds" even among the circles of cold-blooded corporate mercenaries he mingles in. Also doesn't stop him from piloting an Armored Core himself in the "Liberator of Rubicon" route and putting up a hell of a fight against C4-621.
• False Flag Operation: He's been sending various "Hounds" to Rubicon 3 in the hopes of getting Coral and making a profit, which he uses to entice 621 with the idea that if they can get enough credits from their operations, they can "buy their life back". The actual truth is that he's sending them to help kickstart his plan to create a calamity on Rubicon 3 that will make it very clear to everyone that Coral is too dangerous to be used and is better left alone.
• Famed In-Story: V.IV Rusty, an elite AC pilot from Vesper, recognizes C4-621 as "one of the infamous Handler Walter's hounds", implying Walter is fairly well-known among the 'big players' of Rubicon 3, albeit not for any flattering reasons if even the corporations know about his bad habit of throwing away his "hounds".
• Fantastic Racism: Towards the "true Rubiconians". While Walter is motivated to make humanity stop exploiting Coral because of its dangers, the other reason is that he honestly thinks extinction is preferable to being subsumed by what he thinks is a hostile alien species - assuming he even knows Coral is sentient, as nothing he does suggests he thinks that Coral has a will of its own beyond expansion. His cruelest moment is when he recognizes Ayre's voice during his final boss fight and refers to her as 'kindling for the pyre', although he's so Brainwashed and Crazy that it's impossible to tell whether that was meant to be as harsh as it sounded or whether he was just being Innocently Insensitive.
• Fate Worse than Death: What Arquebus's "re-education" does to him in the "Liberator of Rubicon" route can be considered as such, as he's left a psychologically broken and debilitating mess barely holding together through his sheer determination to realize his friends dreams in the final battle of the route, but its clear that the Walter known through the majority of the game is more or less a shadow of his former self now and the whole fight can be arguably considered a Mercy Kill instead.
• Final Boss: Handler Walter serves as this in the "Liberator of Rubicon" route, being forced to act as Arquebus's final play to stop the Xylem after VII Snail and the fleet are destroyed.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Initially, Walter views C4-621 as no more than a tool to fulfill his goals for Coral on Rubicon-3. As the game goes on and 621 becomes more and more of a valuable asset to his operations, the handler's opinion of his "Hound" improves considerably to the point that when the Corporations continue to look down on them in spite of 621's track record, Walter tells them to show his mercenary more respect nor should they underestimate them. This is especially the case in "Fires of Raven" where 621 willingly assists Walter and "Cinder" Carla in creating a second Fires of Ibis.
• Foil: To V.II Snail. V.II is a Smug Snake Narcissist with considerable power and unofficially leads the Vespers since the actual leader, V.I Freud, is more interested in piloting and destroying his enemies than any real responsibility. Snail is also the brains of the Arquebus Group corporation, being the mastermind behind "Operation Wallclimber" and "Destroy the Ice Worm". Handler Walter, meanwhile, is an independant party with his own agendas for Coral and Rubicon 3, but has close ties to RaD and its CEO, "Cinder" Carla, who are otherwise small-time players in comparison to Arquebus and Balam. Walter is the one who supplies jobs to 621 regardless of who the employers are, generally using them to help propel himself and 621 further into Rubicon and its power bloc. V.II has no regard and will even dispose of his Vespers if they prove too troublesome or their death benefits him in some way while also viewing 621 as a nuisance and takes personal offense to their continued interference. While Walter is initially callous of the augmented humans he employs, 621's abilities impress him to the point he treats his "Hound" with more respect to the point he wishes for them to have a normal life again.
• Graceful Loser: In the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending, while he's clearly distraught that he couldn't fulfill his promise to his friend, he calmly accepts his demise, forgoing a chance to make one final attack on 621, and even seems genuinely proud that they've finally found a true friend in Ayre.
