Return to Oz - Part Three. (+ notes)
masterpost | one | two
It was late, and Stephanie and Kate were out, getting something 'sorted out' that Eames didn't really want to contemplate. He and Ariadne were working late, piles of paper and construction materials spread out over their desks. When the numbers on the clock finally started to blur into each other, Eames shut his latest folder and sighed.
“Fancy a bite?”
Ariadne knew Paris better then he did, and lead him to a tiny late night bistro only ten minutes walk from the office building. They ordered, and Eames could finally feel some of the tension melt out of his shoulders.
“How're you holding up?”
“Hmm?” Ariadne looked up from where she'd been fiddling with her fork. “Oh. I'm fine.”
He looked at her for a second before reaching over to still her fingers. “No, you're not.”
She dropped her fork on the table and picked up her wine glass.
“So, was Kate in the military as well? Is that where she and Arthur met?”
Eames raised an eyebrow slightly at the inelegant segue, but didn't comment. “Kate's a civilian.”
“Really?”
Eames grinned. “If you think anyone's going to look at her psych evaluation and hand her a gun for state-sanctioned violence, you've got even less faith in your military then I do.”
Ariadne didn't smile back. “She doesn't seem that crazy to me.”
Eames looked down at the table for a second, then back up at Ariadne. “Wait until someone's pointing a gun at her.”
“Reacting with violence when someone points a gun at you seems pretty sane to me.”
“Ariadne, you don't carry a handgun capable of taking down a bear if you're interested in a proportional response, okay?”
Ariadne was quiet for a moment. “So if she's not military, how do she and Arthur know each other? Why do they hate each other?”
“Because she keeps shooting him.” Eames said, slowly.
“No, that's why he hates her. What's her problem with him?”
“I tend not to worry too much about the motivations of irrational people. She's not going to stop hating him any time soon, so why bother?”
“You don't think understanding her would be -”
Eames cut her off just as their food arrived. “We're not here to understand her. We're here to stop her job so we never have to deal with her again. Understanding is irrelevant.”
Ariadne didn't respond.
- - - - -
The night before the job, Ariadne was up late in the office, trying to distract herself. She was sketching wild and improbable shapes when a shadow fell across her desk.
“It's late.” Kate offered.
“Yeah. I can't sleep.”
“Makes sense.” Kate pulled herself up to sit cross-legged on Ariadne's desk. “It's your first proper job.”
“Second”, thought Ariadne, “but who's counting?”
“I'll be fine soon. Just need to empty my mind a little.”
Kate smiled. “Hey, whatever works for you.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Have you given any thought to what you'll be doing after this?”
Ariadne looked up. “Not really? I guess I'll just stick with Eames for a bit, see how that goes?”
Kate laughed coldly. “You think that's going to last? You don't think Eames and Arthur will be back together before January, and you'll just be left aside? Arthur will forgive Eames - he has before - but you'll be the one who abandoned him for money.”
“I... didn't really think of that.”
“Well, time to think. Eames and Arthur - and Cobb too, before - they play big, and they play rough, and the only people they care about are themselves, and sometimes each other. You're too good at this to waste your time stuck between two men only interested in their own glory.”
“It’s not like that.”
Kate looked at her for a second. “Don't you think that's what Mal thought?”
Ariadne said nothing, instead just staring down at her drawings.
Kate stood up and rested her hand on her shoulder. “This isn't an offer with an expiration date. Just think about it, okay? Now get some sleep.”
- - - - -
Ariadne checked her watch, then her hair, then her shoelaces, then her watch again. The second hand seemed to be ticking slower then it should, but when she looked up at the rest of the team, no one seemed worried. Eames had his eyes closed, his head pressed against the side of the van and a poker chip flipping over his knuckles. Stephanie was driving, Yusuf was checking the tray of vials on his lap for what seemed like the thousandth time, and Kate was methodically checking the cartridges on her and Ariadne's guns.
She ran over the job in her head. Stephanie had the first level - that was where projections would be riskiest - Yusuf had the hotel, and she had the snow herself. The idea being that if they re-create the first job it would trigger Saito's memories of the target without them having to risk reprisals by attempting to directly trigger a lead-in. Not even Cobb would know how Saito's militarisation would react to intrusion.
She kept her head down as they walked from the van to the hotel corridors, and finally Kate quietly took out both of Saito's bodyguards and they were in.
