The Mechanist

"I used to... dream about being a hero. Everything just came together. I thought the Mechanist was the next logical step."

- Isabel explaining her reason for wanting to be a hero.

The Mechanist (real name Isabel Cruz), is a robotics expert-turned-aspiring superhero staying in the Commonwealth in 2287. She is the main antagonist of the Fallout 4 add-on Automatron.

Biography
When Isabel was a child, she was as timid and soft spoken as she is today and did not have many friends, so robots and comic books were really all she had growing up. In fact, Sparks was the first robot she assembled and her first real friend.

Later in life, Cruz came across a ransacked caravan where she found a drawing of the Mechanist, a comic book hero from before the War, and she decided she wanted to bring that character to life; in her own words, "it was too late to save that caravan, but becoming the Mechanist was [her] way of keeping hope alive." She was initially drawn to the Commonwealth by the General Atomics factory, but she never expected to stumble upon a military base dedicated entirely to robotics beneath the RobCo sales and service center. Doing what she did best, Cruz built incredible robots from what she could find, and hoped to save the Commonwealth.

To this end, she tried her hand at recreating robobrains after recovering some schematics, and succeeded assembling her own model which she designated Jezebel. However, this robobrain was captured by the Rust Devils. But Cruz was not discouraged; if anything, Jezebel's absence prompted Cruz to update several of the robobrains already present in the facility to handle menial tasks, and bring the facility's command center back to its original functional state. Furthermore, she took a new mission upon herself: saving the Commonwealth. She had hoped that her expendable robotic army could police the region (even within a 15 mile radius) and protect the denizens of the wasteland.

This would have been all well and good, but the robobrains Cruz programmed to direct the other robots misinterpreted their programming: they were programmed to save wastelanders, but in doing so, they reasoned that the best way to do this was to terminate them. Probabilities suggested that there was a better chance of the wastelanders dying of unnaturally violent causes than live through them; therefore, it was best to end their existence immediately, rather than prolong their suffering and impending expiration.

Completely unaware of this flaw in their programming, Cruz continued her unknowing reign of terror as the Mechanist, sending her robots all over the Commonwealth. The reign only came to an end when the Sole Survivor confronted her in her lair where two outcomes happened

1 - Should the Sole Survivor convince her of the her robobrains causing death and chaos, Cruz feels extremely remorseful and betrayed, both by her robots and herself. She looks at everything she accomplished, how she programmed her robots to do help people, and how it all blew up in her face. As recompense, she remains quite busy tracking down rogue robots for the Sole Survivor to put down, still waiting for the truth about her actions to fully sink in.

2 - The Sole Survivor kills Isabel without explanation as to why they're there, takes over her facility and ends her unwitting reign of terror.

Personality
As Isabel Cruz. She is a shy and timid person who truly wants to help the Commonwealth using her knowledge of robots. And (provided the player chooses the peacful option) is truly horrified and remorseful once she learns that her robobrains have been killing innocents due to misinterpreted orders. Spending the rest of her time wracked with guilt over what her robots have done. Isabel also reveals she's always been lonely, which is why she spent so much time reading comics and making robots, leading to the two merging together into her alter-ego.

As the Mechanist. Her personality does a complete 180. She is confident, slightly prone to anger and irritable ,and not afraid to vanquish (what she percieves) as evil. As the Mechanist she doesn't care about her robots, viewing them all (with the exception of Sparks) as expendable. Despite this personality change, the Mechanist isn't beyond reason, as (with successful speech checks) she is willing to reason with the Sole Survivor and reveal her identity. She also holds the Sole Survivor as the Silver Shroud in high regard. As she expresses shock at the notion the Shroud could be a criminal and admits that in battle she is no match for the Silver Shroud, showing that even with her confidence boosted as the Mechanist, she's still obvious to her limits.

Trivia

 * If Isabel Cruz is spared and talked down, she will become a merchant. Most notably, she sells shipments of fiber optics.
 * The player can confront The Mechanist directly by loading the Lead engineer's, Facilities director's and Chief scientist's holotapes into the terminal in the room directly next to the decontamination/laser tripwire hallway near the lair's entrance, lifting the security lockdown and enabling use of the elevator.
 * She has unique dialogue if the Sole Survivor is wearing the Silver Shroud costume, during the final confrontation.
 * If the Sole Survivor decides to let her live, she will then remain at the lair and cannot be moved to any other settlement. She does not count as a settler and does not require any resources.
 * Isabel shares many traits with the previous Mechanist, Scott "Bean" Wollinski:
 * They have skill with robots and sought out to make the wasteland safer but in actuality caused more harm than good.
 * They can be spared and thus realize the outcomes of their actions and seek out to heal what damage they caused.
 * Their hidden bases are in seemingly normal stores.
 * She will sometimes spawn in the hidden room at the end of the hallway, so if one can't find her, try opening the door by pressing the button on the drinks machine.
 * Ironically enough. Isabel's actions led to the Sole Survivor learning how to build robots capable of defending settlements. So in a sense, she did manage to accomplish some good in the Commonwealth.