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It was a normal day, nearly time to wrap it up for the day. Sure, Graham had won a pay raise over his coworker, Beth, but clearly, she wasn't too hurt over it. Of course, the chemicals they were using to seal this bridge were dangerous, but she wouldn't dare… mess … with …'em…
Cody groaned at the idea of spending the afternoon with Priscilla of all people, but the project had to get done. It was nice of Madeline's driver to give him a bottle of sunny D, he even opened it for him! It tasted funny, but may-be… it was … left in the sun? Ha ha, that's funny, sun-ny Dee in the sun… Mr Driver, I'm a little tired. Do- you mind if I take a … naaaap.
That night, Dani ran to her car, the man that had been following her for half a block joined by two others. She fumbled with her keychain, struggling to take the knife and her car keys off while not taking her eyes off the men. To her horror, she realized that she forgot to lock it that morning. As she backed away from the man currently sprawled in the backseat of her car, she felt two pairs of arms grab her from behind, taped her hands behind her back, and shoved her into her backseat, the man already sitting there taking a gun out of his waistband and pressing it into her spine.
"Stay still. Stay nice. The boss bitch wants you Burns off the island. Luckily for you, you're worth a lot more off-world than on the mainland, especially with that bratty brother of yours as a package deal. The Greene brat and her pops already fetched the boss a generous check, and boy was that pay cut nice."
Despite her best efforts, Dani could feel herself start to cry as the man buckled her seat belt as they looped through the outskirts of the town and through the docks, parking behind a shipping crate. A parked jeep with plastic bags taped over the license plates was open, and Dani stiffened as she recognized Graham's shoes peeking out from behind a crate filled with liter bottles of water and cans of food. Dani was forced to sit next to Graham, a large duffel bag that was secured to the wall pinning her into the spot between her brother and the crate. The men secured the crate to the wall, moving it aside as a very drunk and possibly drugged Kade was dragged onto the trailer, all but throwing him against the crate. Finally, three men carried in an unconscious Charlie, his head bleeding sluggishly.
It took all of Dani's self control not to rush to bandage her father's head, reminding herself under her breath that the men that took them had guns, and a lot of them.
The men closed and secured the trailer door, and the whole truck lurched into movement, rumbling onto a ferry to the mainland, Dani biting back a shout as the duffel bag she was leaning on started to move. She turned and grabbed the zipper pull, struggling to crouch and turn slowly enough to open the bag.
She fell back when she saw the softly breathing, sleeping form of her youngest brother. Dani openly started to sob, trying desperately to wriggle out of the duck tape around her wrists. She remembered what her dad taught her about duct tape, and raised her arms as far as she could, then slammed them down, pulling her wrists apart.
She pulled off a piece of the duct tape and used it to seal the cut on her father's head. She started to unbutton his shirt in order to let the cool air help with his breathing when she noticed that his neck, shoulders and chest were one big multicolor bruise, one of his collarbones badly fractured if not completely broken. His breathing was shallow, with at least two, maybe three ribs being broken on the left side. Dani couldn't do much more than prop him up and move on to Graham, freezing when a bright green light flashed through the seams of the trailer. Dani zipped Cody's bag back shut and sat where the men had thrown her, pretending to be asleep and leaning against the door to give Kade space.
She regretted that when the door opened, and she fell into a massive… hand?
"Well then. What did our pal Madeline bring me today? Ooooooo, a femme, an adult one even. And it's fertile, based on that little bag in the corner there. There's also one, two, three fully grown mechs! A senior, oh! That's damaged, and will have to be assigned a steep discount. Hmm, the other two haven't snapped out of it yet. Might need a warmer… hey Starline!"
The platypus beastformer scientist looked up from the two humans, a male and its female offspring, that he was currently playing with, putting little bits of dry kibble in the adolescent's dense curls. Only he was having much fun, the humans getting very upset.
"Yeah?"
"We got a damaged one. Plus, they all have little badges? I can't read human without a datapad."
The scientist wandered over with the jury rigged lightbox and microscope creation that he used to examine any potential products that Madeline wants out of her business. "Oh, uh boss?"
Swindle sighed. "What Starline? Is it anemic? Diabetic? You don't use that tone unless it's something not worth our trouble."
"It's a pig and a rescue bot. At least, the senior and the orange one are."
"Shit. Get them changed, I am gonna go give our little business partner a piece of my mind. We ain't the place to get rid of pigs, the kids are bad enough."
"Got it boss." Starline picked up Kade and Charlie, taking them with him. He grabbed two sets of blue scrubs from a bin near his station, and cut away the humans clothes, leaving anything that wasn't identifiable. He groaned at the condition of Charlie's chest, comming Swindle.
