Disclaimer: Don't own; wish I did.

A/N: Woo, so glad I finished this chapter! The last bit just did not want to cooperate with me. Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoy this. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. :)

Sideswipe stood in front of the radio tower, noting how the thing towered over him. It was huge.

He circled the tower, not entirely sure what he was looking for. The thing was about three times his size and appeared to have been standing for some time. The metal was rusting and corroded, no doubt from having withstood the elements on Earth for several decades. His spark clenched with worry as he wondered if this would be his fate - left alone to wither into a state of complete disrepair.

It was when his ability to reason started slipping from him again that he saw it. A panel low on the right side of the tower, no higher than a human's midsection. He got down on his good knee, being careful not to further jostle the injured one and he felt around, trying to find a way to pry the metal covering open. He fumbled with the smooth surface until he finally managed to slip a single finger through a small opening. He gave a slight tug and the panel tore free, weakened from years of rusting. He threw the small piece of red-brown metal to the ground and zoomed in with his good optic.

Frayed wires were connected to various jacks. He wasn't sure what they did, but based on how they looked, he was certain they were no longer functional. In a fit of anger, he slammed his fist into the ground. He had hoped he could use the tower to radio for help, but he knew that would be an impossibility. He fell back onto his aft, hands splayed out in the dirt beside him, and he stared up at the tower.

His optic widened when he realized exactly what he was looking at.

Solar panels!

Even if the communications array was no longer operational, the very fact that there were solar panels attached to the radio tower meant that it was self sustaining. He looked off at the horizon, where the sun was starting to rise. The tower was old, probably at least 50 Earth years and unlike Cybertronian constructs, things built by humans didn't last very long. Was the tower able to hold a charge throughout the night? Or had time taken its toll, allowing the tower only enough energy to power itself for a couple hours after dark? He couldn't be certain. The fact that the wiring inside the communication array was completely shot made him question if it was even worth trying. Still, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was the only chance he had. Even if he couldn't radio out, if the tower still held a charge, he could jack into it and re-power his systems.

He climbed back onto his peds and crouched down as low as he could get to the panel. He pulled a cable from underneath his wrist armor and found a tiny port hidden beneath the damaged wires. He plugged in and felt an immediate rush of energy course through him. There was still a charge in the tower, and a massive one at that! He allowed the energy to flow into him and felt his head clear completely as his systems started to reboot. Programming he'd been unable to access since he'd been stranded on the island slowly began to power up. His bad optic flickered, but did not regain it's sight, clearly too damaged even with the power boost to function. Still, everything else seemed to be cooperating. He almost whooped with joy.

The elation he felt was completely overshadowed by the sudden, spark shattering opening of his bond with his brother. It felt like he was just punched and it was a good thing he wasn't standing, otherwise the sudden pouring in of feeling from the other side of the bond would have knocked him to the ground.

Sunny!

Sunstreaker was there. He was alive. And if he had the ability to shed tears, Sideswipe knew he would be bawling like a human infant right at that moment.

So many different feelings flooded him then. Happiness, confusion, love, and pain. But it was good pain. Pain born from the violent opening of their bond and it was the best feeling Sideswipe could ever remember feeling in his life. Having been denied something he needed, to suddenly have it thrown back at him was such an unbearably wonderful sensation.

He sent waves through the bond he shared with Sunstreaker and received muted pulses back. Sunstreaker was obviously in stasis. No surprise there, considering how his twin must have been behaving with him gone.

It was strange. For the first time since Sideswipe had awoken on the island, his processor was perfectly clear. He remembered everything that had happened between Skywarp and himself and...

Oh slag, I almost forgot. Skywarp is still so deranged that he'll do whatever it takes to kill me. Maybe if I can get him to hook up to this tower to siphon off some of the energy, he might start to come back to himself, too. It's gotta be worth a shot, anyway.

He sent several more pulses to his brother through their bond, still reeling from the onslaught on his systems. The pulses were little more than feelings being conveyed through their link and each one was different, holding everything Sideswipe had been feeling for the last solar cycle. Sunstreaker was running on automatic right then, being stuck in stasis and all. The pulses Sideswipe received conveyed confusion and dulled happiness that would no doubt magnify the klik Sunstreaker came out of stasis. He couldn't even care that his twin wasn't all there in the bond. The fact that he was there at all meant the world to Sideswipe.

