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 20: Bird Ladies of Prey
On the Island of Themyscira, right after the Harpies had made their ultimatum…
The Sisters of the Storm had come, the Three Harpies of Thrace had come, the winged, harlot Hounds of Zeus, King of the Greek Gods and Ruler of Mount Olympus, had come to Themyscira…
… more precisely, they had come for him and at first, Kal had trouble recalling exactly what had happened after that intention had been declared…
…But considering just how much had happened to him that day, it was rather understandable that Kal couldn't remember all of the details of just how exactly he had ended up in Epione's Medical Ward much later that evening.
But as the newly dubbed Champion of Themyscira felt his recently burning eyes twitch under his lids as he continuously stirred in and out of consciousness, he found flashes of his most recent memories coming back to him with each moment of semi-awareness.
The first thing Kal did remember was that the Queen of the Heavens response to the Three Harpy Sisters order to hand him over to them was immediate and straight forward to say the least.
"No."
As if they were actually surprised by this rather predictable response, Aello and her two Harpy sisters each turned their heads curiously to the side in a rather bird-like manner. "No…"
"Zeus might be my brother, harlot, but he is not my king, and he has no authority here." Hera said sharply, her purple eyes storming and her tempest of a temper fully stroked now. "And neither do you, now get off my island."
After that, everything Kal could recall had happened so fast, with negotiations firmly broken down, the Harpies had gone on the attack. Now, one would think that three-winged women vs a large group of Amazons, five Olympians and a young but still powerful Demigod would be a rather one-sided fight. But as it turns out, the trio of Harpies had not come to Themyscira all by themselves.
No, they had come with a whole flock of quite literal hundreds of Stymphalian Storks at their backs, the huge horde of human-sized voracious birds emerging from the jungle canopy at the Harpies screeching call. With long beaks made of bronze, talons made of steel as well as sharp metallic feathers covering the majority of their towering bodies like a suit of near-impenetrable armour.
With such a fearsome flock of killer crane-like birds under their command, it was clear to everyone assembled, Olympian and Amazon alike, that the Sisters of the Storm would not be leaving this island empty handed, they had come for the boy, and they would have him.
Then, the battle had begun, and chaos had taken over his entire world.
The Amazons, being a predominantly warrior race, of course were always ready for battle and this day was no exception, as they launched into combat, as did the five Greek Gods among them, Persephone pulled their winged foes down to the Underworld with her vines, Iris blasted them with blinding rainbow beams, Hermes knocked them out mid-flight with his super speed, Hera had broken them with gale force winds and Apollo had shot them from the sky with his flaming arrows, even the fiery Phoenix, Alectryon had taken out one of the larger birds with his firepower.
But as for Kal himself…
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
Kal remembered screaming as he was suddenly being overwhelmed by the sheer sound of it all as two opposing sides met in the training grounds in sudden and furious combat, between the war cries of the Amazons and the angry screeches of the Storks, Kal was sure he would be consumed by the sound, clutching his agonised ears as he stumbled to his knees in the midst of it all.
Between the swirling ocean of noise all around him and his own cries of pain, Kal could briefly recall his mother calling out his name from across the spontaneous battlefield and trying desperately to reach him, slashing her way through one feathered foe after the another in order to get to him.
But then, as he kneeled there in the dirt like a common criminal waiting to be executed for some yet, undisclosed crime, nearly paralysed by sensory pain and overwhelmed by audio overload, one of the Stymphalian Storks had landed right in front of him and reached out to snap him up in its long bronze beak, Kal remembered just who he was amidst the field of battle.
He wasn't a scared, green boy on his first day of training, an untested small child who was afraid of blood, noise and violence. No, he was a Warrior Prince of the Amazons, a Champion of the Greek Gods, a Son of Hippolyta's, and he had beaten an Olympian in battle mere minutes before these Harpies and their predatory pets had dared to show their feathered faces on HIS island.
He was a Wolf and Wolves don't cower before birds, no matter how big and loud they were.
Looking up with a growl and a glare, Kal grabbed both the top and bottom half of the Stork's beak in his hands and with a surprisingly easy pull, ripped both parts of the birds elongated mouth off its feathered face, blood instantly erupting out of the hole where its beak had been moments before, followed by its final gurgling cries as it quickly toppled over its long legs and hit the ground, never to rise again.
