Vertigo

Vertigo, full name Andrew Pilkens is the main protagonist of Prototype, and one of the many creations of Dr. John Tempest Pilkens. He has a special ability that lets him see and communicate with the dead, which he uses to try and help him and his family escape a time loop they are trapped in by Miramae Lucifer.

In Witch of Flowers, Vertigo returns, being released from the watch by Irene Martin as a last ditch effort to stop Nyarlathotep from potentially destroying all life. Vertigo plays a key role in stopping Nyarlathotep's destruction.

Appearance
Vertigo has short, messy green hair and red eyes. He wears a hand-me-down school uniform, which is missing the socks and shoes. His metallic skin is standard model, but has some marks from being rushed. The most noticeable feature of Vertigo's is his two tails, which make up for the shoddy balancing system he was coded with. They generally move to counteract his motions, but will react with his emotions as well, causing him to be clumsy when he's emoting while moving.

Vertigo always has a small pocket watch with him. A perfect crystal hangs from the end of its chain.

Personality
Vertigo is stand-offish and prefers to do things on his own. He is quieter and well behaved around family members he trusts, like Halberd and Medicine, but will often stay away from everyone else. His calibrations make him oversensitive to light and sound, reinforcing his want to be alone.

Vertigo doesn't have many outlets for his frustrations, like his standing in the family and the loop he and everyone is stuck in, which can cause him to lash out. When his frustrations are taken care of and he's allowed to cool down, he will instead come off as quiet and nervous. He's generally a good natured kid when he's not worrying about anything, which rarely happens.

Besides the main conflict, one of Vertigo's biggest frustrations is his ability to see ghosts, something no one believes him about. He's unable to tune out their voices and sees them everywhere, which can lead him to panicking at bad times.

Creation
Vertigo is the fifteenth of Dr. Pilkens' robots, built on June 13th, 2311. While the other robots were created with specific purposes in mind, Vertigo was strictly given no purpose and was made to simply exist within the family. Though the Doctor treated all of his creations like children, Vertigo was the one he held the closest, having a whole room of the house specifically for him and watching him almost like a helicopter parent. This is likely due to Vertigo's rushed creation, causing him to have sensory issues and numerous last minute fixes to cover glaring issues.

Vertigo quickly grew attached to the first and second robot, Halberd and Medicine, as they took on the roles as his caretakers when the Doctor was busy. Halberd would keep Vertigo's life signals on his visor and would rush to Vertigo at any disturbance, Medicine close behind with medical supplies expecting the worse.

Death of Dr. Pilkens
On January 3rd, 2313, Dr. Pilkens was murdered by a rogue AI, Vertigo's sibling UNIT-032, given the nickname Ultimos. It is unsure why the robot attacked his creator, but it started a rampage through the house shortly after, making a beeline for Vertigo. He likely would have died if Halberd hadn't heard the noise and intercepted him, tearing him in half during a vicious struggle. Halberd evacuated the house and moved the family to a government house, paid for by his state salary. Leaving the family home and being in a near-death incident caused Vertigo to become reclusive, trusting only his family.

Some time during this, to accommodate Vertigo's distrust of humans, the family decided to trade their human names for nicknames, usually pertaining to their job. Vertigo's name was a suggestion by Epiphany to describe his sensory difficulties. While initially not liking being defined by something like that, he soon accepted the name, liking the word for how it sounded more than its meaning.

Awaking Insanity
One year after their move, Vertigo was coerced by his brother Jayden to join him in revisiting their old home and seeing if anything could be brought back. After sneaking out and maneuvering through the rubble, they failed to find anything that wasn't already stolen by hoarders. Remembering the layout of the house, Jayden pushed away some fallen drywall to reveal a basement door. He put his weight into opening the door- so much that when finally opened, he swung back and hit Vertigo, causing the boy to fall down the stairs. Fearing repercussions, Jayden ran back home.

