Resident Evil/Biohazard: Hostage Rescue
Rating: T
NOTE:
All characters of Resident Evil/Captain Commando/Street Fighter are under the copyright of Capcom. All characters of Martin Mystery are under the copyright of Marathon. All characters of Kara no Kyokai are under the copyright of TYPE-MOON. All characters of Spriggan are under the copyright of Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa. All characters of Jiraishin are under the copyright of Tsutomu Takahashi. The appearance of Kenneth "Kenny" Feng is under noctorro's jurisdiction. All others are under my jurisdiction.
Summary:
Dan and Jill were able to secure Bitores Mendez' false eye after the two engaged him in a cramped barn, allowing them to leave the outskirts of El Pueblo. Meanwhile, the DSO has picked up a Secret Service agent in Virginia Beach, who is currently being suspected of betraying his colleagues by providing information to Wesker in order to facilitate the kidnapping of the First Daughter and bring her to Spain under Krauser's instructions. Will they be able to learn more about the details behind the kidnapping? What will the teams encounter after leaving El Pueblo? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Chapter 12: Looming Castle
Dual Dirt Paths, somewhere in Spain
Dan's presentation of the fake eye wasn't a welcoming sight for Ashley and Diana. The Malaysian SHADOW agent sighed, wondering if all Western girls were all like that when they freaked out, saying things like "Why he's holding a gross thing?" and "Why does Dan have such a thing when he should have gotten rid of it minutes ago?"
"Cut it, you two?" Martin sighed after seeing his stepsister freak out. "Be grateful Dan was able to get this?"
"Great work, Dan." Hiryu thanked Dan for getting the eye. "Now we'll be able to leave this place." He eyed Tea, who had already placed the catseye Dan and Jill obtained to sell the Beerstein, the Elegant Mask with the Red, Green and Purple gems included and anything else worth of value, including the gold bars from Bitores' corpse.
"So I noticed that you don't have your weapon, Dan..." Chun-Li eyed Dan carefully, knowing for sure that he was just armed with a pistol and a combat knife.
"Yeah." Dan replied, sighing as he was not sure if there was time to explain himself. "You see, it's a long story..."
"Come on then..." Tea approached Dan. "I've sold what we can to the Merchant. We've got around 43 to 44,000 pesetas with us."
Leon whistled when he heard the amount from the British Spriggan. "So much money."
"I know, right?" Kevin smirked at his DSO comrade. "We can buy a lot of things with that kind of money."
"Assuming that they can be converted still to American dollars or to any other kind of currency out there." Eriko reminded Kevin about the pesetas. "Do remember that it's not being recognized anymore since Spain adopted the Euro years ago."
"Oh yeah." Kevin sighed and facepalmed. "I nearly forgotten about that."
"I've been told by the strangah here that you lost your weapon fighting against Mendez." The Merchant approached Dan from the side. The latter didn't pay attention as he was listening to other people talking about the eye he got. Well, and about other things too.
"You got something else for me." Dan decided to keep the fake eye for the meantime in an empty pocket on his tactical vest.
"Sure I do, strangah." The Merchant chuckled with much enthusiasm as he placed his wooden backpack down to get something from it. "Give me a second here."
Dan wondered what the Merchant could possibly offer him.
MOM's Office, The Center
Billy handed a datapad to MOM after he returned back from the SID office, being updated of news that the DSO had arrested a suspect in the kidnapping of Ashley Graham.
"So this is the man the DSO arrested?" MOM read over the data regarding the arrested Secret Service agent.
"Yes, that's him." Billy replied. "The data SID collected mentioned the reason why Agent Lawrence betrayed his fellow agents."
"I don't know whether I should pity him or not, considering his actions led to the deaths of a few Secret Service agents protecting the First Daughter."
Billy was careful that he decided not to say anything since he doesn't want to get into a debate with MOM for no reason at all.
"Is there anything else that you need from the SID at the moment, MOM?"
"No. For the meantime, instruct them to keep an eye out for Wesker or any of his associates."
"Understood."
Adam Benford's Office, DSO Headquarters, somewhere in the United States of America
Adam had just returned to his office after giving instructions to Bruce to keep the suspect locked up in a detention cell. The suspect had provided enough information to go by, which was the actions of Wesker's that resulted in the kidnapping the deployment of DSO agents Kennedy and Ryman into Spanish soil to work with the Guardia Civil.
The glasses-wearing senior heard his phone ringing, making him pick up the handle.
"Senior Agent Benford's Office." Adam was the first to pick it up, making him respond first. "The president?" He then replied to the other line. "Tell the president that my agents are on the ground and they need more time to get cured of whatever they're infected with."
Adam heard a knock on the door, saying "Come in!" before he resumed his phone call.
"I'm glad President Graham's agreeing to listen to my reasons, but not most of the National Security Council?"
Hunnigan had entered, seeing her superior was still on the line.
"Tell them that they can't risk making me hurry the hell up. They'll jeopardize things on the ground."
Adam sighed before he replaced the phone handle back down on the cradle.
This'll be the death of me.
Dual Dirt Paths, somewhere in Spain
"I'm sure you can appreciate this, strangah."
Dan was given an unused Sig SG 552 commando with a picatinny railing on the upper receiver and an empty magazine well.
"It's been paid by her, strangah." The Merchant pointed Tea out to him after Dan accepted the assault carbine. "So there's nothing else."
"Is this new?" Dan asked the Merchant as he loaded a 30-round magazine and placed the Aimpoint scope on the picatinny railing.
"I can assure you that it's 100% new." The Merchant replied to Dan's question.
"Then I guess I should thank you." Dan said, shaking hands with the Merchant.
"Always a pleasure to do business."
"Let's go, then." Jean then said to everyone else, porting his Franchi SPAS-12. "We need to leave this place."
"Agreed." Yu shared Jean's sentiment.
The teams moved out, leaving the Merchant as they walked towards the double doors leading out of the outskirts of El Pueblo.
In front of Double Doors, Left Dirt Path, somewhere in Spain
"Here goes nothing."
