"What do you mean, they cut the power? How could they cut the power, man?! They're animals!"
Hudson was in hysterics once more, but that was something that was everyone's mind.

"I want you two with trackers, checking the corridors. Move!"
Hicks ordered Vasquez, and Hudson, as he, Ripley, Masey and Rae clicked magazines into their pulse rifles.

"Gorman, watch Burke!"

In compliance, Gorman grabbed Burke.
"You got it."

"Newt! Stay close."

Vasquez and Hudson picked up their trackers and moved to the door. Hudson had to slide it open manually on it's track, as they moved into the corridor.

"I'll go to this side."
Hudson said, as he he slowly moved his tracker down the corridor.

"You do that, man."

The two troopers separated and moved slowly to the barriers at opposite ends of the control block. Each moved slowly, as they held the trackers out in front of them. Nothing...yet.


Inside operations, Kendall, Masey, and Ripley picked up a headset, and put it on, as they connected themselves with the soldiers.

"Anything?"
Ripley asked, as they adjusted the headsets to fit better.

"There's something."
Hudson's voice filtered through their headsets.


Back in the corridor, there came a beep. Hudson's tracker lit up, a faint signal. He panned it around. Back down the corridor. It beeped again, louder.

"It's inside the complex."
Hudson said, as panic started to fill his voice.

"You're just reading me."
Vasquez said, as she tried to calm the tension from her comrade.

Hudson quickly swiveled around, as he aimed his tracker toward Vasquez's position.

"No. No! It ain't you. They're inside. Inside the perimeter. They're in here."

"Hudson, you gotta calm down. Vasquez?"
Kendall's voice filtered through their headsets.

Even though she was trying to calm Hudson down, her voice shook on occasion.

Wanting to see if Hudson's tracker was off, she too swung her tracker and rifle together, and she aimed it behind her. Her tracker, like Hudson's lit up, as it too started to beep.

"Hudson may be right."

Vasquez said, coolly.

Back in Operations, Hicks, Ripley, Kendall, Masey, and Gorman all exchanged glances. The bastards had found a way inside.

"Get back, both of you."

"The signal's weird..."
Hudson's voice sounded a bit shaky, and none of them blamed him.


The four of them in Operations who had pulse-rifles started to check their pulse-rifles. They took off the safety's, and the checked the magazines.


Back in the corridor, Hudson backtracked nervously, as he peered all around. He looked stretched to the limit.
"Must be some interference or something. There's movement all over the place."

"Get back to operations!"


Kendall, Ripley, Masey, and Hicks all exchanged a look that said 'Here we go.'

"It's game time."

"Newt."

They ran/walked to the door to operations and waited for the soldiers.

"Seal the door. Hurry."

Vasquez reached the door to operations at a run, a moment before Hudson.

"Come on! Get back!"

Hicks and Hudson pulled the door shut and locked it.

"Work fast!"

Hicks and Vasquez pulled out their hand-welders' and and they began to seal the door.

"Cover your eyes, Newt. Don't look at the light."

Hudson's tracker beeped. Then again. The tone continued, as it's rhythm increased.

"Movement! Signal's clean. Range twenty meters."

"They found a way in, something we missed."

Sparks showered around Vasquez and Hicks as they moved as fast as they could to get the door sealed.

"We didn't miss anything."

"Eighteen...seventeen meters."

Ripley picked up Vasquez's tracker and aimed it in the same direction as Hudson's.

"Something under the floor, not on the plans. I don't know!"

"Fifteen meters."

"Ripleeyy!"

"Definitely inside the barricades."

Newt began to tug on Ripley's clothing, as she tried her best to get her attention.

"Let's go."

"Thirteen meters."

Kendall glanced at Hudson's tracker, while Masey glanced at Ripley's. The tracker screen showed an amoeba-like mass of dots as they moved across the top.

"That's right outside the door. Hicks...Vasquez, get back!"
Kendall said, as she felt her grip tighten on the pulse-rifle.

"Man, this is a big fucking signal!"

"How you doing, Vasquez? Talk to me."

Vasquez was heedlessly showering herself with molten metal as she welded the door shut. She seemed to work like a demon.

"Almost there. That's it."

They both dropped their torches and they began to move to the back of the room with everyone else.