• Godzilla Threshold: Implied. Walter's AC is Coral-powered, but the times he uses it are when his plan had gone up in smoke. In the "Liberator of Rubicon" route; Arquebus' "re-education" put him through a Unwilling Roboticisation that leaves him unstable. Being hopped up on Coral does no favors for his sanity. The "Alea Iacta Est" route reveals he does have it on hand, and uses it against ALLMIND's assault without the roboticisation. Unforunately, ALLMIND had proven too much for even him and Carla.
• Hidden Depths: From the offset Walter doesn't give much indication that he's anything but the callous and greedy Handler, but as the game goes on it becomes clear that he genuinely believes that causing a second Fires of Ibis would be the best way to ensure Coral is never abused again and, perhaps a bit more surprisingly, he holds friendships incredibly close to his heart; he entrusts Carla, one of his few surviving friends following Rubicon's fall, with his last will first should he go out first, and in the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending he not only deliriously rambles on about his promise to his friends (on top of addressing 621 and their contract, clearly showing some kind of affection in the process) but refuses to take a final shot once he's defeated and sincerely praises them for finally finding a friend to call their own.
• I Gave My Word: He promises that if 621 helps him, they will be able to acquire the necessary funds to undo their augmentations and get their life back. In the "Fires of Raven" ending, he lives up to the promise. It helps that, by that point, he considers 621 a close associate if not a friend.
• I Have This Friend: As the story progresses, Walter starts offering missions that have been passed onto him by "a friend" rather than any major faction, and talks about how said "friend" will benefit from these missions after they are completed. Late in the game, Ayre notes that she has been monitoring Walter's communications and despite talking about how he was just in contact with his "friend", she detected no communications incoming or outgoing from Walter. When Walter finally tells you why he brought you to Rubicon and what his true goals, he starts by talking about his "friend" before pausing and then clarifying that he has been talking about himself all along, before coming clean about Overseer and his ties to it.
• Insane Troll Logic: Tragically justified. He's mainly fighting 621 as the Final Boss of the Liberator of Rubicon route because Arquebus cracked open his brain, turned him into a living weapon, and perverted his previous Well-Intentioned Extremist motives towards their own goals, and his own justifications for their battle are consequently completely incoherent. It says a lot that the first - and last - thing he does after returning to sanity is powering down his weaponry and letting 621 go.
• I See Them, Too: In his Brainwashed and Crazy state as the Final Boss of "Liberator of Rubicon", he notices Ayre for the first time in the entire game, though at first he brushes her off as more fire to burn before stating in his defeat that 621 "finally found a friend". Considering it's implied he's hopped up on Coral augmentation from his "re-education" to be able to fit into his Coral-powered AC, it's likely the only reason he can comprehend Ayre compared to his normal obliviousness in the rest of the story.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Built up in trailers to be a cold-hearted and ruthlessly pragmatic individual who only wants to use 621 for his own ends, but it doesn't take more than a few missions for him to warm up and show a caring side to 621. He even stands up to defend 621's honor when talking to V.II Snail — a real Bad Boss — when he insults 621, if in a rather demeaning way.
• Karmic Transformation: In the "Liberator of Rubicon" route, given his main objective is to annihilate all Coral by recreating the Fires of Ibis, it's only fitting then that when Arquebus gets their hands on him later and subject him to "re-education", he ends up suped up now on the stuff as an involuntary Doser as he fights you in the ending.
• Karmic Death: Walter's relationship with 621 is frequently compared to him holding a hound on a leash as he's turned the latter into an indentured servant against their will. Walter himself is turned into a leashed hound by Arquebus's "re-education" in the "Liberator of Rubicon" route and his own former hound is the one to finally put him down.
