First off, I want to thank all who reviewed/favorited/alerted to this! It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Here is chapter three, I do hope it was speedy enough for all who like my story!
I still lack Inception ownership...anything that wasn't in Inception in still mine. Imagine that!
I arrived at the airport two days later with a single bag. The bag was almost an army style or camping duffle mix thing, and it was slung over my shoulder. It contained nothing but clothes, the casino book, and the iPod I was unhealthily addicted to. As I approached Arthur, who was already at the gate, I registered his raised eyebrow in my direction. It took me a second to register that he was taking in the light pants and t-shirt.
"What are you looking at, Mr. Three Piece? It's going to be fucking hot in South America, I don't feel the urge to be baked," I defended myself. Arthur almost smiled. He didn't really, but I saw it. Eventually, our flight was called, and we got onto the plane. I sat in the first class seat, deciding it was a worthy seat to spend the next twelve uncomfortable hours. The first hours of the flight passed in surprisingly comfortable silence, in which I flipped through the book, letting different plans jump out at me.
"The menu for the flight," a woman's voice said pleasantly from over us. I glanced up to see the first class flight attendant standing over us, holding a piece of paper. I took it, just to be polite, but pointedly shoved it in the seat pocket facing me after she moved along. I felt Arthur register this action, but he said nothing. It didn't come up again until the next hour passed, and the same flight attendant came through again, asking for orders.
"Not hungry," I muttered to her, not caring that her eyes narrowed at my apparent attitude. Apparently refusing food was a crime now. Shame.
"Why don't you eat?" Arthur's voice spoke to me this time, minutes after the flight attendant had disappeared off again. I closed the book slowly, looking around at him. "I've never seen you eat anything," Arthur pressed when I didn't reply at once.
"You've known me for three days," I couldn't help but point out. When he continued to just stare at me, I shrugged. "I'm not hungry. Honestly, that's all it is. I drink to much coffee instead," I grinned at my own idiosyncrasy, turning to glance out the window at the ground below, which was finally morphing into water, not land.
"When was the last time you ate?"
"What of I don't want to tell you?"
"Then don't tell me. I'm merely curious," he said indifferently. I actually started to laugh.
"No you're not," I giggled, scrutinizing his face. "You're more then curious, you really want to know," Arthur said nothing, though some emotion crossed his face that I couldn't register. "Today, actually," I gave in and answered his question. "I had one of those gross microwavable noodle bowls at one in the morning,"
"Seriously?" he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yup. It was mildly less gross then usual though, which was good. Maybe because I was to exhausted to care," I mock pondered for a moment before shrugging.
"What, you don't sleep either?" he asked, in what was supposed to be a sort of joking tone, though I heard the legitimate question behind it.
"Not really," I muttered truthfully. He seemed to be at a loss for what to say. I grinned anyway. "The perks of being an assassin and an overrider. My mind won't shut up,"
"Fine. I'll rephrase the question. When was the last time you actually ate a real meal?" he challenged. I had a feeling that in some strange way, he was enjoying this. I considered.
"Four days ago," I finally admitted. "I had Thai food,"
"That's...abnormal," he stated.
"Who said anything about being normal?" I asked simply. This time, the slight excuse for a grin actually flashed across his face.
The plane travel continued uneventfully, and my prediction came true when we landed in Brazil. It was a blistering type of heat. It was so bad, that we scoured the airport until we found the one spot that was air conditioned, and remained there for the length of the three hour layover. The next flight took us to Chile and into a town called Punta Arenas. Once there, we switched airports, finding a small airport on the coast line.
We were put on a small plane, that I was certain was extremely unreliable. It spluttered through the air choppily, leaving me to just wish and hope for a landing that didn't end in flames. I'm happy to say that nothing of the sort happened and we bumped to a stop on the Antarctic ice plains. We found a boat already waiting for us, which we boarded after I dragged the huge sweatshirt out of my bag. It seriously was freezing here. I left Arthur in the back of the boat as the driver briefed me on the time it would take to get to our destination, and all the boring stuff that went with it.
I returned after that brief amount of time to find Arthur exactly where I'd left him, a blank expression hardwired onto his face. The thing that gave him away was his teeth clenched together, and the fact that his face looked a little blue out of cold. I sat next to him, registering the fact that he gave off no heat whatsoever. He didn't look around at me, but sat completely still, as if trying to fight off the cold. After a minute of this, I grabbed his arm.
