Rival company

Very little was known about the mysterious group known as the "rival company", also known ambiguously as "the organization". What was known was that they were a rival of the Umbrella Corporation driven to steal their research in order to assume control over the sale and manufacture of bio-weapons. The leadership of the rival company was ambiguous, but it was taken over by Albert Wesker around 2004.

History
The organization was shown to have advanced technology and deep resources - financial; political and otherwise - at their disposal, and had an effective free reign in their area of society. The organization made repeated attempts to cripple or damage key Umbrella operations and facilities, knowing that these acts of sabotage could give them the edge.

Mansion Incident
The organization's activities began in 1998, when Ada, a loyal operative of theirs, was sent to infiltrate the Arklay Laboratory near Raccoon City and was romantically involved with the new head researcher, John Clemens, as a means to steal intelligence for her company. John was very serious about his relationship with Ada and even used her name as his computer account's password. John lost his life, due to the biohazard caused by the t-Virus in the Arklay Laboratory, after writing one final letter to Ada instructing her to get evidence of Umbrella's experiments and expose them to the public. She never read the letter because she was not in Raccoon City at the time.

In July, Albert Wesker, a prominent researcher in Umbrella, decided to form an alliance with the organization. To sell himself, he required combat data from various B.O.W.s released during the outbreak in the Arklay Laboratory. While working undercover for Umbrella, he personally led his own team in, the Raccoon City Police Department S.T.A.R.S., to serve as test subjects and facilitate the acquisition of the necessary data. Wesker would activate the Tyrant (T-002 Type), the creature whose combat data was most needed, to dispose of the S.T.A.R.S. members, and to help him fake his death. After the S.T.A.R.S destroyed the Tyrant, the newly superhuman Wesker was left without all of the combat data, so he thought the plan was a failure. However, Wesker did manage to secure combat data from other B.O.W.s that his team mates had fought, and this was surprisingly enough for him to become a high ranking operative of the organization.

Raccoon City
Wesker's next mission was to secure a sample of the newly created G-virus from the lab of William Birkin in Raccoon City. By that time, the t-Virus was released in the city and began the Raccoon City Destruction Incident. Wesker also did not want anyone to know of his revival yet, so the Organization allowed him to work in the shadows to remain "the dead man". Instead, they introduced him to Ada Wong, who formed an effective partnership with Wesker. Under Wesker and the organization's direction, she went underground to retrieve the G-virus from Birkin and his wife, Annette Birkin. An Umbrella U.S.S. team lead by HUNK got to Birkin before her and stole a sample, mortally wounding Birkin in the process. Before dying, Birkin injected himself with his creation and became a monstrosity that killed almost everyone in the lab, and spilled the t-Virus into the sewers where it was eventually carried into the city by rats. Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie cop, went down to investigate, and met Ada. The two formed a strong bond, and Ada's personality changed a bit.

When it appeared that Ada was killed in an encounter with the T-00 unit, Leon was saddened by Ada's supposed death. However, she recovered and made her way out of the lab. She met up with a contact for the organization, only to find him dead, having "lost his will" and committing suicide. Wesker, watching her from a projection screen, told her there would be consequences since she "betrayed" the organization by helping Leon. She then showed him that she had indeed recovered a sample of the G-virus from Birkin's corpse. Pleased with this, Wesker said "Well, despite some setbacks, you have proven your value to us." He then informed her of a helicopter leaving Raccoon City with an Umbrella officer and a missile launched by the government that would destroy the infected town in minutes. Wesker expressed that it was in the best interest of the organization and himself that she survived with the G-virus sample. Ada fought her way through the city and managed to board the helicopter undetected.

It was Sergei Vladimir who had organized the escape, as well as a plan to keep Umbrella in power. Ada safely made it out of Raccoon City as it was blown to ashes thanks to Wesker's warning, but was aware that it was only because of her recovered sample of the G-virus. With the sample gained by Ada, the organization had one more advantage in succeeding Umbrella's power. During the chaos, it was also discovered that Birkin's daughter, Sherry Birkin, had the G-virus inside her. Wesker sent Ada to recover Sherry's pendant, which held the virus. Ada found the pendant and gave it to Wesker.

