So to those that noticed, I managed to get a cover for this story, bc I was sick of just seeing my profile pic instead of something else related to the story.

I'm liking that people are enjoying this story enough to start following and favoriting. Thank you for that!

And as for that one reviewer... I don't know how to respond to you(I'm still kinda new to this site), all I can say is that yes, the human trio in this story are inspired by the human trio in Prime, but they are not the same people. That wouldn't make sense if they were, trust me.

Once Human, Part 6

Decepticon Mine - Mining Area

Infiltrating a Decepticon Energon mine was not an alien concept for Optimus Prime and the Autobots, but it certainly was not something that they would do often. As rewarding as it would be to take an Energon mine directly from the enemy, he knew the Autobots could not afford to take the great risk of even one of their soldiers becoming gravely injured. Or worse, Offlined.

But Jackson and Aiko were in trouble. And he would never allow harm to come to them. Especially by the hands of Megatron.

From the cave entrance, there was not much: mostly dark cave paths that led to stripped mining areas. But one path remained lit, and would undoubtedly lead to both Energon and Decepticons. With great care, Optimus would check every corner for guards, yet found none. It seemed they were not expecting visitors.

"Optimus, do you hear that?" Ironhide whispered.

And Optimus did hear that: machinery at work. They were getting close to the mine.

And finally, entering through the brightest cave opening, was the mine. Many Vehicons, servant-class, were focused on cutting down large Energon crystals. The few that weren't, were funneling the cut crystals into an elevator, taken down to a refinery, with many Energon crates nearby in a large collection.

But the Energon was not the focus. It was the humans. And as Optimus knows from Jasper, they are somewhere in this mine with Knockout attempting to interrogate them. And Knockout would no doubt do that in a more isolated room, so it would not be in the main room. And that supposed room would have some form of security, be it through guards…

Then Optimus noticed one cave doorway with a door frame and security panel installed. And this doorway was close to halfway across the large room. Optimus knew simply that true stealth would be impossible. If they wanted to get in, they had to go on the attack.

"Bumblebee, on my signal, transform and drive as fast as you can to that door. Ironhide and I will follow and provide suppressing fire. Understood?" Optimus said with focus.

Bumblebee and Ironhide looked at each other, then at Optimus, and nodded in silence.

Let the battle commence.

"Autobots… now!"

And like that, Bumblebee beeped a deep sound right before transforming on the move, flooring it for the door. The roar of his engine alerted the Vehicons, who were then shielding themselves from the blaster fire of Optimus and Ironhide. Bumblebee was already halfway until one brave Vehicon used his drill vehicle to try and attack the yellow muscle car. Bumblebee drifted just out of the way, with inches to spare, passing by the Vehicon. By the time the Vehicon looked to the other Autobots, Ironhide had already shot a heavy blast right at the Vehicons chest, offlining him then and there.

Before the returning fire could ever begin on the Autobots, Bumblebee was already transformed at the door, trying to break through the security.

"Can you break through!?" Ironhide yelled out.

Bumblebee responded with many beeps that sounded like both frustration and reassurance.

"Just a 'yes' would've done, 'Bee!" Ironhide spat back.

His optics mainly on the threats behind, Optimus expertly covered the left area, including a different doorway where more armed Vehicons were attempting to enter from. Eventually, Optimus heard the beep of the security panel and looked back to see the security door now sliding upwards at a slow pace.

But then he looked back and saw a tank aiming right at them.

"Step back!"

Optimus pulled Bumblebee out of the path of the tank round and saw it destroy the security panel instead. The door stopped sliding, now locked in place. Not enough of a gap to crawl under, or to drive under. It was just stuck.

"Wouldn't be much fun if it was that easy!" A gruff Brawl said as he transformed out of his tank form.

All three Autobots aimed their cannons at Brawl, and Brawl brought up his own arm cannons, along with his shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.

"Hey, shellhead! You realize it's a 1v3, right!? And you're the one!" Ironhide primed his arm cannon at Brawl.

"Oh, all the better!" Brawl said excitedly.

"Control yourself, Brawl."

