Am, am I dead? Henry could still smell the stink on the licker's claws in front of his face just a second ago, preparing to be sliced up like a nice piece of steak, but now he is standing on a white, circular platform. The edge of the platform is pitch black, like the clearest night sky without stars or cloud. Doors evenly distributed along the circumference. The only light source here is a giant floating globe bright like the sun yet not damaging to the eyes. Underneath the globe is a timer counting down at 9 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.
"Hahaha, we made it," Hughes's voice got everyone's attention. "Just in the nick of time, we survived." One of the door burst open with a woman rushing towards Hughes. Hughes held the woman in his arm with a gentle expression on his face for a while before kissing her like there was no tomorrow. "If you guys have any question just ask Hal. You can communicate with it telepathically," Hughes said as the couple walk towards their room. "Don't get anything other than making a woman for yourself. Let's have a meeting tomorrow and talk it all out. Oh by the way, just grab the handle of a plain door and you can create whatever room you imagine to live in."
"How could he in the mood for sex when we just narrowly escape death not even a minute ago?" Sophia smacking her forehead, then she noticed the three other men has already walked under Hal and closed their eyes. Strug and Judah both have their eyes closed with a pervert smile on their face while Henry stood emotionless. "You guys are all idiots. All of you are just thinking with your second head." Sophia just shook her head and walked towards to one of the room, stood at the door with her hand on the handle for a bit, then opened the door and slammed it before her. The door slam woke Strug and Judah up as they exchanged a slightly embarrassed look before closing their eyes again.
Henry paid no attention to what just happened as he was just relishing the strange experience of communicating with Hal. When he closed his eyes under Hal, it's as if he had been absorbed into the glowing light ball. It feels like his consciousness is suspended in midair like the zero gravity experience, except he had total control over the direction of where his mind goes. What appeared in front of him like a futuristic computer screen where information were labeled in different locations.
To his left, his five stats are listed, Intellect: 110, Spirit: 94, Vitality: 86, Dexterity: 120, Constitution: 70. Other than Intellect and Dexterity being slightly above average, every single one of Henry's stats are below what a normal human should be, most likely due to Henry spending most of his time sitting in front of a computer. To the right is a list of the current amount of crystals and points: 2 C crystals and 4622 points. At the center is one large screen divided into four categories: Technology, Mystical, Enhancement, and Miscellaneous. When Henry selected the Enhancement category, an explosion of different items expanded in front of him, with just a few of the powers he recognized coming from TV shows, anime, comic book, manga, movies, novels, and video games.
Dammit, isn't there a search engine or sorting method for this? Hal's voice appeared out of nowhere, "Keyword searching and advanced sorting are only available to team captain. Rank and miscellaneous sorting are available to all team members." Team captain? Since Hughes was the only one that survived from the movie before last, he would be the most likely person to be the team captain. He did tell us not to buy anything till tomorrow, guess I'll just ask him about it then. Henry thought as he moved over to miscellaneous. This category is equally messy with every kind of items imaginable from materials like iron, gold, and diamond, to every type of food and beverage, even dangerous stuff like gunpowder, Vaseline, and uranium. The selection of humanoid creation and return to previous movies were also in here. "Looks like I'm gonna be here for a while, I miss reading video game Wikipedia pages." Henry said as he opened his eyes. He was alone on the platform. Strug and Judah went into their own room already.
Hughes and Sophia were the first to wake up. When they found Henry sitting under Hal with his eyes closed, Sophia asks, "J.M., how much sleep did you get? Or did you stay here all night?"
"I'm a night owl, and my biological clock is still adjusting to the no day night cycle, so I figure I do some research on Hal's menu and organize some information. I only slept for one hour, but I'll get to that when I share my finding once everybody gets here. Would you guys like to wake Strug and Judah up? They might be too tired from all the fun they had last night." Henry replies. Before Hughes could knock on Strug's door, Strug came bursting out of his room and closed his eyes with a disbelieved look on his face under Hal.
"What's the matter with him?" Henry looked over to Hughes.
"I don't know, maybe he found out about something we didn't know about." Hughes replied.
"Can you guys give me just one second?" Strug said after talking to Hal. Before anyone could ask him what was going on, Strug ran back to his room in such a hurry he didn't even close his door all the way. Through the crack Strug left open, Henry and the others could see him talking to a clearly underage girl, sixteen at the most, while the girl was crying in his arm.
