"Mmhm. As for the Europe thing, I do need a good reputation, some tinfoil hats are already comparing me to Eidolon, and the only people in the world anyone will believe are capable of actually outright killing an Endbringer are him and Scion, so."

"...that's against the law, you know. That thing you're thinking right now."

"You're going to have to clarify what I'm thinking about," says Morgan dryly. "I'm aware that getting you out of the country's illegal, if that's it."

"Yes, that was it."

"I am pretty sure you do not need my help to get out of the country."

"I don't, but like I said, my rep is here, and not as a boogeyman, just as this whimsical character who can do anything."

"... I'm not going to attempt to force you to do anything," she says after a pause. "If I want to persuade you to do something that would be convenient for my plans, I'll try to make the option as appealing as possible, not go, 'Rawr I have a big stick fear me!' So if you want to stay, I mean, feel free. ... But please stop tweaking the Protectorate's nose, Legend's kind of trusting me to get you to stop."

"Oh dear, you don't know me at all, do you?"

"That was incentive to continue," she sighs, "wasn't it."

"Yes. Yes it was."

"I could stop tweaking their nose, at this point, I suppose. They'd still want to arrest me and such."

"Well, of course. They're not going to stop wanting to arrest you unless you join the Protectorate or disappear."

"And... joining the Protectorate doesn't count as arresting because...?"

"Ha! Fair enough."

"I mean, it's slightly worse than being arrested unless Birdcage because—I mean I like people, don't get me wrong, but dealing with other parahumans is tiptoeing around eggshells."

"... A little," she agrees. "But there are exceptions, certainly. The thing that would bother me is - the Protectorate forces their members to patrol. And patrolling is an utter waste of my time."

"Patrolling at specific times, with specific people, who happen to be traumatized superpowered individuals, not to mention all the other things we're scheduled to do. Micromanagement to the max."

"I don't actually mind being micromanaged by someone competent. It's being micromanaged by a bureaucracy that'll use me poorly that will tick me off."

They ponder that for a bit. "I mean, I agree, but I think... competent wouldn't be enough, or maybe it's not the word I'd use to describe it. It'd have to be someone I could personally verify was doing good, someone I really trusted."

Nod. "That makes perfect sense."

"Yeah. So. My options are basically being arrested, being arrested, or having to start over somewhere. Well, I mean, not completely over, but for now my rep is mostly limited to the New York Forums."

"I mean, saying you're seventeen and only putting up with the Wards for a year lessens the time being arrested, if that factors in at all, but - yeah, I see what you mean. Hmmm."

"Why would it? Lessen the time, I mean."