Superman, Son of Hippolyta - A T-Rexcellent Reviews Fanfiction
I of course own no DC Comics properties or characters and make no money off of this, I am merely a giant DC Fan who wants to share my stories with all of you.
Chapter 6: The Wolf and the Lioness
The Island of Themyscira, inside the Royal Children's Chambers…
From where she sat, Hippolyta smiled as she watched her daughter hug the huge albino canine, burying her pretty face into his furry neck while her young son climbed onto the canines back and sat there, as though the large wolfish looking dog was really a very furry horse.
Krypto, for his part, remained entirely calm and almost unphased as her children fawned over him, his gaze was entirely on her and the new child in her lap, who was still feeding ravenously from the milk bottle in her hands.
The Queen of the Amazons looked at the Wolfdog, who in turn, raised his head to look at her, Hippolyta's bright blue eyes meeting Krypto's dark red ones.
Hippolyta smiled at him, and she was sure beneath that furry, fang filled muzzle of his, Krypto was smiling at her too.
Thinking back on it now, Hippolyta did not really know when she had decided to accept the White Wolfdog into her family.
Truthfully, it had not been much of a choice at the time, because when Kal came into her life, Krypto came along with him.
The boy and his pup had arrived on Themyscira together, asleep in the same bed when she first saw them, curled around each other like twins still in the womb, they had fallen asleep like that during their first night on the island as well and every night since then.
Her son loved his furry friend who loved him in turn, the fact that the dog would bark and howl relentlessly whenever the boy was removed from his presence, until finally returned was proof enough of their bond.
Besides, when her daughter had woken up the following morning and discovered she had not just gotten a new younger sibling, but also a new pet as well, seeing that ecstatic smile on Diana's face, Hippolyta really couldn't say no to letting her children keep the puppy.
And for the longest time, she couldn't even think of a reason to do so, for after realising her Little Sunlight did not pose a threat to the boy in his care, Krypto had taken an immediate likening to her daughter as well, licking and nuzzling her affectionately every time she would pick him up.
The Queen of the Amazons fondly remembered times her daughter would play fetch with the puppy in the Gardens of Persephone while she and her son watched, occasionally, the little White Wolfdog would scamper over to her as well, with the fetching ball in his mouth, his big bright puppy dog eyes practically begging her to throw it, which she did, often laughing as she did so.
But sadly, for Hippolyta and her children, those innocent days of puppyhood were fleeting, as Krypto quickly began to grow larger and larger by the day, until finally, the once adorable looking albino puppy had transformed into a large fearsome looking beast of a dog with all the sharp teeth and claws that one would expect an apex predator to have.
The rest of the council had been understandably concerned the first time they saw the large canine trailing behind her as she came into the palace throne room, even more so when it laid down by her throne like it belonged there, watching silently as court proceedings carried on throughout day while keeping a keen eye on Kal as he played by her side.
Hippolyta had not wanted to admit it at the time, but she had her concerns as well, though Krypto had never once shown even the slightest sign of aggression towards her or her children, the sight of the large White Wolfdog towering over her young daughter and still infant son, staring at them so intensely with his blood red eyes sent shivers down her spine.
She remembered coming to check on her children late one night, and to her shock found the large canine resting on her daughters' bed, Diana was even hugging its long furry tail while she slept, like it was her favourite stuffed toy, Krypto meanwhile, had his eyes half open and focused entirely on the door from where he lay facing, keeping watch for any nighttime intruders.
The way the Wolfdog had raised his head and growled at her, his red eyes glowing in the darkness of the room before finally recognising who she was, had shaken the usually fearless Warrior Queen more than she liked to let on.
It was not long afterwards, that her council sisters had begun to voice their concerns about the animal being allowed to sleep in the royal children's chamber's, suggesting that perhaps the Wolfdog should be given a place to sleep in the islands kennels along with the Two Headed Orthrus Dogs instead, but Hippolyta had chosen to deny the suggestion for the moment, as despite her own growing concerns, the Krypto had done nothing to warrant such an imprisonment from them.