"Twelve meters...eleven...ten."

"Man, they're right on us."

"Nine meters."
Hudson continued to count down.

"Remember, short controlled bursts."

"Eight meters...seven...six."

"That can't be right. That's inside the room!"
Kendall and Masey said together, as they glanced at Hudson's tracker.

"It's readin' right, man. Look!"
Hudson gestured down at the tracker screen, as if to prove to them that he wasn't delusional.

"Well, you're not reading it right!"
Hicks snapped.

There was no way that was right. They had studied the floor plans. They had not missed anything. Ripley jerked her tracker up. Not believing Hudson. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized that the reading was true.

"Five meters, man...four. What the hell?!"

Hudson looked at Ripley, as she looked up at the ceiling and it dawned on both of them at the same time.

"Oh my, God! Oh shit!"

"Gimme' the light!"

Kendall climbed onto a file cabinet, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, when she felt someone's hand on her back. She glanced over to see Hicks, and he placed a finger to his lips, silencing her. As if she was going to say a word if the Aliens were above their head. She only nodded, as she pressed her palm flat against the panel of the ceiling, and she pushed. The ceiling wasn't moving.

Her first thought was that one of the Aliens was perched either on the ceiling panel, or close by, ready to snatch her. At the mere thought of it, she felt a cold sweat start to bead on her forehead, and she shook her head, shaking the thoughts from her head. She felt Hicks' palm rest on the back of her hand, and thanks to his help, they both raised the panel of the acoustic drop-ceiling.

Both of their heads slightly popped up out of the ceiling, and she felt his arm tighten around her small frame. As if he was getting ready to pull her back if what she was thinking was going to happen. That part was true, but keeping her close, helped keep himself a bit calm. He panned his light inside. A soul-wrenching nightmare image. Moving in the beam of his light were alien warriors. They were crawling like bats, upside-down, clinging to the pipes and beams of the structural ceiling. The inner sanctum was utterly violated.

"Jump."
Came Hicks' muttered order, and Kendall glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"What?"
She asked, through her teeth, trying not to move her lips.

"Jump from the filing cabinet."
He said, and Kendall glanced down at the height from the top of the filing cabinet to the floor.

She turned her head back to face him, but the dome-like head of an Alien appeared close to her face, and she screamed. The striking teeth extended almost a meter from inside its fanged maw, and it tried to bite her. They both fell back into the room, and she landed on the floor. The back of her head hit the floor, and she groaned, and she placed her hand to her head. Surprisingly, there was no blood, or bruises. Just a headache.

She felt a heavy weight, and she felt the claw-like feet of the Alien start to dig into her calf. She let out a short scream, as she fumbled around for her pulse-rifle, but in the confusion, it had been kicked under a nearby filing cabinet. Once again, the striking teeth extended almost a meter from inside its fanged maw, and it shot out at her. She brought her hands in front of her face, only to hear the familiar screech of the Alien, and she peered through her hands to see that the Alien was engulfed in flames. Just like in the nest. She felt someone grab her under her arm, and she scrambled back.

A few short bursts rang out, and she watched as the Alien exploded in a shrieking mess. She glanced up to see Gormon, and Hudson. Maybe Gormon was not as much of an asshole as she had thought. Hudson. Well. He was still Hudson. She watched as the ceiling exploded, and it started to 'rain' debris. Nightmare shapes dropped into the room, as the creatures detached en-masse from the handholds that they had been using.

"There they go over there! Get 'em!"

Vasquez and Hudson opened fire. Hicks pushed himself off of the ground, and he let it fly next to Vasquez. One by one, the creatures were mowed down in the spray of pulse-fire.

"Come on! Come on!"

"Get 'em!"

"Do something, Gorman!"

Gorman turned to fire and Burke bolted for the only remaining exit, the corridor that connected to the Med-Lab. In the strobe-like glare of the pulse-rifles, flashes of aliens could be seen, as they moved forward in the smoke of the fires that have started.

"Look out! Look out! Look out! There's more of them!"

"Medical! Get to Medical! Do it! Go!"
Ripley grabbed Newt and dashed for the corridor to the Meb-Lab.