"Well, either Strug is gonna come out as a pedophile or he's gonna have something crazy to tell us, I'm gonna go get Judah for this." Hughes laughed and knocked on Judah's door. A tan skin woman with long silk smooth hair opened the door, politely inviting Hughes in while she knocked on the bedroom door. After he heard a bit of rummaging, Judah walked out of the room looking exhausted with huge eyebags.
"Just because you're young doesn't mean you shouldn't be moderate about this kind of thing kid. I'd laugh if you survived through the horror movie just to die on top of a woman," Hughes laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Anyhow, Strug and Henry seem to made some interesting discovery about this place, wanna come along and hear about it?" Judah was glad Hughes changed the subject as his face was bright red.
When the group knock on Strug's door, they could see the little girl blushed and pushed Strug out of the bedroom. "Stop giving me the weird look you guys," Strug sighed when he noticed everyone's outburst of curiosity and slight hint of judgement, "Her name is Lolli. She's my childhood sweetheart."
"We grew up in the concrete jungle where people are neighbors for decades without learning each other's names. My parents are the outgoing type. They loved to invite people over for dinner or sports night, a rare trait for city people. Her family happens to be share that same trait, so we were close. Our families has been neighbors for as long as I can remember. She's smart, kind, and strong. Unlike her timid appearance, she's always energetic and filled with laughter. She will not be intimidated by anything life can throw at her," Strug said with a soft smile on his face, gazing into the distance, reminiscing the past.
"But how can life be so fragile? She was only fifteen years old when she was lying on that hospital bed. Her beautiful hairs were all gone due to radiation therapy. Her face had lost its usual bloom, replaced with pale white. Her smile was as hearty as ever, even though I know it was only to comfort us." Strug's smile is now faded, his eyes lost focus. "What is life, really? One moment she was smiling, hanging on my neck, and laughing next to my ear, the next she was just a pile of ash in a jar. My life after that seem like a blur. One college sex party after another. Got into some company after graduation. One bar slut after another. One club after another. Wasn't too long before I picked up on drug as well. I think that's why Hal picked me, because my life was just a joke after her."
"I originally wanted to make someone with a familiar face and personality. I didn't know Hal could actually bring her back to life based on my memory." Strug said with a bitter smile. The curiosity and judgement on everyone's face are now replaced by surprise.
"That's incredible. Hal can actually recreate a person from our memory? I've been through 4 missions now and I've never even heard about this. I guess we've only scratched the surface of what Hal is truly capable of." Hughes said in amazement.
"I don't care if it's the domain of God, or the arena of Satan. I just want to live. I will get enough points to bring her back to the real world with me." Strug said while everyone fell silent. "I'm betting you guys don't want to die either. I suggest we form a group, because we don't know which horror film will be next, and there's only so much we can do as an individual."
"Look at you, all lively and energetic, even Judah who lost his virginity didn't change as much as you did. That girl must be really important to you." Sophia said smiling while poking fun at Judah, who blushed immediately.
"What's with the blushing? There's nothing to be embarrassed about becoming a man." Hughes laughed and pat Judah on the back.
"Alright, if we're gonna form a group, then I vote Strug to be the captain." Henry suddenly said.
"Me? Captain? No, I think Hughes should be the captain since he has the most experience out of all of us." Strug declined.
"I agree with J.M. actually. Maybe you weren't captain material yesterday, but after you revived your girlfriend, you are full of energy. I think you're now the perfect captain." Hughes replied.
"I second that." Sophia and Judah both said.
"Since we've decided to form a group, I got some finding I want to share. Why don't we come over to my room? Let's have our first team meeting." Henry said standing up.
The group sat down at a round table in Henry's room. "Here are just a small list of things that Hal offers, no where near everything that it has." Henry said handing everyone each a stack of paper.
The list was done in excel with each item listed by name, description, and cost. Henry sat patiently while everyone read over the information.
"Hey Hughes, I guess Hal's selection really is as crazy as you say." Strug said rubbing his temple, "from weird anime power to nuclear bomb to star destroyer. If you tell me all of this just 24 hours ago I wouldn't believe a single word you say, but now after everything we've been through, guess I have to believe it."
