Striker/Spriggan: Unknown Object
By: Ominae
Rating: T
NOTE:
All characters of Striker/Spriggan are under the copyright of Hiroshi Takashige, Ryoji Minagawa and FROM Software. All other characters are under my jurisdiction
Summary:
A trip down to memory lane. After the Strikers have infiltrated Clover Heavy Industries' Hong Kong branch, ARCAM has prepared to meet the worst as some of the Strikers in the former crown colony have discovered that Trident Corporation was at work to create a prototype suit of armor. What is this suit? Will they be able to find more information about it? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Chapter 2: Missions
Somewhere in the forests of Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
At the lush and tranquil forests of Nueva Vizcaya, it had the appearance of a peaceful and serene place where people could relax and forget their troubles of city life by taking a vacation in the area, to just simply take a tour.
But deep beneath its peaceful appearance, a covert and secret war had just taken place deep in Nueva Vizcaya's forests. The sounds of gunfire echoed in the area, though it never reached the outskirts of the forest as its residents continued to mind their business.
"Come on!"
It was the yelling voice of Yu Ominae, ARCAM's most prized Striker of Japanese origin, from the Nueve Vizcayan forests. With his ARCAM Armored Muscle Suit bulging, a clear sign of its activation, he had his Heckler and Koch G3A3 assault rifle on his hand and his bandana on his head as he prepared to open fire on his adversary.
"Hey, Ominae!" shouted another. "Save some for me!" Can't believe that we're doing this on a weekend. It's a good thing or I'd miss the details on the upcoming project from school.
The other voice turned out to be Mark Sy, another prized Striker operator of Filipino origin, who had been deployed in the Cagayan Valley province with some other Striker operators as well. Decked in Swiss Alpenflage camo, shirt and pants alike, and sporting a 75th Ranger Regiment beret on his head, he was ready for action.
"Slowpoke!" grinned Ominae, who used a tree trunk for cover after sensing bullets whizzing past him. "Well, we gotta get these buggers."
Mark raised his Howa Type 89 assault rifle after he knelt beside Yu. "I know. You know that those DFs are quite good at this game." replied Mark from his black balaclava. He fired a short burst from his Japanese assault rifle at their unseen enemies.
"DFs?" Tea Flatte teleported near Mark's rear, nearly freaking out Yu. The British woman glared at him as he wanted to scold her for scaring the hell out of her, but decided to keep quiet. "You mean Delta Force?"
"Nah." Mark shook his head. " I was talking about those damn faggots!"
As soon as enemy gunfire was silent, another Striker operator who almost dressed like Mark came out of the bushes. One exception was that he covered his nose and mouth with some of cloth, leaving his eyes exposed. On his head was a standard ARCAM Corporation beret.
"Delta Force's still out there!" said the operator, holding a Bushmaster M17S assault rifle. "We have to get them!"
"Right, Michael!" Nodding his head at his twin brother, Mark and the others emerged out of cover while Michael provided initial cover fire. Moments later, Chung Yee Hwa aka Edward Chung and Roland Guisan came out of the forest to provide cover fire as well, laying down suppressive fire as the four Striker dashed forward to meet their opponents.
A few days ago, ARCAM explorers under archaeologist Eva McMachon had uncovered a forgotten temple somewhere in the Nueva Vizcayan forests filled with ancient codes similar to the ones ARCAM scientists had examined back in the United States. The US Army got wind of this discovery from their informants and had covertly deployed Delta Force, formally known as 1st Special Forces Operational Delta Airborne (1SFO-DA), using the pretext of using an advance party of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents who arrived in the country a day ago to cover the arrival of American soldiers for the upcoming Balikatan games, to secure the temple as they knew about Project YAMA when its codes similar to the ones discovered by McMahon had nearly brought the world to a halt. Thanks to the CIA, their presence was kept a secret until ARCAM intelligence had uncovered their presence.
"We have to hurry before Delta Force moves them out of the country!" huffed Yu, leading the way with his G3A3 assault rifle.
"I wonder what they the US wants with those codes?" thought Mark, aiming his Howa Type 89's barrel around.
