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 21: The Rhodes Less Travelled
Somewhere high over the Aegean Sea, near the Island of Rhodes…
Night had fallen and the moon had risen, but the sun was still high in the sky, well… the Sun God… anyway…
Like a flaming comet shooting across the dark atmosphere, Apollo flew across the starry night sky on his solare chariot, his two Sun Steeds neighing in excitement as they galloped on the air itself, powered by their flaming hooves whilst an equally flaming bird flapped furiously behind them, desperately trying to keep up with the chariot and its rider.
Speaking of which…
"Apollo… please… remind me… again." Alectryon asked between tired pants as he hurriedly flapped his fiery wings, desperately trying to keep pace with his Olympian friend on his two-horse powered chariot. "WHY EXACTLY COULDN'T I RIDE WITH YOU?!"
"Because Alectryon, my fiery, feathered friend, as I already told you before." Apollo explained once more calmly over the night wind. "I didn't want you sitting on my aching shoulder for the entire flight, repeatedly squawking into my ear 'Apollo, are we there yet? Are we there yet?" The Sun God said, finishing in a mocking impersonation of his bird friend's screecher voice, a smirk appearing across his handsome face as he saw the frown form on Alectryon's beaked one.
"Besides, soon enough, it won't matter Alectryon." Apollo said as he gazed their destination in the not-so far distance. "Were almost there."
"Well, thank the All-Mother Rhea for that at least and not for her grandson's selfishness regarding his shoulders." Alectryon gasped in relief before he resumed his previous complaining. "We've been flying since we left Themyscira Apollo; I think my wings are about to fall off!"
Apollo smirk just widened as he briefly glanced down at what was coming up below them before looking at his still oblivious avian companion. "Well, if you're really that tired of flying Alectryon… you could always take a break on the plane."
"Plane? What plane-AHHH!" Alectryon began to ask only for his question to descend into an alarmed cry as a massive airplane emerged from the mass of clouds below him like the head of a great Hippocampus Maximus from the waves, whilst Apollo and his thankful cloaked Sun Steed pulled chariot, safely veered off to the side.
Alectryon meanwhile, not so much…
"HEY! WATCH WERE YOUR GOING! YOU MORTAL MORONS!" Alectryon angrily shrieked just as he slammed into the plane's windscreen, screeching as loud as he possibly could over the roar of the plane's engine at the two pilots in the cockpit who stared up at him in shock. "I'M FLYING HERE!"
The Phoenix then slid off their windscreen and began to rapidly tumble down the side of the plane at high speed, bouncing off the metal frame several times and giving a few people who happen to be looking out their windows at the time, a rather big shock. As Alectryon desperately tried to hang onto the right wing, even stabbing his talons and then his beak through the metal plating, before slowly being pried loose as the plane suddenly pivoted and he was abruptly dislodged.
Momentarily overpowered by the enormous amount of air displacement of the massive, modern-day aircraft as it flew on ahead without delay, the Phoenix was sent tumbling backwards through the air, wings flapping out of control, and hurtling fast towards the ocean below, screeching in fear all the while.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I'M GOING DOWN! I'M GOING DOWN! GALE TOO STRONG! WINGS USELESS! OCEAN RAPIDLY APPROCAHING FACE! APOLLO! YOU OLYMPIAN ASSHOLE! HELP ME!
Then, just as Alectryon was about to painfully collide with the oceans, cold, hard surface, Apollo blazed on by and caught the falling Phoenix in his arms before flying back up into the air as they neared their destination.
"You can open your eyes now Alectryon." The Sun God said rather smugly to the shaking Phoenix, cradled in his left arm, who was lying on his back with his wings covering his beaked face. "The plane ride is over."
Slowly, the firebird lowered his wings and unruffled his feathers before repositioning himself onto the Sun God's shoulder. "I hate it when we run into those flying mortal contraptions, I miss the days when we had the skies practically all to ourselves Apollo, back when they only thing we had to worry about in the air was Harpies, Griffins, and Dragons."
At these unfortunately true words from his feathered friend, Apollo felt the smirk on his face fall as quickly as Rome once did, because as unintentional as Alectryon's remark had been, they still rang through Apollo's ears with an air of bitter truth to them.
Things had changed since the days of Ancient Greece…
"Yeah, me to Alectryon, me to." Apollo said quietly, the Sun God becoming reflective and quiet as Alectryon, noticing his friend's sudden somber mood and wrapped a comforting wing around his shoulder.
After that, the pair of fiery immortals spent the rest of the short flight to the island of Rhodes in surprising silence before finally landing their Sun Steed pulled solare chariot on an isolated stretch of shoreline, surrounded by rocky cover, far away from prying mortal eyes.
Well, here I am Helios, Apollo thought to himself as if he was speaking to his teacher, as he and Alectryon finally reached the island he often tried to avoid as much as possible since the Fall of Ancient Greece, back at the road least travelled, pardon the pun, master.
