A secret government facility beneath a mountain seemed a little cliche. Clean white walls and white tiled floors didn’t fool Vincent though. A high security government facility was exactly what he had been trying to avoid most of his life. Now they had him. Oh sure, there weren’t any metal bars or orange jump suits but a prison was a prison, and Vincent knew he was trapped. Two beefy soldiers walked on either side of him, leading the way by half a step. An ‘escort’ they called it, but he knew a pair of guards when he saw them.

Symbiote compatible they had called him, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. Before this place they had tested him relentlessly. Half of the training didn’t make any sense, like asking him to change an object’s shape just by thinking about it. Did they think he had super powers or something? The other half was clear enough; they wanted to know if he could cut it as a soldier. He did everything in his power to disabuse them of that notion. Most of the tests were easy enough to figure out. He quickly saw the best way to give the worst answers. By the end he felt quite accomplished at failing.

Unfortunately, one test seemed to especially impress them. They put him in a virtual room with a bear, then asked (demanded really) that he imagine it growing larger. The weird thing was when he imagined it happening- it did happen. It was a little unnerving at first but once it became clear the bear was just going to stand there he figured he would go for broke. To his fascination the bear grew to a colossal size, big enough that a single claw dwarfed his entire body.

After seeing their excitement over that little stunt he knew he was well and truly fucked. What was so important about a giant fucking bear anyway? When they had showm him a Kaiju in an earlier simulation he did what anyone would do: run like hell. Maybe I should have run up and given it a hug. That would have disqualified me for sure, Vincent thought sullenly. Too late for that now.

His guard stopped in front of a door and gestured him inside. Vincent scowled and entered what appeared to be a control booth for a stadium. Only it had been co-opted by people in lab coats. A large glass wall stood at the back of the room, but all he could make out was reflections of the people inside. A red haired science-type holding a clipboard turned as he entered and offered a perfunctory smile. “You’re shorter than I expected,” she said.

Vincent shrugged and replied, “I’m big where it counts.” Being five feet tall tended to merrit comment, his answer was reflexive.

Her smile evaporated. “Well,” she began, “I suppose introductions are in order. Vincent Mann my name is Caitlyn Ross, welcome to the Goddess Initiative.” Vincent’s heart froze. Suddenly all of those tests made a bizarre sort of sense. Did I really not seen this coming, he thought. Maybe it had just seemed impossible. Coastal cities were to be avoided like the plague. Television was a waste of time. He even avoided Goddess tabloids and those contained incredible eye-candy, or so he had been told. In any case, Kaiju were someone else’s problem. Startled, he saw Caitlyn’s hand was outstretched and he gripped it before remembering he was committed to being as difficult as possible.        

“If you serve with the Goddess Initiative for a year, we’ll wipe the slate clean,” she said. “No criminal record.”

“You brought me all the way here to give me an ultimatum?” Vincent said, incredulous. “You could have told me that back in Chicago.”

The redhead flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced at her clipboard. “We take our Operator potentials very seriously, Vincent. We wanted to show you where you would be living if you accept our offer, and possibly who you’d be working with.”

“If you think a cushy cell and a pretty face are going to convince me to fight giant murderous aliens you’ve got another thing coming, sweetheart,” Vincent said coldly.

“Its Caitlyn, and did I mention the salary?” She lifted the top page of her clipboard and scribbled something before shoving it under his nose. A number was circled at the bottom of the page. It contained a large number of zeroes. An incredible number of zeroes, really. Vincent’s heart began beating a frenzied two-step.

“That is umm… Well, ahh… I suppose it couldn’t hurt to look around,” he said. The redhead’s knowing smile was infuriating. There was nothing worse than a woman who thought they had you figured out. She turned away and walked toward the window at the back of the room, gesturing for him to follow. The other people in the room seemed oblivious to their presence as he crossed the room to join her. Just as well, since he had something to ask. “Why me?” he said softly.

“Every criminal has their DNA tested. Yours was Symbiote compatible, which is rare.” Caitlyn explained, not looking up from her clipboard.

“Then why all the tests?”

“Because,” she said, stopping in front of the window. “Goddess candidates are equally rare and we can’t risk losing one to an incompetent Operator.” They must be really scraping the bottom of the barrel if they picked me after all of that carefully executed failure, Vincent thought. As though reading his mind she said, “Your scores are a concern, but most of what you’re lacking can be trained. If reports can be credited you have an ability that should offset your other… shortcomings.”

The way she said ‘shortcomings’ was an obvious dig but Vincent was too preoccupied to snipe back. The bear was a Goddess, he thought. “An astute observation,” Caitlyn said and Vincent realized he had spoken the thought aloud. “However simulation and reality are worlds apart. If you decide to stay we will see if you can reproduce those results in a field test. Now, if you will turn your attention to the training room there are some a couple Goddess potentials I’d like you to see.”

