Leon and Buffy separated, so they could cover the main room more quickly. Leon headed over to the experiment area in the center of the room. In his experience, Umbrella employees had a tendency to leave incriminating pieces of evidence out in the open, usually in the form of memos and personal correspondence. He hoped to find something to indicate what Umbrella was doing in Sunnydale.

Rifling through the papers that were in a stack on one of the lab counters proved fruitless. He opened drawers and cabinets, found nothing but the usual laboratory equipment. Shit. Maybe Umbrella was learning to cover up their paper trail better.

He walked over to where Buffy was, by a desk on the opposite wall from where they had entered the lab. She was looking through the papers.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing of the ah-ha variety. Standard office stuff. Here are some formulas and diagrams of really, really complicated looking chemical structures."

Leon took a look at them, but couldn't make heads or tails of 'em. Science wasn't really his strong suit. It didn't appear to be Buffy's either, since she was tossing the papers aside with a slight look of revulsion.

He went to the computer that was on the desk. He moved the mouse to bring the computer out of sleep mode. When the monitor came on, the screen showed the Umbrella icon with a field for username and password.

"Damn. The computer is password protected. That's not gonna help us."

Buffy said, "Maybe this will help."

She handed him a slip of paper that had been shoved under the computer's tower. It read:

LHENDRICKS

7895F

Ah. Leon knew he could trust someone at Umbrella to leave vital clues lying around. He tapped in the username and password. The umbrella icon spun and then disappeared. On the screen appeared a window with a list of files. Hmm… looks like L. Hendricks' personal files, Leon thought. He opened the file that had the most recent date.

7.24.02

Oh God, he's done it again. He's crazy! There's no need to resort to these measures. The research is important, yes, but we're scientists, not criminals. This latest one was someone just getting off of work, totally unsuspecting of what awaited him. Poor bastard. Now he's just one more of W.'s pets. I know W. has been using some of us too. He told us that Anna and Jason were let go, but we know the

The entry ended there. Looks like Hendricks had been interrupted.

Buffy said, frowning, "The plot sickens. Looks like this W guy is kidnapping people and using them as unwilling test subjects. God."

Leon was not surprised. "Umbrella isn't a company that lets a little thing like ethics get in the way of its goals." He was trying to access other files on the computer, but L. Hendricks didn't appear to have clearance for anything important. Every file he tried to open prompted him for another password.

Buffy looked around the room, then said, "Let's see if any of these rooms are open."

They went over to the door closest to them. Tried the knob. Locked. Same with the second door… and the third… but when Buffy turned the knob on the fourth door, it turned. They walked into the darkened room. Leon flipped on the light.

"Another lab. Yippee," Buffy enthused sarcastically.

This room was different from the lab in the main room as there was a metal operating table in the center. On one side of the table was a tray with various surgical implements, looking shiny and sharp on a fresh blue chuck. On the opposite side of the room from where they were standing was a small corridor, with metal walls and a metal grid floor. There was a doorway with a metal sliding door.

The room was completely still. Silent, in an unsettling, hushed-breath way, as if the room was waiting for something to happen.

Buffy looked over at the sink. "If ever there was a room for a leaky faucet…"

Leon quirked the corner of his mouth. Yeah. Umbrella had a way with ambiance.

He walked over to the other door, with Buffy following him. Their footsteps clanged on the grid floor. Leon pressed the unmarked button that was on the wall beside the door. The door slid open with a quiet whoosh.

It was pitch black in the room, as the light from the room they were in did not quite penetrate the darkness.

Buffy and Leon stepped forward into the room.

The metal door slid shut behind them.

Snick.

That wasn't a promising noise, Leon thought.

He groped the wall, looking for a button to open the door. He felt something and pressed it, but the door didn't open.

"Can you see anything at all?" Buffy asked.

"Not a thing. How about—"

Leon heard a swift movement and then a fleshy thunk sound. Buffy! He heard her drop to the floor. He held up his shotgun, straining his eyes to catch a glimpse of whatever was in the room with them. He crouched, so that his head wouldn't be in striking distance.

Someone knows we're here, he thought.

He heard a faint whirring noise and then… he heard nothing more.

Leon collapsed on the floor.

Someone, something, laughed. Buffy and Leon's prone bodies were picked up.

"Excellent… more volunteers…" came a voice from the darkness.