"You getting more emails?" Yuri jumped at the sound of Hawks' voice behind her.

"I don't understand. They've been coming every hour since noon," Yuri stuttered, "The map shows the coordinates as an empty field which makes no sense."

"We can discuss it in my office," Hawks held a hand out to her. Yuri stared at the offered appendage before grasping it, allowing him to pull her up. Hawks followed behind her shutting the door softly. Yuri stood rigid as she watched Hawks glide through the office to his desk. He motioned for her to sit as he took a seat behind his desk. His face scrunched in confusion before fiddling around adjusting his chair.

"Were you sitting in my chair?" Hawks raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah," Yuri blushed.

"Why?"

"To use the crisis monitors," Yuri drawled, brows furrowing.

"The crisis monitors?" Hawks questioned.

"Do you? Are you unaware of that feature in your office?" Yuri stammered. 'Unbelievable,' she thought in disbelief.

"Apparently," he said slowly. Yuri nodded humming to herself. She quickly stood and walked behind his desk where she gestured to his computer.

"Fine. Have at it," Hawks quipped. Yuri nodded and input his password, which caused a raised eyebrow, before putting in the code for the crisis monitors. A familiar whoosh and grinding of gears sounded behind her. Yuri pointed. Hawks stared at her in question before spinning around following where her finger was pointing.

"Woah," Hawks breathed, "Was not expecting that."

"Honestly, I feel like it was a pointless place to put this since you would most likely be out in the field and not sitting in your office, but my opinion means nothing. These monitors can take images from satellites, news coverage, security cameras, basically any sort of digital image or digitized anything," Yuri explained, pulling up various feeds, "When I was in college studying Public Relations, the Hero Commission offered specialty classes. One of which was crisis management. It taught all about how to handle the media, civilians, contingency plans, and keeping leadership at an agency while the hero is out fighting. Coordination is everything in that field. I took it for 3 semesters because I found it interesting and I was noticed. I excelled at it which in turn brought me to the attention of the president who then offered me the position here."

"And why couldn't you tell me this in the car?"

"I was offered the position before your debut," Yuri walked back around towards the chair in front of his desk, "You know the Hero Commission. Do you think my training ended there once I took their offer?"

"No," Hawks shook his head, swiveling around to face her.

"I was essentially created for you," Yuri plopped into the chair, "I doubt your sidekicks need to hear all the nitty-gritty details about my training with the Commission. Unless you would like to explain your understanding of it to them?"

"You got me there," Hawks conceded, "It explains your skill set but what about those emails?"

"No clue," Yuri shrugged, "I thought last night was more of a spam kind of an email, but after seeing all the ones from today no idea."

"Could it be the Commission?" Hawks suggested, "It's not often but sometimes they do like their mysterious meetings."

"No, they know to contact me directly," Yuri shook her head, "They have never contacted me in such a way. It is always to the main office or a place nearby."

"Like a private room in a hospital?" Yuri blushed and look away. She brought a hand up to her cheek where the faintest hint of warmth remained from her reprimand.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"Do they often get physical with you?" Hawks sounded so serious and so out of character that Yuri kind of just gaped at him for a moment, "Yuri? Have they hit you before?"

"I think you already know the answer to that," Yuri evaded, looking anywhere but him, "Like I said at the hospital it is between me and them, not you."

"Look, Yuri, I just-"

"Want to help, yes I know," Yuri interrupted, "I have stated before and I will state again, I do not need it nor do I want it. My job here is to make sure you run efficiently, effectively, and to not stand out. I've failed that in some regards."

"Failed? How-?" Hawks shook his head in disbelief, "I don't understand how you got caught up in all this. No quirk, no hero license. Why did they take you?"

"Couldn't tell you, frankly," Yuri shrugged, "Guess I seemed moldable to what they needed me to do."

"Right," Hawks said. Yuri could hear the suspicion dripping from his voice and a quick look at his face showed that it also clouded his normally bright golden eyes.

"Whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you," Yuri stood up, "However, we are stuck together for as long as your agency is open and you are its hero. Like I stated at the hospital if this displeases you, you may take it up with the Commission, but my replacement might not be as lax as I am when it comes to following orders." Yuri walked out of the office before Hawks had a moment to reply. She had successfully said a lot but not said anything at all and it had been a trying day, she doubted he would come after her for any reason.

