Striker/Spriggan: Unknown Object

By: Ominae

Rating: T

NOTE:

All characters of Striker/Spriggan are under the copyright of Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa. Cameo appearances of other characters are under the copyright of Capcom. All other characters are under my jurisdiction.

Summary:

As the Trident Corporation prepares to move to further testing on their prototype Armored Machine Suits after their initial skirmish with ARCAM's Strikers in Central, ARCAM's Striker agents are preparing to move in against the organization by making preparations to raid a Trident-owned warehouse in the outskirts of Kowloon's urban cities and towns, their one and only chance to secure the prototype Armored Machine Suits and to give them a severe blow from operating in Hong Kong. What will the Strikers do next? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.

Chapter 9: Contingent Plans

Conference Room, ARCAM Hong Kong, One Pacific Place, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR, China

All the Strikers were recalled to a meeting inside ARCAM Hong Kong's office, a few days after receiving separate message from Yeo Ching Hua that ARCAM intelligence regarding some dirt on Trident's location to where their prototype Armored Machine Suits were hidden. Things were pretty good for the Strikers; they could move on them soon.

"So the secret Trident facility is right there?" Yu wanted to make sure that he was hearing what Yeo had debriefed the Strikers minutes ago. "Is the info final, sir?"

"I'm sure of it." Yeo adjusted his glasses and his necktie. "ARCAM satellite imagery has already confirmed the location of Trident's hidden facility." Working on the projected image of the compound on a projector screen, Yeo explained to the assembled Strikers on their course of action.

"According to intelligence, this compound is located in the Kowloon area." Gasps were heard from the assembled group after hearing this. "In addition, the complex is legally owned jointly by the Hong Kong branches of Clovers Heavy Industries and Takasumi Zaibatsu."

"Very smart." Tudor commented. "Smart indeed. I have to give them credit."

"Trident sure is getting sneakier and sneakier by the days and years." added Miguel in support of the Romanian Striker.

The image showed the complex to have a rectangular shape with chain link fences surrounding its perimeter. A large warehouse was in the center with a medium-sized building on the warehouse's left side. The image also showed the location of armed guards, indicated by a light red circle as the image was taken at night.

"So what?" quipped Jean, looking at the image. "We don't even have a solid plan to take the place down and locate the supposed prototype suits."

"I'm sure that intelligence has a suggested plan." answered Mark, looking at the security chief. "Right, sir?"

"Yes, of course." nodded Yeo. "They're working on some suggestions to get into the facility and checking on the status of the suits."

"Hopefully." said John, running his hand on his black hair. "When do we move in?"

"If estimates are in place," replied the security chief. "You'll all raid the complex by tomorrow night."

"I hope you're right about that, sir." commented Patrick, yawning since he was a bit tired.


Conference Room, Takasumi Zaibatsu Hong Kong, Wing On House, Central, Hong Kong SAR, China

Inside the conference room, Iwao Akatsuki and the other Trident secret agents had the place to themselves to discuss about their upcoming operation. Lawrence Soong had to attend a meeting with representatives from the Clovers Heavy Industries and Campbell Company Hong Kong branches, without disclosing what the meeting was about.

"Hey guys." began Iwao, smirking. "Received some info from the higher ups that we're scheduled to move out tomorrow morning to the complex in Kowloon."

"You mean the one near the mountains?" asked Hedgehog, lying down on the couch, apparently tired.

"That is the one." responded Iwao while Hedgehog checked on his needle gun attachment placed on his right arm.

"Probably a sure sign that Trident's going to secure its assets in Hong Kong to prevent the Strikers from moving in on us." suggested Larry.

"So what happens to us then?" asked Jack, who was seated on one of the chairs near the long table, propping his legs up. "We've got absolutely nothing to do unless ARCAM plans a retaliation attack on the building, which is suicide."

"Same thing with us if we're the ones going to launch the raid on their place." explained Iwao, scratching his chin.

