Ripley watched as one of the prisoners mopped up the blood, all but bent in a crouch in an effort to be as far away from the duct opening as possible. She was sitting with Newt and Hicks on a table at the back of the mess hall, sharing a cigarette with the marine. In the centre of the mess, Dillon led the prisoners in prayer. They were remarkably controlled, for all that their fear was palpable.

A strange kind of calm had descended on Ripley now the alien had shown itself. Newt seemed to be similarly affected, sitting quietly at Ripley's feet and watching the prisoners at prayer. Hicks had said nothing since the prayer started, climbing up to sit on the table and lighting a cigarette, eyes narrowed as he looked at each of the prisoners in turn. Ripley turned her attention to her own assessment of the remaining denizens of Fury. What she saw didn't make her feel any more optimistic.

Apparently, Hicks shared her view. He blew out a breath and stubbed the cigarette out on the table, drawing his knees up and folding his arms across them.

Ripley nudged him. 'Not your thing, huh?' The corner of his mouth turned up but he didn't speak.

Finally, the prayer ended, Dillon rising to his feet and stepping back.

'So what now?' one of the prisoners called. 'Who's in charge now?'

Aaron stepped forward. 'I guess I'm next in line,' he said, taking a deep breath

Some of the prisoners laughed, a few of them groaned. No one appeared to take him seriously.

The one called Morse rolled his eyes. 'Eighty-five's gonna be in charge? Give me a fucking break.'

'Don't call me that!' Aaron said, whirling angrily to face Morse, who seemed entirely unperturbed. 'Look,' Aaron said, turning to face the room. 'I know I can't replace Andrews. You lot didn't appreciate him but he was a good man. But-'

Dillon had clearly had enough. 'Aaron, we don't wanna hear that shit right now.' He turned, his gaze zeroing in on Ripley and Hicks. 'We got officers here. One of you wanna show a little leadership?

'I'm not an officer, ' Hicks said softly. Ripley glanced at him, raising an eyebrow in silent interrogation.

'Who the fuck are they?' one of the prisoners demanded. 'Why don't you take charge, Dillon? You run this place anyway.'

Aaron looked as though he wanted to object but didn't dare. Dillon merely shook his head. 'No fuckin' way. I ain't the officer type,' he said, looking around at each and every prisoner in turn. 'I just take care of my own.'

'So what now?' a prisoner asked. 'Is this motherfucker gonna try for us all?'

'Yeah,' Ripley said quietly, rising and stepping forward to stand next to Dillon.

'Fucking great,' Morse growled. 'How do we stop it?'

Ripley glanced over at Hicks and he stood up to join her, snagging Newt's hand on the way and bringing her with him. 'We have no weapons, right?' she asked.

'Right,' Aaron said.

'What about video tracking?' Hicks asked, glancing up. 'There's cameras all over.'

Aaron shook his head. 'Video system hasn't worked in years. Nothing much works here. We've got a load of tech but no way to fix any of it.'

Morse jumped down from the table he'd been sitting on. 'What Eighty-Five's tryin' to tell you-'

'Don't call me that!' Aaron snapped.

Morse continued as though he hadn't spoken, moving until he was toe to toe with Ripley. 'Is we got no entertainment centre, no climate control, no viewscreens, no surveillance, no freezers, no fuckin' ice cream, no guns, no rubbers, no women, all we got here is shit.' He glanced over his shoulder at the other prisoners. 'What the hell are we even talkin' to her for? She's the one that brought the fucker. Let's shove her head through the fucking wall.'

Without breaking eye contact with Morse, Ripley held out an arm, catching Hicks in the chest as he stepped forward.

Morse grinned horribly. 'Don't like it, soldier boy? Come and have a go, then. Don't let your girlfriend stop you.'

'Morse?' Dillon called quietly. 'Shut the fuck up.'

'We need to seal ourselves off,' Ripley said, dropping her arm when she felt Hicks relax.

'Not possible,' Aaron said. This place is ten miles square. There's six hundred air ducts that run to the surface.'

'Show us,' Hicks said.

/\/\/\/\

Half an hour later, Ripley went looking for Hicks and Aaron. They'd disappeared after the meeting, heading for the superintendent's office in search of the prison blueprints. She'd stayed behind to talk to Dillon about what would be needed from the prisoners, keeping one eye on the one called Morse while she spoke.

Newt was silent, walking so close to Ripley that she might as well be carrying her. Ripley looked down at the top of the girl's head. 'You alright?' Newt's head bobbed, the girl nodding rather than speaking.

