It's Academic: The Detectives (Patreon)

“I need them taken care of.  They’ve come around twice now.  They can’t pin anything but I really don’t need them digging.”  Josh watched Hank prance by in his new, perfect body, grinning from ear to ear.  That dim smile was always plastered across the former professor’s face now, and he never wore much more than the tiny yellow briefs he was currently spilling out of.  Until recently, he’d been a middle-aged college professor lamenting the onset of time and age.  Then Josh got his hands on him.  With one of his formulas he’d turned Hank into a sculpted, barely-twenty year old sexed up idiot.  Josh was a modern day alchemist, but instead of turning lead into gold he turned people into whatever his customers wanted.  Instead of gold he did it for obscene amounts of money, which was really just splitting hairs. 

Hank was his showpiece.  He paraded the altered man around in front of potential customers and had already racked up a significant client base.  Executives going after corporate rivals, jealous lovers, organized crime; he’d seen bit of everything.  Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated the doggedness with which the two detectives would pursue Hank’s disappearance.  He wanted to get out of town so he could move his operation into a larger, more remote facility, but if he left now he’d never get them off his back.  He knew they had no evidence, but he didn’t like the way they looked at Hank.  It helped that the altered blonde never wore much around them, which clearly made the two gruff detectives uncomfortable.  Josh also knew that even if they ran fingerprint, blood, or dental tests none of them would match up.  Even Hank’s DNA was different.  Hank had been altered at a genetic level; it’s what the formulas did.  They could poke around forever and never find anything conclusive.  

Still, it slowed him down.  He had plans that they were officially getting in the way of, and that needed fixed.  

“Relax,” the voice on the other end of the disposable phone was calm.  “I said we’ll take care of it.”  

“This can’t be traced back to me, you understand that, right?”  

“Believe it or not, we HAVE done this before.”  The man’s tone on the other end never changed, but Josh took the hint.  

“Sorry, I’m not questioning your skills…”

The man’s laugh cut Josh off.  “That’s the thing with you brainy types - you’re always overthinking.  Do you have any clue just how many enemies those two have?  You’re new to this game kid.  You’d be surprised what really goes on in a city like this.”  

“And I don’t need to know,” Josh said quickly.  

“Smart.  Just make sure we get the stuff and you’ll never hear from Detectives Klein and Burton again.”  

****

“I still don’t like it, Ted.”  Frank stared at the file on his desk.  The young detective felt like all the pieces were there, he just couldn’t get them to fit together.  What was a middle-aged professor doing hanging around that house?  And where did that new blonde kid come from?  

The older man at the opposing desk stood and pulled a jacket over his barrel-chested torso.  “I’m tellin’ ya, it’s a sex thing.  It’s always a sex thing.  They tried to blackmail him and when he didn’t cough up the money they offed him.  We just have to find the evidence.”  

Frank stood and followed his partner through the station out to the parking lot.  At 30, he’d only been a detective for two years versus Ted’s twenty six.  “I don’t think it’s that simple.  What about all that shit in the basement with the chemicals?”  

“They used it to dissolve the body.  I’ve seen it before.  But even that leaves a trace.  As soon as we can get these papers signed by the judge we’ll tear that place apart.”  His rugged face gave Frank a stern look.  “Kid, what do I always tell you?  Don’t let your imagination run wild on this shit.  Sex.  Money.  Revenge.  It’s always one of those three.”  

Frank wasn’t so easily swayed.  “You don’t think it’s a little weird,” he asked as he settled in the passenger seat.  

“Of course it’s weird!  Bunch’a meatheads runnin’ around fuckin’ each other?  It’s disgusting is what it is.  I’d take ‘em all out and shoot ‘em if I could,” the older man practically spat.  “But the laws the law.  Don’t worry, we’ll make something stick one way or the other.”  

Frank was silent as the car pulled away, mulling everything over in his head.  His gut still told him there was more to all this.  He’d been a cop long enough to listen to his instincts, and they were telling him to be careful.  Unfortunately for both of them, it was already too late.  

“Hey, do you smell that?”  Ted sniffed at the air.  “What is that?”  

Frank smelled the bitter scent suddenly filling the car.  “I don’t…” was all he managed before the world went black.  

****

In his fifty five years on this planet, Ted had been knocked out more times than he could remember.  In his younger days it was playing football, and in his older days it was on the force.  His tank-like body usually bounced back fairly quickly.  It had to.  In his line of work, an extra second of grogginess could have drastic consequences.  