"Besides, why is Larry approving this?" questioned Jack, a bit confused at the state of events. "Why can't we send those brianwashed kids with us?"

"'Cause we can't." insisted Hedgehog, snarling a bit. "You should listen to the orders given out when they are given out."

"Fine." huffed Sidewinder.

"Cheer up, big guy. I heard that good old Lawrence would probably request reinforcements."

The news had sounded good; it only made the half-cyborg Trident agent place a devilish grin on his face.

"I don't know about using those kiddies." Iwao seemed a bit against it. "Those guys, even though brainwashed, give me the creeps."

"I agree." Jack frowned while he drew out his left Omihalcon blade from his left prosthetic arm, being sure that he didn't decapitate any of his comrades. "I doubt Larry has any sympathy for those teenagers. I feel sorry for them, but that's the life of being involved in black ops. I'm sure those blasted Strikers feel the same thing."

"Yes, of course." Hedgehog fixed his glasses. "Especially that Mark character. Though he's driven by the urge to kill enemies whenever he can, he seems to be driven between whether to kill a helpless enemy or not."


Larry Markson's Office, Takasumi Zaibatsu USA, Los Angeles, California, USA

Still in his office, Larry was still speaking to the secretary regarding a meeting scheduled to be done with representatives from the American officials of Clovers Heavy Industries and the Campbell Company when he noted that he had received an e-mail on his computer.

"If you would excuse me," said Larry, starting to get to work on his computer. "I have business to attend to. So can you tell anyone looking for me that I'll be busy inside my office for a while.

"Yes, Mr. Markson." The secretary excused herself and left his office, being mindful to close his door.

Booting his Hotmail e-mail, he noted that the e-mail address sent to him came from the office e-mail account in Takasumi Zaibatsu's Hong Kong branch.

Wonder what this has to do with me? Larry began to read the contents, much to his delight.

"Larry, I've taken care of sending Akatsuki and the other Trident agents to the warehouse in Kowloon as part of the security arrangements that I've made with the security chiefs from Clovers, Campbell and Takasumi. We received words that ARCAM may stage an attack anytime soon."

Larry grinned after reading the e-mail sent to him by Lawrence. He knew that the Strikers would be held back...


Penthouse, The Atrium, JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR, China

"Damn!" Mark sneezed before grabbing the TV remote. Wonder if someone's talking about me...

Watching some TV in the living room, Mark was glued to the CNN news report regarding the incident back in Central while his brother was dozing off in his room. It was a Monday now, they had school back in Manila, but they can't leave yet until they were able to raid the compound tonight.

"As a gesture to assist the Hong Kong SAR government in rebuilding parts of Central damaged in a gunfight days ago, Campbell Company, Takasumi Zaibatsu and the Clovers Heavy Industries have given an unspecified amount of money in order to finance the reconstruction of the area as parts of it were not cleared out of damage done by the still unidentified parties. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong Police investigators were still not able to identify the affiliations of the dead gunmen, though they were believed to be hired freelancers."

"Not surprising." chuckled Mark, drinking his glass of water. "Trident may have done it to distract any attention to them."

"ARCAM has also pledged to assist the Hong Kong SAR in financing the final phase of reconstruction back in Central by donating an unspecified amount of money as well. Like what the Campbell Company, Takasumi Zaibatsu and the Clovers Heavy Industries did, ARCAM representatives were not available to comment on how much they were willing to contribute too."

"Another score for the board of directors." grinned Mark, raising his glass to salute his comrades in ARCAM before downing the rest of his water.

"What's up?" Michael strolled in, wearing his white shirt and black shorts, getting up from his sleep.

"News mentioned that Trident and ARCAM are making the contributions by providing the money for the reconstruction efforts in Central."

"I see." Michael rubbed his eyes. "It's a shame that we have to do our shootout there. Nice place. Why can't we do it in Kowloon or maybe the New Territories?"

"I don't think we can decide that part." sighed Mark. "But we do have to prepare for the upcoming attack tonight."

"What do we do until then, bro?" asked Michael, heading to the kitchen to start his breakfast.

