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| “ | Mecha Man. Heroes. Are the past. | „ |
| ~ Shroud to Robert Robertson. |
| “ | You, your dad, Chase, your little team of turncoats—you think you can beat the bad by being good, but there's no solving human nature. You can't stop evil. All you can do is control it. | „ |
| ~ Shroud to Robert Robertson. |
| “ | Come on, kid. Using the Pulse to power a mech is like plugging your cell phone into a nuclear reactor. No. I'm gonna use the pulse to change the world. | „ |
| ~ Shroud to Mecha Man during their final fight. |
Elliot "Eli" Connors, better known by his supervillain name Shroud, is the main antagonist of AdHoc Studio's 2025 interactive adventure video game Dispatch.
A former member of the superhero team The Brave Brigades he was twisted into a cold-hearted, ruthless, and cybernetically enhanced supervillain who seeks to acquire the Astral Pulse from the Mecha-Man suit to "change the world". He is the arch-nemesis of Robert Robertson III, the current Mecha Man, who seeks to hunt him down for the death of his father, Mecha Man Astral, who was his former teammate before he killed him in cold blood.
He is voiced by Matthew Mercer, who also portrays Lucifer in the Megami Tensei series, Goro Majima in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, Aiden in Minecraft Story Mode, Anarky in Batman Arkham Origins, Ganondorf in Legend of Zelda: Tears of Kingdom, Mr. Freeze in Batman: The Enemy Within, Midas in Fortnite, Prince Demande in Sailor Moon R, Security Chief Atlas in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Nine-Headed Demon in LEGO Monke Kid, and Smoke from Mortal Kombat Legends.
Appearance[]
Shroud is an average sized man who wears a huge black trench coat and a hood, with cables hanging out from its neck portion onto his back and wearing numerous augments with red lighting accents. He also wears a metal mask in the shape of a human skull which has a glowing, crimson left eye.
In his civilian identity, Elliot Connors wears a dark green hoodie with a patterned polo shirt underneath. He also has eyeglasses, short brown hair, a mustache, and blue eyes.
Biography[]
Background[]
Fifteen years prior to the events of the game, Elliot Connors was once a "superhero" who worked with The Brave Brigade, specifically alongside Robert "Robbie" Robertson II, The Second Mecha-Man/Mecha Man Astral, to bring upon unprecedented period of Peace in Southland.
Elliot helped Robbie design the Astral pulse to power the Mecha Man Suit, in the hope that in doing so, he would become an official member of the Brave Brigade. However, after Robbie cancelled the vote on letting him into the Brave Brigade for the fifth time, Elliot snapped. He confronted Robbie, demanding a fair chance, and then challenged the latter to a fight. Unfortunately for him, Robbie caught him off guard and defeated him easily, without even using the Mecha Man suit. Robbie obscured Eli's vision with a rag, and said, “Let’s lift the shroud so you see this one coming,” before whacking him, and almost beat him to a pulp had it not been for Chase/Track Star's interference.
Humiliated and furious, Elliot, after recovering, broke into Robbie’s locker, stole his revolver, and ruthlessly shot him in the chest, killing him instantly, while wearing the same rag Robbie threw onto his face. After making his escape, Connors would later adopt the supervillain identity of Shroud, in reference to Robbie's act of shrouding his face with a rag, and create a crime syndicate known as The Red Ring, making cybernetic augmentations for any and all who joined his cause. Not much is known during that time but is presumed he was eventually captured through unknown means and was taken by the Los Angeles Police Department, who arrested him for the murder of Mecha Man, which became a public outcry as the news coverage showed his mugshot along with his real name before being sentenced to life in prison.
During the present day, Shroud manages to break out of jail and resumes his role as the leader of the Red Ring. At some point, he was approached by Courtney/'Invisibitch', and in exchange for having her work for him, Shroud built an augment for her to help her deal with her ever-worsening asthma and use her powers for longer.
