It was a long drive – too long for Sideswipe's comfort – but they eventually arrived back in the familiar, forested valley that led to Autobot Headquarters. For Sideswipe, the entire journey home was nerve-wracking as he worried about Swoop's progress and obsessed about how quickly Sunstreaker had been taken into medical bay. It was difficult to believe that Ratchet was not there to care for his brother, like he always had in the past. The chief medical officer was the only one whom he really trusted to repair Sunny properly. Sideswipe was silent as he fell to pondering over the ghastly, burned mementos in his own quarters.

Jazz stopped them before they came within range of Red Alert's security markers. He directed Sideswipe to follow him through a zone where they would be invisible to the security chief's perimeter sensors. Their movements had to be exact. The saboteur stealthily led them back to the mountainside and remotely activated the secret passage opening. Both Autobots snuck back into the Ark.

Jazz hesitated before he opened the panel leading back to the hallway. "Gotta make sure the coast is clear," he explained as he opened a cover in his forearm and punched several keys.

In his haste to make it to medical bay to see his brother, Sideswipe had forgotten about Jazz's scheme to get past Red Alert's security cameras. He waited while Jazz set everything up and then followed the Autobot saboteur as he opened the secret door.

"Good," Jazz affirmed as he returned the panel over the doorway switch. "Now let's boogey and get back to your quarters before the cameras come back on. They're only disrupted for a couple of minutes so Red'll think it's just a glitch."

"But I've got get down to medical bay!" Sideswipe protested. "We're back in the Ark now, undetected, so who cares?"

"Hey, man, it'll just be another couple of minutes. Then we'll both go down and see Sunny," Jazz explained. "First Aid will be taking care of your brother. If we don't go to your quarters first, Red will know something's up because we'll look like we appeared out of nowhere." The saboteur's frame sagged. "C'mon… I don't want him to find out about my secret passage."

Sideswipe was impatient, but conceded to Jazz. They hurried back to Sideswipe's quarters. There they waited while Jazz opened his forearm screen and monitored the countdown to the end of the camera signal disruption.

"Anytime," he nodded, and lifted his visor from the screen to Sideswipe. "Cameras are back online. Jus' don't stare at them or anything."

"Red Alert's paranoia is the last thing on my mind right now," Sideswipe responded with an irritated swat. "Let's just get to medical bay."

The two left the room and headed down to find Sunstreaker. Even though they were in a hurry, Jazz managed to retain his usual air of nonchalant coolness. As he and Jazz approached the medical bay doors, a beige-colored figure guarding the entrance turned and stood ready to engage them. It was Streetwise. Sideswipe and Jazz stopped in front of the Protectobot Interceptor. He lowered his weapon.

"Hi, you two," he greeted them amicably. He regarded Sideswipe as if he were a celebrity and appeared grateful just to be in the red warrior's amazing presence. "I thought you'd come sooner than this. I'm surprised Prowl kept you for so long."

Sideswipe glanced at Jazz. "He didn't say a thing to us. We've just been catching up on old times," Jazz explained smoothly.

"Then how did you find out about Sunstreaker?" Streetwise inquired, perplexed.

Jazz chuckled. "Gettin' the scoop on news 'round here is right up my alley. You can't keep good gossip or events like this away from my audio sensors."

"Look, I haven't got all day," Sideswipe suggested edgily. "How about you let us in there?" He was not in the mood to chit-chat. His injured brother was inside that ward.

"Of course," the Protectobot answered readily and stepped aside. He unlocked the door mechanism and the two large, metal doors parted for them. "Be my guests."

Jazz smiled and gave Streetwise a jovial slap on the shoulder as he and Sideswipe entered the medical bay. "You'd be upset if it was one of your brothers," he apologized for Sideswipe.

Once inside, Streetwise closed the doors behind them.

"Where is he?" Sideswipe asked impatiently as he surveyed the empty medical bay for Sunstreaker.

Some of the peripheral screens on the main console near the entrance were on, suggesting that someone had been there recently. They passed through the rows of examination tables and idle equipment and made their way further into the large medical bay.

"Over there!" Jazz suddenly alerted Sideswipe and pointed to a lighted window in the door to the intensive repair unit.

