Love You To Death

Meg looked up from her bowl of curried rice as Amy walked through the doorway, toting her laptop.

"Hey Amy, have you seen Jo?"

Amy seated herself at the table, and opened her laptop. It swiftly powered on, and a retina scanner automatically checked her identity. A second later, and her account was unlocked and ready to use.

"She's actually just finishing up in the shower." Amy replied absent-mindedly, fingers flying across the keys. "She should be out here in a few minutes."

Meg nodded, and slipped her fingers through her hair. She yawned, and finished up her rice. She hadn't had much of an appetite the last few days; the nights had been sleepless.

She didn't know why, but sleep would not come to her in the last few warm summer nights. She had often given up on finding sleep completely, and instead slipped out of their mobile fortress to wander the streets and contemplate her lack of sleep. Her walks were aimless; she cared not where she wandered. She knew her way back to the mobile fortress no matter which direction she took off in. She always returned as the sun was just starting to rise. Sei was the only one awake at that time, and had taken to unlocking the door when she got up instead of leaving Meg to climb back in through a top exit.

This morning had been no different; Sei had cast a questioning eye upon her as Meg slipped in quietly, but said nothing. Meg volunteered nothing, and went to see what there was for breakfast.

There was no work lined up for today, and Meg was glad. The busy days and sleepless nights were taking their toll, and she wanted to just relax and doze off while reading a book or something.

Jo walked into the room, a single white shirt covering her naked body, hair dripping wet. Her dark red eyes shifted to and from each person in the room with no hesitation in between; a silent greeting that told them Jo hadn't simply ignored them. Jo walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards, retrieving a simple chocolate bar.

Meg followed Jo's movements with her eyes, and couldn't help but appreciate once more the curves flowing over tight toned muscles, the warrior oblivious to the gaze.

As Jo sat down, Meg looked at her food choice with a critical eye. "Is that really the best thing for you to be eating, Jo?" She asked.

Jo wasn't too inclined to pointless conversation, but for Meg she made a bit of an exception.

"Our cook isn't here. It'll do." With that, Jo slowly took another bite, her gaze dropping once more to the table's surface. Meg wondered again for possibly the thousandth time why Jo seemed so tired and lifeless when she wasn't fighting. It was almost like she existed only to fight. Like it was the only thing that could make her happy.

A frown lightly curved the edges of Meg's lips as she thought about no one and nothing being able to make Jo happy like she was when she was fighting. Meg wished that it could be her who made Jo happy. But Jo never seemed happy. Not since the day they had met. Jo was never happy, excited, or...anything. Nothing got a reaction from her, until she had to fight.

Meg sighed, and looked out the window. Thats the way it had always been, though. Why expect things to change now...?

Meg got up from the table, and walked away, heading for her room. Once inside, she closed the door and dropped onto the bed. She grabbed a book from her bedside table, and opened it up to the bookmark. As she began reading, her troubled mind slowly began to let go of her problems.

Jo got up from the table, and stretched. She figured she had better go get dressed in case they got some work. She glanced out the window, and her gaze caught nothing unusual. Her feet carried her to her room, where she half-closed her door. Privacy was a foreign concept to her; she did not know why she must remain hidden while changing. They certainly never cared in the training facility where they grew up.

'Sei says that's because we weren't seen as humans, but as weaopons. Here, I am considered a human to them-yet I am used as their greatest weapon, almost every day.'

These thoughts rolled through Jo's head with indifference as she slipped out of her shirt. It fell silently to the floor as she pulled her usual battle-ready uniform toward her.

In the end Jo didn't care whether she was considered human, weapon, or thoughtless animal. She was among people who supplied her constant work, paid her enough to feed and clothe herself, and purchase anything else as she saw fit. Everything else was immaterial. Her bank account contained many many numbers; the result of spending only as needed, and being spared the all-too-human 'impulse buying' that Meg was quite proficient at. They had been working for many many months for Sei, almost too many to count. If they ever disbanded, Jo was confident she would have the appropriate funding needed to keep her going until she could find more work. And when it came to work, it had nothing to do with making money. It was all about feeding the beast inside her that craved violence, blood, the fight. Jo liked fighting. It was always on her mind. She immersed herself in all aspects of it, and considered herself quite an intelligent tactician for being self-taught. Of course, being engineered for such a thing helped immensely, she thought with a rare wry smile.

