The fact that he was a civilian was, in fact, a little bit worse than the fact that he was blind, as far as Maria was concerned; blind, well, he couldn't help that, but seemed to get around well enough, if what she was seeing of him in the corner of her eye was any indication. Civilians just had a tendency to get in the way and put themselves in danger by doing the exact wrong thing for the situation, and so should be swaddled in bubble-wrap and tucked well away while the real soldiers did all the work.
"That you know of," Maria had to point out. "They could have come in while you weren't here and be hiding very well." And that meant the only way to flush them out was to look, or just dangle the civilian as bait and and wait for them to show themselves.
Or it could very well be that they were the only ones here, and she was just being jumpy because it had been a long week - the notion that he was the one she should be concerned about as opposed to for just made her snort, almost smiling as she shook her head. But he wouldn't be able to see that: "Not even in the running," she said.
She stared down the steps, still frowning a little, and very reluctant to back away...particularly when he mentioned the other interesting thing down there. "Not especially, but then, I haven't hit anything today. It sounds very appealing." She took a step down, judging reaction as well as what was in front of her.