"Okay folks, we are just about to come in for our landing now and will be disembarking very shortly, but we ask that until then, you all please remain standing until the chariot comes to a complete stop." Alectryon said aloud to all those listening, mainly himself as Apollo focused on the task at hand, in this case, landing a golden chariot pulled by a pair of fiery equines onto a sandy beach without drawing attention to themselves. "We do hope you have enjoyed flying with us tonight, we our aware that you have a wide variety of Olympian travel options out there to choose from, so thank you once again for choosing Apollo and Alectryon Air."
"Okay, Alectryon, give it a rest, please, where here… finally." Apollo said as he stepped off his chariot and walked a short way from it as Alectryon flapped off his shoulder to unhook Pyrois and Eous from their reins all while to muttering to pointedly to himself that his colourful avian commentary was never appreciated.
The Sun God looked up at the winding pathway that led up the rocky cliffs, beyond them lay the island of Rhodes itself, the original realm of the Telchines before Helios had banished them all, after it had been discovered that some of them had been performing dark experiments on the mortals living here, where as the Sun God had then taken it for his own divine domain in order to fix the damage those magical mongrels had caused with their accursed witchcraft.
It was here, on this very island, where Apollo had been trained by the former Sun God himself after the death of his own son, Phaethon the Fearless, not long before the Telchines bitter exile from it.
Though Apollo was loathed to admit it, but much had changed on this island since his mentor's time and he couldn't imagine what Helios would think of his former place of worship now… or of his former star student as well.
"Are you ready for this Apollo?"
"I'm ready Helios."
"Then by all means, mighty Serpentslayer… have at me."
Apollo couldn't help but sigh as old memories of his more innocent years came rushing back to him like the waves his cousin Triton loved to surf so very much on, memories of sword training with Helios on this very beach, duelling against his mentor… with him losing most of their matches while a crowd of worshipful admirers watched them in awe, his harem of Muses and mother Leto among them, cheering him on as the Serpentslayer fought the Lord of Light.
"Are you ready to admit defeat yet, my fiery protégé?"
"Not likely master, this time Helios, this time, you will fall and I will rise."
"Are you sure about that, Apollo?"
"Are you sure about this, Apollo?"
The haunting echo of Helios long dead voice was suddenly replaced by the sound Alectryon's living one as Apollo turned his head and realised his Phoenix friend was perched on a large boulder beside him, looking at him with clear concern in his golden raptorial eyes.
"No, but I didn't come this far just to turn back now." Apollo firmly said just before he ironically turned back around as with the push of a button, his solare chariot began to collapse and fold in on itself until it had shrunken down into the size of toy model chariot, which he promptly picked up and placed on his person. "Because one thing I am sure about, is that we are at a crossroads of destiny, I can feel it Alectryon."
"So, this unexpected little Rhode trip of ours IS about your vision from earlier today?" Alectryon asked on as Apollo instructed his two Sun Steeds to fly off and remain out of sight until he whistled for them. "This is about that boy. Isn't it Apollo? You think he's-."
"I don't know what to think right now Alectryon… and that's what unnerves me the most about of all of this." Apollo admitted, turning around and slowly looking back up to the cliff's tops. "But what I saw in my visions… what I think I saw anyway, I can't just ignore it, my destiny is calling me and in order to face it, I need answers, and there's only one place in Greece I can go to get them."
"And what if you go up there and you don't get them Apollo?" The Phoenix questioned pointedly. "Or worse, what if their answers you don't like?"
"Then at least I can say I wasn't a coward who ran away from his destiny just because he was afraid it wasn't a good one." Apollo answered the question quickly, like he had been rehearsing it in his head during the whole trip here, which he had. "And at least I won't spend every day after this one, wondering about what my vision really meant, haunted by my decision to just forget and do nothing at all."
I've had more than enough of that in my life already, Apollo thought bitterly to himself before taking a deep breath and finally turning to face his Phoenix friend. "But it's my destiny, Alectryon, not yours, I won't hold it against you if you decide you'd rather stay-."
"Yeah, right pretty boy." Alectryon said, cutting Apollo off before flapping up onto his friend's shoulder. "I didn't just fly halfway across the Aegean Sea so I can sit on a rock like a Penguin while you go off conversing with the three crypt creepers about your dumb destiny Apollo, I'm no chicken, I'm going with you."
At this pretty much expected response from his fiery familiar, Apollo smiled gratefully and was about to voice his appreciation for his friend's loyalty, when he heard… something… coming from right behind the rocks, right behind them.
The Sun God narrowed his orange eyes, immediately pulled his Dragonfang Bow out and quickly summoned a flaming arrow before spinning around, then with the same deadly precision that had shot Dragons out of the sky during the Scourge of the Serpents where he had first made his name by slaying the Last Great Serpent from the North, Python the Constrictor before he could devour both his mother and sister, Apollo waited for his enemy to show itself.
AAARRRFFF!
After that most unthreatening of sounds, a large Fur Seal inched itself out from behind the rocks innocently enough. The marine mammal looked at the Sun God who still had his lethal arrow aimed at its blubbery body with naïve curiosity, before rolling on its side in the sand, exposing it's even more unprotected underbelly and just lay there in the sand, not even bothering to waddle away in fear from the Olympian assassin who stared at it in shock.
