Disclaimer: I own didly-squat; Hasbro and Takara own all and I make no money from doing this.

A/N: My first fic ever, I finally stopped being lazy. If you are going to flame all I ask is that you have a valid reason. I will try and fix any plot holes, spelling mistakes, cannon errors etcetera that I find or that are pointed out to me. Here we go!

Kinds of Sentience

Prologue Battle After-effects

Ratchet moved through the devastation that had been the battleground. The city was a mess, but that was only to be expected after the fight that had taken place there not even a few minutes before. He could hardly believe it, Megatron was dead, killed by the small human male Samuel James Witwicky with the overwhelming power of the All Spark and what Decepticons were still alive had fled to lick their wounds. The Autobots had actually accomplished what they had set out to do those many centuries ago. But it had come with a price that Ratchet would have given anything not to pay.

"You wanna piece of me! You want a Piece?"

"No, I want two!"

Those words had carried across the city to his audio receptors and for that second he had prayed to Primus that Jazz would be ok, that he would be able to hang on until Ratchet could get to him. But he had prayed in vain and now he was taking reluctant steps through the ruined city, toward the two rent pieces of the body of his fallen comrade.

"Jazz, why did you do it? Why would you try to take on Megatron by yourself?"

Jazz would never answer him, but he didn't need to; it was what he would do, buying time for Prime and the Air force to get there, to get Sam and the All Spark out so that Prime wouldn't have go through with his suicidal plan to unite his Spark with the All Spark. So like him, to take on any danger because he was the best 'bot for the job and he had always pulled it off, until now.

"Come on; let's get you to Prime and the others. It isn't dignified for you to just stay lying where you fell"

With those words Ratchet gently scooped up the remains of his friend and went to find the others, worrying as he trudged through the devastation.

'How are they all going to take this? Prime has lost his first lieutenant, someone he could always count on and trust to get the job done right. I don't think there's anyone that Prime could trust as much – it will be a sore blow for him. Ironhide won't let it show, but he will miss Jazz as much as any of us. 'Bee, poor Bumblebee, they were such good friends, if there was anyone he looked up to besides Prime it was Jazz.'

"Ratchet?"

It was Ironhide making his waytoward the medic, staring with dim, pain filled optics at the burden he carried.

"Is he….Will he…?"

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. His Spark is extinguished; he's not there anymore Ironhide"

"Slag it!" The weapons specialist snarled, turning to slam his fist into an already crumbling building.

Ratchet sighed, wishing he could do the same, but he was too tired to even unleash his anger at Jazz's death.

"Come on Ironhide, we need to find Prime, I don't think he knows"

They set off again, walking in silence for a few moments until they came to the scene of Megatron's demise where Bumblebee, Sam, Mikaela, Prime and Will Lennox with his team had gathered. Bumblebee had lost his legs helping Ironhide protect the humans from Starscream's missile but had still come back to the fight with Mikaela, attached to the back of a tow truck and shooting down Devastator while Mikaela drove the truck in reverse! It would take Ratchet a lot of work to get him functional again, but he didn't grudge the little yellow 'bot any of it. He would have preferred to have been fixing two serious injuries, but there was nothing anyone but Primus could do for Jazz now. Ratchet walked up to Optimus.

"Prime, we couldn't save him"

He handed the pieces that had once been the lieutenant to Optimus

"Ohhh, Jazz"

The Autobot leader took the body carefully from the medic, and then turned to face the humans who had helped them accomplish their mission.

"We lost a great comrade, but gained new ones. Thank you, all of you; you honour us with your bravery"

"Permission to speak, sir"

Ratchet's head whipped around at an appreciable fraction of light speed to look at Bumblebee in surprise

'He's speaking! But that can't be possible, I haven't worked on him since the night we came to Earth and I seriously doubt that those Sector Seven people would have repaired his vocal processor even if they could. But, ah, he held the All Spark – that's the answer'

Prime smiled at the Autobot scout and spy, the expression on his face indicating just how glad he was to hear Bumblebee speaking again.

"Permission granted, old friend"

"I wish to stay with the boy"

Ratchet smiled to himself, Bumblebee had bonded well with his charge, probably because they were so alike; so seeming fragile but possessed of great strength, courage and determination. Even he did not want to think about leaving the humans, they were so fascinating a species; so diverse and different.

"If that is his choice"

Optimus looked toward Sam, already knowing what his answer would be.

