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At first, the implantation is like an itch he can’t seem to scratch. His AI always seems to want something. Sit next to them , not those other soldiers. Fight like this , not like that. Most oddly, he wants to be referred to by something other than the greek letter designation he had been assigned.
He doesn’t ask for anything violent. Not yet.
The first few weeks of implantation, Jack’s AI fragment refuses to speak. Not to Jack, not to the other curious AIs, and definitely not to the director. He still does his job for the most part. Doesn’t step out of line enough to be checked out by the technicians always swarming the freelancers with the more troublesome AI. But every time The Director calls on Agent New Jersey and Kappa, Jack swears he can hear a voice hissing in the very back of his mind, “It’s Khalix .”
He doesn’t show his full potential until he begins to speak. It begins with little things. Snarky comments about the other Freelancers. The most violent and flashy ways to bring down his combatants. Daring escape plans that are admittedly sort of helpful.
He runs Jack’s equipment beautifully. Surging power at just the right times. Running his experimental piece, something called a disruptor drive, the part of his suit that makes red locks flip to green and security cameras blink out as he passes them. Agent New Jersey becomes the new Freelancer the insurrectionists whisper about in the middle of a battle. How the soldier in rusty gold armor is both a fighting force and a ghost who can sneak through bases without even the whisper of a motion scanner.
He becomes more insistent. Jack becomes the one to punch his locker, muttering under his breath. The other Freelancers start to stay away. Still, he climbs the leaderboard.
The first time Jack become truly frightened of his AI is the first time that Kappa–no, Khalix possesses him.
It happens in an instant. It’s not the most dire of situations Jack has been in of late, but clearly, he decides that it's enough. One moment Jack is regrouping, desperately trying to reload, and the next he's ploughing through enemies, no regard for how much damage he’s doing and to who. For some reason, Khalix thinks each of them, all of them, need to pay.
Jack starts pulling him after that.