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- "''The bitch became obsessed with me... Don't you people understand?!
- - Becket speaks of Alma Wade."
- —{{{2}}}
Michael Becket is the main protagonist of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and a supporting character in F.E.A.R. 3. He is an operative of a Delta Force unit codenamed Dark Signal. Becket is portrayed in F.E.A.R. 3 by Robin Atkin Downes.
Monolith Timeline
History
According to Doctor York's reports, Becket struggled in school. However, he excelled in the military, making him an experienced and dangerous combatant. It appears that Becket has always possessed intense focus and reflexes, as the developers have stated he is "the best of the best." However, it is undetermined if his natural abilities were always like those of the F.E.A.R. Point Man. In F.E.A.R. 2, Becket's "extreme reflexes" are only activated after he undergoes a surgical process at the hands of Genevieve Aristide's scientists. The multiple surgeries performed on Becket likely include procedures similar to those which gave the Point Man his superhuman reflexes, especially considering that Becket benefits from Armacham Technology Corporation reflex injectors, as does the Point Man.
As a child, he was tested for signs of psychic powers, which the tests confirmed. Due to ATC's efforts to erase his memories of the experiments, Becket is unaware of having any previous contact with the company, or even of his powers.
According to the official website, Becket joined Dark Signal two weeks prior to the events of F.E.A.R. 2.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Becket's appearance in F.E.A.R. 2.
At the beginning of F.E.A.R. 2, Becket is in the process of traveling to Genevieve Aristide's condo when he begins to see hallucinations of Alma Wade. Becket is knocked unconscious by the explosion of the Origin Facility, and is kidnapped by Genevieve's guards.
Genevieve takes Becket to undergo a surgical procedure which supposedly will attune his psychic profile to Alma Wade's, as she believes he can be used to distract Alma while the company searches for the Point Man. As it turns out, Becket and his squad are unknowingly a part of a new ATC Project, codenamed Harbinger. Originally intended to produce candidates for Replica telepathic commanders without requiring Alma to bear a pregnancy, Harbinger has the side effect of making its subjects psychically sensitive to Alma's presence. Becket repeatedly encounters Alma throughout F.E.A.R. 2, as she becomes more and more obsessed with containing and controlling him. Alma appears to Becket more often than any of the other major characters, save the Point Man in F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon.
As Alma's obsession grows, she begins to manifest as a healthy, naked young woman in the hopes of attracting Becket. When she finally corners him in a rare moment of victory, she spares his life. She becomes enraged when Becket escapes from her, releasing a burst of psychic energy that causes a large explosion and the awakening of the Replica soldiers.
Ultimately, Becket and Keira Stokes, on the advice of Snake Fist, attempt to use an Armacham telesthetic amplifier to strengthen Becket's own abilities enough so that he can destroy Alma in a psychic battle. Before they can try, however, Genevieve Aristide arrives and explains she plans to use the device to contain Alma, with Becket as the bait. Aristide will then use the threat of Alma as leverage to regain her position at Armacham. To that end, Genevieve shoots Stokes, leaving her to die. Alma arrives before Aristide can seal the device and blows her back into the railing. She then turns her attention on Becket, and changes to her sexual form. She establishes a psychic bond with him, which sends his mind into a hallucination where he fights off "Phantom" apparitions of Harold Keegan, who is outraged by the fact that Alma cares more for Becket than himself. During this battle, Alma violently rapes Becket while she keeps his mind locked in the hallucination so he cannot fight back.
At the end of the hallucination-battle, Becket is apparently sealed inside the device, but Alma has escaped. Alma appears before him: she is now heavily pregnant, having conceived a child with him while he was strapped to the chair, fighting Keegan. She then proceeds to pick up Becket's left hand and put it on her stomach, to prove that the child is indeed his.
F.E.A.R. 3
Becket expressing outrage over his mistreatment by Alma.
Michael Becket makes a return as a non-playable character in F.E.A.R. 3, apparently being held captive by Armacham Technology Corporation. He does not seem to have any feelings for Alma Wade at all, other than rage over her sexual assault of him and the fate of his team.
