While Octavia's first thought had been that they would have to locate the eight loosed Mavericks and strategize the best way to handle each of them as well as an order of priority. However, by the time she and Axl reached the Control Center, a formal letter of challenge had already been received from Red Alert, stating where each Maverick was, what they'd taken control of, and a guarantee that the Maverick influence and activity would not expand beyond those areas or activate until Hunters arrived in each area...as long as the Hunters didn't take too long to engage.
With this guarantee, Octavia made a decision regarding how to handle the situation for now. "Axl, which do we go after first?" she asked bluntly.
"What?" Axl gasped out, shocked. The others all looked surprised as well.
"These are Mavericks Red Alert has captured," Octavia explained bluntly. "So in your opinion, which can we deal with most easily?"
Axl swallowed nervously, then frowned at the images and locations in the letter. "H-here," he finally said, pointing to the gathering of aerial craft. "Wind Crowrang is rather straightforward to deal with, and we'll be leaping from craft to craft for the most part, so we should be able to see everywhere we're going."
"Very well," Octavia confirmed. "We'll go there first then. Mush." She nudged him in the cheek to make him go forward.
Axl frowned. "Do you have to do that?" he whimpered softly.
Octavia thought for a time, then pulled out a stick, a string, and a carrot. She dangled the carrot in front of Axl's nose. "Mush," she commanded gently again.
Axl stared flat eyed at the carrot. "...I'm not hungry," he finally groaned out.
Octavia tilted her head, shrugged her shoulders, and then replaced the carrot with a magazine entitled 'Girls Gone Maverick'. "Mu-"
Axl charged onto the transporter with cheeks bright red as the navigators on duty - mostly female - giggled wickedly.
Teleporting direct to the group of aircraft was inadvisable, as there was no guarantee the ship they were trying to teleport onto would remain on its course while they were beaming in. As a result, they instead rode atop one of HQ's jet craft to the back of the armada, allowing them to leap to the last craft in the line before peeling back to a safe distance. "Alright," Octavia instructed Axl. "Mush."
Axl sighed. "Do you have to keep saying that?" he whimpered.
Octavia thought about that for a time. "...yes, I think I do," she stated finally. "There's something oddly familiar about you, and doing this feels right. Until I know why, I'm going to keep doing it."
Sighing, Axl leapt to the next craft. "Well, I guess if there's no escaping it, I might as well enjoy it..." he grumbled to himself.
As they raced along, a few Maverick drones patrolled the craft, forcing the pair to blast them to bits. A few civilians were also scattered around, but Octavia had evac beacons to send them off safely back to HQ.
From Axl's shoulders, Octavia was able to observe Axl's unique abilities, at least as far as he demonstrated for her. In addition to air dashing, he could also hover a distance in midair, and lock on his guns to any enemy within range without actually looking at them, showing an exceptionally accurate grasp of his surroundings. Octavia tabled these thoughts, as this didn't quite show enough reason as to why Red Alert would do all this to get him back.
Before long, the pair of them reached the flagship of the armada, which was much larger than any of the others. Large enough, at any rate, that even the top of it required exploration, though they could see a great deal as they looked around. The top was patrolled by Mettools, which hid under their helmets when the intense beam fire of the ship's energy cannons swept the top.
"If we destroy the cannons, we'll be able to get inside," Axl pointed out.
"I'll take the one on the left," Octavia replied swiftly, leaping off Axl's shoulders. "You take the one on the right."
Nodding, Axl dashed and rolled, bringing himself up behind his cannon where he could fire without being hit by the beam. Octavia moved to a similar position on the other cannon, mirroring Axl's positioning as she fired with her more powerful busters. The destruction of the cannons broke open the entry hatch, and the pair quickly dove in, finding their way into a long, wide, high corridor within the ship. Once inside, Octavia immediately leapt back to Axl's shoulders.
The straightforward path led the pair past a great deal of enemy drones, and into a massive hanger. Maneuvering there proved difficult as it was only scattered platforms over an open bottom of the craft. Thankfully, it was only patrolled by Bomb Beens.
The path in the next section split three ways. "The way forward's down the central path," Axl pointed out.
"Then we'll take the other paths first," Octavia insisted.
"But they lead to dead ends," Axl countered.
"That's the point," Octavia confirmed. "Dead ends often have useful items...or, as we've noticed, civilians in danger. Now mush."
Rolling his eyes, Axl went down the right path first. As expected, there was an endangered civilian which they were able to rescue. With that proof, Axl made his way to the left path.
There, in addition to another civilian, they found a new design of Light Capsule. As they approached, it opened up from the bottom, Light's hologram appearing. "Octavia," it greeted calmly. "Where is X? Still on his honeymo-" The voice stopped, the hologram's eyes locked on Axl.
"...Dr?" Octavia asked carefully.
"How..." the hologram began, then stopped itself. "N-never mind..." It straightened itself. "Octavia, this capsule-"
"Wait!" Axl interrupted. "You...you know something about me?"