Tea offered an answer, "Maybe to use it against their enemies?" Mark nodded a bit since Tea knew about the Project YAMA situation and had suggested a relevant answer.
In another part of the forest, another group of Strikers were converging in on the temple, stopping on the way to counter sporadic gunfire.
"Damn!"
A loud muttering came from Harald Bondevik, ARCAM Norwegian Striker. On his hands was his Springfield M21 sniper rifle. It had already fired off a shot when he dispatched a Delta Force soldier scouting ahead from the high branches of the trees behind him a while ago.
"Are they up ahead?" asked Ronald Welles, South African Striker who lugged his Daewoo K3 LMG on his hands.
"Hopefully we could neutralize Delta Force and get Eva out of the way."
Robert Morris, an American Striker, managed to catch up with the first two since he had a SIG MG 710-3 GPMG. But thanks to the activated artificial muscles from his ARCAM Armored Muscle Suit, it helped him move around a lot with the semi-heavy GPMG on his hands.
Automatic gunfire began to echo again in the forest, making the Strikers kneel down.
"Shit!" muttered Miguel Ruiz, another Filipino Striker with the Sy brothers on this mission. Running towards his comrades on a crouched pace, he was careful to handle his Ruger AC-556 assault rifle. Beside him was Sohn Eui-hwan aka Wesley Sohn, South Korean Striker who cradled his ADI F88 assault rifle. "How many are out there?"
"We don't know." shrugged Robert. "From what John told us from recon after he went ahead of us, two groups of Delta Force operators were guarding the subdued ARCAM employees."
"Is Eva safe?" questioned Harald, tightly gripping his M21.
"Not sure." answered Robert. "John just went ahead to make sure we've got a safe path ahead for us."
"Hopefully, she'll be alright." said Wesley, flipping the foregrip of his F88 after collapsing it a while ago after he retracted the foregrip to help him aim at a group of Delta Force soldiers back in the forests when the Strikers first entered, killing almost all of them before Harald shot the others with precise headshots.
With the bulk of the artificial muscles coming from their respective ARCAM Armored Muscle Suits, they began to lug themselves towards their target.
ARCAM Excavation Camp, Excavated Temple, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
In the ARCAM excavation camp, several Delta Force soldiers dressed in standard American Woodland BDUs, Woodland Boonie Hats and armed with Colt M4A1 carbines, with some having mounted AAI M203A2 grenade launchers, mounted patrols all around the area after capturing the camp. Since the ARCAM Private Army (APA) had provided a few lightly armed guards, they were quickly overwhelmed in a matter of minutes.
In the middle of the camp were ARCAM research scientists, herded together when Delta Force stormed the excavation camp and plasticuffed all the civilians. Some of them were posted to guard them in case the Strikers would attempt to move in and rescue them.
Eva McMahon, in the center of the herded civilians, looked around her surrounding to see groups of Delta Force soldiers. She couldn't move her arms as they were plasticuffed. She could run, but she'll run the risk of being gunned down in a matter of minutes.
They've commandeered some pick-ups in here too. Eva saw that some Delta Force soldiers had pick-up trucks with them, consisting of 2000 models with 2 Ford Rangers, 2 Mitsubishi L200s and 2 Toyota Hi-Lux trucks obtained from local sources. The only differences was the rear of the vehicles had a US Ordnance M60E4 GPMG mounted with a Delta Force soldier commandeering the weapon for each of the pick-ups.
Hurry guys!
Eva hoped that help would come on their way.
Forests of Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
"Man, I'm tired!"
Michael Sy, twin brother of Mark Sy and Striker operator, swatted away annoying tree branches that blocked their way as they prepared to approach the outskirts of the excavated from the north. From initial ARCAM intelligence, only a few Delta Force squads are been posted as most of the force has been placed on the south to expect an assault from the other Strikers lead by Harald.
"You noticed?" quipped Yu, slowly aiming his HK G3A3 at all possible angles. "I could take a little rest, but we're not sure where exactly are Eva and the others will be moved to."
"Nice advantages that the DFs used." snarled Mark, holding his Howa Type 89. "Taking advantage of the upcoming Balikatan exercises as their means of cover."
