Now Where's the Other Half?

[purajo]

*Sunstreaker left the control room and all the chaos inside, and headed down the hallway towards the medbay, determined to find out what exactly was up with Sideswipe and why the frag he wasnt answering his comm-link (he had no idea that Sideswipe had left the medbay and was possibly headed his way

Comments

[dualsides]

Hunter accesses their shared communications link before Sideswipe can recover from being called a "dumb fragger." Though he's a bit clumsy with using it, he does realize the obvious quickly enough. 'Line's dead. Not even a bit of static. I mean, it works and the diagnostics are checking out, but we're not getting a signal on the frequency you have on memory for the Ark-19 crew.'

Sideswipe takes his partner's information with minimal internal acknowledgment. What the slag is he supposed to say to that? His gaze never leaves Sunstreaker, however.

"Everything," he finally answers, unable to keep a low growl from echoing up out of his engine. "Fragged if I know where I am! This isn't the Ark-19 and it's not the Machination Headquarters! There's some bot back there who looks like Ratchet--" he points with one hand back the way he came "--but he's just...he's NOT Ratchet! And Streetwise, Hound and First Aid... And you. YOU. Another 'looks like, but isn't' case. I don't what's going on, how I got here or if this is some sort of massive hallucination, but you're not my brother!"

[purajo]

*Blinking in surprise, Sunstreaker took a bit of a step back. He hadn't anticipated this kind of reaction at all... and that last bit had definitely stung. Normally he would have come back with some caustic reply to it, but something told him that Sideswipe looked to be genuinely distressed, and adding onto his agitation would only make things worse.*

I am your brother, Siders, who else would I be?

*He kept his voice calm and level, and took a step forward again*

And that IS Ratchet back there, and the others. This is the Ark - though I dont think we ever gave it a number before - and I dont know who or what Machination is. All I know is that something weird happened and it may have messed with your memory.

Certainly did with mine. One moment we're hanging out together playing video games and next thing I know I'm waking up alone in the middle of the hallway.

*Another step* Had me worried for a while there when I couldn't find you.

[dualsides]

Sideswipe can only make a few sputtering, exasperated sounds in answer to Sunstreaker's question at first. He honestly doesn't know how to answer and the worst part is that the yellow bot's behavior is only lending credibility to Hunter's insane theory that this is some kind of wacky, Twilight Zone-ish mirror-verse.

Sunstreaker's attempts to move closer jar the red Twin back into defense mode again, however, causing him to take yet another step back. Unfortunately, that puts him against a wall. "My memory is fine! It's the only part of me that's been fine for weeks! I remember what came before the Machination clearly... You were never part of Prowl's detachment. That was MY duty! Our assignments had us separated by light years and that was fine."

'So...Ratchet's now a foul-mouthed grouch and the brother whose shadow you lived in for the longest time is now Mr. Nice Guy? This isn't even counting the dog and the human who have Autobot names. Sideswipe, I strongly suggest we get your not-brother to take us to someone with some authority. Someone has GOT to know what the hell happened...'

"Where's Prime? Or Prowl or Jazz? Someone who might know just what the slag happened. I need some answers! It's just never a good thing when the only other one making sense to me right now is the voice in my--our head!"

'...you have all the subtlety of a brick, Sideswipe. We need to work on that.'

'And you have all the guts of toilet swirly fodder.'

'Hey, can we leave my freshman year of high school out of this, please?'

[purajo]

What are you talking about? We signed up for Prime's unit together. Don't you remember? Cybertron was dying and Prime put together a group to head off planet and find a new source of energy. You and I were a part of it... and then we crashed on Earth.

*Sunstreaker stopped moving and frowned - Sideswipe's behavior was starting to not only upset him, but worry him as well.*

Are you sure you're alright?

*he sighed* I don't know where Prime is... I heard Blaster and Prowl talking and it seems Prowl's out in Portland. Jazz is in the command center with Blaster right now.

[dualsides]

'There's no point in arguing what did or didn't happen with him. If this isn't some trick or hallucination, you can both stand here and compare stories all day and nothing will really come of it.' Hunter makes the equivalent of an internal sigh.

'I questioned ever starting to feel this way, but...thank Primus for you, Hunter,' Sideswipe admits, his own "tone" rather depressed. 'If not for you, I'd start think there was something wrong with me. They'd be talking me into it right now. At least with you as some kind of anchor...'

"Okay, fine. Ya know, I'm really not all that alright," Sideswipe finally admits out loud. "But I'm not because I'm confused, lost and upset. Obviously. You don't know what I'm talking about, I don't know what you're talking about... Can you just...just take me to see Jazz? I'll talk to him, talk to you and maybe we can actually figure out what happened? The sooner I get some answers, the happier I'll be."