"You say that, but look at this enhancement, 'God - grants corresponding power of god, the body that can withstand a certain level of attack, highly pardoning divinity, and the precepts of god.' If I buy that and go back to the our world, I'd be unstoppable. Are you kidding me with that 50000 points price tag, and what's this S crystal thing and how do I get it?" Judah asked.
"You didn't pay attention when Hughes talked about the crystals did you," Henry replied, "Crystals has 5 different ranks: D, C, B, A, and S. It takes 3 lower rank to combine and create a higher rank, and vice versa. So a S rank crystal takes 3 A rank crystals, or 81 D rank crystals."
"As for how to get these crystals, I think I might have found a way," Strug chimed in. "When you disrupt the plot development, like saving Shade in that laser tunnel, or defeating enemies that originally doesn't die, like Freddy, you'll be rewarded with points and crystals." Then Strug explain how he hear Hal's voice and was rewarded 1 B crystal and 5000 points for saving Shade's life.
"So then just how much points do you have now?" Sophia quietly asked.
"1 B and 6015 points, I'm guessing the 15 came from zombie kills."
"I knew I was right to put my vote on you. I fought through hell in four horror movies and got just over 4000 points, yet just in your first movie you already got over 6000. You're definitely gonna be the strongest one out of all of us in the next mission." Hughes said enviously.
"You've got 1 B crystal and 5000 points from saving Shade's life?" Henry said with curiously in his voice. "It seems Hal award points and ranks of crystal based on how important the character is. I saved 3 mercenaries but only the medic gave me a C crystals while the other two only gave me a D crystal each. This is good. The stronger our team is, the better chance we got in surviving the movies. That reminds me, since we'll participating in this survival game, don't you think there's something we haven't done?"
"What haven't we done? You mean strengthening ourselves by spending points at Hal?" Judah looked confused.
"No, I'm talking about understanding what does Hal want from us, kind of like reading the instruction menu before diving head first into any game. If we decide to try out best to survive, then we should figure out how we are going to survive. I mean, do you think we're still have rights like the outside world?"
Hughes nod in agreement, "Cruel but accurate. We do have a different set of rules in here than we do outside. At the very least a zombie or licker isn't going to care if you deserve to die or not. When Hal erase you it wouldn't care if you're guilty or not."
"Hughes is exactly right. If the rules of the outside world doesn't apply here anymore, then we need to find a new set of rules to live by in this place. I think we should consider ourselves as gladiators. Live or die at the whim of our master, so we need to figure out just what our master, Hal in this case, want from us. That's the only way to survive, by adapting and changing according to what Hal wants"
"Then just what exactly does Hal want from us?" Strug said slamming his hand on the table.
"Beats me, I tried asking Hal that and got no response," Strug seemed beaten by Henry's answer before Henry continue. "But just because Hal hasn't saying a word doesn't mean we can't read between the lines. In fact Hal has given us plenty of hints already."
Henry points at the information he prints out, "Take Hughes' gun for example, the infinite ammo desert eagle costs 100 points. The regular desert eagle only costs 10 points, and it also comes with a thousand bullets. I also did the math, buying the assembly lines and the appropriate materials to create a hundred desert eagles and the complimentary bullets that Hal give will cost 200 points. Of course the assembly lines can create more than just one type of gun."
"So just in the subtle hints of obtaining weapon, we get a glimpse into a wide range of options that Hal silently permits us," Henry pulled out a pillow and said, "Sophia, you were asking how much sleep I got last night? I only slept for one hour, thanks to this pillow made based on future technology. It's able to induce deep sleep when someone rest on it. The pillow also comes with a magnetic therapeutic bed, allowing the user to relax both the brain and body in just one hour. And it seems that things does not affect combat directly gets a major discount because this pillow and bed only cost me 30 points in a bundle."
"We may not know for certain what is Hal's intention for bringing us here. But the rewards and the Enhancements are definitely the sign that Hal want us to become stronger. If we go back to the gladiator metaphor, this would mean Hal want us to put on a good show," Henry continues. "And not just stronger as an individual, but as a team also, otherwise Hal could easily just throw each of us into horror films one by one. Hal also provided different paths to achieve the same goal, hinting at us to use our wits and carefully consider our choices when faced with any challenges."
"You're throwing out lots of informations at once," Sophia looked around at the spaced out people. "Can you consolidate your findings so it would be easier for us to discuss?"
