Inception: Dream or Reality? Part 2
A/N: I'm back with part two of my story! I hope you all enjoy it.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inception, Batman, or Doctor Who. I only own the characters that I created.
CHAPTER ONE: PLANE RIDE
Four days later, the team was scattered about the airport, waiting to board, and Cobb joined Saito at the large window next to the departure gate, where they watched as a silver-toned coffin was being loaded onto the 747.
"If I get on this plane and you haven't taken care of things," Cobb reminded him, "when we land I go to jail for the rest of my life."
"Complete the job en route, I make one phone call from the plane," Saito promised. "You will have no trouble clearing immigration."
'I hope so,' Cobb thought, still staring at the plane and hoped that they were successful for his own sake.
When it was announced that it was time to board the plane, Cobb walked through the hallway with Yusuf and Emma just ahead of him, Eames right behind, and a few feet back, was Robert Fischer; he entered the first-class cabin, which had only ten seats with five going down one side, two in the back, and three going down the other side.
Emma, who was sketching something in her sketchpad, and Yusuf were already seated in the back seats, neither of them making eye contact with Cobb, who noted that Ariadne, who was sitting cross-legged in her seat and was reading a book, and Saito were already seated opposite him; he was putting his bag in the compartment when Arthur entered and took the seat directly behind Ariadne, and he sat down as Robert entered, his way blocked by Eames, who was taking off his coat.
"Excuse me," said Robert politely when the older man accidentally bumped him with his elbow.
"Oh, sorry." Eames apologized, squeezing up against his seat, allowing Robert, who politely nodded, to pass and get to his seat, which was in front of Cobb's; he then slipped Robert's passport, which he'd pinched, into Cobb's hand before sitting down.
Cobb quickly checked the photo inside, pocketed the passport and then handed his coat to the stewardess when she offered to hang it up, along with Eames' and Robert's; ten minutes later, the 747 hurtled down the runway and took to the air, making him grip his armrest slightly. 'It's official, I hate planes more then I hate trains,' he decided.
Ten minutes into the flight, Cobb taped a tiny vial to the center of his hand, pulled out the passport, and watched until the seatbelt sign turned off; unbuckling, he leaned forward and tapped Robert's shoulder. "Excuse me?"
Robert glanced toward him. "Yes?"
"I think this is yours," said Cobb, handing him the passport, "you must've dropped it."
Surprised, Robert checked his pockets and then accepted it, relieved, as the stewardess came up to them.
"Would you gentlemen care for a drink?" she asked politely.
"Water, please," Cobb requested.
"Same," Robert agreed, flipping through his passport to make sure that it was intact, and then gave Cobb a small smile. "Well, thank you."
"No problem," Cobb assured him. "Look, I couldn't help noticing your name. You're not related to the Maurice Fischer?"
Robert hesitated for a moment and then nodded, pocketing his passport. "Actually, he was my father."
Cobb nodded. "I'm very sorry for your loss," he said honestly. "He was an inspiring figure." Just then the stewardess arrived with two glasses of ice water; removing the cap from the vial, took the drinks, pouring a clear liquid into the one that he handed to Robert. "To Maurice Fischer," he said, clicking their glasses together and they drank. "I'll leave you in peace."
Robert smiled at him, sipped his water a second time, and then set the glass down, settling in his seat for the long flight ahead.
Now thirty minutes into the flight, Cobb stood, opened a compartment, and removed a blanket, which he then let drop onto Robert's lap, and the young man didn't even react, not even when Cobb reached down and shook his shoulder.
Robert Fischer was dead to the world.
Cobb nodded to his team and the stewardess closed the curtain, opened an cupboard in the galley, pulled out the silver briefcase, and handed it to Arthur before closing the other curtain in order to give them complete privacy; setting the case down a mini table located in the exact center of the cabin, Arthur opened it and the team proceeded to pull out the tubing.
Cobb rolled up Robert's sleeve-cuff, taped the tubes to his wrist, rolled the cuff back down, and then grabbed a new set of tubes for himself; Yusuf double-checked that everything was working properly before sitting down to strap on his own tubing while Emma, Eames, Cobb, Arthur, Ariadne, and Saito repositioned their seats in order to be more comfortable, and then the stewardess came back in.
