Striker/Spriggan: Elite Force
By: Ominae
Rating: T
NOTE:
All characters of Striker/Spriggan are under the copyright of Hiroshi Takashige, Ryoji Minagawa and FROM Software. All characters of Resident Evil are under the copyright of Capcom. All other characters not belonging to either of the two mentioned series are under me.
Summary:
A trip down to memory lane. With the various Strikers now assembled at ARCAM Japan, Chairman Yamamoto has made the grim annoucement on the fate of ARCAM's South African research facility. With the infamous Umbrella Corporation now in the picture and making ARCAM's situation a little bit difficult for them, they would now be officially be involved in the first mission of the Strikers Elite. How would they face Umbrella and will they be able to succeed? What monstrosities might the teen secret agents meet in their investigation, courstesy of Umbrella themselves? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Note - This may be my last upload before I fly out to California to spend some quality vacation away from Vancouver. But don't be surprised to see if this is updated even after the 10th. I'll try to do some work from the US when I have some time to do so.
Chapter 3: Active Measures
Lecture Room, ARCAM Japan, Tokyo, Japan
"The Umbrella Corporation?" uttered Robert in a bit of fear. Most of the Striker agents present, except Yu, Jean, Tea and Mark as usual, began to shake their legs in a bit of fear.
"But I thought Umbrella was being investigated for their actions in Raccoon City with their illegal genetic research experiments back in '98?" inquired Timothy sternly.
"Wouldn't they have a hard time to operate around since they're under heavy scrutiny? And I do mean heavy indeed!" retorted Ronald angrily.
"Hear, hear!" shouted Jean, who supported the questions of the South African Striker operative.
"People, people, please!" pleaded Chairman Yamamoto. He gave himself two minutes to calm himself down before talking with the agents again."Yes, we all do know that Umbrella Corporation is under investigation by various world governments, but they're still able to operate underground since they've got most officials in their back pockets, which is the bad thing that we're concerned right now."
"Bastards!" muttered Gerald under his breath.
"May Allah rot them in hell!" Jamal simply folded his arms around his chest.
"In this case, we have to move now." suggested Edward.
"I'm aware of that, Edward. Thank you for your undivided attention and concern." Chairman Yamamoto scratched his head and chin before he continued. "As you can see, we've already conducted background checks with several of ARCAM's scientific research personnel and one of them had links or should I say, former links to the Umbrella Corporation."
"Who is it, then?" inquired Miguel with some interest in his tone.
The Japanese Chairman grabbed the projector remote and pressed the button. Showing on the screen is the face of a man, who was in the middle '30s. He had blonde hair, looked Caucasian and had eyeglasses on. He also was wearing a white lab coat with his ID card clipped on his lab coat pocket.
"His name is Doctor Simon Higgins. A research scientist from Canada, he first worked in Umbrella's Raccoon City research facility after graduating from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia with a degree in biology and a masters in chemistry. When he felt that the disaster was going to happen, he made a transfer request to Vancouver before he moved back to California."
"How did he feel that the Raccoon City disaster was going to happen and what did he research on?" asked Sandyawan with curiosity.
"He said that he had a gut feeling." replied Chairman Yamamoto. "Lucky guy." "He did say that he was a researcher on biology. Most particular since he was studying molecular biology for Umbrella before he learned about the subsequent nuclear strike on the city."
"A good reason why he would have decided to hate Umbrella. When did he defect from the company in the first place?" asked Yu calmly.
"This year." Chairman Yamamoto went through some papers. "Said that he entered ARCAM's Canadian branch in Vancouver, requesting for help since he claimed that Umbrella was hunting him down."
"Where's he based right now?" asked Tea, who seemed to be calm with all the information coming from Yamamoto himself.
"Right nowwww..." answered Chairman Yamamoto, who was still looking at his papers. "He's currently based at ARCAM's research facility somewhere in New Zealand for his protection. After intelligence had received credible information on an attempt on his life, the top people have given him bodyguards, not to mention certain access restrictions on his office."
"New Zealand, you say?" said Derrick in shock.
"Looks like you'll have a homecoming after all." snickered Wesley.
"Not funny." muttered Derrick in reply.
"Sounds smashing." added Mark. In reality, he was really worried about their current situation.
"Anyway, we've been requested to be on standy for a while until the boys in intelligence have got something for us to use." said Chairman Yamamoto as he officially ended their briefing session.
"Great. What do we do now?" whined Riza in frustration as she stood up from her seat.
"You wanna go to the arcades?" inquired Mark sheepishly.
Briefing Room, Umbrella Corporation Building, somewhere in Canada
Men of various races and ethnicities were huddled inside a huge room that included a projector screen with various long tables and chairs provided to them. Many of them were busy killing time by talking with one anothers. Others were smoking their cigarettes or were playing different card games. They decided to wait for some big shot to debrief them at once so that they could take the entire night off with a big rest ahead of them.
"Heads up, guys. The big man's already here!" yelled one of the men.
