Jetfire was back up in moments. "Brother?"

"What's the matter, kid?" Ratchet questioned.

"I just heard him! He is here!" He looked around the room, and then began looking under the table, yanking open cabinets and pushing supplies aside, searching every inch of the medical bay.

B-Brother-

"There it is again!" He announced, pulling some of the tools out to look behind them.

"Kid, stop throwing things around! You're just making a mess!"

"Helping me look, Medic Ratchet. He is in here somewhere!"

Ratchet shook his head, "He's not. If he were, I'd have seen him."

"Then how are you explaining his speaking?"

"I can't explain it because- Watch it! Kid!" Ratchet snagged Jetfire's arm with his, stopping the tossing of bandages and tools all over the floor. "Kid, I don't hear anything but you throwing my stuff around."

"Well I am hearing."

"Then maybe you should lie down for a little."

Jetfire shook his head, pulling his arm free and then hurrying out of the medical bay. "I am searching the other places!"

Ratchet groaned, looking at the mess the twin had created. "Kids...Can't live with them..."

Jetfire hurried down the hall, searching Prowl's room first.

B-Brother, would you-

"I am coming, Brother! Do not be worrying!"

Jetfire then found the mechanical room and began tossing boxes around. "Brother, just be holding on! I am-!"

FOR THE LOVE OF THE ALLSPARK! FREEZE!!!

Jetfire paused, not moving from the crouched over position he was in. "...Why?"

He could hear his brother panting for a moment, and then his voice came through again. By the Allspark... It is not easy to be keeping up with you when I am hurting...!

"You are damaged!? Brother, did you-"

J-Just be letting me speak, Brother... I am damaged, and I am needing your help... I am being trapped somewhere. I can be seeing you, and hearing, but no touching... I am following you all this time, trying to get your attention.

"You...Why are you talking to me now? Why not before?"

I have to be in exact place as you...Two halves, but standing in you like...A ghost... I am needing your help, Brother...

Jetfire nodded, "What do I do?"

Telling the others...They may have answers...And hurry...There are others chasing me and I cannot run well.

Jetfire nodded hard, feeling his brother's relief as his message had finally been received. "Do not be worrying, Brother. I will be getting you back, I promise!"

Though he didn't hear a response from his brother, the pulses of fear and sadness being replaced by much more positive emotions was enough.

"Jetfire, what the hell!?"

Jetfire turned to look at Sari and Bumblebee in the doorway. "Why are you throwing things everywhere!?"

"I..." Jetfire's fans flared as he felt his embarrassment heating up his systems, a flare of humor coming from his brother. "...I was looking for my brother... But he wasn't there."

"That's what we've been telling you!" Bumblebee responded, "We've looked everywhere and there's no sign!"

Jetfire grinned, "But he is here! Just trapped in a place we cannot see."

His smile faded however, as the pairs' eyes looked at him blankly. "...You do not believe me."

"Well... No."

Jetfire's eyebrows furrowed, "I am not fooling! You are having to believe me!"

"What's going on in here?"

Jetfire looked up as both Sentinel and Optimus entered the room, and then after a brief survey of the space, Sentinel turned to his fellow prime. "You repair-bots don't even keep a clean inventory!?"

Optimus rolled his optics, "Jetfire, what's going on?"

Bumblebee sighed, "He says that Jetstorm's here, but he's invisible."

"Not invisible. He is trapped in a different place, but the same place. He can see and hear, but cannot touch and we cannot see, or hear, or touch him. It is like he is not here, but he is."

Sentinel's optics narrowed, "Aaaaand how do you know this?"

"He told me."

"But you said we can't hear him."

"Correct...But-"

"So if we can't hear him, then how did he tell you?"

"I was able to hear him for moments! But I...It is very complicating!"

Sentinel sniffed, "And I suppose you believe all of this, Optimus?"

Optimus crossed his arms, "Even you know that there are things beyond Cybertronian understanding... It may be possible he is telling the truth."

"I am!" Jetfire insisted, "I am telling you, I am not crazy!"

"Nobody said you were crazy." Sari argued.

"Whether he's right in his processor or not, I am still confining you to base until we get solid proof!" Sentinel informed.

"But Sir-"

"That's an order, Soldier!"

Jetfire was still for a moment, and then gave a solemn nod. "...Understood."

"Good. Nice to see you respecting your commanding officer again."

Jetfire looked the Prime in the optic again, "I may have to be following your orders...But you have not earned the right to my respecting."

Optimus' optics narrowed as he watched the junior officer walk out, muttering something under his breath. Something was deteriorating, a status quo that had stood for quite some time, and he wasn't quite certain whether its repercussions would be positive or negative.

"Prowl..."

"Yes, Prime?" Prowl stepped forward.

Optimus lowered his tone to a whisper, "...Stay with Jetfire. Don't let him leave the plant unless I say so."

"Are you concerned he may bolt?"

"I just... You survived death, so I have a strong suspicion Jetstorm did too, but I don't want Jetfire getting hurt trying to solve this issue on his own."

Prowl nodded, "What do you suggest we do?"

Optimus pondered for a moment, and then turned to Sari and Bumblebee. "Sari, you and Bumblebee head to Sumdac Tower. Talk to your father and see if can give us any confirmation into Jetfire's claims."

