“Slimming candies?” Lynx laughed, “Trust my dear friend to come up with such wild things.”  

Suddenly, the Captain stirred back to consciousness.

 “Where…?” His voice was coarse.

 Lynx grinned as he watched his former nemesis blink a couple of times, trying to gather back his senses.

“I hope Sugarloaf treated you well,” smirked Lynx. “He sure did well feeding you, though.” 

Captain Solar’s expression quickly darkened. Despite what he had been through, the hero leader still retained his signature heroic glare. 

That glare caught Lynx’s attention. He rose from the table and walked towards the shackled hero. With a firm grab, he held the Captain’s chin up and said, “After so long, you are still so defiant. I absolutely hate that smug hero look of yours.”  

“We’ll see how you turn out after going through the list of clients I have for you,” said Lynx as he turned away. “By the way, do you remember the Project Black Sun?”

Captain Solar continued to glare back as he tried to pull back from his memories. “The… The cloning project?”  

“Bingo! It looks like your big muscle brain is still working,” Lynx laughed out. “James!”

“Yes, sir.” 

A heavy mechanical sound rattled across the room. Dr. Byron, Lynx’s head scientist, came in, pushing a large metal canister. It looked almost like a casket. 

 “Go ahead, James,” said Lynx, gesturing with a slight wave.

Byron was gleaming with pride as he explained, “Over the last two years, we have finally finished this incubator that houses your clone. Of course, when taking apart your DNA, I did make a little genetic engineering to improve him and -“ 

“And all of this is only possible with my brilliant scientist and my wealth,” interrupted Lynx as he stared at the Captain. “Much more wealth that I gain after you got out of my business.” 

Captain Solar kept a stoic expression. These people are sick. How could they be playing god?

“With the mighty powers of Captain Solar under my control, none of the other heroes would dare to stick their noses into my operations!” exclaimed Lynx dramatically.

 As Byron tapped onto the console, Captain Solar could hear the liquid draining away from the incubator. A burst of gas was released as the lid slowly lifted. 

A greyish hand grabbed the corner from within. A figure began to rise. 

“No…,” the Captain said in a low voice. “Impossible.” 

The being was obscenely muscular— pulsing veins, the thickness of a pencil, all over its dark greyish skin. Those arms were at least twice as large as Captain Solar at his peak condition. The beast stood at a towering height of 8 feet. Its face had some resemblance to Captain Solar, only much more twisted.

What was shocking was its monstrous cock. It was at least twice as thick as the Captain’s when flaccid. It was the size of a well-muscled forearm, dangling between its giant sinewy thighs. 

Lynx himself was surprised by the sheer size of the creation, taking a couple of cautious steps back as the mountain of a beast stepped out of the incubator. 

Noticing his boss’s expression, Byron calmly said, “Black Sun had been well-conditioned in the incubator. It will only take orders from Mr. Luxtor and will do anything for his master. The perfect superpower soldier.”

“You guys are sick! Fucking sick!” Captain Solar finally muttered, “That’s not a human! That’s a monster!”  

At that moment, he felt his shackles loosen. The Captain quickly grabbed his wrists and massaged them. First time in his captivity, he had the freedom of motion. 

“Stand up, Captain.” Lynx said, “It’s time to test Black Sun.”
 

Chapter 37

“Black Sun”… That was what they were calling him? 

Captain Solar tried to stand up from his chair. His legs were trembling weakly. He uttered under his breath, “Shit… Legs are too weak.” 

He felt a grip tighten over the chest of his golden yellow suit. His large body was lifted off the ground. Captain Solar could only grab at the naked clone’s hand as he tossed the Captain’s body back into a wall.  

“Augh!” screamed out the Captain in pain as he crashed into the concrete. A trickle of blood flowed down his forehead. His enlarged body had enough cushion to withstand the devastating blow. “I can’t… I can’t fight in this state.”  

Without warning, Black Sun dashed in and landed an uppercut directly into the Captain’s gut. Sweat poured from his head as he spat out in pain before collapsing back onto the ground. 

“Wow…,” tsked Lynx. “It’s unimaginable how much you have fallen.”

Captain Solar glared back up with eyes of hatred. He felt a grip on his round shoulders as the beast lifted him again. 

“Turns out you are only good as a punching bag for Black Sun.” 

With that, Black Sun threw a powerful punch into the Captain’s chin, sending him rocketing upwards. The blow shook his skull, giving the Captain a slight concussion. His vision was getting blurry. 

“ARGH!” roared Black Sun as he gripped the Captain tightly in a bear hug. Constricting his impossibly large arms, he was trying to crush the Captain’s spine. The sun hero could only let out a cry of pain as his arms were pinned to his sides and on the verge of breaking. 

Suddenly, Black Sun leaped into the air. He flew. 

Lynx let out a yell as the ceiling collapsed. Black Sun was taking the hero up into the sky. 

“No! Shit!” yelled out Lynx as sunlight burst in. “James! He’s exposing the Captain to the Sun!” 

The late afternoon winter sun was barely shining. But a little bit was all he needed.

Almost in an instant, as the sun ray hit his body, Captain Solar felt a surge of energy returning to him. His round belly quickly deflated. His arms grew back to their muscular form. His wounds rapidly healed up. 

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.

.

