Pawn
"Shouldn't you tell him why he's about to die for you, Mr. Cobb?"
It isn't a question Dominic Cobb expected himself to ever answer, especially not in this predicament he currently finds himself in.
Not too long ago, he had been abducted after he had dropped his kids off at school. He was gagged and bound. He was held prisoner against his will in a small room with no windows to let the sunlight in, which didn't matter much considering the fact that he had been blindfolded as well. After what appeared to be days of being bound and helpless, his captors finally arrived to greet him. They quickly removed his blindfold and sliced off the twined ropes that have kept his hands and legs bound for days. He shook his wrists to will the circulation back to his hands and struggled to his feet to find himself facing the barrel of a pistol.
"What do you want?" Cobb asked, dreadfully, raising his hands in surrender. When he was younger, he was more bold and aggressive in situations like this. Now, he had his kids to live for. He couldn't be so foolish as to risk his life anymore- not now, not ever.
The tactic worked as the leader of the bandits stepped away. In place of him, stood a well dressed man, very much like Saito, but much slender, handsomer, and a few years younger. His name was Theodore Chang, a third generation American and a powerful leader among the Chinese mobsters in San Francisco's Chinatown. He held up a photo of another sharply dressed man with a cigar hanging off his lips. Immediately, Cobb recognized who the man in the photo was. His name was Jun Mao, a notoriously famous mafia boss who had suddenly risen in the ranks of the not so much underground Chinatown's gangsters since arriving stateside not more than fifteen years ago. He had heard of rumors of other extractors attempting to incept Mao. All but one had died mysteriously. The only one left alive was now succumbed to life in a wheelchair and without a voice to tell his story. His larynx had been ripped out of his throat, leaving him to live the rest of his life in silence.
Pushing the photograph towards Cobb, Chang spat out his command, "I want you to do what you do best and extract the information I need to bring him down."
"I can't. I'm retired. Have been for awhile now. I wouldn't know what to do if I were to slip into someone's dreamscape anymore."
"You can't or you won't?" Chang asked him.
To which Cobb responded, "I'm sorry. I won't. I've retired from the business a long time ago and I'd like to live my life in peace, if I may, sir," added Cobb.
Chang laughed maniacally out loud. "Perhaps I can change your mind," he said, clapping his hands thunderously.
Moments later, the doors swung open and Cobb perked up upon seeing his latest visitor. No longer wrapped in her signature striped scarf and wearing her demure cardigan and slacks, Ariadne appeared at the doorway, wearing skin tight black leggings and matching colored leather vest over a ruffled white blouse. She strutted across the room in four inch stilettos and a gun secured in her sharply manicured hand. She was heading toward Cobb's direction when she paused and quickly turned to face Chang. They kissed briefly, but passionately, before she pulled away and continued charging towards him, kicking him in the crotch.
Cobb doubled over in pain as he stumbled to the floor. He could hear the sound of stilettos clonking across the concrete floor, followed by the door slamming shut. Wincing, Cobb struggled to his feet. He leaned against the wall for support, taking deep breaths. He cracked his knuckles and readied himself for the next assault. It did not come as he expected.
Cobb breathed and relaxed, unclenching his fists at his sides. He really had no desire to seize Ariadne's dark locks and pound her pretty face onto the concrete floor. He knew that she was beside herself at the moment, blinded by love that she thought was pure as gold. Cobb knew otherwise. He knew that she was merely a pawn in Chang's attempt to bring down his rival gangster, Mao, and take over the streets of Chinatown's most corrupted neighborhoods.
He didn't have the heart to tell her that Chang was using her to get to him to get to Mao, but he kept trying to reason her to get out. He kept telling her that Chang didn't love her like she loved him and she deserved more, much more. His attempts had always been futile. She cackled at him and kicked him in the crotch with her four inch heel, again.
"Why are you doing this?" Cobb yelled at her.
She grabbed a fistful of hair and brought Cobb's ear within inches of her pursing lips. "Because I'm a hopeless romantic," she whispered and strutted off.
That was three days ago.
Today after several days of abandonment, which he welcomes sincerely, he gets another visit from his captors. Cobb hears them approaching the door to his dungeon like room. He struggles against the restraints threatening to cut into his skin, rocking back and forth in the chair. After he finally wrenches himself out of his bindings, he makes a run for the exit when he's met by the same barrel of the same pistol they visited him with the first time. They push him back and Cobb stumbles backward. Chang enters after them and makes way for Ariadne to join them in the chamber.
"You're going to do better than Ariadne to make me change my mind about inception," Cobb defiantly tells Chang.
"Who ever said I was going to change your mind with Ariadne," Chang smirks before clapping his hands, again.
