Emma
SkaiMysterious hinting it mysterious, spooky foreshadowing is spooky.
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Roziphontes
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December 3rd, 2019
9:40 AM, ET
GCPD - 13th Precinct, Gotham
Tommy sighed, bouncing a dirty multi-colored tennis ball off the brick wall opposite him. He’d found it a few minutes ago, and was now content to use it as a way of relieving boredom - not that it was working. He sighed again, adding more emotion and volume to it in the vain hope that someone would hear him and finally come outside. This was so boring, and so gross, why couldn’t the officers afford to clean their alleyway out? It was grody out here. A rat hissed at him. Hissed.
Grody.
He threw a bolt of random pink magic at it, sending the obscenely fat creature bolting down the alley for it’s life. He managed a snort of amusement, but lose interest and went back to bouncing the rainbow ball up and down and off the walls.
Finally, after what felt like ages, Pads stepped out from a side door with a murderous expression on his face. Tommy’s expression lit up, and he let the ball ping off into the distance, likely to never be seen again. “Pads!” Or Justin Cárdenas- oh, excuse me, ‘Officer Cárdenas When I’m On Duty Tom’ as he’d corrected more than once, was a scruffy looking young man with dark hair and a permanent expression of long-suffering etched into his face.
“What do you want Tom,” he demanded briskly, “I’m busy.” Judging by the no nonsense tone and the dark circles under his eyes, Tommy would wager that claim might actually be true this time. Not that it mattered.
“We had a deal,” Tommy smirked cheerfully, “I’m just delivering my end is all.” This was going to be brilliant.
It was amusing watching the emotional acrobatics the man’s face pulled, from confusion to surprise to embarrassment and scowling once more. “What?” He squawked, “Here? Now?! But I’m-”
“Too late.” Tommy shrugged, still grinning with a suspiciously bright smile, “You didn’t specify, so I guess you’re just gonna have to take it aren’t you?”
Pads was slow to gather a response, and seemed almost nervous, “Tom, I really don’t think nows the time, this is a police sta-”
“Yep, and there’s a whole street full of people just there,” Tommy pointed out helpfully, shooting a glance towards the end of the alley. “And earlier there was this rat, pretty sure it’s still around here somewhere, ready to see the whole thing and tell all his little furry friends about-”
“Tommy,” he tried, interrupting a little desperately and shifting awkwardly as he blushed a bright red. Mission complete.
Ah well, torturing the poor officer had been fun while it lasted. He burst into barely restrained giggled, which did nothing to comfort the older man, “Relax,” he finally consoled, collecting himself, “I’m not that evil. Just take this-” he dug a small plastic bag out of his pocket and tossed it to the flustered officer, “oh, and call me, I do actually need to give you my end of the deal and you never answer my texts you asshole.”
It was amusing to see the sigh of relief at his words instantly replaced by trepidation as he inspected the severed finger Tommy had just tossed him. Despite the finger being several days old, cut from the finger of the girl who summoned that demon-golem when his dad wasn’t looking, it was preserved by magic and didn’t seem in particularly bad shape. “Witch’s Finger?” Pads asked, suspicious. A rune had been carved into the tip of the finger; a circle with a hexagon inside and a line through it.
“Yep, that whole GCU thing.” Tommy shrugged, already waving it off despite Pads’ rising eyebrows.
“But what am I supposed to do with it? Isn’t this supposed to be your thing Witch Kid?” Tommy shot an annoyed look at the mention of that dreaded nickname. Pads continued unperturbed though; “Is this about the divination thing? I told you I needed-”
“Yes, it is, and no, I didn’t get it wrong. This isn’t a substitute for Crone’s Eye, it’s a substitute for Demon’s Gate.” He clarified, words more sharp and professional than his earlier teasing would portray him as being capable of.
Pads blinked at that, then narrowed his eyes as the pieces fell into place; “So the GCU incident was-”
“Necromancer turned Demonologist- by mistake, but eh.” He shrugged, seemingly unimpressed, but that was a flimsy facade to hide how freaky the whole thing had been, especially with the whole… demon thing. Speaking of the demon thing; “I want in on this too.” He said suddenly, “I know what you’re planning, and I want a question.”
Clearly Pads hadn’t expected his sudden interest, and was reluctant to cave; “That's not a good idea. You shouldn’t-”
“I don’t care. I want in.” They met each other's eyes, each unflinchingly serious.
“No.”
What had started out as a cheerful teasing session ended in steely silence and narrowed eyes.
After a long moment, Tommy nodded, accepting that while he’d been leading the conversation, interrupting and teasing the older man, this was still an officer of the law, and a werewolf to boot, both of which lent themselves towards protective ideals. He wasn’t going to let Tommy near something so dangerous as a diviner ritual, no matter what the boy offered. So that was one avenue closed.
...but the girl had more than one finger. He’d do the ritual himself if he had to.
9:40 AM, ET
GCPD - 13th Precinct, Gotham
Hex
Tommy sighed, bouncing a dirty multi-colored tennis ball off the brick wall opposite him. He’d found it a few minutes ago, and was now content to use it as a way of relieving boredom - not that it was working. He sighed again, adding more emotion and volume to it in the vain hope that someone would hear him and finally come outside. This was so boring, and so gross, why couldn’t the officers afford to clean their alleyway out? It was grody out here. A rat hissed at him. Hissed.
Grody.
He threw a bolt of random pink magic at it, sending the obscenely fat creature bolting down the alley for it’s life. He managed a snort of amusement, but lose interest and went back to bouncing the rainbow ball up and down and off the walls.
Finally, after what felt like ages, Pads stepped out from a side door with a murderous expression on his face. Tommy’s expression lit up, and he let the ball ping off into the distance, likely to never be seen again. “Pads!” Or Justin Cárdenas- oh, excuse me, ‘Officer Cárdenas When I’m On Duty Tom’ as he’d corrected more than once, was a scruffy looking young man with dark hair and a permanent expression of long-suffering etched into his face.
“What do you want Tom,” he demanded briskly, “I’m busy.” Judging by the no nonsense tone and the dark circles under his eyes, Tommy would wager that claim might actually be true this time. Not that it mattered.
“We had a deal,” Tommy smirked cheerfully, “I’m just delivering my end is all.” This was going to be brilliant.
It was amusing watching the emotional acrobatics the man’s face pulled, from confusion to surprise to embarrassment and scowling once more. “What?” He squawked, “Here? Now?! But I’m-”
“Too late.” Tommy shrugged, still grinning with a suspiciously bright smile, “You didn’t specify, so I guess you’re just gonna have to take it aren’t you?”
Pads was slow to gather a response, and seemed almost nervous, “Tom, I really don’t think nows the time, this is a police sta-”
“Yep, and there’s a whole street full of people just there,” Tommy pointed out helpfully, shooting a glance towards the end of the alley. “And earlier there was this rat, pretty sure it’s still around here somewhere, ready to see the whole thing and tell all his little furry friends about-”
“Tommy,” he tried, interrupting a little desperately and shifting awkwardly as he blushed a bright red. Mission complete.
Ah well, torturing the poor officer had been fun while it lasted. He burst into barely restrained giggled, which did nothing to comfort the older man, “Relax,” he finally consoled, collecting himself, “I’m not that evil. Just take this-” he dug a small plastic bag out of his pocket and tossed it to the flustered officer, “oh, and call me, I do actually need to give you my end of the deal and you never answer my texts you asshole.”
It was amusing to see the sigh of relief at his words instantly replaced by trepidation as he inspected the severed finger Tommy had just tossed him. Despite the finger being several days old, cut from the finger of the girl who summoned that demon-golem when his dad wasn’t looking, it was preserved by magic and didn’t seem in particularly bad shape. “Witch’s Finger?” Pads asked, suspicious. A rune had been carved into the tip of the finger; a circle with a hexagon inside and a line through it.
“Yep, that whole GCU thing.” Tommy shrugged, already waving it off despite Pads’ rising eyebrows.
“But what am I supposed to do with it? Isn’t this supposed to be your thing Witch Kid?” Tommy shot an annoyed look at the mention of that dreaded nickname. Pads continued unperturbed though; “Is this about the divination thing? I told you I needed-”
“Yes, it is, and no, I didn’t get it wrong. This isn’t a substitute for Crone’s Eye, it’s a substitute for Demon’s Gate.” He clarified, words more sharp and professional than his earlier teasing would portray him as being capable of.
Pads blinked at that, then narrowed his eyes as the pieces fell into place; “So the GCU incident was-”
“Necromancer turned Demonologist- by mistake, but eh.” He shrugged, seemingly unimpressed, but that was a flimsy facade to hide how freaky the whole thing had been, especially with the whole… demon thing. Speaking of the demon thing; “I want in on this too.” He said suddenly, “I know what you’re planning, and I want a question.”
Clearly Pads hadn’t expected his sudden interest, and was reluctant to cave; “That's not a good idea. You shouldn’t-”
“I don’t care. I want in.” They met each other's eyes, each unflinchingly serious.
“No.”
What had started out as a cheerful teasing session ended in steely silence and narrowed eyes.
After a long moment, Tommy nodded, accepting that while he’d been leading the conversation, interrupting and teasing the older man, this was still an officer of the law, and a werewolf to boot, both of which lent themselves towards protective ideals. He wasn’t going to let Tommy near something so dangerous as a diviner ritual, no matter what the boy offered. So that was one avenue closed.
