Chapter Twelve

Ariadne clung to Arthur as they fled from the warehouse. The ground itself was crumbling beneath their feet. Ariadne's breath caught in her throat. Arthurs arms gripping her as he sped away.

"What's going on?" Ariadne shrieked but even in the sharpness of her voice was drowned out by the deafening sound of the collapsing buildings.

They fled the street just as the old warehouse fell inwards with a sickening crash leaving behind a mass of broken timbers and metal.

The three stopped, breathing fast. Arthur slowly lowered Ariadne to her feet but her legs wobbled as her feet found the hopefully steady surface.

They had only just escaped being crushed. The three of them stood in aware, staring at the great building that had they had only just been standing in which was now reduced to rubble.

"All the equipment," Cobb sighed when he was finally able to speak. "All the research, everything, we'll have to start all over again."

"A small price to pay for our lives Cobb," Arthur said looking solemn. His arms were still around Ariadne and she was welcoming of the comfort.

Cobb nodded slowly his eyes on the ground. He muttered something, something that Ariadne could not hear but something that make Arthur's jaw tighten. Ariadne saw the expression on the dark haired man's face but she did not hear the words that left Cobb's lips. She frowned.

Just when they thought all was safe Ariadne heard a large bang almost like a gunshot. Cobb and Arthur turned to look at each other questioningly.

"What was that?"

Before either could answer another gunshot was fired this time a bullet missing past Ariadne's ear only just missing her. Arthur jumped in front of her shielding her with his body, he sheltered her as he forced himself forward lunging behind a nearby parked car to protect them from the bullets.

"What the hell?" Cobb cried out as he too fought to shelter himself behind the car. The shots increased with dramatic frequency, it seemed as if suddenly there were hundreds of hundreds of people firing at them.

Ariadne was so frightened that she could barely breathe. She watched Arthur prepare his gun- where he had pulled that form she didn't know- so he could shoot back. Ariadne desperately grabbed onto his leg trying to hold him back.

"Please," she begged looking up into his eyes. "Don't-"

"There's no other way Ariadne," Arthur said his voice surprisingly quite over the gunfire. Ariadne watched helplessly, her fingers relaxed their grip on him until she let go completely, letting her hands fall limply by her side. She could feel desperate tears welling up in her eyes.

She turned and watched as Cobb loaded his own gun. The frequency of shots increased yet again. The peaceful air around them dissolved into maddening shrieking of guns shots and the resulting hits.

Why wasn't anyone intervening? The police or someone? Anyone really. How could they let this continue out in the middle of the street in the middle of the day?

Ariadne huddled cramped up behind the miserable parked car that stood between her and the bullets. She curled her body up into the fetal position unable to control the violent shakes. In front of her Arthur and Cobb ducked and weaved behind bits of shelter. None of them ideal of course. Ariadne wished that they had given her a gun too.

She could tell from the number of shots being fired that there was a large group of people with guns. Ariadne wanted to look so that she could see what was going on but at the same time she knew that one moment of wayward curiosity could kill her.

However all her rational thought disappeared when she heard Cobb cry out in pain. He had been hit.

"Cobb!" Arthur yelled out running forward and trying to put himself in between Cobb and the shooters.

Ariadne couldn't help herself she looked around and saw that Cobb had been shot just above his knee, the sight of blood gushing out made her stomach jolt with a new sickness. She clutched her sides.

Arthur moved quickly to make a tourniquet from his jacket to act as a bandage. How he managed to do this without being shot Ariadne didn't know. But then she looked up and saw that the shooters had stopped shooting. Well, at least for the moment.

That one moment of quiet was all it took for her to snap as she dashed forwards toward Arthur and Cobb. Arthur swirled around his eyes flashing with anger and fear as he saw her.

"Ariadne no! Get back!" he shouted trying to hold onto her.

"Arthur we have to get him to a hospital!" Ariadne said trying to move past him but he was desperately blocking her with all his strength. Ariadne struggled realizing slowly that whatever was behind Arthur he didn't want her to see.

"Just go back Ariadne, it's not safe here!" Arthur said still pushing her away. She peered around him and what she saw made her whole body limp. She took a step back.

Cobb looked up from his agony. His fearful eyes suggesting that he had forgotten all about the pain and was instead worried about Ariadne.

Ariadne stood frozen to the spot as she saw who the shooters were. It was an army, an army of neatly dressed men, completely identical to either Arthur or Cobb and they were all slowly marching towards her in unison. Smiles on some faces, concerned looks upon others. Spasms of fear ran down her back.

The Arthur who had just bandaged Cobb took hold of her looking fiercely into her eyes. "No Ariadne! It's not what you think, we have to kill them!"

"No Ariadne!" a mimicking voice replied as the army of Arthur and Cobb clones advanced on them. "You can not let them destroy you, you must come with us, help us so we can defeat them!"

"Don't listen to them Ariadne!" Arthur said pointing his gun at the one talking. "Stay back!"

"No Ariadne, this is the only way you be free, have your old life back," The other Arthur continued. Ariadne was still frozen, unsure of what to believe.

"He's lying Ariadne,"

"Oh am I?" The clone Arthur replied he raised his gun and fired, Arthur only just getting out of the way before firing back. This time he was completely exposed. Swirls of colour went through Ariadne's head but there was no conscious thought or in fact any memory of what she did next. With the movement suddenly returned to her body she suddenly found Cobb's gun in her hands. She had never fired one before but had watched Cobb and Arthur often enough. Her hands trembling at the trigger she stared her opponent down.

"Ariadne," the clone Arthur spoke the rest of them remaining robotic in their stance. "Please believe us, we are your last hope."

The Arthur beside her took the opportunity to fire whilst they were distracted, though they didn't remain that way for long, returning fire with such speed that Arthur was hit almost instantly. Ariadne screamed as he hit the ground. She rushed over to grab onto him. With Cobb slowly turning white and Arthur newly wounded she was the only one left.

She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she knew that she couldn't trust someone who would shoot so mercilessly at Arthur. She turned to face her target and was surprised when a warm hand covered her shaking gun. She looked up into soft eyes and it took her a moment to realize that it was the clone Arthur and not the one he had and his army had left bleeding.

"You can't do this," he said softly. "Please believe me, this is your last chance to save yourself."

Ariadne's hand shook under the weight of her decision, suddenly those soft eyes were so hard to distinguish from those of the one she loved so much. Even though she knew that he could kill her and the two men her hand shook.

"Don't do it Ariadne," the clone continued. "Please-"

Ariadne clamped her eyes shut trying to regain her ability to think clearly.

"Shoot him Ariadne!" Arthur called from the ground. "It's a trick!"

Ariadne looked back at the clone and the soft, concerned expression on his face, he was so much like Arthur, could she really do this? Could she really hurt someone so much like Arthur? With trembling fingers she raised the gun. There was a large bang and she felt searing pain through her shoulder. Desperately clasping it she fell to the ground as Arthur cried out her name. Then everything when black.

A/N- Thanks for reading, bit of a weird chapter I know but all will make sense (hopefully) in the next and final chapter- Nerdy :)