Crashlanded Phoenix

Object C-04 "Rex"
HIM Phoenix Crash Site and Jungle

I walked back in the direction of my crash site camp with a big smile of pride on my face after having killed an insectoid with a simple bow and arrow, which I now held in my left hand. Full of energy, I began humming a happy melody as I switched from walking to marching through the jungle. I held tightly onto my rightful prize and the humming soon turned into outright whistling as nothing could ruin such a great moment like this! Hell, even my working arms felt almost like from before the crash!

Yet soon I began to feel a strange presence as if something was observing my triumphant march. I stopped my marching and whistling then looked around me. "Nothing but trees, vines and bushes...eh it's probably just some bird," I dismissed my worries with shrug and adjusted the carcass on my back, causing more blood to flow down my back from the long stomach cut and resumed my march while whistling a different melody to fight against the silence of the thicket. Though, I still couldn't shake off that feeling, no matter how much I pushed it into the back of my mind...

My small camp looked exactly the way that I left it this morning and upon returning I was met with distant chirping of a bird coming from somewhere above me. I stopped whistling to myself and let it take over the task of making ear pleasing ambient sounds as I got to work on this carcass. I stopped by my pile of vines and left my bow beside the brown vine pile then separated the metal piece from the arrow shaft and put it between my teeth. I grabbed a pair of long green vines and made my way over to a tree with a sufficiently thick branch that wasn't too close to the ground and tossed my insect over it.

Already I could feel myself salivating at the thought of eating something that wasn't just mushrooms or bland nutrient bars and began to carefully tie the vines around the hindlegs of the insectoid. Once done I tied the vines to the branch itself and let the corpse hang upside down from the it. I took the cutting tool out of my mouth and used it to shorten the vines after I was done with the hanging then got on my knee and examined the throat. The chitin there looked thicker, but I was still able to cut it open and let the blood slowly drain out of it. I stood up and put my piece of metal aside then readied myself to expand the stomach opening with my hands. I slid my hands in and-...Did I just hear growling?

My hands slid out of the inside of the body and I began to turn around in the direction of the growling, but I didn't get the chance to get halfway there when I felt something bite down on the ruined end of my tail. "What the!-" I rapidly turned my head to look at the creature assaulting me and what my eyes saw has shocked me. "What kind of construct is that?!" I shouted after witnessing that the supposed animal that chomped me was actually some sort of a wooden wolf. With little time to think I slammed the monster against the tree with a quick spin, which freed my already battered tail, then quickly took a few steps back to back away from the beast.

It recovered almost immediately after I had gained some distance and stared at me with its green, glowing eyes. I kept my sight on it as it began to slowly circle around me, presumably waiting for an opportunity to strike at me. Well, I wasn't going to give it one, not if I had something to say about it. I raised my two functional arms, curled my hands into fists and felt the servos in my exoskeleton rev up as I readied myself for my first proper fight in a long time. The wolf in front of me saw that I wasn't going to give up and growled at me while showing off its sharp teeth.

I prepared for the lunge that I was sure would come from the wolf and took a step forward. "CHOMP" WHAT TH-!? Something bit my tail again! I briefly looked behind me and saw another wolf that looked exactly the same! It looked back at me with its eyes an- "THUD" Out of nowhere I found myself ON THE FUCKING GROUND WITH THAT FIRST BLOODY BASTARD USING MY FACE AS A CHEWING TOY! I will NOT let some firewood push me around! I screamed loudly, partially from the pain but primarily from the anger and subsequent battlelust that flooded my mind.

My synthetic hand struck the face chewer in the side and sent it flying away from me. I heard a loud thud while I was grabbing hold of the other wolf with my hands. I forcefully pulled it off my tail and held it by the throat as it tried to claw at me. I stood up, blood flowing down my face, and threw the second bastard at the first wolf that had just stood up and was now struck down again. "THAT'S WHAT YOU FUCKING GET!" I screamed at the wolves in a show of dominance, yet it seems they weren't going to give up right now, as they swiftly got up without any signs of damage.
Not wanting to give them any quarter, I rushed at the pair of wood wolves with all the strength in my legs. Meanwhile they did the same, they charged and lunged at me in an attempt to overwhelm me. My synthetic arm coiled back and I threw a mighty uppercut at one of the wolves, which sent it flying a small distance away and caused its jaw to visibly splinter. By now I was beyond pissed and I grabbed the other lunging wolf mid-air with my other hand to exact my revenge on it for treating my face like a chewing toy.