Sideswipe ran to the door. Through the observation window he could see First Aid working on a disassembled mech. With so much of his cover plating removed, Sunstreaker was difficult to recognize. Sideswipe desperately tried to open the door but it was locked. He angrily punched the lock several times out of frustration.

"Whoa! Ease up. You'll break it," Jazz said softly.

First Aid looked up from his work and calmly signaled to Sideswipe that Sunstreaker was functional. Then the Autobot doctor motioned for them to wait and he went back to his work. The Protectobot's composed response took Sideswipe aback. Ratchet would have chased him out of medical bay for being a distraction. He pressed his palms up against the glass and gazed in at First Aid and his brother.

Jazz pulled up a chair and set it up against the wall next to the door. "Here," he said, offering the seat to Sideswipe. "Looks like it could be awhile."

Sideswipe barely glanced at Jazz as he dismissed the offer. "I'm fine with standing," he responded and leaned against the window on one arm.

Jazz found a second chair and set himself down backwards in it a ways from the wall. He leaned on his hands across the back of the chair. Both were quite for a period of time.

Sideswipe wondered if Sunstreaker had awakened before he was delivered to First Aid, or if he was simply surrendered to the doctor in a comatose state. Images of the beaten yellow warrior in the desert flashed in his mind as he stared at his twin's exposed assemblies. He closed his optics as the memory of Sunstreaker's heavily-beaten form slipped into his mind.

After a moment, he opened his optics again. The damaged cover plates and the Lamborghini compartment of Sunstreaker's chest assembly had already been removed. He could no longer see the long stroke of damage in Sunny's chest plate. The ruined parts had been placed in a waste bin near the repair bench.

First Aid was meticulous about keeping Sunstreaker's vital components clean from contamination as he diligently tended to the yellow warrior's injuries. The Autobot doctor worked under the hood of a contaminant collector. The powerful device extracted minute particles before they could settle in any open wounds and become entrained in Sunstreaker's exposed vital fluid systems.

Sideswipe thought of the times he had laid on his own back in medical bay, staring up into the collector ducting while Ratchet cursed and vented at him. He rested the front of his helmet against the window with a soft tap and stared at a point on the floor inside the unit.

Jazz parted his hands and sat upright. "I'm going to go see what's going on with Wheeljack and Perceptor. You okay here?"

Distracted, Sideswipe let a moment pass before he mumbled in the affirmative.

Jazz stood up. He stood there for a moment as if deciding whether or not to say something, and then quietly left. A minute later, Sideswipe heard the soft hiss of the medical bay doors open and close behind Jazz as he departed.

Jazz found Ironhide and Brawn standing by the doors to Perceptor's lab and knew that Prowl was inside. The new Autobot leader never went anywhere without the protection of his bodyguards. Brawn and Ironhide each stood with a firmly-held blaster rifle in hand.

Ironhide nodded to Jazz as he approached. "Who're you lookin' for?"

"Hey man, I jus' wanted to talk to Wheeljack and Perceptor," Jazz shrugged as Brawn scrutinized him. Jazz showed them his empty hands. "Let up. You know I'm not playing any contest to Prowl."

"How 'bout you leave your weapon out here with us," Ironhide responded with reservation. "We've had enough trouble as it is today."

Jazz removed his photon rifle from its subspace compartment and turned it over to Ironhide. "No problem, man. It's cool."

"How about also handing over that electro-knife of yours?" Brawn added. Jazz withdrew the concealed weapon and handed it over as well.

"You want me to remove my housings for you, too?" Jazz asked with a wry smile. "Guys, we're not strangers. You've gotta get over suspectin' me of wanting to backstab Prowl."

Ironhide cocked his head. "It's the boss's orders. You got an issue with it? Take it up with him. Ain't nothin' I can do 'bout it. You know how Prowl is about this plan of his to leave the Earth through the space bridge."

Jazz pressed his lip components together as he listened.

"Sorry about all the hassle," Ironhide finally apologized as he opened the door to the lab and stepped aside. "Go on in."

As Jazz entered the lab, Prowl and Wheeljack turned as Perceptor continued his monologue.

"Jazz," Prowl interrupted the scientist. "What is it?"

Jazz crossed his arms as he joined the others. "Sunstreaker's in medical bay again. Got himself in another fight with the 'Cons." He shook his head. "He comes back lookin' worse every time he goes out there."

