Without hesitation, Havel grabbed his radio.
"This is Havel. Come in, Bravo Team. Does anyone copy?"
Static... Hisss...
Silence.
He tried again, cycling through the channels. He called for Captain Enrico. He called for Richard. He even called for Edward, the pilot.
Nothing but white noise.
The interference in the Arklay Mountains was brutal, but it shouldn't be this bad. Unless... there was no one left to answer.
"Hah," Havel sighed, lowering the radio. "They're probably dead."
It was the curse of the protagonist. In the Resident Evil universe, luck was a zero-sum game. If Rebecca and Billy were surviving against all odds, the universe had to balance the scales by killing everyone else.
It was like the old saying: Luck is a finite resource. The main characters hoard it all, leaving the side characters with a deficit.
Poor Edward Dewey. Being a helicopter pilot in this franchise was a death sentence. You might as well wear a shirt that says "I Explode."
"Whatever," Havel muttered. "I can't save ghosts."
The Management Training Facility.Main Hall (1F).
"So?"
"What did you guys find? Anyone hurt?"
The three survivors regrouped at the foot of the grand staircase. They were all covered in grime, zombie blood, and various unidentifiable fluids, but they were breathing.
"I'm fine," Rebecca said, wiping a smudge of ichor from her cheek. "Just... tired."
"Same here," Billy grunted. "These things are slow, but there's a lot of them."
They laid out their loot on a dusty table.
Rebecca produced a heavy white object.
"I found this in the Art Room," she said. "The White Statue (Statue of Good). It looks exactly like the black one you found, Havel. But look at the back."
She turned it around. There were slots for an attachment.
"It's missing something. Wings, maybe?"
Havel grinned behind his mask. "Good eye, rookie."
He reached into his pack and pulled out the Book of Good he had found in the library. He opened the hollowed-out tome and revealed the stone wings inside.
"I found these."
He snapped the White Wings into the back of the White Statue.
Click.
They fit perfectly. The statue was now complete—a headless angel of white stone.
"Whoa," Rebecca blinked. "It fits? Where did you find that book?"
"Library," Havel replied. "Lighting a lamp opened a secret door. Classic puzzle."
He placed the completed White Statue next to the Black Statue (Statue of Evil).
"Now we just need the wings for the black one. We need the Book of Evil."
"But where is it?" Rebecca asked, looking around. "We've searched almost every room on this floor."
"Not every room," Billy interjected.
He pulled two small canisters from his pocket.
"Microfilm B," he said. "I got this from the Clock Room."
Havel pulled out his own canister. "Microfilm A."
Billy nodded. "Exactly. Why would Umbrella leave film lying around? There has to be a projector somewhere. If we play these, maybe they'll show us a code or a map to the Book of Evil."
Havel snapped his fingers.
"The file!"
"Remember the 'Mission Statement' I read earlier? It mentioned Level 5 Security Meetings."
He recited from memory: "F1 West - Strategy Room. F2 Southeast - Conference Room."
"A Conference Room definitely has a projector," Havel said confidently. "That's where we need to go. Second floor, southeast corridor."
It was the only lead they had.
"Let's move," Havel ordered, racking his shotgun. "Hopefully, the projector isn't broken. Or guarded by another giant bug."
"Don't jinx it," Billy warned.