Kevin kept his smile despite her tone being cold. 'Who's the one putting on the show now?' he asked in his mind, but wasn't about to tease her anymore than necessary. She was angered enough already, and he hadn't even meant for it- though that did make it a bit more entertaining to witness. "Why thank you, though I have to ask what you mean by 'performance'." he said. "I wouldn't call myself a professional either, but I certainly have done this enough times to know what I am doing. As for your cane, I was specifically told to keep it from you. I could have come up with that enough on my own though. The more immobilized the less trouble you are. You see, I really would rather not see you hurt, whether you believe it or not. Were you to become a problem, I would have to do just that, so if it can be avoided, I will do what I need to." he explained, watching her. The smile was gone now, but he hadn't changed his mood any.

What sort of performance did he -think- she was talking about? She sipped at the tea and sighed softly. She'd let it go partially cold, but that couldn't be helped now. "Well, simply put, I actually thought you were a respectable member of society. You must put a lot of research into your work to have come up with a plan that would put me so beside myself with worry with so little effort on your own part."

She sighed at the refusal of her cane, though, shaking her head quietly. This wouldn't do at all. "Then perhaps only one cup of tea for me. I can't do -anything- without it. But there's no truth to the rumours that it hides some mechanism of some sort. It's just a sturdy stick to hold me up. Is it really so much trouble?"

At this point, however, she seemed quite resigned to her fate. She doubted there would be reasoning with him any more than there would with a hurricane. And it hurt quite a bit to find her life so suddenly and drastically out of her own control.

"Why would it even matter to you whether I'm hurt or not? No doubt I'll be treated how your employers please regardless."

Kevin was still unsure what she was talking about, but any sentence containing him and 'respectable member of society' in the same sentence was bound to be sarcastic and an attack on him. Perhaps school would have been a better idea. Too bad money was in the way. Though not for Miss Buckley, he could assume.

Rather than letting it get to him or wondering about it any longer, he moved onto something he did know about. "I dunno whether you realize this or not, Miss Buckley, but not everyone cares about you and whatever rumors are being spread. I had no clue who you were till I got this assignment." he informed her, his voice still casual. "And as I've said, what my employers have in store for you, I don't know, but I'm not exactly the type to hurt someone that I don't have to hurt, savvy?"

She snorted derisively when he said he didn't care about rumours. Surely -everyone- was familiar with the tabloids, if not for actively following them then certainly because it was hard to -avoid- them. "And keeping me captive is not harming me? Denying me my basic human -dignity- is not harming me?"

She shook her head, not believing his words about not hurting people in the slightest. "You can claim ignorance to their plans all you like, but you seem to -know- what is coming next. No matter how much you try to stifle your conscience and ignore your better judgement. Why deny it? Does it serve some purpose aside from assuaging your own damaged morality?"

She sighed, setting her teacup down so she could fish through her pockets for her handkerchief. "Father's going to be beside himself with worry... He may -well- have a heart attack when he finds out what's happened..." She dabbed at her eyes, trying to pretend she was just fidgeting, trying to pretend she wasn't in fact actually crying.

Kevin laughed as well, "I am not beating the life out of you, and if I were you, I'd be thankful for that and less worried about being kept in a nice place with your own room and tea being served to you." he pointed out, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. She really thought she was something special this one. At least the hookers he did this to knew their place. Buckley wasn't a hooker, but she wasn't as high and might as she thought she was. He was becoming quite irked with her, and was slowly entertaining the notion of knocking her unconscious again so he wouldn't have to deal with her any longer.

"You're right, I can claim what I want, so why don't you keep your opinions to yourself, since you don't care what I tell you anyway? As for what's coming next, I do know: You'll be handed over to one of the higher ups, someone from the group I assume, and what they do from there is up to them. I only know what I know, and that's only what I have to do. As for my morality, that too is none of your concern. How I feel about myself and what I've done at the end of the day does not phase you in the least." he said pointedly.

She sighed, folding her arms and looking away from him. It seemed she needed to simply wait this out. Maybe she'd have more luck reasoning with this 'higher up', but at the moment it seemed like she had a penny dreadful foil of a thick-headed goon to watch her. There was precious little she could do with him, precious little she could do -about- him, and she tried to block out the feeling of helplessness growing in the back of her mind.

At least she still had her senses about her, she still had her wits, and if she just waited for an opportunity, perhaps exactly what she needed would come about and present itself.

