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 9: The Circle's Conspiracy
On the Island of Themyscira, at the Queen's Circle private training grounds…
"Strike harder Charis! Parry faster Myrto! Shoot quicker Philomela!" Alkyone ordered her circle sisters from where she stood just outside their training grounds.
Myrto blocked the blow from Charis's bone maces with her stolen Atlantean trident while Philomela shot blunt arrows at them that the pair only barely managed to dodge, before lunging at each other once more, causing Alkyone to smile briefly in approval.
When the Queen's Circle weren't doing their sworn duty of guarding the queen, they could often be found here in their own private training grounds, far away from the other Amazons on the island, sharpening their battle skills and honing their fighting reflexes against one another.
Alkyone watched as her circle sisters continued their furious three-way duel with thinly veiled pride, individually, each of them was a one-women army, but together, they were a nigh unstoppable storm of female fury.
Since being chosen as the queen's official guardians by Hippolyta herself back in the days before Greece fell, Alkyone had dedicated herself solely to getting her fellow chosen circle members trained to perform that most important of tasks.
Their training regimen was hard, gruelling and some lesser warriors would say even cruel to themselves, but Alkyone did not care, they were the queen's personal guardians, her sworn circle of warriors and their captain expected nothing less than perfection from them at all times.
"Your sisters have trained hard today, Alkyone." Phinea said as she came forward with a tray of drinks for her partner and her sisters. "You should be pleased with them."
"Should I? They can always do better." Alkyone asked without even turning to look at her partner, a slight frown forming on her scarred face as she took an offered drink. "For a member of the Queen's Circle, Phinea, good is never good enough." She said as she took a long drink from her chalice.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alkyone saw her partner frown and the captain resisted the urge to wretch in annoyed disgust, as much as she cared for Phinea, the captain knew the islands seamstress was one of their tribe's softer sisters and not a true Amazon warrior like her and the rest of the Queen's Circle.
Still, she was useful to Alkyone and her circle sisters, she cooked, cleaned, tended to their wounds when they became injured during their training sessions, which happened a lot, plus she had a pretty face and nice body, two of the main reasons the captain had taken her as a partner.
Phinea had also proven herself as an adept source of information for the Queen's Circle over years, every Amazon on the island saw the seamstress about a garment related issue at some point, thus her partner was very familiar with all of them and her unassuming nature made her the perfect women to spy on their softer sisters, women who had begun to forget what it meant to be a real Amazon warrior or had never had it in them to begin with.
Women like Phillippus, Epione or any of the other weak-willed fools who had somehow taken a likening to the-
"Hey Alkyone!"
The boy, Alkyone thought in rising anger as she immediately recognised that young voice that had called out to her from across the courtyard, her circle sisters must have heard it to, as they had suddenly ceased their battle without her permission.
Phinea and the four members of the Queen's Circle turned to see their ruler's son emerge out of the jungle and run over to them with lighting speed.
"Hey, Alkyone, guess what?" The young prince said excitedly as he reached her.
Alkyone starred down at the young boy before her as though he was just a bug that was in desperate need of a foot to step on him, before finally answering in the most bored tone of voice possible.
"I despise guessing games."
"I just won the Hermes Marathon Race." Kal told her proudly as though it was the greatest achievement of his young life, his chest puffed up with accomplishment, combine that with the Chimera skin cloak wrapped around his shoulders, Alkyone had to reluctantly admit to herself that the little Demigodling was actually starting to look the part of a warrior prince.
"Oh, goody." Alkyone grumbled as she suddenly felt the great desire to throw up her beverage back into its chalice, a desire that was only subsided by the upset frown that forming on the child's face.
"What I'm sure Alkyone means to say, my prince." Phinea interjected rather awkwardly on her partners behalf as the rest of the Queen's Circle joined them. "Is that you have all of our congratulations for your most recent victory Kal."
The boy's smile suddenly returned in full force as he looked up at the seamstress. "Thank you Phinea and thank you once again for making me this amazing Chimera skin cloak." The prince said as he pulled at the striped fur cloak around his shoulders.
At this surprising revelation, all four of the queen's guards' eyes fell upon the abashed seamstress with a burning intensity. "You did what? Phinea?" Alkyone asked icily with narrowed eyes.