So it was that Ted came to, his senses surveying the scene before his eyes even opened.  Frank was still unconscious on the ground next to him.  The younger man appeared to be breathing and neither one bore signs of obvious injury that he could feel from his subtle movements.  At least there was no blood on the ground.  They were in what looked like an old-fashioned dungeon; rough stone floor, bare rock walls with iron hoops punctuating their uneven surface at regular intervals, and a wall of bars separating them from the rest of what appeared to be a large storage room or basement.  There was a lone table in the otherwise empty, dim room.  

Ted quietly struggled to his feet, his brawny body stiff and sore.  He had no idea what time it was or how long they’d been out.  His pockets had been emptied, and as he searched Frank he learned that his partner’s had been as well.  He approached the bars and listened intently. It was faint, but he could hear what sounded like waves and there was a salty smell in the air.  

“That’s not good,” he whispered.  They didn’t live anywhere near a coast, which meant they’d been out for a long while.   

“You’re up!”  The sudden voice made Ted jump.  

“Who the fuck are you,” he asked, looking towards the camera and speaker in the corner of the ceiling.  “And where the fuck are we?”  

“Your new home,” the unseen man said cheerfully.  “You’ll get to see it later, but first we need to let the drugs run their course.”  

Ted didn’t like the sound of that.  He fought to keep his heart rate steady.  If there was something in his system, a rapid pulse would only spread it faster.  “What did you do to us?” he demanded.  His wide, solid hands had a death grip on the bars while he tested them with all of his considerable strength.  Ted’s brawny arms inflated as he put his broad back and sturdy legs into pushing.  He was a raging bull when he needed to be.  All the younger guys on the force knew better than to push him, or they’d find themselves pushed through a wall.  But even his piledriver arms and wrecking ball fists couldn’t budge the iron bars.  

“The bars aren’t going anywhere,” the voice said, sounding amused.  “But go ahead and try.  It’ll only make things better in the end.”  

“You’ve really stepped in it this time, asshole,” Ted spat.  “Do you have any idea who we are?  You’re about to have more heat than you can handle breathing down your neck looking for us.  Commissioner Lane…”

“Is a friend of mine,” the voice interrupted.  “You two unfortunately had a nasty car accident.  They’ve already found the bodies.  Burnt beyond recognition, of course, but then no one’s really going to put that much effort into checking.  You’ve made a lot of high level enemies over the years, detective.”  

“We’ll see,” Ted said, trying to sound smug.  He hated to admit that the voice had a point.  He knew the commissioner dealt with less-than-reputable people, several of whom he’d busted over the years.  He’d never been able to find anything directly related to the commissioner himself, but they also had an unspoken understanding that as long as nothing directly implicated his superior, Ted wouldn’t push.  If the commissioner’s associates were too stupid to get themselves caught, Lane would look the other way.  Still, it was entirely plausible that the commissioner had reached his limit.  “What did you give us?  Poison?  Heroin?”  Ted’s questions were met with silence.  “Hello?  Hey!”  He slammed his hands against the bars and went back to his partner when it became clear no more information would be forthcoming.  

“Let’s check you out,” he sighed, rolling Frank over.  He noticed with some confusion that even though they’d been at work the previous day and then out for several hours, his young partner didn’t have any stubble on his face.  Frank kept his lean cheeks shaven, so he should have at least had a hint of shadow.  He gave the young man a quick inspection.  His breathing was deep and steady, and other than a slight bump under his blonde hair from when they’d been unceremoniously dumped into their cell, he seemed okay.  Ted stretched him into a more comfortable position and leaned against the wall, resting his head back against the cool stone.  

The longer he was awake, the more he realized how lightheaded he was.  He didn’t feel stoned, just dizzy and foggy.  The sweltering, humid air didn’t help.  Wherever they were felt tropical and he was quickly drenched in sweat.  He popped the first few buttons on his shirt, exposing the top of his furry, beefy pecs.  Ted wasn’t one of those detectives that sat behind a desk and got fat on the job.  He’d always been a big guy and had made sure to stay that way.  He wasn’t lean or agile, being built for power instead of speed.  When he got his hands on someone, they weren’t going anywhere.  