AAARRRFFF!
Suddenly feeling very foolish at that moment, Apollo quickly put his bow and arrow away and really hoped that no other immortals beside the feathered one on his shoulder were around to see that, and speaking of the fiery and feathered immortal on his shoulder…
"Well, that was both anticlimactic and very embarrassing for you Apollo." Alectryon commented in his usual dry and snarky tone before turning to his Olympian friend. "What's next pretty boy? You gonna shoot the next sheep in the face that happens to give you an evil eye?"
"Oh! Shut up you bird brain and that goes double for you! Shark bait!" Apollo said angrily to both the unimpressed Phoenix and the rather bemused looking Seal staring up at him. "Your cute little Seal act does not fool me for a second, so you better not be here when I get back if you know what's good for you." The Sun God told the aquatic mammal, who just continued to stare at him, clearly unphased by the Olympian's threat before Apollo turned and walked away in a huff, feeling both very angry and very embarrassed at that moment.
I really hope Artemis or Hermes aren't somewhere nearby and just saw that, Apollo thought nervously to himself, or Artemis will think I'm going mad, and Hermes will never let me live it down.
"Way to tell old sardine breath there off, pretty boy, I think you really scared her." Alectryon said dryly, looking back over his winged shoulder at the Seal who just continued to lay there, staring at them with innocent interest. "Seriously Apollo, sometimes, I think you're getting as paranoid as your father."
At hearing those words, Apollo stopped so suddenly that Alectryon actually lurched forward from his perch on the Sun God's shoulder, flapping his wings to keep himself from falling off, Alectryon turned and saw Apollo staring at him with searing red eyes that seem to burn into his very soul.
Suddenly, the Phoenix quickly regretted his choice of words and chirped out a very sincere apology. "Sorry Apollo, I… didn't mean it like that."
The Sun God stared at his feathered familiar a moment longer before sighing and dropping his glare as he quickly found himself forgiving his feathered friend who was now looking at him in genuine concern. "It's alright, I know you didn't Alectryon, it's just… ever since we left Themyscira, I can't shake the feeling that something has been… watching us, and what's more… watching us for a while."
Sun… Spawn…
An old whisper on the wind caused yet another old, but much less fond memory from Apollo's time here on Rhodes in his youth to resurface, as he thought back to one of his earliest encounters with the island's soon to be exiled eldest princess.
"Bravo, bravo, yet another triumphant victory for the noble Lord of Light and an even MORE stunning defeat for the great Serpentslayer."
"A great disappoint is more like it, no wonder his philandering father doesn't want to acknowledge him."
"Are you sure that Great Serpent you slayed wasn't really just an overgrown Underworld Wyrm, bastard?"
Apollo growled at the resurfaced memory of mockery by Makelo's daughter and her princess posse of foul followers as their respective mother's watched the scene take place with growing concern.
"Lord Helios, you really should look into finding a more worthy protégé besides your king's and Queen Leto's bastard son, one of your own, perhaps?"
"That is enough! From all of you! My apologises, Lord Helios and Queen Leto, my daughter and her friends refuse to learn when to show proper respect to the children of the Great and Mighty Zeus."
"Well, to be fair mother, we encounter so many of them, it's just so hard to remember WHO isn't a Child of Zeus anymore."
The shining Olympian snarled angrily as the imprints of those insults spoken from those long dead still came back to haunt him to this very day, as he stood upon the very beach where they had all been said all those centuries ago… where he had met HER for the very first time…
"I said enough! We are leaving this instant, and we will talk about your behaviour when we get back home! Daughter!"
"As you command mother, good day to you my Lord of Light and Queen of Nymphs, and good riddance to you, my Brightest Bastard of Zeus."
Apollo briefly recalled his mother calling out to him and Helios trying to stop him from doing something stupid as he suddenly rushed forward to confront the lesser divine being who thought she could talk down to him solely on account of his bastard birth.
"I am the Son of Queen Leto and the Student of Lord Helios, I'm more royal than you will ever be and one day, you will regret speaking to me with such disrespect, Witch, I promise you that."
The way she had smiled at him after he declared that promise of retribution had been forever seared into his psyche from that day since... along with her response.
"Not as much as you will regret crossing my path, Sun Spawn..."
As the whispers of unpleasant memories slowly faded away on the ocean breeze, the Sun God cast a suspicious eye over their dark and sandy surroundings.
Whilst all seemed normal on this otherwise empty strip of shoreline and the blackened ocean beyond, Apollo had not become his pantheon's Greatest Assassin by being complacent and easily snuck up on, no… he knew, he just knew, that someone, somewhere was watching them…
…but still, aside from himself, Alectryon and the Seal on the shore, there was no one else there…
"Well pretty boy, if there really is something we need to be worried about, we aren't going to get any answers by standing on a deserted beach." Alectryon said, apparently back to his usual snarky self after that moment of uncomfortably long silence. "Let's head into the city already."
