A/N: Hello Everyone!

I realize I'm spoiling you all by updating often. I don't promise this will last forever, but while I can, I will continue to spoil my lovely readers!

So, to allay any confusion: This story occurs a year and some months after the movie. A lot has happened to our characters, since we last saw them.

This chapter picks up a few minutes after the previous one. Don't worry I rehash everything you might have missed during the break. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Christopher Nolan likes paradoxes and changing centers of gravity.

- RaifandRosefan

Chapter 3: Of Inception and Engagement Rings

"Son of a whore," Zelda mumbles to herself, astonished. She takes a drag off her cigarette. Cigarette-in-mouth, Zelda escapes to the kitchen to make more tea. Eames sits in stunned silence.

Surely Ariadne is lying. She couldn't have done it again! No…

"I'm not saying I'm sure that job is the cause of all this. I'm just saying it's possible," Ariadne reasons. She takes another sip of her tea.

Flabbergasted, Arthur pauses before speaking.

"You… performed Inception… Again? How did I not know about this?" Arthur asks, his voice melding with his stupefied expression.

"Well, if I recall correctly," Eames smiles dirtily, "you were too busy shagging your fiancée, darling."

Ariadne nearly chokes. What did Eames just say?

"Oh, and what's your excuse, Eames? You couldn't hear the news over the loudness of your shirts?"

"Oh -!"

"Wait!" Ariadne interrupts, "Arthur, you're engaged?"

"Correction," Eames intrudes, "He was engaged. Don't act so surprised, Ari. Arthur, here, is a catch!"

"I was going to tell you," The point man concedes, "but she and I broke up, and there was nothing left to tell." The point man exhales.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ariadne sympathizes.

"It's fine."

"Anyway, we've got bigger problems," Eames reminds.

Eames turns his focus to Ariadne, "Ari, love, tell us more about this inception. Who was it for? And more importantly, why wasn't I invited?"

Zelda returns with a teapot made of fine China, she pours more tea into everyone's cups. Ariadne waits until Zelda is seated to begin.

"The thing is, we'd all gone our separate ways since Saito's inception job, and I was in need of more money.

"Earlier this year, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage II lymphoma, and I needed some cash to pay the bills for her visits to various specialists. So, I talked to that guy Eames told me about," Ariadne wiggles her fingers, trying to remember, "The one who sets up those meetings and gets teams together...?" Arthur, Eames, and Zelda nod, "Yeah, well he called me a few months later about performing a job on this young business owner. He wasn't anyone major or anything, he didn't know about extraction or dream sharing, so the risk was supposed to be minimal…

"Anyway, the guy tells me the salary and I'm like, 'Well, duh! Of course I'm doing this job! It's low risk, it pays enough money to cover my bills – why wouldn't I take this job? So, I fly to New Jersey to meet the new team. Everyone was nice, y'know? They were much friendlier than you guys were when I first met you, actually." Arthur stiffens at this comment, Eames smiles. Ariadne continues.

"I mean, they didn't have the intensity you all do, but that's why you are the best. But I digress; it wasn't until we began discussing the mark and our mission that I learned we would be performing inception. That's why the team wanted me. They heard about the job we'd done on Fischer and wanted me to be their architect."

"So you showed them how to perform inception," Arthur seethes, "even though you knew it was dangerous."

"Arthur, she did what any of us would have done. Hell, we've done much worse with far less noble incentives. Who was your mark, Ari?"

"Ando Salling, the software developer," she answers.

"That's the handsome young man, who discovered RedWare Technology," Zelda remembers, "He and his mates practically revolutionized cloud computing."

"Yes," Ariadne acknowledges, "he was hired by someone known only as, The Commissioner, to develop this new software called, Opus."

"Opus? Why, that sounds harmless," Zelda reasons, "What was wrong with Opus?" Zelda asks, curious.

"It was supposed to give the public access to more information than had ever previously been available. And I don't mean a simple Google search. If Opus had been released, the software would've enabled users to remotely connect to another person's webcam and phone lines without the person ever knowing it. Goodbye, Privacy!"

"But there are law against such invasion of privacy," Eames states.