"Arthur. You have to move, or you won't be able to soon," I insisted as the small boat pushed off shore. When he remained stony, I gestured to the water now making a huge wake behind us, created by the engine. "It's going to get a lot colder soon, we're actually going into the center of the glaciers. Seriously Arthur, you need to move, trust me," I felt the need to shake him, as he really did look like he had been frozen solid.
"No," he muttered, which told me otherwise. I let go of his arm to reach into my coat, pulling out an unmarked bottle.
"Drink," I commanded, giving the bottle to him.
"What is it?" he mumbled, glancing at me with his eyes only.
"You's say no if you knew. Just drink," I made him take the bottle. Slowly, Arthur drank from the bottle.
"That's alcohol," he informed me.
"Good job. Now come on. The alcohol makes you think you're warm, but your core temperature just dropped even more. Which puts you in more danger of hypothermia then you already are. Now you need to move," I pulled him to his feet and dragged him under the tarp thing that was hoisted over the center of the boat. I forced him to keep standing while I switched the deadly alcohol with a thermos. Arthur looked at it apprehensively. "This is tea. Drink it," I shoved it into his hands, watching him closely as he complied. As minutes passed, he got more and more sure of drinking it, as the tea was hot, and legitimately warmed him this time. I sat down on a bench, crossing my arms tightly across my chest and letting my eyes close as the frozen air whipped at my face.
"Is this all there is?" Arthur asked after a moment, referring to the tea. I did nothing except nod. "Then you should have some," he concluded. I shook my head.
"I planned this part of the trip around you being an ice cube. Drink all of that," I waved my hand in his direction for apparent emphasis, still not opening my eyes. I sensed him do nothing, and I peered up at him through my eyelashes. "I went through this the first time I came out here too. I know what I'm doing," I said bluntly. He looked mildly upset, probably because of my sharp attitude, but I did nothing to fix it. I did watch him though, making sure he wasn't to stubborn. Time passed with only the sound of the motor breaking the air, as it was truthfully to cold to talk normally. As I began to start wondering how close we were, the boat suddenly slammed to a stop. I narrowed my eyes. This couldn't be it. The driver of the boat appeared in front of me.
"I'm not going any further," he announced gruffly. "Get out,"
I looked off across the ice we were now wedged at, seeing the cavern in the distance. "It's your job to get us all the way over there," I told him, pointing at it.
"They've tried to get me killed every time I go there, I'm not going again," he said, just as firmly as before.
"They won't actually kill you," I scoffed. The guy glared at me for a moment before actually reaching into his pocket. Arthur and I were both to quick for him, and he ended up being faced with two guns before he could touch his. He actually dared to smile maliciously.
"Kill me then. But good luck maneuvering that ice. You'll be sunk before half an hour passes," he chuckled. I stood there for a moment, thinking about his statement. Arthur glanced at me, obviously wondering if it was true. I finally let out a groan, lowering the gun.
"He's right. Let's go," I grumbled. The guy turned his head slightly, and I took the opportunity to hit him, hard, on the back of the head with my gun. He crumpled, unconscious. "Asshole," I muttered, leaping off the boat onto the ice to join Arthur, who was already there.
"What'd you do that for?" he asked, sounding disapproving.
"You mean I need a better reason besides the fact that he just condemned us to an hour long walk at least?" I threw at him, starting off across the icy plains before he had a chance to reply.
~o~
When we finally reached the mouth of the cavern, even I was cold enough that I could no longer feel my feet, hands, or face. "I. Am. Never. Coming. Here. Again," I punctuated, inspecting my frozen hands rather then trying to warm them. Arthur made a noise, mostly out of agreement, though it also sounded like the noise you make when you're trying not to explode with obscene profanities. Suddenly, the whole cavern shook slightly, and an echoing bang reverberated through the ice walls.
"What does that mean?" Arthur asked, looking like he knew it wasn't the right way to phrase the question, though he didn't seem to know the correct words.
"It means we're in the right place," I grinned, even through my frozen mind-set. I started off further into the cavern, but paused, turning back to him. "Don't draw your gun. It'll be an instinct, but just...don't do it. Don't try and hide that you're armed, and let me do the talking, please,"
"Okay?" he replied, making it sound more like a question. I gave him the thumbs up, heading off again. After about fifteen minutes, my instructions were explained as five people suddenly jumped us. Four of them split into pairs, grabbing both of us. I did nothing, and glanced at Arthur, hoping that he would follow my lead. Thankfully, he seemed to get it.