Perceptor and Wheeljack looked at each other with concern.

"That's exactly why we don't go out there anymore," Prowl stated firmly. "There are too many of them and too few of us."

"Is he going to be alright?" Wheeljack asked.

"Yeah, looks like it," Jazz answered with downcast optics. "But Sideswipe doesn't seem to be doin' so well."

"Sideswipe?" Prowl asked, intrigued that Jazz was aware of the red warrior's presence in the Ark. "What's going on? Where is he?"

"Medical bay," Jazz responded as he looked up again. "Where else would you expect him to be when his brother's hurt?"

Prowl knitted his optic ridges. "This isn't good."

"He's not messed up," Jazz clarified. "He's just waiting."

"Just waiting? Why isn't he just waiting in his quarters? Sunstreaker ignores orders, time and again. Now Sideswipe?" complained Prowl. "I cannot allow this to continue," he added drily.

"You can't order people around like that," Jazz stated. "It doesn't work."

Prowl frowned at him. "When I give orders I expect them to be followed. I have everyone's best interests in mind."

Jazz displayed his palms. "Sunny's not doin' it to disobey you," he explained coolly. "He's trying to cope."

Prowl's expression straightened again. "I don't want to get into this. Sunstreaker is going to have to figure himself out. And Sideswipe-"

Perceptor cleared his vocalizer to gain Prowl's attention. "Maybe we should consider letting Sideswipe stay, after all."

"Yeah," Wheeljack agreed. "I bet Sunny would stay inside the base if Sides was around again."

Prowl raised an optic ridge as he looked at the engineer. "I'm sticking to my decision, Wheeljack – as per our discussion. Sideswipe goes back to his own universe. He doesn't belong here."

"In that case," Jazz began with disappointment in his vocalizer, "you should talk to Sideswipe about it before Sunny comes back online."

Prowl turned to Perceptor and Wheeljack. "You said you figured out how to reverse the space bridge setting?"

"Yes," Perceptor answered.

"Get it ready," Prowl stated with authority. He turned to Jazz. "Jazz, come with me to medical bay."

"It won't be easy to convince him to leave, Prowl. Not now."

The Autobot strategist paused. "Not now? He will do as he is instructed."

"Alright," Jazz conceded. "I'll do what I can."

Prowl and Jazz left the scientist and the engineer to ready the space bridge for Sideswipe. Ironhide and Brawn stood at attention as Prowl passed through the doorway.

"Ironhide, Brawn," Prowl turned to acknowledge his bodyguards. "We're heading over to medical bay. I'm sending Sideswipe back to where he came from."

Ironhide puzzled over Prowl's choice of words. "Isn't that takin' things a little too personal? He just showed up." Ironhide squinted in suspicion. "What did he do?"

Jazz snorted a laugh, which earned him a stony glare from Prowl.

"That's not what I meant, Ironhide," Prowl explained without a hint of humor. "I'm sending him back through the space bridge."

"I thought he was staying," Brawn stated with disbelief.

"Yeah, why send him back?" Ironhide asked.

"I've already discussed this at length with both Perceptor and Wheeljack. He doesn't belong here."

"But still," Ironhide argued, "we need him. Every Autobot counts."

Prowl gazed at the three Autobots in his company. "That is not the correct action to take. Sideswipe is from another continuum of reality. I'll remind you all," he admonished, "that he is not the same Sideswipe we lost. When he arrived here, he disappeared from another world."

"I kinda figured we could use the space bridge to bring the others back," Ironhide persisted sullenly. "Y'know, make things right again."

Brawn expressed his agreement. "Yeah, Prowl. What about Prime and Ratchet… and the others? Maybe it would work."

Prowl shook his head.

"How do you know we can send him back?" Jazz asked. "There's no telling what's going on there. It's a whole other universe."

"It's only logical that Wheeljack and Perceptor in the other universe would try to bring Sideswipe back once he disappeared. They must be holding their space bridge open for him as we speak. I'm certain of it. But they won't be successful unless we link back to them by duplicating their experiment right here in our universe."

"That's weird," Brawn stated.

"So, we can't bring back Prime and the others," Ironhide understood aloud then gazed at the floor.

"No," Prowl replied. "We must abide by the events that occurred in our world."

