Rain. It pattered along the dusty windows as I exited the monitoring facility. The air outside was muggy and humid. The distinct scent of stratus clouds wafted through the air and danced with the dust devils that traced along the edge of the main road. It was nice to finally be getting some kind of precipitation. After weeks of nothing but intense solar heat and the occasional cold snap, my skin seemed to loosen at the slightest sign of moisture.

I didn’t really get to enjoy it though. An enormous weight bore down on my ribcage. My mind was trapped between two layers of glass, beyond which two dark faces stared into my head. The sudden paranoid sense that I was being watched took control. Whilst I walked toward the Central Mess hall, my head swiveled about, probing at the people passing me along the way. Any one of them could be a spy. Another agent of the paramilitary complex that had recently revealed a keen interest in me. As you might imagine I was...overwhelmed.

The strange officer who had briefed me (who I later found out to be named Censor) told me quite a lot. Apparently Camp Echo had acquired a new guest. That’s right, another of the giants had fallen prey to their vicious tricks. I didn’t know many of the specifics, only that I was to interview them just as I had Vera.

A loud whirring noise caught my attention as I passed the cargo depots. A huge, black helicopter had roared to life. Waves of dirt washed against me as I passed the landing pad. We didn’t get much air traffic here so it definitely got my attention.

The hulking metal shell lifted itself into the air. The tinted windows shrouded its occupants. For some reason all I could think about was the first raid on my home town. I guess it reminded me of the air raid sirens. The horrible tremors that kept me hiding in my basement. The smoke and the ash.

A passing stranger bumped into me, breaking my train of thought. When I looked back up to the ascending aircraft I saw that it now hovered fifty feet overhead. Somehow I knew it was time to go. I couldn’t linger much longer.

On the rest of my journey I went over what little information had been given to me about my new assignment. All the details were arranged in a list in my head. That was always just the easiest way for me. Alright, what was it now?

1. The subject was a female, approximately 570 feet tall. Age unknown.

2. Subject was captured by a Psyn Corps team using the same “drug and tug” method as Vera.

3. She is currently being held at Capsule B281C at Camp Echo.

4. Subject expressed aggressive violent behavior towards operatives before and after capture.

5. Subject has been given the designator: “Bet”

Easy right?

Finally, after what seemed liked hours, I reached Central Mess. I hadn’t even thought about the social proceedings that were to happen that night, I was so...well you know.

Inside the fluorescent lights hummed with their usual vigor. The same crew of cooks waited idly behind the counter. The tables were occupied by any number of mildly familiar faces. Masks of those who I had seen come and go, but whose names remained unknown to me. A crowd of phantoms who I couldn’t help but feel responsible for, even if I would never know even one of them. It was then I saw the greasy hand waving above their heads.

“Over here boy!” Zinc’s slightly inebriated voice echoed out over the drone of the crowd. Without even looking at them I sauntered over and took a seat across from the dirty mechanic. Although he seemed nice enough, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable around him. Don’t get me wrong he appeared genuine but...still there was just this gut feeling I had.

“Ellis, glad you could make it!” Zinc roared. There were two other men sitting with him. Judging by their smell and appearance they too were mechanics.

“Well, I could really use the break…”

“I’m sure you do! This here is Spark-” Zinc pointed to the bearded man on his left. Spark gave me a quick nod. “And this here is ol’ Rubber”

“Rubber?” I asked. The spindly, emaciated man on Zinc’s right nodded and shot me a dirty look.

“Ahaha, oh classic Rubber. Sorry there Ellis, hope you don’t mind we got started here without ye”

The yeasty scent in his breath was strong. I would’ve guessed they’d gone through a few pints already. Judging by the demeanors they had a little bit of every drunkard in them. Spark seemed sleepy and distant. Rubber, moody and nauseous. Lastly Zinc was thrilled about...well seemingly everything.

“Ahh before I forget, I heard about you gettin’ your agnomen! That’s great!”

“Oh, Gulliver, yeah...not too thrilled about it myself”

“Wha- Gulliver? No I’m talkin’ about Jung.”

This was news to me. I hadn’t heard anything about the name Jung.

“What are you talking about some guy-”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone’s been callin’ ya. Jung! Not sure I get it much”

Shortly thereafter I fell silent. My thumbs tapped incessantly on the backs of my hands as I contemplated what all of this meant. Honestly, I was never interested in getting an agnomen. My own name it was...special. It was the last bit of the old world I had left; the only real connection I had to my former life. I didn’t want to be Jung, or Gulliver, or whatever else people called me.