The set up goes as smoothly as can be expected, and before she knows it, she's back on that same rainy street she knows better then almost anything else.
Stephanie was gone, already staking out the area while Kate lead them into the nearest office.
They arrived at the ground-floor bathroom, and Kate dropped her bag and looked over at Eames, Ariadne, and Yusuf.
“Time to go.”
They all moved fluidly - Eames to the mirrors, Yusuf to the window, and Ariadne to join Kate flanking the doorway. Ariadne glanced over at Eames as he stared at himself in the mirror, but looked away after a second. Watching as Eames did this always made her feel ill-at-ease.
There was a cough, and she turned back around again. She had to stifle a laugh, because even though the Cobb standing in front of her now looked perfect, the way he held his body and his face was still pure Eames.
Eames raised an eyebrow at her and shifted slightly, and instantly he was gone.
Next to her, Kate laughed. “Perfect. Let's move.”
On the street, they fan out, searching the rain for Saito. “Cobb” had to convince Saito they were in danger - of what Eames was probably going to improvise - and get him off the street and sedated so the rest of them could hook in and drag him down to the hotel so they could go about triggering more of the memories.
Ariadne looked down the street and thought she saw a figure on the next corner.
- - - - -
Arthur entered Saito's hotel room carefully so as not to trip over the many things spread across the floor. Once inside, he checked the pulse and line of everyone connected, before beckoning Cobb into the room behind him. They pulled extra lines from the PASIV and laid down between the sleeping bodies, and woke up in the rain.
Arthur quickly checked the streets around them before pulling himself close to the wall to remain inconspicuous. They had to find Yusuf or Ariadne, without running into Kate or Stephanie, and they had to find them before they brought Saito down any further. Checking to make sure Dom was still behind him, he slowly advanced through the maze of streets.
A flash of blonde hair caught his eye, and he ducked. Stephanie was entering a building two blocks down, carrying a PASIV and a Heckler & Koch. They'd found the site, if not the players.
- - - - -
Eames broke away from the group as soon as the figure in the distance became clear. When he got close enough for Saito to see his face, he slowed down.
“Mr. Eames, I presume? Unless we are in yet another of Arthur's careful practise runs, but I do not believe so.”
“Exactly right, Saito. Arthur would never have this much rain. However, we are being closely watched, so if you could do your best to look both surprised and sure that I'm Cobb, that would be wonderful. This way.”
Saito inclined his head graciously and followed Eames into the rain.
From three blocks away, Kate and Ariadne watched the exchange.
“Give them two minutes.” Kate looked around again to make sure there were no projections. “Then follow them. Eames will lead him to Stephanie, and then we're down again.”
Ariadne nodded and looked around for herself. No trouble from projections yet, but they couldn't be too sure how much longer that would last. There was every chance Saito's subconscious would recognise the deception of Eames' forge even if he didn't, and no way of knowing how his projections might react to that.
There was nothing nearby, so she let out the breath she'd been holding in.
“You still okay?” Kate asked.
She shook her head. “I'm fine. Just cold.”
Kate smiled. “We'll be indoors soon enough. And once we get down to the third level, you'll be wishing you were still up here.”
- - - - -
Arthur carefully looked out from around some scaffolding to keep an eye on Stephanie. She was standing in the building's doorway, waiting for something. He scanned the nearby streets and buildings.
“We're not going to be able to intercept them before they drop.” Cobb said.
“No. We'll just have to hope once they're down there, there's more room to manoeuvre.”
They watched as Saito and Cobb - Eames - approached the building, and as Stephanie ushered them both inside. Arthur checked his watch.
“We'll give them five minutes after the others get here. Then we're in.”
Cobb nodded.
- - - - -
Eames had barely turned his back for a second, but when he turned back around, Saito was already on the floor and Stephanie was disposing of a syringe.
“What the fuck is that for? He's supposed to trust me.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes and started preparing the PASIV.
“Firstly, not even you can wake up already forging, so we need to make sure that you don't wake up in the same place. Secondly, we need him to be on edge, afraid that someone's trying to mess with him, because that's going to trigger the memories of why someone's messing with him.”
“You don't think I can get him ill-at-ease by myself?” Eames asked.
“I have no doubt that you think you can, but this is how we're doing things, so deal with it.”
She checked the dials a final time and turned back to him.
