This story is written for the enjoyment of the author and its readers. This work of fiction is purely for non-profit reasons. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidence. All characters and events portrayed within are copyright of Monolith and Vivendi

This FanFiction is rated T FOR TEEN. It contains STRONG ADULT LANGUAGE AND BLOOD AND GORE. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

HER NAME IS ALMA.
By Roger Jones

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

~ Frank Herbert

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The electronic ringing of their phone raised the elderly gentleman from his slumber. He squinted in the darkness, looking at the clock. 3:04 am. Grumbling silently, he answered the phone.

"Yes?" he said sleepily, looking to see if his wife was still asleep.

"Sorry to wake you Senator. It is about Origin." came the cool female voice on the other line. That woke him up right away. She said the magic word.

"What happened?"

"There was an uprising. Fettel has taken command of the prototypes."

"My God." he whispered, rubbing sleep from his eyes. That was now beyond him, and would be for the rest of the night. He took a deep breath.

"We can still resolve this discretely, but we have to move fast." the woman continued. She always knew how to deal with any situation that presented itself. This was something completely new though, the Senator grumbled to himself. How could anyone know how to deal with it? Well, the only thing to do now was move forward.

"All right, all right." He said, switching on the lamp on his nightstand and opening the drawer up, rummaging through it. "Let me… make a few calls."

He would need a stiff drink after this.

F.E.A.R.
Interval 00
CONSULTATION

"This whacko's name is Paxton Fettel. He's the key. If we contain him, we contain the situation."

"Fucker's got an appetite."

A sigh confirming my fears that this was how all of the F.E.A.R. briefings went. Commissioner "Rowdy" Rodney Betters would give an overview of the situation, and then Lieutenant Spencer Jankowski would make a smart-ass comment about it. I had been transferred to this strangely named unit less than a week ago, but already I was slightly regretting my decision. This would be my first big mission.

On the monitors it showed a man, Paxton Fettel according to Commissioner Betters, hunched over another human being. The monitor didn't show much, but Fettel was roughly my build, with black hair cut in a crew-cut style, and wearing a leather jacket with some sort of military insignia on it. Blood and flesh leaked from his mouth over his chin.

Gross.

I burned the image into my head, leaning against one of the several consoles in the briefing room.

"I think he has an agenda. It's not just recreational. He's getting something out of it," said Jin Sun-Kwon, the field medic and forensics specialist of Alpha squad, as well as the only female in the entire F.E.A.R. organization.

"What, essential vitamins and nutrients?" Jankowski said, chuckling over his joke and crossing his arms. The Lieutenant was an imposing man, a few inches taller than me and several pounds heavier. His hair was completely shaved, and his goatee was trimmed neatly.

"He's property of Armacham Technology Corporation. They're working on a military contract to develop an army of clones that respond to a psychic commander. Top secret, of course," Betters said, setting his mug of coffee down on one of the consoles and straightening his hat, emblazoned with F.E.A.R. on it. "Fettel is one of the commanders."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me. This is why nobody takes us seriously. Military clones?" Jankowski snorted.

"A full battalion of them. Highly trained and heavily armed," Betters responded, staring his lieutenant in the eyes.

Jankowski wouldn't let him have the last word though.

"A fucking battalion! What are we supposed to do against a thousand super soldiers?"

"Like I said, we put Fettel down, and it's over," Betters rubbed his eyes, and I felt some sympathy for our commissioner. The old man was a soldier at one point, and I knew it was killing him to give the orders rather than hefting a machine gun and coming in with us. "Fortunately, the whole point of the program is to give commanders firsthand knowledge of the battlefield without putting them in danger. That means we should be able to corner the bastard without having to wade through all those soldiers."

Jankowski opened his mouth to respond.

"How do we find him?" Jin's cool voice ended the argument and silenced Jankowski.

"Armacham implanted a transmitter in his head. It should lead us right to him."

"That's awfully convenient..." Jankowski muttered sullenly. I had to agree. You don't usually put secret tracking devices into the heads of your own people.

"Assuming it does what it's supposed to," Betters said, before looking in my direction for literally the first time this whole meeting. "What about you, buddy? Ready to go to work?"

I took a deep breath, and was about to say something when Jankowski exploded.

"You're putting him in the field? Are you crazy? He just transferred in a week ago!" he said, sizing me up. I shot him a look back.

"You've seen his training results. His reflexes are totally off the charts. I think he can handle himself," Betters shot back. I love it when people talk about me like I'm not even in the room. "So, you ready rook?"

I glanced at Jankowski, who was shaking his head. I smirked slightly. Too bad, man, you're just gonna have to deal with it.

"Let's do it."

Soon, I was sitting shotgun in Betters' car as we drove through the semi-busy streets of the Auburn Industrial District.

"We've tracked Fettel to an abandoned building just up ahead. No sign of enemy activity on the satellite, but don't take any chances."

I slid the fully loaded magazine into my AT-14 pistol with a click, drawing the slide back to chamber a .45 bullet, and then releasing. I safetied the pistol and holstered it, glancing at Betters and

What's the first thing that you remember?

reassuring him that I wouldn't. This was my first mission, and I

Nooooo! Where are you taking him?

wouldn't screw it up.

I couldn't screw it up.

The car turned into an alley and eventually slowed to a stop. Dumpsters and trash lined the pair of warehouses that made up the walls in this alley. Betters pulled out a laptop computer, putting a headset on.

"Jankowski. You in position?" it was strange hearing Betters' voice right next to me as well as over my own headset plugged into my right ear. The lieutenant's voice crackled in my ear.

"Just say the word."

"Roger. Move it out."

I took this as my clue to leave as well, and opened the car

You will be a God among men.

door and stepped out into the cool night. I slammed the door, watching Betters put the car in reverse and pull back out the alley. When the headlights were gone, I took a deep breath, pulled out my pistol, and headed off down the alley and into the night.

A/N (6/26/09): Updated the chapter name to fit in with the '_tion' theme of all of the Intervals.

A/N (7/20/11): Edited the formatting errors and poor language.