“You’re right he is a quiet one!” Rubber grumbled.

“Sorry I’ve just had a long day.”

“You mind telling us what all that earth shaking was earlier?” asked Spark.

“Well Vera had-”

“Wha- who the hell is Vera?”

“And what’s all this about-”

Zinc slapped his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “Now boys, don’t be so hard on the poor boy, he’s got a tough job here”

This was about as awkward as I had expected it to be.

“Now then, one question at a time. So, Jung, tell us about the bitch…”

The night slogged on and I had lost my appetite. I told the three of them what little I thought was acceptable to reveal. Zinc loved every second of it. The others, however, kept their eyes trained on me warily. They made me nervous. A few times on my way back to my tent I felt like I was being followed. Each time I looked behind me I half expected Rubber to be trailing me a hundred feet back. No one was ever there though.

When I did get back it was late. The rain had mostly passed, leaving the ground soggy, the air thick, and the sky overcast in a shroud of darkness. Only a few moonrays escaped the layer of stratus clouds, giving me just enough light to stumble into my tent.

After flipping on my lantern and changing out of my sweaty clothes I collapsed into my desk chair. Curiously the cold from this morning had long since given way to the humidity. It was then I contemplated my future. I thought about the pressure; about the horrible prospects of death. I thought about what might happen to Vera and what might happen with this new subject. The hand of authority had thrust itself down my throat and now held my lungs in its grip. Then, I thought about what Cyan said to me the first time I met her:

“Stress is your greatest enemy right now. If you keep yourself relaxed you’ll be much better off. Got it?”

I agreed at the time but after these last few days I couldn’t help but feel that the stress was honing my skills. The sheer anxiety kept me alert. I was always guessing, probing, and approaching things from different angles. Then again, I don’t think any of it got me anywhere. I had learned a few things, but mostly I had just opened a can of worms. Newer, more confusing questions had been raised. Vera was at the center of it all. It didn’t help that my own personal opinion of her was thrown completely out of whack. One minuted I hated her, the next I really liked her. What really bothered me though was that of everyone, she seemed the most genuine. Ok maybe that wasn’t true...but it sure felt that way sometimes.

That got me thinking about a lot of other stuff. This “Subject Bet”. What would she be like? She’s apparently very dangerous, could she possibly be reasoned with the same way I had Vera? Who’s to say I wouldn’t get crushed as soon as she saw me enter?

Then my mind switched back to Vera. God, how was I gonna tell her? As of now I had a feeling our little meetings were the only things keeping her together. It would be tougher from here on out. That much was certain.

The next morning I wasted no time getting back to the main facility. I hardly slept. Barely ate. Visions of a dust storm danced in front of my eyes throughout the early hours of the day. Around ten-thirty I headed over to the mass of grey boxes at the center of camp. I didn’t exchange a word with anyone as I entered. People barely looked at me. It was as though I was completely wiped from their memory. But, oddly enough, no one stopped me. I passed the monitor room without even so much as a glance inside and made my way down to the atrium.

The guards there left the room as soon as I entered. Was I being reckless? Sure. I mean, for all I knew I was going in blind. It didn’t matter though, I hadn’t planned to stay long.

When I stepped out into the main chamber a persisting sense of timidness overtook me. My eyes swept out to each corner, expecting to see Vera sprawled out across the floor as she always was. Surprisingly she was not there. Instead I saw only two massive forms leading up. Her legs stretched up into the air like two redwood trucks. I followed the curves of her legs with my eyes, continually craning my neck back as I peered up to see her standing above. Vera erected herself in a contrapposto stance, not unlike that of some Classical Age statue.

It was like I was seeing her for the first time all over again. It was a terrifying experience. Looking up at a figure who far outmatched any living thing in size and grandeur. As desperate as I was I couldn’t move. Petrified in place I just watched her.

Apparently she hadn’t noticed me. She stood, cocked to one side, with her head tilted. Her hair lay over her right shoulder, where she combed through it with her fingers. Minutes passed. Eventually she turned around, leaving her back to me. Vera stretched her arms, rolled her neck, and leaned over to touch her toes. All the while I just...waited. Suddenly the crackle of radio static boomed down from ceiling.

“Ellis you cannot be in there!” the voice echoed. For some reason I could make out the statement with much greater clarity.

Vera’s head spun around in an open display of confusion. Slowly she turned, this time with her gaze fixed on the ground. Luckily my dark clothing contrasted with the white floor and she was easily able to spot me. Her brow furrowed and she lowered herself down into a crouch.

