Here's another new fic I have in mind. I don't know if this has been done before, but let me know if you've seen/read/wrote it. I don't want to accidently steal something.
Also, nope, never been to Egypt, so the geography is bound to be off, but it'll make sense later. Just enjoy lol.
Don't own Inception. Don't need to. Nolan did it right the first time.
o0o
Arthur walked from the alleyway into the bright, beautiful, crowded streets of Cairo. People bustling about, going on with their lives and their own business, not even offering him a second glance. He didn't mind, though. In fact, he was grateful.
He continued walking along the sidewalk, avoiding passerbys by mere inches, wearing what he considered casual in the form of khakis and a blue button down shirt under a beige, leather jacket. His dark eyes scanned the crowds, then the buildings, further up to the rooftops, and finally the sky. The sun broke through the few clouds in the most beautifull way he could possibly imagine.
At length, he glanced back to the people.
In front of him, a good number of feet away, was an older man in a dark business suit with a cell to his ear and a suitcase in his hand. It had taken a long time to find this man and Arthur wasn't about to let him go so easily.
The man casually glanced behind him, eyes roaming across the crowds and over Arthur. Upon looking back in front of him, he let go of his call and took a corner, ducking behind some people.
Arthur started weaving between the crowd, trying to get closer, but it was as if the crowds had gotten thicker. By the time he had managed to get around the corner, the mark was gone. Didn't matter, though. He knew exactly where he was headed. Their mark wanted to get away and the best place to do that was already in sight.
Digging in his pocket for a second, Arthur flicked open his cell phone, pressing one button and putting it to his ear. "Eames," he said, once the other line answered, "I lost him. He's coming to you."
o0o
"Understood," Eames sighed with that charming pip in his voice, as he clasped the phone closed. He was thankful that this was starting to move along, he was really getting bored sitting up there.
Currently, he was on the roof of a building, overlooking a crowded street below and happened to be across from the beautiful entrance to the airport. The reason he thought it was rather beautiful was the fact that they had decided to decorate it with large windows looking in. Perfect for a sniper.
His eye looked through the scope and in the building. Sure enough, the man was there, almost running inside and looking over his shoulder every five seconds.
"Damn, Arthur," Eames muttered to himself, "Spooked the hell out of him, did ya?"
Carefully, he steadied the gun, watching the man make his progress through the building, begging for him to stop for just a second.
The phone in his hand vibrated again. Quickly, he put it to his ear. "Busy," he said.
"Not that busy," Arthur huffed on the other end, "Where's the shot?"
As soon as he said it, the man finally stopped, purposefully getting behind a group of people. "Interferance," Eames answered, "He found some human shields."
He heard a groan on the other end and paced breath. Arthur was running. "Just shot them, Eames. Let's get this over with."
"Calm your horse- wait," he looked closer through the scope, slowly watching the progress of what he could make out of their mark's suit. Suddenly, the man was visible and Eames' had his finger on the trigger, when the guy looked right back at him through the scope and ran further into the airport. "Son of-!," he snapped into the phone, then just relayed the info, "He saw me. He went in deeper."
"Dammit, Eames!" The phone promptly cut out.
He was already putting down the rifle and running for the elevator. "Don't get your tighties in a bunch," he mumbled, jabbing the number one.
o0o
Arthur ran through the street, earning a lot of odd looks from the locals. None of that mattered for the moment, they had to catch their guy.
On instinct alone, he ran into a small alley that couldn't have been seen a second ago. Coming out on the other end, he was in another crowded street on the side of the airport. He kept running, letting everyone gawk at him, while he jumped over the hood of a car that barely stopped in time.
A few of the onlookers got in his way, but he quickly pushed pass them, slamming open the door to the side entrance. His eyes scanned the top of the heads, instantly finding the one he was looking for.
His arm went under the jacket and pulled out a pistol, effectively getting a lot more attention. Most people scrambled away, some tried to get the jump on him, but he kept weaving through the crowds towards the mark.
"Stop!," he screamed over the sounds he was causing, "Stop running!"
He seen the man's head stop and look back to him. Arthur dodged around the pillar between them, getting face to face with their man and instantly pulling the gun up for aim, when the crowds finally dispearsed and another gun was pointing towards him.
