GOOD NEWS! All caps aside, the good news is that there are only three chapters left after this one. So this story will be hitting the wraps soon, so I am really thankful for everyone being nice enough to say how much they like this story. Sure, it's just someone telling the same story as a video game, but it's fun right! :D

Let's rock!

F.E.A.R.

FIRST ENCOUNTER ASSAULT RECON

INTERVAL 09 - INCURSION

BYPASS

The "Point Man"
I crawled on through the dark ventilation systems for a bit until I stopped in front of thick cover in place. Punching off, I then jumped down in the room nearby. It looked like just another storage room, but what really peeked my curiosity was outside these big windows. There was a long walkway down below that reached over to something extremely advanced, almost looking like a giant security door that was partially opened.. The area was in a large open shaft, about as wide as an entire football field. This place was a marvel of a sight, almost like something you would see in some science fiction movie.

Down by the walkway, I saw two figures standing next to each other by the large door. The screen next to me showed me a close-up of the situation below which I'm guessing the camera was by the door. Despite the awful amount of static interference, I could make out who they were. One of them was Norton Mapes with his hands held up, and the other person was Harlan Wade pointing a gun at Mapes. I could hear Mapes through the live feed, talking to Harlan.

"Look, I'm just doing my job!" Mapes told him, a bit worried from the sound of his voice.

"And I'm doing what has to be done."

After Harlan said, he pointed the weapon to Norton's chest and then shot him. Mapes fell over on the ground behind near the railing as Harlan began to walk away. Looking back out the window, I saw Harlan enter the large room beyond the security doors - which I assumed is the Vault door - the entire thing closing behind him. Great, Mapes is dead and Harlan has run off somewhere. I just know that I have to go down there, I just know it.

I exited this place as I passed through electrical doors, sets of stairs leading down, and some generators until I was now by the walkway I saw earlier. To the left was several high-tech machinery in place, but I ignored all that to try and reach over to where the large door was. As I walked over there, I saw that despite the a bullet went through his chest, Mapes was still alive, even if he was breathing heavily.

"That fuckhead... He locked you out..." he said, with some trouble speaking.

I looked over at the control panel next to me to see that the entire system was indeed locked out. I'm going to have to find out how to get this thing to work.

"The only way in... is to divert power to the door..." Mapes told me. He was in a quite a bit of pain, for he tried to find a comfortable way to ease the pain. God knows how long this guy will last.

I knew that the area to the far left would probably take me to where the switches for the Vault door would be. Leaving Mapes behind, I went back over there to where I saw one electrical door in place. However, all it lead to was some steps by a small lift that I couldn't access from here. Heading back, I went through the large area with gigantic pipes and machinery placed on top of me. There were two ladders to the side that led below this path. Climbing down the right one, I passed the sliding door here and entered another unusual looking area.

There were some more pipes connected from the ceiling leading to the floor that took up most of the space here. There was a metal walkway to the right of me that went over to the next room across from this spot. As I was beginning to walk over there, some Replica soldiers were beginning to scout the area. These were the Replica Elites, and they were all packed up with HV Penetrators or shotguns. Still, better than a big ass cannon blasting me.

Taking a spare proximity mine out of my pockets, I placed it near the entry of the walkway, but was able to hide it just enough for them not to notice. Heading back to the entrance of this place, I waited a few seconds to when the explosion went off. Trying my best to look through the smoke, I saw that three of them were dead, but the last one running away towards some cover. I followed the lone Replica to where he was now hiding by some wooden crates. Taking out my shotgun, I ran up to the guy and blasted him square across the chest several times until he died.

Continuing on, I saw that there were some electrical double doors along the wall to the right. The control panel near the doors looked like there was no power over in this section, so I'll have to look for another way around. Moving through the corridor along the left side of this place, I ended up in another area to where two paths branched off left and right. There was a large drop near the railings by the two exits to where I couldn't see the bottom, probably meant for disposal of trash and other things.

I went to the left path and reached some kind of area that amazed me. To the right of me was a large mechanical device several feet long attached to a section of the wall. The attachment was on a black, square shaped outlet for the power in this place. Another one was above the mechanical arm-shaped mechanism, probably to reroute the power from one end to another. Could this be what Mapes meant by diverted power back towards the Vault door?

A control panel by the railing was in place that said "activate" on the screen. Pressing the switch, I saw the arm-like machine detach itself from the wall. The diamond-shaped rings across the mechanism went back as the device then attached itself to the upper power outlet. As the rings then went towards the wall, I saw a small set of arrows on the panel light up. There were 6 of them total, 2 of them yellow, blue, and red each. It probably means I'll have to do this 5 more times to get the power rerouted to the Vault door.

