บท 2: 02 - So, Not Dead Yet.
I awoke.
What? I didn't die...? What on Viltrum happened?
"Master Lugh, you're finally awake." Add said as I looked to the side, searching for his familiar voice.
Instead of being in the comforting embrace of my own chambers, I was inside some kind of primitive bedroom, laying down in what I presumed to be the local variant of 'bed'.
"Add," I called out. "How did I survive?"
Emerging from the shadows, was a levitating drone with one, singular cyclopean camera lens for an eye.
The drone released a hologram from its camera, a hologram depicting me being carried away by Superman.
"The Kryptonian, self-identifying as 'Superman', defeated you and knocked you out. But then he spared your life and carried you to the ship." Add said as the hologram of Superman appeared before my saucer, with the unconscious me in his arms.
"He asked if there was anyone else inside, I replied." Add said. "He stated that he wanted to take you along with him, to show you something and that I was allowed to follow if I wanted to."
"You let him take me?" I said with a raised eyebrow.
"Confronted with someone that can defeat you, I had no choice lest I risk your probability of continued survival, Master Lugh." Fair enough.
"I deployed a drone to keep watch on your vital status and make sure the Kryptonian keeps his word. As for the ship, it is currently in orbit, further scanning the planet, fully cloaked from view." Add added.
"I see..." I said as I ran my fingers through my hair. "Then where are we now?"
"The Kryptonian took us to his home. By connecting to the local Internet, I was able to determine the location." Add explained.
"We are in the continent of North America, in the Sovereign Nation known as the United States, which contains 50 States and 2 associated territories. Specifically, we are in Smallville, Kansas."
"...Which one is the state, Kansas or Smallville?" I asked with faint interest.
"Kansas is the State, Smallville is the town we are in." Add finished.
"Huh." I looked down upon the sheets I had woken up in. "What kind of name is Smallville..." I muttered to myself.
"Add, where is my uniform?" I asked after noticing the fact that I was butt naked.
"Ah, yes. I took them off because they had been effectively destroyed during your bout with Superman..." Add pointed to the side with one of the drone's limbs. "There, I prepared a new one for you, Master."
I nodded before levitating off of the bed to grab the uniform.
It was the standardized grey-white uniform that all Viltrumites wore when on duty, and considering I was the only Viltrumite left, I was essentially always on duty.
I glanced down at the symbol engraved onto the upper chest of the uniform, a grey circle with three thin rectangles of rising elevation inside of it.
It was the symbol, the icon of my species, that of the Viltrum Empire.
Not all of the uniforms had this symbol on their chest, some had it on their shoulders, some on their lower abdomen, some on their back, and some didn't even have it.
But as the last beating heart of Viltrum, I needed to flaunt this symbol in the most obvious position, to declare that Viltrum was still alive and kicking.
Even if it wasn't really much of an Empire anymore...
I quickly and efficiently slid inside the uniform as the familiar synthetic fabric wrapped itself around my skin, my naked body finally getting some privacy.
"What's my vitals, Add?" I asked the drone whilst looking down at the bed.
There was a lot of sweat and grime, clear signs of regeneration, but all the blood had been presumably cleaned by the drone.
"Your internals are still in the process of recovery, Master Lugh. Superman had broken some of your ribs and spine, which had punctured your internal organs." Add informed me. "But aside from that, you are still mostly functional in battle, about 86% of your average battle capability considering all external wounds have been regenerated."
"My internal organs?" I say with concern. "Is my heart damaged?" A Viltrumite's heart was vital for their regeneration, if it was damaged, I might not be able to recover from even lesser wounds, let alone near-fatal ones.
"No, it's completely fine, Master Lugh. Only your stomach and intestines were damaged. The predicted time for full recovery is 4 hours and 23 minutes." That's a relief.
My feet landed on the floor, something that raised my eyebrows as I looked down.
Wooden flooring...
