Beauty In The Breakdown, 1/3. NC-17
Title: Beauty In The Breakdown
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17 (One scene in this chapter. There's quite a bit of plot actually...)
Pairing: Ariadne/Arthur/Eames, River/Jayne
Disclaimer: Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan and not to me. Firefly/Serenity belongs to Joss Whedon. Their toys are fun to play with!
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-movie for both fandoms. For the inception_kink meme prompt in round 6: After being captured by the infant organization known simply as Blue Sun for their technology and knowledge, Arthur, Ariadne, and Eames awaken from stasis hundreds of years in the future in the cargo hold of Serenity. Slightly different from the prompt, but I hope it still works out. :) Title and chapter titles are from Frou Frou's "Let Go."
Summary: Most people think of Blue Sun as a research and development company, a place where new tech is tested for the good of the Alliance worlds. It was around for much longer than people realized, and not all of their research was intended to benefit the masses. Mal finds something in their storerooms while looking for archival data that changes things for the crew of Serenity.
"Well, well, well. What have we got here?"
The guard kept his jaw clenched tight, but Mal Reynolds held a gun against his temple and nudged it none too gently. "I don't have the key," the guard spat.
"Oh, I don't rightly believe that go se," Mal replied amiably. "That's a part of the storeroom that's guarded quite closely. I'm sure there's something very valuable in there, and it would be mighty interesting to see." He gave the guard a smile that wasn't heartwarming in the slightest. "Or I could let my compatriot blow the whole thing wide open and we'll see what's left of the room. It's less messy this way, dong ma?"
Stiffly, the guard accessed the panel and the doors slid open. "There."
Mal gave him a mocking bow, and indicated that he should go in first. "After you."
The guard entered the storeroom, flipping on the lights. There were three rectangular metallic boxes that were connected to a single power cell, and there was nothing else in the room. For this level of security, to be buried at the very back of a complicated system of storerooms, whatever was in those boxes had to be important. Considering that this particular group of storage facilities were owned by Blue Sun, Mal had no intention of leaving it behind. They were the financial backers of the Academy and the Alliance government. Following the revelation about the Alliance's actions on Miranda, there were multiple skirmishes on border worlds and even Londinium had its share of anti-Alliance battles. The Independents were likely ready to band together, though Mal wasn't sure where he would fall if a full on civil war broke out.
Either way, he didn't hold with the Alliance's level of interference. By extension, he didn't hold with Blue Sun's experiments either.
The guard helped Jayne load up the three boxes on the skid. They were bulky and heavy, and Jayne complained about it. The power cell was accidentally disconnected, and the guard seemed nervous about it. "You can't let them power down!" he blurted, rushing forward to try to reconnect the boxes. "They have to stay connected! It's by order of the president!"
Jayne palmed the power cell. "This don't even hold much in it. Can't be that big a thing in there," he said, peering at the three boxes. None were marked, and there was no indication of how to open them.
Mal held the guard at gunpoint. "You might want to be explaining that comment."
"This is part of the CEO's personal collection," the guard said, looking for all the world as if he wished he hadn't spoken. "They're not to be disturbed."
"Well, I'm disturbing 'em," Mal declared. He pistolwhipped the guard and watched dispassionately as he fell to the ground unconscious. "Jayne, start up the skid. We probably will be noticed soon. Zoe's good, but she's not that good."
Jayne shoved the power cell into his pocket and started up the skid. It was weighted down heavily by the three bulky boxes, but even with their weight, his and Mal's, it was able to maneuver through the storage facility toward the exit. Zoe was keeping the front office hostage while some of Badger's men were raiding another building. This particular one had been cleared out of all items except for these three boxes in a locked back room. Mal could only hope that it wasn't something that would explode once they opened the boxes up in Serenity's cargo hold. Jayne could only hope it was state of the art weaponry.
River's eyes were large and round as saucers when she saw the boxes being pulled into the hold. She backed up and away from them, shaking her head. "They shouldn't exist," she said desperately. Mal was ignoring her, so she went to Jayne. "Please, it's improbable for preservation to have taken hold after so long. There's likely to be damage, you can't hurt them, Jayne, please."
He frowned at her and carefully pulled her fingers off of his arm. "I got no idea what you're talking 'bout, crazy girl. I thought you was sane?"
"That has an unstable containment field!" River screeched, pushing at his chest. "You don't know what will happen! You could kill them! You can't let them die!"
"Doc!" Jayne bellowed, holding River at arm's length. Just when he thought she was sane... "Git yer feng le sister offa me!"
As Simon entered the cargo bay, there was a hissing sound from one of the containers. As the others looked on in shock, the containers seemed to break apart. Supercooled air seeped out and rolled into low clouds of steam. River made a low whimpering sound and looked up at Jayne beseechingly. "It's been too long. What if they're damaged like I was?"
Jayne's mouth snapped shut and he awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Look. The doc's good at what he does. It'll be all right."
It didn't occur to Jayne until much later that River had known there was a they to be concerned about. At first, Mal was concerned with a silver briefcase and a box full of vials. As the rolling smoke cleared a bit more, he backed up with a cry of surprise. "Wo de ma!" He looked around frantically for Simon. "Doc! Git over here and do some doctoring!"
Each box held a silver briefcase and a box full of vials. Neither were marked, and were tucked into a corner of the large box. The rest of the box was taken up by the curled and naked form of a human being in stasis. As soon as Simon realized this, he immediately ordered Jayne and Mal to help him get the three people into the infirmary. There were two men and a woman, eyes closed and skin freezing from the cryostasis chemicals. It wasn't a combination that Simon was familiar with, though he had only paid attention to the compounds that would have been in River's containment unit. He hadn't much cared for cryostasis mechanics, as there had been so much else to memorize in MedAcad and during his surgical residency.
"Where's the readout display?" Simon barked, sliding easily into his role of surgeon. Mal and Jayne looked at him blankly. River was swaying on her feet near the boxes, her face drawn and pale, her hands clenched tightly together at her chest. "Mei mei, this probably brings back bad memories..."
"I don't hear them, Simon. They're silent. There aren't any voices. There are supposed to be voices." She was starting to get agitated, and Simon was tempted to find a smoother to inject in her arm to help her calm down. He had thought she was better after the Miranda incident. Perhaps it was only a temporary fix?