I didn't stop running even after grabbing the wolf with my blood on its teeth and it kept clawing away at my arm, tearing chunks of flesh off and scratching at my exoskeleton. Blood poured out of my wounds, but the pain only drove me to further rage as I slammed the wolf against a thick jungle tree. I heard it whimper from the impact, I grinned and began bashing the wolf's head against the tree bark. "YOU. THUD. FUCKING. THUD. PIECE. THUD. OF. THUD. SHIT!"

It's head and body began to crack under my relentless assault which left a deep imprint in the tree, yet no matter how much it whimpered, no matter how many splinters ended up in my hand, no matter how much its movements faltered, I wasn't giving up. The tree shook every time I slammed my assailant against it, while I kept on screaming in anger. Then the wolf's head shattered, sending pieces of wood in all directions. Its body fell limp to the ground as I let go of it.

I heard something behind myself once more, my body did a sharp 180° turn as I was still riled up and this time unwilling to be surprised by another one of these walking logs. My eyes shot wide as I witnessed what was happening. "LEAVE MY DAMN FOOD ALONE!" I screamed at what I presumed to be a third wolf, which was currently gnawing and pulling at my insectoid! My feet took me to it as swiftly as the wind and I dropkicked the bastard in an attempt to save my precious flesh.

I got up from the ground and seized the momentum, before it had a chance to recover. Kneeling over it, I began bashing its head in with my fists in a fit of battle fury. Its eyes lost their glow, yet I didn't give up my assault. My hands firmly grasped its head and began to pull and twist and jerk it, until they ripped the head clean off from the remainder of the wolf's body. I stared down the lifeless body part and tossed it away to the side after a few seconds. My fleshy arm was still bleeding, but the pace at which it bled was far slower and those claw wounds showed signs of healing.

I was going to lay down and relax, but then I heard whimpering....the whimpering of the last surviving wolf. My head was full of angry thoughts, so I turned in the direction of the pained noises and began calmly, yet firmly walking towards the limping tree pest that probably thought that it could escape my wrath and its fate. Once in range of my arm, I grasped its limping leg and raised the construct into the air, which resulted in a pained yelp from my assailant.

It didn't fight back or otherwise resist while mid-air, so I calmly grabbed its head and brought it up to face level. My face was partially covered in my own blood, which now found itself on the wolf's "face" as I spat on it. The servomotors of my exoskeleton whirred to life the moment my hands began applying pressure to the monster's head. I kept staring at it with a stern expression, as the timber of its head began to crack. It didn't react other than letting out sounds of pain, perhaps it accepted its fate. Mere seconds later, the head gave in, the body fell to the ground while I laid down. My breathing slowed down, my thoughts became clearer and the rage subsided. I was no longer fighting...

Feldleutnant Flügel
Everfree Infiltrator Camp

I stood at the outskirts of the encampment, away from my underlings and their constant chatter, and lit up one of my last cigarettes. I couldn't stop thinking about...him, I couldn't think about anything else to the point of me being unable to write a journal entry today... I put the cigarette into my mouth and inhaled then exhaled a few seconds later, letting a big smoke cloud out. At least this took my mind off of it...

I turned around and looked at the group of infiltrators huddled around their extinguished campfire from afar. They looked happy, almost oblivious to the fact that we were in the middle of a death trap... I should have them doing drills, maintaining equipment or looking for more supplies close by, but I couldn't bring myself to drag them out of their happy place. I sighed to myself and threw the half-smoked cigarette away then returned to my tent.

I left the flap to my tent wide open upon entering and sat down at my desk upon which was my journal. I picked up the pen that laid beside it then slowly opened it. I flipped through pages upon pages of entries, reports, random thoughts and other things I wrote down until I arrived at a blank page. I opened my pen, checked the ink and began to write.

"18.06.1012
Commanding Officer: Feldleutnant Flügel
Location: Everfree Forest

Day 137 of our infiltration expedition in the Everfree, still with nothing worth mentioning or even bringing back. Supplies as always are becoming scarcer with every day, but it seems like the rookies deployed under me do not seem to mind their situation that much. Perhaps they are good at hiding their worries...I am considering giving our troops an order to prepare for a march out of the Everfree now that we are reaching our limits. Yesterday I've sent one of the fresh infiltrators to investigate some sort of crash in the forest..,"

I stopped writing and put my pen down. Something didn't feel right to me. Shouldn't he be back by now? It shouldn't be taking him this long to get back here... Maybe something attacked him on the way? No no no...he would have ran away if that were the case... I tried to reassure myself that everything is fine and that perhaps he's just taking a bit longer because he's careful. Still...I felt an odd itch in the back of my mind that wouldn't stop...

