Chapter 10

Cast became Ku's most loyal worker, and as soon as the iron man regained his strength, he built an alarm system in the middle of MunchkinLand. It was a red button in a glass case, and in case of emergency, anybody in town could push the button. It was the first major thing he did for the Munchkin people.

Cast helped Ku with the land, and Ku helped Cast with as much black crude oil as he needed. And as far as he knew, the oil that his Munchkins collected near the river was plentiful, but before they harvested the black goo, they often ate breakfast next to the clandestine caves near the river. The caves set off in the distance, some one hundred yards from the body of water, but weren't visible at first sight. Most of the Munchkins didn't enter into the musty caves, but Ku and Po'Aga did. The blue men who harvested the oil near the river weren't the night workers, the ones who worked the fields, but the men who liked to feast on Booshi drinks and dine on corn dishes.

Not one animal lived in the waters on Ozarrio in the early days of their incarceration on the world, a troublesome situation since Ku grew up on meat products in his former life. But now, most of the people except for the demigods and Ku had never eaten meat. The rivers and oceans were completely void of animal life including fish, but at the same time, Ku often found himself with a fishing pole going through the motions while he sat back and enjoyed the cooler fall temperatures.

The darkness often crept upon the area and pretty much overtook the light by seven o'clock in the evening, and then the three moons would rise high into the sky and the pain of the two suns would cease. Ku and Po'Aga wandered down to the caves when the two suns ceased to exist in the sky and made love under the three moons. But for the Trilobites to find out about his relationship with Po'Aga was a terrifying idea because they would ostracize her due to Ku's status as the cursed one. But within the Munchkin community, the immortal man sat at the head of the table and his people considered him their king.

The river flowed quietly. Not one animal or fish existed in the water, but as the water flowed through the rocks, it let off a serene hum. In the day time, the rain fell to the ground in large drops, feeding the river all day long. Toward the bottom of the river in a separate watering hole was a puddle of black ooze, nourishment for Cast. And with the help of hundreds of Munchkins, they kept the iron giant full on the black crude. And as time passed, Ku began to sell the crude to the Trilobites for a hefty price, and they used it as an energy source to run their village.

Since the arrival of the iron giant, a series of anomalies happened in space that could be seen with the naked eye: explosions, meteor showers, and then the arrival of several small rodents that nobody had seen on the planet in the past. The immortal soul did everything within his power to stop the rodents from ruining his corn crops, but it was a never-ending struggle, the kind of struggle that caused him to employ an army of Munchkins to ensure his crops survived. They policed the area for the pesky rodents and made different poisons made out of the poppy seeds to kill them.

At night, when both the Trilobites and the Munchkins worked in the fields and harvested the crops, Ku and Po'Aga would sneak off to the caves near the river and Cast continued to work the fields with the Munchkins. In those days, he primarily lived off the crude oil from near the river and enjoyed the oil from the Booshi Fruit as a treat, an enjoyment that his system couldn't afford to enjoy every day because it would make him sick. But as Cast took care of the crops, Ku and Po'Aga made love on the fringes of their perspective societies because Po'Darro, her direct descendants, wouldn't allow her to be with the curse one. Ku knew of Po'Darro's disdain for him, and it went way back, over some thousand years when he killed him.

"My love for you is strong, Ku," said Po'Aga as she leaned against a large rock that set near their favorite cave. "Ozarrio is changing every day, but not Po'Darro. He tells the Trilobites to stay clear of the Munchkins."

Ku looked over at his beloved and tried to put on a happy face, and then said, "Do you know what happened between us?" For some reason, he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear her answer.

"You killed him with your enchanted ax," she said with a serious look on her face. "The Great Orion brought him back to life, but cursed you."

"Cursed me to never die," he quipped. "It's my curse, and if you join my house, it'll be yours too."

"I'm not afraid," she said, "I love you no matter what the gods say."