During the melee, Kendall had managed to get possession of her pulse-rifle from under the filing cabinet, and she made a frenzied scramble away, to the corridor, but with every strain that was put on her leg, made her scramble painful. As she scrambled back, she had managed to pick off a few, before she felt an arm pull her over a collapsed table. She tried her best to stand, she had managed to keep a good stance. She was keeping her weight off of her uninjured leg, which made her wobble on occasion, but she paid it no mind.

Meanwhile, right as Ripley entered the corridor to the Med-Lab, a warrior came around a corner a few feet away from her and Newt, and it was moving like a locomotive. Shaking, Ripley raised her rifle, and she squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. Ripley checked the safety. The safety was off. The digital counter. The magazine was full. Newt began to wail, since the thing was almost on Ripley, as it began to tower over her. She then remembered what she was forgetting to do, and with that in mind, she snapped the bolt back, which chambered a round. She whipped the stock to her shoulder, and she fired. There was a flashbulb glimpse of shrieking jaws as the silhouette was hurled back, as it screeched insanely.

"NOW!"
Ripley shouted to Newt, as she turned, grabbed the girl, and she sprinted down the corridor. She saw Burke as he cleared the door to the Med-Lab Annex, before he slid it closed. Ripley slammed into the door, as she heard it lock from the far side.

"Burke! Open this door! Burke! Open it!


Inside the Med-Lab Annex, Burke slowly backed away from the door. The sounds of the battle still penetrated through it. Terror showed in every part of his body.


Back in Operations, Hicks was opening up on every dark shape that moved. They seemed to be everywhere.

"Come on! Let's go! Fall back!"
Hicks ran and jumped over a barricade, to land behind Vasquez, and Masey, with Kendall and Hudson, close-by, who have both opened fire on a group of three aliens that have dropped through the ceiling.

"Die, mother-fucker!"


Back in the corridor, Ripley and Gorman were desperately trying to get the door open.

"Burke!"


"Hudson! Hudson!"
Hicks shouted, as he continued to open up on more Aliens as they fell from the ceiling.

"Mother fucker! Come on! Come and get it, baby! I don't got all day! Come on! Come on, you bastard! Come on, you too! Oh, you want some of this! Fuck you!"

Hudson was so busy yelling and shooting at the approaching creatures that he didn't notice the floor panels smash under him and clawed arms seized him with lightning speed, as they dragged him down into the floor. He yelled and fired into the floor as he was pulled down.

"Aaarghhh! Fuck you! Hicks! Hicks!"

"Hudson!"

Both Kendall and Hicks tried to help him as they tried to pull him out, but the creatures were too strong. It didn't take much time, before Hudson quickly disappeared into the hole, yelling, and cursing all the while.

"Hudson!"
Kendall shouted, as she watched as he disappeared underneath the floor.

She was too distracted with the sudden loss, even though she was used to it, like Hudson, she didn't notice that there were more creatures underneath the floor. She felt something grab her foot, and she was partly pulled into the floor through the hole.

"Hicks! Vasquez! Masey!"
She shouted, as she tried to pull herself out of the grips of the creatures.

She felt someone grab her under her arms, and they tried to pull her out. But, if they didn't shoot the thing, they wouldn't be able to pull her out.

"Shoot it!"
She shouted, as she felt a strain in her legs.

She heard some muffled shouts over the various shots that were over-heard.

"I don't care where. Anywhere!"
She shouted, as she continued to feel the strain between the creatures and Masey, Hicks, and Vasquez.

She heard the shots ring near her ears, and she let out a shout of pain, as she felt hot acid sear through her leg. The bottom half of her was released, as she was yanked backwards, and she felt her back hit someone's chest armor. She groaned, as she looked down to see that the acid was eating through her pant leg. She took out one of her combat knives, and she cut off where the acid was eating through.

Hicks rolled over just in time to shoot at a a diving creature before it took him down the hole too. Another appeared and he hit it full in the chest with pulse fire. Vasquez grabbed Hicks and pushed him into the corridor with the others, before she grabbed both Masey and Kendall, and she pushed them down the hallway as well.

"Come on, Hicks, go!"

Hicks seemed to materialize out of the smoke and ran toward Ripley and the others at the door.

"It's locked!"
Ripley shouted, as she indicated to the door.

Hicks unsnapped the torch off his belt and cut into the lock.


