I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy 6/7
Title: I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy
Author: safaiagem
Artist: sin-repent
Word Count: 37,206
Rating: hard R
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Eames, ensemble
Warnings Sexual content, violence, language
Summary: After an attempt on Cobb's life leaves him in hiding Arthur and Eames begin to look into who could have taken out the hit. While they are eating dinner an assassin tries to kill them as well. They quickly move in and save Ariadne and Yusuf but the four of them find that they are in way over their heads. They must find help in an extremely unlikely source and keep one step ahead of a man willing to put any price on their heads.
I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy
Part Six
“I want in,” Fischer said as soon as he heard what they were doing. Eames wanted to punch the man. He was a millionaire with no experience and the last time they had had a tourist it was nothing short of disaster. Judging by the way Yusuf stared, Ariadne looking like she had something to say but stopping herself from speaking, and Arthur’s eyebrows knit together they were not thrilled with the idea. Eames did not want to babysit someone who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
“I don’t think so,” Arthur said. “Cobb is highly militarized and won’t like having his mind being broken into. The last thing we need is someone tagging along.”
“You didn’t know I was militarized, so how do you know how much experience I have?” Fischer said looking a little too smug. “This man took something from me and now I want to take something from him.”
“The absolute last thing we need is someone dragging baggage into the dream. That never ends well for anyone and we won’t have another shot at this,” Eames explained trying to be rational but coming off a little too rough around the edges.
“I’m not getting left out of this, otherwise I’ll walk away right now. At the moment we have a deal because I owe you for saving my life, though I would argue that you owe me much more than that considering what you did to my head, but I’m still here cooperating. That can change and I will find a way to make this as hard as possible for all involved. I’m going.” Fischer was really on a roll now and someone that was not willing to back down. The man that yearned for his father’s attention, the man whose head they had planted an idea in, was not the person that was standing before them. Eames had his suspicions that the only reason why Fischer was not angry about the inception was because he actually seemed a little happier. That had not been something that they could plant and it was a side effect that made him smirk just a little. Arthur, however, looked like he was about to blow a gasket and if he didn’t stop clenching his jaw like that he was going to break his teeth.
“Let’s see what you can do and we’ll talk,” Eames said despite the fact that it was Arthur who was going to have to watch Fischer’s back in the dream. “For now let’s get out of the city alive.” That seemed enough to convince Fischer who held out a hand for his cell phone, no doubt to make arrangements. Arthur glared but reached into his pocket to retrieve the phone.
“I have this line tapped and will know everything you say, so don’t bother trying to call for help,” Arthur said dangerously as Fischer took the phone.
“I’m in plenty of danger but not from any of you.” Fischer walked a few steps away to dial a number. Once he was out of earshot Arthur looked at Eames; he was furious.
“What were you thinking, telling him that? I don’t even want him hooked up to a PASIV,” Arthur said as Yusuf and Ariadne moved closer.
“It’s bad enough we’re doing an extraction on Cobb; we really shouldn’t be taking strangers with us, especially strangers with a grudge,” Ariadne said softly.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Arthur reminded her for the fourth time, but she smiled tightly.
“You’re going to do it with or without me so I might as well build you a level you can stay alive in,” she replied. Yusuf did not voice any problems with the plans but seemed a little uneasy as well, not that Eames could really blame him. There was no telling what kind of ghosts still lingered in Cobb’s mind and no one wanted to stare down those kind of angry projections.
“If he’s any good, we have backup, and if he’s useless, we have cannon fodder. Either way we need him and you know that,” Eames explained. Arthur stared at him, eyes narrowed, until he turned on his heels and left the room in a huff. They had had fights before just like any other partnership but this one was different. Speaking of people that might not be so forgiving, Eames thought as the door closed. Ariadne took his hand and squeezed it, like she had some sort of understanding of what they were, but he did not reject the sentiment. They were Arthur and Eames, Eames and Arthur, and despite the possibility that this could cause a rift between them Eames was not going anywhere.
“I got us a flight to LA that leaves in two hours,” Fischer said, turning around, oblivious to their conversation.
“Then we better get ready,” Ariadne said softly giving Eames’ hand one last squeeze. Yusuf clapped him on the shoulder as he walked out of the room and he was left staring down Robert Fischer.
“You won’t like me as an enemy, Fischer, so make sure you think very carefully about everything you do from here on out.” Eames was not trying to sound too threatening, and judging by the way Fischer raised both of his eyebrows he knew the point had gotten across, but the younger man was not intimidated.
“I don’t want any more enemies,” Fischer replied. Eames smirked to himself and left the room; he did not want any more enemies either.
---
It turned out that getting out of the country with Fischer and a private plane made things much easier. As far as Arthur could tell Browning knew that Fischer was all right but taking some time away because of the shooting. If that was some sort of code for something he was going to be very annoyed, but Fischer seemed interested in this job. Arthur wanted to come up with a way to keep the other man out of the dream but after what Eames had said it seemed like it was going to be impossible. Fischer was militarized but that did not mean he knew what being in a dream entailed, and they had no idea what his subconscious could bring in. There were too many variables and too many things that could go wrong.
He was angry at Eames because this was their only chance and he did not want a tourist ruin it. This did not feel like any of their other fights, this one felt different, and Arthur was not sure why. He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that it was more than just their lives on the line. If it was just the two of them it would not have been as big of a deal but Ariadne, Cobb and Yusuf were all mixed up in this mess as well. He had to make sure this worked or someone would suffer for it, and Arthur could live with a lot on his conscience but their lives were not one of them.
Eames was on the other side of the plane because he seemed to know that Arthur needed space to clear his head but Ariadne did not have that instinct when it came to him. An hour into their flight she sat down across from him. Arthur did not look up from the notes he was taking, did not acknowledge her, and hoped that she would go away because he did not want to talk about it.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Arthur replied.
“I’m not worried about it but I am worried about the two of you. I’ve never seen you actually fight before.” Ariadne folded her hands on the table.
“To be fair you haven’t known us that long either.” Arthur set his pen down and stared back at Ariadne. “Eames and I have been working together for a long time so of course we have disagreements. He knows why I’m angry and he also has the sense to leave me alone when I need it.”