"But you'll age and I won't," he said, "You'll see my youthful appearance and it'll tear at your soul." He kicked a small rock and it rolled over near the cave. "I love you, Po'Aga. You'll be the queen of the Munchkins."

For a while, their love was a clandestine love that happened in secret spaces. Their love flourished over the course of three months, but when Po'Darro found out the old, cursed one had sex with his descendant, he confronted him in Munchkin land.

Ku figured at some point the boy he raised would take exception to his relationship with one of his offshoots, but he didn't care. She was a soft woman, a woman with a shapely body and he loved her. He battled her for her hand in marriage, and it took all of his strength and skills to bring her to her knees because she had powers. But if a Trilobite wasn't forced into a relationship like Ptah did Orion in the days of old, then the relationship was considered illegitimate.

"I've had a long time to think about things, Ku," Po'Darro said with a grimace. "You've always known Orion's plan to trap us in the Speed Force. And now that we've grown used to this world, you betrothed one of my descendants, a move that goes against the good order of things."

"We're adults, son," Ku said calmly. "Don't you think it's madness to stop the natural flow of love? You did the same thing between J'Piana and me all those years ago."

He scoffed. "Your homosexual love was forbidden. You killed me with your ax," he said.

"Because you killed J'Piana with your magic!" He snapped. "I loved him."

"I was impulsive on that day," he said. Ku could see the grief in his eyes. "But he broke the law of the land." He shook his head for a moment, and then said, "If not for Orion, I'd be dead. All I need you to do is stay away from my descendants. You are the Klip and that's for eternity."

"Trilobites have married Munchkins, and you haven't said anything," Ku said, "So, why are you standing between Po'Aga and me?"

"Cause you're the cursed one," he said, "Not your descendants."

Ku turned his back to Po'Darro, and then said, "We're already married according to the rules of Ptah."

"Damn you, Ku!" He exclaimed, "Damn you to Chthonic."

Later…

Days passed. Ku sat on the northern edge of his corn crop while Cast worked in the field. The two suns were high in the sky so most of the Munchkins were asleep until around the six o'clock hour. But since Ku hadn't seen Po'Aga in more than a few days, he couldn't sleep. He thought for a moment and wondered if she said something about a previous engagement, but he couldn't remember. About one hundred yards up the hill set a small tarn where he'd dip his feet to cool off a bit, and then Cast walked over to him.

"What's on your mind?" Cast asked.

"It's Po'Aga," he said in a soft voice. "I haven't seen her in two, whole days." The large, metal man took a deep breath, and then Ku asked, "What?"

"What? Nothing," he said, "It's just you had a poignant talk with Po'Darro the other day. He probably has something to do with her absence."

Looking across the tarn, he saw something splash on the far end of the body of water, and then said, "What was that?" Quickly, he hopped out the tarn and both he and the metal giant ran to the other end of the pond. Slowly, he bent over the clear water and looked around it for a moment, and then out of nowhere, a small fish flew into the sky and made a mini splash in the water. "Did you see that?" He asked.

"Indeed," Cast said, "It's due to the Great War. Ptah banished entire worlds into the Speed Force for siding with the Oans. He's not showing any mercy this time."

Ku bowed his head for a moment, and then said, "The universe will never be the same with the gods at war with each other."

Cast and the cursed one walked into the Munchkin village together, and he grabbed his Enchanted Ax from his hovel because he didn't trust Po'Darro. It had been a long time, some five hundred years since he stepped foot in the land of the Trilobites, and they hated him. Often, he saw them walking along the road near his house, but he never engaged them except when it came time to betrothed one of them. No matter how the stigma of the curse presented itself to the Trilobite people, at least one would always choose him as a mate. And as they reached the end of their lives, he felt an enormous pain in his heart every time a spouse died, and in his mind, that was the worse of the curse. So, when it came to Po'Aga, he didn't want to risk the children he raised doing something crazy to her. He put his Enchanted Ax into Po'Darro's chest a thousand years earlier and didn't mind doing so again if the situation called for it.