Vasquez, who stood just outside the entrance to the corridor, was destroying incoming aliens by the dozens. She stopped firing and pumped back the grenade launcher, as she let one fly. It detonated behind some machinery, which blew up a group of hiding aliens. Another was fired with the same affect of destruction. Vasquez turned and sprinted up the corridor.

As the flame from the torch melted the metal into white-hot liquid, before it broke. Kendall, Masey, and Ripley watched nervously down the corridor as Hicks finished on the lock.

"Got it! Let's go! Let's go!"

"Go! Go!"

"Move, Gorman!"

The group crowded into the annex and Hicks slid the door shut.

"Seal it!"
Hicks shouted to Vasquez, as she pulled out her torch, and she began to weld it closed.

Ripley found the door to the Med-Lab locked. She banged on it.

"Burke!


In the Med-Lab, Burke, hyper-ventilating with terror, backed across the dark chamber. Gasping, almost paralyzed with fear, he crossed to the door which lead to the main concourse. He backed into and stumbled over some canisters on the way.

"Goddamn you! Open this door!"
Ripley's voice echoed through the sealed door, but he paid it no mind, as his fingers reached for the control panel.

Instead the door moved by itself, as the door slowly opened. Burke's eyes widened, his eyes wide, as they were transfixed by his fate. One of the creatures stood in the doorway, it's slimy jaws opened and extended towards him, and Burke screamed.


Inside the Annex, Vasquez was still welding as fast as she could when the door was hit with a clanging impact.

"Get back!"

"Hurry up!"

Another impact and the door began to dimple inward.

"Gorman, get out of the way!"

"Ripley! This way!"

"What?"

Newt grabbed Ripley's hand and pulled her over to an air vent set low in the wall and expertly unlatched the grill, as she dropped it to the floor. Newt started inside, but Ripley pulled her back.

"Wait! Get behind me."

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast!"
Vasquez threw over her shoulder, as she continued to weld the door shut.

Ripley knelt and shone her flashlight down the air duct, that was lit by red emergency lighting. Nothing. The way was clear.

"Hicks!"

"Let's go!"

"Come on, let's go! Move!"

Ripley entered the air shaft, which was a tight fit. Newt scrambled in behind, followed by Masey, who was having trouble supporting Kendall. She felt the weight of the young Lieutenant be lifted off of her shoulders, and thinking the worst, she went to lash out at whoever or whatever it was, but when she saw Hicks, now supporting Kendall, she let out a small sigh, as she continued forward. Hicks had Kendall's left arm draped around his shoulders, and his hand clasped hers, as he made his way through the air shaft. Vasquez finished up just in time as the door was hit full force by the alien mob. The dimple grew larger as the impacts on the door increased.


In the air shaft, Ripley and Newt came to a 3-way junction. Ripley looked in every direction, but she didn't know which way to go.

"Which way is it to the landing field from here?"

"This way."

Newt answered, as she pointed to the right-hand tunnel and they moved out.


Meanwhile, in the Med-Lab Annex, the increased impacts on the door had now made the dimple reach it's maximum and a gapping crack had formed in it's center, and Vasquez fired into it. The high-pitched death screams of several of the creatures could be heard.

Ripley turned into a larger main duct, where there was enough room to crab-walk in a low crouch, and she started to run, with Newt following. The troopers' armor clattered in the confined space, as they came to another intersection.

"Go right."

Ripley's light illuminated the slightly dark tunnel ahead of them as they come to yet another 3-way junction.

"This way! This way."

They headed off to the right, into a long connected duct. As they ran, Ripley's light casting a white glow upon her terrified face. Vasquez was quickly trying to catch up with the group. She fired behind her as she ran in a crab-walk. Dark shapes moved in the tunnel behind her. Ripley and the others moved at their top speed through the shafts.

"Which way?"

"Straight ahead and left."

"Bishop, do you read me?! Come in! Over!"
Hicks shouted into his headset.

"The ship is on it's way..."
Bishop's voice came through, full of static break up.


At the up-link relay, at the landing field, Bishop stood next to the base of the telemetry mast. The wind blew all around him and it gusted viciously.

"E.T.A. - sixteen minutes!"


"Good! Stand-by there! We're on our way!"

