[b]November 30th, 2019
5:35 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City[/b]

[hr][center][h3][color=#22ff00][u]Echo[/u][/color][/h3][/center]

Ezra hadn't been expecting an immediate reply, Benji would likely spend a few hours doing research before responding, and Jessie was definitely sleeping, she wouldn't reply until the morning. Or so he'd thought, but either she was already up or she was much more sensitive to her phone going off than he was, because when he picked up his phone a few minutes later there was a notification that she'd replied.

He'd not even noticed the time really, he hadn't been able to sleep since he got home so when he’d finally motivated himself to do stuff he'd simply done them and not thought about how early it was. He was surprised then, and a little touched, that Jessie had bothered to even look, much less reply to his message with concern. Not that that was- was- he sighed, he didn't know where that train of thought was going, but he couldn't let the actions of a few tarnish his opinion of his friend; Jessie may be human, but she wasn't a murderer, she- probably- no, she wouldn't turn on him for being an alien.

But still… it wasn't safe to drag her into this, and his disguise was thoroughly wrecked for the night. It'd be better for both of them if she remained oblivious and stayed away for a bit. With that grim and disheartening thought in mind he sent a short reply; [i]thanks, but I'm fine[/i], he began, [i]its just contagious is all, not a big deal[/i]. There, downplaying the symptoms to relieve concern, playing up the risk of infection to warn her off, perfect excuse for… hiding on the roof away from humanity for a day or three.

He sighed, unsure how long he'd be able to stay here- and wasn't that a whopping question and a half? He was pretty sure he'd gotten home untracked given that no one had turned up yet, but the risk remained. It was unlikely any identification programs they had would be able to identify him if they managed to get a picture, unless they'd managed to get the technology to account for energy beings… He was probably safe, finding an energy weapon was easy compared to that kind of tech. It was still dangerous though, there were federal alien hunting agents in Coast City, so he should probably get out right? It wouldn't be hard, he could just fly away, but he'd have to leave so much behind that way, and then what? If America wasn't welcoming aliens then what about the rest of the world? Should he leave the country? The planet?

Good luck with that; this planet was obscenely difficult to get off of, there was absolutely no traffic beyond the occasional smuggled refugee, whose ship quickly left after dropping the passenger off. No one on Earth who knew anything about aliens had access to the right kinds of currency or resources to properly pay for transport back to civilized space, so they didn't linger. It was infuriating, and the brevity and infrequency of such visits meant it was impossible to contact them, predict them, or even notice them until months or years after. Ezra was also pretty sure this was a restricted planet, meaning that it was known, but peripheral and far from anyone’s focus, and also off limits to more advanced species until they reached a certain level of technology or awareness, whichever came first.

No, for now he had to stay on Earth, probably in America as well, and he didn't [i]have[/i] to leave Coast City just yet. He did have a life here, as difficult as it had been to get attached to such an alien lifestyle it was now just as difficult to get unattached. He liked this city, it's people, or he had, but now it was just a little… scary.

Maybe he should be scary too. To protect himself maybe, but mostly to feel safe again. His eyes were drawn up from the carved ecto-plate in his hands, landing on a black and white suit hanging in the life pod. Maybe it was time for Echo to appear…

He let the idea float around in his head, but returned to tinkering rather than acting on the thought. He'd considered becoming a hero before, taking up his true look as a kind of disguise and working to give aliens a good name. Now he didn't think about that persona he'd created and think of freedom and hope, instead he thought safety and [i]power[/i]. If he was Echo he wouldn’t think of running from those agents, he'd want to fight them, make them stop, force them to see how wrong they were, and just… fix everything. That's what Echo was supposed to be anyway, now he had different thoughts, less kind thoughts that rang clear with notes of finality and anger.

...but he wasn't at that point yet. He left the suit hanging where it was and refocused on his work. Regardless of what Echo could do, Ezra needed an Ectonian shield generator now, the rest was just wishful thinking.