Henry nodded and took a deep breath before summarizing, "First and foremost, attitude. By that I mean how we should accept our role in this new surrounding. Since we can't change our circumstance, then we must change ourselves to adapt to it if we want to survive. Hal does not want us to just run away from danger for 50 missions then go home. Last time we hid inside the Red queen's chamber instead of going with the group to face the licker, Hal sent some lickers to us instead. Just like in the gladiator arena, we wouldn't be able to hide in our cell, we must fight for our lives or Hal will just sent the danger our way."
"Second, tempo. By that I mean pacing in this survival game. We get a ten days break in between each horror movies to prepare ourselves. The difficulty of our mission is linked to how many of us will be sent into the movie. Our last mission only has one veteran, which is Hughes, but the next mission we'll have five veterans. So our next mission will definitely be more difficult than our last. We must find a way to control the pacing of difficulty before it goes out of control."
"Third, tech path. By that I mean how we should go about getting stronger, since it's the only way to survive the increasingly difficult missions Hal will most likely sent us into. Not only should we keep an eye out for any possible bonus rewards, but how we should effectively spend our points and crystals as well."
"Fourth, set up. By that I mean our roles in the team. Since we're sent into mission as a team, we need to work together and watch each other's back, and also being able to hold our own should we get separated. There are only five of us now, but there's bound to be more people coming in as we move forward. For the new people coming in, I suggest we set up some type of trial and observe them before deciding on whether or not we should allow them into the group."
"Last, exploration. By that I mean the wealth of mystery surrounding Hal. How did we get here? Why sent us into different movies? What does Hal ultimately want from us? We may not ever find the answer behind all of these questions, but I believe the more we explore these mystery, the better we'd be at controlling our own destiny, perhaps even escape this place. These five things are all that I could come up with in seven hours. If I missed anything feel free to point it out, if not then I like to listen to Hughes describe the five different stats Hal listed because he has first hand experience on what happens once Hal strengthen us."
The information overload seem to have left everyone speechless for a while until Sophia raised a question, "J.M., what do you do in the real world? You seemed so quiet and kept to yourself in the movie but now you're given lecture almost as if there are two different persons."
"I'm just a gamer with a nine to five job," Henry explained. "The reason I was quiet back then was because I was focused on survival in a strange environment. As for the informations I just compiled, that was nothing compared to the pages after pages of wikipedia on different games I've spend time studying. I'm just used to digging up informations when developers like to hide them."
"Oh I almost forgot to mention," Henry smack himself on the forehead. "Hal really does have everything imaginable for sale, including the notebook from 'Death note'. We need to come up with nicknames to call each other because there are plenty of horror movies villains who can cast jinx or hex based on name."
"Guess it's my turn to explain things," Hughes said everyone quiet down after Henry's presentation. "Hal gives us five different stats to strength with points: Intellect, Spirit, Vitality, Dexterity, and Constitution."
"Based on what I've tested and strengthened, intellect has to do with memory and the speed at which we process information in our brain. I'm not too sure what spirit actually does since I don't even know how to test it at all. Vitality has to do with how fast our body heals and how fast we catch our breath after we exercise."
"Dexterity and Constitution are the most noticeable when strengthened and should also be on our top priority. Dexterity increase our reflexes and dynamic perception, when it's strong enough, you can even see the movement of bullets. Of course just having good reflexes won't be enough when your body can't keep up with your mind, that's where Constitution come in. The higher this stat is, the stronger your body will be, which includes strength and speed. Not only that, it also increase the durability, making it harder to tear your muscle."
"That's pretty much it as far as Enhancement goes. As for items, I don't recommend you two to buy anything yet," Hugh said to Sophia and Judah. "You should put your focus on Vitality, Dexterity and Constitution, especially the latter two, otherwise just another long-distance running will kill you."
"As for you two, I say you guys should get something from Enhancement, spend some points in four stats I mentioned." Hugh turned to Strug and Henry. "Bottom line is, you two should be the strongest of us in the following few horror films. If possible, buy some type of Mystical weapon."
"I think out of all the horror movies that I've seen, the most dangerous one should be The Grudge and the like that can't be explain by science and kills you with barely any explanation, even freddy from Nightmare on elm street should fall under this category." Strug nodded in agreement.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go check them out." Judah said. Everyone seemed excited at the prospect becoming stronger as they walked towards Hal.