But then the day came when she had decided to take her children to Themyscira's Farm of Demeter to show them the different kinds of livestock that they raised on their island, from great Geryon Cattle to scaly Cockatrice Chickens.
All in all, it had been going very well… that is, until one of the Calydonian Boar piglets had somehow gotten out of its pen and had accidentally wandered over to where Krypto was.
The little tusked creature had runaway squealing in terror at the sight of the large wolfish looking dog, Krypto, for his part had immediately raced after it with clear predatory intent and before anyone could do anything, had snatched the little boar in his jaws and began shaking it to death.
The sounds the dying piglet had made in its final moments of life were terrible to hear, sending the other farm animals into frenzy and her fellow farmer Amazons running onto the scene, meanwhile, Hippolyta just watched as the now blood-stained albino Wolfdog held the dead piglet in his jaws, looking at her intensely all the while as he dropped it to the ground before effortlessly ripping off one of its back legs to eat.
For a mother in that moment, it was all too easy for Hippolyta to imagine a small boy or a young girl in the freshly slaughtered boar's place.
That night, the council insisted that a decision had to be made, once again, the suggestion of locking the Wolfdog up in the kennels was made, but this time, on a much more permanent basis, at least until her children were old enough that they would be able to properly defend themselves against the canine, should he ever decide to savagely turn on them.
Her circle guards however, Alkyone in particular, had voiced that doing so was a needlessly risk and that the beast should simply be put down, for all of their sakes, they had even offered to do it themselves, but she had refused them that kill. Her children would never forgive her if she allowed that to happen to their beloved pet and Hippolyta wasn't honestly sure she'd be able to forgive herself if she allowed that to happen either.
So, they had settled on caging Krypto instead, locking the Wolfdog up in a large spacious kennel that he had all to himself, equipped with everything a dog could ever want or need, except her children and freedom of course.
As one would expect, Krypto hated it the moment he saw it, nearly refusing to go in and only doing so when tricked with food, once she closed the gate, he immediately started pawing at the door and whimpering the moment he realised she meant to leave him locked in there.
She remembered how he had looked at her with those blood red eyes of his as she walked away, like she had betrayed him by doing this to him. But she hadn't, had she? It wasn't anything personal, he was a potentially dangerous predator, and she was a queen only doing what she thought was best for her children and her tribe, right?
But Krypto clearly didn't agree, as his long mournful howling every night since then clearly implied.
Her children didn't agree either, Diana had been greatly upset when she was told Krypto wasn't going to be allowed to sleep in their room anymore and Kal would always start crying every time, he heard Krypto's long sad howls echo throughout the night.
But despite children's grief over this unfortunate situation and her own guilt at having to be the cause of it, Hippolyta did not change her mind on the matter, her children loved Krypto and deep down, she knew Krypto loved both of them as well, but sometimes, love just wasn't worth the risk.
After a while, things seem to have calmed down, Krypto eventually ceased howling and her children seem to have begrudgingly accepted her decision, but still, the guilt and pain remained heavy in her heart every time she went to the kennels to check on Krypto, to see the Wolfdog just lying there dejectedly inside his cage looking at the wall, not even bothering to look up at her when she called out to him.
She always left the kennels regretting her decision to come there and almost reconsidering her decision to keep him locked up, almost being the key word there, as almost always meant never.
It was the day right after that last visit to the kennels, that Hippolyta did indeed finally regret locking Krypto up… because that was the day the Nemean Lioness attacked.
She had taken both Diana and Kal back to the farm to try and cheer them up when the golden, and partially striped big cat had erupted from out of the tall grass, leaped over the farm fence, before bringing down a Geryon Cow calf with tooth and claw in mere moments, just enough time to send the other farm animals into another fearful frenzy.
Grabbing the killed calf in her by its throat, the Lioness had jumped back over the fence and tried to reach to the jungle to make her escape but was blocked off by her farming sisters and their pack of Two Headed Orthrus guard dogs.
The pack two headed of canines swarmed around the predator, who was forced to drop her kill and flee in the other direction… towards Hippolyta and her children.
The Queen of the Amazons came face to face with the Queen of the Beasts, and rather than embracing her fellow female ruler as another queen, the huge wild cat tried to kill her instead.
