"So are you going to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?"
Those were among the last words that he told me just before I wound up here. That's what came to my mind as I was washed ashore and stared at the base of the sheer cliff beside me, my gaze traveling up the side of the cliff, ending at the top as the waves continued to crash against it. I had taken that leap of faith several times over the course of this adventure. Now it was up to me and me alone to obtain what I truly want at the top.
-Inception: Gallows Files-
Part 1
Chapter 1
In an elaborate conference room sat a man with short red hair and brown eyes by the name of Kenneth Gallows, FBI Special Agent in Charge, nearly dozing off as he waited for the others to gather. He often joked that he did his best work while he was asleep, but tried to keep himself up knowing that having someone walk in now would leave a bad impression. As he waited, he fiddled around with a small object in his pocket. He kept placing it between each of his fingers over and over again all while never drawing it out in plain sight. However, something was different about the object than how he remembered it.
It was during this particular musing that a woman with blonde hair in a high ponytail and green eyes wearing a grey business suit walked into the conference room carrying a notepad and a manila folder. "Agent Gallows, I presume?"
"Yes, that's me," Gallows replied, rising to his feet.
"Sidney Albright, CIA. A pleasure to see you again," she said, extending her hand for a handshake.
Though he shook her hand accordingly, he couldn't help but have doubt go through his mind as a result of what she said and the omen from the object in his pocket earlier. A pleasure to see you again? I don't know anyone from the CIA. Not to mention the CIA doesn't really make a whole lot of contact with the FBI anyway. And then there's the totem…
"A pleasure to see you as well," he replied, opting to not respond to the contradiction in her words. "So what would someone from the CIA want with a guy like me?"
"They say that you can build the best labyrinths in the US."
"Not really. I'm just the best they could find at the time. So then, I presume that this is about an extraction job?"
"Correct, but before I give you the details, I'd like to see a demonstration of your abilities," she responded, handing him a sheet of blank paper and a pen.
This was an exercise that Gallows was all too familiar with. He would often engage in it with his friends during his college years. The goal was to design a maze within two minutes that would take one minute to solve. Accepting the pen and paper, he began to draw out a labyrinth that nearly took up the entire paper. "Tell me something," Sidney began to say as he continued to draw up the labyrinth. "Do you trust your superiors and coworkers?"
"Of course I do. You have to in this business," he replied, handing her the freshly designed labyrinth and keeping a fixed gaze on her eyes as she began to solve it.
Sidney moved the pen across the path, quickly picking up the intended path of the maze. However, as she continued to solve the puzzle, she noticed that the pathway actually had a message within its confines. As she silently read the message, her eyes gave something of a flicker of surprise, and that was the very cue that Gallows had been looking for. The message contained five simple words. "This world is not real."
Seeing that one brief moment of surprise in her eyes was all Gallows needed to confirm his suspicions. I knew it! Whoever she is, she's got me in a dream!
She smiled as she finished the maze and handed the paper back to him. "Harder, and don't feel pressured by any sort of time limit," she said to him.
That's it? Not the kind of reaction I would expect from someone who had just been caught in the act. She's either feigning ignorance, or whether or not she's been caught really isn't important. If it's the case of the latter, then she may have an accomplice running around and trying to extract the information, but what kind of information is she even looking for?
Accepting the piece of paper and pen again, he began to draw again. "Tell me…What happens when a member of your society becomes too intelligent for their own good? What happens when someone's talent becomes so terrifying that it cannot be fully controlled by anyone other than a single individual?"
Where's all this ideology stuff coming from?
"I'm not sure, really," he said as he continued to draw the maze. "I guess it would depend on what they were capable of doing and what they intend to do. Not every genius is Adolf Hitler."
After a short time, he returned the paper back to her, and her eyes widened. Rather than draw a simple layout, Gallows had actually drawn out a three-dimensional labyrinth. The angle of the picture seemed as though it were a picture taken of a maze just over the top of the walls. Pathways blended with dead ends, walls were extended to the foreground at the angle of an eventual vanishing point, and there was nothing added to distinguish what might be a wall or a path. "A bit of lighting would help in solving something like this."