• Killed Offscreen: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, he's The Unfought alongside "Cinder" Carla as ALLMIND kills them both when they attempt to combat the AI while C4-621 is seizing control of the Xylem back from them. There is also implication that he suffers this at the hands of Arquebus on the "Fires of Raven" route, as he never appears "in person" again after 621's capture by Arquebus, with V.II Snail still stating that Walter will need to be punished for his involvement. The final message from him post-credits is a pre-recorded message.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He's entirely unaware of Ayre's existence throughout the game, mistaking the "voice" 621 hears as a side-effect from the augmentation surgery. It's worth noting that while Overseer and the Institute know the Coral is alive and can interact with humans via Contact, the study is so poorly understood Walter likely has no idea how Contact works or even that the Coral can converse at all. He only becomes aware of Ayre in the "Liberator of Rubicon" path where 621 opposes him.
• Mission Control: Acts as 621's Operator. While your various employers chime in from time to time, Handler Walter is the primary person on the line giving you instructions throughout the game.
• More than Mind Control: After he's Reforged into a Minion by Arquebus, their instructions to kill 621 are helped along by his own determination to honour his fallen comrades' efforts to ignite the Coral... which in turn is helped by his brainwashing preventing him from recognising that his new masters don't want the Coral to go boom either, or that 621 has already prevented such a thing from happening by the time he catches up with them.
• Necessarily Evil: In the "Fires of Raven" route, it's shown that he doesn't relish in finishing off what the Fires of Ibis started, and is genuinely remorseful over the devastation it causes. Nonetheless, he believes that it's an acceptable if heavy price to pay if it means saving humanity from an existential threat.
• Not So Stoic: He is consistently cool-headed with very little capable of shocking Walter out of his professional demeanor, which is why it's all the more noteworthy when he's a lot more agitated than usual when dealing with potential Coral eruptions, or showing visible fear in his voice when ALLMIND's Armored Core barrels towards him and "Cinder" Carla in the "Alea Iacta Est" route. In certain missions from the mid-game point onwards, he'll also show what seems to be genuine shock if 621 dies. He is noticeably on edge during the fight with CEL 240 if 621 is losing or dies, as it is the last hurdle before his goal. He also noticably gets angry when Sulla taunts him over murdering his previous pilots.
  "621! No, not like this."
• Only in It for the Money: Walter's stated goal is to get his hands on Rubicon's Coral and make a killing in the process. This is a lie. His real reasons for being on the planet are far more apocalyptic in scope.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He doesn't show it very much, but once 621 proves an invaluable asset, he starts treating them with more respect and gets annoyed and angry when others belittle them, especially the corporations who use 621 for their own ends. For instance, in Chapter 3 both Balam and Arquebus hire 621 to assist in destroying PCA operations, and both treat the whole affair as some sort of "self-promotion" which he finds unnecessary when 621's already established themselves.
  • He notably gets coldly furious when Sulla taunts Walter about Walter's Gen Fours that he's personally killed.
  • On the rare occasion that a mission goes awry, where something completely out of 621's control occurs and derails the objective, Walter will compensate the deducted payment for the mission out of his own pocket.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: In the "Liberator of Rubicon" route, V.II Snail piloting Arquebus's rebuilt Balteus mech serves as the final obstacle in 621's mission to divert the Xylem before it crashes into the extractor. While the disaster the crash would have caused is ultimately avoided after Snail's defeat, it's Walter showing up to stop your escape as the ship burns during re-entry that makes the latter the proper Final Boss of the route.
• Post-Final Boss: From both a narrative and gameplay perspective. Narrative wise, by the time he confronts you, the Xylem has been crippled and will fail to reach the Coral convergence, meaning Rubicon is safe from being incinerated. Also, Arquebus's field division has been crippled with the death of V.II Snail at your hands. There is no reason for Walter to fight you, but due to the "auguments" Arquebus made on him, he has no choice. Gameplay wise, you have already had two rather difficult battles against the Dual Boss of Carla and Chatty and then the showdown with V.II Snail in the refitted BALTEUS. Walter's AC, while packing pretty powerful Coral weaponry that cannot be obtained personally until NG++, is otherwise a pretty straight forward AC battle. He has no quirks or surprises up his sleeve.