River's eyes cleared and stared at him with perfect clarity. "There is more to life than sanity, Simon. You would do well to remember that fact."
Simon looked away when her eyes seemed to shift again, and he looked through the three stasis chambers. "What model is this?"
Zoe had been looking through all three boxes, and Kaylee had come running at the commotion. "I don't see nothing looking like a standard stasis chamber." She shook her head and looked at Simon. "Whatever Blue Sun had planned for those three, they didn't want anyone knowing about it."
Simon muttered under his breath and jogged back to the infirmary. The three frozen bodies took up every available surface in the tiny infirmary, but he wanted to be near the equipment. He was flying blind, then, not knowing what their baseline core temperature would have been. Sensors tracked their core temperatures, which was rising at a steady linear rate. He starting running lines of fluids, particularly the lactated ringer's solution. He had no idea what their basal metabolism would have been, and he could easily over correct glucose levels after the fact; it would be harder for him to reverse brain damage from starved cells as the bodies began to thaw. Quick and dirty scans revealed no obvious tissue damage, no broken bones, no thermal damage. When the temperature started climbing at an exponential rate, Simon swore a blue streak that even gave Mal pause. He barked out orders for cooling blankets to cover all three of the bodies to slow the rate of the thaw. If it was too rapid, ice crystals within the cells would shear them apart, and the three people would die right there.
River stood outside of the infirmary, fingers pressed against the glass. Kaylee tried to distract her, tried to remind her that the ship needed to have its pilot. But River had already set the coordinates, and Serenity was more than capable of flying to Whitehall on its own. The taller of the two men had more finely chiseled features and black hair. He had a lean build, and River recognized calluses on his hands from writing and firing weapons. The other man had a more muscular build, lighter hair and a fine stubble across his cheeks. The calluses on his thick fingers were more pronounced, and River could almost catch a flash of an insouciant grin toward the others. The woman was petite, slender and built along lithe lines. She was the sort that the Alliance had liked to recruit into the Academy; girls like that tended to be from wealthy families, much like River had been, and had all sorts of connections that could be used. Plus, they tended to be overlooked in crowds, and no one thought they could be assassins. There was still the default stance that men were the violent ones, and that women weren't always as capable. Mal obviously didn't hold to such antiquated notions.
She was startled by the sight of impossible buildings and paradoxes and the lilt of music in a language long dead. River closed her eyes and tried to follow the flashes. They were faint, little more than faint impressions from their minds. They didn't have linear coherent thoughts yet, but there was something there, hidden deep down in hidden layers in their minds. It was like following a thread through a maze, hoping she didn't lose track of it in the dark. It was like floating in the black, only a slim tether keeping her tied to Serenity. River could feel Kaylee beside her, knew that she was saying something comforting and supportive, as Kaylee often did.
Hold on, she told them, opening her eyes. My brother will do all he can, and he might just be able to save you.
***
River was dreaming of paradoxes, gunfire and an impossible spire on the head of a pin. It was like before, outside the infirmary, only much clearer and more coherent. The woman, a thread, was weaving through the darkness of a maze and would lead the others after her. They had seen the monster, had been cornered by it. They had been in over their heads, and the monster had been more than a minotaur, more than an army within a mind. She woke and tucked one of her dresses under her arm. The woman would need a dress. It was red with yellow flowers on it, something that reminded River of life and color and something more than empty darkness and mazes. She could ask Jayne nicely for clothing, and it might fit the shorter of the two men. Her brother had nice things, and it might fit the taller of the two. It would be nice of Jayne or Simon to share, but their thoughts were on practical matters like medicine or security or figuring out who they might be.
Silly men. They would answer nicely enough if asked.
She saw the briefcases and boxes piled neatly outside of the infirmary. There had simply been no room for them inside the infirmary, though Simon and Mal both wanted to have their contents analyzed. It was a game, however. The briefcases were locked with combinations, and the others would get upset and just smash them open. With a sigh, River spun the dials and opened the correct case to reveal the device inside. Her fingertips ghosted over the top of it, knowing suddenly just how to use it. The other two were full of files and other nonsense, an elaborate kind of three card monty bid. She shut the case and spun the dials back to zero.
Dreams shouldn't be this real.
She looked up as footsteps approached. "What you doin' there, moonbrain? Mal won't want you touching them things," Jayne said, frowning. He had a cup of coffee in hand, and he eyed the infirmary. "I'm surprised the doc's not in there yet."
"There were things he had to attend to," River said with a shrug. "The temperatures are rising at an acceptable rate to his tastes."
Jayne eyed her warily. "Can you Read 'em?" he asked after a moment. It seemed to be an acceptable risk to ask. "You know, while they're not really alive yet and all?"
River let her gaze fall to the floor and her breath left her lungs in a rush. "There are images now. They were empty shells before." She slammed her flat palm against one of the silver briefcases. "No one listens to me! It was sheer serendipity that they haven't fallen to pieces when the containment shields were dropped! I said that they shouldn't have been opened!" She looked up and leveled a finger at Jayne's stunned face. "You thought I wasn't sane!"
"You started talkin' funny again! What was I supposed to think? You're fine for months and then you just lost it!"
She pressed her lips together angrily. "Perhaps I was wrong to think you understood what I was trying to communicate," River said. She moved past him, blinking back the tears that threatened to rise. Stupid of her, getting her feelings all tangled up. She should have just squelched them when still nascent, and maybe this would hurt less now.
Jayne caught her arm with a sigh. "C'mon, moony. Stop it. I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
River turned to look at him, and he was visibly surprised by her watery gaze. "No." She shook off his hand and ran back to her bunk.
With a sigh, Jayne finished his coffee and looked over the three cases. River had left the red and yellow dress behind, and it was obvious who it was for. Jayne almost winced at the sight of it. River had been in a similar situation just over a year ago. Dammit, it was easier when he was a heartless bastard.
He was startled by the sound of a low beep inside the infirmary. Sensor pads were picking up something, and it looked to be the one on the woman. He vaguely remembered some of the medical mumbo jumbo he had to memorize for that job on Ariel, and he peeked at the various sensors and stimulators. He nearly dropped his coffee cup when he realized that the cardiac monitor had picked up a heartbeat. She was definitely alive now, and she was definitely going to be waking up. He triggered the cortical stimulator on the woman and checked on the other two as Simon came into the infirmary. He looked up into Simon's startled face. "She's alive," he said unnecessarily, feeling like he had been caught doing something naughty. Stupid Tams. This conscience thing was such go se.