Arthur's eyes grew wide and he almost dropped the gun.
o0o
Oh, yeah, Arthur was doing terrific. He could tell these things. Eames wormed his way through the sea of people running and screaming from the airport. Yeah, terrific.
Eventually, he was able to burst through the crowd, running for the main entrance. After pushing it open, he realized that no one was around. He kept running, going deeper into the building. If Arthur had come in through one of the side entrances, then he and their mark were nearby. He just hadn't heard a shot fired, yet.
Eames found a small hallway leading out of the main lobby and quickly took it.
Up ahead, he could still hear some people screaming, but it wasn't nearly as many as what he had already gone through. "Stop running!" Eames picked up the pace at hearing Arthur's scream, pulling out his own pistol.
He took a sharp turn, instantly coming from the hallway and on to the scene. His hands gripped the edges of the wall, forcing himself to stop.
A shot sounded and Arthur's body fell limply to the floor. The young woman turned her gun towards him, another shot sounding.
o0o
Eames jerked awake. Already he was pulling the IV out of his arm, when he noticed that Arthur had been done with that and was currently picking up the PASIV.
"What the bloody hell was that?," Eames shouted at the younger man, who turned a vicious look towards him.
"It sure as hell wasn't me, that's for sure!," he snapped.
"Well, it wasn't me!," he shot back, standing from the chair.
Their client started stirring awake, pinching the bridge of his nose with Eames already next to him. "What happened?," the man mumbled
"Flashback from hell," Eames muttered to him, carefully taking the IV from the other's arm, "It seems, Mr. Rylander, that we were compromised."
Arthur turned to him. "It wasn't me!," he snapped again.
"Didn't say it was!"
"But," now Mr. Rylander was fully awake, "What happened? Did you get it?" He was pretty sure the answer was no.
Arthur relatively calmed down. "I'm sorry, Mr. Rylander," he said, trying to address the man as formally as possible, "But we're going to have to try again at a later date."
"Why not right now?," he asked. There were obviously some troubles going on, but he just wanted the job done.
Eames shook his head. "No, we should at least wait a whole day for the meds to wear off."
"Not that," Arthur almost growled, then calmed again, "We'll be back within the month." With that he snapped the PASIV closed, already making his way to the door.
"What?," the other two exclaimed, but the door slammed and Arthur was gone.
Eames smacked his lips and looked back to the client. "We'll contact you as soon as possible. Some... things came up." Quickly, he grabbed his coat from the chair, moving towards the door. "And we will be back, Mr. Rylander, so don't call anyone else." With that he closed the door behind him, leaving a confused client in their wake. Not good for business.
"Arthur," he groaned, running down the hall to catch up to him, "What's going on?"
"You need to settle some demons," the other told him, stalking down the hall to the stairs.
"Me?," Eames almost choked, "I told you! That bloody hell was not me!"
Arthur started down the flight, two at a time, the other right behind him. "And I told you," he said, "It wasn't me!" Once he reached the bottom of the stair case, he turned, pointing a deadly finger at Eames. "I'm the architect. I built the dream. If anyone brought her in, it was-"
"Oh, no! Don't play that one!," Eames shook his head, "You were in there, same as me. That subconcious running around was Rylander's and he didn't know-"
"So, that leaves you!," Arthur snapped, walking away again.
"It doesn't matter who built it, Arthur!," Eames shouted again, "We were both in there! All three of us were dreaming. Rylander is ruled out and I know that it was not me."
Arthur walked out into the street of New York, wheeling around on Eames again as he emerged from the door. "It wasn't me, Eames," he hissed, then quickly started hailing for a cab. One found him and pulled up to the curb.
"Are you sure?," Eames hissed back, "Or are you afraid?"
Arthur shot him another look, before getting in the cab. "I'll call in a few weeks," he told him, "Get your head on straight." With that, he closed the door and the taxi moved into the traffic.
Eames shook his head, watching the cab get further away. "Alright," he eventually huffed, shrugging his coat on a little better. A few weeks would be plenty of time. He had someone he needed to talk to.
o0o
So the next chapter will be explaining a lot of things. Who the mystery 'she' is, why she was there, and what the job was about.
Updates may be far off. I'm currently doing two other stories for Generator Rex, but this one just hit me like a brick of inspiration...
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