Strug took a deep breath before closing his eyes under Hal. A moment later, he was lifted up by a beam of light shining from Hal as shiny particles submerged into his body. This goes on for quite a few minutes before Strug came back down.
"Honey come quick," Hughes shouted. "Jesus has returned."
Henry and Judah were mesmerized by the whole event while Sophia kept her cool. She turned to Hughes and asked, "Is it going to be like this when any of us strengthen ourselves?"
"No, usually some particles shine down from Hal into you and you feel your body getting noticeably stronger, but this is way more crazy than anything I've seen. He must of gotten something really powerful."
Strug finally comes down from the light beam. Something is now different about him. He was just an above average looking white collar before, but now he's eerily handsome. Something about his present changed as now he would not easily forgotten even in a large crowd.
Henry was fascinated by this change. "What kind of Enhancement did you get? You seem very different now."
"I exchanged the B crystal into 3 C crystals and turned 1 of the C crystals into 3 D crystals as well. Right now I just brought the Beginner Chi Enhancement for 1 D 500 points; Baron Vampiric Enhancement for 1 D 800 points; Intermediate Chi Enhancement for 1 C 1200 points; Viscount Vampiric Enhancement for 1 C 1500 points. Total cost wa and 4000 points."
"Two different enhancements? Why did you choose a combination of powers?"
"I thought this one through," Strug said proudly. "First off, vampire's survivability is amazing. When you get to Earl rank, as long as either your head or your heart isn't destroy, you will continue to regenerate. And according to Hal, this is an mutated bloodline so I won't be weak in the sun or affected by silver, but the trade off is I can't create off springs. As for Chi, I'm a big fan of Chinese kung fu. It can greatly increase my physical quality and attack power for a short period of time. So with these two, I've got offense and defense taken care of. Since these two powers work differently, they don't clash with each other. Plus, both powers goes up all the way to S rank with the previous rank being the prerequisite and there are plenty of abilities from both powers to choose from. I got longevity down as well. If I were to get something like the spiderman's power for the 1 B crystal that I have, I may be more powerful in the beginning, but it will be very difficult to get stronger from there."
"Can you show me the result of your enhancement? I still haven't decided on what kind of power I want since I spend most of my time sorting things out yesterday."
"So I got some energy source called Chi and vampiric power. Hal infused the knowledge of how to train and use Chi into me. Right now it feels like a warm bag in my abdomen at the perfect temperature. If I concentrate, I can feel as if something is going to burst out from my brain as well. Most of my stats are almost three times what the average human is. It's as if the world got polished, I can see the markings on the handles of the doors." Strug said as he jumped 10 feet high, did two back flip before landing perfectly on his feet. As soon as he landed, Strug crouched slightly and dashed around everyone with the speed and agility like greyhound. Hughes and Henry were the only two who can keep track of his movement as Strug dashed around everyone.
"What's bothering you? You seem perplexed by something?" Strug asked Henry.
"Wow, your eyesight really has improved a lot. I barely narrowed my eyebrows," Henry said in amazement. "I was just confused by what you've display here. You've just spend 2 C crystals in strengthening yourself. How do you think you would do against spider man?"
Strug was stunned by the question and thought of Spiderman's danger sense, agility, and the fact that he physically stopped a moving train. "I stand no chance against him whatsoever."
"That's what I was thinking also," Henry nodded. "But Spiderman is only rank B, and you have 2 C rank Enhancement. Why wouldn't you at least be able to put up a good fight? One explanation, I think, is that when Hal give us these Enhancement, it push us up to the entry level that barely qualify at the rank that we purchase. In other words, had you chose the Spiderman power, you still wouldn't stand a chance against the Spiderman we saw in Spiderman 2 because that one is well trained, familiar with his power, and pushed to almost the peak of that power's potential, whereas you will most likely be like the dorky novice Spiderman in the first Spiderman movie."