Simon immediately snapped into doctor mode. "Check those other monitors," he said in clipped tones, pointing at the two men. He snatched up a stethoscope to listen to the woman's irregular heartbeat for himself; sensors were always good up to a point, but they always had to be checked out. Her skin was still ashen pale, though it had more color to it than before. Simon checked the infusions and started rifling through his different medications. He started working swiftly, gradually getting her heart rate up and steady, and the cortical stimulators soon were able to pick up steady delta waves. There were occasional K spindles, and Simon frowned slightly. "She's sleeping."
"Isn't that how it is when they're frozen?" Jayne asked. "Your sister-"
"No,"Simon corrected, voice sharp. "River was awake when the process began and she was awake when the stasis chamber opened. She was put under while asleep," Simon said, pointing at the woman just coming out of cryostasis. "Considering the state she had been in, it's probably easier for her this way." Simon moved toward the other two, and the shorter of the two men was starting to have an erratic heartbeat as well. "Might as well go tell Mal that I should have them up and around soon enough."
Soon enough turned out be another day and a half.
The screaming began while the crew was eating dinner. River had gotten agitated perhaps twenty minutes beforehand, but had obviously tried to calm herself down. Simon had made a comment about how far she had progressed; only Jayne seemed to see her flinch in response to the comment. She flew from the mess as soon as the screaming started, and by the time the others were down by the infirmary River had managed to unlock the doors. The woman had been screaming, and her hands looked bruised. She was holding a scalpel in front of her as she clutched a sheet to her with her other hand, warding off River and trying to keep herself between River and the two men. "You stay the fuck away from me!" the woman spat, teeth bared. "I won't say anything, no matter what you do!"
River had her hands up in front of her in a placating gesture. "The Hands of Blue are gone," she said slowly. "Dismantled. This place is safe. No Hands of Blue come here."
The woman looked around, eyes wild. She took in her surroundings, the medical equipment and the startled faces behind River. "Where are we?"
"This is not Blue Sun," River said, voice soft. "They were larger than anyone knew, than anyone could plan for. The world you remember is gone, Ariadne."
Ariadne focused her gaze on River, holding the scalpel as if she would throw it at River. "What are you saying? Who are you?"
"I am River. They had seized me, too." River cocked her head to the side. "Though not so long ago. They kept you sedated and under cryostasis. I don't understand why they didn't eliminate you, as they would so many others."
Ariadne looked around the room, clearly agitated. "Where am I? What happened to me?"
Simon took in the pause and strode into the room. "River, whatever you're trying to do isn't helping. Mei mei, go stay with Kaylee..."
"I brought you a dress," River said, ignoring Simon with a roll of her eyes. "My brother is a boob. He forgets these things." She gave him a mock glare. "She is cold, Simon. Let her dress."
Simon caught Ariadne's shivers and frowned. "River, I can handle this..."
Almost hysterical laughter bubbled up from Ariadne's lips. "I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming." She looked around the room. "Where are my things? Where did they go?"
"All there was with you were briefcases and vials," Simon said, slowly creeping closer. He snatched the scalpel from Ariadne's stunned fingers. He took a look at Ariadne's pale face and for a moment could only see River's when she had been at the Academy. "Is Ariadne your name?" he asked in a softer tone. She nodded, blinking at him. "How about this? You get dressed. I'll be back in five minutes and I'll do a complete physical to be sure there's no damage after the stasis. The protocols are all wrong, and I'd rather be sure there's no damage afterward."
Ariadne looked around the room. "Why aren't they awake?" she asked softly, indicating the two men.
"Larger body mass," Simon told her. "It takes longer to reverse the stasis, but they should wake up. You did."
Her fingers moved spastically over the sheet she clutched to her chest. "No, I don't think I did."
Her name was Ariadne. The two men were Arthur and Eames, and she refused to leave their sides. She hovered over them, protective, nearly snarling when anyone suggested that she leave them under Simon's care. Zoe kept watch just outside the infirmary, armed to the nines, watching as she carefully pressed her lips to their foreheads. "Wake up," she told each of them. "You have to wake up and come back to me."
The taller one had a slighter frame and wound up waking first. His brown eyes snapped open and his breath whistled out through his teeth. He nearly fell off of the table he had been propped up on, and Ariadne helped to catch him. "Arthur," she whispered against his ear. "I'm here."
He blinked and visibly shook as he looked around. "We went down another layer?" He turned and saw Eames lying on another counter top, chest moving with only the most shallow of breaths. "Did we go to limbo?" he asked her. Ariadne shook her head. "Then what happened?"
"We got frozen," Ariadne told him. She grasped his hand in hers. "The bastards froze us."
Arthur started ripping all of the sensors and stimulators that he could find, pushing Simon aside when the doctor protested. His knees buckled when he tried to stand, and he collapsed to the ground, coughing. He pulled the lines the rest of the way out of his arm and leaned against Ariadne as he struggled to get his breathing under control. "That doesn't make sense. They don't have that kind of tech. It's not even viable yet. I would've known if they had that. I wouldn't have let us go in that far if they could do that..."
Ariadne wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I know," she told him, her lips pressed against his temple. "But something went wrong..."
He pulled himself up and saw Simon eying him warily. Just behind him was Zoe standing at attention, her hand on the butt of her gun. "We could be in another level. As far as projections go, this is over the top." Arthur pulled himself along the counter until he could feel for Eames' pulse. "Why isn't he waking up? If we went in at the same time, he should be waking up here. He wouldn't have stayed behind..."
"This isn't another layer," Ariadne said, catching hold of Arthur's arm. She ran her other hand along his spine. "Arthur, I think this is really happening."
He shook his head, fingers still pressed against Eames' faint pulse. "No. This has to be another layer..."
"Then shift something!" Ariadne hissed, exasperated. "I can't change a damn thing here. Nothing falls apart. There are no mazes. This is real."
Arthur turned to look at Ariadne, pain in his eyes. "And the others?"