"Who are you?" the fifth guy, apparently being in charge, demanded.
"I'm here to see Erastus Blackwell," I replied, avoiding his question.
"Mr. Blackwell sees nobody," he snarled.
"Are you paid to say that?" I quipped, before I could stop myself. I heard Arthur give a quiet groan at my obnoxiousness, but I ignored him. "He's expecting me," I said after a beat of silence.
"Your word, understandably I hope, isn't enough," he asserted.
"Well, if I'm lying, and I have some trick planned, I doubt I'll get very far before one of your goons here blows my head apart," I said emotionlessly. The guy scrutinized me, but seemed to think I had a point.
"Are you armed?" he finally switched topics.
"Yes," I replied easily.
"Who's he?" the guy seemed to finally have noticed Arthur standing there quietly.
"A friend. He's not part of this, he's just accompanying me," I replied, thinking suddenly about the art of avoiding questions. I should probably practice a bit more. Whatever. The guy continued to look surly, though he made a gesture to the four others. They instantly moved away, disappearing off into the cavern. I'd bet anything they were still watching. The guy beckoned to us next, turning and walking further through the ice.
"Why did he ask if you're armed if he's not going to take your weapon?" Arthur mumbled to me as we followed the guy.
"They believe that if we are going to do something stupid, we should at least have a fair chance before they kill us," I replied simply, actually grinning at their ethics. We had reached the end of the long cavern, and only a door stood there. The guy put his hand on it, and it opened. The first thing that greeted us were ice shards exploding across the room that lay beyond. As they cleared, I looked to the left to see two boys, who looked no older then thirteen, holding a box, aimed at the ceiling. I looked up, seeing huge holes blasted out of the ice there. I fought the urge to laugh, settling for smiling widely at the two boys. They grinned back, almost sheepish in their amusement.
I looked away, taking in the rest of the room. People were scattered throughout, all doing activities having to do with weapons. They ranged from guns and explosions to actual bow and arrows. I couldn't believe that I was actually happy to be back. This place had been what I called home for years, and it was actually comforting to be somewhere familiar. I knew how things worked around here. I knew it forwards, backwards, with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back. It was a good feeling.
I was brought back to our task at hand by the guy leading us finally stopping. We stood in front of a huge elevator, made entirely of glass. "I won't go any farther," the guy said gruffly. I took that to mean that he wasn't allowed, and almost called him out on this fact. I didn't. With a slight nod, I got into the glass box with Arthur following me. The doors slid closed, and the elevator rose with speed that I thought uncommon for elevators. I took a side glance at my companion, registering that he seemed to be having mixed emotions about this whole thing.
"What?" I asked quietly. Arthur looked at me, dark, unreadable emotion clouding his eyes.
"Do they know anything else?" he finally asked. "There were more kids then adults down there,"
"The adults are somewhere else," I muttered. Arthur saw right through my evasion, continuing to stare at me. "Whatever they might know from outside of this will be gone. They're being trained to feel nothing, to just be a machine,"
"Is that what happened to you?" he asked. I shot him a look.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snapped.
Arthur rolled his eyes, and lay out everything for me right there. "I've known you for three days, and you've either been emotionless and empty, angry, or excited about having a plan. It's like you're doing things robotically, without actually having the incentive to do them without practical or judicious need to. You don't have emotion besides the basic, explainable topics. Like your mind has been wiped of independent reaction. You show the emotion that seems to correspond best to the topic, not the other way around,"
I felt like my whole identity had been ripped from my chest and thrown into the glare of reality. I forgot to breathe for a second. I had never had anyone actually scrutinize my nature as he had, I had never had my own personality thrown in my face. I choked, unable to say anything. Arthur looked at me, stony, and yet searching, like he wanted his words to cause me to have some sort of reaction that would prove him wrong. He got nothing besides my probably shocked expression for about 45 seconds before I finally cleared it from my face. As if the whole thing was timed, the elevator stopped moving and the doors opened. I shook my head, trying to clear it, before stepping out.
"Rika," a deep male voice sounded from down the hall. I looked up, seeing a man walking towards me. He was exactly how I remembered him. Tall, wearing dark colors, dark hair, short on his head, growing into a beard that nearly verged on bushy. He was built large, always reminding me of a bear. I felt myself grin at the sight of him and his familiarity. Once he got close enough, I threw myself into his arms, an action that he chuckled at.
"How are you?" he grasped my arms lightly as he asked, though he switched languages, now speaking in Bus, the original language of Antarctica.
