"Justice might be late, but it is never absent."
"So? How was my timing? That shot was pretty cool, right? I rehearsed that pose for a while before coming out. My wrist is actually killing me; the recoil on this hand cannon is no joke."
Havel blew the imaginary smoke from his M500 again, striking a dashing pose.
"Of course, my dear lady, I know you are overwhelmed with admiration for my heroism. But please, do not ask for my name. I am just a hero for fun. Helping people is my daily routine."
Seeing the crisis averted, Havel decided to milk the moment. He twirled the massive revolver (clumsily) and shoved it into his holster, grinning behind his mask.
However, he miscalculated.
Rebecca looked at the twitching carcass of the giant centipede. Then she looked at Havel, who was preening like a peacock.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Her face flushed red with rage.
She gripped the barrel of her shotgun like a baseball bat.
WHAM!
She swung it hard, burying the stock into Havel's stomach.
"OOF!"
Havel folded like a lawn chair. The air left his lungs in a wheezing gasp. He dropped to his knees, curling into a ball of agony.
"Rehearsed?!"
"Admiration?!"
"Hero for fun?!"
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Rebecca wasn't done. She began kicking him with her tactical boots.
"Go to hell! You jerk! You watched me get grabbed by that ugly bug and waited just to make a cool entrance?! You almost let me get eaten! You bastard!"
She unleashed a flurry of stomps, venting all her fear and adrenaline on his armored ribs.
"Ow! Ow! Hey!"
Havel tried to shield his head. "I'm warning you, Rebecca! We're partners! I just got here! I had to reload! If you keep kicking your savior, I'm really going to die!"
His excuses fell on deaf ears. Rebecca was in a frenzy. Men were liars. Heroes were frauds. Only violence was real.
Nearby, Billy Coen face-palmed. He rubbed his temples, watching the S.T.A.R.S. officer get beaten up by the rookie medic.
Are these two five years old? he wondered. We're in a house of horrors, and they're fighting like siblings.
Ten minutes later.
The tantrum subsided. Peace (mostly) returned.
Rebecca realized she had acted like a shrew. Her face burned with shame. She wasn't usually this violent, but the stress of nearly being insect food had snapped something in her. She wanted to apologize, but her pride—and her tsundere nature—wouldn't let her say the words.
Instead, she dug into her pouch.
"Here."
She shoved a vial of red liquid at Havel, turning her head away at a 45-degree angle so he wouldn't see her face.
"Drink it. It's a vitality mix. It restores stamina and wakes you up. No side effects."
She peeked at him through her lashes, checking if he would accept the peace offering.
Havel chuckled internally. Cute.
He took the vial and downed it. "Thanks, Doc."
He decided to be the bigger man. After all, he had waited a few seconds too long for dramatic effect.
"Alright," Havel said, standing up and dusting himself off. "Playtime's over. Where's the key?"
Rebecca's demeanor shifted instantly. She held up the Facility Key. It was gold and red, heavy and intricate.
"Got it."
"Good. Now we can leave this area."
"I found something else earlier," Havel said, pulling out a small canister. "Microfilm A. It looks like part of a projector puzzle. Now that we have the key, we can access more rooms. We need to find the rest of the puzzle pieces to escape."
He looked at his team.
"To save time, we should split up again. I know it sounds dangerous, but with this key, we can cover more ground. Just... don't get grabbed by any more giant bugs."
Billy and Rebecca nodded. They were tough. They could handle themselves.
Using the Facility Key, the trio unlocked the remaining doors and fanned out.
Havel took the East Wing.
He found a heavy oak door with a riddle inscribed on a plaque next to it: "In the darkness, the light will guide your path..."
Next to the plaque was an unlit oil lamp.
"Elementary school riddle," Havel scoffed.
He flicked his lighter and held the flame to the lamp.
Whoosh.
The lamp lit up. A mechanism clicked inside the wall, and the door unlocked.
Inside was a library. A few zombies shuffled among the stacks, but Havel dispatched them efficiently with his knife to save ammo.
Searching the shelves, he found a hollowed-out book: The Book of Good.
Inside the book was a pair of stone wings.
"White Wings," Havel noted. "This must be for the White Statue."
Meanwhile, Rebecca was exploring an art room. After clearing out a nest of Plague Crawlers (using Billy's shotgun this time), she found it sitting on a pedestal:
The White Statue (Statue of Good).
It was missing its wings.
And Billy?
Billy found himself in a kitchen. He looted several bottles of high-proof alcohol and combined them with the gasoline he found earlier, creating more Molotovs.
Then, moving to a lounge area, he found a heavy iron needle stuck in a deer trophy.
Clock Needle (Minute Hand).
He remembered seeing a large grandfather clock in the main hall. A file he read earlier mentioned: "8:15 is the time of awakening."
He returned to the clock and installed the needle. He spun the hands to 8:15.
CLUNK... GRIND...
The clock chimed. Two doors on the upper level unlocked automatically.
Inside one of the newly opened rooms, Billy found the final piece of the puzzle:
Microfilm B.
"Got it," Billy radioed. "I have the film. Meeting you in the Command Room."
The team regrouped. They had the statues. They had the wings. They had the films.
It was time to solve the riddle of the Main Hall and get the hell out of the Training Facility.