"Our queen commanded that I fashion a cloak from the feline half of the Chimera our prince slayed?" Phinea said rather defensively, feeling their burning gaze on her skin. "As a reward for his heroic actions in saving the life of our General Phillippus."
The brunette seamstress than quickly turned the conversation back to their prince's recent triumph. "Please, Prince Kal, tell us more about your victory?" She asked politely as she leaned down to his height level.
"It was amazing, it all came down to just me and Artemis, she kept running ahead of me, but I managed to outrun her just as we reached the finish line." Kal told them with a confident grin. "You all should have seen Artemis's face when my mother declared me the winner, it turned as red as her hair, it was beautiful."
Alkyone shared a surprised look with her circle sisters, Artemis was Acantha's daughter, they all knew well of her, the little redhead girl was already proving herself to be exceptionally skilled warrior, something they had taken notice of as a good sign for the future of their sisterhood... and yet she had still lost to the boy…
"It was great and my mother said she was so proud of me." The prince said, smiling a genuine smile that would warm all but the coldest hearts... like the ones belonging to four out of the five women currently standing around him.
"Yes, well, you have our sincerest congratulations, our little Demigodling." Alkyone said distastefully. "Now go play with your pet Wolfdog, boy, my circle sisters and I are not Philippus or Epione, we aren't your babysitters."
"I'm not a baby, Alkyone." Kal said, folding his arms and pouting in the way that only a young boy could as he watched Alkyone turn her back to him.
"Of course, you aren't, our prince." Myrto said endearingly as she kneeled down to his level, getting his attention. "Don't mind our captain, your majesty, she's just in a mood, but if I may ask my, what are you doing out here at our private training grounds anyway?"
"Just exploring the island, Myrto." Kal told her honestly, smiling up at Epione's younger sister. "I think I've just about been everywhere on Themyscira now."
"I see, interesting." Myrto said before sharing a knowing look with Charis and Philomela before looking back down at the boy before her with a smile. "But you haven't fully explored the Ruins of the Stone Circle yet though, have you?"
Once again, the smile slipped from Kal's face and was replaced by a slight frown. "No and my mother says I can't go back there, ever." He said sullenly.
Myrto smirked slightly before nodding in agreement. "And your mother is absolutely right, my prince, it's far too dangerous a place for a… boy… to go wandering about." The blonde braided women declared vaguely.
That got the boy's attention, as Myrto knew it would, as he looked back up at her with renewed interest. "Really, why's that?"
"I'm so sorry, my little Demigodling, but I'm afraid, we simply can't tell you." Myrto said as her circle sisters Charis and Philomela nodded in agreement.
"But, but why not?" Kal asked again, more plaintive than before.
"My prince." Charis said with a booming laugh as she came forward to not so gently rub the boy's head. "You must understand, we sworn sisters of the Queen's Circle, we are only looking out for the well-being of our favourite boy on the island."
Kal playfully wriggled out of Charis powerful grasp. "Yeah, right, in case you hadn't noticed Charis, I'm the only boy on the island."
"That's just all the more reason for us to be protective of you, your majesty." Philomela said as she came forward to fix up the boy's hair, which Charis had messed up with her rough petting only moments earlier.
"After all, a sacred altar is no place for a young prince to play." Philomela said just as she finished straightening out Kal's dark hair before pretending to gasp in dismay at her words, as did Myrto and Charis. "Oh my!"
"Philomela!" Charis said in a fake tone admonishment in her voice and a real grin on her dark face.
"A Sacred Altar?" Kal couldn't but exclaim.
"Oh, dear sisters, it appears I've said too much!" Philomela chided herself dramatically, leaning back with her wrist over her eyes.
"As per usual, Philomela." Myrto muttered dryly before looking back down at their prince with a crafty grin. "Well, your majesty, I suppose you'd have figured it out sooner or later, what, with you being so clever and all."
"But I still don't understand, if it's just an old altar Myrto, why is it so dangerous for me to go back there?" Kal asked curiously, and clearly not understanding the need for his mother's rule to never ever go back there.
"Because my prince, we haven't used it in very, very long time." Myrto told him in an almost condescending tone of voice. "It's become an old ruin now that's slowly falling apart and so you see, I'm afraid it's just too dangerous a place for you to ever go back there our little Demigodling."
The boy stared at Epione's younger sister in deep thought before slowly nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but what did you originally use it for before it became a ruin anyway?"
