Waiting for the Client...

TK's eyes flashed like fierce emerald lightning even in the dim light of the filthy alleyway, while the icy blue ones of her captor squinted through the same gloom to examine what she had to assume was a watch on his left wrist...for about the dozenth time in the last few minutes. The captive tiger-girl thrashed once against her bonds, hard, kicking out and twisting fitfully against the incredibly heavy coils of rope which encircled her wrists, knees and ankles. "Lmm-uh GNNNGH!" she demanded, voice a ragged, raging growl behind the stifling-thick cloth which had been bound across her mouth, muffling those furious words into something barely audible more then a few feet away. No...this wasn't the first time in which TK had found herself at the questionable mercy of Xavier, the aptly-nicknamed 'Body-Snatcher'...but repeat experience on that count didn't seem to have dulled her loathing for the experience. Or for the fiendish kidnapper himself...

"Oh, TK..." he sighed, voice a smooth, even murmur - not the least bit unsettled by her defiant attitude, nor the faintest bit ashamed or remorseful regarding his own dark deeds. "Calm yourself...really. Make no mistake, I can certainly understand your impatience to get on with things...I share the sentiment, believe me. It appears my client is running late...and I do hope they don't stand me up. They owe me quite a bit of money for this night's work...and given the extremely spirited battle with which you provided me this time, I'm entitled to every penny. Would be terribly...disappointing," and the way he said that word gave it layers of meaning and depths of venom which the captive tiger-girl would hardly have thought possible, "Not to mention unprofessional, for them not to come through on their half of the contract."

"Phmmmngh ufffgh...bmmmftrdh..." TK growled, wrenching hard against her bindings again, glaring hotly up at the smug creep from the corner of her eyes. Her stomach churned in that slow, cold way it always seemed to when she encountered Xavier; TK had met a lot of crazy and loathsome people in her life, but Xavier...was in a class by himself. The oft-imperiled young tiger-heroine didn't think she would have been able to imagine a more cold-hearted, mercenary person in her wildest nightmares. Here she sat bound and gagged, at his hands - on behalf of some mystery-person who'd hired him to willingly do the deed - and he was concerned about business etiquette and his paycheck. Not the fact that he'd kidnapped someone...not that he was selling them to the proverbial highest bidder...not that what he was doing was wrong. But that he might be slighted in some way - that all his "hard work" would have been for naught. TK's tail lashed slowly in disbelief and hatred.

He looked down in response to her futile outburst, shooting her one of those cold, skin-crawling smiles - the silver ring in his bottom lip flashing like a ghostly firefly from the shadows beneath his shaggy black mane. It was almost as if he were reading her mind and amused by the thoughts that he saw flitting through her skull in regards to him. "Don't worry, my dear... Even if my primary client falls through, I have someone else waiting on the line who would be more than happy to acquire you, I'm sure. You are, after all, a very sought-after commodity, my brave little do-gooder... So fear not - tonight won't be a waste for either of us. I'm quite sure of that..."

The rock-solid certainty of his tone, the steely glint in those ghost-blue eyes of ice, was enough to send a fresh chill down TK's spine...quenching the fires of defiant outrage which burned in her heart, even if only a little...


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And here we see TK once more in the clutches of the master-kidnapper Xavier...ready - but NOT willing - to provide him with a big payday once again... Hope you don't mind the impromptu drafting of one of my favorite OC villains into service, Crystal...and hope ya DO enjoy the piece. ^^ Just popped into my head the other day while I was resting, and I had to do it up right away.


As always, Xavier is the property of (and copyrighted to) Crystal124/Vividdreamer2987