The Science of Art: An Ib/Portal Crossover
Disclaimer: I do not own Ib or Portal and anything else within these games. They belong to their respective owners (Valve and Kouri).
Chapter 1
In his underground office, Cave Johnson rubbed his temples in frustration. Papers were piling up on his desk and he still had much more on the floor. His physical state wasn't much better either. His 'moon cancer' as he'd come to call it seemed to be getting worse by the day. He glanced at his pills and grumbled. Cave had recently been becoming more depressed with the worsening of his sickness and at the moment, he was at a low point.
"Damn medicine doesn't do crap."the CEO of Aperture muttered. Biting his pen, he hardly noticed a young woman walk into his office with a small bottle of gin. She placed the bottle on a nearby table and took out two glasses, making a small clinking sound at they hit each other. Cave looked to his right to see the one and only, Caroline, pouring them both two glasses of gin. He smiled.
"Shouldn't you be at home sleeping right now?" He asked.
"Science waits for no man, or woman, as a matter of fact." Caroline replied cheerily, bringing him one of the glasses and setting it down. "Though I could ask the same to you."
"Thank you." He replied, putting down his pen and picking up the glass.
"It's what you pay me for." She responded before pulling a chair next to his desk. They both sipped and looked at each other briefly before speaking.
"Sir," Caroline began. "I would gladly help you with some of that pa...". She was cut off by an extremely loud cough from her boss, followed by a few more smaller ones. He groaned and grabbed some of his pills and stuffed them down his throat, washing them down with a whisk of his gin. Caroline looked at him with extreme sympathy on her face.
Cave cleared his throat and replied, "I'm sorry Caroline, that's just me dying inside bit by bit.". The negative comment took the secretary by surprise.
"Sir!" she cried with astonishment. Cave hit his chest and coughed once more before looking straight at her and clearing his throat.
"You seem surprised." he said, with a slight air of coldness, though whether it was directed at the illness or her was unclear.
"No sir," Caroline responded hastily, "it's just I never expected to hear that from you.". The man snorted.
"That's a rephrasing of 'surprised', Caroline. Though I don't blame you; I've been surprising myself lately as well.". He took another sip of gin and swiveled around on his chair to face away from her before speaking again. "Caroline, tell me something.". He asked, his voice full of fatigue suddenly.
"What would you like me to tell you, sir?" she responded quietly.
"Who's next inline to inherit the company after I die?" Cave said, still staring at the wall, unmoving.
"Last I checked...I was, sir." Caroline responded nervously, afraid that a single word could upset him. "Though I'm not a hundred percent..."
"You were correct with your first answer." He said sharply, making her flinch. "Now tell me something else."
"What, sir?" Cave swiveled around and leaned in close enough to her face for her to detect the scent of gin in his breath. She suddenly felt very stiff for some odd reason.
"Do you like art?" She blinked.
"Pardon?"
"I said, do you like art?". He stared intensely at her, waiting for an answer. Caroline was unsure how to answer. She knew that he was notorious for his distaste in art, as the defiler of 'real' science. However, she secretly loved art; it was one of the ultimate expressions of human thought and emotion. But could she really lie to her boss, Cave Johnson, the man who could tell exactly what was wrong with a college essay's worth of code simply by looking at the first and last lines? "Well?" Cave asked again.
"Ummm..." She stuttered.
"There's no need to bend the truth, you can tell me the truth." Their proximity to each other and the uncertainty in Caroline's mind seemed to take this negatively and increased the awkwardness of the situation. However, she somehow managed to call up enough courage to swallow her fear and answered him truthfully.
"Yes sir, I do like art." The fear of uncertainty in her eyes was apparent. However, Cave seemed to notice this and smiled.
"Well that's good," he said leaning back into his chair. "Because I have something I need to show and ask of you." he replied before having a small coughing fit once more.
"What is it sir?" Caroline asked, relieved she had answered correctly. When his minor fit died down, Cave simply rose from his seat, gin glass still in hand and walked over to where the rest of the alcoholic beverage was. He turned around and poured another glass silently before returning to face her.
"You see, Caroline, I have a secret ." He said with a sly grin.
"May I ask what, sir?" Caroline asked, sipping her gin. Her boss looked around cautiously before leaning in and speaking in a barely audible whisper.
"I like art too." he said. She nearly spit out her gin. She couldn't have heard him right. Cave Johnson despised art, almost to the point of banning it from the facility.
"S...sir? She stutters, unable to comprehend. He simply laughed.
"Before you call me a hypocrite, I'll have you know I've been quite secretly supporting it within this facility." he said, with the slightest hint of a smirk upon his face. Caroline was still speechless.
"Sir...I don't...". She began, but he simply cut her off.