The Trilobite city appeared empty when he walked into it with his Enchanted Ax strapped to his right hip. The iron machine looked into one of the cottage's windows, and then back at Ku. "Something doesn't feel right," said Cast, "It's too quiet."

The rows of hovels all looked the same, and as far back as he could remember, the elite class of Trilobites lived on top of the hill. But from what he could tell, all the hovels seemed lifeless as if nobody was in the village. There was a pool of green, Trilobite blood on the ground, and Cast bent down and touched it with his left, iron index finger. "What's that?" Asked Ku.

"Blood," he said in his low pitched voice. "I'm seeing specks of it everywhere."

The little Munchkin walked around the town square for a moment, and with the back of his ax, he drew a circle around all the drops of blood he found. "This definitely isn't from the mating ritual," said Ku, "If so, then it was a brutal one." When the dull side of his ax hit the surface on the concrete one more time, he heard another noise coming from the southern region of the city. It sounded metallic, like a foot hitting the ground.

Immediately, Ku ran toward the noise with Cast following close behind him, and then when they saw the thirteen, tin men holding the town hostage on the fringes of the city, they came to an abrupt halt.

"It's the tins!" Exclaimed Cast, "They're a brutal race of metals that the gods used in place of the irons."

Watching them with a keen eye, the majority of the town's people were huddled in the middle of the open field on the outskirts of town near the southern border. It appeared the tins stood approximately seven feet tall and had shields attached to their left arms. Their faces were solid black with silver heads and two missiles set on top of their shoulders. He tried to search through the crowd of people for Po'Darro, the boy he raised into a man, but couldn't find him or his siblings. They had powers, the powers of gods, and probably had the ability to defeat the tins, but he didn't see any of them. Suddenly, one of the tins reached into the ground, pulled up Po'Darro's body out of it, and then Ku gasped in fear. His son's body looked lifeless from his position, but then out of nowhere, he wiggled away from the tin's grip and threw a bolt of lightning at the metal giant. The electricity had little to no effect on it, but when Po struck him with his fist, the metal machine flew across the field. Immediately, the twelve other tin men pounded Po to the ground.

Ku and his metal friend ran off in the opposite direction to amass a fighting force against the thirteen tins. They ran all the way back to Munchkin territory, and when they arrived at their city, his two other children were already there: Vo Dax and Bri'Ogden La. They were standing next to the red alarm button that Cast build in case of an emergency. Ku looked at his adoptive daughter's face for a moment, and she was much older than the last time he saw her. Her black hair had turned gray and her face had wrinkles.

"Father, you haven't aged," she said with a half smile. With her hands placed in front of her body, she smiled at him and some of her teeth had turned black.

"It's the curse," he said, "Although I may not age, I feel the pain of death every time my people die."

"Then you should prepare yourself because the tins have killed twenty of our people," she said, "Including your beloved, Po'Aga."

Ku began to shake and then stumbled backward, but Cast caught him before he fell to the ground. "Are you sure?" Asked Ku, "Did you see her body?"

Vo walked over to his adoptive father and said, "We didn't see her body, but we believe she was part of the Trilobites they incinerated."

"We begged for Orion to send us more people to this world," Bri'Ogden said, "But it looks like she sent killers." She walked directly in front of her adoptive father. "We have powers, but the tins are stronger than us and can repel our electrical current. Even my witchcraft can only do so much against the metal."

Ku reached up to the red alert button, flipped up the glass casing, and pressed it. It made a frightening alarm that reverberated throughout the village, and when the Munchkin's heard it, they came running out their hovels with their weapons.

Vera walked out of her bedroom in her loose fitting shorts wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and JJ stumbled out of his room wearing some sweats with Orion and Veo right behind him, and then Vera passed gas down the long hallway. It was a loud, lingering antagonizing fart that made JJ laugh and Orion cringe. "See! This is why I don't want to be flesh," she said, "Just remove my sensors, JJ."