“Keep an eye outside. We don't want anyone getting eliminated before we're even half-way through.”
Outside, the rain was still pouring, but Eames could see Ariadne and Kate approaching, followed a moment later by Yusuf. Once they were all inside, Kate looked threw Stephanie another sub-machine gun.
“Right. Keep them off, sound the alarm. You know how this goes. Everyone down.”
Stephanie, Kate, Eames, and Ariadne all took their places around the PASIV. Stephanie snapped her headphones on and handed out lines.
“And three, two -”
- - - - -
Arthur looked through the window as fast as he could before ducking back down again.
“And?” Cobb asked.
“Well, they've gone down, so there's only one of them left awake.”
“But it's Stephanie, isn't it?”
Arthur nodded. “Stephanie and her guns.”
Cobb swore. “I don't suppose you've bought any sedatives with you?”
“Not for distance, no.”
“So we just wait until she turns her back?”
Arthur checked his watch. “We have about five minutes before they've been down there too long not to have some kind of result. I vote for we shoot her in the shoulder and knock her out before she can react enough to shoot back.”
Cobb looked at him. “That's the plan?”
Arthur risked another glance through the window. “That's the plan.”
- - - - -
The hotel was almost exactly as Ariadne remembered it. Kate laid a hand on her shoulder and quickly guided her through the hallways.
“We just need to wait here until Eames gives us the signal. Keep an eye out though, the projections tend to get a little more creative the deeper you go.”
Ariadne nodded and followed her, sparing a quick glance to watch Eames - “Cobb” - approach Saito once again.
- - - - -
Stephanie came around to a searing pain in her shoulder and Cobb and Arthur already hooked up the the PASIV. She hovered her hand over their lines for a second before shrugging to herself and sitting back down.
She had a contingency plan already in place.
After a quick glance out the window to make sure the projections were still at bay, Stephanie closed her eyes for a second.
When she opened them, the whole world had changed.
- - - - -
Saito looked at “Cobb” for a long moment before he nodded.
“So we are further down.”
“Yes, we are. I thought they'd at least let you think they were helping you out, but it seems we're working this one old-school. If you'll just follow me again...”
He lead him to room 528.
“Provided they weren't taken out by Stephanie before even making it down again, Arthur and Cobb will meet us here.”
“And if they have?”
“Then we're kind of fucked.”
As soon as they were safely locked in, Eames let the forge drop away. It seemed to relax Saito somewhat, even as Eames paced back and forth, chewing at his fingernails.
He checked his stopwatch.
“They should be here by now.”
Saito sat calmly against the wall. “They will be here soon.”
Arthur and Cobb dropped down through an air vent and landed in a heap on the bed. Eames checked his watch again.
“Kate's going to want some sort of update soon.”
Arthur pulled himself to his feet.
“Saito, you're staying here. Kate hates mazes, there'd have to be something really fucking important to force her to drag herself through one. Eames, you're Saito, Cobb, you're you. Except not entirely, because you're what Kate thinks Eames thinks you'd act like around Saito.”
Cobb ran a hand through his hair. “And how is that?”
“Like a wanker, who's trying hard not to seem like a wanker,” Eames offered.
Cobb rolled his eyes. “Perfect.”
Arthur ignored them both. “You can't carry guns, she'll spot that immediately, so I'm going to cover you. Try not to set her off, we want to get through this and out as quickly as we can.”
“Right.”
Eames crossed over to the room's mirror and stared at himself for a moment before shifting into Saito, leaving his suit wrinkled and letting a look of general worry move across his face. When he turned back to face the room Saito looked over him for a second before nodding his approval.
“Impressive work, Mr. Eames.”
“Don't compliment him.” Arthur said. “It'll only make things more difficult.”
Saito nodded again and took the gun Arthur offered him. “Whatever you think is best.”
He checked the gun's chamber before sitting back down on the bed, facing the door. He trained the gun on the doorway and nodded again.
“As good a moment as any.”
Eames followed Cobb out of the hotel room, whispering the directions back to Kate as they went. Arthur waited exactly twenty seconds before following them out, leaving Saito alone in the locked room.
“We'll be back.”
“I have no doubt.”
- - - - -
Kate's eyes were scanning the hallway as they waited, and Ariadne had folded her hands under her legs to stop herself fiddling with her fingernails. Suddenly, Kate turned carefully to look at Ariadne.
