New Adventures of Muscleman

The New Adventures of MuscleMan

Episode 20

The Beret

by Sean Reid Scott

[Author's note: This story contains sex acts between men, and is thus intended for ADULTS ONLY. If you are not an adult who wants to read this kind of smut, please do not continue.] To read previous MuscleMan episodes, go here: http://muscleman.buffmuscles.com

Seattle's winter was colder than usual this year. Already, the city had dealt with two snowstorms that had closed schools and shut down businesses. And it wasn't even actually winter yet!

With Christmas just a few days away, shoppers were filling the malls and downtown stores, making up for the time they had lost due to being snowed in. It was hectic, but if one stopped for a few moments, and just watched, the hustle and bustle was compelling, if not entertaining.

Two shoppers happened to be doing just that-- stopping and watching the frenetic pace from a street corner near the Pike Place Market down on the waterfront. Colton and Wes stood still and smiled as they took in the scene... families arguing about where and when they would meet back up after shopping; toddlers fussing and whining about when they were going to get to see Santa, parents discussing the best place to buy lumps of coal for the aforementioned whining kids... Wes, the smaller of the two, poked Colton in the rib to get his partner to notice a good-looking guy walking his pug down the frigid street.

"Nice," Colton said.

"Let's go," Wes said, leading the way into a small shop.

"Welcome gentlemen," an older man said as Colton closed the door tightly to keep out the cold. "How can I help you?" The man looked at Colton when he talked, even though Wes was closer. But that wasn't surprising; Wes was only 5-feet 7-inches, and maybe a little on the portly side. Actually he wasn't that overweight, but his face was round and that made him look like he was carrying more than just a few extra pounds. But in spite of this, Wes was very good looking. His features were unique, yet balanced-- and his smile could light up the darkest rooms.

Colton, on the other hand, was always noticed. In a word, he was a specimen. At 6-foot-4 and weighing well over 225 pounds of solid muscle, his physique was enough to garner quite a bit of attention. Add to that, his jet-black hair and gorgeous eyes and mouth, and what you had with Colton Hancock was a drop-dead mind-boggling mass of delicious, manly muscle.

The store that the two men had just entered was a haberdashery.

"I'm interested in seeing some berets," Wes said to the shopkeeper.

For the life of him, Colton couldn't imagine what Wes was doing. Neither of them knew anyone who wore hats-- at least anything more than baseball caps.

"Berets?" Colton said softly to Wes.

"Yes-- berets," Wes answered.

A of curiosity formed on Colton's face, and as Wes turned around to talk to Colton, he noticed it with a smile. "I was thinking about getting myself a Christmas present," he said.

"But you don't wear hats," Colton said.

"Always wanted to," Wes said.

The shopkeeper turned and walked toward the back of the shop.

Wes said, "I think I'd look dashing in one," and he turned to follow the shopkeeper.

Colton followed, biting his tongue, not wanting to stir up controversy at this point in their day. They were both tired from hours and hours of shopping, and he knew that if they got into one of their "arguments" it would only serve to ruin the evening that lie ahead.

Colton waited patiently as Wes went through a half-dozen hats, carefully offering his opinion-- but only when asked-- on a few of them. But when Wes tried on the brown corduroy beret, Colton was actually taken aback at how well it suited his partner. "Wow-- that one really seems to fit you well," he said.

Wes preened in the mirror for a few minutes, cocking the hat, then straightening it, then adjusting it again. "I'll take it," he finally said.

As Colton patiently held the sacks of presents the two men had purchased over the course of the afternoon, Wes completed the transaction at the counter. Colton's big arms felt like they were getting a slight pump from the constant weight of the packages.

Wes handed the sack with his hat box to Colton, adding more bulk than weight to the big man's load. The hat box was empty, as Wes had elected to wear his purchase.

As the two men returned to the street, Colton remarked to Wes how good he looked. Truly, Colton was still surprised at how well the beret fit the look of his partner.

"One last stop," Wes said as he scurried across the street-- fully expecting Colton to follow-- which he did.