Dan took the false eye into his hand while he motioned to everyone else with a gun to cover his back. He placed the false eye in front of the red eye area on the double doors, which led to a visible laser touching the eye.
"Hope this works."
A few minutes, there was a slight beeping sound with the audible clicking sound that came afterwards.
"Is it open?" Sho asked the SHADOW agent.
"I think so." Dan told the ninja.
"Java, give me a hand." Hiryu slinged his Heckler & Koch G36C.
Java nodded, moving towards the double doors as the caveman and the masked SHADOW agent pushed the doors forwards, getting them to open up.
"Nice." Kevin gave a whistle. "Let's get going then."
Dirt Path, near outskirts of Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"Hold up a second."
Kevin was the first to move up ahead on the dirt path when he motioned to his allies to stop. Leon immediately moved Ashley behind him in case on an upcoming firefight.
"What is it?" Jill asked Kevin when he was shouldering his Steyr SSG P IV.
"I spot a few villagers." Kevin told the ex-STARS officer as he scoped out the villagers up ahead. "Tell the others to wait."
"Gotcha." Jill went back to the others, informing them that Kevin had spotted some villagers. This gave Kevin some space in sniping the villagers to clear a path for them.
"Bet you can't hear where this shot's coming from eh?" Kevin began to taunt the villagers when he whispered, firing the silenced sniper rifle to take down four villagers in the head. All of their heads exploded, making Kevin why the heck it happens.
Kevin gestured to the others that it's clear, but he needed someone to help him out.
Sho approached Kevin, ready to draw out his ninjato should the DSO agent need backup.
"Thanks." Kevin told the ninja commando, slowly moving the path until he could hear the engine of a truck starting.
"I'm not liking this." Kevin muttered, scoping out the truck up ahead. When he saw the truck already moving down the path towards him, the ex-SPD officer began to shoot at the driver.
"Dammit!" He noted that a couple of his shots struck the driver at his left shoulder and chest, but it was not enough for him to stop. "Even if I reload fast, I may not be able to get a headshot!"
Sho charged in, running fast until he was at jumping distance to the incoming truck. He leaped on top of the truck cab and stabbed the driver at this forehead, killing the villager.
"Hah!" Sho did a double jump away from the truck, watching it crash by tumbling down on the side.
Leon took the lead, aiming his Remington 870 at the truck's rear in case of any villagers were inside. True enough, five of them came out. He worked with Jean in firing 12 gauge buckshots into them until they died. They left a Velvet Blue and 1300 pesetas.
"How awfully generous of them." Tea grinned before she picked up the Velvet Blue and the pesetas.
The teams continued their ascent upwards, only stopping to pick up 1000 pesetas and a frag grenade. Yu gladly took the frag grenade for himself.
"Hold it." Hien motioned to the teams to stop, checking the truck bed to see 5500 pesetas in a sack. He took it and passed it to Yu, who passed it to Tea.
I wonder what's up ahead?
Dirt Path, outskirts of Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The teams arrived on top of the hill to see a medieval castle up ahead when they began to look around.
"A castle?" Leon said out loud. "I wasn't expecting to see this."
"Who owns that place?" Cammy asked around, not expecting to see such a castle.
"It must belong to a noble family." Eriko suggested to the Delta Red operative.
"Fujino." Hiryu faced the purple-haired teenager, who nodded after hearing his command.
"Hai." Fujino went to use her O-Watch, getting to use the communicator to make contact with the Center. "Requesting SID assistance on a castle up ahead. Uploading current coordinates."
A hologram of the Center's shield and winged star with an eye, which was its logo, appeared first as a holographic image after its hologram viewer began to load up. A few minutes later, it showed the image of the entire castle's exterior.
"According to the readouts..." Eriko ran her free hand to read a holographic file on the castle. "The castle belongs to the Salazar family. SID intelligence indicate that the current head of the family is a Ramon Salazar. His birth year is estimated to be in 1984."
"Is he still alive?" Chun-Li asked the Japanese SHADOW agent.
"I have no further information on that, Chun-Li-san."
"Looks like we get to go into someone's residence without even knowing if he's a bad guy." Leon sighed, reloading his shotgun in the process. "Now we really need to be on our toes."
Martin and Java began to break down a few wooden barrels the former found around the area, snagging another Velvet Blue, a Green Herb and 1000 pesetas. Martin handed the valuables to Tea while he kept the Green Herb since the group doesn't have much herb supplies except with one Green/Red/Yellow Mixture and a few Greens.
"I think we'll be okay." Ashley told the teams in order to put them at ease.
"I hope so." Diana told the First Daughter.
Java pointed the path leading to the Salazar Castle. "Path look clear."
As the teams walked down the path towards the castle, they could hear some people shuffling their feet from behind.
"What now?" Kevin groaned, fearing more trouble.
"Incoming!" Yu shouted after he turned around, aiming his Heckler & Koch G3A4 battle rifle at the incoming villagers. They were all brandishing lit torches.
"Go on ahead!" Hiryu got prone and fired his Heckler & Koch G36C at full auto. Yu did the same likewise.
"Come on!" Yu fired his G3A4, watching two of the villagers go down after being shot several times by 7.62 NATO bullets.
Leon and Kevin guided the others, including Ashley, towards the Salazar Castle.
"Take this!" Yu removed the pin of the frag grenade and hurled it towards the villagers. He motioned to Hiryu to get flat to prevent themselves from being injured by shrapnel as the frag grenade exploded.
Some Ledge, somewhere in Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Unknown to the teams, Ada had made great progress that she was in the castle premises when she saw someone firing assault rifles at some torch-wielding villagers.
"So the gang's all here?" Ada couldn't help, but smirk watching Leon and Kevin take charge running across the drawbridge. She caught of Yu and Hiryu firing at the villagers to keep them at bay, only for one of them to stop when they need to reload.
The Chinese-American then saw something she didn't expect to see.
Getting the binoculars out, Ada watched Tea made her approach to the villagers that Yu and Hiryu stopped firing for fear of hitting her. She didn't see the British woman's face, but Ada saw Tea take something out from her coat.