“What's wrong?”
She turned carefully to look at Ariadne.
“Can you think of any reason why anyone here would have a projection of Arthur running around?”
Ariadne froze.
- - - - -
Yusuf crouched in between two jutting corners and looked around the hotel's corridors. He had three minutes to make it back to Kate before she'd start to get suspicious and wonder why he was taking so long. He'd seen Eames and Cobb - or people he assumed were Eames and Cobb, anyway - leaving the hotel room, and carefully shifted the architecture just enough to keep Saito's room secure while hopefully not alerting the projections to a difference.
All he had to do now was get back and hold the fort.
- - - - -
Ariadne tried her best to look surprised.
“Are you sure it's Arthur? I mean, this is the kind of place that's usually full of people in suits, maybe it just loo -”
Kate rolled her eyes. “I can spot him when I see him.”
“But how could he be here? You think he's one of Saito's projections?”
Kate positioned herself so she had a more concealed view of the doorway and leveled her gun.
“I can't imagine so, unless Eames hasn't been entirely honest about exactly why they broke up.”
“Maybe he's Eames' then?” Ariadne grasped at ideas. “I mean, it makes sense, right? If this was the last job they did together, and - ”
“No.” Kate cut her off. “To drag a projection down two levels when you're not the dreamer or the subject? That takes some major fucked up demons, we'd have seen them on the practice runs. There's only one option left, and...”
She shifted again so she could see both Ariadne and the hallway.
“He must have followed us. Which means he must have known we were here. Which means that someone...”
“It wasn't me!” Ariadne insisted.
Kate looked at her for a second. “It's obvious who it is.”
“I didn't know, I promise.”
Ariadne watched as Kate’s second gun switched its focus.
“I swear, I didn’t,” she was practically babbling now. “Eames never talks about Arthur. I would have said if I thought there was any risk of him screwing us over. I would have told you.”
There was a tense silence for a moment,before Kate lowered the gun and Ariadne let out a heavy breath.
“My gun up there is just as loaded, and far more dangerous. If I find...”
“I promise I didn’t know.”
Kate sighed and re-sighted her gun. “What did I tell you about getting caught up in their little games? But don't worry, it's not like the prospect wasn't at the back of my mind. There's always a contingency plan.”
- - - - -
Eames slowed down as they approached the hallway.
“Right. She'll be expecting me - you - to be a little distracted. Don't say much, don't look at Ariadne, and as soon as we're down again, get me out of the room as fast as you can without looking desperate.”
“This isn't my first job, Eames.”
Eames rolled his eyes. “And try not to look at Kate like you think she'll break your jaw. Game face on.”
- - - - -
From his position in the stairwell, Arthur watched Eames and Dom enter the hotel room. He set the timer on his watch for two minutes, and carefully checked all the parts of his guns.
- - - - -
“What kind of contingency plan?” Ariadne asked.
“If Stephanie thinks we're compromised down here, she's setting up a trap on the first level. The kick will bring them back, but Eames will think he's back topside. If you see Arthur down there, let me know immediately. Or shoot him yourself, either works. Don’t worry about aim, just point in his direction. You're chambered big enough to cause some damage even if you're not on target. Okay?”
Ariadne looked down at the gun in her own hand, then to the four guns Kate was carrying, and the steely look in her eyes.
“Okay.”
The door opened before she could respond further, and Cobb and Saito - Cobb and Eames - entered. She tried to catch Eames eye - tried to signal something approaching “she's on to us” - but both the men kept their eyes on Kate.
A few seconds later, Yusuf shuffled into the room and set up the PASIV. Kate took one final look into the hallway before joining them on the floor.
“Time to go.”
- - - - -
Ariadne had nearly forgotten how fucking cold it was down here. The wind was blowing snow in all their faces, and by the time she'd managed to get a bearing on where they were, Cobb and Eames had run for it. Kate grabbed her arm and hurried them both after them.
They'd landed closer to the fort then last time, and it didn't take them long to arrive at the bottom and start climbing in.
“We've to get to the strong room. Before them, so we can catch them out. Saito's too smart to have his secrets in a safe, we're going to have to search his person.”
“Then we blow the place and ride back up?”
“Until the first level again.”
Ariadne followed Kate through the vents.
“How does the trap work? We'll all be stuck on the top level, and they'll realise we're dreaming.”