Brawl's frenzied look went away as the Autobots saw Megatron rise from the elevator shaft with Soundwave just behind him. The Decepticon warlord had a glint of glee in his violet optics.

Optimus recognized those violet optics all too well.

"Megatron… For three years you were gone, and already you fell so far?"

"Fell? Understand this, Prime, Dark Energon has raised me to become something far more. Something beyond what the Primes of old could comprehend." Megatron stepped forward slowly.

"Dark Energon was destroyed for a reason!" Optimus pointed out.

"It was. And that reason was fear. Fear of the power it grants to those they want to control."

All Autobots could hear it: the powerful sound of Megatron's fusion cannon powering up with a glowing violet light.

Megatron aimed his fusion cannon forward, "Let me remind you of that fear."

A powerful blast came forward at great speed barely reactable by the Autobots. They barely dodged the violet blast, letting it burn through the security door with ease. More and more blasts came from both Megatron and Brawl that separated Bumblebee and Ironhide from Optimus as they split apart. As Ironhide dove into cover, Brawl missed a blaster shot that landed right on an Energon crystal, setting off a large explosion.

"Watch where you fire, Brawl! One wrong shot and the whole mine will come crashing down!" Megatron said, chastising his Lieutenant.

Megatron continued firing, specifically at Optimus's cover. As he dove out, peppering the cover with holes, he and Megatron fired at each other in that second. The warlord jolted back as his shoulder was hit, while the Prime deflected the purple shot with great effort using his transformed axe-hook hand. By the end, Megatron's blast was redirected to the stone walls, while Optimus was clinging to his shoulder pad.

"See that, Prime? The Dark Energon has given me power unlike anything else! Do you think you can oppose that power, in your condition?" Megatron said in an almost mocking manner.

Optimus looked to Ironhide and Bumblebee, and steeled himself.

"No matter what, Megatron, I will always be there to oppose you." Optimus's face mask formed as he readied both of his hands into blasters.

Megatron grinned at the Prime's answer and readied another shot. Even the Decepticon Lieutenants and Autobot soldiers primed their weapons. They were expecting an all-out battle…

Until all of their attention was brought to the ruined security door as a loud blast dented the door from the inside. Very quickly, more and more blasts hit the door until the structure could barely hold on with all the holes made. Until…

"Brace yourselves!"

Optimus tilted his headpiece at the muffled voice. Was that… Jasper?

No sooner after the thought did a large vehicle break through the door, shattering it on contact. As the vehicle landed on the rough ground by its treads, everyone realized it to be the very same tank that Aiko had used before, somehow fully functional.

"Why'd you stop!?" The tank's hatch opened to reveal a shocked Ralph, "We still have to get ou–" Ralph then recognized the whole battle just ready to take place.

"Oh."

Just ten minutes prior…

Ralph could not believe what he was doing: he was sneaking through the dark tunnels of a Decepticon mine. Enemy territory. One wrong turn, one quiet guard, was all it would take for his mission to rescue Jackson and Aiko to fail.

But he would not allow himself to fail.

Though doubts would set in every time he heard a loud clank just behind him, he turned to Jasper in frustration.

"I need you to be quiet!" Ralph whispered loudly.

"I'm made of metal. What do you expect me to do about that?" Jasper whispered, mildly annoyed.

Ralph scoffed silently, wishing for a smaller, black-and-yellow partner. But he would have to make due, for the sake of the others.

Ralph led Jasper right to a corner, motioning the big bot to stop as he peeked around.

"Do you see him?" Jasper asked.

Ralph looked down the branching paths to see the unaware Vehicon walking down with the issued Energon laser. Though the Vehicon was none the wiser, he was still making headway.

"There! But he's going so fast, we gotta pick up the pace." Ralph realized.

"Got it."

Jasper then quickly picked up Ralph with his servo as he started sneaking onward.

"C-Careful!" Ralph said as he knelt down, "Check your corners before you just charge on."

Jasper softly chuckled before saying, "I've played enough tactical games to know about check spots."

Ralph was confused by the term. Was he taking this seriously, he thought? Ralph was about to lambast him, but held his words back as he felt Jasper's servo shaking underneath him.

"Just… be careful, alright?" Ralph asked.