"And put all the pieces back in their rightful places," Jazz added, thoughtfully.

"Precisely," Prowl concluded with a small smile. "That is the right thing to do. But we mustn't waste any time. We need to send him back now. Let's go."

Ironhide and Brawn picked up Jazz's weapons, which they had set aside, and returned them to the saboteur. Prowl led the small group to the medical bay, where they found Sideswipe still leaning against the observation window. Sideswipe turned away from the window as the other Autobots approached. He flinched when he saw Prowl in the lead.

"You didn't seriously expect me to stay in my quarters in a situation like this," Sideswipe pleaded with one hand swept back toward Sunstreaker.

"I'm not here to discuss that," the strategist answered flatly as Ironhide and Brawn curiously peered past him into the critical repair unit.

"Then what do you want?" Sideswipe asked.

"I'm sending you back to the universe you came from," Prowl stated factually. "Wheeljack and Perceptor found a way to reverse the space bridge so that you can return home. They're waiting for you right now."

"Isn't it good news?" Jazz smiled.

Sideswipe stared at them for a moment, caught him off guard by the news. "What?"

"This will all be set straight as soon as you return home," Prowl stated. "Come with us."

Sideswipe clenched his fists. "No." He looked from Prowl to Jazz and back again, repeating himself. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Sunstreaker's gonna make it," said Jazz reassuringly. "He'll be fine."

"What do you know about it?" Sideswipe replied sharply. "Have you taken a good look around our quarters lately?"

"He isn't the Sunstreaker you know," Prowl tried to explain logically. "He only-"

"No… No!" Sideswipe interrupted him, raising his palms in a gesture of refusal. He flung his arm out behind him, pointing emphatically at the disassembled figure in the critical repair unit. "He needs me!"

There was an awkward pause in the conversation. No one could dispute that Sunstreaker was suffering without his brother.

Sideswipe seethed at the Autobot strategist, furious that Prowl would order him to do the impossible. How could he leave Sunstreaker, his brother, his twin? The beautiful but deeply troubled artwork haunted him. Sunstreaker was his other half. He had to stay.

"Sideswipe," Jazz came forward and put his hand on the red warrior's shoulder. "If you go back, it'll be like none of this happened."

Sideswipe shook off Jazz's hand and turned away. "I'm not going anywhere," he muttered and crossed his arms. He looked back over his shoulder and narrowed his optics at Prowl, knowing that Prowl had the authority to take him by force if needed.

Ironhide and Brawn fanned around Prowl, but the strategist stuck out his arm in a signal to hold their positions. "Sideswipe," Prowl began pensively as he stepped up beside the red warrior. As he did, he coolly looked through the window at Sunstreaker. First Aid halted his work at the sight of the Autobot leader, but Prowl motioned for him to continue. He looked sideways at Sideswipe. "This is only real as long as you are here to witness it. If you go back, you will only be aware of your own true reality."

Sideswipe waited a moment and then looked at Prowl suspiciously. His jaw mechanism gripped his dental plates tightly. "And what'll become of Sunstreaker?"

Jazz sensed the tension building and interceded. "Sunny doesn't know you're here. But you must return before he gets fixed up and sees you."

Sideswipe gazed back in at his brother's prone form and was silent.

"Trust me, Sideswipe," Prowl implored. "Don't let things get complicated."

"He knows I'm here," Sideswipe responded softly.

Jazz exchanged a glance with Prowl.

"Sideswipe," Prowl said with concern, "There may only be a limited window of opportunity to return you to your rightful home. You arrived here because your universe and ours joined together. It was an accident. We have to make it right."

"Wheeljack and Perceptor in your universe must be trying to bring you back," Jazz continued, leaning forward. Sideswipe gazed at him and he straightened. "Our Wheeljack and Perceptor have reversed the settings that brought you here. They can help you get back," he smiled gently, "and this will all be over."

Images of the deep electro-knife gashes in the couch and wall seeped back into the red warrior's mind. He remembered the clink of his blackened license plate as he let go of it and it struck the side of the metal bunk. The memory sent a surge up his central column. Sideswipe gazed back at Sunstreaker and he slowly shook his head back and forth.

"I can't leave him," he said hoarsely, every servo in his body energized.

