New Hope Research Facility

The New Hope Research Facility is a location of significance visited in Gears of War 2. A classified COG medical research facility, New Hope and its functions were kept secret even from the military until it was declassified during the Locust War, allowing Gears unit Delta Squad to investigate it. This facility is the place of origin of the progenitors of the Locust race, the Sires.

Operation Time
During the operation time of New Hope, Dr. Niles Samson was the Director and lead researcher. Trying to find a cure for Lambency, Niles and his fellow researchers performed tests and experiments on infected humans and their children. These human test subjects were at the least not all volunteers and were forced to stay there captive. One subject was held there from 182 days to 182 months (counting the captivity marks left by him or her). The fate of the subject is currently unknown.

As research progressed, Niles did not see research as creating monsters, still referring to them as human (specifically children), but others in his staff grew concerned and began to abandon research. Doug Sato left when a man named Sven was mauled by one of the subjects, and Stephanie Zimmer followed shortly after when she became afraid of the subjects' rabid-like, but conniving, nature.

Niles, however, persisted with his research, disregarding the violent nature (even sympathizing with it at times, as seen in his case file of Ruth) of his subjects. Eventually, in fear of the truth about the health risks of Imulsion exposure becoming known, Chairman Monroe shut down the facility. Niles left the Sires in stasis and was forced to take his subjects, the first generation Locust, to Mount Kadar, later leading to the construction of Nexus. Before leaving though, Niles left the entire facility under the guard of an AI he programmed his personality into to guard the Sires so they could be later observed as they grew.

The research facility was abandoned after Niles took the test subjects to Mount Kadar, and all information regarding how the Sires were created and what the "Children" were was classified as well. As a result, New Hope's existence was classified for an almost a century until Operation Hollow Storm.

Declassification
During Operation Hollow Storm, the location of New Hope was declassified as an abandoned outpost so that Delta Squad could search the facility for clues to the Locust capital; however, all previous activities and details remained classified, and even Control was kept in the dark regarding the reconnaissance mission. Even Victor Hoffman, the COG's highest-ranking military officer, knew nothing more of the place beyond its location.

Upon arrival, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago enter the facility while Augustus Cole and Damon Baird guard the Centaur Tank that Delta were using as transport. Inside, Marcus and Dom encounter an armoured security door overlooked by a strange AI named Niles. After blasting the door open with a charge, they proceeded to navigate New Hope's extensive (and lethal) security network while being talked to in a cryptic manner by Niles. They eventually reached a room filled with stasis tanks containing what Niles identified as "Sires," and Delta hacks the system from there.

Upon hacking the network, Delta Squad recovered information left by the real Niles Samson talking of the purpose of his research and then of taking a trip on foot to Mount Kadar, but the recording is interrupted because an unintentional result of Delta hacking the network is the Sires are awakened from stasis. These creatures break out of the tanks and attack the Gears, who have to fight their way out and then shut down the Niles AI because it threatens them for attacking the Sires.

Marcus and Dom then attempt to leave the facility when Locust Drones and Boomers suddenly attack the facility. Marcus and Dom fight their way to the exit when the already bad storm flares up, and both sides are threatened with lethal Razorhail. Marcus and Dom navigate through the quarters in the train yard and make there way and back to the outer areas of the facility when the hail finally lets up as Delta reunited. Baird repaired the Centaur whilst the rest of the squad came under attack by Reavers. Delta then left New Hope as fast as they could.

The Building
Because New Hope operated under the guise of Jameson Depot, the perimeter of the building was set up to look and operate like a warehouse. However, with proper clearance, the depths of the facility could be reached. The building itself housed various laboratories and research offices, scattered throughout a maze of hallways; however, the entire area is guarded by numerous automated turrets and flamethrowers, that lock onto targets and will shoot until the target is dead or out of range if the target gets within the beam of light the turret projects. Most of these weapons have a manual override, which can deactivate the weapon(s) within that room. Almost every room and hallway has one of these automated weapons installed. Even the kitchen is guarded by turrets. Also as common as the turrets in the research area are monitors that Niles's AI Security system can communicate over, and possible see as well.

In the heart of the facility were living quarters built throughout an old train yard to hold the test subjects, along with metal canopies over walkways and throughout the front yard to serve as protection from bad weather such as Razorhail.

At the back of the facility, there are stasis tanks and labs set up to keep the Sires in stasis. Also in the same area is the mainframe for the Niles Security System and the records of the research done at New Hope.

Over time, after the building was abandoned, Wretches infested the warehouse and somehow invaded the outer research areas of the facility as well. Also in the front areas of the facility are mauled corpses, including a dead Locust Drone.