Characters / Armored Core VI Corporations

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

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

---

In General

Following the rediscovery of Coral on Rubicon 3, a variety of interstellar corporations have descended on the planet seeking to exploit this priceless resource.

---

• Corporate Warfare: As usual for Armored Core. Arquebus and Balam are warring against each other and the Rubicon Liberation Front for control of the planet's Coral reserves.
• Disc-One Final Boss: With few interests aside from keeping their Coral flowing, the corporations behave more like predictable forces of nature than traditional antagonists. The balance of power between them gradually becomes less important as the main story arc progresses to issues beyond their immediate concern. By each of the endings, they are fundamentally irrelevant and are all equally unable to stop what will happen in either of the three endings — with only "Liberator of Rubicon" giving them the potential chance to re-establishing the Status Quo Is God that is the Forever War for the Coral resources on Rubicon.
• Enemy Mine: In Chapter 3, Arquebus and Balam declare a temporary ceasefire in order to deal with the even greater threat of the PCA. They go right back to killing each other once the PCA are forced to withdraw from Rubicon.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Arquebus is a classic high-class Western MegaCorp writ large, while Balam is largely a mix of Asian and American corporate culture.
• MegaCorp: All of them fit this to a tee, but especially Arquebus Corporation/Balam Industries, and their respective subsidiaries who are the two primary forces leading the invasion of Rubicon-3.
• N.G.O. Superpower: The corporations squabbling over Rubicon-3 have enough manpower and resources to sustain operations on an interstellar scale, as well as finance their own private armies.
• Only in It for the Money: Neither the corporations nor many of the people working for them care for Rubicon-3 and its inhabitants. So long as they get their Coral, and get paid in the process.
• Planet Looters: The corporations solely interested in exploiting Rubicon-3 for its Coral, regardless of the effects on the native population, and their (lack of) consent in the matter.
• Slobs vs. Snobs: Arquebus's leadership tries to exude an air of sophistication and regality and try to see the bigger picture in the conflict while Balam's leaders act more like loud military drill sergeants and are just happy for a big fight. The latter traits for both factions leads to Arquebus crushing Balam when the latter chooses to lead the offensive against the Ice Worm in act 3, leaving the PCA's fleet to Arquebus, who happily loot it for advanced technology, which they proceed to use against Balam to great effect.
• Status Quo Is God: Before the events of the game, the corporations are locked in a Forever War with each other, the Rubicon Liberation Front, and the PCA. It's not until 621 shows up that any side makes any real progress in bringing the war under their control.
• War for Fun and Profit: But of course. They're literally competing against each other and Rubicon's inhabitants to get their hands on Coral, a substance that benefits humanity greatly, and of course, each corporation has their own designs for it.
• We Have Reserves: In addition to having their own strike forces of elite AC pilots, the corporations also have throngs of Hired Guns serving as the bulk of their military firepower...albeit in practice, serving as glorified Cannon Fodder in their endless battles.

Arquebus Group

Arquebus Corporation

One of the two largest conglomerates attempting to exploit Rubicon-3's Coral, and a major AC parts manufacturer. The Arquebus Corporation focuses on sleek, high performance parts and energy weapons.

---

• Beam Spam: They're specialists in Energy Weapons, and their laser shotguns and Attack Drone technology can fill the air with a whole lot of blue light.
• Brains Versus Brawn: The brains versus Balam's brawn, Arquebus is constantly playing manipulations, tricks and underhanded tactics to try to get one over on their competition. Their part types also compliment more lighter, energy-focused builds for your AC designs. All that strategy works out against Balam, but their brains aren't enough to guess there's a Greater-Scope Villain in the works.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Much like Mirage from Armored Core 3 and Interior Union from Armored Core: For Answer, Arquebus often tries to stab 621 in the back in the middle of their own missions, first ordering Rusty to pull back during Operation: Wallclimber in the hopes that you will be killed against the Juggernaut and the Vespers can swoop in to take the full credit, then later setting you up to fight against Rusty in the hopes that the two of you will eliminate each other.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route. Despite coming out on top in the race for Coral after incorporating PCA tech and Balam's forces forced to leave after losing the Redguns, ALLMIND utterly slaughters them in what can only be described as a Mook Horror Show as it takes control of the Institute MT mechs and sets them upon Arquebus' soldiers. With the Vespers similarly gone and V.II Snail having been killed earlier, Arquebus' forces are killed en masse in Depth 2.
• Didn't Think This Through: A two-fold problem following their Enemy Mine with Balam.
  • Acquiring the treasure trove of PCA weaponry after defeating them might have finally forced Balam off of Rubicon-3 with their superior firepower, allowing Arquebus to become the sole corporation to monopolize Coral in the process... but as they quickly learn, being the last one standing does not mean they get to quietly begin harvesting their boons — as the sole enemy of most of the remaining factions of Rubicon-3, everyone is gunning for them exclusively now, instead of deciding they are a Lesser of Two Evils. Without Balam to take some heat off of them amid the Forever War, Arquebus simply does not have the manpower to enforce their control over the planet, even with their new technological advantage.
  • Just because they acquired the proprietary tech that the PCA had does not mean Arquebus has the time to roll out these upgrades. Many of their newly acquired Super Prototypes barely had time for field-testing, leaving them to resort to their observations while fighting PCA tech to have the faintest idea of how they work. Not having the time to understand PCA tech properly means that it can be backdoored very easily and become a wide-spread Trojan Horse to their forces, as ALLMIND shows in "Alea Iacta Est".
• Energy Weapons: They've created an entire brand for themselves as the galaxy's premium suppliers of laser and plasma weaponry. Their arsenal is light, sleek and deadly, if predictably energy-hungry.
• Evil Brit: Most of Arquebus' personnel speak in refined, upper class British tones, and are decidedly antagonistic to 621 in all endings.
• Force and Finesse: At least in terms of market, Arquebus styles itself as the refined "finesse" to Balam's brute force military mindset. Their focus on Energy Weapons (which are more lightweight and power-intensive than kinetics and explosives) also leans them slightly in favor of Fragile Speedster machines.
• Insufferable Genius: Their technological and military sophistication greatly outstrip that of their rivals, Balam - they've got better gear, better pilots, better tactics, and better strategy, and it's a gap that only keeps widening once they apply these advantages to steal a gigantic treasure-trove of PCA tech. Unfortunately, they know this, and they're complete assholes about it. It also gives them a serious Underestimating Badassery problem when one of their most useful external contractors turns on them for good.
• Meaningful Name: They are named after the world's first matchlock firearm.
• Nothing Is Scarier: It's not exactly stated what Arquebus's "re-education" entails to those enemy forces they capture beyond the obvious Unwilling Roboticisation that turns them into an obedient lapdog to throw at the enemy, but it is apparently a horrific enough procedure that even a strong-willed individual like Walter is psychologically broken to his core and is only able to keep some semblance of personal willpower despite being ordered around because of his Undying Loyalty to the promise he made to his long-dead friends to fulfill their mission and the whole final battle of the "Liberator of Rubicon" route comes off more of a Mercy Kill from the horrors he suffered at Arquebus's hands.
• Smug Snake: Higher-functioning than Balam, but their confidence in their own power and intelligence still significantly exceeds their actual power and intelligence. In the 'Fires of Raven' route, Walter has you mainly back Arquebus because even with stolen PCA tech, they'll still be a more easily-removable threat to his plans than the actual PCA.
• Underestimating Badassery: Barring a couple like Freud and Rusty, the whole Corporation looks down on C4-621 when they make their attack on their forces despite how frighteningly accomplished they are by that point. This, coupled with their Suicidal Overconfidence, ends up leading to their entire Vespers strike force and a majority of faction's elite being being obliterated singlehandedly in the closing acts of the game.
• Upper-Class Twit: The Arquebus Corporation mission rep gives off these vibes, speaking with an upper-class twang in English, and referring to the soldiers of the RLF as "rabble."
• The Uriah Gambit: Originally, Arquebus only allowed 621 to participate in Operation Wallclimber with the intention of using them as expendable cannon fodder against the Wall's defenses while the Vespers did all the actual work. Later, Arquebus sets up competing contracts to have 621 and Rusty target each other, seeing it as a way to eliminate two potential problems at once.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Starting from Chapter 4, Arquebus becomes considerably more arrogant and heavy-handed. Because Balam offered to spearhead the operation against the Ice Worm while Arquebus handled the PCA, the latter incorporated the PCA's tech and gained enough power and influence to effectively take control of the race for Coral. Late into the chapter, they set up V.IV Rusty and 621 to kill each other, the former for having become too rowdy for their liking and 621 for getting them to Institute City. When that plan fails, V.II Snail opts to capture them while they're exhausted and prepare to ship them off for "re-education".

Schneider

An Arquebus subsidiary, Schneider focuses on AC parts that emphasize aerial mobility.

---

• Anti-Armor: The Pulse Cannon KRANICH/60Z is the armor cracker variant, shooting bubble-like high-frequency oscillation that inflicts PA (Pulse Armor) interference, which rips apart all pulse armor/shields with ease while also dealing minimal damage.
• Energy Weapon: Like its parent company, Schneider has several energy weapons of various uses. However, their weapons tend to have a high EN demand, along with being affected by the generator's Energy Weapon Spec like other energy weapons.
• Fragile Speedster: Schneider's AC parts have a heavy focus in speed and maneuverability on both ground and air, but especially in the air. However, none of Schneider's parts provide high load capacity or high durability. This is specially true with their Lammergeier frame, being both the fastest in the air and the frailest AC frame ever made, to the point that the core part is literally exposed. Furthermore, all Schneider AC parts have high EN Loads, demanding generators with the capacity to handle them.
• No OSHA Compliance: The Lammergeier frame’s core piece basically exposes the where the AC pilot is located, pilot safety be damned in exchange for improved aerodynamic movement. The head piece even humorously states that defensive performance was never a consideration, and Arquebus HQ’s only complaint with the original concept was they didn’t want the front legs of the Lammergeier’s tetrapod being the arms (or more accurately, wings), so more standard arms were included instead.
• Technician vs. Performer: Their AC parts lean towards performance, relying on fast movement and flashy aerial combat for light weight ACs to evade enemy tracking abilities. Their lightweight AC competitor Elcano, on the other hand, focused on creating more defensively balanced light weight frame AC parts with higher load capacity to use heavier equipment, trading speed for versatility.
• Theme Naming: Schneider parts are named after the German name of various birds.
  • The Nachtreiher frame is named after the night heron.
  • The Lammergeier frame is named after the bearded vulture.
  • The Kasuar parts are named after the cassowary.
  • The Wuerger laser shotgun is named after the shrike.
  • The Pfau pulse missile launcher is named after the peacock.
  • The Fasan plasma cannon is named after the pheasant.
  • The Kranich pulse cannon is named after the crane.
  • The Eule pulse shield launcher is named after the owl.

Vespers

As a whole

Arquebus Corporation's elite AC pilot strike force. Like Balam's Redguns, they operate on a rank-based structure, with the prefix before their callsigns (V.(Roman numeral), pronounced "Vesper (number)") denoting what rank they occupy within the Vespers.

---

• Always Someone Better: It's not all pretentions that makes them look down on the Redguns, the pilots are augmented professionals and their ACs are top of the line. Compared to the Redguns, where half of their pilots are of questionable combat ability and even more questionable loyalty.
• Body Motifs: Except for Rusty and O'Keefe, all of the Vespers' personal emblems depict silhouettes of human bodies or body parts being cut apart, mechanized, or otherwise operated on, fitting the particular emphasis their parent company places on bio-augmentation. For the two that buck the trend, the wolf and flower symbols subtly advertise that they owe allegiance to higher causes.
• Corporate Samurai: Act as these to Arquebus, being an elite squad of mercenary pilots. They also seemingly posses a strict code of conduct. If C4-621 accepts V.VII Swinburne's offer to spare him, V.VIII Pater subsequently provides the promised reward, but adds that Swinburne's conduct was shameful and dishonored the Vespers, so V.II Snail ordered that he be sent off for re-education.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: With almost all of the Vespers being augmented humans, most of them play with this in some capacity:
  • Averted with the relatively normal V.VI Maeterlinck, and the levelheaded and affable V.IV Rusty, despite both being Gen 8 augmented. Also averted with V.I Freud, who is a psychopath obsessed with fighting who happens to be entirely unaugmented.
  • Downplayed with V.V Hawkins and V.III O'Keeffe, who's comparatively less pronounced maladaptive traits could be attributed to factors other than augmentation, and V.VII Swinburne who's augmentation exacerbated his already unstable personality.
  • Subverted with V.VIII Pater, who is stated in his arena bio to have had an underlying lack of empathy before augmentation. His bio states that the Gen 10 augmentation causes no side effects to the pilot's psyche unlike previous ones.
  • Seemingly Played Straight with V.II Snail, a narcissist entirely devoid of empathy, who has undergone numerous augmentations.
• Dysfunction Junction: Most of the Vespers have some maladaptive personality traits bordering on full blown sociopathy at their worst. How much of it can be attributed to augmentation varies.
• Foil: To the Redguns. Both are elite squads of corporate mercs, however, while half of the Redguns are made up of criminals with questionable skill and loyalty, the Vespers are made up of next-gen pilots who operate by a strict code of conduct.
• Private Military Contractors: They are a combat unit of elite mercenary pilots under the command of the Arquebus Corporation. Each member of the Vespers also leads their own squad, as denoted by their call number. For example, V.II Snail is the head of the Vespers' second squad.
• The Proud Elite: Besides a few exceptions, the Vespers are more or less a bunch of rich next-gen snobs outfitted with high-tech ACs who continuously look down on 621 simply for being an older-gen pilot. It's even shown in their callsigns, as they use more sophisticated-looking Roman numerals to denote rank in comparison to the Redguns using simple Arabic numerals.
• Psycho Rangers: Although the Redguns themselves aren't exactly upstanding examples of moral character, the Vespers serve as their better equipped and less merciful counterparts who, unlike the Redguns, never consider 621 to be a part of. Bonus points for consisting mostly of actual psychos, thanks to the side-effects of augmentation surgery.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Serve as one of three that can be found on Rubicon, the other two being the Redguns and the RLF's leadership. While many of them are simple bit characters, a few are powerful and/or insidious enough to serve as major players in the battle for Rubicon's Coral.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: As a general rule in the Armored Core universe, the better one is at kicking ass, the higher rank they will be rewarded within an organization. The Vespers are no exception to this rule, with the highly-decorated war hero V.I Freud at the helm and the equally-formidable V.II Snail as the Number Two. Subverted as it turns out that it's Snail who runs the majority of operations within the Vespers; Freud is a blood knight who only cares about piloting his AC and even takes orders (though he also ignores them just as much) from Snail when he finally sorties in one of the last few missions.
• Theme Naming: With the exception of Rusty, the majority of them are named after Western poets, painters, and philosophers. Even Snail's has some relevance as it's a reference to a quote from Salvador Dali where he remarked that Freud's cranium was a snail.

