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Saito waited until the deferential PA had left before he spoke.
"What can I do for you, Mr Cobb?" His tone was genial, but his eyes were hard.
Cobb shifted. "Its not a question of what you can do, Mr Saito. Its a question of explaining what you did."
Saito raised his eyebrows. "Did, Mr Cobb?"
Cobb took a deep breath. The evasiveness of the Japanese man only served to increase his anger. "Yes, Mr. Saito. What you did."
"Please be specific." There was a slight edge to the magnate's voice.
"You sent my Point Man out on a sting. To a club. To perform a honeytrap. Except, she assaulted him. He's lucky he's not severely injured. He's lucky he's alive."
Saito's mouth went thin.
"I did not send him on a sting, Mr. Cobb. He offered. Very willingly."
Cobb's jaw dropped. Saito smiled, and gestured towards the glass bottle on the desk.
"Water, Mr Cobb?"
Ariadne entered the warehouse. A slight figure was sitting, hunched over a desk. The once fitted shirt was drooping off his shoulders.
"Arthur?"
He looked up, tiredly from his laptop. "Hey there."
She moved forward. She knew that Arthur disliked being disturbed when he was working, but she also felt she couldn't just ignore him, as Eames was doing, or try and pretend everything was normal, like Yusuf.
Arthur's face was beginning to crease in irritation. "What is it, Ari?"
She smiled, shyly. She was wearing the red neck scarf he'd complimented her on, once. "I brought you something."
Arthur's face froze.
On the desk she had dropped a cellophane wrapped bag of doughnuts.
Cobb blinked, trying to adjust his thoughts. Saito leaned forward, propping his elbows on his desk.
"Arthur-" Cobb stopped. The sheer magnitude of what he'd been told was beginning to sink in.
"Yes, Mr Cobb. I met Arthur for breakfast – and told him that the girlfriend of the mark would be at the club that night. I told him that she could give him vital information, and perhaps, end the need for extraction."
"Did you offer to pay him?" Cobb's tone was sharp.
"Please remember yourself, Mr Cobb. Of course I did."
"And he agreed to this? He agreed to go out on his own, put himself at risk – put the entire job at risk?" Cobb exhaled, feeling a surge of confusion. His Point Man – the most reliable, steadfast, and trustworthy man he'd ever met, had played a wild card and nearly ended up dead. He shuddered inwardly as he remembered the ugly scene in Arthur's apartment the previous evening. Arthur's refusal to accept that his life was spinning out of control was as frightening as his behaviour.
"He did."
"Well, it didn't work, did it?" Cobb was struggling to control his voice. "Eames and I turned up, to find him lying on the floor of the basement. According to witnesses, she'd taken him downstairs, and then pulled a gun on him. We took him to hospital, with a concussion."
Saito's face was impassive.
"If Arthur had died that night, that would have been the end of our little agreements, Mr. Saito. Without Arthur, there is no team. I can work without Ariadne, or Eames, but I cannot work without Arthur."
"So he is important to you, Mr Cobb?"
Cobb was fighting to keep his self-control.
"Arthur is the most important person. He keeps everything under control, everything calm. I rely on him to do this, I trust him to do this."
"Do you still trust him?"
Cobb swallowed. "Yes, yes I do. I trust him to do as I ask."
Saito smiled, noting the Extractor's discomfort and confusion. "Perhaps it time you accepted it, Mr Cobb. Accepted that Arthur is no longer under your control."
Cobb met Saito's eyes. His voice was low and very hard.
"Arthur is under no-one's control, Mr. Saito. Especially his own."
"You brought me these-?"
A look of revulsion had snaked across Arthur's face, the intensity causing Ariadne to take a step back. His face was a mask of loathing.
"Arthur!" Ariadne desperately wished that she'd never agreed to this. "Arthur, I thought – you're so thin – I know you have a sweet tooth – I thought-"
"You thought! You thought? I'll do the thinking round here, and then you won't do fucking stupid things like this again!"
"Please!" Ariadne could feel tears threatening to break lose. "Please, I didn't mean to upset you, it seemed like a nice thing to do-"
"Oh, it is," the Point Man sneered. "A very nice thing to do. What are you going to bring me next? A couple of pizzas? An entire batch of cupcakes? A three course gourmet dinner? Secretly got a thing for fat men, have you Ari? If thats the case, why didn't you try hitting on me earlier?"
"Arthur!" Ariadne was shocked. "Arthur, you need to eat!"
"So thats what turns you on, is it? The thought of me stuffing my face?" His voice was dangerous. "So, lets see if I can live up to your expectations!"
With growing horror, the Architect watched Arthur rip open the cellophane, and pull out one doughnut. Grabbing it in his fist, he stuffed it in his mouth, letting the jelly ooze and drip down his chin.