“Don’t you get huffy at me because you two are fighting,” Ariadne snapped. “And did you say you’ve been ‘working’ with Eames for a long time?”
“Yes, that’s what I said. Why?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Ariadne waved him off and snatched the pen out of his hand, no doubt so he could not ignore her. “You’re worried about the job, I get it, but so is he.”
“I know why he did what he did, Ariadne, I’m not an idiot. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have another tourist and that it didn’t end well the last time.” Arthur took his pen back from her and turned back to his notebook. Ariadne did not stay much longer and when she got up he assumed that she would try to talk to Eames. There were many things Ariadne understood and even more that she could come to understand but his partnership with Eames was not one of them. He would talk to his partner when they got to Los Angeles but for now he focused on how they were going to do an extraction from someone whose life had changed because he could not tell the difference between reality and a dream.
---
The place that Arthur picked out for them was an apartment building that he had lived in before he went into the army. No one lived there now and the walls were covered in graffiti when they walked in the door. The person who owned the building was an acquaintance that trusted Arthur not to burn the place down so they would not be arrested for breaking and entering. Compared to places that they had worked in before it was all right but Fischer did not seem impressed.
“I was under the impression that this was a much more glamorous business, from the way you people act,” he said touching the paint on the walls.
“Then your impression was wrong,” Eames said as he pulled a few tables over to set up desks. “We’re still criminals and we’re still breaking the law. Did you think we could work out of five star hotels when people like Saito want us dead?”
“According to official documents your plane landed in Seattle an hour ago,” Arthur said looking through his phone. “There is no evidence that we touched down here and as long as no one uses a credit card with a name on it that Saito can trace, we should be able to plan here with no problems.” He helped Eames move the rest of the desks and Ariadne and Yusuf pulled various chairs to the desks and into a circle. Fischer watched them all but did nothing to help. Ariadne set a small table down where the PASIV would sit and put her hands on her hips.
“You want in on this, then you better help, too. And if you say we’re ‘working for you’ then you can sit this out locked in a closet,” she said. Yusuf snickered, Eames laughed and Arthur rolled his eyes. Fischer stared at her as if he could not believe that someone was talking to him this way but he helped her move a chair nevertheless.
The office was finally set up and it was time to start the actual planning process. The first thing he wanted to do was take Fischer into a dream but after the long plane ride and since he did not know exactly how much experience Fischer had it seemed like a bad idea. He also did not want to leave Fischer alone but they had things that needed to be bought.
“Ariadne, Yusuf, I need you to put together a list of things that you need so I can pick them up. I want to make sure someone is always here just in case,” Arthur said keeping his eyes locked on Fischer. The other man noticed but wisely did not comment on the matter. Ariadne had only a few things she needed, mostly materials to build models, and Yusuf needed supplies for his chemicals. He had to go out and get them himself at a later time and it was unspoken that they did not want to leave Ariadne with Fischer until they got her a weapon. Yusuf nodded subtly that he would be fine and Arthur glanced at Eames. Eames did not say anything, he merely grabbed the keys to one of the two cars, and they walked out of the apartment building together. The silence was deafening by the time they both got into the car.
“I’m not taking back what I said. I still think it’s the best plan,” Eames said.
“And I’m not apologizing for calling you a fucking idiot for saying it in the first place,” Arthur replied.
“You didn’t call me a fucking idiot,” Eames said incredulously.
“I didn’t? Must have slipped my mind.” Arthur turned and looked Eames square in the eye. “Eames, you’re a fucking idiot.” He could only stare at Eames for so long until the smile threatened to break through and Eames grinned. It did not matter who reached for whom, they probably reached for each other, because they were kissing hard enough to bruise. It took more self control than Arthur realized he had to pull away when Eames bit his bottom lip. “Now probably isn’t the best time.”
“I don’t know what I would do without your powers of observation, Arthur.” Eames sighed dramatically as Arthur started the car.
“You don’t know what you’d do without me period,” Arthur replied and he pulled away from the building. Eames did not reply but Arthur caught the other man smiling faintly.
---
Only after Yusuf had his supplies and Eames had a weapon within arm’s reach at all times did he finally feel some of the tension ease. Fischer was restless, once again showing that he really had no idea what he was doing, since he had obviously thought this would not take a long time. They did not let him have a phone or a computer but Arthur bought him some books after an entire day of Fischer’s pacing, when Yusuf snapped that if ‘he doesn’t stop doing that right the fuck now I’m going to sedate him.’ Fischer glared but sat down and stared at a wall. Eames smirked and looked at his teammates.
Yusuf was testing a compound against Fischer’s blood to make sure that it worked correctly. They did not want to drop the man into limbo (again) and Eames was not in any real rush to go there either. Arthur frowned deeply at his notebook because he did not need to research anything; he knew almost everything there was to know about Cobb, but he was going to have to watch their backs like never before. Eames was playing extractor and spent most of the time writing half formed ideas down and then scribbling them out. There was no one to forge so he did not need to study anyone. Ariadne, however, had put together far too complex a maze, considering who they were going up against, and that was when he decided to confront her. As he approached she looked up and beamed at him.
“How is it coming along?” he asked casually.
“Good, great even, I’m making it nice and complicated so we can run around without any problems,” Ariadne replied. She sounded far too sure of herself.
“Who would you say was your mentor?” Eames asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to her. Ariadne looked a little taken back but she looked down at her sketches.
“Well, Arthur taught me a few things, but I guess Cobb was,” she said slowly as if she was catching on.
“Hence the problem. We’re going into the mind of the man who taught you how to do this. If there is anyone who knows how to spot tricks it would be him because he was the one who taught you those tricks.” Eames looked down at the level and felt bad for her because it was a truly brilliant design. “This is great and you should hold onto it for another time. For Cobb though? You’re going to have to unlearn everything he taught you.”
“He’ll know what to look for so I have to design around the things he won’t look for, basically.” Eames nodded and Ariadne looked down at her sketch, groaning. “I was in a good mood until you came over here.” Eames smiled and turned his attention to Yusuf to see how the compound was coming along. He was about halfway to the desk when Yusuf held a hand up.
“I’ll require you to put on goggles if you insist on talking to me,” he said without looking up from what he was doing.
