Ippótis POV
We trained for weeks.
Hours turned into minutes as I learned how to fight in ways I never thought was possible. Most of the days had the same rhythm; breakfast, train, lunch and theory, train, dinner. But it was the training that made it bearable. My leg had
unfortunately not healed well enough, and it had been amputated. I had a metal one in its place.
I was sitting with Okeanós, my sister, when the first mission came in. Okeanós was teaching me how to do something called 'Vapour-Traveling'. If I mastered it, I would be able to turn myself and others into a mist and use it to travel anywhere in the world, except maybe a dessert. I could already do it underwater, but I was struggling to get it on land.
"Ippótis. Father has given you a mission. You will be heading out in to the mortal world to take out an enemy." Said Astrapí as she walked in.
"Who is the Target?" I asked, standing up. Okeanós soon followed suit.
"His name is Erik Selvig. Leading physicist at Culver University. Associate with Thor, the Norse god of Thunder."
I slowly nodded, "Wouldn't it be a bad idea to kill the friend of a god?"
"Thor is already wasted in his own sorry mess, after him being unable to stop the snap. This will push him over."
I nodded again, "Well then, when to we get started?"
Astrapí smiled at my enthusiasm and handed me a folder, "Right about... now."
In the folder was everything I needed to know about my target. It gave me the mission plan, an alias should I ever need it, and lots of other things like what he does during his day.
As I read the folder, I noticed that Okeanós and Astrapí had left. In their place was Polémos, holding what looked to be a sniper rifle.
Silently, Polémos shoved the rifle into my hands and began to set up a target range. Five dummies were placed, each a random distance from one another. Some were rotated, so that they didn't face directly towards me. One had even been placed on a wire and was moving around the shooting arena.
Polémos stalked up to me and dropped a smaller cylinder into my hand, "Suppressor. Quietens the sound the gun makes. Won't silence it completely, but it'll stop your eardrums from bursting." I fastened the suppressor on and aimed the gun.
"Nearest. Head." I aimed and shot. The vibration traveled up my arm and into my chest. Polémos was right, the suppressor made the sound bearable. It didn't sound like an elephant unlike the last time I had used a sniper. A red hot ring had formed in the centre of the head.
"Nearest. Shoulders." The noise filled the room.
"Nearest. Knees"
"Nearest. Toes."
We continued like that for a while, Polémos would name out one of the dummies and a body part and I would shoot it. Eventually, the twins came and called us for lunch.
As we walked to the dining room, I saw Génos and Kunigós share a look, "Ippótis, last one to the dining hall is a slimy Telkine!" They took off, running.
Sighing, I began to run after them. However, my metal leg kept on getting in the way, and I was tripping all over the place. Eventually, I arrived to see Génos and Kunigós telling everyone that I was a 'slimy Telkine'.
"Alight, boys, calm down. Time for lunch," Said Astrapí as she placed the sandwiches down, "Otherwise, you'll be doing the washing up."
The twins pouted as they sat down. Eventually, Polémos arrived and we began eating.
"So, Ippótis, have you read through the file yet?" Asked Astrapí through a mouthful of sandwich.
"Not yet. I will though."
"Good. The mission will be tomorrow. We'll skip out on theory today so you can train more."
I gave an internal sigh of relief. Theory was the most boring thing to ever exist. And Skotóno wasn't very fun either.
We soon finished eating and gave our plates to the cleaning harpies. As we stood up, Skotóno began to walk towards me. Apparently, since I couldn't do theory with her, she would be teaching me how to run with my metal leg.
I spent the next few hours running around in circles. Literally. Skotóno made me do laps around the track until I could do it without tripping over myself. I have multiple cuts and bruises from it. Sleeping would be a nightmare.
The next day, Okeanós and I were getting ready to vapour travel to the target's destination. We were both kitted out in thick, fur coats and I had a backpack with the disassembled gun in it. It was currently winter in the Mortal world, at least where the target was.
The mission would be simple. Get in, kill the target, get out. Not get caught. Astrapí stood off to the side of us, a timer in her hand, "You have three hours. And if you do well, father may give you a Drykani form. To a new age!" She pressed the timer just as we turned into vapour.
The cold hit me before I could even register the other senses. Opening my eyes, a sea of cold, sparkling white blanketed the area around us, covering the trees and crunching under our feet.
"Snow," Said Okeanós, "One of the few things I will miss when we start the new age. That, and ice cream."
We started to walk to the target's home. Snow glittered in the air, covering the air and dowsing and a couple of young mortals in a blanket of white.
"Dr. Selvik's house should be about an hour ahead. Try not to draw attention to yourself, Ippótis. Good luck, and to the new age!"
"To the new age." I turned and left, the snow crunching beneath me.
As I walked to the target's house, I surveyed the area. Trees, bare leafed and covered in snow surrounded me, sheltering me from the blizzard. A mortal's playground stood closed to the side of me. It was completely empty.
So this is what winter is like. Cold, lonely.
Beautiful.
I eventually arrived at the target's house. It was small, quaint. Snow covered the roof. The target was sitting in front of a TV, watching intently. It seemed to be something about a well known mortal being rescued from space.
He didn't know I was there.
Good.
I began to unpack my rifle, parts snapping on as the snow swirled around me, biting at my skin. As the final part of the gun had been added and the suppressor screwed on, the target turned the TV off and went into another room. I sighed and breathed into my gloves. This was taking too long: it took an hour to get here and an hour to get back. I was only given a three hour time slot.
Just then, the target came back out, holding a mug in his hands. He sat down again and turned on the TV. Perfect. Time seemed to slow down as I lined up the shot.
I started to pack up my gun the moment the target hit the floor.
Blood spattered the floor of the apartment, the target collapsed in a pool of it. Dead. I checked my watch. I had an hour and a half left. Perfect.
Once my gun was packed up, I stood and began my walk back to Okeanós. It had stopped snowing, but a cold wind was racing through the trees.
I eventually saw Okeanós. She had several handfuls of snow and was squashing them into a ball. When she noticed me, she threw it.
I soon got a face full of snow, "Mission complete," I said as I tried to wipe it off.
"Good. And plenty of time to spare as well. Let's get going."
We turned and began to walk back to the meeting zone. Several times, I had to dodge a snowball being thrown my way. I got hit several times as well.
Once we got to the meeting zone, Okeanós vapour traveled us back into Tartarus, where Astrapí stood with a timer. She quickly looked down at the stopwatch and stopped.
"Two hours and a half. Considering that it takes two hour to get here and back, you did well. Well done, Ippótis, father will be pleased."
I smiled and we began to walk to the dining hall, "Your just in time for dinner, I believe," said Astrapí, "And maybe, just maybe, father will grant you your Drykani form."
When we got to the dining hall, everyone, including Tartarus, stood up.
"Well done on your mission, Ippótis," Boomed Tartarus, "I believe you are ready to receive your Drykani form."