V.I Freud

Voiced by: Kōji Okino (Japanese)

"What a glorious view... What I wouldn't give to fight like this forever."

Commander of the Vespers and their Ace Pilot.

Rank 1 in the arena, Freud pilots LOCKSMITH, a medium-weight AC that, despite being a Vesper, utilizes Balam parts in its loadout. He also has a unique Laser Drone launcher that launches six laser drones to provide supporting fire and pursue the target.

---

• Attack Drone: The VCPL Vvc-700LD Laser Drones are his unique asset in his otherwise mundane AC loadout, which no other pilot uses. Carla specifically warns 621 of them and that only someone like him can use them as well as he does.
• Authority in Name Only: Officially, Freud is the commander of the Vespers. In practice, it's Snail who runs the group, since Freud is more interested in destroying enemies and improving himself.
• Ax-Crazy: His combat dialogue makes it clear that his Blood Knight tendencies have devolved all the way into Addled Addict territory. By the time you kill him, he's ranting at his own Core to hold together and help him keep the combat high going. If he manages to kill you instead, he curses at you to get back up and fight him, because he's only just started to have fun. Ironically, as The Team Normal, he's the only Vesper who has no excuse whatsoever for this behavior.
• Badass Normal: His arena profile notes how he's an average human, meaning that unlike the rest of the Vespers, he's undergone no augmentations and his piloting abilities are all natural. Freud's also one of the few S-ranked pilots registered in the Arena, making him one of the best pilots on Rubicon-3.
• Beam Spam: Uses a Laser Blade with wide-sweeping arcs if you get too close to him.
• Blood Knight: Once 621 gives him a run for his money, Freud immediately loses his boredom and gets excited at the prospect of fighting someone who can really push him to the edge. If you die during the fight with him, he'll get pissed and demand 621 keep fighting even though their AC is totalled. He even disregards Snail's orders and shut off his comms channel just to fight 621 all the way to the very end. When you defeat him, he gets angry, not because he lost, but because he wanted the fight to last longer.
  Freud: (Taken down to half-health) I haven't seen moves like that before. Interesting...
  Snail: This is no time for fun and games, Freud! Our objective is to seize the Xylem. You can ignore the mutt.
  Freud: Yes, Snail. You're right. (Freud hangs up the comm) Now then. Let's continue.
• Broken Ace: He's the best AC pilot of the Vespers. However, he's also a massive Blood Knight that leaves the official leadership business to Snail.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Badass Normal and The Team Normal. He is regarded as the best pilot of the Vespers, seemingly getting his rank as V.I solely due to how deadly he is in an AC. He's also the only member to have no augmentations, but that is just about where any "normal" qualities he has ends. Contrasting Snail, who strategizes for and effectively leads the Vespers on top of being an above average pilot, Freud's contribution to the Vespers seemingly begins and ends at piloting his AC for combat missions due to an extreme fixation on fighting with his AC, improving his AC for combat, and not much else. At its worst, this elevates to a level of psychopathy rivaling the worst of the neurotic behavior augmentation can cause.
• The Dreaded: He has a well-deserved reputation as the single deadliest pilot on Rubicon, and even hardened veterans like Carla are nervous about the idea of him taking to the field.
• Hero Killer: His grim in-universe reputation is entirely deserved - when Freud shows up, people die. Your fight against him in the "Fires of Raven" route begins with him instantly obliterating "Chatty" Stick, a solidly competent AC pilot who's fought alongside you in several wildly dangerous situations and come out intact.
• Min-Maxing: Thematically speaking, Freud built his AC on the idea of using what he considered best for his style of fighting, rather than using strictly Arquebus and Schneider parts when compared to most of the other Vespers. Disregarding if there was a taboo to use parts from a competitor like Balam, no one would enforce those rules if they existed against him anyways.
• Named After Someone Famous: Named after psychologist Sigmund Freud, and his AC name references Freud's childhood in a locksmith's house.
• Uncertain Doom: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, he is notably completely absent as is the case with "Liberator of Rubicon." However, while Pater (now V.III) exclaims that he needs only to confirm V.II Snail's death before taking his rank, Pater shies away from making the same assumption for Freud. Given that Freud likely has no amibitions outside of combat, it's possible he's completely outside of the mess, or ALLMIND tracked him down to assassinate him. While it's possible LOCKSMITH is one of the unmanned Vesper ACs that attack Overseer, Carla only counts six out of the eight Vespers, leaving it up in the air whether LOCKSMITH is among them.
• The Unfought: You only encounter him in the "Fires of Raven" path and in the Arena. He's nowhere to be seen in the other paths.
• World's Best Warrior: A Badass Normal who's the top-ranked AC pilot on Rubicon, where Super-Soldier augmented jockeys are the norm. He outstrips absolutely everyone else in pure technical skill. Even his Core, LOCKSMITH, isn't super-fancy for a top Arquebus machine, to the point that half of it consists of Balam parts. This is in contrast to Snail's OPEN FAITH, which is a top-of-the-line hulking behemoth, entirely Arquebus-made, and uses mostly Arquebus weapons and accessories (and one of the two things he uses not directly made by Arquebus is made by Schneider, an Arquebus subsidiary).
• Worthy Opponent: Freud very quickly grows impressed with 621's skills during their fight, glad that their reputation is well-earned. In fact, in his last moments as his AC burns up and crumbles to pieces, he's more infuriated that he can't keep fighting you than that he lost at all.

V.II Snail

Voiced by: Hiromichi Tezuka (Japanese), Jon Lipow (English)

"You will be under my direct authority. Consider it a rare privilege."

Officially the Deputy Commander of the Vespers, but in reality Snail is their de facto leader.

Rank 6 in the arena, Snail pilots OPEN FAITH, a cutting-edge heavyweight AC with most of its parts made by Arquebus's Advanced Development Division.

---

• Badass Bookworm: Obnoxious Smug Snake he may be, he's a talented strategist who plays a key role in leading his corporation to victory against Balam, the RLF and the PCA (and in exploiting the fruits of their victory); he backs this up with solid piloting chops to make sure his Bigger Stick rides hit as hard as they should. Even Rusty, who's no fan of his, admits he's 'second to none' in the Vespers.
• Bad Boss: While Walter is pragmatic in his relationship with the augmented humans under his employ, especially 621, he at least values their abilities since they get the job done. Snail is the exact opposite and will use anyone and everyone as sacrificial pawns to get what he wants. In "Reach the Coral Convergence", he purposefully leaves his troops and a fellow Vesper to die at 621's hands. Further still, when 621 returns to strike back at Arquebus, Snail dismisses 621 as a "triviality" and leaves his grunts to deal with them. As 621 runs over Arquebus and cuts a large swathe in Snail’s advance force, he barely reacts at all beyond slight annoyance.
  V.II Snail: [After destroying the final generator in “Destroy the Block Drive” and leaving the Xylem] "Raven, the independent mercenary. You’re not the mutt I thought you were... You’re below that — you are vermin!"
• Big Bad: In the ”Liberator of Rubicon” route Snail poses the biggest threat while leading Arquebus forces across the entire planet. But even then, nobody could’ve suspected the possibility of a Greater-Scope Villain, ALLMIND, watching from the shadows. And in the “Alea Iacta Est” route they play their hand, crushing Snail’s ambitions even with his newfound PCA tech at hand.
• Bigger Stick: A firm believer in using his Position of Literal Power to give himself the biggest possible stick. Apart from his Super-Soldier augmentations assisting his piloting, OPEN FAITH is a behemoth heavy biped loaded with the latest and deadliest Arquebus tech. After 621 tears it apart in the Liberator of Rubicon route, he upgrades to an Ace Custom version of the PCA's Balteus assault craft.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He's not a trustworthy partner or employer. While his missions pay well, any job anyone takes for him carries the risks of being sacrificed by Snail so he doesn’t have to pay up, or otherwise screwing you over to ensure that he earns more than you do. One of his biggest dick moves involves hiring you and Rusty to investigate Watchpoint Alpha in a multi-mission chain, and then finishing it off by telling both of you that a supposed intruder has invaded the area, instructing both of you respectively to finish off the “intruder” in the hope that you'll kill each other off.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Rather than attempt to kill 621 personally, Snail instead allows 621 to demolish his troops and take on the Ibis series mech controlled by the Coral to ensure they are worn down by constantly fighting. Then he uses a needle stun launcher to lock down 621’s AC afterward, shipping them off to be “re-educated” by Arquebus forces.
  • Later, in the Liberator of Rubicon route, Snail waits until 621 has disabled the Xylem's drive block before making his move with BALTEUS. While he admits during the battle that he's only attacking 621 at all for personal reasons, he at least has enough patience to let 621 do his own work for him.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He's prone to screaming that he is Arquebus, but he’s not far off from the truth. Freud is an Authority in Name Only who's just Snail's Blood Knight attack dog, and the off-world Arquebus executives appear to have little (if any) influence on how he and the rest of the Vespers conduct their business. He's the commander-in-chief of all Arquebus operations on Rubicon, whether military or scientific, and has no difficulty whatsoever in diverting company resources towards his own ends. It's why he effectively ends up as the Big Bad of the “Liberator of Rubicon” route, with Carla and Chatty quickly being killed off, ALLMIND having no reason to intervene, and Walter ending up Reforged into a Minion to serve as little more than a vehicle for his posthumous revenge against you.
• Evil Is Petty: As he freely admits in his Motive Rant, this is the reason for his continued involvement in the “Liberator of Rubicon” route. With "Cinder" Carla and "Chatty" Stick gone and the Xylem safely crippled, there's no reason for him to send the entire Arquebus fleet and his own Ace Custom assault craft against it. The only reason he picks a fight with 621 is that they tried to kill Snail on their way to deal with OVERSEER. Or, if you chose not to engage him, he's instead furious that 621 ignored him.
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. For all his intelligence and cunning, Snail's inflated sense of self causes him to underestimate others. This comes to a head in "The Liberator of Rubicon route". After being either ignored or bested by 621 he will personally pilot a redesigned BALTEUS to eliminate them, it is a completely unnecessary battle and Snail is so incensed by the perceived disrespect he ends up dying.
• Hate Sink: Arrogant, smug, conniving, convinced of his own superiority over even his own superiors, apathetic to others, and the list goes on; From Software was not trying to make Snail even remotely likable.
• I Am the Noun: He regards himself as being Arquebus. He's not entirely wrong though; having benefitted from every single augmentation procedure they provide makes Snail a living embodiment of Arquebus's ideals and visions for what a human ought to be, and he’s the leader of Arquebus forces on the planet Rubicon.
• Insufferable Genius: A legitimately competent tactician, strategist, and pilot who also happens to be such a gigantic, arrogant asshole that not one member of the cast is prepared to give him more than the occasional backhanded compliment for it.
• Ironic Name: His AC is called OPEN FAITH, even though he is the absolute last person you should ever consider trusting.
• It's All About Me: He makes it clear that he views himself as Arquebus, seeing as how during the “Liberator of Rubicon” route, whether or not you shot him down or ignored him on the route to Carla, he takes your action as an insult to himself and the company as a whole.
• Jerkass: Notorious in-game as perhaps the single biggest asshole on Rubicon - nearly everyone who's interacted with him socially has some sort of horror story about the experience. He's an overwhelmingly arrogant, abrasive Insufferable Genius who's always condescending at best and viciously rude at worst in his spoken dialogue. The only person he treats with any sort of respect is V.I Freud, Snail’s technical superior.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • While Snail’s attitude was awful towards Walter during their first talk, Snail did have a point that 621 had only destroyed RLF bases so far that were poorly guarded, thus Snail had no reason to believe 621 was capable of taking the heavily fortified Wall from the RLF.
  • During the “Hunt the Ice Worm” mission briefing, Snail decides to be one of the combatants to distract the Ice Worm, pointing out that “a rag tag team needs leadership.” Despite his snotty attitude like telling Chatty to his face that “because he’s an AI, he won’t fear death,” he does give solid advice like telling everyone to spread out so the Ice Worm would have greater difficulty attacking them. Furthermore, when Iguazu acts astonished after 621 manages to temporarily knock out the Ice Worm for the first time, Snail reminds Iguazu that they “only jumped the first hurdle” and to remain focused, plus you’d be forgiven for agreeing with Snail upon Iguazu’s defeat that he was pathetic, mainly because of his whiny attitude the entire mission.
  • In the “Liberator of Rubicon” route, Snail hates how Arquebus command told him to spare 621 after subduing them with a stun needle launcher, instead sending them to be “re-educated” by Arquebus rather than be executed on the spot. As a result, upon being attacked by 621 on the Xylem, Snail realizes that the whole battle could’ve been avoided if he had executed 621 when he had the chance.
• Lack of Empathy: Snail believes human lives to be a cheap currency to spend in pursuit of his ambitions, either by sacrificing his troops to secure military/political victories often that it becomes a matter of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, or by commissioning and even directly engaging in industrial-scale human experimentation to secure his Position of Literal Power. This naturally also carries over into his social interactions with others, where he's never anything but an arrogant, condescending Jerkass.
• Mighty Glacier: Downplayed. His two machines, OPEN FAITH and the Arquebus Balteus are mobile but not agile, possessing limited evasion capacity and relying on sturdy defences and heavy firepower to come out on top when trading blows with enemies. They can rush their foes down, but it's strictly a secondary tactic.
• Narcissist: As he himself will tell you, he is Arquebus, and everyone else is either an obstacle to be removed or a resource to be consumed. Most of his dialogue consists of him preening over his own genius, trash-talking someone else, or, ideally, doing both at the same time.
• Oh, Crap!: Although he regains his composure quickly, he's shocked that 621 was somehow able to track him down in the "Alea Iacta Est" path.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The one person that Snail does not look upon on is V.I Freud, his technical superior. While firm when communicating with Freud, Snail is noticeably more polite and to-the-point rather than taking his time to sneer at someone. It's also noticeable that Snail will only consider calling upon Freud for missions when he's absolutely necessary, going so far as to accept Walter's proposal to send 621 to take the Wall from the Rubicon Liberation Front than trust the number one ranked Vesper. When 621 does fight Freud on the Xylem in the “Fires of Raven” route, it shows that Snail was right to be cautious about utilizing Freud. He immediately chafes at the idea of taking orders at all, and once he realizes that 621 is a Worthy Opponent, it leads to Freud's Blood Knight tendencies getting the best of him and takes the opportunity to fight 621 instead.
• Position of Literal Power: Unlike the genius Badass Normal Freud, Snail gained most of his combat chops from his power and influence within Arquebus, devoting a considerable amount of the company's resources to improving his own gear and personal augmentations. He's even got an entire human-experimentation program in the R&D department devoted to ensuring his augs are perfectly tuned no matter how many lives it costs. It's to the point where he declares he is Arquebus itself.
• Purple Is Powerful: His AC, OPEN FAITH, is a hulking purple monstrosity with many heavy hitting weapons, including a laser lance that helps overcome some of its issues with its slow speed by giving him a gap closing melee weapon.
• Renaissance Man: Scientist, general, businessman, politician, and pilot. He only lacks empathy, humility, and basic conversation skills.
• Smug Snake: Being the Renaissance Man Dragon-in-Chief of a mighty, technologically-advanced MegaCorp gives him a solution to nearly every problem. Unfortunately for him, his own Lack of Empathy and planet-sized ego are not among them, and they ensure that every victory of his, no matter how impressive, can only ever be temporary.
• The Strategist: Most of the missions Arquebus come from him. While informed and well-thought out, Snail would instead have 621 be disposed of as soon as it's viable, so that Arquebus can reap the benefits at the expense of others. He makes sure to use either Rusty or 621 to clear out Balam before having them kill each other, having figured out they have agenda of their own.
• Uncertain Doom: On the "Fires of Raven" route, unlike in "Liberator of Rubicon," he never personally sorties with 621 to stop the Xylem, sending V.I Freud in his stead. He is then unheard from for the remainder of the story. Given the expansive range of the cataclysmic destruction, it's just as likely he would've been caught trying to escape unless humanity has access to faster-than-light travel.
• Villainous Breakdown: During the “Liberator of Rubicon route, his boss fight has a progressive meltdown as you deal more and more damage to his Arquebus Balteus unit, ranting about the "dolts at command," the Rubiconian "rabble" and finally proclaiming that he is Arquebus.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Part of why he ends up angry at Arquebus command is that he was ordered to capture 621 alive for “re-education,” whereas Snail thought 621 wasn’t worth the effort and therefore should be executed instead. During the “Fires of Raven” and “Liberator of Rubicon” routes that decision backfires hard on Arquebus as a whole when 621 starts tearing through their forces.