Episode 1[]
At the beginning of the story, Robert Robertson III, who has since taken up the mantle of Mecha Man to continue his family's legacy by fighting crime in Los Angeles, planned to track him down and put an end to his crimes for good. After making a breakthrough on discovering the latter's hideout by kidnapping and interrogating one of his lieutenants, Robert locates the Red Ring's main hideout and launches a solo raid. Fighting through waves of guards, he reaches the security room, only to find that the figure monitoring his progress isn’t Shroud, but the same Red Ring lieutenant from earlier, who was a supervillain named Toxic.
Toxic taunts Robert, mocking his attempt to avenge his father’s death and hinting that Shroud has bigger plans. Robert summons the Mecha Man suit from above, the armor crashing down onto Toxic and nearly crushing him. Badly injured, Toxic unleashes his powers, forcing Robert into a brutal fight.
However, the whole thing turned out to be a trap set by Shroud, who knew Robert would come after him. His forces overwhelm Robert, damaging the suit heavily, as Toxic reveals Shroud’s true goal of stealing the Astral Pulse. Robert finally manages to break through the wave of fire and activates the suit’s flight systems blasting through the hideout’s roof, barely managing to escape. However, unbeknownst to him, Shroud had Courtney plant a bomb on the armor before it took off, detonating the suit midair, severely injuring Robert, and ripping the Astral Pulse free from the suit. It falls somewhere into the city and vanishes, its location completely unknown.
This event also caused Courtney to resign from the Red Ring out of guilt, and consequentially, Shroud has her augment turned off.
Episode 5[]
After Courtney joins SDN, now taking the name 'Invisigal', Shroud sends some members of the Red Ring to look for her, finding her alongside her colleagues at "the Sardine", a known villain bar. They try to abduct her for questioning on why she turned, but the resulting bar fight that ensues between them and the Z-Team is ultimately won by the latter group, forcing them to retreat and lick their wounds.
Episode 6[]
While Shroud thought the Astral Pulse was destroyed with the suit, he eventually realized it wasn't and pinpointed its current location was down by the piers in a ship. However, other criminal factions also learned of this around the same time, leading to the groups fighting each other as they tore through the ship for the prized object. Even when told otherwise, Invisigal infiltrates the base on her own, with some help from Robert, who sabotages the systems inside Shroud's headquarters, soon after a majority of his men were taken down,
Unlike the rest of the villains, Shroud hid and waited, only taking out Lava Lad and his friend so that Invisigal would think it was safe to leave the captain's cabin with the Astral Pulse. When she does, Shroud comes up from behind and attacks, taking the briefcase Invisigal had been carrying, throwing tear gas on the ground and kicking her inhaler away so she'd die without it, leaving with the briefcase. This forces Chase to interfere by carrying Courtney out of the base to safety with his immense speed, before walking away and collapsing from a heart attack from his advanced biological age.
While it seemed like Shroud finally managed to get the Astral Pulse, he eventually realized too late that Invisigal managed to take it out of the briefcase and into her pocket before stepping out of the room, leaving the villain empty-handed, much to his chagrin.
Episode 7[]
Shroud first appears in a flashback when Invisigal shows Robert the augment that was built for her by Shroud to enhance her lung capacity and reveals her past as a former Red Ring member and her part in blowing him up.
Later, an unmasked Shroud meets Robert at the Sardine, and after shooting the bartender for disrespecting Blonde Blazer, orders either Sonar or Coupe (depending on who the player chose to cut) to knock Robert out. After letting them beat on him, Shroud proceeded to play Russian Roulette with Robert and reveals to him that Invisigal had actually managed to get the Astral Pulse. He is then interrupted by the arrival of Blonde Blazer who came looking for Robert, threatening to kill half of the Red Ring if they don't release him. Shroud does so pragmatically, remarking that now 'wasn't their time', and that by his calculations she would realistically only manage to kill 32% of the group.
