Pictures Don't Lie - Inception fanfic (2/?)
I’ve been on this platform for a good twenty minutes, waiting for Arthur. We were to take the first train for New York the next day we got the job, and Arthur had already been busy calling in several favors over long distance and telegram. New York is his home town and without his connections we wouldn’t have a decent leg up on this operation. Mr. Saito’s seeming wealth notwithstanding, he’s a foreigner and these times aren’t exactly friendly for his kind. I had good long talk with Miles before committing to this job, and what he revealed sealed the deal more than the money I was offered.
“What have you gotten yourself into Stephen?,” I demand over the phone. “Your former financier was apparently desperate enough to cross over several oceans just to find your former assistant.”
“So… have you?,” Stephen’s voice was tremulous with worry, and I’m reminded that I am talking to an old man who had seen more than his share of tragedy. Mal is never far from my thoughts, and I conjecture Stephen’s mind probably runs along the same line. Well, if Marie is to be believed Stephen handles it better.
“I just got the job yesterday Stephen.”
Marie nearly hung up on me since I called ahead of the weekly one I had with Philippa and James. But when I told her I needed to talk to Stephen about his former assistant, she uttered a sob-like sound and within a few moments Stephen was on the line. Something tells me that there was more to this story than I was told and only Stephen could give me the details. Despite the circumstances, I have to press on with the purpose of this call.
“I’m trying to understand something. I thought that when you left America you said you were going back to teaching? What were you thinking accepting Mr. Saito’s offer? And why in the world would a man like that be interested?,” I demanded, my voice rising as I build up my tirade.
“And I told you, all those other times that I’ve found other supporters,” Stephen entreated. “There are very legitimate and patriotic reasons for what I was doing. You know this; you could have put one of the most powerful crime families in America behind bars if you hadn’t stopped.”
“So what exactly is patriotic about an Asian man funding you? How is that patriotic for France? Or England for that matter?,” I countered. “What country is he from anyway?”
“Saito san is from the Empire of Japan. He represents many of the Emperor’s business interests outside of his country. Technically, they were with us some years back in the League of Nations but there was a falling out over something in China. They’ve been trying to get back into the good graces of the League so it seems that the Emperor has authorized Saito san to fund my research.”
“So he’s representing royalty?,” I mutter as I puzzle over this new information. I haven’t exactly been keeping up with international affairs but my understanding of the Japanese is limited to the migrants I’ve seen here in Los Angeles. The images of small, hunched men working menial, often hard labor ran counter with what I’m hearing.
“And how exactly is this Ariadne involved, both with royalty and with you? Did he really just leave her with you to keep an eye on his investment?”
I could only imagine the look Stephen was probably giving me over the wire, but his tone gave me a very good idea. “Ariadne Bishop wasn’t just some phalanx guard left to poke me with her spear if I didn’t work. On the contrary, she was the most brilliant student I’ve ever taught in my academic career,” his voice full of pride.
“She has been Saito’s ward for some years. From my understanding her parents were part of a contingent of technical experts that Japan had hired some decades past to teach them our technology and western culture. She never really talked about it, but it seemed there was an accident and they died and Mr. Saito took her in because of some ‘honorable promise’. Ms. Bishop wanted to reconnect to her roots so Mr. Saito had sent her off to France to study, possibly to return and continue what her parents had started.”
“So that’s how she met you,” I surmised. “But it doesn’t explain why she’s involved with the research…”
“I may have mentioned something about World Creation in my class… ,”he began, “but she was the only one that caught on. She even came up with other possible applications, even though I never fully discussed the theory. I asked her to meet me after classes and I tested her and she beat your scores Dom. She’s been helping me reconstruct the theory and it was her interest that brought in the interest of the Japanese Imperial government, through Saito.”
“So, Mr. Saito’s concern is legitimate? She didn’t just decide to elope with this boyfriend?,” I inquire.