...but the girl had more than one finger. He’d do the ritual himself if he had to.
November 30th, 2019
11:54 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
Ezra
His room was much neater now, the more obvious bits of tech had been deactivated or otherwise covered so as to not be quite so obvious and eye-catching. His window, which had been stained by his glowing green blood earlier this morning, was now shiny and clear like it hadn't been since even before he'd moved in. Similarly his ruined clothes had been shoved in the trash and he'd located some bandages to cover his still healing wounds. There were still far too many glowing green pieces for Ezra's liking however, a power converter, a capacitor, some loose wires, even a neon green crystal he'd been slowly growing. All it'd take to lure Jessie in was a single peek at any one of the devices and she'd have a million questions.
He wasn't sure if he was ready for that particular conversation, sure he could just pass himself off as really smart, but there were too many alien concepts, and he didn't know enough about human engineering and science to properly explain the mechanics of his tech without giving away the fact they were alien. Jessie was too smart for her own good really, but it was part of what had allowed him to get so close to her, despite her very human appearance and mannerisms, she was smarter than most of her species, more akin to the average intelligence of his own people- perhaps smarter. Vaguely she reminded him of some of his parent's students; excitable young scientists eager to learn, tinker, and make waves. Those had been the sort of people who were at the forefront of technological innovation, truly great minds, and many of them had been friendly to him and his sister, but they'd also been... reckless, and sometimes their eagerness and their ambitions caused conflict.
At least Jessie wasn't in their position, those scientists had caused the apocalypse of their world after all, not that Jessie could do that. Small perks of living on a less advanced world right? He glanced to one of his work tables, eying the beginnings of an ecto-ray power core. Less advanced world for now.
He sighed, that wasn't his priority right now. Jessie's visit had thoroughly distracted him from the threat of the human government and his now dead friends, but regardless of the seemingly inane worry he needed to focus on appearing human to his human friend- his only human friend. It should have been a piece of cake but he just had to pick the smartest, nosiest, and sneakiest human he knew to be his friend didn't he?
He adjusted his glasses, which he didn't normally wear anymore but had dug up after this latest scare in hopes the frames would obscure even slightly the glow of his eyes. Speaking of glows, he turned on all the lights, even though the sun was already pushing its way through the window and providing plenty enough lighting.
Finally, after what seemed like only a short amount of time, Ezra was forced to give up on hiding the incriminating bits of alien paraphernalia when Jessie's voice called through the door to him; "Yo Ez! I got food for you, dude!"
Right. The macarenas she promised. Macarenas? Was that right? Something like that. Probably. So much for leaving them at the door.
He did his best to blush, knowing the action caused his pale face to tint an ever so slight shade of green, and then pasted on his most pathetic expression- which wasn't hard given he'd cried not hours earlier and even know was experience an obscene amount of stress- and then opened the door. "Hey, Jess." He greeted awkwardly, eying the mac... aroons? Eying the macaroons curiously. He didn't eat out much, but he was sure he'd seen the food somewhere before. Maybe in a box at the grocery store. Human food, what a nightmare. At least it looked... like something??
Then his eyes actually fell on his friend and he frowned at her eyewear. Surely those weren't actual glasses, they looked too techy for that, like something his parents would wear in their lab. Had she been tinkering again? What did they do, he wondered, hopefully they didn't see radiation or anything like that, this entire building was thoroughly drenched in low-level ectoplasmic energy, but his room was probably the worst- and he could only imagine what he'd look like, he was the source of that radiation after all. He did his best not to cringe at the gadget, hoping it only did something mundane like enhancing images or recording videos, like normal human tech.
Jessie
Jessie pasted on a big grin as the door opened oddly eager to see her friend despite all the strange circumstances surrounding the visit. She offered forth the tupperware of food, cocking her head slightly as an expression of what seemed to be confusion came over Ezra's face. Maybe he'd never had macaroni and cheese before? She had to suppress a laugh as he caught sight of her goggles, the confused look only getting worse. The goggles were doing their job nicely today, it seemed!
"Right, so this should still be hot but if it isn't you can pop it in the microwave for like, a minute and a half or so; it's baked mac and cheese, not stovetop so it's more solid than a lot of people are used to, and way better. Also there's polish sausage in it and it's incredible and do you mind if I bring this in?" Jessie asked, not going to bother for an answer. She needed to talk to someone about her rooftp adventure, and even if Ezra wasn't involved in it and it was some kind of crazy coincidence, he'd be the best person to talk to. And if he actually was sick, she probably wouldn't catch it anyway.
Though the hyperactive girl had mostly spent her long-range Piffs for the moment, the minutes she'd spent in the elevator and walking the halls had given her enough of a rest that she could jump about ten feet or so-- Right into Ezra's big open room.
Jessie now stood in the middle of Ezra's apartment, adrenaline spiking again as her heart began to pound. Up until now, the only people who knew about her were her parents. They were the only ones she cared enough about to let them know. But now, she had a friend. And a cohort. And if they were going to get to the bottom of a mystery and maybe be a wacky bank-robbing duo, he'd have to know... And besides, she wanted to show off and it got her in the door.
Ezra
Ezra started to refuse, an excuse already on his lips, but then he blinked and she was gone with only a small 'PIFF' to mark her movement. He spun around, behind him being the only place in the immediate area he couldn't see, and there she was, standing in the middle of the room despite his body blocking the door. She hadn't walked through him, he knew what that felt like, it was almost as if she'd teleported... but she seemed so... human? "What?" He asked, perplexed, already running through a mental database of aliens he knew and their abilities. Off the top of his head he couldn't think of any teleporters, though the technology certainly existed he couldn't see any sign of it on her, not to mention the tech would be far too large to just carry around.
Jessie
Jessie grinned widely, setting the tupperware on a nearby table and pulling off her goggles. She knew what she'd look like right about now. Eyes bloodshot from exertion, wild-eyed with excitement, her hair was probably a mess too. But this... She'd been dreaming of moments like this since she first discovered what she could do. To show off. To impress. To be what she really was.
"Okay," Jessie began, sticking the goggles into her backpack and cracking her fingers. "This is gonna be weird for you, and trust me it'll be weird for me too. But you gotta trust me, okay?" Jessie held her hands out in front of her, palms facing each other, and with the barest hint of a though, conjured an arc of purplish lightning between her hands. She could feel the heat around the bolt, smell the rising ozone in the air, and laughed wildly as she got to show off for Ezra. "Remember when I said my dad used to be a geneticist. See, he saw the Activists back in the day, people who were the best at what they could do, after lifetimes of training. Looking at that, and some research of his own, he theorized that one day, humanity would evolve beyond what it currently is to form a race of 'Super Men'. People who could rival even those as powerful as the Activists at just their base, natural level. "
Jessie's eyes darkened a bit as she recalled the next part of the story and her left hand fell to her side. The purple bolt sparked andrecoiled to stick to her right hands, dancing along her fingertips as she held her hand up for Ezra to see. "He was called crazy. They said he was tretching, at best. Some people even called him a Nazi." She said, nearly spatting the word. "But the thing is... He was right. He calls me a Metahuman. I can... Do things. Teleport, control electricity... Find stuff I'm not supposed to find, more often than not. Which brings me to why I shoved my way in here." She said, clenching her fist and letting the apark die out.
"Did you know you have an 'Invasions of the Body Snatchers' pod on your roof?"
Ezra
So... what?
He became more and more bewildered as she spoke, showing off her abilities. His eyebrows rose at her display of electrokinesis. This was evolution? That... explained a lot. Well, it didn't, but offered some insight into the way the galaxy worked. Most species in the galaxy developed abilities such the Tamaraneans great strength andKheurbim shapeshifters, it'd even begun happening to his own people, though they had blamed the ecto-star for their abilities, not evolution. It was, oddly enough, extremely plausible that humans were experiencing such a leap in evolution, and not that Jessie was simply an adopted alien- which was a possibilty he'd only half begun to consider before her explanation clicked in his mind.
A metahuman huh? She looked... happy. Jessie was excitable, and usually pretty chipper, but this was somehow more genuine, more meaningful. Her wild hair and wide eyes, her huge grin and loud laugh, he'd never seen her like this before. Maybe it's because she hadn't been showing her real self to him, and wasn't that a stinging realization? He was the same.
Then the most bizarre comment came from her mouth, so utterly unrelated to this new development he couldn't comprehend it for a second. "Body Snatchers?" He parroted, bemused. Wait, the roof? "Oh-! ...oh." The realization sunk in. this was it, all that work and stressing to keep his identity revealed and now... this muddled situation was the result. He didn't have a choice did he? Well, he did, but not really, Jessie had been so genuine and honest with him, likely expecting nothing in return and risking herself by showing him her secret powers, how could he not do the same? Besides, Jessie was his friend, and after the events of the past night he could use an ally.
"Oh Zon, okay, here we go." He muttered nervously, mostly to himself, closing the door behind him quickly and taking a few steps further into the room, but stopping before he could start full on pacing. "Okay, here it goes, just gonna say it-" he took a deep breath, looked somewhere in the middle space between him and Jessie, steadfastly avoiding eye contact "-I'm an alien," he rushed out, then hastened to add more in a jumble or words; "andI'vebeenhidingonEarthforthreeyearsandnowthegovernmentishuntingaliensandIdon'tknowwhattodoandI'msorryforlyingtoyou!" He peeked up from where he'd been facing downwards and partially hiding his face, nervously searching her eyes for a reaction.