"I have some basic understand of how Chi work. It takes hard work, talent, and countless hours to obtain and improve. As for vampire, they get stronger the older they are. An hundred years old vampire wouldn't stand a chance against a thousand years old, unless we're talking about protagonist, in which case, all logic and reason goes out the window because all hail the protagonist aura," Henry smacked himself in the forehead. "Sorry, I went off on a on a tangent. What I meant to say was, I think I've decided on which power I want: Demon hunter. Because that's a class that specialized in absorbing power and making it your own. So I don't need to follow the normal path Hal laid out with low, middle and high class demons, but rather just infuse the demonic power according to their age: Infant, Juvenile, Adult, and Perfect. If Illidan is able to use the full extent of the power as soon as he got it from Sargeras, then I should be able to as well. All I need to make sure is to keep up control whatever demonic power I absorb."
"But are you sure you want to go with that beastly looking horn and crazy tattoos?" Strug asked. "His appearance is wild to say the least."
"Nah, he isn't the only demon hunter. And the reason for his other worldly appearance has to do with the fact that he got his power from the fallen titan. I got another equally powerful demon in my mind: The Legendary Dark Knight Sparda from my favorite game series Devil May Cry," Henry's voice was filled with excitement.
"And the best part is, from father to sons, all three of the dark knights show no mental issue or other side effect from their demonic side even when they are in full demon form, and they are all damn good looking as well," Henry explained as he walked towards Hal. "Hal, how much is Demon hunter infused with the infant demonic power of dark knight Sparda? I also want the ability Dash from DMC as well."
"Demon hunter infused with infant dark knight power: 1 C crystals 2000 points. Infused power trait: Weapon Mastery and improved life force. As long as brain and heart are not completely destroyed, body will continuously regenerate," Hal's signature robotic voice echoed in Henry's head. "Dash: 1 C crystal 1500 points. A quick burst of speed propels the player forward. Total cost 2 C 3500 points, confirm exchange?"
"Yes." With the mental confirmation from Henry, light shine down from Hal lifting Henry into mid air. Countless light partials merged into his body. He felt as if he was in a sauna with the perfect temperature. A warm sensation float through every inch of his body. So this is what it's like to have demonic power, Henry thought as Hal infused the demonic power alongside the knowledge on how to use the Dash ability into him.
The enhancement last a few minutes before Henry landed back down with drastic changes to his appearance. His black hair has now become silver like Dante. His eyes are now light red with pupil being a few shade darker. His muscle has also strengthened as all the excess fat on his body disappeared.
Henry's appearance change was nothing compared to what he can feel on the inside. A force now floats through his body at his will with the knowledge of how to use the ability Dash popped up in his head. Focus the energy towards the lower half body, imagine them in the shape of springs pushing towards the desired location. As soon as Henry thought of the instruction, he can feel his body becoming as light as a feather. One small jump propelled Henry ten feet in the air. Just like Strug, Henry started dashing around, but unlike Strug, who has full control over his new found power and improved body. Henry crashed right into a door.
"Are you alright?" Strug, being the second fastest in the group, went over to help Henry back up.
"Yeah, I'm alright, just a little banged up," Henry shook his head a bit. "Now I know how tough the door and my new body are," He added jokingly. "We only have nine days for training. I'm not sure if I'd be able have full control over this in such short amount of time. I need more time. Hey Hughes, is there any restriction on going back to the previous world that you mention other than the 10 points a day?"
"Yes, you're only allowed to travel once per break. Hal sends you back around where you were teleported out from that world." Hughes replied.
"Alright, that means I've got plenty of shooting target to practice on as well," Henry grinned. "Since Hal will most likely sent us back to the hive instead of above ground. We'll need some weapons to defend ourselves. Guess I'll get cracking on that assembly line."
"Wait, what do you mean us?" Judah asked. "Who's going with you?"
"Well I think we should all go," Henry said matter of factly. "Training and practice can only do so much. We didn't really get the chance to fight in the last mission, at best we've watched a horror movie up close. If we don't seize the chance to face monsters head on, especially zombies, which honestly is on the very bottom rank as far as horror monsters goes, we won't stand a chance in the next mission. May I remind you that Hughes was the only veteran in the last mission. There will be five veterans in the next mission. If we can't even fight in a world that we've already lived through, then let's just all pop sleeping pills and cash out right now."
"But we only have 1000 points, how much will I have left if I spend some of it buying time to the last mission, especially since I have to strengthen myself and buy weapons?" Judah still seemed reluctant.