In a rare mood, Jo turned her thoughts over to Meg. Of course, being an engineered and precisely developed human war machine came with a few problems...namely, being human. The more Jo hung around this particular set of humans, the more her human nature tried to resurface. Sometimes, the more...sensual side of her human nature would force its way through, leaving Jo half-crazed and wanting.

Jo's hand strayed to her hips, as her fingertips brushed lightly across her navel.

'Meg...'

Jo's hand curled into a fist, and fell to her side. Her gaze hardened, and she finished up with her battle gear.

Of course, Jo allowed Meg to tag along for a few reasons. Meg would complain obnoxiously if she couldn't, and Meg always had a way of finding trouble. Jo couldn't ask for a better trouble-finder if she asked Amy to design and build one. The fighting that always ensued sent Jo into a blissful state where her mind blocked out everything except her opponent and the joy of knowing that ultimately, this opponent would be brought to its knees and crushed, like so many others.

"JO!"

Jo looked up as Meg knocked twice, then charged into her room.

"Get ready to deploy Django! Four unknown cybots are approaching, and Amy thinks we're the target! Sei wants you battle-prepped and ready to take off in forty-five seconds!"

Jo nodded once, and grabbed her jacket off her bed. She slipped into it, and took off out the door, Meg following closely behind.

Jo ran to the end of the hall, and turned right. Then a swift left took her to the hanger. She jumped up onto Django, and slid effortlessly into the cockpit. She turned the key that was already in the ignition one click to the right, and the electronics came on. The restraint bar came down over her head, and pulled her back into the seat even as the seat slid forward to bring her within operating distance of the controls. Jo reached up and flipped down a control console. She flipped three switches at once, and pushed the console back up, out of her way. Slowly, three whirring engines spun to life, and the cockpit hummed as energy flowed through Django, energizing everything that wasn't energized when she turned the key. Her right foot found the booster pedal of its own accord, and rested on it. Her right hand flew to the console to her immediate right, and her left thumb activated the two-way comm even as her other fingers flew across the keyboard, running pre-flight diagnostics and commanding the computer to bring up all the details Amy and her computer had collected about the incoming cybots.

"Open the gate!" Jo commanded, and a second later, a hydraulic whine permeated the air as the roof slowly lifted up.

Jo listened to the engines whining at idle, and without looking, reached up and pushed three sliders all the way to full stop. Immediately, the engines' speed picked up, and the noise in the cockpit increased until they reached full throttle, where the noise levelled off and dropped away, replaced only by the whistling of forced induction.

Ready for battle, Jo checked her weapon loadout, then took the joysticks in her hands. Django was now in the hands of a war-craving, hot-blooded girl, who was getting more excited with each passing second as Django took off, picking up speed rapidly.

Meg ran into the 'armory', one of the bedrooms in the trailer that housed most of their weapons. She opened a cabinet, and pulled out an M-60. The heavy weapon strained her muscles, but it was slightly lighter than the last few times she had lugged it. She threw it over her shoulder, and grabbed a few belts of ammunition, slinging them around her neck. She jogged out of the armory, and turned down the hall. She found the access ladder leading to the top of the trailer where Jo always watched her movies, and climbed it with only slight difficulty. Once she was on the fifth from top rung, and her upper body was visible above the edge, she set up the M-60 on its bipod.

"Amy!" Meg hollered down. "Give me some way of communicating with Jo!"

A second later, Amy appeared at the bottom of the access ladder, and tossed up a two-way radio. Meg caught it, and set it down on the trailer. She pulled a belt of ammo off, and loaded it into the gun. She racked the slide, and flicked off the safety. Picking up the two-way radio, she pressed the button.

"Jo, it's Meg! Try to stay around the back of the trailer, I'll lend you support!"

