Olympus: The Agency (Book One)

1. The End

Ian's plane had crashed hard into the ground, glass and metal fragmenting and exploding from the chassis of the aircraft as it spun and skidded to a halt. Ian breathed out, feeling the hot blood on his face and under his uniform. He looked down and grit his teeth when he saw a large piece of shrapnel impaling his torso. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew this was it...

'Damn,' he muttered, his eyes flickering to the photograph wedged among the flight instruments. His finger traced the face of his wife and son, before he heard calls outside. Not English, though. German.

'Damn,' he said again, grabbing the shrapnel and breathing in, before tearing the metal free. He grunted in pain and felt the blood flow more, but he was already dead. All he could do now was make them pay for it. Ian grabbed his pistol and kicked out the windshield, crawling over the glass on the nose of the plane, and used the plane to stand shakily.

Around him, he saw seven men in brown uniforms approaching him with rifles trained, a swastika emblazoned on their shoulders. Ian narrowed his eyes as he heard his squad-mates above him fighting on in his absence.

'Alright, boys,' Ian said calmly, accepting that in mere moments he would be no more. 'Who's first?'

One approached and tried to put hands on Ian. Ian grabbed the barrel and pushed it over his shoulder, feeling the air where the bullets fire above his neck, and he fired his pistol into the gut of the young Nazi. Ian grabbed the dying man and used him as a meat-shield as the others opened fire. Ian fired with his remaining ammunition. Two. Three. Four. Five dead Nazis.

Click. Ian heard his gun signal he was out of ammo. He couldn't grab the rifle without dropping the meat-shield, and he couldn't reload. There were still two left. This was it.

A bullet hit Ian's shin and he fell to the side, groaning and dropping the riddled Nazi as he fell. One of the remaining enemies stood over him, gun barrel pressed to Ian's forehead.

'Made you pay for it, though, you-'

Bang.

Ian's eyes flew open as he breathed in deeply. He looked around, not entirely sure where he was. Bubbles around him told him he was submerged in liquid, but outside the container he could see a woman sitting on a chair, reading a strange metallic clipboard. 

But the decor of this place was strange. He saw rectangular lights on consoles that reminded him of a battleship's instruments. Ian gently moved his hand and felt where his lethal wound in his stomach had been. Gone. He was alive!

The woman noticed him moving, then she tapped her fingers on her clipboard. Suddenly, the liquid in the contained began to drain out, and Ian's feet touched the bottom so he could stand with his own strength. The glass slid open and Ian closed his fists, ready for anything. After all, he had no idea if this was an Allied or Axis base.

'Welcome back to the world of the living, Agent Anemoi,' the woman said. Ian narrowed his eyes in confusion. The woman smiled. 'It's perfectly natural to be confused. My name is Agent Theresa and I'll be your guide for the next few days. For now, feel free to take off the tubes and wires and put on a dressing gown.'

Ian began to pull off the tubing in his nose and throat, coughing up a little gel-like liquid. He wasn't too fussed he was naked in front of a woman, but a dressing gown did seem nice. He carefully walked across the room to the wardrobe and opened it, picking out one of the dozen white robes, and he wrapped it around himself.

'Why did you call me that?' Ian asked.

'Because that's your name,' Theresa said.

'No, my name is-,' Ian said before his words were cut off by a sharp pain in his brain. He fell to his knees, holding his head. Once the pain faded, Theresa sighed.

'Whoever you were before, Anemoi... they're dead. Don't say that name anymore to spare yourself some pain.'

Ian looked up at Theresa with a little venom in his eyes. 'You with them?'

Theresa seemed confused, then she looked at the clipboard again. 'Oh, I see. World War II pilot. We have a lot to go through. For now, let me just say that war ended. You won.'

Theresa stood and walked to a large black rectangle on the wall. Her fingers tapped onto it, and it began playing like a projector or a really clear television. Then a voice spoke from it.

'Yes, Agent Theresa?' the voice said, a cool female voice that sounded... strange. Almost like she wasn't alive.

'Scarlet, please show Agent Anemoi proof of World War II's ending.'

The pictures on the screen began to show Ian the nations of the Allies beating the Germans, Italy surrendering, and America annihilating Japan with a weapon Ian was shocked by. That after the war, America and Russia entered a cold war for decades. Ian, however, was more focused on the memorials. Thousands upon thousands of names and graves. The screen then became a lot crisper and shower Ian's name on the memorial. Ian Lostalim.

'But I'm clearly not dead,' Ian said. 'Right?'

'Not anymore,' Theresa said. 'But this war... That was over 400 years ago, Anemoi.'

Ian leaned against the wall at this news. This technology around him he couldn't explain certainly sold this narrative. He couldn't exactly refute it.

'What happened to my family?' Ian asked, looking at the screen.

Theresa looked at the clipboard. 'Hmm... your wife never re-married and died in 1971. Your son, however, had his own family. Your descendants... yes, your family line still exists. Not that it matters... That man is dead, and you would never be able to explain this situation to them.'

Ian smiled. Though he was sad his wife had never found happiness with another, he was glad his son had his own life without Ian. That there were people alive even today that could trace their lineage to Ian. What he was fighting for had survived the horrors of the war.

That mattered... But clearly he was not done serving.

'Thank you, Theresa,' Ian said, standing tall. 'My loyalty is to the Crown, however. I cannot serve unless you can prove my oaths apply.'

Theresa smirked, then tapped on the television. It became a video that showed the governments of Earth united in 2099 under the leadership of Hailey Murphy-Price, along with two factions not from Earth to form a group called "The Alliance of Three". One of the first countries to join this united government was Great Britain.

'That'll do it,' Ian said, before saluting. 'Agent Anemoi at your service.'