“Doesn't matter. All I need is a few moments to kick myself awake. Then I can finish them off while they're still asleep, and just wait for you and Stephanie to follow me up.”
Ariadne stopped moving. “You're going to kill them?”
“What, you don't think they'd do the same to me? To us, if we got in their way?”
“They wouldn't. They're not like that.”
Kate wasn't paying attention. “We've been through this before, okay? You don't need them.”
“But th - Eames - is my friend. He's helped me a lot, with everything.”
“I'm sure he has. Doesn't mean he won't ditch you the first chance he gets. And these are powerful people, Fischer and Saito. Powerful people in the real world, not just dreaming. You really think you can fuck one of them over - both of them, in your case - and walk away from it?”
Ariadne was about to reply when Kate held an arm up to silence her.
They'd reached the strong room.
Kate carefully checked all the windows before folding herself into an alcove.
“When they get here, you keep them talking.”
They waited in silence, Kate hidden, Ariadne standing in the centre of the room. Finally, she heard them approach.
“...thur will get here as soon as he can, then we just need to hold her off until the call for the kick.”
“If you're sure you can manage it.”
Ariadne froze when the entered the room and turned towards her. She could see Kate slowly approaching them and tried to say something - anything - to warn them, but she couldn't, and it was almost instant that Kate cracked Cobb over the head with the butt of her gun and he went down.
The second Dom hit the floor, Eames sprang around to grab for Kate. But she had better purchase and her own body to work with, and it took less then five minutes for her to get him on his knees.
She wrapped her arms around Eames' neck, slowly crushing the air out him until he went limp and dropped.
As soon as “Saito's” body hit the ground, the forge dropped, and Eames was lying there instead.
Kate didn't stop, dropping to her knees in front of him and searching through his pockets.
“What are you doing, he's not the mark.”
“He's not the mark, but he's still the subject, and he was still on the job. I'm not going to let Arthur completely fuck me over so...”
She tore through his snow jacket and searched his body for any hint at what they were looking for. When she finally reached his skin, her fingers closed around his dog tags, and she looked up at Ariadne and grinned.
“What?”
Kate just held out the silver tags to Ariadne, who took them and read the single word stamped into the metal.
Inception.
- - - - -
The opening riff for Kate's kick music floated through the air, and Yusuf checked his watch. Surely it was too early for the kick?
- - - - -
Arthur slid into the room strong room as “Eye of the Tiger” started reverbing through the building. Ariadne and Kate were on their knees on the floor on either side of Eames. But he couldn't be dead, because his projections were still clamouring at the doors.
Kate's eyes flashed up at him as soon as he halted.
“Too late.”
Beneath them, the building started to collapse.
- - - - -
Ariadne snapped awake on the floor of the hotel room. She couldn't reach for her totem - couldn't risk Kate adding her to the hit list - so she scrabbled around the room trying to find some proof of where they really were. Stephanie wasn't an architect, there must be something different if this was really still a dream.
She looked up, to find herself still surrounded by guns.
Yusuf had Stephanie pinned to the wall, Eames and Cobb were guarding the door, and Arthur had his gun trained on Kate, whose arms were up.
Ariadne felt like screaming. If Arthur couldn't spot that Kate being unarmed meant they'd walked into a trap, then they were screwed.
“Don't kill her!”
Kate grinned. “He won't.”
“I fucking will.”
“Don't shoot her, you don't understand, there's -”
“Relax, Ari.” Kate cut her off. “He's tried enough times in the past, why'd he succeed now? I'm even making it easy for him, look.”
She wiggled her empty fingers.
For a second, Kate caught Ariadne's eye and she thought she saw a flash of something before Kate's eyes snapped back to Arthur.
“If you're going to shoot me, just fucking shoot me already.”
“Arthur, you don't -”
“On the contrary Ariadne, I think I do.”
Arthur relaxed the set of his shoulders slightly. “But I'm going to give you thirty seconds before I do.”
“Arthur -”
“Not the time.”
If Arthur let Kate go, they'd only have until she could disappear from sight before they're done. Even with all her guns gone, Ariadne was pretty sure Kate knew infinite ways of killing herself.
Instead, Ariadne raised her own gun, and shot Arthur.
- - - - -
Arthur jerked awake on the hotel floor, gasping for breath. His hands immediately went to his neck, feeling for the wound, but there was nothing there.