"Alright, I suppose. I'm sure you found out everything that's been happening," I replied, copying his language switch.
"I have. You always did have a knack for attracting trouble," he smiled at me. "Dom apparently decided to skip out on seeing me,"
"I'm sure you don't mind," I rolled my eyes, which only made Erastus grin wider. "I need you help,"
"So I hear. May we continue talking in my office?" he suggested. "And your friend here seems a little lost. I'll talk in English, shall I?" he mused thoughtfully, looking over my shoulder at Arthur.
"How considerate of you," I changed back into English, every letter dripping of sarcasm. Erastus shot me an exaggerated wink, turning and walking off with a slight beckon. Arthur and I followed him, and a quick glance at my companion told me that Erastus was right. He looked very lost.
"So, what can I help you with?" Erastus asked, once we were settled in his spacious and modernly decorated office.
"What do you have in the way of firearms?" I asked openly.
"Rika. This is me you're talking about. Be a tad more specific," he scoffed.
"Uh-" I broke off, thinking of how to explain this to him. "I kind of need everything, but I only need one of each," I finally blurted. Erastus looked sufficiently confused. "Like everything from hand guns to things that could blow up cities. Don't say you don't have anything that powerful, I know you do. But I only need one or two of each type,"
"You always had strange requests sunshine, I don't know why I'm surprised," Erastus pondered. "Give me a second, alright?" he got up, disappearing through another door that lined his office. I leaned back in the chair, convinced he would have something for me.
"Isn't Bus a language for people with a more intimate relationship?" Arthur asked suddenly from next to me. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Before I answer that, why do you care?" I asked curiously.
"No reason," he muttered.
"I bet you can come up with a better answer then that," I scoffed, rolling my eyes.
"I just can't see it," he admitted, gesturing from me to the door. "That relationship,"
"Neither can I," I agreed, feeling myself make a face. "You're right, but intimate doesn't always mean sexual. Erastus has been the closest thing I have to a father since I was eleven. He trained me personally, out of all the other kids who were my age. He's the first person I would go if anything went wrong, or if I needed anything," I fell back into silence, hugging my arms around my chest, though I was no longer cold. Erastus came back into the room, and I turned to see him carrying a huge stainless steel box and another long black box. He set both in front of me, a small grin on his face.
"I hope this will suffice," he gestured to the two boxes.
"I feel like it's Christmas," I muttered, popping the latches off the silver box. The side fell down, and automatically six different slots slid out towards me. The bottom one was about five inches tall, while the shortest one carried a simple hand gun. I pushed each box back in place, taking in the size growth of the pairs of guns as I went down. The last slot had a pair of guns that I couldn't help but pick up. It was huge, and felt like it was able to take out whole buildings.
"Built for efficiency," Erastus smiled affectionately at my glee of holding the weapon.
"I can see that," I mumbled, almost pouting as Arthur took it from me. He looked it over, watched by both me and Erastus. "You have no idea what you're looking for, do you?" I called him out, taking the gun away and rolling my eyes. Arthur looked kind of pissed, but he seemed to let my comment go. "You will, soon enough," I assured him, almost laughing.
"I thought of you," Erastus changed the subject, saying the words as he handed me the long black box. "Sorry there's only one I can give you," he apologized.
"There's only one in here?" I asked. The box was almost as tall as I was.
"It doesn't fit in there, actually," Erastus smirked. I let out a breath, and opened the lid. Two pieces of a gun lay in front of me. I was prepared to drop the term 'gun' after one look at it. Destructor. Annihilator. Adjectives such as those came to mind. I picked up both pieces, easily attaching them together with a satisfying sound. Now the thing was taller then I was.
"Holy shit," I muttered, having the need to stand up next to it.
"Shorty," Erastus joked. I swung the gun over the back of my shoulder easily, pointing it at him.
"I've got the kick-ass weapon here, I wouldn't mess with me," I beamed as I said it, taking the gun apart again and setting it back in the case. "How much if it can I have?" I dared to question. Erastus shrugged.
"I trust you. Take it all," he said easily. I lost my breath for a moment before I hugged him tightly again.
"Thank you. Seriously, thank you so much," I exclaimed.
"You'll need this. I know you told me to get rid of it, and that you never wanted to see it again, but it's still yours," Erastus handed me a black case thing, about the size of a passport. I flipped it open, seeing my own picture on the card that lay inside.
