Prologue: Rise of the Terror Guard
Chapter 6: An Understanding
20:40 Hours, Second Day
The Point Man slowly walked up the steps to the Elementary School, scanning his surroundings whilst his team moved up with him. Entering the school was always going to be the hard part. The Point Man knew that. Anyone with any combat experience whatsoever knew that. They were out in the open, their only cover being the sides of the stairs, of which they'd have to fall on their asses to get behind. Something that no one wanted to do. Thankfully, it seemed like they weren't being watched by anyone. If they were being watched, it was by someone who was waiting for a much better moment than them ascending a staircase with little cover. That alone was a scary thought that could keep anyone on edge. If they hadn't taken the shot yet...what qualified as a better opportunity?
Soon they had made it to the front doors. The S.E.A.R. Team was already moving around the school so they could enter it from the back. It just felt natural to do something like that, especially since they were more or less rescuing a hostage. That left Logan, Michelle, Becket and Jin with the Point Man. A combination he was rather alright with. For new operatives, Michelle and Logan had proven themselves to be competent, if not still somewhat youthful in their own rights. Not that the Point Man knew what youth was, having been trained to snap the necks of fully grown men since he was just a boy.
"S.E.A.R in position." Griffon informed them over their radios.
"Go silent, everyone, we don't want anyone getting tipped off before we have eyes on the Lieutenant." Jin ordered over the radios as they fashioned silencers to their weapons.
"Quick and silent. Got it." Griffon stated and for a brief moment of time forgot to turn his radio off, "Roddy, get the flash ready."
"We breach on your go, Point Man." Jin stated with a smile, looking over at her fellows to make sure everyone was ready to go, and they were.
The Point Man didn't respond to Jin's words. Instead, he acted upon them. Their way of entry was simple, the Point Man would rush inside and clear out the immediate threat whilst the rest of the F.E.A.R. team would move in and assist him with anything else. They weren't expecting too harsh of resistance in terms of numbers, but no one really could tell with all of the chaos happening in the world. Ever since Alma was released from her prison, Fairport had turned into Hell to the most literal sense.
Immediately upon entering the Point Man began shooting. Armacham Black Ops agents had infiltrated the Wade Elementary School, something that was not surprising in the slightest. He had expected something like that given the fact the school had the name Wade on it. That meant that there was some pretty shady business going on within its halls. What he didn't know was quite how sadistic such business was. Sure, he knew how bad Armacham could be, he and his brother were lab rats since the day they were born. What he didn't know was that something seemingly unrelated to the places of study, like those that he and his brother had grown up in, was actually related to it all. His mother used to attend this school for gifted children, or at least, children that Armacham thought could be used as weapons. Like his mother, for instance, was the most successful subject. Even to this day, Armacham's attempts at replicating her were nothing but wastes of time and money. They could get so close to succeeding, but that mattered not when it all came crashing down.
Armacham Black Ops. Men and women who trained like the Special Forces of any nation, if not better. Hell, some of them did have their roots in the militaries around the world. A good thirty percent of them had prior Special Forces training. The rest? The rest were selected because of their exemplary performance in battle, or because they had skills that Armacham needed deployed on the field. But there was plenty of issues with them. Most of them were older. Well out of their prime years, and often times with some unresolved issues within their personal lives from their years of service. Something that didn't exactly promote the most functional Black Ops unit in the world. But they got their job done. Most of the time.
They weren't expecting any resistance in the school. The most resistance they expected to encounter were police officers and civilians. People they could dispatch easily without any real concern. That, of course, wasn't the case. They were dealing with a man far more superior than any of them could have ever have hoped to be. The Point Man, a man could slaughter an entire group of people in the blink of an eye. Or something damn close to it. But he wasn't the only one. The recruits alongside him were experts in the way of warfare. Jin would pick any one of them up in a heartbeat if they went down as well. They were set.
The four men that the Point Man ran into weren't anything special. Just the common Black Ops soldiers. Riff raff with a little bit bigger of a resume than the other common soldiers of Armacham. Men that were disposable on high risk missions but not the low risk shit. It didn't matter how Armacham labeled them in the end, however. They were dead. There was no other alternative. With four precise gunshots, the bodies dropped with loud thuds as their equipment slammed against the ground. Immediately the Point Man scanned the rest of the room. The only things he spotted were corpses of men and women who sought shelter inside of the building, and the cameras that were still on. They were being watched. The only question was; who was watching?