V.III O'Keeffe

Voiced by: Hiroki Yamada (Japanese)

"Life on Rubicon sure does suck, huh?"

Third squad leader of the Vespers.

Rank 12 in the arena, O'Keeffe pilots BARREN FLOWER, a tetrapod AC with a decidedly eclectic mix of parts. It notably uses the BML-G1/P29CNT Container Missile, as well as the MIND ALPHA head part.

---

• The Cynic: Has an understandably very dim view about life on Rubicon. Still, he prefers the mundane discomforts and miseries of human life over the evolution planned by ALLMIND.
• Graceful Loser: Takes his death surprisingly well, simply commenting how he finally be able to get some sleep.
• The Insomniac: Due to the side-effects of the Coral burn in his brain, it's implied that O'Keeffe is unable to sleep well, perhaps being the reason why he's so fond of his "coffee-flavored sludge." When you kill him, he wonders if he'll finally be able to get some sleep.
• The Mole: On the final story path, ALLMIND assigns 621 a mission to assassinate O'Keeffe, who instantly recognizes 621 as being ALLMIND's latest pawn. 621 learns that O'Keeffe was another one of ALLMIND's operatives, having infiltrated Arquebus.
• Must Have Caffeine: Downplayed. He disdainfully calls it "coffee-flavored sludge," but to him, it's something important to him to live as a human. It's implied he offered to brew some for STV when they met the Vespers in the latter's sketch notes.
• Nice Guy: Pater mentions that O'Keeffe was always watching out for him as a rookie in the Vespers. STV also pointedly notes in his interaction with the Vespers that "they're not all bad," and that O'Keeffe offered him "coffee, or something like it." He also apparently had a bit of a rapport with Rusty.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: ALLMIND targets him for elimination because he's no longer working in its interests and has in fact betrayed the AI. It's implied he betrayed ALLMIND when he realized the full scope of its plan and preferred the mundane, albeit problematic parts of human life over their "evolution".
• Shout-Out: His name and mech reference the American painter Georgia O'Keeffe, best known for her paintings of flowers.
• The Unfought: O'Keeffe and his AC can always be encountered in the Arena, but he only ever appears in person on the "Alea Iacta Est" path, where ALLMIND suddenly takes a more active role in the narrative and decides to start tying up loose ends.

V.IV Rusty

Voiced by: Yasuyuki Kase (Japanese), Chris Hackney (English)

^*SPOILER*

"I've got your back, buddy. Hope you've got mine."

The fourth squad leader of the Vespers, Rusty is a veteran AC pilot who 621 meets during Operation Wallclimber.

Rank 9 in the arena, Rusty pilots STEEL HAZE, a high-speed, lightweight NACHTREIER frame AC. Notably, he favors kinetic weapons made by BAWS and uses an internal combustion engine, unlike his peers.

---

• The Ace: One of the best AC pilots on Rubicon 3 with an impressive track record.
• Ace Custom: STEEL HAZE is a Schneider Fragile Speedster noted in-game as being an atypical Arquebus design due to its use of old-school BAWS kinetic weaponry, signifying Rusty's strained relationship with his corp. In the "Fires of Raven" and "Liberator of Rubicon" paths, he obtains a new and improved AC dubbed STEEL HAZE ORTUS. It's explicitly stated to be far superior to its predecessor with an emphasis on maneuverability and aerial combat.
• Affectionate Nickname: Refers to 621 as "buddy", indicating how he appreciates them as a rival and ally, and much later a friend in "Liberator of Rubicon".
• Almighty Janitor: Despite being ranked fourth in the Vespers and ranked ninth in the Arena, Rusty is a highly capable AC pilot. Interestingly, Snail seems to be aware of this, for he has no problems assigning dangerous missions to Rusty like helping 621 take “The Wall” from the Rubicon Liberation Front, yet Snail continues to look down on Rusty and considers him to be too “brazen” for Snail’s liking.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: Of Larry "Pixy/Solo Wing" Foulke. Like Pixy, he is a merc turned revolutionary that keeps his true agenda hidden, refers to the protagonist as "Buddy", has similar motifs (Pixy's paintjob having a single red wing against Cipher's two blue wings, Rusty's muzzled wolf emblem reflecting 621's status as Walter's current Hound), attacks the protagonist midway (for varying reasons; Pixy defects from Ustio after seeing the seven nukes detonate on Belkan soil, Rusty is tricked into fighting 621 under the pretense of dealing with an rogue mercenary), disappears afterwards, and in the "Fires of Raven" ending will suddenly duel you in an untested prototype over a potential Apocalypse How, as Pixy does with his ADFX-02 "Morgan"; Rusty is not the Final Boss of the route, though, and he's actually fighting to stop you from detonating the Coral, unlike Pixy who believes launching V2 will truly erase all national borders and with it bring pointless squabbling and war to a close.
• Animal Motifs: His emblem is that of a muzzled wolf, indicating a sense of noble intentions carefully constrained by Arquebus. When he shows up in the STEEL HAZE ORTUS for the normal endings, he's also changed his emblem to that of a freed and unmuzzled wolf with a flowing mane, showing he's finally untethered to be what he truly was this entire time.
• Arc Number: His Arena rank is 9, a significant number throughout the Armored Core series that is attached to important characters. Just like White Glint before him, despite being nowhere near the top, he is a lot stronger than his rank implies. He takes on the mission to wipe out G1 Michigan and the remaining Redgun forces by himself and wins, and this is against over 50 MTs and a higher ranked mercenary. And this is before he gets the Ace Custom AC model ALBA from Elcano Foundry, which Rusty uses either to oppose you and stop the Xylem in the “Fires of Raven” route, or help you stop the Xylem in the “Liberator of Rubicon” route.
• Badass Boast:
  • During "Destroy the Ice Worm", Rusty claims he never misses. As you see for yourself, he was not kidding.
  • In the penultimate mission of the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, he tells the Arquebus forces there's only one person who can keep up with him, referring to 621. Of course, he says this as he's laying waste to their invading fleet.
• Birds of a Feather: Rusty has a closer and more friendly rapport with 621 than almost anyone else on Rubicon. You and he also have numbered callsigns associated with numbers denoting misfortune: Four and Thirteen.
• Book Ends: At the start of the game, Rusty shows up to help 621 deal with the Juggernaut, the massive RLF mech keeping Arquebus and 621 from climbing the Wall and moving further into Rubicon-3. From there, Rusty declares them war buddies and establishes friendly relations with them. In the "Liberator of Rubicon" path, Rusty shows up one final time, this time to help 621 of his own volition to protect Rubicon-3. He even lampshades this when they fight a Cleaner mech, noting how it reminds him of when they fought the Juggernaut atop the Wall.
• The Cavalry: Shows up to assist 621 In the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending in his new STEEL HAZE ORTUS in response to Ayre asking for the RLF's assistance.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the "Liberator of Rubicon" ending, he's unceremoniously shot down during 621's final assault on the Xylem.
• Fake Defector: It's heavily implied he's one for the RLF, as the Rubiconians regard him as a traitor...except for the people who would definitely be briefed that his loyalties were always towards his native planet, and when he shows up as an RLF pilot, absolutely everyone on his side trusts him.
• Fighting Your Friend: 'Friend' might be a bit much, but Rusty respects 621's combat capabilities and calls them "buddy". V.II Snail purposefully sets him up to fight 621 in a bid to get rid of them both before Arquebus reaches the Coral so as to eliminate any potential complications. In the "Fires of Raven" route, he's saddened that he has to fight you but considers it necessary to stop your plan of igniting the Coral at all costs.
• Fragile Speedster: His Core is named STEEL HAZE for a reason - it's an ultra-light wraith of a machine that relies chiefly on delivering moderate-but-steady damage without getting hit in return, and duelling him will place a serious strain on your ammo capacity as he dodges shot after shot before you finally manage to punch through his paper-thin armour. STEEL HAZE ORTUS has slightly more armour and firepower, pushing it closer to the Lightning Bruiser trope, but is still fundamentally the same sort of opponent.
• Friendly Sniper: He doesn't sortie any marksman weapons on his AC, but he's your designated sharpshooter during your attack on the Ice Worm and Rusty delivers every shot.
• Friendly Rival: In contrast to Iguazu's bitter and one-sided rivalry with 621, V.IV Rusy is more amicable and friendly with them. He's also professional enough to not let personal feelings get in the way of the job, and is interested to see just how far 621's mercenary career will go. The rivalry goes out the window in the "Fires of Raven" ending where he recognizes 621 as a threat to everything he holds dear to him.
• Hero of Another Story: It's heavily implied that Rusty is a native Rubiconian secretly working with the RLF to undermine the corporations, whose exploits are only partially glimpsed by 621.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Zigzagged. While Rusty likely had been aligned with the RLF from the start as a native to Rubicon, the rank-and-file who recognize his appearance see his standing among the Vespers to be a betrayal at the surface, despite the necessity of Rusty's alleigance to Arquebus. At the same time, Middle Flatwell holds Rusty with great respect despite ostensibly being enemies, and is likely one of the few members of the RLF privy to Rusty's true loyalties. Despite his seeming betrayal, once preparations for the RLF counteroffensive are made in "Liberator of Rubicon," the Rubiconians almost instantly rally behind Rusty (with a little help from Ayre) after he burns his bridges with Arquebus, bringing the trope straight in the end.
• Heroic Willpower: In the Fires of Raven ending, Rusty musters everything he has to stop 621 and Carla from burning the Coral again. So much so that he literally forces his AC back to life after he's beaten for one final desperate attempt to kill you.
  Rusty: I won't stop! I'll chase the clouds from over Rubicon! Only I... can fly high enough!
• Heel–Face Turn: Towards the end of the game, he defects from Arquebus to throw his lot in with the Rubicon Liberation Front. It's heavily implied that he had been their inside agent from the beginning.
• I Know Your True Name: When he first meets 621, he greets them by their callsign before referring to them as "one of the infamous Handler Walter's hounds".
• Improbable Aiming Skills: In the Ice Worm mission he repeatedly lands sniper shots on the target across the continent with a railcannon that is at least 50 times larger than an AC.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Unceremoniously shot down off-screen by a "re-educated" Walter in "Liberator of Rubicon" path as he tells 621 he's dealt with things on his end.
• Leitmotif: "Steel Haze". Later in the "Liberator of Rubicon" and "Fires of Raven" routes for when he's allied with you and fighting against you respectively, it gets a Triumphant Reprise, "Steel Haze (Rusted Pride)".
• Meaningful Name: "Ortus" is a Latin word that means "sunrise", and the ALBA parts are named after the Spanish word that means "dawn".
• Mid-Season Upgrade: His appearances in the endgame of both "Liberator of Rubicon" and "Fires of Raven" are heralded by his arrival in the new STEEL HAZE ORTUS, complete with the shedding of his Vesper callsign and redesigned emblem.
• The Mole: He's been secretly passing Arquebus technology to Elcano and Furlong as part of an arrangement with the RLF and BAWS. The culmination of his efforts takes the form of the Ace Custom Armored Core STEEL HAZE ORTUS.
• Mysterious Past: Granted, the history of every AC pilot barring a few characters isn't explored in-depth and/or has no relation to the main story, but V.IV Rusty's past is layered in mystery on account of the breadcrumbs found in the Chapter 2 mission "Retrieve Combat Logs" and later story chapters. The logs retrieved by 621 imply V.IV Rusty has a personal connection with the RLF, or at least was associated with them as one of the downed pilots recognizes him and demands to know why he attacked them. His familiarity with Middle Flatwell, one of the leaders of the Rubicon Liberation Force who has significant influence with Schneider (a Arquebus subsidiary and coincidentally the group who "discovered" Rusty in the first place) and calls 621 his "war buddy" after the mission "Intercept the Vespers" (coincidentally using the same words as Rusty after "Operation Wallclimber"), and Rusty's statement that Rubicon is his home all imply Rusty is a native Rubiconian and was involved with the RLF before becoming a Vesper, and may in fact be a spy for the RLF.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • If 621 chose to assassinate the Vespers, Rusty will instead be the one to intercept the redguns and destroy them and Michigan.
  • In the Liberator route, Rusty splits off from you after the Smart Cleaner to deal with Arquebus' Interceptor Fleet; the same one you would have had to deal with yourself during "Breach the Kármán Line." Sadly, this moment also turns out to be his swan song, as he's unceremoniously shot down by Walter soon after.
• One-Man Army: Rusty is one of the deadliest AC pilot in the game, Arquebus assigns him on solo mission to destroy vast group of enemies and always deliver.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Downplayed. Toward the game's final act, V.IV Rusty forgoes his contractual obligations with Arquebus and assists the RLF in protecting Rubicon 3 from the Corporations and the PCA. The reason it's downplayed is that it's implied Rusty was never loyal to Arquebus to begin with and is in fact a RLF double agent.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Joshua O'Brien and his NEXT, White Glint, from Armored Core 4. He befriends our protagonist using a speed build AC with a laser blade and is willing to protect the Rubiconians near the end of the game. He even is forced to fight you in a prototype AC with the roles reversed - dying trying to stop you in the "Fires of Raven" route.
• The Needs of the Many: He's heavily reluctant to fight you in Depth 3, but he rationalizes fighting you by noting that you have nothing to fight for while Rubicon needs him-you've only intermittently allied with the RLF due to the pay, but Rusty is solidly in their corner, so eliminating you won't deny the RLF an important pilot.
• Token Good Teammate: He's this to pretty much the entire Arquebus group, and the Vespers in particular. After defeating the Juggernaut atop the Wall, V.IV Rusty contacts 621 and tells them the reason he left halfway through the fight was because Arquebus ordered him to withdraw and was going to use 621 as a sacrificial pawn for the Vespers. That he goes out of his way to divulge information that would definitely get him in trouble and is upfront about how the corporation is not to be trusted speaks volumes of his character. This trope actually puts him at odds with some of his fellow Vespers, particularly V.II Snail who is annoyed by his "antics". He's also one of the few mercenary pilots who leaves the corporations to fight with the Rubicon Liberation Force in defense of the planet. "Cinder" Carla even suggests that he was using Arquebus to further his agenda of protecting Rubicon all along in the "Fires of Raven" path.
• Uncertain Doom: The implication of his absence in "Alea Iacta Est". He makes no appearance there unlike in the other story paths where he either stands in opposition to Raven or helps them. In the penultimate mission, it's noted that ALLMIND is attacking the Xylem with unmanned Vesper ACs, however as with Freud only six of the eight Vespers are counted, leaving room to assume that Rusty isn't one of them.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He makes no appearance in the "Alea Iacta Est" story path. It's unclear whether Rusty is alive or was Killed Offscreen by ALLMIND.