“What are you doing here?”

The force of her voice was far greater than usual. I suppose it never occurred to me until then that Vera purposely lowered the volume of her speech. It was the first instance where I was truly and irrevocably shocked by her consideration.

I said something in reply. I don’t remember what but it was fast and choppy. Vera couldn’t hear a word I said. She rolled her eyes and got down onto her knees. She leaned in closer so that her face was all that I could see.

“Care to run that by me again?” she whispered.

A convocation of images whirled about inside my head. There was so much I needed to say and I, being the social paragon that I was, couldn’t muster up a single word. I stared back into the mask of a god. One whose wrath would be spared on very few should she be freed. Here I was, the agent of her survival, at the precipice of my mortality. It was a moment when neither of us thought about death though. For once we were both unconcerned about our actual physical well-being. Everything hinged on our emotional standing with one another. It was strange and it was beautiful. It was like staring into a nebula as you hurtle helplessly through space. I could only say one thing:

“I’m leaving”

Vera didn’t respond. She just looked down on me with a completely neutral expression. Could it be possible she didn't care?
“What do you mean?”

“I’m...leaving the camp. For a while.”

That’s when I saw the flash of terror in her eyes.

“Leaving” she repeated.

“I have a new assignment. I just thought I should tell you before I go. I won’t be gone for too long.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know, just a few days.”

“Shit…” Vera turned from me. She lay both hands on the ground and stretched her legs out until the hit the far left wall. After easing herself onto the ground she closed her eyes.

“What is it?”

“They’ll kill me.”

“But I told you they don’t-”

“I know!” she spat. The walls trembled and I felt my knees buckle in the wake of such an angry outburst. “When will they get it though? You said you didn’t know”

“I don’t, but I told them expressly that you wouldn’t be harmed until-”

“Until? Until what? Until you say so?”

“Vera you know that’s not how it is…” I quickly replied. Any sane person would’ve given her some space. Her muscles twitched beneath the stretches of her skin. I, however, decided to get closer. I walked along the outer edge toward her head. Vera’s temple rested against the wall, meaning that her eye aligned with me as I drew closer.

My heart skipped a beat when it fluttered open once again. In a less than a second her pupil fixated on me. I stopped.

“Don’t think I’m groveling…”

“I don’t! Please Vera you have to understand…”

“What’s the ‘assignment’ anyway?” she asked in a voice laden with false apathy.

Anxiously I shifted my weight from side to side. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I was allowed to tell her what I was up to. Would it really matter anyway? There wasn’t much she could do about it. That’s when I first had the idea. Ever hear of prisoner’s dilemma? Its a delightfully cruel little trick, but...well it could work. I needed to stray from the hand of psychology and use game theory to gain the upper hand. Though I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, up to that point I was really not in control during our sessions. Vera manipulated me as much as I manipulated her. The only real difference was that she was somehow better at it.

“I’ve got, to assess someone else…”

Vera head pitched forward slightly. A sly smile waited for me fifty feet to my left, along with a pair of squinted but concerned eyes.

“They got another of us didn’t they?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“You’re not sorry.”

“No, I’m not”

“Don’t be so nervous...” she said with a chuckle. One of her massive fingers crept up over the edge towards me. For a moment I thought she was going to knock me down, but just as her fingertip was about to collide with me it stopped. I flinched and Vera giggled again.

“... I don’t care”

“Really, you’re not jealous?” I asked coyly. Sure, it was a weak attempt at reestablishing my social fortitude but I needed to seem confident! Vera didn’t buy it.

“Do you really take me for the jealous type?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

A scowl flashed across her face but quickly gave way to her usual hungry smirk. Our eyes remained locked in one of our routine staring contests. As you might imagine I lost. The brilliant blue contrasting with the black of her pupils always made my head spin. I looked away, just in time to see her finger snaking around behind me.

“Now, now Ellis that’s not very fair.”

“You won’t be harmed while I’m away I promise!”

“I suppose I have to believe you...who is it?”

“What?”

“Who is this other person you are going to interview.”

“I don’t know her name.”

“So it’s a her then?”

Despite the act, I could tell Vera was in fact jealous. At least, that’s the way it seemed. Could it have been concern? Was she actually worried about me? She was difficult to read. I swallowed hard and eased back a few steps. Perhaps it was best to get going.