“Goggles? You need goggles to handle that stuff?” Fischer asked.
“I just want to know how the compound is coming along. I’m sure Arthur wants to test Fischer’s usefulness,” Eames said.
“Or lack thereof,” Arthur grumbled.
“I don’t know why I’m helping you people,” Fischer said exasperated.
“Because you’d be dead without us,” Ariadne said as he looked over at her. “Arthur 100% saved your life back in Sydney. Saito might have eventually gotten to us but he definitely would have gotten you if it weren’t for us.” Ariadne seemed to really know exactly what to say to make Fischer shut up and do what he was told. It was a useful thing to have around.
“Compound is done by the way,” Yusuf interjected.
“Good let’s see what he can do,” Arthur said. Arthur set his pen aside and walked toward the chairs where the PASIV was sitting. At any other time Fischer would have grumbled about them talking through him like he was not there but Ariadne’s words seemed to have had an impact. Eames sat down on the other side of Fischer and Yusuf worked to set everything up. He pulled out three lines, handed one to Arthur and another to Eames, but knelt down next to Fischer. Eames cleaned his arm with an alcohol wipe but watched as Yusuf injected the needle into Fischer’s arm. He gave the man a little credit for not flinching.
“How long?” Yusuf asked as he set up the timer.
“Fifteen minutes should do it,” Arthur replied. Yusuf looked to Fischer who nodded slowly, Arthur did as well and Eames smiled.
“We’ll go into Arthur’s head,” he said. Something must have shown in one of their faces because Fischer looked a little nervous now.
“Good luck,” Yusuf said. Yusuf pushed the button and he felt the chemicals rush through his veins as the world faded away.
---
Eames opened his eyes and was unsurprised to find himself standing in Arthur’s city. This was a section that they used when they needed to test something. They both knew the layout by heart but the dream itself was much more vast. There were entire sections that only the two of them had ever seen. Right now Eames was not too worried because Arthur’s projections knew him very well and were not too prone to attacking right away. That did not stop him from making sure he was armed as he made his way toward one of the safe houses. Arthur opened the door before he even had a chance to knock.
“How are we looking?” he asked as he let Eames in.
“They seem okay, for now, but we both know how twitchy you can get,” Eames replied and he saw Fischer sitting in the main room. There was a gun in front of him but he made no move to touch it. It was as if he was waiting to see what the two of them were going to do. “Twitchy is exactly what we need though.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Fischer asked.
“We’ll see how you do against them later. For now let’s see if you can even fire a gun,” Arthur replied as he walked toward the back of the house where there was a firing range. Fischer creased his eyebrows and looked down at the gun in front of him. Instead of following after Arthur right away he knelt down and began to look over the gun. He made sure there were no bullets in the chamber and that the safety was on, and when he picked it up Fischer kept his finger off of the trigger. It surprised Eames because most people outside the military and gun enthusiasts didn’t even know what trigger discipline was let alone practiced it. He was mildly impressed but knowledge and applying that knowledge were two different things.
Arthur was standing at the firing range with an expression that gave away nothing. There were several boxes of ammo on a table with several targets of various size and distance. While they were not normally used or needed there were ear plugs as well. Fischer set the gun and magazine on the table and watched Arthur.
“I’m going to ask you one more time; how much time have you spent dreaming? You don’t remember the inception, not like we remember the dreams, but you are militarized. I’d also like to remind you that as far as you going into the dream is concerned I’m the final authority. Eames might have promised you the moon and the stars but I won’t let you anywhere near the PASIV if you don’t prove to me that you’re not going to be a burden,” Arthur said with a tone that screamed ‘this is not up for debate.’
“Let me show you what I can do and then I’ll tell you,” Fischer replied. Arthur raised an eyebrow but stepped back to where Eames was standing.
“He checked the chamber before he picked it up,” Eames said softly enough that Fischer could not hear them.
“You can learn the basics from the Internet in five minutes. It means nothing,” Arthur replied. Eames shrugged and watched Fischer load the pistol in front of him. He worked efficiently but not as fast as either of them would. If he had to guess he was about as fast as Ariadne was. Eames also gave Fischer a brownie point for holding the gun properly as he lined up the shot. He was expecting one shot and maybe another if he got excited, but what Eames was not expecting was for Fischer to unload the entire round without flinching.
“Fascinating,” Eames said, ignoring Arthur when he got an elbow to the gut. Arthur pushed a button to move the targets forward as Fischer popped out the empty magazine. Fischer had hit six of the ten targets.
“Not bad, but not great either,” Arthur said as he turned to Fischer, eyes narrowed. “With that aim you could probably take out some projections if they haven’t taken cover, but it could be better.”
“I estimate I’ve spent roughly a day in the dreamworld but I used to hunt with my uncle when I was a kid,” Fischer explained. “My aim is good so what’s the problem?”
“Shooting a target and shooting something that looks like a person are two completely different things,” Arthur said. “Projections, militarized ones particularly, are violent, and in someone like Cobb they are deadly. They have no sense of self preservation and will stop at nothing to kill you. They look like people you would see walking down the street. You can hit a target, you can kill a deer, but can you kill a teenager? A kid? A grandmother? Your life, and subsequently ours as well, depends on you killing projections without remorse.” Fischer looked a little ill from where Eames was standing but he was not very surprised. There were plenty of ways of explaining the killing of projections and he knew he could trust Arthur not to sugarcoat it. Fischer looked like he was about to say something when the ground shook a little.
“What was that?” he asked.
“We’ve been discovered,” Eames replied as he opened up a closet filled with firearms. “How so you typically leave dreams, Fischer?”
“Tipped over my chair or just let the time run out, why?”
Without warning Eames turned and pointed a gun at Fischer’s head.
“You die in a dream and you wake up. That’s what the projections are trying to do, wake you and the dreamer up, because your death gets you out of their head. That’s why they are surrounding this house to kill us, to get rid of us because we’re not supposed to be here.” Fischer looked a little pale and even jumped when someone slammed into the door.
