Inception - Bash Job

Ferral looked down at the gun he had been given and swallowed. Clearly he wasn't entirely comfortable with holding a weapon. With a deft movement, he chambered a bullet and cut off the safety. Comfort wasn't everything, right?

Nodding, as if to assure himself of something, he turned down the hall and followed the path Mia had taken.

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"Time ta get this party started, love." Trevor said as Karina stepped into the kitchen.

"Most definitely." She pulled a case out from under the table and opened it to reveal a grenade launcher. "I brought fireworks and everything."

Trevor's eyes widened, and he looked down at the assault rifle he had been assembling. "Care ta share?"

She shot him a coy look before turning towards the door. "Where would the fun be in that?"

Outside, the projections had just begun to get out of their cars and arm themselves. The closest two SUVs to the house suddenly went up in a tower of flames, causing all of those projections to dive for cover.

Karina laughed as the launcher kicked out a cartridge and she aimed for another clump of cars.

"You're full of surprises," Sofie said, coming into the room. From someone who was a man not ten seconds ago, this was some high praise.

Unfortunately, Sofie was a Forger, not a soldier. She might be a crack shot with a pistol, but that wasn't enough to deal with this kind of firepower. She let off a few shots, but the damage was a minimal body or two.

"How can we be sure if the idea has stuck?" she asked Trevor, ducking back as a hale of bullets peppered the wall.

Karina grinned at Sofie from across the room and caressed the trigger of the grenade launcher like it was a lover.

"We can't know for sure until it's all over." Trevor responded, raising his assault rifle over the edge of the window he was crouching behind to lay down some cover. "With the militarization, we won't have any idea how well the idea sticks until the first layer at best, and even then, the idea might not have fully developed yet. It could be days before it fully sets in."

"My client isn't going to like hearing that." Karina shot back as she leaned through the window and fired off another grenade. There was an explosion to follow, and the gunfire spraying into the kitchen, where they were all situated, redoubled.

"He doesn't have to like it, love." Trevor responded with a grin. "I'm paid ta get results, and I'll be damned if I don't deliver."

Karina launched one final grenade out the window and threw the launcher to the ground, drawing a pair of uzies from behind her back. "They've made it to the front door."

Trevor nodded and rolled across the floor to the doorway. "You two clean up as many as you can, but let one or two through. Ferral has ta get in on it before the end, but that doesn't mean I want ta send the whole bloody army his way when he only has one clip of bullets."

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A hail of automatic gunfire peppered the hallway just as Hunter disappeared into the elevator shaft, followed by a few loud curses and someone shouting which shaft he'd entered into a radio.

Moments later, the vent panel on top of the elevator below Hunter popped open, and an operative pulled herself through it, raising her pistol in the dark shaft to search for her target. There was another man in the elevator itself, but he appeared too large to squeeze through the vent panel as the woman had.

Sofie sighed. There wasn't even certainty that the idea would stick. How did she keep getting caught up in these crack jobs?

"All right, you take point," she said to Karina. God knows she didn't want to get caught in her crossfire...

Loading up her gun, Sofie followed Karina out toward the front. She was a bit underpowered compared to the other two, but that didn't stop her from putting a bullet through the first man stupid enough to burst through the front door.

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Guns above and guns below. Hunter swore as the projection aimed up through the elevator and let go of the cable. The drop was only twelve feet or so, but it felt like a hundred as he crashed hard onto the roof. His foot hit the panel, slamming it into the woman's head and sending her tumbling back inside the elevator.

He was winded and aching, but he had to move. Gasping, he clambered around the side, trying to squeeze between the shaft and the elevator. His fingers ached as he held tightly to the roof and shimmied down. Then he stopped, breath stopping.

Crap. Crap crap crap. How was he supposed to reach the cable on the underside.

He was going to have to drop. Try to catch it while free-falling.

Could he do it?

The trigger in his pocket began to beep. He was in range now. Worst case scenario... he could trigger it as he fell. At least the others would wake up. If he was really lucky, maybe the kick from John's layer would hit before he reached bottom.