V.V Hawkins

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)

"You're sharp. No wonder Rusty spoke so highly of you."

Fifth squad leader of the Vespers, Hawkins is a veteran pilot haunted by the deaths of his friends who attempted to receive the same augments he has.

Rank 20 in the arena, Hawkins pilots RECONFIG, a heavyweight tetrapod AC that uses several VCPL weapons and some parts from Arquebus' Advanced Development Division.

---

• A Father to His Men: Shows a fairly paternal protectiveness towards Pater in their Dual Boss, giving him several gruff reassurances and bits of advice and becoming outraged if the young pilot is taken out first.
• Nerves of Steel: In great contrast with Swinburne's reaction to being ambushed Hawkins is calm and even praises 621 and Flatwell's trap. The only thing that rattles him is if Pater is shot first or if Pater's AC is destroyed before him and he recovers from it fast.
• Survivor's Guilt: His noted major psychological instability is grief at all the friends that died from undergoing the same augmentation procedures he did. If Pater is defeated before him in the Ambush the Vespers mission and if 621 falls afterward, Hawkins mutters how "it should have been him".
• Villain Respect: When put on the ropes he tells 621 that he can see why Rusty praises them so much.
• We Can Rule Together: More of a wry last word before his demise, he asks 621 if they want to be a Vesper.

V.VI Maeterlinck

Voiced by: Lynn (Japanese), Kate Higgins (English)

"V.II Snail, come in. Requesting backup. We have insufficient force to ensure success."

Sixth squad leader of the Vespers, Maeterlinck is an eighth-generation augmented pilot noted for her loyalty to Arquebus and risk-averse nature.

Rank 25 in the arena, Maetlinck pilots INFECTION, a midweight bipedal AC with a mix of Arquebus and Schneider parts. Notably, it's a double trigger build that uses two pulse guns that interfere with pulse shields, and the FASAN Plasma cannon that can chip away at an AC's defenses.

---

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Maeterlinck spends her last moments repeatedly calling for more help after 621 ambushes her and her limited MT squad in the Institute City at the climax of Chapter 4.
• Guns Akimbo: INFECTION is equipped with two HI-16: GU-Q1 Pulse Guns, one in each hand. Their PA interference makes pulse shields ineffective while fighting her.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: INFECTION is also equipped with the VP-61PS Pulse Shield, giving the otherwise fragile frame more survivability.
• Named After Somebody Famous: In line with the Vespers theme naming, she is named after Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck.
• Nervous Wreck: The arena profile sums her as risk-averse and she spends most of the encounter requesting backup, from the Institute's defense to 621 attacking them. If she wins she will apologize to Snail about her repeated calls for help.
• The Smurfette Principle: Maeterlinck is the only female AC pilot in the Vespers.
• Undying Loyalty: Her Arena bio states she's unfailingly loyal to Arquebus. Unlike Swinburne, she doesn't beg for her life and remains committed to fighting 621 even as she calls Snail for help, unaware that he's deemed her disposable in his plan to incapacitate 621.
• Unwitting Pawn: V.II Snail uses Maeterlinck as bait to lure 621 even further into the Institute City, enabling him to ambush them after the hard-won fight with CEL 240.

V.VII Swinburne

Voiced by: Kosuke Echigoya (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

"I'll have you all sent for re-education. Snail would be pleased to have you."

Seventh squad leader of the Vespers, Swinburne is an immensely paranoid pilot. In Chapter 3, the Rubicon Liberation Front asks 621 to assassinate him to weaken Arquebus and help the RLF take The Wall back with greater ease.

Rank 23 in the Arena, Swinburne pilots GUIDANCE, an Arquebus model tetrapod AC that uses the VP-67EB STUN BATON, allowing buildup of Electrical Discharge, and the EARSHOT grenade launcher to devastate you from a distance.

---

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Once his AP is brought down to a certain level, he asks 621 to spare him, offering contacts and resources from Arquebus in exchange for his life. You can accept his offer, refuse, or continue attacking him.
• Didn't See That Coming: You can accept his offer so that he'll drop his shields and let his guard down — and then finish him off when he least expects it.
• Evil Virtues: Honor. If you accept Swinburne’s offer to let him go in exchange for being paid by Arquebus, he’ll hold his end of the bargain if you do let him go. Likewise, he’ll be pissed if you attack him right after you promised to spare him, and even Ayre will call you out for your deceit when the fight is over.
• Failed a Spot Check: You can approach him and get noticed rather than ambush him; he fails to realize you're not Arquebus back-up for a solid bit of irritated dialogue before finally noticing something is up, and that you're clearly disguised and trying to trick him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Snail will ship Swinburne off to “reeducation” if he is spared due to how cowardly he was, and as far as the rest of the Vespers go it seems no one gives a single damn about his fate either way.
• Grenade Launcher: Swinburne’s deadliest weapon is the EARSHOT grenade launcher, which he puts his AC’s tetrapod legs to good use by hovering and firing the grenade at the ground, all to catch you in the blast radius and set you up for his VP-67EB STUN BATON melee combo.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: A full half of his lines are rants about how his enemies need to be disciplined and reeducated. If 621 spares him, he is shipped off to an Arquebus reeducation camp due to his 'shameful behavior.' Given the little we see about what 'reeducation' entails, 621 just killing him may be kinder.
• I Gave My Word: If 621 spares him, he follows through on his end and pays what the RLF was supposed to.
• Irony: For all his paranoia, Swinburne lets his guard down way too easily. You can ambush him, or simply walk up to and stand near him until he realizes you're not a friendly unit.
• Know When to Fold Them: Swinburne will try to bribe his way to survival once he run out of repair kits and his health is dwindling down, knowing 621 will kill him otherwise.
• Laser-Guided Karma: When you approach him, he is gloating about how the Balam soldiers he has just defeated will be subject to "re-education". If you take his offer to spare him then after the mission V.VIII Pater contacts you afterwards to thank you for your work, and notes that because of Swinburne’s cowardly actions he will be subjected to "re-education" himself.
• Lobotomy: The theme of Swinburne’s emblem, which serves as a dire warning about what exactly the “reeducation” he keeps talking about might entail if you are defeated and caught.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Swinburne uses the VP-61PS pulse shield to protect himself from attacks.
• Meaningful Name: His AC name likely refers to his belief that Arquebus' enemies need "re-education", backed up by his insignia, which depicts a lobotomy.
• Morton's Fork: If attacked from behind by 621, Swinburne will be furious at being ambushed. However, even if 621 politely walks in front of him to announce their presence, it takes several lines of dialog before the Vesper realizes you're not one of his troops. He then angrily rants about 621's entirely unintentional 'disguise.'
• Noble Demon: Swinburne will honor his promise to have Arquebus pay you if you spare him, and he’s not fond of you ambushing him either, considering it cowardly. Then again, if you simply walk up to him, he’ll figure out you’re not one of his soldiers then yell at you for “trying to fool him with a disguise.”
• One-Hit Kill: Played with. If you wear him down enough to make him try to bribe you for survival, accept to spare him, but then attack him anyway, he'll always go down in one hit.
• The Paranoiac: His Arena bio notes that the augmentation surgery left him a paranoid wreck. However, Swinburne didn't get any side effects pilots that go through augmentations do, but this is precisely what worries him a lot and makes him paranoid.
• Shock Stick: One of Swinburne’s signature weapons is the VP-67EB SHOCK BATON, which builds up shock and does heavy damage via electrical discharge once the shock bar is filled. If you get too close he’ll be all too eager to smack you with it.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Patch The Good Luck from For Answer, and FromSoftware's Recurring Character Patches overall. Swinburne, like these characters, has a pragmatic setup based on safety, yet is a Dirty Coward to boot. They beg for mercy when cornered, and their respective missions allow them to retreat and reward the player. But this time Swinburne is punished for his cowardice, and you have to fight Betrayal Insurance Rokumonsen from the RLF in order to earn this outcome.

V.VIII Pater

Voiced by: Ryo Shimokawwa (Japanese)

"We at the Arquebus Group expects much from you."

The eighth squad leader of the Vespers, Pater is highlighted as a recipient of generation ten augmentation.

Rank 16 in the arena, Pater pilots DUAL NATURE, a lightweight Reverse Joint AC that features some Takigawa pulse weaponry.

---

• Affably Evil: Mostly this with a bit of Faux Affably Evil. He serves as your liaison when Arquebus contacts you for a job, and while he does act rather cold, he is nothing short of polite and courteous in the mission briefings and messages to you. If you accept the mission to assassinate him and V.V Hawkins, it's revealed that the two were close friends, and both become distraught if the other is downed first, the former starting to sob. In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, it is revealed that he also formed a close friendship V.III O'Keeffe. Pater's polite behavior goes flying out the window in favor of rage against 621 for having killed his friend and mentor V.III O'Keeffe, and during his bossfight, Pater practically breaks down in tears over O'Keeffe's demise. The Faux Affably Evil part comes into play due to the fact he has no problems sending you off to be "re-educated" in Chapter 5, and while he expresses sadness for the demise of his two friends and mentors, at the same time, he becomes joyful at the idea of getting a promotion. However, the former can be explained by pure professionalism, and the later implies that he suffers from some kind of Split Personality disorder, hence his AC's name, "DUAL NATURE."
• Condescending Compassion: He looks down on 621 for being a fourth-generation augmented but notes that 621 makes do by being a hard worker.
• Field Promotion: If you choose to ambush him and V.V Hawkins for the RLF and take out Hawkins first, Pater is initially very upset until he realizes that his is now V.V Pater. After you defeat him as well, he can only bemoan the fact that he had just become rank V.
• Informed Attribute:
  • Pater's Arena profile suggests that Pater displays certain personality defects that were attributed to his augmentations, but that he was, in reality, a sociopath even before receiving his augments. Curiously, when 621 fights Pater in the "Alea Iacta Est" path where he is one of the last surviving Vespers, he rages at 621 for fighting and killing V.III O'Keeffe claiming his superior always looked out for him, implying a much warmer relationship between the two than most of the other Vespers. For all of Pater's alleged sociopathy, he comes across as a pretty normal person who is understandably upset about his friend and coworker's death.
  • Note that this is but one of his two possible dialogues in the mission, in other dialogue he only expresses nothing but excitement over his new rank of V.III after his superiors death, in the exact same way as he reacts to V.V death and he even shows a strong attachment to become the top of Arquebus corporation in the same mission. Showing signs of dual personality disorder which stays true to his AC name DUAL NATURE.
• It's Personal: If you choose to ambush him and V.V Hawkins, then he survives the destruction of his AC and takes Hawkins's place. He is far harsher in ordering his MTs to recapture you after your escape, and exercises his authority to order his men to kill you, rather than informing his men of V.II Snail's authorization of lethal force as he normally would.
• Lack of Empathy: As a recepient of tenth-generation augmentation, his psyche was untouched, but his Arena profile explicitly says that his lack of empathy predates his augmentation surgery. Pater himself demonstrates this by his willingness to send former colleagues to re-education, and how quickly he gets over his comrades deaths at the prospect of a promotion.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, Pater switches from an AC to ones of the PCA's LCs for his boss fight. It doesn't save him.
• Number Two: Pater is normally assigned to overseeing the transport wing of Arquebus with V.V Hawkins, serving as Hawkins's adjutant.
• Rank Up: Takes Maeterlinck's place as V.VI after she dies in Institute City. He can also take Hawkins's place as V.V if you choose to ambush the Vespers, and O'Keefe's place as V.III if you choose to kill him on the "Alea Iacta Est" route.
• Split Personality: While not directly stated in his bio, the signs are there - his AC is called DUAL NATURE and has an emblem of two fetuses linked together, and when Hawkins and O'Keeffe is killed, his behavior flip-flops between openly weeping and mourning them, and being positively giddy at the prospect of being promoted and rising through the Vespers' rank.
• You Are in Command Now: In the "Alea Iacta Est" route, he takes command of what little of Arquebus' troops are left since at that point the Vespers have been gutted and their leadership destroyed, becoming the third squad leader in the process. He notes to himself to make sure to confirm V.II Snail's death before claiming his rank as well.