Kal felt the birds blood splatter against his boyish face, felt it get in his eyes, in his mouth and he did not care, he just blinked and splat it out as quickly as it landed on his face, he heard and saw the chaos all around him, he felt his ears aching from the noise and he did not care, he just blocked it all out.
He looked at the two separated pieces of avian jaw and realised he suddenly had a pair of scimitars at his disposal, two impromptu bronze blades and he realised what he had to do as a Prince of the Amazons and the Champion of Themyscira.
He joined the battle, these Harpies had come for him, and they would get him, but not in the way they had intended.
Kalm remembered being like a flash of lighting in the moments that followed, untouchable, unstoppable and unforeseeable to those who had dared attack his tribe on his mother's island, his new super speed coming in incredible handy as he practically eviscerated every Stymphalian Stock he came across with a quick slash of his beak blades, half of them were currently engaged in combat with a Amazon or a Olympian, whose eyes each widened in surprise as their avian adversaries burst in a cloud of blood and feathers before them and that was how the rest of the intense, but rather short battle had went.
Rinse and repeat, rinse, and repeat, just like Philippus had taught him over the years as her student, rinse and repeat, rinse, and repeat…
…until only the three Harpies were left.
"Surrender! Now!" He ordered the now vastly outnumbered trio of winged women, pointing one of his beak blades at them, standing amongst the quieting chaos and the carnage of the conflict, covered in blood and feathers of the Sisters of the Storm now fallen airborne forces.
They really should have just listened to him…
No, instead, the three Harpy sisters had just screeched at him in equal parts fear and loathing before flapping off in the same direction they had come from, with their feathered tails between their legs, fleeing from the very fight they had started and angering him even more.
These creatures didn't get to come to his mother's island and demand him like he was some piece of property, attack his mother's people when they justly refused to hand him over, and then just get to run away.
That just wasn't going to fly, pardon the pun, and neither were they as far as Kal was concerned.
So, before anyone could even attempt to stop him, Kal took off after the trio of winged women, ignoring the cries from his mother and sister to come back, ignoring everyone and everything around him except for the three intruders who were currently getting away.
The Sisters of the Storm flew above the jungle canopy as he ran below it, using his incredible vision to see through the encroaching evening darkness and the tall trees blocking out the remaining light of the setting sun as he continued to give chase to the Hounds of Zeus.
After his early experience chasing Hermes all over the island, Kal easily caught up to the trio and remembering the Messenger Gods hard lessons from before, dodged, weaved and cut his way through his wild surroundings, until finally, the jungle foliage ended and gave way to a cliff overlooking the crystal clear clean, ocean waters below that surrounded the island on all sides.
The end of the line, but not for him.
Racing up a partially fallen tree, Kal launched himself into the air and for a long moment, flew towards the retreating Harpies like a rocket… and he hit them like one too.
The Sisters of the Storm had known he was chasing them, but they clearly had not expected him to actually catch up to them, which would end up being a big mistake on their part, as Kal collided with the leader of the trio while simultaneously throwing each of his beaked blades at the other two Harpies, cutting through their wings flight feathers as he proceeded to rip the leaders out with his bare hands.
Wings either clipped or plucked of essential flight feathers, the now flightless Sisters of the Storm fell shrieking over the cliff and into the ocean's dark depths below with a tremendous splash… with Kal following right behind them.
SSSPPPLLLAAASSSHHH!
After sinking below the seas hard surface and feeling himself be enveloped by the oceans, cold and salty embrace, Kal opened his eyes and quickly regained his bearings as the sea water washed off the blood and feathers currently coating his body.
Realising that he now had the environmental advantage over his floundering foes, Kal kicked his legs and swam at super speed towards each thrashing Sister of the Storm like a torpedo, beating the metaphorical stuffing out of them, over and over and over again.
Eventually, though, a rather large and surprisingly well-timed wave came suddenly from behind them and launched all three of them back towards Themyscira's shore with a mighty crash of liquid against sand.
As he spat sand out of his mouth and stumbled back to his feet, Kal looked back out at the retreating ocean and could've sworn he saw a large male figure watching him from across the sea, half submerged in water and the sun setting behind him, illuminating his clearly male figure as well as the large trident he was holding in his hand.
But then, the figure disappeared back beneath the waves and Kal forgot all about it for the moment as he remembered he was not the only who got washed ashore, looking over to where the three Harpies lay in the soggy sand, waterlogged, wing-clipped and thoroughly thrashed, at least for now, he stomped over to the soaked and salty Sisters of the Storm with angry intent.