This was it.

Let go.

"Are you sure?" Karina asked Sofie with a predatory smile. "Point is where all the fun is." Without waiting for a response, Karina turned the corner, unleashing a hail of automatic gunfire at the crowd of projections grouped around the front door. She took several steps while continuing to fire before slipping out of sight again on the other side of the doorway. Metal crashed to the floor as the empty cartridges fell from the uzies, and she slammed the guns down onto the spares at her hips.

"Who wants more?!" She yelled, twisting back into the doorway and proceeding to unload the new clips as well.

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"Friendly!" Trevor yelled as he turned the corner into the panic room, where Mia was crouched in the corner and Ferral was trying to comfort her. The later had aimed his pistol at Trevor, but lowered it again when the Extractor peeked back around the corner, holding his assault rifle at the ready.

"We're givin em hell at the front door, but I'm here ta help, if'n they make it this far."

"Thanks." Ferral responded, giving Mia's back one more rub before standing and moving to the doorway as well. "What are our odds?" He whispered, low enough that only Trevor would hear.

"Pretty good, I'd say." Trevor responded in his normal voice. "The two of us should be plenty for any stragglers." He glanced around the corner again. "At least I hope so, cause here they come..."

Sofie tossed her clip aside and ducked for cover, searching for another one. She was used to jobs with a little more subtlety than this, and it was starting to get to her. She bit her lip, grasped her clip, and jammed it back into her gun. Steeling herself, she whipped around the corner and unloaded another few shots.

A bullet thudded into the wall next to her. Sofie gasped, ducked back around, a lump jammed in her throat. God, where was the kick? She wanted out of here.

Cause every second they spent down here was another second closer to Limbo. But then...

Even if they made it back up, John could still end up in Limbo.

Sofie nearly dropped her gun, but quickly managed to compose herself. No time for thought. Only action.

Sofie whipped around the corner, letting off another volley of bullets. Hopefully, Trevor would be planting the idea right now.

Trevor squeezed off a few rounds at the projections as they came around the corner, and Ferral slid up to the wall, glancing towards the hallway. He made no move to fire though. Not good. He needed to be more involved, have more emotional attachment. Trevor couldn't afford to just let the projections through though. There were too many of them for that, and he couldn't afford to let the progress they'd already made be damaged.

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Karina grunted as a bullet winged her in the arm, twisting out of the doorway to put her back against the wall. "Ay, ay, ay... That smarts." She dropped the uzies and inspected the wound for a moment before pulling a pistol from behind her back.

"Looks like we're down to small arms now." She grumbled, sticking her pistol around the corner and popping off a few rounds. "Let's hope John and Hunter hurry things up on their end."

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Another shot rang out behind him, and John tripped the trigger for the explosives. A thundering rumble issued from the room he had just exited, eliminating the pesky projection that had been shooting at him while also setting up the first kick. Efficient...

His leg protested the pace, but there was no time to deal with that. For now, he was pleased with the fact that it wasn't bleeding all over the place anymore. John ducked into the maze, taking two lefts and then a right, trying to get himself deep enough in that the projections wouldn't have the time to find him.

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A sudden wave of heat washed through the elevator shaft, and everything seemed to lurch sideways, disorienting any projections that had managed to drop onto the elevator above Hunter's position. Hunter himself would be pressed up against the side of the elevator, as gravity seemed to have shifted from downward to sideways for the moment.

Sofie said nothing. She didn't have the energy at this point. She gripped her pistol tightly, trying to figure out how much longer they could last. The projections weren't slowing down - if anything, more and more of them seemed to be showing up every minute. If the kick didn't come soon...

Music suddenly sounded throughout the house. Sofie blinked. Was that Poker Face? If they hadn't been surrounded by gunfire, she might have laughed.

The amusement faded away in a moment, however. The music meant the kick was coming. They didn't have much time left.

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For one, terrible moment, gravity ceased to have meaning.

Then, everything tilted.

Hunter down against the side of the elevator, gasping for breath. The trigger nearly slipped out of his grasp, but he clamped down on it with shaking fingers.

