The first job is over. Arthur and Ariadne became the new leaders of the team but as they're facing a case they cannot handle alone, they decide to get Cobb back on the team. As they arrive at his place to convince him of coming back, they find him in a terrible shape.
Chapter 1
Slowly, very slowly they came to a halt. Arthur removed the keys and undid his seat belt.
"This is it?", asked Ariadne, watching a house on the other side of the street through a small binocular. "Just what did he do to earn himself an estate of this size?"
"Lots of jobs - more than either of us could imagine. And believe me, none of them pleased him at all. Plus, he never had the freedom to choose his jobs, he always did what Global Engineering ordered him to. Of course, he would gain much more liberties and money than any normal thief - but tell me, is it worth it?", said Arthur.
She looked down on her lap.
They backed out of the car and closed the doors noisily. Quickly, they crossed the street - but there was not a single human being around. From far away they could hear a group of children laughing and playing.
Arthur rang the bell and he could hear a somewhat annoying piece of music being played.
"Hey, Cobb it's Ariadne and Arthur here! Would you mind opening the...?"
Something, that was lying to his feet caught his attention. It was a...tiny shred of wood-coloured tape? Why would he..? Then he saw it. The door was made of the wood that the tape should represent and there was another piece of it sticking at the door frame.
"Step aside!", he shouted at Ariadne. Startled, she jumped to the side. Arthur took a few steps back, ran towards the door and threw his full body against it. It wouldn't move a bit.
"We have to find a way inside! He's in grave danger!", he said.
- "GE found him? But how? I thought Saito wouldn't leave Cobb unprotected!
He shook his head. No, this wasn't GE's work – it was someone else's. GE wouln never leave traces like that behind, they were professionals.
"Come on, let's look for a back door!", said Arthur.
He ran around the one side of the building, Ariadne checking the other side. Getting past a garage and some maple trees, he could see a huge hedge at the end of the yard. He stepped on branches and into messy piles of leaves, that were obviously arranged like that by Cobb's children.
A noise struck him, that came from the house – no, it was music!
Noooon, rien de rien
Is he sleeping?
"Arthur, over here!", he could hear Ariadne shout.
He ran back around the house, as he could not jump over the huge hedge, that would have been be his only other possibility. Finally, he arrived panting at the door Ariadne was pointing at.
"Should we break the glass?"
It was a French window.
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux!
"No", he said. "Saito certainly secured the building against this type of burglary. Can you see this lock?" He pointed at a small combination lock at the bottom edge of the door.
"All we've got to do is to find out the combination".
"What about this?", said Ariadne.
He could see her typing in the numbers 5-2-8-4-9-1. The red light at the side that displayed the "lock" status, turned to green.
- "Well done!"
"I thought he would take something only his allies could know", she smiled pleased at him.
They went inside. Now they could hear the music from upstairs growing louder and louder. He indicated her not to make a sound and they slowly climbed the stairs. Gesticulating, he explained her that they should split up in order to find the room it was coming from. As he looked around a corner, he could hear Ariadne gasp from the other corner of the hallway.
"Arthur, take a look at this. You will not like it!"
Je repars a zéro!