Part 1
Cobb sat across the table from a slim wiry man, absentmindedly flicking through a few documents in front of him. He was seated in a dingy empty restaurant; his nice suit woefully out of place, thought it was where the man requested they meet. He suspected maybe it was one of their many business 'ventures'.
"I honestly can't in good consciousness take this job." He announced, sliding the papers across the table, all business.
"Don't you even want to hear what we are offering for payment?" The man asked, surprised by Cobb's immediate refusal.
"No, frankly I don't. We deal with extracting ideas, and that's it. I'm not even sure what you're asking us to do is even possible."
"But I was told you were the best."
"I am the best, but I'm not putting my team through such an unnecessary risk. While I am sympathetic to your situation, Mr. Russo, it would be far too dangerous to navigate the mind of a man in a coma, let alone try to wake him up." He attempted to delicately tiptoe around the fact that he also knew the Russo twins to be bat-shit insane, and shuddered inwardly at what disturbing reality the other twin had dreamed for himself after two months of being comatose.
"Can I trust you to think it over, then?" Mr. Russo asked, a slight edge to his voice. Cobb stood up and leaned across the table to shake his hand.
"I regretfully decline. Good luck, Mr. Russo." And he strode out of the restaurant, not looking back.
Arthur pulled the sleek black car up and Cobb got into the passenger seat, looking out the window as they pulled away from the aging buildings.
"How did it go?" Arthur inquired, breaking his reverie.
"Not good. He wanted us to go into the mind of Marcus Russo."
"Marcus 'Marky' Russo?" Arthur laughed, sneaking a look at Cobb while he drove. "Got thrown out of a third floor widow by rival thugs, Marky Russo?" Cobb nodded. "What's the other twin's name again? Tony?"
"Thomas." Cobb answered, "Turn left at the next light." Arthur switched lanes and made the yellow with ease. His driving had the same innate elegance that the younger man seemingly always embodied.
Spotting the unfamiliar hotel up ahead, he pulled into the valet, and handed his keys to a younger man in a bright red vest. Cobb followed, making sure to grab the sleek silver suitcase that had been tucked under the seat.
"We can stay here a few days until I locate another job." Cobb suggested, and Arthur nodded silently. Checking in under their assumed names they parted ways at their adjoining hotel rooms. Arthur opened the blinds and looked out at the city lights. He had been so hopeful that they would have a job to work on tonight. Being idle drove him crazy, and while Cobb kept himself occupied by researching potential job offers, he was also just a quieter simpler man.
Arthur noticed that while he always had to keep himself busy and occupied on a task, Cobb could be perfectly content to spend quiet days doing not much at all. Stretching, he shrugged out of his jacket and wandered over to the hotel desk where they kept most of their pamphlets on things to do around the city. Seeing one of a bar, he smiled to himself and picked up the phone.
"Why would you want that?" Cobb asked, sceptical.
"I just want to see how he's doing, is all. Grab something to eat maybe." Arthur replied. He knew better than to ask Cobb if he wanted to do anything that night, but if Eames was still in town doing that job other job he had been working on...Cobb read out to him the Brit's cell phone number and Arthur wrote it on a hotel napkin.
"Just be sure to stay by your cell, Arthur, we may have to leave suddenly."
"Sure thing." Arthur replied and hung up.
Eames couldn't say for sure he had been expecting a call from them. He honestly had felt rather disappointed that they hadn't asked him to join the team. He snorted to himself at the thought of them as the Three Musketeers and flipped open his cell.
"Arthur, darling!" He answered with delight. "Oh I always have time for you, mate...A bar, you say...? Silly Arthur, you had me at hello!" Hanging up he grinned to himself as he pulled on a mismatched suit jacket and headed out the door.
"What sort of job are you involved in now, if you don't mind me asking." The Brit asked the younger man as they drank their respective drinks. A half eaten salad sat in front of Arthur, and Eames took a monstrous bite of a cheese-laden hamburger.
"We don't have a job yet, though Cobb is looking." Arthur replied, pausing to take a drink out of his gin and tonic.
"Then why do you have a tail?" Eames asked sceptically. "You don't have to save my feelings about not inviting me along on this one you know." Eames put on a face of mock hurt, though Arthur thought for a moment he saw a flicker of real rejection cross it briefly.
"I promise we're not doing a job, maybe the tail's after you." Arthur suggested, using his peripheral vision to scan what he could of the crowded pub. Nobody caught his attention as being overly suspicious.
"Well, there's only one way to find out, pet. We can split up and see who he follows!" The liquor had made Eames overconfident. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"
Arthur's face showed disbelief at his brazen friend's attitude. "That sounds like a terrible idea." He replied, taking another sip of his drink. "Are you in some kind of trouble, Eames? Do you owe somebody money or something?"
"I can never say with 100% certainty that I'm not, Arthur, though it's always best to take care of these things sooner rather than later." Eames slapped forty dollars onto their table, and patting his mouth with a napkin in a surprisingly sophisticated way he turned around and strode purposefully out of the pub. Arthur scrambled to his feet and followed after the retreating figure and caught up to him outside, nervously looking over his shoulder. He fell in step beside the bigger man and decided from now on it would be compulsory for him to carry his gun, whether he was on a job or not.
"Did you drive here?" Eames asked but Arthur shook his head no. Responsible to a fault, he knew he would be drinking and had decided to make the short walk on foot. He knew without asking that Eames had walked, he couldn't remember ever seeing the man drive.
"Well it's a lovely night for a stroll, darling, so we might as well enjoy the evening walk as we are certainly not going to lead that man back to either of our houses." Eames picked up his pace and Arthur half jogged to catch up. Seeing an alleyway, Eames ducked quickly into it and Arthur followed suit, their shoes making little to no noise as they walked quietly towards the other street it led to. Sneaking a look behind them, they noticed the silhouette of the man who had indeed followed them. He had picked up his pace, so they wordlessly lost all pretences and broke into a run. They heard the man shout something out as they ran full sprint down a deserted street, but couldn't quite catch it.
Eames, the faster runner turned left first and Arthur scrambled to keep up until he lost sight of him down a second alleyway. Rounding the corner, he slowed down and heard a grunt of pain to his right. Sneaking up around the corner he saw an unidentified man on the ground holding his nose curled up on the dirty alley floor, while Eames stood over him.
"Who are you, and why are you following me?" Eames shouted, standing threateningly over the man. Arthur took a confident step forward, curious to see what gambling debt collector from Eames shoddy past had come after him now. He froze when he felt a cold sharp object prick against his back.
"Tell your friend to back off." The voice hissed in his ear, and Arthur slowly began to reach his right hand into his pocket to reach his cell phone.
"Ah ah ah," the man grabbed Arthur's hair in a bunch and he felt the cold sharp metal of a knife press against his throat. He gave up reaching for his phone and instead looked to Eames for a hint of what to do next.
"Shit." Eames replied, taking the sight in. The unidentified man stood up from the alleyway floor, and delicately touched his nose, which was clearly broken.
"Let him go." Eames warned. "You're after me." The man with the knife laughed.
"OH, Eames, I'm after both of you! I'm just surprised I got a two for one deal! You both came highly recommended from your last employer."
The silent man with the broken nose took a swing at Eames that clocked him right in the side of the head. To his credit, the Brit didn't go down after the first hit, but the second one which landed square on his temple sent him sprawled dazed to the ground.
Arthur struggled with the man holding him, hating to watch his friend get hurt like that, but the knife pressed harder against Arthur's neck, and he quickly stopped.
"So tell me how to get into contact with Cobb." The man hissed.