Lizbeth "Kestrel" Warnholdt

"Born into a wealthy diplomat family, 'Kestrel' followed her father into Germany's diplomatic corps, earning her the contacts that would lead to her induction into its clandestine services. After going freelance, she took a position at Kurohana Arms as their Western liaison, but secretly she is their best spy."

— In-game biography

Lizbeth Warnholdt, also known as Kestrel is a character featured in Call of Duty: Mobile and was added in the game on August 19, 2022, during Season 7: New Vision City as part of the Doublewing Draw.^[1] Later, in Season 3: Rush, Kestrel returning in the Comics.

Biography[]

The Atlas Ascension Part 3[]

Kestrel appears as a representative of the Kurohana Corporation, with Dusk as a personal bodyguard. She meets with the Director in New Vision City, who welcomes them into Atlas Corporation's corporate family, but also tells them that personally, he doesn't welcome nor trust them, as he knows Atlas and Kurohana have been adversaries for decades.

Kestrel tells him that at Atlas' moment of weakness, they have "stormed the gates" and "breached their walls". She goes on to say that since Kurohana now owns 5% of Atlas, they are no longer adversaries, but a family. She also says that Kurohana Corporation wants Atlas to rise again and succeed. But in order for them to help Atlas regain its position as Earth's greatest corporation, she needs to know everything. so she asks the Director to tell her about the Iron Will.

The Atlas Ascension Part 4[]

Some time later, Kestrel is seen inspecting T-3 (appearing as a mass of blue crystal) in a display case, wondering if this was what the fuss was all about. Dusk reminds her that they cannot be late for the board meeting, as they are on a tight schedule. Kestrel says Dusk is awfully chatty for a bodyguard, while her handpicked normal security detail are more circumspect in their dealings. Dusk tells her that Rin Yoshida (the CEO of Kurohana) wants them to maintain the utmost professionalism in their dealings, including punctuality.

Kestrel agrees as that is obvious, but what’s not obvious is why Dusk was chosen as her bodyguard as opposed to her personal team, and she simply replies that it’s not her place to question her employer’s decisions, nor is it Kestrel’s. Kestrel accepts her explanation, but reminds Dusk that while she is her bodyguard, she has to listen to her.

Just as she enters the boardroom, she is shocked to see pictures of herself on easels, apparently the work of the Director. She thinks this is a joke, but the Director tells her that since she wanted to know about the capabilities of the Iron Will, he did this; the Iron Will's predictions show that Kestrel, above all others, has the capacity to reframe the narrative around Atlas, though Kestrel believes this is a fancy way of putting her the line of fire; Atlas is about as respected as the bubonic plague and she's not keen on being the face of it. The Director reminds her that she herself said the company needed its image to be 'rehabilitated' and this is her opportunity to do so. Kestrel doesn't know what the Director's game is, but decides to play along nonetheless.

The Atlas Ascension Part 5[]

Kestrel is later in Detroit, Michigan, where there is a mass protest happening outside the Atlas HQ, and she has been assigned to deliver a speech. She asks an official about where the crowd control is, as no one told her she'd be speaking in front of a mob. The official informs her that due to recent belt-tightening measures across the entire company, their security detail has been reduced, though the security arm has provided the latest urban-pacification drones.

As she delivers her speech, an epilogue from Kestrel shows that every word she had said was a finely calibrated lie, designed to appease the masses, who are so happy to eat from Atlas' hand that they never saw the leash settling around their necks; now with the leash loosened, the masses have started to turn and bite the hand that fed it; she despises them for grasping their need, their presumption of justice, their desire for an orderly world; the world is only chaos, death and the whims of the powerful, which she considers the only true thing in life--the truth that someday she hopes to see revealed to the people, with or without Atlas.

Later, a ops team led by Alex Keller infiltrates the protest and deploys smoke grenades, causing the protest to turn violent. Despite the official and Dusk informing Kestrel's urgent need to get to safety, Kestrel adamantly wishes to stay. Unfortunately, that is not to last, as the protesters starting throwing bricks and other debris at them, forcing Kestrel to be escorted to safety, while the Synaptic urban-pacification drones unleash a powerful sonic cannon that disorients the crowd.

The Atlas Ascension Part 7[]

Some time after, Kestrel is in New Vision City again, this time telling Dusk to 'go out and act like a normal human being' for a couple hours, as she is in the 'most exclusive city in the world with an unlimited discretionary budget'. Dusk is adamant to remain near in case anything happens to Kestrel, which makes Kestrel more fed up, and she tells her to have it her way and pretend to be a statue for all she cares, but asks for her to stay in the foyer, as Dusk's face is starting to wear on her.