Vasquez finally managed to catch up, as she moved in behind Gorman. She looked back, and she saw more of the creatures, as they came up fast through the tunnel. She opened fire on them, and in the process, she killed the head alien. Ripley and Newt came to another intersection, and Ripley shone her light down each one.

"Which way now?

"That way."
Newt said, as she indicated to the left, before she changed her mind, and she pointed to the right.
"No, wait! This way."

"You sure?!"

Hicks, Kendall, Masey and Gorman waited at the intersection for Vasquez. She moved up the tunnel and she blasted incoming creatures at the same time.

"Vasquez! Move!"

Ripley and Newt rounded a corner and Ripley stopped to look back for the group. Newt continued forward.

"Right up here. It's just up here."

"Hicks!"

"We're almost there!"

Ripley didn't see the group and she panicked. She looked the other way, and she noticed that Newt was getting too far up ahead.

"Newt! Wait! Newt!"

She had to make a choice, to stay and wait for everyone or follow Newt. She decided and quickly ran to catch up with girl.


Vasquez came to the intersection where Hicks and Gorman were, but they had moved on ahead. She blasted a few more creatures and the pulse-rifle went empty. She dropped the weapon, and she pulled out her service pistol and ran up the shaft after the group. Vasquez passed under an overhead air duct and looked up just in time to see a warrior, as it screeched down the vertical shaft, right towards her. She fired her pistol a few times, before it fell next to her, as it rolled, and writhed around. She wrestled it and managed to slam the thing's head against the wall with her foot.

"Oh yeah!"

She fired into it's head. Acid-blood spilled out and hit her ankle, and it seared into her leg. She grit her teeth against the white-hot pain, as she pushed the creature away and moved clear of it, as she emptied her last two shots into it. The alien rolled and bounced around the shaft in it's death throes. Hicks, Kendall, Masey and Gorman stopped at the corner Ripley was at earlier and looked back for Vasquez.

"Vasquez!"

Vasquez was sprawled out on the shaft's floor on her stomach. She moaned out in pain, while she managed to eject the magazine from her pistol.

"Go!"
Gorman hit Hicks on the back and ran back to help Vasquez.

Masey stayed crouched at the corner, just in case Gorman needed help with Vasquez. She gestured for Hicks and Kendall to keep going. Gorman came up just as the pain hit Vasquez in full.

"Ohhhhh! Ohhhh, nooooo!"

Gorman grabbed her underneath the arms and started to drag her towards safety. Just then, one of the creatures broke through an air duct grating in the tunnel's floor in front of them. Gorman pulled out his pistol and fired at it's head. The bullets just bounced off its armored skull. Masey fired from the other side, and after a few moments, she had managed to finally kill the creature, along with the help of Gorman.

She ran towards the two of them, and she helped Gorman pull Vasquez towards the others. All the while, she opened up on the creatures that closed in. When they were in the clear, she took a M-41A grenade from Gorman, pressed the detenator stub, and she rolled it down the floor of the air shaft towards where more of the creatures were coming from. Rushing now, they made it to the shaft junction, where Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and Kendall reached a large metal housing and Newt crawled inside.

"Newt!"

"Up there, there's a short-cut across the roof."

It was a junction of several shafts, which included a vertical duct with ladder rungs that lead up to an exterior vent hood. The "floor" is actually the top of a large blower drum, a vained cylinder. The room was tall enough for all seven of them to stand up fully. Ripley crossed to the ladder, and she seized a rung to steady herself, and reached back for Newt.

"Hicks!"

Hicks handed Kendall to Masey, and he lifted Newt up, and he handed her over to Ripley. Newt grabbed onto the ladder and held on firmly.

Just then, the tunnel exploded in fire and debris. The explosion sent a powerful blast of flame up the tunnel.

Hicks, Gorman, Masey, Vasquez, and Kendall were crouched by the door to the ventilation room when it hit. The blast knocked Hicks, Vasquez, Gorman, and Masey over, which dislodged Newt from the ladder. The blast hit Kendall like a brick wall, and both she and Newt fell onto the blower drum, which caused it to rotate. Newt was ahead of Kendall, and she slipped nightmarishly through a narrow gap, into another duct, which was a chute, that angled at a 45 degree angle. Newt managed to narrowly catch the lip of the chute.

