PREQUEL


Once upon a time in Olympus, the god of sky and thunder known as Zeus had been head-over-heels for Hera. She never perceived him as a potential love interest, so she declined the opportunity. However, with time, after an unrelenting effort from the King of All, he finally wins over her heart, and they create a family on Mount Olympus. They brought four children into the world. Unfortunately, that did anything but quench his sexual desires as he sought out other women. He constantly committed infidelity against his marriage and birthed other children through his mated women. He had cheated on Hera over a hundred times, but Hera always forgave him in the end. However, he was never off the hook; there was only so much grief and pain the Olympian Queen could manage.

One more betrayal was all it took for Hera to unleash her trump card of a plan to vindicate her husband’s treason. She searched for Typhon and Echidna, the two most feared Titans in Greece. Once gathered, she helped devise a deal for the pair to help claim supremacy over her husband. The Monsters conceived a lion cub, a tiny ball of innocence that would later serve the purpose as a weapon against Zeus. Hera wasted no time taking the cub in her own hands from birth, assuring its parents that she would take exquisite care of it. She trained the feline through each phase of its life, and by the time it reached adulthood, it developed into a man-eating massacre ready to tear anyone and thing apart, of course, given the command.

Eventually, once Hera was confident that she could leave the Lion to his sovereignty, she sent him to Nemea, where the city had a Zeus shrine. The occupants worshiped him religiously, which enraged Hera immensely to the point where she aimed to halt the deification. With the lion guarding the shrine, people could hardly step into it without encountering the deadly beast. And as predicted by the Queen, grazing cattle, walking in the wild, and even sleeping peacefully at home would indeed come to a sudden end for the residents of Nemea. Every day, they witness sheep and fellow tenants vanishing without a trace. The beastly lion often lured warriors to his cave by abducting women and using them as bait. Warriors and combatants would attempt their share at rescuing each damsel in distress; however, they would ultimately walk into their demise. By this time, he was the feared legend. He was dubbed the Nemean Lion.

Watching from afar, Hera had great faith in how this destruction would send a ripple effect against Zeus. However, little did she know, another figure was hidden deep in the shadows of Nemea, prying in on their collude. A lonesome Amazon warrior, Nilda, intervened in the action and attempted to slay the beast; however, her efforts proved dire after long periods. Despite recognizing its natural dispositions as a lion, Nilda deduced that its destructive act on Nemea was abnormal attainment. Her suspicions were confirmed when Hera arrived on the scene, watching her command the lion to destroy the shrine at the site.

Nilda grew sympathetic over the beast, pitying Hera's influence over him. She took the initiative by paying visits to the lion in Nemea whenever Hera was absent, attempting to tame him. It would be exhausting to the Amazonian woman, like beating a dead horse. However, her attempts to win the lion’s trust would eventually come to fruition when it was confronted by a dozen of warrior men to be decimated. The Lion was a witness to Nilda’s unyielding drive to defend his honor, protesting that Hera was the true enemy. Together, they defeated the assembled men, marking the start of their affinity.

Months into their growing bond, Nilda was hammered with mixed emotions. She was relieved and delighted about her intimate relationship with the Nemean Lion, yet troubled and concerned about the reception of her Amazonian tribe, ashamed of what they would perceive her to be if they were to discover her affair. It did not help that she was also pregnant shortly after.

The Nemean Lion left a print on the turf of Nemea, so much that Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, had enough of the charades. He commanded Heracles, son of Zeus by a different woman, with a set of tasks, and one of them was to defeat the beast. Nilda caught wind of the news and was paranoid about the feline monster. The Lion was dismissive of her constant pleads to flee Nemea, headstrong in counteracting whatever malicious threat stood unwelcomed on his newly claimed territory.

Refusing to risk putting her unborn child in harm’s way, she quickly abandoned the lion, returning to Themiscyra, her hometown. Upon her arrival, she was welcomed with open arms by her sisters after announcing that she was expecting. Her time spent back at Themiscyra was bittersweet, as after about a week had passed, gossip had spread that the Nemean Lion had finally met its end, slain by Nemea’s newfound hero Heracles. It was more gruesome to hear that he had skinned the lion, wearing its fur, claws, and head as a trophy.

Months had passed since the Nemean Lion’s death; Nilda was in labor. She gave birth to a boy, who she named to be Angel. He wasn’t a kitten; he was a humanoid baby. Despite this, it was easy to recognize the traits of his father, which often brought despair into the woman that the Nemean Lion was not present to share such a precious moment. Withholding the expectation to hand her child over to the Gargareans, she fought tooth and nail to raise him independently.