This was the third time in my entire that I had actually stood on a wooden floor. Usually, it was either metal or concrete.
"Would you like a meal, Master? I have prepared a nutritious Sustenance Block to aid in your recovery—"
"No." I raised a hand. "I'm not hungry." My priority wasn't food at the moment, I was too busy trying to figure things out.
"Where is the Kryptonian?" I asked with full attention.
"He is currently in the Sovereign Nation of Canada, flying over a city. Our ship is also scanning that territory." What...? He just...left me here?
"You're telling me he left me in his home unprotected? In the midst of his people?" That was just stupid.
"Yes, Master. He did." Huh...
"Why?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"Superman said that his presence was needed everywhere and that he trusted me to watch over you." That was...just stupid.
Why was Superman treating me like...an ally? Add wouldn't do anything to stop me if I just decided to kill the locals for no reason, hells, he would support me without hesitation and help me find everyone that was hiding!
"Though I did notice something, Master." Add informed me.
"And what would that be?"
"Superman seemed to have misunderstood your intentions, he thought that you came here onto the planet to defend it." What?
"Why would he think that?" I asked, sceptical.
"I do not know, but he concluded that you were attacking him because you were assuming that he was an invasive threat to the planet. Furthermore, he seemed unaware of what the Viltrum Empire truly was, or the animosity between our nations." Well...
"I see." I nodded with some contemplation.
Not exactly the worst thing to happen...actually, it was pretty good, I could definitely use this to my advantage.
The Kryptonian was obviously stronger than I was, a fact I didn't like one bit. So I needed to play it safe for now and follow along with his misguided conclusions.
Then I would strike him in the back when he least expected it, and take over this planet in one fell swoop, that sounds like a plan to me.
I could just fly back to my ship, run away to some other system to conquer, and forget all this ever happened, but...
Conceding defeat to a fucking sun-breather of all things? My father would resurrect himself just to curse me if I did.
Actually, he would probably just straight up find a way to kill me as a ghost, yeah, that sounds more like him...
"Huh...I wonder if he became a ghost or..." I truly didn't know.
Would a Demon Lord let your soul go if he got a hold of it? Probably not, right?
"What is it, Master?" Add asked.
"Nothing, just think about personal matters," I said as I floated to the bedroom door.
"Open," I commanded the door.
"..."
"..."
Nothing happened.
"That is a manually opened door, Master—"
"Yeah, yeah, I forgot." Damn primitives and their wooden doors...
I grabbed the handle as I tried to figure out how to open it. The design was quite intuitive and I was able to instantly figure out how.
I immediately focused in on my hearing, picking up on the faint breathing of myself, the sound of wildlife outside, and the hovering drone behind me.
Aside from that, it was quiet.
"Ha...ha...that guy really left me alone here?" I was quite amused by the naivety.
Or is it something else...? What was Superman plotting exactly? I couldn't just trust that he was stupid, Kryptonians never were.
And why did he call himself Superman, anyway? Is that a moniker or his actual name...?
Well, Viltrumites do get monikers pretty often, so I can't really judge.
...Ugh, brings back memories of that guy, I should stop thinking about monikers.
I floated down the stairs as I scanned the entire house, my eyes vibrating at a frequency that allowed them to see through walls, and these concrete walls were certainly easy to see through.
There really was no one here.
My feet landed on the floor as I glanced at the surroundings. Although the external architecture was a bit off in my opinion, the internal decoration seemed quite good.
My eyes snapped from furniture to furniture, taking in the sights as I quickly identified their purpose.
"That's the dining area, and I supposed that's the equivalent of a food fabricator," I said as I stared at a strange metal box with some heat on top of it.
I quickly floated towards it as I grabbed a...what is this, some kind of black plate attached to a handle?
"That is a frying pan, Master Lugh. Used for cooking." Cooking? With this thing, really? It doesn't even emit any heat though...
Maybe it's connected to the primitive food fabricator in some way. How overly complicated.
