MAL 2

Inception + 15 years
Fallen Architect, Fallen Angel

It was a recurring dream that would never fail to repeat itself whenever Ariadne slept. She was with the team- Arthur and Eames, traveling through Cobb's limbo. She tore up the endless expanse of sand-made high rise towers and crafted a new city as she went, trapping the tens of thousands of enemy projections Mal sent after them. But Mal knew everything. She made the world crumble and buried them alive. They were crushed like flies- and unable to wake from the pain and agony. Mal controlled Cobb's other projections and "her" own. They decimated the projections the three of them brought in, and pulled the members of the team from the rubble and burning wreckage. Ariadne was force to watch as Eames was shredded alive by Mal's soldiers armed with chainsaws. She was forced to watch as they doused Arthur with gasoline and set him on fire. Yusuf was injected with a lethal dose of box jellyfish venom- one of the deadliest toxins in the world. He screamed in agony as Irukanji syndrom took over.

As for her, Mal reserved an especially cruel fate. Ariadne was tied down and Mal cut her up and took her apart, piece by piece. Mal had acquired Ariadne's building and altering capabilities when she stabbed her on the bridge, and later when Mal saw her in the hotel room. Mal broke the pain-kick factor and prevented the team from wake up. Ariadne screamed in agony as Mal tore strips of skin, muscle, nerves, even bones off of her. Mal kicked them out eventually, but not before injecting copies of herself into their subconscious. These individual projections would wreak untold havoc on their minds. They had slipped into comas, but Ariadne woke.

But withink weeks, the projection came to life like a parasite when she was awake and sleeping, causing hallucinations, pain, and drove the girl well into madness. Mal had gained control of her automatic system and caused Ariadne to become ill with symptoms of untold diseases. From her skin falling off to pain and siezures (with no actual injury or infection), Ariadne was haunted and agonized every day she lived, but the girl fought and refused to go into limbo. Ariadne's war with Mal drove her into drugs- which obtaining entaled crime. She spent time in and out of the prison system, and was placed in three different psychiatric hospitals. None of the doctors were able to figure out what was wrong with her. People who met her decreed she was posessed. Of course, poor Ariadne was.

Ariadne escaped from the mental hospital and while running from police- and Mal, she tried to kill herself- by bolting out into a high speed highway. she was struck by a speeding car. She was mercifully knocked unconcious on impact. Broken arm, broken foot, three cracked ribs, and cracked skull with brain hemorrhage. She was rushed to the hospital and taken in for emergency surgery. A section of her skull was removed to prevent further swelling of her brain. When she awoke in the hospital, the quiet ambiance of the hospital room and heavy dose of morphine and painkillers brought her into a new brain-damaged peace. she could still think and talk and move if she wanted to.

However, Ariadne suffered permanent memory loss. And along with those memories and knowledge, Mal was gone too. 'she didn't care how injured she was, she was the happiest person in the world just to be rid of Mal.

Ariadne recovered and spent another six months in the mental hospital. Getting hit by a car had completely changed her from a deranged whacked psycho to a stable, peaceful person who they deemed capable to live in the outside world. Ariadne was put on disability and placed in a halfway house in Ysidro (San Diego). But being rid of Mal came with a heavy price. she was still emotionally, spiritually and psychologically mangled from years of torment in dreams, limbo, and real life. She still suffered pains from injuries she suffered in dreams. Her nervous system was messed, and medications only agitated her condition more. On a hot July day when the temperature soared well over 100*F, she would end up freezing from hypothermia, or on cold days she would sweat until she was soaking wet.

Ariadne had forgotten about her days in architectural school and her dreams of designing and building. It all seemed like ancient history, and now she couldn't even build a tower with Jenga blocks- that knowledge had been shredded and decimated by Mal.

She tried to work but depression, anxiety, paranoia, the pains, the cramps, and occasionally passing out in the middle of walking made holding down a job difficult. Longest she held down a job was a week at the local Taco Bell fast food joint and even then they didn't want her.

She spent her days barricaded in her room watching TV or playing computer games. she tried to be creative, she tried to do good, but every part of her that was her was destroyed. As much as Ariadne tried to fight it, she found it increasingly difficult to cope with the fact she was going to become and old woman, filled with regret, waiting to die alone. She tried to end it numerous times, but with no success. And the people running the halfway house kept a close eye on her.