Shaking himself out of his suspicious state, Apollo nodded in agreement. "Agreed, but first, it's time for disguises." The Sun God then snapped his fingers, and his Olympian body was suddenly enveloped in a brilliant flash of blinding light, that faded away just as quickly, to reveal a less shiny, more mortal looking Apollo, his weapons, armour, and war skirt all gone, replaced by a more modern attire, of a pair of black sunglasses, blue jeans, and an unbuttoned white t-shirt.
"Well, how do I look Alectryon?" Apollo asked his Phoenix friend as he adjusted the sunglasses on his face to peer out of the corner of them at the firebird on his shoulder.
"Mortal, but still unbelievably good-looking Apollo." The firebird said dryly. "But I still don't understand why you always insist on wearing sunglasses in your mortal disguise though, you don't need them, especially at nighttime when it makes zero sense at all."
"Hey, I look good in them, and I like to have something to help represent my sunny disposition, even when I'm in disguise." Apollo said defensively as he pushed the sunglasses back on his face. "Now for your disguise Alectryon."
"Great, okay, for me Apollo, I would prefer something a little more noble looking for my mortal disguise, please." The Phoenix said excitedly. "Like maybe a Hawk or Falcon, I'd look good as either of those birds."
At this, Apollo just gave his friend an apologetic look. "Well, I'm sure you would my feathered friend, however, I'm sorry Alectryon, but I only have one other alternate form for you, and unfortunately… it's your old one."
"What? My old one?" Alectryon asked in apparent confusion before he saw the unfortunate look Apollo was giving him and his expression turned to pure horror. "No! No! Apollo! No! Not again! I promised myself I would never be reduced to such an embarrassing state of existence ever again!"
"Alectryon, I'm sorry, but there really is other choice here, so please just calm down and-." The disguised deity said as encouragingly as he could, but the Phoenix was having none of it and leapt off Apollo's shoulder before flapping away as fast as he could, still shouting his declaration of defiance as he did so.
"NO! NEVER AGAIN APOLLO! NEVER AGAIN!"
"…I hate it when he gets difficult about this." Apollo muttered to himself as he formed a ball of light in his right hand, a little trick he had learned a long time ago from Hecate. "It actually makes me feel bad for having to do it anyway."
With the same awesome aim that had made him a legend with the bow and arrow, Apollo turned and threw the ball of light at the fleeing Phoenix, the sphere of promethium flame caught up to the firebird in no time at all and like Apollo himself, enveloped the immortal avian in a transformative light.
KEEKEEREEKOODOO!
As the light faded away, it was followed by the iconic sound of a male farm fowl which echoed loudly across the almost empty stretch of beach, moments later, a black and red Rooster fell onto the sand beak first.
The Rooster immediately pulled himself out of the sand a moment later, standing up on its spurred feet, the farm bird looked down at itself in apparent dismay as Apollo walked over to it, before giving a rather loud and understandable response to his current place in the food chain.
"AAAWWW! CCCRRRAAAPPP!"
"Sorry Alectryon, but this is the only way I can take you into town with me." Apollo explained as he picked up his now near flightless friend and placed him back on his shoulder. "I might be able to pass as a godly good-looking mortal, but a flaming bird of prey well definitely draw unwanted attention, don't worry, its only until we get where we need to be."
"Fine, let's just get this over with already, Apollo." Alectryon said sighing in sadness, even as his Olympian friend tried to cheer him up. "At least there no one to laugh at me this time."
AAARRRFFF!
The now disguised duo turned to see that the Fur Seal had now wriggled even closer to them and was clearly laughing in amusement at Alectryon current situation.
AAARRRFFF! AAARRRFFF! AAARRRFFF!
Despite now being both near flameless and flightless, Alectryon still retained his fiery temper in his not-so Kentucky fried form, the Rooster squawked angrily at the Fur Seal. "Oh, you think this funny Blubber Butt! Let's see how funny you think this is after I use my spurs to gouge your black, pupilless eyes out!"
The Seal's response was to only bark even harder in laughter, at which point Alectryon gave an almost demonic screech and launched himself at the marine mammal, more than ready to slash his talons across its adorable, unassuming face-
-only for Apollo to grab his feathered friend by his legs and hang onto him as the Rooster fruitlessly tried to flap his way free and fly over to the still laughing Fur Seal. "Apollo! Let me go! Let me go! She deserves this! I deserve this! Don't deny me this! Apollo! PLEASE!"
"I know, I know Alectryon, but we have more important things to do tonight than you slaughtering a sea life." The Olympian said as he walked towards the path up the cliffs towards the city of Rhodes, still holding onto his feathered, flapping friend tightly in his grasp as he continued to desperately try to escape it. "We can both get our revenge on that Seal later, but for right now, we have somewhere to be, come on."
The Fur Seal, meanwhile, just watched as it had been doing all this time as the duo of unlikely immortals made their way up the steep cliffs, still snarking at each other all the way to the top.
AAARRRFFF!
