So so so sorry that it has taken me this long to update. My laptop broke and I left it as my boyfriend's job to back up my files, and of course being the idiot he is he didn't back up my fanfiction folder, which meant I have been unable to write for about a month now. NOT HAPPY. Seriously I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms. Anyway, chapter 3 is here now and chapter 4 has been started and should be with you sooner rather than later. I promise. Sorry again.
Disclaimer: Yeah I don't own anything.
Chapter 3: Running
Ariadne stood in what appeared to be the middle of a very busy town centre, she watched as projections buzzed around her, Eames was stood to her left watching as she watched. She hadn't been in a shared dream since she taught the layout to the dreamers for their last job, and that had been 3 weeks ago. She had missed being able to create. Eames let her play around with the landscape for a bit before clearing his throat and tapping her on the shoulder.
"You know this isn't what we are here for." He looked amused as she frowned before pouting at him; "Come on, we need to find you a shooting range." She gasped slightly as the Englishman took her hand and dragged her in the direction of a dodgy looking building.
She turned her nose up slightly; "What is this?" She asked and Eames rolled his eyes as he pushed her into the lobby. It was as unclean as the outside and Ariadne glanced behind her at Eames to make sure he had followed her inside.
"We'll start with a hand gun." He said as he walked her up to the desk, a rather large man greeted them and placed two glock 17s on the counter. Ariadne's eyes widened as Eames scooped them both up and handed her one, it looked pretty similar to the gun that Arthur had given her in the car the day before. Eames then led her through a door which she hadn't noticed before, it somehow looked cleaner than the rest of the room.
"So what type of gun is this?" She asked lifting it up slightly.
Eames smiled, pleased that she had asked; "The Glock 17. Is a semi automatic pistol which was made in Austria. It takes 9 millimetre bullets." As he informed her of this his pulled out the magazine and showed her the bullets in it.
"It's not usually this light is it?" Ariadne recalled the weight difference between the one she was holding now, and the one that Arthur had given her. Eames smiled at her, clearly impressed by how quickly she was picking up the subtle differences; "So. Are you going to teach me or what?" Eames grinned again before shoving the magazine back into the gun.
"Let's get to it then." He winked at her and her gaze was drawn to the dummy that had appeared in front of her.
A loud gasping noise was heard in the hotel room, Ariadne's gasp drew Arthur from his work. He looked up worriedly before moving quickly to her side, she was still gasping for air and Arthur was sure that Eames would pay for causing her to look so frightened; "You're ok, hey, look at me." He was reminded of their first meeting and he couldn't help but smile as her hand gripped his tightly.
Eames' eyes were just beginning to open, he rubbed them slightly a small smile gracing his lips; "Calm down Arthur, it was just a training exercise. We've all been through it."
Arthur then remembered what the training exercises where, they had been designed to get you used to dying in dreams, to get you used to feeling physical pain. He still wanted to throttle the smug forger, but instead chose to give Ariadne his full attention; "Are you ok?"
She smiled weakly at him, her breathing now much more normal; "Yeah, still got to get used to dying." The hand that wasn't holding onto his sleeve was pressed to her heart. Arthur smiled slightly as he felt her relax glad that she was now calm he rounded on Eames.
"What exactly did you do?" Cobb who was on the phone to someone glanced up and frowned slightly, he didn't want to have to break them up if a fight ensued.
"Arthur, don't worry about it. I can handle it. You've all been through it before, now it's my turn." She sounded slightly annoyed at him and Arthur couldn't work out why, he was trying to protect her; "Come on Eames let's go again. I think I've almost got the hang of that AK 47." Arthur bit his tongue and moved back over to his laptop. Cobb smirked before getting on with his own work. Arthur watched from over the top of his laptop as Ariadne and Eames settled back into their chairs before Eames pressed the button on the PASIV device and a slight whirring noise signified that it was now operational.
"You shouldn't get so jealous Arthur." Cobb's smirk lifted his eyes happily, he was really beginning to enjoy this.
Arthur's eyes were now fixed on his computer screen; "I don't know what you mean." Cobb shook his head and smiled, deciding to leave his point man to think it over.
They sat in silence for a few more moments until Dom's phone rang, he glanced at it the number was withheld; "Arthur, look out the window." Cobb instructed as he flipped the phone open; "Cobb." There was a pause and he stiffened slightly. Arthur slowly moved the net curtain away from the window, there was a saloon car parked up at the front of the hotel, two men in suits were climbing out while a third looked around for any on lookers. He could tell from the way the man's hand was inside his jacket that he was holding onto a gun. At the very least it was a hand gun.
