To Glam's continued delight, more kissing sessions happen on the following days (when they're feeling like a boy). They haven't met her parents as her official boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever yet, and don't mind it too much.
News about Purity's escape surprises exactly no one, but the Protectorate's reputation suffers a blow because of the attack; after all, the heroes were beaten on their home turf. The PHO forums are abuzz, though rumors of Glam's death at the hands of Hookwolf (probably started by same) prove largely unfounded.
And Glam really should get to their webisodes and start building a steadier rep. And that's (one of the reasons) why they're in Lorica's workshop a few days later.
"So what should I do? I haven't posted anything since Purity, should probably make this more of a habit."
"I didn't know it before I had actually seen and kissed and nibbled on you. If I had only found this out when you were in your room, simultaneously with the fact that I can't get carried away here and that 'here' is all there is, then it'd be harder not getting carried away."
"Oh, I'm perfectly capable of going out and finding problems at a convenient clip. It's when I'm presented with them that I lose control of which ones they are and how many."
"If you face enough problems that that's a problem, you could write them down."
"It's not remembering that's the trouble, it's the short-term nature and lack of freedom to prioritize. If I am presented with the problem 'now this supervillain is trying to eat my face' I can't stop, write it down, and pencil him in for next Thursday."
"Ah, yes, indeed. Thankfully we've been short on the face-eating supervillains front, lately. Though I suppose this kind of problem can be easily defined as the highest priority for its duration even without written consideration of it, given that all other problems will go unsolved if that particular one does."
"I can't wait until I'm eighteen," she sighs. "And a half, if they hang on to me. Which they might. Captain. Christ."
"Year from September thirteenth. They could've made Echo captain, why didn't they make Echo captain? I apparently know so firmly in my own head that I'm not in it for the long haul that I don't remember that I might be pretending convincingly to other people."
"Or they might know it and might be trying to get you to stay by... giving you more responsibility? A challenge? Maybe they think being in command would appeal to you enough to get you to stay?"
"Do they think I'm going to forget that as soon as I graduate I bump back down to being low on the totem pole relative to my shiny new peers?"
Shrug. "Or maybe you do pretend very convincingly, I'm biased because you kinda all but told me up front within a month of us knowing each other but I'm pretty sure you don't other people."
"Or maybe they thought you were drifting away from the team and thought being captain for a year and change could change that."
"I do like many things about it better than not being captain, but I'd still rather quit, make a shit ton of money selling virtual reality procedurally generated video games or something, and use that budget to do infrastructure and stuff."
"Ooh, that sounds fun! Can I help? In between sessions of kicking Endbringer butt?"
"I'd still show up to Endbringers. And maintain Dad's suit. I'd even take other consultant-type work for the Protectorate if they could be not terrible about it. What do you bring to the video games and infrastructure table?"