[purajo]

*Sighing, Sunstreaker pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded*

Fine. He's in the control room... this way *He started down the hall back the way he came* But I should warn you it's a little chaotic in there... We're still not entirely sure what happened.

[dualsides]

"Big surprise, there," Sideswipe grumbles as he follows Sunstreaker, unable to keep a low growl out of his tone. "I'm starting to think it might have been better if I'd gone off-line permanently back at the Machination headquarters."

'Easy, Sideswipe. If you're going to sulk, might as well wait until we get to talk to Jazz. Either this'll be third time's the charm or he'll be just as confused as the rest of us. ...in which case I say we find the door and let ourselves out.'

'I'm seriously running out of patience, Hunter. If it's safe, I'm going to let you do some of the talking when we meet up with Jazz. Besides, if we're stuck here much longer they're going to need to know that we come as a two-for-one deal.'

((Chatted it up with Shiribot and seeing as how the comm room is still something of a mess, might as well just keep our end of things in this thread and I'll have Jazz talk to the boys in the hall beyond the door.))

[purajo]

Don't...

*Sunstreaker paused a moment, but didn't look back.* Don't say slag like that, Sideswipe... You're still my brother, whatever happened... That still means something.

*He resumed walking till he got to the Command Center then activated his comm-link for Jazz's frequency*

[Jazz, Sunstreaker. I've got Sideswipe with me; gonna need your help on this one.]

((Heh... not a bad idea, but looks like you're gonna be playing with yourself here a little in Jazz and Sides... XD))

[dualsides]

One of Sideswipe's optic ridges arches a little bit, but he says nothing in response. On the inside, Hunter remains thoughtfully silent. Both of them are trying to process Sunstreaker's behavior... It doesn't match up that well with how their shared memories files portray the mech.

((Yep, although given where I've been playing the last year or so before RS started, I've gotten rather used to it. Heh. ^^;))

[recon_meister]

Inside the comm room, Jazz recieves Sunstreaker's message and frowns. [Scomm:Sunstreaker] "That doesn't sound promisin', but I'll see what I can do. Meet you two out in the hall so we don't crowd up the comm room again. Blaster's still workin' like a mad mech." [/Scomm]

Stepping out into the corridor, the black and white leans against one wall. He doesn't need to wait too long before the Twins come into side, Sunstreaker leading his brother.

"What's goin' on, bots? You wanted to chat with me, Sideswipe?"

The red warrior blinks at Jazz a moment; the mech is identical to the Jazz he knows, unlike the others who have either been completely different or just different enough to notice. He tries not to get his hopes up, but his response comes out more excited than he intends. "Jazz? Is that really you? You're...you ARE from Prowl's detachment, right? Ark-19? Finally someone who can tell me if Wheeljack and Hot Rod are okay and if Ironhide got the other two kids home safe?"

Jazz frowns. "Uh, no? I'm sorry, man, but not much of that is makin' sense to me. I'm startin' to see why Sunstreaker brought you back this way."

Exhaling noisily through his vents, Sideswipe slumps a little. "Well, slagging great! I don't suppose you have any idea how I got here or what the frag is going on? I'm getting real tired of everyone thinking I'm losing my mind!"

"Well..." Jazz rubs his chin with one hand, thinking on that and not liking what everything is adding up to so far. "My memories are still somewhat hazy after the black out, but even prior to all this, we had some problems with reality stayin' stable. Not sure how much sense that makes, but if you've seen any bots around who ain't bots anymore, that'd be the reason why. See, I didn't used to look like this. Whatever blacked me out changed up my design a little. At the same time, we got a tiny little bot in the comm room there who's from some planet I ain't never heard of. Just sorta blipped into existence here." Another pause while he tries to dig deeper into his own memory banks. "I also remember... We got visitors here at some point who didn't belong in this universe. I can't remember who all they were or where they came from just yet, but they were definitely foreign. Possible you ain't crazy... Possible you're just...some Sideswipe from some other parallel universe or somethin'."

Sideswipe stares at Jazz, then glances at Sunstreaker. He doesn't like that Hunter may be right. Slag, Hunter isn't like that Hunter may be right. "Well...well, what am I supposed to do NOW? I don't belong here, right? And if I'm here, where's the Sideswipe who's SUPPOSED to be here?"

Unfortunately, Jazz is a little uncertain how to answer all that. He can try to make some suggestions, but... Glancing at Sunstreaker, he checks to see how the yellow Twin is taking this in. Jazz honestly isn't sure how he's going to react.

[purajo]

O_o

Wait... so you're saying this is IS my brother, but ISN'T my brother?... Huh... And that is a fragging good question, Sideswipe... where the slag is Sideswipe?!

*Yeah, he's not happy*

And where are the fragging science mechs who're supposed to be figuring this kind of thing out?! For all I know MY Sideswipe could be out there getting his head caved in, and I'm not fragging there to help!

