It had been a few days since Gator had arrived on this Planet and begun his Hunt in the middle of the War, right now he was sat on the roof of one of the ruined buildings in the city of Ephyra, running one of his clawed fingers over the details of the Human skull he had claimed, his finger running over the cheekbone and getting some blood on his hand, as more of the crimson fluid dripped onto the roof and down the wall of the building.

"War brings out the strongest of prey... this one fought well" Gator said to himself as he turned his attention to the healed bullet wound in his thigh, it had rapidly healed from his use of his Medicomp, though it was quite painful.

This Prey was a male Gear Squad Leader, who he had faced in battle after killing the rest of their Squad, below him were the remains of said Squad, when he heard the sound of the Humans Ravens flying over the city, meaning... more Humans to Hunt, though, he still wanted to hunt down some of the Locust for the Trophy Wall back in the Ship.

"Perhaps I will find some strong Locust in this city, time to return to the Hunt..." Gator said with a clicking purr through his Bio Mask, he then stood up, the Cog Tags he had tied around his wrist clinking as he stood up and attached the Human skull and spinal cord to his belt, before he jumped and climbed through the ruined city, to continue his Hunt.

ON ANOTHER STREET

Meanwhile, on another street, Delta Team was making it's way to meet up with Alpha Team for their Mission, to deploy a sonic device known as the Resonator to map out the tunnels of the Hollow, so the COG would be able to destroy the Locust with a Lightmass Bomb.

The four Gears made their way along, having to fight Drones along the way to group up with Alpha, with Lieutenant Kim leading the three others, Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago and Benjamin Carmine, they stopped outside of a large building with large, thick stone pillars.

"Grubs!" Dominic suddenly called out, as a group of Locust Drones came out and started getting into cover and shooting at the four men, their Hammerburst Rifles making chattering cracks as they fired in bursts, causing the Humans to go into cover.

"Marcus, flank left!" Dom called out as he returned fire with his Lancer, Marcus nodded and ran behind the large pillars, before leaning out and shooting at the Grubs from the side, catching the Locust Troops off guard and killing them, until there was a rumble and a Hole opened up in the ground, and then Locust Reinforcements climbed out and quickly started shooting.

Marcus quickly took out a Bolo-Frag Grenade and after carefully aiming, he threw it and the explosive bounced before it went into the hole, the Squad continued to shoot at the Grubs when three rapid beeps came from the hole, followed by a loud bang as the Grenade detonated, sealing the hole and stopping any more Locust from emerging and attacking the group.

Delta Squad quickly finished off the remaining Drones and continued on, soon they were crossing a broken bridge, walking over the repairs which were just sheets of metal riveted into place to bridge the gap and allow passage across, as they crossed the bridge, the four looked to the lower area and saw bloodstains and bullet casings glittering in the sun.

"Control, this is Delta, no signs of Alpha yet, but we have come across signs of battle, no sign of Resonator" Kim reported in to COG Command, as he looked down at the area below.

"Roger that, Delta, keep looking" replied a woman who was monitoring their progress to find Alpha, Kim then used a code to open a door for them to continue on, they went inside, only to get shot at by more Drones, the Squad quickly killed them off, but then another Emergence Hole opened up, causing some of the structure to collapse!

Several more Grubs climbed up and started shooting at the four Gears, who immediately got into cover and started shooting back at them with their Lancers, after a heavy firefight they managed to kill the Drones and move on, leaving the building and going down to a road that was choked with rubble and rusted cars and approached the mess they found.

"I hope that's not Rojas down there, his little boy turned two last week" Dom said as they slowly approached the sight of the battle, they found blood splattered around the area close to a large hole in the road, with bullet holes on the walls and vehicles and ammo casings littering the floor.

"What happened here?" Kim asked as he looked at the bloody mess, Fenix looked around with a grim expression and then he noticed trails of blood that were moving away from the area.

"Drag marks..." Marcus said, catching the attention of the rest of the Squad, who came over to see what he had found, they followed the trails of blood further along the road.

"Marcus, what do you think?" Dom asked him, sounding unsure about them following trails of blood.

