It was important to instill a sense of inevitability in an abductee, Madeleine theorized. No matter what they tried, or what little they accomplished, it must be shown that it would all be fruitless. That’s why denying her air was such an effective means of gagging her; Madame Naumov could fight it, but she had to breathe sometime, and sure enough, her eyes grew wide, her skin flushed soon. A few seconds after she began to toss her head, Madeleine nodded to Sergei, who released his hand, but she kept her nose pinched.<br/><br/>Madame Naumov gasped desperately, and at that same moment, Madeleine stuffed the sponge ball in her mouth. It was much larger than the cavity of her mouth, but her strong, slender fingers worked it in deep. The sponge compressed, but expanded, pressing down on her tongue and filling the back of her throat. Once it was settled behind her teeth to her satisfaction, Madeleine held it there with her palm, a small tuft of it sticking out from between her lips, and started the edge of bandages with her fingernails.<br/><br/>She wrapped it around her head quickly twice, the hasty spin to keep her from forcing the sponge out any further, but she wrapped the third more carefully, so that the bandage lay flush against her mouth and cheeks. The same went with the fourth, and fifth, and sixth…finally, on the seventh wrap, the roll ran out, and Madeleine carefully pressed the end of the bandage against her cheek until it stuck, then pressed her palms firmly on all sides of Madame Naumov’s face to ensure it stuck tightly.<br/><br/>Madeleine smiled coolly at the defeated expression in her eyes, the gag encompassing from the bottom of her nose down to her chin. But her browed furrowed when Naumov’s eyes looked past her, and she let out a muffled cry from behind the gag. She snapped her head to follow her direction, blonde hair spinning in a small arc just in time to see a flash of movement at the door, which had cracked open.<br/><br/>Sergei swore and jumped at the door, and per his order, she grabbed Naumov by her bound arms holding her tightly against her body.