Vertigo, injured from the fall, struggled to sit up, but realized that he was both in his father's untouched lab- and was on top a forgotten creation. He was desperate for anyone to help him and take him home and turned the creation on. The smell of sulfur filled the air as the robot turned on, showing signs of obvious rust and decay. The robot, nicknamed as Insanity, had faced mental degradation from an unknown amount of time shut off and had a very chaotic personality, shifting between wondering if Vertigo was okay and completely ignoring his injuries. Halberd soon showed up, saving Vertigo and nearly dismantling Insanity, only stopping when Vertigo told him about Jayden and a rip in Insanity's jacket showed him to be a genuine Pilkens model. Not happy but not wanting to abandon family, Halberd took Insanity home, making sure Epiphany would keep a close eye on him.

Obtaining the Watch
One day, from his room, Vertigo saw an old woman fall over while trying to cross the street. Waiting for ten minutes and seeing no one else help the woman, he begrudgingly decided to leave the house and help her. The woman was thankful, apologizing for her clumsiness, and went on her way. Noticing she had dropped a watch, Vertigo tried to go after her, but became uncomfortable with being outside too long. He took it inside, deciding to hold onto it and wait for her to show up the next day. The next day never came.

Present
At current day, Vertigo and the entire Pilkens robot family are stuck in a time loop which brings them to the year 2053. The current world is deep in a decades long Cold War which soon culminates in Insanity, unable to access a power source in the past, exploding and being mistaken for a nuclear warhead, plunging the world into mutually-assured-destruction and bringing on the nuclear apocalypse- creating the world the robots are living in and finishing the loop. Vertigo is the only person in his family aware of the loop, something he believes is caused by the watch, and decides to use his knowledge of previous loops and the warnings given to him by the ghosts to find out who is behind this and why.

Events of Prototype


Events of Witch of Flowers


Communication with the Dead
For reasons unknown to him, Vertigo is able to talk with the dead, something he is not very fond of. However, when he's able to gain the courage to listen to them, they'll tell him of things to watch out for and to keep an eye out for when he's looking for something. Focusing on the voices takes a lot out of him, so it's not something he can do often.

Memory of Time Loop
Vertigo is the only person who can remember the time loop and is able to use it to fix mistakes he made in a previous loop or try other options.

Time Travel
Upon learning how to use the watch from studying it with Thompson, Vertigo is able to harness the full potential of the watch and travel on his own. Though he cannot fix the loop like this, he is able to redo moments and skip to the future to see how certain events play out, not having to wait for an entire loop to pass again. This has the downside of making him more paranoid, with small miscommunications making him consider using the watch to stop any potential negative feelings.

Dr. John Tempest Pilkens
Vertigo's creator and "Father." Vertigo holds a lot of love for his father, even if he didn't show it often. Losing him made Vertigo regress inside himself even more and many of his decisions are dependent on what his father would've believed was right.

Christopher "Insanity" Pilkens
Vertigo's oldest brother. Vertigo doesn't really like Insanity with how loud and obnoxious he can be, but finds himself unintentionally clinging to him whenever things go south. He knows it's illogical, but he holds a grudge against Insanity for being the reason the world ends.

Alexander "Halberd" Pilkens
Vertigo's second oldest brother. Halberd kept a close watch over Vertigo which became even closer when their father died. Halberd is practically an adoptive father to him at this point, constantly making sure everything's going alright and if he can help with anything. Vertigo is a little annoyed with how doting Halberd is, but on the inside, appreciates having someone to look out for him.

Holly "Medicine" Pilkens
Vertigo's oldest sister. Medicine, like Halberd, became a parental figure to Vertigo over time. With how shoddy Vertigo's build is, she's always keeping a watch over him to repair something when he inevitably breaks down. She's a lot more doting than Halberd is, but he doesn't find it annoying as he never had a mother figure. Medicine likes to call him "Verty," something he hates.

Valerie "Epiphany" Pilkens
Vertigo's second oldest sister. She's responsible for almost all of Vertigo's repairs since Medicine is clumsy. She's very cold and distant and she and Vertigo have a sort of silent mutual respect with each of them not getting in the other's business. Due to her being a psychologist, Vertigo keeps his ability to talk to the dead a secret, not wanting to be seen as crazy.