James & Phillipa Cobb

James, 19; and Phillipa, 22; both clearly remembered how drastically their mother changed right before she died. They had no idea of dream sharing, and were utterly clueless as to the function of the sedating machine they found in the house. Their mother was a very beautiful and loving person in their lives up until the final three weeks of her life. She changed in an instant.

At the time, James was 4, and Phillipa was 7. It was late summer and they were in school. Then, that day everything changed. Their mother shunned them, looked at them as if they were rats and shoved them away, yelling at them to stay away, and telling them, 'You're not real!'

When Phillipa tried to argue and reached out to touch her mother's arm and prove she was real, their mother swung a knife at her. Only by quick reflex did the little girl evade injury. Their father, Dom, had to hold her back when she tried to chase them, and shoved her into a bedroom.

He later told the two scared children that their mother had a really bad dream and she was having trouble knowing she was awake. From that point onward, an ice cold threatening glare was all the two kids got from their mother. They both remember Mom saying to Dad: "What makes you think any of this is real?"
"EVERYTHING is Real, Mal! Our kids are real! Stop with this-"
"They're just projections of your subconcious! And you know it! you're too stubborn to realize that! I know what is real and what isn't! Our real children are waiting for us back home in the world we built! How could you neglect our two children for those [pointing at James and Phillipa] empty projections?"
"WTF are you talking about?" Cobb yelled back, "Goddammit, Mal, get it into your head we are no longer in Limbo, this is real life!"
The heated argument swiftly ended when she threw a large knife at their dad, forcing him to duck. She lunged at him with another knife, and the two kids ran from the house.

Dad had James and Phillipa sent accross town to stay with relatives. The last memory of the two kids was seeing their mother, now dispassionate, uncaring, cold; sitting at the dining room table, with the carving knife in her hand recklessly stabbing tomatoes. Dad had told them she thought she was in a dream, and missed them very much. He wanted to help her realize she was in reality again and be their mother again.

News of their mother's death came from Dad as, "Kids, I have to tell you something...your mom's gone away...back to the dream, and...she may never come back. I'm sorry."

That was also the last time they saw their dad. They bounced back and remained cheerful and energetic as ever, confident he would fix 'the problem' and make things the way they were before. The last day, he met with a man at home, and when they came back, he was gone, not knowing when their grandmother called their names, that was the last time their father looked at them before he left for good. The next day, a police officer came and questioned them on the whereabouts of their father and what happened before their mother vanished. Their testimony that she tried to kill them failed to prove any fault on her part.

Losing their mother and father had been hard on them, and it played out in how they grew up. It felt as if they both disappeared 'into the dream world' for ever. Years later they found out about their mother committing suicide, and of the ill-fated practice of dream sharing, and the 'dream machine' they saw.

Luck was on their side as the two went through university and graduated with big credentials. James took up engineering, and Phillipa took up architecture. Both attended prestigous schools in Europe and the U.S, where they, recieved the best education money could buy. Both became skilled and talented in their fields. Then came the question: Where was their father. They both resigned to the fact their mother was gone, but knew their father was still alive. They researched, they questioned, and after many long years, they came in contact with the Japanese businesman Mr. Saito.

Over an intense lunch, he explained everything they demanded to know about dream sharing, from the machine to what happened to their parents.

Inception + 15 years
Chiyoda, Tokyo

Saito saw James and Phillipa Cobb when they were little- well, Cobb's projections of them during the Fischer job. They appeared outside the Hotel and he saw them a few times playing in the vast empty streets and desolate beaches during his stint in Limbo. Now they sat accross the lounge in front of them. They were full grown-ups, each of them self-made individuals. For two kids who lost their parents, they had done quite well for what Cobb's and Mal's families resources and love had to offer.

Saito looked and felt older. His hair was greying, but nonetheless he felt a lot younger than when he was in Limbo. He was not enjoying reviewing the grim details of what happened fifteen years ago. He had explained all he knew about dreamspace, levels, brain function, time dilation, limbo, projections, extracting/ incepting ideas; everything. Now they wanted to know the big question: What happened to Cobb?