Ripley sighed, remembering how talkative Newt had been on the Sulaco - for her, at least - sitting on Hicks' lap and eating from the marine's plate as she spoke. Now the girl had reverted to silence. It was a good defence mechanism, Ripley reflected. Under threat from both the alien and the general population, Newt couldn't run and hide here, all she could do was keep quiet, hoping slip to beneath notice.

Ripley wished she could do the same. The fact was that they were under threat and keeping Newt with her only made them a bigger target.

They found Aaron alone in Andrews' office, sitting in the superintendent's chair. He stood guiltily when they entered, moving as though burned. 'Lieutenant Ripley! I was just-'

'You find those blueprints?' Ripley asked, ignoring the young man's discomfort and cutting off his stuttering.

Aaron held up a fistful of papers. 'This is all we've got.'

'Get those down to the mess. Where's Hicks?'

'He took the fire axes and left. I think he said something about the kitchen.' Aaron glanced at Newt. 'You know you two really shouldn't be-'

Ripley turned on her heel and left, effectively silencing Aaron again. When she entered the kitchen hand in hand with Newt she found Hicks sorting through the kitchen units. 'Any luck?'

He glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. 'Not so much,' he said, nodding toward the bench where he'd laid out a depressingly small array of items that could only loosely be considered weapons, including what looked like a steak mallet. 'Most everything's only good for close combat, which…' he sent her a meaningful look, waving a hand obliquely at his face.

'Acid for blood,' Ripley said. 'So there's nothing?' She lifted Newt and sat her on the workbench.

'Fire axes're about the best of it. I guess Andrews wasn't kidding.'

'I guess not,' Ripley said, watching as Newt picked up the mallet. 'You send your message?'

Hicks shook his head, turning back and yanking open another drawer. 'No point. They'll have gotten the databurst from the Sulaco. Plus,' he said, extracting a cleaver and hefting it to feel the weight. 'I'm not exactly sure we want them to put a rush on getting here before we've dealt with the bug.'

Ripley bit the inside of her cheek, wishing she had his confidence. 'Hicks,' she said, dropping her voice. 'I want you to take care of Newt. If one of those assholes loses control I want you there. Keep her with you.'

He stilled, looking over his shoulder at her. 'Where are you gonna be?'

'Aaron's going to show me the air ducts. See what we can do about containing it, maybe find a way to kill it.'

Hicks turned and leaned against the counter, regarding her carefully. 'Split up?' he asked. She nodded. 'I don't think that's such a good idea,' he said slowly. 'We should stay together.'

'I need you here. Help Dillon get the prisoners organised; it'll be back soon and we need to be ready.'

'If I'm with them, shouldn't you keep the kid with you?'

'She's safer with you.'

'Ripley-' he raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck, pressing the heel of his hand hard into the knot of muscle there.

'I can take care of myself. I'll feel better if she's with you.' He regarded her for a long moment before nodding. Relieved, Ripley moved to stand in front of Newt. 'Newt, I need you to stay with Hicks. He's gonna take care of you while I check some stuff out. Okay, baby?

'Okay,' Newt nodded. She jumped down from the counter and walked to take Hicks' hand, looking up at him solemnly.

'I need you to take care of him, too,' Ripley said, rising and meeting Hicks gaze.

He still wasn't happy, she could see, his eyes holding hers for a moment too long before he looked down at Newt and smiled, tightening his fingers around her smaller ones.

/\/\/\/\

Ripley stood in the centre of the mess hall, waiting for the prisoners to settle into their seats. Beside her, Aaron shifted uncomfortably, tapping his clipboard against his leg. Ripley glanced at him, annoyed at his fidgeting and he stilled, blanching. A wave of nausea flooded through her and she stiffened, fighting not to let her exhaustion show. The early ejection from cryo was really messing with her and she made a mental note to visit the infirmary for a stabilizer.

Hicks and Newt sat on a bench off to the side, Hicks watching the prisoners with a careful eye even as he affected a relaxed posture. The harsh light of the mess threw the scars on his face into sharp relief, making him look more threatening. Ripley caught some of the prisoners throwing him an almost challenging look, which he stared down calmly.

Finally, the prisoners seemed to have settled as much as they were going to, their eyes falling on her expectantly.

In short order, she explained the plan, breaking it down for them. Chase the alien through the system, line the way with the quinitricetyline and use the fire to flush it out into the toxic waste storage unit. Lock it up.

When she'd finished speaking, Dillon raised a hand. 'Lemme get this straight. You wanna burn it down and out, force it in there, slam the door and trap its ass?'

'That's right,' Ripley nodded.

Dillon raised an eyebrow. 'And you want help from us double-Y-chromo boys?'

'You got something better to do?'

'Why should we put our ass on the line for you?'

