Author's Note: Hi, again. I just wanted to give a big thanks to Kitty Quasar for your lovely review. It really meant a whole lot to me, and I hope you like this chapter. Anyway, this chapter is a little slow, but I need to set everything up before the action starts. I'm sorry we don't actually see very much of Arthur or Eames in this chapter because it's not as long as I thought it would be, but I promise for sure next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inception in any way.

(0xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx0)

Chapter Two

In Los Angeles, Cobb was escorted to a workshop being assigned to him and his team by a slightly chiselled, harassed looking man in his late sixties with short, wiry hair who introduced himself as Richards. Clarke hadn't left Cobb's side since they had landed in LA, the cell phone never out of his reach. Cobb didn't fail to notice that the snipers stayed behind with his family, unbeknown to them when he left with Clarke.

"The shooters will follow your family until you've completed the job," Clarke had told him as they had ridden to the airport in the back of his Mercedes. "You sneak back to get them, you rendezvous anywhere with any of them, you make one wrong move, the snipers will find out, they'll see it, and your children will be gone. You take out any of those snipers, the rest will shoot. Their primary directive isn't to defend themselves; it's to kill the kids if there's even the tiniest trouble. Clear?"

Cobb had spent the flight staring out the window, trying to come up with an alternative to performing the eradication. He had thought of talking to Saito, but Fischer's decision to split up Fischer-Morrow still hadn't gone through, so Fischer-Morrow still held more power than Saito's company.

In the airport Cobb had met Richards and Clarke had finally left him. Cobb noted a cell phone identical to Clarke's in Richard's inside pocket, something Clarke didn't miss.

"We all have them," he told Cobb, indicating his phone. "They're all connected, but in case you don't believe me…" He and Richards had then swapped phones so Richards had the original cell phone. Cobb had said nothing. He and Richards had taken a taxi to the workshop in silence, Richards' only words to give the cabbie directions.

Now, as Cobb stepped out of the cab he found himself outside an enormous hotel with the name The Duke and Duchess scrawled overtop the glass front doors. Richards joined him as the taxi screeched out of the drop-off loop and back out onto the street.

"There's a meeting room on the ground floor that has been booked for the two weeks or so, for the use of you and your team. You have until the end of the month to complete this job," Richards said, speaking to Cobb for the first time as they both studied the outside of the hotel.

Richards led them into the lobby where a polished marble floor contrasted beautifully with glass windows that made up two of the walls of the lobby. Beautiful, potted, and suspiciously fake-looking plants ornamented the room. A pool could be seen through a floor-length window near the far end of the room where the saltwater was smooth and motionless, the deck and tiles around it pristine and spotless. A lush, red carpet led up to the front desk, but Richards didn't bother stopping there to talk to the hotel clerk. He walked to the end of the room where the elevators were, but he continued pass them, turning left onto a corridor at the end of the lobby. Cobb followed wordlessly behind him, taking careful note of his surroundings. They passed the labelled, maple doors that led into the ballroom, swimming pool, weights room, gym, and billiards room until they finally reached a door at the end of the hall bearing a small, black plaque that simply read Meeting Room (A).

"That will act as your workshop," Richards said, handing Cobb a key. "It is reserved solely for you and your team so there should be no distractions while you're working. Everything you will need is already there, and there are spare keys in your room upstairs. All of your meals will be served for you in the dining room at the other end of the hall or through room service. Everything has been paid for in advance. You should be warned that we're watching the outside of this building, and that we see no need for you to leave it at anytime. We understand that members of your team will need to come and go for various reasons, but none of them will be permitted anywhere near your family. When you and your team are ready perform your job, the number to reach us is by the telephone in your hotel room."

When Cobb nodded curtly, Richards turned from the meeting room and they began to head back towards the lobby. He fished out another key card from his pocket and handed it to Cobb.

"That's for your room," he said. "You're in room number 922, floor nine and we've also booked you rooms 23 to 30."

There were four elevators, and Richards pressed the up button of the elevator closest to them. The doors opened immediately, and Cobb stepped in. Richards didn't follow him, but held the door open with his hand to say a last few words.

"If you need anything, give us a call with that same number in your room," he said. "As I said before, don't leave unless you've specifically asked our permission. The doors of this building are being watched. We expect to hear from you every two days minimum, and if you decide to leave without completing the job, things won't turn out so well for your kids. If you need anything else purchased, send out a member of your team or phone us. We'll be able to give you any financial backing you require, and any assistance should you need it. You have two weeks. Good luck."

