"After seeing those fools try and ambush us without any alpine combat experience, I've decided on an unorthodox training session for today." Lehm, with a lit cigarette pinched at the side of his lips, addressed the whole crew at the firing range at home in England the day after they'd returned - once again, Rock's dislike of flying kept her awake on the plane, so she passed out while driving home from the airport - while he held two objects in his hands. One was a small Union Jack flag, the other... an M4 styled paintball gun, fully loaded of course.
"I take it the two of us are exempt?" Jonah indicated Rock, who had, for lack of a better term, copy-pasted his memories of all his alpine infantry training.
"Not exactly." Lehm shook his head. "You two are the ones that'll be training the rest of us. That includes Strength and Dead Master." Lehm glanced at the two girls for a moment before going into full detail. "We'll be working as a team against the two of you. Our objective is to capture this flag. Our area of operation is the back forest on the property." Lehm indicated the sizable forestry a short jog away from the range. "And we'll all be using these paintball guns. They're high pressure, so you'll know it when you get nailed by one."
"But Strength's never had gun experience." Dead Master spoke up.
"Paintball guns are a good start. Unlike your first encounter with them..." Koko couldn't resist teasing Dead Master from her chair nearby. "Strength, we'll start with this exercise for today, after that we'll start moving you up to other guns whenever we're here at home. Sound fair?"
"I see no problem with this." Strength shrugged. "Dare I ask what her first encounter was like?"
"She pissed Jonah off. We'll leave it at that." Koko replied, already aware of Dead Master's averted gaze and reddening cheeks.
Half an hour later, everyone over the age of sixteen except for Koko - who wasn't needed outside anymore and went back to the house - was armed with a paintball gun and had goggles over their eyes, making their way through the greenery in search of wherever the two youngest had planted the red, blue and white flag. Lehm was of course team leader, directing their search with hand signals - simple ones since Strength and Dead Master didn't know proper military ones yet - as they kept their eyes peeled for the Lifelinked pair.
Every little sound, every flicker of movement was checked. Jonah with his alpine experience, and Rock with her agility made for a deadly game of cat & mouse to the older members of the crew. Lehm and Ugo, being the largest of them all, were especially aware of their size that day, which made them easy targets for the still unseen kids.
Suddenly a branch whipped Lutz right in the ass, making him jump in pain as he grabbed at the stinging spot, only to put his hand on something wet. He brought his hand into view and realized that the back of his pants were splattered with obnoxiously pink paint.
"Shit." Lutz knew he was out of the session thanks to the clever trap. "Jonah didn't say anything about laying traps." He grumbled to himself as he slung his paintball gun over his shoulder and turned to leave the way they came, which was the firing range, where they had to wait until they either got the flag, got shot, or got the kids.
"If that's the case, there's bound to be more of them." Valmet whispered quietly to Lehm while scanning their surroundings for the two kids. "I didn't even see that one until Lutz grabbed his ass."
"Clever little shits, aren't they?" Lehm replied, carefully peering around the tree he was hiding at. A pro would set it and forget it. A hunter would watch it from afar... but these two... they knew what they were doing because they'd been secretly evaluating the rest of them during the mountain operation. "They're playing at our individual weaknesses."
"So what now?" R asked from behind a bush.
"Keep low, keep quiet, keep going." Lehm replied, taking point but moving very slowly and avoiding any suspicious spots in the leaves and grasses.
Even with their respective statuses as elite soldiers of the world, they all fell victim to Rock and Jonah's expertly placed traps, teamwork hit & run attacks and worst of all... the decoys and mind games.
The last one standing was Strength. She'd gotten a good look at where the pair had placed the little flag, but after their last hit & run attack she'd gotten herself lost during her escape before they'd disengaged and vanished once more. Now she understood what a lack of battlefield experience would cost a soldier. She was lost, outnumbered, and alone, plus her foes knew the area and had more than a few traps and decoys in place after a mere half hour of preparation. But, with her own rigid training keeping her calm, Strength had one advantage that the other adults lacked... Her size.
The only reason she was still in the running was because of how small a target she was. Although not as fast as Rock was, she was still much faster than the adults and rather frail Dead Master.
