RD

Ray Dominato
General information
Japanese name	レー・ドミナト (Ree dominato)
Classification	Human
Gender	Male
Age	20
Affiliation and military information
Affiliation	The Resistance (pre-defection) The Corporation (post-defection)
Occupation	Migrant Corporation AC Pilot
Rank	Helicopter pilot AC Pilot (Corporation)
Craft	F21C Stork Vengeance
Eras present	The Second Rebellion
Known battles	Battle for the City
Real world information
Appearances	Armored Core V Armored Core: Verdict Day (flashback)
Voice actor	Fred Tatasciore (US), Daisuke Namikawa (JP)

Ray "RD" Dominato is a migrant hired by The Resistance in Armored Core V. He serves as co-pilot to Rosary in their F21C Stork.

Biography

RD originally belonged to a larger Migrant group. Though he had genius-level talent for operating machines and a keen sense of danger, his abilities were held back by his timid and cowardly personality, and he was treated as a useless bottom feeder.

RD's group, which held a grudge against Rosary, plotted to assassinate her using a hidden sniper after luring her under the pretense of a business negotiation. However, RD, who was unaware of the plan to kill Rosary, detected the sniper through his sixth sense and began to panic believing the sniper was after his life, which caused enough of a commotion that he inadvertently alerted Rosary to the sniper and allowed her to flee in the confusion.

Realizing that his group planned to kill him for ruining their assassination plot, RD barely managed to escape with his life and lived a life on the run until he ran into Rosary again. Having discovered RD's precognitive abilities, she decided to have him travel with her. However, she soon came to despise RD's cowardly nature, and began to treat him more like a subordinate than a partner.

RD reluctantly participated in the Second Rebellion on the side of the Resistance alongside Rosary. He believed the Resistance did not stand a chance against the forces of Father and The Corporation. As the Resistance came to face increasingly more powerful and bizarre weapons as well as impossible odds, his fears and doubts grew, as did his frustration when he realized Rosary had no intention of abandoning the Resistance or switching sides like they had originally planned. He confided these fears to the Resistance's mercenary as he transported him on the back of a truck through an underground tunnel, shortly before being ambushed by the City Police and seemingly killed.

However, this turns out to be a ruse, as it is revealed that RD had cooperated with The Corporation in order to fake his death and defect to their side. The Corporation assigns him Jack Batty's old AC Vendetta, now modified and rechristened to Vengeance, and boosts his ego by convincing him that he is "special." RD confronts the Resistance in his new AC, much to Rosary's shock, and tells her he's figured out how to "win the game." He declares that he simply has to make "someone else" lose, before charging at the mercenary. After a brief skirmish, RD retreats, stating that though he doesn't hold a grudge against the Resistance, he can only depend on himself to preserve his life.

RD confronts the Resistance once again as they attempt to flee to The City's borders. Though Rosary attempts to persuade him to stand down, RD instead states that he's done running away and that he will destroy anything that scares him, and engages the mercenary again. RD retreats once more, though he is confident in his own skills and is convinced that he can defeat the mercenary.

RD ambushes Rosary's group for the last time as they attempt to fly away from The City. He targets the mercenary's AC with a sniper cannon, however, Rosary intercepts the shot with her own Stork and is sent spinning into an emergency landing, though she manages to release the mercenary's AC from its harness. Discarding his weapons, RD activates the Grind Blade Ultimate Weapon and boasts that he will kill the mercenary once and for all, but Fran coldly states that he's the one who will die instead, sending him into a rage. True to her prediction, he is defeated by the mercenary and killed when his AC explodes.

Personality

RD is very paranoid, constantly afraid to enter anything more risky than a simple attack mission. However, this paranoia gives him a "sixth sense" of predicting danger before it arrives. He is extremely fearful of death, and stacked with his paranoia, this leads him to betray the Resistance and join the Corporation alongside Chief and Carol.

After joining The Corporation, RD's personality changes wildly. He becomes cocky and arrogant, no longer displaying his former cowardice and believing himself to be "special." He has no qualms about killing his former companions, not even Rosary who he spent a long time working with. However, just before his death, his cowardly persona returns, desperately shouting in vain that he does not wish to die.

Rosary was both an object of admiration and contempt for RD. He both admired and resented her for her confidence, which he lacked, giving him a strong inferiority complex. Rosary also often mistreated him, physically and verbally abusing him and treating him like a henchman.

Translation differences

In the Japanese script of the game, RD refers to Rosary as "nee-san," which means big sister, as an indication of their close relationship. In the English text, he uses the nickname "Rosie" instead.

Trivia

• Fran's father named his AC Vendetta, RD renamed it Vengeance. His emblem is the same as Jack's (an eagle) but in the cut scene following his defeat, it is shown to have been scorched black by the battle, giving it the appearance of a black bird -- a Dark Raven.
• RD is constantly afraid of being killed, even though he could easily escape if the player is defeated since he is seated next to Rosary in the chopper.
• The Stork helicopter that Rosary and RD pilot has a tandem cockpit similar to modern Attack Helicopters, where the pilot sits in the rear half of the cockpit and the gunner/co-pilot sits in the seat forward and slightly below the pilot. Since we know Rosary is the pilot, RD likely sits at the very front of the chopper, making his official job Co-pilot. With this seating arrangement in mind, it can be inferred that when Rosary kicks RD in Mission 03, she kicks him in the back of the head.
• RD's sixth sense-like precognitive abilities may be why Chief considers him to have "genius" talent. His surname, Dominato, is likely a reference to the Dominant theory from Armored Core: Last Raven.
• It is likely RD had a high level of AMS compatibility, given the fact that those with high compatibility have a certain psychic prowess, akin to RD's talent of detecting incoming danger.