I’ll be honest - I’ve been waiting for this challenge for a long time, so let’s just get right to it, shall we? Prompts: Inner Demons, A failed delivery World / Fandom: Inception # The Mind’s Eye Joelyn Alexandra Karine looked down from the helicopter with bated breath. The chopper pulsed, its beat banging against the back of her head as they flew across the tree canopies, finally coming to a clearing in the middle of the forest. “There,” her partner, Dr. Kang, pointed at a building in the middle of the clearing, “That’s where you need to go.” “Don’t you mean, ‘we’?” Karine yelled over the chopper. The look Dr. Kang gave Karine reminded her of her purpose for this mission. Making the final checks on their parachutes, both of them waited for the signal on their trackers to turn on, before loosening their grip and plunging into the forest nearby. Landing among the trees, the pair recovered quickly, hiding in the shadows, sneaking their way to the building. “There are guards,” Karine breathed, her hands shaking. “And we’ll handle them,” Dr. Kang replied, bringing the walkie-talkie to her mouth, “Control, help us out here.” Karine didn’t hear anything apart from a slight crackle coming from the speakers. From where it was previously, the chopper swooped closer to where the pair landed, releasing a clip of bullets onto another forested area on the other side of the land. Yells ensued beyond the barrier of trees, followed by the sound of propellers whizzing away towards a far flung direction. Dr. Kang hazarded a peek from the shadows. “All clear,” she gestured towards Karine. * Despite their chopper’s rather effective distraction, both of them kept to the walls of this compound, armed and ready for conflict. There were no gates or fences separating this building from its surroundings, and they had to be ready. “Where’s it?” Dr. Kang asked. “Uhh… uhh…” “What are you looking for?!” “I can’t…!” “We’ve been working up to this stage for so long, you’re doing a lot better than our previous attempts,” Dr. Kang said, “What are you looking for?!” Karine darted her eyes to the top of the building. “Good,” Dr. Kang said, “I’ll cover you.” * The building was an older, rectangular building reminiscent of army barracks from the 1930s. Serviced only by staircases leading up on either side of the place. Back and shoulders against the textured concrete, Dr. Kang took the led, armed and ready for any of the skeleton crew still patrolling the area. “You know which room you need to head to,” she briefed Karine. Both of them nodded, and the two sped up, Kang first. When they reached the second floor, Karine stopped and turned left, “Here.” Counting the doors, Karine finally stopped in front of the fifth closed door. She put her palm on the surface, then to the handle. It clicked. Karine looked at Dr. Kang with a smile. Dr. Kang nodded. Pushing the door ajar, Dr. Kang’s head jerked up at the sound of a pair of footsteps speeding up from behind Karine. She pushed her partner through the door. “Go! Go on!” Dr. Kang yelled to Karine. Panicked, Karine bursts through the room. She cocked the gun she had, and fired twice. The two bullets found their marks on each masked man’s shoulders, sending them back a few steps and Dr. Kang forward the same few. As she got closer, however, she started to recognize their masked silhouettes. Firing a couple of times, the bullets missed their mark, the two masked men coming closer and planting themselves as a barrier between Dr. Kang and her. Determined to push through, Dr. Kang dove through the tiniest crack between the two, only to be grabbed and pushed against the building’s railings. “We’re kind of disappointed,” the two men said, now flanking her on each side, “We were hoping you’d be dreaming a little bigger.” The last thing she felt was her body lifted over the railing, and off the ledge. * “Dr. Kang!” She woke up to see Karine, her patient, looking over her, furrowed brows and concerned eyes. Tables turned, she thought, waving Karine away and propping herself up on the chaise lounge. “Are you okay?” “Yeah,” Dr. Kang breathed, “I think that’s it for today, you can set your next appointment with Yasha outside… I’ll see you then…” Backing up a little, grabbing her handbag a little too quickly, Karine nodded and sped out the door. At the last dregs of her recovery, Wynne Kang opened a drawer near her chaise, extracting an EpiPen. With still-trembling hands, she clicked and injected its contents into her shoulder, before slumping back into the lounge. * “Thank you all for coming to this lecture, I’ll be taking questions now,” Wynne smiled at the end of her speech. “What is your view on using your proposed bio-technology for purposes not as altruistic as what you’re doing now?” a familiar voice sounded from the corner, one of the same voices from the treatment scape. Catching the asker at the corner of her eye, she smirked. * “I see your taste hasn’t changed,” Wynne said, dropping Eames at the lobby of the Carlton. “How much of Arthur rubbed off you the last we saw you?” She shrugged and smiled. “Fancy a trip?” he gestured to the lift. “The compound’s not a toy,” she replied. He shrugged, then entered the lift. She followed. * There was shuffling behind the door the two of them stopped in front of. Wynne’s brows furrowed. Eames smirked, and unlocked the door. “Okay, everything’s ready, let me know when she…” Arthur, in his familiar vest and shirt, stopped just as he finally laid his eyes on Wynne. “Arthur,” she greeted him. “Dr. Kang.” She walked past the two men, leaving them in the front lobby. Past the open bathroom, she leaned over the living area and saw the familiar silver case, clipped close. On the other side of the room, Arthur and Eames kept their eyes on her - both softened. “I called Dom for this,” she said. “Dom’s retired,” Arthur shifted his weight, “So it’s us or nothing at all.” Wynne paused, looking at her previous partners when she first started in the business. “Alright then,” Wynne said, reaching into her bag and extracted a spray bottle the size of a perfume sampler, “Then we’re going under my way.” # This was probably one of my most fun pieces to write, and one of the pieces I’ll most likely expand on. Stay tuned next month for another writing challenge!
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