"Disposal, mostly." Alkyone said, answering the boy's question before Phinea or any of her circle sisters could.
"Really?" Their prince asked rather curiously. "What did you… dispose of there?"
"Oh, nothing very important." Alkyone told him as she walked back over to Kal and leaned down to his level. "Just stupid, useless things, things we didn't want or need."
The Captain of the Queen's Circle then leaned in close to the boy's face as she finished. "Things that have no place on our island, my prince."
Kal didn't know what it was, but something about the captain's words made his heart tighten in his chest and he barely repressed the urge to shudder. "Do you… do you think… you'll ever use it again, Alkyone". He asked, this time rather hesitantly.
"Oh yes." Alkyone said as her mouth formed into an ominous looking smile. "I'm sure we will, my prince."
"But as I said before my little Demigodling, my circle sisters and I are very busy, so I'm afraid it is time for you to run along now." Alkyone told him in a sudden kind tone of voice, her once ominous smile turning warm in moments.
"Go play with your pet Wolfdog, have some fun, your majesty, you've earned it after your astounding victory today." Alkyone said as she stood back up, she, Phinea and the rest of the Queen's Circle watching as the boy said goodbye and began to walk away from them.
Finally, Alkyone thought to herself in relieved annoyance, he's leaving.
"Oh wait, that's reminds me." The boy said suddenly, turning back around to face them. "I think I've figured out the reason why my mother and Phillippus want me to train so much, Alkyone."
"Oh, and what possible reason would that be, my prince." Alkyone asked, feigning interest in what the boy had to say in order to hide her growing irritation.
"It's pretty obvious, when you think about it, really." Kal told them with an innocent smile. "She wants me to join the Queen's Circle with all of you."
That single naïve sentence took them all, even Alkyone herself, by surprise.
"What?" The captain growled out between clenched teeth.
"Yeah, I mean, it makes the most sense." The boy continued to explain, completely oblivious to the four circle sisters shock and anger. "Who better to protect the queen and the future queen, than the Prince of the Amazons, right?"
Stunned silence was the only response to the prince's question.
"Just think, when Diana becomes Queen of the Amazons and I become the next member of the Queen's Circle, I'll probably be made captain of it." Kal said, looking up at the Queen's Circle with a boyish smile. "Then I'll have to give the four of you orders, tell you four what to do all the time, how crazy is that?"
The intense quiet anger that followed the prince's words was almost palpable, Phinea watched nervously as the four queens guard members starred daggers of death at the boy who barely noticed, clenching their weapons in their hands so tight it looked like they might break, until Alkyone finally shattered the silence.
"It's absolutely insane, your majesty." She answered with a forced grin that showed all her teeth.
Phinea cleared her throat loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Prince Kal, perhaps it's time you returned to the palace, I'm sure Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana are probably wondering where you are."
"Yeah, your probably right Phinea." Kal said as he then turned around and made his way back towards the jungle…
… but as he walked away from the group of five Amazon women, he never saw Philomela take aim at his unguarded back with a nocked arrow and a narrowed eye.
However, just before the archer could fire it, Alkyone forcefully lowered her circle sister's bow with the tip of her sword. "No Philomela."
The raven-haired archer starred at captain for a long moment before releasing her bow string and rather reluctantly putting her arrow back into her quiver, when she looked back up, Philomela caught sight of the boy just as he disappeared back into the jungle.
A few seconds passed as the Queen's Circle and their servant made sure their prince had left before finally speaking freely again.
"How much longer must we play nice with that stupid boy." Philomela snarled hatefully. "Every time I see him, all I can think about is putting an arrow through his forehead."
"Agreed, his presence on our island is becoming more and more intolerable with each passing year". Charis rumbled with an annoyed expression. "He roams freely, does as he please's and now has gone to besting our sisterhood's daughters in sacred Amazonian competitions, it's an insult to our tribe and everything we've been through that he be allowed to do that."
"What's worse, is that his innocent act has actually begun to fool some of our sisters into believing he poses no threat to our tribe in the future." Myrto spat, shaking her head in disgust. "Even my own sister, Epione has formed a sickening fondness for the boy that almost makes me want to wretch every time I see her now."
Alkyone was strangely quiet during her circle sisters proceeding conversation, right up to the point where all three of them turned to their captain with murder in their eyes.
