Gator ran and jumped along the ruined buildings of Ephyra City, he had decided to leave the four-man Squad he had seen kill that armoured creature, to hunt for other Prey in the city and perhaps investigate more about what had the Humans so concerned about nightfall.

Gator ran across a crumbling rooftop and then jumped across a wide gap, passing through a gaping hole in the wall and rolling along the dusty floor of the inside of a room, Gator continued on through the abandoned room, Gator then threw his shoulder against the wooden door and smashed it to splinters as he then ran down the hall.

He continued to run and then jumped through a window, shattering the glass as he flew through the air and landed on top of a car, denting the roof of the car inward before he jumped off the crumpled derelict and landed on the street, he then ran down the street only to stop as he felt the ground shake slightly and heard rumbling.

He looked around and jumped at the side of a building before climbing up the side toward the roof, he gripped the edge and hoisted himself up onto the roof before making his way toward the sounds to see what was making all this noise, and if it may be worthy prey.

Gator kept going until he stopped on top of a building and then activated his cloaking system, he then crouched down and watched as a large, Spider-like creature dig up from the ground and roar loudly before it slammed the tips of it's long limbs into the ground and then retreated back underground.

Gator then heard voices and saw those four Humans from before on the street below and a pack of Locust came from from the tunnel, Gator watched the fight silently as the four man Squad quickly killed off the Locust, but then as they were crossing the nearby Bridge, an Emergence Hole opened up and more of the Locust attacked them.

Gator silently observed the fight from the rooftop, watching the Squad as they killed Drones and Wretches, with how well these ones fight, perhaps they would make worthy Trophies as well?

"Yo! Santiago! What do you COG assholes thing your doin' here?!" Gator heard someone shout, he looked over and saw another, unarmoured Male Human had confronted the four, pointing a Gnasher Shotgun at them.

"Woah, Franklin, relax! It's me, Dom, man!" Dom said to him as the others all aimed their Lancers at the Stranded man, ready to take him down if he dared to take a shot at any of them.

"Like I give a damn! After your COG buddies roll in and take everything over, now you wanna snatch more from me?!" Franklin shouted as he looked at them all angrily.

"Woah, hold on a minute, what're you talking about?" Dom asked him, sounding very confused, along with the other three members of the Squad.

"You don't know? A bunch of your COG asshole friends came rollin' in here, they took over our place and made everyone leave on your vehicles, now it's just me here, man" Franklin said to Dom as he lowered his weapon, seeming to believe that Dom and the others had nothing to do with his people being taken away.

"Sounds like they were evacuated to me, might have done you good to go with 'em?" Baird said to him flippantly, his distaste for the Stranded very apparent.

"No, this ain't evacuation, man! This is an occupation! Those Black armoured COG goons came in, took all our guns and ammo, then packed everyone up and sent 'em away somewhere!" Franklin said loudly as he jabbed a finger at Baird, who scowled at the Stranded Leader, before Cole stepped in-between him and the man.

"Black Armoured? Sounds like the Onyx Guard" Cole said in confusion as he looked over at Baird with a raised brow.

"Bull shit, why would the Onyx Guard come here to occupy a Stranded camp?" Baird said dismissively, thinking that the Stranded was just high or making shit up to cause trouble.

"Ask 'em yourself! They're right around the corner, shootin' at anything that get's close!" Franklin said to them as he pointed at the way to said Settlement.

"Alright, let's check this out..." Marcus said to the other four men, they then walked through the street and as they rounded the corner to the entrance of the Settlement, they were suddenly caught in a hail of bullets!

"Hold your fire, we're Gears! GEARS!!" Fenix shouted out loudly over the sound of Lancers emptying all of the bullets in their clips at them.

"Hold fire! Who are you and what's your business here?" asked a Black armoured Soldier as the gunfire stopped, and Delta saw several more men and women guarding the wall and entrance of the settlement.

"I'm Sergeant Fenix, this is Dom, Baird and Cole, we're Delta Squad, we came here searching for a vehicle to deliver this Resonator to the Lethis Imulsion Facility" Marcus said to the man on the wall, as he motioned to the Resonator Device which was attached to Cole's back.

"That has nothing to do with us, this settlement has been commandeered for a classified COG Operation" the Onyx Guard replied to Marcus seriously, dismissing the Squad's explanation.

