Inception - Hollingsworth Job

Lana beamed at her husband, and Anna cooed happily at the sight of them.

"Well, don't stay here on my account. Go on; have fun together," she said, smiling as she shooed them away. Lana laughed and gave the old woman's hand a squeeze before taking Gerard's arm and allowing him to lead her from the room.

As soon as the had left, "Lana" turned to look at Gerard with an imperious look that did not at all suit her. Smoothing her hand over her face, Sofie returned her features back to normal.

"Well, did you enjoy your first-hand demonstration?" she asked, running a hand through her long red hair as gold rippled through it, returning to Sofie's normal color. "I must say, that was some of my better work."

"Take care of yourself, mother." Gerard crossed the room and leaned over to give the woman a kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you when I can."

He beamed down at her for a moment before wrapping an arm around Lana and pulling her along with him and into the hall. The arm was quickly ducked away from as they stepped into the hallway, and John's appearance resumed a moment before Sofie's did.

"First hand?" John asked, raising an eyebrow. "Surely, I'm not the first man to hold your hand, although I must say, it's a gesture that's often lost on my female companions. It's nice to know you have enough class to respect the gesture." He finished, giving her a wink.

"You're good." John deadpanned, completely changing the subject. "The only moment when I questioned it was when you let me go into the room alone without putting up any sort of fight." He opened a broom closet door and gestured for Sofie to step inside. What greeted them on the other side of the door wasn't brooms and mops though, it was the hallway where John had made Sofie wait for him outside his office before the gala.

Sofie rolled her eyes at John's very lame quip, though she was, by now, becoming quite used to them.

"Of course I'm good," she said, in response to his assessment, interrupting him midsentence, though he continued on as if she hadn't. Fixing up her hair in the mirror, she said nothing as he added his own critique to the compliment. As a testament to their newfound truce of sorts, she merely turned and gave him a thin smile.

"Well, I'll make note of that then," she said flatly, ready by now to be done with the dream. John ushered her forward into the closet, and she shot him a look of confusion as they entered. Even more confusing was the fact that it deposited them into the hallway in which she had stood, waiting for him during their da- investigative outing.

"What are you doing?" she asked testily, stepping away and fixing him with a wary look.

Rina

Rina arrived at the museum, with a man on her side. "So what's special about that opening ceremony?" said the man on her side, Rina smiled at the man. "Well, there's something I want to find out. You see, my friend have a boyfriend and he went to this ceremony without her. So I really want to check it out." The man looked at Rina and smiled, "Ah, well, she must not be pretty as you then..." The gentleman shifted his gaze to Rina; Rina put her index finger on his lips. "You lost your bet." said Rina, charmingly.

The man sighed, "I am starting to regret my decision to make that bet." The man called the one of the security guard, "I need you to show this lady some security footage."

Few Hours Later...

Rina came out from the museum, smiling, the security tapes were secured. "Time to see what he was doing..." She muttered and took her ride to the workshop.

"What do you mean?" John asked as he stepped down the hall to the door housing his office. "It would have been impractical to carry a weapon inside the institute. So, I brought us to somewhere that I could find one to give us a kick." He twisted the handle and gave the door a push before stepping inside.

As he made his way around the desk, John produced his pocket watch and flipped it open, checking the time. "Well, I do believe you and I have spent enough time alone together today. How about you?"

A slight scraping signaled the desk drawer being pulled open, and John leveled an antique pistol at the woman standing before him. "Good morning, Sofie." And then, he puller the trigger...

Sofie sighed, feeling that despite her rather unpleasant feelings toward John, she'd still rather wait to wake naturally than force a kick, particularly a violent one. But John seemed dead-set on it, and she merely sighed resignedly.

"I think you just want an excuse to shoot me," she quipped, keeping a poker face as he turned the gun on her and everything went black.

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Three Days Later

"All the dream layers ready then?" Sofie asked idly to Michael, stirring her coffee absent-mindedly as they waited for the others to arrive. If everything was set, he could give them the tour of the three layers, and they could formulate their plan of action.