Just that small bit of exposure brought more relief than he could resist, and soon he had his entire shirt unbuttoned, letting the rest of his furry gut and barrel of a torso breathe.  He looked over at Frank’s still-unconscious, sweat soaked body.  The young man appeared to be roasting.  Ted knelt over his partner and did the same, his thick fingers fumbling with the small buttons until he had the shirt open.  He took up his position against the wall again, his brief period of motion causing the room to spin.  He did his best to focus on a single point and found his eyes lingering on Frank’s exposed, tanned torso.  He watched the beads of perspiration slide down his partner’s sculpted pecs as they rose and fell slowly.  Unlike Ted, the younger man kept himself chiseled and lean.  Between his badge and his looks, Frank was always bragging to Ted about his exploits in the bedroom, and Ted could see why.  The younger man’s flat, firm stomach was framed by obliques that pointed directly to his crotch.  

Ted scoffed and shook his head, forcing himself to look away from his partner.  He ran his hands against the stone floor as if he could scrub the memory of how Frank’s skin had felt against his rough hands while he’d undone the slumbering man’s shirt.  Soon, though, his eyes were right back to where they’d started.  

“Poor guy’s roasting,” Ted said to himself.  “I can’t just leave him like this.  It’s nothin’ but helping…” He shuffled over and undid Frank’s tight jeans, telling himself that he wasn’t purposely letting his fingers brush against the stuffed bulge while he pulled the zipper down.  He struggled with the denim that clung to Frank’s toned, sweaty thighs, half-pulling the younger man’s underwear free with them.  Ted’s chest rose and fell rapidly and he licked his lips while he looked down at Frank’s ample, glistening muscles.  His partner’s damp, grey boxer briefs had been pulled down to just above the base of his cock, exposing a patch of blonde bush and outlining the impressively long hose.  Ted had seen it before in the locker room at the station, but it had never looked like this.  

The fact that there wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation for the overtly homophobic detective spoke to the potency of Josh’s formulas.  Ted had Frank’s underwear down and his hardening cock in his mouth in a flash.  He bobbed his head awkwardly, not knowing what he was doing but driven by an impulse that he couldn’t deny.  He heard Frank moan as he stirred and felt the other man start pumping his hips slightly.  

“Wha...what the fuck?  Ted?  What’re you…” A confused and groggy Frank finally woke to the sight of his older, burly partner blowing him.  “Jesus, man, quit it!  I said stoooooooOOOHHH….” Frank sat up to pull away just as Ted finally pushed him over the edge.  His impressive abs flexed and tensed, his rigid cock launching load after load into his partner’s mouth.  

Ted slurped it down and looked up at his partner, equally confused.  “Fr...Frank...what...what just…” 

Frank caught his breath and tried to get his bearings.  He was having a hard time focusing his eyes.  “Ted?”  He blinked at the other man, his brain not piecing together that the person with cum dripping down their chin really was his partner.  “Holy shit...that is you!  What happened to you?”  Ted’s salt-and-pepper hair was now a solid shade of black and his weathered face was tight and smooth.  The sandpaper stubble that he had no matter how often he shaved was nowhere to be seen.

“What do you mean?”  Ted wiped his chin, his whole body flushing from embarrassment.  “Christ...what the fuck was I just doing…” he said, disgusted with himself.  

“Fuck what you were just doing, have you seen yourself?”  Frank looked at the rest of his partner who was swimming in his open shirt with a torso that was nowhere near as hairy as it should have been.  

Ted panicked and looked around for any sort of reflective surface.  He reached up and felt his stubble-free cheeks.  “What the…”

Frank shook his head and rubbed at his own face, trying to clear his head.  “Okay...okay...tell me what you know.  Where are we?”  

“I don’t know...I don’t know...I think by the ocean somewhere.  Tropical, maybe?  They gave us something.  Didn’t say what.  I...I don’t understand…” Ted drifted off, still rubbing a smooth cheek and staring hungrily at Frank’s exposed body.  All his stud of a partner still had on was the open shirt that only accentuated his sculpted upper body.  

“Focus!” Frank said, trying to follow his own command.  The room was spinning like a carousel around him.  “How many people?  Have you seen anyone?”  

Ted shook his head.  “Just a speaker.  He said they faked a car accident.  The commissioner’s in on it.  They gave us something…oh god...what’s happening to me?” 

“You look...younger…” Frank’s eyes went wide as the pieces finally all fell into place.  The file on his desk flashed through his mind as the impossible suddenly became real.  “Oh...oh fuck...Ted...I figured it out!”  He sat up and grabbed his partner’s arms, both of them realizing how small they felt under the now-baggy sleeves.  “The professor never left!  That blonde that showed up?  The one that never had any clothes on?  Jesus Christ...that was him!  They did it to him...gave him something that…” he broke off, the true horror of their situation sinking in.  

