Your answer clearly hit home for the bots, who now realized the reason for your sudden sadness. After a moment, one of the humans ask a question. You don't bother to look up to see which one it is.
"How was your home destroyed?" You are asked, timidly.
You give a sad sigh, "There was an asteroid, almost half the size of our planet. We hardly had time to get everyone on ships. In our hurry, we didn't take into consideration the debris of our home."
Not noticing that the blue bot had put her blaster down, you continue, "Most of the escape ships were destroyed before anyone got to the escape pods. I was one of the lucky ones."
"There probably were other survivors who made it to the escape pods in time, but I've no idea where they are or even if the escape pods made it anywhere. As far as I know, I am the only remaining survivor of my species."
Finishing, you fall into a somber silence, a few tears finally pouring over your cheeks.
The tallest of the bots, the leader, speaks next, "I am very sorry for the loss of your home. We, too, know the pain of losing one's home." You notice the empathy on all of the bots faces. They really did know.
He continues, "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots." He places a hand on the shoulder of the yellow bot, "This is Bumblebee, our scout," He motions at the (comparatively) small blue bot. "Arcee, our warrior," Then at the red and white, grumpy one, "Ratchet, our medic," and finally, at the green one, "And Bulkhead, our Wrecker."
You take the pause as your cue to introduce yourself, "My name is (Y/n) (L/n). I am an Echaean from Sonnora."
This is when the small female human snaps out of her trance.
"You can SHAPESHIFT!?! That is totally wicked!"
"Uh, Yes? It is an ability unique to my people, as I have gathered from Earth's population." You watch her seemingly endless excitement with curiosity. She begins firing questions too quickly for you to answer.
"What else can you turn into? Can you turn into a bear? or a Tiger? Ooh, ooh! What about a gorilla? Or a dragon? can you turn into a dragon?! Are there weird space creatures you can turn into? Are there space whales? Ratchet says there's no such thing as space whales but I don't believe him. Can you-"
The oldest human decides to intervene, "Miko, do you think you could bring it down a few notches?" He suggests, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Miko smiles sheepishly at you, "Sorry, I can get a bit carried away." You place your hand on her head in an attempt to reassure her.
"It's alright, you're just curious. I'm happy to answer any questions anybody may have." You address the last part to the rest of the room as well. Both Miko and Raf perk at this, obviously brimming with unanswered questions.
You prepare yourself for a long day of interrogation.
----------------------------
"Alright guys, you can each have one more question. Then you've gotta go home." Arcee says as she walks into the room. She places down a crate of cubes filled with a swirling blue liquid next to Ratchet.
Miko, deflates, but the other two don't really mind, having exhausted their questions hours ago.
"Okay," Miko begins, "Do you have some sort of alien weakness? like kryptonite?"
"Not that I know of." You reply. "I have not encountered anything of the sort in the fifty years of my residence on this planet." Still, there are a lot of strange things on this planet you are unfamiliar with, having only ever been in the continent called "North America". Your escape pod originally landed in a placed called "Ohio" and until recently, you'd never had a reason to stray too far from that place.
Raf came up with another question.
"Why did you come to Jasper?"
You paused to think about this one. The reason itself is simple, yet there's nothing that would send you to Jasper in particular. You simply give the best explanation you can.
"Well, one day, the pod I came here in just, disappeared." You explain. "I couldn't find an explanation as to why. But it was gone and I no longer had a reason to stay in the same place I landed. After that, I followed this pull. It lead me up north and I stayed there for years before I came to Jasper."
Miko and Raf seemed satisfied with your answer. Both of their heads turned expectantly towards the oldest teen, who's name you'd learned was Jack. He blinks at them, unsure why they are staring.
"What?" Jack sits up from his reclined position on the couch to address his fellow humans.
"You have to ask her a question!" Miko exclaims.
"I don't have any." Came his reply.
Miko rolls her eyes with a groan. "Oh, come on. You don't have a single question?"
Finally, the boy gives in to humor the Miko.
"Fine, alright." Jack addresses you. "What's your favorite color?"
Miko sputters in disbelief. You smile at her antics and answer the question.
"I find (F/C) to be quite beautiful." You find Miko yelling about how Jack, who is laughing on the couch, wasted his question. It is rather amusing, and even Raf is giggling from his spot on the floor, wrapped in a blanket.
Soon enough, everyone settles down, and the children are driven home by their Cybertronian guardians. Leaving the base quiet, aside from the tapping of computer keys as Ratchet works. You've decided to take up residence in the Autobot's base for now, more out of curiosity than anything. Optimus tells you about his people, and how the war on Cybertron has made the planet uninhabitable. Now, they reside on earth, protecting earth from the Decepticons.
It's late in the night before you have to ask him to cut the history lesson short, as you can barely keep your eyes open at this point. Understandably, he nods and continues with his own business, leaving you to try to get some sleep on the couch.
You end up shifting into the form of a domesticated feline, as their bodies are less solid and can be made comfortable on pretty much any surface. You curl into a ball on the couch and sink into a dreamless sleep.
-----------------------
You are woken up by someone shouting. It was a new voice, not one of the bots and the children would be at school right now. You don't really want to get up, but you are fully awake when you feel someone pick you up and hold you out in front of them.
"I mean this cat, Prime." You wriggle in the human's grip, and they let you go. You drop to the floor, landing on your feet. You look up to see who woke you. The human had dark skin, and wore a suit. He had some sort of government badge clipped onto his front. You can see it has something written on it, but it is too high up for you to read.
Optimus speaks, reminding you that there where other people in this room.
"Agent Fowler, I assure you that (Y/n) is-"
"You named the cat!? Honestly, Prime, why on earth would you house a cat in a military base?"
At this point, as amusing as it is to watch the Prime be scolded by a human, you decide to spare both the trouble. You hop onto the couch and meow loudly to get their attention. Once all eyes are on you, you shift back into a human.
The man stares with surprise, but doesn't seem too taken aback. Then again, it looks like he works with the Cybertronians. It's possible that he's just used to strange happenings.
"So it's a cat person?" He says, to no one in particular. Of course, you decide to explain anyway.
"I am (Y/n), an Echaean from Sonnora. It's a pleasure to meet you. Your name is Agent Fowler, I presume?"
Fowler's face shifts from one of surprise to understanding. "So we've got more aliens?" He asks Optimus. Optimus shakes his head.
"Yes, and no. It is just her. (Y/n) is the only one of her people on Earth. I've come to understand that she can shift into any carbon-based lifeform?" He looks to you for confirmation. You nod.
"If I am familiar enough with it, yes."
Fowler crosses his arms and thinks for a moment. Then, he holds out a hand for you to shake. This human greeting took you a bit to figure out, with the unspoken ques and such, but you managed to get it down. You clasp his hand firmly, and Fowler then says four words that mark the beginning of a grand adventure.
"Welcome to the team."