*Ka-Pow!*

Lynx shielded himself as a heavy object slammed onto the ground. As the dust settled, he saw that it was Black Sun, with a punch squarely landed in its face. 

“Fuck, the Captain’s back,” Lynx yelled out.

Captain Solar took in a deep breath as he levitated above the facility that kept him captive for so long. It felt great to be back finally. 

His first thought was to fly back to Kant City and find his family. But the sun hero knew duty comes first. He had to settle things here before he headed off. Black Sun was way too dangerous to let him go wild.  

“I have to be quick. The sun is almost setting. Winter days are short,” the Captain made a mental note to himself before dashing back down. 

Chapter 38

 The ceiling collapsed in again as a golden figure busted in. The hero was almost glowing with yellow. 

Lynx watched as the mighty Captain picked up the Black Sun and tossed him up into the air before flying off.

“Shit. If the Captain gets loose, everything I have built is going down,” muttered Lynx, as he looked toward his head scientist, expecting an answer.

Instead, Byron was gleaming with excitement. It was not what he expected, but he wanted to validate. Was Black Sun indeed the new and improved version of Captain Solar? 

.

.

.

*BAM! BAM! BAM!*

The constant raining of powerful blows on the beast as they went higher and higher into the skies. Captain Solar was moving at supersonic speeds as he wanted to make quick work of this creation… a creation made from him. 

“Impossible…” thought Captain Solar as he continued his punches. “The Black Sun is getting tougher.”

Before he could react, his fists were stopped in mid-motion. Black Sun had grabbed onto his hands; its bruised-up face was rapidly recovering. 

“Crap! It’s also taking energy from the sun!”

Captain Solar felt a counterpunch to his gut as the beast retaliated.

The pair continued to exchange blows in mid-air. An impact on Black Sun’s cheeks. A kick to the Captain’s ribs. All were powerful and devastating blows in which each could shatter every bone in a regular man’s body. The battle continued for far too long than what Captain Solar had hoped. 

He glanced over to the setting sun. It was a mistake. In one quick motion, Black Sun went in and bear-hugged the sun hero. With a powerful force, it made a head dive, intending to break the Captain into the crust of the Earth. 

“Ugh!” grunted the hero leader as he tried to break free from the hug. His arms were pinned down to his sides with almost no leverage to push back. Flames burst out from the friction caused by the velocity they were diving back to Earth. 

Captain Solar quickly gathered his sun energy within. His body glowed in golden yellow.

An intense blast of sun energy exploded from his body. The heat was almost on the level of a mini nuclear blast. The hands around him released just before they hit the ground. The Captain broke his high-speed fall and landed back on his feet. 

He looked across the charred burnt body of the beast. 

“Damn it,” panted Captain Solar. He looked up at the darkened sky. The dusk had arrived. 

Chapter 39

He needed to get out of here first. His remaining reserve of sun energy would not get him anywhere close to beating that thing. He required backup. 

When he was high in the air, he managed to gather his whereabouts. They were still in the Republic of Kant, near the base of Samara Peaks. The thick forest in front of him was Wolfsburg Falls. If he headed for the southwest, he would reach Kant City.

“Plan B,” muttered Captain Solar to himself as he turned to face the dark forest. He brushed off the dust on his shoulders and started running.

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.

.

“What on earth is he doing back here?” yelled a red-faced Lynx as Black Sun walked back in, empty-handed. There were burn scars all over his skin, but they quickly healed back up. 

“Mr. Luxtor. Give him the command to track down the Captain. He couldn’t have gone far in the forest,” said Byron quickly. 

“ARGH!” roared Lynx. “BLACK SUN! Go find that Captain Solar and fuck him up so badly that he wished he never escape again!” 

The muscular beast grunted an animal noise in acknowledgment before sprinting off. It almost seemed that it knew where the Captain was. 

“Fuck,” cursed Lynx again. “He’d better bring that man back. If not, everything is screwed up.”

.

.

.

Sweat dripped down the Captain’s forehead. He had covered almost 20 miles in under thirty minutes, three times faster than any regular man alive.

“Not moving for so long really took a toll on my body,” muttered Adam as he stopped for a break. He was expending his sun energy in short bursts just to maintain his running pace. 

“About 20 more miles or so before.”

 The forest was dark. The moon was barely visible tonight. A cold tingle was felt on his neck. He reached back. Nothing.

 His gaze went up. A small and insignificant snowflake drifted down.

 Adam put out his palm to catch it and watched it quickly melt away. 

“God… how I miss this,” said Adam. Memories of his captivity sent shivers down his spine. 

 Shaking it off, the Captain got ready for the last lap back. It was time to go home. 

*Rustle*

 Instinctively, his head turned to the sound coming from the bushes. 

“No,” said Captain Solar as he took a couple of steps back from the dark towering figure.

He couldn’t have caught up so fast. How could he have known where I was in this thick, dense forest?

Should he run… or fight? 

Adam gritted his jaw. They were so close to Kant City now. His family could be in danger if Black Sun was let loose here. The heroes of Kant City themselves will be in trouble. 

The Captain got into his battle stance. Clenched fists glowed in yellow as he readied himself. 

“You are not getting any further,” he warned the beast as it charged in head-to-head.

Chapter 40

“Sir,” came the voice over the telecom. “We detected a powerful radioactive blast near the base of Samara Peaks.”