My Twin Moves On (Chapter 12)

[Florida20]

I finally got around to writing a new chapter in the series. It's mostly a builder for the next chapter which (hopefully) will conclude the story. It's been a while so if anyone needs a refresher, I've posted the first 12 chapters (including this one) here in the Archive Section. I'll do my best to get the next chapter in a reasonable time.

 

CHAPTER 12

 

Dr. Powers slipped by me as if he owned the room. “Shut the door,” he ordered. I obliged then turned to face him, finding the greying man standing in the middle of the room with his hands held thoughtfully behind his back. He stared at me through cold blue eyes. I returned a glare just as cold and prepared to stand my ground. The events of the previous few hours put me in no mood to be lectured by a man I could crush with one hand.

 

Although nearing sixty by the look of his face, he was still an impressive figure by normal standards and filled out his clothes well. Silver lined his temples while a thick and neatly combed salt-pepper mix covered the rest. His eyes were a sharp and clear blue; a bombardier’s eyes that spoke of a dark intelligence within. They searched my body mechanically and with purely scientific interest. His demeanor was harsh. He stood perhaps six feet tall and could have weighed two hundred pounds. It was hard to tell exactly through the suit he was wearing.

 

“What do you want?” I boomed and crossed my arms before me, letting my chest flair and arms swell. I was a giant compared to him: my nearly seven foot tall body bulging with muscle upon muscle capable of bending him in half. He had to sense the disparity even if his face remained flat.

 

“Impressive,” the doctor stated mechanically as his eyes searched my frame. Once satisfied, his steely gaze shifted from my leg to my eyes. “How do you feel? Heart issues? Back pain? Joint problems? Bones feel strong? Are you urinating regularly-“

 

“I’m fine,” I said, a little taken aback by his choice of topics.

 

“Good,” he said as he stepped towards me.

 

Everything happened so fast. One second I was towering over him, his eyes level with my sternum. Then he revealed something hidden behind his back. Then there was pain. So much pain. The world rolled before my eyes. I tried to resist, to fight. Something slammed against my back. I heard a crash.

 

Confused and dazed, I looked up to see Dr. Powers standing over me with a black metal pole in his hand. He stepped over me as I tried in vain to get up. My muscles only spasmed uselessly. “Why” dribbled from my lips. Without a word, the doctor stabbed at me with the black pole. There was a hissing sound as I was wracked with a pain double that of the first. I tried to scream but the world went black before I could open my mouth.

 

*                             *                             *

 

I heard voices, garbled voices, as if I were overhearing a conversation under water. My head hurt and that feeling of cotton stuffed between my ears was back in force. It was the dazed and confused feeling I’d had each time I woke up after…wait…Had I taken another pill? My heart leaped. How big was I now?

 

Wait, that wasn’t right. This feeling was different.

 

Something was wrong.

 

I opened my eyes and was greeted by a blurred world. There was movement. A tall shape and a short shape. They were only dark talking blobs. And they were both taller than me…wait. No. I was looking at them from the ground. I tried to raise my head and was terrified to discover I couldn’t move it. Panic boiled in my gut. I tested my legs again, then my arms, my fingers. Nothing. I tried to yell for help but only a negligible gurgle came out.

 

The panic cleared my mental fog like a wildfire. Dr. Powers! He’s here. He…tazed me! I tried again to move but all was in vain. All I could do was try to blink away the blur.

 

And listen.

 

“You need his blood, Ben,” I heard Dr. Powers’ voice say. “But the anesthesia is swimming in there too. It attacks the nervous system quickly, though, so he’ll take the brunt of it. You will likely only be put in a light sleep.”

 

“No matter,” I heard a frail yet determined voice respond. “My god he is a specimen.” A pause. “Rick, he’s waking up!”

 

The rising panic in the frail man’s voice was not mirrored by Powers.

 

“Well look whose back,” he said as his slowly sharpening form moved over me. I finally blinked the blur away to reveal those cold blue eyes staring at me from above. Rage filled me as I fought against those invisible chains which bound by body. I could hear a growl begin in my gut and felt my head start to swing ever so slightly side-to-side, but that was the physical extent of my rage.

 

Dr. Powers laughed and turned his attention to a metal pole rising from somewhere over my head. It appeared to be an IV stand and attached to it was a giant bag of clear, yellowish liquid. “Let’s just up the dose a bit,” he said as he fiddled with something out of my eyesight. I rolled my eyes down and that’s when I noticed the tubes. A half dozen were jutting out from my still massive form. Two held the clear liquid and entered in at my wrist. Four others were filled with a deep crimson liquid which could only have been my blood. Those tubes were as thick as drinking straws and erupted from the meatiest part of each arm and thigh.

 

Suddenly my body felt cold and those invisible chains grew tighter. What limited movement I had suddenly disappeared. I looked back up at Dr. Powers and saw he was done fiddling with the IV.

