Susan Storm could hear the telltale notes of a violin accompanied by flutes from down the hallway. As she walked down the wide, immaculate corridor and neared the source she brushed her golden locks behind her right ear, tilting her head towards the sounds. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major as performed by Joseph Joachim, the young scientist identified. Sue had heard the composition more times than she could recall in the last handful of years and she knew it's meaning all too well.
Good, Sue thought. He's in an excellent mood today.
In all the time she had known Victor Von Doom, he had always been a lover of classical music. And, almost a decade-and-a-half since their first meeting and nearly five years since their first date, Susan could tell how the man was feeling based entirely on his choice of composition. This particular piece, she knew, indicated he was in high spirits. The first time she had heard this particular violinist's performance had been the day following the first kiss she and Victor had shared. The latest was during their exploratory voyage into the Microverse the previous year.
Given Victor's recent frustrations over his current project and its elusive solution, the lightly dancing concerto was a pleasant and welcome surprise.
She stepped through the open doorway of Victor's personal laboratory. His "castle" as he called it. The Future Foundation boasted many spaces dedicated to scientific research and development, including the central room that took up the majority of the fourth floor that had been assigned as the testing facility for the Doom Patrol upon the group's formation. Victor, though, had always preferred tinkering in his smaller - though still substantive - lab tucked away amongst a corner of the fifth floor.
Unlike the main facility, Victor's laboratory was largely devoid of technological marvels that the former room displayed. Instead, here the walls were proudly adorned with art. Large canvas paintings, charcoal sketches, and sculptures alike covered nearly every visible space from the hallway to the central area where Victor sat. Sue recognized numerous famous works and pieces from the Birth of Venus and The Persistence of Memory by painters Sandro Botticelli and Salvador Dalí respectively, to some of Georgia O'Keeffe's charcoal drawings, to the classic image of The Nefertiti Bust sculpted of limestone settled into a recessed shelf in the wall.
Every one of them was a replica. The most expertly done replicas she could imagine existing, with every single piece of art displayed in the room entirely indistinguishable from the original. Susan doubted even Botticelli himself could be pressed to find a discernable difference. And each of them had been painted, drawn, or sculpted by Victor Von Doom.
Sue mused that, in another lifetime, had Victor taken a different path in life, he would have made an impressive criminal and perhaps the greatest forger in history.
As she neared closer to Victor's desk, where she could see the dark-haired man hunched over and hard at work, Sue's eyes drifted up to stare briefly at the massive portrait mounted directly above the desk. It covered nearly the entire expanse of the wall and was visibly dominant amongst all of the other art pieces present. The painting depicted a woman in her mid-twenties with shoulder-length, sun-touched hair. Striking sapphire eyes that slightly peered down as if watching over Victor as he worked, and a subtle, soft smile that Victor had often described as "a heart melter" completed the beautiful piece.
Susan's lips uplifted to match the painted smile. Her hair was longer now, but Victor had done such an amazing job capturing the image of his model that it was impossible not to recognize the visage of Sue Storm. There had been a time where she had genuinely been embarrassed by the portrait, or at least by its dramatic prominence. She had more than a few times over the last four years when it had first been erected onto the wall urged Victor to paint a smaller, subtler version if not remove it entirely. But now, Susan couldn't deny she appreciated the display, though she would never admit that out loud. After all, of all the replicated famous pieces of world-wide renown Victor had done over the years, her portrait was still to this day the only original painting he had ever completed.
At the same moment that she rested a gentle hand atop Victor's shoulder the melody of the concerto immediately died down. Sue wasn't surprised. No matter how engrossed in his work he became, Victor had never failed to notice her presence. Early on in their relationship, Susan had attempted numerous times to teasingly sneak up on the man by using her abilities to bend light around her body, rendering herself invisible, but Victor had still known she was there. Once or twice he had even played along with her ruse, feigning surprise, but Sue could tell he had known.
It was one of the many things she adored about him; how well Victor knew her.
"Hey, handsome." She leaned down and kissed his left temple. "Hope I'm not distracting you."
Victor's fingers were a blur as he continued typing away. Susan glanced at the multiple screens before him and noticed the rapid scroll of mathematical equations. For several seconds there was no response to her words.
Then, the clacking of his fingers against keys ceased and the numbers and symbols on the screens slowed to a halt. Victor pressed a single button to his right side and the computer monitors went dark.
Spinning around with a wide grin across his face and excitement in his eyes, he spoke. "You are many things, Susan, but you are never a distraction."
Sue didn't bother to conceal the smile his words gave her. Even after years of being together, Victor's compliments and affirmations made her heart soar. He never once made her feel unloved or like she came secondary to anything else. She was his world, his soul, his desire. Those were the words he had spoken to her on that incredible day just eight months ago.
"Joseph Joachim, huh?" She said, her eyes searching his.
Victor chuckled lightly. "You know me too well."
"Should I break out the champagne, or?"
"Susan," he said rising out of his chair. "You should definitely break out the champagne."
"You've done it?" She asked with wonder.
"I'm very confident."
Susan's smile deepened at that. Victor was almost always very confident.
"I bet," she said teasingly.
"It's now only a matter of adapting my newest calculations to the drive. Shouldn't take more than a day or two at the most. Then we can begin our proper test run," he elaborated.
"The boys will be excited to hear the news, I'm sure," Sue added as she slowly rocked forward onto her tiptoes.
Victor took a half-step toward her so that their torsos brushed together. Lowering his head to match her slighter stature, he spoke in a softer tone and peered deeply into her blue eyes. "I suppose we should celebrate the occasion, then."
"Yes," Susan agreed as she moved forward to press her lips against his. "We should definitely celebrate."
Sue Storm felt her fiance's hands encircle her waist and heard the soft swell of music fill the chamber again. Victor Von Doom was certainly in an excellent mood that day, and so too was she.
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