"Don't worry about it," Julie told him. "Just... I like to help people when I can." She set the food down for the two of them. "There's more food for the pokemon inside, too."

"But why?" Barnes asked again. "What is the... objective?" He paused there, not certain if that was the right way to ask, but he didn't have a better one at the moment.

It took Julie a moment to figure that one out, but she kept calm.

"The objective is helping others," she explained. "It... makes me feel better. For some of the things I've done. It helps." She shrugged.

Barnes nodded once, slowly. That... was an easy enough objective to understand, actually. And, in a strange way, it appealed to him. The idea of redemption, of balancing out some of what he'd done, was a very tempting thing.

Julie set the food down, looking at him. Then she set more money down with the food.

"Any other questions for me? I don't mind talking, really, anyone who knows me knows I can talk for a long time when I want to."

Barnes just shook his head a bit. He wasn't much of a talker, even though he knew that it wasn't... normal, somehow. He knew that he'd been different, before. He just didn't know how to find that version of himself again. He cracked the slightest smile when Riolu scampered over with a treat and nuzzled his shoulder.

Julie grinned at that. "Alright. Well, try and stay warm. We're supposed to have some pretty heavy rain in the next few days, cold rain. I know there's at least two fire-types in the building, play nice with them and everyone will be warm."

"Thanks," Barnes said. The word felt a bit foreign on his tongue. "For the information. And the provisions."

"No problem." Julie smiled a bit and then turned and left, leaving the food there for him. Hopefully he'd actually listen to her. And stay away from the top floor, she knew for a fact the roof leaked a bit.

Barnes watched her go, and then headed inside. Time to round up all the pokemon and see if there was a way to keep everyone warm and dry for the night.

Elsewhere, Maeve was still laying low, but she could tell her cover was starting to wear a bit thin.

Tony, of course, knew where Maeve was. He'd known the whole time. He'd never lost track of her, and had, from the sidelines, taken out a few interested parties. For the greater good, of course. Not because he was interested in her, or wanted to help her. Of course not.

Pepper wasn't buying that, either.

"Tony this is the fifth time you've checked her status," Pepper said, not looking up from her tablet. She was in the middle of a virtual meeting with some shareholders, curled up in the corner of one of Tony's ridiculously expensive and comfortable couches. "The fifth time this hour."

"Is it?" Tony asked idly, going back to his Science. "I hadn't noticed. Huh."

"You might be fooling everyone else, Tony, but you don't fool me," Pepper said, still not looking up from the tablet. "How is she?"

"Not in any danger," Tony said. "Seems stable for now, nothing new going on." He shrugged.

"Then how is she?" Pepper asked again. She knew Tony was well aware of what she was really asking. She knew he was keeping track of Maeve in more ways than just technical ones.

Tony sighed and leaned back. "Not so great," he said. "She doesn't have the same support system our wonder twin assassins ended up with."

Pepper could hear how unhappy Tony was about that, and set her tablet aside.

"How much longer do you think she can keep it up?" she asked.

Tony shrugged. "A few days. A week maybe. Not too much longer." And he'd helped where he could, but there wasn't much more he could do, not from here.

"I see," Pepper said. She studied Tony for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not she should prod him towards the thought of going to actually check on Maeve. Sometimes it was hard to tell where in his thought process he was to determine if a subtle (or not so subtle) nudge was in order.

Tony sort of wanted to interfere, but he needed to make sure his team was safe too, and he doubted she would exactly be pleased to see him. Not after they left on such explosive terms. Which was really kind of depressingly normal for his life.

"You know," Pepper said a few moments later, choosing her words carefully, "things seem to be under control here, for the moment. I'm sure nobody would mind if you took a short... break... and left the city for a few days." There. And it was even all true, as well; Steve seemed to have the team well in hand, and she'd gotten word that Phil was back in action and taking care of things on his end. She and Jarvis could get Rhodey to cover for Tony for a few days, if he left.

"No one here would mind," Tony said, not even looking up from his work. He couldn't look at her, not if they were actually having this conversation.

"I'm sure Rhodey would appreciate the chance to show off a bit, now that that ridiculous paint job's been cleaned off of War Machine," Pepper replied, grinning just a little. "And you know as well as I do that you've been getting more and more restless, Tony. You're worried."

Tony scoffed. "I am not worry, I don't worry," he said, rolling his eyes. "This isn't worrying, this is keeping track."