Seconds later, someone is being dragged into the room- bound, gagged, and with a rice bag over his head. Cobb studies the casual khakis and the brown and white leather boat shoes, wrinkling his forehead. Ariadne smiles devilishly as she struts toward the new captive. She rips off the bag and pushes the bound captive forward. It's Arthur sans his bespoke Italian suits and suddenly Cobb doesn't feel so defiant as before.
"Arthur," Cobb whispers, inching forward automatically.
"Not so fast, Mr. Cobb," Ariadne tells him with her gun pressed against his chest. She grabs Arthur's left arm and swings him toward the group of gun toting bandits. She walks up to Arthur and smiles at him before kicking his legs apart. With the bandits' aid, Arthur is held in place before her. She grips her gun and twirls it in the air, catching it with her finger. She wraps her fingers around the barrel of the gun and slams the butt of the gun into Arthur's crotch- hard. Arthur doubles over in pain, but is forced up by the bandits by his side. Using the gun, she traces along Arthur's body until she reaches his right temple and pauses. Cobb is holding his breath as Arthur holds his gaze. Cobb has no desire to seize Ariadne's dark locks and pound her pretty face onto the concrete floor, but if she pulls the trigger, Ariadne's face will be met by more than the concrete floor. She teases Arthur for awhile longer before dragging the gun against the fabric gagging his mouth, pulling it down.
"Ariadne, why?" Arthur asks her.
"Because I'm a hopeless romantic," she tells him before leaning in to kiss his lips roughly. When she pulls away, she leaves his lips a bloody mess. She turns her attention back toward Cobb. When she has his undivided attention, she lifts her arm and directs the gun towards Arthur. "Do as Mr. Chang tells you or I'll shoot."
"Dom!" Arthur yells. "Don't! No one has been able to infiltrate Mao's mind successfully. It's a suicide mission. Don't do it! You have your kids to think about!"
Ariadne huffs and puffs. She stalks back toward Arthur and smacks him across the face with the butt of her gun. She repeats the motion several times until he's bleeding profusely from his mouth. She socks him in the stomach with her gun and strikes him in the crotch, again. This time, without the support of the bandits by his side, Arthur slumps to the ground. She grabs a hold of his hair and drags him across the room only to stop just a few feet away from Cobb.
"One more time, Mr. Cobb, do as Mr. Chang tells you or I'll kill your darling, Arthur," Ariadne threatens.
Arthur shakes his head. "Don't," he whispers.
"Please, Ariadne," Cobb pleads. "You don't want to do this."
"Just watch me," Ariadne says. She lifts her eyes and orders the bandits to hold Arthur up. "Open your mouth, darling," she tells him. When he doesn't obey her, she slams her fist into his throat. Arthur opens his mouth to scream when Ariadne shoves the gun down his throat, gagging him. "One more thing before I blow away your fuckin' brains, do you know why Mr. Chang went to great lengths to track you down? Why he brought you here and not kill you like the others?"
Through tears in his eyes, Arthur shakes his head weakly. She turns her attention back towards Cobb and literally yells at him. "Tell him why!"
"Ariadne, now is not the time or place."
"He's going to die. Shouldn't you tell him why he's about to die for you, Mr. Cobb?"
"Ariadne, please."
"Now, Mr. Cobb. Tell him why Mr. Chang targeted him and why he's about to die with his brain strewn across this filthy floor. Tell him now or I'll shoot and he'll never know why. You owe him that much to tell him why. Tell him!" Ariadne yells, pressing her finger on the trigger when Cobb throws himself across the floor and grabs onto her legs.
"Please, Ariadne. Don't kill him."
"And why not?"
"Because I love him and I can't live without him," Cobb confesses, falling into a puddle of tears beside her legs.
She smiles devilishly and retrieves her gun from inside Arthur's mouth. She kicks Cobb along the ribs before she struts across the room as Arthur scrambles toward Cobb's side. She stands before Chang and kisses him passionately on the lips. When they part, she steps backward and snaps her fingers. Immediately, the bandits are at Arthur's side, dragging him away from Cobb. She smiles at Mr. Chang and announces out loud, "You have your pawn now, Mr. Chang. As long as you have Arthur, Dominic Cobb will do whatever you wish him to do."
"Thank you, Ariadne."
"My pleasure, Mr. Chang."
Ariadne bows respectfully, giving way for Mr. Chang and his men to leave the cell. Once they're gone, she takes her gun and polishes the barrel against her skin tight pants. She slides into its strap around her thigh and struts toward the door when Cobb stops her in her tracks.
"Why? Why, Ariadne?"
"Because I'm a hopeless romantic," she says with a smile and struts away, locking the door behind her, but not before telling him one more thing, "And you can thank me later. I just fuckin' saved your darling Arthur's life."