"What is that woman doing?" Ada was baffled to see Tea drop something onto the ground in front of her. But the next thing she saw both surprised and frightened her at the same time.
By the time the cloth dropped onto the ground, it turned into a couple of lion-like specters with angel wings. They charged towards the villagers, scaring off the surviving villagers to retreat. One of them got burned to death when he tripped, his torch falling on his back after he fell down.
"So, she's very interesting." Ada murmured after she saw Tea move back to the castle's drawbridge. "It'll be interesting if Wesker knows that a mystic's fighting for the good guys." Yu and Hiryu stood up from the ground and immediately withdrew back after seeing the villagers retreat.
"Time to get out of here then." Ada kept his binoculars and made her retreat, moving once again to do what she needs to do before leaving the Salazar Castle permanently.
Drawbridge, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"They're already here!"
Cammy shouted after Tea, Yu and Hiryu had successfully crossed over the drawbridge. Leon and Kevin went to work with the cranks in order to pull the drawbridge up to prevent anyone hostile from crossing over to get them.
"Now that's done." Leon sighed, a bit tired after he did his part in operating the crank. "Let's move into the big, spooky castle."
The team jogged inside, even though the drawbridge has literally covered their backs. Ashley looked back at the drawbridge already up before she went with Leon and Kevin inside the castle.
Unknown Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The teams got inside a small room with nothing inside, except for barrels and a staircase or two leading upstairs with a door at the end. There was also a Merchant's shop, baffling all of the team members again on how the heck he got there since they last saw him at the very outskirts of El Pueblo.
"Greetings, strangahs!" The Merchant greeted the teams, walking out of the small shed he had set up shop in to speak with them. "Haven't seen you lot since back at the outskirts of the El Pueblo."
"But..." Martin spoke to the Merchant, wanting to rip his hair out. "We just saw you out there a few minutes ago!"
"Yes, I know strangah." The Merchant said while he slowly nodded. "Terrible, isn't it?"
Leon and Kevin simply facepalmed, wondering if they'll meet the hooded man like this ever again while they're in the castle.
"Anything we should know about then?" Cammy spoke to the Merchant. "Before most of us will go nuts in thinking about how you can be in many place at the same time."
"I can say one thing though." The Merchant replied. "All of you are going to have a fiery end up ahead unless you plan ahead."
"Is something up?" Chun-Li asked the Merchant.
"I'm not too sure." The Merchant shrugged his shoulders. "My Spanish is a bit bad and all, but I swore I heard that the monks have prepared catapults for its defense."
"Excuse me..." Diana questioned the Merchant. "But did you say monks?"
"Yes I did, strangah." The Merchant told Diana. "It's no joke."
"Now I'm reminded of a word that could tie these monks together with the cult..." Hien tried to snap his fingers to think of the said word. "But I can't remember it at the moment. Maybe it'll come back later."
"In the meantime." Kevin spoke to the Merchant next. "You got any weapons or items for sale?"
Kevin's question brought a smirk to the Merchant. "Oh you didn't have to ask that, strangah."
As usual, he brought down his wooden backpack on the ground and opened it. The group saw some weapons that they have not seen when the Merchant had tried to sell them for the first time.
"I think this is a weapon that most of you are familiar with." The Merchant presented a Benelli M3 shotgun with a pistol grip and buttstock combination. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Benelli M3 of Italy."
Kevin whistled. "That's a sweet weapon."
"Indeed, good sir." The Merchant agreed with him. "With 7 shells plus one in the magazine, plus the fact that the weapon will allow the user the choice of semi-automatic or pump-action operation, I would most prefer this weapon over the Remington 870 you currently have."
"How many shells does that shotgun hold?" Eriko spoke to Leon, pointing to the Remington 870 he ported.
"I think around six at least." Leon told the Japanese detective before he stared at the shotgun he was holding. "Well, I guess it's about time I changed weapons anyway. It's not like it belongs to me to begin with."
"Then it looks like you're buying a shotgun from me, strangah?" The Merchant eyed Leon, already knowing that he's got a prospective customer.
"Sure." Leon told the Merchant before he pumped the Remington 870 to unload any unused buckshots. He collected three shells from the weapon.
"How much are you going to buy that then?" Kevin asked the Merchant after Leon unloaded his shotgun.
"Aaaahhhhh..." The Merchant nodded after hearing Kevin's question before he pointed to Leon's Remington 870. "I'll buy that at a high price."
MOM's Office, The Center
"We got progress on Martin and the others." Billy gave MOM a printout from the SID. "According to the SID, they're about to enter a castle that belongs to the Salazar family."
"Did you ask SID to make checks if the Salazar family is related to the Los Illuminados in any way?" MOM asked Billy she checked the printout, which showed the coordinates and a picture of the Salazar castle in Spain.
"I did." Billy nodded. "They said that most of the family was against them, but they'll make more security checks to make sure they're not missing anything out there."
"Good." MOM told Billy. "Keep me posted."
"Understood, MOM."
"Anything with the DSO?"
"No. They're being quiet to make sure they don't have a double agent in their ranks. Especially with the case of the National Security Council wanting to get some action done."
MOM sighed. "Those Americans. Always believing that force will make things right for them."
Unknown Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
After for some time, Leon haggled with the Merchant for the former to sell his used Remington 870 for 20,000 pesetas. This was a win for both of them. The Merchant was able to make some business. Leon was able to get cash on behalf of the group.
Tea also haggled with the Merchant, selling two Velvet Blues for 5,000 pesetas, which the Merchant had no problem with. Same thing went with some gold bars she sold for the same prince and a Spinel for 2,000 pesetas
"So you're getting a new weapon, huh?" Kevin spoke to Leon after watching him sell off the shotgun.
"Guess I am." Leon replied to Kevin's question. "If I can get a new shotgun from the Merchant, then so much the better, Kevin."
"Can't argue with you there, Leon."
"How much is the M3?" Leon spoke to the Merchant, who had just conducted a check on the weapon to ensure that it was not loaded with buckshots or some other shotgun shell.
