Russell doesn't quite jump, but he jolts at the suddenly appeared voice. Really, if this is how unaware he is, perhaps he's not going to simply sneak his way into the grates.

"...I have so many worried questions for you. And what you've been doing this last year."

It's been a while, and she is - he thinks - a little taller than she used to be. But he sincerely hopes that she hasn't been getting into too much criminal activity in the interim. And that the source of her echoes hasn't been, either.

"Is your way of getting in, uh," he shifts his weight a little, the cutting wheel in his backpack weighing heavily on his shoulders. "...Quieter than a power tool?"