“We’ll fight them off on the roof; let’s go.” Arthur took a bag full of ammo and three different guns in hand as he made his way through the house. They heard a window break and that seemed to be the motivation Fischer needed to follow. Eames gathered his own weapons and they made their way up five flights of stairs. The front door was kicked down with such violent intent that the sound of the wood splintering echoed throughout the house. Fischer hesitated but kept moving. By the time they reached the open roof there was a stampede racing up the stairs. Arthur closed and locked the door, taking several steps away from it.
“Load your weapon and don’t hesitate,” Eames said. Fischer nodded and loaded his pistol with quick efficiency, his hands shaking a little. When the projections hit the door the wood cracked. Eames was not in the mood to die slowly but this was a point that needed to be made. They slammed into the door again and Eames raised his gun.
The projections spilled through the door and he and Arthur began firing so they were bottlenecked at the door. Eames was not surprised when he saw Fischer hesitate but when a projection pulled a gun to shoot at him he fired. While he was not entirely accurate and he didn’t make anything that could be defined as ‘clean’ kills, Fischer did manage to at least slow a good amount of them down. By then Arthur’s entire mind was coming after them and the first of the projections got past their fire. There was an odd moment where they seemed like they were not sure who to attack. Arthur’s mind knew Eames but Eames was also the dreamer. In the end they swarmed both of them but Fischer was not trained in hand to hand combat at all. They quickly overwhelmed him and began to beat the man brutally. He screamed and begged, but Eames was too busy trying to stop a five year old from gutting him to do anything.
Eames heard a single gunshot and turned just in time to see Arthur lowering his gun after shooting a now dead, and awake, Fischer. Without hesitation Arthur snatched Eames’ hand and threw them both off of the building.
---
Eames was not surprised to find that Fischer was shaken by the entire incident but apparently he was still adamant about going with them. All eyes turned to Arthur who let the man squirm for twenty minutes before agreeing that he could be useful as a moving target if nothing else. Fischer glared but did not comment further on the matter. Instead he set aside his book and went over to Ariadne’s desk. She was surprised but also seemed to enjoy answering any questions he asked her. He seemed to know that the rest of them would not answer his questions about the basics and Yusuf’s relief at finally being left alone was palpable.
---
Four weeks later and they had a plan. Unfortunately, it involved Ariadne going into the dream because Eames did not trust her to watch them with Fischer involved. The man could shoot himself out of the dream at any time and overwhelm her. Ariadne was almost offended until she realized that being trusted to stay and keep Cobb alive in the dream was a compliment. Eames was also fairly sure that Yusuf was thanking various deities that he did not have to under again. Eames would be the dreamer to keep attention as far away from Cobb and Ariadne as possible. They planned to go in the next day. Eames was alone in the apartment with Arthur. They were both stretched out on the lawn chairs with no intention of using the PASIV despite how tempting it was.
“I’m performing an extraction on Cobb in less than twelve hours,” Arthur said. “I’m going to break into the safe house I arranged for him, drug him and break into his mind.”
“I should remind you that you’ve been in his mind plenty of times,” Eames pointed out but he also knew that was not the problem.
“He doesn’t know I’m going to be there though. He thinks he’s completely safe right now and he’s not. Because I’m going in there to extract from him.” Arthur laughed and it sounded bitter. “I’m not very good at this friendship thing, am I.”
“No worse off than I am; it’s why we work so well together.” Eames sat up and looked down at Arthur. “You are not a good person--”
“You’re really terrible at this ‘making people feel better’ thing--”
“--but neither am I. Good people wouldn’t do what we do but do you know who else isn’t a good person? Dominic Cobb. He altered a man’s thoughts for a client who wanted the competition out of the way. He stamped all of our passports with a one way trip to limbo. You’re not going into the mind of a good man because a good man wouldn’t touch what we do with a ten foot pole.”
Arthur stared at Eames and he could practically hear the wheels in Arthur’s head turning as he processed this information. Arthur sat up, took Eames by the tie and yanked him into a rough kiss. Their teeth knocked together and the angle was all wrong but it did give Eames the opportunity to push Arthur back into the chair. Arthur ran his hands through Eames’ hair and fisted the strands, pulling them tight. They fought, like they always did, and Eames countered by digging his fingernails into Arthur’s hips hard enough to bruise.
Time never seemed to matter when they were together like this. Eames was fairly sure the apartment building could fall apart and neither of them would notice, so he was not sure how long they made out this way, but he noticed that they both pulled away at the same time. Arthur was breathing hard, his lips swollen, and they both stared at each other. Normal people, right now, would say something to each other but they were hardly normal people.
“We should get some sleep,” Arthur said. “And then we’ll go be bad men.” Eames grinned and pulled Arthur into another kiss.
---
Arthur knew the safe house better than anyone. So it was easy for him to walk right in while Cobb, Miles and the kids were sleeping. He stood in the doorway and looked at the sleeping forms of James and Phillipa. This would probably be the last time he was ever going to see them yet it did nothing to dampen his confidence. He closed their door and locked it from the outside. Miles was asleep in the next room with Marie and Arthur gave them exactly the right amount of sedative to keep them asleep.
By the time he got to Cobb’s room all worry had faded away. Eames was right, I’m not a good man, and I’m doing what I need to live, he thought. The way Cobb did not stir as Arthur approached spoke volumes about how being a stay at home dad had made him soft. His eyes never opened and his breathing never changed as Arthur slid the needle into his arm. Like most dreamers, it did not even phase him. Eames, Yusuf, Ariadne and Fischer walked into the room and locked the door from the inside.
“I’m giving you seven hours in there but I can bet he’ll realize something is wrong by then,” Yusuf explained as he set up Ariadne and Fischer’s needles. Arthur did his own, as did Eames, though neither of them said a word. “Someone should kick themselves out as soon as possible and we’ll wake up the rest that way.”