“Yes” was all I could say. Unfortunately for me it was not enough to sway Vera’s predatory gaze. Just as I tried to navigate around her finger, three more slid up from the floor below. A crescent shaped wall of skin now surrounded my back. Frozen, I stood waiting for Vera’s judgment.

“What if I didn’t let you go?”

“Vera…”

“Just think about it. What if I kept you here? You couldn’t escape could you? Not if I did it well. And what are they gonna do about it, huh? Kill me? They’ll do that anyway.”

Any idiot could tell what was coming. I broke from our exchange and lept into a full sprint. Yes, it was foolish to think I could run to safety but I had no other options. First I ran to my right, hoping to circumvent her grasp. But, as I tried to round the edge of her fingers she simply slid them a bit to the side. Immediately I collided with the pad of her pinky. Though I reeled I somehow managed to keep my footing. Just as I was about to attempt another route her fingers began to clench in a uniform wave of musculature closing in around me.

Backing up further and further until I had only a three foot radius of free space in any given direction, I waited. My arms instinctively wrapped around my head as I crouched down into a tiny ball. Through my eyelids I saw an encroaching violet. Then, bright red flooded in.

The horrible two-pronged pressure of Vera’s fingers slammed down on either side of me. I gasped a horrible, long, wretched wheeze as the air fled my lungs. My eyes shot open just in time to see the white floor beneath me fade off into the distance. A shooting pain made my neck grow numb. My arms creaked and my legs twitched. Then I fell. And I fell and I fell and I fell. Given the fact that I didn’t die I mustn’t have fallen more than five to ten feet but it felt like I was suspended in the air for much longer.

I do remember crying out in pain. I remember saying something very rude as I did. What it was exactly escapes me now but it was enough to warrant another nasty look from Vera.

So it was that I found myself lying in a puddle of pain in Vera’s palm...again. I rolled around for a little while, giving Vera enough time to reposition herself. Finally, she sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber with her hand held at chest level.

“You were saying?” she whispered. At first I couldn’t tell if she was angry or if she was just toying with me again.

“I-huh-I...You can’t….do this”

Each breath was laborsome. The injuries she had given me yesterday were refreshed and I, for a good while, feared that my bones had been shattered. After a quick assessment of my limbs and joints I found that I could move them all...painfully.

Vera emitted another little laugh as she watched me squirm.

“It would seem I can do this Ellis.”

She thought this was a game. I had to show her otherwise. I had to get serious.

“Vera, no!” I screamed as I pushed myself onto my side. “I know you’re scared. I am too. But you can’t keep me here. This is serious. This is my life and I won’t have you telling me what to do!”

First her smile faded. Then, her eyes drooped back into a neutral glare. The slight twitch in her eyebrow returned for a brief second.

“You mean like how all those other little people tell you what to do?”

“Vera this is different.”

“How?”

“They...its my job. I go where I’m wanted!”

“You’re wanted here…”

“You know that’s-That’s not what I mean!”

Each time I said something she countered. It was a losing battle, but it needed to be fought nonetheless.

“How do I know you will come back?”

“I promise.”

“You’ve promised a lot of things Ellis.”

I paused. What could I do? How could I compromise her position? What would make her falter? It all came down to one thing: power. I needed her to feel weaker.

“What is this about Vera? Could this mean you care about someone other than yourself?”

Instantly her fingers shot up. I winced and rolled back into my ball. Luckily I was not crushed. When I looked back over to her I saw she was wracked with rage. Even her hand shook. A series of pulsing muscles in her face betrayed the raw emotion she tried so desperately to shut away.

“You know I care. That’s not new…” she managed to growl.

“I know Vera. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You don’t know”

“No…I suppose I don’t.”

“I don’t know what you expect to learn”

Truth be told, by that point I didn’t either. Here we were, at another door. Another precipice that would dictate our interactions from now till the moment when we parted for the last time. All I could think about was how her lips shook when she was mad.

“Vera, you don’t know either. It may be hard for you to understand but...I have to go. This isn’t a game, this isn’t a lie. Its a fact.”

She waited. All of a sudden her eyes began to blink rapidly.

“Do you want to fight facts Vera?”

“No, I’m...tired.”

“Of fighting?”

“Yes”

“Then you have to let me go. Don’t fight me anymore! Please!”

We both fell silent. She lowered her hand as gently as possible until it was level with the outer platform. Without ever taking my eyes off of her I stepped back until I was on the solid white surface. As soon as I was clear she retracted her hand.

“Get out…” she whispered so quietly that even I almost didn’t hear. I gave her a nod, said something under my breath, and left.