The rest of the F.E.A.R. team pushed in and secured the area whilst the Point Man thought about their next move. They were in the lobby now, and that meant they had three ways of progressing. The left hall, the right hall, and straight down the middle. The middle was out of the question, and so they barricaded and wedged the door to prevent anyone without fairly decent explosives from getting into the lobby and flanking them. Now the question was a simple matter of left or right.
"According to the layout of the building, the right hall is where a majority of the classrooms are located. The staircase to the second floor is also located there at the far end of the hall." Jin stated softly as she examined her handheld device. "The left is where most of the lockers are, and where the cafeteria is."
Logan chuckled, "I don't think I could stomach a bite to eat right now. A good offer, though." He said softly, taking a look over at the left hallway.
"It sounds like the right hall would be a fairly bad choice. A lot of areas for enemies to flank us from. We don't have enough people to search all of the rooms at once either..." Michelle stated with a small groan, "Which is quite unfortunate. We would have if... well, if we weren't betrayed."
"Get a wedge on the right door, and barricade it. We're going to start sweeping the place on the left side." Jin ordered, and Michelle moved to do just that. "Clear the left side, and we won't be getting surprise attacked from behind."
"What if they break through the wedge?" Logan asked the woman in charge, who had merely shrugged in response.
"Think of it as a story, Logan. We make it up as we go along, should we come across that issue. I doubt it will be an issue though. The only way they're getting through those doors is if they brought powerful enough explosives." Jin stated before looking over at the Point Man.
He was already gone down the left corridor.
The Point Man wasn't one to sit around and 'strategize' whilst there was work to be done. He made sure he had a rhythm to his combat, and that was about it. When engaging enemies, like surfer, he'd handle the waves, no matter how harsh they were. It had gotten him that far, he figured, so why stop what he was doing? His reflexes were above that of even the most experienced and trained of athletes.
As he progressed through the hallway he started to take in his surroundings. The structural integrity of the building was in a state of disrepair. The halls were crumbling and falling apart. The marble-like floors had chunks misplaced and cracked all over them. The decorations weren't any better. Wallpapers, paintings, and the like were all dated. But it didn't look like this before the nuclear incident. No... this was Alma's work.
ATC could do all they wanted to try and contain the situation happening at the school, but there was one variable that wasn't so easily controlled. A variable that would mean the death of countless mercenaries and Black Ops agents. Alma Wade. For years they tried to contain her, and in some sense they did... but she wasn't a stupid woman. She had years to plan her release from the confines of that prison, and now that she was released? They'd better have every single warrior and scientist in the world if they wished to contain her. Unfortunately for the Corporation... they did not.
Point Man stopped when he came across a dead squad of operatives. It was a rather gruesome sight. Something tore them apart, and if they were in-tact they weren't any better off, really, considering that meant their insides were either liquefied, they were burnt alive, or their eyes were gouged out amongst other things. The Point Man himself even scrunched his face up slightly in disgust at the sight, and this was a man who has seen much worse at the hands of Alma Wade. This wasn't Alma. Alma destroyed people completely, often times only leaving bones in her wake. This was something else, or someone else. Armacham wouldn't turn on their own people, would they? They would...but that wasn't the work of any soldier.
After he was done taking pity on the deceased, he turned his gaze forward and continued going. The lights that were illuminating the hall reached their end at that point as well, meaning the Point Man was going into darkness. He was used to that, and he knew that there was something lurking in the shadows ahead, and as such he slipped his finger over the trigger of his assault rifle.
"Where's the Point Man gone?" Logan asked as he looked around the well lit and maintained hallway. "He just...vanished. It's ominous when he does that."
Jin gave a soft chuckle, though she felt the same uneasiness as Logan. "I don't know, but the Point Man never leaves without a reason. He's more than likely up ahead, doing his job."
"Relax, Logan, your hero is alright. He's been through worse than Elementary School." Michelle teased the man before Logan huffed.
"That's not funny, Michelle... This is more than likely some sick experiment by Armacham again. All these people feel the need to do is to torture kids for the sake of science and supernatural power." Logan said in a rather defeated tone, "I hate to think about how many kids have been harmed underneath this damned roof..."
"Can we cut the chatter and just find Keira before something bad happens to her?" Becket groaned as they kept pressing forward.
The Point Man, however, wasn't having as easy of a time as they were traversing the same hallway. His version of the hallway was a scene ripped straight out of Hell itself, and the worst part of it all was that as he progressed further down the hallway, the more gruesome the scenery was. This time he could see shadowy figures. It was a waste of ammunition, but the Point Man wasn't going to take chances as those things charged at him. Only one, and sometimes two bullets were necessary to send the shades back to wherever they had come from. Were their numbers fewer, the expense of bullets wouldn't be too bad. However, he had already burnt through at least thirty of the creatures.