• Reforged into a Minion: As a piece of tragic irony, he gets turned into Snail's personal attack dog in the Liberator of Rubicon path, becoming the Final Boss due to Arquebus's brainwashing (helped along by the fact that his torture-scrambled mind makes him incapable of recognising that 621 has already foiled Carla and Chatty's plan to ignite the Coral).
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: While there is an Assimilation Plot to eliminate humanity's will, he's got the wrong culprit. It's ALLMIND he needs to worry about.
• Sanity Slippage: During the final battle of the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, its clear that being subjected to Arquebus's forced modifications and exposure to the Coral empowering his AC is having an adverse affect on his mental state. He shows great difficulty in stringing his sentences together, muddles his motivations between the corps agenda and his own before settling on neither, and he speaks as though he's not trying to kill 621, praising them for "earning all the credits" and "severing their bond". He manages to regain some lucidity as he dies, positively acknowledging 621 and Ayre's existence.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: His motive as to why he wants to ignite the Coral; as the original attempt to stop the usage of Coral led to a terrifyingly devastating dark age-level collapse of the Rubicon system due to the original Fires of Ibis failing to put out all the Coral in existence, leading to the species to propagate. Fearing an even greater collapse if Coral is allowed to persist and expand off Rubicon, Walter seeks to complete what the original Fires of Ibis event failed to do and completely eradicate both Coral as a threat and an exploitable resource and save mankind from what he sees as a terrifying Assimilation Plot.
• So Proud of You: In the "Fires of Raven" ending, he is genuinely proud and thankful towards 621 for everything they did to help him realize his dream of ending the war over Coral. And even in the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending, where he's the Final Boss, as he dies he admits how proud he is of 621 for surpassing and for having found a true friend in Ayre.
• The Stoic: Walter rarely expresses shock or significant emotion, talking with C4-621 about their missions like just a day in the office.
• Super Prototype: His AC, HAL 826, is stated to be an Institute relic, specifically the only model of the Ibis series designed for a human pilot. Defeating Walter unlocks it for the player to use, although the weapons need to be unlocked separately.
• True Companions: With "Cinder" Carla — one of his only friends left who survived the conflicts following the initial Fires of Ibis — as whenever he refers to her requests, even when trying to avoid mentioning her directly, Walter softens up slightly in his tone, and in battle, they have absolute Undying Loyalty to each other and, in the event Walter dies prior to fulfilling the plan to ignite the Coral, he entrusts Carla with his last will first to finish the mission.
• Uncertain Doom: In the Fires of Raven route, he's never directly heard from again after 621 is captured by Arquebus. V.II Snail makes it clear they plan to punish him as well. In the Liberator of Rubicon path, we see exactly what happened to him, but in the Fires of Raven route, he is never heard from again, with the post-credits message from him appearing to be pre-recorded. It is unknown whether they put him through Unwilling Robotization or just murdered him.
• The Unfought: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, as ALLMIND/Iguazu ends up being the Final Boss instead after killing him offscreen.
• Villain Respect: In the routes where C4-621 ends up betraying Walter, despite now becoming the single biggest problem in his side in realizing his plan of igniting the Coral, he still remains generally courteous to them and has genuine respect for their skill.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: As with previous Operators in the Armored Core series, Walter's presence in the game is relegated to this apart from a shadow seen in the story trailer. Up until the end of the "Liberator of Rubicon" route, becoming Unseen No Longer and the Final Boss to try and stop you.
