Inception - Mind over matter

Level One

"Are you serious Yusuf?!" said Tiffany, letting go of the steering wheel as the car came to a stop.

He hurried from the car in answer.

"How can that man possibly need the bathroom?" wondered Arthur.

Eames chuckled, "Too much free champagne before take-off,"

Yusuf returned looking like he'd fallen in the toilet.

"Well, we know Fischer will be looking for a taxi in this weather," he said.

"On it."

Tiffany manoeuvred their red Land Rover through the New York traffic until they were immediately behind a yellow cab. She stomped on the accelerator, bumping the back of it. The taxi slammed on the brakes. A very cross Indian man emerged, but he soon ran off when Arthur waved his gun. Arthur and Saito got into the front of the taxi and set off in the rain. Tiffany and Eames tailed them closely.

"There we are," said Eames, pointing to a suited and booted business man standing outside a hotel. He hailed down the taxi, rain streaming down his face and dripping from the tips of his hair. Tiffany's head began to throb. 

Now that she thought about it, he did look kind of familiar. And kind of handsome.

"Here I go," said Eames, "Drive carefully, stay right behind us,"

"Just go!" cried Tiffany.

Eames ran through the rain with his arms over his head. He threw himself in the back of the taxi after Robert. Tiffany followed in the Land Rover, hoping the boys weren't being too hard on Robert.

Suddenly, there were other things to worry about. Three black SUVs appeared in her rear view mirror. Three more swerved in front of the taxi, blocking them. Tyres squealed. Men poured out of them, and opened fire. 

Car windows shattered. Tiffany threw her car in reverse and rammed them, mowing a few down. She pressed a button on the dash and a machine gun popped out of the central arm rests. She trained it on the remaining men and unleashed half the round. Arthur and Saito took care of the men in front. Her ears rang with the noise.

 In a fluid motion Tiffany hoisted herself through the broken windscreen to stand on the bonnet. She raised both her hands, fingers curled as if she held tennis balls. Rain hammered on her head and she was drenched through and freezing cold in seconds, her hair clinging to her face. 

Blue energy grew in her palms. She aimed one at the back SUV road block and one in front of Fischer's taxi. With a sound like a laser and a burst of blue light, the energy shot from her hands and smashed the SUVs out of the way. Arthur stuck a thumbs up out his taxi window and took off. She kicked out what was left of the windscreen, flung herself back in the car and went after him. They took many turnings, criss-crossing through the city until they reached an abandoned warehouse. Dom and Ariadne caught up with them in their red Ford. Dom was furious.

"What the heck was that?"

"Security," said Arthur, "He's had extraction training, it should have showed up in the research, I'm sorry."

"We are not prepared for this kind of violence!"

Dom started shouting.

Eames swiftly removed a blindfolded Fischer to a different room.

Tiffany ran to help Yusuf get Saito out of the car. Blood stained his soggy white shirt and was spreading across his chest. They laid him on the floor. Eames came back and cocked his gun.

"NO!" screamed Dom, smacking the gun from his hand, "What are you doing!?"

"Waking him up," explained Eames, surprised, "He's in agony!"

"No, you can't," said Dom.

"What do you mean I can't? When we die in a dream, we wake up!"

Tiffany resisted the urge to clear her throat.

"Not from this," Yusuf piped up, panic plastered across his face, "We're too heavily sedated."

"What happens when we die then?"

"We drop into limbo," said Dom, rubbing his temples

"Limbo!" cried Ariadne, "What's down there?"

"Nothing!" cried Arthur, furious, "Nothing is down there; it is just raw, unconstructed dream space. Just the remnants of anyone sharing the dream who may have been there before, which in this case, is only Dom." He looked daggers at him.

"Well how long can we be stuck there?"

"Decades," said Yusuf grimly, "It could be infinite, I don't know!"

"Wonderful," said Eames, "Thank you. I am sitting this one out. Tiffany, you too."

"His security are surrounding this place as we speak," said Dom, dropping his voice and taking up a professional façade, "We'd all be dead by nightfall. We have no choice but to continue on and get the job done as quickly as possible. You," he threw a black ski mask at Arthur, "Come on, let's go shake him up."

-----

Tiffany leant against the wall with her foot up and her arms crossed. Eames sat at a dresser in front of a three-folded mirror. He wore Browning's clothes. He still looked like Eames, but the mirror showed Browning. Eames practised his habits and movements, constantly tucking his glasses into his breast pocket, then taking them out again. He passed Fischer's wallet to Tiffany. She rifled through it. It smelt of polished leather.

"Interesting," she said, extracting a crumpled picture of Fischer as a boy with his father. She passed it to Eames.

"That's good, we can use that later,"

A loud clang sounded from downstairs.

"That's my cue," said Eames. His form shimmered and wobbled. Now Browning was here. He opened his mouth and screamed, once, twice, then three times for no apparent reason. Five minutes later, Dom was back.

"You're on, one hour" he said.

Arthur appeared and handcuffed Browning-Eames.

"What?" he said, "I was supposed to have all night to crack this," he stubbed Browning's puffy fingers into the desk in annoyance.

"Well now you have an hour if we're to get to the next level."

"Fine."

An hour later and Tiffany was strapping Saito into the minivan.

"How are you holding up?"

"Ok," he croaked, "It'll be easier the next level down."

Dom thrust Fischer into the back with Browning before strapping himself in. Their heads were bagged. Ariadne jumped in next to Tiffany. Yusuf slid into the driver's seat. Arthur opened the garage door just a crack, and started firing at a projection on the roof. Eames, back in his own form, sidled up beside him.

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling," he said, before raising a grenade launcher. He blew the projection from the roof, then returned to the van, flashing Arthur a smug look on his way.

Arthur rolled his eyes, pulled the door open all the way, and hopped in as Yusuf drove out. He tossed a silver briefcase to Arthur.

"Drive carefully, ok?" Arthur told him.

The rain hammered on the roof at a ridiculous volume.

Everybody, except Yusuf, pulled out a wire. Dom hooked Fischer up.

"Ready!" Everyone cried again.

"Sweet dreams!" Yusuf pushed the button that put them all under. Again.