Tam Sauveterre
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- Piper Simmons: “My turn. What's the real reason you've been dogging me for years? And don't say that crap about it being dangerous. Why me?”
- Tam Sauveterre: “...because you're astounding. And infuriating. I thought it was just a fluke the first few times. That you were persistent and lucky...but you defied every expectation. I did worry about you. I still do. You're reckless and cocky, but your skill is undeniable. You are undeniable, Piper. That's why...I want to recruit you for the EDF.”
- ― Tam's reason for tailing and finding Piper Simmons for years (Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special)
Tam Sauveterre is the deuteragonist of IDW Publishing's 2024 one-shot comic Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special. A committed soldier of the Earth Defense Force, Tam saved Kaiju-activity reporter Piper Simmons during a cross-starred encounter involving Godzilla. Enemies at first, Tam came to fall for Piper and grow obsessed over her. In the end, they left the EDF and joined Piper as her partner, both in their newfound work, and in their marriage with her.
Personality
Tam is a friendly, competent soldier with polite mannerisms and a strong drive in protecting others from Kaiju, developing into a determined but stubborn and obsessed pursuer of Piper Simmons, encompassing the role of the chaser in their cat-and-mouse relationship that would gradually turn into a romantic partnership after experiencing much together and surviving many encounters with the monsters surrounding their respective intertwined careers.
History
Godzilla: Valentine's Day Special
A year after Godzilla's appearance in San Diego, Tam and their squad had arrived in Singapore when the King of the Monsters and Anguirus made landfall there. From a helicopter, Tam noticed Piper Simmons on a rooftop, about to be hit by debris sent from the monsters' fight.
In the nick of time, Tam tackled Piper aside, helping her back up while the two of them exchanged names and regards, sharing that they were Lieutenant Tam Sauveterre of the Earth Defense Force. Just when it seemed that Tam was getting along with the woman, one of their subordinates retrieved Piper's phone and found her social media post, which was promptly brought over to Tam. Furious about Piper's media post about Godzilla and Anguirus' present affairs, Tam berated her for it, facing stubborn opposition when Piper explained that she reports monster activity to a wide audience without bias. Displeased by "without bias", Tam retorted that monsters are walking disasters and the only thing to report is the body count. When Piper directed the debate to radiation leaks that attracted the monsters as well as the increase in military budgets since Godzilla's awakening, Tam explained that the latter was in response to Godzilla, to save lives. The unconvinced Piper sarcastically remarked that the EDF was good at stopping Godzilla, prompting Tam to declare the conversation over and that they were not going to argue with a fool. Tam once more urged Piper to evacuate, but she refused, provoking Tam's retaliation. On the helicopter, Tam ordered for Piper to be dropped off in Malaysia while Piper asked EDF soldier Carlo if Tam was always this much of a "jerk", to which Carlo answered no and that Tam must simply hater her that much.
Following that encounter, Piper had surmised that Tam included her in their report of the event. In the years to follow, Tam grew to patronize Piper, irritatedly slamming their locker after overhearing two other EDF soldiers praise Piper for her qualities demonstrated in an encounter with Kumonga. Tam would go on to proactively keep an eye out for Piper while on missions during Kaiju attacks, consistently gaining notice of her and at times even managing to encounter her in-person. During a Rodan attack, Tam and cohort Kendra were scanning the area for Piper before the latter spotted her scaling a building, promptly handing Tam her binoculars to see for themselves. During another Godzilla attack, Tam had caught Piper and handcuffed her to a bathroom sink, insisting that it was for her own good. Heading outside, Tam asked a subordinate about the current situation with Godzilla nearby, only to suddenly hear the breaking of glass back inside. Rushing to the bathroom, the two soldiers discovered that Piper picked the cuffs and made her escape, which prompted admiration from the subordinate and evoked Tam with irritation. During a Hedorah attack, Tam managed to find and catch up to Piper at the risk of their safety, not having brought a gas mask for the monster's toxic emissions. Out of pity, Piper tossed down a spare gas mask for Tam, saving them. During a King Ghidorah attack, Tam once again came to Piper, tagging along her this time. Finding themselves crawling under debris, Tam blamed Piper for their shared inconvenience. Taken aback, Piper retorted that she was leaving, for even she knew better than to be out when King Ghidorah was around, and she always knew what she was doing. She questioned Tam if the EDF had anything better to do, which left Tam a little vulnerable as they admitted that the organization deemed Piper not a priority, shocking her. Piper promptly questioned Tam as to why they kept pursuing and chasing her for years, which Tam replied as because she was going to get herself killed. Just when she expressed doubt that Tam cared about her, they retorted "…is that so?" Some time later, Tam and Piper were rescued by the former's squad, though Piper managed to slip away during such and the two of them in subsequent encounters would avoid talking about Tam's words from that day.