I wasn't a stranger to cooking, I wouldn't always have a fabricator at hand on a battlefield, obviously. But usually, do you not just cook with fire?
Or maybe this demon box can make fire...
"Do you want to cook, Master? I can show some videos from the local—"
"No," I said, putting the pan down and shaking my head. "Where does the Kryptonian keep his food? I wonder what he eats aside from stardust."
"Kryptonians do not eat stardust, Master." Add informed before pointing at a large white rectangular box in the corner. "Superman's food is stored in that refrigerator."
"A refrigerator? This small?" I said as I floated closer before opening the small door attached to it, which was also not automatic, annoyingly enough.
Inside were various meats and vegetables, alongside some frozen local goods.
I closed the refrigerator with a frown. I thought Superman would keep some exotic flesh in his personal food stash, but everything looked rather mundane.
"Hey, Add. How do the locals taste like?" I asked the drone as we left the kitchen area.
"According to the internet, Terrans taste like oily pork, Master." Add stated.
"What's a pork?" I asked with a confused tone.
"A domesticated prey animal native to this planet." Add explained. "But after further scanning from our ship, it might seem that Terrans taste exactly the same as Viltrumites."
"Well, that's gross." I frowned. I wanted to eat one, but if they tasted like my comrades, that would basically be cannibalism.
I wandered onto a separate area, which seemed to be a kind of...mess hall? Not quite, what is the function of this room?
"This is called a living room, Master Lugh." To that, I straightened my back.
I raised my fists and floated up to prepare for an attack, I was no stranger to living rooms. Back on planet Harlen, there were giant Mimic mushrooms that would disguise themselves as homes to lure in prey...but no attack came.
"What...? I thought you said this was a living room?" I turned to the drone.
"It's not alive, Master. It's called a living room because this is where a normal Terran performs most of their daily social activities." Ah, that made more sense.
I dropped down and relaxed my posture as I ventured into the so-called 'living' room.
My body stopped as I glanced to the side. Standing upon a wooden shelf was a picture of a much younger Superman without his get-up.
Behind him were two other individuals, middle-aged considering their greying hairs.
"Are those Kryptonians too? They look rather ugly..." I wondered as I stared at Superman's parents.
"No, Master Lugh. Their facial features do not match that of a Kryptonian, it seems that Superman had been raised by native Terran parents." Right, capsule baby and all...
"How dissapointing..." I muttered as I glanced down at the text engraved on the lower portion of the photograph.
[In loving memory of Jonathan and Martha Kent. "Thank you, Mom and Dad. I'll make you two proud."]
I ignored the photo as I looked back at my robotic retainer.
"So what would those daily social activities be?" I asked with curiosity.
A social activity for a Viltrumite was rather simple and straightforward.
But in this little room? I can't imagine what these puny Terrans do all day.
"Well, for example, watching the TV!" Add said as he pointed a metallic limb towards a screen.
Is that supposed to be a monitor? It doesn't seem to be hooked up to a server though.
"Holograms have yet to be implemented for daily use in this world, so Terrans receive their news and dramas either from the TV or a smaller device known as a smartphone." Add explained.
"I see, then I guess this room does have some use." I mused with a smirk. I could relate to doing nothing all day and consuming content, it was one of the activities I picked up to pass the time after everyone died.
"How do you turn this thing on? Is it a voice command or do you need to press a button?" I asked as I floated closer to the TV screen and gave it an appraising look.
"With this, Master Lugh." Add said as he handed me a neat little thing.
It was a black, vaguely rectangular object with many buttons embedded in it.
Of course, I intuitively pressed the big red button, those kinds of buttons were usually the most important.
-FLASH!
And I was right...
"...Begun disrupting the streets of Manhattan. Looters and thieves have taken advantage of the situation and sown even greater chaos...the question is clear, do aliens exist? Are they already here? And should we really trust the government? Well, according to..." A Terran female with strawberry blonde hair said as she held what Add explained to me was a microphone.
