Scavengers

"Wait a moment please!" Luna interrupted.

"Now that's what I call a spoilsport." Miss Dragonfang said in a reproachful tone after having her moment ruined.

"I'm sorry, but, how do we win? What do we get if we do so? or what happens if we take longer than two minutes?" Luna asked.

"Uh, let's see... If you take longer than two minutes that would mean you're dead, at least that's in this hypothetical scenario. So, if you take longer than two minutes you won't get a share in our earnings."

Suddenly, the students were not so eager to participate and the mood became sour.

"But, if you do find something useful you get to keep it." With just those words, the tables were turned and now their morale was sky high. Now it wasn't just an exercise, but also a friendly competition to get the best possible loot.

Even Phlox seemed eager to participate and started walking to the same position the students were, but Miss Dragonfang stopped her with a glare.

As soon as their leader gave the go, everyone hurried up towards the building making quick work of the boards covering its entrance.

Except, of course, for Uriel who struggled to remove even one of the boards because his strength was nowhere near his companions. When he realized this, he gave up and entered by the door that had been previously busted open by Medusa.

It was dark inside and there was no electricity, giving Sam, who had enhanced sight, a huge advantage.

Uriel paid no mind to what everyone else was doing and hurried inside, he had lost a few valuable seconds and couldn't afford to waste time hesitating. When he saw that most of the shelves were almost empty and only a few items in poor condition were left behind He made up his mind and hurried to the register machine.

Just when he was about to reach his objective, he bumped into Medusa who was already on her way back. She had searched the register machine in hopes of finding some credits and had taken all its contents with her, then hurried outside. No matter what, nothing would be worth the risk of being denied the profit share of the hunting party.

Uriel too wanted to get something from the register, but Medusa was quicker and, by the time he arrived there was nothing left for him. There was, however, a small old safe with a key lock right beneath the counter.

'There's no time to find the key and it looks to heavy to carry it outside.' He thought and turned his back on it, only to remember that he had just the tool for that kind of situation.

He opened his palm and the swiss army knife appeared instantly. Hurriedly, he pulled out the lockpick and started to work on the safe.

"One minute!" A woman's voice could be heard from outside, making Luna twist on her feet and run outside empty handed.

Now the only ones left inside were the male hunters. The geeky student walked outside calmly carrying a plastic bag and after a few seconds Sam followed with his arms filled with stuff he picked from who knows where.

Uriel, though, remained inside still struggling to pick the lock. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his hand became shaky as he attempted to pick the lock over and over.

The tool twisted inside the lock many times, but Uriel wasn't experienced enough to pick it in a hurry. He had practiced picking old locks when he was a child, but that wasn't a memory he wanted to bring up right now.

Putting together all of his focus, he managed to open the safe with a click and then ran outside in the nick of time.

"You barely made it, Sage." Miss Dragonfang said with a mischievous grin.

At first, Uriel thought she was just joking about leaving them without a profit share, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Alright! let's see what you brought." Miss Dragonfang examined their loot with a frown. "Moonlight, you played it safe and didn't want to risk losing. While there's nothing wrong with that strategy, it also means you were completely useless for the team. Sometimes you need to take risks to help others, especially when in a pinch." She said taking the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson.

Luna remained expressionless as if she had known what miss Dragonfang would say to her from before, but she still nodded in acceptance.

"Lightbringer, you brought all sort of things but they're all worthless... I would have expected more from someone who can see in the dark." The team leader's evaluation seemed to hit hard on Sam's self esteem as he lowered his gaze embarrassed.

"Atomic, uh... you did fine. Those canisters contain lighter fluid. These could prove to be useful but even if we don't use any of it, they're still really valuable. Good job!" Miss Dragonfang addressed a beautiful smile to the geeky student.

Being the first to get out, Medusa should have been the first to show her loot, but she took her time sorting it.

"Uh, miss Dragonfang, is this money any good?" Medusa scratched her head showing a stack of bills and old coins.