Nameless
Vertigo's younger sister. Vertigo doesn't know a whole lot about Nameless, since she disowned herself from the family. The other robots keep her away from him, so he doesn't have much of an opinion.

Jeremiah "June" Pilkens
Vertigo's younger brother. Vertigo wants nothing to do with Jeremiah as he's a tricker who's often gotten him into trouble, such as abandoning Vertigo when he got injured at their old house. When Jeremiah gets into trouble, which is often, Vertigo will admit it takes a lot out of him to care about it, holding a grudge against him.

Jayden "Bug" Pilkens
Vertigo's younger brother and twin brother to Jeremiah. Vertigo has a much better opinion of Jayden since he's mute and therefore doesn't bother him.

UNIT-032 "Ultimos" Pilkens
Vertigo's youngest brother. Vertigo has nothing but hatred for Ultimos and is terrified as him, as Ultimos killed their father and hunts him down any chance he gets. This only adds to Vertigo's paranoia, knowing that Ultimos could be around any corner- and often is. Ultimos is one of the biggest cause of doomed timelines.

Thompson Lucifer
The son of Miramae and Vertigo's closest friend. They met when Thompson wanted to see what his mom was up to and bumped into Vertigo. After an awkward confrontation with learning what Thompson is, they quickly bonded, viewing Miramae as a lunatic and mutually wanting to stop her. Though Thompson can't do much in figuring out what to do or in holding back Ultimos, he's able to give Vertigo a heads up on what Miramae has planned so they can be one step ahead.

Subseven-A
Subseven is a virus and the adoptive father of Cabir. They are both currently infecting Insanity. Vertigo has a distrust of viruses, but not so much as humans. He doesn't like how close Subseven is to Insanity and would rather he stick to Cabir.

Cabir
Cabir is a virus and the adopted daughter of Subseven. Vertigo is easier around her than Subseven since she's a defunct worm, but still would rather keep his distance.

Stuxnet
Stuxnet is a virus that's infecting Ultimos. He and Vertigo don't meet much due to who he's infecting, but Vertigo has some level of respect for him as, when he activates his payload, Ultimos tends to calm down for the time.

Bonzi Buddy
Bonzi Buddy is a virus that's infecting Ultimos. Vertigo likes whenever they meet, since he's a cat.

Miramae Lucifer
Miramae is the main antagonist of Prototype and is Vertigo's biggest enemy. She's locked the group in a time loop for unknown reasons, something Vertigo is desperately trying to find out. She's merciless and speaks lowly of Vertigo, as he's not only a child but a broken one. Thompson has mentioned that she's changed in the last year, but Vertigo likely wouldn't like her as she was before.

The Triplets (Heartstrings, Soda Pop, Candy Pain)
The Demon Triplets are Miramae's underlings and often get in the way of Vertigo's plans, stopping him whenever he gets close to Miramae. Vertigo can see that they have their own reasons for following her, but he can't forgive them for following someone so cruel.

Alureon
Alureon is a virus that's infecting Halberd. Vertigo doesn't like how close Halberd is to her and doesn't trust her, something the others write off as jealousy.

Iloveyou
Iloveyou is a virus that's infecting Nameless. She's a gang leader who supports Nameless' delusions solely for the chaos of it all. Vertigo views her as irresponsible and destructive.

Creeper
Creeper is a virus that's infecting Jeremiah. Creeper is relatively harmless, but Vertigo finds him annoying.

Reaper
Reaper is a virus that's infecting Jayden. Reaper is trying to delete Creeper, which Vertigo would support if she wasn't trying to kill Jeremiah in the process as an 'infected host.'

Sasser
Sasser is a virus. She sells Vertigo tips and advice for information, as she's adware. Vertigo doesn't mind this too much, as any confidential information he could give will be safe the next time loop.

Netsky
Netsy is a virus and the partner of Sasser. Vertigo doesn't have much of a relationship with him as he's a gambler and doesn't want to gamble near children.

Trivia
Trivia