"Newt!"
Kendall cried, and despite her injured leg, she tried to make her way to the small girl, and she drew closer, and that was when she heard Ripley call out for Newt.

"Newt! God!"
Ripley shouted, as Kendall grew closer to Newt, but she also grew closer to the narrow gap, that led into another duct

"Ripley! Rae! Masey"
Newt cried out, pleadingly, and Ripley tensed slightly.

"Newt! Hicks! Hicks, get her! Hurry!"

Hicks jammed his pulse rifle into the drum, which stopped the rotation, but since it was such a sudden stop, it jerked Kendall closer to the duct. Kendall felt their arms lunge into the gap to reach out for Newt.

"Hold on, Newt!"
Kendall shouted, as she tried to grab at Newt.

"I'm slipping!"

"Don't let go!"

"Ripley! Rae!"

"Hold on, honey. Don't let go."

"Heelllppp!"

"I gotcha'! I gotcha'!"

Masey, Hicks, and Ripley reached through the small gap, to try and grab the small girl. Ripley had managed to seize the sleeve of Newt's over-sized jacket, but New slid through the jacket. On instinct, she grabbed the closest thing to her, which was Kendall-Rae's hand, and with Newt's weight on one end of her body, Kendall too slipped through the vent, and with an echoing scream, they slid down the chute, into darkness, and they disappeared around a bend. Ripley yelled after the both of them.

"Newt! Rae! No!"

"Newt! Damnit! No!"

The shaft receded into darkness. There was no answer. Hicks and Masey pulled Ripley up out of the gap.

"Come on! We can find them with this!"

He showed her the locator from his belt, as it beeped slowly. Ripley nodded, then yelled down the chute into darkness.

"Stay where you two are!"

Two plaintive calls from the darkness were heard. Echoey, distorted, terrified.
"Ripley!"

"We're coming!"

Hicks kicked out a ventilator grille, as they emerged onto a stairwell landing, followed by Ripley, Masey, and Gorman, who were both supporting Vasquez, as they rushed down the stairs as fast as possible.


In the sub-basement, Newt and Kendall were in a low grotto-like chamber, filled with pipes. It was flooded, almost up to Newt's neck, and because Kendall was not using one of her legs, it was up to her breastbone. She glanced down at the locator that was around her wrist from Hicks. She looked to Newt, who was looking around, as she stroked the doll's head, that she still carried.

"Newt."
She said, quietly, as she took her free wrist, and she fastened the locator around her wrist.
"It's for luck."

Newt nodded, before she let out another shout.
"Ripley!"


Hicks, Masey, Gorman, Vasquez and Ripley reached the bottom of the stairs and sprinted along a corridor, intent on the locator's signal. The signal beeped faster as they closed in on Newt and Rae.

"This way. They're close."

"Newt! Rae!"


Newt continued to wade around, as she looked everywhere for unexpected visitors. Kendall glanced down at the counter for the the pulse-rifle. She had 5 rounds left, and she didn't have a magazine.

"Ripley!"

"Where are you! Can you hear me!"

Hearing voices and footsteps, both Kendall and Newt looked up, and hearing Ripley's voice, some hope kindled their dampened hearts and spirits.

"Newt! Rae!"

"Here!"
They both called, as they climbed up on some pipes toward the overhead grilling.

Kendall having more difficulty than Newt.

"I'm here!"

"Where?"

Newt's tiny fingers wriggled up through the bars of the grate work in front of Ripley, Masey, Gorman, Vasquez and Hicks. They stopped and dropped down by them. Ripley squeezed the child's precious fingers and shone her light through the floor grating to see Newt's face.

"Newt. Are you okay? Where's Rae? Is she with you?"

"I'm here."
Kenny said, as she managed to get herself up beside Newt, and her slender fingers wriggled through the bars of the grate work, and she felt someone grasp her fingers, as if they were a lifeline, before they let go. [ A/N: Who do you think grasped Kendall's fingers, and why? Tel me your answer in the reviews.]

Hicks gripped the grating, and he tried to pull it up, with no success.

"Let's cut it."

"Climb down, you two. We've gotta' cut through."

Hicks unsnapped his welder and flipped up the guard screen. Since Vasquez seemed to be in too much pain to do much, Gorman took her welder, and he too flipped up the guard screen.


