Extraction

Chapter 2: Missing

Note: I do not own Inception and thank you to those who took the time to review my last chapter.

"This maze of yours is brilliant by the way," Arthur commented as he continued to examine Ariadne's latest creation, as they walked the short distance to Ariadne's boarding house.

Ariadne re-positioned her backpack full of supplies, "thanks. Ever since the Fischer job, I've found myself spending all my free time making mazes and researching paradoxes."

"Yeah, it can be addictive," Arthur agreed. "Though, I must admit your building materials are a little . . ." he trailed off, running a finger over one of the old toothpaste boxes that made up a wall of the maze.

"Thrifty?" she asked grinning.

"I was going to say primitive, but thrifty is good too."

Ariadne laughed. "Well, I wasn't lying to Sara when I said money's a little tight."

"In two months you managed to spend everything you made on the Fischer job?" Arthur asked in disbelief, his eyes widening. "Has Eames been giving you betting advice?"

Ariadne chuckled. "No, I had student loans from my undergrad degree to pay off still. Plus, there was the debt I'd already managed to accumulate working on my graduate studies, and like I said earlier, top-notch Paris schools are not cheap."

Arthur nodded in understanding.

"I also gave my parents an all expenses paid European tour vacation. I paid for them to come visit me in Paris, and now they are off in Italy or something, I think."

"That was generous of you," Arthur said, his voice full of admiration.

Ariadne nodded. "They've been really supportive of me and my schooling. I know they would have preferred me going into a more traditional 'woman's' field, like nursing, or teaching. But they've been very supportive despite their reservations."

"Well, you're lucky to have such good parents," Arthur replied wistfully. His eyes darkening slightly as he got lost in his own thoughts.

Ariadne stayed silent. It sounded to her as though Arthur had some deep unresolved issues with his own parents, but she didn't press him for information. Maybe one day they would be close enough to divulge such secrets to one another, but today wasn't that day yet.

"This is my place," Ariadne declared as the two walked up to an old, but well maintained, building. The house, though old, was actually quite quaint. The building itself seemed to have been recently painted white as the colour was very vivid and sharp. The windows were all adorned by decorative blue wooden shutters, which looked recently painted as well. Bright green ivy could be seen climbing it's way up the west side of the building, and beginning to snake it's way to the front.

Ariadne gave a quick knock on the front door before entering the house. "Just me," she called stepping inside.

"Glad you made it home safe," an elderly woman's voice called from one of the first floor rooms on the right of the entryway.

"This place used to be a bed and breakfast, but now Mrs. Dufour rents out her rooms to students. She cooks for us and does our laundry. All for a pretty fair price, considering I know some of the boys that live here eat like elephants and have socks that smell like rotting corpses," Ariadne explained to Arthur as she led him up the very narrow old staircase to the second floor of the house.

"My room's the last door on the left. I'm just going to make a pit stop at the bathroom," Ariadne stated as she pointed in the direction Arthur should continue.

Arthur nodded and then continued on. He entered Ariadne's bedroom and was surprised by how messy the place was. It was a decent size room, with a dining room size table in the far corner, with a double bed squished in beside it.

The table was covered in drawings and architectural books. The bed was unmade and was as full of clothes as the closet. The rest of the room was littered with miniature mazes, like the one Arthur was carrying. Some were stacked with more care than others. Arthur assumed these were creations Ariadne liked while the others thrown haphazardly on the floor were failed attempts.

"Sorry, uh just put that one on the table for now," Ariadne said as she squeezed past Arthur to get into her room. She pushed some of the failed models under the table with her foot to make a path for Arthur. Then she waded through the mess to her closet where she discarded her backpack full of building supplies.

"I wouldn't have taken you to be a messy person," Arthur finally mused as he placed Ariadne's newest maze on the table.

"Yeah, I'm normally not, but school has been pretty busy lately and I have been kind of obsessed with making mazes. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and just have to start working on it before I forget. However, that does not leave a lot of time for cleaning," Ariadne explained sheepishly. Arthur watched as she tried to tuck some of the clothes on her bed under the dishevelled quilt and kick some more papers under the large wooden table. "But, so anyway you said you had a job opportunity for me?"

"Yeah, well sort of," Arthur said rather mysteriously. By this time Ariadne had finally managed to clean a big enough spot on her bed so that they could sit.

"Please, take a seat. I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of furniture here."

"It's alright," Arthur said, taking the proffered seat. "I guess first. I was wondering if Cobb has contacted you since the Fischer job?"

"No. I haven't heard from any of the team actually, until you showed up at my school today. But that was how it was supposed to be, wasn't it?"

"Professor Miles hasn't mentioned anything about Cobb?" Arthur continued not bothering to answer Ariadne's question.

"No," Ariadne said slowly, drawing the word out as though she were getting suspicious.

"Well, honestly, I actually came to Paris to speak with Stephen Miles, but I happened to run into you first," Arthur finally explained guiltily.

"Oh," Ariadne retorted, sounding a little miffed.

"Yeah," Arthur continued quickly. "It seems no one has seen Cobb since we arrived in LAX. About a month after the Fischer job everything seemed to be going well. The official announcement was made that Fischer was breaking up his father's company and no one seemed to suspect any foul play in his decision, so I decided to give Cobb a call at home. I thought I would just check in. You know, see how he and the kids were doing?"

