As Scar and Lex watched, the ex-hacker's eyelids fluttered and he moaned again. His hands went up to cradle his head and then finally he peered up at them, bewildered. It took a few seconds for him to focus on the two of them but the moment he saw the hunter, his face froze in a terrified grimace and he scrambled back across the floor in panic.

Neither of them made a move to stop him; Lex because she was still conflicted, Scar because he knew the human could not get out through the locked door.

"Lex?" Fil croaked, his teeth were actually chattering "Lex, what the fuck is this place? D-d-did you bring me here?"

"Let me handle this." She said to Scar in an undertone. He looked at her for a moment and then stood back, leaning against the console and folding his arms. His manner stated clearly that whatever explanation he was about to hear, it had better be spectacular.

"Calm down Fil," Lex said, walking towards the other human with her hands spread "We just want to talk to you."

"Who – " Indicating the hunter with a trembling finger " – what is he?"

"Scar? He's… someone who looks out for my interests." She tried to keep her voice calm, neutral "Fil." He didn't look at her so she said more sharply "Fil!" He turned "You remember earlier, I told you I needed your help and then those men came and tried to arrest me – who were they?"

"How the f-fuck should I know?"

"Come on Fil." She knelt down next to him so they were eye to eye "How long have we known each other? I know you're keeping something from me; I sensed it in the bar. I know the government is offering a lot of money for information on me –"

"I didn't give you up for the reward!"

She blinked and a sick feeling started to build in the pit of her stomach. So emphatic but so specific…

"But….. you did give me up?" She prompted.

"I –" He looked as if he was about to start an angry denial and then his eyes darted to the hunter watching them silently from the other side of the cockpit, and he faltered "I just… I mean ... I … didn't..."

She tried to sound sympathetic though she felt nauseated, she didn't want him to clam up on her "You didn't what Fil?"

Behind her Scar lifted his hands up to his mask. Fil's eyes slid past her to watch him apprehensively. Slowly he pulled off the pressurised screws that held his visor in place. When he was sure that he had the human's full, petrified attention he pulled the face plate off and turned towards him, yellow eyes virtually glowing in the dim light.

Fil gave a strangled cry and scrambled back even further until finally his back was right up against the wall. His shoulder blades seemed to be trying to burrow their way through the metal, but his gaze was riveted on the hunter's face.

"Who did you tell?" She said, he looked at her madly "You must have told someone about me."

"Nobody!" He squeaked.

She glanced over at Scar. He ignored her and focused all his attention on the man.

"I don't believe you Fil." She said "Scar says that there's no other way they could have known I was there… and I hate to say it, but I can't think of any other explanation either."

"Lex, I swear I didn't – "

As he started to deny it again, Scar suddenly lunged across the room and seized hold of Fil by the shoulders. Lifting him off his feet and pinning him to the wall, he brought his snarling jaws right up close to the luckless man's face. Fil actually screamed this time, so paralysed with fear he didn't struggle but went rigid.

"Jesus Christ!" It was a hysterical shriek "Let me go!"

"Scar for God's sake put him down!" She said angrily.

"He will not understand so I want you to translate for me!" Scar said to her, spreading his mandibles further, still looking into Fil's eyes.

"We're already talking!"

"He is telling you nothing and it is taking all night!" He hissed "Now; if you do not want me to torture him, translate for him what I say!"

"Alright, alright!" She said making her tone calm, trying to placate him "But I don't know why I have to – "

"Because it is more intimidating if he does not understand me." Scar said over his shoulder, not taking his infernal gaze away from the human male "He must tell us to whom he has betrayed you, or I will make him suffer."

"Please, Lex!" Fil was actually weeping now "Please don't let him hurt me, just please God tell me how to stop this!"

"Fil!" She said quickly "He wants to know who you told about me. How did those men know I was going to be at that bar tonight?"

He started to talk but the words came out garbled, tumbling out almost too fast to make sense.

"Slow down!" She said looked at him over Scar's shoulder, trying to hold his eyes, make him focus on her "Who made you do what? Were they from the FBI?"

"Weyland!" He was sobbing now "They were from Weyland Corps!"

"Weyland Corps?" She was perplexed "What the hell do Weyland Corps want with you? How do they even know who you are?"

"They want you Lex!" He snivelled, tears and snot now dribbling down his face "I don't know why but they want you really badly! They came to see me and they knew all about you, knew we were friends; they told me thhey could make it worth my while if I'd promise to contact them if I ever heard from you. When I said I wouldn't take the money they threatened me – "

"They offered you money?!"

"Yeah, a lot of money," He gasped "And when I said I wouldn't take it they knew all this shit about me – "

"What do you mean; they threatened you?"

