Cobweb

by MkaylaMarvel

There's a secret locked in Cobb's mind, that is trapped in a coma. Ariadne and Arthur are the only people who know him well enough to venture through the cobweb of dreams he created around his secret. But another thief has been hired to enter Cob's mind with a method that has brought extraction to another level.

She was holding onto the lamp post for dear life; the entire world was upside down. The earth had spun on its axis so quickly that the ground below Ariadne's feet had traded places with the sky; and as a result gravity had shifted to the sky. If she let go of the lamp post she would have fallen into the sky and she wasn't sure where it would end, how far down she would go until she hit the bottom, or top whatever it was now. All the projections were walking normally as if the transition meant nothing to them, an idea. She saw a group of French guys walking past her talking casually, she called to one of them and he turned around looking at the strangest thing he'd ever seen, someone hanging upside down.

"Could you please help me down, I'm stuck up here because I tried to climb up and catch something that was tied to the lamp post." She asked, he nodded at her and he realised that she was an American and that it all made perfect sense now. So he put his hands around her stomach and picked her up, placing her carefully on the ground and the world reverted to the way it was supposed to be. She gave him a small smile and thanked him, his friends called to him and she took advantage when turned around and walked away hoping that she would step into another one of Gabriel's traps. The further she went the more comfortable she got because he hadn't been in sight for at least two hours, it wouldn't be too long before the time was up and she'd wake up. As she walked across the road she saw a tall man walking towards her, an Italian man with short black hair, pale skin, a face that made her think of a feline, but his cold grey eyes were fixed on hers almost freezing her to the spot. She shrugged it off and quickly walked into a boutique and the next thing she knew she had stepped outside into the street again, as if door that lead into the boutique lead out of the boutique; she had stepped into a loop and he was approaching. She turned around and walked into a crowd as it crossed the road and disappeared, stepping out of a group of girls in the food court of a mall far away from Gabriel. She needed to change the way she looked so he wouldn't recognise the clothes she was wearing and hopefully postpone him until she woke up, she climbed the escalator but the more she walked longer it felt and she was only half way and then it stopped and instead of going up it went down. Gabriel had caught up with her and was waiting for the escalator to bring her down, she cursed the fact that she was in the mind of a man in a coma; none of the projections reacted the subconscious mind was accepting the information that was continuously changing and therefor it was fighting back; but this could also be her advantage. The two escalators lifted off the ground and curved, joining together to create a half circle rotating around the elevator. The stairs rapidly flatted and the half circle moved in one direction, instead of down or up they moved clockwise, Ariadne and the other projections stepped off the escalator and walked away. She walked into the closest clothes store and quickly browsed for an outfit that would make her blend into the crowd she would be going to and just before she could, she grabbed a watch and walked into the changing rooms and came out with her original clothes on the hangers, she was in London, one of Cob's designs and she knew for sure that she was going to be okay. She checked her new watch, the dream would end soon enough, but she still didn't find what she was looking for. She was supposed to get to the bank and withdraw the secret that Cob had left behind, she had come so far to help him and then Gabriel stepped into the picture. He was a thief that worked for Global Engineering and they too were after Cob's secret, the only problem is the fact that no one knew what the secret was; Cob couldn't tell her because one of Global Engineering's snipers shot him in the head. Luckily the bullet didn't go all the way through his brain, so instead of killing him it had severed the part of Cob's brain that linked the conscious mind with the subconscious mind leaving him in a coma. Somewhere in the maze of his thoughts and memories was a secret that Global Engineering didn't want to share. They had tried to kill him while he was in the hospital but Arthur pulled a few strings and to make a long story short Global couldn't touch Cob, until Gabriel.

The dream was ending; parts of the buildings and the road blew up; windows shattered; cars exploded and then the buildings crumbled and came crashing down she turned around and saw Gabriel standing a few feet away from her. His hands were in his pockets and he was standing dead still looking at her with those eyes that could make her entire body grow cold. The earth shook and another building fell, casting a shadow over her that grew bigger by the second and he didn't move. With a resounding crash it fell on top of him, rubble soared and a huge rock flew towards her, she closed her eyes and the feeling was brief. She was still a bit foggy as Arthur took the needle out of her arm and put kit back into the metal briefcase.

"You looked uneasy in your sleep, was Gabriel there?"

"Yes and he's getting better all the time, his loops and tricks are becoming more elaborate, I almost fell into the sky. And I didn't get the idea, I don't think I should be the one to go in anymore."

"Someone needs to stay behind and keep watch, you're a good architect and I can handle an attack if any one comes looking for us. You just need to follow my instructions and go from there. We'll try again at eight pm, you need time to recover and if the problem continues, I'll go in and you can stay behind."