"They only found us."
He closed his eyes and leaned into Ariadne, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Ariadne," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around him as he started shaking his head. "This is all my fault."
"You couldn't have known..."
"I should have."
Eames began coughing, and Simon pushed his way through to begin examining him. Before long he was sitting up and looking around in confusion. "What the bloody hell?"
"Welcome to the future," Arthur said in flat tones.
Eames looked around the infirmary, taking in the loose red dress on Ariadne and the sheets draping his lap and Arthur's waist. He saw Simon, and standing beyond the infirmary was Zoe watching with a shrewd eye. "The future sucks."
***
The three huddled in one of the passenger bunks once Simon allowed them out of the Infirmary. They had begged off talking for the moment, and Mal hadn't pushed it at the time. He did ask River to keep an eye on them, just in case they were more than they seemed. Ariadne sat in Eames' lap, one arm around him. The other was around Arthur, curled up against her chest. Jayne had seen them like that and immediately retreated to his bunk.
River quietly shut the door. "You need time to adjust," she had murmured softly. "It isn't easy being alone and blank to suddenly returning to the midst of vivid existence. Validate it. We can discuss the future later."
Eames broke the silence first. "Did the girl just give us permission to fuck?"
Arthur snorted. "Now I know this isn't a dream. My projection of you tends to be a little more refined."
He merely grinned and nuzzled Ariadne's neck. "You sure you're okay, Ari?"
"The others are gone. I hope they're okay."
"We're in the future. Whatever happened, they're not here now." Arthur lifted his head and shifted his position so he could nuzzle her neck on the other side. "How much do you think they got out of us?"
"They froze us, darling," Eames replied snidely. "Does it fucking matter?"
"Stop it," Ariadne ordered in a stern voice. "We weren't good enough to go up against Blue Sun, that's all. They were supposed to be a startup, but they clearly weren't. We fell right into the trap." She ran her fingers through their hair gently. "At least we're still together."
Arthur trailed kisses along her pulse. "Leave it to you to find the one good thing about all this."
Eames slid his hand down along Ariadne's torso. "Can we trust these people?"
"Do we have a choice?" Arthur asked, eyebrow arched.
"I trust River," Ariadne said in a small voice. "She knows about them. About Blue Sun, I mean. She knows what happened to us, because she said it was done to her, too. She'd been frozen, too. Maybe she can help us get revenge."
Eames gave a soft sigh as he moved to kiss the back of Ariadne's neck as he kneaded a breast through the dress. "I've been such a horrid influence on you. You really do sound like me."
"Live with someone long enough," Ariadne gasped as Arthur slid a hand up her thigh and beneath the skirt of the dress.
It was short work to get out of their borrowed clothes. Arthur pushed open Ariadne's thighs and knelt between them to kiss and lick at her. Eames sat behind her on the bed, helping to keep her upright. Ariadne looped one arm behind her to thread her fingers through his hair, gasping from the combination of Eames' hands on her breasts, his lips on her neck and Arthur's lips between her legs. After she came the first time, Arthur nodded at Eames and gestured with his head to lay her down on the bed. Eames then switched positions to kneel between her legs, and Arthur knelt beside her. Ariadne wrapped her hand around his half erect cock and began to stroke as Eames began to work his fingers inside of her. The two men began to kiss, Eames licking the taste of Ariadne out of Arthur's mouth. Ariadne gasped and moaned at the sight and stretched her legs wide. "Now," she pleaded. "Both at the same time."
"You're not prepped, love," Eames said, pulling away from Arthur. He demonstrated by trying to slide one of his thick fingers inside her ass, and she winced at the intrusion. "So we'll just have to torture you a bit more," he told her with a wicked grin.
As Eames worked her open with his fingers inside her and tongue on her clit, Arthur bent down to kiss her, tongue sliding into her mouth to touch hers. He fondled her breasts gently, then harder as she moaned. Her legs moved restlessly and her hands clutched tightly at Arthur's shoulders. She came hard around Eames' fingers, flowing like honey across them. "Hurry," Arthur said in a thick voice. "God, I want inside you so much," he groaned before seizing Ariadne's mouth in a searing kiss.
When Eames decided she was ready enough, the three rearranged themselves so that Ariadne was wedged between them. Eames was lying on the bed on his back, and he slid inside of Ariadne with some resistance. Arthur held her steady as he slid into her slick heat, and the three of them slowly began to move. Ariadne had her arms slung around Arthur's shoulders for balance, and Eames held her hip with one hand and ran the other along her back. Ariadne panted at whimpered at the feel of them, feeling exquisitely full. This was real, as real as any totem, because she never got the details quite right in dreams. Even if the three of them fucked in the middle of a dream, it didn't feel like this. There was less preparation needed, less banging into walls or limbs or trying to deal with gravity. She bit down hard on her lip as she came, clamping down tight. Arthur hissed and came soon after. They reshuffled positions so that Eames pushed Ariadne onto her back beneath him, and he could slide inside her. "So beautiful," he panted as he thrust hard into her. Ariadne scored lines across his back, her own arched and twisting beneath him. Arthur watched lazily beside them, hands running across her stomach or Eames' arms.
They collapsed onto the bed, wedged tightly into the narrow space. "This is real," Arthur said quietly, eyes closed. He was stroking someone and was being comforted in much the same way by one of the others. It didn't matter who. "First step is to find out what the hell happened. Then we'll know what to do next."
"It's the future, Arthur," Eames said sleepily. "What if we're obsolete?"
"We will never be obsolete," Arthur said, voice fierce. "Crime always exists. We just have to figure out how to insert ourselves into this time frame."
"I love it when you talk dirty," Eames snarked.
"Shut up, both of you," Ariadne said with a laugh, squished between them. "We'll worry about it when we get there. I mean, what if they naturally commit mind crime now?"
"Then we can train defense," Arthur said decisively.
"Boring," Eames declared.
"Safe," Arthur countered.
"Irrelevant until we know what's actually going on," Ariadne piped up. "Let's rest a bit before we venture outside."
"The girl's got a point," Eames said with a yawn. "I'm tired."
"I'm good at planning things, too," Ariadne said with a smile. She kissed them both, but refrained from wishing them sweet dreams. It seemed like too perverse a phrase at the moment.
