Enterprise (企業体) is a group exclusive to the Strider Hiryu manga and its NES adaptation. In the game's translation the group is always referred to as simply "The Syndicate", even though the instruction manual gives its correct name.

Enterprise is a worldwide organization with its main headquarters located in Los Angeles^[1]. It possesses networks spread all over the world^[2], and deals with many varied businesses, the most well-known of which deal with the distribution and replenishment of goods and food^[3]. Enterprise also conducts the research and development of weaponry. The organization's current president, Faceas Clay, led Enterprise for the last 30 years.

The group infamously developed a brainwashing machine codenamed "ZAIN" following Faceas Clay's instructions, with the intention of controlling all humanity. This eventually put the organization up against Hiryu and Kain. Following their infiltration of the main headquarters, and its subsequent destruction along with the death of all high-ranking figures, the group has likely ceased to exist.

Contents 1 Weapons Development 2 Buildings 2.1 Main Headquarters 2.2 Research Institutes 2.3 Other Bases 3 Alliances 4 References

Weapons DevelopmentEdit

Enterprise dedicates much of its resources to the research and testing of state-of-the-art weaponry. They focused most of this R&D on the ZAIN Project, a computer system engineered towards the idea of "Mind Control", the ability to manipulate humans through basic commands^[4]. This project was kept in total secrecy by orders of Faceas Clay, who had plans of his own for the system.

The company still conducted research on more conventional weaponry which they supplied to the Kazakh Secret Police to support their battle against rebel forces. This included heavy-duty weaponry such as an anti-tank aircraft and the latest model of armored tank, codenamed T-48.^[5]

Shortly before their decimation, Enterprise was employing a new type of machine gun known as the Shadowtag Bullets, with the ability to trace a target's movements to boost its accuracy^[6]. The weapon was used against Hiryu during his infiltration of Enterprise's Los Angeles building, but proved useless against his superhuman speed and reflexes.

BuildingsEdit

Main HeadquartersEdit

Enterprise's main headquarters are located in the city of Los Angeles. The complex is a skyscraper that towers in an area surrounded by ruined and abandoned buildings. The building has several floors, with the top floor housing the ZAIN core computer, nicknamed Yggdrasil by Faceas Clay^[7]. While security on the building is comprised of trained soldiers, the top floor is under protection of a a machine known as the ZAIN Defense System. Faceas Clay favored machines over humans and trusted them with his life.^[8]

Research InstitutesEdit

Enterprise possessed many research bases spread over the world to carry out development of new weaponry. One of its most important research centers was the Kazakh Federation Mental Institute (カザフ連邦州立精神病院), which was a front for a laboratory focused on the development of the ZAIN Project. Its existence was kept in total secrecy, and not even the higher-ups of the Kazakh Federation were aware of its location^[9]. The Institute hired protection from an Special Forces team expert on hand-to-hand combat, as there were no armed soldiers in the building since the use of firearms could compromise the high precision machinery used for research^[10]. The Institute also relied on Doberman dogs as an extra security measure, which were altered by the ZAIN Project to increase their breed's innate aggressiveness.^[11]

ZAIN's development of brain surgery techniques and the creation of its terminals were carried out within the Institute for many years. The Institute also kept an underground dungeon, to restrain people that would be used as guinea pigs in the experiments. Those whose experiments ended in failure suffered a total loss of sanity, but they were kept within their cells, to be used as an extra defense system against intruders.^[12]

Following Hiryu and Kain's infiltration, they brought down the whole complex and their experiments. Hiryu and Kain found and destroyed a second Institute in the Amazon Rainforest. There are also passing mentions about a Terminal being under construction in the Sahara region as well.^[2]

Other BasesEdit

The NES game provides four extra complexes, located on Egypt, Africa, China and Australia. It is unknown, however, if the Egypt base was part of Enterprise or one of the Secret Police's own bases. All the others housed a ZAIN Terminal and were protected by soldiers, machines and Matic's men.

AlliancesEdit

In order to carry out the ZAIN Project in secret, Enterprise was in need of powerful allies. Their resources of human guinea pigs were obtained through a deal with the Kazakh Secret Police. The corrupt police force would handle those they arrested (mostly members of the local rebellion) to be used in the Kazakh Institute for experimentation, and in exchange they received armaments from the Enterprise. High-ranking officers of the force were well aware of the experiments and the project’s main objective, but willingly looked the other way.

Enterprise also sought out an alliance with Matic, the de facto leader of the Striders at the time. Matic provided full support to Enterprise, offering his men as elite guards for the organization’s needs. He has, however, secretly desired control of both the Striders and Enterprise to have the means for world domination.

ReferencesEdit

Strider Manga/NES Series
Main Articles	Strider Hiryu (Manga) • Strider (NES) • Moto Kikaku • Tatsumi Wada • Masahiko Kurokawa
Characters	Arana • Commander • Faceas Clay • Hiryu • Kain • Kubira • Kuramoto • Matic • Police Chief • Sheena Game Exclusives: Badger • Dragon Fiend • Flash Blade • Kodiak • Ryuzaki Manga Exclusives: Captain Keith • Kazakh Institute Scientist • Mariya • Rin • Yuri
Stage Enemies	Doberman • Egypt Soldier • Giant Robot • Hunchback • Machine Cannon • Mechanical Snail Robot Frong • Russian Infantryman • Scuba Soldier • Sharkman • Sky Wing • Spark Machine
Technology	Cypher • Kali • Phantom Train • Shadowtag Bullets • Stealth Chopper • T-48 • ZAIN Project • Yggdrasil
Locations	Africa • Australia • China • Egypt • Japan • Kazakh • Los Angeles • Red Dragon
Groups	Enterprise • Kazakh Secret Police • Striders • Strider Matic Unit