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Ariadne looked at Arthur, and sitting opposite him, took his hand.
"Are you really sure you want to do this?" Her tone was soft, and she looked into his eyes. "Because once I go in..." she paused - "I'll be extracting things from you that you might not want extracted." She cringed as the words left her lips. He nodded.
"I can handle it," he promised, softly. "Ari, if all this gets taken out, I can actually get some treatment. I can get over this. What was meant to help by the team-" he swallowed, and wrapped his fingers around her hand - "isn't helping me."
She swallowed. "Arthur, I know what we did was selfish. But believe me, it was done to help you. Done so you would have a chance at a life, away from this illness."
He shook his head. "But its crazy. You, Cobb, Saito, Fischer - you're all competing with it for my attention. You're all in competition. Every single one of you."
She kissed his cheek. "Let me think about it."
He nodded, slowly. "OK."
Turning, she got up and left, her mind in a tumult of emotion.
"Its time we go back to the warehouse, and do this properly." Dom spoke with a firmness. "Trent. Are you in?"
The blonde man nodded. "Of course." He looked at the Extractor. "Arthur is a friend, remember?"
"So what do you propose?" Eames interjected. "So far, we've incepted him, which he's now discovered is false. We could incept him again, and tell him he's hungry, but that wouldn't work."
"No." Cobb shook his head. "We incepted Arthur, but we missed completely. We need to extract, and in extracting, we go back to the absolute basic. The basic that is driving all of this."
"Which is what?"
"His relationship with his family." Cobb spoke firmly. "And if he and Ariadne can build things between them, even better."
Suddenly, the Architect walked in. Cobb looked at her sharply, concern clouding his face. She looked tense, and rubbed her forehead. "What is it?" The Extractor asked, kindly.
"Arthur." She sank into a chair, exhaling. "He wants me to go into his mind, extract everything. Says I'm the only one he trusts to do so."
Cobb bit his lip. "I was afraid of that. But there is another way...if you're prepared to go through with it."
She met the Extractor's cerulean blue eyes. "I'm prepared to try anything." She spoke with intensity, and to their shock, the assembled men saw her chin quiver slightly with emotion. "But I think I know what your other way is, and I have another suggestion."
"Which is?" Cobb asked, carefully.
She looked at him. "We send him into limbo."
Eames looked stunned, and Trent recoiled. Cobb collected himself, and then spoke again. "Why? Ari, when he wakes up, his mind could be completely gone-"
"It could be. But we thought that about Fischer, and we still found him." She smiled, ironically, remembering how she had found him bound and gagged on the porch. She had often wondered why she had saved him. "Arthur's biggest enemy is himself. If we go deep enough, he will take himself into limbo. And then, we can bring him back. Down in limbo, it will be the infinite subconscious, and there we can start to really extract."
Eames shook his head. "Its risky, Ari, really risky. Arthur's mind is damaged enough, but we-"
"But you're forgetting something." Trent commented, his voice soft, but commanding. "We're working on the assumption that Arthur loves Ariadne." He looked at her. "If she goes into limbo, he'll come after her, and-"
"And rescue her to prove something to himself." Cobb finished nodding. "You're right."
Trent exhaled. "No. Lucky guess." He smiled at Ariadne, kindly. "And I can tell you who we need to take her down."
"Fischer."
"Doesn't have to be the real one," Trent added, "but a projection will do. His anger is due to what he feels to be the inception. Saito knows about Arthur's illness, because-"
"Elise told him," Cobb finished. "Elise told Saito, under duress. He then told Fischer, because despite influencing him to break up his father's empire, he still wants a share."
"So the best way to do that was to point the finger at those who performed what he wanted, claiming it was Arthur's idea!" Eames burst out. "But how did he do that?"
"Elise!" Ariadne gasped. "She worked with Arthur, and you two, remember? The reason why Fischer has come after us, and Arthur in particular, is because Saito paid her to perform a further inception on him!"
"Saito double crossed us!" Eames said, furiously. "He's done it to save his own skin!"
Of course he did," Cobb growled, looking at the Extractor. "Performing the inception on Fischer was not enough - he had to plant blame as to why Fischer was doing this." He shook his head. "Saito must have got Elise to perform the inception on Fischer, then come to him himself about the failed sting on her boyfriend. He points out that Robert has his own greviance, a greviance which is forming in his mind. Then, he learns about Arthur. Learns about his illness, learns that he's in need of care. And decides that the best way to use this to his advantage, is to take Arthur, and use him. Because otherwise-"
"-He can threaten all of you with jail for the rest of your lives." Trent pulled out his cigarette packet, and offered it round. Eames clutched at one, gratefully, pulling out a lighter. "He's used Arthur because of the failed sting, and because Robert is starting to remember."
Cobb nodded. "Indeed. We need to head back to Paris. We need to perform this." He looked at Ariadne. "We need designs. We need to move away from the illness, and more on Arthur's strengths. We made a mistake, a bad one. We cannot incept him to be healthy. All we can do is remind him of what he is, aside from that. And if we can do that, he'll seek treatment. And we can stand up to Fischer."
"What about Saito?" Ariadne spoke quietly. Cobb shrugged. "No idea. But this is a risk we have to take."
"And what about Allie?" Trent reminded them. "How do she and Arthur know each other?"
"Old college friends." Eames shrugged. "Or maybe not."
"This is peripheral," Cobb reminded them. "Key focus - Arthur's relationship with Ariadne, and his confidence to stand up to Robert. We extract what we did, but then switch the focus to him fighting back."
Trent nodded. "I'm in."
Arthur sighed, and shifted. He was sitting in a plane seat next to Ariadne, who had reached out, and curled her fingers around his. Cobb, who was sitting on her other side, leaned over. "Is he ok?"
She nodded. "He will be."
The Extractor swallowed. "At least we didn't lie to him. Told him that we were going to Paris as the warehouse was the best place for the extraction."
"I agree," Ariadne said, quietly. "But how long do you think its going to be before Fischer realises we're no longer stateside?"
"False passports aren't going to hold up forever," Cobb admitted. "But it will through them off the scent for a while." He swallowed, and reaching out, curled his fingers round her other hand. "It will work," he said, gently, "trust me."
The Architect nodded. As she looked at the sleeping Point Man, a wave of guilt mingled with a stronger wave of hope.
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