Tea hummed in agreement, "Pretty smart for them to use the arrivals of CIA agents as cover."
"Ssssh!" Michael told everyone to keep quiet; his Bushmaster M17S rifle aiming at the northern part of the excavated temple. "We've got company."
Mark, Yu and Tea huddled near Michael, who crouched behind a tree trunk for cover as the others began to use the nearby bushes for cover. From their positions, they were able to visualize a few Delta Force troopers armed with Colt M4A1 assault rifles with two of them having AAI M203A2 grenade launcher attachments.
"Bro." whispered Mark, slinging his Howa Type 89. "We better mind cloud them first before we waltz in with the others."
Michael nodded in agreement, slinging his Bushmaster M17S. "I agree too. That way, we'll have less opposition to face with later on after we secure the hostages."
Tea came in to interrupt their planning. "It's a good idea. Yu and I will stay here in case the others show up."
I don't know. Mark suddenly hesitated at her, but Tea flashed a smile at him and placed a hand on his right shoulder, reading his mind as the two had the ability to read each other's mind after she had trained him to awaken his psychic power with his twin.
"I'll be alright." assured Tea. "I promise."
"O..Okay." Mark suddenly stuttered for a few seconds before he began to concentrate on using his mind clouding powers with Michael. Minutes later, the two Strikers turned invisible to the naked eye.
"Better go." murmured Mark, motioning to his invisible brother to dispatch the Delta Force patrol ahead of them. "Don't get near them 'til we can silence them before the others know about it."
"Right." whispered Michael in reply. The two went off to dispatch the Delta Force patrol. Though Yu couldn't see them since they used mind cloud, Tea grinned to herself since she knew that her two wards had a brilliant plan for them to use. Minutes later, Roland and Edward caught up with the two after the duo had almost got lost since Yu, Tea and the Sy brothers had moved fast ahead of them.
From the southern side of the excavated temple, Harald and the rest of his comrades made their slow approach on the main entrance of the ARCAM excavation camp. As expected from intelligence, a massive show of force was shown by Delta Force by multiple soldiers backed by their readily converted pick-up trucks, customized to mount GPMGs at the rear. Harald, since he was at the lead, motioned his comrades to halt and crouch down near the trees, giving them some cover from the eyesight of the Delta Force soldiers.
"Whoa!" whistled Robert, holding his SIG MG 710-3 GPMG carefully. "Delta boys are crawling all over the southern entrance."
"It'd be a lot harder for us to get by them." Wesley used his ADI F88's 1.5x optical sight to check on the position of the Delta Force soldiers. "I found two pick-ups parked near the entrance."
"Say, where's John?" inquired Miguel. "Haven't seen him for a bit." He felt someone tossed some sort of soft object over his head. When he looked up, he glared at the Kenyan Striker who had perched on a tree branch above him by coincidence. Ronald was at their rear, covering their approach to the temple.
"Sorry man!" chuckled John. "Just my way of letting you know my position." Miguel muttered to himself, mentioning something about talking to him about fixing his way of signaling his place.
Harald took out a pair of Steiner Military R-8 x 30mm Binoculars that he borrowed from his comrade Patrick Chan since he wasn't available due to an upset stomach. Using the binoculars, he was able to accurately pinpoint each enemy's location better than Wesley's 1.5x optical sight since he thought it would be better used for combat than for observation.
"Listen up." Harald motioned everyone to gather around him, except John since he was instructed to provide some cover for them and to warn them if Delta Force operators were about to move out of the captured ARCAM excavation camp.
"I've managed to check out all the positions of the Delta Force operators." began Harald, explaining their current position as part of their situation. He held his M21 by the foregrip while pointing his finger on certain areas of a map that he had just obtained from a dead Delta Force soldier. "Most of the Delta Force soldiers are amassed here while..."
Northern Entrance, Excavated Temple, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
"Hey, Greg."
"Yea."
Two Delta Force soldiers, patrolling the eastern side of the temple's northern entrance, were engaged in a normal conversation.
"You think the top brass will use the mumbo jumbo inside that temple the ARCAM scientists have recently excavated?"