He wanted answers, and Kal knew did not have much time to ask them before the Amazons and the Olympians showed up and took command of this situation from him.
Kal knew it was wrong, he knew he should just back off and wait for his mother and Hera to arrive, to let them deal with these feathered fools. But the truth was, he didn't want to, he wanted to handle these three Harpies by himself, they had come for him after all and besides, he was an Amazonian prince and the island's champion, he had the right to do so.
But first, he wanted to take a moment to chastises his foes. "You and your sisters should have just surrendered when I ordered you to, Aello, it would have saved yourselves a lot of pain and trouble."
At this unfortunately true remark, the trio of winged women lifted their faces out of the soggy sand and looked up with a hateful sneer at the young Demigod who was currently standing over them, but they did not answer beyond that.
"Did you really think I was going to let you three just fly from a fight you started?" Kal asked, using that same serious tone he heard Philippus use whenever the general meant to sound intimidating, which for the record, was a lot, it felt strangely right to channel his teacher in that moment. "Did you three honestly think that you could just invade my mother's island, attack my mother's sisters, attempt to kidnap me, and then just leave?"
Again, the Harpies said nothing, only glaring angrily at the boy who had bested the three of them, until finally Kal got fed up with their silence and proceeded to quickly grab a handful of Aello's remaining wing feathers and rip them out, the Harpy crying out in pain as he did so.
"Answer me! Answer me right now or I swear! I am going to rip out all of your remaining feathers! He said threateningly at the now in pain Aello while pointing his handful of plucked feathers at both Ocypete and Celaeno in a very clear 'you two are next' manner.
"One! By! One!"
Fortunately, the threat of further feather plucking seemed to be enough of a motivator to get the Harpies to break their simmering silence.
"Well please forgive us, your majesty." Aello, the leader of the Harpies and one whose feathers Kal had just painfully plucked out, finally spoke, spitting out every word with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "But we Sisters of the Storm were not asking for your permission, nor did we need it in the first place, we answer to only one ruler, brat."
"Why we're you trespassing on Themyscira and more importantly, why where you three spying on me?" Kal demanded to know, ignoring the Harpy's insult, but still feeling his anger rising from it… as well as his internal temperature, he could feel both his rage and body burning, strangely enough…
"As we said to that bitch Hera, we were sent here by our lord to retrieve you and we had no intention of returning to him empty handed." The one called Ocypete said, glaring angrily at the boy who had clipped her and her sister's wings.
It was then, that Kal remembered 'who' exactly their lord was and after a moment of uncomfortable hesitation, he asked his next question. "And what does the King of the Gods want with me?"
"Honestly, we don't know, and we don't really care either." The third and final Harpy of the trio, Celaeno answered vaguely before going silent again, her two sisters strangely shutting up at that moment as well. "We had a task to perform and the Sisters of the Storm do not fail in their duties to the Skyfather."
"Well, looks like you just did and for record Harpies, I don't believe you either." Kal said, glaring angrily at the trio of winged women, he could feel his temper rising and his body burning with anger at these Harpies who dared try and take him away from his home, his tribe, his family. "You three must have some idea why he ordered you to bring me to him."
"Our thoughts our irrelevant, it is not our place to question our masters' orders, just as it isn't any of your business to ask brat." Aello spat in response, her two sisters growling in agreement.
"Well guess what Harpy, I'm asking, and you ARE going to answer me." Kal said with angry snarl that was startlingly similar to his Krypto's at that moment, he was about ready to really lose it with these feathered fools. "Right now!"
At this angry outburst, the three Harpies shared a silent look, before Aello looked at the young Champion of Themyscira with a smirk.
"You really want to know? Your majesty." Aello asked in a surprisingly pleasant tone complete with a false smile that quickly turned sinister. "Well, I'm afraid we can't tell you, but don't worry brat, you'll get to ask him yourself soon enough."
Deciding he had just about enough of these Harpies refusing to answer his questions, Kal stepped forward, fully planning on ripping out every single feather the three Harpies had, when suddenly, each Sister of the Storm opened her mouth and unleashed an unholy shriek right at him.
SSSHHHRRRIIIEEEKKK! SSSHHHRRRIIIEEEKKK! SSSHHHRRRIIIEEEKKK!
