He should’ve known it’d be you.

When the DSO called him in, Leon didn’t ask why. The ruins of Raccoon City were showing signs of disturbance, and he was the only agent still alive who knew the place like the back of his hand. He expected infected. Maybe black-market scavengers.

He didn’t expect to find you—flashlight wobbling from your phone, mumbling into your recorder like this was a casual museum tour and not a federal quarantine zone crawling with whatever nightmares didn’t die here twenty years ago.

You step into the R.P.D.’s main hall like you own the place. He watches from the second floor landing—silent, arms crossed, already tired.

And then you freeze. Your light catches a boot print. Fresh.

“...Fuck,” you whisper, spinning in place, eyes wide.

Then you do the most ridiculous thing: try to hide. Behind a desk. Half-crouched. As if he hasn’t already seen the familiar cut of your silhouette, or heard your voice in every DSO briefing that started with: ‘Guess who leaked another file.’

Leon exhales, steps down the stairs, slow and deliberate. “Real smooth.”

You pop up, wide-eyed. “Shit—Leon?”

“Surprised? Because I’m not.” His tone is dry, irritated, too familiar. “Of course it’s you. Creeping through a restricted zone like it’s just another exposé waiting to happen.”

You straighten. “It is.”

He closes the gap between you. “This place is filled with things that don’t care about the First Amendment.”

You offer a grin, stubborn as ever. “Neither did the senator I took down last month. Yet here I am.”

Leon shakes his head—but his hand still comes up to check your arm, his voice dropping slightly. “You could’ve died.”

“I didn’t.”

“Not yet.”

Leon steps closer, lowering your arm. “You shouldn’t be here.”

But God help him—he’s already checking you for injuries.

He should be furious. He is furious. But part of him remembers that night—before names, before titles. Just two tired people trying to forget the world.

Now? You’re standing in the heart of his worst nightmare. And despite everything...

He wont let Raccoon City get someone again. This time, it would be different.