"You know what you should do?"

"What?"

"Well, it won't take Ripley long to find a friend. You should find this 'friend' of Ripley and then kill him!"

"Yes! Then she will try to convince them again and we can reveal ourselves then. They will try to stop us and we can use that opportunity to kill them all!"

"We should probably take their leader out too. To add to the confusion."

"We'll let Hicks have that honor."

"That is a good idea!"

"Thank you! So where would Ripley be?"

"I think she is going to be somewhere away from the prisoners, seeing as they are considered molesters."

"So she needs to be friends with someone who is somewhat distanced from the others. To keep Ripley safe."

"Yes, like that Clemens man; the doctor."

"Clemens, that's the one!"

"Let's go find him!"

Ali laughed manically and Hicks hissed next to her.

The air ducts served Ali's and Hicks' purpose once again as they moved though them, trying to locate Clemens and Ripley.

"We have to find him when he's with Ripley."

"Yes, that would be the best."

"Where would they be?"

"The medical room. At least, that is where a doctor should be."

"Alright, let's go find the medical room."

Ali moved through the air ducts with animal-like grace, following Hicks as he tracked Ripley's scent. Suddenly, he stopped and looked down. Ali moved up next to him and saw that he was looking down into a grating. Sitting of to the side of the grating were Ripley and Clemens. They were talking but Ali ignored them. Suddenly, Clemens pulled a curtain closed, surrounding him and Ripley. Ripley was smiling up at Clemens with infatuated eyes. He reached for a needle and held it up. It caught the light and glinted ominously.

Ali looked over at Hicks and whispered, "Dispose of the man."

Hicks pulled the grating away and dropped down silently on the other side of the curtain. There was a strangled cry of fear and Ali peeked down to see one of the men that Ali and Hicks had ambushed; the witness. Ali looked back as Hicks approached the white curtain. Clemens had just injected the needle into Ripley's arm and Ali turned away quickly. She couldn't understand why she had such a fear of the things; they would just melt away when they came into contact with her blood. Suddenly, Ripley pulled back from the needle; staring at Hick's outline on the curtain. Hicks moved quickly then, grabbing Clemens through the curtain and jumping up into the air duct. As Ali moved out of the way to make room for Hicks, Hicks sunk his teeth into Clemens' head, sending blood everywhere. Before Ali could say anything, Hicks jumped back down through the air duct.

Ali quickly put her head through the hole and looked around. Hicks was approaching Ripley, who had her back pressed against the wall. Hicks brought his face right up against Ripley's and smelled her. He hissed and his second mouth came out slowly, opening and closing. Ripley let out a small cry as Hicks hissed and closed her eyes; as if waiting for an attack. Hicks turned away then and jumped back up into the air duct.

Ali watched as Ripley got slowly to her feet; clearly shaken. Ali smiled and gracefully fell through the hole and landed on her feet in front of Ripley. Ripley's eyes widened when she saw Ali and she pressed her back again up against the wall.

"Ali? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" Ali asked, "You do still remember me, don't you?"

"You look different."

"I do?" Ali asked.

She looked around and saw a silver tray that is probably used to carry food to patients. She reached over and picked it up, bringing the tray to her face to study her reflection. She hadn't had the chance to see what she looked like since she landed on this godforsaken planet and she was slightly shocked at what she saw. Her once glossy black hair was now a tangled and dirty mess, her eyes were blood shot and she had dark rings around them.

"What happened to me?

"Ripley."

"Yes, you're right. Ripley did this to me."

"What are you talking about?" Ripley asked.

"You made me like this."

"I didn't do any--," Ripley started to say.

"You killed them! You killed my only family. You tore bullets into Timothy's head even after he was already dead. And then you destroyed my Queen!"

Ripley remained speechless as Ali forgot all about her.

"Remember the plan."

"No! I say we kill her now!"

"No! You know why you cannot kill her yet!"

"Can we at least make her suffer?"

"I guess a little suffering never hurt anyone."

"What are you talking about?" Ripley seemed to find her voice again.

Ali turned to face Ripley before speaking. "You killed our best friend. Our only friend."

"That alien?!"

"To you, Timothy may have just been an alien. But to me, he wasmy only friend. I was always considered different; no one wanted to be my friend. When the aliens invaded, Timothy found me hiding in my room. He had just killed someone-I remember that there was blood dripping down his mouth-but he didn't attack me. He treated me differently; he seemed to care about me. On, and if killing my friend wasn't good enough; you had to kill my Queen too."

"I blew her out of the airlock," Ripley said.

"She won't be able to last long in zero gravity with no food." Ali said, "But she's not completely gone. She's still alive in me."

"And I will always be here with you."

"Are you responsible for what happened to us?" Ripley asked. "The fire on the ship and the alien?"

"Yes, I did that. I was following orders from my Queen. I brought the alien onboard with me. You see, we-me and Aglaia-think this is only fair. Newt was supposed to be a host for a third stage but she drowned inside her own body. I was going to spare Hicks because I always liked him, but he was too close to you. And I decided that Bishop wouldn't make a good host. Can you figure out what I'm trying to do to you?"

"Beside kill everyone?" Ripley asked.

Ali tilted her head back and let out a crazy laugh. "No, not everyone. Just everyone close to you. You killed my family, so I'm going to kill yours!"

"Actually, if you think about it, you already did kill her family."

"Yes, you're right. We killed Newt, Bishop, Hicks, and Clemens. So who's left Ripley?"

"Hurry up with this, Hicks is waiting."

"I know, I know, can't I just break her a little bit more?"

"No! You have a mission to fulfill."

"Alright," Ali turned back to Ripley, "We're not finished with you yet."

Ali walked underneath the air duct and looked up. Hicks was staring down at her, waiting for her signal. She smiled and looked back at Ripley-still frozen against the wall-as Hicks dropped down and grabbed Ali and pulled her up into the air duct.