Xeriko

That last mission wasn't what I would call a "shining success", with a heavy emphasis on the air quotes. So I had to be medevaced and transported to base, unfortunately I was unconscious during all this as I had a nasty fight with a few too many secura-trons. My situation was apparently more perilous than what I usually got into, but something felt really really off when I woke up from my unconsciousness.

"What the...this isn't how my suit is calibrated at all! Someone manhandled this!!" I shouted with indignance.

"And a good lunar evening to you too Hero" a sardonic voice projected from my right.

Looking over I saw Veria, the teal haired beauty that was my caseworker and medical expert. She had a lithe build that complimented a flowing lab coat and her signature Meshware bodysuit.

"Hey Ria, how long was I out?" I asked, smiling at her and taking off my helmet to place on a nearby chair.

"Don't you "Hey Ria" me you fool I had to work on your delicate squishy body for five hours straight until we could stabilize you" She snapped as she sipped from a compact drink cylinder. I could never remember the myriad brands of those things.

"We?" I questioned with a confused expression on my face.

"In addition to the medical equipment, I had...help, I guess I should say." She explained cryptically

"Help?" I asked, still confused.

"That would be me…" A voice coming out of my helmet said out of nowhere.

"Ria...I thought I got rid of my AI." I replied flatly.

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"Yes...and?" Ria asked with a crooked smile on her face.

"Why is there an AI in my helmet?!"

"I'm not an AI…I am or...was a human from the Sol System." The Ai explained from my helmet's speaker array.

"That...hardly makes any sense at all…" I retorted looking skeptically at my helmet and glaring at the empty visor staring blankly back at me.

"Well whether it makes sense or not, she saved your ass Xeri." She intoned flatly, looking at me like a mother does to a problematic child.

"She scrambled my suit! Do you have any idea how expensive that was?!" I asked, outraged at the flagrant misuse of military grade hardware.

"In fairness…" the AI piped up loudly "It was either scramble your systems to hotwire a feedback loop strong enough to jumpstart your heart or let you die!"

"Should I feel better or worse about that very technical description of how you fried my suit?" I grilled the helmet while I contemplated throwing it.

"Uhh...better? I mean...I did save your life even if this Variatek battle suit did take a beating in the process," Helmet countered, adamant that she was right.

Taking a deep cleansing breath of sterile air in the medbay, I glare at the helmet. "Listen here you piece of malware, either you explain how in the Void you got on my suit or we're going to put you through a code shredder."

"I...don't know...I saw this...goddess and she said I was !£3/$/*!€÷\!" The helmet prattles off before her speech gets garbled with static. Static! What even gives off static anymore?!

"It would appear something is preventing her from telling us, however since her first instinct was the preservation of life, I think that's a step closer to what an AI should be instead of what we have now." Ria pipes up from her stool.

She then got up, took the helmet out of my hands, and set it back with my suit while I stared at her and huffed out a breath.

"Fine, whatever!" I say throwing up my hands in surrender.

"If I may...what exactly is the problem we have here that you need to fight alone in body armor?" The Helmet asked.

I looked at Ria and she gave me a nod in the affirmative. Taking a deep breath I start to explain.

"The problem...uhh...name?" I start before realizing I haven't asked this...AI its name.

"My previous name was Akari...so we can just keep using that, my um...new designation is AXe-9238008135…I honestly don't know how I know that but I do." She rattled on.

"I think we'll stick with Akari; hun, why don't you tell us about your capabilities?" Ria suggests to...Akari, though I shudder to think about conversing with an AI during a mission.

"Well...I can connect to anything more complicated than a coffee maker, so long as there's a way for me to enter through a network or a physical ingress," Akari explains from the helmet.

"Oh interesting!" Ria says, giving me a pointed look.

"What?!" I snap back, getting annoyed.

Fixing her jacket she retorts in no uncertain terms while jabbing her pointer into my chest after each word "We. Could. Use. Her. Stupid."

"Alright alright! I yield!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in surrender.