Kyohei advanced into the room.

Sei tried to get in his path. "Kyo," she started to say, "listen to me-"

Kyo's left foot snapped up towards her midsection. Sei deflected it to her left. Kyo planted the kicking foot; Sei saw him starting to turn and realized he was going for a spinning backfist – a predictable technique with multiple obvious counters…especially ones that could be used to restrain instead of injure or kill. Right on schedule, he turned his back to her. It would last for a fraction of a second, but it was enough. Sei darted in, trying to restrain one arm and stop his body turn…

…but Kyo bent over – he'd anticipated her counter and was countering it! Sei had only a second to realize what was happening as he flipped her over his back. Sei tucked her chin and slapped out – the impact could have hurt her otherwise. Then she saw him start to raise his right foot to bring his boot crashing down on her face. Sei did the only thing she could think of – she punched the inside of his supporting leg with her right hand. Kyo staggered and recovered his balance as Sei rolled away from him and got to her feet.

Sei's mind raced as she and Kyo circled each other. She couldn't imagine how Mitsuyo had made him so skilled a fighter in such a short time, but he was to be reckoned with. Worse, he meant business, whereas Sei was trying to find a way to end the fight without hurting him. But playing defense forever was untenable – sooner or later, he would take her out. If she couldn't get through to him, she would have to…

…to…

And Sei realized what Mitsuyo had meant about not hurting Kyo, and about Sei having Kyo's fate in her hands, about how Detective Bando would have to arrest Sei if she had survived: It was kill or be killed, her or Kyohei. That was how Mitsuyo had planned to hurt her: by forcing her to kill Kyohei…

…to kill the one she loved?...

Sei forced that thought down.

"Mitsuyo!" she snapped. "End this."

"Why?" Mitsuyo laughed. "This is so much fun."

Sei's control finally began to fray. "If he dies, Mitsuyo-"

"—I'm next, which doesn't bother me at all. You think I want to live like this? But Kyo will still be dead, and his blood will be on your hands."

Sei shifted her attention to Kyohei. "Hear that, Kyo? Your new girlfriend doesn't care if you live or die. Still want to fight for her?"

"I'm not fighting for her, Sei. I'm fighting for me. Eriko just showed me how. It's so easy and so much fun."

"Kyo-"

"I'm done talking!"

Kyo lunged in with a flurry of kicks and punches. Sei deflected them and got a punch into his solar plexus. Kyo staggered back, coughing but still standing.

"Kyohei, I don't want to hurt you."

"Oh, now you care, Sei, now that I can fight back. You really are scum."

There was no getting through to him, but Sei refused to give up. Nor did she believe that Kyo's rage was because of anything she had done; as far as she was concerned, Mitsuyo had implanted that. No, killing Kyo would be the last resort, and she refused to accept that she had already reached that point. But she had seen just enough of Kyo's fighting style to realize it was aggressive…maybe *too* aggressive. If he was irrational enough, maybe she could use it against him.

Sei said, "And you want to fight me because you think I've wronged you? All right. Let me know when you're getting started, because I'm getting bored with these pretty dance moves of yours."

The taunt had its desired effect: Kyo charged at her. Sei hooked an arm, spun, and started running with him. She got them out of the house and shoved him face first into the sand. Mitsuyo floated along behind them, close enough to watch but not close enough for Sei to reach. Sei didn't doubt that if the disembodied brain had a human face, she would have had an insane/evil grin from ear to ear.

"Kyo," Sei said, "please, listen to me-"

Kyo threw some sand in her face. Sei winced and tried to cover up – she knew he would attack while she couldn't see. And he did. She endured the kicks and punches, then felt a hand grab her hair. So she knew where that arm was while the other got ready to strike. She lashed out and managed to hit the "crazy bone" pressure point on the inside of his grabbing hand's elbow. He winced and she snagged the arm, forcing him to his knees with a joint lock. But instead of fighting the lock, Kyo dropped to his side and kicked Sei in the stomach. She winced and staggered back, half doubled over.

