A/N: Hi everyone, It's been a while. Thank You Dr. MeeM PhD. Mad Science and DanEO1 for following and/ or favoriting this fic.
-Dr. MeeM Ph.D Mad Science- Thank you for your kind words. I am doing my best to continue.
Oh and by the way, I'm interested in finding a cover for this fic. If any of you can draw or know of a picture of human Wheatley and Morality, that would be great.
Amora retold Cave and Caroline what had been going on in the labs and the interviews that she had been to. "We seem to stop our popularity decline, there's isn't really any good news to say other than that. Black Mesa is still on the rise. And to top it all there is one reporter that is amazingly noisy. I've had to have Rick toss him out a couple of times," Amora said with a sigh. She looked up from her little spiral where she wrote all her notes.
Caroline frowned, "I can make sure he doesn't sniff around here anymore, Sir." The assistant looked to the man for permission. The way she said that made Amora wonder what the other woman had in mind.
"I'm going to rely on you for that, Caroline. And I think that Dave needs to take some tests. If you can think of anyone else that can use testing, go ahead and sign them up," Cave said his normally booming voice was crackling. Amora tried not to let her worry show; last time she had Cave yelled at her saying he didn't need her pity which led him to hacking cough. "I'm fine," the CEO said to his assistant as the woman handed him a water bottle.
"Did you need me to get your pain killer?" Amora asked leaning forward ready to retrieve said medication.
"I'm not an invalid. You know you I am? I'M CAVE..." the man's last name was lost in a coughing fit. Once the fit subsided, he glanced at Caroline, "Can you get me those pain killers?"
"Yes, Sir," Caroline answered in a heartbeat. She procured the pills from one of the filing cabinets. Cave swallowed them expertly.
The door to the office slammed into the wall causing all three to jump at the sudden noise. Amora turned in her seat to see who had entered. "Mr. Johnson, where's Andre?" Curra's voice called out before the woman's eyes noticed the CEO. The nurse stopped speaking, her mouth slightly open. Amora knew what the woman was thinking. The man sitting behind the desk was nothing like the proud Cave Johnson. The man behind the desk was a shell of a man. "Mr. Johnson?" Curra's voice became small. "What's wrong with you?"
Caroline had slipped behind the newcomer closing the office door behind the nurse. "Turns out moon rocks are pure poison. I'm deathly ill, " Cave said matter-of-factly.
"Andre was working with those moon rocks," Curra said in a small voice. "Where is he? Is he still in this facility?" She looked from Amora to Caroline and then to Cave. Without a word, Curra ran back out of the door.
"I'll get her, Mr. Johnson," Amora said before running after the nurse. Amora ran into the hall to see Curra at the elevator pressing the button madly. "Curra, come back and talk to me," Amora called out to the woman as the elevator doors opened. Curra looked at Amora with a betrayed look. Amora reached the elevator as the doors closed. Amora sighed and decided to take the stairs.
Amora climbed the final steps breathing heavily. Curra wasn't in sight. She frowned and went back to the stairwell to go to the next floor. Curra was nowhere to be found.
Amora stopped in the hallway of the robotics lab wondering where the woman had disappeared to. "You're ready to go to lunch already? It's a little early don't you think? Unless you like an early lunch. I normally eat lunch later so I won't be hungry later. With the cafeteria shut down, we'll have to go off the facility. Most people will still be serving breakfast. Do you like breakfast for lunch? I personally like eating breakfast for dinner sometimes. A good omelet does sound good. ," Wheatley started to ramble before Amora could even register that he had appeared.
"Oh, I'm just looking for Curra. Did she come in here?" Amora asked. The taller man shook his head.
"I haven't seen her all day. But since you're here maybe you can help me with something," Wheatley suggested pulling at her arm. Amora nodded and allowed Wheatley to guide her to the lab. Amora walked calmly keeping an eye on the red-eyed sphere that was growling in the corner. "So it's fairly simple. I'm moving out of my apartment to a larger house. Since I got a raise, I think it's high time that I got my own place. I just want a second opinion on some of the choices. I trust your opinion the most so I thought, why don't I have Amora look at some." Wheatley explained with a nervous chuckle. Amora knew that he was hiding something. He had his hands in the pockets of his lab coat which normally meant he was keeping something to himself. She didn't question it because most of the time the man would blurt out whatever he was hiding within a couple of moments.
Amora looked at each of the houses that Wheatley had pictures of. She stated what she liked of each and finally gave her favorite when pressed. "Is that all you needed me to see?" Amora asked.
"Actually, we finished another AI core if you want to see it. It's actually really interesting," Wheatley said motioning for Amora to follow him. Amora followed Wheatley until they had reached Neil's lab table. In the center of said table sat a sphere much like the one growling in the corner. This core had a blue optic that focused on the pair as if it could see them. Amora didn't doubt that the thing was examining them.
"Three slash four cup vegetable oil, four large eggs, one cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, three slash four cups butter or magarine," the core stated in an electronic voice.
"Is that a recipe?" Amora asked Wheatley.
"We think it's a cake recipe. A chocolate cake of course. I wouldn't know. I don't bake. I prefer pie instead of cake, but this AI is fascinated with cake. The scientists think that it's corrupted so they are running more tests," Wheatley said.
Amora nodded that she understood. "I think I'll listen to it. Maybe I can make this cake," she stated. Wheatley left her alone as he went back to his lab table looking over the pictures he had earlier. Amora listened to the core taking notes, but it wasn't long until she realized that the core was definitely malfunctioning.
"Fish shaped dirt, Fiberglass surface resins, two cups rhubarb, sliced," the core had continued its odd recipe.
"I think Paisley would like this core. It likes rhubarb almost as much as she does," Amora said with a laugh. She left the core alone deciding that any recipe the core relayed was flawed.
"I wonder how she's taking the whole cafeteria closing thing. I know she was looking at offers from Black Mesa. I don't think she wanted to go though with them. I hope not," Wheatley said looking up from his papers.
"Well, we can go the café down the street. I heard they have delicious Philly cheesesteaks," Amora suggested.
"That sounds great. Maybe we'll have time to stop for ice cream," Wheatley said excitedly. Amora smiled before giving the man a kiss on his cheek.
"I should be looking for Curra. I need to explain something," Amora said with a sigh wanting to spend the day here rather than her own office.
Amora spent the rest of the day looking for Curra with no luck.