The stewardess knelt in front of the case, waiting as Yusuf took one more sip of his champagne, settled back, and nodded at her; returning the nod, she pushed the large button, sending the mixture of drugs through the eight sets of tubing, putting both the entire team and their target into a very deep sleep.
Down in the dream, Yusuf, who was now wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt, dark slacks, and dark trainers, groaned when he realized that it was pouring rain. 'The others are going to be so angry,' he thought dejectedly, standing on a street corner with the collar of his dark coat turned up against the rain, and gripped a silver briefcase in one hand.
Soon, a red sedan pulled up along the sidewalk and he hurried forward as the door was shoved open by Arthur and he quickly climbed inside, squeezing in next to Arthur, who was wearing a red leather jacket over a blue shirt, blue jeans, and boots, and Saito, who was wearing his typical black business suit in the backseat while Cobb, who was wearing an outfit similar to Arthur's, was upfront driving.
"Couldn't you have peed before you went under?" Arthur asked, nodding to the storm raging outside.
"Sorry," Yusuf apologized, wiping the rainwater out of his eyes as Cobb resumed driving until he found Eames, who was already soaking wet, standing on a different street corner in a light gray business suit.
Eames got into the front seat and pulled on his seatbelt. "Bit too much free champagne before takeoff, Yusuf?" he teased.
Yusuf scowled at him. "Ha bloody ha."
Cobb peered through the windshield at the pouring rain. "At least we know he'll be looking for a cab in this weather." He then pulled out into the heavy traffic, weaving through the various cars until he spotted a yellow taxicab a few car lengths ahead of them, and he quickly lined up behind it. "Brace yourselves," he ordered and then hit the gas.
The car lurched forward and collided with the back of the taxi with a loud crunch that made the men all wince.
"Cobb, I don't think killing the car is a good idea right now," Arthur pointed out. "You still need to pick up the girls."
Cobb just shrugged and grabbed his gun as the angry taxi driver got out of the cab and stalked toward them through the rain.
"Hey, asshole!" the driver shouted, storming toward the red car. "Why don't you try driving without your thumb up-" he froze when Cobb aimed his gun through the window and at his face, the words dying on his lips.
"Walk away," Cobb ordered, gesturing with the gun, and the cab driver fled the area.
Moving quickly, Arthur and Saito jumped back out into the rain, ran to the cab, and quickly climbed inside; pulling into traffic with Cobb following, Arthur drove toward a business building, turning off the radio that was playing some Spanish rap song. Pulling up next to the building, he spotted Robert, who was talking on his cell, and stopped when the young businessman waved him down.
"Third and Market," Robert requested as he climbed into the backseat. "Snappy." And then Eames, getting back out into the rain, ran up and slipped inside the cab, too. "What're you doing?" he asked, surprised to see him.
"Sorry, I thought it was free," Eames said cheerfully. "Maybe we could share."
Robert scowled. "Maybe not," he snapped. "Driver, can you please pull over and-" his eyes went wide when Saito, who'd been crouched down, suddenly straightened up and was aiming a gun at him. "Great," he sighed while Eames smiled. 'Of all the time to be kidnapped.'
While Arthur drove off with Robert, Cobb pulled over to the sidewalk, and both Ariadne, who was wearing a dark jacket over a pale yellow shirt, a colorful bandanna, jeans, and boots, and Emma, who was wearing an outfit identical to Arthur's, ran through the rain, already soaked, and they climbed inside: Emma in the back with Yusuf, and Ariadne in the front with Cobb.
"Come on," said Cobb, and he began pulling out into the intersection-
BLAM!
-the sedan was knocked sideways as a freight train barreled down the street, chewing up the road and was knocking the cars about like bowling pens; the quartet, shaken up by the collision, stared at the train in shock. Where on Earth did that train come from?!
Unaware of what was going on behind them, Arthur was driving down the road, and Robert, who was looking more annoyed then scared, pulled out his wallet and tossed it to Eames, who caught it easily.