Greg, the first Delta Force soldier, shrugged. "Don't know, Mike. Just like the thing scientists have found in Britain had resulted in some squabble with the British Army." He then fingered his Colt M4A1's foregrip carefully. "Just like that excavation, almost all the countries wanted to get their hands on this one, but it's a good thing we're here first."
Mike nodded, "Yea, I guess you're right."
The two veteran operators were not aware of strange movement since the presence of two people were were obscure to them, thanks to the mind cloud technique of Mark and Michael Sy, making them completely invisible.
Suddenly, the two Strikers operator became visible at the rear of the two soldiers before withdrawing their respective combat knives from their vests. Mark lunged at Greg by kicking his shin with great force, making him kneel. He grabbed his head and covered his mouth before he slitted his throat with his Fairbarn Sykes Commando Pattern 1 Knife. Michael on the other hand, grabbed Mike's head by the neck and covered his mouth too before stabbing him with his Sheffield Israeli Commando knife at the back of his stomach thrice before stabbing him at his neck.
"Quickly now." murmured Mark, dragging the dead body of the first Delta Force soldier before Michael did the same with his own corpse. "Better find a good place to dispose of the corpses."
"The area around the temple hasn't been cleared of the bushes." suggested Michael. "We could use that to our advantage since they're very long grass leafs."
"Where?"
Michael pointed to an area behind them where they ran across after they used mind cloud to evade detection. "Near the forest. But we have to be fast."
Outskirts of Southern Entrance, Excavated Temple, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
"Are they there yet?" mumbled Robert, prone on the ground with his hands on his SIG MG 710-3. "I wonder if Yu and the others have made it."
"Nah." answered Wesley, holding his ADI F88 on his right hand with the foregrip folded. "I don't see them, only Delta Force operators with some technicals." The two Strikers had settled to check on the southern entrance's right side as part of an eventual plan to assault the temple.
Harald went to the left side with Miguel and Robert as escorts to the left side of the temple's southern entrance. John was still perched on the tree behind them, still conducting surveillance on the temple's central area.
"When are we going to get the rest of them?" pondered Robert. "I mean, I'm an American and all, but I don't like black ops operations conducted under the legal auspices of my country's military just to regain power from the Cold War."
"I know how you feel." Wesley steadily aimed his ADI F88 at the Delta Force soldier/machine gunner on the rear of one of the Ford Ranger pick-ups. "Besides, I've got contact with Yu that Mark and his bro are trying to disable the guards on the northern side."
Robert sighed, "Let's just hope they can get rid of them quietly before my trigger finger starts to fire my SIG MG 710-3."
Outskirts of Northern Entrance, Excavated Temple, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
"How many did they take care of?" whispered Ronald, steadily holding his IMBEL M964 assault rifle while crouching beside a tree trunk.
"They seemed to be working on two more soldiers at least." replied Yu, watching the Sy brothers make short work of the Delta Force soldiers by attacking them from behind while conducting their patrol routes. "So that's 6 in all."
"Still," insisted Edward, who had his hands on his FN FNC assault rifle. "They need to take care of the technical in the northern side of the temple." He was talking about the Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up that was in the northern entrance. Though Mark and Michael dispatched the guard from both sides of the northern entrances, they still need to eliminate the Delta Force operators in that pick-up before we can make a diversion."
Tea grinned upon hearing their concerns. Placing her hands on her trenchcoat, she took out a piece of cloth with a familiar pentragram drawn on it.
"I think I can do that."
Yu, Edward and Ronald suddenly had their faces turned white when they saw the British operative grinning silly while holding the white cloth on her hand. One thing was on their minds.
Holy shit!
Northern Entrance, Excavated Temple, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley, Philippines
Now at the right side of the temple's northern entrance, the two Strikers handled their assault rifles while searching for a loose end in the temple wall's structure to get inside.
"Hey." whispered Michael, leading the way with his Bushmaster M17S. "Think I found a hole that we can use to enter the temple."
Dashing to his side, Mark found the said area that his brother pointed out to him. It had seemed that a medium-sized hole was inside the temple wall, leading to the courtyard. It appears that it crumbled during years of aging.