Kendall and Newt climbed back down into the water, and they looked up and watched Hicks.


Hicks and Gorman cut into the bars. The torch emitted a blinding blue light that illuminated the corridor. Ripley blocked off the glare to her eyes with her light as she looked down into the sub-basement.

"Newt...Rae..."


Back in the sub-basement, Kendall cradled the pulse-rilfe to her chest, as they both looked around, as the blue sparks rained down into the water next to them.


"...Now, don't move. Stay very still."

"Okay."

"We're almost there. Hang in there, okay?"

Hicks' motion tracker came to life. The beeping sound that elicited from it didn't go unnoticed. Ripley looked over and picked it up. A blob of white dots were moving onto the screen.

"Hicks! Gorman!"

"I know."

"Hurry!"

"I know!"

"I mean it!"

The two torch flames quickly cut through the bars on the grating.


Both Kendall and Newt started to look very frightened now as they continuously scanned the room. The blue sparks showered blindly beside them. Kendall glanced at the underside of the grating as the flame cut through the metal, as it turned the metal into hot liquid, and sparks.


Ripley watched the motion tracker closely, before she jerked away and looked down at Newt and Rae.

"Newt! Rae! Just stay still!"


Newt, stood shoulder deep in water, as she watched as sparks fell as Hicks and Gorman's cuts. Silently, a glistening shape rose in one graceful motion from the water behind Newt. Kendall slipped down from the pipes, and now the water was up to her neck. She pushed herself and she cocked the pulse-rifle. It stood, dripping, as it dwarfed Newt's tiny form. Newt turned and screamed as the shadow engulfed her.

"Move Newt!"
She shouted, as she let out one shot from the pulse-rifle.

At this point, every damn shot counted. The shot only bounced off of the armored skull, but it slightly pushed the alien away from Newt. Newt, was too frightened to move, stayed in her position.

"Move Newt!"
Kendall shouted, as she unleashed another shot, as she tried to distract the creature away from Newt, and to her.

She felt her leg give way, and she sunk down a bit farther, until the brim of the water was to her chin. She felt a weight on her chest, and she felt her entire body go underneath the murky water. She struggled, before the back of her head hit the floor, and everything was a daze, and she heard Newt's screams echo throughout the grotto. She tried to shout for newt, but water was filling her nose, and her mouth. She was going to drown.


Ripley panicked, as she heard screams, shots from the pulse-rifle, and splashing below. Then, what frightened her the most, was the silence afterwards.

"Almost there!"
Hicks shouted, as the two separate flames grew closer together.

"No!"

Ripley, Hicks, and Gorman kicked, almost desperately at the grating, as they smashed it down.

"Newt! Rae!"

Ripley lunged into the hole with her light. The surface of the water reflected the beam placidly. Both Newt and Kendall were gone. Bobbing in the water, with eyes staring, was "Casey", the doll head. It sunk slowly, distorted, as it vanished into darkness. Hicks and Gorman pulled Ripley away from the hole. She struggled furiously, as she tried to tear out of their grip. Seeing another pair of eyes staring at them, they recoiled, but when they saw a hand reach out of the black water.

Without even thinking, Hicks slid down into the sub-basement to see which one of the girls had not been taken. With him properly standing, the water came up to about his torso. He could see the faint outline of the pulse-rifle underneath the water, with a pale hand clutching it. His arm was submerged into the water, as he grasped the pale hand, and pulled up Rae. When he was pulling her through the water, she seemed lifeless, but as soon as her head came out of the water, her eyes opened, and her arms wound tightly around his neck, and her legs wrapped around his torso, and she clung to him, like a scared child would cling to their mother, after they had a nightmare. Hicks stumbled slightly from the sudden action, but his hands hovered above her frame, before he rubbed her back, gently. She was soaked to the bone, she was shaking, and she was crying.

"It's my fault...It's all my fault..."
She mumbled, as he waded through the water to the pipes.

"No it's not. You did what you could."
He said, as he pushed himself onto the pipes, and he handed her to Ripley, who pulled her into a bear hug.

He pulled himself through the grating, and as soon as he was through, Ripley went back into her hysterics about Newt.

"Nooo! Nooooo!"

"Let's go!"

"They don't kill you! They don't kill you! They...she's alive! She's alive!"

