Tony watched Steve leave and waited until he was gone to grin.

"I love being right."

Julie had left Vulpix and Electrike snoozing inside, but Altaria floated above her head, keeping track of her progress as she worked on scaling the mountainside bare-handed.

Maeve looked at Tony curiously.

"Being right about what?" she asked.

Steve looked up at Julie.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Steve needing someone other than us to connect with." Tony was positively preening.

"Climbing." Julie looked down at him. "I hate running in sand, so I'm climbing instead."

Maeve just gave him a questioning look.

"Why so late in the day, though?" Steve asked. He didn't blame her for not liking to run on sand; he didn't either.

"Steve used to be what most people would call normal," Tony said with a shrug. "We're all kind of abnormal, have been for a long time. Besides, he talks to random strangers around New York, I figured he wanted more people around."

"Because it is now decently cool and more of a challenge. I have to feel where I'm going more than see it." Julie smiled a bit. "It's good training."

"I read his file," Maeve commented. "Coulson let me, when he assigned me here. I guess it kind of makes sense."

Steve had to admit, she had a point. After a moment, he started to follow her.

Tony nodded. "Steve is more social than most of us," he said with a fluid shrug. "Just because he's team captain doesn't mean he doesn't need help once in a while."

Julie glanced down at him, surprised, before she laughed. "Decided it sounded like a good idea?" she asked, grinning.

"Well, Julie will be good for him, then," Maeve said. "She's good at social."

"Why not?" Steve asked in return as he caught up to her.

"I figured." Tony grinned. "Social and still able to fend for herself."

Julie noticed and grinned, speeding up and trying to overtake him again.

"More social than I am, at least," Maeve said. "Which is why she's the field agent and I'm not."

Steve grinned and let her win. Though he did make her work for it.

Tony nodded. It made perfect sense to him, and he did (mentally) congratulate Coulson on finding a pair that clearly worked well together.

Julie was panting by the time she got to the top, though she was grinning. "Now we go back down."

"Down is easier," Steve said, sitting next to her. "Take a minute to rest, though."

Julie hesitated before she let herself sit next to him, looking out at the waves.

"Nothing here has really changed. I mean, I didn't expect things to change, but it has been six years since I've been back."

"I've never been out here," Steve admitted after a moment. "Never really had the opportunity before now."

"I'm not surprised. The war wasn't exactly a good time to travel, and the Depression before that was hard." Julie smiled a little. "My grandma used to tell me stories about when she grew up. She saw one of your shows once, before she married. Actually I think Grandpa proposed to her later that night."

"I heard there were a few shows where that happened," Steve said, looking a bit embarrassed.

Julie laughed and patted his shoulder. "Hey, things could have been worse, Cap. You did a lot of good for a lot of people, and not just by selling war bonds or rescuing people from behind German lines."

"I should have been able to do more," Steve pointed out, glancing at her before looking out over the water again.

"What more would you have done?" Julie asked gently. "You helped the war, on multiple fronts might I add, and you gave people hope. You and Braviary, doing your show and helping people, you gave Americans something to believe in, an ideal to rally around. Hope is far more important than bullets and guns, Steve."

"'War isn't won by sentiment,'" Steve said quietly, quoting something he'd heard way, way back. "'It's won by soldiers.'"

"And soldiers need sentiment to keep them going, else they have no reason to continue fighting at their best." Julie shrugged, getting to her feet again. "In my experience, anyway. Everyone needs something to fight for."

Steve made a vague neutral sound. For the moment, this wasn't something he was going to argue about. He still felt like he should have been able to do more for the war.

"Race you to the bottom." Julie grinned at him and jumped off the edge easily, twisting as she fell to grab onto the rock face again and make her way down. Altaria made a few distressed sounds before she started scolding Julie fiercely, all the way down the mountainside.

That made Steve crack a grin and he followed. It was a close race all the way to the ground.

Julie grinned when she won, only just. "Altaria, stop scolding me, I know what I'm doing. Coulson made sure of that. Besides, would you rather I practice here or not know what to do next time I get shoved off a cliff?"

Altaria huffed and went to go hover Steve, a little sulkily.