It wasn't long before he could tell that Sunstreaker was becoming more conscious. The pulses from the other end of the bond began to grow stronger and then there was suddenly such unrestrained joy assaulting him that he couldn't keep himself grounded and he fell backwards. He didn't have far to travel, thankfully, considering he was crouching pretty close to the ground.

A message pinged on his HUD and he smiled when he read it. His comm link with the Autobots was back online. Now he could radio in and tell them where he was. They'd be able to pinpoint his location and he'd be rescued in no time. Finally things were starting to look up.

Or so he'd thought.

Skywarp chose that exact moment to lunge up and over the cliff edge that Sideswipe had scaled earlier. The jet was deranged, his face twisted into an angry, feral snarl that told the red front liner that he was looking for blood. The purple seeker wasted no time. With a shriek that nearly had Sideswipe offlining his audio receptors, Skywarp charged him, the ground shaking with every ped-fall.

He was vaguely aware of the burst of panic he sent through the bond and the concern that was fed right back to him, but he had no time to think. Without any hesitation, Sideswipe unplugged himself from the radio tower and rolled to the side, keeping his weight off his bad knee joint. He was going to pull his weapon from subspace, surely that would be working now, too, but the thought left him as soon as he had it. He spluttered and forgot everything around him, everything but his bond that had just fizzled into nothingness once more.

He didn't understand. Why had it been forced shut again? He would have taken the time to really think it over, if a certain seeker did not choose that exact moment to tackle him to the ground. He offered him a swift punch to the faceplate and shook him off, flipping his body up and back as he did so. Now that there was space between them, he felt he could weigh his options.

More than anything and beyond all reason, he wanted to plug back into the tower, to see if the bond would flood back open again. But he knew that was little more than a suicide attempt, what with the deranged seeker eying him the way he was. And then there was the matter of his systems. They'd started to boot up again, but with the power source severed from him, everything was halted and crashing quickly. The fog was back, too, settling over his processor like a thick blanket. He could feel his reasoning slowly slipping from him and he knew he had to run. He had to get away before Skywarp attacked him again. If he could lure the seeker away from the radio tower and then come back when the coast was clear, he could reconnect his systems and siphon off more energy. He couldn't believe he'd taken so much and it still wasn't enough.

Decision made, Sideswipe made his move. He ripped a tree from the ground, his joints protesting at the action and hurled it with all his might at the purple jet. He watched as Skywarp brought up his servos to bat it aside, giving him the opening he needed. He charged forward, leaping up off the ground when he was directly in front of the jet and lashed out with his left arm. It connected with the seeker's neck cables and knocked him flat on his back. He landed atop his chassis and didn't wait for Skywarp to gather his wits. He lashed out and delivered what had to have been painful blows to the flyer's wings, leaving behind nasty looking dents that would no doubt make it impossible to fly if the seeker ever managed to get his systems back online.

Skywarp howled beneath him and he was off, tearing through the trees that no longer provided him with much cover. This high up, they grew much further apart, making it impossible to hide. He could only hope that what he'd done would allow him to put enough distance between them that he could circle back around and return to the radio tower.

So far, though, luck just wasn't on his side.

/~/

"Ratchet! Ratchet!"

The screams caught him completely off guard. They were frantic and if he didn't know better, he would think someone was being brought in in critical condition and at serious risk of offlining. But he did know better and he recognized Sunstreaker's voice and the light euphoria that leaked into it. How the front liner had managed to override his forced stasis was beyond the medic, but he had no doubt that the yellow twin was completely out of his processor right then.

He'd left the medbay and entered his office only a breem ago. He'd been hoping to catch up on his case documentation, but that apparently wasn't going to happen.

With a groan, Ratchet rubbed a hand down his face, not wanting to deal with the chaos that was certain to greet him in the medbay. But he couldn't just leave Sunstreaker as he was. He sent a quick comm to Optimus, alerting him that he would need help. With a heavy expulsion of air, Ratchet turned on his peds and returned to the main area of the medbay where Sunstreaker was still hooked up to various machines and completely conscious. He was not, as Ratchet had expected, completely off the wall.

