Work Text:
They must have seen something in Subspace, to warp his mind to be so attuned to their goals.
Medkit could not say the same. He preferred to keep to himself, barring two exceptions, away from his peers whose ideals could not be further than his own. He would only address others out of necessity, and he did not give anyone over the bare minimum of his attention.
Of course, the arrangement of their shared space as partners had begun to change that.
Subspace liked to throw himself completely into any topic he thought was worth his time. Medkit noticed that Subspace always put his entire self into his interests - robotics, engineering, physics - they were all tackled and conquered with passion.
If it wasn't so misdirected, Medkit might have thought it to be admirable.
His actions were always lit with a flame of ambition, and Korblox had looked upon it inside his heart and smiled.
From then, they had carefully stoked it from an ember into a wildfire, and the only fuel that kept him warm was their praise, and the colder he went without it, the more unsettled he became. It was like he was ravenous, unable to be appeased with just his own sense of fulfillment any longer.
It was a hunger not born from the stomach. The kind that could never be satiated, endlessly demanding him to be greater. One that would eat Subspace alive.
That was what they did. Korblox taught Subspace to be hungry. They instilled him with it so deeply that he would never know what it would be like to be content with himself. Always striving to be better, faster, more more more.
They kept him starved, dangled their approval in his face before wrenching it away, knowing Subspace would follow like a desperate animal. They never gave him enough to be fully satisfied, but at the minimal amount that would always have him vying for more.
It was as infuriating as it was terrifying. More than once Medkit wanted to shake Subspace by the shoulders, as if he could physically jerk him away from the Administration's influence.
For as egotistical as he was, Medkit could not even convince him of his own worth. Subspace was deluded into thinking that everything Korblox stated was just, and that if they found so much as one flaw in one of his projects, then he thought he deserved less than the dirt beneath their feet.
And with how headstrong Subspace tended to be, Medkit knew it would not stop at morals either.
Subspace would do anything to please their higher-ups.
He had almost hoped that Subspace would perhaps hesitate once other Inphernals' lives were brought into the question. How much of Subspace's principles remained his own? Surely with how steadfast he was with himself, some part of him would remain untouched by Korblox?
Yet, Medkit quickly learned that Subspace did not value those who he thought were beneath him. If Korblox told him to pick up a scalpel and cut open the guts of another, he would not only do so with no reluctance, but he would perform it on his closest colleague if they ever demanded it.
Yes, Medkit thought as Subspace clawed out his eye, he would do anything.