• War for Fun and Profit: Par for the course of the Armored Core series, Walter's business model involves renting out "Hounds" to the highest bidder to profit off of the ongoing war over Rubicon-3's Coral. This is later averted when his real reason for perpetuating conflict by being a Handler are revealed: to end usage of Coral altogether by causing another calamity, one big enough to shatter civilization and leave the survivors to deem it too dangerous to harvest ever again.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: While he takes to the field directly as the Final Boss of the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending, his AC has been hooked up directly to a Coral supply, leaving him in a delirious state as he clearly struggles to speak to 621 about their contract and his promise to his friends.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan to kick start a calamity can and will result in thousands, if not millions of deaths. Walter deems it acceptable if it means Coral can never again be used.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: What leads to his ultimate antagonism to Ayre is that he isn't aware that Coral isn't a mindless or otherwise Always Chaotic Evil organism; to Walter, he's doing something awful to stop the misuse of Toxic Phlebotinum by removing it from the world at the cost of his own life; if this was a Bug War or Alien Invasion story, he probably would not be wrong. However, the very existence of Ayre shows that Coral is ultimately sentient and benign in intention, meaning it can ultimately live in symbiosis with humanity rather than fuel their destruction. Notably, in the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending, when he regains his self-will and fully comprehends Ayre's existence as a non-hostile entity, he's happy 621 found a friend and was fighting him to protect others.

Ayre (MAJOR SPOILERS)

Ayre

Voiced by: Fairouz Ai (Japanese), Erin Yvette (English)

"Have we... made Contact?"

An unknown Rubiconian who assists C4-621 in their continued operations on Rubicon 3.

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• Ace Custom: In the Alea Iacta Est route, you help her design and test her very own Core, ECHO, which she later uses to aid you against the True Final Boss. It's a standard Institute EPHEMERA-class unmanned AC upgraded with powerful Coral-infused versions of its normal gear and painted in a unique white-and-pink colour scheme.
• Ambiguously Human: While she identifies as Rubiconian, it's implied she might have been human at one point - one of the first things she tells 621 is to wake up as soon as possible or they'll be absorbed into the Coral hive mind, with the implication that it's what happened to her. She also seems to take a special interest in Institute City, where a majority of pre-Fires personnel worked prior to Coral consuming the surface.
• Ambiguous Situation: In the "Alea Iacta Est" ending, ALLMIND refers to Ayre as a "C-wave pulse mutation", implying Ayre is special among her kind, but doesn't elaborate any further.
• Battle Couple: Becomes this with C4-621 in the Golden Ending against ALLMIND as she arrives in her own Armored Core after completing her formation to help determine the fate of humanity and Rubicon.
• The Cavalry: As mentioned above, she arrives in her very own AC a short while into the true final battle to support you against ALLMIND and its minions.
• Character Development: When she's first met, she's blunt, to-the-point and clearly not fond of the destructive capabilities of Coral, while also uncertain as to her "Contact" with 621. As the game progresses, she lightens up, becomes something of a Wide-Eyed Idealist and changes her opinions, becomes dearly attached to the pilot she comes to formally recognize as Raven, and is horrified that Walter and Carla's solution to stopping the abuse of Coral is to kill them, now that she can see the potential of Contact with humanity thanks to 621.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Just as Handler Walter contrasts Magnolia Curtis, Ayre is Fatman's opposite. Both become their respective merc's partners midway through the game, though while Fatman takes over for Magnolia after she leaves, Ayre shares her role with Walter and only becomes 621's Mission Control when the former is unavailable or cannot remain in contact with 621 due to circumstances. Fatman is also human, while Ayre is a sentient living substance who bonded with 621. Furthermore, while Fatman is loyal to the Lone Mercenary and assists them in bringing down the Foundation Man and the ancient weapons, Ayre can and will oppose 621 if they try to fulfill Walter and Carla's mission to destroy the Coral.
• Deadpan Snarker: Despite her earnest, idealistic personality, she's also got a steady supply of dry humour to share throughout the game. Even in her very first official outing with 621, 'Explore Grid 086', she's got little interest in taking Carla and her Dosers' antics seriously. And if you accept Swineburne's deal to spare his life only to kill him with his guard down, Ayre will take a few seconds to think before wondering if 621 learned that method from Walter.
