Disclaimer: Sorry, I forgot to do this in my first chapter...
Don't own anything of or related to Inception... Sadly. If I did, I would be living it up in my mansion who-knows-where.
Chapter Two: The Job
Ariadne woke up to an incessant banging on her door. She remembered setting her alarm but it hadn't gone off yet, and when she looked over to her nightstand, two first class air tickets were there to greet her.
Crap. Wasn't Arthur supposed to— That would explain the banging on her door.
She quickly brushed her "morning" hair and ran over to open the door. Arthur was standing in the too-small door frame, looking a bit irritated. He was ready, briefcase in hand, and the not-hidden-very-well handgun in his back pocket. How did he sneak that thing around?
Arthur looked downcast to find out that she had just woken up. "Hey."
He was wearing his leather jacket, the one that Ariadne had noted probably cost more than all of her clothed combined, and the formal slacks. She hated him for looking so formal when she was standing in front of him like an idiot wearing baby blue polka-dotted pajamas.
"Erm… Can you give me a moment, Arthur? I've got to"— she looked down at her disheveled sleepwear.
"Yeah. Fifteen minutes? I've also got to make a call."
She gladly shut the door.
Ariadne mentally punched herself again. How the heck did I sleep through my alarm? Did it even go off? She angrily threw the useless alarm clock into her stuffed-to –bursting suitcase and hurriedly changed into her usual t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. After a five minute shower she quickly packed her things and met Arthur outside of her door. He had been angrily arguing with somebody on his $200 cell phone and Ariadne wanted to ask who he was fuming at, but thought the better of it. After all, she had shut him out for fifteen minutes and he didn't look too thrilled.
"So, Arthur, do you have any idea why Cobb isn't telling us anything?" Ariadne asked between sipping her coffee. She was sitting in the leather passenger seat of his BMW convertible and once again noted how every darn thing of his had to be some kind of genuine leather.
Arthur looked at her. "He hasn't told us anything either. I don't even know why he still wants to do this job after he's gotten what he's wanted all his life. Maybe he"— Arthur cut off like he was just about to reveal something and looked away. "Let's go to that"—
"Maybe what?" Ariadne began her questioning. She was used to getting answers out of Arthur and Cobb.
He didn't answer. Not that she expected him to.
She was about to throw a fit when his phone rang. Ok. Lucky him. I'll ask later.
"Hello?"
"Cobb? Hey. We're in Paris, heading to the airport. Yea… She's here. Wait what?" Arthur looked at Ariadne and she shrugged. "No. Not now."
He handed his phone to Ariadne. "Cobb wants to talk to you."
She snatched up the phone eagerly. "Hey."
"Ariadne. Do you have your totem? You'll need it."
Ariadne huffily noticed that he didn't even wait for her to reply. She had a bunch of questions bubbling up in her mind, and if she wasn't going to get answers, well, it would get ugly. "Cobb. What's our job?"
"It's an Extraction. A complex one. We might need more than one level for this job."
"Why?"
"Because we're doing Extraction on an Extractor."
"Um, won't that be a little hard? What if he's trained and… all that?"
"He is. Arthur and Eames are going to teach you how to use a gun. We need you on this dream, because you are going to have to make a maze so complex that you are the only one who can navigate it."
"Eh. Oh-Kay… Who are we working for?"
She waited for the answer to come. "Let me talk to Arthur."
"Who are we working for?"
"Give the phone to Arthur."
She sighed. At least she got some answers. She could easily weasel the others out of Arthur. "He wants to talk to you."
Arthur looked at her for a moment too long and took the phone. She looked away.
Extraction on an Extractor? How the heck would that work?
She looked at the downtown Paris skyline, taking in the beautiful foggy mist that was delivered in the morning. The droplets in the air reflected the sliver of sun, refracting tiny rays of light onto the bustling streets. High-rise buildings blocked most of the view, but the serene background of pale blue sky and inviting clouds were still visible. The smell of the steaming half-finished cup of caffeine woke her up instantly, and the chilly gusts of wind helped her snap to her senses.
