Better not linger in her starting place too much longer. Yellow's faster than her and may have already come home to a wreck. Thorn might have a habit of checking up on the place, even, just in case. She's invisible, inaudible, unsmellable - that won't help if he sends someone thorough. Or comes in person.
She sets out.
She's been flying for about thirty minutes after her shopping trip when she falls through a tear and squeaks inaudibly and lands in the middle of -
She sends him a chunk of Meaningless Currency Integer and then describes the little trip Kaiser and Krieg are currently taking. I could maybe call them back, but they don't have to answer their phones - they could even have left them behind, as long as no one would find that strange as far as they're aware - and even if they do pick up I'd have to know what to tell them to do.
The trip takes a matter of hours. If they haven't arrived yet they will soon, and the people holding them there might put you through if you asked to speak to them. How would you change their orders if you could?
I don't know! I turned over the paper with the rest of the Empire names on it before reading past those two, so leaving them running around is unsafe unless I make them give me the other capes' names and lock them down too, but I don't want to send anyone to the Birdcage, even indirectly. I suppose I could call them and have them generate compromises, but that could take hours.
If you were to give orders narrowly designed to neutralize their ability to inflict illegal harm, that would not be any kind of crime. Fantastically complicated, though. I could draft some for you, if you'd prefer that to them risking the Birdcage.
I must comment that the justice system is, for all its flaws, better than having anyone with sufficient power enforcing their own opinions, but it's your interests I'm representing right now.
Phone: do the phone thing.
In that case, there isn't a whole lot you can do. You may be asked to testify as a witness due to your role in capturing them, and if so you'll have an opportunity to mention that you went out of your way to keep them out of the Birdcage. If you'd like to, I can find out who's defending them and inform their lawyers that you're willing to speak at the sentencing hearing.
Do keep me appraised of anything you think is potentially illegal, preferably before doing it.
Would it be illegal to ask someone to find me a place to receive mail, not live in it, and be a step removed from any risk of directly interacting with humans who may care who is in the house?
You can call me Quinn, by the way, that should be safe.
Since it's not illegal, I suppose it's okay that I already did it. And yes, it seems to be, so I can stop thinking of you as "Lawyer".
The full list of rights and limitations is complex, but in general you can do whatever you like with a house. Don't damage it if it's rented or disturb the neighbors with fireworks at midnight, but you have a right of quiet enjoyment and can keep people out and generally use or not use it as you see fit.
She asks Canary if the place is rented.
The next message she gets isn't a reply from Canary. It's from the Director. The E88 leaders have arrived and turned themselves in and said Promise sent them. The reaction of the Director of the PRT of Brockton Bay is appropriately summarized as "What the hell."
I have since acquired a lawyer and been told the part where I sent them to New Jersey won't actually help, but I think I've been clear about my dislike of the Birdcage.
You're not part of the Protectorate and I don't have authority to make you do anything other than appeal to common sense, but do you really think flouting procedures whenever it seems like a good idea at the time is going to reliably accomplish anything?
When I wonder if things I find inconvenient in the future are in fact laws or not I now have someone to ask, which will be nice. He didn't seem to think I'd done anything illegal today. And I don't belong to the organization that has issued any more restrictive procedures on top of that. I agreed with some of your suggestions, and did not comply with all the implied particulars.
I'm not saying you committed any crimes, but law enforcement practices exist for a reason. Such as for instance, prosecuting people in the state where they committed their crimes. Even if the reason isn't obvious, is it too much to ask that you not assume there isn't one?
You also don't seem to know who slipped me the names in the first place. If it was someone who works for you, I didn't want any chance of them influencing the timing. But, yes, in the future I will ask my lawyer about things like this. Pity it took a suggestion from Kaiser before I knew to get one.
A lawyer can keep you from doing anything illegal. Which is a good thing to have, and is also rarely the only consideration. He would not, for instance, be able to suggest when to move against the E88. If your concern was that our anonymous party with a mutual enemy might have a mole, you could have told us that, and we would at least have known to expect it at an unexpected time. Cutting us out of the loop entirely was completely unnecessary.
I decided when to move myself. I don't work for you. Why would including you in the loop be necessary either?
Parahuman crime in this city is my business. Independent heroes and teams aren't required to collaborate, but keeping the PRT informed of major plays is at the very least good strategy. There are many who don't, but they tend heavily toward the more unsavory types of vigilantism. I trust this isn't a sign of you going that route?
I'm more likely to quit vigilantism entirely, if I don't find a way that works better than invoking New Jersey to keep the results within my parameters.