So, combining that speed with her tiny frame, she narrowly avoided shots from both Jonah and Rock several times. And now, alone in the quiet of the trees, she was hypertense for even the slightest hint of their presence. She stayed lower than the bushes, and moved carefully to avoid any of Jonah's whipping branch traps, several of which she'd found already. He was good, that's for sure.
A bird chirped nearby, making her bring the gun to bear suddenly, which caused the small creature to panic from the sudden movement. She let out a held-in breath as she lowered the gun and turned back the way she'd originally been sneaking...
Only to come intimately close to the barrel of Jonah's paintball gun.
"The bird gave you away." Jonah smirked as Strength accepted defeat and held up her hands, one only holding the paintball gun by the foregrip. "If you hadn't gotten so tense and panicked, I would've missed you."
SPLAT!
Strengh yelped at the stinging pain that hit her bare skin in the gap between her stocking and the hem of her dress. Rock dropped down from a nearby tree branch with her gun resting over her shoulder.
"I get that she was the last one, but you were talking for too long, babe." Rock smirked as she approached her boyfriend and gave him a kiss. "I figured out how she was moving below the underbrush and messed with some of those little traps of yours so they'd be more obvious. Almost found a few of them the hard way, you sneaky, sneaky boy."
"Huh... Well that's unusual, even by my standards." Koko commented as she lowered her phone after a new contract was arranged for her to deliver some experimental tech for an American company, of all things. Her comment was of course heard by the crew as they returned from their training exercises.
"Something the matter, Koko?" Lehm asked, sporting pink paint splatter on his shoulder - thanks to Rock's superior agility getting the best of him - while another two blue splatters covered his stomach, which were from accidentally setting off one of Jonah's damned traps on his way back to the range.
"When you were still back in the States, did you ever hear about a pharmaceutical company called the Umbrella Corporation?" Koko asked, since despite her vast attention to detail, she'd never really delved into the medical field unless one of her crew was wounded while protecting her.
"Back then they were just a medical research company, not internationally known, but they were popular all over America. I figure by now that they've expanded immensely." Lehm shrugged, because like Koko, he didn't really give the medical field much concern save for getting shot on the job and getting himself patched up to come right back home where a glass of whiskey and a warm bed waited for him. He was old school when it came to doctor's.
"Well, get this... They've partnered with DARPA and a US-based PMC called Atlas to develop some prototype mobility suit they're calling an XOS-3 Exosuit. They've agreed to send a representative to meet with us tomorrow in London." Koko explained. "HCLI's been contracted to sell them, and I already have an issue with it."
"Go on..." Lehm could tell Koko had more to say on the matter, despite the obvious; these prototype suits were a risky product to sell. Sure they were new, but from vaccuum cleaners to bombers, anyone trying to sell a product without reliable results was a fool. Never sell something unknown.
"They didn't know about the contract we have for the drones. Their meeting is a tight fit in our morning schedule, and that's discounting any possible hiccups on both ours and that rep's parts. Like traffic."
"Did you give it to them straight?" Lehm knew Koko wouldn't just buckle under the pressure so easily.
"Believe me, they chose their representative 'for a reason' as they claimed. Said even their schedule was tight, so it was the only time that was even possible for both of us."
"So what's the plan?" Lehm asked, getting the idea, but asking merely as a formal confirmation.
"We haul ass tomorrow morning and hope for the best." Koko replied. "Oh, and while we're in London, the contractor I hired to expand the house is going to be here. Strength can't be stuck sleeping on the couch forever, y'know." Koko smiled at the small girl effortlessly working at her Rubik's Cube at the large dining table. "Same guy I've hired for years, he knows the place. And that means he's trustworthy."
Luck seemed to be on their side the following morning. They arrived in record time for the meeting with the Umbrella Corporation's representative, Valmet and Jonah joining Koko, while Rock stayed in the sedan with a surprise upset stomach.
Inside the office building, the trio were lead to the boardroom by an intern, where they were greeted by the sight of a very unusual young man staring out the large window.
Easily over six feet tall with silver hair that seemed to glitter in the sunlight, he was dressed in an all black designer suit, shirt and tie combination, his strong, sharp features gave Koko a strong Slavic impression, but as he turned to face them, it revealed the black eyepatch over his left eye, around which were severe burn scars.