"By this week's end," Saito said grimly, "if Mr. Cobb was conscious throughout his coma, he'll have spent three hundred thousand years in Limbo, if it is equal to a dream level of four."
"What?" Phillipa said, shaking her head in disbelief, "Are you kidding?"
"No," Saito said, "I'm not."
"Time dilation, sister," James said, straightening his jacket.

"Let me explain this to you again," Saito said sternly, "When you dream, your brain functions much faster than it does when you are awake, there fore, time is much slower. By default, it is 12 times faster, and when you dream on multiple levels, the speed of your mind is increased exponentially, stretching time by a great big deal. It looks like real time in the dream because of your mind. In Limbo, there is no set way of how much time can pass. Say we assume Limbo is a fourth level of depth, time is 20,736 times faster than in real life time. Each passing second is over five hours. I could be wrong, and Mr. Cobb could be spending much much more time per second."

James and Phillipa remained rooted to their seats, and didn't argue their disbelief. They dreamed with the sedating machine before, they knew how time could be stretched.

"What- how much could that affect him?" Phillipa asked.

"He will not remember you or anything else in this past life. His memory will be erased abd be replaced by more "recent" memories of his life in limbo."

"What about our mother? She-"

Saito silenced them with a sharp wave.

"You listen to me," he said sternly, "Mal is not your mother. Your mother is long passed away, I'm sorry but that is that. The projection in Cobb's limbo is nowhere near anything like the woman who raised you two. You remember how she regarded you as mere projections? After 50 years spent in a dream? Then she tried to kill you? That's what this projection is. Cobb's last living memory of her, powered by his guilt for what he had done. Mal tried to kill you years ago. What makes you think she will be anymore pleasant in the dream? Her's and Cobb's projections of you two are all that's real in limbo, and you two will be destroyed if you go in there looking for them!"

James and Phillipa sat on the couch, stunned by Saito's harsh words. Both of them looked down, coming to terms with the possibility of never seeing their father again. Phillipa began to shake as tears streamed out of her eyes.

"Didn't you guys try to kick him?"

"We tried," Saito sighed, "We tried every trick in the book to revive him. Nothing worked. It goes to show how much Mal has taken control over his body. She is rotting him away. I've had him examined, and they say there's an overall process of preservation of his body- so Mal can use it longer. Because when Mr. Cobb dies, so will the projection. We comtemplated ending his suffering with a gunshot, but that would have denied you two the rights to your father's fate."

"And now it comes to this," he continued, "As per arrangements, we have kept Mr. Cobb alive so that you may do what you will with him."

"I want to see him." Philippa said,

"Out of the question," Saito countered,

"So, sir, she means just to look at him as he's sleeping."

"Very well. I'll show you to him, and his team as well. Our base of operations is in South Africa, that's where he is."

Johannesburg,

Gauteng Province, South Africa

The sprawling city covered the vast Sun-baked Highveld Plateau. An industrial district on the fringe of the city was completely owned by Fischer and one of the many centers for dream tech development, production, and research.

Lab 46 was home to the comatose bodies of the Fischer job team. Each of them was separate, tied down to gurneys and hooked to feeding and sewage-extraction equipment.

Each of them, except Ariadne, had been like this for over 15 years now- Hundreds of thousands of years in possible Limbo time. About thirty more comatose bodies accompanied them. They contained the scarified minds of brave dreamers who dared to enter their subconscious and rescue them. After a year of intense revival efforts, the scientists working on them gave up and pursued other projects.

On the way, James and Phillipa met the ultimate boss of their esteem employers- Robert Fischer. Fischer, sympathetic to Cobb in his own way, aided them by providing the funding for their schooling and privileged things in their lives, including their jobs. It was the least he could do to thank Cobb, in spite of the fact everything he provided was unable to get Cobb out of limbo and be rid of Mal.

The atmosphere in this lab was chilling. The place was neat and tidy; a nurse tending to the members of the Limbo Club, machines and computers silently humming. The hissing of the pumps from nearby sedating machines echoed off the walls. Three trainees were practicing- laying passed out around a machine.