Ariadne finally nodded in understanding, "I was actually thinking of asking Professor Miles about Cobb and the kids, but I didn't want to seem nosy so I have been skirting around the subject."

"I think that's how everyone's felt. He's been away from home for so long so no one wanted to bug him, or bring any suspicion to him and his family. But, anyway, I decided to give Cobb a call and Mrs. Miles answered, which I found odd. I would have thought she would have moved back to Paris to be with her husband by now. What with there being some tension between her and Cobb, over the death of Mal. So, I asked her if Cobb was in and she demanded to know who was calling. So I told her and I explained that I was a colleague of Cobb's. I don't know how much she knows about what Cobb does, but I figured my name might have popped up once or twice, what with Cobb and me being pretty good friends, and I know Cobb confides a lot to the professor. But she just said, that I shouldn't call again and that if I wanted to get in touch with Cobb, I should contact her husband instead."

"Well, that sounds a little odd. I mean, I haven't known Cobb for as long as you and Eames have, but I'd like to think I got to know him pretty well during our preparations for the Fischer job; and I find it very hard to believe that he wasn't there with his kids. I mean, he was adamant that the Fischer job was going to be his last. It was supposed to be his ticket home to kids and that was all he wanted," Ariadne said.

"I agree," Arthur said nodding emphatically. "But, I mean even you can see what kind of pull the dream world can have on an individual. Ever since the Fischer job you have spent all your free time creating mazes and buildings that could never be possible in reality. You create and imagine these worlds until it even begins to affect your real life."

To prove his point, Arthur grabbed a paper from off the nearby table and held it up for Ariadne to see. The architect shifted uncomfortably, the paper had a large F scrawled on the front.

"That teacher just doesn't like me!" Ariadne finally snapped trying to defend herself. "She gives anyone who doesn't agree with her every idea an F!"

"Ok, I was just trying to make a point," Arthur murmured as he gently placed the paper back on the table.

There was a pregnant pause before Ariadne finally asked, " Do you think it's possible he was there, but that he's taking precautions. I mean just in case any of his old employers come looking for him? So, he gets his mother-in-law to answer the phone and direct anyone looking for him to Professor Miles. That way people think he isn't there, and that he is still out working?"

"That thought crossed my mind, but if that were true I'm sure Cobb would have called me. I mean Mrs. Miles would have told him it was me calling and he knows I wouldn't bring any baggage to his doorstep." Arthur sounded hurt now, like he wasn't so sure anymore if Cobb did know that or not.

"So, anyway," Arthur coughed as he regained his composure. "After a couple of days with no phone call from Cobb, I tried the number Professor Miles could supposedly be reach on, but I couldn't get a hold of him. I did some digging to see if maybe Mrs. Miles had given me a fake number, but it all checked out. So, I contacted Eames and even Yusuf, on the off chance that Cobb might have contacted them. But they hadn't heard anything either."

"I tried calling you next, but the cell phone you had used during the Fischer job had been cancelled, which didn't surprise me. I knew Cobb had suggested you ditch the cell and number after we had completed the job. So, I did some research and managed to get the number for this place, but the landlady said you were at school when I called. So, frustrated, I hopped on the next available flight from L.A. to Paris."

Ariadne chuckled, "that seems extreme."

"Well, I wanted to meet with Professor Miles anyway and get some real answers and I was going a little crazy just sitting in front of my lap top uselessly," he tried to explain.

"So, you don't actually have a job for me?" Ariadne asked sounding a little disappointed.

"Well, I wasn't exactly sitting and twiddling my thumbs during the flight over here. I was doing more investigating and I honestly don't think Cobb ever made it from the airport to his home and if that's the case then I figure we may just need an architect to help us. I mean, in case we need to get into the dreams of some people who may know Cobb's whereabouts."

"Besides Cobb not calling you back and no one else having heard from Cobb, what makes you so positive that he didn't make it home?" Ariadne asked, sounding honestly curious.

"There's been no activity on his end at all, no credit card transactions, cash withdrawals, phone calls, nothing under his name or any of his aliases, at least the names I'm aware of. Besides, something just seems off to me. Cobb wouldn't just cut me out like this," Arthur snapped, slamming a fist on the table.

"We'll figure out what's going on Arthur," Ariadne said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "We saw Cobb make it through customs, so we know Saito kept his end of the bargain. Now we've just got to figure out what happened after that."

Arthur nodded glumly. Ariadne frowned, not knowing what else she could say to help cheer Arthur up. Besides, she was worried about Cobb now too. After having gone deep into the recesses of Cobb's mind Ariadne also felt like this was uncharacteristic behaviour on Cobb's part.

"Are you hungry?" Ariadne finally asked. Arthur looked a little startled at the change in the conversation.

"There's a really cool café just a few blocks away, nothing too fancy, but the price is right. Why don't we grab a bite to eat and then head back to the university? Professor Miles should be back on campus in about two hours for a night class he teaches," Ariadne explained.

Arthur grinned. "Ok, I am pretty hungry actually."

"Excellent, you are going to love this place, I promise!" Ariadne smirked as she pulled Arthur to his feet and led him out of her disaster of a room.

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