"What do I think? One or two of 'em might have managed to crawl away while bleeding out, or it could be the Locust setting a trap, only one way to find out..." Marcus said to him as they followed the blood, passing by a damaged and abandoned Troika Turret, until they reached a rubble strewn intersection with a dried up fountain in the middle.

"What the..." Carmine gasped in shock at that they had found in that small area, they saw corpses strung up flayed, mutilated and hung upside down by their ankles, the area covered in blood and gore, blood running down the arms of the flayed corpses and dripping down onto the ground below.

"Nice..." Marcus said in disgust as he saw the strung up bodies, seeming like he wasn't too bothered with them hanging around, from all the horrific things he saw in the Slab, and in the war before he was incarcerated.

"Woah..." Dom said as he looked at the mutilated corpses, before they saw one body that was different from the others, this one wasn't skinned and strung up like the others, this one was laying on the ground on it's front, it was obviously Human but their head and spinal cord seemed to have been ripped out, even tearing through their armour!

"H-Holy... what happened to this guy?" Carmine asked as he looked down at the headless, spineless corpse on the ground, with blood splattered all over the ground.

"Whatever it was... it ripped this guy's head and spine out, even tore through the Osmium and Polyethylene fibre Armour too" Kim said in a grim voice as he looked down at the corpse, as Marcus knelt down and inspected the body.

"COG Tags are gone..." Marcus said as he finished checking the corpse, and stood back up, Kim then made contact with Control to report in their findings, Marcus then saw Dom looking at some of the hanging bodies, and walked to his friend and brother.

"Uh... Marcus, These bodies, not all of them are Human, I think some of 'em are Locust... what do you think?" Dom asked his best friend and brother, sounding concerned about the fact that whatever this was... was attacking both sides of the conflict.

"With how brutal this is? I'm not sure what to think? Never heard of the Locust doing this to each other, and pretty sure the COG wouldn't do this either" Marcus said to Dom, who now looked very uneasy with the fact that there might be something unknown running around, and doing this to other people.

"Our next target is the House of Sovereigns, come on, let's move" Kim said to the rest of the Squad, however, before they could move on, the ground started to shake and E-Holes began to open up, so the Squad hurried and took cover in the fountain, to get a good position and fight back.

Meanwhile, in another part of the City close by, Gator was stalking his new Prey through the ruined and collapsed streets of Ephyra, he was hunting a Locust Grenadier who was with three Drones, interested in seeing if this one was more worthy than the common Soldiers that are only worthy of being skinned and hung up as a means to show the weakness of these individuals.

(So far the only thing these Locust have been worthy of is taking their hides) Gator thought to himself as he was observing the Locust below who had seen his handiwork, they were paranoid and shooting at shadows while he was above them, watching them from above while cloaked.

He then raised his Speargun and aimed it towards the head of one of the Drones, before he fired the weapon, launching a small, metal Spear at the Grub and the force of the shot was so powerful that it tore the Drone's head right off of it's neck, and pin it's head to the pavement as it's body spasmed and twitched, with thick, Sanguine blood erupting from their neck!

"Enemy!" One of the other Drones called out as they turned their Hammerbursts up to where the shot came from, not seeing that Gator had jumped to another vantage point and watched the Locust shoot at the spot he previously occupied.

Gator landed on the street and unsheathed his Wristblades, before rushing one of the Drones and slicing it's throat, this caught the attention of the other Locust who quickly got into cover, as one got up to take a shot at Gator, the Hunter drew his Combistick and with a growl threw the extended spear at the Drone, managing to impale the Drone through the chest, destroying it's heart in the process.

The Locust turned and aimed at the spot when Gator fired a Net at the last Drone, the Drone fell to the ground as the spikes attached to the net latched into the pavement, pinning the Drone down, before the wire net started to tighten around the Drone, starting to slowly cut into it's thick, scaly skin.

Suddenly there was a boom as the Grenadier shot at the spot where Gator was with his Gnasher, some of the buckshot striking the cloaked Yautja, making the Hunter roar loudly in pain from the shot, before he growled at the Locust, that then tossed a Grenade toward the Yautja.

However, Gator quickly ran away as the Grenade bounced a few times, then beeped rapidly before exploding loudly, the Grenadier growled and walked to the site of the explosion, to see if he got the enemy, however all that was there was a scorch mark from the explosion, but then, the Locust heard a strange electrical sound from behind him.

