Chapter 33: When DiCaprio Meets Ruffalo
"This is New York from another reality. Stories always seem to take place in New York," Jake complained, watching Cobb still recovering from the aftereffects of world travel.
Cobb, however, paid no attention to his complaints; the intense disorientation almost made him vomit up the burger he'd eaten the night before.
After a couple of minutes, Cobb finally composed himself. "I swear, if I could avoid it, I'd never world-jump again. My mouth tastes like regurgitated food!"
"Okay, whatever," Jake said helplessly, shrugging. "But you still need me to take you home."
"This is the first time I've ever been so afraid of going home."
Walking down the streets of New York, different movie worlds always presented different angles of the city's character.
For example, right now, many pedestrians were excitedly discussing something: the Four Horsemen's tour.
"Cobb, how long has it been since you saw a magic show?"
"Since I left the States." He seemed a little wistful, as if thinking about not being able to return home, but he quickly recovered because home was finally within reach. "I prefer being a god in my dreams to the illusions of stage magic."
"Then we might have to do something you won't enjoy." Jake casually pointed to an advertisement playing on the giant screen of a commercial building.
The Four Horsemen live tonight in Las Vegas...
As they say, money isn't everything, but you can't do anything without it.
And as the saying goes, "Money talks."
Even in America, this holds true. Cobb and Jake, without proper identification, not only temporarily became foreign tourists with "lost" IDs after spending enough cash, but also received help from local connections to see the Four Horsemen in Las Vegas.
When the two entered the massive venue and looked at the impressively huge screens, they had one thought: these performers spared no expense.
"Merritt McKinney," the faces of the Four Horsemen began to appear on the large screen.
"Daniel Atlas,"
"Henley Reeves,"
"Jack Wilder!"
"Arthur Tressler and MGM proudly present—The Four Horsemen!"
As the dazzling special effects introduced the four performers, Jake didn't stop his own briefing. He also introduced the others to Cobb. "That Merritt McKinney is our target. He's a mentalist and hypnotist, so we can exploit his psychological profile. And his current romantic interest..." Jake pointed to the only woman among the Four Horsemen who was walking out, "Henley Reeves!"
"We need an opportunity to make contact with him. Right now, it seems to me these four are inseparable," Cobb analyzed with a frown.
"Trust my skills. Isolating one of them quietly will be manageable. However, we need to sedate him immediately. Getting a master hypnotist to sleep quickly is no easy task."
"I'll increase the dosage," Cobb patted the device he always carried. "The current amount is enough to sedate a linebacker for ten minutes."
"That works..."
Just then, the Four Horsemen's show officially began.
"...The final part of tonight's performance is something you've never seen in Las Vegas before, something never performed in any theater..."
"Ladies and gentlemen," Daniel Atlas, an expert in card manipulation, announced with dramatic flair, "Tonight, we're going to rob a bank!"
As soon as he said that, tens of thousands of people in the hall screamed simultaneously, instantly building the atmosphere to its peak.
Robbing a bank—everyone has probably fantasized about it.
Crime is thrilling.
And what happened next was absolutely mind-blowing to ordinary people.
The Four Horsemen randomly selected an audience member from the crowd and, following that person's directions, appeared to rob the Crédit Républicain bank.
Of course, to the average viewer, it seemed as if the Four Horsemen used some kind of magic to transport this lucky volunteer to the Crédit Républicain in Paris, and then used high-tech illusions to instantly transfer the money to the Las Vegas venue.
The technology looked absurd, but the spectacle was undeniable.
"Are they in the same business as you?" Cobb reached out and grabbed a crisp new euro note; the strong smell of ink indicated it was freshly printed.
The sensational bank robbery was complete, the ceiling raining euros like confetti—three million in total!
"Not even close," Jake rolled his eyes. He rarely made that expression, but at this moment he couldn't help it. "My abilities don't involve specific targeting; I go where I choose randomly. Besides, actually transporting three million euros from Paris to Las Vegas would cost more than this stunt is worth, wouldn't it?"
"Just making conversation," Cobb replied.
There had been an unexpected moment that nearly caused Cobb to lose his composure—his father-in-law was sitting in the audience.
After Jake's detailed explanation, Cobb finally accepted that the person in the audience wasn't Miles, but a wealthy man from this world. Due to parallel realities, different people had different roles in different worlds.
This was Jake's way of explaining things to Cobb; the truth was that Michael Caine had played numerous roles throughout his career, especially in recent years.
For example, Alfred in the Dark Knight trilogy, Miles in Inception, Professor Brand in Interstellar...
Because he'd played so many roles, repeatedly encountering the same face with different identities in various film worlds was inevitable.
Finally, Cobb calmed down after confirming that the distinguished gentleman wasn't Miles.
The two didn't immediately begin their extraction operation. Understanding that the Four Horsemen would be performing again, they departed.
Next, they needed to carefully design the dream architecture and discuss the extraction approach.
"Why don't we just pressure him?" Jake realized he couldn't agree with Cobb's plan at all. "Why not just build a vault scenario and have him automatically secure the information there?"
"No, it's not that simple," Cobb shook his head, looking serious. "If the most important information in his mind isn't what we want, such an aggressive approach will make our operation very difficult. So we need to guide him in a dream, making him reveal where those techniques are stored naturally."
Taking a deep breath, Jake knew he couldn't argue, and could only ask, "Why me?"
"Because you can easily alter your appearance in the dream space."
This was a reason he couldn't refute. Because of the NZT-48, he had more control and more freedom within the dream architecture.
However, he was certain this was truly his first time doing something like this.
The dream's construction was completed by the next day, and now their task was to locate the Four Horsemen and perform the extraction.
When Jake and Cobb reached the second floor of the theater, ready to watch the second performance of the Four Horsemen, something slightly amusing happened.
Dylan Rhodes, the film's protagonist and also the mastermind behind everything, was sitting one seat to Jake's right, while Jake's partner Cobb was on his left.
In other words, the actor who played Bruce Banner in the MCU and the Oscar-winning actor from The Revenant, the current Cobb, were sitting together—two different realities converging, which was quite interesting.
As an FBI agent, Rhodes sensed something off about Cobb, while Cobb, having already learned of the man's true nature from Jake's spoilers, engaged in conversation. Under Jake's amused gaze, the two began testing each other verbally.
As their exchange intensified, to the point that Jake and Rhodes's partner exchanged exasperated glances, the situation finally shifted.
Arthur Tressler, the wealthy benefactor who'd been supporting the Four Horsemen, discovers his money has been stolen. The thieves are none other than the Four Horsemen themselves, who are now distributing the funds to the audience!
Rhodes abandons his conversation with Cobb and rushes forward, while Cobb is surprisingly agitated. "Even though I know it's not Miles, I still can't stand them mocking someone with that face!"
"Actually, I'm kind of excited to see DiCaprio and Ruffalo in action together," Jake muttered.
Rhodes rushes forward, only to be quickly restrained by the hypnotized audience, just like in the original film. The Four Horsemen then gracefully depart.
But they don't notice a nimble figure quietly following them.
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