The Seal barked one last time in apparent amusement as it heard their voices fade away before waddling back behind the rocky corner from whence it came and disappearing from view.
A little while later, in the middle of the City of Rhodes…
As Apollo and Alectryon made their way through the now modern island City of Rhodes, the Sun God couldn't help but recall back to a not-so-distant time when he could walk down these streets without a mortal disguise on his godly self.
Whereas before he would gladly welcome all the attention from the mortal citizens of Rhodes to his shining self as much as possible, especially from all the lovely young island ladies…
Back when he had been Helios's student and his master was still the God of the Sun, he had spent a lot of time here, on these very streets, playing his lyre on shop corners, showing off his skills in the archery field or performing in the local theatre to the joy of his audience.
Sometimes, if he listened, Apollo could still hear the cheering…
"Apollo creates another musical masterpiece!"
"Apollo makes another incredible shot!"
"Apollo gives another breath-taking performance!"
For a time, it was all Apollo had ever wanted from his life and truly, he had wanted it to last forever…
… but it couldn't, and those times were long gone…
… as were the shops whose corners he had played his iconic instrument on, replaced with more modern stores and buildings, the archery field he had shown off at now had a hotel built over it, the local theatre he had performed in had long since been torn down and as for all those lovely young island ladies… well, the less said about mortal affairs… the better he supposed…
But truly, even before the world had changed and all but forgotten him, most of the things and people Apollo had loved in his life had died a long, long time ago…
Apollo sighed bitterly as more memories came back to him as he and Alectryon traversing the late-night city streets, the only glances the Olympian were getting due to either Apollo's obvious good looks or the fact he had a large Rooster perched on his shoulder.
All of which the Sun God was extremely thankful for as he became lost in his own thoughts once more, whether he liked it or not.
Because no matter how much he tried to forget over the years, with the aid of either wine or women, Apollo just couldn't forget the Ravaging of Rhodes.
He couldn't forget the day Helios had died.
And as he began to remember, Apollo began to sing softly to himself.
(Oh, misty eyes of the All-Mother Above)
(Please keep careful watch over my master's soul)
(Even if the sky should be filled with fire and smoke)
(Keep watching over the true God of the Sun)
Before the day Ancient Greece had Fallen and the Greek Gods had all but been forgotten by most of their mortal worshippers, he and Alectryon had been here during what would be the Telchines very last rebellion… Apollo had made sure of that himself.
When those treacherous creatures had used their foul sorcery to bring the great bronze statue of his former master, the one the mortals had called the Colossus of Rhodes, to life, in order to lay waste to the island of the former Titan turned Olympian Sun God.
(For if this is to end in fire, teacher)
(Then we should both burn together)
(Watch those flames climb high into the sky)
They had made his master's monument destroy his own city, crush his own worshippers and demolish his own temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the Grecian World, gone in an instant, reduced to a pile rubble in a smoking crater, forgotten by the mortals in a mere generation.
The Telchines had decided that if they could not have their original island back, then no one could, but they would not be satisfied with just killing the former Sun God's worshippers and razing his city to the ground, they wanted the life of the one who had banished them in the first place as well, they wanted to slay the God of the Sun… and despite Apollo's best efforts, they had succeeded.
(Calling out for Helios)
(Fight on young Apollo)
(Watch the flames burn on and on)
(The Rhodes side, hey)
During that dreadful day, one sun had fallen, and another had risen, in grief and rage and vengeance.
When Apollo had heard that the Telchines were ravaging his master home island, he had raced over to help his teacher as fast as he possibly could on his chariot pulled by Eous and Pyrois, with Alectryon flapping furiously after him.
(And if we should die tonight, master)
(Then we should both die together)
(Race across the open sky for the last time)
The rest of his pantheon were either too far away to help or were busy dealing with their own divine conflicts at the time, the Telchines had been hitting the Greek Gods places of worship fiercely and more frequently with guerrilla warfare tactics following the death of the Olympians third and final Hecatonchires.
Of course, those cowardly cretins were never brave enough to directly oppose his pantheon as long as they had at least one of their living super weapons standing by their side, but the moment after Briareus and his brothers Cottus and Gyges were each slain in battle against the Titans, the Giants and Typhon respectively, that had all changed.
(Calling out for my Lord Helios)
(Protect the Fates, young Apollo)
(Watch the flames burn on and on)
(The island side)
(Desolation comes upon the sky)
First, they had sunk his uncle Poseidon's city of Atlantis, one of the greatest civilisations in the Greek World. Then, they had dared to cause the desolating of his beloved island of Delphi and now, now the Telchines were ravaging Rhodes as well and it was up to just the two of them to help Helios stop them.
They had failed… he… had failed.
(Now I see fire)
(All over the island)
(And I see fire)
(Burning the trees)
(And I see fire)
Apollo looked up at the night sky and remembered back to the day where it had been field with nothing but fire, smoke and the roars of an enormous metal monster made in the shape of God.
When he and Alectryon had finally made it to the island, most of it was either already in ruins or on fire and they were shocked to find Helios locked in battle against his own massive monument.
