With her strange crow eyes, Renni looked at you from all sides, while her son walked around you with a spiteful grin and kept trying to pinch you.

Annoyed, you turned away from him, but the shackles made it hard to escape.

"Why would the Samaritan steal from me?", Renni asked with a strange gleam in her eyes. "I was told you have good connections in the underworld."

You shrugged.

"Not good enough to get the raw stuff.", your eyes jumped over to your bag, which was being looted by her son in that very moment.

"Silco has an exclusive right to the goods.", Finn knelt down to you as if he needed to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "I once thought you were a genius. Why would you be so stupid as to steal from Silco's partners? That would be virtually stealing from Silco himself."

The expression on your face hardened.

"My business is none of yours."

"It most certainly is when you steal from me!", suddenly, Renni grabbed your chin and jerked it up to force you to look her in the eyes.

The chemical stench that stuck to her made the air taste poisonous and thick.

With your teeth clenched together, you tried to free yourself. But her grip was so harsh that the pointed tips of her fingers dug deep into your skin, making thin trails of blood run over your cheeks.

"Let me go and we won't have issues no more.", you hissed, thinking wether or not it would be smart to mention Silco's name.

On one hand it held power in the undercity, maybe even the most. But on the other hand it would have damaged his business relationship with the other drugs lords.

To top it all off, if they caught wind of his worsening medical condition they might would tried to overthrow him.

Finn chuckled, his arms crossed in front of his heavily tattooed chest.

"Hate to disappoint you, but you're not in the position to make demands.", he looked down on you as if he was looking at a rat lurking in the shadows of the lanes. "But you might be useful."

He exchanged a gaze with Renni.

Raising an eyebrow, she eyed you from top to bottom before meeting Finn's gaze again.

"We need a scientist, not a half-decent doc.", she murmured.

He shrugged.

"Singed won't ever help us out. The rumours say the Samaritan is a genius. A bit of chemistry shouldn't be too big of a task. I'd be worth a shot."

"And if it fails?"

"Worst case scenario, Silco will get a shipment of low quality shimmer. Or we fall behind with the deadline, but that's nothing that would cost our heads."

The grim expression on her face changed, a sparkle appeared inside her eyes. Suddenly, a smile appeared on her pale, wrinkly face.

"Oh, Finn.", she purred and patted his head as if he was a child and not a full grown man. "Sometimes you prove yourself useful. I appreciate a good partner in crime."

She winked at him and turned away, only to miss the disgusted expression of horror on his face. Quickly, he wiped the feeling of her touch off his hair and turned back to you and reached out to yank your body off the floor and up into the air.

A sharp pain in your shoulder made you hiss.

Playing surprised, Finn gifted you a grin.

"My apologies.", he cut the ties with a knife, but left enough extra rope to pull you along. "I'd say today isn't your day, huh? Got caught and made a slave. How unfortunate."

Showing him your teeth, you hissed.

"I wasn't made shit.", your eyes jumped over his shoulder to the biggest boiler. "What is this supposed to be? Aren't you partners with Silco? Why would you change his product that made you so powerful and important?"

Amused, Finn chuckled. As he turned to you there was this expression on his face, so full of himself, so sure of the victory that he was planning inside his head.

"You're not making it out of here anyways, not alive at least, so why not tell you? Silco isn't the man he was once. He used to be cruel, hungry for power. But now he's just an old man with a child clinging to his ass. He talks about a nation of Zaun. If that happens, what will become of us? Proper citizens? No, we make money with drugs. Our power lies in fear."

Frowning, you though for a moment.

"You want to overthrow him?"

His lips moved, but before he could make a stupid mistake, Renni's voice called him back.

"Shut up, Finn!", she hissed and quickly glanced over to you. "This is our business. If you ruin it by blabbering around, I'll stab you in the back and side with Silco!"

Finn pulled a face, visibly annoyed.

"You old hag! Nobody will ever know. Our good Samaritan here will not see the light of day ever again, so why not make the best out of it by telling a few funny stories?"

She frowned.

"It depends if the rumours are true or not."

"And if they turn out to be a lie, we will just deal with the problem like we always do."

"Ah, my dear Finn, I hope you will do the dirty work this time. I am not in the mood for blood on my hands."

"And I'm not in the mood for dying.", you added with a bitter taste on your tongue.

Laughing, Finn pushed you harshly up some metal stairs until you found yourself on a platform, right above the boiling shimmer.

The steaming hot swaths stroked over your (S/C) skin, making it feel like it was about to peel off like wax from a melting candle. Your lips dried out while the stench of chemicals made your nose bleed.

"See this?", Finn asked, leaning over your shoulder and grabbing them tight. "We want you to make this the worst poison on this planet. But the effects of the shimmer have to remain. If you can do it, we might let you live."

You pulled a face.

"How charming of you...", you growled.