"Koko Heckmatyar of HCLI?" As expected, he was Russian, his accent far thicker than Kloshkin's back in Brussels ages ago.
"That would be me. Are you the representative from the Umbrella Corporation?"
"Captain Tobias Darkwood, yes. A pleasure to meet you." The young Russian extended his hand across the table for her to shake, which she did, noting his firm grip but oddly cold body temperature. "Please, sit. I am aware time is of the essence for you, so I shall make things brief."
"Of course, Captain." Koko sat across from him, noting that the young soldier had not one, but two shadows under his suit jacket hinting at the sidearms concealed quite cleverly underneath. "I believe I initially spoke with one... Albert Wesker?"
"That is correct. Chairman Wesker is the one that likewise informed me of this meeting." Captain Darkwood smiled, his brilliantly icy blue eye crinkling with the smile as he tapped a nearby tablet to bring it to life. "Now then... the XOS-3 Exosuits, the short version of their concept is mobility assistance and enhancement. Make a soldier jump higher, move faster, age old issues in the military. I have here a demonstration video that Atlas provided to us alongside the initial shipment of a thousand units. It's two minutes long, quite brief." He slid the device towards Koko, and she tapped the play command.
The backpack-like body of the strange suit was adorned with thin, spindly extensions that were then linked to the soldier's wrists, with a metal glove-like extension adorning the back of their hand to their fingertips. The leg segments clasped around the bottoms of his boots and locked back onto the frame. Of course it looked goofy, but the next thing that the soldier did was crouch low in preparation to jump, then rocketed about fifteen feet up onto a nearby scaffolding, grabbing a railing and effortlessly vaulted over, then performed a running leap across a gap to another scaffold of similar span apart. Then they slid on their knees under a vertical plywood board and jumped back down to the ground without hesitating. They landed with ease, from a height that would've easily broken their legs without the Exosuit. The video ended with the soldier performing a crisp salute to the camera.
"And these are still in the prototype phase?" Koko recalled Chairman Wesker's choice of wording during their phone call the day before.
"It's my impression that the XOS-3 is actually a baseline model. Atlas and DARPA likely intend to offer advanced modules or specialty designs in the future. As it stands, they're offering the starting platform. Testing the waters, if you will." The young Captain indicated the tablet with his hand. "I personally find the design aesthetics absolutely horrible. However, their functionality serves better merit than visual appeal."
"They look like a giant metal beetle stuck to his back." Jonah suddenly commented, earning a slight chuckle from the Russian.
"Little guy, you couldn't have described them any better than that." Captain Darkwood smiled. "Now then... Miss Heckmatyar, would you be willing to offer these Exosuits onto the world market? I was informed your various connections may offer proper channels beyond just your direct contacts themselves."
"Two questions, Captain..." Koko leaned her forearms onto the edge of the table, a telling sign for Valmet and Jonah, but the Captain was none the wiser. "What would you personally change on these Exosuits, given the chance?"
"I'd alter the physical structure to resemble and function as armour, likely including some form of head protection, if at all possible. I find the barebones design of the XOS-3 rather lacking. Granted, what it offers is mobility, not protection. As such, it merely delays the inevitable fact during a firefight, and that's getting shot. My counter concept would combine agility with defense, thus prolonging a soldier's survival in battle while still retaining the increased movement capabilities offered by the Exosuit platform."
"That's very eloquently worded." Koko was impressed by his solution, which also dealt with how visually unattractive the Exosuits were. "Now, my second question... How old are you? You seem surprisingly young, I thought I should ask."
"I am eighteen, Miss Heckmatyar." The Captain smiled. "My mother is Director of Security at the Umbrella Corporation, her influence is why I bear the rank of Captain at such a young age. With it also comes higher expectations from my fellow soldiers as well as the Board of Directors as a whole. Not just from her."
A/N: This is a nod to the biplay that myself and How-Not-To-Do-Something for our stories, Silence and Lost In Transition, respectively. No, Tobias is not planned to make another appearance. No, there are no Ghouls, nor T-Virus. Just a cameo reference to the original take on this story and mine and HNTDS' shenanigans.