(Untitled)

[victimofnoone]

Who: Perry Dawsey, Hayley Stark, Jonathan Crane [CLOSED]
When: Starting late last night and extending until Sunday afternoon.
Where: Deck, then CES
What: Hayley is nanomited to hate Crane and has an arsenal at her disposal, as well as a warden item. Perry owes Hayley a favor, but would probably chip in for free. aka: KIDNAPPING.
Warnings: Potential

Comments

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

When Crane woke up he experienced the strange vertigo of being half upright. And the fact that his jaw ached. He gritted his teeth, trying to sit up properly. Which was somewhat difficult, considering that he appeared to be on a beach. Tied to a tree, on a beach. Crane spent a moment looking at the waves. He would have thought that he'd been thrown into some sort of port, if not for the fact that he'd clearly been hit in the face. Hard.

Crane turned, looking down the beach. He could see a figure in the distance which he recognized more or less instantly as Hayley. This was not good. Not good at all. Crane started to struggle against the ropes, testing the knots. They had some give, appearing to be some kind of rope and cord mix. It wasn't particularly painful, but it also wasn't something that he was going to be getting out of any time soon.

Worse, his journal wasn't in his pocket. Hayley had been smart. Too smart. This was obviously fairly well planned. The warden item, the ropes, the lack of a journal. Eames would have to make an appearance soon, Crane assumed. His warden item would hopefully show the fact that Crane had been injured, unless Hayley had gotten her hands on that too. It was probably just a matter of waiting it out until Eames arrived. If Eames arrived. It would probably be better to just convince Hayley to let him go. It couldn't be that hard.

"Hayley!" Crane called, watching to see if she responded.

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley perked up immediately at the sound of his voice. She had been down the beach a bit, looking for shells and idly wasting time as she waited for him to awaken. After all, there was no use sitting and waiting as if he was deeply important to her. She wanted him to realize how much she hated him, how little she cared about how he was doing or whatever else.

The girl walked over quickly, without looking too anxious, tossing her shells aside in the sand far out of Crane's reach before coming to stand in front of him. The girl had discarded her jacket off to the side of them, beside another tree, and her bag sat beside her jacket. The expression she wore was one simultaneously of joy and disgust. "Did you.. did you call me?"

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

Crane was slightly disturbed by the fact that Hayley had been collecting shells on the beach. It showed a complete lack of care and even an acknowledgment of how serious the situation was. He was tied to a tree in a potentially dangerous environment.

"Yes, obviously." Crane snapped, still testing the ropes. "This isn't funny, Hayley. What happened on the barge?"

He vaugely remembered something behind him, maybe. He didn't turn around fast enough to see what it was, but Crane was willing to bet that it wasn't someone or something pleasant.

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley stood not far from him, towering above him despite her small size, amused that he was still trying to speak logically and be patient, as if there was any escape or rescue for him. "Maybe it was an inmate? Or maybe, maybe it was Eames. It's hard to tell, you know. I think the excitement impaired my attention."

She crouched down not far from him, to the side to avoid any potential retaliation from his legs. A dismissive little smirk and a glance at the ropes later, she was smiling at him again. "Relax. You're still on the Barge. We're just going to have some fun, you know? Okay, well, I'll be having you. You might not be, but this is a really big day for me, you know? I'd appreciate if you could understand that, but, let's be honest, it doesn't really matter if you do."

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

The fact that Crane had to look up at Hayley was an unfortunate reminder of what was a very different power dynamic than Crane was used to. He frowned slightly at the mention of Eames, but didn't contradict Hayley. She was might have been lying. If she wasn't, the chances of a rescue were dramatically lowered. Nygma or Claire had no way of knowing that something was wrong in the intimidate future.

Crane glared at Hayley when she crouched down, painfully aware that she'd chosen a spot just out of reach. The fact that she was being so patronizing wasn't helping his mood in the slightest. Not to mention that his face ached.

"What are you talking about Hayley?" Crane said, not bothering to sound understanding in the slightest. "I don't care how important this is for you. I don't care if it's supposedly fun."

He paused, pressing himself back against the tree. It created barely any slack in the ropes. If Hayley had tied him up, she knew what she was doing. Which was perturbing, to say the least.

"This is your last chance, Hayley." Crane continued, making sure to maintain eye contact as best he could. "This is the point where you untie me and we go back to the barge. Then we pretend this never happened."