"We need to give them a kick," Arthur hissed as he moved away from the window, Cobb nodded half of his attention still fixed on the threatening voice in his ear. Arthur moved over to Eames' chair, he shoved it with all his might and Eames toppled over his head hitting the carpet with a satisfying thud, Arthur then moved to Ariadne's chair, he tipped her lightly and made sure he caught her before she hit the floor, her eyes fluttered open and Arthur had to suppress the urge to smile.
"Bloody hell!" Eames was sitting up rubbing the back of his head; "What's going on?"
"Our friends from Feygud are outside." Arthur replied as he grabbed his laptop and closed it violently, he then went around the room packing everything away.
Ariadne watched him; "But how? How did they find us so fast?"
Cobb closed his phone and shook his head; "We don't know, but they know everything, we need to split up again."
Ariadne felt her heart skip a painful beat; "No. We can't. I can't."
Arthur glared at Cobb, this was dangerous, he knew that the extractor hoped that Nathan Faith would follow him and leave his team alone, but it was risky; "She is right Dom, you can't do this. Your kids need you." Ariadne looked confused, her gaze switched between Arthur to Dom and back again.
"Look, I hate to break up the party but didn't you say that men from Feygud were outside?" Eames reminded them.
Arthur nodded and went back into point man mode, he pulled out the gun that he had handed Ariadne in the car, she now recognised it as a Glock 17, and passed it to her again, she gripped it firmly her eyes still following Arthur as he moved to the door pulling out a desert eagle for himself. Eames had an Uzi and Cobb also had a Glock 17.
"We go, together, to the back entrance. We'll steal a car from there and then we run." Arthur had taken control. Cobb nodded slowly as he pulled Ariadne between himself and Arthur.
"We'll cover you." He whispered. She nodded slowly, her fingers were cold and the gun felt so much heavier than it had in the dream. She watched as Arthur slowly opened the door and looked out, he stepped into the hallway before beckoning to her. She darted out her heart beating faster than she thought possible, when she reached him she glanced up into his face, he looked worried. He face wasn't the usual calm mask that she was used to.
"Arthur," his eyes shifted down to her face and his heart clenched painfully as he saw how frightened she was; "these men-"
"Later." He cut her off as Cobb reached them, Eames following quickly behind him. Arthur turned on his heel taking hold of Ariadne's wrist and pulling her along as he did so. He wasn't about to leave her behind. They dashed through the corridors of the hotel, they had to get to the rear of the building, Ariadne was half dragged along by Arthur's free hand. He came to an abrupt stop at the bend just before the emergency exit, there were voices up ahead Arthur's grip tightened before he removed his hand all together Eames moved level with him they made eye contact briefly before Eames tucked the Uzi into the belt of his trousers. He slipped around the corner and the voices stopped, Eames' voice was muffled but Ariadne could tell that was angry, Ariadne winced slightly as she heard the sound of a scuffle. Eames returned seconds later, his hair looked slightly dishevelled and he had a split lip.
"Coast is clear." He said with a quick wink to Ariadne who tried her best to smile back.
Eames led them to the emergency exit past the prone forms of two rather large men, Ariadne had to force herself not to look at them, she stepped carefully over them and hurried down the hall, the back door looked like it had an alarm on it, Arthur paused as he reached it, he glanced at Cobb who sighed heavily; "We don't have a choice Arthur, either we go through this door and set off the alarm or we go out through the main entrance where everyone can see us. I know which one gives us a better chance." Arthur's jaw tightened as he shoved his shoulder against the door, the alarm that sounded was almost deafening, Ariadne shoved her gun into the waist band of her jeans, knowing that she would need both hands to navigate a safe route to the ground floor, which would require both of her hands.
Arthur shouted over the noise as they ran; "As the hotel evacuates they might not see us. The chaos will provide a good cover." Ariadne was struggling to keep up as they hurried down the metal staircase down to the ground level, she lost her balance and slipped on the rusty metal, her hands that she had put down to brace herself were cut in the process. She whimpered slightly as she got to her feet. Cobb who was behind her helped her up before hurrying her along, they didn't have time to dwell on cut hands. Every time Ariadne placed her hands on the railing to brace herself she winced, the feeling of the Glock 17 in her waist band comforted her more than she would care to admit.
