I just found out that I do not own anything to do with Inception... darn!
What is the Truth?
"Watch him. Watch every detail. They have known him for many years and suspicion before it is time will not only result in failure of my plan but also repercussion… Do you understand?"
"Yes. I understand, but do not worry I can handle this young…"
"Do not be so quick to judge you fool. For his age and appearance lead false assumptions to his knowledge and skill. He has been at this game a long time; longer than you. I would also guarantee that his wisdom and knowledge far surpasses yours, he will fall for no cheap tricks."
"Do not treat me as your other followers that are no more than mindless robots obeying your every request. You speak to me like that again and you will regret it. Do youunderstand?"
"Let us call a truce before this is taken too far…"
"Fine."
"Just remember young forger, '[He] who trusts too much in his own intelligence will underestimate the power of his opponent'".
...5 months later…
The rain was beating relentlessly against the glass front of the coffee shop, making the warm interior saturated with the aroma of fresh coffee all that more welcoming. The couches were lined with young college students pouring over their notes preparing for their next exam. Littered among them were the common coffee shop regulars with their glasses, books, and scarves. Arthur was never one for coffee and hardly ever found himself in a coffee shop such as this. It seemed more like a large dining room from an ancient castle with the dim lights, velvet floor length curtains, and crackling fire place. But even with the feeling of security in this place, Arthur was on edge; he had been for a couple months now. It always felt as if someone was trying to burn a hole through his back with their soul consuming stare, but whenever he turned around there was no one to be found. So for the last couple months Arthur had been altering his normal routine, he had dealt with 'followers' before. They were usually easy to shake within the first couple weeks. But this time was different.
Arthur, Eames, Cobb, and Ariadne had just finished a large job with no flaws. Even though everything went smoothly, they all split apart to go under cover blending back into the normal world for a while; falling off radar. Ariadne had chosen to the use the time as a vacation to Australia. Eames went back to Mombasa; it seemed nothing could keep him from those smoke filled bars and poker tables. Cobb went home, taking Miles and his children on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. Arthur on the other hand, did not choose a single place. He moved from here to there as he wished, not being tied down to any particular area for an extended period of time.
Sitting in the far back corner of the coffee house with an open laptop on the table in front of him, Arthur scanned the area. There did not seem to be any individual out place, but the feeling was still there. Something was not right no matter how hard his eyes tried to convince him otherwise. A week prior Arthur had sent word to Cobb, Eames, and Ariadne, warning them of his suspicions. They all replied as discretely as his warning had been sent, assuring that they were all fine and did not suspect any foul play.
Closing his laptop, which he hadn't even looked at anyway, Arthur made his way for the front door. Carefully watching to see whose eyes followed his departure, with only one taking the baited hook.
'Gotcha…' Arthur thought pushing against the door out into the still pouring rain. Slipping around the corner, Arthur broke into a slow awkward jog while trying to remove the plastic plate from the bottom of the laptop
'Hopefully this slows them down...' he thought with little confidence. This 'follower' was unlike he had ever dealt with before. 'He', which Arthur has gathered from his glimpse of the on looker, more than wanted to take him hostage and enjoy a game of torture with little purpose other than fulfilling some old need for revenge.
With his hard drive now removed and laptop discarded, Arthur broke into a full run; the 'follower' close behind. Because of the rain most people had abandoned the streets and moved indoors, leaving Arthur relatively no cover from the view of his 'follower'. Arthurs mind raced as he pounded down the street weaving in and out of parked cars and deserted street booths. Taking a quick right he ran down a junk filled alley emerging into the middle of the neighboring street almost being flattened by oncoming traffic. Horns blared, giving away his position if the 'follower' had not already known it.
Arthur's heart was racing, his suit jacket heavy from the rain. His previously perfect jelled back hair was now clinging to his face, making it difficult to see. After running a few more blocks and barely avoiding another vehicle death encounter, Arthur pulled to a stop. Quickly scanning his surroundings, a quick glance back revealed no 'follower' he started calculating his next plan of action. But just as he was about to enter a small book store a peddler came out of nowhere, crashing into him then flying over his handle bars to land with a loud thud flat on the pavement; leaving Arthur panting for his lost breath and clutching his side.
'That was no accident,' was the first thought that jumped into his adrenaline rushed mind. No more than a second later, the follower once again emerged but this time wielded a large wooden bat.
"What?..." Arthur breathed.
"A bat? Not even a gun?"