"Alkyone, we should just take him to the altar and rid ourselves of him right now." Philomela said coldly while Charis and Myrto nodded in agreement.
"But sisters, we can't, we still need him to defeat Hercules for us." Phinea said, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. "Besides, I do not think Hippolyta will ever allow any of you to kill her son-."
Phinea words were cut short as Alkyone suddenly whirled around and struck her across the face, sending the stunned seamstress crashing to the arena floor, none of the other circle members reacted or moved to help her as she lay in pained shock.
"I thought I told you to never to refer to that boy as our queen's son in my presence, Phinea." Alkyone growled as she came to loom over her fallen partner. "He is not Hippolyta's son or our prince, he is an attack dog to be set onto the Barbarian horde when they arrive, a weapon to be used against Hercules when the time is right, a tool to help us achieve our vengeance and that's all, is that understood Phinea."
"Yes, of course Alkyone." Phinea said meekly as she struggled to look her partner in the eye while she rubbed her now bruised face, doing her best not to whimper from the stinging pain.
The Captain of the Queen's Circle just snorted in disgust as she walked away. "Get up Phinea, leave us."
The four members of the queen's personal guard watched as the beaten seamstress slowly picked herself up off the ground and sulked away to lick her wounds.
"Your partner is weak, Alkyone." Myrto stated indifferently.
"She is weak, but she's also right about one thing at least." Alkyone agreed before turning to face her three circle sisters. "We need the boy; what's more is we cannot afford to cause a divide within our tribe while the threat of Hercules and his horde still looms over our island."
"Until that monstrous Demigod and his army of brutes has been dealt with, it is far too dangerous for us to make our move on boy's life, I don't like it any more than the three of you do, but I will not risk our queen's safety for the sake of our bloodlust." Alkyone declared.
The Captain of the Queen's Circle could still vividly remember the day where her own desire for the boy's blood to spill had nearly cost both her queen's and princess's lives at the fangs of the Amphisbaena Snake, if not for said brats surprise intervention.
Alkyone felt herself both shiver and rage at the memory.
It should have been me; I should have been the one to save Hippolyta and the princess from that damned two headed serpent, not him. She thought bitterly to herself. The boy will pay for robbing me of my glory and all the humiliation his existence has caused me.
"For now, we must be calm and patient." Alkyone said, both to herself and her subordinates. "We will have our revenge sisters, but only once the threat of Hercules is gone for good, then and only then, do we make our move".
"Captain." Philomela agreed, nodding stiffly and said no more, Myrto and Charis likewise nodded and said nothing else.
"Soon my sisters, soon the time will come when we will cleanse Themyscira of the taint of men for good, whether they be Barbarian or Demigod." Alkyone said sinisterly, smiling a dark smile. "And when that comes…" The Captain of the Queen's Circle trailed off as she suddenly turned around and viscously beheaded a training dummy with her sword.
A child sized training dummy.
The dummy's decapitated head fell to the ground and rolled towards the captain's feet before she stabbed it through the top with her sword, lifting it up to briefly examine her violent work, Alkyone smiled to herself and turned back to her three circle sisters, who were grinning in grim approval as well.
"We strike." She told them as she walked away to find Phinea and sate her oncoming arousal upon her partners body, thoughts of what she would do that little Demigodling in the future had stirred sexual excitement in the captain's cold heart… and old memories as well.
Even after all these years, Alkyone still remembered her life back in Ancient Greece, before she even joined the Amazonian sisterhood, back when she went by the name Phoibe, she remembered living with her parents in a small village by the sea.
She remembered the day her brother had been born and she remembered the day he had died to.
Phoibe had been born a month before her proper time and she was sick so often that no one in the village had expected her to live long, but she proven them all wrong by surviving all her sicknesses and defied the very Fates of Moirai themselves by becoming stronger through each illness.
But not prettier, never prettier, Phoibe had never been what you would call a beautiful baby when she was born, but all her illness growing up had taken a toll on her appearance even more it would seem, because when she reached the age of three, she was still bald with very little physical beauty to her body.
Her little brother Alexios though, he had been born in his proper time, a beautiful baby boy, strong and healthy right from birth, Phoibe remembered watching as her new little brother nursed greedily from their mother or would giggle stupidly when their father picked him up in his huge hands to hold him close to his heart.