Alma's work. He knew that much. His dearest mother was releasing these horrors on the world. Those things must have been what took out the Black Ops squad. That was the only real explanation of why they died in such a horrific manner.
'Wonder what her plan is this time...' The Point Man thought to himself, 'Why would she be throwing this in our way... Where are the others? They should have been right behind me by now...'
And so, perhaps against better judgement, the man stopped and turned around. He had an urge to look, even if it was for no reason whatsoever. As soon as he turned he saw her standing there. Bloodied feet, a long blood red dress, pale skin and eyes glowing in the dimly lit hallway. Her raven-black hair flowing down to her shoulders as she just looked the Point Man in the eyes.
"Why do you hate me?" She asked with her voice a soft, chilling whisper. A voice the Point Man didn't exactly want to hear ever again after the shit he went through not even a week ago. "Am I really that bad... Jackson?"
The Point Man swallowed at that moment, and lived to regret it as it felt like the saliva got stuck right in the middle of his throat. "I-I don't hate you..." He spoke in his raspy, rarely ever used voice. "I hate... what you do..."
"A-And what is it that I do, that you just so happen to hate...?" Alma inquired further, slowly approaching her son before stopping and looking up into his eyes. "I've been making the bad guys pay for what they did to us..."
Jackson slowly shook his head, "You kill thousands in the name of revenge. People who had nothing to do with your death. Innocents...just because they get in your way. Those construction workers had nothing to do with your death. Those workers you killed... none of them linked to Armacham, or Project Origin..."
"A byproduct of war..." Alma stated softly, "I can't control the actions of every single Replica... I control their Commanders... and they control their men..."
"That doesn't explain those I witnessed you kill..." The Point Man argued, "I know that you are making new friends amongst us... But I won't be joining you, if that's what you want. You have no morals...and I need to see to it that you are put to rest."
Alma sighed before looking down at her bloodied feet, "I knew you'd say that... and I'm sorry... my dearest baby boy..." She whispered before vanishing into a silhouette of ash.
'You will change your mind... I'm sure of it...' Alma whispered, and just like that her presence vanished.
If only it stopped there, that would have been great. Unfortunately for the Point Man... that was anything but the truth. Shadows appeared from the walls, those same horrors from before. He had only one reaction to this, and so he raised his weapon and began firing at them whilst moving down the hallway. He had to see the other side of it. His mother would surely be throwing an army at him now, trying to slow him down from whatever it was she thought he was trying to achieve. In doing so, however, she'd lead him to something she didn't want him seeing more than likely. That's what he was secretly hoping for as he pressed onwards.
He finally made it to the end of the hallway, only to get beset upon by a few abominations. Creatures clearly from his mother's imagination, or Hell, whichever one was more believable. He personally couldn't differentiate the two. One had caught him off guard, and it's slender, blade-like fingers cut into the Point Man's side, causing the man to groan loudly before he sent a good four bullets into the creature's head via its jaw. It crumpled to the ground after that, and burnt away in a rather bright flame. Of course, there were still more there, and the Point Man hadn't the chance to stop and look at the rather beautiful display. Instead, he clutched his side and kept firing on. Two. Three. Four... Five... He lost count after ten of those abominations charged after him. He finally finished them off, taking the last one by its neck and bashing it against a wall before sending a bullet into its head. The Point Man now had an injury to tend to, but he had to get to safety before he even thought about doing that.
So he proceeded down the new hallway, and eventually he hit a point where the scenery changed seemingly in an instant. Now he was back in the school he remembered. It was well kept, and looked as if it had just been used a few days ago before the explosion. It was nothing like that hellish rendition of it, and for that, the Point Man thanked anyone listening genuinely before collapsing to his hands and knees, blood pouring from his wound.
That was when the rest of his team arrived, "Point Man!" Logan called out as he and Michelle rushed to secure their mentor.
Jin was close behind them, having already prepared her medic bag along the way. "What happened to you?! We haven't run into any resistance yet..." She said softly, though once she saw the claw marks she knew it wasn't anything normal.
