It was particularly dull in the living room where the extraterrestrial hounds were set up to sleep. They all sat in soft-sided, collapsible crates on squashy cushions hidden in the dark, each sleeping in their own special positions. Chase was resting his head on his forelegs while his rear weight was on his hip, leaving his legs spread to his side. Boulder was curled up almost into a complete ball, his tail covering his nose and eyes, but everyone knew that he wasn't sleeping. He was actually thinking of all the interesting and foreign things he had seen that day, and what tomorrow would hold. Blades was laying on his back with his feet in the air, his mouth wide open and his tongue hanging from the corner of his mouth. He would've looked sleeping if it wasn't for the fact that his tail was wagging and ever so often he would squeak or whine in an attempt to relieve the boredom. Heatwave was lying in the most uncomfortable looking position of all, all four legs bent and on the ground; almost as if he was prepared to spring up and fight. His head on his paws and his tail still; Heatwave was obviously not happy.

Apparently having had enough with whatever was making him so unhappy, Heatwave stood up and stalked out of the room and down the stairs to the garage. The others looked at one another and after some thought, they followed him.

"Where ya going?" Boulder asked as he saw the Dalmatian walking over to the wall.

"I need some space." Heatwave stood up on his back legs and flipped two switches with his paw. "Chief said there was a bunker below street level."

Heatwave walked over to a console that Boulder just so happen to be standing in front of. Instead of asking the Bernese mountain dog to move, Heatwave simply jumped on his back and used the extra height to access the levers on the panel.

"Relic of something called "The Cold War"." The irritated firedog told his pack as he, his temporary footstool and the German shepherd were taken below ground as the floor lowered, leaving Blades on the stairs.

"It appears we are getting some space as well." Chase declared as Heatwave hopped off his teammate.

"Hey, wait for me." Blades said, finally moving to jump down onto the platform. Unfortunately, Heatwave was standing where Blades happened to land and the two of them collapsed into pile with Blades sitting onto of a very cross Heatwave with a collar turned upside down, leaving his tags tangled against his scruff.

"Sorry Heatwave." Blades chuckled nervously as he attempted to right the accident by turning the firedogs collar to the appropriate direction. The platform lowered and the doors sealed shut behind them and silencing the verbal reprimanding Heatwave was ready to give.

Meanwhile, the Burns family was gathered around the dinner table, eating and laughing. Charlie was at the stove, making some mashed potatoes, while everyone else sat at the table.

The family pretty much proceeded with supper as though everything was normal. Cody, on the other hand, was still thinking over the Rescue Mutts un-doglike behavior today and he attempted to talk about it.

"Dad, how did Kade's dog know to-?" He was interrupted by Dani's request for the carrots.

Graham complies, and Dani brings up her issues with Blades.

"I noticed an issue or two with my retriever, but at least he was well-behaved!"

Kade scowled at her from across the table.

"An issue is one thing, but I saw-" Cody was interrupted again by Charlie putting a giant bowl of mashed potatoes in the middle of the table, wearing an apron with a hula girl on it.

"Kade, Dani, Graham, you guys did great work today!" He congratulated.

Cody looked down at the table, and said, "Can I be excused?"

Charlie nodded and Cody got up, walked over to the fire pole, and slid down.

For a group of dogs, the Rescue Mutts were surprisingly organized downstairs.

Chase was content removing his collar and polishing (i.e. breathing on it and wiping off the fog) his tags. Boulder was sitting in front of the wall and staring at a picture mounted there and Blades had attempted to make up for the mishap in the elevator by playing tug-o-war with Heatwave and a stuffed Firefighter.

"Optimus or no Optimus," Heatwave growled around the toy in his jaws. "I don't know how long I can put up with this." His pulling became harsher with each word, putting strain on poor Blades' teeth.

"Ordered around," He tugged.

"Others taking the credit," Blades planted his paws best he could, but found himself being dragged by his fangs in the toy; and Heatwave just kept pulling.

"Having to pretend we're flea-bitten animals." Having decided that he would rather take Heatwave's anger over having his teeth yanked out of his mouth, Blades released his grip and allowed Heatwave to have the toy for himself. And after seeing Heatwave shake it back and forth until stuffing came out, Blades deemed that to be one of the best choices he had ever made.

After getting over how close he had come to having to need dentures, Blades joined Heatwave in his complaining.

The Waterdog scoffed. "Well did you see the way my human handles me? My neck is still sore!" He accented the complaint by sticking a paw underneath his collar and pulling on it a bit to get it loose. "It's always "Sit! Sit! Fetch! Stay!" He said, pointing at the ground with his paw like a human scolding their pet. But then his ears, once flat with indignation went loose and he became calm.

"Still," He admitted, "it was nice being a part of an emergency response again." He shrugged.

Chase, who was finally satisfied with his tags, stuck his head through the collar and let it slide down until it rested on his neck. "I find our chief quite competent, there is much he can teach us about Earth's Law Enforcement Procedures." He agreed.

