"...Think anyone will notice?"
Cody stared at the robotic dinosaur they'd just returned to the museum, though it was currently lying on its back in a frantic struggling position, just like it had the night before. "...Nah." He replied to his older brother Graham's question.
Yesterday had been the biggest adventure of his life. First, his family had been given new state-of-the-art tech in the form of emergency vehicles that could transform into robots on command, then he'd discovered that they weren't robots at all, but rather aliens from another planet! He'd made it his job to teach them about their new home, starting with how they would need to act around humans to keep their cover. That lesson had been cut short however, when one of the new robotic dinosaurs at the museum had malfunctioned and gone rampaging through the town.
It had taken some outside assistance from his best friend Frankie, a borrowed prison cell and a mudslide to corral and shut down the rogue machine, but now it was back where it belonged; in the museum, offline and in no danger of going crazy again.
"Mission accomplished..." Dani mumbled, followed by a yawn. "That was an adventure..."
Cody grinned a little. "You have no idea..." He whispered.
The family made their way back outside, where the early morning sunlight was finally over the horizon.
"Hold on, I want a picture of my heroes!" Chief Burns announced, holding out a camera.
Cody's smile faded as he moved out of the camera's view and in front of the bots. Everyone but him was a first responder, a hero. But he was too young to-
"All my heroes."
Cody's head perked up again, watching his older siblings wandering over to stand beside him instead...Well, not all of them.
Kade smirked as he crossed his arms in defense. "Come on, Dad. Just because Cody answered one rescue call doesn't mean he's part of the team." He insisted.
"Yes it does..."
They all looked to Kade's bot as it spoke with a deep, gravelly tone, even taking a step forward on it's own and it's visor retracting to reveal a pair of orange glowing optics. "Or we're not."
The bot bent down, making them back up even further as it placed a hand on Cody's shoulder, who hadn't moved an inch and whose smile had reappeared. "Cody is our liaison on this mission, he's the reason we're even giving this place a chance..." It leaned closer to Kade's face, a glare cross it's own. "Are we clear...?"
Kade let out a frightened squeak as his bot moved back into position and dashed to his father's side. "Dad, did that...thing, just talk back to me!?"
"Something's definitely wrong with the robots..." Dani murmured.
"We can't use tech prone to malfunction." Graham insisted.
The Chief placed a hand around his oldest son as he continued to look at the camera. "They're not malfunctioning...They're aliens."
"WHAT!?"
The camera flashed, gaining a picture of Chief smiling, Cody giving a thumbs up, and his three older siblings' shocked reactions to what their father had just announced.
"A-Aliens...!?" Graham stammered, adjusting his glasses that had fallen out of place in his shock.
"Stop messing around, Dad!" Kade complained.
"He's not." Graham's robot responded, his voice deep also, but softer and more gentle. "We are, and always have been, aliens to your planet."
"But we're the only ones who can know about it!" Cody replied. "We have to keep it a secret for the rest of the townsfolk, or else they'll all freak."
"THEY'LL FREAK!?" Kade shouted. "I'm freaking!"
"Shh!" Chief hushed his oldest. "We'll discuss this back at the firehouse."
His bot immediately transformed into his cruiser, and he climbed inside of it. "Let's go, Chase."
The pair drove off without another word, as if it was no big deal that he'd just climbed inside of another sentient being.
"There is no way I'm getting back in your cab!" Kade argued as his bot transformed into the fire truck.
"You have to. If we're seen driving without any drivers, our cover will be blown."
Kade groaned, and then climbed up into the cab.
Graham's bot and Dani's bot also transformed into their vehicle forms, and Graham and Dani climbed in.
"Can I ride with you, Graham?"
"Hop in, Cody..." Graham replied.
"We'll see you back at the Firehouse." Dani informed. "With this one, I'm most likely to be last anyway..."
Dani's bot gave a sigh, and Cody smiled at him, patting his side before climbing into Graham's bot alongside him as it pulled away.
"So Cody..." Graham asked. "...How'd you know the bots were aliens before we did?"
"We're not exactly the best at pretending to be emotionless." His bot replied. "My name's Boulder, by the way."
"N-Nice to meet you..."
"Cody's agreed to help us learn about Earth and maintain our cover better."
Dani's bot's face appeared beside Boulder's on the screen. "Some of us need it..."
They were accompanied by Kade's bot. "I may be a block away, but I can still hear you, Blades..."
"Who said I was talking about you!?"
The other two vanished as Boulder gave a sigh. "I'm not quite sure if pairing up Heatwave with your brother was the best move, Cody."
"You've only just met us." Cody patted Boulder's dash. "Things will be smoother once we know each other better."
"Right."
Graham kept his hands on the controls to maintain the facade, but there were several times when Boulder shifted the controls slightly under his hands that made him jump. The rest of the ride back to the Firehouse was an awkward quiet, with neither human nor bot speaking.
True to her word, Blades and Dani reached the Firehouse last, though not as far behind them than they'd expected. Blades probably just wanted to get back onto the ground as soon as he could. Kade had already gotten out of Heatwave and gotten some distance from the fire-bot, while Chief stood with Chase directly behind him. Graham and Cody climbed out of Boulder so that he could transform into robot mode, and after a few seconds, Blades and Dani entered the garage as well.
"Close the door, Cody." Chief informed.
Cody ran over and closed the garage door. As the sound of the door echoed off of the walls and then faded, the space was filled with an eerie silence, only filled with the occasional creak of one of the bots' joints.
"...Now you may ask questions."
Immediately the questions started coming from the three oldest children.
"They're aliens!?"
"They can think for themselves!?"
"Why didn't you tell us!?"
"Are they the only ones here?"
"How do you expect us to do our jobs working with alien machines!?"
Chief waited a few seconds, then lifted his hand to silence them. "I know. I should have told you before they arrived yesterday, but this whole setup was only decided about a week ago... To answer your question, Graham: They're not the only ones, there are more of their kind here on Earth, but not many. There are only about 12 known Autobots here on Earth as of right now."
"Our ship was floating through space with us in stasis pods," Boulder explained. "It picked up a message from our leader, Optimus Prime, that guided our ship here to Earth, where we awoke and met up with him...And were informed of our home's destruction while we were out of it."
"I received a call from a government agent to come to the mainland a week ago, it was there that I met Optimus, and was asked to keep these four on our island, and teach them about Earth customs...I met them properly the day they came to the island and were introduced to the public...and to you."
"So you're refugees." Dani muttered.
"We're your new partners." Heatwave informed firmly.
"I know it's crazy, and will take some getting used to." Chief replied. "But change is part of life, and so are surprises. Give it some time..."
"Hmph."
They watched Kade wander off and head upstairs, followed by Dani and Graham.
"...That didn't go over very well." Boulder murmured.
Cody smiled a little. "Would you be immediately okay with it if you were told you were working with an alien race you didn't even know existed?"
"No." Heatwave replied. "To be honest, I don't like this idea of pretending to be simple machines... But if that's what Optimus wants, then I will follow his orders."
"Good." Chief gave a firm nod. "Try to get settled in some more, you four. We'll talk further later."
Cody followed his father to the elevator and as the doors closed, he turned to the Chief. "Dad...Do you think Kade, Dani and Graham will accept this?"
"I hope so, Cody... I hope so..."