Poker Face

Chapter One-Disillusionment of Waking

ShadowHeartofFaith

Disclaimer: I do not own Inception. It belongs to Christopher Nolan. I do own my own team though, which includes Aribelle, Auron, Marcus, and Elric Damen.

"The dream's collapsing!"

I stood back in awe, eyes wild with excitement. Windowpanes shattered, doors crumbled down upon their hinges, walls turned to dust before me. Bursts of color, the sharp crack of glass, the booming chaos of splintering wood and foundations being forced in half. It all played out like a symphony of destruction. The entire dismantling of structures and a well thought-out façade of reality. This was what I had come to call the disillusionment of waking.

The dream came unraveled like a cheaply woven blanket as the Mark came to. This had been a simple extraction procedure with far too many risks stapled to it in disarray. A jealous wife who had wanted to know what her husband was really up to after hours in his office. The man in question owned a large corporation that was struggling to meet the demands of the fast-pace business world and was steadily losing himself to his work. Unfortunately, there was another twist that our Point Man had not found in his research. One simple fact that had changed the entire job.

This Mark was mentally unstable.

The shards of color that were revealing themselves to me were dizzying as they fell through slivers that ran through the once-blue sky and over the horizon. Wordless screams and shouts of horrible rage overtook me as they drew closer. The projections. They flooded across the horizon like a horde of ants.

I couldn't help the nauseas twists of my stomach. Even after six years in my profession, alert and angered projections still made me extremely nervous. Taking a step back, I raised my gun to my temple. The barrel pressed, cold, against my skin as I waited. I wanted to see their faces.

"Aribelle!"

My eyes darted across the eroding dreamscape. A shape flickered in the distance, my breath catching in my throat as my lungs sealed up tight. He couldn't be here. He was unmistakable even standing a few hundred feet away-

Oxygen flooded back through me, filling up my distressed lungs. My body bolted upright as the pain in my skull began to subside. Ripping the IV from my arm, I distanced myself from the PASIV. Drawing my hand through my tangle of dark hair, I turned my glare to Marcus. "What the Hell was that?" I hissed from between clenched teeth. The Point Man was busying himself was packing away the machine. "How could you miss that in your research?" I jerked a hand toward our still snoozing Mark. "You're a Point Man for God's sake! This is your responsibility!"

Marcus turned his head to glower at me. "Why don't you give it a try then, Gambit?" he spat.

I narrowed my eyes, viridian gaze flashing dangerously. My angered reply was building against my lips as I took a step forward.

"Aribelle, Marcus, let's go." Auron stood at the threshold of the cabin. The young Forger's eyes darted back and forth anxiously as we filed out of the elegant suite with the PASIV hidden between us.

"I get off in Rome", I said firmly, snatching Auron's arm.

"What?" he exclaimed incredulously. "You can't be serious, Aribelle."

"I'll take a flight to Paris", I continued as if I hadn't heard him. "Before you contact me again, Auron, make sure you have a better plan for your step-in Architect and that your Point Man knows how to do his job." I released his arm, shoving past him while Marcus fumbled with the brief case. Glancing back at the two, I added, "And tell Mr. Damen that this job was a waste of my time. And his."

"Are Gambits always so bossy?" Marcus mumbled once he believed I was out of earshot.

Auron chuckled. "Nah. Just that one. Come on, let's blend in. I'll buy you a drink."

Turning the corner sharply, I dispelled the nagging thoughts from my mind. Taking the elevator down to my deck, I slipped into the cabin. Yanking open drawers and ripping hangers down from the tiny closet, I dumped everything onto the bed, brushing the folded towels and mints to the side. Folding up my clothes and scouring the room once more, I jammed all of my belongings down into my bag.

Out of habit, my totem was in my hand while I checked reality. Gazing down at the depiction of the sparrow before a rising sun, I let out a sigh. I was awake. But that meant that the rogue projection had, in fact, killed me. Shoving the medallion back down into my pocket, I rounded my shoulders.

That was one Hell of a dream. The only disappointment being that I was not prepared due to Marcus's lack of research. And Auron, as much as he enjoyed Forging, was not the best partner for a Gambit. His mannerisms were wild and unkempt. He was too young and wasn't trained enough to know how to hold his own in the dream world.

Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, my eyes roamed across the cabin once more while I checked off inventory in my mind, my right hand clenched within the confines of my pocket. Stealing away down the hall, my fingers skimmed across the creased folds of the familiar piece of paper that was stuffed down beneath my totem.

The incident from the dream kept replaying over and over again before me like a short film. The projections swarming through the collapse of the dream's structure, his thick voice, the lead penetrating the space between my eyes as I faded.

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

My shoulders stiffened, my body going rigid as it did when I was stolen from my thoughts. "Hello, Elric", I grumbled. "Marcus tattle on me already?"

"Something like that", Mr. Damen intoned, seemingly unfazed by the fact that I was not facing him or making eye contact. "Though, I was more surprised with what Auron added to me once Marcus had gone. That this job was a waste of my time. And yours?"

I glanced back at him, sighing. He had a black brow raised at me. I tittered slightly at the smoldering light in his eyes. "Look, Damen-"

He raised a hand to stop me as I turned, in defeat, to face him. "That's not why I'm stopping you, Miss Seelie. You've been a wonderful teammate and you're the absolute best at what you do. And I've been in this business for quite a few years. What I would like to inquire about is why you still take jobs with this team."

I opened my mouth, my words flitting away before pressing my lips back together again.

"You do realize that Auron is not by any means a well-trained Forger and not suited to be a partner, do you not? The money cannot be worth your frustration. There are better teams. So why accept our job-placements?"

A sudden feeling of anxiety flooded through me and I was quite unwilling to show it. "It is good money. And I'm not sure if you've looked into other Gambits before but most Extractors don't like to work with people with my…er, skills. Gambits don't get work."

"There are better Extractors, Aribelle", the man reminded me, his tone reflecting his exasperation. "So why do you stay? Honestly?"

Lowering my gaze down to my feet, I traced the lines of my scuffed up shoes, the fraying laces. Anything to escape Elric Damen's piercing eyes. My voice came out in a hardly audible mumble. "It's the only way I can still dream."

Damen smiled wryly. "Alright then. Well, Miss Seelie, I feel that I should inform you that I received a call from a former colleague of yours earlier this afternoon. He called with the intention of seeking permission to utilize your very unique talents."

"May I ask who it was?"

"A Mr. Dominic Cobb." He smiled meaningfully at the mention of the other Extractor. "He specifically asked for you and I gave him my word that I would personally relay his request to you. It seemed to be of great importance when we spoke so perhaps you should give him a call. I offered to take his number down but he insisted that you already had it."

I nodded absently, already making another list. "Contact me once you have a new Point Man and a better Architect."

Damen chuckled. "Scout out this assignment with Mr. Cobb first. You may have a new team, Aribelle. A permanent one."

A/N: Thank you so so so much to , h2ofan, and Lee Mayfair for the reviews! These are my first ever reviews on and I really appreciate it! I'm very encouraged by the comments and the interest in the story. I reached my hopeful goal of 3 reviews. So here is the legit first chapter where my OC comes into play. I hope you enjoy her and enjoy this chapter as much as the last! Thanks again.

-ShadowHeart