"Alright! We believe you! She's alive! But, we've gotta' go! Now!"

With the help of a soaking and shaking Kenny, they both 'dragged'Ripley down the corridor toward an elevator, not far away at the end of the tunnel. Well. Hicks did most of the dragging, Kendall was not being much help, since her injured leg was slowing her down. Gorman and Masey supported Vasquez, who seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. When they had gotten close to the elevator, Kenny had to stop, and she felt her leg give out on her. She had to hold onto a piece of equipment, to keep herself upright. Something was broken. Something had to be. A bruise or something would not give her this much pain. Ripley glanced back, and she saw Kendall in the hallway, keeping herself upright using some dangling equipment.

"Rae!"
She called to her, but Kendall gestured for her to keep going.

She didn't want to slow them down anymore.

Hicks followed Ripley's shout, and he saw as Kendall sunk down to the floor, her hand clasping her leg. He got Ripley into the elevator, and he made sure that Gorman, Masey, and Vasquez made it inside before he turned back to Kendall.

"Come on, we gotta' go!"

Kendall shook her head, as she pushed herself upright.

"I can't move much. I'm only going to slow you down."
She said, as she patted him on the chest, her palm smacking against the armor.

"Go find Newt, and then nuke the site from orbit. Stick to what we had planned."

"We plan on doing that, but you're coming along."

Kendall's grey eyes met his own grey ones.

"You know I'm going to slow you down, and yet you insist on me still coming."

"Ripley's going to need someone else to back her up on this story."
Hicks said, as he grasped her hand, to pull her up, but found that it was damaged with acid, and she hissed in pain.

He sent her an apologetic look, as he pulled her up, and he helped her to the elevator. She sent her mother a thankful look, as she felt her back press against the back wall. Hicks hit the button to go to the surface level, but the door didn't close. Hicks hit it again and it began to close. Not fast enough though. An alien warrior leaped at the door and managed to get it's arms and head through, even though the doors closed on it. Hicks fired, point-blank, blasting it in the head. It fell off the door into the tunnel. Acid sluiced between the closing doors, and across Hicks' armor chest plate. The lift started upward. Hicks' fingers raced with the clasps. Despite Kendall's pain, Ripley's hysteria, and the others exhaustion, they all clawed at his armor, as they helped him as much as possible.

"Get it off! Get it off!"
He shouted as the acid made contact with his chest and arm.

He shucked out of the armor like a madman, as acrid fumes filled the lift. The armor hit the floor, and a sizzling hole could be seen in the chest. Kendall draped one of his arms across her shoulder, and her fingers linked with his own, helping keep him upright, but with the acrid fumes filling the lift, she felt light-headed, and she felt as if she was going to pass out. No. She couldn't do that. She coughed, but she made the mistake of inhaling some of the acrid fumes. She felt her throat grow scratchy, and she felt some of her throat close. She shook her head a few times, to try and keep herself together. Finally, what seemed like hours, stuck in the acrid-fume filled elevator, it stopped, the doors parted, and Ripley had her pulse-rifle ready. The doors parted and they scrambled out. She felt something heavy in her grasp, and she turned her head to see that she had somehow grabbed his melted in chest armor. Why she had grabbed this, she did not know.

At the North Lock, the six stumbled outside.

"Here!"
Ripley shouted, as Kendall, despite her injuries was supporting Hicks, who had doubled over in agony, as they emerged into the storm-blasted night.

Gorman and Masey continued to support Vasquez, who was now fully concious.

"Come on, you can make it!"
Kendall said, through her teeth, as they made their way to the landing field, to the up-link tower base.

From behind a terminal monitor, Bishop steered the incoming drop-ship with a joystick. He glanced up as the second drop-ship flew over the North Lock building, and descended toward the landing grid, side-slipping in hurricane gusts. Bishop stood, as he guided it with the portable terminal. The ship set down hard, and it lowered it's access ramp on contact. The six of them stumbled up to Bishop, and Ripley shouted to be heard over the loud winds.

"Bishop! How much time!

"Plenty! Twenty-six minutes!"
Came Bishop's reply, and he seemed pleased with himself, about it as well.

"We're not leaving!"

"We're not!?"

They all made their way up the ship's access ramp, before they disappeared inside.