"What the-" Meg stammered.
The cockpit rocked as Django staggered under the cybot's fire, and dropped to one knee.
"Yeah!" Kyo crowed over the radio. "Damn, that felt good. Do either of you dykes have any idea how long I've been waiting to do something like that?"
Jo hit the arming switch on her joystick and deployed Django's guns.
"Jo-" Meg started.
"Yeah, Jo!" Kyo said. "Let's party! I love this. How did you put it, Meg? Almost better than sex. Which reminds me, have either of you ever been with a guy?"
"Kyo," Meg pleaded, "stop this, before someone gets hurt."
Kyo laughed. "Don't worry about me, Meg. Worry about yourself. You should be making peace with whatever god you believe in. I'll send you two love birds to hell together. Then I'll go after Sei and that little snot, Amy. And Sei? If you're listening, don't worry, babe. I'll save you for last, so you can enjoy the show while everyone else dies."
Jo grumbled, "You have to get past me first, Kyo. You shouldn't get ahead of yourself."
But could she end the fight without killing Kyo? Jo had never gone into a fight without automatically going for the kill. She saw that holding back for Kyo's sake could get her and Meg killed, but she couldn't not try to save Kyo. 'This is going to be tricky,' she thought, 'but maybe my experience is my advantage; he's still an amateur. Let's see if I can psych him out.'
Jo fired at the cybot's crotch. It staggered for a moment - as Kyo reacted the way any guy would, as if the robot had genitals he had to protect. A professional robot driver wouldn't have made that mistake. She hit Django's rockets and body slammed the other robot. Django got to its feet on the other side while Kyo's cybot lay on its side, facing Django propped up on one arm.
Jo kept her weapons aimed at the enemy cockpit and said, "Kyo, it's me. I'm your friend. I want to help you. Come out of the cybot, and we'll talk about this. Whatever's going on, we can get through it together."
"Aw, Jo, you had to get all gooey on me just when things were getting int-hold on-" The channel went dead, then Kyo came back: "Jo? Much as I would love to stay and beat you to death, I really have to run. Toodles!" The Cybot vanished.
"Kyo-Wait!" Jo said. "Meg-Track it."
Meg slapped the sides of her console. "I can't!"
"Damn it!" Jo hit the hatch release, and the girls scrambled out onto Django's shoulder. Though there was damage to the cyber market, they were pleased to see there were no casualties as Amy, Leo, Bando, and Suzuki came running over. There was no sign of the cybot, though they could hear its receding engines.
"Damn," Meg said. "And I was happy for him. Jo, promise me that whatever happens, Eriko gets an express ticket to hell."
"That's the problem, Meg. I think Eriko is ready to go. And she doesn't care who she takes with her."