“Sounds good,” Arthur replied. “Are you ready?” Ariadne smiled a little and Fischer was fidgety but he nodded. Arthur looked at Eames lying next to him; they would be taking care of the projections and searching for the information. Eames grinned, they bumped fists (Ariadne scoffed and Arthur could practically hear Yusuf’s eye roll) and Arthur nodded. “Good luck.” Yusuf pushed the button, the PASIV hissed to life, and Arthur closed his eyes as the world faded away.
back forward
Author: safaiagem
Artist: sin-repent
Word Count: 37,206
Rating: hard R
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Eames, ensemble
Warnings Sexual content, violence, language
Summary: After an attempt on Cobb's life leaves him in hiding Arthur and Eames begin to look into who could have taken out the hit. While they are eating dinner an assassin tries to kill them as well. They quickly move in and save Ariadne and Yusuf but the four of them find that they are in way over their heads. They must find help in an extremely unlikely source and keep one step ahead of a man willing to put any price on their heads.
I Took A Ride To Meet An Enemy
Part Six
“I want in,” Fischer said as soon as he heard what they were doing. Eames wanted to punch the man. He was a millionaire with no experience and the last time they had had a tourist it was nothing short of disaster. Judging by the way Yusuf stared, Ariadne looking like she had something to say but stopping herself from speaking, and Arthur’s eyebrows knit together they were not thrilled with the idea. Eames did not want to babysit someone who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
“I don’t think so,” Arthur said. “Cobb is highly militarized and won’t like having his mind being broken into. The last thing we need is someone tagging along.”
“You didn’t know I was militarized, so how do you know how much experience I have?” Fischer said looking a little too smug. “This man took something from me and now I want to take something from him.”
“The absolute last thing we need is someone dragging baggage into the dream. That never ends well for anyone and we won’t have another shot at this,” Eames explained trying to be rational but coming off a little too rough around the edges.
“I’m not getting left out of this, otherwise I’ll walk away right now. At the moment we have a deal because I owe you for saving my life, though I would argue that you owe me much more than that considering what you did to my head, but I’m still here cooperating. That can change and I will find a way to make this as hard as possible for all involved. I’m going.” Fischer was really on a roll now and someone that was not willing to back down. The man that yearned for his father’s attention, the man whose head they had planted an idea in, was not the person that was standing before them. Eames had his suspicions that the only reason why Fischer was not angry about the inception was because he actually seemed a little happier. That had not been something that they could plant and it was a side effect that made him smirk just a little. Arthur, however, looked like he was about to blow a gasket and if he didn’t stop clenching his jaw like that he was going to break his teeth.
“Let’s see what you can do and we’ll talk,” Eames said despite the fact that it was Arthur who was going to have to watch Fischer’s back in the dream. “For now let’s get out of the city alive.” That seemed enough to convince Fischer who held out a hand for his cell phone, no doubt to make arrangements. Arthur glared but reached into his pocket to retrieve the phone.
“I have this line tapped and will know everything you say, so don’t bother trying to call for help,” Arthur said dangerously as Fischer took the phone.
“I’m in plenty of danger but not from any of you.” Fischer walked a few steps away to dial a number. Once he was out of earshot Arthur looked at Eames; he was furious.
“What were you thinking, telling him that? I don’t even want him hooked up to a PASIV,” Arthur said as Yusuf and Ariadne moved closer.
“It’s bad enough we’re doing an extraction on Cobb; we really shouldn’t be taking strangers with us, especially strangers with a grudge,” Ariadne said softly.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Arthur reminded her for the fourth time, but she smiled tightly.
“You’re going to do it with or without me so I might as well build you a level you can stay alive in,” she replied. Yusuf did not voice any problems with the plans but seemed a little uneasy as well, not that Eames could really blame him. There was no telling what kind of ghosts still lingered in Cobb’s mind and no one wanted to stare down those kind of angry projections.
“If he’s any good, we have backup, and if he’s useless, we have cannon fodder. Either way we need him and you know that,” Eames explained. Arthur stared at him, eyes narrowed, until he turned on his heels and left the room in a huff. They had had fights before just like any other partnership but this one was different. Speaking of people that might not be so forgiving, Eames thought as the door closed. Ariadne took his hand and squeezed it, like she had some sort of understanding of what they were, but he did not reject the sentiment. They were Arthur and Eames, Eames and Arthur, and despite the possibility that this could cause a rift between them Eames was not going anywhere.
“I got us a flight to LA that leaves in two hours,” Fischer said, turning around, oblivious to their conversation.
“Then we better get ready,” Ariadne said softly giving Eames’ hand one last squeeze. Yusuf clapped him on the shoulder as he walked out of the room and he was left staring down Robert Fischer.
“You won’t like me as an enemy, Fischer, so make sure you think very carefully about everything you do from here on out.” Eames was not trying to sound too threatening, and judging by the way Fischer raised both of his eyebrows he knew the point had gotten across, but the younger man was not intimidated.
“I don’t want any more enemies,” Fischer replied. Eames smirked to himself and left the room; he did not want any more enemies either.
---
It turned out that getting out of the country with Fischer and a private plane made things much easier. As far as Arthur could tell Browning knew that Fischer was all right but taking some time away because of the shooting. If that was some sort of code for something he was going to be very annoyed, but Fischer seemed interested in this job. Arthur wanted to come up with a way to keep the other man out of the dream but after what Eames had said it seemed like it was going to be impossible. Fischer was militarized but that did not mean he knew what being in a dream entailed, and they had no idea what his subconscious could bring in. There were too many variables and too many things that could go wrong.
He was angry at Eames because this was their only chance and he did not want a tourist ruin it. This did not feel like any of their other fights, this one felt different, and Arthur was not sure why. He wondered if it had something to do with the fact that it was more than just their lives on the line. If it was just the two of them it would not have been as big of a deal but Ariadne, Cobb and Yusuf were all mixed up in this mess as well. He had to make sure this worked or someone would suffer for it, and Arthur could live with a lot on his conscience but their lives were not one of them.
Eames was on the other side of the plane because he seemed to know that Arthur needed space to clear his head but Ariadne did not have that instinct when it came to him. An hour into their flight she sat down across from him. Arthur did not look up from the notes he was taking, did not acknowledge her, and hoped that she would go away because he did not want to talk about it.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Arthur replied.
“I’m not worried about it but I am worried about the two of you. I’ve never seen you actually fight before.” Ariadne folded her hands on the table.
“To be fair you haven’t known us that long either.” Arthur set his pen down and stared back at Ariadne. “Eames and I have been working together for a long time so of course we have disagreements. He knows why I’m angry and he also has the sense to leave me alone when I need it.”