"Because I farted?" Vera asked.

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"Cause your ass stink!" She exclaimed. "You should just throw your whole damn butt away."

JJ laughed, and then Vera said, "I remember that time you passed gas in grade school, JJ. It gave me PTSD because your butt was right by my head and stunk like a dead bison."

Orion laughed, "He's been farting on me for five million years and not one of them has been godly." They continued their journey into the massive living room and JJ dove onto the couch, turned on the television, and watched the news for a moment.

When Peppermint walked out of the bedroom into the hallway, she screamed, "Who did it? JJ?"

"Vera," Veo said loudly.

"I'm innocent," JJ said laughingly.

"I thought you had my back, Veo?!" Vera exclaimed.

"I'm just telling the truth," Veo said, "We can weaponize your gas and call it get-on-my-nerves agent."

Moments later...

Peppermint quickly walked into the kitchen and had JJ Jr. in her arms. "Take him while I cook breakfast, Vera?" She asked as she handed the baby over to her. "Are bacon and eggs good with y'all?" She asked with her hands on her hips. She stood in the threshold of the door that connected to the kitchen.

"Sounds like a winner," JJ said as he lay on the couch with Orion hovering over his head and displaying a diagram of an electronic device on the far wall.

Peppermint put a slab of bacon in the oven while Orion and JJ went over the diagram for their new machine to try to communicate with James in the Speed Force. Vera sat with JJ Jr. on the couch and he played with a set of large, lime green and lemon yellow keys. The television set was on the lowest volume and was nothing more than background noise. "I'm upset that the orbs only have thirty to forty minutes of power."

"If we designed the batteries that would allow these Orbs of Destruction to fly all day, we'd revolutionize the battery industry on this planet," she said, "We have to be careful and not interfere in human development any more than needed."

He paused for a moment, and then said telepathically to Orion, "I'd like to think the human race could learn to move past all the hate. We could make the food replicators needed so nobody in this world goes hungry. We could make an unlimited energy source that would help heal the planet itself."

"You've developed feelings for these creatures. It's not the first time you've fallen in love with a doomed species and it won't be the last time. The probability of them putting aside their differences and coming together as one people is remote," she said telepathically, "They're like the Battisons without the superhuman strength. They murder their own and punish their poor. They're greedy and full of hubris.."

JJ looked over at Vera as she sat on the couch with JJ Jr. in her lap and thought about a world where she didn't exist and it actually bothered him. By the time the human race died out completely, she'd be long dead herself. "You're right, Orion," he said telepathically, "I won't interfere with our assessment of these people. I won't interfere with Luciferous' mission."

Vera turned the channel on the television and relaxed in the Lazy Boy with JJ Jr. while eating some apple slices and Veo was parked on the right arm of her chair. Peppermint had the entire house smelling like bacon.

Suddenly, Orion said, "Receiving a call from Kara."

"Put her on?" JJ said as he studied his diagram closely.

"JJ, Lena is tearing up the Metropolis River looking for James," she said, "She drained most of the water out of it and then scoured the bottom for his body. It's turning into a real problem."

"What can I do?" He asked calmly.

"Put your little Vulcan uniform on and tell her you're on the case," she said, "It's the least you can do."

"Fine," he said as Orion hung up the phone on her.

"She's got an attitude," she said as she set on JJ's right soldier.

"All the time," Vera said calmly. "Veo and I could talk to Lena, ya know?"

JJ looked over at Vera and said, "Victory isn't ready for missions."

"You can't baby us forever," she snapped, "We're just as capable as the rest of the team."

"Victory was the reason we didn't have any casualties against the Incubus," Orion said, "Remember?"

"Don't you have class in an hour?" Peppermint asked, "We promised your mom that you wouldn't miss a lot of school living here."

"I can zip there and zip back," she said, "Easy peasy."

