Cruelty Squad Headquarters

### NPCs

Burt Grundel, Henrik "Freakout" Johnson, Jurgen Cool, Mark Bilberry, Michael Nielsen, HQ Target, Secret Librarian, Snirby

*"An oasis of love and friendship."*

## Description

This is the headquarters of the titular Cruelty Squad.

The headquarters serves as the tutorial for the game, where the player is introduced to the game's mechanics and is allowed to try out their discovered weapons and implants at the firing range or on the mindless denizens milling about the place. There is also a large fish tank which will display one of every fish you have caught.

There are also a number of named NPCs in this area who will die permanently if killed, and will all instantly die if you enter the stage while in Hope Eradicated mode.

## Enemies

### Hope Eradicated Enemies

FleshratRubber SniperRubber GruntSwamp GasserDarkworld GruntShock TrooperKniferGiant FleshratRubber Heavy WeaponsFleshmanRubber DogMarble DogMarble FlowerPsychoGodmechFlechette Golem HQ Target [Hostile Target/Boss]

### Divine Light and Hope Eradicated Orbs

When entering the level, go directly forwards through the welcome kiosk into the room behind it. Entering the last door to the left, move the barrels and kick/shoot down the vent. Go through the vent, and with the help of the Grappendix, Abominator, or Biothruster, jump to the platform in front of you. Alternatively, there is also a destructable wall on the far right side of the locker room to the right of the Kiosk as you go in (Small cracks permeate the surface). Blow it up with a Rocket or Grenade to reach the orbs without any augments. Proceed up the ladder and set your game's resolution to 640x480, or if you have the Holy Scope equipped, you can proceed without changing resolution. A room should open up, revealing two orbs. Grabbing the white orb grants the Divine Link, and the black orb grants Hope Eradicated Mode.

### Hope Eradicated Door

Beyond the Hope Eradicated door in the main lobby is the real mission stage. The first room is a long hallway filled with purple gas that will damage you if you're in Life state (meaning you haven't gotten the Death surgery from the shop in Pharmakokinetiks) leading to two snipers, a super dog, and an orbital droptroop. Up the stairs to the right will lead to a Fleshman. The door on the bottom floor will lead to a super Flower, and the door on the top floor will lead down a hall, wherein the middle area of the floor will break, dropping you onto the Flower.

There is also a hidden side path at the beginning of the hall which circumvents these enemies. This leads to a huge crossroads. Straight ahead is the mission target, an extremely durable person wielding a Parasonic C3 DNA Scrambler. Each time they shoot you, "your body feels weird" will appear in the top right in a different color. After 5-10 shots, you will be rendered unable to run or attack, and your perspective shifts to very close to the ground. It will not kill you however.

#### Beating Cruelty Squad HQ on Divine Light Difficulty

By starting the mission on Hope Eradicated difficulty, the player can destroy the cursed door and double back to the Divine Light orb, thereby allowing them to finish the map on Divine Light difficulty and getting a green and/or magenta rank on the mission.

## Weapons and Equipment

The ZKZ Transactional Rifle can be found in the hidden mission area.

The paths to the left and right of the target room lead to huge spiral staircases toward the top floor. The staircase to the left will have an enemy on the top landing. The top floor is mostly a labyrinth full of a variety of enemies, including a Fleshrat, giant Fleshrat, a Fleshrat reskinned as the ZKZ Transactional Rifle, armed guards, and Knifers. The staircase to the right will lead to the side of the labyrinth with a giant Fleshrat hidden in the ceiling, and if you go straight ahead there is a hidden door.

That door leads to another room with a door leading up into the ceiling. This leads to a tower with a Psycho along the way, and will be extremely difficult to navigate without items like the Vertical Entry Device or Abominator. At the top you'll find a special Golem which drops a supercharged flechette grenade. Stay out of the room after you kill him, then go through and fall down, kill a Darkworlder who has a rocket launcher, and there's the ZKZ.

The Abominator can be found in the hidden mission area. Open the cursed door and go straight ahead, through the large door. Defeat the black flower beast and move through the next two rooms, past a guard and two big heads. It will be in the last room, near the headless Deathmech who wields Riot Pacifiers instead of AMG4s.

## Ending Cutscene

Upon reaching the LIFE door that opens up after killing the HQ Target, the level finishes, and the second ending plays. The ending shows the player standing in front of the LIFE door as it pulsates to the music, imparting words of wisdom.

"I WEEP.

YOU ARE A ROTTEN HUSK.

YOU OVERFLOW WITH BOUNDLESS POWER.

YOU HAVE THE SOUL OF AN EMPEROR.

SACRIFICIAL HERO. BLESSED BY PRIMORDIAL LUCK.

YOUR FRIENDS ARE IN HELL YET YOU SMILE.

ONLY GOOD THINGS WILL COME TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU.

SET GOALS. HAVE A TEN YEAR PLAN. INVEST. WAKE UP EARLY. CEO MINDSET.

GOOD LUCK."

## Fish

Fishing spots are:

* Fountain
* Fish tank
* Backroom sewer (through the vents behind the receptionist)

The following fish can be found:

* Slurper
* Fleshrat
* Brainy (only at night)
* Civilian

## Money locations

* $500 in the locker room (Savegame ID: HQ\_Money500\_1)
* $1000 at the sewers (Savegame ID: HQ\_1000\_1)

## Gallery

front deskhead quarters firing rangeBarrels moved to open the path to the Cursed Orb/Divine Link room.
## Trivia

* The door requiring either 640x480 screen resolution or the use of the Holy Scope is a possible reference to Temple OS (a biblical themed Operating System created by Terry A. Davis) and its resolution of 640x480.
* It is impossible to get above a C rank on this mission.