The other mechanism to change the power flow was on the other side of here, only I couldn't get over there. I bet that if I took the right path I didn't enter earlier, it would lead me over to there. Heading back the way I came, I entered the right path along the railing and then reached on over to the other side of the previous room. The control panel was on a ledge above me, so I climbed up using a small ladder to the device. As before, I pressed "activate" on the switch and saw the other mechanism detach itself from the lower outlet and then attached to the upper one. With that taken care, I'll just have to figure out where to find the others.

Heading back all the way to where I faced off the Replica squad, I saw that the two double doors were now open. Looking at the panel near them, I saw that power also went towards this previously locked set of doors, thus opening them. Good to know.

Heading along through the corridors, I passed about a couple rooms until a red ladder was placed along the wall. Climbing up the metal bars, I walked through the area some more to where I was on an upper walkway above the path with the two entrances to that generator room I was at. Passing through the area, I heard some footsteps above in the next room on another metal walkway. Peeking out, I saw one Replica pacing around while two more were standing over by some crates. Here we go...

I opened fire from the Vokkler shotgun to the soldier above me as he was blown over the railing. As they heard the gunfire behind me, they tried to turn around to see who it was when I got up close and personal with them. Blasting them apart with the leftover shells in my shotgun, their bodies were flown backwards as they died. There was an HV Penetrator and some ammo in the corner over by where the two soldiers were standing. Leaving behind the almost empty shotgun, I picked that up and looked for a way out of here.

There were some stairs near that led up to the walkway where that first soldier was. Going up that path, I stopped to see that there were some big pipes extend from one section of the area all the way over to the other. Underneath the path was somewhere I could crawl through to reach an exposed area that looked like it leads to a vent holder. Before I did that, there was a laptop activated on top of a wooden crate. Not sure if the Replicas or ATC meant to get to it, but there were some important information available on-screen. Sending it to HQ, Betters got on the radio channel and told me:

"Things are starting to make sense. The name of the woman they used for Origin is 'Alma.' That's who Fettel is looking for. He's going home..." Betters told me, my thoughts then put back to earlier.

Just like I guessed, there was a connection between Fettel and Alma. Then that woman is indeed the source behind all this crazy shit going on today. This entire terrorist assault wasn't just to get revenge or to just kill thousands of people. Fettel wants a reunion... a reunion with his mother.

Putting aside my thoughts of what I just learned, I crawled through the small opening underneath the large pipes. Making my way over to the ventilation cover, I kicked it down and then crawled inside the cold, gray interior. After a few moments of moving through the vents, I found an exit that was next to some steps. Kicking open the other holder, I was now near some supplies and generator equipment for this place. There was an electrical door on the upper level I then took to reach another walkway.

This path was several feet above the area I first came to after hearing from Mapes on how to open the Vault door. Doesn't even feel that long ago since it happened. Passing through another door, I went through some more rooms until I found another mechanical door. As it slid open, the next area I was at a large generator room. Two big machines were laid out in the middle of this wide, open area. From here, I was on another pathway about 15 feet above the ground. Oh yeah, and generators weren't the only thing in this place.

Five of those Replica Elites were all scattered about on the ground here. Two of them with Repeating Cannons, and the other three with simple assault rifles. The closest ones were one of each of the two weapons. Aiming my HV carefully, the accurate weapon was able to fire enough nails into the backs of the 2 soldiers down below. With them dead, the other three then tried to figure out where the nails came from. This luckily gave me an opportunity to fire several more into the others as I picked them of one by one. Even if these guys are more armored and better equipped than the previous Replicas, the shots from the Penetrator were still strong enough to rip through them like tissue paper.

The door at the far end of this walkway was broken down, so I had to look for another way down this place. There were some boxes stacked up that I could jump on top without breaking my legs. Carefully going over the railing, I landed safely on the boxes and then jumped down to the ground. Moving through the area, I saw that on an upper ledge were another set of locked double doors that required some power rerouted to open them up. Guess I'll have to look for conductors in this place.

There was a path underneath in the middle of the two generators I could probably take to get to the switches of the power. After descending more and more through some steps, I then reached another one of those control panels for those mechanical arm-like connectors. Pressing "activate" on the panel caused this one to move from one power outlet to another as a light went off over one of the yellow arrows on the panel. The other mechanism for the second power connector was just below this ledge. Hopping over the railing, I pressed "activate" on the panel as this one was beginning to move on over to the other outlet. An alarm then went off over the area.

I saw that there was a white crate hanging off over to where the power outlet was, preventing this mechanism to attach itself on over to there. As the machine was going back to where it originally was placed, I saw there was a ladder leading down to a lower ledge that some stairs were nearby. If I took these steps, it would take all around to another ladder to where the switch for the crane was, so that I can move the container out of the way. Before the ladder was another crate with a single laptop opened up on top of it. It had some information about Alma, but no pictures of her. After sending it to F.E.A.R. headquarters, Betters came back on the radio with terrible news.