Unfortunately, Nilda could only do so much as her efforts were vain. She was struck with a compromise intended to leave both affairs content: she would raise Angel until ten and be forced to exile him to the Gargareans. If any rebellions were committed at that time, the Amazons would be permitted to kill him.

That day would come. After many years of grooming Angel as best as she could, she would harshly cut all ties with him for his sake; instead of forcing him into the hands of the Gargareans, she wanted him to live a nonbelligerent life. As painful as it was for her, she ran him out of Themiscyra. By this time, the poor boy was without any parents.

Luckily, Angel had years of experience regarding survivability despite his young age. Nilda taught him how to fight and use his head when it mattered. Enough to help him get by. Accompanied by her love for him as a mother, she was confident that he would be fine. After all, he had the blood of a warrior and a feral god. He would figure it out.

Angel slowly but surely adjusted, gaining new ground on his lonesome lifestyle. He started coming to his well-being as an individual with unique abilities. He was able to understand and communicate with animals. During his journey to seek a new purpose over the years, he eventually found himself stepping foot in the land of Spain. Waltzing into a civilized society was not something he envisioned. Despite appearing human like them, he stuck out like a sore thumb, unable to adhere to their rules and traditions. He was practically a caveman to them.

He was so confused and baffled at the core at how weak they were and of low value compared to his people. Eventually, he was entangled with a young Spaniard woman named Sofia Sanchez. His conscience often reminded him of the taboo of sharing the same space with the opposite sex. However, his raging hormones refused to abide by it once his body was mature enough. Sofia was nothing like his mother; hailing from an elitist family, she was very arrogant and often carried a superior-type personality. Despite Angel holding no penny to his name, his attractiveness held ground for being known as the most dangerous man in Spain. He was also profoundly gravitated by his girlfriend’s hotblooded temper, that being the one similarity she had with his mother and the Amazonian tribe. Sofia’s family was quick to take him in and teach him how to live in their country; unfortunately, their conceited habits would ultimately rub off on him, turning him into even more of a spiteful and egotistic man.


CUB DAYS

Years had passed as Angel had grown accustomed to the conventions of the European kingdom. The diametric couple married after Angel confirmed to himself that he would settle down to create a family of his own without the infidelities. After six months, Sofia was announced pregnant and would eventually give birth to a baby girl, as she and Angel would subsequently decide to name her Aaliyah. This was a glaring issue for the demigod. Angel wanted a boy, not just for the convenience of raising his kind but because he was aware of the cultural divide between men and women where he was from. Hell, he was banished from his home because of it.

That was not the only knot for the newlyweds. Aaliyah was born humanoid except for physical traits that mirrored a cat. She was with a tail spread with dark rosette spots all over her body. A never-ending buzz spread around the city, earning speculation from practically every resident in Spain.

Sofia was not fond of her newborn child; she resented what Aaliyah’s feline nature brought to the family. No longer the center of attention in the ways that she preferred, slowly but surely did she loathe her, brewing the hatred for her baby’s lion traits. She was repulsed to refer to Aaliyah as her daughter. Angel often decided to steer away from his cub, intending not to attach himself.

Aaliyah was raised with very little care. Sofia wasn’t the compassionate, patient mother she needed her to be. And she was undoubtedly not a daddy’s little girl. She was the outcast when dealing with her mother’s lineage. At family gatherings, she was always the oddball out, cast to the wayside while her cousins played among themselves - and what made it worse for the hybrid child was that her parents noticed but did not ever seem to care. She struggled to adjust to the human society simply because she was different, just like her father, not only because of her appearance but also her unworldly gifted abilities. It's been of benefit, while it’s proved wrong at other times.

Her relationship with her parents grew toxic and abusive the older she got, and it eventually soured to the point where it was easier for Angel and Sofia to remove her from their home. Feeling like an orphan at this point, Aaliyah spent most of her life to herself. It was as if she was bound to suffer the same fate as her father had when he hit puberty. And unlike him, she had a hard time acclimating to her environment. Bouncing around the city for shelter, she could not find any permanent security and decided that Spain was no longer her home at age fifteen.

The exiling from her parents left an embittered taste in her mouth. Albeit anxious and afraid of what life would reimburse her, she pledged to mark her path and leave a legacy of her own without a trace of her parents’ aid. The daughter of Angel took it upon herself to flee Spain by any means necessary, sneaking on a transatlantic cruise in Barcelona that at times nearly got her caught - however, her lithe frame and stealthy nature helped ultimately keep her out of the naked eye the entire time.

