ruffians | eye of the tiger playing in the distance

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eye of the tiger playing in the distance

[Training for this team has been rougher than Eames really ever expected. SHIELD has already put him through the ringer over the years, but this dream stuff requires a lot of skills he'd never heard of before. And that's before even getting to handling it in the field.]

[Stressful, difficult, and at times painful as it is, it doesn't take Eames that long to get to grips with the fundamentals — using his powers in a dream, learning to navigate something that feels real but isn't, the right checks if he's not sure whether or not he's dreaming — he's dedicated to getting this right, absolutely willing to give everything he's got to it. Plus it helps that Cobb's usually there for the briefings, and he makes an excellent translator when Arthur gets overly technical or theoretical about the whole thing.]

[This part is another one of those things he'd never thought he'd have to learn. A frown on his face when it's just him and Arthur and the plain room they're using, because he wouldn't think someone has to be taught how to handle being killed in a dream, but apparently it's a pretty big deal. Something about being able to take it in stride, to be able to immediately move on to the next thing when you wake up, but surely when you know it's not real, it shouldn't be a problem.]

[He frowns, thumbing over a bottle of light sedative, and glances at Arthur with a raised eyebrow when he asks his question. Seeking a little more information from Arthur's point of view rather than the technical aspects of it.]

So... I have to learn how to die?

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[Arthur's not about to have this conversation. He doesn't have to justify himself for tying Eames to a chair when the exercise is to shoot him in the head. Any sane person would get up to fight and Arthur's not dealing with that.]

[Instead, he's looking across the room at the wall, where he wills a tiny ripple to appear, and it does. It's his own way of grounding himself sometimes when he's about to something that would be horrifying if it were real. He takes a steadying breath and raises the gun so the barrel is an inch away from Eames' temple.]

Eames, I'm going to shoot you in the head, but it's just a dream.

[Without anything further, he pulls the trigger.]

[He's about to say something to that, but then there's a blast and he's waking up with a shout. Short of breath again and he raises a hand to his temple just to make sure there's nothing wrong, as if he wouldn't know if there was a hole in the side of his head.]

[Arthur's awake by the time Eames has shouted and leans over again, hand on the arm of Eames' chair.]

It's okay, you're good.

[His breath evens into a shaky laugh, heart still pounding but it's actually nowhere near as bad as he anticipated. Eames shakes his head, not looking at Arthur just yet but he's obviously not about to freak out about this. At least not yet.]

Well, it's better than falling.

Mm.

[Arthur stands up to stretch out his legs.]

It's a lot more likely, too. Sometimes our targets have had help from a telepathic mutant or they have a bit of telepathy themselves, and even though I can usually get around that it does mean their minds can get a bit... aggressive. Militarized. I've had entire armies bearing down on me because someone's mind is trying to protect itself.

Fucking hell.

[He's not put off by this knowledge, but he is suitably impressed by it, and he lifts his head to look at Arthur.]

This is nothing like what I imagined when I heard about you lot.

[Arthur gives him a dry laugh.]

Hardly anyone knows what to expect when they hear about what I can do or how we use it here. It's a brand new program, obviously - I'm the first mutant they've ever even heard of that can do this - but the higher ups have been pretty happy with the results so far.

I can imagine.

[Shapeshifters are relatively uncommon, but they're far from rare-- hell, Eames isn't even the only one SHIELD has in their pocket. A power like Arthur's though, that's unique. Beyond that, it's amazing. Eames isn't jealous, but the stuff he could do with that.]

[He shakes his head.]

I'll tell you what, I probably wouldn't have gotten caught with a power like yours.

Yeah? How's that?

[He raises an eyebrow at him with a wry smile.]

Who's really going to believe "a man came into my dream and stole all the company secrets"?

[He leans back in his seat and shrugs a shoulder.]

Most people have enough trouble with "my receptionist came in and copied a bunch of files, but it Wasn't my receptionist." Imagine trying to explain-- [he gestures at Arthur's head] This.

Okay, fair enough.

[He paces around the room a little bit.]

It's too bad I never decided to get into a life of crime.

You'd have made a killing.

[boy does he miss Crime]

[Arthur smiles and nods, letting them fall into silence for a moment.]

How are you feeling? You ready for the next one?

Yeah. [DEEP BREATH] Let's kill me.

Okay.

[Arthur goes back to his chair and sits down.]

Once again, whenever you're ready.

[Eames has the fleeting thought that he really hopes these sedatives aren't addictive as he takes another, but they're so weak there can't be much to them. Either way, this time he falls asleep thinking about the kind of research that must've gone into making these.]

[Arthur follows him quickly, grabbing at Eames' subconscious again and setting them in the same dimly lit room as before. The gun is on the table between them again but this time Eames isn't tied to a chair. There is a chair, but no one's in it just yet.]

[Well that's fucking ominous.]

[Eames doesn't even have any dumb comments this time, he just folds his arms over his chest and looks at the chair like he's waiting for something to happen.]

[Arthur picks up the gun and checks that it's loaded again, a good habit even in dreams where he loaded the gun with his mind.]

I thought we should practice this a couple times. We hardly ever design a mission where it's part of someone's job to die in the dream but sometimes things change and the best way to deal with a situation is to let the subconscious mind we're infiltrating think it's won.

[He takes off the safety but doesn't point the gun at Eames just yet.]

Sometimes that means actively fighting your survival instinct while someone holds a gun to your head.

[Right. That sounds awful.]

[Eames sighs and nods that he understands though, watching the gun in Arthur's hands warily.]

How many times are you planning to shoot me today?

Only a couple more times, unless you want to start the torture simulations today as well.

[This he delivers so dryly that it could be a joke or it could be totally serious.]

[God, that-- Eames balks, raising his eyebrows in surprise at the comment and then he gives an astonished laugh.]

Bet you've been dreaming about this for a while, huh?

[ha ha ha get it]

[Arthur doesn't answer that. He just shakes his head and makes an amused sound, taking a step closer to Eames and holding the gun up to his head. If Eames doesn't move he presses the barrel right to his forehead and takes a deep breath.]

There's only one thing you should be thinking right now: this is a dream, and you are going to wake up.

[Instinctively he moves away from the gun when it presses against his forehead, but beyond leaning back a little, Eames doesn't move. Mostly he glances at Arthur's face, and then what he can see of the gun, then he swallows and closes his eyes like he's preparing for death. Repeating the mantra in his head does shit all for the way his pulse thunders in his ears and his throat goes dry, flexing his fingers and balling his hands into fists to will himself to stay still because every instinct in him is screaming that he can do something to avoid this.]

[Arthur knows it's better to just treat it like a band-aid the first few times and go for it - they can leave the grueling anticipation for another session when Eames is better with the waking up part.]

[So he takes another deep breath and pulls the trigger. Point blank at Eames' head.]

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