Ariadne opened the newspaper carefully, sipping her coffee simultaneously.
Robert Fischer dissolves his father's empire! The heir to the massive, multi-billion dollar corporation has chosen to have the whole empire dissolved into smaller businesses. The reasons for his actions are still unknown…
Her breath caught in her throat as she scanned the rest of the article. She put the coffee down and left the shabby café around the corner of her apartment.
Ariadne knew she would probably never see the six men ever again. Inception was as complex as it was dangerous, with many powerful faces of modern day society requesting for their future services. They were too blunt to get their own hands dirty, Ariadne had once thought to herself, irritated.
Of course, she had returned straight back to college. Her career in dreaming was extinguished, a once off. But in reality, it was only just beginning. After school, she would get a job, probably a small one, and she would gradually lead up to a healthy, well paid one. Maybe designing a new building, a Catholic Church, a new road.
But there would always be that sour after taste of dissatisfaction; for she had lived through the most gruelling, exhausting and rigorous experience of her entire life. It had been by far, the best job, she ever had, or would, get.
Ariadne walked through the grounds of the college; it was a warm autumn's day, with crispy orange leaves mashed under her boot. People had always commented on her stride. She more bounced clumsily than walked. She was unaware of the time, and the shadow watching her from a respectable distance.
"Un café, sil vous plait." Ariadne sighed and crossed her legs. She pulled out a sketchbook and studied the complicated geometrical lines that filled her brain, mostly with boredom. She had not been counting the time since Inception, it had not seemed relevant. She had once longed to return to the workhouse and make beautiful and impossibly complicated paradoxes. But there was no good in wishing you could be doing something that you can't, when you could pick up your life and live with what you've got.
That was her attitude to life now; just go with the flow of your life. Sometimes, if felt like a living thing, a thick pulse rushing around her head as she would try to gather her thoughts.
She was so engrossed in her own philosophical thoughts, that she did not see the slight man sit into a table only a few metres away.
"Merci beacup." She nodded at the willowy waitress. I am happy, Ariadne thought placidly. And she was. She did not feel the crippling anxiety as she used to, but more a rested contentedness. Though that calm reverie could be easily broken with just a brief hallucination. A hallucination of Eames' back, or Yusuf's hair, or Cobb's demeanour, or Arthur's frame. She would stand for a few seconds, mildly dazed, and carry on with whatever she was doing.
She took her coffee and bobbed back to the small grass circle the University liked to call the park. She ran a hand through her hair and watched the patterns of the clouds. She was still unaware of the man following her.
Arthur watched Ariadne leave the school patisserie with an absent minded purse of the lips. He let his eyes follow her back through the windy, red lane of the park. Sighing, he got up and pursued her. He had to confront her soon enough, as the feeling of stalking the girl was infuriating.
Arthur obviously did not look like a student, and attracted a few puzzled glances from the young and naïve passers-by. He found Ariadne curled on a wall with her legs folded flicking through a text book.
"Ariadne," He called. Her head snapped towards his voice. "Could I please talk to you?"
Eames sat in the hot fuggy room that over looked the view of southern Monte Carlos. Smoke curled from his mouth as he tipped the ash of his cigar into a plant. "Who is the Mark?" He questioned the elderly man. He had sun weathered skin with deepening creases around his eyes and forehead. His silvery hair was pulled back into a little pony tail, revealing his rheumy eyes.
"Her name is Élodie Maia. Her father owns the largest chain of legal and illegal drugs throughout all of Europe and half of America already. She has been making herself very well known in the tabloids for numerous of prostitution scandals, along with drug use and beating up a taxi driver."
"And why do you need this Inception performed on her?" Eames slouched lazily on the plush sofa.
"Her father owns the key to a new drug; similar to Paracetamol or an aspirin, but much more powerful. It has been tested in Saudi Arabia and all those third world countries, but the government granted it unsafe. We need this drug."
"And why is that?"
"I'm not sure if I can trust you yet, Mr Eames." Jacob Alliante smirked in the smoky light.
"Well Jacob, if you do not need our services-" He stood up.
"No! No, that is not what I meant. This job is with one of the most powerful people. They could grant you your any wish, but you already know that. Your friend Cobb has already been blessed with his little family reunion…"
"Is that a threat, Jacob?" Eames raised his eyebrows sceptically.
"Believe me, Mr Eames; you would know if it was a threat." Jacob's smirk deepened.
"So, why do you need this drug?"
"It's called Elemante. We need it because there is a new and extremely confidential program Aika Industries is running."
"And what would this supreme and utterly confidential program be?" Eames licked his chapped lips.
"That's not important. We need you to tell Élodie to give us a sample of the drug. Her father is one headline short from kicking her into a mental institute, and she has all of his drugs, legal and illegal." Jacob gulped his fresh beer. "So, Mr Eames. Are you in?"
"Well, Arthur has already been onto the phone with me about this job, and he seems to think its stable enough. Yes, I'm in." Eames pursed his lips.
"Superb!" Jacob gave a sloppy grin. "Assemble your team Mr Eames, and I will meet with you very soon."
This was Eames' cue to leave. He nodded at Jacob, and left to another casino.