Right Of Succession
Change Of Status.
Sam walked back to the Autobot base, his processors whirling with the events of the last five minutes, ideas and thoughts raising themselves in his head. Ironhide nodded to Sam as he walked in.
"You won then." Ironhide said, a statement, not a question.
"Yeah, I won." Sam said dazedly, still trying to assimilate what that victory had wrought. Ironhide watched the dazed seeming Sam walk into the Base.
"Don't ferget to go see Ratchet or he'll have yer lugnuts fer a necklace!" he called out. He hadn't seen Sam this vague-looking, not even when he first came out of that egg-thing. Sam nodded, and continued on.
He did go to the med bay, where Ratchet was working on the inert form of Jazz. Ratchet was determined that dead or no, Jazz should look good, one last time.
"He was always concerned about his appearance." He had said. "The least I can do is make sure he looks good even if he is dead."
"How's it going?" he asked as Ratchet straightened up.
"Well, I'm finished up on him now." Ratchet said. "The body is fully functional, fully repaired. He looks like he's just in recharge." Ratchet sighed. "If only that were so."
Remembering what had happened with Starscream, Sam looked at Jazz's body, and said "Mind if I try something?"
Ratchet nodded. "As long as you're not going to undo my work, I guess you can, it won't hurt." He sighed. "Jazz is beyond being hurt, ever again."
Sam put a hand over Jazz's chest, shuttered his optics, and thought hard about Jazz, remembering him, recalling their first meeting, his impressive transformation in front of them, balancing on one hand. He recalled his ready laugh and cheeky smile. He concentrated on that. 'I want you back where you belong, Jazz.' Sam thought to himself. A warmth began to spread under his fingers as he heard the crackle of AllSpark energy and Ratchet's gasp. It was working.
'Go home, Jazz, get back in your body and LIVE!' he thought.
There was a small bang, as if of displaced air, and Sam unshuttered his optics in time to see the blue corona of AllSpark energy around his hand fade. As he withdrew his hand, both he and Ratchet heard a whirring and whining as motors engaged and cabling tautened. A moment later, Jazz's optics began to unshutter and brighten.
Sam felt Ratchet catch his arm and pull him rather roughly out of the way: Sam understood that Ratchet's treatment was not personal: he just wanted to get to his patient and Sam was in the way. Scanning light sprang from Ratchet and played over the small silver mech as Jazz looked up at Ratchet in confusion.
"Ratch? What gives?" He looked around. "This your new medbay? It's built already? Was I out that long?" He shuttered his optics briefly twice. "I remember, I was fighting Megatron. That's why I'm a patient, right? How badly slagged was I?"
"Badly enough." Said Ratchet. He'd elaborate later, he was still getting over the pleasant shock of Jazz's reanimation. He turned to Sam.
"Thank you." He indicated the recharge berths.
"Take two hours to recharge, then I'll call the others down and you can brief them on what happened out there." Sam nodded, he did feel tired.
Sam was about to say that he wasn't tired, but realised that if he did, he'd be lying, he was tired. Well, he had just battled, part of it in the air, and he had channelled, - with the AllSpark's help - the Sparks of two dead mechs back into their bodies, so he supposed he had a right to be tired. He just nodded to Ratchet and headed for the recharge berths. As he eased the canopy down, he heard Ratchet beginning to explain to Jazz exactly how badly fragged Megatron had left him. Then his processors slowed as he slipped into shutdown.
oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo
He sat up once the two-hour recharge cycle was over, pushed up the canopy and stood up. He was feeling better, rested, and headed out into the med bay. Ratchet saw him, and nodded.
"Okay, now you're awake, I'll call the others. I've brought Jazz up to date with events, and though he seems fine, I want to keep an optic on him, I'm keeping him in for the next three joors. So, you can report on the duel down here, I've called down any who are interested and not on duty." Sam nodded.
A few moments later, Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bumblebee and Prowl filed in. Sam guessed that Mirage, Cliffjumper and Hound were probably on duty. Mikaela was sat in Bumblebee's hands, but his parents were not there, for they had gone back to see to Mojo and deal with work, because in spite of everything, their normal, mundane lives had to be seen to.