Instead, he was back on the floor in Saito's hotel room, surrounded by the rest of the dreamers. Ariadne must have... He smiled for a second, relieved to wake up, until the flashing of the PASIV caught his eye.
If he was out, there's only going to be a couple of seconds before someone - Kate - followed him up.
Crawling across the floor, Arthur switched out Stephanie's mp3 player for his own, and pressed 'play'.
- - - - -
Eames dropped his gun and moved instantly, catching Arthur's body before it hit the ground. He pressed his fingers against the open wound on Arthur's neck, but it was already too late.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?”
Kate barely stayed around to scream at Ariadne before grabbing Stephanie from Yusuf and pulling her out the door. Cobb followed, and Ariadne knew they wouldn't kick themselves out until they knew they were out of sight - couldn't risk being followed too quickly by the rest of them to lose their advantage - and prayed that Cobb could run fast enough.
She dropped down to her knees next to Arthur's body, and tried to get Eames’ attention.
“Don't fucking touch me.”
“It's not what it looks like. Kate, she told me, she had a plan, and the only thing, but we're still, we're still dreaming.”
Eames wasn't listening, instead carefully folding Arthur's collar back to cover the gaping wound.
“I wouldn't shoot Arthur if I wasn't fucking sure.”
Ariadne shoved her hands in her pocket, searching for her totem, but she couldn't find it.
“Just give me a second, it's right -”
Something crackled in the air. Eames heard the opening strains of “Jerusalem,” and smiled.
- - - - -
Ariadne came to on the hotel floor, trying to shake off the disorientation as fast as she could. Above her, the room was already in chaos.
Kate and Arthur were on the floor, fists and elbows flying about frantically while Stephanie and Eames stood above them, guns out. Their eyes flickered back and forth between each other and the floor, each trying to find a clear shot that woudn't risk taking out the wrong person. Yusuf was struggling to get the PASIV cleared away before it fell victim to the flailing limbs. In the corner, Cobb had his own gun drawn, guarding Saito from the mess.
Finally, something broke in the fist fight, and Kate managed to spring free and get her own gun out before anyone had a chance to blink, and now there were four guns in the room, not even counting Ariadne's own and however many Arthur - and Kate - had hidden.
The four people in the middle of the room stared at each other, and Ariadne racked her brain to try and remember what was going on outside. Saito had bodyguards, they must be somewhere, right? Even if no one had mentioned it to her, they hadn't just decided to walk into a sitution chock-full of guns and not think about how they were getting out of it, had they? Eames and Arthur were both mistrustful enough of Kate that they wouldn't have started this without a contingency plan.
Suddenly, Kate had a second gun out, and it was pointing straight at Ariadne.
She froze, not even able to pull out her own gun in response. “I...”
“I told you what would happen.”
“Leave it,” Arthur snapped. “This isn't about her.”
“Yes it fucking well is.”
Arthur's hands were technically in the air, but he didn't look like he was giving up“Put the gun down, Kate.”
“No, I don't think I will.”
“Put it down, or I'll shoot you,” Eames said, firmly.
“Then Stephanie will shoot you.”
“Then I'll shoot Stephanie,” Cobb interrupted, “and Saito will have him airlifted to the nearest hospital before your heart's even stopped beating.”
Kate's eyes were still forward, flicking between Arthur and Ariadne. “I don't think you're going to shoot me.”
“I think you're underestimating him,” said Arthur. “You know about inception, you're too big a risk.”
“Don't know about that,” Eames grinned, “might be some nice advertising. 'Arthur and Cobb are so awesome, even Kate admits they pulled off inception'.”
“But she'll tell Fischer,” pointed out Cobb.
“That is immaterial at this point,” said Saito. “At this point, news of the dissolution of the company is wide enough that an attempted roll-back would cause more trouble for Mr. Fischer then you could possibly imagine. And even so, I have no intention of reversing my influence. Kill her if you wish, but don't let that be your only reason.”
“Don't kill her,” Ariadne jumped in. “Just... don't.”
Arthur turned slightly to look at her. “She would have killed us.”
“Well, we're the ones trying to ruin her job.”
“She was trying to fuck ours over in the first place. If we let them walk out of here, she's just going to do it again.”
“Please.” Ariadne took a step forward. “I thought we were supposed to be the good guys.”
