Here's chapter 2… I couldn't leave you guys in suspense with that little first chapter!

I don't own Inception.

—O—

16 Days Prior

Damon Wiles' estate

February 2

14:26:16 hours

"MEL, where is that damned man?" Robyn asked, crossing her arms. She had searched the entire estate for the one and only Damon Wiles, but to no avail, so she finally bit the bullet and asked his close friend, aka MEL.

"I'm sorry, Miss Robyn," the automatic system responded, "you'll have to give more specific details."

She sighed before replying, "where is Damon?"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch," a voice behind her said. Robyn turned to see none other than Damon Wiles: builder, genius, and a pain in the ass. He meandered over to his personal bar while asking, "you want a drink? Whisky, wine?"

"No, I don't want anything. I want to know where you've been, Damon," she replied, putting her hands on her hips.

"You know," the man began while pouring his drink, "you'd make a good interrogator." By the time he had finished the sentence he had finished pouring himself a cup of liquor and had turned to face her, his elbows resting on the bar counter behind him as he donned a relaxed pose. "You've got that 'down to business' attitude golden."

"Ha, ha," Robyn sarcastically said, "very funny. I want to know if you need to do some apologizing." Damon's expression turned into mock surprise.

"Apologizing? What did you do?" he asked with a hint of a smile, which earned a scowl from the woman.

"Me? I did nothing." Robyn glared at Damon when he relocated to sit on the sofa, drink in hand. "I want to know what you did."

Completely ignoring her question, Damon replied, "why are you so defensive if you did nothing wrong?"

"I am not defensive."

"Yes, I believe you are defensive. And stressed. Perhaps you should take a vacation."

"I don't need a vacation."

"There are lots of places where you can relax. Places with spas, cocktails, massages, hot guys-"

"I said no," Robyn snapped at him. Damon merely raised an eyebrow in response.

"Correction: you're defensive, stressed and annoyed. Are you on your period?" he asked with a look of sarcastic curiosity.

Robyn growled, "you son of a b-"

"Sorry," Damon interrupted, waving his hand, "I don't accept insults on Sundays." Robyn narrowed her eyes at the man on the couch before pointing a finger at him.

"You are going to pay for that, Wiles," she stated.

"I highly doubt it. But, if you insist, you can plan it while relaxing in a fancy spa on some island, paid for by yours truly. Hawaii, perhaps?"

"I do not need a vacation, Damon. I spend plenty of time making sure you don't get yourself killed."

"I don't try to get myself killed, the killing is attracted to me like a magnet." Damon downed the rest of his drink in one gulp before standing to place it on the counter. "I'd love to continue this conversation, but I've got work to do."

Robyn started to watch him go before calling out, "you never did tell me where you were."

Damon turned his head as he started to head for the basement. "Relax, Robyn, I was with a friend." With that, he disappeared into the depths of the basement, where he turned on holographic images of his jet pack prototype. He had, thanks to inspiration from the one and only Tony Stark, had made some weaponry gear to go with it, including some headgear and hand blasters.

"Mel, run a full scan on the suit and make a list of the parts that need to be upgraded."

"Right away, sir," came the british-accented reply. The familiar grey metal pack slowly rose out of the ground, turning as MEL started the scans. While this took place, Damon turned his attention to the upcoming events that he was supposed to go to.

There was two beeps, followed by, "sir, there seems to be a disturbance several miles from the estate, and headed in this direction."

Damon was about to ask how the scan finished so quickly, but then shut his mouth when MEL explained, a frown creeping onto his face instead. "Bring it up," he replied. A holographic map of the estate appeared before it zoomed out enough to show a small red dot where the disturbance was. "MEL, how far away is that?"

"About 4 miles, sir. It appears to be in one of the abandoned warehouses."

"Can you bring up a visual, or tap into a security camera?"

"Right away, sir," the system replied, and a moment later a screen appeared. After a moment of watching the video, Wiles' eyes went wide.

"MEL, prepare the pack."

"Do you want to delay the scan, sir?"

"No, keep working on it. But we need to get to that warehouse, and fast."

"Sir, might I point out that the jet pack is still a prototype?"

"I guess we'll be testing it then."