"I will be." Julie smiled a bit. "I can let you know when I'll be gone, once I find out, if you want."

Steve nodded.

"Please," he said. "I'd feel better knowing where you are."

Julie smiled. Sure, he was protective, but somehow she didn't mind in the least. "Not a problem," she agreed.

"Thanks," Steve said. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her close for a moment. "You should go get ready," he said. "Do you want me to look after Vulpix and Electrike again?"

"If you wouldn't mind." Julie smiled at him and leaned up, kissing him once quickly. "Thanks, Steve."

Steve blinked and turned just a little pink.

"No problem," he replied.

Julie grinned and went to go round up her pokemon, making sure that Vulpix and Electrike were behaving well enough.

Steve grinned a bit when he was handed the two little ones.

"I'll make sure they're okay while you're gone," he said to her.

"Thanks. Hopefully this will be a quick mission." Julie smiled a bit. At least she knew the two little ones would be safe with Steve.

"Good luck," Steve said. "Let me know where you end up."

"I will. I'll see you in a few days." Julie smiled and headed off to get up to the Helicarrier and see what was going on.

Steve nodded and, after a moment's hesitation and before she could leave, he kissed her cheek. Then he let her go.

Julie grinned at that. Well, he was getting used to the whole dating thing, that was good. She was definitely looking forward to coming back from this mission now.

Maeve kept track of Julie, though more than a little creative hacking on Tony's part to get her into the temporary handler's equipment. So she knew exactly when Julie got back, and what she was was bringing home with her.

Of course, she hadn't exactly been expecting more than a dozen rare, skittish, and under-socialized pokemon. Three or four, yeah, but not fifteen.

Julie got back to her apartment and just had to flop over for a bit, giving the fifteen pokemon she'd brought back with her settle in. A little female Growlithe jumped up next to her to settle in with her while Altaria and Typhlosion watched over all the others, making sure no one broke anything.

Maeve knew when Julie got home, and gave her a few minutes to settle in before calling her.

"Hey, Jules. How'd it go?"

"Exhausting," Julie said with a little groan. "And I hate that handler. I'm never working with him again. I know you know who, Tony was probably tracking the whole thing."

"He was," Maeve admitted. "I'll make a note in your asset file that you prefer not to work with that guy again. "So what happened? And nobody can say I don't have the clearance for the mission details, my clearance is just as high as yours."

"We broke up an illegal breeding ring. They were trying for shinies, had dozens of normal pokemon shoved off to the sides totally unsocialized and untrained." Julie sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "I got fifteen of those to bring home with me to get them used to a person, so I've got a very full apartment for the next week or two."

Maeve was quiet for a moment.

"It took six days to break up because of your incompetent handler, didn't it?" she asked. She grinned a bit. "We could have done it in half the time."

"Yes. Yes it did, and we could have done it much faster." Julie groaned suddenly. "Dammit, I still haven't talked to Steve. I told him I'd be gone longer than I thought originally, but he's probably still stuck with Vulpix and Electrike."

"I've kept him updated on where you were," Maeve soothed. "As soon as Tony patched me through, I started keeping tabs. I told him to give you until tomorrow to settle back in."

"Thanks." Julie sighed. "I'll need to stay here for a while, until these guys know the rules, because I really don't want to come back to a destroyed apartment. That would not be fun."

"No problem," Maeve said. She grinned a bit. "Just make sure to get me your mission report soon."

"I'll work on it when I'm conscious again." Julie yawned. She needed to sleep and then feed everyone and get food for herself, if there was even anything edible in her apartment.