Arthur stiffened for a second, before exchanging a couple of glances with Eames and Cobb. None of them looked happy about it, but Eames let his arms relax slightly.
“You have five minutes to get out of here. And if you ever get in the way of one of our jobs again, I won't hesitate in shooting you.”
Kate scoffed, “I don't need your fucking pity release.”
Stephanie shoved her gun into her waistband. “Yes, we do. Thank you.”
She grabbed for Kate's arm with one had and the PASIV with the other.
“No.” Cobb took aim at the PASIV. “That stays here.”
Kate swung around to respond, but Stephanie just grabbed her arm again.
“Get a fucking move on.”
Just before she left the room, Kate caught Ariadne's eye. She looked like she wanted to say something, but whatever it was remained unspoken as she allowed Stephanie to drag her away.
The second the door clicked shut behind them, the tension in the room broke. Arthur finally let whatever injuries Kate had done him manifest and sagged against Eames' side.
“We are never going anywhere near that woman again.”
Eames laughed for a second, slightly manic, before letting his hands drift to check Arthur for serious wounds. “Agreed.”
Ariadne stayed silent, letting her legs fall out from under her as she couldn't help but keep staring at the closed door.
- - - - -
Robert Fischer sat in the small cafe and stirred his tea quietly.
A shadow fell across his table, and he looked up. His eyes flashed instantly to his bodyguard across the room, but Ariadne just smiled slightly as she slid into the chair across from him.
“Let’s not do that, okay? You're not the only one with minders.”
Robert glanced around the cafe until his eyes fell on Eames and another strangely familiar man sitting with a perfect line of sight to both his table and the door. Eames raised his tea cup in a tiny salute and the other man rolled his eyes and continued to appear to read his newspaper.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to see if you were okay.”
Fischer snorted. “I didn't think you cared.”
She smiled again, sadly. “Does it make a difference if I tell you none of it was my idea? I just kind of... got swept away by fascination.”
“Not particularly, no.”
There was silence for a moment, until Fischer pushed his cup aside.
“I know that to you, this was all just a fascinating intellectual exercise, but this is my life, and you - all of you - ruined it.”
“We didn't ru -”
“Yes, you did. How can I just do... do anything with my life now, without knowing if it's really a part of me or just something you did to make me do what you wanted me to?”
Ariadne fiddled with her napkin for a moment before looking up.
“You can't.”
“Exactly.”
Robert pushed his chair back to stand, but Ariadne laid a hand on his wrist to keep him back.
“I remember that you said that once you realised you didn't have to be the same as him, that it was the first time in your life you felt like an individual instead of a component. Look, I can't tell you what your father really wanted. And now that you're aware of what happened, you can go forward any way you want. But just because we come to conclusions the wrong way, doesn't mean they were the wrong conclusions.”
Robert didn't answer, and after a moment Ariadne set her napkin down, and left the table.
Outside, she watched as Eames and Arthur set off down the street and fell into step a couple of feet behind them.
- - - - -
Gah. So this story has been all kinds of hell to get out, because the last couple of months have been one of those times when pretty much everything just keeps happening all at once. But I finished it, eventually.
There are a couple of people I need to thank specifically. This story has it origins in one of the first plotbunnies I had after seeing Inception, and way back then, taurenova was massively helpful in hammering out ideas, so even though she probably has no recollection of that, the story probably wouldn't exist without her help.
Secondly, dialectical was a complete bully, in the best possible way, totally refusing to let me give up, no matter how many times I just. Wouldn't. Stop. Complaining. She was massively helpful at all the times when I just wanted to throw my hands up and say "this scene isn't going the way I want it to, clearly this whole thing is ruined", and just very supportive in general.
Finally, both dialectical and lindenmae were complete stars when it came to beta-ing, under pretty hard time constraints, and never once saying "for someone who loves commas so much, you'd think you'd have any idea how to use them correctly", and leaving me confident that at the very least, the story wouldn't make people cry with typos. (Any that are left are all on me, and my inability to stop editing myself, like ever.)
And my mixer, cerulean-sky, who again had to put up with my ridiculous sense of timekeeping and constant changing of mind, and didn't complain even a little bit. (Make sure to check out her work: LJ | DW)
So thanks to them, thanks to the mods for organising inception_bang, and thanks to all of you for reading/commenting.