There was silence from the two-way radio, and Meg tossed it aside as Django flew into her view. A second later, a black cybot followed overhead, both arms opening fire with attached chain guns. Large shells from the attacking cybot slammed down onto the trailer, before rolling off harmlessly. Meg targeted the airborne cybot as Django slammed into the pavement, skidding backward. The airborne enemy slowed and righted itself as its non-stop chain gun bounced rounds off of Django. Meg slipped a finger inside the trigger-guard, and braced the gun against her shoulder. She exhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger. The gun recoiled into her shoulder violently as it erupted into ear-shattering fire. The muzzle-flame stretched a foot and a half from the barrel as it spit red tracer rounds into the air. Meg guided the rounds into the back of the cybot, targeting any weak points she could find, like joints, hydraulic hoses, and jet exhaust ports. Meg gritted her teeth in anger as her bare shoulder slowly became numb from the repeated assault of the gun's recoiling stock.

Jo pulled Django's guns out, and tightened her grip on her joysticks. Her trigger fingers rested lightly on the dual triggers, and it only took a second before Django's targeting system centered on the incoming cybot. As she squeezed the triggers, Django's guns lit up, shells smashing into the cybot. The heavier caliber shells did more damage to the cybot than the lighter, yet unending onslaught of chain-gun fire, and Jo watched in satisfaction as the cybot shuddered visibly in the air, before listing to one side.

Jo slammed the left joystick all the way forward, and Django tilted forward, beginning to move. Django rolled forward, and Jo`s foot pressed down on the booster pedal. Jo was pressed back into her seat as the thrusters on the back of Django ignited, forcing her craft to accelerate hard. Jo`s right hand expertly guided the right stick to the left, and that was the direction Django turned, guns coming around to target another cybot that had come in to lend a hand.

Meg saw the cybot in front of her tilted sharply in front of her, dropping a few feet in the air, and it was obvious that Jo had done some damage. Another cybot had swooped down, and was lending a hand. This one was equipped with a grenade launcher, and a rocket launcher.

"Amy! What is Sei doing?"

Her question was answered as the trailer roared to life, and immediately began moving. Meg's view of the enemy ceased to be stationary, as she now became the gunner of a moving vehicle.

"Meg, your two way radio is on the same frequency as our personal communicators, Django, and the trailers cab. No need to holler down the hallways." Her radio sqawked. Meg picked it up, one finger still on the trigger of her gun.

"Sei, if you're piloting the trailer, get Amy to be a runner for ammo, and get Leo up here with something that goes bang!"

"Wilco."

A minute later, Leo popped his head out of another hatch about ten feet away, grinning at Meg.

"You needed firepower?" He asked, propping a surface-to-air missle launcher on his shoulder.

Meg nodded, and pointed to the horizon, where Jo was now surrounded by all four cybots.

"Kill them alllll!" She yelled, squeezing once more on the trigger of her gun. If Leo had responded, she didn't hear him, as she once more guided her red tracer rounds into the back of the wounded cybot. A few seconds later, Leo fired, the missle streaking up into the air, heading straight for the hovering, black cybots. It smashed into the wounded cybot with lethal and explosive force, rupturing the cybot and exploding it from within as all the fuel ignited in a retina-searing explosion.

Meg pumped her fist in the air even as he gun clicked empty, her barrel smoking.

"Yeah! Good shot Leo!"

Leo smiled as he reloaded. "You usually never get this excited about battle. Whats gotten into you?"

Meg wasn't sure she knew. So she shook her head. "I don't know." She said, reloading her gun. "But a girl could get used to this."

Jo watched as one of the hovering cybots- the one with the chain guns- exploded in mid-air, and Jo brought her guns around to target another one. As she was about to open fire, the cybot beat her to it. The large rocket launcher it was carrying went off, and Jo immediately pulled back on the left joystick, slamming her foot down on the boost pedal. Flaps on the front of Django opened, and the boosters went off, propelling her backward quickly. Nevertheless, Jo's preferred method of close combat proved a mistake, as the shell slammed into the ground in close proximity. The impact rocked Django sideways, and Jo slammed her head against the cockpit wall. She winced, and gritted her teeth as she felt warm blood trickling down the side of her face.

"DIE!"

Jo's bloodlust only got stronger, and she brought Django's guns up, firing as quickly as she could pull the triggers. The targeting system put every bullet right where she wanted them, and that cybot spiraled to the ground, black smoke pouring out of the engine compartment. Jo guided Django over to the fallen cybot, and pressed her gun against the cockpit. A shot rang out, and the pilot was dead.

Without wasting a second, Jo spun around, just in time to see the two remaining cybots join together in a side-by-side formation. They appeared to be only equipped with machine guns, but they were not to be underestimated.

