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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. 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."

"How is that possible?", Sarah asked.

"Chitin hardens when it scars over", I told her, "my guess is it's gotten so hard the Rain isn't concentrated enough to eat through it. It's the same principle on my skin too. It's why my colors are so dark, because of all the scaring."

"Harmful or not you still need a radio", Allen said, "and ain't one been invented yet that can survive getting Black Rained on, then there's the problem of getting that sensitive equipment back to the lab without it being corroded."

"I can solve the corrosion problem pretty easily", Tyler said, "all the labs have special cases designed to transport equipment that sensitive and the cases are more than strong enough to stand up to BR, but your right, the radio problem is the deal breaker."

"I've never been one to sit on my tail when shit needs to be done", I said, "there has to be something I can do."

"Give me a few minutes at the machine shop down the hall", Jacob said standing up, I MIGHT beable to Rain Proof a radio for you."

Jacob left the room as I started getting out of my gear.

"Um Sky?", Allen asked.

"If he gets a radio rain proofed that is all I'm taking with me", I said, "I cant afford to have my gear eaten off my body by acidic rain."

"Good point", Allen said, "be careful brother, Black Rain is some really nasty shit, it's the Death Penalty on this planet."

"Alcatraz has already told me", I said, "you guys got some real douches in charge of this planet then. That's a stupid way to die. I mean seriously? Who thinks of that shit?"

"Some asshole that's who", Mike laughed.

"I know Jacob said give him more than two minutes", I said, "but that's all I'm giving him."

I walked out the door and went down the hall. I found the shop close to the Biome Labs entrance and Jacob was at a workbench in the back of the room. The bench was covered in metal parts and bits, wires and rubber sheets. At the moment, Jacob looked like he was trying to get something to compress.

"Jacob?", I asked sticking my head in.

"Just finished", he said, "come have a look at Ios' first Rain Proof Radio."

I walked over to the bench. There was a metal box about twice the size of the radio I used. There was a capped stainless steel tube coming out of the box made of the same material and there was a flexible metal hose that shrouded the wire to the ear piece and even that was protected by a piece that had elastic bands on it so I could secure it to my head.

"I don't know how comfortable it will be", Jacob said handing it to me, "but stainless steel will more than hold up to Black Rain."

I took it from him and buckled it just above my right shoulder and then put the ear piece in. I was surprised at how it seemed to melt into my back and the side of my head, if it were black, it could pass as a body part almost.

"It needs to be black", I laughed as I walked to the door, "shut this behind me, the last thing we need are chemicals pouring into our safe haven."

Mike nodded as I stepped out. The rain was super chilled when it hit my EXO and after a few minutes, it started to reek of burnt metal, chlorine, salt, rock and what I was pretty sure was the stuff they put in propane. There were a lot of other sickening odors, but those were the ones that stuck out.

"Allen", I called, "can you hear me?"

"I hear ya Sky", He said, 'guess whatever Jacob did worked. Here's what you need to do. The lab that holds what we need is about a 600 yards straight ahead, but who knows what 240 and Redstar have banged out. There might be shit that likes acidic rain between here in there, so use your Modifications if you have too."

"Will do", I said as my hand turned into an icy mace. I also found now that I wasn't dressed that my entire Exo turned that frosty white and pale blue color, which would have been pretty cool if the area around me wasn't green and brown. Sighing at myself, I started forward as the rain began to come down harder. Thunder cracked overhead and jolts of lightning struck the giant cage above me in a feeble attempt to enter. I could hear the shrieks and squeals of the Vine People up ahead, my guess was that rain didn't agree with them. When I approached, my hunch was confirmed. There were six members of the Vine People sprawled on their backs as the rain stripped their mossy flesh from their bones, turning it this sick black and blue color. Smoke was pouring into the air as the rain ate their insides out of their bodies and the scent of burning meat was wafting through the air. I felt sorry for them, nothing and no one deserved to die like that.

"Jeez guys", I said, "there are a few vine people here that re getting eaten alive by the rain."

"Let 'em go", James said, "it will kill them quickly."

"Bullshit", I said as I stepped around, not sure weather I wanted to bash their heads in so they wouldn't have to suffer anymore, or keep going, "these six are dying quite slowly."

"Stay on the path Skyline", Magellan's voice came, "it's not your concern."

"Magellan?", I asked, "how in the hell are you on coms?"

"Magic", he answered, "you'll see when you get back. For now, fill me in, what's going on?"

"I need to find Sarah some lab devices so she can find a vaccine for the Redstar Virus", I answered, "but I have no idea what I'm supposed to look for once I make the lab."