As the episode ends, Shroud and the Red Ring suddenly launch a full-scale terrorist campaign on Los Angeles, wreaking havoc across the city.
Episode 8[]
As the Z-Team and SDN fight back against the Red Ring attacks, Shroud leads a Red Ring detachment in attacking SDN's Torrance call center, arriving in his own giant mecha suit. He then battles Robert, the latter of whom holds his own in the rebuilt Mecha Man armor, as members of the Z-Team arrive to help. The tides of the fight turn in the heroes' favor as Blonde Blazer gives Chase her Amulet, granting him her powers and allowing him to join the fight, with everyone working together to defeat Shroud.
In spite of his mech being destroyed, Shroud pulls one final move against the Z-team by holding Robert's dog, Beef, hostage, demanding that he hand over the Astral Pulse, while twisting the truth of Invisigal being a former Red Ring member, knowing that none of the heroes knew about it, and exaggerating that she was a double agent working for him this entire time as she seemingly leaves, leaving Robert with the choice of handing Shroud the Astral Pulse.
The following event depends on the player's choice:
- If the player gives Shroud the Prototype, Shroud tosses it away and demands the real Astral Pulse. He then inserts it into the side of his head, powering himself and the Red Ring members up.
- If the player gives Shroud the Astral Pulse, Shroud thanks Robert and inserts it into the side of his head, powering himself and the Red Ring members up.
- If the player gives Shroud both the Astral Pulse and the Prototype, Shroud is baffled and confronts Robert, seething as he can't distinguish one from the other. Robert explains his decision and taunts Shroud on his apparent incapability of trusting his own instincts to make his own decisions and his overreliance on his cybernetic implants to dictate his actions. Attempting to prove Robert wrong, an enraged Shroud chooses one Pulse, throws the other away and powers himself and the Red Ring members up. However, he soon starts vomiting, as do the other Red Ring members, revealing that he had inserted the prototype by mistake.
At that very moment, one of two possible outcomes will play out, depending on the player's relationship with Invisigal.
- If the player decided to trust Invisigal and/or did not neglect her throughout their playthrough, Shroud will then attempt to shoot Robert with his father's gun, only for Invisigal to take the bullet for him. An angered Robert then proceeds to beat Shroud to near death, almost identical to how his father once did, and the player is given the choice of either killing Elliot or sparing him.
- If the player chooses to kill him, Robert will strangle Shroud to death, avenging his father.
- However, if the player chooses to spare him, he will be apprehended by the authorities along with the rest of the Red Ring.
- If the player did not trust Invisigal and/or neglected her throughout their playthrough, Courtney will simply appear behind Shroud and casually slit his throat, something he never anticipated, causing him to bleed to death. She then takes his mask and tosses Robert either the proto-pulse or the astral pulse (depending on which one the player gave), before abandoning both him and the Z-Team and presumably resuming her life as a villain.
Personality[]
Shroud is an enigmatic, cold-hearted, ruthless, power-hungry and compulsive mastermind who seeks to stop at nothing to achieve his goals, one of them being getting his hands on the Astral Pulse, the other to control the world around him by any means necessary. Shroud is well-respected by supervillains alike because of his intellect, being able to launch a full-scale attack on Los Angeles, as well as being a strategic planner, making sure that the Mecha-Man suit was damaged beyond repair to push Robert into retirement. He is a mechanic and scientist responsible for creating augmentations to enhance powers of supervillains.
Even before fully embracing villainy, Shroud had developed a deep misanthropic mindset, believing that the natural tendency of humanity is to be evil; according to him, trying to beat the bad by doing good is pointless, so the only alternative is to control it. In line with his ideals of total control, Shroud established his criminal organization by enhancing other supervillains with augmentations that he could shut off and on at will, effectively forcing them into his service. Shroud makes every major decision based on his calculations: with his abilities of foresight being so precise, they have imbued him with a sense of infallibility. Years of successfully predicting the outcome of every situation, however, have inflated his ego, evidenced when losing control of a situation sends him into a nervous breakdown. This is shown if Robert chooses to give him both the Astral and the Proto-Pulse in exchange for Beef in their final confrontation, as Shroud is easily goaded into anger at being outsmarted and taunted by him.