Immediately, everyone ceased their activities and at the sight of Nicholai Zinoviev, who was now in his UBCS outfit and with a UBCS beret worn on his head, they snapped into attention with a military salute. A brown envelope was tucked under his arm. Seeing their attentiveness, Nicholai saluted back and motioned to the men to sit down at their respective chairs.
"Good evening, gentlemen." addressed Nicholai, who began the debriefing session. "As you may all know, it has come to the attention of the top Umbrella brass that one of our scientists have defected to the multinational ARCAM Corporation recently."
Murmurs began to erupt from the men when Nicholai reminded them to listen first by raising his hand.
"I understand that some of you are concerned about this. They have issued us some orders for us to perform. Allow me to relay them to you." Nicholai took the brown envelope from underneath his arm and ripped it, revealing a bunch of papers inside.
"To the operatives of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Services and the Umbrella Special Forces Unit, one of our research scientists was discovered to have been hiding out by defecting to ARCAM Corporation last July. His defection is a threat to the company and he cannot divulge any details regarding any of his research to ARCAM officials. As of today, the two units are ordered to be on 24 hour standby at once after today. Doctor Simon Higgins, one of our chief researchers at the company's molecular biology department has been based in an ARCAM research facility in New Zealand."
Nicholai couged to clear his throat before he read the rest of the papers.
"Cleaners will be joining the mission as backup support to the UBCS and the USFU once you have been cleared for Operation Stealth Mode.Remember, leave no trace that Umbrella is responsible for anything inside the facility. Your orders are to execute Dr. Higgins and the rest of ARCAM's personnel inside the facility. Also included with your objectives will be the extraction of any data that Dr. Higgins may have relayed to ARCAM. Only engage the Strikers if their presence has already been established once the operation has been commenced. That is all."
More and more murmuring came about after Nicholai ended his reading. Once more, he raised his hand as a sign for them to stop the noise.
"Other important details, if there will be, will be known to you people as soon as possible. For now, you're all dismissed."
The men stood up from their chairs and saluted the Russian UBCS Supervisor. Nicholai saluted back and left the briefing room as he went back to his office.
"Let's see how you Striker chumps will be against Umbrella's finest soon." Nicholai grinned to himself as he walked alone on the silent corridor inside the Umbrella Corporation building in Canada.
Apartments, ARCAM Japan, Tokyo, Japan
Most of the Strikers were now waiting for the right time to move out. Inside the apartment rooms, most of the Strikers had either played billiards, watched various TV shows or simply decided to to take a nap in their respective quarters. Little do they know that they'll have little R&R for once in their Striker lives.
"Bah, this is boring!" whined Yu, who was checking the TV for any good shows to watch.
"You tell me, genius!" retorted Mark. He and Riza didn't go to the arcades since most of the games were pretty old and outdated.
"So what else can we do?" asked John, who was resting on one of the couches.
"We have to wait, you know." answered Tea, who was seated in a chair near the couch.
"I see that we have to take on Umbrella Corporation now." said Diego, who was now reading the Asian Wall Street Journal in another couch.
"I'd like to get those morons for what they did to Raccoon City!" barked Robert, acting like some superhero.
"We still don't know what their strength is and even if we do, we still don't know how we're going to face them." suggested Harald with concern.
"Umbrella has pocketed many of our officials into our pockets. Bastards!" yelled Patrick, who slammed his clenched fist into the wall.
"Being angry won't get you nowhere." explained Roland, who was leaning on the bar counter in the kitchen nearby.
"That's right." insisted Patrick in support. "Besides, who are they going to send anyway? A Tyrant? A Nemesis"
"I don't think they're going to do that." explained Derrick. "'Cause I'm sure that they don't want some other attention besides us"
"Which is why we need to plan now." continued Edward. "We need to know who we could face and how could Dr. Higgins survive if Umbrella decides to get rid of him."
All activity was interrupted when Wesley and Michelle quickly barged into the apartments.
"What is it now?" asked Jean, who was a bit sleepy from his nap when he left his room.
"Chairman Yamamoto wants us in the lecture room now!" shouted Michelle.
"We've got some things from ARCAM intelligence that you guys may find interesting." elaborated Wesley. Without any further hesistation, all the Striker operatives rushed out of the apartment room to the nearest elevator, taking them back to the building's ground floor.
Lecture Room, ARCAM Japan, Tokyo, Japan
"Listen up, ladies and gentlemen!" explained Chairman Yamamoto, who seemed to have new information to hand out to the Striker agents, who took their seats quickly. "We've got some news from intelligence that Umbrella's making a big move to ARCAM's New Zealand facility anytime soon."
Some of the agents gasped, others began to whisper to one another on the implications on Umbrella and facing them in a possible future encounter.
"Wonder what's on the agenda today?" wondered Tatsuki, who was observing the other Striker agents taking their seats in the lecture room.
"Do we know who we're facing?" questioned Tudor, who had curiosity over the Chairman's latest findings.
Chairman Yamamoto flipped through some papers before reporting his "latest" discovery to the Strikers as to answer Tudor's question.
