DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INCEPTION.

I thought I'd give you all a heads-up. This chapter's pretty full on. I've recieved numerous PM's over the course of this story with complaints about the extreme subject nature of this fic. But, you know, I have a warning on the story description, and I've always informed my readers that this can get incredibly dark. My whole purpose of writing this story was because I wanted to explore what I could write, and see if I could go beyond my comfort-zone. I always do my research on whatever I'm writing, and I never go out to offend anybody. There are people out there who enjoy this story, and like this sort of stuff, but if not, then it's the simple matter of not reading it.

And to all those who are still reading this, thank you very much, and I am sorry for the delay. Please, enjoy this chapter.

And hey, to all those who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays. Bit out of context, but still.

Rage. Pure, unfiltered rage ran through Arthur's veins as he heard a satisfying thud hit the gound. He fell on his knees, grabbing the large, but dazed man by his collar. There was nothing but silence around him, and he guessed he had only a few good minutes with the man before others showed up. Any damage he did now, had to be done well. Leaning over the writhing body, Arthur did nothing but stare down. He would not give him the satisfaction of seeing his anger. The Point Man knew how to frighten a person. His face remained expressionless, his jaw locked so tight, he could feel his teeth grinding together.

"He-" Twisting the shirt collar around the man's throat, Arthur cut him off.

"No, no, no," he muttered through gritted teeth. "You don't get to call for help. That's what she did."

Raising his fist, he slammed it down into the man's nose. The sickening sound of the bone breaking was almost melodic to him. Blood stained his knuckles. He could hear frantic feet now, coming closer and several voices yelling. Some were laughing manically, some where practically cheering him on, whilst some faint voices were barking at him to stop.

But he would not stop. He brought his hands up to the guard's neck and tightly grasped his hands around. He was fully prepared to throttle the man until he stopped moving altogether.

"Arthur!" A pair of hands threw themselves around Arthur's shoulders, yanking him back from the guard and onto the ground. Arthur looked up, and saw Eames' rough hands restraining his shoulders.

"Eames, let me go!"

"Calm down," Eames said. "You're getting yourself into all sorts of trouble here."

"Get off me."

He heard Ariadne's voice next, a frantic call. "Arthur! Stop!"

Arthur looked up and sent a cold glare to the Forger above him. How dare he deprive him of this attack. Eames sent a dark look straight back down to him, his grip never loosening from the Point Man's shoulders.

"Calm down, mate."

Another pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders, frantically trying to hold him back. "Come on, Arthur, stop this." Arthur shot his glance behind him for a second to see John trying to restrain him.

Feeling many eyes on him, he still couldn't find himself to stop. Despite the consequences he knew where there, for Arthur at that moment, revenge was the only option. How could he let this man simply wonder away after what he did?

But sadly, Arthur found that the hands holding him back were strong enough to prevent him from continuing. And soon, he caught sight of several hospital workers storming their way over, obciously hearing the commotion from miles away. But even still, he continued to fight back.

He thrashed until he felt the sharp pick of metal against the skin of his neck from behind him. An instant, cooling sensation ran through his body, rendering him motionless. Of course, he thought. Silence was their only way of control. Never genuine care or help. Only force.

He could only just hear the faint voices of his teammates calling his name until darkness took him over altogether.

Cobb watched helplessly as Arthur was dragged away. What had come over his normally composed Point Man? Turning, he caught sight of Ariadne, her eyes wide and panicked, shaking her head to herself.

"Oh no, oh no..."

Stepping forward, he reached out and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Ari! What happened?" he asked.

Ariadne simply continued to stare after Arthur, her breaths quick and short. "Where are they taking him? Help him!" she cried, before letting her head fall into her hands. "It's my fault!"

Seeing the tiny frame of the young woman shake with tears, Cobb felt a sharp pang of guilt. He quickly pulled her closely into him in a comforting embrace. "Shh, it's okay."

The brief moment of comfort however, was instantly inturrupted as Cobb watched a large, brutish worker stomp over, his face in a deep scowl.

"You! Come here," he barked, pointing at the young woman.

As he reached out, he placed a tight grasp around her arm, making Ariadne wince away. "Hey! Stop!"

Cobb frowned and tried to defend the frightened Architect. "Watch it," he warned.

The worker turned, his eyes dark and angry. "Back off, or you'll be next."

Finding himself at a loss, Cobb remained still as Ariadne was pulled away from him. As a leader, and a friend, he'd never felt so useless. So cowardly.