Ripley laughed mirthlessly. 'Your ass is already on the line. The only question is: what are you gonna do about it?'

Dillon held her gaze for a moment, his eyes registering slight admiration before he nodded. 'What do we do?'

'Aaron?' Ripley said, stepping back.

'Right,' Aaron said, consulting his clipboard. 'We need batteries for the flashlights and a team to paint the quini… quini…'

'Quinitricetyline,' David, the prisoner who'd shown Ripley the stash, called out.

'To paint it along the route,' Aaron finished.

As Dillon began to divide up the prisoners, Ripley retreated to where Hicks and Newt were sitting. Hicks had turned back to lean over the table, examining Aaron's blueprint.

'What's this?' Ripley asked.

'Leadworks,' Hicks said, tapping a section of the blueprint. 'I thought maybe...'

'Maybe we could use it?'

He shrugged. 'It's just an idea. Not much of one at this point.'

She leaned down next to him, her eyes tracking over the blueprint. 'Aaron was right, this place is a maze.'

'Yeah, I don't like our chances. Your plan's better.' He folded up the blueprint, tucking it into his pants pocket as Aaron joined them.

'Dillon wants to know where you want everyone,' Aaron said.

Ripley looked at Hicks, seeing that he was still pensive. 'Something on your mind?'

'It killed them,' Hicks said, eyes finding the vent the alien had dragged Andrews through.

'So?' Aaron said. 'That's what it does, right?'

'No,' Hicks said, sharing a look with Ripley.

'They take you away,' Newt said, watching the prisoners with interest.

/\/\/\/\

The quinitricetyline made Ripley's head swim, the fumes clawing at her chest and making her eyes water. She leaned against the mop, trying to drag air into her lungs and wiping sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

Dillon glanced up from his own mop, eyeing her with something akin to amusement in his eyes. 'Morse right? About you and the marine.'

Ripley went back to swabbing the floor. 'Don't know what you're talking about,' she said.

Hicks' voice drifted down the corridor from where he and Aaron were addressing the prisoners. 'You hold off on lighting the fire until I give the signal, you got that?'

As the prisoners murmured in the affirmative and went back to swabbing, Ripley felt nausea overwhelm her she leaned against the wall, gagging and gasping for breath.

'You alright?' Dillon asked, backing away when she waved him off.

Hicks appeared at her side, taking her elbow gently. 'Ripley?'

She looked up at him, making an effort to straighten despite the churning in her stomach. 'Still sick from cryo,' she said. 'I'm fine.'

Hicks narrowed his eyes, dropping his voice slightly. 'Why don't you sit this out? You don't look so hot.'

Ripley rolled her eyes. 'Thanks,' she said sarcastically. Hicks grinned and glanced away. 'Where are we with the batteries?'

As Hicks and Newt disappeared in search of the flashlight batteries, Ripley started swabbing again. She paused, feeling Dillon's eyes on her. 'What?' she asked, horrified to find she was blushing and hoping he couldn't see it in the dark.

He huffed a laugh, nodding in the direction Hicks had taken. 'That's what I figured.'

Ripley rolled her eyes again, searching for a reply but was saved when Aaron's voice rang through the corridor.

'Wait for the fucking signal!'

'What is that?' Dillon asked.

The roar hit Ripley's ears and she knew. 'Down!' She grabbed the back of Dillon's jacket and yanked him back into the corridor, tucking them both away in a doorway as she saw Aaron and two of the prisoners follow them in. The fire ripped past the mouth of the corridor, sucking all the oxygen with it.

Ripley gasped, feeling the heat scorching her face. As the roar of the fire died down she could hear screams. Dillon swore and surged forwards, but she grabbed the back of his jacket, straining to hold him in place.

'You can't help them!' she yelled, tightening her grip as he struggled.

As the screams died away Ripley released Dillon's jacket. He jerked away, spinning and glaring at her. As he opened his mouth he was cut off by Morse yelling in the corridor.

'It's here! It's fucking here!'

Something black and gleaming raced past the entrance to the corridor and Ripley pushed past Dillon and Aaron. As she emerged into the corridor she froze. It was there, outlined against the fire and smoke. She backed away, keeping her eyes fixed on the alien and waiting for it to surge forward. Instead, it raised itself up on its hind legs, hissing as it swayed towards her. Some remote part of her brain that was still functioning prodded her. It looked… uncertain.

Suddenly it turned, streaming away towards the storage unit.

'Lock it up!' Aaron screamed.

'No!' Ripley yelled desperately. 'Wait until it's ins-'

Too late. The doors to the storage unit slammed closed, the bolts sliding home as the alien swarmed up the wall and disappeared into a vent.