Akari.OS

When the Goddess gave me the proverbial boot to the ass into this universe, I wasn’t expecting it to happen the way it did…even though I think she took advantage of my delirium to send me here in an unorthodox manner.

I sighed as I looked out Xeriko’s visor at the numbers ticking down from the roof access elevator. “Xeriko…why’d you become a merc?”

“I’m not a mer-” he started before I cut him off.

“Yes you are, especially since I’m paying you in Akari Dollars after you complete my quests for your suit upgrades, but that’s beside the point, why’d you become a “monetarily contracted soldier”?” I asked again.

“Two years ago I was working with another “Monetarily Contracted Soldier” as you so eloquently put it, her name was Kalira, she was a spitfire…” He started.

“Was?” I queried but…I knew the answer before he even said it.

“She was a Cracker through and through, in and out of a system before most people could even blink, also had a real knack with a plasma caster, and was real snarky, we were great together, until one job, just when the AI war started, we were in our groove, we were busting a Lash pill drug ring…nasty stuff, turns the mind to soup and heightens aggression to the Nth degree…well, once we were in deep, we found out where the boss was and was cracking his security when we eventually heard really loud alarms, then we were surrounded, my AI decided at that moment to become idiotic and connect to their network and eventually got us surrounded, it then fed her a Lash pill while she was still cracking before she went apeshit on the guards until her mind burned out and she...died, while my AI rationalized it was the best way to escape…so it forced me to run by taking over my suit and I’ll never forget the look in Kalira’s eyes as she went under the Drug’s sway, it was awful…” Xeriko explained while we waited.

“I suppose that’s why you hated me…I was too similar to her in some ways and a suit AI.” I commented looking away trying to hide my own tears.

“Yeah…it stung a bit Akari…”

Even I knew this was serious if he actually used my name instead of a cheesy moniker. I took a deep cleansing breath and slapped my cheeks.

“I’ll still support you Xeriko, no matter what, even if you are an asshole.” I said while smirking a little at him.

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“I’ll tolerate you too, Trojan Horse.” He sniped back while we both gave a mirthless chuckle.

The elevator dinged while we were talking and we put on our game faces for the battle ahead. I poofed into my General Akari attire and got ready for the massacre of scrap metal and blood. The floor that greeted us was an assembly line and we immediately dove behind a crate to peek at the work that they were doing.

“Oh SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA!” I shouted in the helmet.

“Shit!” Xeriko commented too.

“Exactly!” I yelled after.

Xeriko and I were looking at an assembly line for plasma weapons, lots of em.

“Um...Xeriko…?” I asked.

“Yes Malware…?”

“They shouldn’t have those should they…?”

“No they should not, but here we are…”

“Are we seriously reusing a bit?!” I shouted as Xeriko ducked behind the box again.

“We don’t have murder roombas here, so not exactly.” Xeriko commented smugly.

“Shuddup meatbag!” I yelled glaring at him.

I paced back and forth trying to come up with a plan.

“So our usual methods are out of the question considering we don’t wanna hit the plasma canisters, we have to power off this Weapon Foundry and get the other humans to surren..der…” I started before cutting off.

Did I really just…did I really just say other humans…? Am I losing my humanity because of what I became? There were too many questions at once so I tried pushing the matter aside.

“And hopefully before there’s any more casualties…” I finished trying to suppress a shudder.

I tried banishing the foul taste in my mouth but it was no use, maybe this was my psyche trying to overcompensate for the slip up that I wasn’t human anymore. I didn’t know and truthfully I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out, so I just pushed onward trying to ignore the sensations.

Xeriko nodded before drawing the Tachi I made for him. It still was a beautiful blade, and I just focused on the work of art being wielded by one of my closest friends…not that I would admit that to him.

He then ran off in another direction into a foreman’s office and sliced apart the AIndroids there before he barricaded the door.

“That should buy you some time to look around in there.” He commented before he jacked into the datanet terminal.

I nodded before throwing a smoke bomb and poofing into Netspace for the second time that day.

It was quiet in netspace with its organized cube hallways and various other processes that happened while I was in here.

“Alright you rogue AI, time to go chips up…” I glared as I moved ahead in my blue ninja attire.

Sneaking down the tunnels and hiding behind protrusions like some phantom thief I saw a lot of packet traffic up ahead so I snuck my way over there to try and see what the hubbub was. When I was over there the packets were flying down the tunnel like a swarm of angry bats.

“Ok then, let's see what’s on the docket.” I pulled out a mail hook and nabbed one of the packets before it could get away from me.

“Hmm…” I contemplated while reading. “Looks like the AI here is a General of some sort, he’s ordering double time on weapons creation, and he’s brokered a deal for human interaction regarding AI banned devices…likely not being murderized when the AIndroids go ape with their plasma weaponry was part of said deal.”

I wanted to sympathize but its hard with people’s lives being at stake. Especially more innocent people just wanting to live. I glared and tossed the packet back into the stream

“Alright General, if you want a war…I’ll give you a war!” I shouted to no one.