“Don’t you get huffy at me because you two are fighting,” Ariadne snapped. “And did you say you’ve been ‘working’ with Eames for a long time?”
“Yes, that’s what I said. Why?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Ariadne waved him off and snatched the pen out of his hand, no doubt so he could not ignore her. “You’re worried about the job, I get it, but so is he.”
“I know why he did what he did, Ariadne, I’m not an idiot. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have another tourist and that it didn’t end well the last time.” Arthur took his pen back from her and turned back to his notebook. Ariadne did not stay much longer and when she got up he assumed that she would try to talk to Eames. There were many things Ariadne understood and even more that she could come to understand but his partnership with Eames was not one of them. He would talk to his partner when they got to Los Angeles but for now he focused on how they were going to do an extraction from someone whose life had changed because he could not tell the difference between reality and a dream.
---
The place that Arthur picked out for them was an apartment building that he had lived in before he went into the army. No one lived there now and the walls were covered in graffiti when they walked in the door. The person who owned the building was an acquaintance that trusted Arthur not to burn the place down so they would not be arrested for breaking and entering. Compared to places that they had worked in before it was all right but Fischer did not seem impressed.
“I was under the impression that this was a much more glamorous business, from the way you people act,” he said touching the paint on the walls.
“Then your impression was wrong,” Eames said as he pulled a few tables over to set up desks. “We’re still criminals and we’re still breaking the law. Did you think we could work out of five star hotels when people like Saito want us dead?”
“According to official documents your plane landed in Seattle an hour ago,” Arthur said looking through his phone. “There is no evidence that we touched down here and as long as no one uses a credit card with a name on it that Saito can trace, we should be able to plan here with no problems.” He helped Eames move the rest of the desks and Ariadne and Yusuf pulled various chairs to the desks and into a circle. Fischer watched them all but did nothing to help. Ariadne set a small table down where the PASIV would sit and put her hands on her hips.
“You want in on this, then you better help, too. And if you say we’re ‘working for you’ then you can sit this out locked in a closet,” she said. Yusuf snickered, Eames laughed and Arthur rolled his eyes. Fischer stared at her as if he could not believe that someone was talking to him this way but he helped her move a chair nevertheless.
The office was finally set up and it was time to start the actual planning process. The first thing he wanted to do was take Fischer into a dream but after the long plane ride and since he did not know exactly how much experience Fischer had it seemed like a bad idea. He also did not want to leave Fischer alone but they had things that needed to be bought.
“Ariadne, Yusuf, I need you to put together a list of things that you need so I can pick them up. I want to make sure someone is always here just in case,” Arthur said keeping his eyes locked on Fischer. The other man noticed but wisely did not comment on the matter. Ariadne had only a few things she needed, mostly materials to build models, and Yusuf needed supplies for his chemicals. He had to go out and get them himself at a later time and it was unspoken that they did not want to leave Ariadne with Fischer until they got her a weapon. Yusuf nodded subtly that he would be fine and Arthur glanced at Eames. Eames did not say anything, he merely grabbed the keys to one of the two cars, and they walked out of the apartment building together. The silence was deafening by the time they both got into the car.
“I’m not taking back what I said. I still think it’s the best plan,” Eames said.
“And I’m not apologizing for calling you a fucking idiot for saying it in the first place,” Arthur replied.
“You didn’t call me a fucking idiot,” Eames said incredulously.
“I didn’t? Must have slipped my mind.” Arthur turned and looked Eames square in the eye. “Eames, you’re a fucking idiot.” He could only stare at Eames for so long until the smile threatened to break through and Eames grinned. It did not matter who reached for whom, they probably reached for each other, because they were kissing hard enough to bruise. It took more self control than Arthur realized he had to pull away when Eames bit his bottom lip. “Now probably isn’t the best time.”
“I don’t know what I would do without your powers of observation, Arthur.” Eames sighed dramatically as Arthur started the car.
“You don’t know what you’d do without me period,” Arthur replied and he pulled away from the building. Eames did not reply but Arthur caught the other man smiling faintly.
---
Only after Yusuf had his supplies and Eames had a weapon within arm’s reach at all times did he finally feel some of the tension ease. Fischer was restless, once again showing that he really had no idea what he was doing, since he had obviously thought this would not take a long time. They did not let him have a phone or a computer but Arthur bought him some books after an entire day of Fischer’s pacing, when Yusuf snapped that if ‘he doesn’t stop doing that right the fuck now I’m going to sedate him.’ Fischer glared but sat down and stared at a wall. Eames smirked and looked at his teammates.
Yusuf was testing a compound against Fischer’s blood to make sure that it worked correctly. They did not want to drop the man into limbo (again) and Eames was not in any real rush to go there either. Arthur frowned deeply at his notebook because he did not need to research anything; he knew almost everything there was to know about Cobb, but he was going to have to watch their backs like never before. Eames was playing extractor and spent most of the time writing half formed ideas down and then scribbling them out. There was no one to forge so he did not need to study anyone. Ariadne, however, had put together far too complex a maze, considering who they were going up against, and that was when he decided to confront her. As he approached she looked up and beamed at him.
“How is it coming along?” he asked casually.
“Good, great even, I’m making it nice and complicated so we can run around without any problems,” Ariadne replied. She sounded far too sure of herself.
“Who would you say was your mentor?” Eames asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to her. Ariadne looked a little taken back but she looked down at her sketches.
“Well, Arthur taught me a few things, but I guess Cobb was,” she said slowly as if she was catching on.
“Hence the problem. We’re going into the mind of the man who taught you how to do this. If there is anyone who knows how to spot tricks it would be him because he was the one who taught you those tricks.” Eames looked down at the level and felt bad for her because it was a truly brilliant design. “This is great and you should hold onto it for another time. For Cobb though? You’re going to have to unlearn everything he taught you.”
“He’ll know what to look for so I have to design around the things he won’t look for, basically.” Eames nodded and Ariadne looked down at her sketch, groaning. “I was in a good mood until you came over here.” Eames smiled and turned his attention to Yusuf to see how the compound was coming along. He was about halfway to the desk when Yusuf held a hand up.
