POI / Incpt: The Untitled Project
Title: The Untitled Project
Author:
pearly_eyes
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Inception and Person of Interest belong to their respective owners.
Summary: The Machine generates the next number for Ariadne which introduces Reese and Finch into a whole different level of crime.
Chapter 3: Where the Lines Intercept
Ariadne did not follow a set routine in her day to day life; Reese would know considering he had been tracking her. By ten, she would be at the office, carrying a beverage from Starbucks and a pastry. Subway was her main mode of transportation but she didn't get off at the same stop all the time, either the one before or after and then walking part of the way. She frequented different take out establishments but didn't favour one or the other. Sometimes, she would go out for drinks with her colleagues but only on a casual basis. Several times a week, she visited the gym for kick-boxing classes.
“She's doing everything to not attract attention to herself, Finch. For one, look at her security system. Somehow she managed to contract one of the most discrete security firms in all of NYC to safeguard her loft. That is not an expense that a recent grad to be able to afford up front.”
“Yes I can see that Mr. Reese. I've looked into her financial records. On the surface, she has an account balance from somebody who is just starting out from graduation - student loans, several running credit cards, and making monthly rent payments. She has an outstanding student loan but she is making sufficient payments on them.
“But below the surface?”
“Either she has a very generous benefactor or she is hiding something.”
“The answer to that will give us a clue as to why the Machine gave us her number because as it stands she has no obvious enemies and unless, she is going to hurt somebody in her kick-boxing class.”
“There is more, Mr. Reese. I looked into Ms. Chase's academic records while she was in France - solid grades, well-liked by her peers and the professors. There was one semester where she dropped all her classes and only enrolled in one.”
“How is that significant?”
“You asked me to look for a link between Ms. Chase and the Fischer empire. According to official records, she was enrolled on an internship during the first part of the semester. It was largely working from home, but I ran her photograph through face recognition software around that time and came up with this.”
With a series of keystrokes, Finch was able to bring up airport security surveillance from LAX. With one look, it was obvious for Reese to voice his partner's findings. “They were on the same flight.”
“Yes, from Sydney to be precise. Robert Fischer was taking the body of his late father back to the States for the funeral.”
“Curious place to be for an architectural student. Why make the flight from Paris to Sydney and then to LA?”
“Yes and I have tried to access the passenger's manifest but it has proven to be rather difficult.”
“Nothing you can't hack, Finch.”
“What little information I have gathered points to a Mr. Ayumu Saito whose recent purchase included an airline.”
“Oh let me guess, both Ariadne and Fischer were on a Boeing 747 flight that Saito controlled, so what does this Saito gained from all of this?”
“Everything. If Robert Fischer truly decides to dissolve his late father's empire, and I am talking a multinational energy conglomerate here, all it takes is a well-positioned competitor to scoop up the pieces afterward.”
“So how this connect with Ariadne?”
“Ah, remember the security system in Ms. Chase's loft? It is serviced by a security firm that caters to high-profile clienteles who want to be discrete such as government officials, foreign diplomats or high end business associates.”
Reese was a smart man, it didn't take long for him to connect the dots, “Someone like Saito.”
.poi
Sometimes Ariadne wondered what her birth parents had in mind when they decided to name her. Those who were familiar with their Greek mythology would know that Ariadne was the one who spun a red thread which helped Thesus find himself out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. Depending who you talked to, some said that while Ariadne fell in love with Thesus, he did not return the affection and consequently left her.
Professor Miles’ advice to her was not to fall for Thesus which in the grand scheme of things, he meant into the all-consuming life that was dream sharing. Creation without boundaries was something to behold but Ariadne had too much of a moral compass and therein lies the conundrum.
The familiar weight of her totem was a stark reminder that this was in fact reality, but there were moments when she felt that she was not in control of her skin. Her sleep was not restful; she saw water crashing against stained rocks and heard distant echoes of trains running on tracks. One did not need the expertise of Freud and Jung to discern that she was still haunted by her experiences in limbo. For someone who valued rational conversation to make sense of the world, she had limited resources to turn to in regards to all of this.
'There is Mr. Saito,' she thought. She knew that Miles somehow got word to the Japanese businessman that she was moving to New York; her current residences was a proof of that. It would take some strategic explaining of the tightly-secured loft if her coworkers ever came to visit.
But with the uncertainty of the Fischer estate, she mostly led a solitary work-sleep-eat schedule. She tried pouring all her energies into the project from Mr. Crane. He had called to schedule for a follow up meeting for tomorrow. For Aridane, it had been rather difficult to discern the personality of her latest client. Their phone exchanges lent little insight and their initial meeting only conveyed that Mr. Crane was a rather private man. To transform an empty space for someone who was essentially closed off to her, meant that the process was more painstaking than usual.
Mr. Crane's main criteria was this, “I often work from home, Ms. Chase, so I would like to feel that I am a participant, and not just a spectator in the city.”
The space was located on Fifth Avenue with an uninterrupted view overlooking Central Park and Ariadne used that as a focal point and designed an office space with the city as the backdrop. She tried to garner inspiration from the inception team: Arthur was sharp lines and minimalistic contrasting Cobb's square shouldered and every-day man. Saito was contemporary with a flavour of Japanese tradition similar to Yusef who carried a more Eastern flair. And, while Eames was loose, textured and rich patterns, Fischer was slim-framed with an aura of melancholy.
Ariadne tried to infuse these personalities into the space but as she tried to reconcile her past life with her current one, she couldn't help the feeling that lines were about to be crossed and she would end up being caught in the middle.