 

Now I could only stare at my captors with cold hate. As Powers finished with the IV, the second figure waited patiently from a wheelchair. He was ancient, well over eighty. He also looked incredibly familiar. He wore pressed slacks and a white, buttoned dress shirt that hung on his bony frame like a curtain. His cloudy eyes had intensity but the face they were planted in sagged like a deflated balloon. Most of his scalp was mottled with dark spots. What little hair he owned either blobbed like weeds on his brow or fell in scattered strands from scalp to his neck. He stared at me with obvious hunger.

 

Finished with the IV, Powers turned back and stared over me, eyes searching. I looked down at my useless body. I was where I had fallen, giant legs sprawled on the floor and my torso lying on my brother’s mattress. The frame of the bed had collapsed as I fell on it and I found myself partially sitting, mostly lying on both the floor and bed. I was surprised to find that I was naked.

 

I forced my eyes back on Dr. Powers, and found myself locked in his gaze. “You ready to give back what you borrowed?” he asked. Without a pause, he turned back to the familiar man in the wheelchair. “Come on up, Ben. Let’s get you on the bed.”

 

As he gingerly helped the elderly man to his feet and guided him to my brother’s roommate’s bed, I wracked my brain to remember who he was. I’d seen those eyes, that face. Even the wheelchair. Whoever he was, he kept staring at me with those hungry eyes. What did he want from me?

 

“We hoped this wouldn’t be necessary, boy,” Powers said after he laid his friend down. He then bent down a picked up four thick clear tubes. I looked back at my body and saw four similar tubes stick in each thigh and the meatiest part of each arm. A quick scan revealed that my blood-filled tubes ran into small machine before emerging empty on the other side and were now being inserted into similar parts of the old man’s body. “You’ll be okay, Ben,” he said tenderly. “When you wake up you will be a new man.”

 

With that, he turned on the machine separating my tubes from Ben’s and suddenly the blood on my side rushed into Ben’s side and entered his body. The man groaned as his gaze held mine. Then his eyes grew heavy his breathing feeble. After a moment, they closed.

 

I turned my attention back to Dr. Powers, who was already staring at me. “Don’t judge me, boy,” he said with a sneer. “You should be down in the Bahamas with your pretty-boy roommate. It’s not my fault you stumbled on this little secret.”

 

He turned and started making his way around the room, which I only now realized was trashed. Every drawer was open with contents thrown haphazardly onto the floor.

 

“I made this medication for us, but they need a young man’s body to work. Truth be told, it was your roommate who seemed the best fit for this experiment. A half dozen pills only gave me an extra twenty pounds. For Ben Fitz here they were useless. But for you…” his eyes flickered to my body. “Well, let’s say we didn’t expect them to work so well. How many did you take? Five? Six? All of them?” He didn’t wait for a response he knew I was unable to provide. How surprised would he be to discover I’d taken only one?

 

Dr. Powers continued to search the room for any pills I’d saved. His search was interrupted as a crash shook the room and was followed by a herd of thunderous voices. Their laugher boomed through the door and their footsteps made the ground shake.

 

My breath caught. The boys from the basement had emerged and, by the sound of things, were much bigger than the giants I’d run away from earlier today. The torrent of sound erupting from them audibly made its way down the hallway, leaving Dr. Powers in what only could be called a stupor. As the sound faded down the hall, Powers made his way to the door. He opened it and peeked towards the chaos. Upon seeing the scene out of my eyeshot, his jaw dropped. “My god,” he whispered. Without another word he gathered his things and bolted from the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

 

Now it was only this mysterious Ben Fitz and myself, connected by some blood machine what was…what? Going to make him younger? He appeared to be the same old geezer I saw sitting in the wheelchair when I—

 

Suddenly the memory came flooding back. Ben Fitz. The Fitz Mafia…this crusty old man was the honorary mascot of my brother’s workout group. The pieces were slowly fitting together. I felt my heart race in its paralyzed body. Dr. Powers and Dr. Fitz were the co-authors of the paper I found on gene therapy. And the tenants of this dorm were their lab rats. Both had their eyes all over this place.

 

A groan shook me from my thoughts. Although still wispy, it was stronger than the frail and shaking voice I’d heard from Fitz so far. He was still the old man. Yet…

 

Didn’t his shirt once sit on him like a tent? Although still oversized, there was definitely a form under that fabric; not just a skeleton with skin. Had his face filled out a bit? A gloom bubbled across my consciousness as the consequences became clear. I looked at my own body. It was still the superhuman form I’d come to expect but…was it getting smaller?

 

As the minutes ticked by, my hunch became fact. I could feel my muscles slowly drain as my blood pumped into a growing Ben Fitz. As his chest filled the shirt and the skin on his face regained its youth, my body slowly but surely began shrinking away. I did not want to lose this body!

 

Panic-stricken, I fought against the paralytic drug with everything I had. All I had to do was shake the IV free. More muscle draining minutes wore by with no progress. Then I heard the sagging mattress groan. It must be working. I fought harder and harder against those chemical bounds. More groaning. Shrinking or not, I was still over three hundred pounds propped against this shattered bed. A few more rocks and…

 

Crash!