The Grenadier growled and spun around, quickly taking a shot with his Gnasher which Gator barely managed to avoid before he roared and punched the Grenadier hard in the face, stunning the monstrous Humanoid from how hard he was hit and making him drop his Shotgun to the ground, before the hunter grabbed the broad Locust by the face and using his greater strength, slammed the Grenadier's head into the wall so hard, it's head was crushed into a mess of blood, bone and meat!

A flood of blood came from the remains of the Grenadier's neck, painting the wall Sanguine as it's body slid down to the ground, Gator then heard that netted Drone grunting and snarling as the net started to constrict enough to start cutting through it's skin, leaving a lot of bleeding cuts on it's flesh as the Net continued to draw tighter around it's body, even cutting through it's gun and body armour!

Gator watched the struggling Drone passively, before he approached the Drone that was killed by his Combistick and pulled it from the body of the dead Drone, before he approached the netted Drone, and killed it quickly with a swift stab through it's head with the Combistick.

"Weak, again... how many rank and file must I cut through, before I find worthy Prey?" Gator asked himself with a slightly annoyed growl, it wasn't that he wasn't enjoying the Hunt, more that he felt eager to find and hunt more worthy Prey, something to give him a challenge, something that would be worthy of placing on the wall of the Clan Ship.

Then, he heard the sound of battle from close by, feeling curious Gator gathered his used equipment and climbed the ruined buildings, and then started to swiftly run and jump across the buildings until he stopped and crouched on the ledge of a building, watching the fight going on down below.

Below Gator was Delta Team, who were now fighting more Locust at the House of Sovereigns, Gator watched the four Humans as they took down more Drones and Grenadiers, they also took down a gunner on a Troika, as this fight went on, gator also took the time to observe the surroundings, he saw some Locust on Reavers quickly moving out of sight through the ruins, as the sound of gunfire and yelling filled the area.

Gator let out a clicking growl as he turned his attention back to the fight, and saw that the Humans had managed to clear out the Locust in the House of Sovereigns, and were forming up just outside of the building, Gator switched his vision mode to Thermal and zoomed in on the Squad of Humans, watching them closely.

He then switched Vision modes again and scanned the Human weapons, he saw that all of them used the same weapon, Assault Rifled that had Chainsaw Bayonets built in, much different than the ones from the Yautja who hunted here before, when their weapons had bladed bayonets fitted instead.

"You good?" Kim asked Carmine, who was frustratedly working on his lancer, while Gator was observing the four from a building across from the House of Sovereigns.

"Yeah, but I got a problem, something's wrong with this thing, it keeps jamming" Carmine complained as he kept messing with the lancer, and pulled the trigger only for it to click as it was jammed, Gator wasn't impressed...

"Only a foolish warrior maintains his weapons poorly, especially when in battle" Gator mumbled to himself, already knowing that this one was likely the weak link of this squad, especially with how careless he was being.

"See?" Carmine asked Lieutenant Kim as he showed him his jammed Lancer, while standing up out of cover, when suddenly there was a loud bang, and a high calibur bulled easily pierced Carmine's helmet, killing him instantly!

"Sniper! Take cover!" Kim called out to Marcus and Dom, said Sniper let out a roar before it jumped down and ran for cover, Gator shook his head at the foolishness of Humans.

(Carelessness will cost you dearly on the Hunt, and in war) he thought to himself as the ground and the building he was on started to shake, and Emergence Holes opened up in the street below, allowing Locust Drones and Grenadiers to climb out and attack the now three-man Squad.

Gator watched the fight unfold from his higher position, from what he was seeing the Locust simply seemed to charge the Humans and try to outnumber or outflank them, clicking his mandibles as he switched Vision Modes and observed the battle below.

He watched as, even with the loss of one of their members, Delta Team fought off the larger force of Locust with tactics and teamwork, from Gator's guess, the one who was killed by the Sniper was either young, or inexperienced... unworthy prey.

Soon enough Delta Team had killed off the Locust and moved on ahead into the House of Sovereigns, leaving the dead Locust where they fell, along with the body of their fallen Squadmate, Gator then jumped down to the battlefield and started to walk around, examining the bodies and the weapons.

