A.N. So sorry about the lack of updating. I've hit a huge writers block with the story but I'm past it hopefully! I hope I haven't lost anyone who was really interested in the story because of a lack of updating. Anyway, thank you to all of my reviewers, here's the next chapter. This one's a bit short but I'm hoping the next one will make up for that. Tell me what you think!
Ariadne didn't sleep much that night, she needed to finalize her plans and run through exactly what she was going to do to keep this from being a successful extraction. It all seemed to be coming together with the levels, now she just needed to continue to throw the team off of her scent and she would be out of the country before they even knew what had happened.
When Ariadne had gotten the offer for the job she knew she should turn it down, but it seemed to be a bigger risk because then it would be possible for them to find out about the inception. If they found out about that it would only be a matter of time before it was traced back to her former teammates and herself and although she'd closed off most of her emotions, it would be to heartbreaking to let that happen. Even if it meant that the team would think she'd betrayed them.
So Ariadne had taken that time to formulate a plan and once she'd figured it out, she'd called Browning back and had let him know that she would take the job. It was a fairly simple plan but because of that she was sure it would succeed. No one knew that it was possible to go three levels deep except for the original inception team, so she knew she would have to make those two levels perfect for Fisher's subconscious to pick up on everything she wanted it too.
The first level had been easy to construct, she'd taken what she'd found at the hotel Fisher was staying at and added a few nuances from the original inception hotel. His subconscious should pick up on it easily enough and that would bring the full force of his security down on the extraction teams head. It helped that she'd been able to set up the hotel rooms the exact same way as another tip off to his subconscious in case the bar didn't do the trick.
She wasn't worried about the team being injured because this job had only minimal risk, if you died in the dream you woke up like any normal extraction. They didn't plan on dying though, they were setting up the kicks. Now she just had to talk to Hannah about using an explosion between the two hotel rooms for the kick. It should be easy enough to point out how convenient it would be and it wouldn't set off any alarms because it was used enough in their line of work.
The next level was going to be tricky, though. If they did manage to get Fisher down to another level, his subconscious would be all to aware of the fact that it was dreaming. She couldn't risk using the fortress they'd used in the original inception because it might help convince Fisher that the team was on his side trying to help him like her team had done in the beginning. So she'd decided to use the first level of the original inception, making enough changes so that it wouldn't immediately be recognized by Fisher's subconscious.
Once there, she was hoping that the team would end up cornered in a warehouse before they made it to the bank where Fisher's vault would be held. If they did happen to make it to the vault though she'd added an extra precaution. When they opened the vault all they would find is an empty hospital bed with an empty safe next to it. The actual safe was going to be across town, in a different bank and she knew it'd be impossible for them to get there in time.
The team would, of course, knew that she'd double-crossed them but if everything went according to plan she wouldn't only be out of the country she'd be well into hiding by then. She wouldn't only be hiding from them and from Browning but from Saito and Arthur as well. She knew that by then Author would have no choice but to inform Saito of her betrayal and then they'd both be after her.
It was exhausting to think about everything she was going through to protect Cobb, his family, Eames, Yusuf, Saito, and even Arthur, but it was worth it because without them she wouldn't even be living in the world she currently lived in. It also helped that aside from Arthur, she had nothing but love for her former teammates and she knew she had to do this to protect them. She continued going over the details in her head of her plan, praying that everything would work out accordingly otherwise this was all for nothing.
With a sigh, she turned over in her bed and shut her eyes trying desperately to get some sort of sleep before she had to go back to the warehouse. The little sleep she did get didn't help to sooth her nervousness but she pushed that emotion away as she got ready for the day. She showered and dressed in a pair of grey slacks with a black sleeveless top and curled her hair slightly before adding a little color to the outfit with a green silk scarf. She packed up her belonging before putting on a pair of black heels and putting her luggage into her car. Once she'd checked out of the dingy motel she drove to work.
She was surprised that she was the second one at the warehouse, but decided not to comment on the fact as she said good morning to George and headed to her work station. She began working on the second level and was left to her own devices for most of the next hour.
She didn't notice George had wondered over until he was peering over her shoulder. Her back stiffened at his proximity but that was the only outward sign she gave to him being there. "A cityscape? Interesting," He spoke softly as he studied her designs.
"Yes I figured it would be easiest to navigate to a bank once inside and that's where the vault will be kept."
George nodded and she turned her head to study him slightly, he was a handsome man indeed but she didn't want to get caught up in a relationship with a man she was planning on double-crossing. When he realized she was staring he turned and gave her a friendly smile of his own. "Hannah seems to think I should ask you to dinner."
Ariadne swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, "Oh?"
"Yes, although it would be inappropriate for me to do so I find myself inexplicably drawn to you." He gave a small shrug as though he were telling her it was supposed to rain later. "I think that has to do with the fact that once you started in this business any sort of paper trail you had disappeared and anything I know of you is all hearsay."
"Well if it helps you decide, I don't date coworkers." Ariadne frowned, thinking about the fact that he was a little to much like Arthur and she couldn't let herself be drawn to another man like that.
George laughed a bit at her words, "I figured, but I thought I'd bring it up in case you weren't so inclined."
With that, he turned and walked back to his desk leaving her to her thoughts which were once again lingering on a different point man. Would she never get him out of her head?
She turned back to her work, hoping that would help stop her from thinking dangerous things but it did nothing and she found herself sketching the Penrose stairs. Frowning, she crumpled the paper up and threw it into the trash. She had to force herself to continue to work on the layout for the dream and not to think about Arthur. Of course, that was easier said then done and she found that the rest of the day dragged on.