Samuel Rodrigues Husbando

Samuel Rodrigues, also known as Jetstream Sam and Minuano, was a cyborg mercenary involved with the Desperado PMC group who fought against Raiden during the events of 2018. He was a Brazilian master swordsman of the "Rodrigues New Shadow School" technique, which had derived from the "Yagyu Shinkage-ryu" (Yagyu New Shadow School) of Japan. Sam had a prominent scar over his left eye and was shown to be a very skilled swordsman. His skill is revealed by Kevin who told Raiden how he killed ten mob enforcers with just his sword long before he became a cyborg. By 2018, he was capable of fighting a cyborg ninja with just his hands as he demonstrated when he fought Raiden in the Badlands. Sam was once greatly driven by revenge, this was what fueled him to hone his skills and become an expert swordsman. He would go on to develop a free-wheeling personality, taking out street gangs and drug cartels based on his own sense of justice, similar to Raiden's ideals in 2018. Although Sam greatly objected against Armstrong's plan of exploiting child soldiers before his recruitment, Monsoon's words and his defeat at Armstrong's hands led him to settle on the notion that corruption could not easily be defeated by taking it out piece by piece. Demoralized with his loss as he was unable to defeat such a source of corruption, Sam agreed to join Armstrong's cause, inevitably providing him more reason to fight in new conflicts. His newfound manipulative and taunting personality was described by Blade Wolf as being unusual and contradicting of his normal personality, with the implication that Sam had changed since their previous encounters. While Sam had originally sought out and dealt with criminality as a means of upholding his sense of justice, his loss against Armstrong and eventual recruitment into World Marshall had led him to forget the original reason behind his desire for seeking out conflicts. Abandoning his pursuit of justice, Sam now believed ideals had no place on the battlefield, and that only victors could decide what was right. Raiden's ideals of justice reminded him of his past self, causing friction between the two, with Sam constantly mocking Raiden's pursuit of such a goal. Realizing this could be the reason Sam accepted his loss against Armstrong in the first place, as Armstrong's victory during their battle meant that Sam's pursuit of justice was essentially rendered moot. Because of his curiosity towards Raiden, Sam had only wanted to fight Raiden in peak condition, most notably favoring Raiden's "Jack the Ripper" mentality. Much like Gray Fox, Sam enjoyed combat, and claimed to feel alive during his final duel. Although he enjoyed conflict, he wasn't without scruples. Despite trying to stop Raiden from going to Solis, he did not go so far as to wipe out Solis, even though he was perfectly capable of doing so if he wished. Sam's final words to Blade Wolf indicated that his encounter with Raiden made him doubt his involvement and participation in Operation Tecumseh despite 2 years worth of preparation on his final day. This conversation implies Raiden's mentality and unrelenting persistence had caused Sam to doubt whether or not Armstrong's goal was truly the right thing to do. In response to this realization, he attempted to redeem himself through Raiden, even deciding to have Blade Wolf pass on his Murasama blade to Raiden should he lose in their final battle. Sam seemed to be on good terms with the members of Desperado during his involvement in their operations; having commonly worked together with Sundowner as well as conversing with Monsoon in their spare time. In particular, Sam and Sundowner seem to be well-acquainted, as implied by the casual tone of their conversations, most notably after Sundowner's defeat in which the two conversed about Raiden's skills, with Sundowner remarking that Sam would get his "wish" of having a worthy battle with Raiden. Sam also seemed to harbor a dark sense of humor relating to cutting-related puns, which was demonstrated twice: The first time in the final moments of Desperado's ambush at Africa, where Sam, after blocking Raiden from attempting to save N'mani with his Murasama blade, asked if Raiden "mind[ed] if [Sam] cut in?" The second time was when Sundowner was killed by Raiden, in which he jokingly opened their conversation by saying "Cut yourself shaving?", at which point the dying Sundowner, having been cut to pieces earlier, sarcastically laughed it off. This morbid sense of humor was also demonstrated when Sam was recruited by Armstrong, when the two were shown laughing hysterically after Armstrong offered him his right hand in a handshake, despite Armstrong greatly damaging Sam's right arm a few moments before. Sam held a close friendship with Blade Wolf. During their first encounter, his words influenced Blade Wolf to think for himself and his own freedom. The two would later develop a close bond after Sam's recruitment into World Marshall. Blade Wolf would grow closely attached to Sam, even going so far as to worry and question the necessity of Raiden and Sam's final battle. Sam believed in Blade Wolf enough to entrust him with his final wish under the assumption that he might die during his final battle with Raiden. Sam did not seem very interested in money as a reward, as evidenced by his remark that war is the "big payoff" behind Desperado's operations, with the implication that he simply enjoyed the very notion of fighting as part of his ideals, regardless of the payment he'd receive in exchange for his services. Although Sam himself never utilized a codename while aligned with Desperado, he was briefly referenced as "Minuano," after the cool Southern Brazilian wind, in a conversation between Steven Armstrong and Monsoon prior to his arrival in Denver.