She wondered if the dream they entered would result in limbo if they died. Most likely would. Knowing Cobb, it definitely would. She pondered what it would be like to live in a dream for eternity and was shocked to find herself not frightened of it at all. What could be better than living in your own world, with everything of your own pure creation? And if everybody in the group found their way to limbo, it wouldn't be all that different from the real world would it?
Of course it would be you half-brained idiot. Ariadne forced herself to accept the fact like the law. You can't do anything about it.
She thought about her mother. Then her father. Her heart ached. Was heaven just like limbo? Unconstructed dream space? Was she in all of her father's dreams as a five-year-old projection of her true self now? That was all that her father had left of her. A projection. Of what she was fifteen years ago. In that case, the Dream World, or heaven, both did not compare to reality. She would be deceived of what she presumed to be real, but really was what her mind understood it as.
Was it that bad?
Yes, you stupid aardvark. Now stop thinking about that and snap back to reality. She chuckled inwardly at the pun.
Arthur had asked her a question and was staring at her expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. She tried to meet his eyes.
"Ariadne? Are you alright?"
Alright? Far from it. "Yeah. Don't worry about me."
"We've got to go the airport now. We've got a flight to catch."
She sat next to Arthur, in the window seat, looking out at the boring cliché airport scene. The airport was huge. They had gotten there about ten minutes before the flight to New York left and hardly had to wait at all. Ariadne shut the window, trying not to get bored already. She stretched her feet, chuckling to herself and remembering to enjoy the first-class experience, and turned to look at Arthur. He had his laptop out and was working on a document.
"Whatcha working on?" She peeked over his shoulder.
He quickly shut his laptop and turned towards her. "Just some stuff for the job." He smiled and unconvincing smile.
So he does know more than I do.
She didn't bother questioning more, all he would do was ignore her. Instead, she pulled out a book on architectural structures, she was studying it for school, and suddenly realized how much school she would be missing. "Crap."
He looked over to her, glad that she had dropped the inquiries and asked what was wrong.
"How am I going to make up school? And how am I going to explain my absences?" She glowered at him, as though all this was his fault.
"Oh. Cobb already spoke to Miles about it. Miles was going to say that something happened to your family, like maybe your father got sick, and"- He shut up really fast. "Maybe your mom's family visited. Something like that."
Why did you pause after my father? He's already gone. She felt her eyes blur. But there was no way he could know about that... Of course, she frowned at her paranoia, he's the dang pointman. He probably researched everything about her before she joined the team. It was slightly uncomfortable knowing that Arthur knew every single nook and cranny of her past.
She pushed the thought out of her mind and resumed her annoying, yet effective, answer retrieval. Arthur had opened his laptop again, thinking that he had her off to her own world, and was speaking with the flight attendant. "Water, thanks."
She took the chance and looked over his leather-clad shoulder at the laptop screen.
It was some long, not to mention boring, document about the next job offer. Well, what had she been expecting?
She wondered why she was being kept in the dark about the stupid job. She was, after all, one of the essential team members, right? Her temper flared, she deserved to know everything about the stupid job. She was the architect, for Pete's sake! How could they expect her to build mazes for some unknown job?
Ariadne read the first line, she convinced herself that she had every right to: Suspect Brandon Wright. Age: 25 yrs, Weight: 193 lbs, Eyes: Brown, Hair: Brown, Height—Boring. So this was the Extractor they were working on. She read on, hoping to find some information that would help her with building the set.
Suspected to have performed Extraction in Businessman, Mr. Phillip Greene Minos, ambassador for the US Architectural Corporation to France, which resulted in Mr. Minos' untimely death.
What? She blinked, read the line again. And again. She took the totem out of her pocket, tipped it over, and read it again.
Mr. Phillip Greene Minos.
It was just a coincidence, she reassured herself. But then why she wasn't told anything?
Just a coincidence. Breath. She held the bishop with bone-crushing strength. In medieval times, the bishop helped the king think thoroughly, like an advisor. Her totem being a bishop was a funny coincidence. Coincidence. Coinci-
They were working on a case that involved her dead father?