Earth One

A Major Breakthrough - Chapter Four

"Are we going to bring Vortex with us? Not sure if he is entirely up to it right now." Crankcase mentioned, looking over at Vortex. Long Haul, Bombshell, and Crankcase were heading over to Megatron's office but were debating on whether they should bring Vortex with them or not. They needed to let him know that the experiment was successful, but bringing Vortex would further prove it. But what if he says something dumb, then suddenly, everyone's out of a job?

"Well, it's an option. What do ya' think little buddy?" Bombshell said as he looked over at the bot, now sitting criss cross on the floor. He had been strictly silent since he'd woken up, and the other bots just figured that was his personality. Bombshell seem to notice that something was up with the bot.

"Guess that's a no. Okay, one of us needs to stay here with him, right?" Bombshell looked at two others in question, hoping one of them wouldn't volunteer. When the silence persisted, he was getting pretty restless, and thankful.

"Um, you guys can just head out, I'll look over him. I need to check his vitals anyway." He said as he walked over to a computer and started it up. He was glad to have this time to spend with Vortex, try to get him to speak a little.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Long Haul and I will go let Megatron know for you. If there's anything else you need help with, you've got our personal frequency." Crankcase spoke, tugging at Long Haul a bit. They left the room, and closed the door with an echo that traveled around the empty lab, reminding the two bots remaining how quiet it actually was.

Bombshell sighed, and looked at Vortex. He looked so broken, like something was missing. Bombshell walked over to the bot with a cable in one servo, and offered the bot his other. Vortex lifted his arm in compliance, and Bombshell placed the cable into a slot, and looked back at the visual monitor.

It flashed green, and proceeded to upload data and infographics. A stable spark monitor enlightened Bombshells mood, but this bot was still not talking. He tried to get something out of him.

"All your vitals look good. How are you feeling?" He spoke softly, his whole mad scientist persona was going to have to be suppressed for now. This was pretty hard, being openly nice to someone. Definitely not something he was used to.

His vocalizer made a static plagued noise, alarming Bombshell slightly. He looked at Vortex, awaiting his attempt to speak.

"I am stabilized." He spoke, his vocalizer now clear. But he was speaking robotically, no personality at all.

"You're just reading statistics. Tell me how you feel emotionally." Bombshell emphasized as he walked over and sat next to Vortex on the floor.

Vortex shifted instantly, then settled, thinking about his response.

"I feel.." He gave it some thought.

"Horrible...why am I here?" Vortex said suddenly, finding his voice quickly. He looked at Bombshell in longing, the face of pain decorating his features, and Bombshell felt his spark pull hard at his chest. This poor bot...

"Well, you were part of a...failed experiment." He was going to tell him about how strange that weird cerebral circuit problem was, but that would just complicate things. He wanted to be clear to Vortex, he wants this to be easy for him.

"You, and four other bots. There were four before you, which are the ones we worked on first, Long Haul, Crankcase, and me. Unfortunately, you were the only one that came out successful. I had to alter your cerebral circuit cause it was all messed up. What I did was- ahem. Anyway, um, I'm sorry about your...brothers."Bombshell told, realizing that he ended that on a somber note, and tried to correct his mistake. But before he could, the heartbroken bot spoke.