Four Men Enter, One Man Leaves
There is a rumor among the businessmen of 756 Orchard Road, an anecdote well established execs like to tell rookies. They say that no matter what you are wearing as you step in the elevator, by the time you reached the offices in the top floors your clothes will be transformed into an exquisite looking, full business suit.
Some are cynical and think that itâs just a metaphor for climbing up the business ladder; by the time you had reached a high enough rank to have any business even being in the top floors you would be in a position to afford expensive suits and would even be expect to dress well to come to work.
Recently however someone put a security video online that, indeed, showed one of the security guards taking the lift to the topmost floor to investigate a disturbance. The cameras clearly showed him stepping into the elevator cabin at exactly 4:00 am, dressed in his guard uniform...and stepping out of it on the top floor dressed in what appeared to be an exquisite, and expensive, looking navy business suit at 4:25.
Since then there was a lot of talk about the rumor among the rookies and lower offices. Was it true, had the elevator really transformed the guardâs clothes? Had he just doctored the video? Had he just hidden the suit in the elevator and changed quickly while riding it in order to play a prank? The security guard himself remained smugly silent when questioned about the video.
But today four aspiring, young office workers from lower management have decided to find out for themselves. They each agreed to come to work dressed casually and ride the lift together, this way they had each other as witnesses and none of them could cheat by bringing along spare clothes and changes in the elevator.
First of them to arrive was Hernandez, wearing an unbuttoned suit jacket over simple shirt, black jeans and sneakers. A couple of moments later Roberts and Stohl joined him in front of the elevator; Robertâs, tall and broad shouldered similarly Hernandez, but Stohl didnât even wear a suit jacket, sporting nothing but a buttoned shirt and jeans.
âHey, I thought weâd agree weâd dress casually?â Stohl complained as he saw the other two, ânow, once we find out the magic dress up elevator doesnât work Iâll be the only one embarrassing himself by coming to work under dressedâŠâ
Hernandez was about to reply something, but just as he opened his mouth his eyes grew wide and his jaw hung open as he saw who was walking up to them behind Stohl.
âNo, you wonâtâ Robertâs added with a similar befuddled look on his face.
Confused Stohl turned around to see the source of his colleaguesâ reaction and there he wasâŠWilson, the fourth man in their circle, dressed in nothing but a pair of slack, riding dangerously low on his hips, low enough to make it clear that he wasnât wearing underwear either. His toned, hairless, gold skinned upper body was completely exposed, only a leather bag causally swung over one of his shoulders and a big grin on his lips.
The three others just stared at Wilson, none of them, as of yet able to return his greetings.
Finally, Stohl spoke âYou want to go to workâŠdressed like that?â he asked unbelieving, the button of his shirt not sufficient to hide his hardening junk.
Wilson shrugged his shoulders âThis thing is supposed to transform whatever we wear into a full business suit, right?â he nodded at the elevator âSo it shouldnât matter how much I have on going in, and if the clothes get transformed, thereâs no point in wasting any good ones, clothes cost money.â
Hernandez didnât quite buy Wilsonâs excuse about not wanting to waste clothes, he was sure the man just wanted to show off his body. He had to admit Wilson had the best body out of them all, though, he was even better toned than Roberts.
âWell, should we?â Roberts asked and the four men entered the elevator. Wilson stood in the centre of the group each of the men able to feel the warmth radiating from his naked, golden torso.
âTop floor?â Stohl asked, trying not to stare at Wilson.
âThatâs what the legend says, ainât it?â asked Wilson cocking an eyebrow, then he looked at Hernandez âyou got your phone ready to record the whole thing?â
Hernandez nodded, getting his smartphone out of his pocket and started the camera app âReady.â To be honest he felt a bit silly, did any of them really believe that this elevator somehow possessed the magical ability to change their clothes?
The doors closed and their elevator ride began, all the way up to the highest floor. For a while Hernandez just started at the number above the door as it slowly increased, indicating their ascension to the top floor. They had arrived before most people, so there was little chance for their experiment to be interrupted by additional passengers. Bored with that he started to film the others with his camera; Roberts had gotten his own phone out and was replaying to messages, Stohl still did his best to avoid staring at Wilson, while Wilson used the time to seduce his own reflection in the elevator doors by letting his rock hard muscles dance under his golden skin.
Then something usual happened; halfway up the building between floors 25 and 26 the elevator just stopped.
âWhat the fuck?â Wilson asked, âwhy did we stop?â
âMaybe the elevator broke?â Roberts suggested.
Before anybody could properly react to the sudden stop the elevatorâs intercom sprang to live with a loud, mechanic sound âError! Subroutine: Dress for Success cannot be executed! Too many valid targets detected! Reduction of targets initiated!â
Hernandez wondered what it was that spoke to them, it sounded like a robot or an AI, and what it meant by those wordsâŠ
Stohl meanwhile cursed under his breath; trying to shrink into a corner. Hernandez felt sorry for his colleague, as he had learned after one too many drinks at the last office party Stohl was not only gay, but madly in love with Wilson who was a very proud heterosexual, and now he was stuck in an elevator with an half naked Wilson just inches away from him, for an undetermined amount of time. There was sweat in Stohlâs face, his breathing grew heavy. And then, Stohl did something Hernandez never had thought possible; like moved by some external force, and seemingly just as surprised as Hernandez, Stohl sprung up and took a few stepped closer to Wilson, who still stood with his back to the rest of the group. Pushing Roberts aside Stohl positioned himself directly behind Wilson.
âYou alright buddy?â Wilson asked seeing the whole thing in the mirrored elevator doors. Â
Stohl didnât answer, instead he just stared down at Wilsonâs strong, muscled back and placed one hand on each of Wilsonâs shoulder blades.