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley ran the nail of her thumb along her eyebrow, appearing a mixture of surprise and pensive consideration for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was the perfect amount of sincerity to be considered sarcasm, without question. "Wow, that's like.. a really good offer. I don't know why I haven't considered it before."

She paused. "Maybe because I don't really see anything in it for me, you know? I think that's important in any kind of negotiation."

The girl stood, moving over to her bag, conveniently situated at a tree mostly, if not entirely, outside of even Crane's peripheral vision. She crouched down to fetch out one of the plastic cups, pouring half a bottle of water into it, then stood again. Returning to Crane, she crouched directly beside him, still reasonably out of the way of his legs.

"You should drink some water. You're going to be here for awhile."

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

"You could end up not spending the next week in zero. That benefits you." Crane's mind was racing as Hayley went over to her bag. She couldn't seriously be considering killing him, could she? As much as she'd talked about the killing himself business before she'd always wanted Crane to take action himself. It was insane, of course. But it was the type of carefully measured insanity that you could live by. It had its own rules. And it looked like Crane could have seriously misjudged Hayley's.

When Hayley returned with the cup, Crane gave it a dark look. He looked from the water bottle back to the cup. Hayley must think that he was stupid. As if he'd drink anything that she gave him at the moment, despite the heat. It was obviously drugged.

"I'd rather not." Crane turned his head slightly, body language matching his words. "And I'm not going to be here for much longer, Hayley. Because you're going to untie me. And then we're going to leave. We're supposed to be friends."

It was a bit early to be playing the friends card, but Crane didn't see the harm in it.

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley shrugged with a small pout of her lip and a tilt of her head. Chipper in her response to his words. The idea of spending time in Zero wasn't great, but she didn't see how it could be so terrible having never really spent time down there before. The only thing she worried about was boredom, but if she had a book or her journal, then she wouldn't really need anything else. Enough people liked her to visit her anyway. "I'm not too worried about that. I mean, we might have a few hours, yeah, but really, we could have a few days. I waited until today specifically, because Capa's in a coma and Eames is distracted with the wardens, so I'm really not worried about him finding you."

"It's clean," she replied about the water. Hayley capped the bottle and tossed it back near her bag, holding the cup up by his mouth. Her other hand lifted with two fingers straightened. "Scout's honor."

And while she waited, expecting him to refuse again, she replied to the last bit with a smile. "I'm not untying you, Jonathan, and we're not leaving anytime soon. It's.. okay, well, I know you think we're friends, right? But we're really not and I'd really like to talk to you for awhile and find out exactly what it is that you've been lying to me about. So I figure we stay here for a few days and then, when you get hungry and thirsty and tired, you'll be more willing to talk. I don't really expect you to believe me right now."

She glanced away and then back again. "Oh. Do you.. did you want me to leave you alone for awhile? I can go look around again if you want some alone time. Or I can stay with you."

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

Crane would have liked to call Hayley a liar, but her story was very likely as far as he knew. Capa was still comatose and there had been a lot of unrest among the wardens. It wouldn't have surprised Crane one bit if Eames was busy with that, especially considering how flippant he'd been when they last spoke. The prospect of a few hours was grueling enough. But days out here? Crane would almost rather take his chance with just doing what Hayley wanted and drinking the mysterious water. Almost.

"You're right. I don't believe you." Crane said, tilting his head away from it. Hayley wouldn't really keep him out here for days. She was obviously bluffing. The ropes, the remote location, even how he'd been attacked. It was all a ploy to intimidate him. Hayley might only have a few hours, so she was using whatever psychological techniques she could think of to make those hours worthwhile. That had to be it.

"So, what? Did you put something from the infirmary in that?" Crane said, glaring at Hayley. "Or did you just get something from another inmate? Something suitably fatal for your little game? Does it still count if I choose to drink it?"

Crane hoped that wasn't true. Because if it was and there really was no rescue forthcoming, things were going to get very, very unpleasant.

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

It was pretty fun listening to Crane's wild guesses. She knew he was no doubt running through potential endings in his mind and trying to guess at what she wanted and how he could escape. Of course, she had been honest with what she wanted and there was no escape, so it was entertaining to watch. After all of it, she actually laughed. She couldn't help herself!

"Wow. You're like, really paranoid." She offered with a false enthusiasm. Then she stood and took a half-step away from him, trying to be safe as she had learned from her mistakes through the years. The girl drank some of the water in the cup, happy to have the provisions for herself. She walked around behind him for a moment, then around to the other side of him just to make him uncomfortable.