The Point Man merely groaned as he was being tended to. They didn't have time to remove his armor or clothing, so they could only treat what they saw with bandages laced with medicine. They just had to get the bleeding to stop, and to prevent infection. They had a mission to do, and unless he was incapacitated, he still had a job to do. But again, he was used to such a thing. It wasn't like Alma had given him any true moment of recovery back when he was leading the charge to the Origin facility. It wasn't like he had backup then, either. He had to self-treat his wounds back then. Now he had Jin, who was an expert on patching broken things up. A good thing for the F.E.A.R. team... With how many hits they all would come to take, Jin would be a life-saver.
"Logan, Michelle, keep your eyes pointed forward. I got our rear." Becket ordered as he crouched down and looked back from the way they had come from.
He didn't trust this place. Especially after what happened to the Point Man. Those wounds looked like those given to him from an animal. Not a soldier. There weren't many bears or large cats in major cities either, which sparked more than a few red flags in the man's head. So they locked down the perimeter. Whatever had attacked the Point Man wouldn't be getting the jump on them. Not this time, at least.
"You're lucky we found you when we did... What were you doing running ahead like that without alerting anyone?" Jin scolded the man as she worked on getting him fully operational, which wasn't taking long at all. "Logan, when we get going you're on point. I'm not risking anyone's life more than necessary."
"Roger that." Logan stated, his eyes not leaving the corridor ahead of them.
Soon enough, Jin had the Point Man back up and on his feet, though when he tried to leave she quickly grabbed his shoulder. "No. Logan's on point. You're staying where I can reach you."
The man huffed before his eyes shot over to Logan who started speaking, "Am I the only one who is creeped out that he got gored by something, and we don't even know what to look out for?" Logan asked, "Furthermore, how the hell did we not hear what was going on? This is a hallway, not a sound-proof box."
"Alma Wade more than likely had something to do with it, if I had to take a guess." Jin replied softly as she shook her head, "She can mess with how we perceive things. It's in the very nature of what she is. A monster. A ghost."
"I don't recall F.E.A.R. ever being about fighting ghos-"
"Yes you do." Michelle interrupted her comrade, "First Encounter Assault Recon. First Encounter being the keyword of it all. We get called in on all sorts of strange anomalies that may happen in the country. Or even outside of it, if it requires that much attention from the United States..."
"Ah." Logan said as he cleared his throat, "Right."
Becket groaned, "Kid. You're on point." He stated with impatience, wanting to just move already. They had spent too much time stationary.
Logan nodded before raising his rifle and proceeding down the hallway. He should have known that F.E.A.R. wasn't all it was cracked up to be by now. Nuclear explosions. Corpses everywhere. A full on war with them being right in the middle of the battlefield... Experiments, corrupt organizations, a corrupt government deal...
The true state of the world was a mess. Parasites like the Armacham Technology Corporation were leading the world into sheer chaos. Fairport wasn't going to be the only place that was affected by the wrath of Alma Wade. She wasn't going to just stop at the local level. She was going to spread nationally. Internationally. Her wrath would consume the Earth and leave it nothing but a fiery husk of its former glory. Though Alma could be stopped. She was still sentient. Conscious. She wasn't just an embodiment of wrath and pain, she was still that same broken girl her father made her become. That girl who was used as a test subject. That girl who was impregnated, only to have her children torn from her at birth. She still had some love within her, some good emotions, they were only buried beneath all of the hatred.
'I know who you are...' Alma stated, and as the Point Man walked passed a room with the help of Jin, he looked into his mother's fiery eyes. 'My baby...'
The man scowled as he turned his attention back to the floor in front of him. What did they even enter this place for? There was nothing here for them. Sure, a missing Lieutenant. They had their objective, they had Becket, they could have just knocked him out and forced him back into their base. They didn't have to do this extra step. As much as he knew that the lady needed their help... He didn't exactly feel the most helpful today.
Of course, he knew why they were doing this. Jin and the others wanted to be rather nice and polite about things with Becket. The Point Man just would have preferred to knock the man out and transport him back to the base. If there even was a base left for them. Regardless, he didn't have a say in how things were done this time around. He was used to working alone. Maybe this is what working with people felt like. Someone else was in charge.
"Where would she even be?" Logan asked, "This hallway isn't going to be going straight forever. There are other halls inside of this school, you know."
"We'll just have to search it in its entirety until we come across Miss Stokes." Jin replied as she shook her head, "I don't like not being informed either, Logan, but we're just going to have to live with it. We have a wounded man."
"Speaking of wounded men... we haven't heard from S.E.A.R. Are we sure they're alright?" Michelle asked.