The Harpies screamed and Kal screamed right along with them, though his were far more pained.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
Taken by surprise by the Harpy's combined triple banshee barrage, Kal closed his suddenly tear-filled eyes and covered his now once again agonised ears as he felt himself fall to knees in the soft sand, nearly curling up into a ball on the beach as the Harpies continued their audio attack while gradually getting back to their own clawed feet.
Kal couldn't stop sobbing and screaming all throughout the torturous cacophony, this noise was so much worse than anything he had heard during the brief but brutal battle from before, this was more far intense, precise, and unspeakably painful to his ears, the excruciating sound was so bad, he could actually feel himself begin to slip into unconsciousness…
Please, someone, anyone, make it stop… please…
Thankfully for Kal, his prays were answered, as a blurry figure suddenly appeared and slammed full throttle into the Sisters of the Storm with the force of a sonic boom, finally managing to shut them up and sending the three Harpies stumbling back in the sand from the force of the blow, much to Kal's immense relief.
Still reeling in pain and keeping his hands over his aching ears, Kal just barely managed to raise his head and look up at his timely saviour, fully expecting to see his mother, Philippus, Hera, Iris, Persephone standing over him, or maybe even the Sun God Apollo who he had seemingly manage to impress earlier.
Who it was though, was honestly the last person Kal had ever expected it to be…
"H-Hermes?" He couldn't help but gasp out in disbelief.
Hearing his name, the very same Messenger God who had been driving him crazy all day, looked down at Kal with his usual devilish smile, but with an unexpectedly warm look on his face as well.
"Don't act so surprised kiddo, you'll hurt my feelings." Hermes said in mock offense before his face turned surprisingly more sympathetic when he saw the tears in Kal's eyes and the pain clearly written across his face as he held his head in his hands. "Just stay down kid, your mother and Hera will be here soon, I promise."
"Hermes!" Aello shrieked along with her two sisters, causing Kal to flinch in pain from the noise and Hermes usual smiling face to frown as he looked up at the Sisters of the Storm who stood now a few feet away, glaring at him in equal parts fury and disgust. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"What does it look like I'm doing, Aello?" Hermes asked rhetorically and with his usual smug swagger, twirling his Caduceus Staff briefly for a moment before stopping. "I'm doing what I do best, getting in people's way and generally pissing them off in the process, the people in this situation, being you three bird brained bitches."
"Get out of our way, Messenger God, the brat is coming with us, your king and father demands it!" Aello demanded harshly, whilst her sisters shrieked at the Olympians insult and Kal felt his pain finally fade away, only to be replaced with rage as he slowly forced himself back to his feet.
"Sorry Hawkwomen, but I'm afraid I just can't do that." Hermes said in the most insincere of tones before his usually jocular voice grew surprisingly serious. "I might be a trickster and a spy, Aello, but unlike you three human sized feather dusters, I do draw the line at kidnapping, so I'm only going to say this once, leave this island and never trouble the Son of Hippolyta again."
"Traitor!" Shrieked Aello, flapping her partially featherless wings in fury along with her fellow Harpies. "Rest assured, we will be telling your father of your interference in this matter, you glorified errand boy!"
"You three won't be telling anyone, anything, ever again!" A familiar and now very, very angry voice said from right behind Hermes, causing everyone on the beach to look down and see Kal. Now halfway to his feet and glaring bloody murder at the trio of Harpies before letting out a rage filled howl and charging at super speed towards Sisters of the Storm like a stampeding Cretan Bull.
"Kid! Stop!" Hermes said as he tried to grab the young Demigod and pull him back, but for once, he just wasn't fast enough and Kal managed to just slip through his fingers, and moments later, Kal had slammed full force into Aello and pinned her down beneath him whilst her two sisters were also knocked down from the force of the shockwave as well.
Aello cried out in equal parts anger and pain as she felt herself fall back from blow, closing her eyes as she felt the air get knocked out of her lungs and hurting her already damaged wings even more, but despite all this pain, the Harpy leader was smiling on the inside.
The boy had let his anger get the better of him again and had now charged foolishly right into their grasp, he had practically handed himself over to them to be captured, soon her sisters would knock him out cold and their master would have his prize.
Aello opened her eyes and looked up, in order to say something smug to the Champion of Themyscira who had just made a very grave mistake. Only to falter when she saw that the boy's formerly blue eyes were now glowing an ominous fiery red and his entire body was also glowing with a similar fiery light, her sisters Ocypete and Celaeno saw it as well, as could Hermes and their eyes all widened in shock.
