His feet dragging behind him, he longed to be able to have the strength to walk on his own. Or at the very least the strength to launch back and connect one of his feet against Cordelia's throat. He never enjoyed violence, but that smug woman's face at his torture for what had been months spread through his mind like a ever growing web of disgust and hatred.
No longer giving him any verbal attention, his captors drug him past numerous hallways and closed doors. At one point he thought he heard screams coming from a room to his right, though with his state of mind, he was unsure if his mind was playing tricks on him.
Glancing down, the metal changed as they started walking at a slight incline. A hum started to increase in sound and feel, and Finn knew he was about to board the Insidious. Rounding more corners and hallways, this time more cramped than usual, he was brought before a single door.
As Cordelia walked past to enter a code into the keypad, Finn noticed her position was that of confidence and certainty, carefree at the limp body next to her. Taking a deep but quiet breathe, Finn mustered all his strength and threw his legs out from behind him, leaning on the arms of the men holding him. As he slipped from their grasp, his feet made contact with Cordelia's right side, knocking her down. The momentum of his launch also brought Finn down on top of her, and before he was dragged up a moment later, he stared into her eyes not inches from his own and whispered.
"You won't win."
Spitting blood on her face and on her white suit, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head before losing consciousness.
It was with a small degree of shame that she had to admit that she had been careless in that last moment. Then again, the corridor had hardly been wide enough for her to move towards the panel without at least coming into his range. She should be terrified while this man, who was a good chunk taller and heavier than herself lay atop her, but she could only marvel at how strident of a reaction it was to be this battered and beaten and still lunge like that. It made a shiver run down her spine. The next part was less enhilarating, however. The ichor was running down her cheek already as one of the men who had held Finn moved to poke him with something akin to a cattle prod, only for humans, and strong enough to knock one out. Lyell's hair stood on end as the device made contact with the body atop her and he went limb. A moment later, he was removed from her. The entire procedure had taken less than twenty seconds. "I am quite certain you let him loose on purpose," Lyell noted dryly while demanding that the man extend a hand towards her on which she could pull herself upwards. It was in this moment that she noticed that her hand was broken, but it was too late to retract it now, as the man's own, bigger hand closed around hers and inevitably squeezed it and pulled. She couldn't allow herself to show weakness, yet she couldn't help but inhale sharply either as she assumed a vertical position again and fished through a pocket to retrieve a tissue with which to clean herself. "Please, do proceed with this. Afterwards, inform the Guildmaster that the Insidiosus will be leaving on a small excourse." Of course the man didn't speak. It wasn't their purpose to speak. Hauling the body of Finn McCool back into the ship, she remained where she was standing and looked at her hand. Shaking her head, she dropped the tissue where she had stood and followed them inside, though before the door could close behind her, she turned around again, back into Durban.
It would still take another half hour at least before the Insidiosus could leave, and it was enough time to get her hand fixed up in the H+ Clinic. It would also give her enough time to prepare the rest that was necessary to ultimately benothing her opponent of the Confederation. Entering a lift, she sighed contently while the doors slid close behind her.
![[Image: maYSx8o.png]](https://i.imgur.com/maYSx8o.png)