The window opened into a vast room half a dozen stories tall. From two stories up the view allowed for a fine look look at the dozen or so girls excercising on the mats below. Bending, stretching, and striking out with hands and feet they vigorously performed various exercises. Caitlyn pointed to a blond girl on the left side of the room. “That is Emy Fitzgerald, she has excellent scores in hand-to-hand, tactics, civilian awareness, and mental fortitude. Her only weakness is a middling score in growth. I believe you two would compliment each other well.” Emy was a rail thin girl with no hips or breasts to speak of. Her long legs kicked high across her body as she worked through some martial art routine. “One mat back and to the right of her is Noel Langley. Her scores are slightly lower but similar to Emy’s except that she holds the simulation record for fewest civilian deaths. Her growth scores are also slightly better.” At least this girl had some curves. It was hard to tell from so far off but he guessed she had C-cups at least. It was a shame he couldn’t see her butt as she tore through a set of crunches. If he had to choose between her a string bean there was no contest except-

Who was that two mats to her right? A tall brunette stood in profile, stifling a yawn. She didn’t appear to be exercising at all. In fact, Vincent wouldn’t be surprised to learn she never exercised. Her physique was wildly different from the girls arrayed around her, full breasts thrust from her chest like ripe cantaloupe halves and her rear… Vincent had never seen an ass so large on a girl less than three hundred pounds. Of course a three hundred pound woman could never boast a behind quite as shapely as that. There had to be muscle under all that fat. Either way, even with a flat stomach this girl certainly pushed the boundary of ‘thick’. “Who is that?” he said, pointing.

“Sadie,” Caitlyn replied with a scowl. “Don’t concern yourself with her.”

Vincent stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Tell me about her.”

Caitlyn sighed and said, “Sadie is currently in rehabilitation. Her previous operator was killed in an attack last month.”

“What are her scores like,” Vincent pressed, curiosity piqued by Caitlyn’s obvious reluctance.

“We judge Goddesses on a different scale after they’ve entered actual combat.” Caitlyn explained begrudgingly. “We don’t give them scores, not officially at least.”

“Not officially? That sounds like code for scoring them and not talking about it,” Vincent goaded.

“Reality is messy,” Caitlyn snapped. “We can’t bring a Goddess to task for every civilian death on the battlefield even if they…” she cut off, her mouth snapping shut. Vincent could guess what she had been about to say: ‘even if they cause it’. How could they not? If a city wasn’t fully evacuated by the time Kaiju arrived it would be all but impossible to avoid trampling a person or two. Sparing the girls a ‘score’ for that burden was a mercy.

“What about fighting ability and that other stuff?” he asked.

“Her technique is… unconventional. If I recall correctly she was a gang member, a street fighter, before she joined us. Her fortitude is strong, Kaiju certainly don’t seem to phase her more than anything else does, but she has little regard for anyone other than herself.” Caitlyn let the implications of that go unspoken. As though it were an afterthought she quickly added, “She has survived eleven Kaiju encounters, the second most among the G.I.” Vincent’s eyebrows raised at that. It was hard to believe the bored looking girl below had fought--likely defeated, nearly a dozen of those city-crushing monstrosities.

He had made up his mind, but there was one thing Caitlyn had curiously left out. “How good is she at growing?” he asked with feigned disinterest.

Caitlyn grimaced as though someone was pulling a tooth. “The best we have,” she spat before turning to Vincent. “Now please, would you be so kind as to indicate which of the previous two girls you would be interested in Bonding with?” Given the context there was no mistaking which type of bonding she meant, everyone knew about the Symbiotes and psychic Bonds. That knowledge was nearly as well known as the Kaiju themselves.

“Golly,” Vincent said with a smile, “Some women just want a commitment straight off, don’t they?” Caitlyn colored with anger but he forestalled her with a raised hand. He needed her off balance for this next part. “I’ve made my decision. I’ll help you, but only if its with her,” he pointed at Sadie.

Caitlyn’s lips drew into a thin line. “Her last three operators are dead. More than any other Goddess. You would be the fourth.”

“You know what they say, fourth time’s a charm.” Vincent grinned. Caitlyn did not share his amusement. Her ire rolled off him without effect, he understood the odds. Surviving a Kaiju attack was dicey even if the Goddess won. Surviving if she lost was… Well, the Miami Survivors had been extracted by a single helicopter. Not a very comforting statistic.

Caitlyn’s tone hardened. “No. I’m sorry, but the answer is no. I can’t put a new operator with your potential at risk with someone like Sadie.”  

Vincent held out his wrists as though she would cuff him right there and gambled: “Then I guess I’m going back to Chicago.” For a long moment Caitlyn appeared conflicted and a worm of doubt wriggled into his confidence.

Then she nodded and said, “I thought you were the type that would do anything to save his own hide. I suppose I was mistaken. I’ll make the recommendation. You’ll have to convince her to take you.” Vincent had to suppress a laugh, worried that it would sound panicked. Saving his own hide was exactly what he was doing, but he would be damned if he was going to admit that to her. Annoying woman thought she had him figured out, did she? Before this was over he would surprise her.

Something told him that if he failed to surprise he would die an all too predictable death.