Balam Group

Balam Industries

"Domination through material superiority."

—Slogan of Balam Industries

One of the two largest conglomerates attempting to exploit Rubicon 3's Coral, and a major AC parts manufacturer. Balam is a blunt, highly militaristic corporation, whose simple yet effective AC designs follow a K.I.S.S. principle.

---

• Boring, but Practical: Compared to Arquebus, much of Balam's arsenal comprises rugged, bulky, yet reliable military hardware.
• Brains Versus Brawn: The brawn versus Arquebus' brains, Balam is gung-ho and focuses more on straight-up destruction operations or overt combat. There's also not much for group solidarity, as it's primarily G1 Michigan and G6 Red keeping everything in check. Their part selection generally emphasizes bigger pieces, heavier weapons, and plenty of bullets and explosives. Naturally, this focus on trying to kill the Ice Worm in exchange for letting Arquebus get the PCA warship fleet is the perfect highlight of them showing off their brawn, which costs them the war when Arquebus manages to pilfer more advanced technology from the fleeing PCA forces.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end from 621 if they accept the mission to destroy the Redguns, and Rusty if they don't. With G1 Michigan and the Redguns gone, Balam has no choice but to withdraw from Rubicon.
• Didn't Think This Through: The Redguns under Balam's directive tend to be quick to act, Blood Knight tendencies getting the best of them, which leads to problems like failing to take the Wall from the RLF in their initial assault. And as a result of entrusting Arquebus with the job of defeating the PCA's warship fleet in exchange for taking lead against the Ice Worm, their biggest rival ends up looting enough valuable equipment to raise an technologically superior army, becoming the only corporation left in the Coral race in the long run.
• Dumb Muscle: Their corporate culture emphasizes firepower, not brainpower. Simple tactics, slavish loyalty, and disdain for independent thought are the name of the game here. Which helps explain their poor performance against their more innovative rivals, Arquebus, despite their considerable military strength. The final nail in their coffin is Arquebus figuring out how to reverse engineer some of the PCA equipment while Balam only has bragging rights over fighting the Ice Worm.
• Force and Finesse: The force to Arquebus Corporation's finesse, Balam takes a brute force, shock and awe approach to the corporate war. Their emphasis on heavyweight kinetic and explosive weaponry also means they favor Mighty Glacier designs that can take the strain of their enormous guns.
• Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Contrasting Arquebus' energy weaponry, Balam favors the philosophy of 'material superiority'. Their weaponry's low EN load makes it easier for ACs to pile on armor plating without overstraining their generators. The main drawback is that ammo costs tend to get expensive after repeated use, and lack any notably exotic weaponry beyond the Pile Bunker.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: They come off as less monstrous than Arquebus, mostly because they don't have "re-education programs."
• Magnetic Weapons: Balam's other specialty is its use of linear rifles and high-powered railguns, which can be on par with any energy weapon system through sheer velocity as well as their effective ranges. They can also be charged to hit harder than normal.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The quasi-American military styling and corporate culture, their weapons and parts all belonging to rectangular, utilitarian aesthetics, along with their focus on missiles, explosives, and ballistic weapons, emphasizing Mighty Glacier traits, all call to mind Global Armaments America, to the point that the Redguns' truncated emblem resembles the GAA insignia◊ too.
  • Balam's bipedal frame parts, the Melander set, bear a striking resemblance to Crest parts from the third generation of Armored Core games.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Balam is not an explosives expert compared to the likes of Melinite or Furlong, but they do have the SB-033M Morley, a Spread Bazooka that launches five of them per shot, exemplifying their material superiority philosophy.
• Tank Goodness: Balam's LG-022T Bornemizza is the first tank part available and the heavyweight style. It's heavily armored with strong overall defenses and AP, gives high Attitude Stability, and maxes out the equipment load, allowing for the heaviest loadout in-game. It is also sluggish and has poor thrust for verticality, cementing it for ground combat and requiring anti-air weaponry if you want to deal with airborne stragglers.
• Technician vs. Performer: The technician to Arquebus's performer, Balam favors tried-and-true military hardware instead of experimenting with unorthodox results. Ironically, the Redguns behave the opposite, being flashy and gung-ho on the battlefield, whereas the Vespers from Arquebus act more professional while fielding more exotic AC parts.
• Theme Naming: Balam's weapons and AC parts are named after various entomologists.

Dafeng

"Stout tree, slender branches."

A Balam Industries subsidiary, Dafeng is definied by their Mighty Glacier design philosophy. Aside from their signature TIAN-QIANG frame, their main AC contributions are high-volume kinetic weaponry and explosive weaponry, as well as internal combustion generators with high EN Capacity.

---

• The Big Guy: None of Dafeng's AC frame parts are slim in design, instead making use of bulk to turn your AC into a giant fortress.
• Boring, but Practical: Dafeng's AC frame parts are designed with pure defense in mind, making them slow but reliable at surviving some of the hardest hitting attacks in the game. Their weapons also lack flash or style, only overwhelming a target with sheer material saturation.
• Gatling Good:
  • One weapon from Dafeng's arsenal is the DF-GA-08 HU-BEN, a Gatling gun that gives unsurpassed suppressive fire and can easily stagger enemies from sheer volume.
  • Another is the DF-GA-09 SHAO-WEI, a tri-barrel Gatling cannon designed for an AC's back units. While it has a shorter uptime than the HU-BEN until it overheats, it also cools down just as quickly.
• Mighty Glacier: As their motto implies, Dafeng's AC parts have some of the highest weight loads and have slow maneuverability, but make up for it by being able to take a hit and then some. They boast some of the highest AP, defenses (especially against kinetic and explosive damage), and Attitude Stability in the game.
• More Dakka: Dafeng's main offensive expertise is sheer bullet saturation. Even their machine gun, the DF-MG-02 CHANG-CHEN, possesses a high magazine capacity suitable for suppressive fire.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Dafeng's other expertise is explosive weaponry. Though their weapons aren't as powerful as those from Melinite, they exchange raw power for constant explosive-based pressure.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: The most notable weapon made by Dafeng is the DF-ET-09 TAI-YANG-SHOU, an Explosive Thrower that unleashes a wave of relatively compact explosives in front of its user. As it's not technically a melee weapon, it's unaffected by an arm's melee specialization.
• Theme Naming: Dafeng parts are all named after the stars of Chinese constellations.

Redguns

As a whole

Balam Industries' in-house stable of AC pilots.

---

• Animal Motifs: Every member of the troop with a revealed emblem has some sort of creature as part of it. Michigan has a heraldic lion, Nile a pair of whales, Wu Huahai a carp becoming a dragon, and the rest have sundry arthropods drawn with varying degrees of cartoony-ness wielding or fused with artillery pieces.
• Butt-Monkey: Considering they get trash-talked by G1 Michigan often, having their destroyed ACs on display during mission briefing, and having several of their members occupying the lower rungs of the Arena, the Redguns aren't having their proudest moments on Rubicon.
• Corporate Samurai: Played with. While the Redguns do serve as Balam's muscle, whether they have a code of professional ethics varies by member. While Michigan plays the part of a Drill Sergeant Nasty (and is shown to care for his underlings), Volta, Iguazu and Wu Huahai are former criminals quite literally beaten into the team; after Balam loses the fight for Rubicon, Wu Huahai betrays them and joins Arquebus. Well, attempted to in any case.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: If 621 accepts the mission to destroy the Redguns, G1 Michigan brings his mercs' full force to bear. It ultimately means nothing beyond his death. Worse, the Redguns' destruction ensures Balam has no choice but to withdraw from Rubicon, leaving Arquebus the sole Corporation to benefit from the Coral. This also happens to them if Rusty takes on the mission instead, albeit happening entirely offscreen.
• Foil: To the Vespers. Both are elite squads of corporate mercs, however, while the Vespers are made up of next-gen pilots who operate by a strict code of conduct, half of the Redguns are made up of criminals with questionable skill and loyalty.
• The Ghost: 621's status as G13 should imply there's a G8 through G12, but if there are, they aren't present on Rubicon. Considering what we see, it's not hard to guess what might have happened to them.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Compared to the Quirky Miniboss Squad that is the Vespers, the Redguns are astonishingly low ranked in the Arena to the point that, outside of their two elites, Michigan and Nile, their next-highest ranked Redgun, G4 Volta (Rank 17), is the first to die. Combine this with their lack of strategic acumen, and most besides the previously mentioned top two barely register as threats in both a firefight and even moreso in the global strategic operation on Rubicon-3.
• Leeroy Jenkins: They tend to be the first to charge in a difficult stronghold only to get destroyed, like the Wall or Watchpoint Alpha.
• Private Military Contractors: Balam's in-house squad of corporate mercs. Commanding dozens of M Ts, they are a significant presence as the military arm of one of the planet's largest factions.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Putting together a team half made up of poorly trained criminals does not do well for their combat cohesion; Iguazu and Volta want to get strong enough to kill Michigan and leave the Redguns, while Michigan basically keeps them there by force. Later in Chapter Four, Wu Huahai betrays the Redguns to join Arquebus when he believes Balam is finished. Unfortunately for him, Arquebus wasn't interested in keeping a traitor on their side.
• Smug Snake: The Redguns are cocky, to put it mildly. When you ally with the Redguns to take out some generators at a dam controlled by the RLF (and potentially an enemy AC pilot if you feel like blowing him up), the first thing they do is badmouth 621 and while disparaging their combat abilities. They still maintain this attitude when you complete the mission. Despite their boasts, however, the Redguns fail to climb the Wall as you can find their ruined ACs scattered about the street.
• Tempting Fate: After your first mission with two of the Redguns, one of the duo, Iguazu, smugly tries to make it seem like It's Personal and says that he'll be the one to climb the Wall, not you. He's long ejected in his own failed attempt by the time you actually get the mission request to do it yourself, and his partner, G4 Volta, was killed by the fortress's defences.
• Theme Naming: They're all named after Earth rivers, lakes, or waterfalls. In a darkly humorous touch, the Posthumous Character G7 Hakra is named after a dried-up river in Pakistan.
• Undying Loyalty: By the time 621 is assigned the mission to take out Michigan, the Redguns have been reduced to just him and his most fanatically loyal subordinates who have stuck with him despite Balam's increasingly worsening position against Arquebus. The remaining Redguns eagerly charge at 621 in suicidal wave attacks just to buy time for Michigan to get his AC ready to fight.

G1 Michigan

Voiced by: Setsuji Sato (Japanese), D.C. Douglas (English)

"Balam Group AC squad 'Redguns,' reporting for duty. Commence mission. Attack! Get in there, you maggots!"

The leading officer of the Redguns and the man in charge of their operations. A highly dedicated war hero, veteran of the Jupiter War and former fleet commander of Furlong Dynamics when it was still a rival company to Balam. Nile convinced him to start the Redguns over a drink of beer, and he now stands at its helm.

Rank 2 in the arena, Michigan pilots the LIGER TAIL, a Balam Tetrapod AC armed with the HU-BEN Gatling Gun and TAI-YANG-SHOU Explosive Thrower. It is also equipped with the Pulse Protection Core Expansion, allowing Michigan to deploy a temorary barrier that negates projectiles for a time and control space.