They had all seen this sort of sight before, only an hour earlier, in fact, and they all knew what it meant…
Both Hermes and the Harpies felt the night air around them begin to sizzle and snap with sudden and intense heat, the sand around their feet sparking and everything the ocean had washed up on shore that day suddenly bursting into flames, Aello and her sisters winced in unexpected, searing pain and looked down to see that to their remaining feathers had caught fire and were being burned off by the flames, much to their horror, Hermes saw it as well and he knew what was about to come next.
"Oh Tartarus." The Messenger God exclaimed as he turned and took off in the opposite direction as fast as he could, just as the Sisters of the Storm began to scream in terror as their bodies where gradually engulfed in flames whilst Kal just roared in rage as his was as well. Except unlike the three of them, his body did not burn from the flames, they touched him, but they did not hurt him, in fact, they actually felt good to him… as did the sound of the Harpies screaming…
Kal knew even before he decided his last charge at the Sisters of the Storm, that his body would not be consumed by this fiery heat burning inside him; on the contrary, it was the source of it, he was the source of it, he had felt it building up inside him for a while now, becoming more powerful the angry he got…
And so, he waited, he held it in, and when he saw his chance, he unleashed it, all at once-
BBBBBBOOOOOOMMMMMM!
-and it came out in the form of a huge fiery explosion, so sudden and powerful, that it briefly lit up the darkened beach, engulfing Kal and the three Sisters of the Storm and sent Hermes flying backwards just from the force of the blast.
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the blast died down, the surrounding flames guttered out and the light faded away, leaving only smoke, steam and darkness in its wake.
Still, it hung around long enough for the other Olympians and the Amazons to see it and rush towards it, with Apollo and Hippolyta in the lead, what they all saw when they arrived on the scene though, stopped them right in their tracks.
The explosion had turned the surrounding beach sand into glass and the ocean water near the shore into to steam, which even know was starting to dissipate along with the smoke from the now extinguished fires.
And there, right in the middle of this shocking scene, kneeling among the charred remains of the Sisters of the Storm, was Kal…
He was breathing heavily, and his hair was singed, but his eyes were slowly going back from a burning red to his usual starry, sapphire blue and his nearly incinerated cloak as well as his princely toga were falling off his body in rags, and although his skin still had a rather noticeable orange glow to it, that to, was slowly starting to return to a normal texture.
Panting in both exertion and now exhaustion, Kal turned and stared at the assembled crowd who just stared back, before as usual, Messenger of the Gods, Hermes broke the silence.
"Dam kid." Hermes said after a moment of genuine speechlessness as he rather cautiously walked back over and looked down at the boy who as his cousin Persephone had so accurately put it, just kept on surprising them. "Remind me not to piss you off again in the future."
Looking over his shoulder at the Messenger God who had come to his aid, Kal simply nodded in both thanks and confirmation of that fact before feeling his world begin to spin out of control as he fell over onto the glassy floor of his Supernova.
The last thing Kal remembered before he closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness was his mother, along with Philippus and Epione, rushing over to him and the glowing gaze of the Sun God Apollo boring into his soul from across the beach as darkness once again came for him.
A little while later, back on Themyscira's shoreline…
Apollo had stood back and watched as Themyscira's new champion was picked up and carried back to the royal palace by the Amazons general, with his mother, the queen, and the island's head healer walking by her sides, Hippolyta's eyes briefly catching his as she left with her son.
Hera, Iris, and Persephone meanwhile, stayed behind and organised the Amazons clean-up of their island's training grounds, which was certainly needed after their brief but brutal battle with the Harpies feathered forces.
Hermes on the other hand, had quite literally disappeared the moment Hippolyta and her sisters had walked away with the boy, one moment he was standing on the beach and the next he was gone, but Sun God had the distinct feeling that his younger half-brother was still hanging around the island somewhere, for what reason though, only the Messenger of the Gods knew…
…as for himself, Apollo had waited until everyone else had left the beach before walking over to investigate the spot where his father's Harpies had met their end by the prince's fiery fury, most of their charred remains had been collected by the Amazons before they left, leaving only burned beach behind, which was already beginning to get washed away by the incoming tide.