"I talk you through it", Magellan said s a huge BANG peicred the sky "for now, just get there."

"Will do", I said as I shot one last glance at the mutants, who had since closed the distance between each other, gone quiet, and become a little more than black mush and pressed on. My feet were sinking into the mud with each step and the temperature of the rain was starting to make me cold, though the fact that my arms were covered in ice might have had something to do with it.

"I'm starting to get cold guys", I said, "how far is it to the lab?"

"50 yards", Magellan said, "just keep moving."

I nodded, though he couldn't see it through the radio. I could just see the door to the lab that I needed when Martin came over the radio.

"Your pet Xenomorph is immune to Black Rain huh bitches?", he asked, his voice deep and raspy, I could tell something was wrong with him, but wasn't sure what, "let's see if he's immune to this."

The entrance to the lab collapsed in on itself. When the rain beat the dust back, all that was standing there was a suit of power armor. It was a military model no doubt, I could tell because of the white flashing lights on the back of the jump boosters. It's arms had been upgraded with giant swords. Other parts on the suit, the hydraulics, the guns, which were twin MaDecues on both sides, and the armor, had been enhanced and the suit had a very, high pitched wail too it, sounding like the supercharger on the Accord. The paint was jet black and dark purple and there was a strip of crystal in the front that was pulsating red.

"Lockheart", Martin said, "KILL HIM!"

"Yes sir", the suit operator answered in a deep, robotic voice.

"Can't I catch a brake!?", I yowled as I jumped out of the way of the charging steel suit. I formed a ball of frozen nitrogen in my hand and tossed it at the suit as it turned around. It shattered on the elbow of the right arm, encasing it in ice. In retaliation, it let go at least 60 rounds from each of it;s four 50 calibers that shredded the ground in front of me. The suit's guns followed me as I circled around to try and close the distance enough to try and take a swing at something vital. I wasn't going to beat this thing head on and I didn't have any where the strength that I needed to get into hand to hand with it, so I had to try and shut off it's hydraulics. When I managed to get close to the suit, I reached out and grabbed a hold if the first thing I could and used it to hoist myself up onto the back of the suit.

"This looks important!", I shouted as I grabbed a red hose and ripped it right out of the back of the suit. The pilot retaliated by grabbing me by the head and tossing me into the concrete wall of the lab. As I hit the ground with my legs in the air, I noticed that the Twin Fifties on the left side were pointing to the ground and that the suit was leaking a clear fluid. I righted myself as the suit dashed at me to close the distance and shoved the steel swords on each arm into the wall, leaving a hole clean through. It yanked them back out and swung at me, scoring a nasty slash on my chest. Bad news. My blood was already acidic, I I figured that the chemicals in the rain wouldn't harm my insides, but what worried me was what might be living inside that lab that was infected with Redstar.

"Did that hurt?", The suit's operator asked, "maybe you need a bandage."

"Fuck you!", I snarled producing another ball of LN and chucking it at him. The ball impacted right in the crystal strip that my guess was the camera because the suit stumbled backwards and lifted it's arm to brake it. I produced two more balls of LN and tossed them at the suit's knees as I slid between it's legs and grabbed the wing to heave myself up onto it's back again. I made my right arm into one big spike of ice and shoved it into the suit's engine with everything I had. The suit died and began to fall backwards. I jumped off and walked around to the front as it hit the ground and pried the cockpit open, standing over it so the rain couldn't harm the pilot, yet.

Inside was a man who seemed to be about 20. He had all four limbs replaced by artificial ones and he was missing an eye. He looked at me and said, point blank.

"Piece of garbage", he spat, "it's a good thing you suffered your whole life. I wish I could have been there to see your mother die in front of you! Hope she's in hell where she belongs, you'll be joining her shortly!"

He reached down and grabbed a Colt .45 and aimed it at me. I moved aside just as he fired and snatched the gun from his hand, putting a slug in his shoulder before tossing the gun aside.

I'm ashamed to say I let my emotions get the better of me.

"Don't. You. Speak. About. My. Mother", I snarled as I sized him by the shirt and flipped him around, hauling him out of the suit and grabbing him by the head, forcing him to look up into the electrically charged rain clouds that were still bathing the planet in acid.

The man began to kick and scream as the rain met his flesh and pulled it off his bones. His clothes started to smoke and seemed like they were trying to catch fire. His artificial limbs instantly started to rust away. He struggled to try and free himself, but I was so much stronger than he was. Watching him suffer made me smile, watching him kick, watching him struggle against my grip, watching him die, it wasn't what I wanted, it was what my Primal side wanted, and he was getting it. He had me, but I didn't care.