His burning side forgotten and the unconscious man left to lie in the rain, Arthur ripped off in the opposite direction of his attacker and the chase continued. But the concrete was slippery from the rain making stopping an impossible challenge when an old woman pushing a shopping cart stepped out of an alley. Slamming into it, Arthur ended up in a pile of junk with the 'bat swinging follower' now that much closer to his target.
"Crap…" the word echoed on the wind as the chase rolled on, leaving the woman alone in the rain to gather the collection of odds and ends which represented her entire life's savings. A large headache now blossoming from the meeting of his head and the concrete, Arthur repeatedly dodged the swinging bat that came entirely too close.
The rain still poured down, the clouds now a dark blue and grey casting a huge shadow over the world. The only light was the small circles of illumination emanating from the top of the street lamps. A bell tower somewhere in the distance sounded the change of the hour, the sound of each bell vibration rolling across the cloud ceiling.
"Smash…" came the sound of the car's windshield in front of Arthur, shattering under protest of the brick's force which flew by only inches from his head. Not even caring where the follower had retrieved a brick, Arthur was about to dive into the next alley but…
"AHHH…" the quick cry came from behind. A glance revealed a new scenario; instead of an angry drenched man with a bat there stood an elderly drenched woman with a purse.
"Uhhh," was the only reply Arthur could muster.
"Young man, could you please come help me?" the woman asked in an aged but gentle voice.
"A man tried to grab my purse? But I kicked him in the shin, he ran off. Really quite strange, I am worried he will return for there is no way I could have scared him off. Will you please help me to the bus stop?"
"Where?..." Arthur panted.
"I am sorry dear, my hearing has faded with the youth of my body. What did you say?"
"Where did the man go?" he questioned again, holding his ground while eyeing the woman carefully.
"Why, he went down this alley right here," she responded pointing in that direction.
"What are you doing out here mam? It is cold and raining?" something was wrong.
"Oh, well I… I have to go and meet my daughter but I must get to the bus stop…"
"The bus stop is on the other side of town mam. Only the subway is ahead…" Arthur responded, carefully taking a few steps back to grab a rusted pipe out of the back of a parked pickup truck.
"Sorry, subway is what I meant… OHH," she squeaked. "I hear something from the alley. He is coming back, young man please come and help me?" She pleaded though staying rooted to the same spot.
"What did you say your name was?" Arthur asked quickly scanning the street then letting his eyes drift right towards the wall of dark store fronts broken only by garbage filled allies.
"Ummm, what does it matter. Ummm, Ummm… COME HERE!" she screamed, her gentle old voice now replaced with a deep anger, her eyes flicking towards Arthurs right. Peripheral vision showed everything needed for his body to tense swinging the previously gathered pipe up as a guard against the bat determined to bash in his skull. The force behind the blow caused Arthur's arm to vibrate, almost causing him to lose his grip. The man Arthur saw earlier in the coffee shop now had his face twisted into a deep scowl as Arthur efficiently blocked every blow. But each blow came harder than the last and soon both men were panting with bruises littering their arms.
While evading a swing at aimed at his knees, Arthur tripped on the sidewalk curb falling onto his back; his opponent taking the advantage to swing full force at Arthur's midsection. Swinging the dropped pipe up Arthur managed to block the strike but the bat caught two of his fingers as it split in half upon impact. Arthur could not hold back a sharp cry of pain as his figures exploded into a bloody mess. His weapon now useless, the' follower' was on Arthur in a matter of moments. Rolling on the concrete, in and out of puddles, Arthur fought fiercely to regain his footing. But when Arthur got the man in a neck hold, the 'follower' reached into his pocket removing a taser which he promptly pressed against Arthur's neck sending waves of electricity coursing through Arthur's already battered body. Arthur's grip slacked immediately. Untangling himself from Arthur's previous hold, the 'follower' pushed himself to his feet.
"A few more seconds and I would have been the one unconscious one on the concrete…" he chuckled down to Arthur's unconscious form.
"My payment now Sir!" The lady with purse demanded who had stood by and watched the entire scene.
"Oh, yes. Sorry about that," the 'follower' replied reaching into his pocket and pulling out two hundred dollar bills as if he were simply making a friendly transaction with a lifelong friend.
"Thank you for your services," he smiled sincerely.
"You are welcome and thank you," snatching the money, the woman turned and ran off not caring in the least about the young bloody man lying with no defense under the still raining sky.
… One month later…
"So, I have many new designs for this new job; I tried to make them more complex then the last. Building many more escapes routes into the structures that I hope to come in handy when we are being chased by blood thirsty projections…" Ariadne continued to ramble though no one paid much attention. Cobb was caught up in preparing all of the final details, Yusuf was trying to finalize a new drug, and Saito had been on the phone all evening. Eames on the other hand was doing nothing to help ensure the jobs success, in fact he was thinking of Arthur. Arthur had been acting very strange the last month and no one had seemed to notice due to their devotion towards the job.
