He knew neither why he was helping the squad of Gears that he had seen locked in combat beneath his tower. He didn't know what drove him to such idiocy, but Alec had picked up his Longshot sniper rifle, shouldered it, looked down the sights, and had proceeded to blow off a locust's head.

Had he merely sat in his tower, watching, either the gears would have killed the locusts and moved on, or the locusts would have killed the gears and moved on, yet he foolishly let both sides know where he was. Now a triumph by the human squad essentially meant enlistment, and a victory by Locusts would likely mean death.

Impulse movements were incredibly foolish, and yet here he was, having just made one.

Knowing it didn't matter anymore, without missing a beat, Alec reloaded, took aim, and fired once more. The squad of Gears clearly had no idea who or what was helping them, but they didn't seem to mind too much.

Battle wasn't a complex thing for Alec; not since the Pendulum Wars had ended. There was no moral dilemma in killing Locusts. They had no family that would be torn apart; they had no friends or loved ones. All they did was kill and breathe, so far as he knew. All he had to do was point the gun and pull the trigger. He'd have no nightmares with the faces of all the Locusts he'd killed. He didn't care at all.

The Pendulum Wars, though, were what had made him desert the CoG. The combination of regret from all those he'd taken from those who cared for them as well as the horrors of fighting Locusts, the demons that they were, was too much for Alec, so he took off. He didn't return any of his gear, he knew that he'd need them; Locust didn't spare Stranded.

As the last of the Locust fell to the dirt, Alec grabbed his Snub pistol and headed down the stairs. He smirked, thinking how well an office building had served him as a sniper tower.

As he reached the bottom of the building, he placed his Longshot on his back, striding forward, and a few of the Gears turned to him, one with dark skin strode toward him, sans helmet.

The Gear raised an eyebrow, "Name and Rank?"

"Alec Black, once a PFC," He smirked, "Now a bit of a freelancer. I'll shoot what I want, when I want."

"An' if it has grey skin, all th' better!" One of the Gears called, the leader turned, silencing him.

"Stranded, then? Deserter?"

"That I am."

"Then you best get out of our way, kid. We've got a VIP out there, his squad holed up in a plaza."

"I can help for a few rations, mate. 'Tis a hungry life, being a lone stranded," Alec chuckled, though the Gear in front of him merely sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Why would we need some deserter's help? "

"You needed it not a few minutes ago."

"True enough, though, rather than give you rations we can perhaps offer you transport to a Stranded settlement."

"Sounds lovely," Alec said, knowing that was about the best he could get, and full knowing the Gear's could've shot him once he had told them he was a deserter. It was a foolish move on his part, really.

The squad of Gears set out, Alec amongst them. If he had to fight in close quarters he hoped his combat knife and Snub would be enough.

"Hey! Sniper-man!" A gear called as he walked up to Alec. It was the same one who the leader had silenced, Alec thought, "How many shots y'got for that rifle there?"

Alec hadn't thought to check, and a quick count of his pockets told him he had more than enough, "Atleast forty."

The Gear laughed, "Forty? Damn, with that there aim you got, you'll be able to down atleast thirty! With you around we'll definitely make it back!"

"Nothing's a sure thing, mate."

"Aw, glass half-empty type o'guy, huh? Ah, we'll fix that."

"I'm not pessimistic; I only realize that Locusts are ruthless monsters who will do just about anything to keep sure we become extinct."

The Gear stopped for a moment, and then looked at Alec, "Y'know, I miss my family, but I can only hope that with all the stuff that the ol' C-O-G is giving them, they'll be fine."

"One can hope, mate-" Alec stopped, feeling something through his boots. The look on the apparent squad leader's face told him he felt it to.

"COVER! COVER!" The lead Gear yelled, rushing behind a column in front of a bombed-out store. Alec dived behind a car, and all the Gears scattered. But a heartbeat later, a few meters in front of where the squad had been standing, a part of the ground collapsed, and out of a tunnel climbed a group of snarling, disfigured, grey skinned beings. Locust.

Alec pulled out his combat knife and Snub pistol, using a reverse hold with the knife, so as to allow him to easily hold the gun in both hands. He fired at one of the Locusts, shooting through the monster's gut, and another charged at him, only to be gunned down by a short burst from a Lancer. Suddenly Alec was glad he was following a squad, despite the fact he wouldn't be in a firefight were he not.

He fired on another Locust, adding yet another to the body count, but more were always climbing from the hold. The name fit. There were so many of them they could easily overrun a squad. One jumped over the car Alec was hiding behind, meeting a blade in the gut, and a bullet in the chest.

Suddenly an explosion rang off, One of the Gears had been smart enough to toss one of their Grenades into the E-Hole. The stream had been cut, but there was still a small group of Locusts alive, the kind who were smart enough to run to cover.

Alec moved quickly, running to a crate and rolling over it, then spinning and slashing at the same moment, spilling a Locust's innards on the ground. He heard a thump behind him as his life was saved yet again by one of the Gears. He was starting to like this squad.

He spat on the fallen Locust in front of him, reloaded his pistol, and sheathed his combat knife.

"Alright, Gears! Keep moving!" The Squad's leader called out, and Alec chuckled. Gears didn't tend to take long breaks, another thing he didn't like so much about them, but he still followed them, though he couldn't say why.