"Yes"

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Captain William Lennox was dead tired, but he knew it had to come sooner or later. The rush of fear and rage induced adrenalin had long since faded from his system, the strength and endurance it had given him during the fight was now non-existent and he felt like a piece of half-masticated chewing gum, or maybe one of Figs mother's alligator kebabs. He looked over at the sight of a giant yellow-green robot tending to the crushed stumps of a smaller, brighter yellow robot.

'They're Autobots, not robots or machines, but actual living people who just happen to be made of metal'

He had to remember that, he owed it to them. They had not only saved the world but his life, twice; when the large grey one with the awesome firepower had recognised that F-22 as being one of the enemies, the Decepticons, and protected them from the missile it had launched. Ironhide - that was his name and the yellow-green one was their medic, Ratchet, the largest one with the red flame detail was their commanding officer, Optimus Prime, and the little yellow one, what had the girl called him?

"No! I'm not going 'til I get Bumblebee out of here"

Ah, that was it - Bumblebee. Will smiled to himself, wondering if they knew what a Bumblebee was here on Earth. Bumblebee had saved him as well, coming back to the battle even though he had lost his legs and shooting down that tank-thing that he and his men just couldn't seem to kill. Without his help they would have been seriously fucked. He looked over to where Optimus Prime stood, holding one of his men, Jazz, who had taken on that NBE-1 or Megatron or whatever you wanted to call him and gotten ripped in half, Will could only hope that even that sort of damage was enough to kill even an Autobot quickly, he knew that it was a horrible way to die slowly. And that reminded him of something he needed to discuss with Optimus and he began to walk over to the Autobot CO.

"A word, if I may sir?"

Blazing blue eyes, or whatever they were, looked down at him and Will had to resist the urge to cringe, he knew that they were on his side but, damn, they were huge!

"Of course, Captain. What is it you wish to speak to me about?"

The Autobot leader placed the parts of his soldier to one side softly and hunkered down so that would not be towering over Will anymore and Will used that time to put his thoughts in order.

"Well, I know that Bumblebee is going to stay with Sam so I was wondering if that meant all of you would be remaining on Earth?"

"It does, with the All Spark destroyed we cannot give life back to our planet, there is no longer any reason to go back to Cybertron"

'So that was what was so important about that cube thing, not just the fact that it would turn all of Earths machines into an army'

"I'm sure that the government will be more than happy to let you stay here, and if Bumblebee is going to live with Sam it would probably make sense for you to have your base near Tranquillity, or as near as you can be whilst still having some privacy. I don't think the US government is going to make your existence here public, but you might have noticed how suicidally curious humans are"

Prime smiled at that, and Will knew that the Autobots were encountering a steep learning curve when it came to human nature.

"We do wish to stay here and it would be best if we could stay together. Starscream and Barricade are not accounted for, and we do not know what other Decepticons are roaming the stars. I would counsel you not to let your guard down too much just yet"

Will began to swear viscously, he did not want to have to go through another fight like that.

"There are more of these guys out there? And they could find their way here?"

"In answer to your first question, yes, for the second I do not know, maybe they could but wether they would come to Earth is another matter. However not only Decepticons roam the galaxy, I believe there are other Autobots out there"

"Well, they would be welcome here. You guys saved us – the least we could do is offer you a place to stay"

"Thank you"

"Speaking of which, I know this is a little delicate, but what will you do with Jazz's body"

"Until we find a base I would like to leave Jazz in the care of your government, I do not wish anything to happen to him until we can put him to rest.

"I understand and I'll pass that on to the Secretary of Defence"

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Agent Davies of Sector Seven waited for the man carrying a largish, black case toward him from the battle ground that Mission city had been.

"This had better be good, we lost NBE-1 and now the government is on their side. If we can't salvage anything then we might as well kiss the whole project goodbye"

Agent Thomson smiled and held up the case he carried

"I think you will be very pleased with what I managed to recover"

Davies remained sceptical; with all the shit Sector Seven had experienced recently his sense of optimism, never very strong, was no longer in working order

"So what is it?"

Thomson opened the case, showing a clear, crystalline box with something like a living sapphire suspended in it.

'A Spark Case, complete with Spark'

This was even better than he had dared hope for. A living, incapacitated specimen! He grinned at Agent Thomson

"That is impressive, very good work Agent. Now let's get out of here, I have a feeling that those NBE's would not be very happy to let us keep this little prize.