Jessie
Jessie blinked in surprise at Ezra's reaction. She had expected... She wasn't really sure what she expected. But it sure wasn't a reaction of nervousness and almost... Dread? Something was really strange here, and if she played her cards right--Did he just say alien?
"You're a freakin' whatnow from--Alien like outer space?!" She exclaimed, her exuberance shooting through the roof. "What the Hell are you doing on Earth, there aint a gawddam thing here that I would think you wanted what are you hiding from and what'd you do what do you mean the government is hunting you that thing on the roof is yours and I guess that'd explain why you keep running off do you have to recharge or is it like photosynthesis do you actually eat or--" Jessie cut herself off as the words tumbled out of her mouth in a torrent of activity. While she spoke her mind was processing the information. She had no real reason to trust that he was an alien, other than circumstantial evidence. Then again, nobody would believe in superpowers without a demonstration either. Plus that stuff on the roof was otherworldy, and now that she looked around she could see similar technology badly hidden in the apartment. And, well... The idea of aliens was really cool. Who wouldn't want an alien friend?
"Okay right, sorry!" She said, finally regaining control of her brain and mouth. "Priorities, right... What do you mean the government's hunting aliens? Like, Area 51 style, are they gonna put you in a research facility in New Mexico or something? Secondly, everything else. Like space and aliens and whatever that thing is." She said, pointing to a slightly glowing piece of technology poking out from behind a book.
Ezra
Some of Ezra's tension began to ease off as Jessie turned into just as much a motor mouth as he had been, rambling a long string of words before centering herself. Her reaction was... one fo the more favourable outcomes certainly, but he was just relieved she didn't turn that lightning ability of hers on him and make a break for it. "Right, so-" he paused a moment, hesitating over revealing the alien bar before realizing it was compromized already anyway, "-so there's this place for aliens under The Small Café, or there was one anyway. It was raided tonight by- here," he darted over to a wallet on his desk and plucked an ID card from it. He handed it to her with a nervous grimace, "I don't know, all I saw were government agents and dead aliens. I wasn't there when it happened, I just stumbled in after and managed to get away."
He wrapped his arms around himself wearily, and then committed and began emitting a harsher glow from his body, causing his clothes to smoke, the room to cool, and the dye in his hair to evaporate, revealing stark white hair. The harsh glow faded and he removed his glasses, flicking off a light switch and standing far enough from the window for the green glow in his eyes to be more noticeable. Then, just to send it home the fact he wasn't normal, he raised his hand and gathered an orb of glowing green energy in his hand. "I guess I should explain from the beginning right? Er, well my name is Edan Fo-To D'sra, and I'm from a planet called Ghol. My people were the Ectonians, but we- our- um, well Ghol doesn't exist anymore. I haven't seen another of my kind in a long time. The pod you saw is mine, I used it to escape- well, it's a long story, but- but you get it right? I- Earth is all I have now, I can't leave- it's like you said, Earth has nothing anyone wants, and under primitive world protection treaties there's no way off the planet. I'm- I'm stuck." He shrugged, a little hopelessly showing his dejection and despair at the situation, "And now the government knows about us and is hunting us? I'm, well," he gestured around the room, "I've started making things, to protect myself. My people's technology..." He trailed off, hesitant to ask for her help or offer her the chance to study it, but decided not to finish. Jessie would help herself anyway, no sense in telling her not to, no point in giving permission either.
Jessie
Jessie listened intently to the story, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow as she took in the new information. There were more aliens, right here in the city? A meeting place, a massacre... Sounded like something out of the X-Files mixed with Supernatural. Jessie nodded as Ezra, or... Edan finished his story, and she took a few steps closer to him. "Well Edan, I have to say," She started, reaching out and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"This is absolutely the best day of my life. I mean, not so much the dead alien friendsand the raid and the government guys, but... I mean the rest of is freaking awesome. And I'm going to help you!" She said, finishing with a flourish as she reached over to pluck a piece of technology from it's barely-hidden spot. "See, I don't just shoot lightning and teleport, I also have an uncanny knack for gadgets like this. So whatever you're trying to make these things do, I can probably coax them into it! Aside from that, you now have an ally and a confidant, and we're gonna figure out exactly who these government asshats are and take 'em down! Cuz not a goddamn person in the universe is gonna take my friends away if I have anything to say about it!" Jessie exclaimed as she began to focus on the stgrange piece of alien machinery, extending her consciousness into it to try and understand its intended purpose...
Ezra
He was touched by her loyalty, the fact she just... accepted him, his story, and declared herself with him no matter what. "I- thank you," he said earnestly, and then added, "and I'm the same; if you need me, I'm there for you. This metahuman thing, whatever else, I've got your back." He promised.
He then made a split second decision; "this tech too, I'll teach you about it. You'll be the smartest human on this planet, and we can reinvent my people's technology. It'll be hard, it runs on ectoplasm, which isn't easy to produce, but it's powerful."
Ezra allowed his attention to be drawn to the gizmo she'd picked up; a Gholic translator, usually called a gabber, it functioned as both a long range communications device, like human's mobile phones, but also as a translator that helped the user understand foreign and alien languages by translating them as they were heard. That piece's partner was hidden elsewhere in his room, though he didn't remember where. He had yet to finish the software portion of their functions, mostly because he didn't know much about languages, but his pod had a similar system in it and he'd been building it based off of that one. It took him a moment to explain the device's functions to Jessie, using a bunch of terms that were very sciency and technical, "I can show you the original system if you want, you should probably see the pod anyway, it is the only piece of Ectonian tech that works on this planet."
Jessie
Jessie was only aware of Ezra/Edan's explanation of the device in the vaguest of terms, as she gathered information directly from the device itself. Her eyes unfocused as the internat design of the machine unfolded itself in her brain. It was incredibly alien, completely removed from anythign she had ever seen... And yet it made perfect sense. The power supply in particular was interesting, the ectoplasm Ezra had mentioned seemed to be a more stable and efficiant fuel source than anything on Earth. And even though the software of the thing wasn't finished, it knew what it wanted to be. She could feel the link too, to the second device over...
Jessie's feet began to move seemingly of their own volition. She walked slowly towards a shelf on the far side of the room, her eyes vacant as she reached behind a set of books and pulled out the partner piece to the one in her hand. Jessie snapped out of her fugue state as the second device was revealed, dropping it like a hot potato as she cried out, "Ectan Fra'Dak!" which she could only describe as an invasive alien phrase that she instinctively understood as a curse word. She reached up and rubbed her temple as she winced, looking back to Ezra.
"Sorry, sorry about that... Momentary feedback from the two being too close, like two microphones next to each other I guess... Uh, found the other one though! And a fun new curse word, apparently! I guess the little things picked up some of your home language?"
Ezra
He smirked, amused, "A Dazzan curse word, from a language closely related to my own tongue. Think of American sland and British slang, we spoke the same language but in Dazz it was a whole other thing." He shrugged, "Accurate though, very accurate." He didn't elaborate on the meaning. He held back a sigh, annoyed at how fruitless his programming had been. "The database would be the most difficult part, if I ever got that far at least, I can't open up the pod to get access to the systems stores without potentially damaging some of the more sensitive systems like the cryo-function." He hmm'd in thought, the new dynamic between them already normalizing itself. "Your ability though, it could vastly simplyify things if you can connect to it without needing to touch it." He theorized, already beginning to see how her 'connection' could be applied to a million other uses.
"Here, let's try this..."
11:54 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
Echo and Lightning Bug
Ezra
His room was much neater now, the more obvious bits of tech had been deactivated or otherwise covered so as to not be quite so obvious and eye-catching. His window, which had been stained by his glowing green blood earlier this morning, was now shiny and clear like it hadn't been since even before he'd moved in. Similarly his ruined clothes had been shoved in the trash and he'd located some bandages to cover his still healing wounds. There were still far too many glowing green pieces for Ezra's liking however, a power converter, a capacitor, some loose wires, even a neon green crystal he'd been slowly growing. All it'd take to lure Jessie in was a single peek at any one of the devices and she'd have a million questions.
He wasn't sure if he was ready for that particular conversation, sure he could just pass himself off as really smart, but there were too many alien concepts, and he didn't know enough about human engineering and science to properly explain the mechanics of his tech without giving away the fact they were alien. Jessie was too smart for her own good really, but it was part of what had allowed him to get so close to her, despite her very human appearance and mannerisms, she was smarter than most of her species, more akin to the average intelligence of his own people- perhaps smarter. Vaguely she reminded him of some of his parent's students; excitable young scientists eager to learn, tinker, and make waves. Those had been the sort of people who were at the forefront of technological innovation, truly great minds, and many of them had been friendly to him and his sister, but they'd also been... reckless, and sometimes their eagerness and their ambitions caused conflict.
At least Jessie wasn't in their position, those scientists had caused the apocalypse of their world after all, not that Jessie could do that. Small perks of living on a less advanced world right? He glanced to one of his work tables, eying the beginnings of an ecto-ray power core. Less advanced world for now.
