Disclaimer: I once had a wonderful dream that I owned Inception. But then I woke up. (So no, it's not mine).
Chapter 2: The Point Man
"The fog is rising."
-last words of Emily Dickinson
For the first time in almost two years, Dominic Cobb could say he was truly happy. Sitting on his back porch, he was contented to just watch his children play. Phillipa chased a butterfly, her net barely missing the flying insect. James was playing in the dirt, switching between digging with his hands and a stick, putting anything that moved into a pail for further examination, oblivious to the fact that most of the creatures he had put in crawled right back out. He still missed Mal, he still didn't dream, and he still ran to his totem every few seconds, assuring himself of reality, but, overall, Cobb was happy.
And then his phone rang.
Cobb pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, never taking his eyes off his kids or checking the caller ID. "Cob speaking."
"Dom," His breath caught; he could tell by his father-in-law's tone that something was very wrong. "We have a problem."
"What's wrong?" He did his best to keep his tone calm, he didn't want to alarm his children.
"Ariadne's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"Kidnapped. At least, that's what they suspect."
"They?"
"The Police." Cobb could hear Miles sigh, exasperated. "Dom, what did you get her into?"
"Apparently, more than I thought."
The line went dead. Cobb could understand his father-in-law's agitation. Where could she be? He could see the appeal of anyone after the Inception team going after her first. She had the least experience, the least training. He highly doubted that she even kept any weapon on her. If a hit man broke into her apartment, she wouldn't have stood a chance. Cobb silently cursed himself for not realizing the possibility sooner. He looked longingly at his children, but he knew he had to help Ariadne; He'd gotten her into this situation, he had to get her out of it. But he knew he couldn't do it alone. He'd have to get the team back together.
He immediately went to dial the number of the most reliable member of his team, Arthur. But something stopped him from hitting the call button. A memory. Back when they were preparing for the Fischer job, Ariadne had been showing Arthur her plans for the second level. Her eyes sparkled and her voice was full of enthusiasm. And the way Arthur was looking at her... Shit. How had he not realized it before? Well, then again, his mind was elsewhere, but, in retrospect, it all made sense. If whoever had gone after Ariadne knew enough about her to know her connection to the team, they probably knew enough to know her connection to Arthur.
This made everything a bit more difficult. "James! Phillipa! Time to come in!" He needed to make this call in private, and he sure as hell wasn't leaving his kids outside unsupervised- especially not now. "But daddy…" James moaned.
"No buts, James. Daddy has to make a phone call. But you can watch TV, okay?"
"Okay!"
"James?"
"Yeah, dad?"
"Leave the bugs outside."
"But daddy…"
"The bugs stay outside." Cobb didn't mean to snap, but his patience was being worn thin. "Okay, buddy?"
"Fine…" James grumbled. "Come on, Phillipa! I need you to work the TV!" James dragged his older sister along by the hand to the living room. Cobb closed and locked the back door behind them. After checking in on his kids, he went into his office and closed the door behind him. He had a feeling this wouldn't be pretty. Sitting comfortably in his leather office chair, he hit the call button.
"You've reached Arthur Giordano."
"Arthur! Can anyone overhear this conversation?"
"Cobb? No, I'm just in my hotel room. Cobb, what's going on?" Cobb could distinctly hear a door close on the other end.
"Ariadne…" Cobb was unable to finish his sentence, so he tried again. "Arthur, Ariadne's been kidnapped." Hearing a string of expletives he'd never heard from Arthur before, followed by a crash, Cobb held the phone a few inches away from his ear.
Arthur couldn't believe what he was hearing. The words played themselves over and over in his head like a broken record, and the phone dropped from his hand. Ariadne's been kidnapped. Ariadne's been kidnapped. He sank down onto his hotel bed, swearing, picking up his phone again, and then collecting himself. He was a Point Man. This was part of his job- he had to be rational, logical, and even tempered all the time. He couldn't let emotions control him. He sighed loudly. "How would they even know about her? She only ever did one job!"
"I don't know."
"Do we at least have any leads?"
"No. It could be anyone that has ever had anything against any of the team members. You know how long these corporations hold on to things."
Arthur swore again.
"Arthur, you have feelings for her, don't you?"
"Cobb, this isn't the time for that."
"I disagree. And don't avoid the question, Arthur."
Arthur mumbled something unintelligible.