"I'm glad you didn't get rid of it," I admitted, shoving it in my back pocket.
"Just, don't do anything to drastic with your new toys, okay?" Erastus pretended to look worried.
"Don't worry, I decided against the world domination plan. I'll start smaller," I joked. Erastus hugged me once more.
"Try not to take so long before talking to me again," he requested, taking the opportunity to switch languages again.
"If I don't freeze to death first, I'll do my best," I replied, watching him shrug at the reference to the frozen tundra he called home. Arthur and I left soon afterward, actually having a boat driver with a shred of courage this time take us the whole route. Many frozen hours later, we were finally back in a legitimate and bustling airport in Santiago, Chile. Our two mysterious boxes were attracting many glances, but none of them mattered. Until we got to airport security.
"I hope you have a plan of some kind," Arthur muttered.
"You mean you don't?" I asked, in mock horror. For a second he looked like he thought I was serious. I rolled my eyes. "But the damn boxes in the scanner," I told him. "This is my favorite part," I walked through the metal detector after I spoke, waiting patiently and cooly on the other side. I watched, waiting for the panic moment as Arthur followed me. I watched as the eyes of the security guy watching the screen grew wide, and he gaped for a second before dragging another guy over to look at it too.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm, we have a situation of multiple and highly dangerous firearms," a booming speaker suddenly came on throughout the whole airport. Comically, the whole line dropped to the ground, leaving Arthur and I standing there. I winced as Arthur kicked me.
"Calm down," I snapped. He glared. Ignoring him, I turned back to the security guys, all looking at us cautiously. "They're mine," I confessed, stepping forward.
"Firearms are not allowed on the plane," the security guy muttered, looking absolutely petrified of me. Sure, these security guys are supposed to be trained to be fearless and take trouble makers like me down, but when it really matters, they apparently fail.
"Make an exception," I demanded, throwing the passport like book Erastus had retuned to me at him. He caught it gingerly, like I'd thrown a bomb. He scrutinized the contents before glancing at my face and handing the booklet to the other guy standing next to him.
"You're Airika Cobb?" he asked slowly.
"The one and only. It's the real deal," I affirmed, gesturing to the black holder. When they continued to stare, I sighed. "You're prepared for this situation you know. If you take a little look see under your little desk there," I pointed underneath the scanner, around the spot where the x-ray screen was. "You'll find a few excellent, heavy-duty locks. You'll also find the key that opens those locks. You put the locks on these cases, so we don't try and pull a terrorist move on you. Then you give the one key to the flight attendant in charge on our flight. She holds onto it, and if we're switching flights, which we are, she hands the key off to the next flight attendant in charge. Once we reach our final destination, we get escorted out of the airport, they unlock the locks, and send us on our way. It's actually quite simple,"
"Yes ma'am," the first guy muttered after a minute, looking numb at my monologue. As there was a fumble for the locks, I rolled my eyes, turning back to Arthur.
"They're not very smart, are they?" I asked in an undertone. Arthur looked somewhat amused. "What?" I wondered, almost defensively.
"That's actually really well thought out," he approved, watching the locks get attached to the cases.
"I'm glad we can count on your endorsement," I smirked. As the locks were finally organized, I turned to the rest of the people standing around us, still somewhat crouched on the ground. "We apologize for the inconvenience this undoubtably caused you all. I sincerely hope that this adventure hasn't scarred you for life, and please, have a pleasant day and enjoy your travels, wherever they may take you,"
"You could be a flight attendant," Arthur informed me, once we collected the cases again and set off.
"Definitely. Time for a career change!" I agreed wholeheartedly. He started to laugh, which took me completely by surprise. I hadn't heard him genuinely laugh before. The sound brought a grin to my face, for reasons still unknown.
So, I have a pretty awesome tale for you guys. The other day, my dad and I went to the dump. As we were driving, a truck passed with the company name Fischer Restoration displayed on the side. I figured it was what happened to Fischer after Inception. I was literally cracking up, and I couldn't tell my dad why because he hates Inception. Which is just plain madness.
Anyway, there's my funny tale of the evening/early, early morning. Whichever way you want to look at it. I watched The Shining earlier, so I don't feel like sleeping quite yet. So here I am, writing FanFiction. That is the extent of my life. Anyone out there with awesome, common occurrence Inception references? Some of you have to be obsessed nerds like me.
Anyway, review? I won't beg this time, but I might as well ask for them...
Thanks to all who read, it means the world to me. Really.
Until chapter 4!
Mio