Just behind her was what I could only describe as a sea of flesh, an infestation of bugs that somewhat reminded me of the beast swarms on planet Hugo.
A riot, a great gathering of the masses demanding to know the truth. A lot of them were holding signs depicting strange thin creatures, either completely green or grey...wait...
"Are they talking about me?" I said with a horrified expression.
"Indeed, Master Lugh. Our entrance has become the talk of the planet." Add said as he showed many holograms regarding the local news.
All of it was about me...well, about my ship. Only Superman had directly witnessed me, after all. But everyone had seen the huge saucer flying over the planet.
Good thing it's cloaked now.
"Why do they paint me green?" I asked with a frankly offended look. "Do they think I'm a Skrull or something?" It was quite funny and not at the same time seeing their lame depictions of me.
I wonder how they'd react once they realized most aliens actually just look like them...
"About that Master, there are indeed Skrulls on this planet." Add suddenly said, making my eyes snap towards him.
"...You're kidding me." I cursed.
"Praetorian Assistant models are not designed with humour, Master Lugh." Add was serious, he always was. "This planet is practically infested with them, the various governments are all mostly controlled by undercover Skrulls."
I frowned. "I thought Conquest destroyed most of their colonies, there are still Skrulls this far out?"
"It seems the survivors here predate even our campaign against them, Master." Add explained. "They have been here for quite a while."
I frowned even more.
"I see." I sighed as I looked up, considering my plans. "I guess we'll have to stick here for a bit longer..."
...And I'll have to delay that betrayal plan for a couple of years, shit.
The Skrulls needed to be annihilated at all costs, so might as well make use of the Kryptonian at hand, right?
Then when he's mentally weak from all that, I'll strike him in the back, yes, that sounds good!
Hopefully, it would only take a couple of years.
I couldn't imagine living amongst these insects for that long. Ancestors, please bless me with patience...
With that, I turned the TV off before making my way to the glass door that sealed me from the outside.
With a push of my finger, the glass instantly shattered into hundreds of shards as I floated out from Superman's surprisingly small home.
The thought of just opening the door had crossed my mind, but unfortunately for Superman, the idea of just going through it had crossed me first.
It was morning outside, like early morning, which made me wonder how long is it that I had been regenerating.
Well, considering all my external wounds were gone, probably more than 10 hours. Adjusting to the local time zone, it only made sense for morning to come by now.
I probably arrived here at midnight for the citizens of the United States...well, that depends.
"How big is this nation, Add?" I asked as my eyes scanned what seemed to be Superman's backyard.
"It is the 4th largest nation on this planet when talking about land mass, Master Lugh." Add answered with a straightforward tone.
Then it must have multiple time zones...
I landed in the backyard, feeling the dirt and grass on the soles of my boots as I walked forward.
"What?" My attention was stolen as I saw something familiar in the grass.
Faster than lightning, I caught the little beast with my hand, restraining it around my fingers as it panicked and tried to get away.
"What is this creature? Why does it look like a Yularian?" I stared at the croaking amphibian.
It did look like the inhabitants of Yular, just much smaller and quadrupedal.
"The resemblance is indeed uncanny, Master Lugh." Add agreed with my assessment. "That is a treefrog, a type of amphibian wildlife especially prevalent in swampy areas and American backyards."
"Huh." Convergent evolution sure is wack.
Races that resembled Viltrumites and Kryptonians were abundant in the universe, but there was a perfectly understandable reason for that; the Gods had designed those races in their own image!
The animals? They're usually wildly different, aside from a few special cases. But animals that look like people? It was a bit off for sure, the Gods really do have a cruel sense of humour.
"Yularians tasted great, I wonder if these guys do too..." I mused before tossing the poor thing into my mouth and snapping my jaws shut.
Blood splattered onto my chin as I chewed on the meat before swallowing it with no trouble.
It was squishy with a weird texture, oily too. I like it a lot.
