Flaw in My Code (Portal 2)[REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

[Chapter 2: She is a Gem ]

The office was busy, as it always was, but it was orderly. Everyone was in their place; The overseers were taking notes over individual subjects as each navigated their way through the human testing initiative, the recruiters were talking to eager young men and women who were ready to start their science journey, making files on each and having them sign and fill out legal forms, and the printers were running a mile a minute, rapid-firing documents and reports into the hands of the hard-working employees that were sent to collect them. 

Among all of the bustle, sat a CEO at his desk, talking to a set of engineers. Behind him, stood his lovely assistant, ready to do anything in her power to help him with whatever he needed done. 

"You're saying I'm insane, is that it?" He asked the engineers that were nervously looking down at their hands. "No, sir." One of the men said. "But, we're talking major expenses, and the risk factor is far too high."

"So that's it? It's a little dangerous to put someone on a disc, is that what you're saying? We're sending men through quantum space tunnels!" The CEO slammed his hand down on the table. The two men across from him, along with his assistant, flinched. "Fired! Both of you!" 

"Wait!" One of them men tried to reason. "We- We'll test it out, okay? We'll find a willing volunteer, well... We'll try. But we can't guarantee that it's gonna work."

The man at the desk grinned, before leaning over and coughing into a hankercheif. "Good, good... Now, scram." 

"Mr. Johnson, are you sure threatening to fire every single employee that tries to reason with you is such a great idea?" 

He scoffed. "Caroline, you worry too much about these people." 

"Only because I have to, Mr. Johnson. We're terribly understaffed, and our.." The small woman cleared her throat. "...Unemployment rate is far too high for our circumstances. We need to-"

"Stop worrying about it. If the lab boys can just stop questioning my orders, pretty soon, we'll be OVERstaffed! With robots! Doesn't that sound great?" Mr. Johnson asked, enthusiastically. 

"It certainly would give us an advantage, but sir..." She began. 

"Ah, ah, ah-" He shook his finger. "No 'but sir's.'" He stood, shaking his head. "Look, I'm going to talk to the lab boys, see what they think about my proposition."

"You aren't really thinking of putting yourself into a robot, one day, Mr. Johnson..." Caroline mumbled, tilting her head. 

He raised a brow at her. "Why wouldn't I be thinking about it? I could go on firing these boneheads for decades, centuries, even. This way, I'll never have to worry about death." He said jokingly, before pulling on his coat and leaving the office. 

Caroline followed him out, but only made it halfway down the hall, before deciding that it was useless. She sighed and headed to the break room, noting on her watch that lunch time was upon her, and she was starving, after a long few hours of listening to Cave arguing with the lab boys about his outlandish ideas. 

"Evenin', Miss Caroline~" She was greeted by her tall and lanky, sandy-haired co-worker as soon as she stepped foot into the break room. "Pendleton, it's eleven in the morning." She said with a straight face, going straight for the coffee machine. 

"Okay, sure. But, I think the evenin' is just a lot more desirable, y'know?"  He grinned his trademark grin. Caroline hated to admit it, but she couldn't help but smile every time Pendleton was in the room. His hilariously taller-than-average height caused him to tower over everyone in the room, and that, alone, was undeniably funny. His shiny blue eyes were always glittering with some dumb, new mischief, and his accent was enough to brighten anyone's day. 

"How's the weather up there, Penn?" She asked, snickering lightly as she poured herself a hot serving of coffee into a styrofoam cup. "It's decent, madame. A bit cold, though, you see. It's the altitude, I'll bet... Could use a nice... Steamy... Cup of coffee." He winked. 

Caroline narrowed her eyes and smiled pleasantly. "Oh, well, the coffee pot is right behind me. Put on your glasses, maybe." Penn stood there in shock, then tilted his head at her.

"She just told you to get your own cup. She's not your servant." Another man spoke up from the other side of the room. He had been sitting in a chair in the corner the whole time, but had only just looked up from his newspaper. 

"Thank you, Henry." Caroline sat down elegantly and sipped her coffee. 

Penn just stood there, still processing what had happened. "D'you know what? Yeah... That makes sense, good point." He turned around in shame and poured himself a cup from the pot. "One would think that a company as rich as Aperture would be investing in some coffee creamer, huh?" He muttered to himself as he poured a cheap sugar packet into his cup. 

"So, have we all heard about Cave Johnson's latest schematics?" Henry set the newspaper down and crossed his arms. 

"Oh, believe me..." Caroline began. "I know you've heard all about it..." Henry laughed, though his expression seemed to show sympathy. "You've gotta listen to it all day. I can only imagine what that's like." 

"If I ever lose my job, I don't advise either of you to try and fill my position. It's not worth it." Caroline joked, though there was truth in her words. Pendleton sat down at the table, fixing his glasses. "Yeah, doesn't sound like it's for me." 

"What do you even do here, Pendleton? Because I don't even know if you work here." Henry cocked his head. His tone sounded challenging, almost. 

"What? I've been here since I moved to Michigan from London! That's gotta be a good.. 24 months, maybe! I usually just take notes, up in the stands. Watch the testers, uh... Test. That's probably why you don't see me." He defended, somewhat proudly. 

Caroline nodded. "No, I've seen you in there. You do some pretty good work, considering you've got the brain of a bird." She teased. He glared playfully at her. "Oh, that's how it is, then?" 

Caroline sipped innocently from her cup. "I tolerate you." Pendleton stood up, his cup of poorly sweetened coffee in hand. "I guess I should get back to work, huh?  Don't wanna be, ahahah... fired." He laughed, but he sounded as if it were an actual concern. With the way Cave fired people, he was right to be concerned about it. 

When he had exited the room, Henry glanced over at Caroline. "You two are always acting like there's something between ya that you're trying to hide..." He observed. Caroline nearly spit out her piping hot coffee, laughing. "HEAVENS, no!" 

Henry jumped back, his eyed widening. "I don't know, Carol... You sure about that? It seems awful... fishy."

"Absolutely not." Caroline clarified. Henry shrugged. "Whatever... Still, seems suspicious." 

"If you'll excuse me," Caroline shifted the topic, standing up and heading over to the staff fridge. "I had a- Oh no..." 

Henry looked at her, then picked up his newspaper once more. "What's the matter?" 

"Susan took my salad again!" She growled, closing the fridge. "I can't stand when she does this! I'll go have a word with her, right now," She stormed out of the break room, leaving Henry alone with the news. He sighed as her frustrated mumbles trailed off down the hall. "What a gem..." 

________________________________

I hope we're all on board with Caroline flashback scenes. Because this was kind of fun to write and Caroline is just a gem. 

I'd love to introduce a few new characters in the form of former co-workers and employees of Aperture, so that's what I'm gonna do here. yeet

I hope you enjoyed! I'll see you in the next chapter!