Colton lifted his left arm, bending at the elbow, flexing his big biceps in the process-- to check the time. It was 5:33. "We're going to need to make good time if we're going to make our reservation," he called to Wes.

Wes ignored the advisory, quickly slipping into another store.

Colton sighed. He decided to wait outside. He knew what Wes was buying inside the camera shop, and his "input" wouldn't be needed. He turned and faced the street, watching the crowds as he had done a few minutes earlier.

A few flakes of snow drifted to the ground.

Colton sighed again. This would be his third Christmas with Wes; and he was feeling trapped. The jovial-- even hilarious-- personality of Wes had, with familiarity, moved into something more demanding and domineering. The spontaneity they had shared when they first met had turned into predictability and boredom. And then, there was the weight gain. Wes had been lean, tight and cute when Colton and he had first met at the gym. In spite of the fact that they worked out in different corners of the gym-- Colton in the free-weights, pumping his muscles to their maximum size; and Wes in the aerobics theater-- they developed a friendship. But after they moved in together, Wes' drive for excellence had waned. In short, ever since he moved in with Colton, Wes had let himself go.

Screeching brakes and a blaring horn directed Colton's focus to the far end of the block; a jay-walker had almost gotten hit. As the tension diffused and the shoppers resumed their shopping, Colton heard a ruckus coming from inside the camera shop behind him. He turned to see a bright flash of light; then the lights in the shop went dark. A loud bang was followed by a thud, and then a crash. There was some yelling coming from inside as well. Colton dropped his bags and ducked-- just as the front window of the shop was shattered by a man's body being hurled through it at a very high speed.

"What the..." Colton mumbled as he brushed pebbles of glass off his jacket. He stood slowly, cautiously peering into the shop. It was totally dark, and eerily quiet. Colton turned his head to view the man who had been thrown into the street. It wasn't Wes. From the apron the man was wearing, Colton surmised it was an employee of the camera shop.

Another loud thud jerked Colton's attention back into the shop. He stood all the way up now, and moved to the side of the broken window, trying to see from an angle what was going on inside. Another body flew out the window and landed on the semi-conscious previous one. That one wasn't Wes either.

At this point, Colton began to seriously fear for his partner. The thoughts of the previous moments completely dissolved as he wondered if a third body-- possible Wes'-- might fly out the window. What the fuck is going on? Colton thought to himself. What kind of force could throw a grown man so far?

A third body never did come flying out the window opening. Colton slowly opened the glass front door to the shop, next to the storefront window that had been shattered. As he poked his head inside, Colton could hear sirens in the distance. He turned and saw that a crowd had gathered on the street-- keeping its distance from the front of the store in a big arc. A few people were tending to the limp bodies on the street.

Colton ventured inside a little farther. "Wes! Wes! Are you in there?"

There was no answer. The store, without lights, was pitch black. Colton heard some groaning coming from the middle of the store, and then some movement by the cash register. It sounded like the groans of people who had been injured in the melee. One of those people could be Wes. Colton had to help.

As he slowly ventured farther inside, the person by the cash register moaned and looked up at Colton. "Don't go back there," the man whispered. "It's-- it's some kind of-- thing!" he said, rubbing his own shoulder.

"What? What do you mean?" Colton said.

"I don't know what it is," the man said. "But it's huge! It's like some kind of monster!" The man was clearly terrified. He shook as he spoke.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Colton bent down. "What do you mean-- monster?"

"All I know is... I gotta get out of here. You too, if you value your life..." the man scooted across the dark floor and, holding his shoulder with his opposite hand, scurried out onto the street. Colton could hear the crowd's reaction to the sight of an injured, terrified man emerging from the scene of the disaster.

But something inside Colton felt the need to help Wes, despite the danger. Colton didn't even really think about whatever it was that had wreaked such mayhem-- and struck such fear into that guy-- all he could think about was finding Wes.

"Wes! Wes!" This time Colton's calls were half whispers-- as if he could direct his voice to Wes without the "monster" --or whatever-- hearing him. "Wes! Wes!" he repeated, hissing his partner's name as he moved deeper into the darkness.

