Razor opened his eyes and realized he was still in his cockpit.
"I'm- I'm alive!"
"Welcome back, Pilot."
As he took stock of his limbs and organs he realized that he was no longer on Demeter. He was in a forest and it was the middle of the night. he spun his titan around to get his bearings and noticed scattered pieces of the Arc's containment structure.
"Are you kidding me? Where's the arc?"
"I don't understand what you mean, Pilot."
"Data, I'm looking around but I can't see it anywhere. Is it showing up on your scans?"
"Pilot, I assure you the arc is right here."
Razor couldn't understand what Data was saying but all of sudden Razor felt a large vibration and heard the crashing of trees.
"Several hostile Titans detected."
"Guess there's still work to do."
Razor grabbed his R-301 from behind his pilot's seat and disembarked. Razor needed more information about what exactly had happened and where he was but Data's movements would alert the enemy so Razor would scout on foot.
"Data, engage guard mode. Remain undetected."
"Understood Pilot. Guard mode engaged. Sword is ready."
As Razor watched his titan draw one of its two primary weapons, the arc blade, Razor noticed something strange. Data's hull was originally grey with red accents, at Razor's request, but now, Razor could see that both the hull and the arc blade had changed colors to a dark swirling black. Razor had to squint to differentiate any lines on the hull. It was almost as if the metal itself was alive, and eating the actual light that touched its surface. Razor stood for a minute in awe and curiosity at the sudden change. Razor would add it to the list of questions that needed to be answered but first, Razor needed to investigate the immediate threat.
Razor turned away from his titan and begin his trek through the forest in search of the enemy titans. As Razor walked through the forest he spotted an area of splintered tree stumps and fallen trees. He crouched down and began to survey the area. Razor closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, his vision had changed. He knew he could not use his bionics too much but they were indisputably useful. Using his electronic eye, he scanned the ground and trees for hints and clues, and from the tracks, he could differentiate at least 3 titans and at least a dozen grunts. Razor got up and blinked twice to restore his normal vision.
They've been through here.
Razor, now having caught their trail, was about to get moving again when he heard a blood-curdling scream, followed by cannon fire. He could recognize the metallic click of a 40mm anywhere. Razor sprinted in the direction of the activity quickly followed after the group. Soon he reached a clearing, and there in the open field were three enemy titans and 9 riflemen facing off against a giant... tree?
Razor blinked and reassessed the situation because he could not believe his eyes.
The tree was alive. it had a huge mouth and one eye on its trunk. Its branches moved like tentacles reaching out and snatching soldiers as they ran and ducked for cover. The 3 titans were attempting to fight back but it seemed as though any foliage the burnt, exploded, or shot away were regrown soon after.
"Data are you seeing this?"
"Affirmative Pilot. Moving to your location."
Razor gritted his teeth as he watched the living tree swing its massive branch into a titan knocking its 40mm tracking cannon out of its hands while another tentacle-like branch grabbed and began to strangle another rifleman, crushing him to death. One of the tone titans fired a tracker missile at the tree destroying most of its branches and burning its trunk. The creature let out a roar of defiance and suddenly a branch shot out from the tree like lightning and pierced straight into the metal skin of the cockpit hatch, through the defenseless pilot sitting inside, and out the other side before tossing the titan into the woods, right at Razor.
"Oh sh- shit! SHIIIT!"
Razor ran away from the bushes he had been hiding in in an attempt to dodge but he couldn't get far enough away to avoid the impending death. At the last second his titan materialized seemingly out of thin air and slashed through the wrecked titan causing it to explode in midair.
Razor stopped, turned around, and cleared his throat with a cough.
"I was wonder when you were going to get here," he sighed in relief.
Suddenly the tree roared again, this time in their direction.
"I guess it's caught wind of us."
Data reached out a hand and Razor complied as he was lifted into his cockpit.
As the creature turned towards Data, Razor had to decide which sword was best to use. He remembered the creature's disdain for fire and realized it was obvious. It may be a living tree, but it was still just a tree.
"Data, I'm drawing the hot blade."
"Copy that, diverting power to hot blade now."
Once again, Razor felt the adrenaline rush that came from the anticipation of watching the metal surface begin to glow.
"lets do this!"
Razor pushed Data forward, sword ready to cut down the stupid tree. the creature let out a screech and shot out a branch to skewer the approaching titan but after watch the beast take out the IMC troops Razor knew exactly how to evade its relatively low intelligence attacks. Right before the branch could penetrate Razor put his titan in phase, closed the distance with the massive tree, and came out swinging. The massive sword caught the surprised foliage right at eye level and cut straight through, burning all the way. Razor turned around and surveyed the damage he'd caused. Just as Razor had thought, the heat of the blade had a cauterizing effect, preventing the now downed tree from restoring itself where it was severed.
Razor stood above the creature and brought down the sword on the thick trunk. Though crippled and dying, the creature continued to fight back, swinging its wilting branches weakly.
"Data, increase power to the hot blade."
"Warning, power consumption is greatly increased above 50% power."
"I know that."
"Pilot consent confirmed. Increasing power."
With a flash of heat, the writhing tree instantly caught fire and burned down to ash.
"Alright cut power to the hot blade."
"Copy that. Sword sheathed."
Razor looked over the charred remains of the strange tree thing as his questions grew.
"Data, What is that thing?"
Razor watched as Data scanned the organism and frowned when the results were shown inside HUD.
"There are no records of any organism like this on the frontier."
"On the frontier? Wait, if nothing like this exists on the frontier then Data... where are we?"
____________
"So... let's get some basic facts straight," Razor said as he sat on top of Data's chassis and took off his helmet. He scratched the light stubble that tickled his jawline took a deep breath of the fresh forest air before continuing.
"We aren't on the frontier anymore, are we."
"That is the likely conclusion based on our observations."
"...and we don't have contact with any militia forces, right?"
"Affirmative. We no longer have any communications with any factions on the frontier."
"...and the arc's location?"
"Pilot, I ran a diagnostic check on my systems after you left to investigate and found an anomaly in my software and hardware."
Razor raised an eyebrow as the gears began to turn in his head. "So what are you saying?"
"Pilot, I believe this chassis has fused in some way with the arc."
"Fused..." Razor stared off into the distance, deep in thought. "I guess that would explain the visual difference but I wonder what that would affect."
Razor looked over his titan once more full of curiosity.
"Further analysis is required but my protocols remain in effect. We should move to find evidence of human settlement."
"Right right," Razor snapped out of his stupor and put back on his helmet. "I'm going to find a tall tree to climb and look around."
Razor find a decently sized tree and quickly climbed it until he could see above the tops of other trees. From his vantage point he could see forest, forest, more forest, and... A HOUSE! and beyond that, Civilization!
Razor looked at his in-HUD compass and noted the direction. Then, using his electronic eye, he calculated the distance at 4 kilometers to the west. He recorded the distance and direction and sent the data to his titan.
"Data, I found some signs of humanity due west."
"Copy that Pilot. coordinates received."
Razor jumped off the top branch and let himself fall to the ground, activating his boost kit right before he landed to break his fall. He climbed into his cockpit and grinned as the hatch closed on him.
"Let's go find some answers."