End of Chapter 3
Onto Chapter 4
Author:
pearly_eyes
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Inception and Person of Interest belong to their respective owners.
Summary: The Machine generates the next number for Ariadne which introduces Reese and Finch into a whole different level of crime.
Chapter 3: Where the Lines Intercept
Ariadne did not follow a set routine in her day to day life; Reese would know considering he had been tracking her. By ten, she would be at the office, carrying a beverage from Starbucks and a pastry. Subway was her main mode of transportation but she didn't get off at the same stop all the time, either the one before or after and then walking part of the way. She frequented different take out establishments but didn't favour one or the other. Sometimes, she would go out for drinks with her colleagues but only on a casual basis. Several times a week, she visited the gym for kick-boxing classes.
“She's doing everything to not attract attention to herself, Finch. For one, look at her security system. Somehow she managed to contract one of the most discrete security firms in all of NYC to safeguard her loft. That is not an expense that a recent grad to be able to afford up front.”
“Yes I can see that Mr. Reese. I've looked into her financial records. On the surface, she has an account balance from somebody who is just starting out from graduation - student loans, several running credit cards, and making monthly rent payments. She has an outstanding student loan but she is making sufficient payments on them.
“But below the surface?”
“Either she has a very generous benefactor or she is hiding something.”
“The answer to that will give us a clue as to why the Machine gave us her number because as it stands she has no obvious enemies and unless, she is going to hurt somebody in her kick-boxing class.”
“There is more, Mr. Reese. I looked into Ms. Chase's academic records while she was in France - solid grades, well-liked by her peers and the professors. There was one semester where she dropped all her classes and only enrolled in one.”
“How is that significant?”
“You asked me to look for a link between Ms. Chase and the Fischer empire. According to official records, she was enrolled on an internship during the first part of the semester. It was largely working from home, but I ran her photograph through face recognition software around that time and came up with this.”
With a series of keystrokes, Finch was able to bring up airport security surveillance from LAX. With one look, it was obvious for Reese to voice his partner's findings. “They were on the same flight.”
“Yes, from Sydney to be precise. Robert Fischer was taking the body of his late father back to the States for the funeral.”
“Curious place to be for an architectural student. Why make the flight from Paris to Sydney and then to LA?”
“Yes and I have tried to access the passenger's manifest but it has proven to be rather difficult.”
“Nothing you can't hack, Finch.”
“What little information I have gathered points to a Mr. Ayumu Saito whose recent purchase included an airline.”
“Oh let me guess, both Ariadne and Fischer were on a Boeing 747 flight that Saito controlled, so what does this Saito gained from all of this?”
“Everything. If Robert Fischer truly decides to dissolve his late father's empire, and I am talking a multinational energy conglomerate here, all it takes is a well-positioned competitor to scoop up the pieces afterward.”
“So how this connect with Ariadne?”
“Ah, remember the security system in Ms. Chase's loft? It is serviced by a security firm that caters to high-profile clienteles who want to be discrete such as government officials, foreign diplomats or high end business associates.”
Reese was a smart man, it didn't take long for him to connect the dots, “Someone like Saito.”
.poi
Sometimes Ariadne wondered what her birth parents had in mind when they decided to name her. Those who were familiar with their Greek mythology would know that Ariadne was the one who spun a red thread which helped Thesus find himself out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. Depending who you talked to, some said that while Ariadne fell in love with Thesus, he did not return the affection and consequently left her.
Professor Miles’ advice to her was not to fall for Thesus which in the grand scheme of things, he meant into the all-consuming life that was dream sharing. Creation without boundaries was something to behold but Ariadne had too much of a moral compass and therein lies the conundrum.
The familiar weight of her totem was a stark reminder that this was in fact reality, but there were moments when she felt that she was not in control of her skin. Her sleep was not restful; she saw water crashing against stained rocks and heard distant echoes of trains running on tracks. One did not need the expertise of Freud and Jung to discern that she was still haunted by her experiences in limbo. For someone who valued rational conversation to make sense of the world, she had limited resources to turn to in regards to all of this.
'There is Mr. Saito,' she thought. She knew that Miles somehow got word to the Japanese businessman that she was moving to New York; her current residences was a proof of that. It would take some strategic explaining of the tightly-secured loft if her coworkers ever came to visit.
But with the uncertainty of the Fischer estate, she mostly led a solitary work-sleep-eat schedule. She tried pouring all her energies into the project from Mr. Crane. He had called to schedule for a follow up meeting for tomorrow. For Aridane, it had been rather difficult to discern the personality of her latest client. Their phone exchanges lent little insight and their initial meeting only conveyed that Mr. Crane was a rather private man. To transform an empty space for someone who was essentially closed off to her, meant that the process was more painstaking than usual.
Mr. Crane's main criteria was this, “I often work from home, Ms. Chase, so I would like to feel that I am a participant, and not just a spectator in the city.”
The space was located on Fifth Avenue with an uninterrupted view overlooking Central Park and Ariadne used that as a focal point and designed an office space with the city as the backdrop. She tried to garner inspiration from the inception team: Arthur was sharp lines and minimalistic contrasting Cobb's square shouldered and every-day man. Saito was contemporary with a flavour of Japanese tradition similar to Yusef who carried a more Eastern flair. And, while Eames was loose, textured and rich patterns, Fischer was slim-framed with an aura of melancholy.
Ariadne tried to infuse these personalities into the space but as she tried to reconcile her past life with her current one, she couldn't help the feeling that lines were about to be crossed and she would end up being caught in the middle.
End of Chapter 3
Onto Chapter 4