(Hollowing souls)
(And I see fire)
(Blood in the sea)
(And I hope that you remember me)
The Colossus of Rhodes, with dark glowing eyes and blackened bronze skin, stood high over the burning buildings like a victorious war leader after a successful military campaign. With limbs powered by the metallurgy magic from the Telchine that Apollo knew was piloting it from inside its hollowed head, the now alive Automaton swatted at the pair of Greek Gods atop their two horse pulled chariots like they were nothing more than mere flies to it… which they pretty much were.
(Oh, should my mentor fall)
(Then surely, I'll do the same)
(Confined inside the Colossus of Rhodes)
(The Telchines got too close to the flames)
Because unfortunately for Helios and himself, unlike the Great Serpent Python whose slaying had made Apollo famous or many of the Giants they had felled together during the Siege of Mount Olympus, the Colossus of Rhodes was not a creature made of flesh and blood.
No, the great bronze beast of an Automaton had no obvious weak points to exploit or instant kill spots to aim for, combined with the fact that its durability had been increased greatly by the Telchines mastery of metallurgy, had made taking it down that much harder, even for two powerful Greek Gods like themselves.
(Calling out for my Lord Helios)
(Protect the Fates, young Apollo)
(Watch the flames burn on and on)
(The island side)
(Desolation comes upon the sky)
With blinding light arrows and great flaming balls of fire, the student and master duo of Apollo and Helios, fought side by side, high in the air over the ravaged island of Rhodes while a magic fuelled, crazed Colossus tried to crush them with its huge hands…
… and eventually, it had succeeded, with help that is…
(Now I see fire)
(All over the island)
(And I see fire)
(Burning the trees)
(And I see fire)
Just as he and Helios were beginning to turn the tide of battle, a certain female Telchine that Apollo knew all too well, came flying in atop a dark feathered and furred Griffin, wielding a bolt of dark magic lighting that when thrown, severed the otherwise unbreakable connection between his master's solare chariot and the two Sun Steeds pulling it.
"LORD OF LIGHT! ITS TIME FOR YOUR SUN TO FINALLY SET!"
Apollo remembered watching in horror as Helios helplessly began to fall from the sky with his now horseless chariot, only to be caught in the open hand of the Colossus, who promptly crushed both the Sun God and his once glorious solare chariot, though thankfully, Helios had survived said crushing whereas his chariot had not.
(Hollowing souls)
(And I see fire)
(Blood in the sea)
(And I hope that you remember me)
Then, as if his teacher was nothing but trash to the Colossus that had been carved in his image, the massive Automaton threw Helios to the other side of the island along with the wrecked remains of his chariot, whilst Apollo screamed his mentor's name as his two Sun Steed's raced after their falling master.
"HELIOS!"
His mentor's words to him as he had been thrown across the sky like a falling star had been forever seared into Apollo's mind from that day forward.
"KEEP FIGHTING APOLLO! PROTECT THE FATES!"
So, he did, instead of going after his fallen master, Apollo had stayed and fought, he fought the hundred-and fifty-foot-tall Colossus of Rhodes… and he won.
(And if the night is burning)
(I will cover my eyes)
(For if the Defiler returns)
(Then my master will die)
After charging up his Dragonfang Bow to full power, Apollo jammed his now volatile weapon into the front of his chariot had before telling Alectryon to blind the automatons eyes with his Phoenix Flash attack, then ordered his two Sun Steeds to charge full throttle towards the Colossus's chest, just before disconnecting his solare chariot from them and leaping back with the power of his Zephyrus Wings.
The pair of now freed Sun Steeds flew around the blinded Colossus just before the now explosive chariot slammed into the Automaton's chest with enough force to actually knock it back a few steps and blew a hole in its torso just large enough for Apollo to fly into, which he did.
(And as the sun came falling down)
(It crashed into this lovely isle)
(And with the Colossus upon the ground)
(I hear my lord's people screaming out)
With the Colossus weakened from the unexpected explosion and its mind-controlled connection to its Telchine master interrupted for the moment, Apollo closed his eyes and did what Helios had been trying to teach him to do since he had first become his student… to unleash the true Power of the Sun.
(Now I see fire)
(All over the island)
(I see fire)
(Burning the trees)
(I see fire)
Apollo vaguely recalled the Colossus's man-sized fingers trying to fit through the hole in its chest, trying to reach him as he stood inside that dark magic infested, monstrous monument just before light and fire had filled his vison and consumed his very world.
Over the roar of the inferno now raging all around him, Apollo could just barely hear the agonised screams of the unfortunate Telchine pilot as he was instantly cooked alive by the rising fire, a sound that had made him smile as the flames quickly spread to the Automatons arms and legs as well.
(Hollowing souls)
(I see fire)
(Blood in the sea)
(I see fire)
Moments later, in a massive explosion of blazing bronze and melted metal, the Colossus of Rhodes had been destroyed, its arms, legs and torso all reduced to fiery fragments that had burned into oblivion before they could even reach the ground, only it's head, with fire still coming out of its screaming mouthing and smoke billowing from its blown-out eyes had remained, mostly intact as it had been blasted off its exploding shoulder.