“Dom, I’ve worked closely with Ms. Bishop over the last year. It’s a rarity to find a mind like that on a woman. She is neither flighty nor lovesick nor any other stereotype of her gender. So for this Mr. Fischer to just swoop in… he’s… he just showed up out of nowhere!,” Stephen exclaims.
“You mean you had close relations with Ms. Bishop but never knew she was sweet on anyone?”
“One day, she was excited about showing Mr. Saito the concepts behind Extraction, the next day Mr. Saito is telling me that she ran away with Mr. Fischer,” Stephen cried.
“You said Robert Fischer just showed up out of nowhere? Isn’t your work supposed to be confidential?”
“I only met him once, the day prior to her presentation,” he clarified.
“What presentation?”
“Ariadne was supposed to conduct a demonstration.”
The act of Extraction entailed a degree of control as it was an immersion that those without prior experience could not possibly prepare for. The participants, including the Extractor, would be vulnerable… which was the whole point of the research. Stephen’s theoretical base was still murky and sometimes one sees… visions, pictures that one wasn’t meant to see. My blood turned cold as an idea formed in my head.
“Stephen, maybe she wasn’t running to something. Maybe she was running away,” I suggest.
“From what?,” he bristled.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who knows her,” I retort. “Where would she go with Fischer? Saito suspects she’s in New York.”
There were several moments of silence before Stephen uttered two words.
“King’s Gambit.”
Trains… I used to love trains. I remember gallivanting around Europe with my Mal next to me. She always wore those red and black numbers, even then. She said it brought out her eyes. I always just thought she wanted to look all daredevil. I don’t know why I’m thinking about my dead wife again.
I take out the picture of the girl, Ariadne, from my jacket pocket and look at it. There, that spark of life in those eyes. Ariadne was wearing a pale dress, and I guess this was her in the university. She was standing against a wall, her arms spread and she looked like she was in the middle of a spirited discussion with someone out of the frame. I wasn’t sure if it was Stephen or someone else that brought that look on her face. It was almost joyful.
Ahh, Stephen Miles. So unhelpful. Even when he thinks he’s going out of his way to be helpful. His… experiments… had been novel and helpful in gathering evidence in our organized crime department. The mobsters have held sway over the city for too long and the Commissioner was right willing to try anything to bring them to heel. Stephen lobbied the City to support his research on a new method of “evidence gathering”, and eventually he got his funding support from the City but was required to work with us cops. I can’t recall now if it was Stephen or me who was more surprised when I tested at the top of the candidate pool, my partner coming in a far second. We were a small team, and we were starting to bring in results. We were in the middle of getting crucial information for the District Attorney when Mal… oh Mal.
Eames couldn’t handle things alone after I was discharged and he tried to bring in new blood. Arthur was a rook that tested well, and they tried but it didn’t work out so well. Arthur left the Force eventually to join me in my private detecting, and I’m not sure if it was Eames or Stephen who was more pissed off about it. Eames was reassigned, and I never did find out what happened after Stephen took the family (my family) to France. I haven’t been on the best speaking terms with my former father-in-law (when did I start thinking of him as former?) since I was dropped from the Force. Earlier on he kept offering me work on the Continent, but I figured that “work” had to do with continuing his experimentation. Somewhere along the line, I started questioning the ethics of what we were doing - extracting, and I made it known in no uncertain terms that I wanted no part in it anymore. Eventually he stopped offering and I thought that was just because he got tired of pushing me. I should have figured it was because he found someone else.
I keep the picture in my pocket. I figure I probably look like an idiot for staring at a picture. I look around the platform for Arthur, but I don’t see him in the crowd and the thick steam. I sit down one of empty benches and didn’t resist the urge to examine the picture again for clues, which I know wouldn’t be there.
“Mr. Cobb!,” calls Arthur. He rushes to my side, handing me a piece of paper.
“We found it.”
Author’s Note: I’ve always wanted to do a noir-based Inception fic since Inception would fit in so well in the gritty, black-and-white, angst-filled noir world. As I’m trying to finish my other fics, I apologize in advance if this piece feels rushed. I will attempt another noir-based long fic eventually, just after all the other stuff I’m doing.