Still, Apollo bent down to inspect the site closer and even as he stood there, the Sun God could feel the residual solare energy from the boy's supernova begin to seep into him, there was surprisingly a lot of it leftover and Apollo could feel it empowering him, strengthening him…
Picking up a handful of warm beach sand and then letting it fall through his fingers, Apollo stood back up and looked out over the sea, watching as the last vestiges of sunlight set over the horizon and the grains of sand were carried by the strong night winds, all of them heading in one direction…
Following the last grains of sand, Apollo felt an all too familiar prophetic pull on his person, as if something was telling him to go in that direction, still, the Sun God hesitated, he had felt this pull before and it hadn't always led him to good places.
Especially since he already knew what lay in store for him if he decided to go in that direction.
Apollo sighed and thought back to the earlier conflict with the Harpies, it had been a very long time since Apollo had fought in a real battle, not since the Fall of Ancient Greece, in fact. Oh, the Sun God had engaged in plenty fights over the centuries, so as to not lose his assassins edge, usually either with rogue monsters while out hunting or divine duels with his half-siblings, but he hadn't engaged in real genuine warfare since the Carnage at Crete during the last Telchine Rebellion.
The memories of that final battle with his most hated enemy were still fresh in Apollo's mind and while he was pleased to see that he hadn't lost any of his skill for combat, the prophet prince also had a feeling that brief but brutal battle against the Harpies wouldn't be the last one he fought in anytime soon.
"Well, Apollo." Alectryon loudly declared as he came flapping over to land on Apollo's left shoulder, after just finishing a thorough round of aerial reconnaissance to make sure there weren't any of the Harpies feathered forces still remaining on the island, his arrival snapping the Sun God out of his troubled thoughts. "That was nuts!"
"Yeah, that's… certainly one way to describe what just happened." Apollo said absentmindedly, glancing over his right shoulder to stare back in the direction of the royal palace, which seemingly helped the Sun God come to a decision on what to do next, before he gave a loud whistle which was answered a few moments later by his two Sun Steeds, Pyrois and Eous as they came flying down from the cliffs towards him with his golden solare chariot still tied to their backs.
"Come on Alectryon, were going home." Apollo said suddenly, before stepping onto the back of his chariot and immediately commanding his fiery horses to take off into the sky, which they did, neighing as they galloped on air, their flaming hooves carrying them higher and higher.
"Uh, Apollo, Olympus would be that way." Alectryon said as he hung onto his Olympian friend's shoulder, while gesturing with his left wing at the complete opposite direction that they were going.
"We're not going back to Mount Olympus, Alectryon." Apollo said, his expression surprisingly serious. "I said we're going home… our old home."
"Our old home?" Alectryon said in apparent confusion, before his raptorial eyes widened in realisation. "Wait, you mean-."
"Yes Alectryon." Apollo said, the Sun God noticeably pausing just for a moment, as if he was reconsidering his decision before finally nodding in confirmation at the firebird on his shoulder. "Were going back to Rhodes."
As soon as he said those words however, a cold chill suddenly tore through the Sun God's warm body like a frozen blade, barely resisting the urge to shudder, Apollo pulled back on his horse's reins and quickly turned his chariot around, back towards the island directly below them, nearly dislodging Alectryon off his shoulder in the process.
"Hermes?" Apollo called out uncertainly, wondering if his little half-brother was playing one of his pranks on him again.
The Sun God scanned the sprawling shoreline for any sign of the Messenger God, but saw neither Hermes or anyone else for that matter, he glanced over at the open fields and the surrounding jungle beyond the beach for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing at all, his search proving fruitless because there was no one there…
… still, as he hovered there on his Sun Steed pulled golden chariot, high above the Island of Themyscira, Apollo could just sense that somebody, somewhere was watching them…
"Apollo, everything… ok?" Alectryon asked after a moment of uncomfortably long silence, the firebird had noticed his Olympian friend's suddenly alert expression, and he knew what it meant, but even after his own quick survey with his far superior raptorial vision, the Phoenix could not see any cause for alarm, but still, he trusted the Sun Gods instincts just as he knew Apollo trusted his.
Apollo glanced around at the shore, the fields and the jungle for a moment longer before giving a slow sigh, one more of frustration than relief and turned to his firebird best friend on his shoulder. "It's nothing Alectryon, just… the wind I guess, let's go."
With a strong flick of his horse's reins, Apollo had his Sun Steeds turn his solare chariot back around and with a sudden kick of literal horsepower, the fiery foursome took off flying over the Aegean Sea at flaming speed, passing beneath the shadow of the great cliff that Themyscira's new young champion had so recently thrown himself off of in his pursuit of the Harpy Sisters.