I got up from my desk with a sunken head and thoughts full of questions. Have I sent this poor changeling to his death? Have I failed to protect everyone here in this camp? And if that's the case...could I still turn things around? Maybe he's just lost... Gah, I don't know... I have to send someone.. there's no other way to find out and waiting won't help if he's in danger.. I turned around and left my tent. Turning my sight to the campfire, I noticed that only two infiltrators were sitting by it the moment. I breathed in and shouted. "4, 9, GET UP AND COME HERE RIGHT NOW!"

The aforementioned infiltrators shot up from the ground and speedily trotted over to me. They stopped in front of me and formed a rank while standing at attention.
"Yes, Feldleutnant?" They asked in unison.
"I have a task for you two," I said after clearing my throat. "I need you two to venture out into the Everfree," They turned their heads to the forest, looking exactly at the spot through which their comrade left yesterday.
The changeling on the left, 4, turned his face back to me and spoke. "Is this about 8?"
I just nodded in response.
"Shouldn't we wait a bit longer, sir?" Spoke 9.
I shook my head. "The longer we wait....the more nervous I get," I turned my eyes towards the forest. "I need him back here in one piece."
The two changelings remained silent for a second then saluted.
"We'll find him," Said 4 and the duo ran into the Everfree, following 8's path.

Object C-04 "Rex"
HIM Phoenix Crash Site

"I wasn't in a fight anymore....I am alone..." I said to myself out loud as I laid on the ground after defending myself. I don't know how much time had passed, maybe half an hour... maybe longer, it just seemed to fly by at the moment. I slowly sat up with my head lowered towards the ground. I haven't fought like this in a very long time and it felt good to know that I still had the warrior within me, despite the time I spent in the Arctic. I turned my sight to the battered remains of the wood creature beside me and cracked a smile.

I raised my arms and looked at them, focusing on my upper right arm. Chunks of flesh were torn off by the claws, but at least the bleeding had stopped. Same could be said about the part of my face that experienced the surprisingly sharp teeth of one of them. Now something else bothered me, how could they have been able to wound me? Why didn't my subdermal armour work? I doubt my nanobots are malfunctioning... but what if? The frame of my exoskeleton was slightly scratched, but nothing notable aside from that, so I stood up.

I turned to the closest defeated foe and scratched my chin. "Maybe I could light a fire with those, wood looks dry enough." I grasped the remains by the head with my synthetic hand and lifted it up...only to have it all fall apart. "Hmm, whatever held these together was now gone.." I said to myself while scooping the pieces of wood up and putting them down on a pile close to the hanging insectoid. I did the same with the other wolves and by the time I was done I had a rather nice amount of wood.

I returned to my green-blooded hanging meal and gave it a quick look. Luckily the body wasn't damaged much, most of it was limited to the head and front hooves, but I couldn't care less about those bits. I shoved my hands back inside the carcass then removed all the bits and pieces I wouldn't eat, leaving only fresh meat ready for preparation. I retrieved my chunk of metal and kneeled by the head of the insect. "I wouldn't mind a trophy to bring home." With one swift swoop, the horn was separated from its head and was now in my possession. "Maybe the scientists will learn more about you thanks to this."

Over the course of a few hours, I gathered some rocks after looking around a bit more and placed them in a small circle. Using my hands, I dug a hole inside the rock circle and tossed some monster wood in there. I got on my knees in front of it and held my pointing finger of the cybernetic arm close to the piled up wood. "Here goes nothing..," I focused and soon I felt my finger reassemble itself into a lighter and spew fire on the wood. "Haha! It fucking works!" My happiness was quick cut short as the fire went out and the finger went back to normal. "Aww, damn it."

I watched as the logs quickly caught on fire, much faster than they should have actually now that I think about it. The flame wasn't a normal red either, it had a slightly green hue to it. I shrugged my concerns off and went back to the insectoid once more while the campfire burned. I broke a sturdy, pointy branch off and sliced a handful of meat out of its body, then stuck it on the pointy branch and sat down by the campfire while holding the meat slightly above the flames, letting it cook.