***
***
On to Chapter 2!
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17 (One scene in this chapter. There's quite a bit of plot actually...)
Pairing: Ariadne/Arthur/Eames, River/Jayne
Disclaimer: Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan and not to me. Firefly/Serenity belongs to Joss Whedon. Their toys are fun to play with!
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-movie for both fandoms. For the inception_kink meme prompt in round 6: After being captured by the infant organization known simply as Blue Sun for their technology and knowledge, Arthur, Ariadne, and Eames awaken from stasis hundreds of years in the future in the cargo hold of Serenity. Slightly different from the prompt, but I hope it still works out. :) Title and chapter titles are from Frou Frou's "Let Go."
Summary: Most people think of Blue Sun as a research and development company, a place where new tech is tested for the good of the Alliance worlds. It was around for much longer than people realized, and not all of their research was intended to benefit the masses. Mal finds something in their storerooms while looking for archival data that changes things for the crew of Serenity.
"Well, well, well. What have we got here?"
The guard kept his jaw clenched tight, but Mal Reynolds held a gun against his temple and nudged it none too gently. "I don't have the key," the guard spat.
"Oh, I don't rightly believe that go se," Mal replied amiably. "That's a part of the storeroom that's guarded quite closely. I'm sure there's something very valuable in there, and it would be mighty interesting to see." He gave the guard a smile that wasn't heartwarming in the slightest. "Or I could let my compatriot blow the whole thing wide open and we'll see what's left of the room. It's less messy this way, dong ma?"
Stiffly, the guard accessed the panel and the doors slid open. "There."
Mal gave him a mocking bow, and indicated that he should go in first. "After you."
The guard entered the storeroom, flipping on the lights. There were three rectangular metallic boxes that were connected to a single power cell, and there was nothing else in the room. For this level of security, to be buried at the very back of a complicated system of storerooms, whatever was in those boxes had to be important. Considering that this particular group of storage facilities were owned by Blue Sun, Mal had no intention of leaving it behind. They were the financial backers of the Academy and the Alliance government. Following the revelation about the Alliance's actions on Miranda, there were multiple skirmishes on border worlds and even Londinium had its share of anti-Alliance battles. The Independents were likely ready to band together, though Mal wasn't sure where he would fall if a full on civil war broke out.
Either way, he didn't hold with the Alliance's level of interference. By extension, he didn't hold with Blue Sun's experiments either.
The guard helped Jayne load up the three boxes on the skid. They were bulky and heavy, and Jayne complained about it. The power cell was accidentally disconnected, and the guard seemed nervous about it. "You can't let them power down!" he blurted, rushing forward to try to reconnect the boxes. "They have to stay connected! It's by order of the president!"
Jayne palmed the power cell. "This don't even hold much in it. Can't be that big a thing in there," he said, peering at the three boxes. None were marked, and there was no indication of how to open them.
Mal held the guard at gunpoint. "You might want to be explaining that comment."
"This is part of the CEO's personal collection," the guard said, looking for all the world as if he wished he hadn't spoken. "They're not to be disturbed."
"Well, I'm disturbing 'em," Mal declared. He pistolwhipped the guard and watched dispassionately as he fell to the ground unconscious. "Jayne, start up the skid. We probably will be noticed soon. Zoe's good, but she's not that good."
Jayne shoved the power cell into his pocket and started up the skid. It was weighted down heavily by the three bulky boxes, but even with their weight, his and Mal's, it was able to maneuver through the storage facility toward the exit. Zoe was keeping the front office hostage while some of Badger's men were raiding another building. This particular one had been cleared out of all items except for these three boxes in a locked back room. Mal could only hope that it wasn't something that would explode once they opened the boxes up in Serenity's cargo hold. Jayne could only hope it was state of the art weaponry.
River's eyes were large and round as saucers when she saw the boxes being pulled into the hold. She backed up and away from them, shaking her head. "They shouldn't exist," she said desperately. Mal was ignoring her, so she went to Jayne. "Please, it's improbable for preservation to have taken hold after so long. There's likely to be damage, you can't hurt them, Jayne, please."
He frowned at her and carefully pulled her fingers off of his arm. "I got no idea what you're talking 'bout, crazy girl. I thought you was sane?"
"That has an unstable containment field!" River screeched, pushing at his chest. "You don't know what will happen! You could kill them! You can't let them die!"
"Doc!" Jayne bellowed, holding River at arm's length. Just when he thought she was sane... "Git yer feng le sister offa me!"
As Simon entered the cargo bay, there was a hissing sound from one of the containers. As the others looked on in shock, the containers seemed to break apart. Supercooled air seeped out and rolled into low clouds of steam. River made a low whimpering sound and looked up at Jayne beseechingly. "It's been too long. What if they're damaged like I was?"
Jayne's mouth snapped shut and he awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Look. The doc's good at what he does. It'll be all right."
It didn't occur to Jayne until much later that River had known there was a they to be concerned about. At first, Mal was concerned with a silver briefcase and a box full of vials. As the rolling smoke cleared a bit more, he backed up with a cry of surprise. "Wo de ma!" He looked around frantically for Simon. "Doc! Git over here and do some doctoring!"
Each box held a silver briefcase and a box full of vials. Neither were marked, and were tucked into a corner of the large box. The rest of the box was taken up by the curled and naked form of a human being in stasis. As soon as Simon realized this, he immediately ordered Jayne and Mal to help him get the three people into the infirmary. There were two men and a woman, eyes closed and skin freezing from the cryostasis chemicals. It wasn't a combination that Simon was familiar with, though he had only paid attention to the compounds that would have been in River's containment unit. He hadn't much cared for cryostasis mechanics, as there had been so much else to memorize in MedAcad and during his surgical residency.
"Where's the readout display?" Simon barked, sliding easily into his role of surgeon. Mal and Jayne looked at him blankly. River was swaying on her feet near the boxes, her face drawn and pale, her hands clenched tightly together at her chest. "Mei mei, this probably brings back bad memories..."
"I don't hear them, Simon. They're silent. There aren't any voices. There are supposed to be voices." She was starting to get agitated, and Simon was tempted to find a smoother to inject in her arm to help her calm down. He had thought she was better after the Miranda incident. Perhaps it was only a temporary fix?
