Jetstorm grimaced as he came back out of stasis. Alarms blared in his processor about the damage he'd sustained, but he was unable to process them with them all coming at once. His helm hurt so badly that he reached a shaky hand up to make sure it hadn't been split apart from the impact.

He struggled to recall what had transpired, the pieces slowly coming back like a setting through the mist.
First, he and his brother had been standing on top of Sumdac Tower, awaiting the Spacebridge to fully expand so they could return to Cybertronian space.
Second, the spacebridge had taken on an unusual color, and began to expand further than it should have.
Third, Jetstorm had shoved his brother out of the way of one burst of discharged energy, which had left him in the closest proximity to the full blast when the orb of unstable energy had finally erupted.
Fourth, Jetstorm had felt himself be thrown across the rooftop and then even off of it by the blast, and he'd been plummeting off of the tower when his sensors had shut down and left him in a forced stasis.

His entire chassis throbbed as he rolled over, and as his optics finally came back online, he found his visor was cracked, and his visuals flickered in and out of being color and black and white, on top of everything being blurry shapes moving about. "Ugh... Brother...?" He called with a raspy voice, feeling an increasing fear coming through their bond. "Brother!?"

There was no response, and Jetstorm forced himself up onto his hands and knees. His vision eventually cleared, but remained colorless and distorted from the long crack in his visor. He was on ground-level, and Sumdac Tower was a fair distance from his position; much further than he'd figured he could have tumbled. He hoped no vicious organic creature had dragged him this far, and he brought a hand to his helm with a grimace.

"Ugh...J-Jetstorm to Sentinel Prime, do you- Augh!"
He yelped as a loud screeching sound came out of his comm link. "Ugh...Communicator must be broken too. Must... find others..."

He forced himself up onto his feet, his chassis creaking as he stumbled a few steps before catching himself against the wall. "I is coming, Brother...Be holding on..."

Flight mode was not possible with his injuries; his wings bent inward and drooped limply from his shoulders, as it hurt too much to even try to lift them. His left foot was oozing energon, leaving footprints down the sidewalk as he limped onward; he needed repairs, but he had to find the Autobots' medic first.

With that in mind, he limped on foot down the street.

_______________________________________________________________________

An hour had passed since the bots had started their search, and yet there was no sign of Jetstorm anywhere. Once they had confirmed that he was not on the rooftop, they then began searching the platforms and ground below, but there was no trace of him there either; not even a crack where he might have landed and then gotten up and moved on.

Jetfire was becoming more frustrated by the minute, but after being scolded by Sentinel for not keeping his cool, the orange jet had not spoken another word. He searched the streets for any sign of his brother, hovering low and investigating anything blue that caught his optic, but to no avail.

Finally, they all returned to the Plant, if only to warm up for a few minutes before going back out.

Prowl stood off to the side, pacing back and forth while rubbing his chin. "Hmm...So we have a missing autobot, and no clues to suggest where he went or what happened..."

"I still say it might've been a transwarp." Bulkhead argued, "Bumblebee did that too."

"But I was holding onto a transwarp drive thingy without a director or whatever!" Bumblebee reminded, "I mean yeah, Jetstorm was the closest to the blast, but..."

"You still pickin' him up, 'Fire?" Jazz asked, and Jetfire nodded from his seat on the couch. His optics were closed, and his shoulders relaxed as he tried to focus on his brother's signal, on the pull of their bond.

The pull was getting slowly stronger, but it still felt off, like their bond was being partially inhibited by something other than distance. "...I am not thinking he has left planet Earth."

"Good." Optimus encouraged, "That narrows down the area we need to search."

"Yeah, narrowed down to one-hundred and six point nine million square miles." Prowl reminded, "That is a lot of ground and ocean to cover."

"We have to try. Jetfire said that Jetstorm is hurt, so we have to find him and make sure he's okay."

The prime looked back at the young bot as he sat silently, staring at his hands. He then lowered his voice to a whisper as he turned to their medic, "Ratchet...How much do we actually know about the bond between twins?"

"Not enough." Ratchet admitted with a sigh, "Twins are so rare on Cybertron, and our relations with the cybertronian colony Devisiun isn't the best, thanks to the incident with the registration act Sentinel was in charge of."

Optimus grunted quietly in understanding, "Once again, one of our biggest obstacles is because of his actions... Joy." He was quiet for a moment, and then rubbed his chin. "...Those pulses of emotion have to be traceable somehow..."

"Are you suggesting we conduct experiments on Jetfire, in his distressed state?"

"If we can figure out what kind of reactions occur in his processor when he sends or receives one of those signals, we may be able to create some sort of scanner that'll enable us to search more effectively by copying what Jetfire is doing."

The old medic grumbled, looking at several cuts in Jetfire's armor from the shrapnel. "The kid needs some medical attention anyway... Come on, Kid."

Ratchet walked over and gently tugged Jetfire to his feet, "Let's get you checked out while we're all here."

