Troy quickly formulated a plan. He moved his hand, as slow as a snail, toward his waist and silently grasped the cylinder attached to his regulation utility belt. He may have lost his gun but he was far from defenseless. He silently unclipped a flash bang and began to pull it back. But as he did this the metal clip that had held the grenade snapped back into place with a loud Click! The Xeno spun to face Troy as he furiously crawled away on his back. Without pausing he leapt to his feet, never taking his eyes off the Xeno who was just standing there watching. The two stood there eying each other for a moment, until the Xeno cocked its head to the side quizzically.

"Well, what do you want", Troy questioned, trying to remain as unthreatening as possible. The Xeno raised its talon and pointed it to his left hand, Troy looked down and noticed that he was still holding the flash grenade. Then, an idea formed in Troy's head. "You want this?", he asked gesturing to the grenade. The Xeno nodded and held out its hand.

"Ok then, here you go!", he crouched down to the ground and pulled the pin from the flash bang, "Just remember, you asked for it." He smiled and rolled the grenade to the unsuspecting Xeno.

Zara had no idea what the small cylinder she had picked up was nor what it did. And what did the human mean about me asking for it? She lifted it to her snout and tentatively sniffed it.

And then, it exploded.

Zara flailed backwards hissing and screaming as loud as she could. But heard nothing. She stumbled around blindly, crashing into the walls and clutching her head. She couldn't hear, and because of that she couldn't see because for her sight and sound were one and the same. All she could feel was her mind repeating the same primal urge over and over, "Run. Run! RUN!"

And she did. ️

He had no idea exactly what would happen when the grenade went off and he didn't intend to stay around to find out. He bolted down deeper into the vent, he had to find Nathan ASAP! Luckily he didn't have to go far. About twenty yards down, the walls now completely coated in the black resinous substance, he reached a large intersection. The substance itself was very hard and ever so slightly slippery causing Troy to lose his footing every once an a while.

"Nathan! Can you hear me?!", Troy shouted.

"Ugg-", the sound came from directly behind Troy causing him to jump and spin around, "Do you have to be so loud?"

Nathan was plastered to the wall by the same substance coating all the walls. Oh god...is he hived? Troy thought remembering the term for an inpregnated host.

"There's no eggs", Nathan said reading the terror on Troys face, "I'm not a host! I'm fine! A little hungry, but fine."

"Oh, thank God" Troy said now ecstatic to know his friend was going to be ok, "Here, let me get you down".

Troy pulled out a small plasma cutter and began to cut his friend down. "How many Xenos have you seen around here", Troy asked trying to asses the situation.

"Just the one you met before, and you seem to have scared her off."

"Wait... Scared her off... How do you know it was a she?"

Nathan chuckled turning a bit red, "We'll, I didn't check if that's what your asking."

"Oh, man that's gross...why did you have to go and put that image in my head."

Nathan smirked, "We'll then, I think I did you a favor, considering you like that kind of thing..."

For that Nathan received a fist in the gut. "Hmpf! Ow! Fine you win, your not a Xenist", the pained Nathan uttered, using the slang term for a Xeno lover.

"Dang man that hurt, talk about kicking a man while he's-" Nathan stiffened, "Alright, Troy, get me down now."

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"No, I mean NOW, she's coming back!"

"What! How do you know that?!"

"No time to explain just get me down, she's almost here!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying! But it will be a minute."

"...That's too long!", Nathan squeaked, his face turning chalk white, "She's already here..."

Troy turned around, fear gripping his heart with icy talons, and came face to face once again with the Xenomorph. Only this time it, she, as he now knew, was clearly quite mad. Hissing menacingly, she raised her tail and placed the tip of her tail blade just under his chin, raising it ever so slightly. The message was simple...you move...you die.