Broken Circuit

Copyright 1994, Robert A. Jung
Originally published April 19, 1994

Note: The following takes place after issue #9 of the original Transformers comic book series. It doesn't quite directly fit into my fanfic continuity, but it wouldn't be hard to make it do so.

All characters depicted or mentioned in this story are the trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective holders, except for those that aren't. Any resemblance to actual people, alive or deceased, is coincidental, etc., etc. Geez, it's just a story, guys. Don't get too uptight over it...

Without a sound, Circuit Breaker quickly descended from the Portland sky, landing on the roof of her apartment building. The amber rays of the setting sun gleamed off the strips of metallic tape that entwined her body and limbs.

She darted behind the roof access, where her trenchcoat and hat were waiting. Slipping them on quickly, she peered into the dim alley below. Aside from a stray tomcat making his rounds, nothing moved. Satisfied, she stepped off the ledge, floating down five stories to the filthy ground.

"Wheel of Fortune" blared loudly through the half-opened door of her landlord's room. He didn't even glance at her as she walked by, but even if he did, there was nothing to see. Quickly unlocking her door, Josie darted inside and locked it behind her.

She collapsed face-down on the musty couch, closing her eyes to the world. Her battle at the motor speedway had taken more of her strength than she expected, and she barely managed to make a mental note to revise her abilities later. Ignoring the aches in her body, Josie let her mind wander down the pathways of her memories...

Mrs. Hathaway found Josie sobbing in the corner. With a mother's intuition, she quickly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the little girl. "Wha's wrong, chile?"

"D-d-d..."

The elderly woman softly patted Josie's shoulders. Infinitely patient, she slowly extracted the girl's story. A bunch of the kids have said that the reason Josie was still unadopted was because her mother was a "ho'r". Emma Hathaway couldn't supress the sigh -- probably Matt and Craig again. She'll have to give them a good yelling-to. But first...

"Josie, Josie, Josie ... don' list'n to them. You a beautiful litt'l girl, you are. Beauiful 'n smart. I mean it. I see you all da time, readin' them books from da library."

The sobs slowly grounded to a stop. Tear-filled amber eyes looked for more signs of encouragement.

"Now you jes' stop y'r cryin', chile. It don' matter who y'r parents are -- it only matters who youare. If you apply y'rse'f, keep readin' 'n develop'n y'r mind, you c'n do anythin', be anythin' you w'nt. You c'n fly if you try leavin' the past behind..."

The child stopped crying. She didn't smile, but at least she stopped sobbing, and Mrs. Hathaway took whatever victories she could get. Wiping the tears away, she carried the girl into the kitchen, letting her help with the evening dinner, the busy work taking her mind off the earlier abuse.

And still, something remained. While a studious child before, Josie became a whirlwind of academic energy ever after. It got to the point where she was never seen without a book in her hand, and every night Mrs. Hathaway or Mr. Jenkins would have to rudely admonish her to turn off the light and go to sleep. She had a natural knack for mathematics and science, though she relaxed by reading romance novels.

Her happiest day was when she graduated from high school. She had turned sixteen five weeks ago, and now she was going straight into the Blackrock Engineering Apprentice Program. She had "great potential", the interviewers had said, and the accelerated program would simply feed her limitless, voracious hunger for knowledge.

Josie Beller stirred herself awake. The skies were dark now, halfway between eight and nine.

She sat upright, feeling better than before, though groggy from her recent nap. She stretched, then removed her trenchcoat, letting it fall to the floor next to the floppy fedora. Scratching idly, she wondered what the folks at the orphanage would say if they saw her now? Would she still be "little Josie", the darling student, everyone's pride and joy?

No. She'd be the freak, the cripple. That's what Alex had called her. A cripple.

Memories returned, fresh and painful and jagged. Out of control, she jammed her fists into her eyes and released her sadness, rivulets of tears streaming down her cheeks, past her metallic tapes. His words haunted her now...

"The doctors say your paralysis is irreversible ... There's too much damage, you'll need constant care ... And ... I can't see myself devoting myself to ... to a cripple."

you said you loved me.She wanted to scream, but hadn't regained control of her vocal cords at the time. I love you, don't leave me,her eyes pleaded to him in silence. All she could do was blink.

"I'm sorry, Josie," he continued. "I have to think of myself. I hope you'll understand ..."

She blinked again, unable of anything else. NO! Alex! I need you!

He stared at her, puzzled. Not certain if she could hear him, or even understand him. In a fit of desperation, she tried again. Alex! I love you! Don't leave me!

Nothing. Not even a murmur.

Alex stood there, immobile, until he could take no more. Ninty-seven seconds. Then he spun around and darted out the door. She never heard from him again.

Long minutes passed while Josie sobbed away her grief. Finally, as if awaking from another dream, she composed herself. Josie started to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand when the glimmer of the tape stopped her.

It's those damned robots! Sadness disappeared, instantly consumed by grief. Everything she had, everything she dreamed of, gone! Adulation and acclaim, a man who loved her, a family of her own, gone!Obliterated in a moment by those robots -- soulless machines, without any sense of compassion or mercy or understanding. Unable to do anything but destroy.

Well, they succeeded. Josie Beller is dead. Circuit Breaker lives.

Fight fire with fire, that's what she told herself. Technological terrors? She'll give them a real technological terror. Fortunately, Mr. Blackrock was very cooperative, providing her with the computer equipment and machine tools she needed.

Typing with one partially-crippled hand was a slow, painful process, but it was necessary. Breaking into the "secured" computers of MIT, Rockwell, and Hughes was illegal, but it was necessary. Refining the electromagnetic pulse generators took sixty hours of nonstop work, but it was necessary. Everything was necessary, nothing was beyond reason, in her drive for vengenance.

Poetic justice, really, using technology against technology.

The robots have destroyed her body; she was determined not to let them shatter her spirit. Instead, in the ultimate irony, she will destroy them all, wielding her powers in the same emotionless, merciless way as her foes.

Then Circuit Breaker can die.

And ... maybe ... Josie can live again. To recover what she's lost.