Jin replied with a soft sound in her voice, "They always have radio silence unless it's absolutely necessary to them. It's just how they roll. We've had plenty of times where they wouldn't talk to anyone, and it stressed us all out."
Then silence fell over the squad as they continued their way through the halls.
"I'm a wee bit of a perfectionist, honestly. Someone should give me a bloody reward for it." Griffon stated as he looked at the door they had just broken into, the lock almost surgically broken apart. "Think there's a medal for tha'?"
Roddy then shook his head, "Nah, I don't think so, boss. I wonder how F.E.A.R. is holding up."
"They're probably fine. They have Jin with 'em anyways." The Squad Leader replied before heading into the classroom, turning his chest-light on, as well as his rifle's tactical light.
"Two squads of Black Ops down. Countless more to go. Why're we heading into this random ass classroom again, boss?" Jim asked as he scratched his cheek, "There's nothing in here."
Griffon shrugged, "Well, in your imagination there's nothing in here. There could be all sorts of things 'ere lad. Not to mention the fact that you cant just base something off of assumptions alone. You do realize that we're here to sweep the area for a Lieutenant, correct? That means we search the entire area. The enemy isn't going to leave 'er in a fuckin' obvious spot, FNG."
"Of course, sorry for questioning you, sir." The man said as he quickly looked around the room. Damn... this classroom was torn to shreds, and judging by the corpse in the corner, relatively recently.
Megan scowled, "Poor guy..."
Griffon nodded before replying in a rather grim tone, "Aye. Poor lad has Alma written all over his body an' walls in blood. She must have dragged the poor sod in here when he wasn't expectin' it." He explained, "She does tha' to people she isn't overly fond of. Roddy, Ajax, and I have seen it time and time again. Honestly, in my experience she's only a bitch if you give her reason to be one. Otherwise... well, we don't quite know yet."
"I've heard reports that apparently the civilian populace has been starting to go balls-to-the-wall crazy over Alma after the nuke went off." Ajax stated, "Asked a scientist type girl before we left why that would be. She said something about a potential psychic breakdown or something due to her powerful abilities. I personally feel like it's hogwash. If that was the case, then we'd all be bloody insane by now. Well, save for you FNGs."
"Roddy, secure the door with Jim. Megan, Ajax, you two check out the body. I'm going to search through the teacher's loot." Griffon ordered, and without questioning it people went right to work doing what he told them to do.
Griffon sighed as he made it to the teacher's desk, pushing the skeleton off of the chair, and then kicking the chair away so he had room to search the damned desk. It was filled with papers, one of said papers catching his eyes as it had writing in blood all over it. 'She's free... Tell Aristide... She's...' And the rest was just smears. The man shook his head before crumpling up that paper and sending it to the floor.
"Oi, Roddy, what can you tell me about one Aristide." He asked before checking the remainder of the documents on top of the desk.
"Aristide? As in Genevieve Aristide? She's up there in the Armacham food-chain. She's the one the United States dispatched Dark Signal to go after. I can tell you a few generalized things about her, but a lot of it is covered in black ink I haven't had time to clear up." The man stated with a soft sigh, "Unfortunately I don't think I ever will, with the direction this world is going in right now..."
"We don't need that cleared up anyway, mate. They were going after Aristide, she's a priority target, we need to locate and secure her." Griffon chuckled before scanning the room idly, "Alright. This room has nothing of interest. We're movin'."
Ajax nodded, "Roger that, Squad Lead, but before we do leave... don't you think it's odd that F.E.A.R. isn't checking in?"
Griffon laughed, amused by the question. "Really? You think it's odd? We're in an Armacham facility more or less. Our communications are probably being blocked. There's nothing we can do about it other than to keep moving. We're not cleaning up after them anymore, we're making the mess alongside them. We're sweeping the building and meeting up in the center. Now let's move."
"If I would have known we were being deployed to this place, I would have picked up schematics." Rodney stated with a sigh, following as the rest of his squad vacated the room. "I don't like going into the unknown. And those Replicas not attacking us...? I'm having a hard time believing anything anymore."
The Scot then groaned, "Bottle it all up for when we return. Right now we need to have our focus placed on finding the Lieutenant so we can get the fuck outta here." He stated, "Check your corners, it's been too quiet."
Their progression through the halls was rather uneventful. They came across a few dried bloodstains here and there, along with a few corpses, but nothing alarming. That was as much of a boon as it was a curse to the squad. Without any action, it made their path a little bit unclear to them. They knew that they had to sweep the school, but they couldn't help to feel like they were going in circles. It had been around an hour, and eventually they came to a large open area. The courtyard. On the other side was F.E.A.R.