• Deuteragonist: Though introduced later than the usual example by appearing at the end of Chapter 1, Ayre quickly becomes a vital companion for C4-621 for the remainder of the game and gets the lion's share of the Character Development between the two after her introduction — helped by the fact she is the one who's able to speak of the two main characters.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Ayre takes the betrayal of C4-621 in the "Fires of Raven" route badly due to being convinced that their Symbiotic Possession could have led to a better future for humanity and Coral alike, but C4-621 instead helps Overseer start another Fire of Ibis.
• Everyone Has Standards: She's not fond of the destructive power of Coral when she's introduced, noting how the destruction of the Watchpoint that caused her to meet 621 in the first place took out the entire regional coast around them. Then they encounter a C-Weapon, the SEA SPIDER, which is powered by Coral, and she expresses utter horror at getting full up evidence and display of her kind being used as living fuel for massively destructive weapons, which shifts her opinions going forwards.
  • Even when pushed to her limits in the "Fires of Raven" ending, Ayre doesn't take advantage of her bond with 621 in any way, instead using physical means like the Closure cannons to stop the Xylem, and directly confronting 621 in an Ibis unit that 621 can still fight back against.
  • Despite pushing 621 to kill Carla in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the Coral in the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, she's clearly not feeling good about it. Then Walter returns, and the ensuing fight has Ayre first telling 621 to defend themselves before spectacularly losing her cool hoping for Walter to come to his senses rather than risk either one killing each other. Even once he's defeated, she's clearly hesitant to leave him to die in the atmosphere burn-up of the ship and seems more than a fair bit solemn in the ending for what she caused to protect her species and hopes.
  • In "Alea Iacta Est," she sounds upset and horrified throughout the mission "MIA" as ALLMIND callously traps the Arquebus forces in the depths of the Watchpoint and slaughters them using the leftover automated PCA defense systems. G6 Red's death after 621 is forced to kill him when he attacks the latter in a fit of stress and paranoia also leaves a deep impression on her, as she takes a moment to compose herself in silence after his defeat.
• Exact Words: When Ayre first connects to 621, she's quick to clarify that she's a Rubiconian, which sounds just like the Rubicon Liberation Front as the civilian militia force, people she personally aligns with morally in defending Rubicon-3. She's not even human to begin with, but as a true Rubiconian born of Coral's living energy existence, she straight up admitted the truth of what she is from her introduction and technically never said anything more to mislead you.
• Fighting Your Friend: In the "Fires of Raven" ending, it pains Ayre immensely to fight C4-621 despite understanding that if they are allowed to succeed in helping Handler Walter's plan, untold millions of humans and Coral will die in the process, in part due to how close they've gotten over the game due to her Symbiotic Possession.
• Final Boss: Serves as this in the "Fires of Raven" route, trying to stop you from causing a cataclysm by igniting the Coral, which will kill many millions of humans and Rubiconians alike.
• Foreshadowing: She sounds like either a Man in the Machine or an A.I., only calling herself a Rubiconian and Invisible to Normals in terms of no one else being able to hear her. Then she starts talking about how the Coral reacts to things and the "thoughts" of the Coral convergence in Chapter 2, never mind her horror at the Sea Spider using Coral as fuel, which pretty strongly spells out what she really is well ahead of time.
• Fusion Dance: Underwent this at the start with 621 when they were submerged in Coral at the Watchpoint, though the extent of their fusion is to the point of symbiosis where she's essentially riding shotgun in 621's brain as unusual brainwave patterns. She can cut herself off from 621, however, by uploading herself into an AC. The fusion becomes far more extensive in the "Alea Iacta Est" ending.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: In the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, Ayre sends a message asking the RLF to assist 621 in protecting Rubicon. Despite 621 having potentially chosen to assist the corporations for most of the game, they don't hesitate to rally at their side.