"A classified operation? What the hell are you talking about?" Dom asked them with a frown on his face.

"They are talking about the operation I'm running" said an Onyx Guard with dirty blonde hair and a moustache as the gate to the Settlement opened and he walked out with two other members of the Onyx Guard.

"Captain Keyes..." Baird said in surprise, Cole also looked surprised at the sight of this man for some reason.

"Hello again, Private Baird, it's surprising that your still alive, probably thanks to your friend there, no doubt" Captain Keyes said as he regarded Baird and Cole, it seemed like they knew each other from somewhere.

"Enough! Listen, we're looking to pass through and get hold of a vehicle, we have to reach the-" Marcus said, betting in front of them to speak directly with Keyes.

"Stop, listen, I understand that Colonel Hoffman's got you all running around fighting the Locust, but we're here on orders from the Chairman, and he says that no one is allowed to come in here and interfere, you and your Squad? You'll just get in the way" Keyes said to Marcus seriously, before he and the two Onyx Guard with him turned around and went back into the occupied Settlement, leaving the four Gears outside, Marcus groaned and made a call.

"Control, this is Delta, we've hit an unexpected delay, we'll have to find an alternate route, please advise" Marcus said as he had his fingers up to his earpiece, looking and sounding very annoyed with this unexpected delay in their mission.

"Confirm, Delta, your delayed? What happened?" Anya asked over the earpiece.

"We just had a run-in with the Onyx Guard, they've occupied a Stranded Settlement and are refusing us access, said they were here on orders from the Chairman of the COG" Marcus replied to her, but he noticed that Baird and Cole were talking to each other quietly.

"The Onyx Guard? What in Sam hell are they doing in Ephyra?" Hoffman suddenly asked over the earpiece, not sounding happy about this interference.

"No idea, sir, but they are refusing to allow us to pass through" Marcus said to him and Anya through the earpiece, looking very annoyed about the situation and hoping for an easy way to resolve this situation.

COALITION HIGH COMMAND

At the C.O.G High Command, Colonel Victor Hoffman was stood with Anya Stroud and he was not happy... what the hell was the Chairman doing jeopardising this mission against the Locust?!

"Stand by, Delta, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this..." Colonel Hoffman said to Delta, before he looked to Anya and was about to leave and get his answers when Anya seemed to get a new notification.

"Colonel Hoffman, Sir, you have a call coming in on a private channel" Anya said as she looked back to the older man.

"Who is the caller I.D?" Hoffman asked the blonde haired woman, raising a brow since he had a faint idea on who the caller may be.

"Chairman Prescott, sir" Anya answered him, Hoffman scoffed to himself as his suspicion was confirmed, he then answered the call as Anya stayed quiet to hear what may be a development in the Operation.

"Chairman Prescott, could you explain to me why your Onyx Guard are interfering with Delta Squad's mission?" Hoffman asked the man on the screen, showing proper military manners with his superior.

"Colonel Hoffman, it has come to my attention that a Squad of your Gears have arrived outside of a settlement my Onyx Guard have commandeered for a rather important mission, care to explain yourself?" the Chairman asked seriously as he seemed to be typing into another console in his Office over the video call.

"Mission? Your hosting a personal mission now, of all times, we're already stretched thin with this Operation!" Hoffman argues back to the Chairman in disbelief, while Anya stayed quiet and listened to what was being said carefully.

"Yes, I am well aware of the ongoing battles against the Locust, however, this assignment takes priority over all, as such, I will need you to tell your Squad to find an alternate route to their objective" Prescott replied to him seriously, as he continued to type into his console, likely issuing his orders to said men.

Anya was surprised though, the Chairman was deploying the Onyx Guard to Ephyra City, what for? The Onyx Guard were the Elite of the COG forces, who worked directly under the Chairman, they weren't deployed unless it was a serious situation, the last time they had been seen in force was the Destruction of Halvo Bay.

"You have to be joking me, sir, what mission is so important that I have to divert assets from Operation Lightmass Offensive, to help you out?" Hoffman asked the Chairman with a serious frown on his face, angry that the Chairman was suddenly jeopardising the success of the Lightmass bombing, and striking a decisive blow against the Locust.

"It's a Code Black situation, Colonel" Chairman Prescott said as he stopped typing and looked to Hoffman seriously, Anya was confused, but when she looked back to the Colonel, he looked surprised but also... not, for some reason?

