Arc Rock Ballad

​(Verse 1) We used to drop beneath the neon sky With open comms and a friendly hi Back when the danger was just the machine And the hills were rolling, lush and green. We hunted for the residue, the shine Shoulder to shoulder, your loot was mine We were sticky-fingered children in a digital loop Just a happy family... chasing the goop. ​(Chorus) But the wind blows cold in the extraction zone And I’m sitting at the campfire all alone. Oh, we used to be brothers, bound by the slime But friendship is a relic of an older time. Yeah, the hearts turned hard and the blood ran dark Now there’s no more love left in the ARC. No more goop lovers, just the empty hurt Of a thousand greedy mercs face-down in the dirt. ​(Verse 2) I remember the day that the signal changed When the friendly waves became estranged. I did the crouch-check, the universal sign But you put a bullet in this chest of mine. We stopped looking up at the drones overhead And started watching each other’s backs instead. The Speros we gather doesn't shine the same When it’s washed in the guilt of a traitor’s game. ​(Bridge) And the machines still roar, and the rockets still fly But the silence on the radio makes me want to cry. It wasn’t the robots that tore us apart It was the greed growing slowly in the raider’s heart. We traded the sticky embrace of the crew For a cold steel barrel and a better view. ​(Guitar Solo - Slow, bluesy, and mournful) ​(Chorus) 'Cause the wind blows cold in the extraction zone And I’m checking my corners, patrolling alone. Oh, we used to be brothers, bound by the slime But trusting a stranger is a fatal crime. Yeah, the hearts turned hard and the blood ran dark Now there’s no more love left in the ARC. No more goop lovers, just the empty hurt Of a thousand greedy mercs face-down in the dirt. ​(Outro) So I pack my bag and I call the ride With a hollow feeling deep inside. I miss the laughter. I miss the group. God help me... I really miss the goop. ​(Final chord rings out and fades into the sound of a distant gunshot)