Elliot entered and gave them a smile, setting his things down on his workbench before approaching them.

"Well, I'm interested to see what our Architect has worked up," he said, looking over at the young man. "Something quite impressive, no doubt."

"Let's not sing his praises just yet," Sofie cut in, rolling her eyes. "We haven't even seen anything from him yet."

Michael rolled his eyes at the banter in the room and plugged his visor into the projector before switching on the display. "Okay class. Let's focus for a bit, shall we?" Normally, he made an effort not to look down on others, but during the last couple days, they had pestered him repeatedly.

The display kicked on, showing a scene that would be familiar to Sofie, since she and John had walked the halls of the institute only a few days before. "This is the first layer." Michael said, turning one of the gears on his visor. The picture moved forward, as if the project were being carted down the hall. "Elliot will be the dreamer, and the layer is designed specifically to shake up the Mark mentally. John has offered to become an elderly patient and suffer a cardiac episode in the room across the hall, which will segue into the second layer. I've designed the layer with a musical chairs system. When one of the patient room doors is closed, it will swap places with another room in the institute that also has a closed door. So, the only way to reach the dreamer is to open every single door in the building. There's also a secure server in the administration office. So, as a last resort, we might find what we're looking for in an encrypted file there."

"Questions?" Michael asked, waiting half a heartbeat before tacking on. "Comments? Suggestions? General observations?"

Elliot grimaced slightly. Although he found dreamsharing to be fascinating, entering the dreams during jobs always managed to unnerve him. Still, the Mark was unlikely to have a militarized subconscious, so the risk was minimal, at least.

Sofie was leaning forward, observing the layout as Michael gave his explanation.

"How exactly will this segue into the second layer?" she asked.

"We can use my latest compound," Elliot volunteered. "Offer it to him as something to calm his nerves, a mild sedative."

That was workable in execution, but not in theory.

"But why? Forgive me, but I don't think the Mark is of such tender disposition that someone he doesn't even know in the hallway across having a heartattack will rattle him," she said dismissively. "If we really want to get him, have it be the mother who suffers. That will be sure to break the defenses in his subconscious, and he'll be much more likely to take a sedative that way."

Elliot looked thoughtful, unable to refute her logic. Looking to David, he waited to see his input on the matter.

Michael nodded at Sofie's words. "It's true that the mother would have greater effect, but can you forge her and still separate your frame of mind to also forge Lana? I mentioned such a scenario to John, and he seemed to think it would be too much weight on your shoulders. If you feel that is inaccurate, I can change the layout back to what I had originally intended."

Michael glanced at Sofie before swiveling his attention to Rina and then back, obviously seeking confirmation from one or both of them.

Rina

"Hmmmm.... Well, I fully trust in Miss. Verdreaux's ability. It's up to her." Said Rina, shifting her gaze to Sofie; letting Sofie to make the decision.

Well, it seems John and Sofie some how worked out their differences as well; John was actually concerned about Sofie and asked the young architect to change the layout.... Interesting. Then again, John might have decided to ask Michael to change it because he had no confidence in Sofie's ability. In his mind, he could have viewed Sofie as a threat who could jeopardize the job.

Sofie raised her eyebrows at the lack of trust at her abilities, though she seemed to take it in stride.

"Of course I can," she said, shrugging. "Not much there to imitate, really. I'm surprised John himself couldn't do it."

Yes, she let that one hang in the air deliberately for a moment before turning back to Michael.

"So, what's the second level then?" she prompted.

"I make a habit of not taking on more than I can handle." John offered as his only response, from where he stood against the wall, nursing a bottle of something alcoholic. He seemed completely coherent. So, Michael didn't call him out on it before turning his attention back to Sofie.

"This is where things get interesting for you, Sofie. The second layer will be John's dream, and it's the street in New York where the Mark and his fiance first met. There's a little coffee shop on that street, and that's where you'll become Lana to setup the final round. There are no countermeasures on this level because it's intended entirely to be a transition step. John will have to evade discovery, which is why I'll be staying on the layer with him, to create a series of distractions."