“I’ll require you to put on goggles if you insist on talking to me,” he said without looking up from what he was doing.
“Goggles? You need goggles to handle that stuff?” Fischer asked.
“I just want to know how the compound is coming along. I’m sure Arthur wants to test Fischer’s usefulness,” Eames said.
“Or lack thereof,” Arthur grumbled.
“I don’t know why I’m helping you people,” Fischer said exasperated.
“Because you’d be dead without us,” Ariadne said as he looked over at her. “Arthur 100% saved your life back in Sydney. Saito might have eventually gotten to us but he definitely would have gotten you if it weren’t for us.” Ariadne seemed to really know exactly what to say to make Fischer shut up and do what he was told. It was a useful thing to have around.
“Compound is done by the way,” Yusuf interjected.
“Good let’s see what he can do,” Arthur said. Arthur set his pen aside and walked toward the chairs where the PASIV was sitting. At any other time Fischer would have grumbled about them talking through him like he was not there but Ariadne’s words seemed to have had an impact. Eames sat down on the other side of Fischer and Yusuf worked to set everything up. He pulled out three lines, handed one to Arthur and another to Eames, but knelt down next to Fischer. Eames cleaned his arm with an alcohol wipe but watched as Yusuf injected the needle into Fischer’s arm. He gave the man a little credit for not flinching.
“How long?” Yusuf asked as he set up the timer.
“Fifteen minutes should do it,” Arthur replied. Yusuf looked to Fischer who nodded slowly, Arthur did as well and Eames smiled.
“We’ll go into Arthur’s head,” he said. Something must have shown in one of their faces because Fischer looked a little nervous now.
“Good luck,” Yusuf said. Yusuf pushed the button and he felt the chemicals rush through his veins as the world faded away.
---
Eames opened his eyes and was unsurprised to find himself standing in Arthur’s city. This was a section that they used when they needed to test something. They both knew the layout by heart but the dream itself was much more vast. There were entire sections that only the two of them had ever seen. Right now Eames was not too worried because Arthur’s projections knew him very well and were not too prone to attacking right away. That did not stop him from making sure he was armed as he made his way toward one of the safe houses. Arthur opened the door before he even had a chance to knock.
“How are we looking?” he asked as he let Eames in.
“They seem okay, for now, but we both know how twitchy you can get,” Eames replied and he saw Fischer sitting in the main room. There was a gun in front of him but he made no move to touch it. It was as if he was waiting to see what the two of them were going to do. “Twitchy is exactly what we need though.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Fischer asked.
“We’ll see how you do against them later. For now let’s see if you can even fire a gun,” Arthur replied as he walked toward the back of the house where there was a firing range. Fischer creased his eyebrows and looked down at the gun in front of him. Instead of following after Arthur right away he knelt down and began to look over the gun. He made sure there were no bullets in the chamber and that the safety was on, and when he picked it up Fischer kept his finger off of the trigger. It surprised Eames because most people outside the military and gun enthusiasts didn’t even know what trigger discipline was let alone practiced it. He was mildly impressed but knowledge and applying that knowledge were two different things.
Arthur was standing at the firing range with an expression that gave away nothing. There were several boxes of ammo on a table with several targets of various size and distance. While they were not normally used or needed there were ear plugs as well. Fischer set the gun and magazine on the table and watched Arthur.
“I’m going to ask you one more time; how much time have you spent dreaming? You don’t remember the inception, not like we remember the dreams, but you are militarized. I’d also like to remind you that as far as you going into the dream is concerned I’m the final authority. Eames might have promised you the moon and the stars but I won’t let you anywhere near the PASIV if you don’t prove to me that you’re not going to be a burden,” Arthur said with a tone that screamed ‘this is not up for debate.’
“Let me show you what I can do and then I’ll tell you,” Fischer replied. Arthur raised an eyebrow but stepped back to where Eames was standing.
“He checked the chamber before he picked it up,” Eames said softly enough that Fischer could not hear them.
“You can learn the basics from the Internet in five minutes. It means nothing,” Arthur replied. Eames shrugged and watched Fischer load the pistol in front of him. He worked efficiently but not as fast as either of them would. If he had to guess he was about as fast as Ariadne was. Eames also gave Fischer a brownie point for holding the gun properly as he lined up the shot. He was expecting one shot and maybe another if he got excited, but what Eames was not expecting was for Fischer to unload the entire round without flinching.
“Fascinating,” Eames said, ignoring Arthur when he got an elbow to the gut. Arthur pushed a button to move the targets forward as Fischer popped out the empty magazine. Fischer had hit six of the ten targets.
“Not bad, but not great either,” Arthur said as he turned to Fischer, eyes narrowed. “With that aim you could probably take out some projections if they haven’t taken cover, but it could be better.”
“I estimate I’ve spent roughly a day in the dreamworld but I used to hunt with my uncle when I was a kid,” Fischer explained. “My aim is good so what’s the problem?”
“Shooting a target and shooting something that looks like a person are two completely different things,” Arthur said. “Projections, militarized ones particularly, are violent, and in someone like Cobb they are deadly. They have no sense of self preservation and will stop at nothing to kill you. They look like people you would see walking down the street. You can hit a target, you can kill a deer, but can you kill a teenager? A kid? A grandmother? Your life, and subsequently ours as well, depends on you killing projections without remorse.” Fischer looked a little ill from where Eames was standing but he was not very surprised. There were plenty of ways of explaining the killing of projections and he knew he could trust Arthur not to sugarcoat it. Fischer looked like he was about to say something when the ground shook a little.
“What was that?” he asked.
“We’ve been discovered,” Eames replied as he opened up a closet filled with firearms. “How so you typically leave dreams, Fischer?”
“Tipped over my chair or just let the time run out, why?”
Without warning Eames turned and pointed a gun at Fischer’s head.
“You die in a dream and you wake up. That’s what the projections are trying to do, wake you and the dreamer up, because your death gets you out of their head. That’s why they are surrounding this house to kill us, to get rid of us because we’re not supposed to be here.” Fischer looked a little pale and even jumped when someone slammed into the door.
