Deep in the African jungle they slumbered, exhausted from their eons long war...
Until they were woken by humans, desperate for something to believe in...
A force of good to combat the worst evil Earth had ever seen...
They are...
“Noooooooo! Professor!” Charlene “Charley” Morris screamed as her mentor, Professor James Cain struggled to breath on the alien bed in an alien medical room.
“Charley!” Mabuto Tuku moved up behind her, pulling her into a comforting hug, while hiding her face from the death throws of her mentor.
“Ark,” the giant Optimus Prime ordered the ship around them, “Administer sedatives, now!”
“Unable to comply, a prior standing command overrides your command,” the Ark’s Medi-Droid replied, “Command X-982, Medi-Droids shall not do anything to cause harm to a patient, administering sedatives will kill the patient.”
Prime sighed, spinning round and reaching into a nearby wall recess, “Mabuto, please, it’s a sedative, it won’t slow down anything but it will ease his pain.”
The tall dark skinned human nodded, taking the syringe from the Autobot leader, “It won’t harm him?”
“No.”
Looking into the giant robot’s eyes Mabuto knew in that instant that he could trust him. Yes, him, he’d started to think of these legendary figures as real, living beings.
As he injected the contents into the Professor’s arm he watched the writhing slow and eventually stop completely, the only indication that he was still alive was the slow, and uneven, rise and fall of the old man’s chest.
“Please... Come with me,” Prime said to the two humans, “I know it’s hard, but the Medi-Droids will take good care of him.”
“For as long as possible,” Charley sobbed.
Mabuto looked at his rebel comrade, he was completely unused to soldiers breaking down like that.
“Yes,” Prime said gently, “I have something to show you...”
“It’s gigantic!” Charley gasped.
Mabuto looked down at the huge object below the railing, “What is it?”
“That is The Oberon,” Prime told them, “Our primary high speed shuttle, and that is how we get to this Taylor person.”
“I think I know who the Professor meant too,” Charley said, “There’s a bartender in London, named Taylor, the Professor said they used to play cards together...”
Prime looked down at her, “Play cards?”
“Card games, Poker and such,” Mabuto answered.
“Yeah Prime, it’s like Cyberjacks,” Jazz smiled as the Autobot Leader stepped off the elevator platform.
“Ahh, I see,” Prime nodded before turning back to Charley and Mabuto, “Please, continue...”
“He never mentioned they were in the rebellion,” Charley said, “But it’s the only Taylor I ever heard him mention.”
Prime nodded to Jazz, “Then to London we go...”
Charley shook her head, “You won’t like it...”
“No...” Prime’s optics darted all over the landscape.
They had landed the Oberon near what was supposed to be the Thames River. But as far as Prime could see in every direction it was just devastation, rubble and debris.
“What happened here?” Bumblebee asked looking round.
“The Quintessons, as a show of force they destroyed every country’s capital city...”
“No... By the Matrix no...” Prime’s memory circuits sparked, bringing up images of London in it’s prime. Tony Blair trying his best to shake Prime’s hand while standing on the balcony of Number 10. Metroplex placing Big Ben gently back where it was supposed to be...
“Prime, we need to get moving, the Quints will have monitored the Oberon landing...”
Prime shook his head, “Yes, yes, Autobots, transform and roll out”
Taylor Jenson wiped the towel over the beer mug he was perpetually cleaning.
The drunk sitting at the bar was spouting off about how he’d talked down to a Quint, “So I ses to em, ya can’t pull a cart tha big withou’ some best’o’burden...”
“Right, you say’d that to em huh?” Taylor said in a tone you’d use for addressing children.
“Arr, I didnall, an he, all five faces look’d all confused, an he went away, left us ta work...”
Taylor just looked witheringly at the drunk, he knew full well that if a human talked that way to a Quint that the human in question would be atomized in less time than it’d take to spout a racial slur about having five faces.
“‘Ere keep, ‘nother round?”
Taylor shrugged, it wasn’t like he was getting paid for this, he thought as he poured another pint for the drunk. He was just glad that the Quints had realized that humans needed to have some downtime or else their productivity slipped.
“Here ya go Ernie,” he said sliding the glass across the bar.
“How about a gin and tonic?” came a feminine voice from the other end of the bar.
As one all the men at the bar turned to look at the newcomer, she was brunette, had hair down her back, striking blue eyes, a face that in any other age would have been on television or in the movies.
“A gin and tonic?” Taylor asked as he came towards her, “Haven’t made one of those in years...”
“Then how about a breath of fresh air? It might help to jog your memory,” the brunette smiled, “At least that’s what Professor Cain says...”
“Cain? How is old James?”
“He’s...”
“Dead,” came a deep male voice from behind the brunette.
“Dead?” Taylor gasped, he’d been shocked a lot in his life, but never had anything shaken his core like that, “Lets take a walk outside...”
“How’d he die?” Taylor asked as he slumped down onto a step outside the back of his bar.
“We’re not sure, his organs apparently shut down,” the male, Mabuto, answered.
“His life’s work was validated however,” the brunette, Charley, told him.
“His life’s work?” Taylor repeated, “You mean he found some trace of those legends he was always spouting off about?”
“You could say that,” Charley said with a smile.
“But we need your help,” Mabuto said before Charley could continue, “We need to contact the rebel leaders, and with the Professor dead our contacts are unknown, with his last conscious words he gave us your name.”
“My name?” Taylor asked, “He thought I’d know how to contact the rebellion?”
“He knew he was dying, he wouldn’t have lied to us,” Mabuto said.
“I may know a way, but I’ll need a password before I can try...”
Charley nodded, “Quantum Bridge.”
Taylor’s eyes darted up and down the alley, “Thank you.”
Mabuto’s voice rumbled, “Can you help us?”
“Yes, I know how to contact the leaders,” Taylor told them. “They’ll want some proof before they’ll act though.”
“Proof huh?”
“Yeah, that, you know, he found something to do with the legends.”
“I think we can help there,” came a metallic edged voice from above them.
Taylor stood and spun to face the voice.
His jaw dropped, there stood three giant robots, the tallest of which was kneeling down and leaning forward, Taylor thought he must have been the one who spoke.
The largest robot nodded, “Greetings, we are the Autobots.”