Jasper nodded and went onward. Every secondary path that existed, Jasper checked with uneven breathing. Any sound that reminded him of heavy footsteps caused him to hesitate. But despite that, he kept up with the Vehicon until it entered a room. The room.

Elated, Jasper inched up to the doorway and peeked in with Ralph. And they saw it: a makeshift lab with many tools, Dark Energon crates… and a hunched-over Knockout looking over a shielded, ruined tank.

"There they are," Ralph said, glad.

"Yes… What do we do?" asked Jasper.

Ralph hesitated, now realizing the worst was not over.

"Doctor, your Energon laser as per your request." the Vehicon said.

"Yes, excellent, you may leave now," said Knockout as he urged the Vehicon away both calmly and impatiently.

The Vehicon said no words as it exited out of the laboratory, going back down an empty tunnel.

That's because in a dark room just before the laboratory, Jasper and Ralph were hiding just around the doorway, out of sight of the Vehicon. Jasper's breathing quickened as he heard the Vehicon's clanking footsteps close in. He balled his one fist, ready for a sudden strike, but Ralph palmed it, and simply shushed him. The Vehicon then came into view of the doorway, causing Jasper to grit his dentas…

Only to pass by the doorway, none the wiser.

Jasper peeked around the corner to see the Vehicon leave his sight, and exhaled a breath he was holding.

"Good, he's gone. Now let's get…"

Jasper stopped as he noticed one activated monitor shining light down on its own table, and revealing some familiar-looking datapads. Ralph noticed them as well.

"Ralph, it's the–"

"Focus, Jasper. Jackson and Aiko take priority."

Jasper sighed as he regrettably left the room and stopped outside the laboratory. He had the tank in his sights, but he also had Knockout there, tinkering away at the Energon laser. A rescue mission with one well-trained Lieutenant? Ralph cursed under his breath: any other Autobot would have made this easy. But Jasper had no chance against him in a fair fight. So how would they…

Jasper suddenly nudged Ralph's shoulder, grabbing his attention. All the big bot did afterward was point at his ear, then at the tank.

Ralph realized what he meant, and pulled out his radio, "This is Ralph calling on a low frequency, please respond. Jackson, Aiko, please respond."

Inside the tank, the air was stuffy and humid, and both Jackson and Aiko were trying to fan themselves off with their jackets.

"Either the Decepticons kill me, or this heat will." Aiko sighed and stopped moving. Jackson simply grunted in agreement.

Suddenly, their radios sounded off, and they somehow heard…

"Ralph!?" Aiko yelled out in surprise as she picked up the radio, "Ralph, this is Aiko speaking. Jackson is right next to me. How did you get the signal through the cave?"

"I didn't. Look at the doorway."

Aiko listened as she quietly opened the tank's hatch to see… Ralph? And Jasper!? Looking at them from outside the room!?

"Ralph, you have five seconds to explain why you're here with the civilian and not an Autobot!" Aiko said over the radio, her anger barely hidden.

Jackson nudged Aiko out of the way of the hatch, pulling up his radio and saying, "Don't mind her… although we will discuss this later, Ralph. We're glad you're here. The tank's shield is running low, and Knockout knows how to break it. We need to get out, now."

"Can't you exit the shield?"

Both of the trapped humans were surprised to hear Jasper, with one servo to his audio receptor, in the closed comms.

Aiko, amazed, asked, "Jasper? How did you–"

"Turns out, I can listen in and speak to any encrypted signals. But that doesn't matter. Leave the shield and we can drive to the exit."

"We can't. Knockout will hear the shield coming down. And if we're leaving, it's best to do it without any 'Cons on our tails."

"Then what do we do?" Asked Ralph as he looked around the tunnel for enemies.

Jackson then chimed in, "Jasper… you need to surprise Knockou–"

"No, not that again! The last time I did that was against Slipstream, and she took my hits like they were nothing."

"Slipstream was being powered by Dark Energon. Knockout isn't. Also, you won't be hitting him with your fists. See the table next to us?"

Jasper followed Jackson's directions and saw a table containing a long, silver pole with blue accents.