He is also not above using psychological manipulation either, as when revealing Invisigal's theft of the Astral Pulse to Robert, Shroud uses the opportunity to try and drive a further wedge between them both. In fact, he seems to revert to this technique a lot, lying to Robert that he shot his father multiple times, even though in reality he only shot him once, just to scare his captive. In fact, Shroud is sometimes shown to take advantage of the fact that because of his abilities, people often trust his words implicitly and believe there is no other outcome, and as such, often exaggerates and twists the truth for his own gain, as shown with Invisigal. In Robert's own words, Shroud likes to mess with people, hinting at him being very sadistic in his approaches.
Surprisingly, despite being at odds with other heroes like Mecha Man, Blonde Blazer, Track Star and others, Shroud shows a degree of honor, and ultimately, great respect for those who insist on acting as heroes out of the kindness of their hearts, such as Blonde Blazer, even going as far as shooting a man in the head after he made crass comments about her, and calling her 'one of the last true heroes'. Contrasting this, he seems to have no qualms nor hesitation when attempting to kill her when she gets in his way.
In short, Shroud is a man of intellect and ambition, and a master manipulator whose pursuit of control and power is tempered only by a rare, begrudging respect for genuine heroism, which makes him as unpredictable as he is dangerous.
Quotes[]
| “ | I respect her… Blazer. A real fuckin superhero. I know we’re in a villain bar but, have some class, ya know? If you’re gonna blow some fucker’s brains out, nonslip mats are a must… need some for the hideout. Feels silly calling it a hideout. Can you take care of him for me. Obviously, you two don’t need an introduction. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | I thought you wanted revenge. This was your father’s gun. Kept it in his locker. Fully loaded. 6 shots. He couldn’t have predicted I’d use it to kill him. The first bullet grazed his shoulder. I hadn’t adjusted to the adrenaline spike. The second hit his upper chest. The third burst his heart. He was lying on the floor, eyes full of fear, when I put the fourth through his face. A bit of a waste to put the fifth through that idiot’s skull but i wanted to make sure it worked after all these years. Your father was the last person to touch this bullet… and now, there’s a 16 and a half chance it touches you next. Your invisible girlfriend stole my Astral Pulse to give it to you. Where the fuck is it? Mecha Man. Heroes. Are the past. With the pulse, I’ll control this city and restore balance. I’ll bring order to chaos. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | This is why I hate luck. Runs out. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | You actually believe that. Show him. Invisibitch has the Pulse. That I know… what i don’t know is why she didn’t give it to you. She played you too. Here I am thinking she’s working with you, but she’s fucking us both. She didn’t take it for you, she took it for herself. It’s okay. She fooled me too. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | The Blonde Blazer… I fired the bartender, but i can still get you something to drink. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | Sorry about that. If they weren’t shit, you wouldn’t’ve cut them. You were saying? | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | Now, that’s a fuckin superhero. Chills. Top notch. You made them nervous. Okay, we’re out of here. Take your piss soaked pants out of the back please. Don’t wanna tempt this tiger. Nows not our time, Blazer. But it’s coming sooner than you think. Oh, and by my calculations it was closer to 32%. But half sounds better. | „ |
| ~ Shroud |
| “ | There he is, so predictable, I knew this little sloppy guy, is your weakness. I knew you'd take, what was it you call her? Invisigal? that you'd take Invisigal under your wing, teach her the ways, Extra credit. That's why we planted her here... Yeah, she works for us too, She gets the same two paychecks from the same job, look at her. Aww she's embarrassed, so, that's all to say, there isn't a thing you can do, that I haven't modelled out. And once I have the Pulse, I won't need to predict, I'll just know. So don't F--k around Robert. Not right now. | „ |