---

• A Father to His Men: Played With. There's a fair amount of evidence that he sees himself as a stern but sincere father figure to his troops. After switching sides from Furlong to Balam post-Jupiter War, he even posted a bounty on himself, stipulating that half the payout would go to the men of his old fleet. That said, his Tough Love has mixed results and his simpler tactics fair poorly against the more cunning Arquebus and the more desperate RLF. Despite this, he's shown to know his troops by name, and if 621 fails their assassination attempt, he is heard calling for stretchers to help the wounded. A low bar, but considering Michigan's equivalent is Snail, who would gleefully sacrifice others for his own gain, never let it be said that Michigan didn't try to be one.
• Affably Evil: Downplayed. Despite overall being a rather unpleasant person, he is not above showing some respect to whomever he feels deserves it, be it friend or foe. He also keeps up his banter no matter how bad a situation gets, for example commenting on 621 ruining his "field trips" almost jokingly should 621 switch sides during the Redguns' attack on the dam or not sortie with the stun needle launcher when fighting the ice worm. This even extends to if 621 takes the mission to kill him, where even the destruction of his AC doesn't seem to faze him in his last moments.
• Chest of Medals: Mentionned to have a bunch of medals during banter with other Balam soldiers. Michigan mentions having fun throwing Balam's medals as they go really far.
• Cruel to Be Kind: His bullying Drill Sergeant Nasty attitude could be interpreted as this at best, being meant to both build up his men's mettle as soldiers, and keep them from dying needlessly. With mixed results.
• Defiant to the End: Even with his mech downed and seconds away from exploding, he won't drop the gung-ho sergeant banter for anything.
  Michigan: Maggots! Do you read me? You can tell this to posterity: mean old Michigan died of a bad fall!
• Do Not Go Gentle: If Rusty ends up being the one to kill him Walter mentions that Michigan went down fighting. Obviously this applies to when you're the one to kill him as well.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: His entire persona. 621 is, ironically, the only character in the entire game with some degree of praise for even when they're chewing through his entire army trying to kill him, and he mostly uses that as a platform for creative bullying of his troops. As a result, Balam's forces are split evenly into mindless, gung-ho fanatics who he's successfully brought to heel and grumpy wannabe deserters who hate his guts.
• Evil Is Hammy: He's a heavily implied war criminal Drill Sergeant Nasty working for an Evil, Inc. corp who splits his time between hammering his allies and enemies into submission, and he does it with more psychotic gusto than nearly any other character in the game.
• Flunky Boss: He sends a horde of Balam MTs after you while preparing his AC for battle, and if you are too slow in dealing with them, you will be facing however many are left alongside Michigan. And after his defeat, another big wave of MTs show up as well.
• Four-Star Badass: Even before entering Balam, he was already a highly decorated Jupiter War veteran known as a war hero throughout that space sector. Even though he's no longer a part of his old army, his legend and reputation as a badass continue as the leader of the Redguns.
• Friendly Enemy: With Walter should you side with the Liberation over the Redguns during a mission. Walter says he'll pay for the ACs and Michigan semi joke he'll charge him tuition fees too.
• Frontline General: He's the leader of the Redguns and one of the most important people in Balam. He still takes to the frontlines in his AC Liger Tail when he moves in with his entire MT battalion to eliminate you.
• Gatling Good: LIGER TAIL's equipped with a Hu-Ben on his right, and a source of suppressive firepower for the rest of his weaponry.
• General Failure: While a talented AC pilot, his actual leadership skills aren't up to par. His corporate rivals in Arquebus have little but disdain and mockery for him, and considering how regularly and easily they outmaneuver him, it's not hard to see why. His tactics don't really have any greater depth than 'throw steel at a problem and hope it goes away', his peculiar obsession with 621 means the independent merc is routinely Easily Forgiven for Playing Both Sides even when their antics do serious damage to Balam (up to and including bullying and demoralizing his own troops with 621's superior performance even when they're literally coming for his head), and his Drill Sergeant Nasty attitude had cultivated either immense resentment or fanaticism.
• Jerkass: He's a Drill Sergeant Nasty who appears to believe that the best way to get the most out of his troops is with constant insults and condescension. This makes his sincere Villain Respect for 621 even stranger and funnier, especially in the mission where you're assigned to assassinate him.
• Killed Offscreen: If you opt to assassinate V.V Hawkins and V.VIII Pater instead of Michigan when given the choice, Arquebus sends Rusty to kill him instead. Walter only makes mention of it once you return from your own assassination job.
• Laughably Evil: A brutal, bullying corpofascist whose Large Ham Drill Sergeant Nasty persona is so over-the-top it becomes hilarious.
• Mission Control: He takes over this role from Handler Walter for the mission to destroy the Ice Worm.
• Old Soldier: He's old enough to have gained command of an entire armed fleet before joining Balam and creating the Redguns. He's evidently much older than the rest of the Redguns as well — Red saw news reports of Michigan's heroic deeds during the war when he was still just a young lad, and now is part of the Redguns as an adult. Doesn't stop him one bit from taking to the frontlines in a tetrapod AC.
• Price on Their Head: He put a hit on himself on Balam's bounty board, despite his status as one of Balam's primary military assets and a famous war hero that nobody in their right mind would ever want to kill. It's essentially a scheme to provide pension money for his former comrades at Furlong Dynamics, as half of the proceeds gained from killing Michigan will go to them instead.
• Red Baron: V.IV Rusty says he's known as "The Hell on Four Legs," likely having earned his name as a top-tier AC pilot and his unit being a tetrapod.
• Tough Love: Deconstructed. His bullying Drill Sergeant Nasty demeanor appears to have this as its rationale, but Michigan's positive reinforcement is infrequent at best or non-existent at worst. The Redguns are split between either fanatics whos worship and desire his approval or are highly resentful of him. This split rears its ugly head when their numbers start dwindling due to them either dying or deserting.
• Villain Respect:
  • Even if 621 chooses to fight him, he recognizes them for the threat that they are and brings the full might of Balam's MT squad down on them. When one of the MT pilots laughs at how it's just a single AC against all of them, Michigan gets downright offended on 621's behalf and goes down a list of their accomplishments, saying the squad has no chance against them until he can get his own AC deployed. When another pilot mocks Iguazu as a cowardly traitor, he tells her that Iguazu was worth 100 of her, and that 621 is worth 20 of him.
  • He complements V.IV Rusty during the Ice Worm mission, something he never does with his actual subordinates:
    Michigan: Finally! Someone with their head screwed on straight! Ever thought about switching sides?
    Rusty: Sure is an honor to be praised by the Redguns' "Hell on Four Legs"...but I'll pass.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Logs and arena bios indicate that the way he won his reputation as the 'Hero of Jupiter' really wasn't pretty. Red's writeup even describes him as being inspired by Michigan's 'brutality'.
• Worthy Opponent: Despite knowing 621 has been sent to kill him, Michigan immediately chastises any of his subordinates who badmouth 621, pointing out that the independent mercenary is worth 20 times as much as a Redgun, which makes them worth several thousand times as much as a lowly MT pilot.
• Zerg Rush: Attempts this on 621 by siccing an entire ocean of MTs to eliminate him in one of the selectable missions in Chapter 4. He was evidently prepared for it, but it doesn't succeed.

G2 Nile

Voiced by: Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese)

"You're daring, I'll give you that. But I've fried bigger fish than you."

The deputy commander of the Redguns and a former foe of Michigan's before he was recruited by Balam.

Rank 7 in the arena, Nile pilots DEEP DOWN, a heavyweight bipedal AC notable for both its mix of MELANDER and TIAN-QIANG parts, as well as the three different types of missile weapons equipped.

---

• Always Gets His Man: Before the formation of the Redguns, he was commander of the Balam Security Force. During this time, he had a near perfect track record of successful arrests, including G3 Wu Huahai. The only man he didn't put in cuffs was G1 Michigan.
• Bit Character: Compared to every other Redgun. Despite nominally being Michigan's right-hand man, Nile's only in-story appearance is as the boss of an optional mission in Chapter 1 only available in a second playthrough, and he is never mentioned after his death.
• Da Chief: Before the formation of the Redguns, he was commander of the Balam Security Force, Balam Industries' very own Law Enforcement, Inc..
• Defeat Equals Friendship: If Nile's own defeat was not being able to arrest Michigan, anyways. Out of all of the Redguns, he's by far the most loyal to Michigan.
• The Ghost: Other than his arena data, he makes no appearance in or out of mission on a new game cycle. NG+ cycles see him get a proper introduction in mission where he is killed by 621 about a minute or two after he appears.
• Law Enforcement, Inc.: According to his arena profile, G2 Nile was commander of the Balam Security Force, a paramilitary police organization that existed before the formation of the Redguns.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Three of DEEP DOWN's four weapons are missiles. Amusingly, each missile launcher is of a different type (Active Homing, Vertical Launch, and Normal/Direct Fire), embodying the underlying principle of the "Itano Circus" in a near-pure way.
• Number Two: The second of the Redguns both in callsign and his status as the secondary commander.
• The Rival: His Arena profile states that he and Michigan were once rivals during a corporate conflict between Balam and Michigan's old employer, Furlong, before Michigan jumped ship and the two started working together. It must have been a friendly rivalry because the two shared a drink once they were on the same side.
• The Smart Guy: Walter calls him "the brains to Michigan's muscle."
• Underestimating Badassery: He holds none of Michigan's fascination with 621, only realizing why Michigan likes them so much when he dies.
  Nile: (if the 621 is brought to low health) Lost your nerve? Pathetic, G13. What did Michigan see in you?

G3 Wu Huahai

Voiced by: Hiroki Goto (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

"Balam was a sinking ship. But Arquebus's star is on the rise. And me... I'll be well rewarded when I bring your head on a silver platter. Yes... I smell opportunity!"

An opportunistic Redgun pilot who would later defect to Arquebus after Balam was kicked from Rubicon.

Rank 22 in the arena, Wu Huahai pilots LI LONG, a tetrapod AC with some missile weaponry and a pulse shield for added defense.

---

• Boxed Crook: Wu Huahai's Arena profile reveals that he was a con artist at the head of a vast criminal enterprise before G2 Nile brought him down. Much like Iguazu, Wu does not seem particularly loyal to Michigan or the Redguns and only serves reluctantly.
• Con Man: According to his arena profile, before becoming one of Balam's mercenaries, he was a born con artist who would take on any scheme to make a quick buck. Unfortunately for him, his illicit Feng Shui Pharmacy operation was a fatal overstep, imperiling the health of Balam's economic sphere and leading to widespread disease. He was ultimately shut down by G2 Nile.
• Glory Seeker: He's actually glad if Maeterlinck is defeated before him, saying that the glory of defeating 621 will be all his.
• Hidden Depths: If Volta's Arena profile is any indication, Wu Huahai has corporate knowledge as he's been giving the former some business lessons.
• Only in It for the Money: Strongly implied. He started out as a con artist who would do anything for more money, even endangering other people's lives. After being arrested by G2 Nile, he only joined the Redguns because the alternative was likely imprisonment or death. While part of the Redguns, he kept his head for economics, teaching G4 Volta about business. He later jumps ship, signing up with Arquebus. When you fight him, he's gleefully expecting to be well rewarded for killing you.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: In a roundabout way, V.II Snail's idea of rewarding G3 for turning coat is to throw him under the bus immediately, either at the hands of Institute City's autonomous defenses or 621. He's barely a speedbump to the latter even alongside V.VI Maeterlinck.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Deserts Balam for Arquebus sometime before they reach Institute City. Ayre herself muses he made the right call. Unfortunately for him, that also put him in 621's way.
• Villainous Friendship: G4 Volta's Arena profile states that Volta has been taking business lessons from the savvy G3.

G4 Volta

Voiced by: Hiroya Eshigawa (Japanese)

"How about that. Guess you're not a total amateur."

A braggadocious Redgun pilot first introduced during Balam's assault on the Galia Dam Complex alongside his fellow Redgun, G5 Iguazu.

Rank 17 in the arena, Volta pilots the AC CANNON HEAD. It's a TIAN-QIANG/BORNEMISSZA tank AC capable of oppressive fire from long distances. It's equipped with Dafeng's GOU-CHEN Grenade Launcher and Balam's long-ranged ZIMMERMAN shotgun.

---

• The Big Guy: He is the third best ranked Redgun in the arena mostly because his AC is a durable tank with strong firepower.
• Boxed Crook: Like G3 Wu Huahai and G5 Iguazu, it is strongly implied that G4 Volta was coerced into joining the Redguns, but unlike the other two, he seems to have grown to like it there.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite his attitude and his rough comradery with Iguazu over their shared animosity towards Michigan, Volta's last thoughts were addressed to Iguazu. It was about how Michigan actually does care about them both in his own way and that Michigan certainly cares more about them than the suits at Balam do. Volta even seems entertained with the notion that the Redguns are like "a family" to them.
• Four Is Death: His rank is 4 and he's the first of the Redguns to be killed in the game proper.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: The log retrieved from his smoking wreck at the Wall cuts off his last thought abruptly.
• Killed Offscreen: Dies during Balam's failed assault on the Wall, with his wrecked AC being shown during the briefing to add insult to injury. Notably, he is the only pilot in the game who will, regardless of route, die without 621's intervention.
• Mighty Glacier: CANNON HEAD is a very durable and powerful AC, but is lacking in mobility due to its tank legs.
• Those Two Guys: Volta is rarely seen without G5 Iguazu as they both came from troubled backgrounds and were both put in their place by G1 Michigan. Both want to leave the Redguns once they prove themselves superior to Michigan and "punch the daylights out of him".
• Tank Goodness: His AC, CANNON HEAD, lives up to its name as a tank-styled AC outfitted with tank treads as a base and multiple explosive weapons.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: While many pilots only appear in one mission, Volta is still the first of the corporate elite to die.

G5 Iguazu

Voiced by: Hiroshi Tsuchida (Japanese), Griffin Burns (English)

"Watch it, freelancer! I'm not going down like Volta. I'm gonna punch the living daylights out of Michigan, and no one's stopping me!"

A confident and dismissive Redguns pilot that 621 meets early in their career on Rubicon.

Rank 19 in the Arena, Iguazu pilots HEAD BRINGER, a customized MELANDER frame AC that offers a lighter profile while still providing some protection.