Eventually, she was boarded in the United States. Upon arrival, she was struck with culture shock. There was a jet lagging feeling of disorientation as she was subjected to the unfamiliar ways of life in New York City. Being in the heart of Manhattan, she was exposed to fast-food restaurants, grocery markets, convenience stores, and thousands of civilians crowding the streets daily. Not to mention, what came with it was the high crime rate. Despite her remarkable potential as a prodigy, she was ultimately still a child. And as if matters could not be worse, her powers had not honestly woken. Aaliyah was petrified and, at times, rued her decision to leave her home country. Scrounging left-over foods and drinks from trashcans and barrels, she managed to sustain herself until it hurt to rely on foods already partially consumed by strangers.

She took it upon herself to commit theft out of desperation, longing for a fresh hot meal. Unfortunately, her plan went south after realizing her heart wasn’t in it to pull such a crime. However, within that exact moment, she learned that she was not only different than the humans from an aesthetic standpoint but also abilities when she accidentally set the woman she originally intended to steal food from on fire.

She was astronomically remorseful of the act. She played her part in attempting to put the fire out but was horrified when the efforts only seemed to add more fuel. Before she knew it, she was on the run from the authorities. This would soon turn out to be a regular cycle for her. Sometimes, a long heartfelt cry was needed before pulling herself back together to keep moving forward. It didn’t help to observe children and teenagers her age enduring everyday, carefree lives. It enabled a bottle of anger and despair to build within the young adolescent feline. She often asked herself why she was born with such dispositions, why she was born so different from the average person. All she wanted was to feel like she belonged.

Halfway into the year, she found herself in Millennium City: a city that stunned her to the core from beholding the home to superpowered beings that ranged from mutants, aliens, demons, vampires, angels, and even other anthropomorphic individuals just like her. Regardless of her intrigue and astonishment, she quickly learned that the city was a torturous nightmare. Without her parents’ supervision, she often found herself in troublesome events that would nearly cost her life. Crime activities occupied almost every street she visited, corner, and alley.

One day, she encountered a robbery that saw a group of New Purple Gang thugs antagonizing an innocent man for his wallet. It did not help that she overheard the cries and revelations that he was related to another prominent figure they had bad blood with. Feeling pity for the man in distress, she took it upon herself to try rescuing him. Envisioning the fire that she inadvertently manifested against the poor woman prior, she had it in her best interests to channel that same energy, justifiably so, to the New Purple Gang. However, she was betrayed by her ability. The most that came from her hands were embers.

Two of the Hired Muscle quickly dispatched her and gave her a thrashing she never knew was possible. And in doing so, the man she attempted to rescue took the opportunity to flee from the scene, leaving her to suffer against the new Purple Gang. She was overwhelmed and frustrated, unable to understand why her fire powers weren’t coming to life. She was saved by a West Side native when she least expected it. Her savior was another Latino in the form of a man, resembling much more maturely than her. He went by the name ‘’’ Rey Valiente’’ in costume but was personally known as Richard Alvarez. Valiente gave the thugs a taste of their own medicine entering the crime scene. After they were taken down, Aaliyah was immediately drawn to what she envisioned to be her shining knight in armor.

She believed that he was her ticket to safety, mainly when there was no venom in his eyes after he laid eyes on her. It felt like she finally met the one person who would treat her with respect and compassion. Unfortunately, her age was showing. Being the young-minded peppy girl she was, she was gullible to believe any and everything Valiente told her. Learning that she was without her parents, he took her under his wing with haste. Little did she know, he had his agenda planned. Their friendship blossomed peaches and cream as she grew to admire him for what he seemingly stood for from her lenses.

Behind the scenes, Rey Valiente was just a mask. A veil to his authenticity. However, he was patient in winning Aaliyah’s trust for the time being. And that, he did. But unfortunately for the adolescent woman, this was the beginning of the end. He was a hero to the public eye of Millennium City and a drug-dealing Kingpin from the unseen. Not to mention, he was a feared man.

Slowly but surely, Valiente would expose his true colors. Aaliyah was keen enough to notice his occasional mood swings and how his anger would get the best of him enough to destroy his furniture. It was not until one day, Aaliyah caught him and his subordinates mercilessly thrashing his close comrade to the near-death that the sight traumatized her. It shook her perspective of Richard so much that it terrified her to imagine that they would continue sharing the same space.

