Where will you go?
COBB
Buenos Aires. I can lie low there. Maybe sniff out a job when things quiet down. You?
ARTHUR
Stateside.
COBB
(wistful)
’Course. Send my regards.
Arthur looks at Cobb. Nods. Sympathetic.
EXT. ROOFTOP HELIPAD — NIGHT
The HELICOPTER sits, ROTORS SPINNING. As Cobb and Arthur reach the door, it SLIDES OPEN. Cobb steps up into the leather-padded interior. He freezes.
INT. HELICOPTER ON PAD — CONTINUOUS
Nash, BEATEN BLOODY, sits on the far side, slumped against the wine. Beside him: SAITO. He nods politely at Cobb.
SAITO
He sold you out. Thought to come to me and bargain for his life…
Saito’s BODYGUARD offers Cobb a GUN.
SAITO
So I offer you the satisfaction.
COBB
That’s not how I deal with things.
SAITO
Would you work with him again?
Cobb shakes his head. Saito’s BODYGUARDS PULL Nash from the chopper. Saito motions Cobb and Arthur to sit. The chopper RISES. Cobb watches Nash DRAGGED across the pad.
COBB
What will you do to him?
SAITO
Nothing. But I can’t speak for your friends from Cobol Engineering.
Saito looks out at the city slipping by.
COBB
What do you want from us?
SAITO
Inception.
Arthur raises his eyebrows. Cobb is poker-faced.
SAITO
Is it possible?
ARTHUR
Of course not.
SAITO
If you can steal an idea from someone’s mind, why can’t you plant one there instead?
ARTHUR
Okay, here’s planting an idea: I say to you, “Don’t think about elephants.”
(MORE)
ARTHUR (CONT’D)
(Saito nods)
What are you thinking about?
SAITO
Elephants.
ARTHUR
Right. But it’s not your idea because you know I gave it to you.
SAITO
You could plant it subconsciously—
ARTHUR
The subject’s mind can always trace the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.
COBB
No, it isn’t.
SAITO
Can you do it?
COBB
I won’t do it.
SAITO
In exchange, I’ll give you the information you were paid to steal.
COBB
Are you giving me a choice? Because I can find my own way to square things with Cobol.
SAITO
Then you do have a choice.
COBB
And I choose to leave.
EXT. AIRFIELD — MOMENTS LATER
The helicopter sets down next to a PRIVATE JET.
INT. HELICOPTER — CONTINUOUS
Saito indicates the plane.
SAITO
Tell the crew where you want to go, they’ll file the plan en route.
Cobb and Arthur look at each other. Then move for the door.
SAITO
Mr. Cobb…? There is one other thing I could offer you.
(Cobb stops)
How would you like to go home? To America. To your children.
Cobb turns back to Saito.
COBB
You can’t fix that. Nobody could.
SAITO
Just like inception.
Cobb considers this. Arthur touches his arm.
ARTHUR
Cobb, come on—
COBB
How complex is the idea?
SAITO
Simple enough.
COBB
No idea’s simple when you have to plant it in someone else’s mind.
SAITO
My main competitor is an old man in poor health. His son will soon inherit control of the corporation. I need him to decide to break up his father’s empire. Against his own self-interest.
ARTHUR
Cobb, we should walk away from this.
COBB
If I were to do it. If I could do it… how do I know you can deliver?
SAITO
You don’t. But I can. So do you want to take a leap of faith, or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?
Cobb looks at Saito. Barely nods.
SAITO
Assemble your team, Mr. Cobb. And choose your people more wisely.
INT. PRIVATE JET — LATER
Cobb reclines his seat. Arthur picks at a salad, angry.
ARTHUR
I know how much you want to go home—
COBB
(sharp)
No, you don’t.
ARTHUR
But this can’t be done.
COBB
It can. You just have to go deep enough.
ARTHUR
You don’t know that!—
COBB
I’ve done it before.
Arthur is taken aback. Cobb turns to the window.
ARTHUR
Did it work?
COBB
(quiet)
Yes.
ARTHUR
Who did you do it to?
Cobb looks at Arthur. Closed. Arthur shrugs.
ARTHUR
So why are we headed to Paris?
COBB
We’re going to need a new architect.
INT. GREAT HALL, ÉCOLE D’ARCHITECTURE — MORNING
Cobb, carrying a shopping bag, looks into a lecture halclass="underline" no students, just a RUMPLED PROFESSOR hunched over paperwork.
INT. LECTURE HALL — CONTINUOUS
COBB (O.S.)
You never did like your office.
PROFESSOR MILES looks up, squinting. Recognizes Cobb.
MILES
No space to think in that broom cupboard.
Cobb steps down past the empty wooden rows.
MILES
Is it safe for you to be here?
COBB
Extradition between France and the U.S. is a bureaucratic nightmare.
MILES
I think they’d find a way to make it work in your case.
Cobb hand Miles the shopping bag.
COBB
Can you take these back for the kids?
MILES
It’ll take more than the occasional stuffed animal to convince those children they still have a father.
COBB
I know. I thought you could talk to Marie about bringing them on vacation. Somewhere I could meet—
MILES
Why would she listen to me?
COBB
You were married for twenty years.
MILES
She blames me as much as you.
COBB
Doesn’t she understand that my kids need me?
MILES
Yes, she does. We all do. Go back and face the music, Dom. Explain what Mal did.
COBB
Be realistic, Stephen. They’d never understand — they’d lock me up and throwaway the key. Or worse.