Once they reached the bottom Ariadne felt a jolt of fear as she realised how exposed they were. Anyone could see them, she watched as Arthur and Eames rushed from car to car looking for one to steal Cobb took Ariadne by the elbow and pulled her into the shadow of the stairs.
"I know that you're new to this, hell I'm the one that dragged you into it, but you need to be smarter about these things. Walking around like a dazed little lamb is going to get you or one of us shot. Ok?" He paused and she nodded her eyes wide; "I know this is frightening and you aren't used to the 'real life' dangers this job brings. I'm sorry that I dragged you back in..."
"You didn't have a choice they were threatening your kids. I understand. You don't need to apologise for wanting to protect your family." The hard look in his eyes softened slightly and he smiled his thanks. It was then that the gun fire started. They both jumped Cobb's eyes locked with hers he needed to know if she could deal with this. Her jaw was clenched and the Glock 17 was gripped firmly in her hand, she slipped the magazine from the gun and glanced at the bullets for a moment before shoving the magazine back in the gun. Cobb reached into his pocket and pulled out two spare magazines for her, her eyes widened briefly she hoped she wouldn't need that many bullets.
"Are you ready?" she nodded slowly, he smiled before motioning for her to go first; "I will cover you, if you need to shoot you don't hesitate ok?" she nodded again before turning so that her back was to him, as she moved off Cobb felt an enormous wave of guilt, it was because of him that she was in this danger, Arthur and Eames could look after themselves but she was so new to this, if he got her killed he would never forgive himself. He followed slowly gun raised watching carefully for any signs of danger. The sound of gun fire was getting louder as they approached several cars.
"ARTHUR!" Eames' voice was clear and nearer than Cobb had expected, his blood ran cold as he realised the tone in which the forger had yelled. There was fear in his voice. He moved faster catching up to Ariadne who looked confused, things were all happening too fast.
"Eames! Is Arthur ok?" Ariadne looked around wildly apparently she hadn't heard the forger's cry.
Eames appeared from behind a large land rover, he was panting heavily but a lopsided grin hung loosely on his lips; "That old stick in the mud is fine. Just almost got himself shot is all." Ariadne didn't understand how he could be laughing as he said it.
Apparently she wasn't the only one; "Not funny Eames." Cobb whispered exhaling deeply.
Arthur then appeared and Ariadne realised that the gun fire had stopped, that realisation left her with a sick feeling in her stomach it was one thing killing projections, but these were real people, she reached into her pocket and gripped her totem tightly to remind herself how real it was; "We've hotwired a car, let's get moving." Arthur's stoic expression gave nothing away. If he had been afraid there was no evidence of it on his face at all. Arthur led the way to a car that was still running, he and Eames retrieved the bags that had been dropped in the panic and Cobb climbed into the driver's seat while Ariadne got into the back.
Cobb's expression was of utter concentration, his eyes were focused on what would be their escape route, but he was muttering something to himself that sounded like; 'too easy.'
Once Eames and Arthur had got into the car, Cobb floored it, driving as fast as he could. Getting them all out of there was the number one priority. Unfortunately Cobb's assessment had been correct it had been; 'too easy'.
"Shit." Cobb swerved almost hitting another car as Nathan Faith's men ambushed.
"Damn it, Cobb DRIVE!" Eames screamed from next to as the extractor did his best to reverse and turn the car without crashing. There was about twenty men all aiming guns at the car, there was a pause of about two seconds before they began shooting. Cobb ducked beneath the windshield still trying to drive the car while being unable to see. Arthur had unbuckled Ariadne and pulled her onto the floor of the car while he did his best to shoot those who were shooting them without being seen. The sound of bullets hitting the side of the car was terrifying but Ariadne knew that staying safe on the floor wasn't going to help anyone. She sat up and flicked the safety on her gun so that it was off, crawled as high as she could while remaining unseen and began shooting. Arthur turned the moment her gun was first fired, he looked stunned but the look faded to pride a moment later as he turned back to his own shooting.
"Get us out of here!" Arthur's barked order was more than enough for Cobb who decided the best thing to do would be to drive straight and hope for the best.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: I hope that this was well worth the wait. (if not then SORRY again). Anyway, chapter 4 has been started and it will be here soonish. Reviews are love. They make me write faster and stop doing uni work. hehe. Thank you for reading.