"Oi!" Griffon called out, and they all raised their weapons before recognizing each other. "Glad to see you lot too! We haven't found any damned signs of the Lieutenant. She isn't h-"
"Yeah, I know, we came up with the same thing." Logan stated as he scratched at his neck, "It's rather unnerving."
Jin shook her head as she looked around, "There has to be something we missed. We need to retrace our footsteps."
Point Man then grabbed her by the shoulder and leaned forward, "Nurse's..." He whispered quietly, so only the woman could hear him, and then he glared over at Griffon. He then produced a keycard, and allowed the woman to take it.
She inspected it for a brief moment of time before shaking her head and looking up at Griffon. "We need to head back to the Nurse's Office. I want you and your squad to come with. I think it's better if we travel together now."
"Understood, ma'am." Griffon stated casually, "We're followin' your lead."
The reunited squads then turned around and went back to the wing of the school F.E.A.R. had approached from. The Nurse's Office didn't require too much traveling to get to. How the Point Man swiped a keycard was beyond Jin and the others. They had been watching him rather closely, and don't remember seeing him reach for anything. It had to have been from before they found him, surely. In reality, he had it placed on his person and he just discovered it as he went to check the side of his belt. It was a lucky find, and he did recall seeing a place to use it on in the Nurse's Office. It was almost completely hidden behind a bookshelf there. He had rather good perception capabilities.
When they arrived they saw a rather peculiar sight. A sight that wasn't there before. Bodies littered the ground, blade wounds being their demise by the looks of it. The Point Man then pulled Jin back behind him, making sure he was the first one to see whatever had happened. In front of the now-opened bookshelf was a Replica, slicing a Black Ops Soldier's right leg, causing him to kneel on it, and then the other leg so he was on both legs. Then the Replica grabbed the man's head by his hair, and pushed the rather beautifully crafted, sharp, and pointy blade into his throat before using his fist to push the corpse off of its length and turn around to greet the newcomers.
But in the Point Man's case, it wasn't a friendly greeting. Not like S.E.A.R. had received. Immediately the Replica lashed out towards the Point Man, the man blocking it with his rifle, which unfortunately got rendered useless due to how deep the blade cut into it. He then kicked the Replica back, going to slam the rifle parts against its head, but the assassin blocked the attack with his arms before pushing the Point Man back. Its counter attack was swift, and its reflexes almost on par with Point Man's. However, the child of Alma still had much more strength and training than the Replica that was attempting to take his life. As the blade swung close to the Point Man, he side stepped and grabbed the Replica's arm after the swing was completed, and he proceeded to twist it until the assassin was forced to let go of the blade. With his other hand, the Point Man grabbed the falling sword and with the pommel he began to repeatedly bash the Replica in the face before turning it around and running it through the back with its own blade.
It growled as it felt its spine get stabbed through, and soon enough all that remained was a corpse. The Point Man then turned to Jin and held out his hand for the keycard. Upon the woman rather reluctantly handing it to him, he inserted it into the slot and looked around, kicking the Replica's body out of the way.
"I don't understand, sir." Jim stated as he looked over at Griffon, "Why would the Replica attack one of our own? They didn't before. In fact, they helped us."
"Things change when business gets serious, kid, you'll learn to accept that." Ajax replied before Griffon even had the chance to, "We've been fighting those clones for awhile now. Unless you see them all as friends after all the shit they put us through, you shouldn't take anything they do to heart."
Jim then nodded, "Yeah. Sorry."
"Kid? He's in his late twenties." Griffon stated with a chuckle, "Give him a break, old man."
Ajax shrugged before responding with a grin, "Haven't you read his profile? The only real combat he's seen before signing on with us is a damned simulated battlefield." He stated, "It takes more than a little virtual reality simulation to make a boy a man. And chaos inside of those things is nothing like actual chaos. You don't feel the urge to live, because you know if you die the simulation just restarts, or you fail and get the boot out of the military."
"Hard-case." Griffon teased.
That made Ajax laugh, "Says the one in some fancy suit of armor that I want to break."
"Feisty." Griffon stated before the Point Man motioned for everyone to move into the uncovered elevator. "Wonder where this leads..."
Roddy then chimed in, "If only I had schematics..."
