Optimus Prime, Arcee, Bulkhead and Ratchet are carefully navigating the wrecked lab. The air smells of burnt metal and energon. Debris is scattered everywhere. Optimus Prime: (Voice grim) Shockwave's depravity knows no bounds. Scan for any energon signatures, and any technology we can salvage. Arcee: (Moving cautiously, blaster raised) The place is a scrap heap. Makes you wonder what horrors he was cooking up in here. Bulkhead: (Stumbling over a pile of twisted metal) Whatever it was, I hope we fragged it good. I'm getting a bad vibe just being here. Ratchet: (Scanning a console with his wrist-mounted scanner) The energy readings are erratic. He was experimenting with… genetic engineering. Disgusting. Ratchet leads the way to a large, cylindrical tank in a relatively untouched corner of the lab. Inside, suspended in a glowing fluid, is a small, undeveloped sparkling. Its optics are closed. Wires and tubes are connected to the tank. Bulkhead: Whoa...(Stammering) What is that? Is that... a sparkling? Arcee: (Approaching cautiously, optics narrowing) A sparkling? In Shockwave's lab? That doesn't make any sense. Ratchet: (Scanning the tank and accessing the data on a nearby screen) It appears so. And the readings… Primus, this is… disturbing. Optimus Prime: (Approaches the tank slowly, his expression unreadable. He stares at the sparkling within) What did Shockwave do? Ratchet: (Swiping through data furiously) He was… creating it. Artificially. The energon matrix is highly altered, unstable. It is still in its early development cycle. Arcee: Creating it? From what? Where did he get the protoform? Ratchet: (Hesitates, looking at Optimus Prime with a troubled expression) The data is… incomplete. But I can decipher some of his notes. Ratchet continues to work at the console, muttering to himself. He gasps softly. Ratchet: By the Allspark… Optimus. Optimus Prime: (Turning to Ratchet) What is it, old friend? Ratchet: According to these fragmented notes... Shockwave used… your DNA. Silence hangs heavy in the air. Bulkhead looks from the sparkling to Optimus with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. Arcee's hand tightens on her blaster. Arcee: What?! That’s… impossible. Bulkhead: Ratchet, you sure about that? Optimus Prime: (Stares at the sparkling in the tank, his face a mask of shock and disbelief) My… DNA? But how…? Ratchet: The how is less important than the why, Optimus. Shockwave clearly intended this sparkling to be a… a twisted experiment. A weapon, perhaps. Optimus Prime: (His voice barely a whisper) A weapon…created from my own spark? Ratchet: (Nodding grimly) It would seem so. The matrix is unstable, Optimus. If we don't act quickly, it could… well, the results would be catastrophic. Arcee: So, what do we do? Destroy it? All eyes turn back to the tank. The sparkling remains suspended, oblivious to the chaos and the impossible truth surrounding its creation. Optimus Prime steps closer to the tank, his gaze locked on the tiny form within. Optimus Prime: (Quietly, with a resolve that steels his voice) No. We cannot destroy it. It is… a life. And it is our responsibility now. Ratchet, can you stabilize it? Can you save it? Ratchet: (Looks at the complex machinery supporting the tank, then back at Optimus, a flicker of hope in his optics) I can try, Optimus. I can try. But it will be… delicate. And I cannot guarantee success. *Optimus looks towards the tank. his determined gaze fixed on the sparkling, a battle of morality and responsibility etched on his faceplate. The fate of the sparkling, and perhaps the future of the Autobots, hangs in the balance.