"I'm selling it for 32,000 pesetas, strangah." The Merchant, patting the buttstock for emphasis.
"Err..." Hien looked at Tea. "How much do we have in total so far, Tea?"
"Let's see..." Tea counted with her fingers before she replied. "I bought a replacement for Dan's carbine for 22,000 pesetas. And then we got Leon's shotgun sold, so that's 42,000 pesetas. Add the Spinel, the Velvet Blues and the gold bars I found with Yu and that's around 54,000 pesetas." She also found some shotgun and .45 ACP ammo, but she handed them to Jean and Kevin since their weapons are compatible with them.
"I gotcha!"
Most of the team members wondered why Yu shouted from the back of the shed.
"He he he..." The Merchant chuckled. "Looks like your friend has caught something very interesting, strangah."
"We'll see to that later." Tea handed the Merchant 32,000 pesetas, which earned Leon his M3. "And that gives us 22,000 pesetas remaining."
"I'm also selling another sniper rifle with me today..." The Merchant was about to introduce another weapon in his wares when Yu came to see them with his combat knife. A dead snake was seen stabbed on the head.
"The catch of the day?" Hiryu was seen leaning on the shed wall, placing his back and his right foot on it.
"Yep." Yu grinned. "It's not bad once you cut off the snake's head and all..."
"I don't know if that's a good time to talk about snake cuisine..." Jill advised the Japanese Spriggan.
Ashley was a bit freaked out when Yu was talking about the potential of eating the dead snake he killed.
Unknown Area
"Yes, what is it?"
Krauser was speaking to Wesker on his smart phone, alone on a metal catwalk. The others weren't with him since they were either goofing out or trying to rest.
"So the Spriggans ARCAM deployed are people I'm familiar with eh?" Krauser suddenly had a grin. "That ought to be interesting."
The ex-commando listened in as Wesker continued to talk to him over the line.
"They got a mystic too? This I gotta see..."
Unknown Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"As I'm saying," The Merchant coughed before he was interrupted as Yu chopped the dead snake's head off with his combat knife. "I'd like to present to all of you the Heckler & Koch SL8-4 semi-automatic rifle." The rifle he showed off had the same Leupold scope being used on Kevin's SSG P IV.
"I would assume that's not North American-made slash imported?" Kevin asked the Merchant, looking at the black stock finish the SL8-4 rifle had.
"Of course not, strangah." The Merchant assured him. "I don't use those since they only allow 10-round magazines for the most part."
"European then?" Jean suggested. "Then it would be easy since he uses a G36C. That way, anyone who can buy it can interchange ammo and magazines as needed."
Hiryu pointed to the slinged G36C, which was positioned in front of his chest.
"How much?" Leon asked the Merchant.
"Well with current prices and everything..." The Merchant began, gripping the SL8-4's foregrip tightly as he grabbed a note from his pocket to read off the rifle's final prince. "The SL8-4 should be around 35,000 pesetas."
"Dammit..." Hiryu said after hearing the price.
"That ought to leave us around 13,000 pesetas to go in case we're going to buy that rifle."
"I think we should be fine for now." Fujino tried to intervene. "After all, Kevin-san's shooting skills are good that it has saved us from gruesome situations."
"That's what I like to hear." Kevin grinned while giving the thumbs up.
"Come on, Kevin." Leon rolled his eyes after Kevin was being confident. "Don't let the little girl give you an ego boost or something, yeah?"
"Then should I hold onto this rifle then?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Time to go then?" Hien pointed to the staircase. "After all, the Merchant was kind to help us load us our magazines and everything."
"If everyone is ready..." Leon said, arming himself with the Benelli M3 after checking that the shotgun was set to fire the loaded buckshots in semi-automatic mode.
Hiryu and Hien took the lead, climbing up the staircase with their assault carbines aimed up and all around to make sure that no enemy would try to attack them from all around. Once they got up the second staircase, the masked brothers approached a metal door. As usual, they were cautious considering that they were in enemy territory.
"Go first?" Hien asked Hiryu.
"Most certainly, brother." Hiryu replied, gesturing to Hien to crouch and stay behind him. The formerly slowly approach the metal door to check if the door was rigged up in any way.
Hiryu crouched to look down the door before he pulled out his Fairbarn-Sykes combat knife to check the threshold for any wires or traps rigged up to block their way.
Steady... Steady...
When the masked SHADOW agent jabbed the knife's blade through the threshold, he had a sigh of relief after no wires or trap were heard. Hiryu clenched his left fist and made a punching motion towards the metal door.
Get ready, guys.
Hiryu got the door open and aimed the G36C outside. Afterwards, he gestured to the others that it looks safe to proceed outside.
Criminal Investigation Section office, Shinjuku Police Department, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Kenji Narita, head of the Shinjuku Police Department's Criminal Investigation Section, had received a few updates ever since Eriko was sent to Spain to conduct an investigation of the presence of Los Illuminados. Some officials at the National Police Agency and at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department have suggested that they are trying to establish a Japanese branch of the group in order to overshadow Aum Shinrikyo now that most of its members and leaders are either in prison or were executed.
"Any further updates of Detective Aizawa?" Narita asked a plainclothes detective assigned to the CIS division. He was in his 30s, had short hair and wore glasses. In addition, he had a gray suit and red necktie with a white dress shirt and black Venetian loafer shoes.
"None at the moment sir." The detective replied. "Even the Public Security Bureau at the MPD doesn't have any other clues than that they got information on Detective Aizawa's condition."
"She's still..." Narita trailed off before he continued. "infected by the cult?"
The detective sighed and nodded, fearing the worst. "I'm afraid so, sir."
"I see." Narita replied. I wonder if I have time to call on Atsuko and talk to her...
"By the way..." The detective placed a manila envelope on her table, sealed off with tape. "I was instructed to deliver this to you from the MPD. Word I heard is that it's from some organization helping out."
"Thank you detective." Narita thanked the man. "I'll take it from here."
Narita used a scissor blade to tear open the manila envelope since it was sealed off and he didn't have time to spend to remove the tape for fear of destroying whatever paper documents were inside.