"Oh, Jesus... She was just a kid. Says here Alma was 8 years old when Origin started up. They used a little girl... No wonder they're so fucking anxious to keep the lid on this mess. Somebody's gonna burn for this."

Oh man... that poor kid. Another revelation came to me. That 8-year old girl I keep seeing... she must've been the past version of what Alma is today. She must be using that form to project herself outside the Vault to both me and Fettel as a way of communicating with us. To Fettel, I can understand that his motive is to find her. As for me, I have no idea. What really upset me was how those bastards could use a child to force making psychic commanders, put her in a coma, and then lock the place afterward. Betters then explained to me about that Genevieve woman.

"That's why Aristide hasn't returned my calls. She's probably on a plane to Jamaica." he said as he then went offline the comlink.

From what I could figure of that woman, it sounds just like her to try and snivel her way out of this whole mess. Makes sense as to why she was nowhere around Armacham when the whole situation blew up, probably the same for Harlan. They don't want this crisis to be known to the public, but it was too late now. We are going to expose those motherfuckers for the monsters they are. They'll all pay for this...

Going up the ladder, I saw a control panel on the railing here. Pressing the switch on here, the crane holding the container moved on out of the way of the path the arm-like machinery is supposed to go. Heading back the way I came up towards the other panel, I pressed the switch for the mechanism to go towards the next power outlet. After it soon attached itself over there, another light came on as all arrow symbols in blue were lit up. Hopefully, that means power made it over to those locked doors I passed before. Now I just got to figure out how to get all the way back there.

There was a door over by those steps I used before that was previously locked until the power being rerouted opened it up. I went through the area after passing some corners until I was on a ledge above the path leading up to that first control panel. Jumping over to there, I went all the way back out to that large generator room to where I fought that last squad of Replicas. I walked through the area until I reached up towards the two doors previously sealed doors as they were now open. Entering the next room, I heard some unusual activity around the next corner.

Looking over there, there were three of those floating mechanical weapons with the lasers placed under them. Seems like Armacham had more of these built and placed all the way over here ages ago. Amazing they were able to have design specs and the means to build them back then. Seeing as how I have the Penetrator still, the nails will surely be able to pierce through their thick armor. Using my reflexes, I quickly opened fire at all three machines. It only needed about a few nails each to destroy all of them as they self-destructed from taking too much damage. Like before, it must mean that any parts left behind won't be used by any intruders looking to use what would be left.

Continuing further down another walkway, I walked around some more hallways to when I saw something outside of some thick glass. It was a huge type of machine, like some kind of cylinder stretching horizontally across from one wall to another. I could hear some electricity flowing through inside of it, even from here. My gut tells me that the final steps to connect power all the way over to the Vault door was definitely over there, for there were a couple more control panels nearby.

Moving through several small rooms and steps, I was now in a corridor with a room nearby I could see through the windows. There were some kind of round cylinders moving on some kind of conveyor system circling around. They probably were meant to be used to hold materials while shipping them off to other employees, for there was a hole underneath them to where someone could grab them. The door nearby was locked in place, so there was no way for me to get inside. This path led to a dead end for it just showed the large power generator through some more windows. Looking back, I saw a ventilation cover on the wall. Maybe I can get somewhere through there.

Kicking it down, I crawled through the smelly vent system until I found an exit up ahead. Knocking it down, I saw I was now inside that room with the rotating canisters. The one on the right had a few empty slots that I can probably use to reach the lower room. Maybe there is another path below that can lead me to that large area. After doing that, I dropped below into a small room and saw some steps nearby. Using those, I was now on the other side of a working sliding door that I passed through to reach the generator room.

As I pressed "activate" on the nearby panel next to the large machine, the middle section of this huge cylinder spread apart. There were some poles with a lot of energy moving around inside them, while some others were out of place. I bet that if I can find a way to the upper panel on a balcony above me, I can then align the poles to their proper place. There was a hallway downstairs I walked towards that led me around a couple corners. Passing one of them, I was near a desk where a single phone and answering machine were at. There were two messages left behind on the machine, both by Genevieve Aristide. Pressing "play", I listened to the first voicemail to see what she had to say.

"Harlan, it's Genevieve. I understand your feelings, I really do. But this is no time for sentimentality. If Origin is uncovered, every single one of us will burn for it. It's time we buried the dead, don't you think?" she said. With her tone, it was hard to take her seriously about her "making up" any problems between her and Wade. I then listened to her next message afterwards.