As Kestrel enters her room, she wonders if Dusk has ever lived a day in her life, before finding a pair of goggles on her table. As she puts it on, she reports to an agent on the other end: the Director is losing control of the Iron Will, and his devotion to it is troubling. Furthermore, if he were to turn its power against them, they wouldn't know until it's too late, and it could even discern the identities of the 'four families' if it tried hard enough. The agent chastises Kestrel for failing in the task she had been appointed, but she insists that she had completed her mission as ordered.

It's revealed that Kestrel was the one responsible for the Director's accident in the Swiss Alps several years ago: having stationed herself on high ground, she managed to shoot out one of the Director's car tires despite being in a blizzard, remarking that 'not a thousand in one could have made that shot'. However, the Director survived thanks to his automated medevac being dispatched when his car crashed. Nonetheless, the agent is not satisfied with this turn of events, but decides not to compound Kestrel's mistake, as she is still useful to them; she is ordered to complete her assigned task on the Director--to seize control of the Iron Will, and if she fails, she must destroy it.

The Atlas Ascension Part 9[]

Later, Kestrel contemplates about her mission regarding the Director, while Dusk is told by Rin Yoshida that an attempt had been made on her life. As Kestrel thinks about her next course of action, thinking if she should shoot Dusk, she is oblivious to Dusk talking to her, until Dusk snaps Kestrel out of her trance, startling her. Kestrel deduces that it's the Director behind the attempt on Rin's life, and expresses surprise that it took him that long to make his move; she had known all along he would not accept Kurohana's interference in Atlas' matters, but he wouldn't have acted unless the Iron Will predicted the attempt would succeed.

Dusk is anxious as they are now surrounded by enemies, and Kestrel believes that if the Director wanted to eliminate them, they'd have done so already. But since they haven't, she deduces that they intend to "keep up appearances" to make it seem they had nothing to do with what happened in Tokyo, and decides to bide their time as well, until the time is right, Kestrel says she and Dusk will show the Director what happens to those who betray Rin Yoshida.

The Atlas Ascension Part 10[]

Kestrel is seen in attendance on the summit on Memnos Island, hosted by Atlas Corporation, along with Dusk. As she overlooks the crowd in the ballroom, she derides them as "spineless sycophants", and how 'one good explosion' could wipe the entire slate clean--calling it "decapitation". With that, they have no more need to pretend any of that matters, with the leaders out of the way. Just then, she spots David Mason and Ether walking towards her, and she wonders who they are. Dusk tells her that they are Rin Yoshida's allies, and that she needs to listen to them.

Kestrel scoffs at the idea of Rin allying herself with international fugitives, but Dusk reminds her that they were the ones who prevented Atlas from seizing Kurohana and saved Rin from death. Kestrel notes that it's awfully convenient--to orchestrate a coup and then swoop in to save the day, is basically Atlas' modus operandi. Ether says she and Kestrel both know this, and asks if she's going to keep spouting hypotheticals or help them, with Dusk also telling Kestrel it is Rin's wish that she help them. Finally, Kestrel relents, and decides to help. Ether tells Kestrel that they need access to the Iron Will--access that only Kestrel has, which is a secret lab contained beneath the castle. Kestrel realizes they're going 'straight for the jugular', expressing her like for it.

As they arrive at the control room, Ether prepares to enter the crypt-key into the Iron Will’s access point. During this, Kestrel asks if Ether has a way out of there, or if she has figure that out for her too. Ether states that once Cipher establishes an uplink with the Iron Will, they will rejoin the party.

However, the Director suddenly appears, expressing surprise that Kestrel is among Dr. Mendelsohn’s ‘friends’. She chides the Director for keeping the Iron Will to himself, and that as a member of the “Atlas family”, Kurohana claims the right to use it. The Director does not buy her excuse, and taunts her that they both know who she truly serves—the Tontine.

Hearing this, Kestrel abruptly draws a gun and shoots the Director, revealing there was one rule they had agreed on, which was to never say the Tontine’s name, and the Director had broken it. As the Director lays dying, the data locks on the access point are lifted, inadvertently freeing the Iron Will from containment, much to everyone’s shock.

The Atlas Ascension Part 11[]

After The Director's demise, David Mason questions what Kestrel has done. But suddenly, the lights goes off and she immediately opens fire at Dusk before running away and lets the Iron Will loose.