He tripped over a knocked-down battery display and almost fell. But as he regained his footing, he heard a moaning sound. Actually, on second hearing it was more of a growl-- like an animal.

There it was again.

Colton froze. Whatever it was sounded very large, and very ominous; very scary.

Another growl; and then-- then it sounded like the growling was turning into a laugh. Or was it a laugh? Yes-- an "evil" kind of laugh-- sinister. Pretty soon, it was a full-out laugh.

And then-- Colton began to feel an eerie familiarity about the laugh. He peered into the darkness, but couldn't see anything. The growling and laughter were coming from maybe 15 to 20 feet away. Colton listened, frozen in place.

Then there was movement. Coming from the point of the laughter. Whatever-whoever it was, was moving. The laughter came closer. Slowly. Footsteps. Closer.

Just as Colton was about to bolt for the front of the store the "thing" said, "Colton."

Now Colton fully recognized the voice. "Wes?"

Another growl and a laugh, and the "monster" stepped close enough that Colton's dark-adjusted eyes could now see it's huge frame.

And I do mean huge.

A few inches taller than Colton and just gargantuan in its mass.

"Colton," the thing said. It's voice was deep, yet it's resonance was totally familiar.

"Wes?" Colton repeated in disbelief.

"Yes, it's me, babes," the thing said.

Colton didn't particularly like the nickname "babes," that Wes had assigned him, but he never had the heart to tell him. But this use of the name-- a name no one else ever used-- confirmed the identity of this-- this huge beast.

"Wes? What the hell?"

"Wes" stepped even closer. Only the fact that Colton was confused by the giant's identity kept him from turning and fleeing from the monster-like figure.

With this step, Wes moved into a faint beam of light. Colton gasped. Before him stood a huge beast. But it wasn't a beast-- it was Wes! The facial features were obviously Wes' and even some of the features of the thing's body-- the skin and proportions-- were obviously Wes'. Yet, he was huge! And he was completely ripped with insanely lean muscles. It honestly looked like some kind of morphed cartoon character that Colton had perused on a gay muscle-toon site. This couldn't be a real human. No man is built like this: Overly-developed muscles everywhere; dripping with powerful sensuality; filled with amazing strength; just huge.

The thing-- Wes-- was totally naked. Like when David Banner turned into the Hulk, Wes' clothes must have been ripped to shreds.

Colton looked over the massive body. He almost laughed because of how much it looked like a cartoon on the Internet! Overly-big muscles bulging all over hell. And then there was that cock! It hung almost down to the knees, and was thick and proportional to its length. Two wet nut sacs held what Colton thought must be orange-sized testicles that gracefully swung between legs that defied description-- and comprehension. Colton, in fact, had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The arms of Wes-- or this whatever-- were bigger than a normal man's legs; bulging with mounds of heads of muscle on top of muscle.

Colton blinked again as he looked up at the mountain.

And then, the shock became almost overwhelming. Colton looked up, and on top of Wes' head sat the beret he had just bought.

"Wes? What the hell?" Colton repeated, stuttering on each word.

Wes allowed a brief-- very brief-- smile to grace his beautiful face; but then he became sullen. "What the hell?" he repeated Colton's words. "You want to know what the hell?"

Colton could see that the Wes-thing was not happy. He felt the fear well inside his own body.

"What the hell-- is this," Wes said. "Something happened. Doesn't matter what it was; it was just something. And now I'm big. And strong. Now I have everything you have always had-- except maybe ten times more. Now its my turn, Colton."

"What are you talking about? How can this be?"

"Dunno. And I already said-- it doesn't matter. It just is. Now I am everything I've always wanted to be-- everything UN-Wes: Big, handsome, strong, the envy of every man, the desire of every woman. And now, you want to be like me-- instead of the other way around."

Colton didn't respond. He could see the anger in Wes' eyes. And yes, those were Wes' eyes. And despite the absurdity of Wes' ranting, Colton was feeling something that actually did attract him to the new Wes' amazing god-like body; both in lust and in envy.

A pair of cops arrived at the street and they called out, shining their flashlights around the dark shop. Eventually the beams of light found Colton-- and Wes-- and they froze on the giant's unbelievable frame.