He sighed, that wasn't his priority right now. Jessie's visit had thoroughly distracted him from the threat of the human government and his now dead friends, but regardless of the seemingly inane worry he needed to focus on appearing human to his human friend- his only human friend. It should have been a piece of cake but he just had to pick the smartest, nosiest, and sneakiest human he knew to be his friend didn't he?
He adjusted his glasses, which he didn't normally wear anymore but had dug up after this latest scare in hopes the frames would obscure even slightly the glow of his eyes. Speaking of glows, he turned on all the lights, even though the sun was already pushing its way through the window and providing plenty enough lighting.
Finally, after what seemed like only a short amount of time, Ezra was forced to give up on hiding the incriminating bits of alien paraphernalia when Jessie's voice called through the door to him; "Yo Ez! I got food for you, dude!"
Right. The macarenas she promised. Macarenas? Was that right? Something like that. Probably. So much for leaving them at the door.
He did his best to blush, knowing the action caused his pale face to tint an ever so slight shade of green, and then pasted on his most pathetic expression- which wasn't hard given he'd cried not hours earlier and even know was experience an obscene amount of stress- and then opened the door. "Hey, Jess." He greeted awkwardly, eying the mac... aroons? Eying the macaroons curiously. He didn't eat out much, but he was sure he'd seen the food somewhere before. Maybe in a box at the grocery store. Human food, what a nightmare. At least it looked... like something??
Then his eyes actually fell on his friend and he frowned at her eyewear. Surely those weren't actual glasses, they looked too techy for that, like something his parents would wear in their lab. Had she been tinkering again? What did they do, he wondered, hopefully they didn't see radiation or anything like that, this entire building was thoroughly drenched in low-level ectoplasmic energy, but his room was probably the worst- and he could only imagine what he'd look like, he was the source of that radiation after all. He did his best not to cringe at the gadget, hoping it only did something mundane like enhancing images or recording videos, like normal human tech.
Jessie
Jessie pasted on a big grin as the door opened oddly eager to see her friend despite all the strange circumstances surrounding the visit. She offered forth the tupperware of food, cocking her head slightly as an expression of what seemed to be confusion came over Ezra's face. Maybe he'd never had macaroni and cheese before? She had to suppress a laugh as he caught sight of her goggles, the confused look only getting worse. The goggles were doing their job nicely today, it seemed!
"Right, so this should still be hot but if it isn't you can pop it in the microwave for like, a minute and a half or so; it's baked mac and cheese, not stovetop so it's more solid than a lot of people are used to, and way better. Also there's polish sausage in it and it's incredible and do you mind if I bring this in?" Jessie asked, not going to bother for an answer. She needed to talk to someone about her rooftp adventure, and even if Ezra wasn't involved in it and it was some kind of crazy coincidence, he'd be the best person to talk to. And if he actually was sick, she probably wouldn't catch it anyway.
Though the hyperactive girl had mostly spent her long-range Piffs for the moment, the minutes she'd spent in the elevator and walking the halls had given her enough of a rest that she could jump about ten feet or so-- Right into Ezra's big open room.
PIFF
Jessie now stood in the middle of Ezra's apartment, adrenaline spiking again as her heart began to pound. Up until now, the only people who knew about her were her parents. They were the only ones she cared enough about to let them know. But now, she had a friend. And a cohort. And if they were going to get to the bottom of a mystery and maybe be a wacky bank-robbing duo, he'd have to know... And besides, she wanted to show off and it got her in the door.
Ezra
Ezra started to refuse, an excuse already on his lips, but then he blinked and she was gone with only a small 'PIFF' to mark her movement. He spun around, behind him being the only place in the immediate area he couldn't see, and there she was, standing in the middle of the room despite his body blocking the door. She hadn't walked through him, he knew what that felt like, it was almost as if she'd teleported... but she seemed so... human? "What?" He asked, perplexed, already running through a mental database of aliens he knew and their abilities. Off the top of his head he couldn't think of any teleporters, though the technology certainly existed he couldn't see any sign of it on her, not to mention the tech would be far too large to just carry around.
Jessie
Jessie grinned widely, setting the tupperware on a nearby table and pulling off her goggles. She knew what she'd look like right about now. Eyes bloodshot from exertion, wild-eyed with excitement, her hair was probably a mess too. But this... She'd been dreaming of moments like this since she first discovered what she could do. To show off. To impress. To be what she really was.
"Okay," Jessie began, sticking the goggles into her backpack and cracking her fingers. "This is gonna be weird for you, and trust me it'll be weird for me too. But you gotta trust me, okay?" Jessie held her hands out in front of her, palms facing each other, and with the barest hint of a though, conjured an arc of purplish lightning between her hands. She could feel the heat around the bolt, smell the rising ozone in the air, and laughed wildly as she got to show off for Ezra. "Remember when I said my dad used to be a geneticist. See, he saw the Activists back in the day, people who were the best at what they could do, after lifetimes of training. Looking at that, and some research of his own, he theorized that one day, humanity would evolve beyond what it currently is to form a race of 'Super Men'. People who could rival even those as powerful as the Activists at just their base, natural level. "
Jessie's eyes darkened a bit as she recalled the next part of the story and her left hand fell to her side. The purple bolt sparked andrecoiled to stick to her right hands, dancing along her fingertips as she held her hand up for Ezra to see. "He was called crazy. They said he was tretching, at best. Some people even called him a Nazi." She said, nearly spatting the word. "But the thing is... He was right. He calls me a Metahuman. I can... Do things. Teleport, control electricity... Find stuff I'm not supposed to find, more often than not. Which brings me to why I shoved my way in here." She said, clenching her fist and letting the apark die out.
"Did you know you have an 'Invasions of the Body Snatchers' pod on your roof?"
Ezra
So... what?
He became more and more bewildered as she spoke, showing off her abilities. His eyebrows rose at her display of electrokinesis. This was evolution? That... explained a lot. Well, it didn't, but offered some insight into the way the galaxy worked. Most species in the galaxy developed abilities such the Tamaraneans great strength andKheurbim shapeshifters, it'd even begun happening to his own people, though they had blamed the ecto-star for their abilities, not evolution. It was, oddly enough, extremely plausible that humans were experiencing such a leap in evolution, and not that Jessie was simply an adopted alien- which was a possibilty he'd only half begun to consider before her explanation clicked in his mind.
A metahuman huh? She looked... happy. Jessie was excitable, and usually pretty chipper, but this was somehow more genuine, more meaningful. Her wild hair and wide eyes, her huge grin and loud laugh, he'd never seen her like this before. Maybe it's because she hadn't been showing her real self to him, and wasn't that a stinging realization? He was the same.
Then the most bizarre comment came from her mouth, so utterly unrelated to this new development he couldn't comprehend it for a second. "Body Snatchers?" He parroted, bemused. Wait, the roof? "Oh-! ...oh." The realization sunk in. this was it, all that work and stressing to keep his identity revealed and now... this muddled situation was the result. He didn't have a choice did he? Well, he did, but not really, Jessie had been so genuine and honest with him, likely expecting nothing in return and risking herself by showing him her secret powers, how could he not do the same? Besides, Jessie was his friend, and after the events of the past night he could use an ally.
"Oh Zon, okay, here we go." He muttered nervously, mostly to himself, closing the door behind him quickly and taking a few steps further into the room, but stopping before he could start full on pacing. "Okay, here it goes, just gonna say it-" he took a deep breath, looked somewhere in the middle space between him and Jessie, steadfastly avoiding eye contact "-I'm an alien," he rushed out, then hastened to add more in a jumble or words; "andI'vebeenhidingonEarthforthreeyearsandnowthegovernmentishuntingaliensandIdon'tknowwhattodoandI'msorryforlyingtoyou!" He peeked up from where he'd been facing downwards and partially hiding his face, nervously searching her eyes for a reaction.
Jessie
Jessie blinked in surprise at Ezra's reaction. She had expected... She wasn't really sure what she expected. But it sure wasn't a reaction of nervousness and almost... Dread? Something was really strange here, and if she played her cards right--Did he just say alien?
"You're a freakin' whatnow from--Alien like outer space?!" She exclaimed, her exuberance shooting through the roof. "What the Hell are you doing on Earth, there aint a gawddam thing here that I would think you wanted what are you hiding from and what'd you do what do you mean the government is hunting you that thing on the roof is yours and I guess that'd explain why you keep running off do you have to recharge or is it like photosynthesis do you actually eat or--" Jessie cut herself off as the words tumbled out of her mouth in a torrent of activity. While she spoke her mind was processing the information. She had no real reason to trust that he was an alien, other than circumstantial evidence. Then again, nobody would believe in superpowers without a demonstration either. Plus that stuff on the roof was otherworldy, and now that she looked around she could see similar technology badly hidden in the apartment. And, well... The idea of aliens was really cool. Who wouldn't want an alien friend?
"Okay right, sorry!" She said, finally regaining control of her brain and mouth. "Priorities, right... What do you mean the government's hunting aliens? Like, Area 51 style, are they gonna put you in a research facility in New Mexico or something? Secondly, everything else. Like space and aliens and whatever that thing is." She said, pointing to a slightly glowing piece of technology poking out from behind a book.