Saito showed James and Phillipa each of the original team, lying sprawled out on gurneys, hooked to equipment.

"This is Yusuf, he tailored the compounds needed for level three dreams. He purposely designed his sedatives so that a falling effect in the dream or real life would wake the person up. Mal prevented that in this case. This, here is our point man, Arthur, he researched the subjects of each job. This man here is Eames, the forger. He could disguise himself as someone's projections. He was very good at it. and now, Mr. Cobb."

Dominic Cobb's body lay peacefully on his gurney buried under blankets. An oxygen mask covered his face. A heart rate monitor and brainwave monitor continued to beep. Cobb had aged considerable, despite he had been on this bed for the last decade and a half.

James and Phillipa stood quietly over him. Phillipa tried not to cry but she couldn't hold it in. She squeezed his hand tight, hoping their father, far deep inside would feel it. She found it unbareable to look at his now-frail frame.

"Dad? Can you hear us?" James asked.

"He can't hear a thing," Saito said quietly. "He's blind, deaf, cannot feel, taste, nor small. They even threw him on the floor and hit him but still he failed to wake up. Same with the others. But I assure, even though he can't hear you, Mal can, and she's listening."

"This is horrible- and a projection- a piece of memory is doing this to him?"

"He empowered her, with guilt that he felt for your mother's death. And she fed on the feelings and memories of everyone else, including Fischer and I. We got lucky."

"How did our mother die?" Phillipa asked.

Ariadne's Story of Cobb, as told by Saito

Saito, having been told by Ariadne long ago, explained, "They got into dream sharing. They went deeper and they found themselves in Limbo. They built a world, and lived in it for 50 years. Cobb kept his perception on reality and dream. Mal didn't and accepted Limbo and projections of her children as her reality. She didn't want to go. I told you about totems, hers was the top. If you spin it and it eventually stops, you're awake. If it continues to spin without wavering, you're in a dream. She locked hers away. Cobb broke into the safe and spun it, incepting the idea in her that the world was not real and she should leave. So Cobb summoned a train and the two rested their heads on the track. When the train hit them, they woke up. After 50 years in limbo. Their minds had aged. Cobb was happy to be back in reality, but Mal- the idea he planted in her head grew and festered, like a parasite and did not dissolve. Mal belived she was in a dream and Limbo was reality, not here.

"She was manic with the idea, and like in the dream belived commiting suicide was the only way back, only she refused to do it alone, so she tricked Cobb into commiting suicide with her by filing false reports of domestic violence. Her death resulted in murder charges, and Cobb would have faced life in prison if he didn't kill himself. To bolster the cause for suicide, Mal had herself declared sane by three psychiatrists to void any arguments Cobb might have had about her in court. After her suicide, he fled the United States. I offered to clear his charges if he could to the same thing to Mr. Fischer-"

Fischer blushed and chuckled, but he still didn't like this sort of thing being talked about in front of others. Saito continued:

"-which he succeded. but when he fled, he had huge regrets and guilt- over what he did to her, and how it affected you two, and how he never had the chance to say good bye when your grandmother called for you. He tried to keep Mal alive- a projection, mind you. He tried to change his memories. She would sabatage his jobs all in vain hopes he would come to be with her- and he missed her a great deal. Cobb got confused, and failed to realize she's just a projection- a figment of his memory, not a spirit or ghost of your real mother.

"...so, she sabotaged our job. Fischer and I ended up in limbo, I was shot on level one by another projection, Fischer was shot by her and held hostage in Limbo. In exchange for him, Cobb agreed to stay, and Ariadne kicked Fischer and herself back to level 3."

Fischer cut in, "I saw what happened. He told her she was fake, that she was no good. So she stabbed him, and the other girl shot her. Everyone thinks by helping Cobb to overcome his guilt and regret, the projection was weakened and died."