River's eyes cleared and stared at him with perfect clarity. "There is more to life than sanity, Simon. You would do well to remember that fact."
Simon looked away when her eyes seemed to shift again, and he looked through the three stasis chambers. "What model is this?"
Zoe had been looking through all three boxes, and Kaylee had come running at the commotion. "I don't see nothing looking like a standard stasis chamber." She shook her head and looked at Simon. "Whatever Blue Sun had planned for those three, they didn't want anyone knowing about it."
Simon muttered under his breath and jogged back to the infirmary. The three frozen bodies took up every available surface in the tiny infirmary, but he wanted to be near the equipment. He was flying blind, then, not knowing what their baseline core temperature would have been. Sensors tracked their core temperatures, which was rising at a steady linear rate. He starting running lines of fluids, particularly the lactated ringer's solution. He had no idea what their basal metabolism would have been, and he could easily over correct glucose levels after the fact; it would be harder for him to reverse brain damage from starved cells as the bodies began to thaw. Quick and dirty scans revealed no obvious tissue damage, no broken bones, no thermal damage. When the temperature started climbing at an exponential rate, Simon swore a blue streak that even gave Mal pause. He barked out orders for cooling blankets to cover all three of the bodies to slow the rate of the thaw. If it was too rapid, ice crystals within the cells would shear them apart, and the three people would die right there.
River stood outside of the infirmary, fingers pressed against the glass. Kaylee tried to distract her, tried to remind her that the ship needed to have its pilot. But River had already set the coordinates, and Serenity was more than capable of flying to Whitehall on its own. The taller of the two men had more finely chiseled features and black hair. He had a lean build, and River recognized calluses on his hands from writing and firing weapons. The other man had a more muscular build, lighter hair and a fine stubble across his cheeks. The calluses on his thick fingers were more pronounced, and River could almost catch a flash of an insouciant grin toward the others. The woman was petite, slender and built along lithe lines. She was the sort that the Alliance had liked to recruit into the Academy; girls like that tended to be from wealthy families, much like River had been, and had all sorts of connections that could be used. Plus, they tended to be overlooked in crowds, and no one thought they could be assassins. There was still the default stance that men were the violent ones, and that women weren't always as capable. Mal obviously didn't hold to such antiquated notions.
She was startled by the sight of impossible buildings and paradoxes and the lilt of music in a language long dead. River closed her eyes and tried to follow the flashes. They were faint, little more than faint impressions from their minds. They didn't have linear coherent thoughts yet, but there was something there, hidden deep down in hidden layers in their minds. It was like following a thread through a maze, hoping she didn't lose track of it in the dark. It was like floating in the black, only a slim tether keeping her tied to Serenity. River could feel Kaylee beside her, knew that she was saying something comforting and supportive, as Kaylee often did.
Hold on, she told them, opening her eyes. My brother will do all he can, and he might just be able to save you.
***
River was dreaming of paradoxes, gunfire and an impossible spire on the head of a pin. It was like before, outside the infirmary, only much clearer and more coherent. The woman, a thread, was weaving through the darkness of a maze and would lead the others after her. They had seen the monster, had been cornered by it. They had been in over their heads, and the monster had been more than a minotaur, more than an army within a mind. She woke and tucked one of her dresses under her arm. The woman would need a dress. It was red with yellow flowers on it, something that reminded River of life and color and something more than empty darkness and mazes. She could ask Jayne nicely for clothing, and it might fit the shorter of the two men. Her brother had nice things, and it might fit the taller of the two. It would be nice of Jayne or Simon to share, but their thoughts were on practical matters like medicine or security or figuring out who they might be.
Silly men. They would answer nicely enough if asked.
She saw the briefcases and boxes piled neatly outside of the infirmary. There had simply been no room for them inside the infirmary, though Simon and Mal both wanted to have their contents analyzed. It was a game, however. The briefcases were locked with combinations, and the others would get upset and just smash them open. With a sigh, River spun the dials and opened the correct case to reveal the device inside. Her fingertips ghosted over the top of it, knowing suddenly just how to use it. The other two were full of files and other nonsense, an elaborate kind of three card monty bid. She shut the case and spun the dials back to zero.
Dreams shouldn't be this real.
She looked up as footsteps approached. "What you doin' there, moonbrain? Mal won't want you touching them things," Jayne said, frowning. He had a cup of coffee in hand, and he eyed the infirmary. "I'm surprised the doc's not in there yet."
"There were things he had to attend to," River said with a shrug. "The temperatures are rising at an acceptable rate to his tastes."
Jayne eyed her warily. "Can you Read 'em?" he asked after a moment. It seemed to be an acceptable risk to ask. "You know, while they're not really alive yet and all?"
River let her gaze fall to the floor and her breath left her lungs in a rush. "There are images now. They were empty shells before." She slammed her flat palm against one of the silver briefcases. "No one listens to me! It was sheer serendipity that they haven't fallen to pieces when the containment shields were dropped! I said that they shouldn't have been opened!" She looked up and leveled a finger at Jayne's stunned face. "You thought I wasn't sane!"
"You started talkin' funny again! What was I supposed to think? You're fine for months and then you just lost it!"
She pressed her lips together angrily. "Perhaps I was wrong to think you understood what I was trying to communicate," River said. She moved past him, blinking back the tears that threatened to rise. Stupid of her, getting her feelings all tangled up. She should have just squelched them when still nascent, and maybe this would hurt less now.
Jayne caught her arm with a sigh. "C'mon, moony. Stop it. I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
River turned to look at him, and he was visibly surprised by her watery gaze. "No." She shook off his hand and ran back to her bunk.
With a sigh, Jayne finished his coffee and looked over the three cases. River had left the red and yellow dress behind, and it was obvious who it was for. Jayne almost winced at the sight of it. River had been in a similar situation just over a year ago. Dammit, it was easier when he was a heartless bastard.
He was startled by the sound of a low beep inside the infirmary. Sensor pads were picking up something, and it looked to be the one on the woman. He vaguely remembered some of the medical mumbo jumbo he had to memorize for that job on Ariel, and he peeked at the various sensors and stimulators. He nearly dropped his coffee cup when he realized that the cardiac monitor had picked up a heartbeat. She was definitely alive now, and she was definitely going to be waking up. He triggered the cortical stimulator on the woman and checked on the other two as Simon came into the infirmary. He looked up into Simon's startled face. "She's alive," he said unnecessarily, feeling like he had been caught doing something naughty. Stupid Tams. This conscience thing was such go se.