Over the next few days, Yuri was back into her routine. Waking up, going to work, staying late, then going home. Hawks had yet to seek her out again and the Commission was happy to note he had made successful contact with an informant in his private mission. They were happy which meant Yuri could take a breather somewhat. Hawks was busy with his mission but seemed to always leave a feather nearby her when he left. Even with the distrust from her boss, Yuri couldn't help but sigh in relief as she finished up another report. Her computer dinged as more emails pushed through, but one, in particular, caught her eye and that was the one from Phoenix. Or ones as the emails had more than tripled in number and just kept coming. Yuri was already running any sort of scan on them to see why the duplicate message was coming through but without a real idea of where to start, she was at a loss. She counted her blessings that Hawks hadn't continued to ask about them but now she was starting to panic and he wasn't answering her phone calls.

Aiko had been avoiding her as well. Usually, the other office staff member would come to her to complain about how boring the work is or about their hero never being around but since that day at the hospital neither her nor Mockingbird had spoken to her. Yuri wasn't there to make friends but the company had been so nice that now that it was gone she felt strangely empty. Yuri felt her phone vibrate in her pocket jumping her from her thoughts. Yuri tensed. It was an email notification. On her private email. The same Phoenix email. How did they get her personal email? Suddenly the walk home seemed utterly terrifying.

"You do have a phone!" Aiko's voice rang in her ears. Looking up the other office member was sitting in the chair before Yuri's desk. "What does she want?' Yuri pondered.

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" Yuri asked.

"Well, none of us have your number! So we couldn't decide if we just didn't know you well enough or if you actually didn't have a phone," Aiko groused. Yuri shook her head in disbelief.

"I don't mix business and pleasure."

"So, we can't be friends?" Aiko pouted, "Mockingbird and I even came up with this great plan!"

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" Yuri raised an eyebrow at her. Aiko blushed and looked away.

"We feel bad," Aiko explained, "When we lost sight of you at the hospital and then even when you got back here, Hawks shut you in his office. Then you ran out. We had no way of getting into contact with you to make sure you were okay!"

"I'm fine, Aiko," Yuri smiled softly, "You needn't worry about me. If it makes you feel better I can give you my number but know it's for emergencies. I don't have nearly as much free time as I would like."

"Of course!" Aiko nodded enthusiastically, handing her phone over to Yuri, "I shall not abuse this… much!" Aiko jumped up and practically hopped away with her excitement. Yuri had a feeling that she was about to get a lot busier.

The evening passed into the night and Yuri was getting ready to head back to her apartment. Aiko had run off ahead shouting something about a hot date. Yuri felt unreasonably worried about walking home. A stone of dread settled in the pit of her stomach but she couldn't for the life of her think of why. The sound of rustling feathers drew her attention towards the sky as she caught a glimpse of Hawks soaring off somewhere. 'The guy never stops,' Yuri smiled fondly.

The walk home wasn't bad and most of the street lights lit the sidewalk up leaving fewer shadows in her pathway. The nagging feeling still tugged at her making her tense as she saw her apartment complex come into sight. The closer Yuri got a woman came into view. From the distance, Yuri could make out a woman with long blond hair and petite stature. She looked about Yuri's age. She didn't feel right. Yuri kept her head down and walked forward gaining speed as she went through the front entrance.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" The woman said as Yuri passed.

"Yes, gorgeous out tonight," Yuri agreed, making her way towards the door.

"Do you think we'll see him tonight?" The woman questioned looking up at the sky.

"Him?" Yuri paused, looking back at the woman.

"The winged hero of course!" The woman exclaimed, "He's been perching himself on this rooftop for the last couple of nights."

"Oh, possibly," Yuri replied, "He's been known to frequent rooftops in the area he's patrolling."

"Yes, I suppose that's true," the woman hummed, "Does he usually spend hours upon hours on the same roof though?" 'No, no he doesn't' Yuri thought.

"I wouldn't know," Yuri shrugged, "Have a wonderful night, though." Yuri walked into her apartment complex and started up towards her apartment. She took a hesitant look back only to find the woman was gone. 'How strange,' Yuri pondered, 'And what is he doing spending hours on top of my apartment complex's rooftop? This isn't an area he usually spends a lot of time in.'