As the cops lit up Wes, Colton gasped again. It was unbelievable. Wes was definitely not a cartoon. He was real. He was some kind of morphed-real, but he was definitely real. Colton nearly peed his pants. His jaw dropped open. He involuntarily clenched his hands in fear.

Colton could hear expletives come from the cop's mouths, and gasps and screams come from the crowd as the lights revealed Wes' amazing other-worldly body.

Wes looked at the window opening. He sneered at it.

The cops didn't move.

Wes looked down at Colton. In a flash, he reached down and picked up Colton's large body, turned to the back of the store and bolted.

Colton looked at the giant. He was terrified, yet he felt somehow safe. The insane musculature was a fortress for Colton. The enormous size felt impenetrable, and somehow very good.

Wes scurried toward the back of the store-- he carried Colton into the back storeroom. He quickly opened a large steel door; it led into a back alley. He looked down at Colton's face. It was a scared face. Wes liked that. He moved into the alley and darted toward a pair of dumpsters.

"They're heading out the back," one of the cops said. He keyed the mic on his uniform and radioed the information to dispatch.

Wes gently placed Colton's feet on the ground, and the bodybuilder stood up slowly. Wes stood next to one of the dumpsters. Even the dim light of the street didn't diminish the hugeness of Wes. He looked around, surmising the situation and evaluating his next move.

"What are you going to do?" Colton asked, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

Wes didn't answer. His eyes just darted around the alley-- looking for an idea. Clearly, he needed clothes; and clearly, no clothes would fit him.

Wes looked up the side of one of the buildings in the alley-- looking for anything that might provide an avenue of discrete escape. But as he glanced up, a gust of bitter-cold wind blew down the narrow alleyway between the tall, old buildings, and as it did, it picked Wes' beret off his head and dropped it about ten feet away in a puddle of half-frozen water.

Immediately, Wes began to look-- well, weird. Colton watched him. He was getting smaller! He was contorting as he shrunk, unable to control his body. Within half a minute, Wes had shrunk back to his normal, small self!

"This can't be happening," Wes said out loud.

Wes slunk to the ground and went into a fetal position, unconscious.

"What is this-- some kind of joke? Am I on TV?" Colton said up into the air. His attention immediately turned back to Wes. He bent over his partner's naked body.

As swarms of cops converged-- guns drawn-- Colton straightened up, with his arms raised. "He's hurt," he said, nodding to Wes huddled on the ground.

As paramedics tended to Wes a few minutes later, the police interviewed Colton, who knew he'd never be believed if he told them what had really happened. Instead, he told the cops that the giant "thing" had run out one end of the alley and had gotten away. He and Wes were innocent victims. The cops inside the store took Wes' ripped clothes as evidence. Seems the huge "thing" had totally destroyed Wes' clothing in some kind of rage.

Colton did retrieve the beret though; however he was careful to hold on tightly to it, not giving it to Wes-- who was being taken to a hospital for observation anyway.

" " " " "

"Sir, I think you should take a look at this," Lt. Valen said.

MuscleMan walked over to the computer terminal where the orb was seated, his white cape flowing behind his massive and ripped body. "What is it, lieutenant?"

Valen adjusted the settings on his computer; he looked puzzled. "Well, sir-- it's gone now," he said. "I had some extremely high readings of Penultimate Novatron just a few seconds ago, but now they're gone."

"Penultimate Novatron? Here, on Earth?" MuscleMan asked, surprised.

"Yes sir," Valen answered. "It lasted for about fifteen minutes, according to the computer. But it just disappeared."

"How can that be?" MuscleMan asked. "PN doesn't just appear and disappear like that."

"I know, sir. That's what makes it so strange. I am analyzing the readings. I will keep you informed if I find anything."

"Thank you," MuscleMan said as he turned away. He paused and said over his shoulder, "And perhaps you should run a diagnostic on the computer as well."

"Yes, sir," Valen answered without looking up from his work.

" " " " "

"There's nothing wrong with you that a few days of rest won't cure," the doctor said to Wes. "I'd like to keep you overnight for observation though."