Hayley stood there, glancing down at him, and took another sip of the water. Then she looked out at the ocean, just because she could.

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

When Hayley laughed was probably the first time Crane had felt rage about the situation. She was mocking him? And about something that was a perfectly valid concern? It wasn't paranoid. It wasn't paranoid at all. It was perfectly logical. Hayley was just saying that to put him off footing. To make it seem like he had the problem, not her.

Crane watched silently as Hayley drank the water from the cup. It might not have meant anything. She might not honestly cared what happened to herself either, considering her attitudes to death on the barge. He tensed when she walked out of sight, forcing himself to sit still until she appeared on the other side.

The second sip of water was enough for Crane to suspect that she was really drinking it. He stared at Hayley while she seemed to ignore him. He wondered what the situation would have been like if she'd offered him ice. He probably would have taken it, considering how his jaw was feeling.

"Hayley." Crane said, deciding to change tact. "Can you imagine what Capa would think if he knew about this?

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley laughed again, tilting her head to cast a sideways glance at her former friend. If only he knew. She could see the stiffness and fear dwelling and growing inside of him and it was an utter delight to watch. The same looks Aaron, Jeff, and others had given her. The look that said that she was winning and that, eventually, she would get her way.

"You know, it's funny, actually. He agreed with what I do? And I mean, he pretty much hates you-- well, as close to hating as Capa gets. So I really don't think he would mind if I explained that it was because you lied to and used me.. and the whole fear gas thing. It's not like I'm killing you, so I really don't think he'd complain." She replied honestly, finally turning to face him again. Then she imitated Capa's voice for just a moment. "'I know you wanted for him to make amends, but I did warn you this would happen.'"

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

"He's still a warden. All of that means nothing. He was probably just pandering to you." Crane didn't believe what he said. Not to mention that Hayley's impression of Capa was a little bit too spot on. But showing Hayley that she was getting to him wasn't helping the situation at all. Crane tested the ropes again, mainly out of nervous energy more so than actually expecting to get anywhere with it.

Crane frowned, looking down at the ground. The sand. Then back up at the tree. This was its own special little hell. He'd almost rather be in an Arkham cell. At least there you didn't have to deal with the sun and the heat. Not to mention that at least tended to restrain you lying down.

"What do you want, Hayley?" Crane finally asked, looking back to her. "Really?"

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

"Well, I'm sorry if you really believe that. I mean--" She paused for a moment, glanced to the right, then the left, then back. "No, okay. I'm not sorry at all? It would actually be funnier if you had some hope and then realized it wasn't worth anything after awhile."

Hayley shrugged, then glanced back out at the ocean again while he looked around. When he spoke again, she turned to face him and moved forward, close to him. She bent over beside him, bringing their faces close but with her still having the obvious control in this situation. "I want you to suffer. I want you to feel the stress and the hurt that I've been feeling for weeks. Then I want you to tell me how you lied to me. And then maybe? Maybe I'll let you go."

[In the CES]

[doctor_j_crane]

If Crane could have, he would have stepped back then. He'd always hated this kind of closeness, except for when he was in Hayley's position. The person controlling the experiment, rather than the one who had to experience the brunt of it. He tried to stay as still as possible, but the tension was fairly obvious.

"Stress and hurt sounds a lot like torture, Hayley." Crane said carefully. It helped to call these things by their ugly names. In some cases, it would bring the other person to the realization of what exactly they were doing. Cause them to back off and evaluate their options. Which Hayley definitely needed to do. At the same time, her talk of suffering didn't make it particularly likely.

"You may as well let me go." Crane continued quickly, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible. "You've got your goals and I respect that. But I don't think that you really know how to carry them out."

[In the CES]

[victimofnoone]

Hayley smiled at that, a wide and exaggerated smile suited to his ridiculous claims as she straightened to stand again. While she figured it was probably a defense mechanism for his discomfort with their proximity, she still wasn't particularly inclined to let it go. After all, what good would it be to give him a sense of hope? Really, it would be unfair of her.

"Oh, Jon.. This is nothing like torture. Trust me. If you read Amnesty International? You would know that this is nothing but a simple kidnapping.. which, okay, is a felony? But I don't think that American laws really apply here." Hayley finished off the water in the cup, then walked behind him to set the cup over with her bag again. She stayed in that awkward place just outside of his vision as she continued speaking. "As for carrying them out? You really do know nothing about me."