Chapter 10: The Measure of a Man

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Arthur's eyes flashed open, and he blinked as he found himself staring up at a dismal, gray ceiling. He slowly raised himself to a sitting position, finding thankfully that his pain had disappeared with the waning of the dream. Now, there was only a slight pinch where the IV dug into his vein, which he swiftly plucked out and let drop to the floor.

"Glad to see you're awake," the extractor commented from across the room. The blonde-haired man was lounging quietly on an uncomfortable looking hospital bed; the kind that was made of sharp metal rods welded carelessly together in under a minute. Instead of an actual mattress, they had been given a thin, foam-like substance to lie on, which reminded Arthur more of a cat bed than a resting place for people.

"I haven't kept you waiting have I?" Arthur replied half-jokingly, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Only a minute. Though I expect we'll be joined by the others soon." He replied, looking over to the two still unconscious men.

As if on cue, a slight stirring sound came from the other two beds in the room. In almost perfect unison, both Cobb and Nash eased themselves up, nodding quietly to the other members of the team. Besides the sound of rustled mattresses and shifted feet, no word was exchanged between the group, as the thought that was on everyone's mind lingered in the shadowy corners of the room. So silently it stalked amongst the men, skirting ever so close and teasing them with an equal mix of hope and fear.

Unsurprisingly, it was Nash who finally gave in; crossing his arms and leaning tensely against the wall as he spoke. "So… did we win?"

His words sliced through the air like a knife, all of their fears and doubts surfacing into one, simple question. Did they win?

The room gave no indication to either victory or loss, looking mostly unchanged from the team's last memory there. Besides the now slightly disheveled beds and the IV attachments that lay on the floor, it was hard to tell that anything had occurred in here at all. It was this fact that gave the team their anticipation, that itch to know whether their efforts were in vain. Yet, again, each team member kept a straight face, no one wanting to propose an answer to a question they themselves couldn't answer.

The men ended up sitting like that for a solid minute before some sort of answer was provided, when they became aware of the sound of a key turning in their locked door. All four of them immediately turned their attention to the sound of the noise, just as the red-haired man from earlier entered. He was flanked off his left side by a short woman they had not seen before.

The woman had a pale, pasty complexion and ice-blue eyes, and had a bony-like build that gave her the overall appearance of a snake. Her expression also seemed to mimic that of the reptile, and was every bit as cold and heartless. Of the two, only the woman appeared to be armed, and held a sleek pistol in her hands.

"Long time no see," the red-haired man opened casually, looking out lazily over the group. "Did you all enjoy the game?" He paused in anticipation of an answer, but was met only with harsh stares.

"Go to hell," Nash growled, barring his teeth.

The man half-smiled. "I'll take that as a 'no' then. That's too bad. And after the boss went through so much trouble designing it, you'd think some people would be able to appreciate it at least a little bit."

Arthur saw the forger's jaw set. "I don't appreciate anything designed to be played for a young girl's life."

He shrugged. "Fair enough. Though, maybe if you had all kept better tabs on your affairs, then we wouldn't have had to result to kidnapping in the first place."

There was a beat, and then suddenly, Eames had lunged across the room at the red-haired man, using his momentum to slam him up against the wall. The forger's hand pinned down the man by the neck, and Eames felt the man's Adam's apple tighten against his palm. The red-haired man gasped out in surprise and anger, and began clawing at Eames' hand in a desperate struggle for air. But it was of no use, the forger had every advantage, and he had no intention of letting the man go.

For about 20 seconds, there was a painful, awful silence; as the man writhed and choked under Eames' grip. No one moved to stop him; no one could find the strength to do anything but watch the horrible scene unfold. Eames, standing rigidly and mercilessly over the man, the man with a look so full of fear in his eyes. Then finally, a voice spoke up.

"What will come of you killing him?" the woman said through closed teeth, in a deep, rutty accent that sounded almost German. "Yes, it may soothe your anger, but will it save your friend? Will you taking his life make you a better man? I know how little you think of my boss, for stealing your friend, but honestly, if you kill him, what makes you any better than him?" She hissed her words evocatively at the forger, no hint of fear or sadness tainting her tone. "I am not begging you to let him live, he is a fool anyhow. Kill him if you want, in fact, it would only make my job that much easier. I only wish to warn you."

Eames was shaking now, though out of doubt or rage it was hard to tell. He still had not removed his hand from the man, who by this point was beginning to sink weakly to the floor.

"Eames," Arthur said fervently, his voice almost pleading.

The forger began to falter, and then, he stepped back, watching as the man crumpled up on the floor and coughed wretchedly. Shakily, Eames took a step back, his eyes wide with terror and shock at the thought of what he had almost done. On instinct, Arthur stepped forward to go comfort him, but was held back by a look from Cobb.

Meanwhile, the woman was silently observing her partner, a look of disgust rather than pity registering on her face. "Jarvis you idiot," she spat, turning away from him. "This is what happens when you let in fools who only work for the money. Pathetic."

She turned her attention back to the team, her eyes still cold and merciless as before. "Our purpose here was to inform you; you all completed the first part of the game. The details regarding the next part of the game are in this envelope." Here she paused to dig into her jacket pocket and whipped out a thin, white packet. Taking it in hand like a boomerang, she flicked it across to the team, where it skittered across the floor until stopping in the in front of Cobb.