Ezra
Some of Ezra's tension began to ease off as Jessie turned into just as much a motor mouth as he had been, rambling a long string of words before centering herself. Her reaction was... one fo the more favourable outcomes certainly, but he was just relieved she didn't turn that lightning ability of hers on him and make a break for it. "Right, so-" he paused a moment, hesitating over revealing the alien bar before realizing it was compromized already anyway, "-so there's this place for aliens under The Small Café, or there was one anyway. It was raided tonight by- here," he darted over to a wallet on his desk and plucked an ID card from it. He handed it to her with a nervous grimace, "I don't know, all I saw were government agents and dead aliens. I wasn't there when it happened, I just stumbled in after and managed to get away."
He wrapped his arms around himself wearily, and then committed and began emitting a harsher glow from his body, causing his clothes to smoke, the room to cool, and the dye in his hair to evaporate, revealing stark white hair. The harsh glow faded and he removed his glasses, flicking off a light switch and standing far enough from the window for the green glow in his eyes to be more noticeable. Then, just to send it home the fact he wasn't normal, he raised his hand and gathered an orb of glowing green energy in his hand. "I guess I should explain from the beginning right? Er, well my name is Edan Fo-To D'sra, and I'm from a planet called Ghol. My people were the Ectonians, but we- our- um, well Ghol doesn't exist anymore. I haven't seen another of my kind in a long time. The pod you saw is mine, I used it to escape- well, it's a long story, but- but you get it right? I- Earth is all I have now, I can't leave- it's like you said, Earth has nothing anyone wants, and under primitive world protection treaties there's no way off the planet. I'm- I'm stuck." He shrugged, a little hopelessly showing his dejection and despair at the situation, "And now the government knows about us and is hunting us? I'm, well," he gestured around the room, "I've started making things, to protect myself. My people's technology..." He trailed off, hesitant to ask for her help or offer her the chance to study it, but decided not to finish. Jessie would help herself anyway, no sense in telling her not to, no point in giving permission either.
Jessie
Jessie listened intently to the story, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow as she took in the new information. There were more aliens, right here in the city? A meeting place, a massacre... Sounded like something out of the X-Files mixed with Supernatural. Jessie nodded as Ezra, or... Edan finished his story, and she took a few steps closer to him. "Well Edan, I have to say," She started, reaching out and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"This is absolutely the best day of my life. I mean, not so much the dead alien friendsand the raid and the government guys, but... I mean the rest of is freaking awesome. And I'm going to help you!" She said, finishing with a flourish as she reached over to pluck a piece of technology from it's barely-hidden spot. "See, I don't just shoot lightning and teleport, I also have an uncanny knack for gadgets like this. So whatever you're trying to make these things do, I can probably coax them into it! Aside from that, you now have an ally and a confidant, and we're gonna figure out exactly who these government asshats are and take 'em down! Cuz not a goddamn person in the universe is gonna take my friends away if I have anything to say about it!" Jessie exclaimed as she began to focus on the stgrange piece of alien machinery, extending her consciousness into it to try and understand its intended purpose...
Ezra
He was touched by her loyalty, the fact she just... accepted him, his story, and declared herself with him no matter what. "I- thank you," he said earnestly, and then added, "and I'm the same; if you need me, I'm there for you. This metahuman thing, whatever else, I've got your back." He promised.
He then made a split second decision; "this tech too, I'll teach you about it. You'll be the smartest human on this planet, and we can reinvent my people's technology. It'll be hard, it runs on ectoplasm, which isn't easy to produce, but it's powerful."
Ezra allowed his attention to be drawn to the gizmo she'd picked up; a Gholic translator, usually called a gabber, it functioned as both a long range communications device, like human's mobile phones, but also as a translator that helped the user understand foreign and alien languages by translating them as they were heard. That piece's partner was hidden elsewhere in his room, though he didn't remember where. He had yet to finish the software portion of their functions, mostly because he didn't know much about languages, but his pod had a similar system in it and he'd been building it based off of that one. It took him a moment to explain the device's functions to Jessie, using a bunch of terms that were very sciency and technical, "I can show you the original system if you want, you should probably see the pod anyway, it is the only piece of Ectonian tech that works on this planet."
Jessie
Jessie was only aware of Ezra/Edan's explanation of the device in the vaguest of terms, as she gathered information directly from the device itself. Her eyes unfocused as the internat design of the machine unfolded itself in her brain. It was incredibly alien, completely removed from anythign she had ever seen... And yet it made perfect sense. The power supply in particular was interesting, the ectoplasm Ezra had mentioned seemed to be a more stable and efficiant fuel source than anything on Earth. And even though the software of the thing wasn't finished, it knew what it wanted to be. She could feel the link too, to the second device over...
Jessie's feet began to move seemingly of their own volition. She walked slowly towards a shelf on the far side of the room, her eyes vacant as she reached behind a set of books and pulled out the partner piece to the one in her hand. Jessie snapped out of her fugue state as the second device was revealed, dropping it like a hot potato as she cried out, "Ectan Fra'Dak!" which she could only describe as an invasive alien phrase that she instinctively understood as a curse word. She reached up and rubbed her temple as she winced, looking back to Ezra.
"Sorry, sorry about that... Momentary feedback from the two being too close, like two microphones next to each other I guess... Uh, found the other one though! And a fun new curse word, apparently! I guess the little things picked up some of your home language?"
Ezra
He smirked, amused, "A Dazzan curse word, from a language closely related to my own tongue. Think of American sland and British slang, we spoke the same language but in Dazz it was a whole other thing." He shrugged, "Accurate though, very accurate." He didn't elaborate on the meaning. He held back a sigh, annoyed at how fruitless his programming had been. "The database would be the most difficult part, if I ever got that far at least, I can't open up the pod to get access to the systems stores without potentially damaging some of the more sensitive systems like the cryo-function." He hmm'd in thought, the new dynamic between them already normalizing itself. "Your ability though, it could vastly simplyify things if you can connect to it without needing to touch it." He theorized, already beginning to see how her 'connection' could be applied to a million other uses.
"Here, let's try this..."
November 30th, 2019
5:37 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
@Korkoa
Jessie’s response was mystifying, in more ways than one. She was coming over? Now? He’d dribbled ectoplasm all over his room! Glowing green ectoplasm that was synonymous with alien blood and was going to be even more of a pain to get out than normal blood! His clothes were stained too, not to mention the three small bullet holes and the massive one where the energy weapon had hit him dead over his chest. The miscellaneous paraphernalia around his room were sure to implicate something; bits and pieces of unfinished tech, annotated star maps, the secret edition of Addison Aurelia’s journal, who had surreptitiously been an alien, and was a member of the Actor Activists.
But he couldn't tell her no, that'd be more suspicious than he could afford. He grabbed a handful of tech bits, a converter, some tiny glowing wires, and then intangible fell through the floor and towards his room.
His tactic at discouraging her visit had only seemed to incite her interest more if she was being active at this time of day. So fine, if she wanted to bring him cheesy macaronis or whatever it was, then sure, but he only had time to clear himself up, not his whole apartment, so she'd have to stick by what she said and not come in. Okay, he sent her via text, and then a Thanks because she was doing it out of concern and friendship and didn't realize this course of action was only going to stress him out.
November 27th, 2019
1:30 PM, ET
GCU Library, Gotham
@The Whacko
It took a moment to sink in that the creature was actually dead, and the newly post-reanimated state of the formerly casualties of the night’s events, but once he did, realizing he was relatively safe, Tommy rolled onto his back and let himself rest for a moment, arms splayed out and a breathless sigh of relief leaving his lips.
The demon’s parting words were… something to consider later, for now he just needed to catch his breath, and maybe ten pounds of coffee. Funny how demons managed to prove their worth and their impracticality all at once; apparently they had valuable information, but they were also massive dickwads who did things like kill people horribly.
He managed to sit up slightly, propped up by his elbows, so he could look over and check on his dad. It hadn’t immediately occurred to him he could be hurt, he was like… the most badass of modern wizards, the chances of the man failing? Psht, unlikely.
After making sure his dad was still in one piece and not missing an arm or something worrying like that, Tommy directed a thumbs up sign at him, a slight exhausted smirk on his face. Even if he hadn’t been the one to deal the killing blow as he’d wanted to be, he’d survived combat with a demon.
Though admittedly it might have been a near thing if his Anodite form hadn’t restored him- however that worked.
5:37 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
@Korkoa
Echo
Jessie’s response was mystifying, in more ways than one. She was coming over? Now? He’d dribbled ectoplasm all over his room! Glowing green ectoplasm that was synonymous with alien blood and was going to be even more of a pain to get out than normal blood! His clothes were stained too, not to mention the three small bullet holes and the massive one where the energy weapon had hit him dead over his chest. The miscellaneous paraphernalia around his room were sure to implicate something; bits and pieces of unfinished tech, annotated star maps, the secret edition of Addison Aurelia’s journal, who had surreptitiously been an alien, and was a member of the Actor Activists.
But he couldn't tell her no, that'd be more suspicious than he could afford. He grabbed a handful of tech bits, a converter, some tiny glowing wires, and then intangible fell through the floor and towards his room.
