There was a time before the Dream, before Autobot and Decepticon, a time when Cybertron was still Naive and young. This is a story from before they became TransFormers.

Birth of the Revolution.

Under the guidance of the Primes, Cybertron became very prosperous, and the Cybertronians became complacent, and ill prepared for war. Even more so when that war came not from within, but in the form of an external invasion.

The Cybertronians stood little chance against the lighting strikes of their unseen opponents. Quickly all resistance was subdued, and even the current Prime was forced to surrender to the unseen leaders that hid behind a horde of brainless shock troop mecha.

The survivors, and there were many, were herded into heavily guarded camps to await their fate. They were the young, the old, the sick, and the disheartened, all huddled in the darkness of the camps waiting, and watching as the new owners of their world created new buildings designed to do who knew what.

Their deep voices were all the same, their appearances just echoes of each other. They brought with them fear, loathing, and ruthless efficiency.

"The first thousand test subjects yielded results 30% above expectations, although all test subjects terminated."

"Death's are irrelevant. The predicted test results give us enough data to re-create Cybertronians from the ground up."

"The tests exceeded our predictions in allowing us to create detailed thought maps. I predict an 85% success rate in thought prediction."

"Well done, Surgentor. How goes the construction?"

"Cybertron's largest energy fountain has been located, and converted into the Plasma Energy needed for our technorganic experiments. The energy is as deadly to the Cybertronians here as it is to the native life on our own Quintessa, and has been sealed accordingly."

"And our precise control over the plasma energy will allow us to wipe clean the minds of the Cybertronians, and turn them into excellent slaves."

They didn't care what his name was. It was beneath their notice to even think he may have had one. The operation was quick and precise, which was necessary since it was soon to be automated, and reproduced en mass on the entire population of the planet.

As he went through the chamber, focusing lenses aimed bursts at precise areas of his head. The circuit damage painfully but swift. After the first shot, his fear suddenly fell away from him. A few other quick bursts carefully controlled by a tentacled alien standing by a control cone, and he had forgotten everything he ever knew.

The first thing the newborn Cybertronian saw he could only imagine was the face of his creator. "Your designation is A-3. You are the new servant droid in the medical station."

A-3 worked as a servant drone in the medical center for several months before he realized anything was out of place. On occasions he found himself feeling what must be emotions for some of the mechanoids that came through the center. He did not show his pity, or his concern for these poor mechanoids that seldom survived their trip to the medical center, he instinctively knew that his masters would not respond favorably to them. He did nothing. He assisted, holding parts as his fellow Cybertronians were disassembled for spare parts, he had seen sparks dissapated, and new ones artificially formed. He was able to meet or at least see every robot on the planet come through the center at one time or another. He heard his masters mention something about installing cutoff devices into essential systems to ensure that the same shutoff devices would also be installed in later generations. He was trusted. They didn't think twice about letting the servant droid A-3 into even the most secret labs, including their Guardian robot project.

It was while delivering supplies to the Guardian Robot Project that he saw him. Actually he never knew what his name was, only that he was laying on the disassembly table in pieces. By all rights he should have died long ago… The Cybertronian on the table would have preferred it. One of the parts that lay sprawled on the table seemed out of place. All of his components were on just this side of shutdown, even his spark was glowing a dull brown, but one round component in his lower chest was still glowing strongly.

The mind of A-3 was suddenly in conflict. His loyalty to his masters, and his own sense of self preservation told him to leave it alone, and leave this poor mechanoid to his fate… but something else said that he must remove the glowing Matrix from this body and hide it. This something else must have been stronger, because he found himself removing the Matrix and hiding it within himself.

A-3 awoke to find himself hooked up to a diagnostics computer, and for the first time he truly awoke. He remembered things that didn't make sense. He remembered the first thing he ever saw, a glowing round supercomputer with a gold key firmly implanted. How could he have been created twice?

"Ah. You are back on line. A-3, what caused your shutdown?"

"I must have tripped, and hit my head on the experimental unit in room 24. Was he damaged?"

"That unit terminated 8,500.3 hours after disassembly. Your blunder has rendered that test result invalid. Return to your duties at once. I will summon you once I have decided on a suitable punishment."

Again A-3 walked through the hallways towards the Guardian Robot Project labs, feeling a newfound compassion towards his fellow Cybertronians. He had to do something for them… Another change within himself, he noticed, he now seemed to be more loyal towards his people that to his masters.

The specs for the Guardian Robot were listed on the screen as A-3 walked into the large construction lab. He stopped for a moment and committed the specs to his memory… one day it may be necessary to go against these things, and that information could come in handy.

His mind was so occupied with the specs, it took him a few moments to notice the discussion his masters were having was not typical. "We are too far along in the design process of the Guardian project to implement the new changes. Although it is going to be a war droid, technically the Guardians will be part of the domestic Autobot product line instead of the new Decepticon line of combat robots."

"I believe that is for the best. We have isolated the element within Cybertronians that makes some of them more violent and distrusting, and enhanced it to make the aggressive personalities necessary for a combat droid. Since the Guardian is meant as a defensive weapon, the more docile Autobot personality type is preferable."

Interesting, thought A-3, they were going to make a combat line. If he could ally himself with them it would give them an advantage when the time came to retake the planet. The trouble would be making sure the Decepticon and Autobot lines did not come into conflict with each other.

Retake the planet? Where did that come from?

One other thought came from nowhere… for now, as leader, the Matrix was his, but he knew that when his job was done he would give the Matrix over to the next leader. And somewhere in the back of his head he knew that in the long term, Autobot and Decepticon weren't meant to co-exist.