"Alright, save the points on weapons and use that for buying time. I was planning on making the guns myself anyway. Since materials are dirt cheap compared to the finished product anyway, I'll make the weapons for anyone who comes with me. How's that sound? Of course, I don't plan on going back right now, but rather on the second to last day, so we'll have some training with guns and get used to our new bodies and go back to Resident evil at our peak." Henry started throwing incentive into the mix.
"I'll go," Sophia chimed in. "I won't miss any chance to get first hand combat experience."
"I'm not sure about this," Hughes sounded hesitant.
"Count me in as well," Strug seemed eager to try out his new found abilities. "I'm pretty sure I am faster than the lickers right now. So unless they got anything worse than that, all I have to worry about is being too surrounded by large numbers of them."
"It's three against two then, I guess that settles it," Sophia said. "Shall we figure out what weapons to bring for the fight? I still want to use some C4s."
"No, if they don't want to go, then we shouldn't force them into it," Henry rejected. "People have to take responsibility for their own lives. We're not going on a field trip, but I believe the reward outweighs the danger."
So the following eights days consists of nothing but eating, training, and watching horror movies. Henry had the dark humor of putting the banner "Every death could be your future." The only thing worth mentioning was that Henry made a human through Hal to help with creating guns and bullets since he had to focus on training.
On the eighth day, Henry walked out of his room and said, "Hey guys, here at Henry Weapons Industries, firearms aren't the only thing being made. After eights days of nonstop working with blueprints purchased at Hal, I present you with equipment enough to start a small war: Three full body AR500 armors; Three US pasgt Kevlar helmet with gas mask attached; Six Mark XIX .50 AE magnums; Three AK 47 for reliability in any environment; a Grenade Launcher per Sophia's demand; and ammunition enough to level hive itself." As Henry mentioned each item, he wave his hand and said item dropped from mid air. "All of these are a lot to carry even with the three of us armed to the teeth. so I spend 400 points on an unstable storage call the 'Space Interstice', which opens up a thirty cubic feet of pocket dimension. This space slowly deteriorate after ten days and completely disappear along with all items in it after fifteen days, but it can be delayed for up thirty days if sustained by mystical power."
"Hal, sent us to the previous world for twenty days." Henry shouted after Strug and Sophia confirmed they are ready to go.
Light shine down on Strug, Sophia and Henry. After either a blink of an eye or a century, when the dizziness from moving through space fade, the three of them are back to the queen's chamber with Hal's voice appeared in their mind, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse prerequisite mission triggered: Eliminate the infected in the hive. All participants get 1 C crystal and 2000 points when mission is complete. No punishment for mission failure."
"Well this is certainly good news," Henry shrugged his shoulder. "It seems even Hal approves of our little trip."
"Did you know this was gonna happen?" Strug asked. "Is that why you stop us to persuading Julian to come along? Did you think Julian would slow us down? Did you think he isn't worthy by your standard?"
"Ah, thank you for listening to my rambling. I thought Sophia was the only one who paid attention," Henry patted Strug on the shoulder, who grabbed Henry by the shirt. "Thank you for giving me that much credit, but I can't see this far into the future. I certainly hoped Hal would have some type of reward for us confronting danger by coming back, but that was based on circumstantial evidence only. I stopped you from persuading the others to come along because coming here was definitely a risk. And if they don't feel comfortable taking that risk, no one should force them."
"I agree with Henry," Sophia said. "We should teach kids how to think, not tell them what to think. Let this be a lesson for Julian. And since we'll be stronger through this, we'll do our best to keep him safe."
"Ever the teacher huh?" Henry laughed. "But don't count the chicken before it hatches. This isn't gonna be a walk in the park for us either."
The following days consist of nothing but sleep, eat, and fight. The few thousands zombies swarming each level alongside the few hundreds lickers that's roaming around the hive are standing between the group and the exit. As the fighting goes on, Strug, Henry, and Sophia became more and more introverted during combat while their actions became swift and precise. The trio went from trained civilian to full time soldier after two weeks of non-stop combat.
Strug was always at the front line after he realized he had no talent with guns at all and his punches were just as effective at killing zombies. Sophia wasn't a sharpshooter but was very attentive at picking off straggler that Strug missed while he practiced his melee skill. Henry seemed dead set on following Dante's footstep as he familiarized himself with dual magnums.