"Not as money, not really... That's old money and can't be exchanged in the bank... but actually, those coins still hold some value and they too could come in handy." Miss Dragonfang said and then stared at Uriel who was seemingly empty handed.

"And you, mister Sage... You too came back empty handed, but you took your time trying to pick that lock and succeeded. While you didn't get any reward, I think you did great and your skills will certainly be useful. You can blame your failure to get anything on bad luck." She chuckled.

For a quick second, Uriel felt the need to explain himself, but he decided to remain silent and simply shrugged in reply. All he wanted now was to check his museum as soon as possible.

Walking down the asphalt road while focusing on his trait was easier than he thought, there were no obstacles in the distance giving Uriel enough time to safely enter the museum.

Everything was pretty much the same as before, only now the empty pedestal next to the one where the swiss army knife was located held an old Remington Magnum on its top, the same he found inside the safe on the gas station.

It was dark and he didn't know what was inside the safe, he also didn't have any time left to hesitate, so he had simply put his hand inside and felt he could store the item that was kept inside the safe.

Without further ado, Uriel read the carvings below the revolver.

[Artifact] Remington Magnum: A .44 caliber revolver designed for hunting trips. It's long bullets travel at a faster speed than regular ones, causing greater damage.

[Passive] When stored in the museum, it will slowly regain ammunition.

"Nice!" Uriel said still inside his trait, but his words were heard by everyone and they turned to look at him.

What they found left them speechless, it even took Medusa a few seconds to find her words, because Uriel held his gaze in a suspicious direction.

"Were you... just... staring at my ass?" She said blushingly, not knowing if she should feel angry or flattered.

"I... uh... uh... no?" He stuttered, a bit startled by everyone's reaction.

"You bastard!" Sam said, offended that his friend was trying to make a move on Medusa after knowing his feelings for her and despite saying there was nothing in between them.

"It's actually... I was just spacing out." Uriel rebuked when things were starting to get out of hand.

That explanation seemed to be enough for everyone even for Sam who realized it was just a misunderstanding.

Just like Luna's annoyingly slow manner of speech, Uriel was known for spacing out from time to time.

"Ah! It's so good to be young!" Miss Dragonfang chuckled jokingly.

"It's not like that! I wasn't staring, I swear!" Uriel said in a futile attempt to preserve his honor.

"Listen kid, we are currently in a dangerous incursion, a single bad move might be your last and you need to be careful." Phlox said sternly. "But... if you're really that desperate you can stare at my ass all you want." She slapped her butt trying to look seductive, but failing miserably because of the chunky armor she was wearing, triggering the laughter of the whole group.

"Come on! Can't you guys act like adults!?" Uriel, who couldn't blush any harder, said embarrassed.

Although both Miss Dragonfang and Phlox were joking around cheerfully, it wasn't without reason. Remaining calm and collected was the top priority during incursions and walking around with a bunch of stressed students was nowhere near an ideal scenario.

As they walked, Phlox started picking up some trash she found on the way and placing it in a strange device she was wearing instead of a backpack. Uriel wanted to ask about what she was doing, but because of his past blunder he decided to remain silent and try to figure it out by himself.

He watched as she pierced an empty plastic bottle with a long stick, then she waved it behind her back and the bottle fell directly on the device. The machine then buzzed and a thin plastic filament came out and was immediately rolled on its side. When the whole process was finished a small clump of waste fell to the asphalt.

By watching her, Uriel noticed that Phlox was gathering not only plastic bottles, but pretty much anything made of plastic or tin.

The machine was able to recycle materials and store them conveniently rolled on the side.

There was one small question he couldn't keep to himself, though.

"Miss Phlox, why are you recycling now? isn't it better to pick up garbage on the way back?"

"You would think that, but that's not the case. This machine doesn't just recycle materials, it also feeds my rifle." She said patting the weapon hanging on her chest. "And I have the feeling I'll be needing a lot of ammo in the following two days." She said with a somber expression.