"I see, so... another one's been sighted?" Hoffman asked the Chairman, now very serious.

"There have been no sightings, but the evidence is there... I understand your Delta Team also stumbled across such evidence of one of them, if there is one here, I plan to have my Onyx Guard track it down and capture it, whatever the cost may be" Prescott said to him as he steepled his fingers together, a serious look on his face as he looked to someone else who was in the room with him.

"Even the extinction of all mankind, Chairman?" Hoffman asked him seriously, as the Chairman was handed a document, he read it over with a serious face before he nodded his head, signed the paper and handed it back.

"It won't come to that, Colonel, I'll expect your Gears to follow orders and stay clear of my Operation, understood?" Prescott said to him as he resumed typing on his console in his office.

"Yes sir!" Hoffman replied to him, though he didn't sound happy about it, the Chairman then ended the call and the Colonel sighed to himself and cursed under his breath, this had Anya concerned now.

"Anya, tell Delta to find another way to reach the Lethis Imulsion Facility, but they are to remain away from that settlement, and the Onyx Guard" Colonel Hoffman said to Anya seriously, with a look like... he was haunted.

"Yes, sir, right away" Anya said to him before the older man turned and walked away, Anya then went to contact Marcus and his Squad with the Colonel's orders, though... she was now worried, what could have come up that the Chairman would send the Onyx Guard into Ephyra at Night?

BACK IN EPHYRA, WITH DELTA SQUAD

"Delta, this is Control, I'm sorry Marcus but you'll have to find an alternative way to reach the Facility, the Chairman's insistent on having this operation remain uninterrupted" Anya said to Marcus over the comm unit, the other three men in Delta Squad also heard this and looked angry about being denied by Control as well.

"What the hell's more important than striking a blow against the Locust?!" Marcus exclaimed, pissed off about the entire situation now.

"From what I heard... the Chairman called it a Code Black situation" Anya whispered to Marcus quietly.

"Code Black?" Marcus asked in confusion, though he noticed that Baird and Cole seemed concerned by those words for some reason.

"I'm sorry Marcus, there's no alternative routes I can see that will get you into the Imulsion Facility before dawn" Anya said to him over the earpiece, sounding very regretful and frustrated herself over the situation.

"Wait, Franklin, you still got that Junker of yours?" Dom asked as he looked to his friend, who was sat on an old bench close by to them as they walked back around close to the shot up bridge.

"What? Yeah, I do, so what?" Franklin said to him as he threw away a cigarette he was smoking and stood back up to talk with Dom.

"Then let's get it and get out of here, you can come with, we can get you out of the city" Dom said to Franklin, being serious with the Stranded man as the rets of Delta Squad watched on.

"What? Be real, man! That Junker's the only thing I got left, and you wanna take that from me to?!" Franklin said angrily, causing Marcus, Cole and Baird to cock their guns to show that he shouldn't even dare try to do anything stupid.

"We're offering you a chance to get out of here before the Kryll swarm out, since those jackasses took your home, you got anywhere else to go where the Kryll can't get you?" Dom said to him in annoyance, the fact that the Stranded didn't trust or like the C.O.G was well known, but the fact that this idiot was trying to argue against going with them and staying in a Kryll infested City at night time, really made the four Gears question if they should bother taking him along now.

"Alright... alright, man, the Junker's at Chap's Gas Station, I can get you there, but this does not mean I'm joinin' the COG, you get me, Santiago?" Franklin said to him, giving up his facade in place of surviving to live another damn day.

"Yeah, I get you man, c'mon, let's go" Dom said to him with some sympathy, feeling bad that his good friend had lost pretty much everything he's scraped together because of the Onyx Guard's meddling.

"Being led around by a goddamned Stranded... just great" Baird complained before the four Gears followed Franklin away from the former Stranded Settlement, however... above the five men was Gator, who was crouched down and watched them leave, clicking his mandibles under his Bio Mask as he turned his attention to the Human Camp.

Gator zoomed in on one of these "Onyx Guard" that he saw patrolling the wall and started to scan the Elite Human Soldier, scanning the Armour and Weaponry that they carried, and also taking the time to see how many Human Warriors were currently in this fortified settlement.

Gator saw that the Humans were setting up turrets and further fortifying the Settlement against Locust attacks, Gator then looked up as he heard the sound of blades whirring through the air rapidly, he saw a Black painted King Raven fly over the Settlement and drop off a metal pod, which then opened up to reveal a new machine.

