Matthew McDonald has always been lucky. Even when his parents were killed in a car accident when he was in high school (which wasn’t so lucky, really), he came away with a nice little trust fund he’s still living off and got to move from the middle-of-nowhere Iowa to one of the up-and-coming cities on the West Coast, Emerald City. He’s spent most of his life coasting from one thing to the next with no thought to making a plan for the future. When he got into trouble, he always managed to find a way out of it.
 
In college, pursuing a degree in Marketing, or Political Science, or Philosophy, or whatever he told people when they asked, he landed a work-study position as, what amounted to, a night watchman for one of the physics labs. He spend most of his time sitting behind a desk reading, doing homework, listening to music, and watching YouTube, until one night when he heard noises from one of the labs.
 
Upon investigating, Matt found an apparently deserted lab lit by a glow coming from a mirror-like disk of energy held inside a circular frame. Then he heard words coming from the disk in a low, rumbling voice, “We’re losing synchronicity, Professor. If we’re to do this, it has to be now! Professor?” Matt, more than a little surprised, managed a, “Hello?” and the voice on the other side growled, “Ah, there you are. Beginning transmission!” At that, Matt remembers a stream of energy coming from the silvery disk, a shadowy, inhuman shape, and after that, nothing. He awoke moments later with a raging headache, feeling as if he’d been literally put through a wringer. Above him was one of the professors who worked at the lab. He seemed upset. The man, Professor Zediker, known as “Professor Zed” to the staff, explained that Matt had accidentally been exposed to dangerous energies that might be fatal and that it was very important that Matt do exactly what he said if he wanted to live. Matt felt like he had little choice and agreed.
 
Matt took a moment to collect his thoughts, trying to will the buzzing in his head to go away, and as he did so he realized it was something he could tap into. With a little push he opened his first vortex in front of his right hand and mistakenly obliterated the device that had previously held the glowing disk. The professor went from upset to furious, but Matt didn’t notice; he was exploring the power he could feel suffusing his body. The more he concentrated, the more he understood what he could do, like moving an arm he’d just remembered he had. Within minutes he was teleporting across the room and he knew he could do so much more.
 
Then the professor was back at his side, telling him not to use the power frivolously, that it was dangerous and there was no way to know how it was affecting him. Zediker went on to explain that Matt would need to get some equipment that could mean the difference between life and death for him. Over the course of the next few weeks, Vortex made his debut... as Emerald City’s newest super-powered thief.
 
At first, Matt didn’t question his activities; he was doing what he had to in order to save his life, but after news of his thefts hit the news, he started to have doubts. While still struggling with his actions, he ran into Ultramarine and Xeno, who’d figured out where he was likely to strike next. After trading a few panicked shots with the heroes, Vortex threw up his hands and asked for help.
 
The heroes accompanied him back to Professor Zed’s lab to find it in ruins and the professor missing. And at the center of all the destruction were the ruins of another portal device....
 
Since then, Vortex has been working with The Sentinels—who managed to make Vortex’s legal problems go away by promising to watch over the young man. His private life is a bit of a mess and he’s dropped out of college until he can get things straightened out. In the meantime he’s living off the stipend from his trust fund and doing the whole singer/songwriter thing at the bars around town. At least the commute is easy!