"This is how suffering feels", I growled as his skin began to run down my hands and hit the grass beneath us, "you said you were glad I suffered, guess what? I'm glad I get to watch you die like the animal you are! Consider this payback for all the lives you and your boss took with your little goals, and when I find him he gets to die too!"

"No!", he screamed as his chest started to open, allowing the Black Rain to enter his body and start work on his insides, "Please don't kill me like this! Shoot me!"

I shook my head, "that wouldn't be any fun now would it?"

I dropped him to the ground so he was laying on his back, I produced two ice spikes and drove them in his shoulders to pin him down, and two more so he couldn't turn his head out of the direction of the rain fall.

"I wouldn't waste a bullet on you", I growled as I stepped away, "I'll let the Planet have some fun with you."

"RAGGH!", Martin shouted over the radio, "You had one job Lockheart! One Job!"

"Your next Martin", I hissed.

"Good luck you little shit", Martin hissed back as he closed off the coms.

I stood there and watched him wither away to a pile of mush. Then reality kicked in and I felt my heart drop. I realized that what I had just done didn't make me any better than the man I was trying to kill. I sighed as I recalled the vine people, how much they had suffered in the two minutes it took for the Rain to kill them. It took this 20 year old well over 30 minutes to die from this. I could hear my Primal side talking in my head.

"He deserved it, don't feel guilty."

I sighed, "no...he didn't."

"Skyline!?", Magellan shouted, "where are you!?"

"Trying to blow my ear drums out?", I asked as I turned to the doorway.

"You've been dark a half hour", he said, "thought that fucker in the Power Suit got you."

"Nah", I answered, "I'm alright...he's not. I killed him with the rain."

There was a pause.

"Why would you do that for?", Jacob asked, "an hour ago you were saying no one deserved to die like that, now your acting like the state? What gives?"

"He made a comment about my Mom", I sighed, "My Primal side did the talking after that."

There was another pause.

"You okay?", Magellan asked, "I can hear the regret in your voice."

I sighed, "I'll be fine", I looked back of the pile of quickly decaying rot that was a man 20 minutes ago, "i just hope where ever he's going ain't hell."

There was another pause as I turned my attention to the pile of rubble that used to be a door.

"Well what you need is in there", James said, "but that damn armor suit just dropped half my goddamn lab in your way."

"Any ideas on how to get through it?", I asked.

"The Telekinesis Modification", James said, "it should be three labs down."

I started down the row of concrete buildings. When I reached the lab marked, 04. I opened the door and stepped inside. The middle of the room had two counters with sinks and chemistry stations. In the back of the lab were three computers and a large printer and there were rows of cages in the back. There were four dead scientists around the room, three were on the ground and another was sitting in a chair behind a computer, a single bullet through his head. Sitting on the tables in the middle, was a beaker of a purple glowing liquid with a syringe next to it. I walked over the bodies of the dead scientists and picked up the needle and the beaker.

"I think I found it", I said.

"Is it glowing purple?", James asked.

"Yeah", I answered, "really bright purple."

"That's it", James said, "now listen, the more of that you take, the more powerful the result, but take too much and you could fry your brain like a chicken nugget, so be careful."

"I will", I said. I filled the syringe about halfway before I plunged it into my arm and emptied it into my veins. There was a brief period before a sharp pain snapped through my arm. My Exo changed back to black and there were now small, air waves around my hands.

"Cool", I said as I stepped back outside and walked back to the rubble.

"So how do I use this?", I asked.

"You have to aim your hands at what you want to move and think", Magellan answered, "moving shit with your mind."

I smiled and reached out as if I were grabbing the rocks, thinking that they were moving back. Much to my surprise, they popped right out and I found when I let my hands fall to my sides, the rocks simply piled up where they were.

"Cool", I said stepping inside, finding a similar set up to the lab I was just at.

"So what am I looking for here guys?", I asked.

Sarah came over the radio, "I need three things", she said, "1, I need a more powerful Centrifuge, I know you know what that looks like so I won't waste your time. 2, I need a small, hand held Bio Scanner. Look for a desk calculator type device on a handle with a small, glass piece in front and a test tube on each side and three, I need at least two bottles of Potassium Sulfate Chloride. You'll find it in a small, white plastic bottle with a yellow label. Careful with it. It's rather friendly to bacteria, but it's extremely toxic to more complex lifeforms."

"I will", I answered.

I began looking around the lab. The first thing I found were the cases, they were small, but heavy metal boxes that read: "Rain Proof Case, clean after each use." I set them on the table and then went through each nook and cranny, one by one. I found the Bio Scanner in a cabinet above the computers and the chemicals underneath the counter. I placed the items in their cases and started back for the lab.