At the end of Interval 04, F.E.A.R. medic Jin Sun-Kwon shows the Point Man a camera-feed of Becket trapped inside the amplifier. Becket reveals Alma's obsession with him, his rape and her pregnancy with his child. After hearing this, Armacham guards almost immediately open the amplifier and apprehend him, believing that he is the key to finding Alma and her new child.
Throughout the game, it becomes clear that in order to stop Alma, Becket is needed (although how he would manage to subdue Alma is never directly explained within the game). The Point Man, backed by Paxton Fettel, rushes to reach Becket. During the course of Interval 07, Becket can repeatedly be seen locked up in a booth and being transported by Armacham Phase Commanders.
Becket being possessed by Fettel.
At the very end of the Interval, after killing all of the Armacham guards who are preparing to transport Becket out of the city, the two brothers finally reach him. While the Point Man is unlocking the booth, Becket asks who he is. After seeing a hallucination which involves Alma, Becket realizes that the Point Man and Fettel are Alma's sons. Fettel then possesses Becket to find out more information about him. While possessed, Fettel reveals Becket's past life to the Point Man. Becket tries to resist Fettel's possession, while realizing the Point Man's identity. Becket is angry at the Point Man, claiming that "I'm here because of you." Fettel takes control of Becket's body again and confirms the conception of the new sibling.
After reclaiming his body for a brief moment, Becket warns the Point Man to kill the "filthy maggot that grows inside her," desperately claiming that it cannot be allowed to live. Becket meets a brutal death as his body explodes from the inside out due to the force of Fettel's possession, ending his life.
Despite Becket's final request, however, in the end, the child lives.
Physical Appearance
Becket's reflection in the school's bathroom mirror in F.E.A.R. 2.
Most of Becket's physical appearance in F.E.A.R. 2 has been shown as concept art from the game's official community site. The player is not aware directly of Becket's appearance beyond his hands and feet, except for two points: his reflection can be seen in a bathroom mirror in the school and his face is visible in a hallucination in the operating theater where the player battles Abominations: he has short, brown hair and wears a visor which appears to be green. His outfit appears to consist of regular military attire including gloves but with short sleeves underneath his armor, leaving his forearms bare from elbow pads to gloves. In one of Becket's concept arts, he appears to have brown hair and a brown military outfit, like in the game. However, in the concept art of the Dark Signal members, he has black hair and a black outfit.
In F.E.A.R. 3, Becket's appearance is very similar to the Dark Signal concept art: with short, black hair and black military outfit, despite being brown in the second game. The reasons for this are unknown. In F.E.A.R. 3, Becket's face also shows a good amount of scars and scratches: an appropriate character design, considering all of the events that he went through in F.E.A.R. 2.
Personality
Despite being a mute protagonist in F.E.A.R. 2, in-game dialogue from the rest of the game's cast implies that Becket is a cool-headed character. His impressive combat skills and ability to fight against impossible odds are noted and commended by the rest of his teammates (e.g. Manuel Morales, who calls Becket a "bad motherfucker") and even enemies of the likes of Richard Vanek, who notes that Becket's combat skills and reflexes are something that "[he] has never seen before," saying that he's a "killing machine." Becket's team leader, Cedric Griffin, also remarks to Keira Stokes that Becket is a "tough guy, just like [him]."
Becket's body language shows that he's on good terms and cares about teammates. When Griffin is being killed by Alma, Becket reaches out his hand in desperation to help him, but to no avail.
During the events of F.E.A.R. 2, Becket doesn't seem to be phased by the paranormal phenomena that he encounters, of the likes of the Abominations, Specters or Remnants, however, his body language does imply that he has a great deal of fear towards Alma Wade, as is also evident in F.E.A.R. 3, where he refers to her as a "nightmare." Despite all this, the video tape of Becket shown by Jin Sun-Kwon shows that, in reality, Becket does struggle with the unexplainable events that have happened to him during the course of F.E.A.R. 2.
Nine months after his brutal rape at the hands of Alma, Becket is full of anger from the events that have transpired, and although at first glance it might seem that Becket is worn out from these events, his impressive resistance to Paxton Fettel's possession implies that he still has enough willpower to fight.
