Authors note: I don't own transformers however Edge, AKA Hacker is mine.

Starscream flies in low and fast into the open door to the Decepticon HQ.  As soon as he's in the door behind him shuts.  Quickly he transformers and grabs the two humans he had captured, Spike and his father Sparkplug.  In his hands he watched them struggle but to know avail and laughed sinisterly, bringing them up to his optics he smirked and said, "Waste not your fuel, fools!  You are our prisoners now!  The Autobots will not come for you!"

"You lie!" Cried Spike defiantly.  "Optimus and the Autobots will come, you'll see!"

Starscream laughed evilly again before traversing through Decepticon Base to Megatron's throne room.  As he went he gloated to the humans, "Ha!  I'm sorry to inform you that you are sadly mistaken!"

"Why do you think they won't come?  They are honorable and loyal!  They protect the innocent and good!"

Starscream laughed hysterically, a memory of long ago now echoing clear in his mind.  "Honorable and loyal!" Starscream mocked and then suddenly spat.  There was a distant gleam in his optics and a smile that wrapped from audio to audio, however he said nothing more.

They entered the throne room.  As usually Megatron was sitting in his throne and Soundwave stood off to his left, apparently saying something that was now lost as Starscream entered.  Rumble, Frenzy, and Ravage were there and following Starscream shortly in was Skywarp and Thundercraker.

Megatron noticed the two humans and smiled brightly which frightened Sparkplug and Spike terribly.  "Aw, good work Starscream, for once."  Suddenly Megatron became aware of the rather large smile and distant look in Starscream's optics and faceplate and frowned.  It was not a smile suiting for such a petty victory as this.  There was obviously something else that was putting Starscream into a good mood.  "What are you smiling at?" Demanded Megatron.

Starscream snickered and replied, "Nothing, oh Megatron.  I was just simply telling these humans that the Autobots aren't as loyal and honorable as they led these fleshlings to believe!"

Starscream winked and grinned broadly to get the message across.  Megatron and the others sat staring at Starscream in confusion but then suddenly Megatron understood, slowly recalling Optimus's son.  He began to laugh.

"Oh yes, Prime's creation- Edge wasn't that his name?"

"Actually Lord Megatron," Soundwave corrected, his red band flashed as if he were finding this amusing, "it was Edge Matrix Prime, EMP for short."

The Decepticons in the room suddenly burst into a fit of laughs, now recalling that long forgotten memory as if it were yesterday.  Spike and Sparkplug were lost between shock and disbelief.  Sparkplug eventually found his voice and choked out, "Prime, Optimus Prime has a- a son?"

Abruptly Megatron stopped laughing and the other Decepticons followed suit, however there was still a great deal of snickering.  "Has, no." Megatron said flatly, almost a bite in his voice.  "Did," and here his voice took on a giddy like tone, "yes!"

"You mean this Autobot- Edge, Prime's son is dead?!"

There was a silence among the Decepticons that told Sparkplug and Spike everything.  Apparently they didn't know if this Edge was or wasn't but the vast majority believed he was.

Megatron spoke again, "The Hacker is dead, yes."

"Hacker?"
"Yes, fleshling, Hacker was Edge's Decepticon given name.  It suited him much better than- Edge."

"Optimus never said anything about a son!"
"And why should he?  I'm sure he and Alita-One prefer not to mention it, and grieve over it together, Prime holding poor little, pink Alita-One close to him for her comfort!  Such a poor Cybertronian mother that her son would turn out more Decepticon than Autobot!"  Said Megatron adopting a false sympathy tone.  The Decepticons all busted into laughs again.  Sparkplug, being an only father, quickly became infuriated.

"Shut up!  You're lying!  Optimus and Alita are some of the best Autobots there are!  There's no way a son of theirs would defect to the Decepticons!"

"Oh, but he did fleshling!  And it wasn't even a plan of mine at all!  It was all Prime, Alita-One, and the Autobots fault for his defecting!  Isn't that right Soundwave?"

"Affirmative!"

"See?"

"That proves nothing!" Spike snapped heatedly.  "I refuse to believe anything you say!"

"You may refuse, fleshling." Said Megatron now more craftily as he settled back into his throne.  "But the seed of doubt is already there, you must be curious as to how it all happened?"

Both Sparkplug and Spike were quiet as they looked to one another.  It was true that they were now curious and wished to hear this story but they both vowed privately whatever they heard they would not believe until they heard it from Prime's own mouth.

Megatron did not wait for their response and began the tale anyway.  "Autobots may want to think they are good and kind but it's not true.  They're just as mean and uncaring as we Decepticons and that's no lie.  Hacker is a example of this.

"When he was created he couldn't transform and had only a robot mode like the ancients when they can no longer transform.  To top this off, he was a weakling, one shot from a laser gun would destroy him!  Hahahaha!  It was because of these things, and that fact that he was a geek, that the Autobots picked on him!  But did Prime and Alita help their creation?  No!  They only added to the problem!  Prime paid no attention to him once so ever, and when Edge came up to him with an invention he said he was too busy yet the next nanosecond Wheeljack walks up with his new invention and Prime inspects it right away!  Whenever Edge needed help with his homework did Prime bother to help him out, no!  He sent Edge away with a wave of his hand, not even bothering to look up, and told him to go ask Alita-one!

"Heh, Alita-One!  What a laugh!  She bad-mouthed him right along with her other femme friends!  But did they ever bother to help Edge? No, they had plenty of opportunities to give him a transformation, strengthen his armor, train him properly but they didn't!  And he grew more and more angry with the Autobots each passing cycle.  Quickly he became rebellious, and we Decepticons watched from our spy Laserbeak the suffering of this poor Autobot with sadden hearts." The Decepticons snickered.  "However *I* noticed the potential within him.  It was *I* who noticed his strong hacking skills and computer knowledge.  It was *I* that offered him a better life, a Decepticon life where he could exact his revenge upon his creators, *if* he would drop the security on Iacon while we attacked and steal command codes from his *father*."