Once they reached the bottom of their elevator ride, they came to the realization as to what the nature of their destination was. A hidden facility, a laboratory hidden underneath an elementary school. It was a good cover. No one would have expected something like that, especially given how sinister such a thought was. The Point Man pondered what experiments must have gone on down here without any knowledge from the public. He recalled his childhood, as messed up and fragmented in his memory as it was. The man truly didn't know what to think. Didn't really care. It didn't pertain to anything that would make him want to care.
Logan took the lead again, though the Point Man wasn't too far behind him. They could hear gunshots ringing all throughout the facility. It was a damned warzone in here, and they were about to step right into it. The Elementary school on the surface had already been seized by Replica forces. Armacham wasn't worried about losing that part of the facility either. It was just a front they didn't need to put up anymore. Whatever they wanted, whatever their Black Ops had been sent here for... It was in this underground facility. Hence why all the fighting was going down inside of it rather than the school above.
As soon as they exited the hall that contained the elevator, they were all forced to the sides of the walls, with Logan and Jin taking cover near the door. They were taking shots from some of the Replicas that were proceeding down the hall. Griffon and the Point Man both rushed out, immediately firing on the clones without any hesitation. It was a minor squad, probably just trolling for engagements. Well, they got the engagement they wanted... they just didn't get the outcome they had wanted.
"Echo Team One, respond." Griffon heard one of the Replica's radio transmit. "Echo Team One isn't responding, Echo Five divert course to Echo One's last known position."
"Roger that, Command." Another voice stated.
"We need to move. Now, if we don't want another fight so soon." Griffon stated before urging everyone to come out of their rather shoddy cover positions.
Jin was rather surprised and looked around, "Where'd the Point Man go...?" She asked rather worriedly.
Griffon took a glance around as well before shaking his head, "No time. We need to move. He's a good soldier, he'll catch up. Now let's move."
The Point Man started to walk down the bright white corridor, and as the lights dimmed for a mere moment to the point of brief darkness, he readied his weapon. When the lights returned to full strength, he saw blood coating the walls, dripping down as if from the ceiling.
'Jackson...' Alma's voice said softly, 'My baby...'
He halted further progress before turning and facing his mother, this time she was taking a form he wasn't used to. The supple form she was torturing Becket with. The lively form, one that one could say was meant for seduction but really had more purpose to it than just that. When she reached out for the man, he took a step back and shook his head.
'I won't harm you, son...' She said softly, her eyes glowing as her black hair swayed in the breeze that was caused by the ventilation system. '...I love you too much to see fate take you from me like it did your brother... I'm glad he is gone, by the way, you did the right thing.'
Point Man felt his heartbeat pick up the pace, and immediately he thought of ways around this. He only had a few moments to react, but when the woman's hand found itself upon his cheek, his hand had merely grasped at her wrist. Were she going to kill him, it would have been too late. But instead he looked her over, unable to do much else right now as he felt like he had been petrified. She wasn't appearing quite like she had on countless occasions to Becket. No, instead, she was wearing a rather long, beautiful red dress. Her feet bloodied, but that wasn't anything new. He then placed his eyes back on hers and grunted.
"Why are you killing all of these people?" The man asked, "Why do so many have to die? You are abusing your power!"
'Or maybe my power is abusing me...?' Alma inquired as she tilted her head, 'There's many things going on, Jackson. I cannot control it all alone. The death in this city is a result of Armacham, not myself... My power isn't exactly easy to control, not after all they've done to me.'
The man bit his lip before sighing, "So you kill everyone else because of that? Innocent women, men, children..."
Alma's eyes fluttered as a sigh escaped her lips, 'I don't deliberately kill them. My power is unbridled now... Creatures of my nightmares run rampant, and my mere presence can drive lesser willed people to madness. Why you aren't affected by my presence is something I can only guess is because we're blood. Becket, the man I've been watching for awhile now... even he gets pain and headaches from my presence. I know he does. What I'm saying is... my target is Armacham, and because of what they did to me, there is a lot of collateral damage.' Her demeanor then shifted, 'Will you... will you help me? Please, Jackson?'
"So you can revel in my death like you have Paxton's?" He asked bitterly.
'You were my first child...' His mother informed him with a rather hurt expression, 'My smartest. Strongest... Paxton was helpful in not much more than my release. And sadly, he was too focused on gaining his own power. Eventually he would have become a nuisance to more than just Armacham and the governments of the world. He would have become a nuisance to me. I know you would never do anything like that, Jackson...'
The Point Man sighed as he shook his head, "What do you want help with? What are you planning?" He inquired, refraining from giving her an answer before she told him what her goals were.
