It didn't take long for the scientists to realize that their plan was failing horribly. To put it simply, GLaDOS wasn't letting it work. It was as if She'd built up an immunity to Wheatley's terrible ideas. Which, if the scientists had actually thought about what they were doing, made sense. After all, they had been around each other for who-knows-how-long. It was actually logical that She'd be resistant to it rather than succumbing to his desires. The scientists had just hoped Her emotions would get the advantage. Except GLaDOS had no emotions.

So, after a month or so of countless of failed attempts, it was time to try something else. They put Wheatley in the core employment pool. Job after job he failed. After all, they'd made him to be that way- a failure. A moronic, useless, amnesiac of a failure. In fact, he was just about to be given the last job he would hold- manager of the relaxation facility.

He didn't enjoy it. He never enjoyed his work. Everyone made fun of him- called him a moron and such. He was bullied by the other robots, just because he wasn't very smart. What did smarts even bloody offer in the robot world? I mean, sure, they kept the facility working, the humans alive, basically made everything work together…

But other than that, completely useless! Totally pointless, making fun of him for not having them. Mad even.

Wheatley sighed. After all, they were right. He shouldn't be mad at people just telling him the truth. He was pointless. This was literally the last job they could give him. Tending to humans, it was a disgraceful job. It was the equivalent of trash collector- seen as disgusting but actually necessary. He hated that this was the only job he hadn't failed at yet. He hated that he was only yelled at- that no one ever said "Nice job today Wheatley" or "Keep up the good work". No one called him 'pal', no one wanted to talk to him.

Of course, robots didn't really do that stuff. He seemed to be the only one who actually did, which made him nervous. A robot that gained human qualities was usually deemed 'corrupted' and put in Android hell. He didn't want to go there- it was a horrible, fiery inferno of infinite torture. Much like the human hell he vaguely knew about.

There were a lot of things Wheatley vaguely knew about. Things he shouldn't know. A sun, burning bright and warm in a blue sky. Birds chirping , trying to communicate. Hands- were they his? They were connected to whoever he was seeing this stuff from, but it couldn't be him.

"Warning: Please cease current thought process. Corruption levels may rise"

That message came on whenever he thought too hard about those weird memories. It scared him. Wheatley feared corruption as much as he feared Her.

He clearly remembered every day of his time working as one of Her cores. They filled his mind as nightmares, horrid images of Her threats, screams. But worst was how She talked to him. It wasn't a voice She used on anyone else, like it was reserved for him. It was a deep, terrifying voice filled with disgust. She was disgusted by him. It felt like She saw him as nothing more than a pest- a useless parasite. Others saw him as worthless, a waste of an AI even, but no one was that disgusted by him. No one ever spoke to him the way She did, and it was completely terrifying to him.

While he was attached to Her, he could hear all Her thoughts. They punctured his brain, stung at his subconscious. Most of the thoughts were of hatred- towards the scientists, for trying to control, force her into this situation. He'd have felt bad for Her had it not been for the other thoughts. Plans.

GLaDOS wanted to kill all the scientists and make everyone else a test subject. He'd seen- well, heard- Her plan unfolding. She was waiting, waiting for one specific person to show up. Bring your daughter to work day was when She planned to take action. He'd wanted to stop Her, giving Her countless of alternate plans, but nothing held. She shut down every one of his ideas. Brilliant ideas they were too; force all the scientists to leave, basically letting them go, making robots to test with, not murdering everyone, and of course his favorite- put him in charge instead so the scientists would boss him. He didn't mind being bossed around, and since She seemed really peeved off by it, he thought it was an amazing idea. But of course She hated it, asked why he thought She would ever let him have control, moron that he was. Saying the scientists needed to die, deserved this fate. He asked why, but that always made Her go silent.

Wheatley didn't like secrets being kept from him, but in this case he didn't really mind.

"Wheatley, stop daydreaming and get back to work"

His boss's voice came in through his ear speaker.

"Y-yes sir, sorry sir."

He moved along his management rail- the one thing giving him almost free movement. Not possessing arms or legs, Wheatley relied on this or human grip to move him around, and he much preferred the former. He could decide where he was going, for one thing. Being stuck in a human's hands, forced to go wherever they fancied, not having any say in it, that was never enjoyable. On the rail he had freedom to go where he fancied. To Wheatley, this small amount of freedom was enough for him. It was nearly too much.

There are people in the world who should not be put in power. People who crave it, who smile and feel so good when they have. There are people who abuse power, who take advantage of it until they destroy themselves and leave a mess behind. Wheatley was one of these people. He craved attention, praise, power, anything that got him out of the situation he was currently in.

If he could have one wish, it would be to have no one make fun of him. To be in charge and to do good for once. He wanted people to respect him, to call him a hero rather than a moron. He wanted desperately to be liked.

And he would do anything to have that happen