SPOILER WARNING: This article will discuss plot points in Dispatch Episodes 1-8. If you haven’t caught up yet, do proceed with caution.
Robert finally gains the upper hand against Shroud in Dispatch Episode 8. But this victory leads to a moral crossroads: Should Robert kill Shroud or let him live? Read on to learn more about the immediate and long-term consequences of both choices.
Should You Spare or Kill Shroud?
Choose to "Kill the Queen" or the "Good Guy Answer"
Shroud has been nothing but a constant thorn in Robert’s side since the beginning of Dispatch. He’s the big bad of the entire season, the leader of the Red Ring syndicate and the main reason Z-Team has been through hell. He’s the one who destroyed Robert’s Mecha Man suit, the one responsible for Chase ending up in the hospital at the end of Episode 6, and perhaps worst of all, the man who killed Robert’s father. During their fight in Episode 7, Shroud even mocks Robert by describing in detail how he did it—shooting his father in the shoulder, the chest, heart, and finally the head. But as revealed in the tie-in comic The Death of Mecha Man, that wasn’t how it actually happened. The truth was far less dramatic: Shroud just caught him off guard. Still, for Robert, it doesn’t make the pain or hatred any less real.
What makes this whole situation more complicated is that Shroud’s anger doesn’t come out of nowhere. His rage toward Robert’s father and the Brave Brigade has roots that, while not justifiable, at least make sense. In his eyes, Robert’s father wasn’t a hero at all—not like Blonde Blazer, whom he still calls "one of the last true heroes." Instead, he saw him as a selfish, power-hungry man who only cared about his own image.
Shroud is a man with a brilliant mind who created the Astral Pulse and thought that invention would earn him a spot in the Brigade. Little did he know that Robert’s father strung him along, repeatedly delaying the meeting that would make it official, until Shroud realized he’d just been used. Betrayed and humiliated, he vowed to steal back his Astral Pulse and went on a revenge spree that carried through the entire season.