"They knew about the hacking! They must've hired somebody pretty A-1 to check me out because that sort of stuff's hard to trace for anyone but a pro." He sniffed, tears welling up in his eyes again "I'm not in a good place Lex, I've been partying pretty hard, hitting the booze and … and the coke. They musta had me followed! They were going to tell my boss about the drugs; worse than that! About the hacking! I'd have lost my job, my apartment, maybe been arrested - "

"You see?" Scar rumbled "He betrayed you, he admits it himself!"

At the sound of his voice Fil lapsed into terrified silence. Lex stared hard at him.

"And knowing the sort of people they were, you gave me up to them?"

"I had no choice!" He cried, in desperate appeal "I'm not like you Lex! I'm just an ordinary guy - not some kind of action hero! I hadn't seen you for six years and I thought you were fucking dead! I'm sorry but I didn't want them to destroy my fucking life!" He broke off dissolving into tears again.

"I am losing patience with this creature." Scar tightened his grip causing Fil to freeze in terror "Ask him Lexsss – where is this 'Iverrrrr-sssssson'? That is what we came here to discover. Say that if he does not tell us immediately I will skin him from the feet up so he can watch!"

"Just put him down Scar!" She said, furious now "I'm not going to stand here and watch you skin him alive!"

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Fil was all but hyperventilating now.

"Jonas!" She said "You have to tell me; that woman I told you about – Iversson – do you know who she is? Did you get a chance to look for her? I know it's hard to remember right now but please just think: the woman I asked you to find –Jeanette Iversson – did you manage to dig up anything on her?"

"Iversson?" He said blinking in stupefaction.

"I have had enough of this whining." With the hand that wasn't pinning Fil to the wall Scar extended his blades.

"She works for them!" Fil screamed, his face was almost as grey as the metal behind him.

"Who?" She said, turning to look at him.

"Iversson w-works for Weyland Corps!" He gabbled "That's why I was f-f-freaked out when you asked about her – I met her! I met Iversson, least she said she was Iversson, the other woman said she was..."

Scar lowered him to the floor and sheathed his dah'kte but he did not release his grip on Fil's shoulder.

"When did you meet her?"

"At their HQ in N-New York a-after they first contacted me," He struggled to get the words out "I d-didn't know w-w-what they wanted. Thought they were gonna offer me a j-job. She w-was there, Professor Iversson. She intro-d-duced herself to m-me as their head of life sciences, I remember c-cos I thought "isn't that what they c-c-call vivisection" …"

"What did she look like?"

He sniffed and rubbed a hand over his mouth "Tall, classy, b-blue eyes, New England accent, kinda like a schoolmistress."

Lex narrowed her eyes, that was a pretty good description "Do you have a contact for her, an address? A phone number?"

"Lex, I met her for like – five minutes – she just happened to meet me by chance."

"How long ago did you meet her?" She asked slowly.

"About six m-months…"

She thought for a moment, if it was true then it couldn't be coincidence. She looked at Scar and could see the same thing going through his mind; Weyland Corps wanted to find her and now it transpired that Iversson was working for them? "There's no way it could be accidental, it all must fit together somehow!" She thought "But what could have made Iversson quit her job with the government?" If Iversson had really left the unit dedicated to the studying and combating the hunters and their activity on Earth, why had she done so? And what could she be working on for Weyland Corps?

Lex thought she could probably guess.

"You know where this is?" Scar was looking at her speculatively "This place he talks of?"

"I know the city," She said "Their headquarters should not be hard to locate and then we - "

"Then we must leave now and not waste more time." He finished for her "I will kill him quickly so that we can go."

"Kill him?" She said, shocked "But he has told us what we wanted to know. Surely we can just let him go?"

"Lex, what the fuck is he saying?" Fil said shakily "Please tell me you're going to turn me loose – I don't kn-know anything else!"

"Let him go?" Scar snorted in disbelief "So that he can go and warn Iversson we are seeking her? Are you out of your senses?"

"He would not do that!"

"Yes he would." Scar said bluntly "Whatever the reason, he has already proven to you that he would, and if you let him go he will do it again."

"Can we not just leave him on an island somewhere? Somewhere remote, to give us some time…"

"We do not have time." He wasn't angry, he was trying to reason with her, trying to explain

"Keep him prisoner then!" She said desperately.

"Where?" He gestured around the shuttle "We do not have a cell, the pods lock from the inside. Do you trust him to be free on board while you sleep? Do you trust him around Selim? Who is going to guard him while we do what needs to be done?"