"Apparently not," Ariadne begins, "The Commissioner was able to manipulate the description of the software so that it registered under 'social media'and was perfectly legal." Ariadne looks down at her tea, "I don't know how, but The Commissioner found a loophole."

"I'm still missing something," the point man states, "Who hired you for the job?"

"Ando Salling Sr. He hired us saying he was afraid for his son. He didn't want him involved in The Commissioner's plans. So, he called Eames's guy, and Eames' guy hired me. Salling wanted us to give his son a moral compass, make him see what destruction the usage of his software would cause. Of course, the idea we planted was more appealing than that. We told his subconscious he could make more money developing software that protected people's privacy as opposed to violating it."

"And that worked?" Zelda asks, sipping her tea.

"Yeah, actually," says Ariadne, "The son refunded his paycheck and destroyed all copies of the software code."

"And The Commissioner wasn't mad?" Eames asks.

"Oh I'm sure he was, but who was he gonna be mad at? Salling was within his legal right to refuse to continue, as long as he paid back the money – which he did. Besides, it's much easier to kill a couple of criminals than it is to kill technology's golden child."

"I'm going to miss the good ol' days…" Zelda sighs mournfully, as she drops the butt of her cigarette into the ashtray sitting on the table. Eames, Arthur and Ariadne watch the older woman.

Zelda retrieves another cigarette from her pack, placing it between her lips and continues, "… y'know, when corporations were helpless against inception and extraction, when extractors only had to worry about being killed by other extractors…." Zelda lights the cigarette resting between her lips. She takes a drag then cradles the cigarette between her fingers. She exhales a long stream of smoke, "Now everything's all about power. There's so much fucking politics and intimidation, my God."

"Excuse me, Zelda?" Ariadne starts.

"Yes, dear?" Zelda looks at the young woman.

"Where's your bathroom?"

"Walk down this hallway," Zelda points, "It's the third door on your left."

"Thank you. Pardon me." Ariadne walks around the table and down the hallway. The bathroom door closes. Zelda looks from the hallway to the two men sitting in her living room.

"She seems like a fine young woman, capable too! I'm surprised one of you bastards hasn't shagged her already."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Zelda. Arthur here is not as blind as he puts on," Eames quips. He waits for the point man's reaction. Arthur, only half-listening, forces a chuckle.

The forger peers over at the point man whose features convey the kind of determined stoicism only Arthur could muster. Eames watches as the mote of an idea dangerously takes root behind the point man's swarthy eyes. This is both a daring and calculated occurrence. The point man is formulating a plan.

"Arthur, darling, what are you thinking?" Eames asks, cautiously curious.

"That Ariadne is right."

The point man casts a glance at the forger, "The Commissioner is hunting her down. And by the looks of it, he's not going to stop until she's dead."

"He's made up his mind," Eames says.

"And we have to change it," Arthur finishes.

Eames studies the point man, "What did you say?"

"I said we have to change it," Arthur repeats, "change his mind."

Zelda removes her cigarette from her lips and sits on the edge of her seat, eager to see where this conversation is headed.

Eames inhales sharply before speaking, "You don't mean you think we ought to perform inception on The Commissioner, do you?"

The point man nods, slowly.

In a whispered yell, the forger protests, "Are you bloody mad? That's suicide! There's no telling what kind of militarization The Commissioner's subconscious has undergone! We'd be in fucking limbo before we even set the timer! Not to mention we've just been hired for another extraction job! Arthur, we cannot perform this inception."

Ariadne reenters, "Who wants to perform inception?"

Arthur, Eames and Zelda start at the unexpected sound of Ariadne's voice. Eames leans back in his chair rubbing his face in frustration, "Arthur. Arthur want us to perform inception on the megalomaniac who's trying to kill you."

"Are you serious?"

"Ask him," Eames points.

"Arthur, you're not seriously suggesting we try and inception our way out of this, are you? What part of that sounds like a good idea? We don't even know The Commissioner's real name... we'll get ourselves killed!"

Arthur lifts his gaze to meet Ariadne's wide eyes, "We'll be killed if we do nothing."

A/N: Yes, there is an old software called Opus, but we're gonna pretend (for the sake of the story and my sanity) that there isn't. Rate! Review! Let me know how I can better work the scenes so the for your maximum enjoyment!