His tactic at discouraging her visit had only seemed to incite her interest more if she was being active at this time of day. So fine, if she wanted to bring him cheesy macaronis or whatever it was, then sure, but he only had time to clear himself up, not his whole apartment, so she'd have to stick by what she said and not come in. Okay, he sent her via text, and then a Thanks because she was doing it out of concern and friendship and didn't realize this course of action was only going to stress him out.
November 27th, 2019
1:30 PM, ET
GCU Library, Gotham
@The Whacko
Hex
It took a moment to sink in that the creature was actually dead, and the newly post-reanimated state of the formerly casualties of the night’s events, but once he did, realizing he was relatively safe, Tommy rolled onto his back and let himself rest for a moment, arms splayed out and a breathless sigh of relief leaving his lips.
The demon’s parting words were… something to consider later, for now he just needed to catch his breath, and maybe ten pounds of coffee. Funny how demons managed to prove their worth and their impracticality all at once; apparently they had valuable information, but they were also massive dickwads who did things like kill people horribly.
He managed to sit up slightly, propped up by his elbows, so he could look over and check on his dad. It hadn’t immediately occurred to him he could be hurt, he was like… the most badass of modern wizards, the chances of the man failing? Psht, unlikely.
After making sure his dad was still in one piece and not missing an arm or something worrying like that, Tommy directed a thumbs up sign at him, a slight exhausted smirk on his face. Even if he hadn’t been the one to deal the killing blow as he’d wanted to be, he’d survived combat with a demon.
Though admittedly it might have been a near thing if his Anodite form hadn’t restored him- however that worked.
Ultra Medium Tier
I figure he can wait until the ley lines are stronger before popping out of the walls and wreaking havoc everywhere. Also, given his high tier and our lack of a Wonder Woman, I'd aim for Superman as his primary nemesis? If that's chill anyways. He's not going to be the kind of character that just jumps out and destroys a whole city though, if thats a concern, he's trying to conquer the world, and maybe destroy some of the humans a little, but contrary to the implications of his name he does have a brain and will use it plenty.
November 27th, 2019
1:24 PM, ET
GCU Library, Gotham
@The Whacko
Before, Tommy would have considered more magic to be a good thing, but now that there was more magic? It was one disaster after another, and every single time magic was to blame. His usually mediocre heating runes now started fires and boiled water, his enchanted skateboard literally disintegrated beneath his feet, which sent him rolling into Bex’s art project, utterly ruining the thing - he wasn’t really sure what she’d made but it’d shattered like flimsy glass under his weight. That had only been the beginning; now Bex was pissed at him, Anna was suspicious of him, he hadn’t spoken to Pads in ages, and now this.
What the fuck is that supposed to be?
It was seven feet tall at least, clearly undead and reeking like a corpse, and it was disgusting. What the hell?! This was not a flesh golem, this was an abomination straight out of Hercules’ trials. They were supposed to fight this thing?
At least his dad seemed to know what he was doing, though it was clear the situation hadn’t meant to be this dangerous otherwise Tommy wouldn’t be here in the first place.
He threw something, a half formed spell of fluorescent pink energy that caused spots on the golem’s flesh to blacken and char, but his next spell went directly into the ceiling when he slipped on a pool of blood, landing on his back, brand new outfit covered in sticky red, and broken plaster falling towards his face. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the debris, righting himself as his dad distracted the creature. Good to see the man had survived getting batted across the room, not that Tommy had doubted his father’s chances.
The Nail, huh? But… did that mean...? It wasn’t just a flesh golem, it was possessed, probably by a fucking demon because yay magic, the ley lines were jizzing all over the planet anyway so why the fuck not?
Tommy shook his head, looking at the creature in a new light. It wasn’t a pitiful golem dialed up to eleven, it was a legit threat to their lives, to the entire city’s lives probably. He began backing off, not at all eager to turn his back on the demon despite the need to make haste, and with good reason; as he neared the door and turned to run through it, a broken chair came flying at him. He didn't see it coming until it was too late, the force of the projectile carrying him clean through the door and out a window across the hall.
He was disoriented, and shuddered as the pain registered in his brain. Something was broken, but he didn’t know what and he didn’t exactly have time to figure it out. He didn’t even try standing, knowing it would only end badly, but he needed to help his dad and get the Nail. There was a way of course, with magic there was always a way… He forced his mind to focus, to pull on that energy within and see it; an orb with an oddly textured surface, and two rings making an ‘X’ in orbit around it, everything in shades of violet. He didn’t know what it was, but he saw it every time he transformed, and felt it’s energy pull at him.
The pain became muted as his skin darkened, color and sound became sharper as his eyes and hair reformed into violet light, and his mind found clarity as he found his Anodite form.
He was outside, surrounded by the remains of the chair that had hit him, and the shattered glass of the window he fell through. That didn’t matter now though, he rose into the air effortlessly, his movement easy in comparison to the struggle it’d been to even breathe moments before. He spied the car nearby, thankfully the parking lot was on this side of the building, and he zoomed towards it, popping open the trunk and locating the Silver Nail. He didn’t bother grabbing it with his hands, instead surrounding it in a violet aura, a glowing telekinetic spell, and flying back towards the window he’d fallen from, then through it and into the library again. As soon as he found his father and the monster again he threw the Nail with all his mental might at the back of the creature’s head.
But he missed, an awkward dizzying sensation causing him to lose focus, and the spell dropped the Silver Nail to the ground, landing perfectly between his dad and the golem. He dropped too, the energy that gave him his Anodite form felt thin and stretched, like it was threatening to rip at any second. He let it go, receding to that far away place, and he fell to his knees, human once more and breathing hard, but whole, whatever bone, or bones, had been broken before were now fine.
1:24 PM, ET
GCU Library, Gotham
@The Whacko
Hex
Before, Tommy would have considered more magic to be a good thing, but now that there was more magic? It was one disaster after another, and every single time magic was to blame. His usually mediocre heating runes now started fires and boiled water, his enchanted skateboard literally disintegrated beneath his feet, which sent him rolling into Bex’s art project, utterly ruining the thing - he wasn’t really sure what she’d made but it’d shattered like flimsy glass under his weight. That had only been the beginning; now Bex was pissed at him, Anna was suspicious of him, he hadn’t spoken to Pads in ages, and now this.
What the fuck is that supposed to be?
It was seven feet tall at least, clearly undead and reeking like a corpse, and it was disgusting. What the hell?! This was not a flesh golem, this was an abomination straight out of Hercules’ trials. They were supposed to fight this thing?
At least his dad seemed to know what he was doing, though it was clear the situation hadn’t meant to be this dangerous otherwise Tommy wouldn’t be here in the first place.
He threw something, a half formed spell of fluorescent pink energy that caused spots on the golem’s flesh to blacken and char, but his next spell went directly into the ceiling when he slipped on a pool of blood, landing on his back, brand new outfit covered in sticky red, and broken plaster falling towards his face. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the debris, righting himself as his dad distracted the creature. Good to see the man had survived getting batted across the room, not that Tommy had doubted his father’s chances.
The Nail, huh? But… did that mean...? It wasn’t just a flesh golem, it was possessed, probably by a fucking demon because yay magic, the ley lines were jizzing all over the planet anyway so why the fuck not?
Tommy shook his head, looking at the creature in a new light. It wasn’t a pitiful golem dialed up to eleven, it was a legit threat to their lives, to the entire city’s lives probably. He began backing off, not at all eager to turn his back on the demon despite the need to make haste, and with good reason; as he neared the door and turned to run through it, a broken chair came flying at him. He didn't see it coming until it was too late, the force of the projectile carrying him clean through the door and out a window across the hall.
He was disoriented, and shuddered as the pain registered in his brain. Something was broken, but he didn’t know what and he didn’t exactly have time to figure it out. He didn’t even try standing, knowing it would only end badly, but he needed to help his dad and get the Nail. There was a way of course, with magic there was always a way… He forced his mind to focus, to pull on that energy within and see it; an orb with an oddly textured surface, and two rings making an ‘X’ in orbit around it, everything in shades of violet. He didn’t know what it was, but he saw it every time he transformed, and felt it’s energy pull at him.
The pain became muted as his skin darkened, color and sound became sharper as his eyes and hair reformed into violet light, and his mind found clarity as he found his Anodite form.
He was outside, surrounded by the remains of the chair that had hit him, and the shattered glass of the window he fell through. That didn’t matter now though, he rose into the air effortlessly, his movement easy in comparison to the struggle it’d been to even breathe moments before. He spied the car nearby, thankfully the parking lot was on this side of the building, and he zoomed towards it, popping open the trunk and locating the Silver Nail. He didn’t bother grabbing it with his hands, instead surrounding it in a violet aura, a glowing telekinetic spell, and flying back towards the window he’d fallen from, then through it and into the library again. As soon as he found his father and the monster again he threw the Nail with all his mental might at the back of the creature’s head.
But he missed, an awkward dizzying sensation causing him to lose focus, and the spell dropped the Silver Nail to the ground, landing perfectly between his dad and the golem. He dropped too, the energy that gave him his Anodite form felt thin and stretched, like it was threatening to rip at any second. He let it go, receding to that far away place, and he fell to his knees, human once more and breathing hard, but whole, whatever bone, or bones, had been broken before were now fine.
November 30th, 2019
5:35 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
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; thanks, but I'm fine, he began, its just contagious is all, not a big deal. 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 have 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 power. 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.
