The Expandables - A Post - Apocalypse Cyberpunk Adventure

"It's twelve already?" Cheng asked. Riley nodded, feeling his stomach growling. The pancakes he ate had apparently been evaporated by all that walking and shooting. It was amazing how much energy he burned through in the last two hours.

"I'm starving!"Mako said. She took out the lunch box from her pack and opened it. Riley saw protein bars, tubes of food gel and cans of energy drink, enough for three people. It was quite similar to what he usually ate while out working.

She shared the contents with Riley, who took his portion. Cheng declined, having packed his own food. He got curious at the protein bars, though, and tentatively took one. Mako looked at Mr. Goodman, who simply shook his head. Cheng's unclaimed portion was then given to Jenkins, who gratefully accepted it.

With their gas masks off, they ate lunch in silence, save for Cheng's occasional comments on the protein bar's taste.

"You ever wonder what happens to the bodies after we're done?" Cheng asked, gesturing at the mass of termite bodies in front of them.

"Someone will be tasked with cleaning them, I suppose," Riley answered absent-mindedly while devouring his lunch. He then thought about some low-ranked employee at the Department of Public Sanitation, who would wake up tomorrow and see on his task list "Mission xxx-xxxx: Clean up a thousand termite bodies down the sewer…" It'd be a fun day, no doubt.

"Yeah, but, what will they do to it afterward?"

"Their bodies have a lot of uses." Mako interjected "Their carapace can be used to make low-level armor plates, or as construction material. Their extracted venom can be used to either make anti-venom or to be weaponized. The flesh can be processed and consumed." She paused, looked at them and asked: "How can you guys not know this?"

"Cause I've never thought about it?" Cheng answered. "Wait, what do you mean 'consumed'? People eat these things too?"

"Of course. Where do you think protein bars and protein gel came from?"

"Blech! Really?" Cheng exclaimed in disgust. He looked at his empty lunch box and realized the protein bar was now sitting securely in his stomach. "Riley, did you know that?" He asked, noting Riley and Jenkins' unfazed expressions. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I had an inkling, yeah. But I'm not entirely sure." Riley said with a shrug "Besides, food is food. I'm cool with it as long as it doesn't kill me."

With a sigh, Cheng dropped the subject and put his lunch box away. He appeared to be in deep thought, while the rest of the team finished their meal.

"So… we can take some of the parts home and sell them, right?" Cheng wondered after the team had finished lunch.

"Uh, sure. I guess." It was Riley's intention too, but he had forgotten to bring anything to put the parts in. And the thought of putting the dripping termite flesh inside his backpack made him uncomfortable.

"We can. But it doesn't mean we should." Mako chimed in. "It's a matter of price to weight ratio. The meat of worker and soldier termites, unprocessed, can sell for 25 RP per kilo. While that of termite warriors sells for a much better price, around 50RP per kilo."

Cheng began losing interest, as the money was pocket change for him. Riley, on the other hand, was intrigued.

"That's what the box is for, isn't it?" He nodded at the black icebox-sized object they had been carrying all this time. It seemed the thing was actually an ice box.

"Close. Actually, we struck gold this time. Termite warrior's poison glands are in quite high demands. An intact gland from a warrior this size would sell for anywhere from 700 to 900 RP."

"Wow!" Impressed, Cheng let out a whistle "That's pretty good! How'd you know all this stuff?"

"I told you guys about it the other day! The bounty page!" Mako replied with a meaningful look at Cheng and Riley.

Oh, right! The bounty page. Riley wanted to slap his own head. He had intended to browse through it last night, but the lack of sleep did him in.

In an effort to study the effects of the war on wildlife, and also to prepare for incoming threats, Arcology-1's authority encouraged citizen to turn in creatures that had not yet been categorized by the database.

New entries were rewarded with the so-called "Discovery bounties." For known creatures, there were "Part bounties." Creature parts that were deemed high priority, either for their usefulness or danger level, could be exchanged for credits. Besides the officially sanctioned bounties, parts could also be sold at the regular market or black market. An Armed Freelancer's earnings did not only come from the mission rewards, but also side jobs like this.

"It completely slipped my mind!" Riley smiled sheepishly and so did Cheng, while Mako just shook her head and chuckled.