Meg, hair blowing in the wind, targeted the pair of cybots, and opened fire. Her tracers flew toward the cybots, impacting them as they slowed in the face of the approaching Jo.

They both opened fire at the same time, and a wall of lead smashed into Django, denting it in some places, piercing it in others. Meg, still firing, watched as Leo took aim once more. As he fired, one of them noticed, and broke formation, turning to pursue the trailer. It opened fire on the approaching missle, and got a lucky hit, the resulting explosion damaging neither the moving trailer, nor the pursuing cybot.

Meg trained her gun on the approaching cybot, covering Leo as he reloaded. She squeezed the trigger in short bursts, not wanting the remaining ammunition in her belt to be used up before Leo could reload.

Meg grabbed the two-way radio, and pressed the button.

"Amy! Sei! One of the cybots is pursuing us! Keep up evasive action! Amy! Get me my anti-tank rifle from the armory, and be careful! Stay low and close to walls so you don't hurt yourself it we get rocked by an explosion!"

Meg dropped the two-way as the trailer veered sharply to the right. Suddenly Meg's stomach was in her toes as the trailer rose sharply; they were on a ramp leading to the Mega-Highway. She reloaded quickly as Leo positioned himself for another shot. Before he could get it off though, the pilot opened fire.

"Take cover!" Meg yelled, ducking into the hatch. She saw Leo do the same, right as she ducked beneath the ledge. She could feel and hear the rounds impacting the trailer, and fought the urge to scream. Sure, she was terrified, but she was doing so well so far, and she wanted Jo to be proud of her when she came back.

"Meg!"

Meg opened her eyes, and saw Amy toting her Anti-Tank Rifle, with some difficulty.

"Thanks Amy!" Meg grabbed it, and hauled it up. She took a few deep breaths, to steady herself, then nodded.

"Bring me ammo! For both guns! When you're done, see if Leo needs more!"

Amy nodded, and took off running.

"Ready, steady, GO!"

Meg pushed the gun over the edge, onto the trailer, and raised herself out so she could see.

She cocked it, and glared at the cybot giving chase.

"Take this you bastaaaaaard!"

Meg squeezed both triggers. The guns erupted with surprising force, now that she was using two powerful weapons, and she almost fell off the ladder. The spray from her M-60 went wild, only a few rounds bouncing off the pursuing cybot, as the shot from her ATR narrowly missed.

The cybot pilot chose that time to get closer, to try to find weak points in the trailers massive armor. Leo grunted as he fired, the missle streaking off toward the cybot. Meg racked the slide, ejecting the spent shell and loading a new one. Her magazine held five shots; she was down to four. The missle slammed into the cybot, rocking it harshly in the air, and it dropped back a few feet, no doubt the pilot trying to recover and do damage control.

Meg took careful aim, counting on the pilots disorientation to make this shot hit. She pulled the trigger, and the powerful Anti-Tank Rifle went off with a deafening explosion. The shell whistled through the air, before impacting the tough cockpit covering. It shattered, and Meg directed her M-60 gunfire toward it. She only got a few shots off before her gun clicked empty though, and it was back below decks as the angry pilot unleashed a storm of machine gun fire.

Jo grimaced as the enemies gunfire slammed into Django, but she ignored it, and brought her guns to bear upon the remaining enemy. The other one had fled, in pursuit of the trailer. Jo had to end this quickly; Meg was in danger.

She squeezed off rounds as quickly as she could, and they found their mark. However, the pilot surprised Jo by rushing her, all guns blazing. His superior rate of fire quickly had her seeing red as the cybot closed the distance to only about fifteen feet.

Muzzle-flash filled Jo's vision, and her ears were assaulted as several warnings went off inside the cockpit, warning her of the damage. The warnings were accented by the jarring and shuddering of Django. Jo figured this was how many a battle had been won; rushing with overwhelming gunfire.

Jo's pupils dilated, and she licked some blood off her lip. She wasn't losing today. With the taste of blood in her mouth, she swiftly reached over, and entered a command into the computer. Immediately, Django released the gun in its right hand, even as a compartment on the arm opened, and a knife slid out. Django grasped the knife tightly, and with rage quickly taking over, Jo rammed the blade deep into the cybot. The cybot stopped instantly, gunfire also ceased, and Jo pushed it over, yanking the blade out. As the machine hit the ground, Jo fired one shot, finishing off the cybot and its pilot.