| ~ Shroud to Robert by obtaining the Dog's beef hostage wile spitefully revealing Invisigal to be one of his own former goons and the nature of the Astrial Pulse. |
| “ | Just don't be an idiot and try to give me the shitty prototype, I'm a bad person, but I'm a man of my word. Give me my Pulse and no harm will come to your stupid Dog, you all hear that? | „ |
| ~ Shroud bargaining to Robert a determined choice to either give him the real or Proto Astrial Pulse by threatening the latter's dog Beef. |
| “ | Shroud: What the fuck is this, Robert? Robert: You said you wanted the Astral Pulse. I give it to you. One of those is it. |
„ |
| ~ Robert giving both the real Astral Pulse and the prototype to Shroud confusing him. |
| “ | Feel that you f-----g F--ks? I told you! I fucking told you clowns! You feel the power? I see it now I can see it all, it's all there, every permutation, every... Outcome. | „ |
| ~ Shroud after obtaining either the Proto-Pulse or the Astral pulse from Robert |
| “ | I see it, it's suddenly so clear. If I let you live, my odds of survival decrease exponentially, sorry kid. | „ |
| ~ Shroud deciding to hold Robert at Gunpoint after inserting the Astral Pulse. |
| “ | Sorry, kid.... we both lose. | „ |
| ~ Shroud before shooting Robert after inserting the Proto-Pulse if the latter chose to give him both pulses, which caused him and The Red Ring to vomit a few moments ago. |
| “ | I guess I can still be surprised. | „ |
| ~ Shroud after shooting Invisigal who interviewed to save Robert in the hero route. |
| “ | Just in time, be a dear and help me-- | „ |
| ~ Shroud's last words before being killed by Invisigal in the villain route if Robert choose to give him the Astral Pulse. |
| “ | Please... | „ |
| ~ Shroud begging for his life, and determinately his last words before his death if Robert chose to kill him. |
Powers and Abilities[]
- Superhuman/Genius-level intellect: Throughout his career as both a 'hero" and villain, Shroud was well respected for his intelligence which allowed him to fight on - par with other super powered and enhanced individuals. He's also smart enough to exploit superpowered individuals' weaknesses, shown with him using tear gas on Invisigal.
- Probability Computation: Much like the enhancements he grants his underlings, Shroud has augmented himself with a microcomputer implanted in his brain, enabling him to determine the most likely course of action of those around him with an alarmingly high degree of accuracy, giving the impression that he possesses near-instantaneous clairvoyance and/or foresight. The more data about a person or a group of people he accumulates, the more precise the predictions get. Shroud seeks to use the Astral Pulse to increase this device's power, as his implant could turn him virtually omniscient if powered by its energy.
- Master Tactician: Shroud is able to create and implement strategies to carry out his goals such as setting up complex traps, ambushing unaware combatants, and orchestrating the murder of Superheroes.
- Expert Leader: Shroud is shown to have great leadership skills, as he created the Red Ring, which includes skilled members such as Toxic alongside his other men, all of whom seem to respect him when Shroud dismisses them after they tried to fire their weapons at The Mecha-Man suit escaping from the Red Ring's headquarters.
- Master Engineer: Shroud's greatest talent is his ability to create technologies and inventions, including the Astral Pulse, which powers the Mecha Man Suit, as well as devices that enhance superhuman abilities, which he had provided to several of his most effective henchmen including Toxic, allowing the thug to go toe-to-toe with the Mecha-Man Suit.
Gallery[]
.png "Shroud (Dispatch).png (1.81 MB)")
Trivia[]
- His villain name is a pun for the Phrase Shrouded in Mystery, which explains his enigmatic appearance.
- Shroud is a direct homage to Taskmaster (Marvel) from his appearence.
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 Villains
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