Sunstreaker was sitting up, his feet dangling over the side of the medical berth, his optics wide and the ghost of a smirk trailing across his faceplate.

Ratchet nearly did a double take. He most certainly had not been expecting that.

"Sideswipe's alive. He's okay. Ratch' I know where he is, I-"

"Woah, Sunstreaker, calm down." He brought up his servos in a placating gesture, though he was no longer concerned that things would get out of hand. "I need you to relax, all right?"

The yellow warrior opened his mouth to say something, just as the door to the medbay slid open. Jazz rushed in, weapon drawn, Prowl and Optimus following cautiously after him. The second Sunstreaker saw them, his optics narrowed and he climbed down from his berth, stance turning hostile. It didn't matter that they were on the same team, Sunstreaker just did not like being approached in such a manner.

Ratchet quickly intervened, stepping in front of his patient. "False alarm, Sunstreaker seems to be fine. Jazz, put the gun away."

The saboteur looked to Optimus, who nodded in affirmation. Jazz complied and subspaced his weapon.

"And you. Back on the berth. Now." Ratchet ushered the front liner back to his berth and hooked him back up to the monitors he had earlier unhooked. "All right, Sunstreaker, tell me what happened."

And Sunstreaker did. He didn't remember much before he had awoken, but he did remember suddenly becoming aware, despite being stuck in stasis, the nano-klik his bond with his twin was forced open. The others visibly tensed when he mentioned that the bond had closed shortly after he'd awoken, but anxious relief took over as soon as he told them that the first thing he'd done was log his brother's coordinates.

Optimus chose that moment to step forward. "This is good news, Sunstreaker. We can give the exact location to Skyfire and he should be able to locate Sideswipe in no time."

He gave them the coordinates, but did not miss the frown on Prowl's faceplate.

"What?" His optics narrowed.

The statistician stepped forward, but looked to Optimus. "Skyfire is currently several thousand miles from that location. It would be best if we ordered him back to base to refuel and then sent him out again once he is rested."

Optimus Prime nodded. "Do you know where on Earth those coordinates are? The more we know about the area, the better prepared we will be."

Prowl stepped over to a nearby console and instructed Telatraan 1 to do a quick search. When the results popped up on the screen, he looked them over.

"It appears the coordinates are somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the state known as Florida. However, it would appear that there are no charted bodies of land at the precise location I inputted into Teletraan."

"Hmm. It is possible it is an island so small that the humans have yet to discover it." Optimus replied.

"I'm going."

Suddenly all optics were on Sunstreaker.

"Over my offlined frame." Ratchet snapped. "You're staying here where I can keep an optic on you. The last thing we need is for you going and getting yourself scrapped. The very fact that your bond with Sideswipe is muted is cause for concern. The longer you are unable to reach him, the more stress is put on your systems."

Sunstreaker snarled and rose to his peds. "I said I'm going."

"And I said you're not." Ratchet returned the warrior's glare, refusing to back down.

"Aw, c'mon doc-bot. He's not doing any good here. And honestly? If he does lose it, better out in the middle of nowhere than in here, right?" Jazz gave Ratchet a swift pat on the arm.

The medic deflated a little, but didn't lose the coldness in his optics. "Fine, but if anyone but Sideswipe comes back needing a trip to my medbay, you better believe I'm going to slag the lot of you."

"I hate to say this, but that may still be a possibility. Skywarp could still be with Sideswipe and I don't doubt there will be some kind of confrontation. Which is another good reason, ol' Sunshine should go with. Out of everyone here, he and Sideswipe are the most capable when it comes to handling the seekers."

Ratchet groaned. "All right, out of my medbay – not you Sunstreaker, sit back down. When Skyfire is ready to set out, then you can come get this afthead. Until then, he stays here so I can keep watch on him. Got it?"

No one wanted to argue, though Sunstreaker did look like he wanted to say something. Really though, Ratchet could tell that the yellow twin just really wanted to find his brother, and he honestly couldn't fault him for that.