Gator zoomed in on this new Machine and saw one of the Onyx Guard climb inside of it and it activated, it seemed to be a small, one-manned exo-suit that was piloted by a Human, it also had armour plating, thick Armoured Shields on it's legs and was armed with some heavy weaponry, one was a rapid fire chain gun which Humans called a Mulcher, and it was also armed with a Heavy Rocket Launcher.

"Hell yeah, a Silverback! This'll really show those Locust they aren't welcome here!" one of the Onyx Guard said, Gator listening in on their conversation as the driver of the Silverback piloted the exo-suit to a position within the compound.

"It'll be useful, but I get the feeling we're going against something far more dangerous than just a bunch or regular Grubs" said another of the Onyx Guard who were stood beside him.

"What? Like, General Raam?" the first man asked the second curiously, sounding a little nervous, Gator only grew more interested in this General Raam as he heard how formidable he seemed to be, and saw him in action himself earlier, though... he didn't get his hopes too high, since what Humans considered dangerous wasn't always a challenge.

"Maybe, either way, we should get back, Captain Keyes is preparing to move out" the second Onyx Guard said before the two walked over toward the one commanding these Elite Humans, Gator zoomed in on the man in question.

"You men have your orders, I want this place set up and ready by the time I return, no Locust interference and no screw ups!" the Captain said out loudly to the men who were working and standing at attention, Gator counted them and so far he saw that there were twenty-five of these Elite Human Soldiers.

"Twenty five Human Warriors to hunt and kill... they will make worthy prey" Gator said to himself as he observed the Humans from the rooftop, using his cloak to remain out of sight and observe the Humans while he planned his attack.

"You two, with me, we're returning to the primary Base in East Barricade Academy, move out!" Captain Keyes said to the two men who spoke earlier, both men nodded and followed him to an open space in the middle of the Settlement.

Gator heard the sound of whirring blades and saw a Black King Raven fly over the open space and slowly lower itself down, landing but the blades still spun as it just landed for a quick pick up, Keyes and his two Soldiers quickly boarded the Raven and it took off, planning to leave the city fast before night fell.

"The Humans seem to wish to avoid walking this city when it's dark, perhaps I will know if I observe these Humans more? Or watch the environment" Gator said as he watched the King Raven close it's doors and take off from the Base Camp, flying over the city as speed to try and outrun the setting sun.

"Alright, you heard the Captain! We need to work hard and get this Base operational, get to work and watch out for Locust!" said one of the Onyx Guard, whose Black armour was marred by a scar of discoloured metal, looking to have been made by claws or fangs.

Gator clicked his Mandibles in anticipation of facing off against the Elite among Humans and claiming worthy Trophies, he then jumped over the span of the street and landed on a roof top on the opposite street, slowly stalking along the edge of the building and observing the Humans, also being very careful to not step on crumbling stone.

"The sun is beginning to set!" one of the remaining Onyx Guard called out as they looked toward the tops of the buildings, Gator saw the last bits of sunlight disappear and be replaced with darkness.

Gator watched closely to see what this potential threat could be, his Bio-Mask scanning the area before he started to hear a chittering and flapping sound, followed by loud shrieks as swarms of small, dark creatures flew out of the buildings and holes, swarming in the sky like flocks of Starlings, Gator's eyes went wide and his mandibles flared under his mask at the sight.

"Quickly get the lights on! And prepare the UV Floodlights!" the Hunter heard the Humans say urgently, before lights were turned on around the perimeter of the walls, and floodlights were turned on, Gator heard the small creatures shriek as the light seemed to burn their flesh, several of them bursting into flames and falling from the air to the ground.

(These things are sensitive to UV Radiation... this is useful information if I encounter them again) Gator thought to himself as he jumped from the rooftop, landing on the back of a rusted car and caving in the roof with a loud bang.

"What was that?!" one of the Onyx Guard said as one of the UV lights were shone toward the car, Gator quickly jumped off the car and sped away from the crumpled car as the light was shone on it.

"Must've been some rubble from the Kryll pouring out" another of the Onyx Guard said from the wall, not noticing the invisible, humanoid form that silently jumped onto the wall and into the base.

Gator was going to test just how strong these Elite Humans were...