Sofie raised her eyebrows at John's statement, a quip about understanding now why he tried so hard to distance himself from her on her lips, but she let the moment slide and returned her focus to Michael.

"So, it'll be just Rina and I on the final layer then?" she asked, glancing over at Rina. It was certainly feasible, though a bit more difficult. Once she knew what Michael had in mind, then she could make a judgment call.

"What do you have in mind for the last stretch then?" Sofie inquired, running through the whole procedure up to that point in her mind.

"The final layer will be a museum, where the Mark's works are on display. If Sofie has done a good enough job on the second layer, the projection of Lana that's bound to be with Mercier on this layer should lead things in the right direction on her own." Michael paused for a moment, flipping through a series of slides on the projector.

"Beneath the museum is a very secure vault, where the Mark's secrets are bound to show up. It's just a matter of getting to them without attracting unwanted attention. So, it's probably best if this is Rina's dream. That way, if something goes wrong, Sofie has some room to correct it." Michael glanced between the two women.

"The vault has a laser grid out front, and a fingerprint lock. So, you'll have to lift the Mark's prints somehow. Once you're inside, there's a keypad immediately to your left that deactivates the pressure plates in the room. Sofie should plant the combination to do so during here Forgery on the second layer."

Rina

Rina listened carefully, and she smiled at the young architect. "Well, getting finger print of the mark is easy, I will be playing it as waitress passing on the drinks and collecting them..." Then she shifted her gaze to the way to the vault. "The way to the vault, how complex is it?"

Sofie raised her eyebrows, muttering "If" loudly under her breath, but allowed the Architect to continue. When she had finished, Sofie gave a satisfied nod.

"Well, I think it's a workable plan," she said, looking at Rina. "Now the question is, how do we actually get at our Mark?"

Elliot helpfully raised his sleeping concoction once more, but a quelling look from Sofie caused him to lower it quickly with a deflecting cough.

"The vault takes up the entire subfloor." Michael responded to Rina's question. "So, finding it isn't any issue. You just have to take the elevator to the basement. The problem will be the laser grid. Depending on the Dreamer, the grid pattern will be different. So, you'll have to take the time to map out how it works beforehand."

"Can either of you ladies get Hollingsworth to make some excuse to pull Lana away?" John suddenly asked before tilting back the bottle in his hand, taking a long sip. "Mercier follows one of two patterns when she's away. Either he makes plans that allow him to cross her path later, somewhat stalkerish if you ask me, or he locks himself in his downtown studio, whis is surprisingly insecure. If Hollingsworth sets up a meet with Lana somewhere private, the Mark won't have much of a choice." He saluted Sofie with the bottle and threw back another sip.

Sofie's eyes followed the bottle in John's hand with some distaste before shrugging carelessly.

"I'm sure I can arrange something," she said confidently. "What do you think, Rina?"

As the extractor for the time, it was ultimately up to her approval.

Rina

Rina smiled at Sofie; Rina's finger that was silently tapping on the table stopped it's movement. "I am impressed." She commented, and she continued in polite manner.

"Well, there are certain things that I want you to do it for me, Mr. Da-veed. I would like to have the possible patterns of the laser grid that you could think of, and see if you could tweak it to responsive to target's dominant emotion. If not, that's fine too. But if you could tweak it to responsive to target's emotion, Miss Verdreaux could help me out to change the pattern of the laser grid, and it would also limit the randomness of laser grid." Rina smiled, "I mean, that would make my job little easier." She gave a wink to young architect.

Then she gently leaned her back, giving another warm smile to architect. "Well other layers, I am really impressed and I think it's perfect." Giving her approval.