"You are not leaving me with many options," Prowl admitted with regret. "You don't belong here. I think you know it, too."

Sideswipe's head snapped in Prowl's direction and his optics flashed brightly. In an instant, he struck out at Prowl, but Ironhide and Brawn immediately leapt forward and grabbed Sideswipe's arms, pinning them by his sides. Despite his struggling and lunging, the two bodyguards kept him restrained.

"You two-faced slagger!" Sideswipe cursed venomously as he stared Prowl fiercely in the optics. "If I leave he'll kill himself! And you know it!" He strained vigorously against Brawn and Ironhide until the old veteran levered him against the wall next to the door and pinned him there with his own body weight. "You don't have what it takes to be a leader!" He spat the words at Prowl, who maintained perfect composure despite the insults hurled at him. "You've got the personality of a maintenance drone!"

"Sideswipe," Jazz appealed to the red warrior, "what about the Sunstreaker you left behind? What's going to happen to him if you stay here?"

"Let go of me!" Sideswipe hissed at the back of Ironhide's shoulder.

"You gotta be nice first," Ironhide answered the red warrior. He held Sideswipe with hardly any help from Brawn.

"What do you want us to do with him?" Brawn asked Prowl.

Jazz shook his head in dismay.

"Turn him around," Prowl said and motioned with his hands.

The two enforcers turned the red warrior to face Prowl, who stood confidently in front of him, yet safely out of range if he decided to kick.

"Jazz is right," Prowl stated his agreement. "What fate awaits the Sunstreaker that you left behind? Your Sunstreaker? None of this happened where you came from, did it? Between our two worlds, there's only one of you, Sideswipe."

Sideswipe cast his optics down. Despite being emotionally charged, Prowl's sage words took the fight out of his limbs and he sagged in the hold of Brawn and Ironhide. Prowl and Jazz were right. As much as he wanted to save the Sunstreaker laid up for repairs on the other side of the glass, he knew that his Sunstreaker back home would soon be starting down the same path to despair. There was only one of him.

For some reason, he remembered the strange dream image of Sunstreaker as a human child's bicycle. In his mind, he heard the handlebar bell chime again. He watched the image of the small yellow and black bicycle gently pedal away and a small smile passed onto his faceplate. The bizarre, comically impossible image of Sunstreaker reminded him of how much he loved doing crazy things with his brother, and how much he would miss him if he never saw Sunstreaker again. He knew what it felt like to be left behind.

He looked up at Prowl. "Let me go," he stated firmly.

Ironhide and Brawn looked at each other, and Prowl gave them the signal to let Sideswipe stand on his own. They released their hold but remained close to him. Sideswipe glared at each one as they let him go and then turned his gaze back to Prowl.

"We've lost on Earth, Sideswipe," Prowl announced with a tone of acceptance. The proclamation shocked Sideswipe's audio sensors. Prowl had his complete attention as the strategist continued, "The Decepticons have been pouring in unabated through multiple space bridges ever since Megatron gained the upper hand when we lost Optimus Prime. They outnumber us more every day. Our only chance is to find a way off the Earth. The space bridge module we managed to obtain is just the ticket we need to get out of here."

Sideswipe remained quiet, optics forward.

"Now, by my estimate, the Decepticons will lay siege to the Ark within the next ten days. Our defenses will fail in four. If the space bridge is not ready before that time…" Prowl stopped and stepped closer to Sideswipe. His tone was stentorian. "Wheeljack and Perceptor must fix the problem with the space bridge immediately. But they can't do that until you leave."

Sideswipe stared at him for several moments, clamping and releasing his jaw mechanism. Then he abruptly turned away and stormed back through the field of medical bay tables toward the main doors.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" asked Ironhide, looking to Prowl.

Sideswipe punched the door frame on his way out, creating a thunderous echo, and disappeared from sight.

"I think," Jazz cocked his head to one side as he explained to Ironhide, "that Sideswipe is going home."

Prowl crossed his arms and nodded, and then turned away to look through the observation window at Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe stormed down the hallway toward the lab. His brisk movements quickly caught Red Alert's attention and the security cameras along the hallway trained their focus on him as he passed by them.