Wes nodded. He had monitors connected to his body, but was otherwise comfortable.

Colton stood next to Wes' hospital bed. Although he was concerned for his partner, and in a bit of shock over what he'd seen Wes transform into, he found his libido rising up and getting the best of him as he discussed Wes' condition with the amazingly hunky doctor. But once the doctor left, Colton returned his attention to Wes.

"You feel okay?" Colton asked, thoughtfully.

"Yeah-- pretty tired, but okay," Wes answered.

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Colton asked.

Wes paused to review the events of the past hour. "I don't know what happened at all," he said. "I mean-- now that it's over, it feels like it was some kind of dream." He looked up at Colton and said, "Did I really get big like that?"

Colton nodded yes.

"What the fuck happened to me?"

"I don't know. But if the doctor doesn't see anything wrong with you, I don't think we should tell anyone about it. They'd probably cart us off and put us in straight jackets."

Wes rubbed his head. It throbbed with a really bad headache. "It's all just so-- so fantastic. It's like a sci-fi movie or something."

"Well, maybe after you rest, we'll be able to make some sense of all this," Colton said. He bent over and kissed Wes' forehead and told him to sleep well; he'd be back to see Wes in the morning.

" " " " "

A half hour later, Colton opened the door to their apartment and flipped on the lights. Inside, he pushed off his shoes. He plopped the shopping bags on a big chair and turned on the television.

"The scene is calm now," a reporter said from a downtown Seattle street, "but that's a sharp contrast to a few hours ago. As you can see, this camera shop has been ransacked. Three people have been taken to the hospital, and their conditions are unknown at this hour. Whatever their condition, this little shop seems to have been the site of some unbelievable events. Witness describe two men actually being thrown through the shop's front window in what one man said was an amazing..." Colton flipped the channel, only to see the same scene on the second station's news.

"Well, at least we know it wasn't a dream," he mumbled to himself as he turned the television off. He dug through the large shopping bags and retrieved the hat box that he had placed Wes' new hat into. He opened it slowly. There seemed nothing remarkable about the hat; just brown corduroy. Yet Wes' transformation into that thing had been reversed the instant the hat had flown off his head.

Was this hat the cause of the transformation?

Colton lifted the hat out of the box. He held it-- reverently. It felt just like a regular hat. Nothing special. No tingling magic. He slowly put it on his head.

Nothing.

No magic transformation, no tingling feeling; nothing.

Colton took the hat off and placed it back in the box.

Now, though, Colton felt tired; almost depressed. Or maybe just tired.

It had been a long day of shopping-- and then that episode in the camera shop. Colton slid into the other large, leather chair. He was pooped.

Just as he closed his eyes, though, he felt an overwhelming urge. A desire. He stood up and returned to the hat. He regarded it carefully. He had a strong, compelling desire to put it back on-- as if when he had taken it off, he had gone through a mini-withdrawal.

Colton put the hat back on his head, and this time he felt a breeze of revival blow through his body. A rush. He felt good.

Really good.

He tried taking it off again, but the feeling of weakness and helplessness that followed was overwhelming. He quickly put it back on, and he could feel a sense of strength pour through his veins.

Colton walked into the bedroom. He looked at himself in the full-length mirror. Colton wasn't ever shy about his physique-- and he would freely admit (only to himself, though) that his own body frequently turned him on. He was totally guilty of jacking off to himself in the mirror on occasion. So, when he eyed himself in the mirror now, it came as no surprise to himself that he liked what he saw. Even fully clothed, Colton's wide shoulders, thick chest and bulging arms pleased him. He looked down at his legs. They filled his jeans to the full, bulging with massiveness.

Colton bounce his pecs under his shirt. He smiled. He felt strong. Better than strong. He felt better than he had ever felt in his life. Powerful.

He had to force himself not to smile at himself. He gazed at his muscular body in the mirror and really liked what he saw.

He bounced his pecs again. This time, they were so tight and big that a button popped off his shirt, snapping into the mirror with a "tink."

