Izumi

Actress: Julia Ling

Name: Izumi*Nationality:* Japanese*Affiliation:* Empire of the Rising Sun*Organisation:* Omega Programme / Shiro Psychic Research Centre*Role:* Psi Commando*Powers:* Telepathy, telekinesis and psionic abilities*Known relative:* Yuriko Matsui, presented as her sister*Partner:* Dr Shinji Shimada*Games:* Red Alert 3: Uprising, Red Alert on iOS
Status: Deceased, killed by Yuriko Izumi is a young Japanese woman with exceptional psionic abilities and one of the subjects of the Omega Programme, an experimental project led by Dr Shinji Shimada at the Shiro Psychic Research Centre in Tokyo.

She is best known as the ‘sister’ of Yuriko Matsui, better known as Yuriko Omega. The exact nature of this relationship, however, remains unclear: sources describe her as Yuriko’s sister, but the history of the Omega Programme and the experiments carried out at Shiro call for caution when interpreting this as a definite biological link.

The Omega Programme

Before the Third World War, Izumi and Yuriko were taken to the Shiro Sanitarium, a vast psychic research complex located in Tokyo.

The facility is home to the Omega Programme, led by Dr Shinji Shimada. Its aim is to harness human psionic abilities in order to create new weapons for the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Both girls possess exceptional psychic potential.

However, they are subjected to dehumanising training and numerous traumatic experiments designed to develop, measure and control their powers. Yuriko eventually becomes the programme’s most famous subject and is given the designation Omega.

Izumi, too, possesses extremely powerful abilities.

Shimada eventually neutralises her and imprisons her in the lower levels of the Shiro centre. She is held in a sort of containment tube similar to those used for Yuriko’s clones and protected by two Nanoswarm barriers.

But her physical imprisonment is not enough to neutralise her spirit.

The voice in Yuriko’s mind

Since her captivity, Izumi has managed to communicate telepathically with Yuriko.

Even before the outbreak of the Third World War, she contacted her sister, who was imprisoned in the Shiro complex, and helped her regain the use of her psychic abilities.

Guided by Izumi, Yuriko leaves her cell and uses various terminals in the centre to understand the full extent of her powers, which the Seekers had until then been trying to suppress.

She then turns on her Guardians and makes her way through much of the complex, destroying the Imperial forces sent to arrest her.

However, this first escape attempt fails just a few metres from freedom: the Rocket Angels manage to neutralise Yuriko with their paralysing whips, and she is taken back into captivity.

The Shiro centre was subsequently rebuilt and considerably reinforced, notably through the installation of psionic inhibitors designed to prevent another catastrophe.

Camp Dakota

During the Third World War, Yuriko eventually fell into the hands of the Allied Forces.

She was transferred to Camp Dakota, a high-security prison located in Guam.

Once again, it is Izumi who makes contact with her.

From Shiro, she manages to telepathically rouse Yuriko and encourages her to use her powers to escape.

Izumi also directs her sister’s anger towards Shimada. She reminds her that the scientist is responsible for the experiments and the suffering they have endured, and that he must pay for his crimes.

Yuriko then breaks free from her confinement, frees the other prisoners in the camp and leaves Guam.

Her objective is now a personal one:to return to Shiro, kill Shimada and rescue Izumi.### Return to Shiro

When Yuriko returns to Japan, the Shiro Psychic Research Centre has been transformed into a veritable fortress.

The Empire knows she will return and deploys everything at its disposal to stop her: infantry, armoured vehicles, Rocket Angels, force-wave Artillery and, above all, several psychic inhibitors capable of temporarily neutralising her abilities.

Yuriko, however, breaks through the defences one by one.

Shimada takes refuge in the lower levels of the complex, where Izumi is still being held, and systematically destroys the lifts to slow her progress.

It is not enough.

Yuriko eventually reaches the depths of Shiro and discovers Izumi locked away behind Nanoswarm barriers.

Shimada makes one last attempt to reason with her. In particular, he claims to be the only one capable of protecting the two young women and controlling their extraordinary powers.

Yuriko refuses.

After destroying the last of the forces tasked with protecting the scientist, she kills Shinji Shimada.

The death of the head of the Omega programme finally allows Izumi to be freed.

But the reunion between the two ‘sisters’ immediately takes an unexpected turn.

Betrayal

Izumi then reveals her true intentions.

Her help was not entirely motivated by her affection for Yuriko: she used her to secure her own release.

Izumi is convinced that her psionic abilities are superior to Yuriko’s.

Now that Shimada is dead and the barriers holding her back have been removed, she no longer needs her sister. Instead, she decides to eliminate her in order to become the most powerful psychic fighter.

For Yuriko, this revelation is yet another betrayal after everything she has just endured to find Izumi.

The two women then engage in a colossal psionic duel at the heart of the Shiro complex.

Izumi possesses abilities very similar to Yuriko’s and proves powerful enough to stand up to her. But she has overestimated her own superiority.

Yuriko eventually gains the upper hand.

Izumi is killed by her sister. Their clash releases such a vast amount of energy that the Shiro Psychic Research Centre is devastated. Yuriko manages to escape as the facility collapses behind her.

Izumi’s death leaves Yuriko completely alone. Having been exploited by Shimada and then betrayed by the woman she considered her sister, she gazes out over Tokyo, unsure what to do with her newfound freedom.

Izumi’s powers

Izumi possesses psionic abilities comparable to those of Yuriko Omega.

In particular, she can communicate telepathically over very long distances, as she manages to contact Yuriko whilst the latter is imprisoned in Guam and Izumi remains captive in Japan.

She also possesses powerful psychic and telekinetic offensive abilities, sufficient to take on Yuriko head-on.

Her defeat demonstrates, however, that, contrary to what she believed, she is not the more powerful of the two.

The plans recovered from Shiro’s database also show that Izumi was to use a highly advanced, form-fitting technological suit, the one seen during her final confrontation with Yuriko.

Red Alert on iPhone

There is another interesting detail to include in the profile: Izumi is not limited to Uprising.

She also appears in Command & Conquer: Red Alerton iOS, where she serves as a Psi Commando for the Empire of the Rising Sun during the post-war crisis.

In this version, she therefore effectively occupies a position comparable to that of the great heroic Commandos from the various factions: Tanya for the Allies, Natasha for the Soviets and Izumi for the Empire.