Right of Succession.

Summary: Soundwave informs Starscream that he will only accept Starscream's right to lead the Decepticons if he kills the slayer of Megatron. Starscream accepts this, after all, how hard can it be to kill one little squishy? However, there are circumstances in play that Starscream knows nothing about.

Disclaimer: Transformers is the property of Hasbro and Paramount/DreamWorks. I claim no ownership.

Rating: T for violence

Pairings: Maybe a little implied SamxBee

Warnings: Violence, character death.

A/N: You may wish to consider this A/U as the movie ending is changed a little. This prologue may seem to have nothing to do with the summary, but it is necessary, and the next chapter should make everything a little clearer.

This is dedicated to Shadowsinger of a group I'm involved with, the Nerdene Hyrde, who made a comment that hatched the idea for this little bunny.

Right Of Succession

Prologue: Mission City.

Sam ran up before he even realised what he was doing, dodging Megatron's lethal clawed hand as the latter made a grab for him. He thrust the object clasped between his own splay-fingered hands directly upwards into the fierce dark-matter Spark that glinted from its place in Megatron's chest. What Megatron's chest-plates were doing being open far enough for Sam to perform this action was unknown, but Sam didn't have the time to wonder about it: he just did it.

As the AllSpark Cube made contact with the Spark, the material was consumed enough to allow the two energies to combine, and combine they did, with lethal force.

The energy climbed upwards, combining and conflicting with the Decepticon Leader's Spark, but as the energies fought and twisted, there was a blowback of energy back the way that it had come. The energies travelled back through the Cube, and down through Sam. He crackled with the energy, and his body's systems took massive damage, before he had even registered the pain. Only the energy pouring through the frail organic form – and Sam's own determination – kept his body upright, holding the Cube in its place, as it destroyed the two life-forms on each end, one mechanical, one organic.

Something of the AllSpark registered the damage it was inflicting on the small form who had carried it, held it, shielded it, and at one point, dropped it. It had registered that he was an innocent, dragged into the Cybertronian power struggle by circumstances of his parentage and inheritance.

By the time it realised, most of the damage done was irreversible. It could not save the organic body, that was damaged beyond repair, but what the AllSpark could not repair, it could replace, in it's own way. It had a pattern, it had the power. What it could not fix, it would replace. The innocent who had made the ultimate sacrifice would live, and it would live through him.

With its last vestige of consciousness and control, it subtly altered the nature of the energy maelstrom of the combined forces, directing it back towards the organic form, whose body had begun to char.

Sam was technically dead, watched by a horrified Optimus Prime, when thin golden strands began forming from the air around him, and his body began to sparkle. The golden strands continued to be generated, seeming to spin themselves around the human's form as the huge Cybertronian whose chest the Cube had been thrust into fell away, optics dimming. This continued for several minutes, Sam's small form obscured by the glistening strands. Then the glowing died down, and then ceased altogether.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't save him."

Optimus was jerked out of his thoughts as Ratchet spoke, and he and Ironhide crossed over, Ironhide cradling the two halves of Jazz, one half in each arm.

As Mikaela drew up with the pickup truck, Bumblebee spoke up.

"Where's Sam?"

"What the FRAG is that!" exclaimed Ironhide, gesturing to the fifteen-foot long, shiny metallic bloated oval lying near the body of Megatron. Ratchet approached, scanning. The widest point of the oval came up to his chest.

"Sam pushed the AllSpark into Megatron's chest. I'm sorry, but he was obviously dead by the time some sort of energy burst from the AllSpark entombed him in that metal shell." Optimus stated sadly. He looked with sorrow at the pieces of Jazz, as Bumblebee uttered a small, distressed whimper.

"We have lost two brave warriors today, our own Jazz, and our organic friend Sam, who fought as bravely as any of us to stop the AllSpark from falling into the hands of Megatron. We will honour them both."

"Wait a minute." Ratchet said sharply. "My scans indicate life in there. Some of it is reminiscent of Sam, but other readings are indicative of something entirely different."

"Sam is in there?" queried Bumblebee. "Should we try to get him out? Surely it's not too late?" the young scout said worriedly.

"Don't write Sam off yet, he may still be alive in there." Ratchet said, shaking his head at Bumblebee. "That shell may be keeping him alive, if we try to open it, it could kill Sam. I think we should wait."

"You mean-it could be like – a cocoon, or maybe even an egg?" asked Mikaela.

Ratchet nodded.

"Nobody is fully certain of the power of the AllSpark. I'm not even sure Sam will survive this, but if he does…." Ratchet didn't complete the sentence, but began another.

"We have no idea what will come out when this hatches."