"You're right." Mark slinged his Howa Type 89 assault rifle on his back. "We should be able to sneak up on that damn technical parked inside the entrance." With that, Mark crawled through the hole under the watchful eye of his brother. Once inside, he steadied his weapon to seek if any hostile saw him enter the area. He tapped the brick wall twice, letting Michael know he was inside.
"Right." muttered Michael, slinging his Bushmaster M17S on his back. "Cover me, bro."
Mark grinned, "No problem."
Larry Markson's Office, Clovers Heavy Industries Canada, Somewhere in Canada
Larry Markson, now back in the Clovers Heavy Industries branch in Canada, was seated in his personal office. Inside with him were several of Trident Corporation's most finest and deadliest soldiers. All of them were wearing their Trident Armored Machine Suits with their olive green BDUs, olive green BDUs and their ALICE gear.
"So let get this straight," began Hedgehog, adjusting his eyeglasses. He was speaking in his calm state."You want us to get ready for an upcoming Trident operation." He was seated in one of the chairs in front of Larry's table.
"Can't say anything more than that." said the businessman, scratching his mustache. "Since the accursed Strikers have infiltrated our Clovers Heavy Industries branch in Hong Kong, all of the other branches have tightened security to avoid a repeat of the said incident."
"It's obviously the fault of those damned guards." sneered Sidewinder, crossing his arms around him. He moved his prosthetic fingers a bit, stretching them. He was seated next to Hedgehog.
"Come on you," chuckled Iwao Akatsuki, standing behind them. "It can't be helped."
Hedgehog turned to face him. "And what do you know about this, Akatsuki?"
Iwao shrugged, "Don't know. Why go full cyborg when having flesh and bones with a machine suit is better than the nuts and bolts embedded in your bodies?"
"What did you say?" Hedgehog felt a vein was about to pop in his head. "Let me get my arm removed and give you a shower from my needle gun."
"Why can't you watch your words, Akatsuki?" Sidewinder cracked his prosthetic knuckles and was about to launch his steel dart heads when a voice came from behind the three.
"Can't you guys stop it?" The trio turned to see Jack the Ripper, lounging at the couch at the back of the office. "We've got an operation coming up soon and now you three are prepared to slaughter each other." He raised his right prosthetic arm, slightly exposing his Omihalcon High Frequency blade from it. "So if you don't cut the chatter, I might do some work on you guys."
Larry sighed, Can't these three guys stop fighting? I'm getting a headache here. "Thank you, Jack." The man sighed again before explaining. "I may need you guys to get ready next week. We're about to start testing on our prototype machine suits and I want you all to be on your best on security detail."
"No problems here, chief." grinned Sidewinder, giving a thumbs up.
"Indeed." Hedgehog chuckled, returning to his calm state of conversation. Larry wanted to sweat drop for his semi-strange nature. Most of his colleagues found him peculiar for being calm, but in a state of rage when in battle.
"Of course." Iwao nodded. "I'm ready to have my luck with the Strikers again."
"Same here." yelled Jack the Ripper from the back. "I'll get Ominae," Jack gave an evil smirk. "and the other Strikers too."
Larry decided to end the speculating. "Regardless, we need to prepare for the upcoming mission up ahead. Which means we need to be ready to take on the Strikers."
"Yes, Mr. Markson." answered the Trident soldiers in unison.
Chapter 2 END
Notes/Terms:
1st Special Forces Operational Delta Airborne - Known as Delta Force. America's answer to the British SAS.
ALICE - All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment, in use in the US military. Replaced the M-1967 Modernized Load-Carrying Equipment (MLCE). Is scheduled to be replaced by the Individual Integrated Fighting System or IIFS, though it has yet to be seen.
Balikatan - Shoulder to Shoulder in Tagalog. Codename for military exercises held by the American and Philippine militaries under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Highly debated by various organizations as the 1992 Philippine Constitution does not tolerate the presence of foreign soldiers, friendly or hostile.
PS - If you readers want to know how the other Trident operatives look like besides Akatsuki, let me know in the reviews. As for Larry Markson, he has a Wikipedia entry. Check it out.