Saito nodded and picked up again, "But it gets hazy from there. I spent 40 years in limbo. Cobb came for me. Woke me with a gun shot to the face. I woke up along with everybody else. We unhooked Fischer from the machine and put it away before he woke up. But Cobb never woke up. When we landed, he fell out of his seat. We had him rushed to hospital to get him checked. Nothing wrong, he just won't wake up. So I had the team enter limbo to search for Cobb. Why he only had one shot in his gun is beyond me. I didn't go in, I had business to attend do. I came back and found they were all in comas. Ariadne woke up and was extremely agitated and distraught. We tried to go into her dreams to address the problem and found that Mal replicated herself and now a projection was haunting her. Ariadne became defensive, violent, and escaped. That was the last time we saw her. Before she left, she told me this:"

"...When they went into Cobb's limbo, they were attacked by Cobb's projections- all controlled by Mal. Even Ariadne's expertise and skill in building dream environments and facilities were Mal's for the taking. The projection dispensed seemingly unimaginable horrors on the team, and everyone else we sent in. Ariadne said she was skinned and stripped of her flesh. Pain is in the mind, and in a dream, you can still suffer, especially if Mal has control over your sensory nerves."

"How did Ariadne wake up?" James asked.

"We don't know. My guess was for Mal to send us a message of what she will do to anyone else who dares to enter Mr. Cobb's limbo. And theres as a matter of fact," Saito said, pointing to everyone else in the group. "We say they are deaf and blind, but that only means they are. But Mal can still hear what we are saying-"

"Then why are we here, talking about this? If all copies of her can hear us?" Phillipa demanded.

Saito shrugged, "I think the projection knows the story anyway. Besides, important details are discussed far more secure environments. Shall we go?"

Children decide the Father's fate

James and Phillipa sat across the table in a brightly lit but soundproofed room. It was just Saito now with them. He placed a folder on the table and showed it to them. It was a profile on Ariadne.

"This is all we have on her. God knows where she is now," Saito said, "She's just as important as the rest. In fact, she's far more important."

"Why?"

Saito chuckled, "She had the capability to shut Mal down once. I think she can do it again."

"Well, if Mal's been carving up her mind over the last 15 years, I don't think she's going to be that useful," Phillipa argued.
"I fear you may be right," Saito said, "But I refuse to give up until she is found and assessed. Listen, if you two actually want to help Mr. Cobb, I can't deny you that right. But for your safety, I cannot allow you two to simply hook yourselves to the sedater and go in yourselves. You will wind up like the others down there. In fact some have even been rotting alive, their bodies mangled by disease and deterioration. Mal's taken control of their nervous systems and wreaks plights upon them as they sleep."

James and Phillipa nodded, "So- where do we start?" James asked.

"First we'll start with Ariadne. I have sent hundreds of people out along with orders to find her and bring her to us. On top of that, we will assemble a well trained team to train you and get you two prepared for the harsh realities of dream space. Combat and firearms training will be necessary. When the time comes, you will all enter Ariadne's subconscious. We have advanced computers that replace the PASIV as the main dream device. You can enter limbo without additional dream layers, and it has a more powerful kick system. Unaffected by Mal, you will be kicked out with a strong electric shock. If you die, the computer will pick up on the patterns and kick you immediately should a natural death induced kick fail. Now, what do you say?"

"We'll do it," James and Phillipa both said.

"Good, but I will warn you. The higher ups on this project have special authority as this work is dangerous. Three people- all contaminated by Mal became vehicles for her- She was able to control their bodies and as them, she killed several workers. If the situation is out of control, security personnel are under orders to shoot anyone suspected to be controlled by Mal when awake. You risk death. Understand?"

Cobb's grown kids hesitated, then nodded.

"Good. Because Mal is a very real threat. Should she ever get out, and with a dream device, it will be nothing short of disaster."

They nodded again.

"Good," Saito said. "Let's get you onto your training. I'll see about getting Ariadne."

"Sir," a suit said as he walked up to Saito when they got out of the room.
"What is it?"
"It's Ariadne. Two hours ago she was arrested at the U.S./Mexico border at San Ysidro trying to enter the U.S. without a passport. The report said she lives in San Diego, and entered Tijuana through the turnstile gate. And she forgot her passport at home. They're holding her on Fischer's request, and he told me to contact you."

"Have Ariadne fully examined and bring her here. Terminate her residence at her current home location, and have the Americans send me all records and information her collected for the last 15 years."

"Yes, sir" the suit barked before walking off.