"What was that, Arthur?"
"I kissed her, Cobb," Arthur ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "On the Fischer job, second level."
"Arthur!"
"I know, I know, Cobb. I don't know what I was thinking. Goddamnit, this wasn't supposed to happen." Arthur paused, "well, what do we do now?"
"First, we need to contact Yusuf and Eames. If Ariadne's at risk, then we all are."
"Wait. Do you think Fischer-Morrow had something to do with this?"
"Anything's possible."
The first thing Ariadne noticed was that she was sore. Her ribs ached and her left eye was swollen shut. The concrete floor felt cold and damp beneath her. She groaned, maneuvering herself into a sitting position. Slowly, she looked around, taking in her surroundings. It was a makeshift jail cell. Brick walls on three sides, rusting iron bars on one. The musty air and moss-ridden walls added to the foreboding aura the room gave off. The furnishings were minimal- a toilet, a sink, and a tiny cot. "Hello?" she called. The only response was her own voice echoing off the walls. Growing desperate, she got up and shook the bars of her cell. "Hello?". Silence. She fell to her knees, resting her forehead against the iron bars, and remembered a conversation that seemed like it had taken place years ago.
She and Arthur were the only ones left. Struck with inspiration for the third level, she had quickly lost track of time. Arthur sat at his work place across from her, checking and cross-checking facts about Robert Fischer. The rest of the team was long gone. After she had followed Cobb into his dream two days ago, he no longer stayed late to run any "tests". The only noise in the room was the shuffling of papers and the scrape of pencil on paper.
Surprisingly, it was Arthur that spoke first.
"You do know what you're getting into, don't you?"
His voice broke her concentration, and she tore her eyes from the model to look at him. She faltered under the intensity of his gaze. "Yeah. I mean, I know it's not... legal, and everything like that. Of course."
He sighed. "No, Ariadne. What I mean is, do you know the risks?"
"What, like getting caught?"
"It's not just getting caught, Ariadne. We're dealing with multi-billion dollar corporations. If this doesn't work, there'll be a price on all our heads."
She didn't flinch, or appear apprehensive in any way, like he had expected. Instead, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Well, then I guess failure isn't an option," she told him, her voice void of any sign of fear or nagging doubts, before returning to her work.
Ariadne wondered if situations like the one she was in now was what Arthur was referring to all those weeks ago. Thinking of Arthur, she wondered if he and the rest of the team would ever realize she was missing. She hoped they did, as she knew they were the only ones with a chance at finding her.
Hearing footsteps coming down the corridor, she took a few steps away from the bars, hoping it would make her less noticeable.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The voice was malicious, riddled with spite and free of empathy. Nervously, she glanced up, remembering how she had come to be here in the first place.
She tried to fight him off, but he had the advantage. She got in a few punches, giving him a bloody nose. When that happened, he backed into her coffee table, knocking it over and shattering the vase that sat on top. The water pooled on the floor, the daisies mixing with glass shards. He lunged back at her, and he clawed and kicked and fought until the chloroform-soaked rag was forced over her mouth and nose, forcing her to breathe in the fumes.
She gasped in recognition at the man who was undoubtedly the mastermind behind her capture.
"P-Peter Browning?"
"The real one, this time."
She couldn't help but compare his malicious grin to Arthur's genuine lopsided smile. Oh, Arthur, she thought, what have I gotten into?
AN: Wow, a lot of work went into this chapter. First, I must give a special shout out to InkPhantom for being my beta, and not checking over this chapter for me once, but twice (as well for dealing with some of my grievously stupid and embarrassing errors).
You may note that I started this chapter with a fitting quote. I adore quotes, and I figured this would be a great way to use them. Let me know your thoughts about that. Also, I hadn't heard back from one of my betas when I posted this chapter, but I couldn't resist :). I'll probably post an updated version when I hear back from them.
I also wanted to say a thank you to all the people who subscribed, favorited, and reviewed- but especially to those who reviewed. Your comments make my day. I know I don't respond to all of them, but I think you'd rather I spend more time writing and reviewing new chapters with my beta than replying to all your (wonderful) reviews (but do let me know if I'm wrong). However, if you do ask a question in your review, I'll be sure to respond to that. So, with that, please leave a review with any comments, questions, or suggestions you may have for this story; it takes ten seconds and it makes a world of difference (and I promise, the review button doesn't bite).