"Only that the part of the neural imprint I am made from that covers you is unstable," the hologram responded immediately. "I am unable to properly access that information at this time."
Octavia glanced at Axl, seeing the naked longing and pain in his face. "Can you tell us anything?" Octavia asked hopefully.
The hologram was silent for a time. "Only to ask you to keep him safe, and with you," it finally offered sadly. "His place is with you and X, Octavia. I am unable to express more. However, I am certain the answers are out there somewhere. For now, I have a new part of an armor program for you, which Varia can download to generate into armor for you and X, once he returns. Part of the Glide Armor."
Octavia nodded. "Alright. What does this part cover?"
"This part covers the energy collection and management for the Giga Crash," the hologram explained. "Step inside to download it." With that, the hologram vanished.
Octavia immediately stepped in, downloading the program. Once it was downloaded, she hopped back up to Axl's shoulders. "Let's go."
"But-" Axl began hopefully.
"We aren't going to get more answers than we've been given," Octavia interrupted. Seeing his sorrow, she relented. "But I will be following his directive. As far as I'm concerned, once this mission ends, you're a Hunter and staying with us."
Axl's eyes lit up eagerly. "R-really?" he gasped out happily.
"Yes, really," Octavia confirmed warmly. She then pointed forward. "Now mush."
Sighing a tad theatrically despite the smile on his face, Axl made his way back to the intersection before taking the middle path. After one more group of drones, they made it back to the top of the craft.
Just a quick nitpick: in the game, I think the Maverick Bosses were actually members of Red Alert, and not Mavericks that had been captured.
7552048
I got the 'captured Mavericks' from in game dialogue.
I loved the "Girls Gone Maverick" bit, how long did it take to think of that one?
Well, I can't wait to see Axl eventually learn about his past. I can't wait to see his reaction to Octavia using more logic during the adventure based on past operations.
7552062 You suffered through X7 for accuracy?
cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder415/400x/33668415.jpg
Meanwhile, in an alternate setting...
PS. I've no idea why I did that.
Alas, even Mega Man's descendant is a butt monkey... hey, maybe that'll be the crux of the second season of At Your Beck and Call, where Axl and Sigma relate with each other more.
Normally, I'd say that that's not quite right, given that the term "mush" is used for sled dogs, while the term for equines and bovines is commonly denoted as "hyah". But you know, friend conversations and whatnot. Plus, it'd be pretty tedious to argue over who's going to associate what animal with what action anyways. Good luck.
7552062
Whoops, my bad. Sorry, been forever since I've played it.
7552220 Guess I have to do your job for you then.
Looks like Octavia...
I got nothing, this is harder than it looks.
The first part was hilarious and adorable
Hmmm...Now I wonder if there really were any Light Capsules in MMX7 and that I just missed them like an idiot.
EDIT: There were. God, I'm an idiot...
what would happen if you give a "Sinful Stallions" to Octavia?
It has Hot Rod, Steel Beam,just to name a few. And a four page center fold out of the're number one star: Cute Colt...
7552753 Let's just hope Axl can shoulder Octavia through this. Though from the looks of this first mission started, she probably wanted Axl to... book it. Might be best to hope the first one isn't too... (air)crafty.
7552896 I bow to the master.
How shocked is Octavia going to be when she finds out who Axl really is on a scale of 1 to 10?
Why the hell does Octavia have a magazine called 'Girls gone Maverick'? 0///0 and for some odd reason I'm curious if it actually holds that kind of content for both humans and reploids alike....damn it...
7552979 Probably an 7 or 8.
7552901 it just takes alot of practice.
7553219
I'd say a 9 just in case.
Ugh, that damn heart tank in Crowrang's stage...
7554673 Never hurts.
Treating Axl like a non talking pony is insulting, is like treating a human like a chimp.
For better or for worse, you're part of the family now, Axl.
I love it. Gotta give the nephew (cousin?) a hard time, builds character.
7553006 You should check out issue 265. There's this hottie named Layer who's on the cover. Hottest issue YET.
Say what you want, but she's willing to work with people on their own terms.
7553006 I'm wondering if its a layered joke. Like we think it's a porn mag but it might be something completely different.
Axl: Yes! Download that weapon chip! 87%?! Why is there always a cliff hanger?!
Octavia: Reploids are weird.
Axl: But this one destroyed an entire tower!
octavia your evil for that
7553006 now you got me wondering too
seeing tavs raise her by proxy foal is always heartwarming no matter how many times i have read this entire story
The different baits reminds me of a mount from FFXIV. The fat chocobo is normally compelled to run by holding a gyshal green (essentially a cabbage), if you want it to fly you hold out a different stick with a piece of cake.
Can someone please make a picture of this?
Pfft. Well, now we have a permanent saddle for Axl's shoulders.
more is learned, things go on, AND axl is embarrassed in front of the reploid girls...all in all octavia's doing a swell job so far as a superior...