"Hush now, I have something to show you.". He said impatiently. He put down the glass on the small table, went over and grabbed her wrist, pulling her over to a wall on the opposite side of the room. Caroline was barely able to put her own glass down as she was brought in front of the wall. Cave looked around at surface, as if looking for something, before placing his palm on it and sliding downward. To her surprise, the wall slid away to show a previously hidden corridor. She gasped. Down the now lighted hall were numerous art pieces of various sizes, styles, artists. Caroline was awestruck. "Beautiful, isn't it."
"Sir," she said, "It's wonderful!"
" Heh, glad you like it." he said with an air of contempt and started forward down the corridor, pulling Caroline along. Walking along, they both took in the various scenes depicted on the canvases. On one, they saw a man dancing with what appeared to be his daughter; on another, they saw a son being carried in after being executed with his father looking away in disgust. Eventually, the came to the end of the corridor, where they found a wooden blue door in front of them.
"And this," Cave said, putting his hand on the doorknob, "Is my favorite room". He turned the knob and pushed the door open, revealing the secret within. Inside was an enormous room with a collection of the most beautiful paintings Caroline had seen. "Some of the collected works of Weiss Guertena.". Cave said nobly. "All of them genuine." He made sure to put emphasis on 'Guertena' and 'genuine'. The secretary simply stared in awe. There were some of his most famous works: 'The Lady in Red', 'Rotten Fruit', and 'The Serpent's Spirit'. To her utter astonishment, at the very back was the one and only 'Fabricated World'. She then looked down at the floor to only to be greeted by the sight of a painted leviathan in deep blue waters.
"Abyss of the Deep." she murmured in awe. Caroline looked around more and was even more shocked to see two final paintings. One was of a young girl with bright blue eyes, golden locks, and surrounded by a small bed of yellow roses. The other was a sleeping young man with light blue hair and tattered clothes. He was surrounded by blue roses and thorns that constricted him, giving him a Christ-like appearance. She could recognize them anywhere as 'Mary' and 'The Forgotten Portrait'.
"H...how...?" she was barely able to stutter. Cave merely chuckled.
"I'm not going to lie when I say it was not easy. Not easy as all. Most of them I managed to get from auctions, at very high prices mind you. Some i had to pull a few strings to acquire. The hardest to collect was Blue Boy over there." Cave said, pointing to 'The Forgotten Portrait.
"How come?"
"The crazy Japanese lady who owned it refused to give it to me." he said, shaking his head. "No matter what the offer, she turned it down. Something about 'it was her best friend' and 'the only one she had left'. Luckily for me, near her deathbed from leukemia, she reluctantly handed it over on the condition it be kept in perfect shape. And so here it is, in my collection.". He said proudly once again. Caroline looked around a bit more, before a thought occurred to her.
"Sir," she asked. "Why are you showing me all this?". Her boss sighed.
"Caroline, as we both know, I'm not going to live much longer with this cancer.". He suddenly went into a small coughing fit, almost as if to prove his point. Caroline seemed snapped back to reality. After the coughing resided, he continued. "And somebody has to take care of my collection when I'm dead,and to be perfectly honest, I'd feel much better with you were watching over my collection once I'm six feet under." he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Cave leaned on the wall, wiping his hands down his face then resting his head on them.
"Sir, you want me to watch a...all of this?" she said nervously, unsure she heard that right. "Along with the facility?"
"Yes, I do.".
"B...b...but.."
"No buts Caroline, I want you and you alone to keep this gallery in top condition, because last time I checked you were my top employee, only to be barely rivaled by Pendleton and Rattboy, -man, whatever his name is. The point is that I wanted the best for the company and my gallery, and you're it" Caroline, flattered, looked down to hide the red on her face.
"I can't thank you enough with the honor sir." she said finally looking up and smiling.
"No need to thank me, thank you and your devotion to science." he replied.
"No really sir, I..." Caroline was about to say while briefly glancing to the right, but stopped mid sentence . Cave eyed her unsurely.
"What is it?" Cave said, wondering what could have caught her attention. At first she didn't answer, as if in a trance. Finally, after a few seconds she spoke and turned back.
"N...nothing," she managed. " I just...never mind. Most likely just my imagination from sleep deprivation.". She said, shaking her head and laughing nervously.
"What, did the one of the pictures wave hello at you?". Cave said with a chuckle. Caroline responded with a slight nervous laugh. "Well, it's getting late. I think it's time to hit the lemons.". It was a Caroline's turn to eye him.
"Not the combustible ones Pendleton made I hope.". They both laughed. Linking arms, they walked out of the room. Stealing a last look at the room before Cave closed the door, Caroline stared briefly at the picture of the girl with yellow roses. Sleep deprivation or not, she was a hundred percent certain, that the little girl...had winked at her.
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