“We’ll fight them off on the roof; let’s go.” Arthur took a bag full of ammo and three different guns in hand as he made his way through the house. They heard a window break and that seemed to be the motivation Fischer needed to follow. Eames gathered his own weapons and they made their way up five flights of stairs. The front door was kicked down with such violent intent that the sound of the wood splintering echoed throughout the house. Fischer hesitated but kept moving. By the time they reached the open roof there was a stampede racing up the stairs. Arthur closed and locked the door, taking several steps away from it.
“Load your weapon and don’t hesitate,” Eames said. Fischer nodded and loaded his pistol with quick efficiency, his hands shaking a little. When the projections hit the door the wood cracked. Eames was not in the mood to die slowly but this was a point that needed to be made. They slammed into the door again and Eames raised his gun.
The projections spilled through the door and he and Arthur began firing so they were bottlenecked at the door. Eames was not surprised when he saw Fischer hesitate but when a projection pulled a gun to shoot at him he fired. While he was not entirely accurate and he didn’t make anything that could be defined as ‘clean’ kills, Fischer did manage to at least slow a good amount of them down. By then Arthur’s entire mind was coming after them and the first of the projections got past their fire. There was an odd moment where they seemed like they were not sure who to attack. Arthur’s mind knew Eames but Eames was also the dreamer. In the end they swarmed both of them but Fischer was not trained in hand to hand combat at all. They quickly overwhelmed him and began to beat the man brutally. He screamed and begged, but Eames was too busy trying to stop a five year old from gutting him to do anything.
Eames heard a single gunshot and turned just in time to see Arthur lowering his gun after shooting a now dead, and awake, Fischer. Without hesitation Arthur snatched Eames’ hand and threw them both off of the building.
---
Eames was not surprised to find that Fischer was shaken by the entire incident but apparently he was still adamant about going with them. All eyes turned to Arthur who let the man squirm for twenty minutes before agreeing that he could be useful as a moving target if nothing else. Fischer glared but did not comment further on the matter. Instead he set aside his book and went over to Ariadne’s desk. She was surprised but also seemed to enjoy answering any questions he asked her. He seemed to know that the rest of them would not answer his questions about the basics and Yusuf’s relief at finally being left alone was palpable.
---
Four weeks later and they had a plan. Unfortunately, it involved Ariadne going into the dream because Eames did not trust her to watch them with Fischer involved. The man could shoot himself out of the dream at any time and overwhelm her. Ariadne was almost offended until she realized that being trusted to stay and keep Cobb alive in the dream was a compliment. Eames was also fairly sure that Yusuf was thanking various deities that he did not have to under again. Eames would be the dreamer to keep attention as far away from Cobb and Ariadne as possible. They planned to go in the next day. Eames was alone in the apartment with Arthur. They were both stretched out on the lawn chairs with no intention of using the PASIV despite how tempting it was.
“I’m performing an extraction on Cobb in less than twelve hours,” Arthur said. “I’m going to break into the safe house I arranged for him, drug him and break into his mind.”
“I should remind you that you’ve been in his mind plenty of times,” Eames pointed out but he also knew that was not the problem.
“He doesn’t know I’m going to be there though. He thinks he’s completely safe right now and he’s not. Because I’m going in there to extract from him.” Arthur laughed and it sounded bitter. “I’m not very good at this friendship thing, am I.”
“No worse off than I am; it’s why we work so well together.” Eames sat up and looked down at Arthur. “You are not a good person--”
“You’re really terrible at this ‘making people feel better’ thing--”
“--but neither am I. Good people wouldn’t do what we do but do you know who else isn’t a good person? Dominic Cobb. He altered a man’s thoughts for a client who wanted the competition out of the way. He stamped all of our passports with a one way trip to limbo. You’re not going into the mind of a good man because a good man wouldn’t touch what we do with a ten foot pole.”
Arthur stared at Eames and he could practically hear the wheels in Arthur’s head turning as he processed this information. Arthur sat up, took Eames by the tie and yanked him into a rough kiss. Their teeth knocked together and the angle was all wrong but it did give Eames the opportunity to push Arthur back into the chair. Arthur ran his hands through Eames’ hair and fisted the strands, pulling them tight. They fought, like they always did, and Eames countered by digging his fingernails into Arthur’s hips hard enough to bruise.
Time never seemed to matter when they were together like this. Eames was fairly sure the apartment building could fall apart and neither of them would notice, so he was not sure how long they made out this way, but he noticed that they both pulled away at the same time. Arthur was breathing hard, his lips swollen, and they both stared at each other. Normal people, right now, would say something to each other but they were hardly normal people.
“We should get some sleep,” Arthur said. “And then we’ll go be bad men.” Eames grinned and pulled Arthur into another kiss.
---
Arthur knew the safe house better than anyone. So it was easy for him to walk right in while Cobb, Miles and the kids were sleeping. He stood in the doorway and looked at the sleeping forms of James and Phillipa. This would probably be the last time he was ever going to see them yet it did nothing to dampen his confidence. He closed their door and locked it from the outside. Miles was asleep in the next room with Marie and Arthur gave them exactly the right amount of sedative to keep them asleep.
By the time he got to Cobb’s room all worry had faded away. Eames was right, I’m not a good man, and I’m doing what I need to live, he thought. The way Cobb did not stir as Arthur approached spoke volumes about how being a stay at home dad had made him soft. His eyes never opened and his breathing never changed as Arthur slid the needle into his arm. Like most dreamers, it did not even phase him. Eames, Yusuf, Ariadne and Fischer walked into the room and locked the door from the inside.
“I’m giving you seven hours in there but I can bet he’ll realize something is wrong by then,” Yusuf explained as he set up Ariadne and Fischer’s needles. Arthur did his own, as did Eames, though neither of them said a word. “Someone should kick themselves out as soon as possible and we’ll wake up the rest that way.”
“Sounds good,” Arthur replied. “Are you ready?” Ariadne smiled a little and Fischer was fidgety but he nodded. Arthur looked at Eames lying next to him; they would be taking care of the projections and searching for the information. Eames grinned, they bumped fists (Ariadne scoffed and Arthur could practically hear Yusuf’s eye roll) and Arthur nodded. “Good luck.” Yusuf pushed the button, the PASIV hissed to life, and Arthur closed his eyes as the world faded away.
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