I'm getting too old for this job. Perhaps after Eriko returns back from Spain that I should start looking for someone who can succeed me as the head of the Criminal Investigation Section.
Somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The teams made it to the Salazar Castle's outer castle walls, seeing that boxes are in the pathway. Although it was a good thing that they weren't blocking their way.
"This oughta be easy for all of us." Martin said confidently.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Cammy warned the Canadian Center agent.
"From experience?"
Cammy nodded.
"I'll go and take a look." Leon casually walked towards a corner and drew out his Silver Ghost, leaning himself on the wall. He moved slowly until his left arm was near the corner. The blonde man peeked carefully so as not to expose his head to enemy attack.
"Dammit..." He looked back to his comrades and called for Kevin.
"Kevin." Leon whispered. "Over here."
Kevin ran up to Leon, porting his SSG P IV.
"What is it?"
"Two monks patrolling the castle wall up ahead. Can you take them out?"
"Sure. I need some space."
"Alright."
Leon patted his right shoulder, crouching after Kevin did so first. Kevin hugged the corner wall, shouldering the SSG P IV. The brown-haired man aimed the silenced sniper rifle.
"Just leave everything to me." Kevin gave a deep breath and relaxed his muscles after he crouched, giving him enough time to fire the SSG P IV at one of the monk's heads. After killing the first monk, which exploded in a head explosion, Kevin diverted his attention to the other patrolling monk. So far, the silencer didn't alert him to the gunshot.
"And bang..." Kevin murmured, firing the second 7.62 NATO subsonic round that killed the other monk. "goes the weasel."
Kevin told Leon that it was all clear and he would provide initial overwatch until most of them are safe.
"Come on." Leon told the others, holstering Silver Ghost and unslinging the Benelli M3 from his right shoulder. "We need to move before the other monks know we're here."
Before Leon passed a huge box on the left, he took 7.62 NATO subsonic ammo left on top and hurled it to Kevin, who stored the box away until he can reload the SSG P IV.
Criminal Investigation Section office, Shinjuku Police Department, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Narita removed the documents from the ripped manila envelope, revealing a printed note meant for him.
Your detective is safe.
- C
The old man smiled when he read the printout.
Looks like the Center is on the case. I just hope that they are right.
Narita searched the manila envelope for anything of value. He got a printed map of Spain with a set of coordinates placed on it, indicating Eriko's location.
"Pretty nice of them to locate Eriko as of this time..."
Somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Kevin once more caught up with Leon, the latter telling the former to stick close in case of something heavy. So far, they're climbed up the spiral stone staircase without any much incident. Kevin used this attention to reload.
"Over there." Chun-Li pointed to the first catapult she can see up above the castle wall pathway. "Is that a catapult?"
"¡Allí está..." The group heard someone speaking in a deep Spanish voice. They looked at the catapult Chun-Li pointed to see some monk garbed in red with a bone-based mask worn over his face.
"Oh shit..." Hiryu murmured.
"Mátalo..." The masked monk pointed to the group's location.
"Get down!" Jean yelled, motioning to everyone to duck and cover their heads as the catapults fired burning boulders that struck a nearby gazebo.
"Cover me!" Kevin shouted, shouldering his SSG P IV. He fired the first shot at the catapult in front of the group, targeting the red barrel. The barrel exploded, taking out whoever was nearby.
Hiryu and Hien laid suppressive fire towards the other catapult, allowing Jean to make a mad leap towards it thanks to his lycanthrope agility and strength. Once on the catapult, Jean fired his SPAS-12 to kill the monks. He then saw the red monk making a run for it.
"Oh non vous n'avez pas..." Jean murmured, firing the SPAS-12 several times to detonate the red barrel that killed the fleeing monk. He then ran back by leaping down on the pathway.
"We've secured the area!" Yu shouted to the others. He then faced Cammy and Chun-Li. "You ladies better go see if there's something you can find. We'll stay here and cover your backs."
Lower Room, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Cammy and Chun-Li went down the steps and saw a path that leads to a small tower with a cannon inside.
"A cannon?" Chun-Li said, surprised to see one cannon that looked to be functional.
"Let me check." Cammy inspected the cannon from the barrel all the way to the firing mechanism. "Hm. Looks like the cannon can still be useful."
Chun-Li looked up to see an open hole above. "We'll need to bring it up." The Interpol looked around to see no mechanism to bring it up. "But no mechanism's around to lift this thing up."
Meanwhile, Cammy began to use her kicks to break up the wooden barrels. Inside, she found a Velvet Blue, an incendiary grenade and 1300 pesetas.
"I've got the goods, let's go." The red beret-wearing woman told Chun-Li.
The two women got out and met up with Jill, who had provided rear security when they told her that they found a cannon in the lower tower. Leon met up with Jill and told them to proceed ahead so that they can gain control of the location they are in.
Small Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The teams moved up once again, only to be met with double gates up ahead and a small network of roads.
"What do we do?" Jill asked Leon, who looked around for signs of enemies or traps.
"We'll probably need to use the cannon like you said." Leon told Jill. "I'll just need a few volunteers with me. Perhaps around two to come with me, get the cannon up and take out those doors since I'm sure they're locked to keep people like us out. It may be locked."
"What about the others?" Diana asked.
"The others should stay behind and guard this area to make sure no one tries to conduct a sneak attack." Leon told the Canadian Center agent. "Otherwise, we should be quick in checking the area out and getting the cannon operational."
"I can go." Yu told Leon.
"Me as well." Hien volunteered.
Leon nodded. "Alright. The rest of you stay here and keep an eye out for anything out there."
The three went off, intending on using the cannon to knock the double door out of commission.
Small Shed, Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
On the way to the shed, Yu took sight on another catapult right across the trio. The Japanese Spriggan used his G3A4's iron sights to take aim at the red barrel before he fired the German-made battle rifle in short bursts. This destroyed the first catapult. Hien took aim at the second catapult behind them, firing his Pindad SS1-M5 Commando via red dot sight to shoot the red barrel literally positioned next to the catapult.