"That's an Energon shock stick. Use it on Knockout while he's distracted to disable him." Jackson planned out.

Jasper hesitated, but sighed as he said, "I really should've expected this… fine. I'll knock out Knockout… no pun intended."

Jasper let down Ralph to sneak over to the tank, while Jasper did his best to be light on his pedes. Thankfully, Knockout was so focused on his tinkering that he didn't even notice Jasper activating the shock stick, sparks coming out of the activated bludgeon. Jasper quickly turned it off to the discretion of the humans, and he then began his prowl. Step by step, Jasper closed in on Knockout as he was finalizing the Energon laser.

Jasper held his breath as he raised the shock stick in the air, ready to turn it on and bring it down…

Until a blaring alarm sounded off, with lights flashing the whole room red.

"Alert! Autobots have attacked the mine!"

"Wait, what!?"

Knockout looked up to the alarm, and back at a shocked Jasper. Jasper quickly brought down the active shock stick, only for the doctor to dodge just as it hit the table.

"That was fast!" Knockout yelled out as he looked to the tank and saw Ralph on the shield, "Scrap!" Knockout jumped back as he called his radio, "This is Knockout, there's an Autobot in the laboratory! He's trying to rescue the hu–maah!"

Knockout was interrupted as Jasper ran forward, shock stick pointed forward like a spear. He narrowly evaded the shock and counterattacked with a left hook at Jasper's face. In Jasper's shock, it hurt, but… it was nothing like Slipstream's. Jasper recovered and surprised the doctor with a straight punch to his chest piece, forcing him back to his tinkering table.

Knockout growled as he saw the scratch made by the punch, "I just buffed that!" Knockout formed his hand into a circular saw, making Jasper hesitate to move forward.

The humans, meanwhile, were trying to deactivate the tank's shield. But there was a problem.

"The shield button won't work! We took too much damage!" Aiko said, repeatedly pressing the red button.

Ralph racked his brain, "Okay, deactivating it should be easy. First, you find a port for your datapad and plug it in. Second, you input a manual deactivation command using administration to bypass–"

Ralph stopped talking as the shield disappeared and he fell to the tank's armor. Jackson popped his head through the hatch holding a power cell.

"Can't work without batteries, right?" He plainly said.

All three humans gathered at the top of the tank, watching the battle between the scared Jasper and the angered Knockout.

"Jasper, we're out! Let's get out of here!" Ralph yelled out.

Jasper was glad as he looked behind him. Knockout, however, was frustrated. He would not allow their human prisoners free. So what would he do?

Knockout then accidentally nudged a table and looked back, only to find his solution.

But Jackson noticed, as well. "Jasper, look out!"

But it was too late: Jasper turned around as a purple laser shot the shock stick right out of his hands. His attention was all on Knockout, who was aiming the modified Dark Energon laser right at the big bot.

"Autobot Jasper, as your doctor, I would suggest that you get some cosmetic surgery!"

The laser powered up within a couple seconds, leaving Jasper very little time to dive to the side, crawling behind a heavy container as a purple beam left behind a scorching path just behind his feet.

"Don't worry! It won't hurt that much!"

Knockout fired at the heavy container, peppering the heavy metal in random spots that only barely missed the panicking and huddled-up Jasper.

"Enough!"

Knockout stopped firing as his attention was brought to Jackson, standing tall and defiantly.

"It's me you're after! Me, you hear!?"

Knockout was confused, until he realized the absence of two figures. He quickly fired a beam at the doorway, stopping Ralph and Aiko in their tracks.

"Good try. But Megatron only needs one human prisoner." Knockout punctuated this by aiming the laser at Jackson.

"No!"

Suddenly, the peppered heavy container started scraping over the floor towards Knockout. Knockout fired at the container until it struck his legs, nearly knocking him down. Jasper jumped from behind it and wrestled Knockout for the laser, accidentally activating it. The violet laser burned a path through the ceiling as Knockout began slowly pulling the laser toward Jasper's head.

"No, no, no. We need to stop Knockout! Jackson! Tell me that machine gun's working!" Ralph pointed to the tank's mounted machine gun.