Whoa, that was cool, thought Colton. Goddam, I'm getting too big for an XXL now. He adjusted the brown beret on his head. He wasn't into hats at all-- didn't even wear baseball caps. But this thing kind of looked good on him! He raised both arms and treated his eyes to a double-biceps pose.

The fabric on his long-sleeved dress shirt ripped!

Both biceps pushed through the tear in the fabric and Colton could see a distinctive mound of muscle on the top of his muscle! He'd never been so ripped to see that!

"Holy shit!" he said out loud. He straightened his arms out wide, and then bent them again in a hard, powerful flex. The fabric ripped farther!

His arms were noticeably bigger than they had been before!

"Fuck!" he gasped. "What is happening?"

His pants began to get uncomfortably tight in his upper legs. He undid his belt and unzipped them, but before he could get them off, they tore at the quads/hamstrings, exposing a landscape of veiny, shredded muscle. As he moved his hands to feel his quads, he bent over slightly, and the shoulders of his shirt ripped out.

"Holy shit! What is happening?!"

He could feel himself growing taller, too.

What should have been filling him with horror, though-- watching his already muscular body transform into some kind of super-human muscle being-- actually filled him with joy, peace and awe. And lust at his own amazing new body.

Within a minute, the clothes that had previously contained Colton lay in shreds on the floor.

He was totally naked.

He lifted his arms again, into the double-biceps pose, and blew his own mind. Whoa! he thought. His whole body oozed with power. He was more developed than any man could ever be! As he admired his gigantic body, he noticed that his cock was getting hard. And huge! The thing began to thicken and rise. Colton was so turned on that as he continued to hit pose after pose, he exploded with an orgasm to beat all orgasms.

He moaned, and even yelled a few times, as he came over himself. He was inhumanly huge and ripped! Well over seven feet tall now, Colton was bigger and leaner than any man. He just stood there now, and squirted into the air, moaning and tipping his head back as his eyes half closed.

It felt like he could keep coming for hours; although after about five minutes of the most intense orgasm he had ever had, it began to subside. The mirror was white with blotches of his semen, and the carpet was stained as well. It was an amazing amount of cum! Colton estimated it to be well over a few cups!

He walked into the bathroom, and the floor shook. He stepped onto the bathroom scale and the electronic voice said, "You weigh 426 pounds." The LED readout between his feet confirmed the statement.

"Whaaa? Holy shit!" he said as he gazed at the numbers.

He looked up and caught himself in the bathroom mirror now. His cock was still erect-- pasted against his inhumanly-developed abs, dribbling with the remains of his orgasm.

He was even bigger than he had been out in the bedroom! He was still growing!

"You weigh 452 pounds," the bathroom scale announced. Colton looked down and the readout confirmed. He had just gained 26 pounds!

He quickly stepped off the scale. A rush of confusion overcame him. How can this be? What is happening to me? The confusion was followed by anger. Rage, even. For some reason, all the people who had ever criticized, made fun of, or bullied Colton came to mind. He walked to the counter. Staring at his huge, naked body, he hissed, "Take a look at me now, bastards!" He pounded his fist on the tile countertop, and it went right through, forming a big hole.

Colton looked down at what he had just done. It only filled him with more furry. Why can't they build these things stronger?! he heard himself thinking. He pounded another hold in the countertop with his other fist. The feeling of power that coursed through his veins was intoxicating.

He walked back out to the bedroom, stopping to admire his still-growing magnificence in the full-length mirror again. He was much bigger than whatever Wes had turned into in the camera shop. Noticeably bigger! He adjusted the hat on his head. If this hat had the power to morph men into muscle giants, then what you were before the morphing probably had something to do with how big you'd end up, Colton surmised. That's why he was bigger than Wes had been-- because he was bigger and more muscular to start with.

As he admired his freaky size and muscularity, he felt his penis fill once again with his essence. God-- I'm huge! And gorgeous! For a second time, he burst forth another incomparable orgasm, raining and spraying his semen into the air. He put his hands on his hips and watched as his cock throbbed with each blast of cum.