"Thank you," Cobb replied stiffly and rather insincerely.

Richards withdrew his hand and the doors hissed shut. Cobb jabbed the number nine button and closed his eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of his nose as his mind scrambled for a way out of his situation.

He sighed as the doors slid open again a few seconds later, revealing a carpeted hallway with sandy, bronze wallpaper, a red carpet, and gold highlights. He made his way down the corridor and found his room. Opening the door, he found a high-class hotel suite, complete with a small kitchen and eating area, a desk and computer, two bedrooms with king-sized beds, a balcony, and an enormous flat-screen television that took up most of one of the walls. He threw his suitcase onto the sofa and sat down on the bed in the first room, loosening his tie. It was only six o'clock in the evening or so, but it seemed like an eternity ago that Miles and Marie had knocked on his door to pick up James and Philippa for a day with their grandparents.

(0xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx0)

After ordering some food from room service, Cobb went straight to work. They had two weeks, but he needed to talk to his team to discuss their possibilities, choose a course of action, plan what they were going to do, and then execute it. A part of his mind was still searching desperately for a way to get back to his kids without having to perform the eradication, and another part of his mind was hoping that Arthur or Eames would have some miracle solution.

He phoned Arthur first. He answered his cell phone after the first tone.

"Cobb," he said in way of greeting.

Cobb immediately felt an unexpected feeling of relief rush through him at the familiar sound of his colleague's voice. A sense of calm seemed to briefly sweep through him as Arthur's voice brought back a sense of professionalism to Cobb that he hadn't realized he'd lost over the weeks since the inception job.

"I need your help," Cobb said.

A few minutes later, they both hung up. Arthur had been quick and straight to the point, which Cobb had appreciated. He had told Cobb to expect him at the hotel in two days time; he just needed to tie up a few loose ends from a different job he was completing. From the sounds of it he was in Austria, but would be flying back to America as soon as possible. Cobb hadn't told him what the new job was exactly; he hadn't mentioned that it wasn't a simple extraction. He wanted to tell Arthur that in person, so he had merely said that the job was an emergency. He appreciated that Arthur hadn't asked any questions, but had taken that as reason enough to hurry back to Los Angeles.

The room service arrived before Cobb had the chance to talk to Eames, and he had a feeling that his impatience showed through his cheerful façade as the hotel boy left quite quickly without waiting for a tip.

Arthur had given Cobb the number where he could reach Eames, and he phoned as soon as the door shut behind the delivery boy, not wanting to stall for time.

"Yes, hello," Eames' familiar English accent sounded in Cobb's ear after four or five rings.

"Eames, it's Cobb," Cobb said.

"What do you need?" Eames didn't sound too enthusiastic to be hearing from Cobb again so soon after the completion of the Fischer job.

"I have another job for you."

Eames was quite a bit harder to convince than Arthur, although he was at least still in the country. Apparently, he was in Vegas and wasn't too keen to leave without a good reason first. When Cobb gave him the figure though, he promised to be there sometime the following day and hung up.

Cobb was left in his hotel room, staring blankly at the wall and wondering whether he was doing the right thing. He wasn't really hungry, but he forced himself to eat anyways as he hadn't had any food since breakfast. He contemplated contacting Ariadne or Yusuf, but Ariadne was in Paris once more and he didn't want to endanger her again unless it was necessary. He also needed to discuss with Arthur and Eames whether they would need Yusuf. For the moment, he was planning on being the architect himself, and simply using the same compounds Yusuf had used on the inception job on this eradication job. He had watched Yusuf carefully all the while throughout that job, as had Eames and Arthur, and Cobb thought that they should be able to recreate Yusuf's job in this eradication without too much difficulty.

He finished his meal and threw out the packaging. It was still quite early in the evening, so he headed for the meeting room, deciding to try to get some work done before Eames arrived the next day. He only planned to work for a few hours before returning to the hotel room to get some sleep. He was going to need it if he was going to have to convince Eames to do another job with him, since Eames would be aware of the dangers of Limbo this time.

Cobb sighed as he rode the elevator back down to the main floor. Yes, it was going to be a long next couple of days.

(0xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx0)

So yeah, as I said, this chapter was bit slower and I apologize for that. Next chapter will start to pick up a bit though with a lot more of Arthur and Eames in it, and I promise for some action next chapter! Please, please review! It only takes thirty seconds or so, and it will really make my day. It'll also make me a lot more eager to update more chapters and make any changes that need be, and I'm dead serious in saying that. Thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoyed!

~kat