Test of Humanity

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Test of Humanity is a Portal 2 fanfic written by Baronobeefdip.

In the fic, a bored GLaDOS decides to see if she can implant a core's mind into a human body and how long they can survive. After a brief moment of sifting through cores that won't work for her experiments (for various reasons), she decides to bring back Wheatley from space and implant his robotic "brain" into that of a human test subject.

What follows next is Wheatley learning to adapt to human life, his reunion with Chell, and his developing feelings towards her. However, GLaDOS has her own sinister plans in mind.

Can be read here.

A sequel is also in the works, but is on hiatus due to the author having writer's block and dealing with Real Life stress at the moment.

Tropes used in Test of Humanity include:
  • Adorkable: Wheatley in his human body. He's tall, wears glasses, is rather clumsy, tends to ramble, and is rather chubby. Yet, he's also compassionate and friendly towards others. It's one of the reasons Chell starts to fall in love with him.
  • Air Vent Passageway: Well, more like "Incinerator Exhaust-Pipe Escape". Subverted in that Wheatley's too fat to fit all the way through.
  • Author Appeal: Baronobeefdip is a fan of weight-gain fics. Guess what happens to Wheatley throughout the story (and on into the sequel)?
  • Balloon Belly: Happens to Wheatley twice. First when he gorges himself on the food in Chell's fridge, and second when GLaDOS tricks him into eating 30 cakes. Subverted in that he doesn't instantly lose the extra weight.
    • In the sequel, it's stated that he's actually gotten even fatter since then.
  • Berserk Button: As usual, don't call Wheatley a "moron". Also, don't ever compare him to HAL or GLaDOS--and hurting Chell is a very, very bad idea. GLaDOS finds this out the hard way.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Wheatley is usually a friendly if dim-witted Gentle Giant cyborg. But, push his Berserk Button too many times and he won't hesitate to (literally) throw his weight around.
  • Big Eater: Wheatley's got a rather large appetite. At one point in the fic, he ate 30 cakes before passing out.
    • And in the sequel, it's stated that Chell's roommates can't figure out what to cook for dinner because Wheatley ate nearly everything.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Wheatley's weight gain at first seems insignificant; it's what ultimately causes him to defeat GLaDOS, due to him getting stuck in a pipe and causing an explosion.
  • Disney Death: Wheatley
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Chell to Wheatley, after GLaDOS's exhaust pipe explodes with him in it. "GET UP! D-DON'T DIE ON ME, YOU MORON!"
  • Fan Girl: GLaDOS is a HAL fan girl. Who would have guessed it?
  • Fat Bastard: Averted with Wheatley. (He can be rude, but never intentionally so.)
  • Fat Idiot: Wheatley (though he was dim-witted before putting on weight).
  • Gentle Giant: Wheatley is stated to tower over people in his human body and becomes rather overweight by the end of the fic. Yet, he's shown to be rather peaceful in nature.
    • Chell even refers to him as a "gentle giant" in the sequel, thinking of how he's large enough to harm anyone who crosses him, yet he won't even hurt a fly (literally--he just watches it buzz around for a while).
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: GLaDOS really shouldn't have fattened Wheatley up like that, or tortured him and Chell.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Chell is an average-sized human being, whereas Wheatley is a rather large cyborg.
  • Naked First Impression: After showering for the first time, Wheatley walks out of the bathroom dripping wet and nude to ask Chell for clean clothes...in front of her roommates.
  • Not So Different: GLaDOS uses this to torture Wheatley by showing how he's similar to herself and HAL. It works (but only for a while).
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: When Atlas and P-Body venture into town to capture Chell, they disguise themselves with a trenchcoat and fedora they found in the trash. And it works.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: GLaDOS's speech to Wheatley about how Chell would never love a "machine living a lie" (and the Not So Different aspects mentioned above).
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Wheatley literally tells GLaDOS to shut up and punches her in the eye.
  • Stout Strength: Wheatley punches GLaDOS hard enough to break her eye (and shatters his arm in the process).
  • Take That: Baronobeefdip has stated that one of the reasons why she made Wheatley overweight in her fic is because she was tired of everyone portraying Human!Wheatley as a Stephen Merchant clone, believing that the fandom cared more about making Wheatley "a sex symbol" rather than loving him for his clumsy yet well-meaning personality.