"Nicely done." Leon gave the thumbs up to the teenagers before they made their approach to the shed. After they were near the door, a monk came out with a skull mask and armed with a scythe.
"HOLY SH-!" The ex-SPD officer recruit panicked when he saw the monk drag the scythe with him, making Leon open fire with the Benelli M3 at the enemy's chest twice. This made the enemy instantly collapse while the scythe was dropped.
"Shoot him!" Hien barked. Yu emptied his G3A4 on full auto on the downed monk. He kept his fire until the downed monk groaned in pain. His corpse subsequently began to dissolve into nothing.
"That was a close shave." Leon muttered, barely firing his M3 with two buckshots fired when Yu took care of the rest.
"Tell me about it." Hien muttered while Yu reloaded his G3A4.
"What's in this place anyway?" Yu said, checking the inside of the shed first after he reloaded his weapon. He simply punched the wooden boxes, thanks to added strength from his Armored Muscle Suit. Inside were pesetas worth 1300 pesetas and 5.56 NATO bullets. Yu gave the bullets to Hien while keeping the pesetas until he can get together with Tea.
"And this one..." Leon murmured, having his Silver Ghost in case of either a trap or a snake inside since he and the others have encountered the latter a lot lately when they usually open boxes for items.
"A Yellow Herb." The blonde DSO agent murmured again, taking the herb and keeping it for medical supplies.
"By the way," Hien looked at Yu as Leon told the two to leave the shed at once. "where's the snake you killed?"
"Didn't get the time to set up a proper meal." Yu shrugged his shoulders.
Outside Small Shed, Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
By the time Yu and Hien got out of the small shed, Leon had just explored the rear of the shed and opened up a treasure chest and bagged a few gold bars worth 5,000 pesetas.
"I got these." Leon showed off the gold bars to the two.
"I can hang on to them for a while since I got some empty pouches." Hien offered to keep the gold bars in an empty dump pouch clipped on his tactical vest. Leon agreed and gave the bars to him for temporary safekeeping.
"Let's move and get that cannon operational, guys." Leon reminded the two.
"Right!" Yu and Hien shouted in unison.
Pathway to Cannon platform, Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The trio crouched once they got on the pathway leading to the cannon platform. This was done after Leon caught sight of the third catapult, which was within sight. He also saw a red barrel positioned nearby.
"What's with those red barrels?" Leon muttered, wondering why the monks placed them near the catapults. "You'd think that they'd place them somewhere safe from small arms fire even though there are using them to light up the boulders to make them deadly ammunition."
"I've been wondering the same thing as well." Yu told Leon, who was taking rear security behind the DSO agent. "Perhaps they don't care about safety as long as they can do what their boss says?"
"I would agree too." Hien voiced his opinion.
"We need to shoot the barrel and destroy the catapult permanently." Leon told Yu and Hien. "And since my main weapon's a shotgun, it's a no go for me at all."
"I can try and handle this." Yu went for the selector switch of his G3A4, which was switched to single shot mode.
"I'll go and cover the back." Hien positioned himself behind Yu, shouldering the folding buttstock of his SS1-M5.
"ORYAHHHH!" Yu fired the G3A4 in single shot mode, watching the 7.62 NATO bullets make contact with the red barrel. A few seconds afterwards, the barrel exploded. It took out any of the monks near the barrel and destroyed the catapult.
"Cover me!" Leon shouted as he made a run for it towards the cannon platform.
Cannon platform, Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
The area was clear. Aside from the absence of enemies, Leon was being covered by Yu and Hien. Sighting a crank nearby, Leon went to work in raising the cannon platform.
"Here goes nothing." Leon murmured, gripping the crank handle with his two hands. "And one and two..."
The blonde DSO agent pulled the crank handle with all the strength his hands, which allowed the cannon platform to be raised up slowly. Leon eyed the cannon platform's slow ascent, which gave him more determination to speed up the crank pulling until the platform was completely in place.
"Come on. Come on." Leon continued his pace in speeding up the ascent of the cannon platform. Faster and faster. Faster and faster. That was all in Leon's mind as he worked the crank.
Until he heard a sound from behind.
"Hm?" Leon saw that the cannon platform was completely visible at the platform, already aimed at the double gates blocking their way. He fired the cannon and watched as the gates were demolished.
"Okay..." The blonde man panted, a bit tired from working the crank. He slowly walked away from the cannon platform, gesturing to Yu and Hien to head to where the locked gates were.
Near Demolished Gates, Small Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Leon, Hien and Yu made contact with the others, glad to see them look alive and well.
"That cannon still packed a punch, that's for sure." Cammy commented, who was the first to greet Leon.
"Glad to see you're still in one piece." Kevin greeted his DSO colleague.
"Yeah. I'm glad I still am."
"I guess this open hole in the castle walls is our next destination, I take it?" Diana asked Leon, pointing to the demolished gates.
"It is." Leon nodded. "Everyone, let's go!"
Small Corridor, Small Courtyard, somewhere in the Outer Castle Walls, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Leon and Jill led the way, aiming their sidearms as they advanced. When they made the turn to the right, they saw the familiar blue torches with the Merchant standing between them.
"It's just you." Leon "greeted" the Merchant. "You do really need to tell us how you get from one place to another. It could help us escape this place."
"I'm afraid I can't strangah." The Merchant told Leon before he said. "Anyway, I will assume that you have wares to sell to me?"
"Indeed we do." Tea approached the Merchant slowly before she stood in front of him. "Allow me to show you what we got."
Tea showed the Merchant the gold bars, the Velvet Blue and a Spinel Leon found after he approached the torch and retrieved it by using his combat knife to get it out of place.
"All in all, that should cost us around 30,800 pesetas." Tea told the Merchant. She then went for a pocket in her trenchcoat and handed the hooded man a red ruby found from the corpse of one of the Bella Sisters killed earlier in the pit.
"I forgot to give this to you." The British Spriggan explained to the Merchant. "I'm usually not that forgetful."