The Head of the Colossus was now all that was left of the once great monument to his master, and it had been long forgotten by the mortal world, flung and fallen into the island's dark catacombs below.
(Oh, you know I saw a city burning out)
(fire)
(And I see fire)
(Feel the heat upon my skin, yeah)
(fire)
(And I see fire)
(fire)
(And I see fire burn on and on the Rhodes side)
Which was exactly where Apollo was heading, to the Catacombs of Rhodes, where the Colossus head lay, it was time to face his destiny…
… it was time to have a long overdue meeting with the Sisters of Fate…
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 21: The Rhodes Less Travelled, and for all of you who are wondering, don't worry, I do intend to do a chapter explaining the aftermath with the Harpies coming for Kal sometime soon, I just wanted to write this group of chapters first as it's been on my mind for a while now.
Also, sorry about the long chapter delays lately guys, but I've been rather depressed and stressed out as of late and unfortunately, it has affected my writing speed quite a lot, but I am getting better.
Now onto answering some more fan questions from all of you guys…
SuperWonderStan: First off, sorry mate, I somehow forgot to respond to your latest review during the last chapters list of answered questions, second, thank you for writing it as I did really work on that chapter, the fight between Kal and Hermes in particular, which I tried to make the best it could possibly be, with witty banter, exciting action, and real strategy on the part of both of our combatants.
I wanted to portray Kal's developing natural warrior skill and hard years of training in the fight along with what he had recently learned from his earlier failure chasing after Hermes in regard to cunning in battle as well as Rao exercise of his newfound super speed.
As for the Messenger of the Gods himself, I wanted to show that despite his more laid-back persona, Hermes is by no means a pushover and actually can back up his words when he wants, but he has also rarely ever had to fight someone who can actually rival himself in terms of speed, which makes their fight a little more eventually matched.
Still, with some surprising encouragement from both Hermes and Rao, Kal managed to come out on top and survive the storm, quite literally, with his new Winged Boots taken as the spoils of war, you should think of Hermes as like the first boss in a video game, someone fairly easy to beat in a fight in comparison to much later opponents, because Kal will be fighting against other Gods in this story.
ManOfSteel: Thank you mate, I'm pleased to hear that you were speechless and that the last chapter was worth the wait and for the record, I hope this one was too.
Yes, if there's one thing studying Greek Mythology has taught me, it's that the Olympians tend to bicker with each a lot over the most trivial things, when they aren't fighting their enemies, their fighting each other.
Though I do feel like it makes them surprisingly relatable I think, these are not the all-knowing, all-seeing deities that people often think they are, they are more like long-lived and incredibly powerful human celebrities, which is in itself, quite fitting, as there's always a lot of controversy about both famous people and the Greek Gods.
Indeed, after this, word Kal beating Hermes, being Hippolyta's son and being made the new Champion of Themyscira, is going to spread rather quickly to the other members of the Greek Pantheon, whether Hera and her worshippers like it or not, he's a new and unknown element thrown into the Olympians plotting against one another and their interest in him will not be able to be ignored.
So… yeah, if you think Hermes gave Kal a tough time, just wait until he meets Olympians like Ares or Poseidon… or even worse… Zeus…
I can safely say this though, all the Greek Gods who Kal has met so far as of this chapter, Hera, Apollo, Hermes, Persephone, and Iris are all on his side, their reasons for doing so may vary, but all five of them stand opposed to any who wish to harm him.
Barbatos: Hello mate and to answer your question, yes, they do, but it's not really a case of want, it's more a matter of need, because like it or not, the monster who brought down the Ancient Greek world is coming not just for the Amazons of Themyscira, but for the rest of Man's World as well, hence, they need a being who can match the world's most powerful Demigod muscle for muscle, it's not about morality, it's about survival, but hey, that's war for you.
As for where exactly Rao is during all of this, physically, somewhere on a shattered moon still around the smoking ruins of Krypton, spiritually, with Kal, quite literally, as Rao is always with Kal, helping him whenever he needs him, but still, there are limits to what even he can do in this story.
DaddysLiitleGirl: For the record mate, I also thank God that you decided to open the link to this story to, after a few less than complementary reviews as of late, seeing a kinder one from a new follower is just what I needed to help me get back into writing again, kind reviews are the fuel that keeps this story going.
I'm glad you are enjoying my portrayal of Persephone so far, as there are a lot less stories about her written down in Greek Mythology, It allows me to get to be a little more creative with her personality in comparison to other Greek Gods.
Yes, don't we all love the most stable martial relationship in the entire Greek Pantheon, for the record, I see the whole kidnapping affair just as a blown out of proportion elopement from Demeter, and the tricking her into eating pomegranate seeds to tie his new wife to the Underworld for half a new as just a moment of weakness on Hades' part, we all have them, now if he permanently kept her in the Underworld forever, then he would be crossing a moral line.