“No!  No!”  Ted broke out of Frank’s grip and scurried to his feet.  The thought that he would wind up like the horny idiot they’d seen at the house was too much.  As soon as he stood, his now-huge pants dropped to his ankles, exposing his equally oversized white briefs.  Instead of the hairy, solid tree trunk legs he should have had, there were a pair of smooth, supple thighs.  “Aaaahhhh!  Oh fuck!” he squealed and fell, tripping over his pants.  

“Ted, stay calm man, we’ll figure this out…” Frank said as confidently as he could.  Seeing his usually stoic partner freaking out was almost as jarring as the physical changes.  “We just need to...to…stay…” Frank finally looked down at himself and felt like someone had punched him in the stomach.  His normally sculpted pecs popped off his chest as a huge shelf of muscle.  When he moved his arms to prod at them, his inflated biceps shredded his sleeves.  If Ted was losing muscle, he was gaining it.  His thighs were almost touching and he’d gone from having a flat, firm stomach to a ripped washboard.  He looked over at his partner and saw Ted’s baggy briefs tented while the other man stared at him.  Like his partner, the sight was enough to make him lose control.  

“Frank!  Come on...don’t…” Ted half-heartedly protested when his growing partner was suddenly on him.  Frank’s expanding hands slid the loose shirt free before sliding down Ted’s slimmer back to pull the briefs off.  Ted gasped when his rigid pole sprang free.  He was trying to hold on to the knowledge of who he was and how wrong his actions were, but it all felt so good.  The sensation of Frank looming over him made him feel like he’d never felt before.  Being smaller than someone else was a new sensation for the formerly bulky man and he was discovering that he loved it.  He clutched and tore at the tattered remains of the shirt that Frank’s expanding torso had shredded.  Ted should have been strong enough to pull it free, but his withered arms struggled with the fabric until Frank himself grabbed it and casually tore it loose as though it were tissue paper.  He grinned lustfully at his partner and saw the same dim smile looking back at him as their world shrank to a pinpoint of unrestrained lust.  

*****

Josh watched the video for what had to have been the hundredth time.  It never got old.  On screen, a raven-haired twink bounced up and down, impaling himself ecstatically on the hulking blonde.  Josh was thrilled to see that his muscle-reducing formulas were just as effective as his muscle-growing ones.  To look at the lithe, supple man there was no way to tell that just a few hours prior he’d been a burly, beefy man in his fifties.  His torso was still covered in tight, defined muscle, there was just significantly less of it.  He had a pair of flat pecs and thin shoulders above his toned stomach that was framed in by smooth, wiry arms.  His legs were a matched set of squeezable thighs, and he had a round, perky ass that would bounce at the slightest hint of motion.  The formerly thick, wide six inches had shrunk to a thin five that better suited the altered man’s new look.  Ted’s grizzled, weathered face had smoothed out to an almost elfin, androgynous look.  He had high, delicate cheekbones with a button nose and soft, full lips that complemented his new high pitched chirp of a voice.  

His partner was a different story altogether.  Frank was a walking mountain of veiny, striated muscle.  His shoulders were so wide that he could barely walk through a door without turning sideways and they sat above a waist so tiny it looked like it would break under the strain.  His huge new arms hung at a constant angle and were great for flexing, but not much else.  His new proportions left the once-agile man with a significantly reduced range of motion.  The same could be said for his thickened legs and meaty, solid ass that constantly fought with each other for space and that thrust his mammoth hose and heavy balls forward.  His face was chiseled perfection, with a lantern jaw, prominent nose, and sparkling blue eyes.  He was Mr. Universe with a model’s face and a third of a brain.  

Josh had been wanting to experiment with a faster-acting formula.  He anticipated that the cognitive side effects would be more severe with the increased speed, and he’d been right.  The two former detectives made Hank look like a genius by comparison.  Not that they needed to think much anymore.  They were holed away on a pacific island, spending their days frolicking in the sun and fucking each other’s brains out.  They were kept there to “entertain” guests, which they did with gusto from what Josh had seen.  He told himself that being turned into twenty year old sex toys was better than a bullet to the head, or a real fiery crash like the story the papers had run.  His connection hadn’t exaggerated about the number of enemies those two had made.  A tragic ending was inevitable.

More importantly, Josh was free to move forward with his plans.  Now that the heat was off he could move and expand his operation.  The buyers had continued to roll in and he needed more room if he was going to experiment.  Some of the requests he was getting were interesting, to say the least.  

He would start on the logistics later.  Right now, he wanted to watch the video one more time.