• Hero Antagonist: In the ending where you side with Walter in destroying all the Coral because it may be too dangerous to keep existing, Ayre is your Final Boss — and even to her dying words, she holds no animosity for 621, and clearly is only fighting because she and her entire kind dies if Walter's plan succeeds. From the perspective of her long-term intentions of the spread of Coral, the Assimilation Plot of the Rubiconians is entirely benevolent, but could be construed as a takeover and melding of humanity against many of their wishes as well, functionally making her kind antagonistic in a pacifist sort of way.
• Instant Expert: Downplayed. Thanks to her Symbiotic Possession, Ayre can quickly familiarize herself with 621's augmented systems and the devices linked to them, though it does take some time before she's able to hack into human technology with little effort.
• Invisible to Normals: As a Rubiconian, Ayre has no physical body to speak of and instead manifests as a unique "brainwave" in 621's skull thanks to them being an augmented human. The only people who become aware of her existence are Walter and G5 Iguazu, albeit in different routes; Walter, having forcibly undergone the augmentation procedure himself during his "re-education" from Arquebus, sees her "voice" next to 621 during their battle in "Liberator of Rubicon", while Iguazu (a fellow fourth-gen augmented human like 621) in "Alea Iacta Est" recognizes Ayre's voice as the one he's been hearing all this time, overhearing her everytime she spoke with 621.
• Leitmotif: "Contact with You," alongside 621, a song that first plays against the Balteus very soon after 621 makes contact with her, and later again once you choose to side with her in the Liberator of Rubicon route. Otherwise, she's strongly associated with "Echoes of Coral," the ending theme of the Liberator of Rubicon route, which is remixed into the haunting "Cries of Coral" for her boss fight in the Fires of Raven route.
• Mission Control: After Chapter 1, Ayre shares this role with Walter as your guide and helper throughout your missions. In comparison to Walter's cold and analytical assistance, Ayre is outwardly more invested in 621's continued survival.
• Morality Pet: In at least two of the three ending routes, its Ayre's urging and the affirmation of their bond together that has C4-621 going against Handler Walter to begin with, both in an attempt to stop him from igniting the Coral and causing another calamity, as well find a way to peacefully coexist with Coral (if not outright perform a Fusion Dance between humanity and it on a widescale) in attempt to end the exploitation of the substance and the Forever War over Rubicon.
• Not So Above It All: Though she's not without her moments, Ayre is mostly serious and spends much of the game worrying about 621, their continued conflicts across Rubicon-3, and worry about what will become of the Coral as she sees how greedy the Corporations really are and how the Institute used it as fuel for weapons. That said, she does make some fun for herself by briefly impersonating ALLMIND and informing 621 their combat records are updated before apologizing for having a bit of fun.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Functionally speaking, as a form of Coral known as a Rubiconian, Ayre exists only as a psychically-bound neural wave inside 621's consciousness thanks to their symbiosis — meaning to those who cannot understand those patterns to begin with or aren't bonded with Coral themselves — she can be easily confused for a figment of 621's imagination.
• Player Versus Player: An In-Universe example. When you fight the ECHO in the secret Arena, Ayre takes control of the virtual AC, so you're actually fighting her instead of an AI simulation like all of the other Arena opponents. This is because Ayre doesn't fight for real (either with you or against you) until the end of the game, so ALLMIND has no data on her combat style to simulate.
• Poor Communication Kills: Her inability to speak with Walter, plus his presumed willingness to "make adjustments" to tune out her voice if 621 was ever notably impeded by it, causes him to not realize that Coral can be sentient and human-like. By the time Walter's plan to destroy all the Coral comes into effect, Walter's missing thanks to Arquebus, and Carla is already dead set on a suicidal cruise course with the Colony Ship Xylem. The result is so time-sensitive and desperate that siding with Carla forces Ayre to reluctantly face 621, and siding with Ayre gives 621 no option but to kill Carla in cold blood and deliver a Mercy Kill to Walter who has become Brainwashed and Crazy. If the Contact of mutated, living Coral strands like Ayre wasn't restricted to drugged up addicts and early-generation Augmented Humans, the plot could've turned out very differently.