Jackson and Ralph rushed to the ruined tank, while Aiko looked upon the two bots fighting with worry. She could tell: Jasper was losing the contest of strength. If he just had a second or two…

Aiko then had a realization and reached into her pocket.

Meanwhile, Jasper was trying his hardest, but Knockout got leverage over him. With the laser closing in, the malicious grin of the Decepticon, and the loud alarm, Jasper was beginning to panic.

"Goodnight, Autobot!" Knockout said, smirking.

Jasper gritted his dentas, watching the laser inch closer and closer… only for it to stop, as Knockout seized up and barely spoke any words. The cause? An electrical current from a modified gun, held by a breathless Aiko.

Jasper took no chances: he pushed the laser out of Knockout's servos and punched him square in his sharp jaw. Down on the ground, Jasper delivered a few more punches to the face, not stopping even when the Decepticon doctor stopped putting up his arms in defense.

"Jasper! Jasper, enough! He's out!" Aiko yelled out as she dropped the now-fried gun and pounded Jasper's pede.

Jasper stopped, breathing heavily, as he realized that Knockout was fully limp. Eyes closed and no more jokes about harming him.

"I… I… I did it. Oh, thank God, I never wanna do that again." Jasper said, exhausted.

"Yes, it's impressive. Now let's get out of here!"

Jasper refocused and agreed, scooping up Aiko and going over to pick up Jackson and Ralph. He looked over the ruined tank, its barrel missing all the way from the muzzle break to the fume extractor, and sighed.

"Uh, listen, sorry about getting your tank damaged, and–"

"Save it for when we're out. It's already scrap, but I'm not leaving them anything behind." Jackson said as he crawled out of the hatch, a detonator in hand.

As the three humans ran for the doorway, Jasper sighed. What a shame. It was a cool tank, he thought.

Then it happened again: blue waves of light came from his optics, suddenly scanning the tank for a second. Jasper was less shocked this time, but still frustrated. Though for some reason, he felt… a little different.

Jasper sighed, "Damnit!"

"What's keeping you!? Let's get out of here! I don't wanna meet up with any Decepticons!" Aiko shouted, unaware of the scan.

Jasper simply nodded and transformed into his truck form, letting all three humans inside. Jackson in the driver's seat, Aiko in shotgun, and Ralph in the middle.

"Hold on, this may get bumpy!" Jasper warned.

His tires skidded as he floored it out of the laboratory, and Jackson then flipped the detonator's switch, and the doorway filled with flames as the tank was fully turned to scrap.

But in that fireball of an explosion, the alarm still blaring, one red robot started regaining consciousness.

"Wait, Jasper, stop here!"

Jasper quickly skidded to a stop, parking in the room just before the laboratory.

"Ralph, what are you doing!? We gotta get out of here, pronto!" Aiko urged them.

"Jasper, the datapads!" Ralph simply said.

Almost immediately, Jasper accelerated into the room, transforming quickly and letting out the humans as he rushed for the datapads.

"Wait, those datapads?" Aiko asked.

"Yes! Finally, we can find out what they did to my body!" Jasper said, elated.

He took the datapads from their cords, but stopped once he looked at the screen. It said…

"'Decoding in progress?' Then, that means…"

Jasper stopped pondering as he heard something over the intercom.

"Alert! All reinforcements that haven't been called to the main mining room must recapture the human prisoners! Close all secondary exits!"

"Crap!" Jasper said as he gave the humans the datapads and rushed out of the doorway with them.

Then he saw it: three Vehicons running down a different branching path right into his sight. He stopped short, bumping into a wall loudly just to not fall over. One Vehicon took notice and turned on a dime to aim their arm cannon at him.

The Vehicon yelled out "Stop right there!" in a commanding and threatening tone. The two other Vehicons supported the first with even more arm cannons, all trained right on Jasper.

Jasper raised his servos up, "Uh… any ideas?"

Jasper looked down to Jackson as he moved his pede to cover the humans.

"You're not driving out the way you came in, and they'll light you up if you drive the other way," Jackson said calmly, breathing slowly.

"What I would give to have that tank back," Aiko said as she looked back.