The noise of the camera mechanisms was irritating, as were the security director's spying optics. Sideswipe stopped and scowled at the nearest camera as it stared back at him. He raised his hand in plain view, gestured his contempt, then grabbed his weapon from subspace and blew the camera to shreds with a single shot. Grimacing and aiming again, he fired at the other cameras ahead of him down the hallway, destroying them also. He was not going to be watched.

The smoking wreckage of the surveillance cameras gave Sideswipe a small amount of privacy and satisfaction. He checked behind him to make sure that the others were not coming after him then quickly resumed his pace toward Perceptor's lab. There was nothing more to say to Prowl or the others. The message was clear. Prowl had led them to defeat. Prowl – who valued duty over loyalty – had doomed them all. And they were taking Sunstreaker with them. He knew that he had to take action before he changed his mind.

When he got to the lab, Sideswipe barely waited for the doors to part before he pushed his way through them. Sure enough, Perceptor and Wheeljack were waiting for him, just as Prowl had said.

"Let's just do this," Sideswipe said in an annoyed tone and with a flick of his hand. He glared at both Autobots and waited for their response.

"Well, yes," Perceptor responded as he fiddled with something on one of the control consoles. "We're ready whenever you are."

Wheeljack paused. "You're sure-" he started to speak, but Sideswipe cut him off.

"Don't," he warned with a palm turned toward them. "Just do it. I don't want this to be complicated. Just tell me what I need to do to go back."

"Well, you'll see a large orb form where the portal will open," Wheeljack answered. "All you need to do is step into it when I give the signal. That's all there is to it."

"Are you sure this will send me back?" Sideswipe quizzed him.

"Of course," Wheeljack answered with confidence. "We now know what settings brought you here, so we can reverse them. It was actually quite simple, in the end. We just had to calculate the-"

Sideswipe turned to Perceptor. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Naturally," the scientist responded. "I'm quite sure of it."

"I want Perceptor to give me the signal," Sideswipe stated to them both.

"Certainly," Perceptor replied and energized the control equipment. He and Wheeljack exchanged glances.

As the equipment cycled up to full power, Perceptor and Wheeljack approached the red warrior, who stood callously with his back turned toward them.

"Sideswipe," Perceptor said to get his attention. Sideswipe turned his head. "I, well, we just wanted to say-" the Autobot scientist punted, but Wheeljack jumped in to finish the thought.

"It just doesn't seem right to be letting you go without saying goodbye," the engineer explained.

Sideswipe turned to face him. "I'm not the same mech you knew," the red warrior dismissed with a shrug.

"True," Perceptor acknowledged, "but we really didn't expect to see you at all."

"And we wanted to say that we'll miss you anyways," Wheeljack added sincerely.

Sideswipe turned away from them and crossed his arms. "I'll just be seeing you again in a minute anyways," he responded remotely, "and everything will be back to normal."

Wheeljack and Perceptor were silent for a moment then Wheeljack turned to Perceptor with resignation. "Well, Perceptor? I guess it's time."

"Indeed," the scientist answered plainly.

Perceptor returned to the control console and typed several keys on it. Seconds later a small, bright orb appeared above the test bench. At the sight of it, Sideswipe uncrossed his arms. Perceptor modulated the control frequency until the orb pulsed slowly. He made further adjustments to the inputs. In response, the light intensified and a brighter, second beat in the energetic pulse emerged.

"That's it!" Sideswipe said excitedly. "That's what it looked like before I got here."

"Just wait," Wheeljack cautioned him. "We're not done yet."

"I'm adjusting the third phase of the frequency," Perceptor explained as he entered the final sequence of keystrokes.

The orb became blinding and pulsed at three separate frequencies. Sideswipe smiled with relief at the thought of going back to his own reality where none of the strange things he experienced that day had happened. Most of all, he looked forward to seeing his Sunstreaker.

"In a moment, I'll enlarge the portal for you. When I say 'now' you step through it. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it open without it becoming unstable, so you must hurry."

"Got it," Sideswipe nodded to him.

Perceptor grabbed a handle on the console and slid it forward. As he did, the size of the orb increased in response. Sideswipe readied himself for the signal.

"Now!" Perceptor called out, and Sideswipe walked up to the orb.

The light blinded the red warrior's optics. He stepped through its shimmering surface then looked back toward Perceptor and Wheeljack. With a two-fingered salute, and a crooked smile, he passed through the white light – and was gone.