"Whats wrong?" he taunted, as she took a step back. "You bring the fat guy doughnuts, and then get upset when he eats them?"
Ariadne turned and fled.
Cobb left Saito's office, barely acknowledging the obsequious PA as he walked past her desk. His anger was building and he wanted to strike out. He shunned the elevator, hoping the ten flights of stars would burn off his coursing adrenaline.
At the top, he stopped.
Arthur. How am I going to help you?
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Eames looked up from the photos he was surveying as Ariadne burst in to the ground floor lab, her face streaked with tears.
"Its Arthur – I brought him doughnuts – he's-"
Eames was already at the door.
Cobb sat in the park. The stillness was soothing. A young couple were laughing together on a blanket, which twisted his heart a little, remembering happier times in his life. Mal. Mal had liked Arthur. "He's very serious," she had once commented, "but thats good for you. He's steady."
Arthur. After Mal, Cobb considered Arthur to be the person he was closest to in the world. Arthur's obsessive eye for detail and ability to keep a cool head had saved Cobb's life several times. Despite the fact Arthur had frequently berated Cobb for taking on jobs that were difficult and dangerous, he'd always done his utmost to assist and aid in success. He'd kept his temper, pushed on with the research, and made sure Cobb's back was covered.
Cobb still couldn't believe what he'd heard. Eames had seemed so sure that Arthur had been a puppet, sent out on a dangerous mission by an egotistical magnate. Cobb had believed him. He'd believed him because he knew that Arthur took everything he was asked to do seriously.
But he'd chosen to do it. He'd gone out of the loop, effectively betraying the team. He'd nearly got himself killed. It was as though, Cobb surmised, he wanted to prove something to himself as well as the others.
Inception seemed the only solution. Cobb knew that therapy for an eating disorder could take weeks, months, years. Judging by the Point Man's gaunt figure and irrational behaviour, Cobb doubted they even had a couple of months.
"If I give you an idea," he muttered to himself, "you may become a different man." He smiled at the borderline hypocrisy of this statement, considering he'd warned Saito of this before the Fischer job.
But Cobb didn't think he could watch Arthur be the man he was rapidly turning into. A wave of tension broke, and putting his face in his hands, Cobb cried.
"Arthur!" Eames strode towards the Point Man, who was stuffing another doughnut into his mouth. "Arthur, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Arthur chewed, swallowed, and reached for the final doughnut.
"I'm giving Ariadne her heart's desire, Eames", he stated in a horrible, taunting croon. "She clearly wants me to get fatter, I can't deny her that, can I?"
"You bastard." Eames' face was reddening with rage.
"Am I?" Arthur's face, covered with crystallised sugar, was starting to go white. "You all want this. You all want me to prove I'm sick. I'm giving you what you want."
He bit into the doughnut. Eames, almost blind with fury, lunged.
Cobb walked along the road, seeing nothing.
His cellphone bleeped. Pulling it out of his pocket, a text flashed up.
Cobb. Get back here now. Yusuf.
Arthur screamed and spat at Eames. The Forger grabbed his shoulders, pushing him straight back into the wall.
"You oaf – think you can control me – think you can make me do whatever you like-" the Point Man was spitting out the words, his face contorted.
"You think you can hurt Ariadne? You think you can taunt her? I ought to break your neck for this, you fucking prick!"
Ariadne watched, her face stricken.
"And you think you can make me eat – make me fat-"
"SHUT UP!" The Forger roared. "Shut up! You're self obsessed, and its killing you! You stupid fucking prick!"
Arthur lashed out, narrowly missing Eames' face.
The Architect reached for the water glass on the Point Man's death. Picking it up, she threw it in the Forgers' face.
Cobb knelt down as Ariadne's eyes opened. She shook, remembering what she'd just witnessed.
"Cobb!" Ariadne was distraught. "Cobb, Arthur! He accused me of wanting him to be fat, of trying to feed him, of-"
"It wasn't real." The Extractor spoke softly. "It was a dream. Arthur was a projection."
"He was Eames' projection! He was a real-" her voice broke and she dissolved into tears.
Eames was blinking, reaching for the IV in his arm.
"Cobb, I know-"
"Save it." The Extractor's voice was as taut as wire.
Ariadne took the tissue Yusuf offered. "I think I need to go for a walk."
Cobb nodded. "Of course."
She left, sniffling. Cobb watched her as she left. An unmistakable feeling was growing in his gut. The feeling that his team was slowly falling apart.
Eames approached Cobb. "Dom look-"
Cobb turned , his eyes furious. "Would you care to explain this, Eames? Explain why you and Ariadne were doing this?"
"Of course," the Forger responded. "But not here. I need a drink."
Cobb smiled, wryly. "Best thing I've heard all day."