As Jasper saw the Vehicons prime their cannons and step forward, he noticed something. His arms were the usual bulky metal with embedded truck tires, but on his shoulders were… treads? Where did those come from? In fact, all of him looked slightly different. More… armored. Then, he looked within, inside his processor, where the schematics of the truck were, and there was… another one underneath. Was it…

Jasper's optics widened as he heard the clanking of the Vehicon's pedes get closer. He saw the cannons that promised harm, and felt the instinct: he folded in on himself until he was half his height, plates shifting to make him wider as his shoulders moved underneath him. Then over his new main body, a turret with a familiar barrel twisted around to point right at the surprised Vehicons.

"Open fire!" the Vehicon shouted.

A volley of laser blasts fired at the newly-formed tank, which returned fire by firing one shell right at the front Vehicon's leg, disabling him. The second Vehicon pulled the first backward as the third kept firing blasts at Jasper's angled armor, which deflected most of the damage.

"You three, get on!" Jasper yelled out.

The human trio shook off their surprise as they all did their best to climb the retreating Jasper-tank, avoiding the heavy treads and entering through the hatch.

Aiko entered the driver's seat and yelled out, "Jasper, what is this!?"

"Turns out, the scanning wasn't for nothing: I can transform into the tank!" Jasper said with excitement.

"Well we've got a problem, then. Because you've got Vehicons on your tail!" Ralph said as he looked through a viewport and found a new group of Vehicons advancing quickly.

"We can't outspeed them!" Jackson said as he tried to get into the machine gun's position.

But Jasper just simply focused, and looked within to his other schematic.

All three humans were shocked to be moved around as parts were shifted and altered. Treads retreated upwards as the barrel twisted around, only to be hidden by large, container walls. Wheels extended from below, and the trio found themselves in a familiar setting of truck seating, with Jackson in front of the wheel. The pedal was floored, and they found themselves outspeeding the Vehicons.

"Whoooo! Hope to never see you again, Decepticons!" Jasper yelled out.

"Jasper, you can… you're a triple changer!?" Ralph exclaimed.

"I dunno what that is, Ralph, and it doesn't matter! We're getting out of here!" Jasper then floored it and sped up even further, following the main lights.

Knockout exited the doorway, his headpiece throbbing. That Autobot, Jasper, scratched him up even worse than before.

"If I see that Autobot again, I'll…"

Knockout stopped talking as he heard the revving of a large engine, and looked behind him to see a large green-and-brown truck with a bunch of humans inside.

Knockout screamed out as he dodged to the side, the truck barreling down the tunnel.

"You!" Knockout exclaimed as he transformed to his high-end car mode and gave chase.

Ralph saw Knockout in the side mirror, slowly approaching them.

"Uh, Jasper–"

"I see him!"

Jasper focused as Knockout caught up to him and bumped into his side. It took a lot of effort for Jasper to not spiral out of control there, but it did make him mad as well. He bumped Knockout back, forcing him nearly to the rough cave wall and scratching up his paint.

"That's the last time you mess up my paint job!" Knockout yelled out as he fell back behind Jasper.

"He's still on us!" Jackson noticed.

"I know! But I don't know what to do about him without stopping!"

Then Jasper noticed something bad: a long way down, the tunnel ended with a security door, barely opened up, and with one big hole burned through it. But it wasn't enough to slip through.

"Deadend!" Jasper pointed out.

Aiko looked on, and realized, "The door's thin! Blast some tank shells into it and break on through!"

"Uh– Okay!" Jasper answered.

"Oh, not this again!" Ralph said as he held onto his stomach.

Behind him, Knockout was ready to crash into him again… only to see the truck's container retracted and reveal a very intimidating barrel pointed right at Knockout.

Knockout immediately reacted by driving out of the barrel's path, only to see it twist around the front, the truck now looking like the scrapped tank back in his laboratory. It blasted the security door with multiple shells in quick succession, quicker than a normal tank. By the end of it, the door had enough dents and holes to barely be called a door, and Jasper started his tank form as fast as he could.

"Brace yourselves!"

The three humans held their hands over their heads as Jasper crashed right through the metal door, shattering it to pieces as he landed on solid ground. But for some reason… he stopped moving. The three were confused, and Ralph checked it out…

Now…

"Oh."

