Since they didn't yet have any Widow ships to recover the Titans, Maxwell and his pilots had to walk to an extraction point far from the lab. Tina ended up falling asleep, drooling on Maxwell's uniform.
He didn't mind the minor inconvenience, although it did remind him why he didn't like kids. With Tina rescued, he had one more character from the franchise under his wing. He didn't want to admit it, but it felt like collecting cards.
Was that somehow villainous? Maybe, but Maxwell was being rewarded by the system either way.
(X) Save Tiny Tina
(X) No damage to the rescue target {Optional}
(X) Don't leave any witnesses {Optional}
[Quest accomplished! Depositing rewards…
[+$500]
[Credits: 1215]
[(Titan) Scorch Blueprint: As a Titan with an Ogre-based chassis, Scorch has heavy armor. This is offset by slow movement, and slow attacks make it harder to dominate. Scorch is much less effective at long range but excels in tight spaces, as it restricts the enemy's ability to avoid Scorch's lethal arsenal.]
[(Weapons) MGL: The MGL is an anti-Titan grenade launcher that now fires a burst of 2 grenades in quick succession with a single trigger pull. A single belt can hold a total of six grenades, or eight with the Extra Ammo mod.]
"Ah, yes, the walking war crime. A fine addition to my army." Maxwell never understood how a Titan like Scorch had ever been allowed on the battlefield. That Titan treated the Geneva Conventions like a checklist. Something that, he had to admit, lined up perfectly with Tina.
Finally arriving at the extraction site, the Odyssey was resting in the desert sand. At the entrance, Moxxi waited with her arms crossed, looking somewhat concerned.
He left the BT, carrying a sleeping Tina in his arms.
"So this is the rescue target?" Moxxi raised an eyebrow. "I was expecting some old scientist, not gonna lie. What did you see in her that made it worth delaying our departure to Elpis?"
"..." Maxwell looked down at the sleeping girl for a moment.
"She's going to be an excellent demolitions expert, and maybe even a Pilot." Carefully, Maxwell handed Tina over to Moxxi's arms. "Besides, we destroyed the lab. No one's using that place to mess with Eridium ever again."
Moxxi held the girl with a bit more care than she was probably willing to admit. Maybe it was the mother's instinct; she had two children, after all.
"Alright, let's get on board. We've spent more than enough time on this dirtball of a planet." Maxwell stepped into the Odyssey, the other pilots following close behind.
"Oh, by the way. Won't you miss your kids? Odyssey's like a mother's heart, always room for one more."
Moxxi scoffed, looking away for a moment. She gave Pandora one last glance before stepping inside.
"They're already grown, darling. My two kids barely even visit me. I doubt they'll want to leave Pandora and abandon their own businesses."
"Yeah… I hadn't considered that."
...
Tina woke with a dry snore, blinking in confusion as the ceiling above her was white, well lit. It certainly wasn't the musty cell from before. Nor the warm lap of the scary man?
I was lying in a real bed. Clean sheets. A pillow that smelled of perfume.
"Ah, look who's finally awake, blondie," said a soft but ironic voice.
Tina turned her head quickly to a woman sitting in an armchair next to her, wearing a wine satin robe and holding a glass of wine.
"They sold us out... my parents... they're dead. It was all the fault of that bandit called Flesh Stick. He laughed while Mom and Dad were beaten by his minions." She swallowed, tears forming. "I shot him with the gun. I haven't stopped shooting."
"Shhhh, everything is fine. You're safe here; no one will hurt you."
Tina curled up under the blanket, her eyes still curious but less heavy. She glanced sideways, biting the corner of her tongue before asking hesitantly.
"Ahn... what about that frightened man? The one who carried me? What was his name?"
"Oh, he's not that scary, is he? His name is Maxwell. He's the leader of the Ouroboros corporation and Odyssey, the ship we're on now, and also the owner of the drool-filled uniform you used as a pillow. You should have seen his face when he saw the size of the mess."
Tina widened her eyes a little. "He's the big boss?"
"Uh-huh," Moxxi confirmed. "And I'm Moxxi, the chief mechanic at Ouroboros. I'm the one who built the Titans you saw. And I'm also his wife... when he remembers that and comes to see me, of course."
Moxxi mumbled the last part.
Tina sat up suddenly, looking around for an emergency exit.
"I slept in the big boss's wife's room?!?!"
"Calm down, dear." Moxxi laughed and put the cup aside, walked over, and sat on the edge of the bed. "It was his idea. He said you'd have nightmares, and it would be better to have another woman around. He thought it would make you safer."
Tina frowned. "But he... where is he going to sleep?
"Who knows? Probably in some dark corner, stuffed inside a Titan, or out chasing some skirts. Joking aside, he is a Pilot. He can go days without needing to sleep, which he's been doing because of the new Pilots' training."
*Rumbled*
Tina's face flushed as she held her belly.