"Sweet, sweet, Oh yeah! Ground Walkers" Gator replayed the recorded audio from the battle between the Humans and the Locust, as he examined the wounds on some of the Locust, and then picked up one of the Gnasher Shotguns that were on the ground, close the the body of a dead Grenadier, and examined the weapon, before discarding it and walking toward the dead Human.

Gator stood over the corpse before kneeling down and rolling Carmine's body onto his back, examining the hole in his helmet and head from the Sniper shot, it confirmed that he had to keep his senses sharp.

Gator then stood back up and turned to the direction he saw the rest of the Humans go to, and planned to follow them, when suddenly a large beam of light came down from the sky and struck a nearby area, this caused Gator to let out a sound of surprise as his mask observed the beam, showing high thermal readings, the Beam stayed in place for a few seconds before it seemed to shut off.

Gator looked up toward the sky in thought, they would have to be careful... if these Humans discovered the location of the Ship, then that orbital weapon could cause significant damage to the Ship, possibly destroy it and strand him here.

"I have to see how they use that weapon..." Gator growled to himself, he had to get information on this new weapon system, the Humans certainly didn't have anything like this when they were at war with each other, when his kind Hunted here before.

Gator then went into the House of Sovereigns and then climbed up to the roof of the building, he then went towards the area he had seen that laser hit, he stopped on the edge of the building and looked down at what he saw was the target of the strike, it looked like some kind of large, fleshy insectoid, but it's body was covered in severe burns.

Gator then dropped down and uncloaked as he approached the dead Seeder, the strong smell of burning flesh invading Gator's olfactory senses, he then uncloaked himself and started to examine the Monster, when he heard something which got his senses alert.

He stood back up and looked around, growling as he heard another sound from his right, he saw small, ape-like creatures scurrying around, before one of them opened it's mouth wide and let out a very loud shriek that seemed to call more of the creatures.

Gator unsheathed his wristblades and adopted a low, warrior's battle stance, ready to slaughter these smaller, weaker creatures and get back to hunting larger prey, the Wretches growled and hissed before they started to rush at Gator, who let out a roar and charged the smaller beasts.

The Wretches screeched and flung themselves at the Hunter, attacking with their claws and teeth, but... they were quite weak, to the otherworldly Hunter, they seemed more like a nuisance than an actual threat.

Gator slashed one with his wristblades, cutting it in half from shoulder to waist, then he grabbed another one that jumped at him by it's throat and then threw it at a wall with force, the Wretch's body made a loud crunch as it hit the stone wall from it's rib cage shattering from the impact, before one of the Wretches managed to goe onto Gator's back and started hitting him with it's fists.

Gator growled and grabbed the Wretch's face and pulled it off, before crushing it's skull in his hand and throwing the corpse at another Wretch, before he stabbed another through the chest, and then roared at the Wretches to show his supremacy, but the Wretches continued to charge at him, only five were left now.

One jumped at Gator and was quickly killed by the Yautja, who grabbed it by the neck and groin and then slammed it's back against his knee, breaking it's spine with a crunch before tossing the limp body aside and punching another one in the head and then stomping on it's head, crushing it's skull.

Gator then roared at the last three Wretches, which all attacked him together to try and overwhelm him, but then, Gator swung his Wristblades and sliced the throat of another Wretch as the other two jumped on gator and started clawing and biting him, causing Gator to growl and shake his body to dislodge the last two Wretches, he managed to grab hold of one of them and slammed the Wretch on the ground, venting his annoyance at these pests, before he roared and tossed the lifeless corpse into the water.

The last Wretch growled and jumped off of Gator's back and drew in a deep breath, getting ready to screech and call in more of it's kind, however, Gator grabbed the Wretch by it's throat and lifted it up off the ground, the Wretch made strangled sounds as it clawed at Gator's arm and wrist, before Gator growled and snapped the Wretch's neck, it's body quickly going limp like a puppet that had it's strings cut.

"Cannon fodder, unworthy Prey" Gator said, before he tossed the dead Wretch aside, his thoughts were then interrupted as the Orbital Laser was fired again, Gator watched the beam as it was fired, before returning his attention to the dead Seeder, he examined it more, before deciding to pick up the trail of Delta Team, those Humans might be some worthy Prey to Hunt...