It was hell made real on one planet at one time. Buildings crumbled and bodies littered the streets. Oddly, they weren’t just human bodies. Animals in a humanoid shape and giant robots with vehicle parts also filled the spaces between the ruined buildings. Only three could be seen walking normally. Two were robots and one was an anthropomorphic silver hedgehog. The hedgehog knelt down to examine a body. “…No good,” he sighed. “This poor kid succumbed.”
“Same for this Sparkling,” grumbled one of the robots, a purple one with an orange cannon.
“…Hang on, this cat’s still breathing!” called the second of the robots, a gold one with a mask where the mouth should be.
“You sure?!” asked the hedgehog. The scab-covered cat then coughed. “Yeah, you’re sure, Prime. Right then, I’ll get him back to the center!” The hedgehog raised his hands and a cyan aura surrounded the poor cat. The same aura enveloped the hedgehog and they floated upwards.
“Make sure you get back out here as soon as you dropped him off and took your medication!” called the gold robot.
“Got it!” replied the hedgehog as he and his passenger flew off.
“We don’t have a chance!” complained the purple robot.
“Things HAVE been getting worse,” muttered the gold robot. “I was hoping it would get better soon, but now, well…” he indicated the corpses they had to wade through.
“Dr. Quill!” called the hedgehog as he entered a facility that smelled of disinfectants and medical tools. A porcupine man in a doctor’s outfit then arrived.
“Got another one, I see, Silver,” remarked the man, Dr. Quill. “How is he?”
“Bad,” replied the hedgehog, the psychokinetic time-traveler, Silver. “I’m surprised he survived the journey here, even if I was levitating him.”
“We’ll have to put him with the others,” said Dr. Quill. “Nurse!” A man in nurse’s scrubs arrived. “Put this cat in the isolation ward.”
“Yes, Dr. Quill,” replied the nurse. He then led the sick cat to a ward.
“I’m getting too old for this!” sighed Dr. Quill. “Why did this have to happen?”
“Why does anything happen?” asked Silver. “Look, I gotta take my next set of pills.”
“Right. Off you go.” Silver floated off as Dr. Quill turned to a human. “Dell, I want you to go to the isolation ward and check over the systems.” The man nodded and headed off, blankly staring ahead. Dr. Quill turned to an ambulance. “Would you check the stock of pills, First Aid?”
“Sure thing,” replied the Ambulance. It then changed into a robot with a mask and visor over its face! The robot, the Protectobot called First Aid, headed off.
“If anyone thinks we’re running out,” muttered Dr. Quill, “there’ll be the devil to pay!”
The purple and gold robots continued their patrol. “Where is he?!” complained the purple robot.
“Relax,” soothed the gold robot. “He’ll be here. You know Silver better than that.”
“Well, we need his-!” The purple robot stopped. “…Goldbug-.”
“I hear it too!” replied the gold robot, Goldbug Prime. “It sounds like…a TARDIS!”
“You don’t think it’s THE TARDIS?” asked the purple robot.
“If it is, we better stop the Doctor from touching anyone! Come on, Galvatron!” Goldbug Prime then turned into a futuristic muscle car as Galvatron turned into an alien fighter jet.
It WAS the TARDIS the two Transformers had heard. The Doctor and her friends stepped outside. “Sweet Chaos!” shuddered Amy as she saw the scenery. “It’s like New New York!”
“Yes, but the Toymaker’s not behind this,” remarked the Doctor.
“This is your home, Amy?” asked Lurra Rus.
“Something must have happened to it in the 200 years between my time and now,” remarked Amy.
“Quite right,” agreed the Doctor. “Let’s try and-.”
“Help…me!” whimpered a poor woman.
“Doctor!” called Amy.
“Don’t touch!” urged the Doctor. “Those look like scabs from an infection!”
“Help…me!” repeated the woman.
“It’s all right, ma’am,” soothed the Doctor. “I’ll try and get you something.”
“Don’t touch her!” called Galvatron’s voice as he and Goldbug arrived. They transformed into robot mode and the Doctor goggled.
“An Autobot and Decepticon working together?” she asked.
“Desperate times and all that, Doctor,” replied Goldbug.
“…I seem to be at-.”
“Hold out your hands,” ordered Galvatron.
“Pardon?”
“Hold out your hands and let me see them! And take the gloves off too!” The Doctor and Amy looked at each other, but complied, then they and Lurra Rus showed the bots their hands.
“…They’re clean,” said Goldbug.
“Look, this woman is sick with something-!” urged Amy.
“We’ll take her to the center, Miss Rose,” replied Galvatron.