"Ah, it's quite alright strangah." The Merchant replied to Tea. "For I'll buy it at a high price."
"Does he always say that?" Diana whispered to Martin while haggling was still going on.
Martin shrugged his shoulders.
"And now we have a total of 40,800 pesetas since you bought the ruby for 10,000 pesetas, correct?" Tea asked the Merchant.
"Indeed you are, strangah." The Merchant confirmed Tea's question.
"So we got enough dough for the SL8-4 rifle the Merchant's selling out there." Kevin told Leon and Jill. "So uh... Are we gonna buy another one?"
"Anyone against getting another sniper rifle?" Leon asked the group for a consensus.
"The question is whether anyone else is a good shot besides Kevin?" Hiryu asked Leon another question.
"Perhaps I can have a go at it?" Jill suggested.
"Anyone opposes it?" Leon went to ask around. He looked and saw no opposition against his question.
"Looks like you're getting a chance to be a crack shot yourself." Yu told Jill, earning a raised eyebrow from the woman.
"Doesn't hurt that I get to work alongside the most famous survivor of Raccoon City as my sniping partner." Kevin boasted, goofing off with his arms stretched out.
"I guess that makes another sale, strangah." The Merchant nodded, handing off the SL8-4 to Jill, already loaded with a 30-round magazine with a Leupold scope mounted. The hooded shopkeeper also presented to Jill with five 30-round magazines, all of them loaded.
"That's pretty generous of you to hand me a loaded weapon." Jill thanked the Merchant for handing her a weapon.
"And that's a total of 5,800 pesetas left." Tea murmured, doing the math for how much money they have left.
"Time to move in, guys. Let's go." Kevin ran up to the red door, standing on the side after he drew out his Glock 21 Mariner. Jill and anyone else with pistols as their only weapon joined Kevin, sidearms already drawn out. Leon stacked up on the right side with his M3 at the ready.
Leon reached for the red door and tugged the handle to see if it was locked.
Alright. It's not locked. And it better NOT be a trap.
He pushed the door inward and aimed the shotgun's barrel at the room.
"Move."
Leon was the first to start sweeping the room up ahead.
"By the way, strangah." The Merchant addressed Tea. "Your request from a while was a strange one, but I've got these clothes you wanted me to get..."
Lower Level Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
Leon was the first to enter, quickly sweeping the entire room while having his M3 shouldered. Kevin later followed him and swept the room, having his sidearm aimed at the environment in front of him.
"All clear, everyone." Leon told the others after they got in. Ashley followed behind last before Diana closed the door. The DSO agents then noted that there was an incoming transmission from America.
"Leon, Kevin." The DSO transmission had been initiated by Hunnigan, who was all business as usual. "What's your current location?"
"We're in a castle belonging to the Salazar family..." Kevin replied to Hunnigan. "But with the attacks we encountered, it seems that the patriarch of the family is in league with Los Illuminados."
"That's not good."
"They must not get many visitors 'cause they're giving us one hell of a welcome." Leon then told Hunnigan his side of things based on what the group has encountered.
"Sounds bad. I have an idea you two."
"Sure. As long as it can help us get out of here..."
"Alright. I need you two to..."
Suddenly, the connection was not getting any better. Instead, it was getting worse to the point that Leon and Kevin were not receiving any transmissions from DSO HQ.
"Are we in trouble?" Ashley asked the two DSO agents.
Command Center, Field Operations Support Division, DSO Headquarters, somewhere in the United States of America
"W-what's happening?"
"I don't know! We lost all contact with agents Kennedy and Ryman in Spain!"
"Have we been hacked?!"
"We're still trying to determine that possibility!"
Hunnigan didn't know what had happened. Prior to giving out some support, she lost all contact with Leon and Kevin. What's worse is that any transmission from their division was met with a lot of interference.
"Is there any change?" Hunnigan asked a FOS agent working with the comms.
"Nothing yet, Ms. Hunnigan." The FOS agent replied. "It seems that we're all being met with static interference."
"I'm afraid Special Agent Benford will be met with bad news about this..."
Lower Level Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"What happened?" Chun-Li asked the DSO agents after they had to stop talking to Hunnigan.
"Our transmission was suddenly cut off." Leon said, now feeling worried the moment the group got inside the castle.
Kevin faced Martin and asked him. "Can you guys check out if you can make contact with your superior or something?"
"Sure." Martin nodded. "Just give me a minute or two..."
Martin went to work on his U-Watch if he can use the comm device. The Canadian was frustrated when all he got was static interference, followed by a CONNECTION FAILED message.
"This isn't right." Martin grumbled. "U-Watches are suppose to be the best that we can't have our comms intercepted."
Yu and Hien tested their comm devices, the former on his helmet and the latter on his earpiece. Both Spriggans shook their heads as they were also getting static intereference.
"I'm not liking this one bit." Eriko mumbled.
The others looked at the SHADOW agents to see if they can make contact with the outside world.
"We'll try." Fujino told the group. She gestured to Hiryu and Dan to activate their O-Watches' communicators to get in touch with the Center.
"Nothing." Dan sighed, getting static interference from his O-Watch.
"The same with me." Fujino added.
"God dammit..." Hiryu was really mad. "There is no god damn way that our O-Watches would not work..." The masked agent was really mad to the point that he won't mind using his fists on something. Or someone.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen." Leon announced to the group. "We're all officially cut off from the rest of the world. It seems Los Illuminados has acquired communication jamming capabilities or they got someone in their pockets to do the jamming job for them."
"I'm actually surprised that a cult has acquired that capability in the first place." Yu told Leon.
"It would be once we get to the bottom of things."
Jean took a box of buckshot shells for himself before he searched a cabinet, revealing 1300 pesetas for a total of 7,100 pesetas.
MOM's Office, The Center
"We're getting a lot of activity from the SID, MOM." Billy came inside MOM's office to inform her of progress. "Martin and the SHADOW agents tried to make contact with us, but the agents are receiving static interference."
"Static interference?"
"That's right." Billy nodded before he continued with his explanation. "Our communication equipment is the best of the best, but SID still can't figure out if Los Illuminados has acquired radio jamming capabilities."