"You got it, Prime!" Sari announced, taking off out of the room with Bumblebee closely following.

"And where are you going?" Sentinel questioned as Optimus started towards the door also.

"My rest quarters... I need some peace and quiet to focus on the situation..."

_____________________________________________________________________

"Dad?" Sari hollered as she and Bumblebee came up the lift, "Me and Bumblebee are back!"

"Oh good. I was just about to call you, Sari." Professor Sumdac looked up from the control panel he'd been observing. "I think I have uncovered what has caused the overloading of the Space Bridge."

"Great! So you can fix it?" Bumblebee cheered.

"Of course. I am certain that Sentinel Prime would like to be off of Earth as quickly as possible."

Sari placed a hand on her father's shoulder, "Dad...What do you think about somebody getting stuck in another dimension?"

"How so?"

"Well Jetfire thinks that Jetstorm's stuck in some place where he can see and hear us, but can't touch us." Bumblebee explained, "And that we can't see, hear or touch him. Then he says that Jetstorm told him, right after saying we can't hear him! Kinda hypocritical..."

"So Jetstorm is trapped in a Half-Dimension..." Professor Sumdac murmured, "He is still here, but is trapped on a different plane of existence than we are."

"So you believe him?"

"Half-Dimensions have yet to be officially proven only in science fiction novels, but then again, up until a few years ago, so were aliens."

"Touché..." Sari murmured, rubbing her chin. "...If that were the case, then how do we get him back?"

Professor Sumdac tapped the control panel, "He must have been sent there when the Spacebridge malfunctioned. It tried to transwarp him to another location, but was not able to do so before the portal collapsed."

"So he got stuck in-between." Sari surmised. "...We can't fix the Spacebridge yet. If we do, we may lose the conditions to reopen a portal into this other realm."

"So that means we can't get rid of Sentinel yet...?" Bumblebee whined, "Man...!"

Sari rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Let's focus on saving Jetstorm, Bee. Sentinel can wait...What do we need to do?"

"For now, I would suggest trying to keep Jetstorm in one central location, so that we can find him when we get the portal opened again."

"Well now that he's made contact, I don't think he'll be going anywhere..."

_____________________________________________________________________

A loud crash snapped Jetstorm out of sleep mode. He sat up from his place on the couch, his optics searching the room for the cause.

"What is it, Brother?" Jetfire asked, looking around as well and no doubt feeling his brother's panic.

Jetstorm moved slowly into position so that he could reply. "...Did you hear a loud crashing...?"

"...No. You?"

"Yes..." Jetstorm whispered. If his brother had not heard it, then it must be in this other realm, and so far, there were only a few options as to what had caused it. "...I am thinking it may be the other bots chasing me...!"

"Other bots?" Jetfire needlessly lowered his voice to a whisper, "...Explain, brother."

"They are...Broken bots. Pieces missing and they chase me around... I do not know why."

The blue jettwin paused as he heard movement again, a scraping of metal against metal coming from just outside the doors of the plant. "...I am having to go."

"Brother wait!" Jetfire pleaded, but Jetstorm had pulled away. He heard his brother continue to find him, waving his arms around like a blind bot wandering in darkness; as if Jetfire would know where Jetstorm was by touching him at this point.

Jetstorm tiptoed towards the doors, doing his best not to make any noise with his steps. But he hadn't even reached it when a rusty, clawed hand grabbed onto the side of the doorframe. He jumped back and then took off into the plant. They'd found him again.

He entered the hallway, looking around the number of rooms. He could hide in any one of them, but once he was inside, he would be trapped...

...No, there was one that held an escape.

Jetstorm rushed to the door of Prowl's room, slipping into it and then looking up at the tree in the center. Because of the colder months, it was bare of leaves, the remaining trunk stretching out into long, sharp pointed branches.

He might not be able to fly with his injuries, but he could still jump; the only question was whether or not he'd just phase right through the roof when he tried to get up onto it.

He decided to take his chances, jumping up and giving a sigh of relief as his hands found something solid under them. He hauled himself up onto the rooftop, grimacing as his injured joints protested the strenuous motion. "Okie dokie... What am I doing now? They are inside looking, I am outside... Where do I go...?"

His optics looked around the surroundings below for any that might be guarding the perimeter, and then he hopped down to the ground. He started to limp down the street, before a pair of hands reached out and yanked him backwards into an alley. "H-Hey!"

"SHH!" A voice hissed in his audio receptor as a hand slapped over his mouth, "They'll find us...!"

Jetstorm shifted position to look at the bot that'd spoken, and came face to face with a young femme whose frame was mostly covered by a cloak of organic material. "...You are helping me...?"

"You may be the only chance I have to get out of this horrible place, so yes."

She covered his mouth again and pulled him even further into the alley as one of the mangled bots passed. "...It is not safe here right now... Follow me."

Jetstorm looked back at the plant as he heard his brother still calling out for him, and then took the femme's hand tightly. "We will be coming back here, yes?"

"Yes, but not now. Now come on, we don't have long."

Jetstorm nodded, and then allowed her to lead him away and back into the emptiness of the city.