"That's not my problem. You wanted a harder maze, and I gave you one," he retorted, smirking.
"Touché," Sidney replied.
Sidney had often prided in being good at solving mazes, but this had to be the most difficult maze she had ever worked on. Most mazes were designed to get you lost. Others were designed to look intimidating by its narrow pathways, winding turns, and numerous dead ends. This maze, however, was clearly designed with the sole intent to confuse the one attempting to solve it. With no lighting, it became extremely difficult to be able to distinguish between the actual pathway and a wall that she might have accidentally been trying to go on. Frustration soon began to show up on her delicate features as she handed the paper back to him. "This is impossible!"
"No it's not. I'll even show you the trick."
Taking the piece of paper, Gallows ran the pen from the starting point, went through a series of pathways, and reached the end point. He then displayed the completed maze and smirked as she looked in amazement and noticed that the maze actually contained the same five word message that it had before. Not only that, but some of the walls and traps were starting to look familiar. "Wait, that's…that's the same maze you gave me before!"
"It's amazing how a little change in perspective can change everything, isn't it?"
"Is this why some of the people you work with also refer to you as 'The Magician'?"
"That's part of it, yes."
"And the other part?"
"Magician's code. Trade secret."
Though I seriously doubt what you really want to pull from my subconscious is the secret behind my tricks in the level designs.
"At any rate, you've met my expectations, Agent Gallows. Your next assignment is to extract the idea of betrayal from the mind of a fellow extractor."
"The idea of betrayal? That sounds pretty abstract, Ms. Albright. Can I get some more details about this assignment?"
"All of the details will be delivered to you in due time. However, I can get you anything you'll need to complete this assignment."
Gallows smirked. "Okay then, how about we talk about this assignment somewhere a little more…secluded. Just the two of us."
"Mr. Gallows, I do believe it's just the two of us in here."
"No, not here. Anywhere but here," he continued with his smirk turning into a slightly mischievous grin.
"Mr. Gallows! Are you suggesting something…unprofessional?"
"Not quite, but it would involve getting to know you better. When I said anywhere but here, I meant in the real world."
"So then…you knew after all."
"I knew from the start. By the way, there's one thing you should know about level design."
"What's that?" she asked.
Her answer came in the sound of a large number of footsteps heading for the conference room that they occupied. "Whether the subject's subconscious is trained or not, when you set the stage for a security building or military base, or even a police headquarters, you can bet that every projection is going to be packing heat."
No sooner had he finished that sentence that numerous armed agents and personnel broke into the conference room and began to train their guns on Sidney Albright. The first shot fired among many came from a woman that the intruder seemed to recognize. A red-headed young woman with green eyes and freckles lowered her weapon once the kill had been made and the building began to shake and fall apart. The dream is collapsing! So does that mean she was working alone after all?
Kenneth Gallows didn't have any more time to ponder on the situation as the floor that he was standing on began to crumble underneath his feet and he descended floor after floor into a brief darkness.
Gallows soon came around and looked at his surroundings. He saw that he was still in his bedroom as he was supposed to be. However, unsure if this bedroom he was in now was actually his or another dream, he hastily grabbed a coin from the nightstand beside his bed. He placed his thumb on the upper ridge of the coin and bent it in half, then he released it and the coin returned to its original form as it was supposed to be. With his fears alleviated of being inside another dream, he checked the bottom of his left wrist. There were two needle-sized puncture wounds that were so small that they had seemed to have healed rather quickly, but their presence was what bothered him.
Someone had most definitely broken into his home, pulled him into a dream, and tried to steal information from his subconscious. He still didn't have a clue as to what that extractor had been trying to pull from his subconscious, and as a federal agent, there was not telling how many secrets he kept inside his mind. It could be anything. However, now was not the time to be thinking about what happened. He had to get up and clock in at work. He had heard that there was going to be someone new joining the team, and he was going to be the one to introduce them to the PASIV device and extraction.