Suddenly, the phone inside the penthouse rang. Remembering that his brother was busy in the kitchen, he lifted his feet and answered the phone. After listening to the caller for a few minutes, he replaced the phone back at the cradle and called his brother.

"Hey, Michael!"

"Yea? Something up?"

"Get dressed when you're done eating. A meeting's coming up with Mr. Yeo."


Yeo Ching Hua's Office, ARCAM Hong Kong, One Pacific Place, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR, China

Yu Ominae had assembled the other Strikers inside the security chief's office. Though it was an ordinary office, the working area was big enough to accomdate all the Strikers, with the exception of the Sy brothers as they were on the way.

"It's 2 minutes since all of you were here." Yeo stared at his Rolex watch. "Wonder if they'll be late."

"Sorry we're late, Mr. Yeo."

Mark was the first one to enter the room, followed by Michael. After Yeo and the other Strikers were able to acknowledge their presence, Michael closed the door to Yeo's office shut while the other Strikers began to sit down at the various sofas and chairs around the office.

"I'm glad that all of you were able to make it to this urgent meeting." began Yeo, thanking the Strikers assembled inside. "It's very important that you're all here since I have to tell you about the..."

"Just get to the point, old man." All the Strikers stared at Jean, wondering if he said the right words. "Cut to the chase." The Hong Kong security chief chuckled a bit.

"Feisty aren't we, Jean?" Pretending that he didn't hear anything from the French Striker operative, he began to debrief them on the latest intelligence regarding Trident complex in Kowloon. Jean simply raised his eyebrow at the ARCAM Hong Kong security chief before he decided to mind his own business and listen to the important debriefing. Otherwise, he would have been back in Central or Wan Chai to have a look around.

"I've received some credible information from intelligence regarding the complex that you're about to raid." Yeo cleared his throat before he began to narrate the information to the teenage operatives. "According to recent findings, the location is in the rural area of Kowloon, away from the bustling cities in the island."

"A perfect location." commented Tudor. "That way, the HKPD and the Security Bureau wouldn't be too nosy in case Trident has some secret tests to conduct."

"Correct." noted Yeo, continuing his debriefing. "The complex is believed to be nested in the area near the No. 12 Hill, far away from any sign of civilized life."

"You mean in the forests?" Yu raised an eyebrow on hearing his report.

"I'm afraid so, Yu." Yeo replied. "It's also a blessing for us since we can get to the area and raid the place before Hong Kong Police would be able to mobilize more SDU operators."

"Very true." said Michelle. In recent reports, Hong Kong media has noted that many of the SDU operators who were wounded by many of Trident's mercenary forces were back on active duty. According to the media outles, many have expressed rage and revenge at the Trident agents, especially to Hedgehog for he was responsible for downing their chopper transport.

"But we'll have a problem with the PLA!" refuted Wesley. "I mean, they have a garrison near our target location!"

"Remember Hong Kong's Basic Law, Wes." assured Michael, sighing at the South Korean's problem on the possibility of being caught and exposed.

"Yea," said Roland in support. "any PLA forces can't act in Hong Kong territory unless they have the consent of the Chief Executive."

"Legally." countered Yu. "But that won't stop the PLA forces in the island from staging any black ops operation against us or Trident in case they got the urge to do so."

"You all have valid points there." Yeo said, agreeing with their concerns. "In that case, we better be careful later tonight."

"How will we know if the PLA decides to play dirty with us?" asked Mark, a bit concerned too. "That's another gray area that we have to look into."

"Don't worry about that." Yeo raised a hand, assuring his concerns. "We've got some people in the PLA garrison and barracks working for us as well. They'll alert us if they're secretly about to move."

"That's a relief." Jean said, facial expression unchanging. Still, I don't mind facing those garrisoned PLA fools...

Suddenly, loud noises were heard from outside the security chief's room. Yu and some of the other Strikers heard a girl's voice from the outside, wondering who it was.

