Guard (NPC)
Guard is an NPC in Arknights. He first appears in the Prologue and plays a supporting role in Acts I and II of the Main Theme.
Background
Before becoming a member of Rhodes Island's paramilitary force, the man codenamed Guard was the son of a Rim Billitonian miner family who had frequently made contact with Originium mines. Thus, he is familiar with the demise of the Infected. At the age of seven, he first-handedly witnessed separation of his family member due to Oripathy. After his beloved grandmother caught the disease, she departed his homeland to reach the other side of a nearby large alkaline lake via boat, and she has since been never seen again.[1]
While Guard appears to be a nameless man in R.I., he will eventually play an important role in the fight for the Infected's rights. Formerly, he takes part in the grand rescue of the Doctor from the Chernobog Sarcophagus in December 1096, and he decides to stay back with Ace and Scout to buy some time for the rescue team's escape until he witnesses the grand sacrifices of the two Elite Ops.[2] Since then, Guard begins to meditate that R.I. alone would not be able to fight for the Infected. It is during this moment he encounters Buldrokkas'tee the "Patriot" and his Shieldguards, whom he sees are noble figures fighting for justice's sake. Even though Patriot allows him to escape, Guard decides to stay back and protect the locals from persecution.[3] Since then, Guard has no regret of defecting from R.I. and side with Reunion while trying to save the latter from its inner corruption.
Story
Episode 07
The R.I infiltration team eventually meets Guard in his Reunion uniform again during the impending collision between Chernobog and Lungmen. Inside a storehouse, the two meet an Ursine woman named Tatiana who accuses Reunion for forcing her turning into an Infected and conducting violence onto the locals. However, Guard defends himself by stating that he and Patriot's Shieldguard will never harm the innocent; instead, he argues that without Patriot, the locals will face even more violence. He is also disappointed with the R.I. side for bringing Rosmontis with them, thinking that they want to annihilate the entire Reunion force through her before the two could talk peacefully.
In order to test Guard's innocence, Kal'tsit summons her Mon3tr to interrogate him. She asks Tatiana whether he has harmed her or not, but the approaching Sarkaz mercenaries nearby makes the atmosphere more tense. After feeling panic for some while, Tatiana confirms that Guard is innocent, and so Guard could finally sigh in relief. It turns out that everything is just a façade in order to lure the nearby Sarkaz fighters.
After dealing with the mercenaries, Guard discusses with the R.I. team of further plans. He wants them to work together with Patriot to stop the chaos while telling them of how he has spared Hellagur, the leader of Azazel, before joining R.I. He also brings the news of Scout's death to them, which hurts both the Doctor and Rosmontis. In turn, Guard is shocked to hear that FrostNova has died and Talulah has already betrayed Reunion as a whole.[4]
After departing with the R.I. team, Guard hurries to meet Patriot but is immediately caught by some Sarkaz mercenaries nearby. Seeing him trying to inform some secret information to the Shieldguards, they hold him as hostage, but Guard proudly proclaims that Patriot will never fall and they will be punished soon.[5] By the time he is rescued by the Shieldguards, it is too late for him to meet Patriot because he is already killed by Amiya during his last advance against R.I. Nevertheless, Guard decides to follow them and stop the rampaging core city, believing that Reunion has already collapsed without Patriot's moral restraint.[6]
Episode 08
After reuniting with the R.I. force, Guard requests the Shieldguards and the Phantom Crossbowmen to cooperate with R.I. in the battle of recapturing the control tower. At first, the Shieldguards stubbornly refuses because they sees them as murderers of Patriot. He then argues that there is no time to make more enemies and believes that with R.I's knowledge and the Shieldguards' prowess, they will make an invincible force against Talulah. The Shieldguards eventually accepts his plan after trusting Amiya in her will of fighting for the Infected.[7]
Guard joins the R.I.-Shieldguard forces to recapture the control tower. But when he receives news about the infiltrating Ursine soldiers from the Third Army, he begins to panic. Amiya then informs him of avoiding saying this to the Reunion side to avoid further confusion. To continue the siege, Amiya deicides to head up to the tower alone while having Guard and Rosmontis in commanding the Shieldguards.[8][9] Meanwhile, Guard is surprised to see W and her mercenaries siding with them in the battle against the Army's Herds. Even though he is disgusted by her presence to a point that he agitates Rosmontis to judge her for killing Scout, he reluctantly lets her go while receiving from her the supreme command of her mercenaries.[10]
At the end of the Chernobog-Lungmen crisis, Guard decides to stay back with the remnants of Reunion. He and the Phantom Crossbowmen lead the rest for the departure while having the Shieldguards going on their own way. He firmly believes that Reunion could reborn only when it changes, paving the path for his future leadership.[11]
A Light Spark in Darkness
Since the end of the crisis, Guard and the Reunion remnants have been living a peaceful life in the wilderness of Terra. He has sent Red to investigate the condition of the Infected in Caledon, Victoria and befriends Dijkstra. As a new symbol for Reunion, he orders the Reunion fighters to remove their badges, seeing that it should be an everlasting ideology instead of a physical one. In the meantime, he will soon have to meet a strange merchant named Cannot Goodenough to buy from him the VTOL after receives this news from Nine.
Following Mr. Goodenough's request, Guard and Red will conduct the trade in a wilderness near Columbia. Upon meeting him, he is puzzled that the goods is not with him. In turn, Mr. Goodenough says that it will arrive immediately. And to the two's surprise, he actually commands the scavengers of Rusthammer to rob an armed motorcade from Volwotkeczynski and even lures an 8-meter-tall metal crab to attack them in a canyon. Their crazy tactics disgust the two, and a fight almost ensues between Reunion and Rusthammer until Gareth quickly stops them. After cooling himself down, Guard thanks Mr. Goodenough for the trade and brings the Rusthammer gang to their basement for a rest as well as checking their goods.[12]
Episode 09
A year after the crisis, Guard participates in the invasion of the landship to "rescue" Talulah. Blaze is surprised to meet him again and questions his reason for his stay in Reunion's side. In turn, Guard explains that Reunion still needs to bring a worldwide revolution of the Infected, but they must first hold Talulah accountable for her betrayal. After bringing Talulah out of the prison together with Nine, he covers others for the retreat to the VTOL.
Guard's complete betrayal of R.I. disappoints many, especially Blaze, and Kal'tsit remains silent on his decision.[13]
Episode 13
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References
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