Passing Kal to Diana and telling her daughter to run, Hippolyta bravely stood between the predator and her fleeing children with nothing but her spear and shield in her hands, the big cat growled and swiped her massive, clawed paws at the Amazon Queen, but Hippolyta did not budge, she would not give an inch, not until she knew her children were safe from harm.
Eventually, the big cat just became annoyed with her defiance and decided to pounce on her instead.
Hippolyta felt the breath get knocked out of her lungs as she felt several hundred pounds of ferocious feline fall on top her, while also knocking her spear from hand and sending it rolling.
Thinking quickly and feeling the hot breath of the Nemean Lioness on her face, Hippolyta pulled her shield up in front of her face before the big cat could take her throat in her fang filled jaws, the Amazon Queen's muscles strained as she felt the feline beat and bite at her shield, trying to break through and reach her windpipe, clawing at her shoulders in the process and drawing blood.
Hippolyta gritted her teeth through the pain and prayed to all the Goddesses on Mount Olympus to lend her their strength, prayed to the Sisters of Fate that she would survive this, prayed that her fellow Amazons and their Orthrus Dogs would hear her plight over the panicked farm animals and come to her aid.
AAAHHHHHH!
But then, Hippolyta, heard her daughter scream, probably seeing the life-threatening situation her mother was in, and to the Warrior Queen's horror, the Nemean Lioness immediately ceased her attempts to maul her and looked up in the direction the cry had come from.
No!
Moments later, the big cat had leapt off her and was now racing across the field, rolling over in both agony and terror, Hippolyta saw the fearsome feline closing in on her children's position with freighting speed.
No! No!
She saw Diana put her little brother behind her, pull out her small sword training and prepare to defend herself, but still, Hippolyta could clearly see the terror in her daughter's eyes, terror she knew was reflected in her own eyes.
No! No! No!
Hippolyta tried desperately to force herself to stand up, but only managed to fall down in the dirt again, she tried to reach for her spear and grasped only at grass instead, her children were defenceless, the predator was closing in and she knew that there was nothing she could do to stop what was about to happen.
No! No! No! Please!
The Nemean Lioness charge slowed to a stalk, orange eyes fixed on the scared little girl holding the shaking short sword in trembling hands with the babe behind her, as you can imagine the predator was not intimated in the slightest, growling menacingly, the big cat opened her jaws and prepared to go in for the kill.
No! No! No! Please! Someone! Anyone! Please! Save them!
In that moment, Hippolyta prayed to all of the Greek Gods and Goddesses even harder than she had ever before, this time, not for her own life, but for the lives of her children, the lives of her infant prince and young princess, the lives of her Little Sunlight and her Little Fallingstar.
Please! Gods! I beg you! Save them! PLEASE!
HHHOOOWWWLLL!
But it was not the voice of any of the Greek Gods that answered her prayers, instead, it was a familiar canine howl.
HHHOOOWWWLLL!
Out of the corner of her left eye, Hippolyta saw a white blur race past her vision and with another furious howl, Krypto launched himself fangs first at the Nemean Lioness with protective fury, his sharp teeth amazingly piercing through the big cats normally near impenetrable fur with ease and instantly drawing blood before the feline finally threw him off her.
The Wolfdog must have heard her children's cries from halfway across Themyscira, had somehow escaped his kennel and raced across the island at lighting speed to come to their rescue, as with hackles raised and teeth bared in a savage snarl, Krypto put himself between the large Nemean Lioness and the two royal children.
Glaring red eyes met orange ones as the Wolf and the Lioness threw themselves at each in a vicious clash of teeth and claws, snarling and growling as they wrestled with each other.
The two battling beasts tussle eventually brought them back to her just as Hippolyta finally found her spear again and forced herself back to her feet, the Warrior Queen took a steading breathe, pulled her throwing arm back, and threw her spear with all her remaining strength just as Krypto leapt back from the battle.
The Hephaestus forged weapons sharp point struck the felines ribcage with such force that half of its wooden length snapped off from the impact of it impaling into the Nemean Lioness's side, puncturing through the flesh and into the lung.