Their prowess did not come without a cost: Strug broke his bones on multiple occasions when he got tackled by the ambushing lickers; Henry's arm got sliced off by a licker when he couldn't dodge in time. Fortunately for him, his arm was in one piece after the fight was over and he had Dante's regeneration power. Unfortunately for him, he found out just how painful it was to regrow severed veins and tissue; Sophia, being the one without super human power, stayed smart and remained distant while she became proficient with the grenade launcher.
Experience may not be a kind teacher, but it was definitely a good one. Strug's hand to hand combat dramatically improved to the point of being defend himself against three lickers while finding the chance to retaliate with his magnums at close range. Henry has mastered his dash ability and was able to kill lickers without being touched at all. The two men let Sophia had the finishing blow on the lickers whenever possible when they found out the lickers yield no points except to Sophia at the discounted rate of 10 points per licker.
The highlight of their trip was the quality time they got to spent with two T-103 tyrants in what was left of the hive on their last day. Most of their ammos were spend firing blindly while running away from the pursuers. Sophia landed a grenade shot by pure luck which broke one of the Tyrant's power limiter, causing it to go berserk, killing and absorbing the second Tyrant, at which point Hal finally announced, "Mission complete. Award 1 C crystal and 2000 points."
Twenty days of non-stop combat left the trio on high alert. When Judah came up to welcome them back, the trio immediately pulled their weapons out and took aim at him. "Welcome ba...," Judah's greeting was halted at gunpoint before the vigilant trio realise they were back at Hal and put their weapons away. "What happened to you guys in the hive?"
"Nothing too exciting," Henry replied. "Shot a few thousand people in the head; Killed a few hundred lickers; Got chased around by a berserk Tyrant; Received a couple thousand points and a C crystal each from Hal for cleaning up the hive; that's all."
"What?" Judah shouted. "You can get points when you go back?"
"Apparently," Henry replied casually. "Anyhow, since we each have a C crystal and plenty of points, I'm thinking of getting an offensive ability . Do you guys know what you want?" Henry turned to Strug and Sophia.
"I want a healing power which should be very helpful in battle." Sophia replied.
"I was thinking about getting an offensive ability as well, possibly something that can affect spirits or other immaterial enemy," Strug chimed in.
Lights shined down from Hal lifting all three of them in the air. Sophia was the first to land followed by Henry and Strug.
Henry was eager to showed off his new ability for his demon hunter class Immolation which costed 1 C and 2000 points. But he made a fool of himself as he could not control the amount or location of the fire which burned everything that doesn't belong to his body, namely his clothes. As soon as he realized what he has done, he lost focus to maintain the immolation and had to use his dash ability to the maximum just to run into his room.
Strug got a vampire ability called Blood Flame for 1 C and 2000 points. Unlike Henry's immolation, which generally covers the entire body, Strug's blood flame was more like molten lava, changing shape and size in his hand as Strug controls it.
Sophia broke her C crystal down to 3 D crystals and got herself a Druid enhancement for 1 D and 1000 points after consulting with Henry, the go to nerd of the team, for a medic type power. She also spent 2 D crystals and 2000 points on two druidic spell call Rejuvenation and Entangling Roots. The reason Sophia went with Druid enhancement rather than other such as Priest was because Henry pointed out that two of her teammates clashed head on against any type of holy based magic but have no problem with the nature based magic.
Strug also spent the last D crystal he had and 1500 points on a magic ring after asking Henry regarding how to improve on his chi. The unnamed magic ring is the cheapest of its kind from Asian MMO which allows the user to input positive energy such as Chi or Holy Power to create and maintain an aura around the user's hand, allowing the user to strike immaterial entity. The ring also allows for five cubic feet of storage with the content accessible by inputting positive energy.
Henry asked Sophia to purchase numerous consumable items with the bonus rewards that only she could receive from the licker kills. Sophia happily complied because among the consumable items are futuristic first aid spray, high-efficiency medical wrap, food and water that are compressed into tiny curbs, materials to replenish ammunition, etc. which were all helpful towards the whole team, especially Julian.
On the tenth day, everyone came out of their room armed to the teeth just like Strug, Sophia, and Henry were when they went back into resident evil. The items Sophia purchased were divided among the groups. As the group was checking their equipment for the last time, twenty light beams shined down from Hal with its signature emotionless voice echoing in the group's heads, "Walk into the light within thirty seconds or be erased. Teleport targets locked. Commencing transportation to Alien."