If only they had bothered to look up…
…for standing on the edge of the cliff, was a woman, silent and still, tall, and long haired, her female figure draped in the shadow of the jungle behind her, her purple eyes glowing out amidst the darkness which seem to surround her very person.
The woman stood on the edge of the cliff, watching the departing Sun God fly further and further away, like a big cat watching potential prey escape, the woman's eyes narrowed, and a hateful sneer spread across her face she followed the last lingering bit of light left in the chariots wake.
The woman then walked to the very edge of the cliff and without either fear or hesitation, jumped off the edge and dived headlong into the water, she splashed down moments later with barely a sound, leaving nothing behind to suggest she was ever even they're in the first place.
Surfacing briefly, her purple eyes poking just above the seas dark surface, the woman glared once more in the direction the Greek God and feathered friend had flown off in before diving back below the waves and swimming after them at astonishing speed.
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I'm finally back and I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 20: Bird Ladies of Prey, so just in case anyone was wondering, this is indeed the missing chapter that I mentioned a while back, there has been a solid wall of writer's block between me and this chapter for a very long time, but it's finally here and I hope it was a fitting conclusion to the original cliff-hanger at the end of chapter 19 for all of you.
While I understand that regularly looking back through old chapters for a new one can be a bit annoying at times, this is unfortunately just how my creative process works, some chapters just write themselves faster than others and sometimes the next chapter in the story's canonical order just doesn't want to be written at the moment, rest assured though, I will always do my best to inform you of such events in the authors notes at the beginning of the new chapter update.
Heads up, the next chapter I post might be another one of these missing chapters as well, but between chapters 21 and 22.
I would also like to apologise to any and all new readers of mine who read my story and saw the same chapter content for chapters 17 and 18, I regularly look back through my written chapters to make minor improvements to them over time and as I was making the necessary updates to chapter 18, I must have put it over chapter 17 in my story by mistake, please now that this embarrassing error has fixed and the original chapter 17 is right back where it belongs in the story's structure.
Finally, I once again must apologise for my rather long delay with my chapter updates, but getting depressed and then horribly sick, having the movie of the year and its game expansion being released, as well as my relationships with both family and friends needing attention, combined with working hard on my YouTube career as well as my recent attendance at a family's members wedding, my schedule has been crazy full as of late.
Though after finally getting over a lot of my depression after receiving a lot of hate, flak and general unpleasant reviews, I finally seem to be getting my writing rhythm back and here's to hoping that the updates will be more frequent in the future.
As always, I recommend my friend and Greek mythology expert Luke5921 Superman story, Kal Son of Odin which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with some DC elements added into it, so if you're a fan of both Superman and Marvel, which I AM and I know many of you are, go check it out, it keeps getting better all the time.
Also, if any of you would like to support my work in other ventures, I have YouTube channel under the same name as my fanfic account, T-Rexcellent Reviews, if you're interested, please consider giving it a look, a like and subscription as it would really help me out.
Now onto answering some more fan questions from all of you guys…
Daka: First off, thank you for your suggestions and I want you to know that while I appreciate and respect everyone's choice of ships in the DC fandom. I myself are a big fan of multiple different pairings, I also want to make it clear to everyone reading this fanfic right now, that Kal's main romantic interest in this story will be Zatanna, other smaller romances and one-off flings are possible with other female characters if they can be written in well, but Kal and Zatanna are the main ship in this story, my mind on this matter has been made up for a long time now and hope everyone reading this story can respect my decision.
Andy: Hello mate, thank you for understanding and respecting my writing flow, it really means a lot to me, please know that your suggestions have been considered in full and I will work on including such elements into the future of my story regarding the Queens Circle and their so-called softer sisters further down the line.
Guest: Thank you for the suggestion, mate, it is appreciated, but I really like Superman, Son of Hippolyta for the title of this story, as it fits in better with the themes of this story more as well as the connection between certain characters, namely Kal and Hippolyta, it also just sounds more dramatic in my opinion as well.
Guest: Please rest assured mate that I do plan to include other DC characters in this story down the line, but gradually and at my own pace, three particularly important DC characters will actually be showing up very soon in the next couple of chapters, though not any of the ones you listed, that being said, I would like to remind everyone that this IS a Superman story, and so, the focus will be on him and those around him, which at least for now, is the Amazons and the Olympians.
Guest: Like I said above, other DC characters will be introduced down the line, though, not for a while, but I can say that Aquaman will definitely be among the more prominent heroes in this story.