Simon immediately snapped into doctor mode. "Check those other monitors," he said in clipped tones, pointing at the two men. He snatched up a stethoscope to listen to the woman's irregular heartbeat for himself; sensors were always good up to a point, but they always had to be checked out. Her skin was still ashen pale, though it had more color to it than before. Simon checked the infusions and started rifling through his different medications. He started working swiftly, gradually getting her heart rate up and steady, and the cortical stimulators soon were able to pick up steady delta waves. There were occasional K spindles, and Simon frowned slightly. "She's sleeping."
"Isn't that how it is when they're frozen?" Jayne asked. "Your sister-"
"No,"Simon corrected, voice sharp. "River was awake when the process began and she was awake when the stasis chamber opened. She was put under while asleep," Simon said, pointing at the woman just coming out of cryostasis. "Considering the state she had been in, it's probably easier for her this way." Simon moved toward the other two, and the shorter of the two men was starting to have an erratic heartbeat as well. "Might as well go tell Mal that I should have them up and around soon enough."
Soon enough turned out be another day and a half.
The screaming began while the crew was eating dinner. River had gotten agitated perhaps twenty minutes beforehand, but had obviously tried to calm herself down. Simon had made a comment about how far she had progressed; only Jayne seemed to see her flinch in response to the comment. She flew from the mess as soon as the screaming started, and by the time the others were down by the infirmary River had managed to unlock the doors. The woman had been screaming, and her hands looked bruised. She was holding a scalpel in front of her as she clutched a sheet to her with her other hand, warding off River and trying to keep herself between River and the two men. "You stay the fuck away from me!" the woman spat, teeth bared. "I won't say anything, no matter what you do!"
River had her hands up in front of her in a placating gesture. "The Hands of Blue are gone," she said slowly. "Dismantled. This place is safe. No Hands of Blue come here."
The woman looked around, eyes wild. She took in her surroundings, the medical equipment and the startled faces behind River. "Where are we?"
"This is not Blue Sun," River said, voice soft. "They were larger than anyone knew, than anyone could plan for. The world you remember is gone, Ariadne."
Ariadne focused her gaze on River, holding the scalpel as if she would throw it at River. "What are you saying? Who are you?"
"I am River. They had seized me, too." River cocked her head to the side. "Though not so long ago. They kept you sedated and under cryostasis. I don't understand why they didn't eliminate you, as they would so many others."
Ariadne looked around the room, clearly agitated. "Where am I? What happened to me?"
Simon took in the pause and strode into the room. "River, whatever you're trying to do isn't helping. Mei mei, go stay with Kaylee..."
"I brought you a dress," River said, ignoring Simon with a roll of her eyes. "My brother is a boob. He forgets these things." She gave him a mock glare. "She is cold, Simon. Let her dress."
Simon caught Ariadne's shivers and frowned. "River, I can handle this..."
Almost hysterical laughter bubbled up from Ariadne's lips. "I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming." She looked around the room. "Where are my things? Where did they go?"
"All there was with you were briefcases and vials," Simon said, slowly creeping closer. He snatched the scalpel from Ariadne's stunned fingers. He took a look at Ariadne's pale face and for a moment could only see River's when she had been at the Academy. "Is Ariadne your name?" he asked in a softer tone. She nodded, blinking at him. "How about this? You get dressed. I'll be back in five minutes and I'll do a complete physical to be sure there's no damage after the stasis. The protocols are all wrong, and I'd rather be sure there's no damage afterward."
Ariadne looked around the room. "Why aren't they awake?" she asked softly, indicating the two men.
"Larger body mass," Simon told her. "It takes longer to reverse the stasis, but they should wake up. You did."
Her fingers moved spastically over the sheet she clutched to her chest. "No, I don't think I did."
Her name was Ariadne. The two men were Arthur and Eames, and she refused to leave their sides. She hovered over them, protective, nearly snarling when anyone suggested that she leave them under Simon's care. Zoe kept watch just outside the infirmary, armed to the nines, watching as she carefully pressed her lips to their foreheads. "Wake up," she told each of them. "You have to wake up and come back to me."
The taller one had a slighter frame and wound up waking first. His brown eyes snapped open and his breath whistled out through his teeth. He nearly fell off of the table he had been propped up on, and Ariadne helped to catch him. "Arthur," she whispered against his ear. "I'm here."
He blinked and visibly shook as he looked around. "We went down another layer?" He turned and saw Eames lying on another counter top, chest moving with only the most shallow of breaths. "Did we go to limbo?" he asked her. Ariadne shook her head. "Then what happened?"
"We got frozen," Ariadne told him. She grasped his hand in hers. "The bastards froze us."
Arthur started ripping all of the sensors and stimulators that he could find, pushing Simon aside when the doctor protested. His knees buckled when he tried to stand, and he collapsed to the ground, coughing. He pulled the lines the rest of the way out of his arm and leaned against Ariadne as he struggled to get his breathing under control. "That doesn't make sense. They don't have that kind of tech. It's not even viable yet. I would've known if they had that. I wouldn't have let us go in that far if they could do that..."
Ariadne wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I know," she told him, her lips pressed against his temple. "But something went wrong..."
He pulled himself up and saw Simon eying him warily. Just behind him was Zoe standing at attention, her hand on the butt of her gun. "We could be in another level. As far as projections go, this is over the top." Arthur pulled himself along the counter until he could feel for Eames' pulse. "Why isn't he waking up? If we went in at the same time, he should be waking up here. He wouldn't have stayed behind..."
"This isn't another layer," Ariadne said, catching hold of Arthur's arm. She ran her other hand along his spine. "Arthur, I think this is really happening."
He shook his head, fingers still pressed against Eames' faint pulse. "No. This has to be another layer..."
"Then shift something!" Ariadne hissed, exasperated. "I can't change a damn thing here. Nothing falls apart. There are no mazes. This is real."
Arthur turned to look at Ariadne, pain in his eyes. "And the others?"
"They only found us."