[dualsides]

At the mention of getting one's head caved in, Sideswipe unconsciously reaches up and puts one hand protectively on his own head. "The less cranial breakage there is, the better!" He looks to Jazz. "Well? Are there answers to those questions or not?"

Jazz sighs and folds his arms across his bumper, trying to think. "If I had answers for the two of you, believe me, I'd give 'em to ya. For all I know, the Sideswipe who's supposed to be here IS still here somewhere. And as to where all our resident scientists and engineers have gotten off to, your guess is as good as mine. We have Ratchet and we have Rattlelatch. They're the only two who have checked in and while Ratch is busy seein' to Hound in medbay, 'Latch is supposed to be gettin' our SkySpy system up again so we aren't so blind in the field. Even if you count First Aid, he's human and with Hound in medbay at the mo'. Otherwise, no Perceptor, no Skyfire, no Wheeljack... We don't even have Skids or Hoist. Not yet, anyway. All we can do is try to locate 'em, hope they turn up and things don't get further outta hand."

"Yeah, and just what the slag are we supposed to do in the meantime? Sit around and twiddle our thumbs?" Sideswipe demands. "The Autobots I left behind were in danger! I should be there with them, not here!"

"Cool your jets, man. Unless the cosmos suddenly decides to zap you back, here is where you are for right now. So for the time bein', I suggest you hang tight and work with us. The better we all get along, the easier things'll be on the whole," Jazz replies, working to keep his own cool in the presence of two highly aggravated twins. "Sunstreaker, if you're still up to running a patrol around the outside of the Ark, maybe you can take this Sideswipe with you. Never know when Wheeljack or Perceptor might turn up or where. The way things are, you two might as well get used to one another, anyway. I know it's kinda 'brain-breaky', as they say, but might as well try."

[purajo]

*Frowning in turn and working rather hard to keep his temper in check, Sunstreaker regarded this... other... Sideswipe carefully. He sure as hell looked like his regular Sideswipe, even if he didnt act like him*

Well? You up for a run... Sideswipe? Gotta be better than sitting in here and stewing, and if we're lucky maybe we'll find a couple of 'Cons to slag

*Oh yes... he REALLY wants to break something right now. Preferably something with a nice purple bullseye on his chassis. At least it'd give him something to do instead of walking around and feeling useless*

[dualsides]

Sideswipe glances at Sunstreaker, eying him for a moment and making yet another mental comparison to the brother he knows...and resents so damn much.

Well... Couldn't hurt? And it's better than doing absolutely nothing. A run or a drive might feel good about now. The agreement from his partner reminds him of something else that needs to be taken care of, however. He turns to Jazz.

"Hey, so... You guys are trying real hard to keep track of who's coming and going, right? Who's here and who's not?" Sideswipe pauses, trying to figure out how to explain himself. "Uh... Listen. From the way Ratchet reacted earlier when he scanned me, I'm guessing this is unusual here. It's definitely something new where I'm from, but I'm...kind of a two-for-one deal. I can explain how this happened later. The important thing is that I carry a second signature and it - he - has a mind and a personality of his own. His name's Hunter and he used to be human. We both sort of got captured and used as test subjects for something called the Headmaster Project."

The black and white stares at Sideswipe for a second. "Wait... What? You mind bein' a little clearer about this?"

"It's complicated. Hunter... He is my head. I think we were supposed to merge completely when he went through the conversion process, but something didn't click quite right and we're still sorta separate in terms of minds. Just... I thought I should say something."

Jazz shrugs at Sunstreaker. Right now, he's ready to believe just about anything, given the circumstances.

Sideswipe looks to his supposed brother. "And a run outside sounds good. Wouldn't hurt if we found something to frag, either."

[purajo]

So... you have a human that transforms into your head?

*While normally Sunstreaker might have freaked out over an announcement like that, these were hardly normal circumstances... and after hearing about Hound the Weredog and seeing Beachcomber the Meerkat... well fragging anything was possible, wasn't it? All the more reason to go out and whack something. At least that would be normal.*

Right then... guess we should head out.

*D'oh... brilliant choice of words there, Sunshine*

Fragging hell, I sound like Jazz. Now I REALLY need to pound the living scrap out of something if it's gotten to the point where I'm making bad puns. Let's go...

[dualsides]

Jazz manages a smirk. "Hey! I ain't that bad. You two just make sure you keep radio contact. I'll be here playin' meet 'n' greet with anyone else who decides to call in or show up."

Huffing out a sigh at the bad pun, Sideswipe motions with one hand in a silent gesture of "lead the way." Trying to explain the situation he's gotten into with Hunter was harder and more embarrassing than he thought it would be. At least there is one good thing about all this... "My real brother would have done worse. Let's roll."