"She was our daughter!"

The scream echoed across the night sky as the small figure was held by stronger, trembling and gentle hands. Tears fell behind him silently from the figure that was stopping him from charging his leader at that very moment.

"How could you?"

Optimus Prime wouldn't meet his comrade's eyes. The majestic leader looked like all he wanted was to vanish from the face of the earth. His sadness was manifested physically in his hunched shoulders and pursed brow. Bumblebee was hysterical now, screaming and straining against Prowl's arms. He spat at the feet of Optimus Prime as liquid began to trickle down his face, wracked sobs consuming his small build. Prowl was silent in contradiction, tears falling with grace and dignity. His gaze was focused on the ground, respiration heavy and erratic.

"Prowl sparked that child!" Bumblebee cried in anger, finally seeming to collapse against the bot in question.

"How could you..?"

Optimus Prime just looked on sadly, steeling himself to live with the horrendous decision he had just made.

"No! You've ruined everything!" Starscream shrieked, turning his gun on his only commanding officer. "How could you? You've KILLED her!"

"You went over me to do something without my permission. This is your penance. Your experiment is no more."

"She was a Cybertronian! Just like you and me! She was yours! I used your genetics to make her!"

Megatron started at this sentence.

"iWhat?/i" he hissed, grasping Starscream and hefting him up so as to see him face to face.

"You lie!" he screamed in the first officer's face.

"No!" Starscream shot back. "She really has your genes. And for the other fifty percent I used the patterns of Optimus Prime!"

"You fool Starscream!" Megatron responded, throwing him bodily against the wall. "That monster is neither Decepticon nor Autobot! You've created a pitiful worthless ithing/i!"

Starscream made to respond, but a noise stopped him. It was the weak gurgling of a new sparkling. He turned to face his creation in horror, optics wide and round.

"What? That disgusting thing? You're right; get rid of it!"

Megatron turned, satisfied, to exterminate the young bot, but his motives caught in his throat. The sparkling looked up at him with bright, curious optics. Her headpiece so resembled his greatest rivals, round with jutting out stems, only curved in a vivid resemblance to fire. Her chassis was red with gold and black, small and unformed. Sleek and well built, the only indication that she was a femmebot was the shape of her hips, which could not have been achieved by either parent robot.

He picked her up gently, staring at her face. She squirmed against his hot breath and a faceplate slid up to cover her mouth. This too looked like Optimus. As he watched on, the Decepticon emblem shifted and became the more rounded symbol of his enemies. Then it transformed back again and gleamed violet once more. He smiled despite himself.

"Never mind, Starscream. You have done well. Perhaps this misshapen monstrosity can be of some use to us after all."