"Who the hell is that?" wondered Roland, curious about the unknown noises made outside. The door then opened, revealing the mysterious guest.

"Surprise, everyone!"

All of the people inside the office were stunned to see who it was. It was a young girl, probably 15-16 years of age, wearing a tuquee and a jacket with military-style boots on.

"Yoshino Somei." sighed Jean, bringing his right hand to slap his face. Of all the troubles that we Strikers get, why her?

"Hey guys." The teenaged mercenary smiled at the Strikers.

"What's she doing here?" questioned Michelle, not trusting the mercenary's presence after she had participated in some missions with her help.

"Why are you here, Yoshino?" Mark twitched his eyebrow. "Last time we saw you was back in Phantom Island."

"I know." waved the girl. "I'm here just to help you guys."

"A likely story." Tudor shook his hand, not believing her reason why she was in the office building right now in the middle of a secret meeting.

"And why is that, Ms. Necromancer?" quipped Yu, not liking her mysterious appearance.

Time to play my cards right here. Yoshino had a sudden big grin on her face. "That's because I heard that you're all planning to raid a Trident-owned warehouse in Kowloon."

Miguel frowned at her, "And your point is?"

Yoshino gave a smile. "It just so happens that I have some critical information that could be useful."

"Yeah?" Patrick kept his eyes on her carefully. "And just what kind of information that could be useful for our mission tonight, Yoshino?"

"Oh, I don't know." The Japanese teenage mercenary pretended to think over Patrick's question. "Maybe something that you can use to raid the warehouse without being caught?"

"Why you..." Patrick was about to punch her when Yu placed his hand over Yoshino's face, blocking the blow.

"Dammit, Ominae!" snarled the Chinese-Filipino Striker.

"Hey!" shouted Gerald, snapping at his comrade. "This isn't the time to slug someone! We've got better things to do instead of doing a martial arts scene here."

"He's right." Yeo brought the situation under control with his authority. "We may not like Ms. Somei's unauthorized access to ARCAM's Hong Kong office, but she may have some ideas that we can use."

"Told ya!" Yoshino stuck her tongue out at the Strikers. While drifting her eyes to Mark, she gave a cute wink to him. Riza and Michelle, seeing the gesture, felt a bit jealous even if they treated Mark as a comrade and a friend.

"You have 10 precious seconds, Yoshino Somei." Mark, twitching his left eyebrow, reached into the interior of his jacket to grab his Sig Sauer SP 2022 pistol. The female mercenary began to shake her legs in fear, though she didn't show it since she was trained for situations like this.

But not for a situation that may end in bloodshed due to Yoshino's unannounced arrivals in getting access to ARCAM's properties.

"Holy shit!" muttered Yu, seeing his friend ticked off.

"To get out of this office before I decide to unload some bullets..." Mark then exposed the grip of his pistol from his jacket and was about to remove the safety when Yu and Michael struggled with him, followed by Jean, Patrick and Gerald, so as to prevent any bloodshed when they pinned him down on the ground.

"I suggest you leave." advised Riza, with venom in her voice. "I may not agree with Mark's way on handling certain things, but your unannounced presence may give us a bit of trouble later on."

Listening to her suggestion, Yoshino quietly stepped out before the Strikers were able to restrain Mark from doing something with his pistol.


Research & Development Office, ARCAM Hong Kong, One Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR, China

With the meeting over, most of the Strikers once again did their thing by shopping in Pacific Place. Unfortunately, they had to drag Yoshino along as a means on making sure that she wouldn't babble anything that she heard from the meeting inside Mr. Yeo's office.

Mark, deciding to cool off, walked around when Professor Mayzel wanted to speak with him inside his office.

If I didn't have the help of the others to cool myself off, I would have shot Yoshino by mistake. Though she does show herself unannounced during various ARCAM missions, I have to admit that she's still pretty useful to help us. Maybe she could be useful tonight.

"So what's up?" Mark noted that Ms. Margaret wasn't around; he assumed that she took some time off for lunch.