Crap. Crap crap crap. That must have been the kick on John's level. He needed to do this thing now.

The trigger was beeping now. He was in range. He thumbed the button to play the music warning, counted to ten...

And then pushed.

A sudden shudder went through the estate, and Trevor cursed again. No time. He needed a solution, and he needed it now. Cursing more loudly than before, he twisted away from the corner and pulled at the chamber of his rifle. "Gun's jammed!" He yelled to Ferral, who nodded hesitantly. It totally wasn't jammed, but this was his last chance to make this work. "Cover the hall fer a second while I fix it?"

The man paled at that, but he nodded again. Before Ferral could take a step forward, three projections came around the corner, guns raised. Ferral responded by unloading a shot into the first of the men. Trevor turned and whipped the second in the head with the back of his rifle. The third fired though, and as Trevor turned to see the damage, it was Ferral, not Mia who went down. He'd jumped in front of the bullet to save her.

Perfect!

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Karina's eyes shot open, but they saw only the most brief moment of falling furniture, a process she repeated once before they shot open a third time. She groaned, sitting up in the lawn chair. Beside her, Trevor blinked a few times before also sitting up.

"How's Ferral?" He grumbled.

John, who was closest to the bed, glanced over as Ferral stirred. A moment later, a curtain rushed by, closing him off from the rest of the room, and a woman spoke in a soft voice. "Welcome back, Senor. You've been in and out for the last day or so. We don't know where you got that nasty virus, but I suggest you take this medicine and go back to sleep for now. Your fever broke about an hour ago. So, we're fairly confident you're well on your way to recovery."

Giving the rest of the crew a thumbs-up, John extracted himself from his chair and slipped out the door.

"Good job, lads." Trevor whispered as they all got up to leave the room. "Now, we wait and see if'n it sticks."

Sofie blinked at their new - or rather, their old - surroundings. It was so sudden, so abrupt, that she had to fish in her pocket. The ring was there, as cold and hard as ever. She sighed and stood, wavering slightly on the spot.

"Holy crap. I'm alive," Hunter murmured beside her, feeling his face. Sofie smiled, but already her eyes were searching for John. Trevor was ushering them out of the room, but she managed to sidle up to him as they left.

"I thought we were going to lose you," she said. "Nice of you not to get us all trapped in Limbo."

"So, that's it then?" Karina asked before John had a chance to respond. "We just... Wait?"

"Pretty much." Trevor responded, still waving the group away from the room where Ferral was waking up. "All things considered, I think it'll go well though. He showed definite signs of takin the idea in the last few seconds."

"Glad to hear it went well on your end." John said, giving Sofie a dark look for her earlier comment. "How about you, Hunter?" He asked, turning to the Architect. "Everything go according to plan on your level?"

Trevor cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "I'll have flights scheduled for each of ya in the morn. If'n all goes well, ya can expect the other half of the fee in about a week."

Sofie pursed her lip. Maybe she hadn't worded it as tactfully as she could have - really, you'd think he'd expect that by now - but a little appreciation for her concern would have been nice. But, no, he just ignored her for Hunter.

Hunter blinked, looking surprised at being addressed.

"More or less," he said, shrugging. "I had to improvise. Not really my finest work."

Elliot, who had been helpfully bustling about to make sure no one was exhibiting any signs of side effects to the sedative, piped up helpfully.

"True genius doesn't come from planning every eventuality, but from being able to adapt to any situation."

"Thanks, doc," Hunter said, smiling. Sofie raised her eyebrows.

"Nicely put," she said, cutting off abruptly when he shone a bright light into her eyes. She waved him off, blinking frustratedly.

"Well, tomorrow it is then," Hunter was saying. "I think I'm going to treat myself to a cheeseburger."

Sofie found herself smiling. She'd worked with many other dreamsharers before, but she'd never quite enjoyed the company as much as this group. It was a nice change, but at the same time, a bit frightening. Cause at the end of the day, she'd still be on her own.

But for now, well...

"A cheeseburger," she said, winking at him. "Sounds lovely."