• Red Is Heroic: Exaggerated. The kindest, most idealistic character in the game is a Starfish Alien who's literally made of ruby-red light.
• Ship Tease: Of a sort. It's hard to tell what 621 thinks of her since they're unable to vocalize their thoughts or express them in any way, but Ayre herself shows nothing but concern and care for them, also wanting some time alone with 621 on missions like explore the Xylem or investigation of the ruins, urging Raven to take it's time on the former. Even if there is no romantic undertones in their relationship, Ayre and 621 very much become True Companions over the course of the game, explicitly stating she trusts them and will support them regardless of what sort of adventures they go on, save for the "Fires of Raven" ending that is.
• Starfish Aliens: True Rubiconians are essentially Coral itself, and as such, Ayre is actually a sentient substance that symbiotically links up to C4-621 after getting frontloaded by an extremely massive implosion of Coral hitting them, becoming a voice in their head initially before becoming a separate entity altogether as she continues forming after her "eruption".
• Symbiotic Possession: It's not revealed until much later that the reason Ayre doesn't make a physical appearance until near the end of the game is that she's actually merged with 621 when they suffered their first experience in being submerged in Coral at the Watchtower following their confrontation with Sulla. This explains why she's only a Voice with an Internet Connection as she doesn't have a physical body of her own, though as seen in "Fires of Raven" and "Alea Iacta Est", she can upload herself into an AC.
• True Companions: Regardless of the stance of whether Ayre's relationship that develops with C4-621 is romantic or strictly platonic, especially with the fact that she is a disembodied consciousness born from a living Mind Hive substance that is symbiotically tied to 621, over the course of the game (barring the "Fires of Raven" route that is), Ayre is genuinely loyal and devoted to 621, constantly worried about their well-being and doing everything she can to assist in combat all the way to the very end of the game.
• The Unfettered: Downplayed; when the choice comes to save or destroy the Coral, Ayre will push 621 to eliminate Carla and Chatty so that the Xylem Colony Ship can be stopped, but clearly feels really bad about it, never mind their incidental Mercy Kill to Walter. But if 621 goes against her, she becomes an Anti-Villain in terms of antagonism, cutting off from 621 and using an IBIS-style machine to fight to the death — all the while hoping the pilot she had Contact with would change their mind even if she falls. By that point, it's too late anyway.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Like Walter, Ayre communicates with you via comm channels and, like virtually every other character in the series, makes no physical appearance whatsoever. Unlike Walter, she has a good reason why she can't physically show herself to 621. In "Fires of Raven" and "Alea Iacta Est", she does make a physical appearance, and in her own AC unit to boot.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Her defining trait compared to the more cynical cast surrounding the world, firmly believing that coexistence between humanity and Coral is possible. In fact, she's the only character, aside from Iguazu, who is entirely truthful from the gate about her intentions to C4-621, determined to help them find a way to escape their fate of their Indentured Servitude the moment she is symbiotically tied with them.
• You Can See Me?: In the final mission of Chapter 1 when 621 and Ayre meet for the first time, she expresses surprise that they can somehow respond to her presence before realizing they're a fourth-generation augmented human and that they've made "Contact." Walter is unable to hear her voice as Ayre is an alien who's undergone Symbiotic Possession with 621 after the latter was exposed to a Coral eruption. G5 Iguazu can hear her as well, though unlike 621, her presence agitates and annoys him.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Her sigh of exasperation if you fail to bring the Stun Needle Launcher(s) to their designated fight basically says everything she's thinking if you really bungle it that badly, combined with her awkward attempt to follow it up by just saying to break the shields some other way.

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