He closed his eyes and leaned into Ariadne, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Ariadne," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around him as he started shaking his head. "This is all my fault."
"You couldn't have known..."
"I should have."
Eames began coughing, and Simon pushed his way through to begin examining him. Before long he was sitting up and looking around in confusion. "What the bloody hell?"
"Welcome to the future," Arthur said in flat tones.
Eames looked around the infirmary, taking in the loose red dress on Ariadne and the sheets draping his lap and Arthur's waist. He saw Simon, and standing beyond the infirmary was Zoe watching with a shrewd eye. "The future sucks."
***
The three huddled in one of the passenger bunks once Simon allowed them out of the Infirmary. They had begged off talking for the moment, and Mal hadn't pushed it at the time. He did ask River to keep an eye on them, just in case they were more than they seemed. Ariadne sat in Eames' lap, one arm around him. The other was around Arthur, curled up against her chest. Jayne had seen them like that and immediately retreated to his bunk.
River quietly shut the door. "You need time to adjust," she had murmured softly. "It isn't easy being alone and blank to suddenly returning to the midst of vivid existence. Validate it. We can discuss the future later."
Eames broke the silence first. "Did the girl just give us permission to fuck?"
Arthur snorted. "Now I know this isn't a dream. My projection of you tends to be a little more refined."
He merely grinned and nuzzled Ariadne's neck. "You sure you're okay, Ari?"
"The others are gone. I hope they're okay."
"We're in the future. Whatever happened, they're not here now." Arthur lifted his head and shifted his position so he could nuzzle her neck on the other side. "How much do you think they got out of us?"
"They froze us, darling," Eames replied snidely. "Does it fucking matter?"
"Stop it," Ariadne ordered in a stern voice. "We weren't good enough to go up against Blue Sun, that's all. They were supposed to be a startup, but they clearly weren't. We fell right into the trap." She ran her fingers through their hair gently. "At least we're still together."
Arthur trailed kisses along her pulse. "Leave it to you to find the one good thing about all this."
Eames slid his hand down along Ariadne's torso. "Can we trust these people?"
"Do we have a choice?" Arthur asked, eyebrow arched.
"I trust River," Ariadne said in a small voice. "She knows about them. About Blue Sun, I mean. She knows what happened to us, because she said it was done to her, too. She'd been frozen, too. Maybe she can help us get revenge."
Eames gave a soft sigh as he moved to kiss the back of Ariadne's neck as he kneaded a breast through the dress. "I've been such a horrid influence on you. You really do sound like me."
"Live with someone long enough," Ariadne gasped as Arthur slid a hand up her thigh and beneath the skirt of the dress.
It was short work to get out of their borrowed clothes. Arthur pushed open Ariadne's thighs and knelt between them to kiss and lick at her. Eames sat behind her on the bed, helping to keep her upright. Ariadne looped one arm behind her to thread her fingers through his hair, gasping from the combination of Eames' hands on her breasts, his lips on her neck and Arthur's lips between her legs. After she came the first time, Arthur nodded at Eames and gestured with his head to lay her down on the bed. Eames then switched positions to kneel between her legs, and Arthur knelt beside her. Ariadne wrapped her hand around his half erect cock and began to stroke as Eames began to work his fingers inside of her. The two men began to kiss, Eames licking the taste of Ariadne out of Arthur's mouth. Ariadne gasped and moaned at the sight and stretched her legs wide. "Now," she pleaded. "Both at the same time."
"You're not prepped, love," Eames said, pulling away from Arthur. He demonstrated by trying to slide one of his thick fingers inside her ass, and she winced at the intrusion. "So we'll just have to torture you a bit more," he told her with a wicked grin.
As Eames worked her open with his fingers inside her and tongue on her clit, Arthur bent down to kiss her, tongue sliding into her mouth to touch hers. He fondled her breasts gently, then harder as she moaned. Her legs moved restlessly and her hands clutched tightly at Arthur's shoulders. She came hard around Eames' fingers, flowing like honey across them. "Hurry," Arthur said in a thick voice. "God, I want inside you so much," he groaned before seizing Ariadne's mouth in a searing kiss.
When Eames decided she was ready enough, the three rearranged themselves so that Ariadne was wedged between them. Eames was lying on the bed on his back, and he slid inside of Ariadne with some resistance. Arthur held her steady as he slid into her slick heat, and the three of them slowly began to move. Ariadne had her arms slung around Arthur's shoulders for balance, and Eames held her hip with one hand and ran the other along her back. Ariadne panted at whimpered at the feel of them, feeling exquisitely full. This was real, as real as any totem, because she never got the details quite right in dreams. Even if the three of them fucked in the middle of a dream, it didn't feel like this. There was less preparation needed, less banging into walls or limbs or trying to deal with gravity. She bit down hard on her lip as she came, clamping down tight. Arthur hissed and came soon after. They reshuffled positions so that Eames pushed Ariadne onto her back beneath him, and he could slide inside her. "So beautiful," he panted as he thrust hard into her. Ariadne scored lines across his back, her own arched and twisting beneath him. Arthur watched lazily beside them, hands running across her stomach or Eames' arms.
They collapsed onto the bed, wedged tightly into the narrow space. "This is real," Arthur said quietly, eyes closed. He was stroking someone and was being comforted in much the same way by one of the others. It didn't matter who. "First step is to find out what the hell happened. Then we'll know what to do next."
"It's the future, Arthur," Eames said sleepily. "What if we're obsolete?"
"We will never be obsolete," Arthur said, voice fierce. "Crime always exists. We just have to figure out how to insert ourselves into this time frame."
"I love it when you talk dirty," Eames snarked.
"Shut up, both of you," Ariadne said with a laugh, squished between them. "We'll worry about it when we get there. I mean, what if they naturally commit mind crime now?"
"Then we can train defense," Arthur said decisively.
"Boring," Eames declared.
"Safe," Arthur countered.
"Irrelevant until we know what's actually going on," Ariadne piped up. "Let's rest a bit before we venture outside."
"The girl's got a point," Eames said with a yawn. "I'm tired."
"I'm good at planning things, too," Ariadne said with a smile. She kissed them both, but refrained from wishing them sweet dreams. It seemed like too perverse a phrase at the moment.
***
***
On to Chapter 2!