FOUR: THE MANTHRAX

Captain Invincible quickly surveyed the damage; it was not as bad as he had thought. Less than a dozen men had been taken. One or two had been grazed by the beams of light, and were too groggy to stand, but he suspected it would wear off. He shot up into the air. The raiding party had resurfaced. One of them raised a cylinder and shot out a thick spray. The hero tried to counter its trajectory, but it somehow followed him and he was hit by a light coating of the liquid. His heart raced and vision blurred as he found himself tumbling back toward the ground. Coming to himself just in time, the superhero managed to land with an awkward thud, but nevertheless unharmed in front of the great hall. "Brower!" The Lance Corporal snapped to attention and saluted, "Yes, sir!"

"Assemble a team of the best fifteen men, and leave the others to guard the settlement. We'll have to follow on foot." The men were quickly assembled; among them was Atreu's ginger haired right hand man, Iuli, and a thickly muscled, broad faced youth called Trag. The hero suspected he might be too young, but there was no time to argue. Using his super tracking abilities, Captain Invincible was able to follow the course of the marauders, past the rock formations, across the plane, into a brightly coloured forest.

He monitored his speed, quick enough to keep pace with the Zytracxians, and to allow the men to keep up. Iuli was calling something, but he dared not loose them. He had to save Atreu. This forest had a strong sweet smell, but the further he ran, the scent became stronger, and sticky. Captain Invincible crossed to the far side of a clearing when he also heard Brower calling out as well. He turned impatiently to face the men who had stopped on the opposite side. "Captain, it's Iuli," panted Brower. "He doesn't want to go this way, he says there is danger." "What danger?" Ilui's delft blue eyes were like saucers in his head. The silent giant finally found his voice, "Manthrax!!!!"

The Captain stood transfixed by a brilliant array of colour such as he had never before seen. Each colossal flower consisted of two gigantic iridescent petals ringed by a fan of deadly looking spikes. They had risen out of nowhere, and it was not until he noticed one seeming to arch it's stem, vines unfurling, and beginning to plunge toward Brower that he jumped into action. As he raised his arm to blast it away, he found himself enveloped in a multi-hued new world. The blossom he had not seen had snapped him up as a frog catches a fly. Through the translucent petals he could see Brower and the men ensnared in the same fashion by the other flowers. He punched against the lightly veined, delicate looking membrane with all his super strength. It gave, and shimmered, but did not break. It did seem to ooze, however, squirting a clear warm viscous fluid that pooled at his feet and rained thick sharp pellets which ran along the curves and planes of his hard, struggling body. The sickening perfume had become nearly unbearable as the goo stuck in threads to his feet. The more he struggled against it the more stuck he seemed to become, like, like... yes that was the scent- honey! Tiny holes appeared in his costume and then grew larger as the fabric reverted to its liquid state and retreated underneath the bracers and greaves which encircled his powerful wrists and ankles. The Captain could see through the gauze, spikes, and veins of the tubular pod that the same substance had eaten away the clothes of the other men. Gleaming wet flesh frantically pushed against the leafy walls of the dangling pods. All that was left of Brower's uniform were the shoulder plates and thigh high boots making his bare skin seem more exposed than if he were fully naked. The gelatinous liquid had risen above the glistening, now naked sinews of his upper thighs. He strained and squirmed as it oozed around his inexplicably rock hard cock, and coated the steely breadbasket abs. He gasped for breath as it constricted round the vast curve of his pectorals, but the saccharine perfume was unbearable. Inevitably it covered his head, the soft blond mop of hair floated as the pod was completely filled. Captain Invincible frantically clawed and kicked, but there was no way out and, as his mouth opened, his whole body spasmed and jerked to stillness as the warm goo filled his lungs.