Phoibe remembered how her parents had loved her little brother.
Her brother had died though, he died when he was only two and she was six, three days before his third birthday.
Phoibe remembered watching as her father raged at the Gods themselves for taking their son away from them, she remembered listening as her mother wept over her little brother's body.
Alkyone smiled at the old memory as she found Phinea in their quarters, sitting in front of her mirror, covering up her bruises with healing creams as best she could.
History repeats itself as they say, Alkyone thought smugly to herself as she walked over to her partner and dragged her back to their bed.
Their queen's son was just another Demigod that she needed to slay, another Barbarian she needed to butcher and another little brother she needed to rid her home of.
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 9: The Circle's Conspiracy, while the last chapter was pretty blatant about the underlying tension currently on Themyscira, this chapter confirms to you, my readers that there is a plan amongst at least the queens personal guard to kill Kal, the good news is that they at least wont make an attempt until after he kills Hercules for them, but once he does… well… accidents happen all the time… very fatal accidents…
The irony is, as much as the Queen's Circle hate men, they don't seem to treat their fellow Amazons very well, do they?
Still, you've got to feel a little bit sorry for Alkyone now though right, she lost her little brother at such a young age, I wonder what happened to the poor boy… he seemed so strong and healthy…
Also, an important announcement for all of you, their will be some rearranging of chapters in the future guys, as in some new chapters put in between the ones after chapter 3: A Falling Star, so keep that in mind, anytime you see a new update it does mean a chapter has been published, it just might be one further back in Kal's life on the island rather than one further forward, I appreciate you bearing with me guys, I do have a plan in place here…
Now to answer some fan questions as of late from all of you, thanks for the questions guys and don't hesitate to ask more in the future...
1. Kal already knows where babies come from, in the last chapter Epione and the other Amazons in the ward told him he was 'born' on their island, so that awkward question won't need to be asked anytime in the future I'm afraid, who his father is, however…
2. Both Phillippus and Epione are like aunts or second mothers to Kal, with Hippolyta busy being queen a lot sometimes, each of them has stepped in to help raise Kal and Diana, with Phillippus being the sterner maternal figure and Epione being the softer maternal figure to the royal children.
3. There is already division between the Amazons of Themyscira and there has been for a while now, even before Kal showed up, between the 'real' Amazons and their softer sisters, Myrto and Epione for example, those two are actually siblings, with Epione being the older and Myrto being the younger, this is quite literally sister against sister.
4. One thing that you need to consider about Epione, is that she was actually the first Amazon to hold Kal (not counting Alkyone for obvious reasons) not Hippolyta and in that scene, it said she rather reluctantly handed Kal over to Hippolyta when she couldn't get him to stop crying, she was also alongside Phillippus, the among the Amazons most for letting Kal stay with them even before Hera showed and ordered them to spare his life.
Epione was the first one to realise there was something alive inside the pod guys, she was the one to pick Kal up and hold him in her arms as he cried, trying to calm him down, she was the one who argued for letting him stay on their island with them even when her own younger sister was against the idea…
… She wanted to be the one who got to be Kal's mother and raise him as her son, but Hera chose Hippolyta instead… Hippolyta got to have a beautiful daughter and a beautiful son… Epione didn't…
5. When the Amazons first arrived on Themyscira after fleeing the Fall of Ancient Greece, many of them were pregnant with bastard boys forced upon them by Hercules's Barbarian horde, they were ugly, violent little things right from birth, so the Amazons built that altar to 'dispose of them while also honouring their Goddesses via sacred sacrifice, carving the events of what led up to them arriving on Themyscira so they would never forget…
… but as the years went by, groups of men would stumble upon Themyscira and they too would be sacrificed at the altar, some were actual invaders looking to conqueror their island, but others really were just unfortunate travellers who happened to anchor at the wrong island…
… Let's be clear here, that altar hasn't been used in a very, very, very long-time guys which is why it's in ruins, but it's STILL there for a reason, that circle of standing stones Kal walked into in Trivial Sacrifices, well that was basically like a lamb walking into a slaughterhouse, because that bone he picked… that wasn't an animal bones guy's…
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 as well as my new creative consultant and Greek mythology expert Luke5921, proud to have you onboard as an advisor as I write this story mate.
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, Erika Lopes and SilveerKnighT 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.