“What’s going on?” asked Silver as he arrived. He then goggled when he saw Amy. “Good grief! Amy! What are you doing in this time?!”
“Silver!” cheered Amy. She rushed to hug him.
“No! No hug!” yelped Silver. “You might be-!”
“She and her friends are clean, Silver,” said Goldbug. “They found another woman, still alive.”
“Right then, we’re all going to the center,” said Silver. “Come on, Amy. Looks like you and your friends need to be brought into the picture.”
The group arrived at the center. The Doctor could smell the disinfectants. “Is this some sort of hospital?” she asked.
“In a way, I suppose,” remarked Silver. “Now then, Miss…”
“Oh, I’m the Doctor. You and Amy seem to know each other and this Twi’lek is Lurra Rus.”
“Hello,” greeted Lurra Rus. “Not exactly a good first impression of Mobius, I must admit.”
“You’d probably like Amy’s time better,” remarked Galvatron.
“Sir, you and your Autobot friend addressed me and Amy by name,” said the Doctor. “Who are you two?”
“Oh, you met us before,” remarked Galvatron. “On my ship before we were tricked into landing on Skaro.”
“Amy commented on my pink seats at the time,” said Goldbug, “and you had to convince him to order the Decepticons to stand down as we faced the Daleks, both the original Skaro strain and Octus’ breed.”
“…Bumblebee?!” yelped Amy.
“I’m Goldbug Prime now,” corrected Goldbug.
“And I’m called Galvatron these days.”
“Galvatron?” muttered the Doctor. She then snapped her fingers. “That’s right! You used to be Megatron! …But I thought it was Hot Rod that became Rodimus Prime around the time of your upgrade. Something isn’t right here.”
“That brash fool is meant to oppose me?!” laughed Galvatron.
“He fell to the plague that affects us all,” explained Goldbug.
“We better introduce you to Dr. Quill,” said Silver. “He can answer your questions.”
“Right then, lead on,” said the Doctor. As they walked, Amy talked about what the Transformers were and what happened when she first met them.
“Is this the latest sample?” Dr. Quill asked First Aid.
“From the cat Silver brought in earlier,” confirmed First Aid.
“Speak of the devil,” said Silver as he and the group entered.
“Found another one, have you?” asked Dr. Quill. “Well, you know what to do.”
“Not with these guys,” replied Silver. “They’re clean and they only just arrived here.”
“What?!” yelped Dr. Quill as he looked up and finally made eye contact with the Doctor. “What in blue blazes are you doing here?! Mobius is under strict quarantine! No one on or off until a cure can be found!”
“Believe it or not, we have our own priorities,” replied the Doctor. “Though I must apologize.”
“Are you sure they’re clean?!” Dr. Quill asked Silver.
“We all checked,” replied Goldbug. “They’re clean.”
“Look, could someone tell us what’s going on?” asked Lurra Rus. “It looks like both the Transformers and the organic life forms are falling victim to a plague!”
“We are,” replied Dr. Quill. “During the Autobot/Decepticon war, a bot died of an infection here on Mobius, then it spread to both factions and affected organics along the way. To start, it spread mainly to older people and children. They were the first to die, but now it’s affecting everyone of all ages.”
“Not just organisms like Mobians or Transformers,” supplied First Aid, “but plants, non-speaking animals, practically all forms of life.”
“It just struck out of nowhere?” asked the Doctor.
“Yes, and now Mobius is on the brink of collapse. There’s no cure, at least nothing that I found.”
“My plan,” said Silver, “is to go back in time with a potential cure and vaccine so Mobius and the Transformers could be immunized and thus avert this catastrophe, but there hasn’t been any luck. The virus has been mutating so rapidly!”
“Sounds like you need my help,” muttered the Doctor. She then addressed Dr. Quill. “I’m presuming you’re this Dr. Quill I heard about. Are you and Dr…um…that Autobot behind you, are you two the only scientists working on a cure?”
“I’m First Aid, Doctor,” replied First Aid. “And we are. All the other scientists are dead thanks to this plague. There’s not much else we can do to help these people. All we do is put them into the isolation ward when we collect them from the streets.”
“Penning them in like cattle?” asked Lurra Rus.
“All we can do is keep them comfortable as best we can, but we NEED a cure! Those pills we give to the retrieval crews-!”
“First Aid, please,” said Dr. Quill.
“Well, if we’re going to get stuck in, then-.” The Doctor’s declaration was cut short by a Decepticon bursting into the room.
“Cyclonus?” asked Galvatron. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Scourge, Lord Galvatron!” replied the mech, Cyclonus. “He’s lost his mind!”