Was this the rapture of the deep? The wild pounding of his heart echoed within the pod, and deep into his inner ears like waves crashing on some nearby shore, louder and louder, reverberating through his lungs and stomach, and down to his toes. Shuddering waves that were his own breath. He was breathing! The liquid contained enough oxygen that he could breath. He floated still and imprisoned, but alive. The rolling breakers of his own breath were deafening within his own ear, crashing over and through his body, in ticklish waves, almost making him laugh as it passed over his solar plexus, and shiver as the tingling moved outward to his ultra sensitive skin, electric on the back of his neck, and thighs. The respiratory tide seemed to carry a soft sighing in it's wake like Peggy Sue's cries of ecstasy during lovemaking, and became more rapid against his eardrum and deep within his brain. Something whispered along the back of his neck that made him want to jump, continuing under his arm, the bottom of his right foot, so soft and small, like a cat's whisker. He could see them; tiny hairs from the inside of the petals which grew toward his golden naked skin. Now one latched on to the erect wine coloured nipple which crowned the shelf of his right breast, another brushed so softly along his perineum and balls, back and forth like sea grass concealing tiny fish which nibble so gently at your feet in the dark water. The captive sighed as one brushed the tip of his swollen cock, and lingered. So tiny, so tiny, a micro follicle pushed its way into the slit. Too tiny to hurt, but it began to swell just a little, and he became aware of an ever so slight sucking deep, so deep within. Several had latched on to, and wrapped around, both nipples, like infinitesimal lampreys which attached themselves and tugged at the tender nubs, and also began a soft sucking motion which he could feel consuming some impossible fluids from his very male nipples. A strong hair wrapped itself around the base of his cock, and another tight around his ball sac. Some ran along his tongue, and the roof of his mouth, while two more swept along the canal of his inner ear. Others ran up and down the crack between the pert firm globes of his ass. He gasped as a tendril darted in and wormed it's way patiently to his prostate, seemingly with a life of its own; it whirred and buzzed in his most secret and vulnerable place. The other lodged deep within his cock had swollen to a point where it was almost deliciously uncomfortable, and had begun sucking insistently, as if it wanted to drink out his very soul. This thing could read his mind. It knew exactly where and when to touch, oh so gently, to send erotic electricity to his swirling brain and turn him into a quivering helpless mass of moaning lust, pliant to whatever the plant wanted from him.?The vine seemed to understand and seek out every spot on his firm, ripe flesh which made him shiver, tingle and burn, playing his helpless suspended body to a crescendo. It wanted his seed. The buzzing, crashing waves had reached a feverish rhythm. He looked out at the men trapped in the other pods, undulating and quivering at the mercy of those little hairs. He looked over at young Trag. There was nothing on his body that was not curved and defined like a young wet juicy peach. The Captain watched the ripples of his abdominal quiver, and his head fall back, tender lips parted. The beefy youth shook violently as he spurted thick ropes of cum into the hungry plant. The fluid in the pod became opaque, so he could only see the silhouette of the young warrior, now floating very still. The plant convulsed wildly and suddenly sprouted a row of small pods along its vines. In a flash, he understood that he must not cum, but the hairs gentle and insistent tiptoed along the insides of his mighty thighs, his ribcage, within the tight rings of his hole. He was watching the naked Brower squirm and struggle. Whispering sighing waves collected white hot into his center, and the sweet ache began to boil and build. He could hold back the surging tide no longer! Then there was blinding light and a rush of water. He was falling, crashing to the ground. He fell face down; hips and raging cock coming to rest on an exposed root, raising his ass nicely. His loins burned, but the tiny hair embedded in his urethra blocked the flow of semen and frustrated his intense need.

"Looks like we got this one just in time. Hurry cut the others down, bind them, and load them on the cart!" He could feel the hungry eyes upon his naked raised ass, as real as a rough slap. "Gods, look at that choice, round piece of meat!!! Have you ever seen an ass that fine?" "Look is all you'll do. This stud is meant for the Emperor, and no other. This is the one. They say he's the most powerful super hero in the galaxy." "Doesn't look so tough right now, does he? The cocky stud thought he'd come here and save everyone with his super strength, and now look at him, just another delicious slab of man flesh for the emperor's hungry cock. You know, I'm told they can hear us in this state. That's right stud, your ripe round ass belongs to the Emperor now! Haha! I hope he has a high threshold of pain." Their laughter sounded like air escaping from tires. He could hear them, but the waves were still rushing through him, he couldn't move. "Better tie him up anyway. He's had enough juice to keep him out for days, but better to be safe." Captain Invincible felt hot breath on the firm curve of his ass, the tentacles surrounding the creature's mouth, and serpentine tongue, so close but just grazing the air around the granite mounds. He felt a drop of moisture on his exposed skin, which he surmised to be drool, and became intensely aware of his vulnerable nudity, and how the slick ooze from the plant coated and dripped like melted icing from his herculean muscles. The heat of the lust riveted upon his beefy haunches made his throbbing dick want to press into the exposed root, and raise his big butt up towards their ravenous eyes, but he was paralyzed. He could only lie still, exposed to the worshipful cruelty of his captors. He felt the long Zytracxian fingers close around his wrists, and tie them behind his back; the sharp nails ran gently along the curves of his inner thighs and calves to bind his ankles as well. "Damn, look at this beauty all tied up like that! I've got to take him...now!!" "No, I said this one belongs to the Emperor. Here take the ginger one." They pulled a limp Ilui over the edge of the cart, hoisting the freckled giant into position. Through half closed eyes, he saw the incredible strength of the Zytracxian locust legs, as they thrust upward into the warriors defenceless hole. Ilui screamed once and then made no sound as his impaled body jigged on a Zytracxian cock.

Eventually, the two creatures returned their attention to the super hero. "Shall I throw him on the cart?" "No. The Emperor wants this one carried, ass up, all the way back." Captain Invincible, defender of truth, justice, and the American way, felt himself tossed over a scaly Zytracxian shoulder; his exposed ass high above his bound wrists, blood rushing to his hanging head, his super human strength useless, completely at the mercy of the perverted monsters. "How are we supposed to make it all the way back with this stud over your shoulder without tossing him down and raping him?" "If the temptation becomes too strong, just plough one of the hunks in the cart, but this one is off limits." His companion grunted, less than satisfied.

They passed Trag, still encased in his pod. "Damn, it's too late for this one!" "The poor hunk is too hot to leave behind; can't we just cut him down anyway?" "You know that could kill the plant and even harm the slave. What'll the seedlings feed on if you take him away? No, leave this sweet morsel as a reward to the plant for making us such a fine catch, besides you can come collect him when the little podlings grow strong enough on his energy and can feed on their own. Tell you what, in a year's time we can come out together, and take turns ploughing that delicious ass. Now come on, we have a gift for the Emperor." The Zytracixans continued on with their hunky burdens. The helpless stud's limbs swaying gently as he was carried off to his doom. A muffled moan broke the silence of the empty forest. The solitary muscular figure left within the milky pod convulsed again, and the little podlings grew a bit larger on the vine.