As for Hades himself, the King of the Underworld will definitely be showing up this story later on, probably before either Poseidon or Zeus will in fact, and he and Kal will meet face to face…
Also, I'm glad you found the banter between Apollo and his Phoenix friend Alectryon funny, it's harder to write comedic moments then you might think.
Bigreader in the Omniverse: The reference to the myth of Hercules strangling two Snakes sent by Hera to kill him when he was an infant was intentional, I was trying to draw a comparison between the two, though in this case, there are some major differences as well.
First off, instead of a two separate Snakes, we got a two headed Snake called the Amphisbaena Viper, it also was not sent by anyone, but rather allowed to be a threat by Alkyone, and unlike Hercules who killed the two snakes in self-defence, Kal did so to protect his mother and sister, he also did not kill the serpents, only threw them away, it was Alkyone who killed the Amphisbaena afterwards when it crossed her path.
This creates a nice contrast between Kal, Hercules and Alkyone, Kal is inherently heroic whereas Hercules and Alkyone are not, also Hercules and Alkyone are inherently bloodthirsty whereas Kal is not.
As for why Alkyone didn't try to kill Diana in this universe in comparison to her comic counterpart, in that universe, the Amazons couldn't have daughters and Alkyone felt that Diana being Hippolyta's daughter was an abomination and a threat to the Amazonian way of life, also due to her own jealousy over not being able to have a child of her own and her general insanity, no matter the universe, that women is not right in the head.
In this universe, the Amazons, specifically partnered ones, can have daughters and while Alkyone doesn't have one yet, that reasoning for her desire to kill Diana is kind of null and void, in this story, its Kal she wants dead, its Kal who she views as an abomination and a threat the Amazonian way of life, as well as her romantic ambitions towards both Hippolyta and Diana.
Now onto the third and final question, technically you are right my friend, Kryptonians are basically Gods and or Demigods to those around them, though it's worth mentioning that the reason the Amazons call Kal a Demigod is because they don't know what a Kryptonian is and the Olympian have had very few interactions with Gods of other Pantheons outside of Greece, especially alien ones.
Guest: Well to be fair, it's only the Queen's Circle and a few other Amazons that actually want Kal dead right now and they don't know the full extent of his abilities yet either, the idea is that they will wait until after he's killed Hercules for them, which most of them think he will die in the process of doing anyway, if he does not die, then they assume he will be too weak to defend himself or otherwise they will catch him unawares as he's recovering.
Yes, obviously, this assassination plan is not going to work out the way they hope, but as I've shown time and time again in this story, Alkyone and her sisters are not right in the head, ultimately their pride in their own warrior abilities and Amazonian arrogance blinds them to the reality of the situation.
As for my nerfing of Superman as you put it mate, I can see what you mean, but I'm trying to make the progression of his powers in this story as organic as possible, like how a playable character in a video game, level's up and becomes more powerful throughout the game, it would also take away some of the shock and awe from other characters in story if Kal had access to all his powers right from the get go, as Persephone herself said, he never stops surprising them.
As for did Kal lose to Diana on purpose during their sparring session? Yes and no, it's meant to ambiguous.
My List of References featured in this Chapter.
1. The title of this chapter is a reference to The Road Less Travelled Book by Scott Peck.
2. Alectryon slamming into a plane's windscreen is a reference to the Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private slamming into a plane's windscreen from Penguins of Madagascar the Movie.
3. Alectryon telling the pilots that he is flying here is a reference to the famous. "Hey, I'm walking here!" Quote from Midnight Cowboy (1969).
4. Alectryon tearing into the plane's wing with his talons as he tries to hold on is a reference to the Gremlin tearing into the plane's wing from Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).
5. Helios title of the Lord of Light is a reference to the Fire God R'hllor who is also known as the Lord of Light from A Song of Ice and Fire Book Series.
6. Python the Constrictor's title of the Last Great Serpent of the North is a reference to Smaug the Terrible title of the Last Great Fire Drake of the North from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
7. Alectryon referring to the three Fates as crypt keepers is a reference to the Crypt Keeper Host from Tales from the Crypt.
8. Apollo and Alectryon donning mortal disguises is a reference to Zim and Gir donning earth disguises from Invader Zim Season 1 Episode 1: The Nightmare Begins.
9. Apollo's lament song for his deceased mentor Helios is based on the I See Fire Song from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
10. Telchines having been responsible for the sinking of Atlantis is a reference to Kratos indirectly causing the sinking of Atlantis from God of War: Ghost of Sparta.
11. Apollo, Alectryon and Helios fighting the Colossus of Rhodes is a reference to Kratos to fighting the Colossus of Rhodes from God of War II.
12. Telchine riding atop a dark feathered and furred Griffin is a reference to the Dark Rider and his Griffin Mount from God of War II.
13. Helios design and attire in this story is based on his character's design from God of War III.
14. Helios crushing defeat at the hands of the Colossus is a reference to his defeat at the hands of Perses the Titan of Destruction in God of War III.
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 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.