"You fiend!" Spike shouted suddenly.  "You *did* trick him into joining you!  You used him!"

Megatron's optics grew a deep crimson red.  Suddenly he slammed his fist on the armchair of his throne.  "Silence fleshbag or I will destroy you!  We did not *trick* Hacker!  Hacker willingly joined the Decepticons!  He dropped Autobot defenses and we attacked!  As he fled he did as I wished and stole command codes from Prime!  Yes he was useful while he lived, albeit for a short time, but it was natural for such a traitor as him to die sometime."

"You killed him!" Sparkplug accused angrily.

Suddenly Megatron erupted into a fit of laughter, almost hysterical.  The Decepticons also laughed hard at Sparkplug's last remark too.  Slowly the laughter died down and Megatron replied, "No, I did not kill the whining brat.  I would have kept him around, used his great ingenious inventions to crush the Autobots and any future resistance, but no.  See, the irony in this story is that Prime and the Autobots killed him!  Yes, Prime!  Do you think he gives mercy to traitors?  Do you think he is as honorable as he claims to be?  Oh yes, maybe now, but in poor Hacker's case, no.

"Ask him yourself when, or even if he and the Autobots come to save you.  They never tried to save Hacker, convert him back.  Not once."

"You lie." Spark whispered heatedly, not wanting to believe a word of it.  Megatron frowned.

"I've had enough of these pathetic flesh bags, take them away Starscream!"

"Yes, mighty Megatron." Starscream said in his annoying voice and turned to leave.

Starscream left the throne room, the doors closing shut behind him, when suddenly he was jumped by Autobots!
"Ah!" He screamed.  "Autobots in the base!  Autobots in the ... arg!"

Gears slammed him one hard in the faceplate and sent him into the opening doors.  Bumblebee caught Spike and Sparkplug as they fell from Starscream's hands.  Then he quickly transformed and they got in, and dashed away between Prime's feet.  Optimus held his laser rifle in both hands, firing into the mass of Decepticons on the other side of the doors coming through.

"Autobots retreat!" Prime ordered as return fire began to come back.  A stray strike of fusion buzzed pass his head and hit the wall.

"Curse you Prime!" Megatron growled.  "How did you get into my base!"

"You left the doors wide open Megatron!" Prime joked, though his joke was not laughed at as usually, and he transformed and sped off with his other attack force.

Later, riding across the open plain heading for the Ark.  Sparkplug and Spike are riding with Optimus Prime and have been very silent the entire time, contemplating what Megatron and the Decepticons had said.  Optimus, worried about his human friends asked, "Sparkplug, Spike, what is wrong?  Have the Decepticons hurt you in anyway?"

"Huh?  Oh no Prime." Spike replied hazily but said nothing else.  He looked to be contemplating something to ask Prime but his father asked for him.

"Optimus," Sparkplug said.

"Yes?"
"Is it true that you and the Autobots are just as cruel as the Decepticons?"

"What?" Prime asked, stunned by the question.  "Sparkplug, how could you even compare ..."

"What about Edge?"

Suddenly Prime put on the brakes and the humans lunged forward, but because their seatbelts were on they were flung back against the seat.  The other Autobots cried out in surprise, having to quickly stop or spin aside to avoid crashing into Prime's back trailer.  They all transformed, Prime included who now stared down at Sparkplug and Spike with wide, blue optics.  Almost looking at them in horror.  Both feared the Autobot Leader then, wondering if what Megatron had said was indeed true and if Prime would kill them to prevent their true nature from getting out.  But all that Prime said was,

"Who told you about Edge?"

"M-Megatron." Sparkplug replied hesitantly, unsure about the saddened voice of Prime.  "He said that you and the Autobots treated him like dirt Prime.  Don't tell me that it's true- don't tell me you did it to your own son."

Prime, nor any of the Autobots who now understood Prime's reaction, said anything.  They were all as silent as the dead and judging from the look in Prime's optics, Megatron mustn't have been lying.

"Oh Prime!" Sparkplug choked in surprise.

After a long moments pause Optimus replied solemnly, "Sparkplug, Spike, know that I suffered deeply from Edge's death and if it was within my power I would have prevented what happened."

Both humans smiled, see, they knew the Autobots, Optimus especially, weren't evil like the Decepticons!  Albeit treating Edge like they did was cruel!  Yet perhaps Optimus and Alita's lack of attention to him was simply all a big misunderstanding- a misunderstanding that cost Edge his life.

"Did you really brush him aside Prime?  Did you all really pick on him?"

None spoke, but Prime looked like he had the most wounded look they had ever seen in his optics.

"How long did ..."

"One and a half Cybertronian years." Ironhide confessed, unwilling to see or hear, Prime come out with it himself.  The big red Autobot looked quite ashamed himself.  They wondered if he had picked on Edge too, most likely.

"We erased all files on his existence- just like ...!"

Suddenly Prime transformed into truck mode and sped off leaving his troops to follow suit.  Sparkplug and Spike climbed into Bumblebee and sat quietly on the way back to the Ark.  Sparkplung, unlike Spike, could understand Optimus's reaction. 

Poor Alita-One.

Poor, Prime.

They wished, just like all the other Autobots, but not more so than Prime or Alita, that there was something they could do.  That they could somehow rewind time for the Autobot Leaders and undo what had happened.

But that was simply not possible-

...or was it?