Boulder joined in the conversation while keeping his eyes on the painting on the wall. "The humans do have strange ways," he said tilting his head. "But that's what makes them so interesting." He pointed his right paw at the painting, which was of several dogs sitting around a table like people, while seemingly playing a game with flat pieces of paper they held in their paws and small, round, multi colored chip-like objects.

Heatwave however, had had enough. He spat out the deflated fireman and turned a stern glare to his fellow mutts. "I'm leaving." His tone held little room for argument.

But Boulder still tried. "You can't leave! You're our Alpha!" He protested, taking a step towards his friend.

"Then we'll all go!" He barked. "Those humans will never understand us, we'll never belong here!"

"I know what you mean." The young boy they had seen at the ceremony startled all the dogs, Boulder recognized him as the human whom he had nuzzled against earlier that day.

Recognizing the fact that they had been caught not acting like dogs, they all sat down and resumed their disguises as well as they could. But the human was not to be fooled.

"Don't bother. You're not fooling anybody. Trust me, living on Earth; I know dogs. And you guys?" He chuckled. "Worst dogs, I've ever seen."

Chase, in a rare display of emotion lowered his tail and flattened his ears in disappointment. "We've failed at our mission, our cover is blown. If this human knows, he'll tell the others." The German shepherd said.

"Are you kidding!?" The boy walked over to the dogs and got on his knees among them. "And waste the opportunity to know something they don't, something this huge?" He pointed to himself with a proud look on his face. "I'm the best thing that could have ever happened to your mission. 'Cause I'm going to teach everything you need to know about Earth!"

Blades step forward and sat next to him, his apprehension gone. "Can you teach me how to get my human to stop yelling?" He asked.

"Dani? I don't think anyone can do that." He shrugged and reached out to pat the dog on the head. "I'm Cody, by the way" He introduced himself. Blades enjoyed the scratch on the ears for a moment than he held out his paw for a shake, which Cody accepted.

"I'm Blades." He said with a happy, wagging tail.

"Boulder" The Bernese Mountain Dog said, stretching forward to nudge the boy's shoulder and Cody responded by giving him a rub on the ear as well.

Cody looked at Chase, waiting for his name. "Classified" was all he said.

"That's Chase." Boulder said for his friend. Cody smiled and reached out his hand to scratch the silver and black shepherd's chest right below the tags. Chase tried to hide it, but everyone saw him wagging his tail.

"And I'm Heatwave." He stepped forward, but didn't get close enough for Cody to touch him.

"So, Cody, now that you know what we are," he said, raising a spotted eyebrow. "Name one reason we shouldn't leave this planet right now." He said.

Cody walked out of the tunnel leading to the lonely hill with the Rescue Mutts walking behind him.

"There are tunnels like this all over the island," He said to them as he jumped up onto a large rock and the dogs sat around the base looking at him. "And they all end in the bunker. Great for sneaking out of the firehouse."

Boulder walked to the edge and gasped. "Whoa!" he breathed. "It's like a million dog tags forged from carbon." He marveled at the sight of the lights in town.

"So beautiful."

Cody sat with his feet hanging off the rock and looked as though he had little idea what Boulder was talking about.

"I…guess it kinda is." He looked at Heatwave, who had climbed up onto the rock with him and had laid down right next to him.

"So, why would you ever want to leave?" He asked innocently.

Heatwave looked at him and tilted his head.

Moments later, Cody and the rescue mutts were sitting on a hill near the drive- in Movie Theater. On the screen was an old black and white film playing. In the current scene a wire fox terrier was barking loudly as he was chasing as Siamese cat down the sidewalk.

"This is what everyone will expect you to act like." Cody explained.

"See?"

He put down his bucket of popcorn and stood on the grass.

"Stand up straight and hold your tails up. Give it a try."

Boulder, Chase and Blades did as they were told and tried to be as doglike as possible. Heatwave on the other hand sat there, staring at them obviously confused. Cody walked over him folding his arms in front of his chest and looking rather serious.

"Really?" Heatwave asked in a dull tone while tilting his head.

Blades interrupted the moment with the childish act of chasing his tail.

"I don't know where you learned that, but no." said Cody.

Blades got the hint and sat down with the others.

Heatwave approached Cody, his tail now lowered.

"Look Cody, I understand what you're doing what I don't understand is how…"

Heatwave stopped and let out a few short barks.

"Acting like this… is gonna make my ride along respect me." He said.

Cody smiled.

"The trick with Kade is to make him think he's in charge. Trust me, I've been doing it for years."

Just then, Blades, Boulder and Chase were alerted by a loud sound, a sound that belonged to something very big.

"Is that part of the film?" Blades asked.

Everyone turned in the direction where Blades was pointing and saw a big cat with dangerously long fangs walking down the street. The massive feline ripped a low hanging branch off a nearby tree. After crushing the wood with its jaws and tossing it aside, the cat continued its approach towards the drive-in. It was clear to Cody and the Rescue mutts that this was not good…

Okay, so this has actually been done for like... a month. But, because it was written around some major tests, I never really got a chance to put it up and I kinda forgot about it.

But, here's the third chapter. Hope you enjoy.