Four years after their very first meeting in Singapore, Tam had found Piper during a confrontation between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla in Barcelona, Spain. Tam was chasing Piper across the streets and yelling for her to stop, which Piper declared that they knew would not work, evoking Tam's desperation and prompting them to draw out a stun pistol on Piper. Piper tried to call out their bluff about shooting her, only for Tam to explain that it would be nonlethal but very painful, declaring that they were done with humoring Piper's "madness." Piper continued to call out their bluff, surmising that they would lose their rank or even their job for shooting a civilian in a disaster zone without orders. Tam remained undeterred from their course of action, bent on apprehending Piper just long enough to show the EDF what she was capable of. Right as Tam began to ask Piper to put her hands behind her back, a spark of energy produced from Godzilla and Mechagodzilla's nearby Beam-Fight came down on a fuel tanker, igniting a powerful explosion right behind Tam and sending them flying. When Piper came to and found them, Tam's ankle was severely dislocated and they were bleeding from the head. Speaking Piper's name and confirming that they were still alive, the relieved woman proceeded to try to help them out, only for Tam to ask that she just leave them. Receiving refusal, Tam explained that they would only slow them down and that it was too dangerous, once more insisting Piper to just leave, weakly joking that she would not have to worry about them anymore. To Tam's shock, Piper instead laid them atop a broken car door and began to drag them across the ground using her jacket to pull them, once more aggravating Tam, who irritatedly declared that Piper was going to get the two of them killed. After Piper said that they could rub her face in it should it happen, Tam weakly groaned, which Piper attributed to a definitive concussion. As suggested by Piper, Tam began to ask her any question to stay awake, starting with how Piper knew where the Monsters were before they even made landfall. For that, Piper explained how the giant creatures have patterns like any other animals, like solving five puzzles at once, only needing to figure out which piece goes where. Tam called it "ridicule", saying that the EDF had an entire team dedicated to the task and they were not nearly as accurate. Receiving a cocky remark from Piper, Tam made the same question, regarding the EDF this time, surmising that she had an identical method given how often she dodged their patrols. Piper answered that it was way easier, having figured out their radio encryption and listening in, practicing with Tam's codes as a matter of fact. Tam speechlessly claimed that she was lying, only to be met with Piper saying otherwise and acknowledging that their consistent presence provided her the means of accomplishing this. Abruptly, Piper noticed an intact EDF transport nearby, asking Tam if they thought the vehicle would actually work. Tam rhetorically asked Piper if she thought did, given that she was the apparent expert of EDF equipment quite evidently. In a change of things, Piper asked Tam a question, asking them about the real reason that they had been "dogging" her for years. Insisting that they don't say it is because it is dangerous, wondering why her, Piper left Tam speechless with this question, having brought out Tam's sensitive side. Timidly sensitive, Tam reluctantly answered that it was because Piper is astounding and infuriating. They thought at first that she was simply lucky before reality proved otherwise with Piper's numerous successes and accomplishments, shattering expectations and worrying Tam over the years. Through all her flaws like her arrogance and recklessness, Piper's skills were "undeniable." Piper herself was undeniable, thus, Tam wanted to recruit her for the EDF, suddenly enraging Piper. Tam tried to explain that she would be a capable asset, having accomplished so much on her own, addressing what she could do with the EDF's resources, though this only resulted in Piper profanely shooting down the proposal, taken aback by Tam's intentions. Tam sarcastically surmised that she declined since the EDF are warmongers. Tam stressed that the EDF was not an army and that they saved lives. Hearing Piper out on her reason for not wanting to join the EDF, Tam was moved by her humanitarian ideals and her objective to do better then constant violence and destruction, instead approaching responses to monster activity with study and preparation. Changed by Piper's philosophy, Tam reached out a hand, affectionately asking what she had in mind.
During the three years after the events in Barcelona, Tam became wheelchair-bound courtesy of their injuries sustained that day. On the flip side, they married Piper and together founded a nonviolent Kaiju response organization. One morning, Piper informed Tam about the long day of work ahead of them, laying out the current developments regarding Godzilla and four other monsters. Accordingly, Tam directed different courses of action for each monster, assigning each of their newfound cohorts to deal with one or the other. Tam asked if they were forgetting anything, which Piper answered with them forgetting to kiss their wife that morning, a "huge crisis." Declaring that crises were their specialty, Tam allowed Piper to pull them into an intimate, affectionate kiss.
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