'I want your help in isolating Becket.' Alma replied honestly, 'And furthermore, I would appreciate your help in destroying those who took you away from me. Armacham, and all who allowed their inhumane acts.'
"Armacham is a global company. Are you telling me you're wanting to wage war on a global level?" The man growled, "Do you have any idea how many innocent lives would be lost? Do you have any idea how much resources such a war would cost?"
The fiery orbs that were Alma's eyes flared at the challenging words, and she simply smirked. 'Do you have any idea how many innocent lives are already being lost as a result of Armacham? Of the governments that back them? Do you have any idea how many resources Armacham and those governments are burning for their own personal gains? There is so much in the world that those of common birth are not allowed to see. To know. Space travel is dumbed down, hidden cures, medical and scientific procedures to make a new generation of humans... You won't believe me, but I know you'll believe him.'
And just like that the woman vanished in the blink of his eyes, leaving only a silhouette of black ash in her wake. The Point Man raised his weapon up, knowing this sense of dread that was running through him now. He scanned the room which was slowly creeping into a black void. He started to move towards the door, but it was too late. Soon, it was like lights were turned on and he was in a bright, entirely white room and in the center was Rodney Betters.
"Sit down, bud." He ordered softly. "We've some talking to do."
'Betters...' The Point Man thought quietly to himself, moving to the opposite side of the table so he could look Betters in the eyes. '...What does he have to do with her...'
Rodney gave a small, almost fatherly smile before taking a long inhale and rather abrupt exhale. "I assume you've met our new management. Look, I know what you're thinking since I thought very much the same back when she first proposed this whole idea to me. But... When I thought it through it made more sense to be working for her than the government or Armacham.
The only reason all of this bloodshed has occurred is because of them. Armacham, and anyone who allowed them to take up a place of residency in their lands. The United States were one of their biggest supporters. Dark Signal was dispatched to locate and retrieve Aristide because she was important to the government, but most importantly, she was important to Armacham. They want her dead due to her messing up all of their operations in Fairport. Her actions led to Alma being freed, all assets in this city to become compromised, and she has recently went behind their backs to reopen the Origin facility. You know of this. You saw what happened as a result of it.
Bud, you know I wouldn't lead you in a direction if I didn't think it was the right one. I really wouldn't. It is imperative that we get a hold of Aristide before anyone else. It is imperative that we help rid this world of the major corruption that infects it like a plague. Existence needs to be rid of Armacham and their friends, once and for all, before they drag us all down into Hell with them. They've already started. The sky is burning, and Alma's nightmares are released upon the world wreaking havoc upon anything that moves. Alma herself, and her Replicas are not the enemies. Armacham, the nightmares they've caused, and anyone who supports or defends them, are. Plain and simple."
Alma then appeared behind Betters, staring at her son. "Join us, Jackson. Help me correct my ways... Help me secure Becket. Help me capture that witch. Join us in securing Fairport, the United States, and the greater world."
The Point Man remained in silence for some time, his eyes switching from Alma to Betters every so often. He was pondering his options. Truly thinking it through. What did he stand to lose from this? What did he stand to gain from this? What would be a result of Alma more or less ravaging the entire world for some sort of peace. He didn't know. But without a word he slowly nodded.
"Fine." He growled, "I will help you. But if you betray me or my people... I will find a way to destroy you."
Alma smiled before slowly walking around the table and pressing her hand onto his armored chest. "Good." Was all she said before her eyes flared and the Point Man screamed in agony.
Searing pain spread throughout the entirety of his body. He dropped his weapon, spreading his arms out and clenching his fists as tightly as he could. He then collapsed to his knees, and Alma released her hand from his chest. The pain was still there, but the intensity of it died down tremendously. He brought a hand up to his chest, looking at the scorch mark on his armor briefly before looking up at the woman. The look on his face was that of pain, and honest betrayal.
"Don't worry..." She cooed softly, "...It'll all be alright..."
His vision went black. He felt the cold ground meet with his face and then he drifted into darkness. Silence. Nothingness.
AN: Hey everyone. I feel it to be a little bit mandatory that I remind you all that this is set in an alternate universe of F.E.A.R. You'll see a lot of new concepts and the like blending into the already-established ones. Thus, the layout of certain locations may not hold true to the video games, or other renditions out there. The reason I feel this is necessary for me to say is due to what all will be going down in the chapters to come. Anyways, thank you for reading and it's good to be back! -Saren
P.S. Some words / phrases may be off. Due to the size of the work, well, I hope you forgive me for things that escape me! :)