---

• Ace Custom: In the True Final Boss battle, he overpowers ALLMIND and takes control of the MIND GAMMA AC, which is leagues better and stronger than his HEAD BRINGER. In the second half of the fight when the AC is totaled, he also takes control of ALLMIND's modified IB-07 SOL 644, which is even deadlier.
• Arc Number: Gun 5 is a Generation 4 augmented human, with 5 + 4 = 9. He's also found at the 19th spot in the Arena, symbolizing how he has potential to be great, but is held back by something. In addition, he's encountered a total of 9 times across the three playthroughs needed to achieve the "Alea Iacta Est" ending before finally fighting him as the pilot of the game's equivalent to Nineball.
• Always Second Best: The core motivation behind his rivalry and jealousy toward 621. No matter what he does, Iguazu always falls short behind some no-named freelance merc who showed up out of nowhere. It doesn't help that when faced with overwhelming odds, Iguazu opts to get the hell out of dodge while 621 charges into battle and somehow comes out on top. As he puts it in "Alea Iacta Est", 621 was "the freelancer who had it all".
• Boomerang Bigot: His Arena profile reveals that he's a Generation 4 Augmented Human just like 621, which explains a lot about both the peculiar mental issues that tend to distract him in combat and his passionate hatred for Handler Walter's pet 'freak'.
• Boxed Crook: He and G4 Volta were criminals who were picked up by the Redguns. Despite his initial misgivings, Iguazu accepted his role in the company and began working for the Redguns in full.
• Brain Uploading: In NG++, he uploads himself into ALLMIND purely out of his desire to kill 621. His comments on how his "ghost of [him]" won't last long imply that not only did this process kill his original body, but that he is slowly undergoing a Death of Personality as a result of the assimilation. Despite this, he ultimately manages to maintain his identity and control over the SOL 644 through pure hatred.
• Butt-Monkey: Iguazu is almost a comedic character with how big his misfortune under Michigan's command is:Every brag he does on a mission gets him yelled at through the comms, he gets picked for the Ice Worm mission for snarking that it's suicide and his arena info mentions Michigan literally rearranged his face.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He makes a handful of three appearances across the whole story, with his last appearance ending in his death at 621's hands. His role is significantly expanded in NG++ where he repeatedly shows up to attack 621, and in the True Final Boss battle, hijacks ALLMIND in a last-ditch attempt to kill them once and for all.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His Arena profile mentions that he once tried picking a fight with G1 Michigan, and was so thoroughly wrecked that his face got literally disfigured in the process.
• Determinator: The moment C4-621 shows him up, Iguazu decides then and there he will surpass and/or kill 621, even if it kills him. It's a testament to his strength of will that even after having his mind uploaded into ALLMIND, he fights back against the A.I. and hijacks its AC just to try and kill 621 one last time.
• Dirty Coward: While talking tough, you can generally count on Iguazu to never fight fair if he doesn't have to, either ambushing you while you're already in a fight or having backup in some form. He is also one of the few pilots to rely on a shield.
  • On NG+, instead of facing you himself at Watchpoint Alpha, he hires an assassin to kill you for him. Though this is justified in that in NG+, you have likely already defeated him two separate times by this point.
• Dub Personality Change: Iguazu's view of 621 differs slightly in the original Japanese script. While he's very much a Green-Eyed Monster in the English version, the Japanese script has him begrudgingly admit he actually admires 621.
• Dying Declaration of Hate: On the final route, as the final boss, Iguazu spits out with vitriol his envy of 621 as ALLMIND's AC self-destructs. Subverted in the Japanese script; as much as it pisses him off, he admits he admires 621's abilities in his dying moments.
• Evil Counterpart: To 621, but this comes to the forefront in one particular route. While 621 and Ayre have a symbiotic partnership as part of the Coral Hive Mind, Iguazu becomes a finger puppet in ALLMIND's network. Even the circumstances that leave the two to fight alone are completely opposite — Ayre fights alongside 621 until her AC is crippled, while Iguazu forcefully hijacks ALLMIND because he wants to kill 621 himself that badly. Cut dialogue further heightens the parallels; in the "Liberator of Rubicon" and "Alea Iacta Est" paths, 621 has nothing but trust in Ayre and believes in the idea that Coral can co-exist with humanity. Iguazu doesn't give a damn about the Coral, but he's able to better sync with it via The Power of Hate.
• Evil Is Petty: On NG+, his hatred for you goes so far beyond just trying to prove that he's the better pilot than you that he hires an assassin to kill you at Watchpoint Alpha rather than try to take you there himself.
• Four Is Death: In "Alea Iacta Est", Iguazu makes five appearances in comparison to the three times he shows up in the other two story paths, though he appears as an enemy four times: First at the Galia Dam when 621 betrays the Redguns mid-op at the RLF's behest, second when he takes on a job from the Coyotes to steal data from RaD at Grid 069, third at Institute City where he tries to take out both 621 and V.II Snail, and lastly in the final story mission where he pulls a Villain Override against ALLMIND for one final attempt. It winds up being his last.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Chapter 4, Iguazu complains about hearing voices in his head, heavily implied to be the Coral attempting Contact with him as Iguazu, like 621, is an augmented human and one of the few people who can hear and interact with the Coral. Unlike 621 with Ayre, Iguazu does not deal with it very well.
  • You won't notice it at first, but in "Alea Iacta Est", Iguazu's AC has undergone some minor changes; HEAD BRINGER's arm parts are replaced with MIND ALPHA ones. Keep in mind the MIND parts are custom AC parts created by ALLMIND and the only other two pilots who use them are Sulla (who is heavily implied to be in league with ALLMIND) and Kate Markson (who is all but stated to be ALLMIND itself posing as a merc). The end of the route reveals he's uploaded himself into ALLMIND, if only so he can have one last opportunity to kill 621.
• Green-Eyed Monster: As 621's career grows, Iguazu becomes increasingly resentful of what he considers a simple merc. A lot of this resentment stems from the fact that 621 is not only a far better pilot than he is and upstages him at almost every turn, but also the fact that 621 takes down threats Iguazu chose to run away from. His envy and hate for 621 is so great he essentially pulls a Hijacked by Ganon Villain Override on the True Final Boss. His final moments in this route finally has him admit his envy to himself, seeing 621 as "the freelancer who had it all".
• Hot-Blooded: Deconstructed. He gets annoyed and infuriated very easily, which leads him to picking fights with people he really shouldn't. His Arena bio notes how he tried to pick a fight with Michigan, the Hero of Jupiter, and got the shit kicked out of him for his troubles. After 621 performs admirably during the assault on Galia Dam or betrays them mid-op to assist the RLF, he develops an intense and bitter rivalry with them, which leads to his death; in the first two paths, he's killed in an attempt at ambushing 621 in Depth 2 while in "Alea Iacta Est", he's destroyed despite having hijacked ALLMIND and taken control of SOL 644, though at that point he's already been absorbed into its network and will disappear once he kills 621.
• Humiliation Conga: He is subjected to this throughout the game as well as his career, but it's especially so in NG+ and beyond, where he can be defeated two-on-one by 621 backstabbing him and Volta during the Dam Complex mission which causes Iguazu to sourly brag to him about how the Redguns are going to take the Wall, only for him to chicken out before the operation and end up having the same merc take the Wall instead. Then Iguazu decides to take his own freelancing mercenary job for extra scratch only to encounter the same merc who destroys him in battle after their 1v1 duel gets crashed by unknown crafts. Then during the Ice Worm mission, the merc wins all the praise yet again by taking down the beast, while he himself most likely ends up being the first to go down during the operation and mocked by his "allies." Then Balam sends him into the Depths of the Watchpoint which ends with most of the survey team destroyed before they can make proper landing, causing him to desert yet again from the group, but not before he gets orders to terminate 621 at Depth 2. Depending on how many times you've kicked his ass before, you either humiliate him again or he's forced to swallow his pride and hire an assassin to try and kill you. Is it really any wonder then that by the time of the Coral Convergence mission he's gone almost completely berserk with his obsession with killing you?
• Karmic Death: Normally not the case since he usually is unceremoniously mowed down by you in Watchpoint Alpha, but in "Alea Iacta Est", when you finally beat him and ALLMIND, he tries one last attempt to take you down with one last laser blade swing. Unfortunately for him, this overclocking ends up blowing up what was left of the AC. Iguazu's hot blood always got him into trouble for nothing, so it's appropriate his last act of hatred was sabotaged by his own fury.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Initially, HEAD BRINGER was basically a custom version of the TRAINER AC used in test runs. Iguazu himself plays very safely keeping his pulse shield up as often as he can while circling around you from a safe mid-range distance while trying to land hits with his linear rifle and missiles, and really only resorts to his machine gun if his shield overheats. In certain story missions after the ICE WORM, HEAD BRINGER had its MELANDER C3 arms replaced for MIND ALPHA ones, the pulse shield for a laser orbit, and can now utilize the pulse armor expansion.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: As an AC pilot Iguazu is nothing to write home about, with a rather basic build and fighting style. By the time NG++ rolls around, he's little more than a speed bump. This all changes when he allows himself to be uploaded into ALLMIND in order to kill 621. He then proceeds to override ALLMIND during the final boss battle to become the True Final Boss. Armed with the SOL 644, he quickly proves to be one of the hardest boss fights in the game due to his new AC and more aggressive fighting style.
• Offscreen Momentof Awesome: It's implied that he was the one who finished off Walter and Carla in the "Alea Iacta Est" route in a rather one sided engagement. Although the latter two were no doubt heavily worn down from fighting Allmind's other forces, they were still both highly skilled AC pilots with Walter even being the final boss in another route.
• The Power of Hate: His envy and hate toward 621 is what propels his actions, but it's especially poignant in the "Alea Iacta Est" path where his obsession with killing 621 is so great he overpowers and takes control of the SOL 644 and two SEA SPIDER C-Weapons just to have the opportunity to kill them one last time. Cut dialogue expands on this with ALLMIND stating that a heightened aggressive state creates a powerful stimulus, enabling Iguazu to better sync with the Coral and allow him to simultaneously control not only two SEA SPIDERS, but also the SOL 644.
• Recurring Boss: Iguazu has the "honor" of being the most fought character in the game. On NG, you fight him when he attempts to ambush you at Watchpoint Alpha. On NG+, you can choose to betray him and his teammate at the dam assault mission and when he attempts to kill you while you are helping Carla take out a rival dozer clan encroaching on her territory. Though notably, you do NOT fight him at Watchpoint Alpha, as he hires the assassin Coldcall to kill you in his place. And on NG++, he manages to hijack ALLMIND itself just for one last attempt to kill you.
• The Rival: Albeit entirely one-sided on his part. Iguazu initially considers C4-621 a "nobody" and disparages them, but begrudgingly acknowledges their abilities. Until the Redguns' ill-fated assault on the Wall, at least. As 621 climbs the mercenary ranks and establishes themselves as a top-tier pilot, Iguazu becomes obsessed with defeating them. His bitter rivalry with 621 is to the point where, in the Golden Ending, he somehow hijacks ALLMIND to kill the augmented human in one final showdown.
• Rule of Three: Outside of "Alea Iacta Est", Iguazu shows up three times in each story path: Once at Galia Dam, again during the operation to destroy the PCA's Ice Worm, and at Watchpoint Alpha after going AWOL and attempting to kill 621 in a panicked frenzy.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Despite his boasts, he gets cold feet before the Redguns attack the Wall and flies AWOL just in time for his teammates to get soundly defeated. He does this again at Watchpoint Alpha, this time deserting the Redguns.
• Sore Loser: Saying that he doesn't take his losses well is an utter understatement. Not only that he keeps coming back to fight 621 again and again, he even goes as far as hiring an assassin to kill 621 in the "Alecta Iacta Est" and "Liberator of Rubicon" routes.
• Spanner in the Works: His role in the Golden Ending. ALLMIND was all but guaranteed to win and absorb 621 and Ayre into itself until Iguazu takes control of it to kill his "rival".
• Taking You with Me: Attempts this in "Alea Iacta Est" where he tries to mount one last attack after his AP is depleted. As the AC has suffered critical damage, however, all he accomplishes is overloading it to the point the AC can no longer function at all.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: His hatred for 621 is so great it allows him to take control of ALLMIND in the Golden Ending all so he can finally kill 621.
• Trapped by Gambling Debts: Forced into the life of an augmented mercenary by some especially bad luck.
• True Final Boss: Having integrated into ALLMIND, Iguazu suddenly fights with the A.I. and takes control of the SOL 644 to kill 621, becoming the final boss of "Alea Iacta est" and of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon overall.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Even prior to the game's events, Iguazu had a knack of this. According to his Arena profile, he once picked a fight with Michigan, who at that point was already well known as the hero of the Jupiter War. Three guesses on the results, and the first two guesses are wrong.
  • He also keeps underestimating 621, always assuming that they're lucky and keeps charging head on multiple times, expecting to gain an upper hand on them, only to fail every single time. This puts him in contrast to V.II Snail, who, while shares similar hatred towards 621, at least takes precaution against 621 and strategizes plans around capturing them.
• Unknown Rival: Playing through the game you would not know one of the two allies you had on an early mission will label you as his archnemesis until midway point.
• Villain Override: In the Golden Ending, Iguazu forcefully takes control of ALLMIND and their mech during the final battle as he is simply that obsessed with killing 621 once and for all.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: On NG+, he is unaccounted for by the end. On NG, he presumably dies in the tunnels of Watchpoint Alpha after his failed attempt to kill you. And in NG++, he dies after trying to kill you using ALLMIND. But on NG+, he never appears in person again after the Iceworm mission; he sends an assassin after you instead of trying to kill you himself.
• You Can See Me?: Due to his status as an augmented human, Iguazu can hear the voices of the Coral. In fact, the voice he's been complaing about is actually Ayre's, as he recognizes her voice during the True Final Boss battle.

G6 Red

Voiced by: Katsunori Okai (Japanese), Robbie Daymond (English)

"Attention, G13 Raven!"

The intermediary between 621 and Balam Industries.

Rank 27 in the arena, Red pilots HERMIT, a MELANDER frame AC that most notably uses a LING-TAI Generator.

---

• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Like his hero Michigan, Red inflects like a Southern drill instructor to everyone. In his case, Red does it out of imitation and does occasionally slip out of it.
• Hero Worship: Michigan's televised exploits left such an impression on G6 Red's childhood that he pulled all the stops to model his career and mannerisms on his idol.
• Miles Gloriosus: He's very loud and authoritative, and somehow is the superior to most of the other Redguns. Despite that, he's a very low-ranking mercenary, being the final battle of the F series, aka the series 621 starts in.
• Sanity Slippage: Is very understandably freaking out when encountered in the third route. He briefly teams up with 621 to fend off some attackers, before turning on them out of (justifiable) paranoia. Ayre sadly notes that he's under too much combat stress to be reasoned with.
• Sole Survivor: By the end of the game, he's the last Redgun standing, and likely the last Balam trooper left on Rubicon. He's killed directly by 621 in the "Alea Iacta Est" path, and presumably burned with the rest of the planet in the "Fires of Raven" ending, but he is to be seen in the "Liberator of Rubicon" path and may have been able to escape the planet.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Red is rather superstitious and believes the number 13 is bad luck. In Chapter 3, he advises 621 to join the Redguns and climb up the ranks to ditch the G13 callsign altogether. Red spends his duel with 621 in the "Alea Iacta Est" path ranting about how their 'joining' the Redguns as G13 was a curse, responsible for everything that had gone wrong since then.
• Ungrateful Bastard: 621 can rescue him from an ambush late in the game after the Redguns are destroyed. However, Red subsequently turns his own guns on 621 in a fit of rampant paranoia.