{OOC - Written into a bit of a hole here. ^^; Can you timeskip us along a bit? She's just going to sulk for a while.}

((There's nothing to time skip to. They haven't even gotten to the contact yet))

Kevin rolled his eyes, standing and pushing the chair away from him and back towards the corner. 'What a little twit.' he thought, No sense of what the world's really like. Just because she's cripple and has money, she thinks she's so frickin special', he added taking the tray with one hand and bringing it out of the room, locking the door behind him. For whatever good that would do. Kevin hypothesized that the likelihood of her being able to move was nil, and if she found the capability, she couldn't make it to the door anyway. Unless she crawled, but that would be noisy and Kevin could just go in and knock her unconscious anyway. Preferably by force rather than drugs.

He left the tray next to the sink, including his own untouched cup- even that wouldn't calm his aggravated nerves. Walking back into the sitting room, a knock came at the door. Kevin took his time going to answer it, seeing as they had left him with her long enough anyway, so it was their turn to be annoyed. When he opened the door, he realized that was a mistake. There was no one there, by they'd left a note on a box in front of the door. Picking it up and opening the note, he knew who had left it, but what it said was more shocking:

Kevin,
There's been a problem with the boss and
he decided to postpone the operation.
Can't afford to send anyone to replace you. She's
your responsibility until this is picked back up. Who knows
when that'll be.

Sorry, man.

- Nick

Furiously, Kevin slammed the door and let out an aggravated sigh through his nostrils. How could they do that to him?! Leaving him alone with her! It was ludicrous! Tearing the package open viciously, he saw he had received his payment in full, plus the same amount once more over. At least that double his salary. But who knew how long he'd be stuck taking care of her- half of what he had received would possibly be spent on taking care of her.

Kevin trudged back to the room, after stuffing the wads of money in his pockets for the time being. Opening the door he put an obviously false smile on, "This is your lucky day, your highness! You're stuck with me because the higher up isn't coming for you after all!" he said, not wanting to explain that they were but he just didn't know when. There was a great possibility they wouldn't come at all.

She was content to sulk about her miserable fortune, having nothing further to say to the man that had kidnapped her. She heard him moving around, and she certainly hadn't missed the sound of the key in the lock. But when he finally came back, she sat up quickly. This was exactly what she was waiting for.

"Ah, what a shame. Then give me my cane, and I'll be on my way." It was the logical ending to it all, now wasn't it? If those that had asked for her weren't coming for her, then there would be no harm in letting her go. Though it was realistically only a brave front she was putting up. She had a very strong sinking feeling that this would -not- be the end of it.

Laughing he shook his head, "As much as I too wish it were that simple, it is not. You and I are going to be spending a lot of quality time together from here until they decide what to do with you. So, if you keep asking for that wretched thing, I'll burn it straight off, savvy?" he said, more as a warning, though unsure if he could actually do that. Kevin wanted very much to let her go. He didn't want to know what the bosses would decide to do with her, and he truly wanted to see her walk, or hobble, away unharmed.

She narrowed her eyes, not liking his innuendo at all. 'Quality time', was it? But he'd be in for a -very- nasty surprise if he thought he was getting anything. She took a deep breath, wishing that just glowering at the man would force him to bend to her will. "Very well. And just what do you think you're going to get out of -this- little stunt?" She didn't think it would be very much at all, and hopefully if she could just stand her ground for a little while, she'd be released.

Kevin laughed, playing it casual, "I've gotten my pay, so I have what I want. They paid in advance, plus a little extra for me to keep an eye on you. That doesn't mean you won't be just fine dead, but we'll see how it plays out, shall we?" he asked with a small smile, looking around the room. It seemed she had been thinking something else entirely from Kevin. He still couldn't figure out where her narcissism came from, however.

So that was that, was it now? She was a commodity that he had, and he'd wait for the highest bidder to come and claim her? Maybe that would be the key, then. She'd try and make him the better offer, surely it would be the best way to go about it. "So you've got me...and you don't have a client any more, is that it? Make a client of my father...send off a ransom demand, I'm sure he'll pay promptly, and we can be done with each other."

Without tools and supplies, she could hardly make a clockwork, and she wasn't really sure what good one would do. She could make a flying carrier, to tell her father of her location, but....even that wasn't guaranteed to work. Not to mention she doubted her captor would leave her alone long enough to make one of those. There just wasn't much two ways about it, she was at his mercy for the moment. Not that she was going to lay down and wait for him to ravish her like some penny dreadful heroine.

"Or did you want me to make you a few clockworks? Am I to be your slave now that you have me? You can't really mean to keep me forever."