"Forget that," JJ said, "Orion and I will take care of this business. We'll talk to Lena and then be at the university in no time." He looked over at Vera as she sat quietly in the Lazy-boy and then said, "We'll have a training session this evening. I want to see how well your skills have improved." She gave him a salute but didn't say anything. He then used his telepathy, and said, "It's a cruel world. I'm sorry if you think I'm being overprotective, but you're important to the team."

"I don't feel like it," she said out loud.

"What was that?" Peppermint asked.

"I don't feel important," she said.

"You're very important," Peppermint said, "Please set this tray of eggs on the table? Time to eat!"

Later in the morning…

JJ and Orion flew to Metropolis in the Messiah and then set the car down on the fringes of the city. He then drove near the river and watched hundreds of men search a nearly dry riverbed and all throughout the area for any sign of James. Lena stood on a mound in a black dress with an umbrella that blocked the sun from her face, but it was easy to tell that it was her operation. He already donned his uniform and Orion fit in a pocket on his back. When he walked over to her, she didn't look at him right away. She had a stern look on her face as she continued to watch the men scour the empty riverbed.

"Lena, James isn't in the riverbed," he said calmly, "You're wasting time, money, and resources."

"They're mine to waste, Vulcan!" She exclaimed, "Don't worry about what I'm doing! I'm not hurting your bank accounts."

"I see you have a bit of an attitude about my money," he said with a grimace.

"You're not a superhero," she said, "You milk money from good businesses."

"What? Are you talking about Downing Chemical's payments to me?" He asked in an angry voice. "I don't work for free and a capitalistic society shouldn't expect me to." For a moment, he wanted to toss her in the river but quickly calmed. "I've already searched the entire area for James. He's not on this plane."

She looked over at him with her blue eyes, and then asked, "What plane is he on then?"

"There's another existence parallel to this one that holds trillions of planets in its band," he said, "He could be on any of those planets."

"Well, how much is all this going to cost me if you find him?" She asked with an ugly scowl on her face, "I really don't have four hundred million dollars to toss your way."

"You're a real bitch, Lena," he said, "I haven't a clue what a good man like James sees in a rat like you. Just the thought of coming home to a woman with your bitterness and anger makes me cringe."

"Fuck you, Vulcan. You don't have to worry about me," she said as she pointed to her chest with her right hand.

"I'll give you five minutes to clear your people out of the riverbed," he said.

"Or what?" She asked.

"Let me demonstrate the or what in terms that you understand!" He said as he waved his right hand and thunder clouds moved into the area. The clouds floated low to the ground and looked ominous in appearance. Lena looked at the Vulcan with an awkward stare. Lightning strikes hit the ground near the river bed. The Vulcan did that as a warning to the men in the water. At first, a small drop of water landed on Lena's umbrella as a warning to her. She looked up in the sky and a drop of water fell in her right eye.

"You did that on purpose," she said as she bent over to let the water drain out of her eye.

"I don't like you, Lena Luthor," he said. Suddenly, a flood of rain poured into the river. It began to fill back up with water so fast that the search crew barely had enough time to make it out of the riverbed.

"You're a piece of shit, Vulcan!" Lena exclaimed, "Are you trying to kill my people, you smug bastard?"

"No," he said, "I'll like a little appreciation for what I do instead of your condemnation all the damn time."

"I'll never approve of the likes of you," she said calmly, "You have far too much power for your own good." She turned directly to the Vulcan, and then said, "I will be spearheading legislation to outlaw masks so we will know who you super freaks are." The Vulcan walked away from Lena because he didn't think he could control himself around her any longer. "Vulcan, I'll like my Red Raider suit back as soon as possible?" She asked with a smug look on her face.

"It's dismantled," he said as he continued to walk to his car. "But I learned a lot from it.

"The tech in that suit is the property of LexCorp," she screamed, "If you've stolen any of my tech, I'll sue your ass."