G7 Hakra

A Redgun whose wrecked machine is found among the ruins of the contaminated city in 621's first mission.

---

• Black Comedy: All the Redguns are named after Earth rivers, lakes, or waterfalls. G7 Hakra is named after a dried-up river in Pakistan.
• Posthumous Character: It's all but outright said that Hakra's dead, given that G3 Wu Huahai takes his rank later. Walter rejects the idea of 621 using Hakra's pilot license because the risk of 621 being exposed as an imposter is greater than if they took an independent license.
• Red Right Hand: Almost literally. From the scan 621 takes, the left arm of Hakra's AC was brick-red, contrasting the dull green paint scheme the rest of the mech had.

Other Affiliated Individuals

Dafeng Student Pilot

Voiced by: Johnny Yong Bosch (English)

"I just wanted a callsign of my own..."

—Last words of Dafeng Student Pilot

A student pilot who was assigned to an ill-fated mission to deliver a Dafeng sample AC to the Redguns.

The TESTER AC is a TIAN-QIANG frame that featured an Active Homing Missile and several Rubiconian parts, such as the RaD 12345 booster and the BAWS RANSETSU-AR.

---

• Deconstructed Character Archetype: A common character type in Real Robot anime is the teenage pilot who finds himself controlling a Super Prototype, which becomes instrumental in a conflict. The Student Pilot hits all these checkmarks, as he is suddenly forced to pilot the Tester AC in live combat, a machine Arquebus considers to have dangerous potential. Unfortunately, without narrative causality to protect the student, his inexperience dooms him and his advanced AC while fighting a veteran mercenary using a tried and tested model.
• Eager Rookie: Young, idealistic, and in the wrong genre to be the hero he imagines himself to be.
• Falling into the Cockpit: The student pilot was only assigned to the Dafeng test AC to deliver it to the proper Redguns, only to end up in actual combat when the Arquebus Corporation hires 621 to destroy the craft. He's effortlessly killed by 621.
• Heroic Wannabe: The student pilot talks like your typical mecha anime protagonist, but he's utterly out of his depth against 621, and dies an unceremonious death.
• I Just Want to Be Special: As his death quote says, his main motivation is to get a callsign; proof that he's joined the ranks of the 'elite' soldiers in Rubicon.
• Super Prototype: He was in charge to pilot one that 621 is tasked to destroy. Unfortunately for the student, the strong points of the prototype were compatibility and higher possibility of customization. The student doesn't have multiple parts to try on hand and the difference in experience was too great for him.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Had 621 not shown up and killed him, the student pilot would have taken up the callsign G13 in the Redguns. If G6 Red's words in Chapter 3 during the prep work to take out the PCA are any indication, however, anyone who winds up with that callsign isn't going to last very long.
• Warm-Up Boss: As a student pilot in a test AC, The student pilot serves as an introduction to AC on AC combat. The student pilot goes down like a chump due to inexperience.

The Redgun MT Pilots

Kennebec, Albany, Osawa, and Potomac

The Redguns' remaining forces after they were practically wiped out. In the "Intercept the Redguns" mission, there are four that Michigan called by name: Kennebec, Albany, Osawa, and Potomac.

---

• Cannon Fodder: As MT pilots they stand little to no chance agaisnt Raven. They're only there buy time while Michigan readies up LIGER TAIL.
• The Smart Guy: Osawa is noted by Michigan as the one who's good with numbers.
• The Smurfette Principle: Albany is the only notable female member of the Redguns. Unlike Maeterlinck, Albany isn't even an AC pilot.
• Theme Naming: Even these MT pilots aren't exempt from the Redguns' naming convention, with all of them named after rivers.
• Underestimating Badassery: Kennebec dismisses Raven, seemingly unaware of his reputation. Michigan rightfully calls Kennebec out on it.
• Undying Loyalty: They are ready to die with Michigan. Michigan himself would rather they get ready to eject and pull out if possible.

Minor Corporations

Elcano Foundry

A company that began in steel forging and production and has shifted to producing advanced, lightweight AC parts with a flashy, sporty aesthetic. More deeply involved in the Rubicon conflict than is immediately apparent.

---

• Ace Custom: With their assistance, the Rubicon Liberation Force created a state-of-the-art AC. It becomes Rusty's new AC at the end of the game.
• Ambiguously Related: They're the primary suppliers of the RLF's most advanced technology, with no other faction using their gear. What's unclear is the nature of their link with the planet and its people, and why they're so close to the RLF - are they also a Rubiconian company, do they have Rubiconians in management positions, are they just outworld sympathisers, or did they see an opportunity in tapping into a market that other corporations wouldn’t? ALLMIND further muddies the waters, listing an AC Test with a Rubiconian theme that incorporates Elcano parts among others.
• Boring, but Practical: Their frame parts are a jack of all trades regarding stats, for they boast considerable speed and still have better overall defenses and loading capacity than the average lightweight parts, thus giving those who don’t want to compromise on speed nor defenses a healthy alternative while also not requiring a powerful generator to operate. As for their weaponry, shooting oversized spikes at opponents seems crude, but the damage and impact they deal can shred an opponent fast, plus they’re light and suited for an AC that uses the company’s frame parts.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Mentioned as early as the back-half of Chapter 1, between BAWS guards idle chatter and an intercepted encrypted communication when revisiting the Wall. By applying the knowledge they gleaned from Schneider ACs and putting their lot in with the RLF and collaborating with Furlong Dynamics, they create the top-line AC, STEEL HAZE ORTUS for Rusty, and provide other Schneider-based ACs to furnish members of the RLF during the "Liberator of Rubicon" route.
• Flechette Storm: They have a unique line of needle weaponry, designed to punch through enemy armour with high-velocity metal spikes. In-game information implies that it was designed with the help of Furlong, the galaxy's leading missile launcher manufacturers. Elcano needlers are lightweight and have an excellent balance of damage and rate of fire, at the expense of range and ammo capacity.
• Fragile Speedster: Played with. Their signature FIRMEZA frame is sleek, lightweight, speedy, and skeletally thin, but among the lightweight frame parts it boasts above average defensive stats and loading capacity, allowing for more versatility in build compositions than traditionally seen within its weight class. The ALBA parts belonging to STEEL HAZE ORTUS take the traits even further, stealing data directly from Schneider.
• Mythology Gag: They share a name with Enrique Elkano from Armored Core 4 and For Answer, a former Lynx who retired and designed the Wonderful Body and Merrygate NEXTs for Global Armaments.
• Neutral in Name Only: Despite selling products on the open market, only members of the Rubicon Liberation Front are seen in-game using Elcano Foundry AC parts. So it comes at little surprise that they've been aligned with the Rubicon Liberation Front, using information gathered on Schneider's designs to create an Ace Custom, one that would give the RLF a solid chance at fighting back against the latest generation models fielded by Arqebus and Balam.
• Neutral No Longer: The RLF manages to secure a formal arrangement for their cooperation sometime towards the end of Chapter 4.
• Technician vs. Performer: The technician to Schneider’s performer, Elcano Foundry created lightweight frame parts with their FIRMEZA lineup that focused more on the basics of overall improved stats and loading capacity, in comparison to Schneider’s focus on raw speed and power. Elcano later decides to create an Ace Custom — the ALBA frame — after studying the specs of Schneider’s frame parts. The result is an all-around versatile lightweight frame that boasts both impressive speeds and a balanced suite of stats. Rusty is its the one to pilot.

Takigawa Harmonics

One of the leading manufacturers in pulse technology.

---

• Dispel Magic: As the majority of pulse weapons are also made by Takigawa, their armaments will prove valuable in disabling enemies utilizing Pulse Armor faster.
• Energy Weapons: Compared to the Arquebus Group and the VCPL, Takigawa specializes in pulse weaponry and shields.
• Hufflepuff House: Takigawa is a decidedly unambitious corporation more interested in selling its arms than actively participating in the war over Coral, similar to Melinite.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They manufacture nearly half of the pulse shields available in the game.
• Vibroweapon: The Pulse Blade pounds its targets with high-frequency oscillations.

Vice and Cohen Plasma Laboratory

VCPL is a manufacturer whose primary focus in the AC part market is Energy Weapons and especially melee-based ones. They had collaborated with Schneider on the development of one of their weapons.

---

• Attack Drone: Their most notable weapon is the Vvc-700LD Laser Drone. Only V.I Freud comes equipped with this launcher, and the weapon itself can only be unlocked after defeating him in the arena.
• Energy Weapons: Much like Arquebus, though specializing towards plasma-based guns and launchers.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Of the energy variety. VCPL has several plasma missile launchers that can inflict chip damage even when the enemy isn't directly hit.
• Laser Blade: VCPL's other specialty is manufacturing these, with many of the melee weapons out in the battlefield being their handiwork.

Furlong Dynamics

A corporation whose primary focus in the AC part market are missiles, boosters and fire control systems. They once had a bitter rivalry with Balam Industries, with G1 Michigan originally working under them.

---

• Long Range Combatant: Much of Furlong's AC tech is designed to help create mid-long range fighters, using fire control systems that favor their missile launchers as well as providing generic support for mid range gunfire. Naturally, their boosters were designed with speed and versatility in mind to help keep ACs away from enemies who favor close range instead.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Furlong's weapon lineup specializes in missiles. Their most extensive shoulder weapon platform can launch up to sixteen missiles at once, and ACs can equip two of them. They also have a couple of handheld missile launchers to further increase the amount.
• Meaningful Name: Furlong is a unit of measurement that is equal to one-eighth of a mile. Appropriate for a company specializing in missiles and guidance systems.
• Neutral in Name Only: Several hidden comms records reveal that Furlong — despite being a supposedly neutral party in the Coral War — made some serious moves behind the scenes while Balam and Arquebus continue to fight each other. This includes working with Elcano Foundry, a third party who deals exclusively with the Rubicon Liberation Front and is being bankrolled by BAWS. Furlong offered to lend its technological expertise to Elcano to help them develop the ALBA model AC for Rubicon Liberation Front.
• Wild Card: One hidden comms record from an independent mercenary talking about the other corporations in the Coral War notes that, while Furlong is acting openly as a neutral party willing to sell to anyone, the company is far too crafty and ambitious to be satisfied with merely selling products on an open market, so they are more than likely pursuing a hidden goal of their own. This is later revealed to be a collabarative effort with Elcano, helping develop their new AC model ALBA, which is designed to put the Rubicon Liberation Front on an even keel with the latest generation ACs being fielded by Arquebus and Balam.

Belius Applied Weapon Systems (BAWS)

A Rubiconian MT manufacturer based in the southern Belius region. Due to their technological inferiority to the extrasolar corporations, the BAWS product line focused on cheap, mass-produced MTs and low-grade AC hardware.

---

• Arms Dealer: Of the legitimate variety, compared to RaD, and willing to sell to all sides of the conflict due to their neutrality. Until you find out they're sympathetic to their fellow Rubiconians, and is secretly bankrolling Elcano to sell high-quality AC tech to the Rubicon Liberation Front, all so they can kick Arquebus and Balam off the planet.
• Boring, but Practical: Excluding their Bomb Launchers, most of BAWS's firearms are basic kinetic-based firearms that are designed for ease of use. The rifles in particular do not excel in any area, instead providing stable damage for mid-range combat.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: While BAWS MTs are used by all factions, their AC part lineup consists mostly of legacy parts for last-generation units, with their main selling points being low cost, low EN drain, general ruggedness, and specializing in melee combat.
• Close-Range Combatant: Their only AC design of note is the BASHO frame. It's most notably specialized for melee combat, emphasizing the "Core Theory" that mechanized warfare between ACs will favor close quarters in comparison to long range. This is further emphasized with the AB-J-137 KIKAKU boosters by BAWS, providing the highest amount of melee attack thrust amongst all boosters, granting heavy gap closure to strike at opponents with melee weapons from further distances.
• Elite Mook: The BAWS tetrapod MTs are a cut above their normal MT models, being more armored and equipped with stronger weapons.
• Kill It with Fire: The MA-T-222 KYORAI Napalm Bomb Launcher fires incendiary rounds that sets the impacted ground on fire — along with anyone caught in the initial blast radius. Besides dealing heavy damage, it also inflicts the ACS Anomaly status effect, which when procced, increases impact damage caused.
• Neutral in Name Only: Behind a veneer of neutrality that BAWS uses to protect themselves from reprisal, its employees are bonafide RLF sympathizers attempting to use investments into Elcano for the sake of drawing another corporation into the war on their side.
• Power Nullifier: The MA-T-223 KYORIKU Jamming Bomb Launcher disables lock-on capabilities. Anyone outside the jamming field cannot target someone within it and vice-versa for those inside of it. It's a purely utility weapon, as besides the little amount of impact dealt from the blast, it deals no damage.
• Quantity vs. Quality: BAWS prefers Quantity, competing against rivals who have more advanced tech at their disposal by mass-producing cheap MT models — ones that everyone likes to use for more menial tasks like guard duty to free up their ACs for more important tasks. They also mass produce cheap kinetic-based weaponry that are easy to use, with their only exotic weapons being their Bomb Launchers. The only example of Quality they have would be their tetrapod MT model, which is a much greater threat than the normal MTs.
• The Remnant: BAWS comprises much of what remains of Rubicon-3's homegrown industry following the Fires of Ibis, and still maintains its own functional infrastructure rather than just scavenging or improvising.
• Theme Naming: BAWS parts are named after Matsuo Bashō and his ten disciples.

Melinite

A manufacturer that specializes in explosive weaponry.

---

• Hufflepuff House: Like Takigawa, Melinite has zero relevance to the plot. They are there to sell their brand of high-quality explosive weaponry, and at least one AC from each faction wield Melinite guns. They are a neutral party in the truest sense.
• Meaningful Name: Melinite is an alternate name of pirric acid, an explosive. It is an appropriate name for an explosive arms manufacturer.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Their main specialty is bazookas and grenade launchers, small and large, including SONGBIRDS.