"Ratchet sir, I am..." Jetfire's voice trailed off as he remembered who he was trying to argue with; there was no arguing with almost any medic, but especially not Ratchet. "...Yes Sir."

"Good bot."

Optimus watched the medic and junior guard leave the room, and then turned to Sentinel. "You going back out already?"

"In that...Stuff? No slagging way." Sentinel informed, "At least not until the roads are cleared of it."

Optimus nodded; that gave them a little bit longer to work on his theory...and hopefully more time for Jetstorm to make his way back to the base.

_____________________________________________________________________

Jetstorm had decided against trying to head back up Sumdac Tower, he had a feeling the other bots would not have remained there except perhaps Bulkhead to help repair any damage to the Spacebridge.

The other possible location was back at Team Prime's base of operations at the plant, and the fresh tracks in the snow supported his suspicions. His own energon-stained footprints soon joined them as he limped down the empty roads, pushing the urge to rest into the back of his processor. He could rest when he'd gotten back to the others.

Despite being surrounded by snow and ice however, the air seemed warmer than it had been. And there was hardly a breeze blowing through the streets, leaving behind an eerie quiet that was kept from utter silence by the wounded bot's footsteps, panting gasps and a distant blaring that sounded like an automobile's alarm going off somewhere else in the city.

The odd warmth meant that freezing wasn't amongst the various warnings blaring through his head, letting him continue walking on. His feet shuffled on the asphalt, pulses of worry entering his helm from his twin.

He tried to send back his own pulses, something to tell his brother that he was still receiving him and was on his way towards him, but every pulse sucked more energy out of his limbs, and he'd nearly fallen more than once. He trudged on, holding his arms around his torso, his helm ducked down. His visor's damage nearly made him blind; he was surprised he hadn't run into anything yet.

The plant was only a few blocks away when he heard a familiar hum, and he looked up to see his brother flying over the buildings. "B-Brother!" He rasped, lifting a hand and trying to get his brother's attention, but the orange jet continued on without even slowing.

He tested his comm. link again, grimacing as it still whined loudly and no proper signal was able to reach through. He'd have to just keep moving.

The plant became within view, and Jetstorm took a moment to rest. He plopped down outside the door, where just a short time ago the two had been playing and enjoying not doing anything important. Their footsteps circled the lot in front, some of the splats left from dodged snowballs still present on the poles and nearby structures.

He closed his optics for a moment, but didn't dare let himself sleep just yet; he could once he was patched up. But it seemed to occur anyway, as when he opened his optics next, he could see Earth's star, Sol, had moved further across the sky than he'd expected to have.

His joints groaned as he sat up again, limping through the door and finding the front space empty. "...Sentinel Prime Sir? Jazz?... Anyone?" He called, but there was no answer. He limped a little further into the plant, hearing their voices coming from down the hallway. He followed them, finding them all standing in the medical bay and overlooking the table, where Jetfire was lying. "Brother!?"

Jetfire was lying on his back, a long cord protruding from his helm and leading to a large scanner of some sort. His hands were folded over his chest, his optics shifting around.

"So what are you plannin' to have happen with this...Scanner?" Jazz inquired, looking to Optimus with furrowed eyebrows.

"Hopefully we can search the city just like Jetfire can if we know what kind of impulses he's picking up." Optimus replied, looking to Jetfire. "What're you feeling right now, Jetfire?"

Jetfire shrugged, "...He feels close, but..." He sat up a little, looking around the room. "...I do not see him."

Jetstorm limped forward, "You are speaking of me?" He guessed, but nobody answered him, or even acknowledged his presence. "...Hello? You are hearing me, yes?" Still no response.

"Hey Boss Bot!"

Jetstorm turned to see Bumblebee running full-speed into the room, and he prepared for an impact...But it never came, because Bumblebee walked right through him. Jetstorm stumbled back, gasping as Sentinel then did the same, and he then tried to place a hand on Sentinel's shoulder, only for his hand to pass right through.

"I...I am not touching...!" He whimpered, "...Am I...Am I not online!?"
He could feel his spark beating faster and faster in his chest, but was it all an illusion...!?

He hesitated, but then finally opened his chest plate, giving a sigh of relief as he saw his spark, still beating and glowing like it should. He wasn't offline...But then what was going on?

"Brother...!" Jetfire's optics moved around the room, even passing over Jetstorm's position, but he was still searching.

"Lie back down, Kid. I'm not done yet." Ratchet informed.

"I am here, Brother!" Jetstorm cried, trying to grab the orange jettwin's hand, but failing. "Please! Please...!"

"He is afraid..." Jetfire murmured.

"I have reason to be afraid!" Jetstorm cried, "I cannot be touching anyone! Brother, Cycle-Motor, Jazz, somebody hear me!"

The little bot dropped to his hands and knees as his helm began to spin. His chassis was trembling, and only shook more as hiccupping sobs began to leave his throat. He was trapped, hurt and alone; nobody knew where he was, or even if he was still online, not even himself.

"Somebody...HELP ME!!!!"