Relationships
Cedric Griffin
The team leader seems to hold Becket in higher regard than the rest of the team, as shown at the beginning of the game when he defends Becket after Redd Jankowski calls him "Bucket." He also has high respect for Becket's skills, stating to Stokes that Becket is just as tough as he is. It is implied that Becket shows high concern for Griffin, as he reaches out his hand in desperation to help him when he is being liquefied by Alma.
Manuel Morales
It can be argued that Becket has the best relationship with Manny from the rest of the team members, comparable with the relationship between the Point Man and Douglas Holiday in F.E.A.R.. Likewise, similar to Holiday, Manny calls Becket a "bad motherfucker," after seeing Becket fight against the Replicas at the Still Island power plant. Manny is also the one to give Becket a hand after the APC crashes into the subway, and he is also shown to enjoy fighting alongside Becket.
Harold Keegan
The relationship between Becket and Keegan is complicated. On one hand, they seem to be on good terms with each other, with Keegan wishing good luck to Becket at seeing him later "down range" and expressing joy at reuniting with Becket in Wade Elementary School, however, as the game progresses, and Keegan's mind becomes more poisoned by Alma's influence, Keegan starts to develop an antagonistic personality towards Becket, doing things such as pushing him away while yelling at him to stay away from Alma, until he ultimately ends up being the final boss of the game, outraged that Alma cares for Becket more than him. In his final moments, at gun point, Keegan's true self re-emerges, as he pleads for Becket to "help him," to which Becket complies by mercy killing him with a shot to the temple. Becket's body language after the act implies that he feels guilt for killing Keegan.
Redd Jankowski
Redd's relationship with Becket is ironic, because it is similar to Redd's brother's, Spencer Jankowski's, relationship with the Point Man. Jankowski acts like a bully towards Becket for one reason or another, nicknaming him "Bucket" more often than not, perhaps due to the fact that Becket just recently joined Dark Signal.
James Fox
It is unknown what kind of relationship Becket and James Fox have, as they don't interact much in the beginning of F.E.A.R. 2, besides Fox assaulting Becket while being under Alma's influence. He does, however, manage to fight it, realizing that it is Becket that he's menacing.
Keira Stokes
The relationship between Stokes and Becket is up to many interpretations. Stokes's relationship with Becket can be compared with Jin-Sun-Kwon's relationship with the Point Man. Although level-headed and at times aggressive, Stokes shows concern for Becket several times throughout the game, and near the end of the game tells him that he's the only reason the rest of them managed to make it as far as they did.
Quotes
- Main article: Michael Becket/Quotes
Trivia
- As with the Point Man, Becket is a mute protagonist. It is not until F.E.A.R. 3 that his voice is heard.
- Becket is the only SFOD-D member in F.E.A.R. 2 that wears the visor, which displays his status, while the others don't have. In F.E.A.R. 3, his visor is removed.
- In F.E.A.R. 3, Becket references his team and Project Harbinger, telling the Point Man that Armacham "turned us into monsters," most likely referencing the multiple surgeries performed on Jankowski, Griffin, Fox and himself.
- Oddly enough, in F.E.A.R. 3, Becket is still wearing his F.E.A.R. 2 attire, despite being imprisoned by Armacham for nine months.
- In F.E.A.R. 3, Becket bears a resemblance to Ethan Thomas from Condemned: Criminal Origins, another Monolith Productions game.
- Becket is currently the only protagonist in the F.E.A.R. series to return as a speaking NPC in a sequel, with the only possible exception being Douglas Holiday, although he is only playable in a bonus mission in the Xbox360 version of F.E.A.R.
- An ironic statement is made by Fettel in F.E.A.R. 3 after viewing the video tape of Becket, in which he calls Becket a "ghost in the flesh," even though Fettel himself is a ghost.
- Becket is the face of the F.E.A.R. 2 achievements/trophies Home Wrecker and Five Star General, and the F.E.A.R. 3 achievements/trophies Town Hall Beating, Terminal Victory, House Arrest and Point Authority.
Gallery
| Delta Force Operatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| A. Shepard • Bremmer • Cedric Griffin • D. Passalaqua • Douglas Holiday • E. Cotton • Harold Keegan • James Fox • Keira Stokes • Manuel Morales • Michael Becket • P. MacReady • P. Niculescu • Redd Jankowski • T. Atwood • Redd Schofield | ||