Not waiting for them to pick it up, she turned and left, half-dragging, half-pulling Jarvis behind her. The moment they had disappeared around the corner, the door slammed shut.

Once again, the men were left alone in the silence, though this time their thoughts were all their own. Cobb was the first to move, walking over to the center of the room to pick up the envelope. It was a standard shipping mail, the kind used practically worldwide in the means of envelopes. Using his thumb, he managed to pry it open, revealing a simple, typed letter.

"If you're reading this, you have successfully completed the first part of the game," Cobb began, briefly looking up at the other men before back down at the paper. "If you wish to continue playing, you are to gather at the Taj Mahal, in Agra, India in three days' time. At 12:00 noon we will commence with the next part of the game. If you fail to arrive on time, or fail to participate in the next part of the game, you lose." Cobb lowered the letter, signifying that there was nothing else, or at least nothing more of importance, on paper.

"India…?" Nash said after a pause, the atmosphere still tense enough that regular conversation felt wrong. "Why would he send us all the way to Agra? I mean, if this guy wants us to play his game so bad, why is he stretching this out so much?" Nash asked.

"More than likely it's to help keep his identity a secret," Arthur answered quietly, still shaken by Eames rage. " It's probably a good guess that this guy is known for being on the wrong side of the law, and kidnapping Ariadne wouldn't help with his notoriety. He needs the time it takes for us to travel to set up all of his pieces."

Nash said nothing, though he mentally admitted that Arthur's theory made sense.

There was a short pause, before Cobb spoke up, taking his natural position as leader. "Come on," he spoke, his voice sounding dry and rough. "We should get going. We're going to need all the time we can get if we want to get a flight to India in the next three days."

The men nodded in agreement, moving to follow the extractor out. Arthur, bringing up the back, noticed that Eames hadn't moved, and was instead standing rigidly back in the room.

"Eames?" Arthur tested, his voice coming out strained. He'd seen Eames kill plenty of people before, both in the dreamscape and in the real world. He'd seen how ruthless the forger could be when he needed to, pure brutality taking over when they found themselves in life or death situations. But what he hadn't seen was this…fear. The fact that Eames had lunged for the man (Jarvis?) was bad enough. But to see him unable to stop himself…

"Yeah," the forger responded breathily, not meeting his gaze. Slowly, Eames willed his body to move, dragging himself out after Arthur. Even from out in the hall, the point man could see the man's hands curled into tight fists, and pushed firmly against his sides. Eames's knuckles were white.

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Ariadne struggled desperately in the man's grasp, crying out as his hands stayed planted firmly around her stomach. Suddenly, one of his hands released their grip on her stomach and wrapped around her mouth, cutting her cry short.

"Shhh, shhh." He soothed, nearly crushing the petite girl with the strength of his grip.

She screamed again as he began pulling her back against the wall, but it was no use, as her voice was stifled into a mere whisper. She tried again, but still found her attempts fruitless. Nevertheless, she tried once more to shake him off, but he held firmly, until eventually she had exhausted herself into falling weak in his arms.

"See that's better," he cooed, and she began to shake fearfully at the sound of his voice. "There's no need to be so scared, anyways. I am doing you a favor."

Ariadne began to tremble slightly at the thought of the sort of favor he had in mind, and released another stifled cry.

"Shhh. Just…listen."

She did listen, and her heart stopped as she heard the sound of a door opening, followed by the echoing sound of footsteps in a hallway. Judging by the rhythmical pattern of the steps, she could tell there were several people walking, men by the sound of it. Their pace was slow… tired almost.

But Ariadne didn't understand what she was hearing, or why it should matter to her. That was, until she heard it.

"Eames."

At this she stopped dead, her blood turning cold. She knew that name, and moreover, she knew that voice. Her heart fluttered. That voice. It was Arthur.

Seized by sudden desperation, she began to thrash violently in his grip, momentarily surprising him and managing to move a bit, but he soon grasped her again, shoving a clothed hand down her throat to silence her.

Someone exhaled, "Yeah" then there was a slow shuffling noise, and the footsteps started up again.

Despite the shortness of the conversation, that voice too she recognized, undeniably as Eames. As insane as it sounded, the team was here. Right here, where she had been hidden away in the darkness for so long. And all she had to do was get their attention, and this whole thing would be over.

Again, she tried desperately to force sound out of her throat, to escape the man's grip and make some sort of noise to tell them she was here. But he held her tightly, and she sobbed without sound as she heard Cobb speak.

"Are you two coming?" his voice was hollow-sounding and hesitant almost. But, most alarmingly, he sounded farther away, as if he had already walked right past her.

"Yeah," It was Arthur who answered, and a whole chorus of footsteps began to move away from her.

With renewed energy and hope, she fought with all her might to move, to scream, to do anything to get them to hear her. Her friends, her freedom, were just outside the door, the tiny metal door behind which she had been sealed for 5 days. There was only a single, metal wall between her and the people she held dearest to her. Yet they could not see her. They could not hear her. They did not know.

She cried and sobbed uncontrollably as she heard the footsteps fade completely, and then eventually the sound of a van starting up and taking off. Only then did the man finally release her, where she crumpled, broken, to the floor.

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A/N: Kind of a dark chapter. Okay, so actually a really dark chapter. Eesh. I feel really bad for poor Ari but… I had to. Next chapter the team flies to India. Review?