Leon stared in shock at the girl. If he had had to guess who, out of anyone in the world, was being held at gunpoint by the asshole from Umbrella, she would've been the very last person he would have picked. Dressed in dark clothes and looking remarkably less scared than she should be in this situation, the girl stared back at him.

From the ground, the prone man said, "Aw, this is real sweet, you two knowing each other. Maybe I should just get goin' and leave you to reunite."

Shaking his head a little, Leon forced himself to focus. "Quiet, scum. I don't want to hear anything from you unless I ask you a direct question." Looking back at the girl, but keeping his gun aimed at the man, Leon asked, "Who are you and why are you here?"

The girl didn't seem to appreciate his brusque tone, but she answered. "My name's Buffy Summers and I was just, uh, looking around when I, um, found… this door." Her voice had trailed off. Yeah, girlie, not exactly the most believable explanation you could come up with. He needed to know why she was here.

"Really? Looking around in the sewer? You really do turn up in the most unusual places, Miss Summers. Cemeteries, sewers… very odd. Now, I want you to tell me the truth: why are you here?"

The girl, Buffy, looked him up and down, sizing him up much in the same way that his instructors in the Academy had taught him to size up an opponent before hand-to-hand combat.

As if coming to a decision, she said, "I don't know who you are, why you claimed to be a reporter, or why you're down here in a stanky sewer, but, I think we both want to get into this room. Am I right about that?"

Leon narrowed his eyes in speculation. It seemed as if she knew something about the secret basement that lay beyond the door. The man from Umbrella had obviously considered her to be some kind of threat since he had attempted to kill her. He'd have to see where this was going.

"Yes, it appears we both do."

She nodded. "We need a code to get in. Do you have the code?"

"No, I don't," Leon said. There was a pause. Both he and the girl looked down at the man on the floor. "But I bet someone here does."

The girl coolly met his eyes and nodded again. The next moment, she was kneeling on the back of the man's neck with one knee. Hmm, that might work… if he was still able to talk afterward.

"Gary!" she rapped out sharply. She knew the man's name. How? "Let me tell you something about me. When my life is threatened with a gun, I tend to get angry. I hope, for your sake, that when your life is threatened, you feel the urge to talk and get your feelings out. Like, say, your feelings about a certain passcode to a secret door."

She had a way with her, Leon admitted to himself. It still remained to be seen whether she could be trusted.

The man, Gary, made some gagging noises that seemed to translate to, "Get off my neck." Buffy let up on his neck, and jerked his head backwards. "Do you have something you need to get off your chest, Gary?"

Gary, unwisely, croaked, "Get… off… back… bitch!"

Buffy seemed to take this as a sign that Gary needed his right shoulder to be nearly dislocated. He let out an unmanly shriek.

"1…9…7…3…," were the word-like noises coming from Gary's throat.

She let go of Gary and hopped to her feet. "Thanks for sharing, Gary."

Leon looked at her. "Good work." Reaching into his utility belt, he pulled out a pair of handcuffs, closed one end around Gary's wrist, and after hauling the struggling man up, he latched the other cuff around a pipe that ran down the side of the sewer wall. "'Fraid you can't come with us, Gary, but why don't you stay here and keep watch?"

"Fuck you."

"Okay, then just stay here and contemplate what your fate will be when the higher-ups at Umbrella find out about your royal screw-up. That should be fun."

Gary didn't appear to agree, as he looked away with an angry scowl.

Leon looked back at Buffy, who was waiting by the door. He came closer, then said, "Thanks for your help, Miss Summers. Now, I don't think it's the best idea for you to go in there unarmed so I'm going to have to insist that you stay—"

Leon hadn't even finished his sentence when Buffy made a quick, and fairly painful, move on him, and before he knew it, he was staring into the barrel of his Desert Eagle, which had been in a holster at his side.

Her gaze was steely as she made a point at aiming at him, then lowering the gun. "I can handle myself. And I don't need one of these." She handed the gun back to him, handle first. "I'm going in there."

Leon was, to be honest, shaken. She had moved so fast. And she was strong! Stronger than most men he knew. Who was this girl? She wasn't yet an ally, but he sure as hell didn't want her as an enemy. If it turned out she could be trusted, she'd be an invaluable asset in the fight against Umbrella. One thing's for sure, he needed to find out what she wanted and whom she was working for. But, until then…

…looks like he had new partner.