"Right, let's solve that problem." Moxxi stood up, pulling Tina out of bed. "Maxwell said to make your cookies. We'll need to go to the Odyssey kitchen."
"Who changed my clothes?!" Tina finally realized that she was wearing a bunny sweater and striped socks.
"I was the one who changed your clothes. You were filthy, stinking of laboratory and ashes. I did it while you were sleeping."
Tina wrapped her arms around herself.
"Why all this drama? You didn't have much to look at anyway."
"Guk!" Tina felt her heart hit by a nail.
"Are you hurt, Moxxi?" As they headed for the kitchen, Tina noticed that Moxxi was walking strangely.
"Ugh, no, I'm not. Just some side effects from a game I played with Maxwell."
"You look too old to be playing games."
"Look, it seems we've already left Pandora. Have you ever been on a space trip, Tina?" Moxxi tried to change the subject; she still didn't want to teach Tina about flowers and bees.
In the middle of the corridor, Tina suddenly stopped in front of a large reinforced glass window. Her eyes widened.
"...we were there?" Tina pointed, almost in disbelief, her fingers touching the glass, making Pandora look no bigger than the palm of her hand.
"We were," replied Moxxi, leaning against the side, arms crossed. "Ungrateful little land, isn't it? But it's home, in a way."
"It looks like a toy..." she muttered. "I can't believe I lived there all the time. How could the water not fall down there?"
The moment was broken by firm footsteps coming. A slender figure, in a too-tight uniform, with eyes totally locked on the little blonde.
Eris.
She stopped right in front of Tina, completely ignoring Moxxi.
"Is that you?" she asked, her voice unmistakable. "The girl Maxwell rescued?"
Tina took a step back, instinctively. "I'm..."
Eris squeezed her eyes shut. Evaluating from top to bottom. Like a cat finding another animal in the yard.
Tina just stared, not understanding if she had done anything wrong.
"Hmm..."
She turned to Moxxi. "Does he have some kind of underage fetish?"
"Is that jealousy in your tone, sugar?" Moxxi smiled when she saw Eris' behavior. The comment put Eris off. "Come on, bunny. Hunger before drama."
Eris stood still, watching the two walk away. She looked strangely at Moxxi's hips.
"Is she hurt?"
...
While Tina was receiving the royal treatment in another part of the Odyssey, Maxwell threw himself heavily into the command chair with a deep sigh, his fingers tapping on the armrest.
Knoxx stood beside him, observing his leader's restless behavior. He understood why. On Pandora, there were no real threats to Ouroboros, but the moment they left the planet, they entered the big leagues, the real game.
"Incoming transmission," one of the bridge officers announced. "It's coming directly from Helios station."
"Put it on screen," Maxwell said, unsurprised. He already knew the Lost Legion would contact them as soon as they got too close to Elpis.
("Unidentified spaceship, this is a Lost Legion security channel. Identify yourselves or you will be treated as hostile.")
The image of Colonel Zarpedon appeared on the main screen. Her glowing violet eyes made reading her expression impossible.
"Maxwell Williams. Leader of the Ouroboros Corporation. This is my ship, the Odyssey. We are en route to Elpis for confidential corporate purposes."
("Elpis is under direct surveillance by the Legion. You'll need to explain more clearly what you're after there.")
"I'm after Core. Technical stuff. A raw material for projects that don't concern you."
("The Watcher spoke of you… Said you were a cunning snake. That you pretended to be neutral while sinking your fangs where it hurt the most. You're here for the Vault, I presume.")
"You can blow up Elpis and Pandora for all I care. I just want to finish my objectives and head to Promethea to deal with the conflicts of my home planet."
Maxwell was laughing internally. The Lost Legion couldn't destroy Elpis. He had recovered the remains of the Destroyer before Hyperion ever could, meaning they had no way to use the Eye as a laser amplifier.
Zarpedon remained silent for a few seconds. She knew she had only conquered Helios due to the element of surprise and the galaxy's focus on the Promethea crisis. A direct conflict with Ouroboros now would throw her "clean victory" into a storm of uncertainty.
She had no idea of Ouroboros's strength. Hell, she hadn't even heard of them until a few days ago. If it weren't for the Watcher's warning about the anomaly, the Lost Legion would have been in for the shock of their lives. She was still figuring out a way to blast the vault open and didn't want unnecessary conflicts in the meantime.
("Permission granted. But I'll be watching you, Maxwell. Don't you dare go after the Vault.")
The call ended.
"She's terrifying, if you can still call that a woman," Knoxx remarked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Just a small headache. The Vault here is meaningless," Maxwell scoffed. He already knew its contents were just data about the Warrior's Vault. He could find that within a decade at worst, using the Marvins.
'Max, can you hear me?'
A soft, weak voice echoed in Maxwell's mind, nearly making him jump from his seat.
"Angel?!"