5:35 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
Echo
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; thanks, but I'm fine, he began, its just contagious is all, not a big deal. 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 have 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 power. 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.
All is not as it first appears o.o
Unless it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unless it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 29th, 2019
9:15 PM, PT
The Small Café, Coast City
Something was very wrong here. Ezra knew it the second he turned down the alley behind the The Small, the one that led to the unfinished subway entrance and the secret door to the alien bar. It felt like eyes were on him, a predator lurking around the corner, ready to catch him in it’s web and burn him up like a halsa’s favourite snack. It was not a pleasant feeling, and he slowed his steps as the tension mounted. He almost shrugged it off, putting it towards a return in his paranoia, which had begun to taper off over the last month, having gotten used to Jessie’s motor mouth, Yoski’s jokes about whatever was on TV, Benji’s frequent messages about new safe spaces he’d found as he moved across the country, and Lauren’s comforting smile and no-nonsense mothering she applied to everyone she met…
But he didn’t shrug it off, because there was blood in the alley way. Blue blood. Alien blood. He quickened his steps, gripping tightly to the straps of his backpack and pulling his beanie further down his face, hiding his white hair. Oh no, he thought worriedly, what happened? Is someone hurt? Were we discovered? He hurried down the steps into the subway entrance and froze at the sight that greeted him; the walls were smeared with dark blue blood, and the gory remains of a familiar yellowish-green alien, torn tentacles and mushed brain matter scattered outside the door, which had been forcibly pried open and now hung from it’s hinges awkwardly.
He didn’t bother checking on him, Yoski was definitely dead, and there were sounds coming from within the now revealed bar. He almost didn’t notice the burning green energy that gathered in his fists or burned within his eyes as he stepped faster towards the door, entering the dimly lit room. The one safe place for people like him, and now it was exposed, violated- invaded.
There were people within, and bodies. There was a dark skinned man dressed unsurprisingly in a dark suit and very clearly armed, and there were two light skinned men in unassuming hoodies and caps, looking like standard pedestrians he’d see on the street. They looked up at him as he entered, immediately going for their guns- but they didn’t get the chance. Ezra saw Lauren, and Kyle, slumped over together in a corner, they were whole, unlike Yoski, but lifeless. Ezra threw his ecto-blasts before he’d even fully comprehended their deaths. “You killed them?!” He cried out, he’d intended the words to be angry, but instead they were shocked, still reeling from the scene he’d barely had a chance to process.
One of the plain clothes men ducked behind one of the many upturned tables even as the other went down from a solid blast to the face. The man in the suit raised his gun and fired three times, each managing to hit Ezra in the chest. Overall the entire encounter took maybe three seconds at most, but while the men went to check on their fallen comrade, assuming by the lack of moving, or even breathing, that Ezra was dead, he instead was already beginning to regenerate the wounds to his form and recover from the shocking pain. After a moment of his vision spinning riotously, he simply vanished, turning intangible and invisible.
When he reappeared, leaking neon green blood from the still closing bullet wounds, he was behind the men, and absolutely furious. This time when he threw his energy attacks they caught the men off guard and were thrown to the ground without cover. He threw a few more even after they stopped moving, but managed to repress his emotions enough to stop attacking. Eventually. Even as tears were gathering his eyes, grief pushing past the rage, he knelt down and dug through the suited man’s pockets. He needed to know who had done this, and why.
He managed to get the man’s wallet, but before he could open it someone else charged into the room, a dark skinned woman with her sidearm already drawn and pointed at his head. He threw a bright green burst of energy directly at her face, turning invisible and intangible as she fired her gun. If backup was already arriving he needed to get out, now. He flew through the roof, managing to get up into the alley above in time for his stress-induced lack of focus to force him to become visible and tangible again. A pain shot through his chest as he leaned against the alley wall for support, and he saw a large hole punctured straight over where his heart would be- an energy weapon, the woman had shot him with an energy weapon.
Luckily he didn’t have a heart, or he’d be dead now. He started running, hearing boots pounding towards him from the subway entrance. Who were these people? How did they get energy weapons on Earth? How’d they find this place? Why were they killing aliens?
It was late, and Coast City was no New york, no Metropolis, but it was very big and very busy. His disguise was ruined, his eyes aglow in the rapidly approaching darkness, leaking more glowing blood from the four holes in his chest, and somehow he’d lost his beanie, revealing stark white hair to every pedestrian he pushed past. He could hear someone running after him, and he threw a glance over his shoulder to see the woman who shot him racing full tilt after him. He waited until he ploughed ahead through a street crossing, not bothering to even look for cars, and then threw an ectoblast over his shoulder, causing the woman to shout and jump out of the way as it landed at her feet. The street shortly erupted in a round of screams as pedestrians scattered in all directions. Ezra used the chaos to run straight through a building and escape to a new street, jumping into the air to get further away. The pedestrians were too distracted by the commotion to look up as he flew quick and fast towards his apartment.
Once he finally set down on the roof of Satomi Towers, he collapsed, clutching a wallet in his hands and breathing hard. He forced himself to focus on the wallet, to calm down, and study the information within. He wasn’t surprised by what he found, all his fears proving true; a symbol, an eagle- how American - overlaid on an ID. DEO. DEPARTMENT OF EXTRANORMAL OPERATIONS. Agent Hamilton. He sneered, Humans! he thought, a viciousness and resentment attached to their name he hadn’t felt before. The government did this? Of course they did, there was a reason there were a billion movies painting aliens as the bad guys, why they were always being dissected and hunted down by government agents. Because it was true.
He looked around, feeling… lost, angry… afraid.
He couldn’t do this alone.
November 30th, 2019
5:17 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
He called in sick today. Well, he called in something. He’d been very evasive but also very tired and wretched feeling when he’d talked to his manager, something the man seemed to pick up on and let him go without too much fuss.
There was nothing in the news about Yoski, Lauren, or Kyle, or about any aliens at all, which was expected, but even his mad dash through a crowd of pedestrians and blatant use of powers refused to show up. On the TV anyway, in his ‘trending in your area’ feed he managed to find a few conversations had about that ‘glowy green dude that got chased through the street.’ Already those posts were getting random bloggers asking questions and scratching their heads. Mostly there seemed to be a lot of confusion, disbelief, and general indifference. No one seemed to have gotten a video or picture of him, yet anyway, he hoped he hadn’t run in front of a traffic camera or past a store’s security camera, and it had happened very quickly, so it was unlikely to catch anyone’s attention unless they were looking for it. Good.
He’d already redyed his hair, dug up his old pair of hipster square glasses he’d first worn when blending in on this planet, and thoroughly locked himself in his one room apartment where no one could find him. He probably wasn’t going to come out ever again.
A thought occurred to him suddenly; he should get the word out. His phone was already in hand, and he snapped a quick picture of the government agent’s ID. He sent it, and a text message, to Benji. People had to know they were actually being hunted, it wasn’t paranoia anymore, it wasn’t enough to trust no one was looking now, they had to be on their guard.
He lingered a moment on Jessie’s name, Jessie Beedle just above Benjamin Bello in his contacts list. After some hesitation, some thought, he sent her a text: won’t make it to gym today, not feeling well - better than just dropping off the face of the world with no warning, the energetic woman might come looking for him if he wasn’t where she thought he was supposed to be.
Putting it out of his mind for the moment, mostly because he didn’t want to think about how she was human and thus likely to run screaming from him, turn him into the government, or beat him up with a bat- or all three, he refocused on more important things.
He needed his people’s technology, he’d held off because he got comfortable, because the tech was complicated and dangerous… he couldn’t wait anymore. So, heavy hearted but determined, he went to the roof, slipped into the small shed, and began tinkering in the faint green-tinted light of the life pod.
9:15 PM, PT
The Small Café, Coast City
Echo
Something was very wrong here. Ezra knew it the second he turned down the alley behind the The Small, the one that led to the unfinished subway entrance and the secret door to the alien bar. It felt like eyes were on him, a predator lurking around the corner, ready to catch him in it’s web and burn him up like a halsa’s favourite snack. It was not a pleasant feeling, and he slowed his steps as the tension mounted. He almost shrugged it off, putting it towards a return in his paranoia, which had begun to taper off over the last month, having gotten used to Jessie’s motor mouth, Yoski’s jokes about whatever was on TV, Benji’s frequent messages about new safe spaces he’d found as he moved across the country, and Lauren’s comforting smile and no-nonsense mothering she applied to everyone she met…
But he didn’t shrug it off, because there was blood in the alley way. Blue blood. Alien blood. He quickened his steps, gripping tightly to the straps of his backpack and pulling his beanie further down his face, hiding his white hair. Oh no, he thought worriedly, what happened? Is someone hurt? Were we discovered? He hurried down the steps into the subway entrance and froze at the sight that greeted him; the walls were smeared with dark blue blood, and the gory remains of a familiar yellowish-green alien, torn tentacles and mushed brain matter scattered outside the door, which had been forcibly pried open and now hung from it’s hinges awkwardly.
He didn’t bother checking on him, Yoski was definitely dead, and there were sounds coming from within the now revealed bar. He almost didn’t notice the burning green energy that gathered in his fists or burned within his eyes as he stepped faster towards the door, entering the dimly lit room. The one safe place for people like him, and now it was exposed, violated- invaded.