"I know. I figured that when you geniuses both asked me what the box was for. Come on guys, bring the box. Cheng, bring your crowbar too."

She stood up and walked toward the nearest termite warrior, then beckoned for Riley and Cheng to come closer. She took out a small box from her pack and opened it, revealing a set of surgical knives.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then, isn't it?" She said with a grin, holding up a wicked-looking knife.

With practiced ease, Mako sliced at the joint between the carapace on the warrior's neck. Cheng approached and helped her pry the shell open with his crowbar. After one minute of rummaging within the creature's innards, Mako pulled out a small sack dripping with a brown-green liquid, put it into a small plastic bag and vacuum-sealed it. Riley opened the icebox, which had its own temperature regulator. Mako put the bag in, then they repeated the process two more times.

"Three intact poison glands. Pretty good haul huh?" Mako commented, taking off the bloody surgical gloves, while Riley and Cheng nodded.

"Then I guess that's one more reason for going through with the mission," Riley said.

"So, what do we have?" Riley and his team began listing what they had at their disposal.

Firearms:

- Two assault rifles (Riley's and Cheng's) with about 4000 rounds of ammo.

- One submachine gun (Mako's) with about 1000 rounds.

- One shotgun (Jenkins') with about 150 rounds of buckshot, slug, taser and incendiary shells.

- Four sidearms: 1 revolver (Cheng's) and 3 handguns.

- 3 melee weapons (Jenkins didn't bring one. Mako's eating knives and surgical knives didn't really count)

Ordnance:

- Two grenade launchers (Riley's and Cheng's) with 34 grenades: 19 WP rounds, 10 HE rounds and 5 Disruptor rounds

- 12 hand grenades of various types.

- 24 mines of various types. Can be activated remotely or by proximity.

Support gear

- 1 motion detector

- 1 hacking kit

Medical stuff

- 3 first aid kits

- 3 trauma kits

Miscellaneous

- 4 smart-pads.

"Is that all?" Riley asked after noting everything down.

"I've also got this." Mako held up a black object the size of a hand, with four small propellers. She flipped a switch on its side and put in on the ground.

"A drone." Riley smiled. This would make scouting a whole lot safer.

"Yep. Not the quietest type, though." Mako fiddled with her smart-pads and the drone whirred to life. Its propellers turning at full speed, it began hovering a meter above the ground. It was emitting a small but quite noticeable hum. Indeed, not the stealthiest scout.

"Its battery lasts two days, so there's no risk of it running dry on us," Mako said, landing the drone and powering it down. "That's it. That's all I've got!"

"Jenkins, mind showing me your pistol?" Riley asked Jenkins. The mousy man complied, drew his pistol and handed it to Riley.

"What the f*ck? An Arctic Hawk?" Cheng blurted out at the sight of the over-sized weapon.

Indeed, the pistol Jenkins was carrying was the Arctic Hawk autoloader in excellent condition. Chambered for the ridiculously powerful 12.7mm rounds, the gun was horribly unsuitable for its scrawny owner. No wonder Jenkins never fired it once during the mission.

"Yeah. It was a hand-me-down." Jenkins said with a tiny voice. Apparently, he was also aware of how ridiculous this weapon was. "And I've got some A.E. rounds too."

"What, seriously?" This time, even Riley was shocked. The 12.7mm "Arctic Express" was a proprietary cartridge designed only for the Arctic Hawk. Upon impact, the A.E. rounds were supposed to inject a mixture of various flash-freezing chemicals into its target. The mixture would instantly freeze any liquid it came into contact with. Used against a living target, the round would drastically reduce its mobility and might even kill it outright.

The problem was that it only would only work its magic after coming in contact with soft tissues. Against vehicles and armored targets, its poor armor-penetrating capability made the round next to useless. Against soft-armored creatures, it wouldn't even be needed as regular ammunition would do the job just fine. The round had such overly-specialized use that it couldn't fit any role in combat.

Along with the heavy, low capacity gun it was built exclusively for, the A.E. round had been a laughing stock in the firearm enthusiast community for centuries.

"I've got 50 A.E. rounds in mint condition."

"Okay." Riley nodded. "Let's see how we can get a use out of them."