This time, Colton's orgasm lasted much longer. Twenty minutes later, Colton stopped; he sat on the edge of the bed, exhausted. He was dehydrated. So much of the water in his body had been used to produce the shower of cum that now soiled so much of his bedroom. He felt himself recover quickly, but he needed water to replenish himself.

In the kitchen, Colton drank almost a full gallon of water, nearly depleting the jug he used at the gym.

" " " " "

"Sir, the Penultimate Novatron readings have returned," Valen said over the com system.

Moments later, MuscleMan returned to the lab and leaned over his lieutenant. "This can't be good," MuscleMan said, looking at the display. "Not good at all. Do you know the source?"

"No sir. I can tell you where it is, but I can't determine where it came from."

MuscleMan straightened up, "Zoltan, please come to the transporter pad immediately," he said.

"Yes sir," a voice said through the computer system.

Seconds later, MuscleMan and Zoltan materialized outside Colton and Wes' apartment.

"It's in there," Zoltan said, glancing at the door.

"Okay-- let's go in."

Zoltan pulled on the door, lifting it right off its hinges.

From inside, the two could hear movement. In seconds, Colton-- in all his glory-- appeared at the doorway.

"What the hell?" Colton barked. His eyes were red with furry. "What are you doing?"

MuscleMan was taken aback. Colton was huge! Both he and Zoltan took a step backward-- if only to be able to take in the impossible proportions of this giant. Colton filled the doorway; his arms and shoulders actually touched the jams! He was taller than the header!

"I asked you a question!" Colton said.

"Sir, please relax. You are under the influence of an alien force," MuscleMan said. He looked at Zoltan.

"It's coming from that," Zoltan said, pointing to the brown beret on Colton's head.

"Beam it to the lab," MuscleMan ordered.

After a brief pause, Zoltan answered, "Unable, sir. I can't lock on to it. The Penultimate Novatron isn't compatible with our transporter."

"Lt. Valen," MuscleMan called.

"Yes sir," the voice answered.

"Can we adjust the transporter so that the PN doesn't interfere?"

"I believe so, sir. But it will take some time."

"We dont't have time," MuscleMan said. "Try beaming the man. Leave the hat here."

"Understood," Valen said from the Phallic Fortress.

Seconds later, the giant Colton began to shimmer in a shower of light. But he wasn't dematerializing.

"What's wrong?" MuscleMan barked.

"His proximity to the source-- that hat-- it's interfering with the transporter signal," Valen said. Colton's body stopped shimmering.

MuscleMan looked at Zoltan and the orb immediately understood what he wanted.

Turning to Colton, MuscleMan said, "Sir, you are under the influence of an alien force. You know that what has happened to you is not normal. We are here to help you. Please, stand down."

Colton clenched his fists. "I don't know who you are, or what you want, but you two need to get the hell out of here!" With that, he lunged at MuscleMan, who, in turn, grabbed Colton's huge body and began to wrestle him to the ground. At that same moment, Zoltan jumped forward and grabbed the hat off Colton's head.

Immediately, Colton began to shrink. He moaned. It was obviously a painful process. MuscleMan let go of him. Within the minute, Colton was de-morphed, back to his strapping, muscular, normal state-- whimpering and moaning in the fetal position in the hallway outside the apartment door.

"Get that hat to the lab," MuscleMan ordered. "I'll take care of the situation here."

Zoltan and Valen communicated for the next few minutes, concluding that a led box might be able to eliminate the interference that was preventing transport. Valen beamed down a lead box, in which Zoltan placed the hat. In seconds, Zoltan had returned to the Fortress with the hat in the box.

"What's your name? Can you walk?" MuscleMan asked a groggy Colton. A few minutes later, MuscleMan had picked up Colton and taken him inside the apartment, to his bed. The bodybuilder was incoherent for a few more minutes, but slowly began to come out of his stupor. "Just relax," MuscleMan said, stroking Colton's forehead and hair. "You've been through quite a bit. Your body needs to recover."

"You're-- you're MuscleMan," Colton said. He tried to lift his head, but it plopped back on his pillow quickly.

"Rest, my friend. You need to rest," MuscleMan comforted. "I'll stay with you."

To be continued...

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