Jo turned, and pointed Django in the direction of the fleeing trailer, as indicated by her radar. She pressed the boost pedal, and was pressed back into her seat as Django quickly accelerated to top speed.

'Meg better be okay.' Was her only thought as she guided Django onto the ramp leading to the Mega-Highway. She would really have to discuss Django's inability to fly with the mechanic, Leo. If he spent less time waxing and polishing the damn machine and more time upgrading it, she wouldn't be having these problems.

Meg heard the gunfire stop, and wondered for a second if that was just to lure them back out into the open. She didn't know, but staying hidden wouldn't fix their problems. She slowly poked her head up above the ledge, and when it didn't get shot off, she risked looking a little more. The cybot was still following them, but now with obvious difficulty. The damage was taking its toll, the machine wobbling back and forth in the air as it tried to follow, black smoke pouring out of it. Seeing it struggle like that raised Meg's spirits, and she once more pointed her gun at the following cybot. Before she could fire off the killing shot though, the cybot suddenly accelerated. It sped up until it was over the trailer, then dropped down onto it with a heavy thud and a groan of stressed metal. As it focused its weapons on the trailer underneath it, Meg froze. She wasn't sure whether or not to shoot it. Surely Leo couldn't, what with it being this close, and the nature of his weapon quite explosive.

"Hit the deck!" Meg's thoughts were interrupted by Leo's warning, and she quickly ducked down, pulling the hatch closed above her. She winced, eyes shut tight, and waited for the sharp impact of high-caliber rounds, but they never came.

Jo saw the cybot chasing the trailer up ahead, and she wished that Django had a slightly higher top speed. Nevertheless, this would have to do. She watched as the cybot, trailing smoke and limping after the trailer, landed on the trailer. Jo activated the voice communications.

"Sei! Brake stand! NOW!"

Jo watched in satisfaction as the trailer pitched forward, unsettling the giant cybot perched precariously on top, and momentarily preventing the pilot from opening fire. Suddenly, the distance between them started closing, very rapidly.

Jo never gave the pilot a chance; she accelerated past him at an unbelievable rate of speed, only to turn her craft around and focus on the cockpit. One shot from her gun fragmented the damaged cybot, and it exploded as it fell from the back of the trailer.

"Enemy threat eliminated." Jo said shortly, before releasing the comms button. Immediately her comms system lit up with incoming congratulations.

"Well done Jo. Nothing short of spectacular." Sei's calm voice acknowledged, as she opened the trailer for Django.

"Good job Jo!" Amy's excited voice rang out.

"How hard did you bang up my craft?" Leo asked jokingly, but she could hear the approval in his voice.

"I...I'm glad you're okay Jo. Come back to me."

Jo didn't answer as she landed in the bay, powering down the engines, and running post-battle diagnostics.

'Hold on Meg...I'm coming to you.'

Meg waited anxiously for Jo to exit Django. When she did, her eyes immediately found the trail of blood staining her hair, trickling down from her temple, smearing across her chin. Her lips had the dark stain of blood on them, and there were nearly dried smears on the back of her hands.

"Jo! What happened? Are you okay!" Meg rushed to her side, concern written across her face, but Jo merely nodded.

"It's fine. It doesn't even hurt."

"You should still get it looked at."

"No need."

Sei pushed herself off the wall, and smiled at Jo.

"Once more, our warrior takes on more than her fair share, and comes out the victor." She said. "Well done." She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a wail from Leo. "Th-this is terrible! Look at all this damage! And of course Django is missing one of her guns! JO! Be more careful!"

Jo said nothing; merely left the trailer.

'I do what it takes to protect Meg...Everything else is immaterial. Even Django, my war machine. My Harbinger of Death, my favourite way of satisfying my hunger for large-scale destruction and violence...' Jo glanced at Meg out of the corner of her eye.
'Immaterial.'

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter of Love You To Death. I don't know how many chapters it will take to finish up this particular plot bunny, but rest assured I'm already working on the next. It's been a while since I've posted anything on , but I'm looking forward to becoming an active member once more. Reviews are most appreciated.