A large hand fell on his shoulder. Turning, Cobb caught Eames' sharp grey eyes staring into him.

"This plan of yours better work, Dom," he muttered, before turning, and leaving the Extractor alone in the cold.

Arthur awoke to bright, burning lights. He blinked, and his instinct demanded that he use his hand to block the harsh light. But as he pulled his arm up, he found that it wouldn't move. He quickly looked down, and found that his hands had been restrained to a bed of sorts. Tied far too tightly against the frame. As he furthur examined himself, he realised in horror that he couldn't move his body at all. He'd been held down. "Wha-"

He looked up, and caught image of figures walking over him, their shapes cast down by the bright lights above him. Masks covered their mouths, and horrifying tools lay beside him, just waiting to be used. Arthur's eyes widened, and looked up frantically at the moving people above him.

"Make sure those restraints are tight enough," one said to another. They worked around him, ignoring his panicked looks.

Arthur tugged at his hands, suddenly feeling too uncomfortable. Caged. "Where am I?" he demanded. "What are you doing?"

Nobody seemed to even notice him, as one figure moved over to a complex machine on the other side of the room. "What voltage are you thinking?"

An older, stricter looking man above him responded in a thick, careless voice. "I'd say a set 100."

Arthur's head shot up in realisation. Voltage? Restraints? His chest suddenly felt tighter, and his breaths became shallow and quick."No..." he whispered. "No, let me out." His tugging of the restraints quickly became a lot harder.

Another figure hovered above him. "Easy, now."

In a daze of panic and fear unlike anything he'd ever felt, Arthur began thrashing and pulling around him. "Let me go! No!"

"Shh."

"About 2 seconds should do it."

Never before had Arthur felt his kind of fear. Raw, and rare, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen. He wanted out. Out for everything he'd done to lead him up to his moment. A child-like terror ran through his veins.

"Stop! This isn't-"

He found himself being cut off as a hard, uncomfortable object was thrust into his mouth, rendering him silent.

Ariadne winced as Carter tightened his grip on her wrist.

"You see what happens when you and your friends don't behave?" he whispered tauntingly into her ear.

Ariadne watched in horror through the glass, her hands pressed up against the window. She felt awful, useless, watching the Point Man thrash and panic. She'd never seen anyone look so scared. The fear made him look weaker, younger than the man she knew. The image was haunting. She wanted to run in, help him and hold him. But instead she felt like a worthless by-stander. "Please, don't do this!" she begged.

"Just watch," he grinned. "It's rather brilliant, actually. The advances that have been made in this kind of techology are..."

His voice faded out to her. She was past the point in listening. She continued to watch helplessly as Arthur kicked and yelled around him, to no attention from the various doctors working.

This wasn't right in anyway. In no context should this have been acceptable. As hypocritical as she found she was being, Ariadne believed with every fibre of her body that this was morally disgusting.

But it all continued to get worse as she watched the doctors around him place frightening equiptment around him, attached things to his body, fiddled with machines and devices that looked a thousand times more complex than the PASIV. Slowly, the figures around him began to fade out, and began exiting through doors, leaving only three to deal with the rest.

"Arthur!" she pleaded, pounding her fist against the glass in a panic.

It all near broke her heart as she watched Arthur's fear increase, his eyes following one figure as he hovered by a device, and reached his hand over to the dials.

She wasn't sure how long it was before he flicked the switch, but it seemed like only a second later, a loud whirring sound echoed through the room, followed by a loud beeping sound.

"No!" she cried.

A second later, Arthur seemed to kick in to life.

She found herself gasping in horror as she watched Arthur's body suddenly turn into spasms. Quick, sharp movements as he convulsed. It was horrifying. She'd seen Arthur move and fight so gracefully in the past, only now to see him writhing and shaking in such an extreme way. She found herself frozen to the spot.

Carter chuckled, before leaning over and hissing with an evil tone, "You don't want us to have to do this again, do you?"

Ariadne felt anger beating through her. She swung around, and shot her eyes towards Anderson. "You bastard!" she yelled. "Get him out of there!"

"You'll keep the rest of your friends under control, yes?"

Ariadne nodded in response, frantic. "Yes! I'll do anything! Just let him go!"

"Good girl," Carter replied, his voice approving. Turning, he spoke to another worker beside him. "Bring him out," he muttered, before pushing Ariadne's weakened frame towards him. "Get her out of here."