"Man, you've got to be joking. I am not doing that." Hardison cocked an eyebrow at his companions. "Arthur? Tell these people that I'm not doing that. I don't know who you guys think you're dealing with but..."
"Jesus Christ." Eames stood noisily, interrupting. "You never want to do anything."
"Listen, Hardison, this is standard procedure. We all have to let each other into our dreams before the job. It is the only way to make sure we're all on the same page. You know that." Arthur said calmly and touched the taller man's arm.
"Not with these two crazy British assholes I don't know that. Just look at the bug eyes on that guy Arthur, I'm not letting him anywhere near my subconscious and not to mention that Eames seems to have some ongoing issues with me."
"Who you calling bug eyed?" Danny barked from his seat.
"Who you think I'm calling bug eyed?" Hardison sniped back.
Arthur sat back and sighed as the other three men continued to squabble in the shadowy corner of the Seattle warehouse that they had rented to prepare for their newest job. Arthur wondered if this idea was going to work out. They'd lost another architect already due to the escalating incidents where Cobb's dead wife would sabotage their work. The rumors would spread further and further and eventually all that Arthur would be able to hire on would be these tattered groups of egotistical thieves. Still, Cobb was the best at what he did and until he completely cracked, there was work to do and money to be made.
Cobb knew that things had gotten harder and Arthur was having problems assembling a top notch team. Blessedly, he hadn't said anything to Arthur about it. Of course, it wasn't actually Arthur's fault, but still, Arthur felt a certain sense of pride in his work and he didn't really enjoy the fact that his team was becoming less professional as the weeks passed into months. Cobb still hadn't met with Danny or Hardison yet. Arthur looked at the two men arguing, Danny wiry and short with short blond hair in a pair of old blue jeans and a leather jacket; Hardison's own slight build towering above him with dark skin, closely cropped black hair, his tshirt under a denim jacket. Didn't anyone take pride in their appearance anymore?
Arthur knew that Hardison was the best tech guy he could get despite his constant complaining and casual clothes. The information that they'd been hired to retrieve was from the head of a research and development outfit from a local software conglomerate and it would only be Hardison that would be able to identify it and make sense of it. He and Hardison had worked together a few years ago and Arthur would stake his reputation on his ability to get everything done. Danny, on the other hand, was more of a gamble.
Eames had brought Danny in. Arthur found Eames to be somewhat questionable in the first place and shared Hardison's initial reaction to Danny. Eames had been Cobb's suggestion for this team and every time they worked together the two men butted heads but Arthur could accept that Eames had never let them down despite the tension between them. Danny Blue, on the other hand, seemed like little more than a street hustler. Eames insisted that Danny was a natural architect and would be able to design levels like no other. Arthur had doubted the claim but Danny did seem to be quite adept at designing varying levels of mazes and dreamscape.
In fact, the team was almost ready to go. Hardison had done the research, paring down what they were likely to find and the best way of retrieving it. Arthur had worked with him, investigating the man who's mind they would be sifting through and Eames was prepared to do his job as the forger. Arthur knew that Cobb was ready but Danny, he was not sure about. He had shown promise but Cobb and Arthur agreed that they needed to see how he would work with the whole crew in one dream before they set off on the real job. The thing was that they had not been able to get the crew pinned down to accomplish this.
"Hey!" Hardison looked stricken and turned to Arthur. "Did you see him throw that at me? I'm holding sensitive equipment! Man, you are unprofessional!"
"Would you two calm down?" Arthur said at last. "Listen, Hardison, I understand where you're coming from. I don't know much about Danny either." He turned to look at the blond man. "That's why this trial run is imperative. We're not going to go in there together and botch the job? You understand?"
"Yeah. I understand." Hardsion took a deep breath and scowled but seemed resigned to moving forward.