MOM sighed in frustration, not believing the problem that her agents are currently facing.
"Anything else from Spain, Billy?"
"Not at the moment. Unless we can work this out with restoring communications, our agents are permanently cut off from us."
"It looks like the enemy's been expecting them to be in the castle and decided to do that just to hamper their efforts."
"Alright. Head back to SID and work with them to get comms back online."
"Okay, MOM."
Lower Level Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"It looks like we're alone without any help." Sho said, surmising the events that had happened. "And when that happens, we're be in a disadvantage in enemy territory."
"Right. Let's move before we get into more trouble." Leon said when he shouldered and aimed his M3 at the stairway before he told Jean. "I need you to be with me."
"Bien entendu, monsieur." Jean replied, who had his SPAS-12 placed on his right shoulder.
"Come on." Leon took the lead when he slowly ascended the stairway slowly. He frowned when he thought he heard voices.
"Voices." Leon whispered. "Sounds like someone's doing a Latin chant."
"I do like a surprise or two." Jean made a mad dash to the stairway. And he did the next thing that confused Leon for a little bit...
Upper Level Room, Salazar Castle, somewhere in Spain
"Bonjour vous monnk rampant." Jean said in a very calm voice when he leaped from the stairway to the upper level, shooting two monks armed with maces with his SPAS-12. The blonde, French Spriggan grinned when he fired the shotgun twice in semi-automatic mode.
"Moving in!" Leon shouted, aiming the M3 at the downed monks until they began to groan in pain. Like all individuals who were fully injected with the plaga parasite, they dissolved into nothing.
"Clear!" Jean shouted, doing a sweep of the room while aiming the SPAS-12.
"Clear!" Leon shouted, who also did the same thing.
Jill came up the stairway, who began to check the other side of the room. Eriko joined up with her with both women already armed with their sidearms as a precaution.
"It's all clear here." Jill told the shotgun-armed men. Jean and Leon took the time to reload their weapons once again.
Fujino came up with the other Center agents, with Ashley following behind Diana closely.
"Finally." Kevin sighed in relief. He then looked around. "I guess the next question is how the heck do we get out of this room? There's no door that I can see around here."
"Let's all search the place." Leon told the group what to do next. "I'll go and secure the area with a few others."
The others nodded, positioning themselves in case that the monks would raid the room.
Ashley took a seat down in an empty beach to take a rest while Fujino and Diana started to search the room for a way out.
"Can you still use your O-Watch to get a map of this place?" Diana asked Fujino while the two Center agents were looking for any signs of a physical door they can use to leave the room.
Fujino shook her head. "It may be impossible at the moment, Diana-san. Since all forms of communications are blocked from the outside world and vice versa, it seems the cult is ready to do everything they can to make sure we stay dead."
"Although I do find it weird that Los Illuminados has some access to electronic jamming technology." Diana frowned while she made her thoughts clear to the Japanese teenager.
"Indeed. Perhaps they've got some assistance from mercenaries." Fujino made a suggestion.
"Over here." Diana ushered Fujino to follow her.
"What is it?" Fujino asked the Canadian teenager.
"Here." Diana pointed to the sword hanging on the wall. "It looks like the sword we've seen downstairs."
"Ah." Fujino nodded. "And you think those two hanging swords are relevant right now?"
Diana replied. "Yeah. I'm not sure, but perhaps we can use them to get out of here."
"Shall I get the other sword then, Diana-san?"
The two teenagers suddenly heard some Latin chanting from downstairs.
"Of all the times..." Fujino murmured.
Adam Benford's Office, DSO Headquarters, somewhere in the United States of America
Adam had received word from the FOS that all communication to and from Leon and Kevin had been cut off thanks to static interference. This alarmed the man since he was told that Los Illuminados was a religious extremist cult and yet, they have access to electronic jamming technology.
"This can't be right." Adam leaned back on his chair, pondering on the facts handed to him by Hunnigan after she came to see him in his office. "A cult having access to cutting edge technology, which is used to cut off my agents electronically."
The DSO veteran began to think off the complications with the two agents fending off for themselves with Ashley in tow. They can't get help and they can't get outside support for even an extraction.
"This can only mean two things."
Adam went to formulate two theories on how Los Illuminados was able to jam their comms.
"One. The cult does actually have cutting edge technology that they can use to jam our frequencies." Adam frowned. "Or two, they figured out such a thing could happen eventually and decided to get some help from mercenaries or from a rogue PMC willing to help them for the right price."
Dammit! I'm getting a headache just from thinking about all of this. I need to clear this out before I talk to Hunnigan and to the FOS and see if they've resolved the comm blackout problem.
Adam proceeded to exit the room, heading to the infirmary to get something for the growing headache that the glasses-wearing man was feeling in his temples.
Chapter 12 END
PS - Here's chapter 12. Sorry for the long wait. I'd like to give a shout out that Narita (The old man) from Jiraishin never had a first name given out, so I made one up. Also sorry for the long wait, had some stuff to take care of. Trying to get this done with my Gundam crossover fic, although I probably won't that again if ever. That depends on the circumstances though, so we'll see how things will proceed in the next few days or weeks.
Otherwise, I'll do what I can in updating the two stories. This story chapter is updated with my Gundam story, so I'll try this as an experiment of sorts in updating them. If not, then I'll find a way to make sure they'll be updated since I may not have time to finish them and I want to finish up the story of my main OCs and close that chapter for good.
Been dabbling on a potential Super Robot Wars storyline involving franchises not made in Japan, which includes North America, South Korea, but I don't know about Astro Plan since a majority of it's too heavily based on Macross Frontier and the Gundam 00 series. But I'm sure that I won't write this story due to time constraints for the most part. It's in TV Tropes' Fanfiction section and it's called the "All Purpose Super Robot Wars fanfiction thread". Perhaps I can work with someone on this at least.
Meanwhile, do let me know how the chapter went and everything. Means a lot.
Enjoy reading the chapter and do let me know how the chapter is. Thanks.
