Inception Fanfiction - ENJAMBMENT, Chapter 2 In a bar
Title: Enjambment, Chapter 2 In a bar
Characters: Ariadne/Dom, all the cast
Rating: T/ PG-13
Summary: It is about the gaps, the leaps of faith necessary to go from one line to the next. the lines don't break where you expect them to, and sometimes it doesn't go anywhere it was supposed to go. An Ariadne-centric story set on the plane before Dom wakes.
Disclaimer: Chris Nolan and WB owns everything. I just dream my little dream because they let me.
Two men steadily gaze at their respective glasses as they perch by the airplane bar. It is not often that the jobs allow for such perks. Though they normally request for private transportation for security reasons, the more than occasional glitches require a measure of adaptability, strong stomachs and immunity to pungent aromas. At least, this time first class was truly first class.
The older man gulps down his scotch, lifting his eyes and examining the younger man next to him.
"I know you go way back."
The younger man continues to eye his drink, still coming off as calculating despite his blank expression. He has often waited out his partner while he finishes off various jobs. He was a point man after all, distracting the various projections so that the extraction could take place. He was cover fire and the sacrificial lamb - wolf would be the more appropriate allegory. A number of jobs have not gone according to plan but this... this has gone off the rails and flown to the moon and landed on the other side of the universe. It was just all manner of wrong. His partner still slumbered in the compartment, along with half the team including the Backer (piggybacking tourist, he cursed inwardly). If none of them got out, then this job was all for nothing.
"Why didn't anyone tell me that Cobb has no control over his subconscious? I thought you liked me more than that Darling?" Eames voice was jovial, but the accusation was still there.
"What happened down there Eames?", Arthur inquires in a tired deadpan voice.
"Arthur," drawled Eames, "I haven't worked with Cobb in a while, so I need you to enlighten me as to why a dead woman took our mark?" The strapping Brit smirked as he turned to face the younger man and continued, "And why is it that the ravishing, but late, Mrs. Cobb was in my dream when I don't recall having ever been that attached to her?"
"She showed up?"
"You're not surprised." It was not a question. "Well, if you were intending to tag team Cobb down there then maybe you should have taken the lower level… oh wait you can't. You don't act very well." No one else could possibly have taken the third level except Eames as Uncle Peter, he was the forger after all. "For a neophyte, she sure has balls."
"Mal? You of all people know she's not new to this."
"Our architect my dear," corrected Eames. "For someone entirely new to the game, she has more cojones than I thought that little body could hold."
Arthur waited for the older man to continue in silence, his face unreadable.
"She was the one to suggest chasing after Fischer into parts unknown. Which tells me that maybe it wasn't quite unknown to her. She practically pushed Cobb into going under. She was quite reassuring that she would help him deal with Mrs. Cobb."
Arthur's look of barely hidden surprise unsettled Eames significantly. "You didn't know? Haven't you been his best friend for years? You worked with both Mr. and Mrs. Cobb while they were still under government employ."
Arthur nodded and gulped his drink down in one fluid motion. Dom had been the best architect recruited by the Agency, and because Mal was Professor Steven Miles' daughter she was able to come in as an extractor. "When Dom and I underwent training under the Dream Share Program, the powers that be who at the time was Professor Miles declared that he was best suited to be the team Architect based on his psych profile. When they got lost in limbo, they took an extended leave of absence. The Agency was only going to set up one Dream Share team, and without the 2 central figures work stalled. We were supposed to be chasing people like... well, you, in Dream Underground..."
"I would have led you on a merry chase, if you boys had stuck to being legal stick-in-the-muds," interrupted Eames.
"After Mal committed suicide," continued Arthur, "Cobb ran as you know. The Agency knew where my loyalties lied. I suspect the Agency is using me to keep tabs on him, so I don't go Stateside that often. We don't talk about things that could incriminate him later, just in case. He never talks about her to me. We're men after all, we don't braid each other's hair and admit to our feelings."
"Oh darling your hair is much too short for braiding. You should've suggested weaving those kitschy friendship bracelets instead," Eames said blithely, waving his hand about as if trying to swat an annoying fly.
"He said he could control it," pressed Arthur.
"And you believed him?,"sighed Eames. "The problem with you lone wolves is that you don't recognize the understated cry for help, which apparently the little elfin minx has noticed. And I use that term deliberately because I noticed you sniffing."
Arthur looked nonplussed. "I'm not even going to dignify that with… whatever."
"Which part? That I noticed you getting sweet on Ariadne or the fact that she hasn't noticed you at all because she's watching someone else like a hawk? But more importantly, since you and Cobb are supposed to be BFFs, why wasn't it you down there? Why did she follow him? Darling, what is it that she knows that you don't?"
Chapter 3