"I heard that you're going to lead the mission tonight in Kowloon." The scientist grinned, making the veteran Striker wonder if guarding Yoshino with the others was a better idea.

"And so?"

Mayzel cleaned his glasses and replaced them back on his nosebridge before he replied,

"See if you can bring back a good prototype Armored Machine Suit from the raid later on tonight, Mark. That's my only request to you."

The Chinese-Filipino Striker scratched his head, "Um, sure thing, prof. But what for?"

"I need to see what the main differences do the prototype suits have with the ones being produced by Trident."

"You mean," Mark seemed to understand what Mayzel wanted him to do. "you want me to snitch a free suit for you so's we can counter them in the near future?"

Mayzel nodded.

"I see." Mark nodded, accepting his request. "I'll see what I can do, Professor. But I may or may not guarantee my sucess of doing so. Trident may destroy them."

Professor Mayzel chuckled. "Currently, you would need Omihalcon-made items to destroy another Omihalcon-made item. Think of it like a diamond."

"I know that." Mark answered. "But I'll try to make sure that I can get at least one unused prototype Armored Machine Suit from the warehouse tonight."

"That would be good." The professor smiled at him.

Chapter 9 END

Notes/Terms:

Chief Executive - Head of state in Hong Kong and Macau SAR territories. Though China has a say in its foreign and defense matters, the Chief Executives can also have a say in Hong Kong's local and international affairs. In short, a semi-de facto sort of president or prime minister. Current CE in Hong Kong is Donald Tsang and the first/current CE in Macau is Edmund Ho Hau Wah, who was elected twice in 1999 and 2004.

The term also refers to legitimate heads of state as well.

Hong Kong Basic Law - Laws made for Hong Kong before and after its return to China. Among the laws included are the 50 year term that China can't intervene in Hong Kong matters by applying socialist laws and policies since capitalist laws had been in place. In addition, all PLA soldiers stationed anywhere in Hong Kong can't interfere except if the Chief Executive requests their presence in handling matters that the HKPD may not be able to handle, such as assisting the HKSAR government in natural disaster and rescue operations.

Phantom Island - An island located east of the Philippines and south of Japan near the Marianas Islands in the Pacific Ocean, it does not exist in any maps since the island has been bounded by a sort of space continuum pattern that makes the island disappear for a few years and reappear. It seemed that from the wreckage of Spanish galleons to Japanese and American WWII planes that many who have landed on the island by accident or by bad luck usually did not have the chance to get off the place as it disappears after it appears in the Pacific Ocean after a few days, meaning that they would be dead in the space-time continuum.

PLA - People's Liberation Army. The official name of the Chinese military. In Hong Kong, PLA soldiers are stationed at their barracks at Stonecutters Island and Chek Chu. In addition, they have a presence at Central with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, or simply known as Central Barracks. The locals still call the area the Prince of Wales Building.

Even if the PLA's Hong Kong Garrison was greeted with friendly faces and cheerful smiles, not all Hong Kong residents look at them with ease. Like the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) government in Beijing, most look at the PLA garrisons in the island with much suspicion after the 1997 handover.

Sakura Himeno - Alias of our lovely kiddie mercenary, Yoshino Somei, whenever she assumes the legend of a young elemetary school student. Only Yu Ominae (In the manga series) was able to identify her, nearly exposing her true identity after returning to Japan from the former Forest of No Return in India. Yoshino was able to keep her legend after assuring her classmates on who she was.

Why can't we send those brianwashed kids with us? - A reference to the COSMOS unit of the US military. In the middle of Spriggan, they were purchased by Larry, who did it on behalf of Trident. COSMOS was integrated into its military wing as its special forces unit and its soldiers were decked with Trident insignia and were given Armored Machine Suits that Trident produced and trained them to use dual combat knives in melee combat, making them as twice as deadly when they were under the command of the US Army.

Also, COSMOS is a covert infantry unit consisting of brainwashed child soldiers kidnapped from around the world by the US Army and by the CIA.