Eames was on one of the empty lawn chairs observing the commotion in front of him; everyone operating normally, except Arthur who was no were to be seen.
'Something is not right…' Eames kept telling himself. Every time they got a new 'subject', the dreamer who would be undergoing inception or extraction, Arthur never looked away from his computer or stacks of files. Before the job he knew every detail learned over days of sleepless nights, but this time he kept disappearing for many hours and when he returned he was not devoted to his work. Eames voiced his concerns to Cobb who merely blamed it on the stress Arthur had been under since the occurrence a month ago. But Eames didn't buy it; Arthur was always under stress yet he still managed to operate at hundred percent every hour of the day.
"I think I have it!" Yusuf announced excitedly holding up a vile of liquid as proof to his joy.
"We should try it as soon as possible incase adjustments need to be made; time is running out fast," Cobb said abandoning his previous interest. "When will the drug be ready to test?"
"Ummm… Now," Yusuf answered.
"Good. I shall experience the drug's effects though I would like one of you to accompany me," explained Cobb.
"I can. It will give me an opportunity to check my architectural designs, ensuring their layouts are as I planned," Ariadne offered.
"Fine…" Cobb said while moving the PSIV device towards the lawn chairs. Once it was set and ready for use, by habit Cobb reached into his pocket searching for the little metal top. An initial panic surged through him when his hand found nothing. Quickly checking the rest of his pockets, his level of distress was heightened when the small metal object was not to be found.
"What is wrong?" Ariadne asked seeing Cobb's display of distress. But Cobb didn't answer. He just turned and headed for the table he had spent the entire day at. Papers flew, glasses were knocked together, pencils rolled to the floor, a half filled pizza box was tossed aside, but no totem was found.
Eames stood up and made his way over to where Cobb was now on his hands and knees.
"What is up my love?" he asked.
"I can't find my totem…" Cobb answered in a harsh whisper.
"What?" was Eames only reply as instinct led his hand into his left pant pocket; alarm overtook him for a moment when his hand did not come to rest on his ever familiar poker chip.
"Ariadne, do you have your totem?" Eames asked as he headed towards the lawn chair he had previously occupied.
"Of course!" she replied as if it was a ridiculous question, but her search held the same result as her comrades.
"What?" she said in a panicked voice, not taking the subtle route that Cobb and Eames has. Just then Arthur came in the door with a wicked smile on his face.
"Arthur…" Cobb started but one look at him caused Cobb to lose his entire line of thought.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Eames went off; he had had enough.
"Oh dear, that does not sound very friendly of you Eames," Arthur said making everyone do a double take to ensure that it was actually Arthur standing before them. The perfectly jelled hair and carefully pressed suit were the same but it was if Arthur's entire air was different.
"If you are not going to be friendly then I will not share my secrets with you," sounding even less like his normal self than before.
"What secrets? Arthur what is wrong?" Cobb asked, his worry slipping from his lost totem to the young point man.
"These," he said almost mystically, tossing all of their totems onto the table.
"You have three bloody seconds to explain why you have those," Eames warned.
"Really? I will count down for you. Ready?... Go," as the words finished rolling off his tongue he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out gun. No more than a second later he shot Ariadne in head while counting one, followed closely by two which had Cobb being shot twice in the chest, three saw the end of Yusuf as a carefully aimed bullet struck him in the heart.
"Awh, what a pity. You and Saito are left," Arthur replied. "Why couldn't you have given me just a little more time?" he asked Eames almost playfully who stood bone still in shock at what had just occurred before him. It was the first time in his life when he experienced something he refused to be reality. Without even mumbling a word Saito dove at Arthur but did not live long enough to inflict any damage on the man he now considered a devilish trader.
"You are the last Eames; you and me."
But Eames could not come up with any of slick line or deadly threat. In fact he didn't think speaking was an option at all until a deep anger over took him at Arthur's next remark:
"Your turn to die, just as easily as the rest did. Ha Ha Ha Ha."
"I…" but Eames was cut off by both the bullet that hit him in the forehead sending the world into darkness and the sight he saw milliseconds before.
Hey everyone, I hope you liked this. I am going to make it a two-part oneshot. I was going to write the whole thing and then upload it but I just couldn't wait so here it is. There will only be one more chapter. Oh, and I uploaded chapter 4 of Left Behind just to let everyone know. Reviews are welcomed for both stories. Talk to you all later.
