D’Anclaude’s increasingly disturbing attitude and Asakura’s desire to stop producing weapons resulted in them parting ways in anger after Armitage was created, as D’Anclaude was disgusted with the new uses for robots Asakura had in mind--namely, the bearing of children. He considered Armitage and the Thirds to be faulty upstarts, far less useful than the Assassinroids, and usurpers of his genius and vision. More than a bit insane, D’Anclaude then dropped out of sight for some time, presumably still making robotic weaponry for the government or Conception.
When the Earth Federation and Mars agreed to sign the treaty, the Earth Federation had a requirement: that the Thirds all be destroyed, as a robot that could bear children went against their strict feminist ideals. It seems likely that the government turned at this point to D’Anclaude for assistance, as he had his own grudge against the Thirds, knew more about them than anyone but Asakura, and could make the remaining Assassinroids even more effective at hunting them down. He agreed, but instead of sending Assassinroids after the Thirds it appears that D’Anclaude decided to go after them on his own, probably to get his revenge with his own hands and make it that much sweeter.
D’Anclaude’s first victim was Kelly McCanon, the Third with the highest public profile. This was important because he knew the social climate of Mars was boiling over with hatred for robots, and if he made the killings high profile he could use anti-robot groups against the Thirds to keep them penned up by demonstrations, making it easier for him to get to the robots. For this same reason D’Anclaude broadcast McCanon’s killing, and later Jessica Manning’s identity. He used the angry public of Mars as his tools in his quest to destroy the Thirds, and it worked like a charm.
Of course, D’Anclaude knew who Armitage was as soon as he saw her, and the fact that she was involved in the murder investigation was the icing on the cake, as it allowed him to destroy her as he killed the Thirds. After Jessica Manning was killed by a mob D’Anclaude led Ross on a merry chase, ending in an abandoned church. They fought there and were at a stand-still until Armitage arrived, revealing her true power and beating D’Anclaude nearly to death. He was taken from there to Shenora Government Hospital, as he was secretly a government agent, and remained there nearly comatose until Ross and Armitage went after him.
Meanwhile, the second Rene D’Anclaude entered the picture--an Assassinroid tasked with continuing the murder of the Thirds, as the original D’Anclaude was incapacitated. He attacked Ross and Armitage at the memory server with a trap and in a mecha, severely wounding Ross, but was knocked into the water below by Armitage and disappeared for a time. The Assassinroid returned to lay another trap, this time in cyberspace, and took control of Julian, killing him. Feedback caused by Armitage damaged the Assassinroid a bit, however, and its final assault took place at Shenora Hospital when Ross and Armitage tried to kidnap the original D’Anclaude. That encounter ended with both D’Anclaudes dead, though it is quite possible that more of the Assassinroids exist, held back for later use by the government.