"Woo, buddy!" the same Gear from before said, walking next to Alec once more, "That was some fancy shootin' there!"

"I suppose," Alec said, resigned to talking to the man.

The squad walked at a quick pace for atleast fifteen minutes, without anymore interruptions, before the Squad Leader stopped, calling out to Alec.

"Our VIP is stranded, with squad, in a plaza just a couple hundred meters ahead of us. You may want to jog ahead and find yourself a nice high place."

Alec nodded, and he set off, sticking to the buildings. He figured said plaza was off to the left or right. When he started to hear gunshots firing off, he headed into a building, climbing to the roof. He could see the squad he'd been traveling with running towards a battlefield, strewn with E-Holes. A couple squads were fighting a group of Locusts. Alec smirked. This would be fun.

He pulled his Longshot off of his back, and prepared to do what he did best. He fired, ejected empty canister from chamber, reloaded, fired, ejected, reloaded, fired, an endless cycle. E-holes were closing quickly as the last of the Locusts they could offer climbed out, only to be met with a shot from his rifle.

Alec had always been a natural with a sniper rifle. He could reload faster than anyone he'd ever met, and his aim was never off. He could account for wind speed, target's movement speed, direction of movement. Everything. However, just when he was sure of victory, there was a grunt from behind him, and a sharp stabbing pin from his back to his stomach. He looked down, seeing a blade sticking out from his belly.

He moved quickly, unsheathing his combat knife, and, without even looking at his foe, finding the gap between it's ribs. The Locust fell, and Alec twisted, Snub now in hand, and fired at it. He quickly turned back, Longshot firing once more, though his aim was getting worse, bit by bit, as the edges of his vision turned black. He heard more grunting behind him, and he turned, dropping the Longshot.

He fired the Snub, determined to at least wound these Locust. Shots rang off from his pistol. Faster shots rang off, but at this point, he didn't know if the Locust had bothered to shoot him or if someone had followed them and tried to save him.

He simply knew it didn't matter. He started feeling a bit weak, and the darkness spread a bit further. His eyes began to lose focus, refusing to refocus. His heart picked up speed, and a thought crossed his mind. I'm going to die, aren't I? He had known from the moment that blade sprouted from his stomach, yet only now did it sink in. His limbs failed him, and he droppped to his hands and knees. He felt as though he was going to throw up, yet his body refused to. the world turned to black, and he fell sideways.

After a few moments...no, that's not right. It had felt like a few moments, but the sky had turned from the failing blue of late afternoon to the orange-red of dusk. Alec couldn't make out clouds, and dark shapes moved above his eyes, though he was unable to tell what or who it was. The thought that perhaps Locust had revived him to torture or interrogate him crossed his mind, but to avoid yet more panic, he pushed the thought away.

His limbs refused to answer his commands of movement, remaining still, and he found it a bit hard to breathe. His eyes still refused to focus, though now he could make out bits and pieces of conversation.

"...bloomin' hero..."

"Didn't keep him from..."

"...Matter, does..."

Alec was sure that the squad would have left him to complete their objective, yet, at that moment, any doubt in his mind was destroyed, as a voice so happy, enthusiastic and loud was heard above all others.

"Hey, 'e's wakin' up!"

That one Gear really seemed to like Alec. Maybe Alec had protected him from a Locust just before his initial encounter with the squad. Maybe he was just being friendly. Either way, it didn't matter, his eyes focused just a bit more, and he was pushed into a sitting position at the perfect time...

For him to violently empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground. Someone pushed rations toward him, only for someone else to push them away. He wouldn't have taken them either way, his stomach felt off, more than just a little. He looked down to where the blade wound had been. It had been cleaned and dressed. Atleast he hoped it had been cleaned, but he could only see the bandages. One could only ever hope.

Upon further self inspection, he found he'd been lucky, only to have seemingly been winged in the shoulder, and scraped by a shot aimed for his ribs. A bit further in with that one could have done some damage. He coughed, causing pain to shoot through his entire body, and some blood to hit the ground in front of him.

Maybe he hadn't been that lucky.

"We saw some Locust head into the building, so we followed them," The Gear's squad leader said, "Didn't even realize this was the building you were on. Lucky we didn't feel like letting them retreat," He smirked.

"Just a little," Alec said, a tad taken aback by how weak his own voice was, "I'm quite happy with your decision."

"'Course you are, we saved your hide!" The familiar Gear said. Alec chuckled, immediately regretting that he found humor in what the soldier said as more pain followed hand in hand with the chuckle. Alec was going to hate recovery.

A nasty thought popped into his head, "Am I going to have to be carried to some sort of hospital, mate?"

"Nah, we got the pilot to hold for you. Figured it wasn't a smart move to drag you around while you were unconscious."

"Pilot?" Alec asked, confused.

"Don't you remember what you got stabbed for?" The squad leader chuckled, "Why you were following us?"

Alec carried a blank look on his face, then it was replaced by a look of realization, "Ah. Right, well. Feel free to carry me to the KR, then."

The squad leader chuckled, and the ecstatic Gear lifted Alec over his shoulders. One of the Gears grabbed his Snub and Longshot, as well as retrieving his combat knife from between a long-dead Locust's ribs. Alec hoped he wouldn't be resting in a hospital for too long, after finally getting back his taste for Military work.