"There's 500 dollars in there," Robert told them contemptuously. "And the wallet's worth more than that," he added. "For that you ought to at least drop me at my stop."
"I'm afraid-" Eames began and then yelped when a bullet suddenly shattered the window next to his head, and he ducked, along with Robert; a second shot forced Saito to duck, too. "Get us out of here!"
Arthur slammed his foot on the gas pedal, skidding across the wet ground, and then had to hit the brakes when a black SUV suddenly blocked their way, bringing traffic to a complete stop; cursing, he looked back, putting the taxi in reverse, and had to stop again when a second SUV blocked that end of the intersection. They were trapped!
"Cover him!" he ordered, and Eames quickly covered Robert's head with a cloth bag, making sure that he didn't get hit by the attacking men, who were climbing out of the SUVs, firing their guns at the taxi while the people in the cars ran for their lives, and Saito fired at the armed men, and Eames did the same while Arthur tried to find a way to get them out of there, while wondering where Cobb and the others were right now.
"Where'd that come from?!" Emma exclaimed, gaping at the train, which was still rushing down the street, blocking their way. "Cobb? Anyone?"
"This wasn't in the design," Ariadne gasped, and then stared at Cobb, who was staring, transfixed at the train, almost as if he was in a trance. "Cobb? Cobb?"
"Cobb!" Emma shouted. "The others need us!"
Pulling himself together, Cobb reversed the car and began driving backwards, looking for a way to get past the train.
Meanwhile, Arthur, Eames, Saito, and Robert were still under attack by the armed men, who had them pinned; Arthur kept crashing into the cars around them, trying to find a way out while Saito and Eames fired their guns out the ruined windows, trying to drive the attackers away.
At one point, the window near Arthur's head was shot out, forcing him to duck as one of the attackers drew closer, and he straightened up, firing his own gun, killing the advancing man, and then he returned his attention to finding a way out.
Finally seeing the end of the train, Cobb tore around it, zoomed down the street until they reached the ambush site; hitting the gas, he yanked the car to the side so that the rear bumper collided with the nearest SUV, and it in turn, collided with the man standing next to it, sending him flying to the ground.
Taking advantage of this, Arthur reversed the taxi so that it collided and pinned the remaining attacker into the front of the second SUV as he continued driving, giving Eames enough time to fire his gun through the broken window, killing the attacker instantly; once this was done, Arthur tore out of the intersection as fast as the damaged taxi could go with the red sedan leading the way.
"Everybody okay?" Arthur asked, breathing hard.
"Yeah, I'm okay, I'm okay," Eames announced, shaken by the ambush and patted Robert on the back, who was still hunched over, his hands over his head, which was still covered by the sack. "Fischer's okay, unless he gets carsick."
Arthur was relieved and then glanced at Saito. "Saito?" and his heart sank when he saw that Saito was slumped in his seat, clutching at his chest, which was bleeding badly.
The Japanese businessman had been hit!
After driving through several different streets, in order to put distance between them and any other attackers, the taxi and the sedan reached a warehouse; Eames jumped out of the taxi, ran through the rain to the side entrance, and pushed the door open. Once both cars were inside, he shoved the door shut and locked it.
Cobb jumped out of the sedan and ran toward the back of the taxi followed by Yusuf. "Get Fischer into the back room now!" he ordered, yanking the door open, and he pulled Robert out, shoving him into Yusuf's arms; he then hurried around the taxi to where Arthur and Emma were now pulling Saito out while Eames helped get Robert secured. "Arthur! Arthur what the-" he began and then paled when he saw that Saito was bleeding badly. "Oh, Christ. Is he dying?"
"I don't know," Arthur admitted while Emma began applying pressure to the wound, using a white cloth from her pocket. "What happened back there?" he demanded. "Where were you?"
"We were blocked by a freight train," Cobb answered, running a hand through his hair, spooked by the train's arrival.
"A train?" Arthur repeated and looked at Ariadne, who was standing nearby. "Why would you put a train crossing in a downtown intersection?"