The Nemean Lioness staggered back and forth from the blow for a moment, managing to give off one more defiant, dying roar before her throat filled up with blood, hacking and spitting crimson life fluid across the green grass moments before she fell over into the dirt dead.
With that one spear throw, the battle was over, it was quick, bloody… and shockingly tragic in its conclusion, Hippolyta watched as the Lioness's life left her, she watched as the light faded from them as she lay in the bloodied ground, watched as the slow pained breaths of her speared side slowly ceased and, in a moment, the Nemean Lioness was gone from this world.
Hippolyta closed her eyes in sadness and looked away from the grim scene, it had to be done, she told herself, for her family.
Falling back onto her knees, Hippolyta opened her eyes just as her daughter came rushing over to her with her little brother back in arms, the queen could see the tears in both their eyes, just as she could feel them in her own.
Opening her arms up, the Queen of the Amazons accepted her Little Sunlight and her Little Fallingstar into her embrace with a glad cry, holding both her son and her daughter close to her heart for as long as possible.
A sudden whimper caught her attention and Hippolyta finally looked up from her two children's tear-filled faces to see Krypto standing a few feet away from her, dirty and battered from the battle, but otherwise, unharmed.
That was how her Queen's Circle and her fellow Amazons found them, with the beautiful dark- haired queen and the savage albino beast staring at one another as Hippolyta held her children protectively in her arms.
Seeing the slain Nemean Lioness lying on the ground nearby and large Wolfdog out of his kennel before their queen, Alkyone and her circle sisters had almost attacked the albino beast on sight.
But Hippolyta had ordered them to stand down, she had ordered all of them to stand down as Krypto came closer, until his face was almost right in front of the queen's.
She saw so many things in those blood red eyes of his, so many swirling emotions staring right back at her, anger, relief, concern, sadness and finally… forgiveness.
"Thank you, Krypto". She whispered to him, in a faint voice so low no one else but herself, him and her children could hear it. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you, I'm afraid I have trouble doing that nowadays."
Krypto stared at her for a long moment before letting out a whimper and began licking her face clean of her tears, Hippolyta laughed and wrapped her arms around his thick furry neck, pulling the animal into her little family hug.
That night, Hippolyta's children slept in her room with her, she had Kal's crib moved in front of her bed where she slept with Diana in her arms while Krypto lay atop it, his body positioned in such a way so that Diana could hold his furry tail as she slept and allowed Krypto to watch over Kal as he slept soundly for the first time in weeks.
Alkyone and some members of the council had voiced their displeasure at her decision to release the Wolfdog from his captivity, much less allow it to sleep her royal chambers, on her bed no less.
But in all honesty, Hippolyta really did not care what her sisters thought about her decision at that moment, her family was alive, safe, and back together again, all four of them and for that she was thankful.
Hippolyta and her children slept soundly that night, but Krypto did not.
In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes just enough to see the Wolfdog had gone out onto her balcony, forelegs resting up on the stone railing, his long ears raised as he seemingly listening for something in the quiet of the night.
Hippolyta almost got up to check on him when Krypto came back into her chambers, climbed back onto the bed, laid down and resumed his watchful post, shifting his furry tail back into her daughter's unconscious grasp and pressing his warm, muzzle into her son's side while he slept.
Hippolyta smiled as Krypto turned to look at her just before she fell asleep again, as if wanting to make sure she was ok as well, once again, his two red eyes glowed like twin fires in the darkness at her, but this time, they held no ominousness for her, only warmth and reassurance that nothing would happen to any of them as long as he was there.
Both glad and grateful, the Queen of the Amazons closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.
But when she opened them the next morning, Krypto was gone.
Surprised and more than a little concerned, Hippolyta left her children in Cydippe's care as she went about looking for the fourth member of her family.
After searching around the palace grounds to no success and asking the guards on duty to no avail, Hippolyta walked outside to the courtyard and began calling out to the Wolfdog repeatedly, growing more and more worried each time he failed to respond.
HOWL!
