Light pierced his eyelids. Vincent groggily came awake and saw a bright fluorescent light hanging overhead. He was lying on a bed in a small room with a single chair. Various pieces of medical equipment hummed idly at his bedside. An unused IV stood beside the door to what he assumed was the bathroom. Another door was propped open to reveal a well lit hallway.

A shadow darkened the doorway before coalescing into a cherub faced nurse wielding a tablet computer. “Mr. Mann, I’m glad see you are awake.” Vincent made a noncommittal grunt that could have meant anything. “That was quite a fall you had, you’re lucky Sadie delivered you here so quickly. Any longer and you’d be suffering quite a headache from that bump on your head.” Vincent’s hand moved reflexively and found a tender lump on his forehead. Had he taken that in the fight with Sadie? He couldn’t recall.

The nurse swiped her finger up the front of the tablet and said, “Well a day’s bed rest should be enough. Would you like to sleep here or would you prefer to be moved to your own rooms? We can have someone wheel you over if you’d like.”

The thought of being wheeled through the facility like an invalid on his first day was mortifying. “I’m fine here,” he said, “Besides I don’t think they’ll want me here after today.”

The nurse looked looked down at her tablet and scrolled a bit, “Hmm,” she said. “That’s not what I have here. You’ve been given a room in C-block.” Great, even the area names sounded like prison.

“Probably a mistake,” Vincent replied hoarsely, beginning to feel the soreness of the beating he had taken.

“Maybe.” The nurse sounded skeptical. “Oh, I nearly forgot. Sadie left a message for you.” She handed him a slip of paper. “I have other patients to attend to, but you can use the red button on the remote beside your bed to call for assistance.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Vincent said. He waited for the nurse to leave before opening the note.

Hey Worm,

You must want to be my Operator pretty badly to take a beating like that. Meet me in training room 11-A at 0800 tomorrow. Don’t be late or I’ll kick your ass again.

Sadie

P.S. Not a bad plan with the chokehold, but next time you lose the advantage do whatever it takes to get it back.

A wan smile crept across Vincent’s face. He sighed, laid back against the stiff pillow and hoped she was worth the trouble.

---

The following morning Vincent rose from bed and left the room on shaky legs. He had barely made it three steps down the hall when a girl on a stretcher rushed by, pushed by orderlies. Her mouth was covered in a plastic oxygen mask and bandages crisscrossed her bloodstained chest. If she wasn’t dead she was the closest thing to. The nurse he recognized from yesterday trailed behind and he stopped her with an outstretched arm.

“Who is that?”  

“Her name is Trisha Holland,” the nurse said, appearing anxious.

“What happened to her?” It didn’t look like a training accident that was for damn sure.

The nurse hesitated a moment then said, “She fought a Kaiju in Gulfport. She won.” The nurse continued down the hall without giving him a chance to respond. She won? The poor girl looked like she had been run through a meat grinder. If that was what winning looked like… Vincent shook his head. This was closer than he had ever wanted to come to the war.

He walked the halls lost in dark thoughts. It took asking for directions half a dozen times before he finally made his way to the training wing. He found 11-A next to its twin, 11-B. The heavy metal door shut behind him with a loud clack. Sadie looked up from the bench she was lying on and said, “Good, you’re here. Come spot me.” Wow, he thought, she exercises after all.

Crossing the room he couldn’t help but admire the proud projection of her breasts, even lying down they stretched her shirt. One hundred and sixty pounds of weight rested on the bar. Without preamble Sadie pushed the bar up over the brace and began churning through reps. He quickly lost count. “Alright,” she said. “That’s good enough for a warm up. Put another twenty on each side.”

“Are you sure?” Vincent said uncertainly. Two hundred pounds was a lot of weight, was she trying to impress him?

“Yes,” she snapped. “Come on. Quick, quick, quick.” Vincent shrugged and loaded the weights on. He’d barely screwed the locks in place when she wrenched the bar up again. Her arms remained fully extended for a couple seconds before the bar slowly lowered to her voluptuous rack. Her breasts compressed beneath the bar for a moment then sprang back into shape as she lifted the weight. Then again, compress and decompress. Compress and decompress. They had to be larger than DD. “Are you going to stare at my tits all day or are you going to help me put this bar back?” Sadie demanded.

Vincent flushed and helped guide the bar back onto the brace. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“I don’t mind,” Sadie said, catching her breath. “Just remember you can look but you can’t touch.”