He was right; there was no cell, nowhere to keep him. Yautja did not give quarter to prisoners from enemy clans. Any warrior careless or unfortunate enough to be taken alive knew that his period in enemy custody would be extremely brief. If he was lucky he'd get a quick death, if not he might be eviscerated or strung up and left to die somewhere.

She shook her head, that might be their way of doing things but it wasn't hers.

"Selim, does not have time for this." He said insistently "You need to decide what means more to you; your son's life or the life of this treacherous parasite."

"It is you who is making me choose between them!" She said hotly "What if it you had found out Rika had betrayed you, would you have let me kill him?"

"Lex," He said slowly "You should know better than anybody that if I discovered Rika – or anyone else – had betrayed me as this tapeworm has done you, I would kill him myself!"

She knew that was true. Lex screwed her eyes shut and rubbed her hand over her mouth "Maybe he's right. What he's saying is so brutal, but there's an awful logic to it."

She opened her eyes to look at Fil who was looking piteously from one of them to the other, cowering against the wall. As much as she knew Scar's cold-blooded reasoning made sense she couldn't bring herself to accept it. This wasn't some faceless soldier; he was her friend of many years standing. With both her parents dead years ago he was one of the few people who'd known her from when she was young.

In fact he'd been there for her when they had died; he'd gone to both of their funerals and he'd sat with her afterwards. No matter what he might have done she couldn't look into his weeping, begging eyes and let him be taken to his death. If she allowed this to happen, the last tattered shreds of her humanity would be gone and the person she had been in her old life would finally be dead.

Taking her silence as consent Scar seized his intended victim and pulled his head back. Fil gave a shocked scream.

"No!" She grabbed hold of his arm, knowing that if he was really determined she hadn't the strength to prevent him "Scar, stop! I won't let you - "

"Mommy?"

All three of them turned, frozen in an awful tableau in the red light of the control console, to see Selim standing there. She thought for a moment the noise had woken him, but he didn't even seem to see Fil there. He was leaning against the hatch to the corridor and when he lifted his head she saw his eyes were streaming with tears. He held out his small hands to her "Help me Mommy!" He said "My head hurts! It really huuurts!" The last word was a wail of pain.

In a split second she had her arms around him "Selim!" She said, showering him with kisses "Selim! I'm sorry sweetheart! Let me put you back in the pod and get you some painkillers!" She lifted him up and he clung on tightly, with his arms around her neck. She felt his tears wet against her shoulder.

"You see?" Scar's voice was even more guttural than usual "He is getting worse. We have run out of time. Let me end this now so we can go."

"Are you really going to do this?" She hissed, staring at him fiercely over the boy's shoulder "Murder him in front of your son?"

"Do not let him watch then!" He spat back at her "Stay here!" And he pulled Fil upright with one hand and hauled him towards the door.

Immediately the colour drained out of her face and she froze, still holding Selim, his face buried in her neck.

The airlock slid open. It was now the early hours of the morning and the pale, spectral light streamed in along with a pervasive chill which stole immediately into her bones.

Scar dragged the human out and down the gangway like an executioner taking a prisoner to the block and she stumbled after him, clutching their son as tightly as if he were the one to save her not the other way round. The the hill the shuttle rested on was surrounded by thick, white mist and everything was saturated with condensation. Fil's pleas and sobs sounded very loud set against the birdsong that filtered in from the trees and scrub on all sides – not quite the dawn chorus yet.

Scar reached the bottom of the gangway and hauled him through the grass, leaving a trail through the silvery dew. She followed down the metal ramp and across the cold ground. When he stopped just a few feet short of the trees, she stopped too as if turned to stone, petrified by indecision. She had a feeling that no matter what she did now, something awful was about to happen. Selim shivered in her arms and she shivered along with him.

He forced the trembling man to his knees on the saturated ground. Fil had ceased to plead or scream or beg. Now he just stared up at the hunter, unable to do anything but wait for the inevitable, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

Scar glanced up at her, enraged to see her standing there with Selim clutched against one shoulder "Take him back inside!"

"Please… do not do this!" She said almost crying herself now "He is the nearest thing I have to family left on this planet."

"You are wrong. He is nothing to you, his treachery should be proof enough of this. Selim and I are your family now."

"S'Kia!" He looked up again at the use of his real name "If you kill him… I will never forgive you."

He paused at that, weighing up whether she really meant it. Seconds slipped past.

Then he drew a deep breath, as if resigned "In time I think you will forgive me but even if you do not ….then I must suffer it. Whatever the consequences, I must put my offspring first."

He pressed the palm catch on one hand, bringing the blades of the dah'kte shooting out with a sound that rang through the stillness of the dawn.

Then she saw something flicker over him, a bunch of bright red points of light hovering on his skin like angry insects.