Ralph could barely make any other noise as he saw the Autobot and Decepticon battle unfolding in front of him. Both sides were surprised at the sudden visitor, and it was both leaders that reacted first.

Optimus began sprinting at the tank, "Autobots, defend the humans!"

Megatron growled loudly on his high ground and screamed, "Decepticons, destroy them all!"

And like that, the catalyst activated: both sides advanced toward each other, with Jasper freaking out right in the middle of it.

"Drive, Jasper, now!" Jackson yelled out.

Jasper snapped out of it and started driving for cover as blaster fire was exchanged over him. Ironhide was the first to defend him, using a large plate from a drill vehicle's exterior to shield them.

"Ralph, you better explain why you're here and how you got that tank working again!" Ironhide said, glancing behind him.

"Uh, well, you see–"

"Can we talk about that after we get out of here!?"

Ironhide was confused at that voice. It was the fourth human's voice, Jasper's, yet… it was coming from…

"Jasper, are you the tank!?" Ironhide asked in shock.

Before Jasper could respond, Jackson overtook his cannon's control and twisted it to fire shells at Brawl, who went behind cover.

"Jackson, the hell!?" Jasper asked.

"You've got a full-blown cannon on top of you, we need to make use of it!"

"I'd rather we book it right out of this cave!"

While this heated exchange was happening, Brawl looked back at the new tank and the holes its shells made. And he got both mad… and excited.

"Oh, you think you pack a punch!? It's on!"

Brawl screamed out as he transformed into his tank mode and fired both cannons right at Ironhide's makeshift shield, flipping him over Jasper.

Jasper yelped at being exposed and drove away while transforming back into his truck form to gain more speed. Suddenly, everyone was surprised at the tank's second form.

"A triple changer!?" Brawl said in surprise, only for Ironhide to dive him and flip him over.

As Brawl transformed and fought Ironhide, Megatron's death glare intensified.

"An Autobot triple changer… Well, that's quite a surprise, isn't it!?"

As the truck was speeding away, Megatron transformed. But instead of rising into the air, he doubled down into the ground, embedding his legs and non-cannon arm in the stone underneath in a three-pronged shape. His body shifted to become bulky and long, his cannon being moved into the front. Eventually, his form was complete: a mounted heavy cannon. His thick tripod legs dug further into the stone as the cannon charged with a deep, resonating sound that only got higher and higher.

Meanwhile, Optimus ran to Jasper's left, with Bumblebee driving on his right.

"Jasper! Take the humans through that tunnel and retreat! Bumblebee, defend them!"

Optimus then fell back and returned fire, while Bumblebee exploded in a thousand beeps and drones, all pointed right at Ralph in the middle seat.

"I know, I'm sorry, 'Bee!... Jasper, take us through that tunnel!"

Ralph pointed to the tunnel in front, and Jasper couldn't be more glad. Finally, he could get back to safe–

His thoughts were interrupted as the ground in front of him exploded in a massive light of purple, sending him screaming and rolling over the stone. Bumblebee transformed and tried to help Jasper flip back up.

Megatron was grinning, and said in a commanding tone, "Soundwave, call for Starscream and his Seekers to reinforce us… and stop that triple changer from escaping."

"As you command, Lord Megatron."

Soundwave then jumped forward, transforming mid-air into a bulky, two-doored car. But unlike a regular car, it had a heavy metal grill on its front as a front bumper, and his sound cannon mounted on the roof. He landed on the dirt and quickly corrected himself, barreling for Jasper.

As Soundwave rushed off, Megatron also noticed Knockout peering through the destroyed security door, and felt his rage intensify.

"Knockout! You let the prisoners escape!?"

"Forgive me, Lord Megatron, that Autobot tank–"

"No excuses, Knockout! Now focus on getting the Dark Energon converter back to the Nemesis." Megatron ordered.

"Megatron, look–"

"Do as I command!" Megatron yelled out.

"No, I mean look out! It's the Prime!"

When Megatron noticed Optimus driving right at him, it was too late: Optimus's truck form rammed into the transforming Megatron, sending both leaders back into a fierce brawl.