"And that's fucking stupid, Mad- what now?" Swindle snapped, irritated at being cut off mid rant.
"The pig's got a broken shoulder and chest bones, and it's an awful color. The redhead has tremors, and his stomach is all distended and his breathing ain't good, it's slow. Don't let her get full price for either, treatment is gonna be expensive."
"Fucking pit, Madeline, what did you do, tell your men to bring em to Mortilus's gate and back before you brought em to me? Starline, check the rest of 'em." Swindle closed the call, and Starline bandaged Charlie and shoved an oxygen mask over the redhead's face.
He picked up the still sleeping brown haired male, noting his struggle to breath deeply and consistently, seemingly just barely avoiding respiratory distress. He slipped an oxygen mask on him too, and moved on to the adolescent, who was awake and curled up with the femme, who Swindle had shoved back into his trailer.
He was a curious one, squeaking little questions while squirming in Starline's hand. He was completely healthy, so Starline put him with the two humans he was messing with before. Finally, he picked up the femme, who curled up in apparent terror as soon as she was lifted off the ground. She was also fine, and placed with the other healthy humans.
Starline looked up at the clock and realized that it was almost quitting time. He burned the identifying clothes and left Swindle's warehouse.
The next day, he found his place of work in the news, a health department official cradling the terrified humans he had handled the day before. Swindle had managed to escape, and he found it best to book it too.
Meanwhile, Blades and Heatwave were smitten, a sleeping Dani and Cody resting in one of their hands, the other filling out paperwork. On a whim, Heatwave popped Cody into his cab quickly so he could pull out his ID from his subspace, freezing when Cody wedged himself into the cushions of his backseat.
Damn. That felt amazing. Who knew that a tiny blob of warm human could jam himself in a spot that felt so nice? It was like having a tiny heating pad right where his struts get sore after a long day of work. He reached in and gave Cody a few pets, and died of cuteness a little when he stretched into his hand. Blades had simply set Dani on the table to grab his own ID, the Data Clerk softly poking and messing with her arms and head. She was groggy enough from her nap that she just batted at the Clerk's fingers half-heartedly, more focused on trying to get on her feet than the attempt to play with her.
Ezra "Doc" Greene and Frankie were in a carrying case at Heatwave's feet, the Human Specialist, Caremark, already had taken Graham and Charlie to her intensive care setup for treatment. Kade was still being poked and prodded, the breathing issues resolved, but still very hungover.
"This whole thing is gonna be mighty expensive." Heatwave grumbled. "But I think I will get over it. We will be back tomorrow for the last of the humans."
"Yep, anytime after 10am would be great." The Clerk said, slipping a treat to an unimpressed Dani.
"Good. I have an opening at 11:45. The students will likely be insufferable."
Blades smiled. "Especially Whirl Jr. I feel like we should set up desks wherever we put them."
"We will need more than one. I want to keep them in our rooms when class is not in session."
Blades scooped up Dani and stuck her with Cody. "Exactly. Have a nice day."
"You too." The Clerk replied as they left.
Chase had gone and bought a temporary tank, too small for long term use, but after the custom one that he had ordered for the Burns had come in, it would be the perfect size for the Greenes. There were a few hutches, all the necessary amenities, and a second story balcony already installed, with a ramp and guardrails.
As expected, the humans chose to disappear into one hutch for the night, choosing to practically sleep on top of each other for comfort.
The tank was in the professors' shared room, a motion camera pointed at the humans' chosen hutch just in case.
The night passed without incident, and Heatwave picked Kade up during his lunch break, the redhead grumbling all the way to the nearest hutch.
A week later, Graham and Charlie were cleared to be taken to the academy, though Heatwave still kept them away from the massive tank that was temporarily in his classroom, with plans to install it in a quiet corner of the main study lounge on campus. The day before the humans were brought in, Heatwave had a talk with how to handle them, including not tapping or knocking on the glass or giving treats that have not been pre approved. He appeased them by taking out Cody, who had been riding in his cab for the past few days to get used to the noise.
He worked like a charm, being shy at first but then chattering fast in that odd way small organics and microcons do, the almost words slurring together as he played with offered fingers, tiny hands softly patting and yanking on the tips of fingers, yelling as a particularly ticklish Hotshot pulled back his hand and shook it. Wedge caught him as he stumbled back, and Heatwave took Cody from him as the bell rang. "That's the last class, buddy. You did such a good job keeping up with them. Let's get you back to the others, tomorrow is a big day." Cody collapsed into the bot's seat, the rumble of his engine making him feel sleepy. Hopefully, he would see his dad and brother soon…