I rubbed the blood and gore away with my hand as Add sprayed some perfume into me to blot out the stench of death.
"Oh, this is a farm?" I said as I floated off to the fields of golden crops behind the Kryptonian's house.
I wonder why he'd want to be a farmer, wasn't Superman a nobleman? That's quite funny.
I suppose everyone had their pastime hobbies, mine was pitting dangerous beasts against each other.
"Yes, Master Lugh. The crops here are quite healthy and fresh, all of them are fit for consumption." Add stated as it hovered behind me.
"I see." I didn't really care.
I glanced up at the yellow sun that this planet revolved around, the star named Sol.
Huh, if Superman has been here since he was a baby...has he been under this sun for decades? With no other Kryptonians to compete against for the Solar Radiation?
Shit, no wonder he was so much stronger than me, that was basically cheating!
...I wonder if that much Solar Radiation would make him as strong as Father...probably not, right? Gods, I hope not.
"Add, stay here. I want to acquaint myself with this planet's culture." It's best to start now rather than get confused later on for no reason.
"Understood, Master Lugh." The drone then threw an earpiece in my direction, I caught it and gave the drone a nod.
This way Add would still be available to assist me without lagging behind because the drone was too slow.
With that, I floated upwards and rapidly accelerated to the speed of sound, vanishing into the clouds as I did so.
Smallville was a small settlement, unworthy of my notice. Aside from the fact that it was Superman's hometown, I didn't care much for it.
So I left it in favour of the sky, flying among the migrating birds as they scurried away from me.
"Add, where is he now?" I asked as I pushed a button on the earpiece.
"Superman is currently in the city of Metropolis, Delaware. For some reason, he is disguised as a regular Terran." Add quickly explained.
"Lead me to that city," I said as the earpiece released a beeping noise before a hologram was projected in front of me.
It was a map of the United States, and I was a blinking dot on top of Kansas.
A bright red arrow was formed on the hologram, one pointing straight at my destination.
I wasn't in much of a rush. Now that I knew the only immediate threat to my life on this planet, Superman, wasn't going to kill me, I was pretty relaxed.
So I only flew at three times the speed of sound, giving me the opportunity to sightsee around America's soil.
It took about 25 minutes or so before Metropolis came into view. It was a large, sprawling city that almost made it look like this planet wasn't completely primitive.
Unless you were a well-known figure, it was kind of rude to blatantly fly in the middle of a city without an official permit, at least, that was the case in Viltrum where the air traffic was heavy.
I didn't particularly care about what these Terrans thought of me, but considering I would have to live here for an extended period probably meant that I should pretend to do so.
I mean, Superman probably does for some deviant reason considering the planet hasn't been conquered yet.
"Big Belly Burger?" I read the words written on the billboard. "Best burgers in all of America...what's a burger?"
"It's a type of food consisting of several ingredients being placed between two slices of bread, Master." Add said. "It's the cultural staple of American cuisine."
"What are the ingredients?" I asked as my eyes snapped forward, intending to find this 'Big Belly Burger' restaurant.
"The primary ingredients are ground beef, which is meat harvested from a prey animal called a cow, lettuce, a plant..." Add explained the details as I finally spotted it.
"It looks a bit shabby." What I meant to say is that it looked a bit too poor for people proclaiming themselves as the best.
"It is a franchise, Master." Add said.
"Hm..." I opened the glass doors before floating in.
I didn't really feel hungry at all, I rarely did, but I should take the opportunity to get the lay of the land regarding the local cuisine.
Through my years of destroying civilizations for one purpose or another, I learned that food was always a great way to learn about the citizens of that civilization.
"Huh...?" A worker, dressed in the yellow uniform of the restaurant looked up, seemingly having been dozing off earlier.
"Oh, a customer. Welcome to...Big...Belly..." He stood there slackjawed as he saw me floating in the air. "Burger..." I heard his heartbeat getting more frantic as he stepped back.
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