After confronting the man for his immoral act, Aaliyah was rudely awakened by a harsh slap across the face, and from there, things were never the same between the two. Richard brainwashed Aaliyah, using his dark wits to blind her from the truth while marking her as his servant. She was still so young to believe this was the beautiful complication of what love was. After all, this was what her parents introduced her to. She knew nothing else.

Over time, Aaliyah was brought down to reality and understood that this was not the lifestyle she wanted to live. Richard frequently assigned her unlawful duties involving drugs, gambling, and theft. In the rare cases in which mistakes were made not measuring up to his expectations, he often punished her for it, adding to her already existing mental and emotional trauma. Unbeknownst to them, there was another lifeform surfacing within the feline. An inner beast on the horizon that would soon make itself known.


ENTER LIONHEART

Aaliyah had episodes of dysfunction, plagued by sickness due to her body’s gradual changes. Originally standing at only 157 centimeters when she was sixteen years old, aging over time empowered her genetic makeup from her father’s lineage to mature at rapid paces. Her tail extended, her fingers grew claws, and her canine teeth largened to mirror a lion’s. In 2012, she experienced a substantial growth spurt, increasing to 190 centimeters and passing Richard in height by very few inches.

Despite perpetually esteeming the feared man with respect and gratitude, Richard withheld a lot of disdain for the flourishing teen. So much that he did anything to make sure she felt beneath the dirt, asserting forced dominance to remind her who was the head in charge. However, one day it all came to an end when Aaliyah finally convinced herself that enough was enough. Amid a violent episode he bestowed on her, the intense waves of her inner primal rage reached the surface of no return. The tables flipped as she unleashed a jaw-dropping transformation into a vastly powerful, tanner-skinned humanoid monster. She was quite literally a savage lion on the loose, and no more was the polite, innocent girl.

Richard was horrified by the bestial alteration. Her fire abilities returned to life in full throttle, and no matter what he threw at her, it seemed as though she were a sponge, absorbing all his defending attacks. The raging lion from within her took all command at that moment, inserting itself into the driver’s seat. Aaliyah pulverized Richard within an inch of his life, tearing him to shreds and leaving him under a pool of his blood. She was readily prepared to end him but was ultimately revoked by her conscience attacking her mind. That alone drove her more over the edge, causing her to rupture a destructive escape and scram.

Two years since that unbearable incident, Aaliyah was no longer the loving, sweet, timid girl. She was a dark, ruthless young woman with a personal vendetta against the world. Not even Richard could fluster her anymore; those days were long gone. She began calling her shots. She was much more accustomed to Michigan and needed no one’s hand for guidance. Aaliyah embodied the cruel nature of Millennium City, using it to her advantage to hunt thugs and delinquents at night just because she could. The tradition was an emotional outlet for her. While primitively setting her eyes on miscreants and villains, she grew extraordinarily pessimistic and suspicious toward the world, which often even invoked her mistrust for heroes.

Aaliyah often set time aside for herself, fully accepting the reality that she was a woman with cat-like adaptations and fire control. She would lock herself in training facilities to sharpen her endowments. It was no walk in the park for her; she struggled immensely to hone her powers. She often strained her body to lose consciousness and even fractured some limbs.

There was only so much failure she could endure because her invested efforts would eventually pay off. Ultimately, she progressed to be a well-versed fighter. Save for battles when her inexperience would be costly, she compensated by learning from her mistakes, bouncing back each time. She made it her goal to deprive those in the world who displayed even a slight rationale for evildoing and even the innocents of questionable morals. She believed to be doing the city a favor.

Little did she realize, she stayed true to becoming the victim of her tragedies. Richard’s deceitful nature rubbed off on her while picking up more social cues for her benefit when deemed necessary.

Her fighting capacity would soon be put to the test. She was encountered by an unknown woman who vowed to have her head as a trophy, later revealing herself to be known as Aphine. Perplexed by her newfound enemy’s apparent loathing, Aaliyah was given no choice but to fight back as Aphine relentlessly attacked her without pause. They exchanged powerful blows, burning and destroying parts of Westside, injuring many innocent bystanders during the affray, while some were even killed.

During a brief respite, the feline woman registered what appeared to be the head of a lion on Aphine’s shoulder. Breaking the fold, Aphine went on an epic rant, revealing her connection to the man that slew the Nemean Lion, who Aaliyah knew to be her grandfather. The redheaded demigod was the daughter of Telephus and granddaughter of Heracles. Humiliated and discomposed, Aaliyah went into a blinding rage, assailing Aphine to turning history against her. However, her labors proved moot as she was left vulnerable, allowing Aphine to get the better of her in the end.