Guest: Once again, I thank you mate, but I am happy with this story's title, no other title suggestions are needed please.
Guest: Hello mate, I hope this chapter was worth the wait mate and I want to thank you for the kind complement towards my work, those have been in short supply for me as of late.
Guest: I'm honestly not sure how to respond this suggestion, other than this is a Superman story, not a Green Lantern story, though the character Hal Jordan himself will most likely be appearing somewhere in the future down the line.
Guest: Thank you again for the suggestions my friend, though I would like to point out that while it hasn't been especially prominent yet, mainly because Kal and most of the Amazons daughters are too young for any romantic relationships, that LQBT has been a part of the story since the very beginning, it just hasn't really put into focus, but aside from Hippolyta herself, all of the Amazons who have daughters are in a romantic relationship with another Amazon, all of Diana's friends have two mothers each, though I will try to elaborate on who is with who and who is whose daughter in the future.
Guest: Thank you for the suggestion and you can expect Kal to explore the world beyond Themyscira as he grows up and his legend spreads across to other superbeings before his destined confrontation with Hercules happens. Though I will say to any and all Batman fans among my readers, while I do respect the character as one of the greatest superheroes of all time, he is not a prominent character in this story, if at all, if Batman ever does appear in my story, it will not be in the manner you would expect him to.
Guest: Hello mate, while I am familiar with Cassandra from the Tangled series, I was formerly not aware of Catra from She-Ra, but after doing some research on her character though, I can definitely see the similarities between her and Alkyone, though I still find Catra far more sympathetic.
As for exactly who Alkyone thinks she is, the answer is the hero of her own story, a story that ends with her and Hippolyta together and Kal dead at the end of her blade, with her also getting Diana as a bonus and leading the Amazons to one day conquer Man's World.
I don't think it's too much of spoiler to say that none of those things are going to happen, but then again, Alkyone is arrogant, delusional and as you said, a very toxic person, let me assure you, she's already a villain in this story and will definitely be getting what she deserves before this story is over, while Diana is certainly an option, who exactly will deliver the killing blow to Alkyone's fantasies is still undecided at this point.
Guest: To answer your question, no, the Olympians know very little about the Kryptonians, and the Amazons even less, which given their isolation policy after the Fall of Ancient Greece, makes sense and why Kal can pass off so easily as Demigod in their society.
Guest: Honestly, I don't know myself yet if Lois will appear in this story and if she does, it will probably only be a very minor role.
My List of References featured in this Chapter.
1. The title of this chapter is a reference to the DC film Birds of Prey
2. Kal killing a Stymphalian Stork by ripping its beak off is a reference to Fang the Bluestripe Tyrannosaurus Rex killing one of the three Redhorned Tyrannosaurus Rex's by ripping its snout off from Primal Season 1 Episode 1: Spear and Fang.
3. Alectryon saying. "Well, that was nuts!" is a reference to Dagget's "That was nuts!" catchphrase from Angry Beavers.
4. Alectryon telling Apollo that. "Olympus would be that way." is a reference to Hades telling the Titans that. "Olympus would be that way." from Disney's Hercules.
5. Apollo calling out Hermes name when he thinks he is being watched is a reference to Pumba calling out Timon's name when he thinks he is being watched from The Lion King.
6. The mysterious woman looking down at Apollo and Alectryon from the cliffs is a reference to Scar looking down on Simba and Nala from higher up in the Elephant Graveyard from The Lion King.
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 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 so far.
Big thanks to SuperWonderStan, ManOfSteel, Luke5921, cabrera1234, Joel, HeartOfChaos13, GR8ER3241, Kalel4444, JustAnotherIntern14, Erika Lopes, SilveerKnighT, SuperKamiGuest, dakota, Shall-lin, d,Chinook, MoonKnight030, StevenBodner, Daka, evolution-500, Goldenhue, welcome007, Dak, Arik Kkuznetsov, Yeye anaawangazia, HaywireEagle, TheCrackKing, Artimuos Sen, CrazyCaz, Bashleyz, Falcon6, Al, 80sarcades, Vahn, Djberneman, XxGargantuaxX, beastblau12, epantoja521, Supabec, gomezgerman17, give-evil-a-win, justareader21, ed, Ltbutterfly287, Barbatos, DaddysLiitleGirl, Bigreader in the Omniverse and all of my unnamed guest reviewers.
Please keep the kind 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.