Optimus transformed and pushed Megatron back, "I will not allow you to harm a single human!" Optimus formed an axe-hook from his servo.

"Try and stop me!" Megatron said, releasing a flail from his non-cannon arm.

Soon enough, Bumblebee flipped Jasper's truck back on its wheels and urged him onward with more beeps.

"What– but what about you guys!?" Jasper yelled out.

Bumblebee didn't seem to answer that and continued pushing Jasper onward.

It was then that Jasper saw something in the air. "Bumblebee, bird!"

Confused, Bumblebee could barely dodge the laser blasts from Laserbeak, his high-pitched droning sound coming and going as he circled around the two like a vulture.

They then felt a loud boom come over them, and found Soundwave aiming his sonic cannon at them.

"Soundwave will not allow Autobots to leave," Soundwave said in his synthetic voice.

Bumblebee formed his arms into repeaters, aiming at the Communications Lieutenant while giving more urgent beeps to Jasper.

"But 'Bee, I–" Ralph spoke back.

"Don't worry about him! Jasper, drive!" Aiko ordered.

Though exhausted, Jasper had no objections: he floored it as fast as his engine could handle right for the tunnel…

Only to skid to a stop as he found a wall of Vehicon troops, their blasters trained on him.

"Fire!" the lead Vehicon yelled out.

Jasper screamed out of fear as he drifted for cover, taking some hits to his wheels. He transformed back into his robot form to relieve his pain and shielded the humans from the advancing Vehicons. He raised his arms as laser blasts came from above, Laserbeak now trained on him.

"Soundwave will not allow Autobots to leave," Soundwave repeated while facing Bumblebee.

Jasper… he didn't know what to do. There was no way out. He couldn't drive away, or run away, with or without the human trio. He couldn't plead for mercy from the Decepticons. Pleading with villains never worked in movies, why would it work for him? He could do… nothing.

As fear overwhelmed him, the thoughts came back: he failed. The one thing he didn't want to do, letting the bad aliens win, he did. All of this wouldn't happen if he never became this thing. He'd kill to fight, but what would he do? At most, hit one guy with his fist or that stupid sword, and then have the others gun him down? He's just a liability. An albatross around the good guys' neck. What good could he do!?

"Jasper! Jasper!" Jackson called out to a spaced-out Jasper.

Without warning, the lead Vehicon shot several laser blasts into Jasper's chest and shoulder, causing him to stumble back into the rock wall, breathing hard as his wounds leaked Energon. The three humans looked at him with horror as the Vehicon leader kept getting closer.

But… if he can't run… if he can't plead… and he's going to die… should he just give up?

An exhausted Jasper looked up as the lead Vehicon aimed the blaster at his headpiece.

No… the least he could do…

Without input, Jasper's dark visor went down, and he batted the blaster out of his face right as a laser shot out. He grabbed the cannon arm, felt his other servo change into the hollow blade, let out a restrained screech…

And impaled the Vehicon's chest piece entirely, the blade tip poking out the other side.

"If I'm dying… I'm taking you with me…" Jasper muttered defiantly with acceptance.

But then something felt immediately off. His body jolted suddenly as the blade absorbed all the Energon on it, and whatever Energon was within the Vehicon as its lights went out. Jasper felt… solid. Energetic. Powerful. The pain from the wounds was all but gone as they turned back to smooth metal. Jasper's breathing grew more erratic as glowing blue lines formed at the blade arm and spread across his body in an angular pattern. In a sudden movement, Jasper batted the drained Vehicon off his blade, then stood still while the other Vehicons looked in shock. Jasper's movements were unstable, like he'd been struck by lightning, and the only noises he made were sharp breaths and grunts.

Ralph stepped back, "Uh… Jasper?"

Jasper's headpiece jolted around as he looked down at the little human with a tilted stare. Like he was… analyzing him.

And within Jasper… was a need. A need to fight.

"Open fire!"

The Vehicons then started firing on Jasper, who looked back at the hostile Decepticons and saw… threats.

Jasper's visor suddenly flashed red, and the glowing blue lines on his body turned into a dull orange as he let out a deafening, synthetic screech.