"I'm afraid so." replied Chairman Yamamoto while continuing to browse through the papers with some worry. "Apparently, Umbrella's going to deploy the UBCS and the USFU units as the main units for the attempted assault and assassination attempt too."
Mark was calm after hearing the reply from the Chairman himself. "I'm not that surprised. It's logical that Umbrella would deploy two of its lethal paramilitary units to clean up whatever problems they have."
"Pardon me, guv!" interrupted Roland. "But what's the approximate strength of the opposing force?"
"It's still unclear as of right now." addressed Chairman Yamamoto. "However, please do be advised that there are rumors of Cleaner troopers being deployed alongside the UBCS and the USFU."
"What are these Cleaners anyway?" inquired Jamal.
"Artificial humans." suggested Timothy. "Once they're killed, they immediately dissolve into a black puddle, from what I've heard."
"An excellent way to leave no evidence to Umbrella themselves." concluded Wesley. "That way, no one could ever pin the blame on Umbrella themselves."
"Which is why we have to be careful with these dogs." added Michelle in suggestion.
"So when do we leave, old man?" Yu was getting a bit antsy for action.
"Not that again!" Chairman Yamamoto scratched his head for a few seconds before he resumed. "As soon as possible. You guys will be leaving in a few days."
"Great. Thanks, Yamamoto." answered Jean sternly.
"That's the best we can do." explained Chairman Yamamoto.
"We better get started." Mark stood up and walked towards the lecture room's main entrance.
"Don't forget to pack up your Armored Muscle Suits before you guys leave." The other Striker agents began to leave their seats and walk towards the door.
Yu complained to himself on Yamamoto's acting like a mom. "Gee, thanks a lot mom!"
Nicholai Zinoviev's Office, Umbrella Corporation Building, somewhere in Canada
Nicholai was on his office chair, reading a report that he had just received a while ago.
Captain Zinoviev,
We've just received some credible and reliable information that ARCAM plans to deploy several Striker agents into their New Zealand branch anytime soon.
Yours sincerly,
Michael Chu
"I see. ARCAM is now mobilizing their elite agents to take on the might of Umbrella's paramilitary forces." The Russian UBCS Supervisor and ex-mercenary agent could not suppress a menacing grin fromhis face for a few minutes after reading the brief report summary. He knew that he had to plan his next course of action before he gets into much more trouble.
"Let's see what they can do if I could authorize the people to send something after them." He booted up his computer and when it was fully running, he opened his e-mail and began to type out a message to his superiors with a request.
What the request that Nicholai had personally planned for the Strikers, it was only kept to himself until the dreaded day that Umbrella mounts another vicious assault on an ARCAM facility in New Zealand.
Only time will tell for both ARCAM and Umbrella in a battle that would pit the two multinational corporations in an underground war to save the planet Earth from biological warfare. Maybe he should consider sending them a "gift" as an expression of "gratitude" from Umbrella for the efforts that the Strikers might put through once they get to New Zealand.
Narita International Airport, Departure Area (International), Narita, Japan
Everyone from the newly formed Strikers Elite team had just arrived at the Narita International Airport, courtesy of a shuttle bus that Chairman Yamamoto had taken care of. They were to leave for New Zealand at once via private jet.
Derrick Trigg only stood alone at the airport's sidewalk near the main entrance, fussing over a huge battle between Striker agents and experienced mercenaries, with the possibility of facing any of Umbrella's ferocious and troublesome creations through years of biological research. He fought numerous mercenaries, criminals, terrorists, rogue nations, renegade special forces units and corporations with paramilitary armies that threatened the safety of the world with "advanced" artifacts from the days of old. But today would be the first time for the New Zealander Striker, as with the other Striker operatives, to take on the infamous corporation believed to be accountable for what happened to the former Raccoon City in the United States back in 1998.
"Hope everything goes smoothly back home after the guys and I touch down at New Zealand. But what will Umbrella send after us? A Tyrant class? A Nemesis class? I'm getting a splitting headache here, dammit!" Massaging the sides of his head for a brief second, he saw his friends entering the airport with most of their baggage, he took his backpack lying next to his feet and walked with them inside the huge airport, which served millions and millions of passengers every year.
Chairman's Office, ARCAM New Zealand
"Sir, a message from Chairman Yamamoto of ARCAM Japan."
"Thank you, Ann." The man took the paper from his secretary after she entered his office. With her departure, he silently opened the folder, which contained some files and a letter addressed to him.
Jack,
Some of the security officials have already formed the Strikers Elite. Right now, their first mission is to secure Dr. Higgins from any Umbrella assassination attempt. Please debrief them at once with any new intel that you may have found out recently. The doctor's life will depend on these Striker agents.
Yamamoto
"He sure sounded hectic with this piece of letter."
Jack Mulroney, the director of ARCAM New Zealand, was a personal friend of Chairman Yamamoto and they have gone way back since their college days when both of them studied together in the US. Now colleagues for the ARCAM Corporation, he would now have to assist his long time friend in assisitng the Strikers in getting ready to protect Dr. Higgins' life at all costs.
Even if the team members will have to sacrifice themselves to the end.
Chapter 3 END