"Harlan, it's me again. If you want an apology, then I apologize. I was wrong, you were right. In any case, I want to be sympathetic, but the situation is urgent. I'm sending Mapes to take care of things, since you seem reluctant to do what needs to be done. I hope you can find it in yourself to assist him." Aristide finished. Oh yeah, he sure helped Norton a lot.A bullet to the chest is a great way of showing it.

I climbed up on a red ladder nearby to the upper floor as I continued my way out of here. Making my way through the dark corridors, I saw the balcony to where the final panel for the power was. After I pressed the switch, the poles for the energy storage circled around several times as each one of them were properly aligned in place. When they were all taken care of, the middle section of the power generator then closed. Seeing as how all the power was finally rerouted, it was time to head on back to the Vault and track down Harlan.

The electrical double doors to the left of me were now opened as they must've been previously locked from the energy being in the wrong place. I went through there and up some steps to where I saw two Replica Elites stationed near some items. They had just seen me enter the area as I came in guns blazing with my assault rifle. I fired every round of my weapon into both of them while using my superior speed to avoid getting shot at. After they were dead, I reloaded my weapon and walked over to where a small lift was. This was definitely the same one I had seen earlier but couldn't take. Guess this means I have a shortcut back to where the Vault was. As I activated the switch and the lift was going down, Betters got a hold of me once more.

"Alma's still in there. She has to be. You've got to find her before ATC decides to get rid of the evidence." he said and then signed off.

Several questions erupted into my head. Just what am I going to do when I do find her? Take care of any Replica or Armacham forces that come my way and wait for F.E.A.R. to provide evidence? Is Alma going to mess with my head some more if I get closer to her presence? I know that I still have to kill Paxton Fettel to stop the Replica Army, but what will happen after that? Maybe I'll find out when I get there, who knows.

When I reached the lower floor, I walked on over to the sliding door. Just as it opened, I saw both Alice Wade and Fettel walking slowly towards the Vault. Before I could say or do anything, they both disappeared before me as they were soon gone. If this is supposed to mean what I think it means, then Fettel and Alice might be down inside the Vault already. I'll have to hurry to catch up with them both.

As I was rushing over to where Mapes and the entrance was, I saw three more of those floating defense mechanisms come up from this large shaft. Before I could let them get a lock-on to my position, I went back towards the biggest cover spot I could find while firing several rounds over to them. One of them was severely damaged, with the other two firing multiple lasers towards the last spot I was. Bringing out the Penetrator once more, I fired a single nail over to the damaged aerial device as it soon exploded.

The other two still remaining where still firing more lasers to my position, making it difficult to head back out to fire at them. After they soon stopped, I could hear them coming closer to get a better shot at me. Taking their brief pause of fire to my advantage, I brought my weapon back out and fired several more nails towards them. Luckily, I was able to make the shots connect as the two of them were soon destroyed from taking too much damage. Reloading the HV Penetrator, I walked on over to where the entrance of the Vault was with Mapes still on the ground.

He was surprisingly still alive, even though a good amount of blood was spilt onto the walkway. Funny enough, the only time I leave him alone to do something important, he's dying on the floor. Despite what he had done earlier, he was still trying to speak to me as though asking for my assistance.

"You have to destroy this facility... before he lets her out..." Like hell I'm going to do that. I'm going to stop both Fettel and Wade from releasing her and raising Hell. Mapes looked at me and then said:

"There are four pylons... Damage the reactor cells and you'll trigger a chain reaction... Blow the whole place to Hell... where it belongs." It won't come to that, Norton. I will stop this madness.

"If he lets Alma out..." There was now worry in his voice. Maybe he, too, understands the magnitude of the problems that would occur if this gets out of hand more.

"You have to stop him..." he finished as he was about ready to pass out. Whether he'll live or not is something I can't decide.

I went over to the control panel opposite of Mapes and saw that the power was indeed rerouted over to here. I pressed "activate" on the switch here as the Vault door began to open. Inside of here was a large lift just a few feet away from my position. I entered inside to see a switch on the elevator available for use. Looking down the large shaft down below, it was too dark to make out just how far this thing goes underground. Only way to find out is go down there anyway. After I pressed the switch, the lift was beginning to descend down below. Betters contacted me one more time.

"I'm losing your signal. We may be out of contact from here on. Be careful of this Wade guy. God only knows what he's capable of." I'll keep that in mind, buddy.

Almost as if descending towards the very bottom of Hell itself, I waited to reach the bottom. They would all be there. Harlan and his daughter Alice. Paxton Fettel, and his mother, the origin of this crisis. Alma...

You KNOW what the next chapter will be. I'll try my very best not to disappoint with the best of my abilities. Reviews would be appreciated, just so I can hear any feedback from you guys!