 

The frame gave its final death cry and collapsed completely. I fell awkwardly, my entire body now lying on the floor. A quick scan sank my heart as I realized that not only was the IV still firmly attached to my wrists (and neck!), the draining tubes were as well. To make matters worse, I could no longer see Dr. Fitz. All I saw were the tell-tale tubes reaching up from the machine of the floor and disappearing over the corner of the mattress. Exhausted, paralyzed, and now blind to what was happening, I felt resignation seep into me.

 

Minutes turned into hours and I could only watch as my crumpled body began to wither away. The definition and vascularity remained but the size mysteriously disappeared. In turn, I heard the sporadic moans escaping Ben Fitz’s mouth grow deeper and stronger. More than once, the bed groaned beneath his ever increasing weight as he stole it from me. Arms as big as a womans waist withered: 26 inches, 25, 24, 23. The sides of beef that made up my chest deflated like a balloon. The deep canyons of my 40 inch thighs grew shallow. I closed my eyes, unable to witness the slow, inevitable return to my once scrawny self.

 

Footsteps. A familiar voice. 

 

I opened my eyes as the door knob rattled. I must have dozed off, only this time the memory of what had happened remained stuck in my brain like shards of glass. I immediately looked down at my body. Once one of the most powerful specimens on the planet, it now looked very similar to the healthy yet narrow frame I began the week with. Only now my skin seemed to hang off me and puddle around my body. Although still a body many would kill for, the sight of it only made me want to sob. All that power.

 

Gone. 

 

Only then did I notice the giant, vascular arm hanging over the side of the bed in front of me. A striated bowling ball shoulder, an equally impressive upper arm, and a bulging forearm mapped with sinew, veins and muscle. 

 

It was Dr Fitz and he was now overflowing the bed. I could see the top of his mountainous chest when it rose with every strong, deep breaths. He was the giant now. 

 

How long had I been out? Late afternoon light beamed through the window. The doorknob rattled again, which would have made me jump had I not been paralyzed. Dr. Powers was back. Now that I was drained, I was useless to him. What would he do to me?

 

My breath got stuck in my throat as the door opened. An impressive figure strolled into the room but it wasn't Dr. Powers. 

 

It was my brother. 

[stewbake]

Simply, thank you.

[Bel0w6rade]

It's the last work day before a long weekend... I had the most phenomenal leg workout at the gym... and not only has Florida20 returned to the forum, but he's written a new installment to "My Twin Moves On".

 

All in all, today was a GREAT day.

[xboy]

thanks! a iread the full story and it's really cool!

[ploder4]

Looks like Ryan ultimately gets denied and Rhys remains the bigger brother.  After all Ryan was never really part of the dorm in the first place, an intruder.  That's too bad.  Hopefully Ryan will regain some of what he had, but considering the title, I doubt it now.  

 

I feel really bad for Ryan.  Here he is back to being small, and that fact getting rubbed in by the fact that his big twin returned, probably bigger than ever.  Ryan will now be inferior (in his mind) to his brother probably permanently. It's emotional torture.   If things remain the way they are now, things between the brothers will never be the same again.

 

A story that provokes such emotion is a well written one.  I can't wait for the next chapter.  I hope Ryan gets at least a little redemption.  

[JD24242]

I'm so glad you have finally continued this story. I have really enjoyed every chapter so far.

[chocomus]

Wow!!! thank you for continuing this story!!!!

 

Although I feel terrible for Ryan. When one doesn't have something, doesn't feel the pain of it gone either.

[jman250]

Another amazing installment! I can't wait to find out what happens next!

[ploder4]

I don't think I've ever been this emotionally caught up in a character in a muscle story before! I want Ryan to get his muscles back SO badly! I have to imagine Rhys will help him get his muscles back.

 

I picture the story as going thus: Ryan tells Rhys after he regains his wits that they can't continue to be so unequal. That he will simply continue his life and cut Rhys out of his life entirely rather than go through the torture of always being told what he can't be and made to feel inferior, even to the point where he thinks of taking his own life. Rhys, realizing how much this has affected his twin to the point of near madness, takes it upon himself to solve things and return Ryan to hulk status...maybe some of the nerds still have some pills left over or maybe he will immediately look for the pills hidden in showers that Ryan didn't get to.

 

Use those ideas or not but this story is incredible.

I like that idea, but I think that won't happen.   I really think the twins will remain unequal, but the torture comes when the family defaults to one twin than the other in little things.  Since Rhys will be the stronger of the two he will be asked to do most things like "take this big heavy suitcase" or "open this jar of pickles"  but also stuff like "help me jack up this car" (using his strength and not just his help).  Rhys will take advantage of the moment not to intimadate his brother, but to just help in the best way he can (while getting a good pump in the process).  This will ultimately alienate the other twin so not only does he cut out his brother, but also his family because everything will be a reminder of how superior Rhys is.  Keep in mind Rhys will not only be the stronger one, but the smarter one too.  Also, how long will this continue.  It has already been determined that Rhys, who was not interested in building up his body before, is now really enjoying it.  

 

That's my opinion of what will happen, based on the title alone.  But I can't wait to see what Florida20 comes up with.  It will probably throw us both for a loop.  

[convolution]

An intense, well written story. Florida, you've captured the cruelty of the fates.