There were people within, and bodies. There was a dark skinned man dressed unsurprisingly in a dark suit and very clearly armed, and there were two light skinned men in unassuming hoodies and caps, looking like standard pedestrians he’d see on the street. They looked up at him as he entered, immediately going for their guns- but they didn’t get the chance. Ezra saw Lauren, and Kyle, slumped over together in a corner, they were whole, unlike Yoski, but lifeless. Ezra threw his ecto-blasts before he’d even fully comprehended their deaths. “You killed them?!” He cried out, he’d intended the words to be angry, but instead they were shocked, still reeling from the scene he’d barely had a chance to process.
One of the plain clothes men ducked behind one of the many upturned tables even as the other went down from a solid blast to the face. The man in the suit raised his gun and fired three times, each managing to hit Ezra in the chest. Overall the entire encounter took maybe three seconds at most, but while the men went to check on their fallen comrade, assuming by the lack of moving, or even breathing, that Ezra was dead, he instead was already beginning to regenerate the wounds to his form and recover from the shocking pain. After a moment of his vision spinning riotously, he simply vanished, turning intangible and invisible.
When he reappeared, leaking neon green blood from the still closing bullet wounds, he was behind the men, and absolutely furious. This time when he threw his energy attacks they caught the men off guard and were thrown to the ground without cover. He threw a few more even after they stopped moving, but managed to repress his emotions enough to stop attacking. Eventually. Even as tears were gathering his eyes, grief pushing past the rage, he knelt down and dug through the suited man’s pockets. He needed to know who had done this, and why.
He managed to get the man’s wallet, but before he could open it someone else charged into the room, a dark skinned woman with her sidearm already drawn and pointed at his head. He threw a bright green burst of energy directly at her face, turning invisible and intangible as she fired her gun. If backup was already arriving he needed to get out, now. He flew through the roof, managing to get up into the alley above in time for his stress-induced lack of focus to force him to become visible and tangible again. A pain shot through his chest as he leaned against the alley wall for support, and he saw a large hole punctured straight over where his heart would be- an energy weapon, the woman had shot him with an energy weapon.
Luckily he didn’t have a heart, or he’d be dead now. He started running, hearing boots pounding towards him from the subway entrance. Who were these people? How did they get energy weapons on Earth? How’d they find this place? Why were they killing aliens?
It was late, and Coast City was no New york, no Metropolis, but it was very big and very busy. His disguise was ruined, his eyes aglow in the rapidly approaching darkness, leaking more glowing blood from the four holes in his chest, and somehow he’d lost his beanie, revealing stark white hair to every pedestrian he pushed past. He could hear someone running after him, and he threw a glance over his shoulder to see the woman who shot him racing full tilt after him. He waited until he ploughed ahead through a street crossing, not bothering to even look for cars, and then threw an ectoblast over his shoulder, causing the woman to shout and jump out of the way as it landed at her feet. The street shortly erupted in a round of screams as pedestrians scattered in all directions. Ezra used the chaos to run straight through a building and escape to a new street, jumping into the air to get further away. The pedestrians were too distracted by the commotion to look up as he flew quick and fast towards his apartment.
Once he finally set down on the roof of Satomi Towers, he collapsed, clutching a wallet in his hands and breathing hard. He forced himself to focus on the wallet, to calm down, and study the information within. He wasn’t surprised by what he found, all his fears proving true; a symbol, an eagle- how American - overlaid on an ID. DEO. DEPARTMENT OF EXTRANORMAL OPERATIONS. Agent Hamilton. He sneered, Humans! he thought, a viciousness and resentment attached to their name he hadn’t felt before. The government did this? Of course they did, there was a reason there were a billion movies painting aliens as the bad guys, why they were always being dissected and hunted down by government agents. Because it was true.
He looked around, feeling… lost, angry… afraid.
He couldn’t do this alone.
November 30th, 2019
5:17 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City
He called in sick today. Well, he called in something. He’d been very evasive but also very tired and wretched feeling when he’d talked to his manager, something the man seemed to pick up on and let him go without too much fuss.
There was nothing in the news about Yoski, Lauren, or Kyle, or about any aliens at all, which was expected, but even his mad dash through a crowd of pedestrians and blatant use of powers refused to show up. On the TV anyway, in his ‘trending in your area’ feed he managed to find a few conversations had about that ‘glowy green dude that got chased through the street.’ Already those posts were getting random bloggers asking questions and scratching their heads. Mostly there seemed to be a lot of confusion, disbelief, and general indifference. No one seemed to have gotten a video or picture of him, yet anyway, he hoped he hadn’t run in front of a traffic camera or past a store’s security camera, and it had happened very quickly, so it was unlikely to catch anyone’s attention unless they were looking for it. Good.
He’d already redyed his hair, dug up his old pair of hipster square glasses he’d first worn when blending in on this planet, and thoroughly locked himself in his one room apartment where no one could find him. He probably wasn’t going to come out ever again.
A thought occurred to him suddenly; he should get the word out. His phone was already in hand, and he snapped a quick picture of the government agent’s ID. He sent it, and a text message, to Benji. People had to know they were actually being hunted, it wasn’t paranoia anymore, it wasn’t enough to trust no one was looking now, they had to be on their guard.
He lingered a moment on Jessie’s name, Jessie Beedle just above Benjamin Bello in his contacts list. After some hesitation, some thought, he sent her a text: won’t make it to gym today, not feeling well - better than just dropping off the face of the world with no warning, the energetic woman might come looking for him if he wasn’t where she thought he was supposed to be.
Putting it out of his mind for the moment, mostly because he didn’t want to think about how she was human and thus likely to run screaming from him, turn him into the government, or beat him up with a bat- or all three, he refocused on more important things.
He needed his people’s technology, he’d held off because he got comfortable, because the tech was complicated and dangerous… he couldn’t wait anymore. So, heavy hearted but determined, he went to the roof, slipped into the small shed, and began tinkering in the faint green-tinted light of the life pod.
November 4th, 2019
6:32 AM, ET
Burnley, Gotham
Tommy waved off his father’s advice, ‘man this, man that, adulting,’ he meant well, but Tommy had his own ideas about what he should be doing, and he knew his limits plenty well, some random dreams weren’t his priority. No, his priority was hitting the swim team hard and fast, so fast Bex wouldn’t be able to rope him into chess club. He didn’t mind GSA, and he found endless amusement in D&D, but chess? He rolled his eyes just thinking about it; that was a dying art, just let it go already.
He was also going to have to see about stirring up some fun on his own, it was only monday, no way was he waiting a whole week for his dad to take him after some grave robbers- though getting off the leash, so to speak, would be fun. Speaking of leashes, he sent a quick text to Pads, he was going to drop by the Stadium after school, that’d be fun. “Cool,” he cheered, his brain already multitasking to envision how the weekend would go down, in addition to planning his schedule for the day. “It’ll be fun- and Dad, first day, y’know? I’ll be late- clubs yeah? Bex is already onto me, and Anna won’t join any unless I talk her into it.” he explained, carefully concealing his secret plans with Pads with his less nefarious plans with Bex and Anna as he shoved a last piece of bacon into his mouth and then darting towards the stairs.
“Oh,” he paused, turning back around, “and next time you smudge my warming rune I’m etching an ice one into your headboard!” He warned, referring to the heating hex he’d placed on the shower, drawn in permanent marker on the shower head, yet somehow always managing to rub off by the time he went to take another shower. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was his father, but who else could it be? If there was some kind of magical rat skulking about eating his runes he was going to be pissed.
Regardless of if his father was actually innocent he spun back around and hopped up the stairs to get ready for school.
6:32 AM, ET
Burnley, Gotham
Hex
Tommy waved off his father’s advice, ‘man this, man that, adulting,’ he meant well, but Tommy had his own ideas about what he should be doing, and he knew his limits plenty well, some random dreams weren’t his priority. No, his priority was hitting the swim team hard and fast, so fast Bex wouldn’t be able to rope him into chess club. He didn’t mind GSA, and he found endless amusement in D&D, but chess? He rolled his eyes just thinking about it; that was a dying art, just let it go already.
He was also going to have to see about stirring up some fun on his own, it was only monday, no way was he waiting a whole week for his dad to take him after some grave robbers- though getting off the leash, so to speak, would be fun. Speaking of leashes, he sent a quick text to Pads, he was going to drop by the Stadium after school, that’d be fun. “Cool,” he cheered, his brain already multitasking to envision how the weekend would go down, in addition to planning his schedule for the day. “It’ll be fun- and Dad, first day, y’know? I’ll be late- clubs yeah? Bex is already onto me, and Anna won’t join any unless I talk her into it.” he explained, carefully concealing his secret plans with Pads with his less nefarious plans with Bex and Anna as he shoved a last piece of bacon into his mouth and then darting towards the stairs.
“Oh,” he paused, turning back around, “and next time you smudge my warming rune I’m etching an ice one into your headboard!” He warned, referring to the heating hex he’d placed on the shower, drawn in permanent marker on the shower head, yet somehow always managing to rub off by the time he went to take another shower. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was his father, but who else could it be? If there was some kind of magical rat skulking about eating his runes he was going to be pissed.
Regardless of if his father was actually innocent he spun back around and hopped up the stairs to get ready for school.
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