"Berserker, did you have to kill them all?" Colin sighed as he took in the carnage that remained after the sheer calamity that was Khepri on the offensive.
"Yes." She replied tersely.
"Can you explain why?" He pressed.
"...Becuase they're Fallen?" She said as if that was all the justification she needed. "They kidnap children, they murder other children. They're rapists, they're child molesters, they abuse master powers to enslave people, they use insane logic and sovereign citizen bullshit to twist the law to their advantage—and people let them do it!—they twist religious beliefs to justify their every action, they go out of their way to piss people off, and everyone in their community is either a soldier or a breeding slave. Their entire schtick is taking control away from people, deciding things for other people without the consent of those people. Why the hell would anything you know about me make you think that I wouldn't kill them given the chance?"
Colin took off his helmet and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The fact that this was a simulation. And the mission goal was to infiltrate and rescue a kidnapped Ward without being caught."
The scenery around them faded from view leaving them in a dark room. Dragon had started binge-watching Star Trek, one thing led to another, and now the PRT had Holodecks. Hoping to maintain good relations with the ungodly powerful supernatural entity that was already blackmailing the Triumvirate, Princess and Berserker had been invited to test it out.
Princess declined, but Berserker...
"They can't catch us if they're too busy being eaten alive by spiders and roaches," was the Servent's response.
"You're not wrong," Colin admitted, "but in a real hostage situation they could have just cut the kid's throat as soon as they realized they were being slaughtered."
"In a real hostage scenario I would have killed them faster," Berserker countered.
"You can't just..."
Colin suddenly became very aware of the buzzing of insects. "Are you telling me what to do?"
"No," he said carefully. "I am simply making an admittedly poorly worded suggestion."
"Good. Because... Bad things happen when people tell me what to do. Don't let me make my own choices, try to take control of me... Do you want bad things to happen, Defiant?" Khepri said, her voice dripping with venom.
"No."
"No what?"
"No, ma'am."
"Good." Khepri cocked her head, not unlike a dog. "I'm bored now."
Khepri vanished and Colin realized that managing someone that... Well, broken, was going to be harder than he thought. He made a note to get into contact with the PRT's best experts in psychology... The Taylor Hebert of this reality was stable, and Khepri did not appear much older, so... Definitely some kind of trauma.
And maybe, if they could figure out a way to approach her, they could figure out why she kept calling him Defiant.
An: A non-canon scene meant to give a better idea of how I'm operating with Khepri. She is all of Taylor's worst days at once, with no filter.