Mike, Alcatraz's and I loaded up early the next morning. Everyone else except for Allen was still asleep, so he sat down at the computers to assist us. The three of us headed out for the Biome labs and once we got there, found it was pouring rain.
"Hope it's not Black Raining", Alcatraz said as we stood in the open doorway.
"Black Raining?", I asked.
He nodded, "there's a section of Ios, the Badlands, that's been mined so much that the Company ended up hitting the toxic mantle and had to pull out. It's so heavily contaminated that if it gets into the water it turns it into straight acid that can strip the paint off a car. It happens when the contaminants get into the air and then a heat wave comes through. The heat electrically charges the particles and turns it into a Class 4 Chemical Storm, otherwise known as Black Rain. You can't tell if it's Black Rain unless you stick your hand in it and the skin comes off. They use this in towns to execute convicts.
"Brutal", I said, "only one way to find out if is I guess."
I stuck the barrel of my FAL out into the rain. Sure enough, the black paint peeled off the barrel like skin from a sunburn.
"Crap", Mike said, "we can't move in this."
I tilted my head and looked outside, flicking my tail as the gears in my head started turning.
"Skyline?", Alcatraz asked, "what the hell are you doing."
"Hold that", I said handing my FAL to Mike. I took my glove off and rolled up my sleeve, "let me try something."
"Your not seriously gonna stick your arm out there are you?", Mike asked.
"I have a hunch", I said, "if it doesn't work the worst I end up with are some nasty blisters."
"Crazy fucker", Mike huffed.
I slowly stuck my hand out into the acidic rainfall. Much to my surprise, it beaded up and rolled off my Chitin like normal rain, I didn't even feel stinging.
"Well how about that?", Mike said, "Black Rain can't hurt you."
"Let's go tell Allen", I said, "I doubt I'll beable to take anything with me, so we should probably let him know."
We walked back to the Lounge, finding that everyone was now awake and doing something, weather it was checking food supplies, something on a PDA or just reading.
"You guys can't be back already", James said as he turned his attention on us.
Mike held up my FAL the paint was smoking and still peeling.
"Ran into a little problem", Mike said, "it's Black Raining outside."
"What?", Allen asked sticking his head out, "please tell me I didn't just hear you say it's Black Raining."
Mike nodded, "you did."
"Shit", Allen said, "that is not good we don't have time to wait for it to blow over either."
"How long does it usually last?", I asked.
"Four to eight days", Allen said, "longest Black Rainstorm on Ios lasted for ten straight days, while the shortest was about four hours."
"Redstar will have us all in four days", Sarah sighed, "never mind eight."
"I can still go", I said, "Black Rain doesn't affect me."
"Your full of shit too", Tyler said, "BR can eat through a piece of sheet steel."
"But it doesn't hurt me", I told them, "I stuck my hand out and it beaded up and rolled right off."
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Isolation-#Wattys2015
FanfictionI went into this job thinking it was just another bug hunt, some Scientist dude who got careless with his vials and spawned nothing more than some blood thirsty flesh craving fruit fly or a huge snake. I thought it would be in, kill the monster, get...