Rockfort Island
All the previous events were recorded by Wesker and noted in Wesker's Report. The next desired virus the organization targeted was the T-Veronica virus, created by Alexia Ashford. Wesker was sent to secure a sample of it from Rockfort Island, the location of one of Umbrella's bases. Leading a Special Forces group belonging to the organization known as "H.C.F.", Wesker openly attacked the Umbrella facility, causing the t-Virus samples on the island to escape and contaminate all remaining personnel, turning them into zombies. Wesker continued his activity after this, making use of his superhuman powers to maneuver around the area. He would soon reveal himself to Claire Redfield and her brother Chris Redfield, Wesker's former S.T.A.R.S. comrade and hated nemesis. Wesker despised Chris because he had ruined his plans months ago in the mansion and wanted revenge, also taking out some of his hatred on Claire.

Wesker and his men later had to instead go to Antarctica, where Alexia and her virus truly were in another Umbrella base. All the while, Wesker made repeated attempts to get a T-Veronica sample, but soon had to deal with the awakened Alexia. After a brief battle between them, Wesker left Chris to fight her. Chris did so, but destroyed her, preventing Wesker from getting what seemed to be the only existing sample in her body. However, Wesker was undaunted, and grabbed Claire as Chris pursued them. Outside the burning lab on a dock where a submarine was located, Chris demanded Wesker let his sister go. He complied, and pointed out that he no longer needed Alexia, since his men had recovered the body of Steve Burnside, who had been infected himself and contained a sample. Chris told Claire to get to an airship inside the crumbling lab while he dealt with Wesker. Attempting to avenge his fallen comrades, Chris was no match for the superhuman Wesker and nearly killed. He luckily managed to pin Wesker under several steel girders.

Undefeated, Wesker prepared to kill him, but was blocked by an explosion from the lab and scarred. Chris escaped, and Wesker, knowing he would have to wait until he met him again, laughed maniacally and left the destroyed island in the submarine. Wesker brought Steve's body to the organization, who recovered a sample of the T-Veronica virus from him.

Umbrella's End
The organization had gained combat data on various B.O.W.s as well as samples of the t-Virus; G-virus, and T-Veronica virus. All of this had given them an immense advantage over their competitor, Umbrella, which was slowly losing influence in the world. Albert Wesker, however, had plans of his own while working with the organization, and conducted secret activities behind the scenes. Without authorization from his superiors, Wesker went to Umbrella's final stronghold in the Caucasus in Russia. Sergei Vladimir was planning to use the ultimate B.O.W., T-A.L.O.S., and the Red Queen to ensure Umbrella's survival at the request of Oswell E. Spencer, who was in hiding. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine also went to the base in hopes of destroying Umbrella once and for all. Wesker infiltrated the outpost and commenced a one-man raid. He fought past every B.O.W. and t-Virus infected scientist in the lab and found Sergei. Defeating and killing him after he mutated, Wesker cleared out the U.M.F.-013 computer core.

The Umbrella Archives, the summation of the entire company, were put on a single disc for Wesker, and he shut down the Red Queen. Wesker proved instrumental in bringing Umbrella down, as he brought his findings into court and personally testified against Spencer. While the Umbrella CEO was hunted, the organization had succeeded in destroying their biggest opponent thanks to Albert Wesker. However, Wesker would keep the archives he recovered and took over all of Umbrella's assets, planning to resurrect Umbrella as his own empire to lead the world into a new era under his control. With this plot, Wesker betrayed the organization in secret, and went on with his own agenda. In 2004 he recruited Ada Wong into her new employment.

B.O.W. specimens
Known B.O.W. specimens retrieved or produced by the organization include:


 * Enhanced Hunter - an independent take on Umbrella's Hunter B.O.W. based on the data Wesker obtained in the Arklay Laboratory.
 * Sweeper - a poisonous variant of the above, designed for clean-up work.
 * Jabberwock S3 - a Tyrant-like creature created through the t-Veronica virus.

Further notes

 * In the English localization of Resident Evil 2, this group was referred to as the "agency". This however was a mistranslation, as in the original Japanese script, Annette Birkin refers to it as "a certain organization". This error was carried on into the S.D. Perry series of novels.
 * The Albert Wesker file in Resident Evil 5 mentions Wesker working with a number of Umbrella's rivals and selling them samples of viruses for financial gain. This was a mistranslation; the actual file only makes mention of one rival company and Wesker used the viruses to rise within it, not for financial gain.