super_astute | Mission 024: Specimen 524

Mission 024: Specimen 524

The hiss of the elevator doors opening left Wheatley re-energized and he grinned back at Chelldon to offer encouragement. "Go on then, there you go! I know you're not that quick with those braces but you're doing well!" Being cheerful and peppy, he'd read, made Test Subjects more compliant and better able to complete tasks.

And oh! Oh, he really wanted to be the one to get that promotion to assembly duty next month! The pay was the same -- ha, nothing! -- but he wouldn't have to follow humans around any longer! He'd get some real world, practical experience! Chelldon would understand. Maybe he'd even make him a cake!

"Welcome to Chamber 24--"

"Yes, yes, we know, but thank yaaaooow! You're kidding me! A rabbit this time!? Come on!

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"Dr. Stable finally managed to kill himself," Wheatley responded, bored as ever. Funny how names around here usually pointed at the direct opposite of the doctor it was naming. Wheatley's doctor was never the most happy man. His wife left him, his kids hated him, his research always seemed to go wrong-- And he never filled out Wheatley's reports on time! He was constantly berated for failure to keep his android in line as well-- Wheatley was sorry for the chap, and whatever android they were talking about.

He waved his card towards Handy and frowned when Handy frowned.

"I need someone to check the boxes off for 'excellent' and 'very excellent' and for you to write how amazing my handling of Chelldon and the rabbit was. Oh, I know you didn't see it, but trust me. It was brilliant! Very well done."

Handy looked rather crestfallen at the news of his colleagues death. This was not good. Oh not good at all. "Dead? He can't be dead! ... He owed me money!-- Well, suppose I'll have to get creative, do you think a lung is worth £45 or should I go for a spleen?"

He gave Wheatley a sideways look before shaking his head, not a wise question. Moving on! So anyway, he took the mans card and looked it over before ticking very excellent in all the boxes because this was Chelldon and he probably did do very excellent-ly. He knew the subject from his youth, very awkward boy, the cores had trouble doing away with him.

Wheatley? Well, he was probably less excellent.

"There you go, all ticked-- erm, could you possibly alert the clean up crew? If I do it, they'll think it was me who did it. It happened before, it'll happen again."

"You did it? Oh, well sure, not a problem, just add that to my list of uncompensated tasks. Call the clean up for Dr. Stable. Oh, and fetch a spleen." Wheatley took back the card and then beamed at it happily to see that Dr. Handy had, in fact, managed to check off every box!

"Say." Wheatley's eyebrows waggled conspiratorially. Couldn't be helped, he was programmed a bit oddly. "Don't suppose you'd sign on to be my doctor? Adventure Core loves you and-- Oh, oh dear, now's not a good time for a nap Doctor-- And oh! There goes your subject, right out the door."

As the door opened and closed for the doll, Wheatley noted several armed guards heading down the hall and rolled his eyes.

"Guards. Always so dramatic."

Oh great, he saw this coming the moment he approved of Wheatley and his subject, everyone wanted him, he was very good at marking high and often took peoples words for it. Sadly even being nice couldn't save Adventure cores raking because none of his subjects lasted.

Case in point, the escaping doll.

Oh God, there went adventure cores last subject! "Oh no! Guards stop him! He's the only one that knows about those children!"

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose and looked the other side. Great, he was in trouble later for that. "Look, Wheatley, I like you and everything but I was assigned Adventure Core after the incident with Space core and I have been advised not to take on more than one.

Both hands on his hips, Wheatley tried to look haughty and not wrinkle the card at the same time. "What? What am I suppose to do? Run tests on me..." Something clicked in Wheatley's processing core and a slow, awful smile spread out on his face. "All right, doctor. Thank you for helping out. I am absolutely not going to run tests on my own and oh, I should probably tell you, but that alarm, just got the memo, slow response team evidently, means that there's been a dimensional breach. Again. So likely? Hiding, right yes, hiding would be good. See you later!"

Wheatley didn't have to hide. His mind was backed up in the software and he had a few additional bodies to work from if need be. While there was panic going on around him, he punched in his card and headed to his storage space to run diagnostics for a few hours.

When he ventured out again, there were decidedly less people around. Only two of the usual people were around the water cooler and all they could talk about was 'almost losing the whole thing' and 'oh, Black Mesa will win at this rate if we keep opening up dimensional portals that eat half of our staff!'

Wheatley found it boring. Of course he did! Today he had autonomous control over his testing!

First, to get Chelldon.

"Wait! Whatever you do, just don't act or go near your subject till we get a better doctor!" Handy yelled as he slipped on his doctors coat and took off running out the door and after his little subject and the guards. If there was a breach, it was safer to be with guards than be alone in a science lab.

Chelldon hadn't done much since he'd gotten back but sit on the bed, playing with his slightly ruined shirt. It was nice, it was like a prize from the rabbit. He wanted to hang it on the wall really, it'd be nice.

When he heard the noise outside, he looked up, already on alert. There were no more tests today, surely? So that meant something was very much wrong!

Luckily, that sound was just guards running around like crazy trying not to get killed.

No. Tonight, Chelldon got to rest. If he could with all the screaming.

But tomorrow...

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Mission 024: Specimen 524

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