Kyo stood. Sei did the only thing she could think of: She scooped up some sand and threw it in Kyo's face. He winced and she staggered into the tall grass near the house. It wouldn't hide her for very long, but she needed a few seconds to recover.

Kyo blinked the sand out of his eyes. "Lame, Sei, very-" He broke off and looked somewhere over Sei's head; Mitsuyo tilted as if she was "looking" that way, too. Sei weighed the risks and looked in that direction. A RAPT VTOL aircraft was banking towards the house, its police lights and sirens going.

"Leave her," Mitsyo ordered. "There's still time to kill the detective."

"Yes, Eriko." Kyo followed Mitsuyo back to the house.

"Noo…" Sei rasped. If Kyo killed Bando, RAPT and the NPA would hunt him down and kill him; there would be no persuading them to take him alive. But she couldn't breathe well enough to talk. She tried to force herself to her feet, but her body still hadn't shaken off that last kick. She held her abdomen as she shambled towards the house.

8

8

Detective Ohata Bando could only watch as the fight started, her heart aching at Sei's attempts to ge through to Kyo and Kyo callously rebuffing her. But she also saw that Kyo's fighting style was aggressive – maybe a touch *too* aggressive. 'If Sei sees that,' she thought, 'she might be able to use that against him.'

"And you want to fight me because you think I've wronged you?" Sei asked. "All right. Let me know when you're getting started, because I'm getting bored with these pretty dance moves of yours."

'She did see it,' Bando thought as Kyo charged at Sei, and Sei guided them out of the house. Mitsuyo floated along behind.

Bando worked her hand to the inside of her pants near her tailbone, where she had taped a spare key to her cuffs for just such an emergency. She had worked the cuffs off when she heard voices outside, and the distant wale of a RAPT aircraft.

Bando went through the door Kyo had come through and found a door with steps to the beach. The house was on stilts and she cowered under it and waited.

She heard footfalls on the floor above her. Then Kyo's voice: "What the…she's gone? Where…what's that?"

"A RAPT air craft," Mitsuyo said. "Let's get out of here."

"But Sei-"

"We'll get her another time."

A moment later, Mitsuyo flew out the door, carrying Kyo in her tentacles towards their cybot. Bando heard its engine start as the canopy closed on them. The purple robot lifted off and began to fold into an aircraft shape as it disappeared.

Bando went the other direction under the house, in time to see the RAPT vehicle land as Sei half ran, half stumbled towards the house. When the cybot took off, Sei followed the noise, then ran for Django.

"No," Bando started as she started to run across the beach. But Sei already had a head start, and it wasn't long before she was climbing into Django's back.

"Ohata!"

Bando turned to see Eiji Suzuki motioning to her from the RAPT vehicle. Bando thought, then raced over to it as she heard Django lift off. Her partner helped her in just as the vehicle lifted off.

Jo, Meg, and Leo were crammed into it, too.

Jo said, "Any ideas?"

"Do you know what this is about?" Bando asked.

Jo shook her head. "Not really. You?"

Bando thought it over. Mitsuyo had been right: repeating Mitsuyo's story would entail Sei being arrested…if she lived through Mitsuyo's trap. There was no escaping the letter of the law…

…but was that justice?

Detective Ohata Bando finally said, "Nothing that really helps us."

The RAPT aircraft stayed on Django's tail as it headed inland. The purple cybot periodically appeared and fired guns at Django, then vanished again before Sei could return fire. The RAPT pilots couldn't lock on it either.

Leo had his cell phone out, and he blanched. "Oh, crap." He tabbed the screen. "Sei—I'm on the secure channel. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Leo," Sei's voice answered. "I'm kind of busy right now. Please tell me you have a helpful suggestion."

"Sei, I'm monitoring Django's telemetry. He can't take much more punishment like this-" Leo broke off, then went on: "You have to end this now, Sei. You have to shoot down Kyohei."