“That reminds me, how did you know I was looking yesterday?” He was certain she had never turned around.

“Yesterday? You mean about my ass?” Sadie said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Yeah,” Vincent said, suddenly uncomfortable. “That.”

Sadie laughed, a rich, deep sound that was at odds with her abrasive personality. “Everyone looks at my ass,” she said.

“So you just assumed?” He said, annoyed in spite of himself.

“Was I wrong?” Sadie challenged. Vincent shuffled his feet and took a fresh interest in the floor. “That’s what I thought.” Sadie said. “Men are so predictable.”

Vincent scowled. What was it with women thinking they had him figured out? It was infuriating. Sadie completed another set and he helped guide the bar back, though she required very little help. She sat up and looked at him sideways, running a towel over her arms and face. “So,” she said finally, “You had some questions for me. Before I answer, I have some questions for you. If I like your answers maybe I’ll give you mine.”

“Ask away.” Vincent said casually, unwilling to let her see she had gotten under his skin.

Sadie eyed him appraisingly and Vincent suppressed the urge to squirm. Finally she said, “Why are you here?”

“Same as everyone else, I guess. Fight the Kaiju,” Vincent said with a shrug.

Sadie frowned. “Don’t waste my time. If you want to be my Operator I need to know what kind of person you are. So I’ll ask you again, why are you here?”

Vincent pulled in a slow breath, a dozen credible lies springing to mind. He surprised himself by speaking the truth, “I’m here because they were going to lock me in a cell if I didn’t agree. Also for the money.”

Sadie nodded, face expressionless. “What crime did you commit?” she said with the casual tone of someone discussing the weather.

“I’m a thief,” Vincent replied.

“Not a very good one then, you got caught.” Sadie said flatly.

“I was unlucky.”

“I am sure that’s what they all say.”

“They don’t even know about the Rembrandt I stole from the Louvre,” Vincent said nonchalantly.

Sadie raised an eyebrow, “A what from the where?”

How could she not have heard of Rembrandt? Vincent ground his teeth and explained, “A priceless painting from a highly secure museum.”

Sadie smirked and said, “I’m not really the artsy type, but I’m sure that is very impressive.”

“It is,” Vincent said, biting off the words. Sadie’s shrug seemed to say that whether it was impressive or not was of little consequence. She stood up, putting her impressive bust even with his face and walked to an exercise machine. Keeping his eyes off the incredible orbs of her ass was nearly impossible as she bent to adjust the weights, butt wobbling. She settled into the machine and began forcing the metal bars towards the center of her chest causing her breasts to swell between her arms as they compressed.  

When she completed the first set Sadie said, “Why would I want you as my Operator?”

“The way I hear it,” he replied, “Operators aren’t exactly lining up to work with you.”

Sadie was unphased. “Maybe I prefer it that way. As long as I don’t have an Operator I don’t have to fight. G.I. doesn’t pay by the kill you know,” she said.

Vincent might have been fooled by her flippant tone, but his instincts screamed that she was putting on a front. He remained silent, thoughtfully picking at the threads of her mystery. When she was halfway through another set he said, “You’re not like me. Whatever debt you might have owed society would have been paid half a dozen Kaiju ago. You’re here because you want to fight.”

Sadie finished her set in silence before turning to meet his eyes. “Guess you’re not as dumb as you look,” she said. “Still, that doesn’t make you qualified to be my Operator. A bad Operator could get me killed and I’m not eager to die.” She started on another set and Vincent noticed with some discomfort that her butt hung well over either side of the narrow bench; overgrown asscheeks looking as though they had swallowed a thong.  

Refocusing on the conversation through force of will, he saw that she had point. “They said I have a lot of potential,” he said, trying a different tact. “I was offered my pick of two of the highest scoring Goddess potentials.”

“And you asked for me, why?” Sadie deadpanned.

“Because you have experience, and like you, I have no intention of dying. At least not before I can collect my check,” Vincent said, offering the less embarrassing of two truths.

“I was told you picked me out of the line-up before you learning anything about me,” Sadie said casually. Shit, Vincent thought, how much did she know?

“You piqued my curiosity,” he said evasively.

Sadie stood up from the machine and walked over to stand in front of him. Uncomfortably, his eyes were level with the tops of her breasts. The outline of her bra was clearly visible where the green t-shirt was pulled tight around the fullest part of her bust. An oval of sweat added a slight transparency, offering a glimpse at the milky white orbs beneath her shirt. Her cleavage bobbed tantalizing inches from his nose. “What ‘piqued’ your curiosity exactly?” Sadie murmured. Vincent backed away. Sadie pursued, forcing him against the wall with her superior size.