"I didn't," Ariadne responded, but she did have a suspicion of where it could've come from.
Arthur glanced at Emma, who just shrugged. "You got me," she admitted, "it just came out of no where."
"Why were we all ambushed, Arthur?!" Cobb snapped, changing the subject. "Those weren't regular projections they'd been trained!"
"How could they be trained?" Ariadne asked, confused.
Arthur sighed, realizing what his friend meant, and even Emma was grim-faced since this was going to make their job five times harder. "Fischer's had an extractor teach his mind to defend itself," he explained. "His subconscious is militarized. It should've shown on the research-"
"So why the hell didn't it?!" Cobb yelled, his temper flaring.
Arthur frowned at him. "Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Cobb snapped as Arthur stood up, and he jabbed a finger into his friend's chest. "You were meant to check Fischer's background thoroughly! You can't make this kind of mistake – we're not prepared for this kind of violence!"
Arthur pushed him away, scowling. "Cobb, we've dealt with sub-security before," he snapped. "We just have to be more-"
"This wasn't part of the plan, Arthur!" Cobb shot back, pointing at Saito's bleeding form as Eames and Yusuf joined them. "He's dying!"
Pulling out his gun, Eames stopped next to the taxi and aimed it at the businessman, prompting Emma to scurry out of the way. "So we put him out of his misery."
"No, don't do that! Don't do that!" Cobb yelped, getting in the way and pinned the British man against the taxi, surprising the team.
"Cobb, calm down," Eames said, frowning as the younger man backed up a step. "He's in agony. Let's wake him up-"
"No!" Cobb repeated, scared. "It won't wake him up."
Now Eames was confused. "What do you mean, it won't wake him?" he asked. "When you die in a dream you wake up."
"Not from this," said Yusuf, worried. "We're too heavily sedated to wake up that way."
Confused looks were exchanged among Eames, Arthur, Emma, and Ariadne, all of them wondering what that meant should an accident occur, or one of the projections got the drop on them again, and what it also meant for Saito.
"Right, so what happens if one of us dies?" Eames asked, looking between Yusuf and Cobb.
Cobb sighed, dreading how his friends would react when he told them. "That person doesn't wake up," he explained. "Their mind drops into Limbo."
"Are you serious?" Arthur demanded angrily while Emma's face went pale with fright, and Eames was horrified.
"Limbo?" Ariadne echoed, scared and confused.
"Un-constructed dream space," Emma answered, terrified at the thought.
"What's down there?" Ariadne asked.
"Raw, infinite subconscious," Arthur explained angrily, glaring at Cobb, who was looking guilty. "Nothing there but what was left behind by anyone on the team who's been trapped there before. On this team…just Cobb."
"We are so screwed," Emma moaned, breathing hard, and Arthur turned to her, trying to get her to calm down, which wasn't easy since he was feeling the same way.
Ariadne didn't know what to think and looked at them all, confused and scared. "How long would we be stuck there?"
"You couldn't even think about trying to escape until the sedation eases-" Yusuf began.
"How long?" Eames demanded.
"Decades," Yusuf admitted, "it could be infinite – I don't know! Ask him – he's the one who's been there before!"
Furious with Cobb, Arthur turned to Yusuf. "Let's get him upstairs," he snapped, bending down to get Saito up; after a few seconds, they got the groaning Japanese businessman onto his feet, and they headed for the stairs, followed by Emma.
Pissed, Eames faced Cobb. "Great," he snapped. "So now we're stuck in Fischer's mind battling it out with his private army, and if we get hit we're stuck in Limbo 'til our brains dissolve into scrambled egg? Hmm?"
Cobb stared at the ground for several seconds, unable to look at them, and then left to check on Saito; Ariadne watched him go, and her face was pale with fear.
Eames went over to her and gently touched her shoulder, fully understanding her emotional state. "I know it doesn't look good," he admitted, "but we'll do everything that we can to make sure that we don't end up in limbo." 'I hope,' he thought as they both headed for the stairs.
A/N: Talk about starting out a new story with an explosive and wild start. R&R everyone!