Michael shook his head energetically in response to Rina's request. "No, no. The laser grid isn't keyed to the Mark. It's part of the dreamspace, not a projection, which means it's completely dependent upon the subconscious of the Dreamer, which in this case, would be you. So, the only person who can map out how the grid reacts to emotional situations would be yourself. Of course, I'd be happy to join you and provide the stimuli required to trigger different emotional states, but the grid can't be mapped without you being present." He seemed to have completely ignored her praise of his capabilities, instead focusing on the further work ahead of them.

John shook his head and drained the last of the bottle's contents. He gave it a gentle shake to make sure it was truly empty and then dropped it into the trash. "I'll have everything setup outside Mercier's studio by tonight so that we're good to go whenever you ladies spring the trap."

"I've not given you the layout for the layer you're responsible for yet." Michael suddenly turned his attention in John's direction, giving the man a stern look.

"You can lay it out for me when I get back this evening." John responded with a shrug.

Michael didn't look at all pleased with that, but after a moment's pause, he turned his attention back to Rina. John took that as his signal to leave and saluted the group with two fingers before slipping through the door.

Rina

Rina nodded her head, understanding the mechanism that young architect had created. "Hmm, I see... if that's the case, I do not think it's necessary to go through that hassle." after his explanation, she commented with warm smile.

Rina shifted her gaze to Sofie as John left the group to set things up for extraction. As Rina had to see the layout; Rina's twinkling eyes were begging Sofie to watch over John.

"Please..." She said it sweetly to Sofie.

Sofie had been watching John as he left, her eyes still lingering on the bottle he kept swigging from. What was it with him? He seemed insufferably self-confident, and yet morbidly self-destructive at the same time.

Sighing, she turned her gaze to Rina to see that the extractor was watching her with an all-too-transparent look. Sofie made an exasperated face, but it was no use. Resigned, she stood up and headed out after the Pointman.

"It's a little early to be hitting the drink," she commented, mildly reproachful. She hesitated, wondering if she should ask if he was all right. Instead, she decided on a far safer option for both parties concerned.

"This isn't going to affect the job, I trust," Sofie added. pursing her lips.

"Well, in any case, I need to show you the layout while we're here." Michael said thoughtfully.

"Would you like for me to load it up on the visor, or should we just take a little nap?" He asked, indicating the equipment he wore on his head and then waving towards the recliners on the other side of the warehouse with the PASIV machine resting between them.

-------------------------------------------

John had been several steps away from the door when Sofie's words reached him, and he came to an instant stop. "I'm sure you've seen my resume. So, you know I'm good for the job." He responded without turning around. "Is that all you wanted to ask? If so, I've got a lot of equipment to setup, and I'd prefer that you not be in my space while I do so."

Elliot piped up, feeling a bit forgotten.

"Perhaps, while you take Rina under to see her layer," he suggested, "I might use the visor to see the first one?"

He attempted not to look too eager. But some time alone to play with it would be fascinating.

--------------------

"I don't consider myself damaged." John finally said as he pulled the car into the parking lot outside the exhibit hall. "Jaded? Sometimes. Disillusioned? Absolutely. But not damaged. That would imply that there's something wrong with me."

Sofie gave a caustic laugh, shaking her head as their conversation the night of the gala came back to her.

"Oh, John," she said flippantly. "You are so damaged."

Not quite so damaged as to no longer notice, to bury it so completely as to lose touch with it. There was hope for him yet, if he learned to just get over it.

But she wasn't his life coach, and she had no intention of "fixing him," especially when he clearly didn't want it.

"Have it your way," she said, turning and walking away. "I have better things to do with my time."

John maintained still and silent until the bang of the door announced Sofie's retreat. Damaged? Where had she pulled that from? And why did the word echo in his mind?

Whatever... At least she'd gone back inside instead of trying to follow him. Distractions did horrible things to his work ethic, and the woman was nothing if not distracting. On some level, it bothered him to brush her aside so casually, but it was for the job. Involvement with coworkers was never a good idea.

After a deep breath, John continued his walk down the street to where he'd parked. There was still a lot of equipment to set up, and unfortunately, the stuff wasn't yet sophisticated enough to manage its own assembly...