An enviable bead of sweat ran down her neck and into her cleavage. Her bust rose and fell with each breath, the damp material of her shirt tickled the tip of nose. The smell of fresh sweat mingled with a spiced, earthy scent. Despite its pungency, it was not unpleasant. “You weren’t exercising,” he said quickly. “You stood out.”

She stepped back. “Oh, was that all? I thought you might have seen something you liked,” she said, disappointed.

Vincent was at a loss. A girl had never approached him so aggressively, it just wasn’t natural! Bad enough she had taken control of the situation, letting her see the effect she had on him would be as good as putting himself under her thumb. Vincent Mann was no one’s prisoner. “Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble,” he said less convincingly than he might have liked.

“Really?” Sadie said with a laugh. “What’s this then?” She reached down and wrapped her hand around his traitorous erection, pinning it against his leg. Vincent flushed, his mouth worked soundlessly. “Now,” Sadie said with sinister smile. “Why don’t you tell me what you really think?”

Vincent glanced to either side, searching futilely for an escape. Avoiding her eyes he said, “Okay, I thought you looked sexy.”

“Mmm,” Sadie said. “That’s better.” To his shock she began to stroke his penis through his pants. “Go on, what about me did you find sexy?” Her voice was a purr.

“Y-your body,” he stammered.

“What about my body?” Sadie urged, continuing to stroke his dick.

The feel of her fingers expertly tugging at his member made concentrating extremely difficult. “You’re very v-voluptuous,” he managed to say.

“Mmm, can you be more specific?” Sadie teased coyly.

“Your breasts,” he murmured.

“Yes,” Sadie cooed, leaning forward to brush the tips of her breasts against his face. “They are big aren’t they?” Soft, flesh-warmed cotton pressed against his cheeks and Vincent felt his penis surge. “Anything else?” Sadie said in a near-whisper.

“Your butt,” he gasped as her fingers grazed the sensitive area beneath the tip of his penis. “Is incredible.”

Sadie smiled mischievously and her hand fell away. Vincent groaned in desperation as she stepped back and said, “You had questions for me?”

Balls churning on the cusp of explosion Vincent croaked hoarsely, “They can wait.”

Sadie put a thoughtful finger to her plump limps and said, “No, I don’t think they can. Not if you want me to finish what I started anyway.”

Growling in frustration Vincent said, “What happened to your last Operator?”

Sadie’s expression was unreadable. “A building collapsed on top of him.”

Vincent steeled himself before asking the question he feared the answer to. “Could you have saved him?”

Sadie was silent long enough for Vincent to begin wondering if he had made a terrible mistake. Finally she said, “Maybe. But that wasn’t my mission. My mission was to defeat the Kaiju.”

“And your Operator was what? Collateral damage?” Vincent challenged.

“A necessary sacrifice,” she replied coldly.

Emotion seemed to drain out him, leaving an empty void. “Is that what I will be?” he said softly.

“Not if you’re smart. Not if you don’t try to play the hero.” Sadie said, her voice hard with restrained anger. “Jason died helping people escape from the same building that killed him.”

“I’m sorry,” Vincent said, “But I had to know.”

“I don’t regret it,” she continued, ignoring him. “When you fight Kaiju it’s kill or be killed. They won’t wait for you to stop a building from falling, they’ll knock another one over. Anything on the battlefield that isn’t part of your plan to kill the Kaiju is a distraction. The others like to talk about protecting civilians but that is the warning system’s job. Goddesses kill Kaiju, period. If G.I. intel can’t evacuate a city in time that’s on their heads, not mine. If you want a Goddess that will coddle civilians look to our graveyard, it’s filled with them.” Vincent sagged against the wall, the weight of her words a suddenly unbearable pressure. Somewhere during her speech his erection had shriveled like a raisin.   

“Still want to be my Operator?” she asked.

With effort he met her sapphire eyes. “Yes,” he replied. I am no hero.

Sadie shook her head. “They’ll send for me when you’re ready for a Symbiote. I’ll see you then.”

“So you’ll Bond with me?” Vincent asked breathlessly, he felt like he had been run through the cleaners.

Sadie turned away, flipping a towel over her shoulder. “Sure,” she said, “I’ll be your Goddess.”