But then to her immense relief, the Warrior Queen heard the all too familiar howl of the Wolfdog and moments later, his white furred form emerged from the jungle's dark green depths and in no time at all, the albino canine was climbing up the stone steps and trotting over to her at a brisk pace.
Hippolyta smiled at the sight of him, glad her family's pet and protector was alright, but her smile fell and formed into a slight frown when she saw that the Wolfdog had something in his jaws, something still alive.
It was a small wriggling mass of golden fur and for a brief moment, Hippolyta thought it might be an Jackalope Hare that Krypto had caught while out hunting, until she heard the unmistakable mewing sound coming from it and her eyes widened in realisation of what it really was as Krypto gently placed the small crying creature down at her feet before looking up at her with a whimper and obvious sadness in his red eyes.
Bending down, Hippolyta picked up the little Nemean Lioness in her arms, the infant wild cat clung to her like the scared kitten it really was as it continued mewing pitifully in her embrace.
The cub was very small and clearly starving, given how easily she could feel its bones through its furred skin and Hippolyta remembered how the adult Lioness from the other day had been so desperate to leave with some kind of prey, the reason why had just become tragically clear to the Queen of the Amazons as the tiny cub in her arms continued to call out to a mother she would never see again.
With a heavy heart and a sympathetic look on her face, Hippolyta began petting the cub consolingly as she walked back into the palace with Krypto by her side, ignoring the shocked expressions of her sisters faces as she carried the young Nemean Lioness back to her quarters.
Well, it wasn't the first time she adopted an orphaned child or a large predatory animal into her family.
Hippolyta was broken of reminiscing by a loud meow as she realised the Lion cub in her lap had finally finished off the whole bottle of warm milk and was now crying for her attention.
Putting the empty bottle down, the Warrior Queen stroked the cubs golden furred body before picking her up and setting her on the floor. Immediately the little Nemean Lioness came over to investigate the two children who were fawning over the great white Wolfdog who had saved her from starving to death in the jungle.
Meowing to get their attention, Hippolyta watched as Diana slowly reached out to gently pet the cub on her furry head, the cub stilled but then started purring loudly as she leaned into the touch before beginning rub herself affectionally against the giggling little girl while Krypto and Kal both watched in clear approval, as did Hippolyta.
"Welcome to our family, Rhamnusia." The queen said smiling at the new, fifth member of their family who turned at the sound of her name and meowed at her.
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 6: The Wolf and the Lioness, which introduces a new character Rhamnusia the Nemean Lioness, props to my friend Luke5921 for the name by the way and my first rearranged chapter, of which there might or might not be a few more in the future, I just don't know yet.
My List of References featured in this Chapter.
1. The title of this chapter is a reference to title for Game of Thrones Season 1 Episode 5: The Wolf and the Lion.
2. Krypto's design in this story is based off of Ghost the Albino Direwolf from Games of Thrones while his size is based on Wolf the genetically enhanced wolf from Young Justice and his species name, that being a Kryptonian Wolfdog or as of just now a Wolfdog in story, is a reference to Balto the Wolfdog from Balto.
3. Krypto rushing in to save Kal and Diana from the Nemean Lioness is a reference to Toothless the Night Fury rushing into the Dragon Training Arena to save Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare in How to Train Your Dragon.
4. Hippolyta killing the Nemean Lioness with a single spear throw is a reference to Spear the Neanderthal killing the last of the three Redhorned Tyrannosaurus Rex's who ate his family with a single spear throw from Primal Season 1 Episode 1: Spear and Fang.
As always, a shout out to my amazingly supportive friend and fantastic fellow fanfic writer Ricardo753 for supporting my work, go check out his own stories, their T-Rexcellent.
Now please allow me to thank all of you who have followed, favourited and especially reviewed this story.
SuperWonderStan, ManOfSteel, Luke5921, cabrera1234, Joel, HeartOfChaos13, GR8ER3241, Kalel4444, JustAnotherIntern14, please keep the reviews coming guys, their what fuels these chapters and to all my other readers, if you write me some reviews in the future then you can be seeing your name here to, until next time this is T-Rexcellent Reviews signing off.