Bumblebee rushed over to envelop Sam's lower torso in a hug. Sam returned the embrace.
"Are you okay? When Ratchet said you were in recharge I was worried you'd got hurt!"
"No, Bee, the battle just left me tired." He rubbed the smaller mech's shoulders and then pulled back. Bumblebee released him from the hug.
"Ratchet. You told us you had something to tell us." This was Optimus.
Ratchet nodded.
"It seems that the AllSpark has had…..some sort of lasting effect on Sam." Ratchet said hesitantly. "Come out, Jazz." He said. As everybody watched, Jazz walked around from where he had been standing, out of sight.
"Jazz?" said Prowl, then "JAZZ!" He rushed over to Jazz in a most un-Prowl like manner and threw his arms around the smaller silver mech. Jazz's arms rose up to pat Prowl's lower back, and then the black and white mech suddenly remembered how many people were watching him. He pulled back and tried to get back some sort of dignity. He stood straight.
"I am pleased to see that you are no longer dead, First Lieutenant Jazz." he stated calmly. Then his mask of composure broke in the biggest grin any of them had ever seen on the faceplates of the black and white mech.
It was Optimus who took the heat off Prowl, as Jazz grinned and poked him playfully.
"Jazz. It is good to have you back with us." He said with feeling. The rest of the assembled Bots agreed-some with murmurs and some with louder yells and cheers. Bumblebee ran over to hug the silver saboteur, who hugged back. Then Optimus turned to Sam.
"Explain how this happened, Sam. We are grateful, but how did you know you had this ability?"
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain. You see Jazz wasn't the first person
I revived." Sam said. "It first happened after the duel."
"Start from the beginning, Sam. We know you went out to fight the duel, you had to, we know that." said Optimus. "However, it seems that something occurred that made this no ordinary duel."
'You have NO idea!' Sam thought to himself, but merely nodded.
"You could say that." He said. He lifted a shoulder in a one-sided shrug.
"It's kinda….complicated." he said.
"As I would expect it to be, considering what you just achieved." Ratchet stated a little testily.
"Just explain as best as you can, Sam." Optimus said in his usual calm intonations.
Sam nodded, and he began to describe his arrival at the duel site, and Starscream's reaction to his new Cybertronian form. He described the fight, and how he had hit Starscream harder than intended, killing him.
"Huh, so we're well rid of Starscream, that's one less Decepticon seeker 'ter worry about." interjected Ironhide, as Sam paused.
"Not quite, you see…Starscream was the first person I revived. That's how I found out that I could." Sam explained.
"Now what'd you do a silly thing like that for?" Ironhide scowled
"Just like I didn't intend to kill him, I didn't mean to revive him, I mean, I didn't know I had the AllSpark energy in me and could use it like that till it happened." Sam said. "As I held my hand above his chest, a light gathered in it, it felt warm, and then it went into his chest, which sorta repaired itself and got a new cockpit, and then he came back online." Sam said.
"So, what happened then? Did you have to fight him again?" asked Bumblebee.
"No, he didn't." Sam said. "He yielded to me, addressed me as Sparkhands." Sam said.
"Well, Starscream must have some sort of respect or reverence for the AllSpark after all." Ratchet said. "He gave you a name he thought fitting for what you had done, you must still have AllSpark energy in you, Sparkhands." Ratchet said. Sam had no time to query Ratchet's swift acceptance of the name Starscream had bestowed upon him as Ratchet continued right on talking.
"It manifested itself because it sensed your regret. You see, it's not all that complicated. Now, what we need to do is see if we can find out if this is a temporary or permanent situation, though I guess we could just wait and see." He said.
Sam sighed.
"No Ratchet, that's not complicated, it's what happened next that made this whole situation complicated." Sam said. He cycled his vents as he psyched himself up to explain. He thought of six or seven convoluted explanations and discarded them all, and settled for the simple setting-out of the facts.
"That's when Soundwave asked me for orders." He paused, noting that everybody around was looking nonplussed – everyone, that is, except Prowl, who was looking at him in a look part querying, part contemplative. Sam continued.
"Don't ask me why, but it seems that my defeat of Starrscream somehow made me the new Decepticon leader."