Hernandez switched his camera off, fearing that whatever Stohl was doing would lead to an ugly meltdown better left unrecorded; but what happened instead made him wish he hadnât done so, for it was too crazy to be believed without video evidence.
With a loud slurping sound Stohl wasâŠsucked into  Wilsonâs body, clothes, shoes and all, disappearing under the other manâs naked skin.
Wilson cried out in surprise, though the cry also had an undertone of ecstasy Hernandez thought, and curled his body as if some projectile had hit him in the back.
Then as just as quickly as this happened it was over; Wilson straightened himself up again and it was as if nothing had happened, as if Stohl had never stood there and had never been absorbed into the gold skinned hunk.
Wilson, of course, looked completely freaked out, he touched his chest, turned his back to the mirrored walls to see if any trace of Stohl remained, but that was not the case.
âWhat just happened?â Roberts blurted out, shrinking up against the wall behind him, away to even brush against Wilson, âWhat happened do to Stohl?â
Wilson looked at him âHow should I know?â
âWell, you justâŠ.â Robertâs twisted his mouth ââŠate himâŠâ
Wilson scoffed âI did no such thing he jumped into me! Anyways howâŠ.â Wilsonâs words trailed off into a strained moan as he curled up again. Sweat built on his naked, golden skin as aâŠa bump emerged on his chestâŠHernandez and Roberts watched in horror as this bump grew and developed, forming into something like a screaming faceâyes, a face! Stohlâs face, his mouth wide open in a silent scream, the whole thing tightly wrapped into Wilsonâs golden skin, like covered in shrink-wrap. A similarly âshrink-wrappedâ hand and arm emerged from Wilsonâs abs. It was a grotesque sight; two men, two bodies forced together under one skin, fighting, struggling to get apart but unable to do so.
As this strange Wilson-Stohl fusion thrashed and cringed about it threw itself into Robertâs direction by accident. Too much in shock about what was happening in front of his eyes the man was unable to dodge and the fusion hit him with full force, square in the chest, pinning him between the fusionâs grotesque body and the wall. There was another slurping sound and Robertâs was added to the Wilson-Stohl creature. Â
Before Hernandezâ unbelieving eyes this creature, which was also three men wrapped into one skin, reeled and cringed. It almost looked like the three men it was formed off where mud-wrestling against each other as slowly, very slowly their bodies seemed to lose consistency, to lose their distinctive shapes, seemingly melding into a heap of clay. But it didnât stay with the clay, just as the shapes of the three men had dissolved into it, the clay now sculpted itself into a new shape, but it wasnât the three men form before that emerged, but one man, one single, huge hunk. Slowly it took shapeâŠmighty pecs and abs emerging from the shapeless clay, muscular arms and legs formed themselves from the moist material like veins of marble in the ground, only the head remained featureless, for now. The clay golem seemed to stabilize, looking at his reflection with his featureless head, exploring his wet, mannequin-like body with his large hands.
Hernandez, pressed tightly against the wall gulped, âWilson?â he finally asked carefully âRoberts? Stohl? Are you guys in there? Are you alright?â
The golem regarded him with his blank, featureless head.  Then he reached out his arms and placed his large, wet hands next on each side of Hernandez, drawing closer to him. As Hernandez looked at the large, wet torso infront of him, the liquid, moist sheen on its bulbous pecks and perfect abs he knew what would come nextâŠand he was not sure if he was frightened or excited.
But that didnât matter anyway as the golem thrust his mighty body at the man. Hernandez felt the golemâs liquid flesh oozing around his body and face. There was a sensation of being sucked in deeper and finally a sensation like being thrown into a bowl of white hot, liquid iron as Hernandez mind met what was left of those of Wilson, Stohl and Roberts and was assimilated into it, the minds and souls and bodies of four men forming into a single new one.
The new man moaned as his body finished; clay blending over into golden skin, adding up four men worth of musculature the new body was not just toned as Wilson had been, it was ripped. But its skin was not baby smooth like Wilsonâs had been, Robertâs and Stohl supplied plenty of body hair to cover the new man into a virile carpet. He was also no longer blonde like Wilson had been, Hernandez and Stohl darkened the hair and made it fuller. Their added testosterone also caused the new man to grow a handsome, manly beard, almost like an added bonus. The new man opened his dark eyes and looked at himself in the mirror, exploring and enjoying his muscular, hairy arms and chest with his large hands. He had no idea what had happened, he had no idea if he was Wilson or Hernandez or Roberts or Stohl or all of them together or none of them. The only thing he knew was that he was hot as hell. Finding Hernandezâ smartphone on the floor he picked it up and made a picture of himself in the elevator wall mirror. Just as he did that the elevator sprang alive again, continuing the journey four men had started and one man would now finish. Still enjoying his new body the fusion wondered what would happen now, if there was a way to split him back up, if he even wanted to go back to be four average men instead of one hot hunk when he felt the grubby blue pants he was wearing melt and cover his body. Confused he looked down at himself, watching as the colourless, shiny liquid his pants and shoes had become encased him completely up to his chin. The liquid started glowing and changed from, covering him into a hot, sharp, full business suit, just like the legend told.
A bit of the liquid even sprung up into his face, becoming a pair of shades. He looked at himself in the mirror againâŠdamn he looked hotâŠmuch better than either of the four men that had formed him had ever looked while wearing a suit, much hotter than they could have ever looked. Re removed his shades and winked at himselfâŠmaybe there was no hurry in splitting up again. No, he though with a smile, there was no hurry at all.As the elevator doors opened he put his shades back on and stepped out, knowing that he was now at home in the top floor offices he strutted through the hallway, everybody around him a hushed whisper and a stare. The new man enjoyed the attention and the stares. After all, he knew he earned them; he was hot, he was powerful and he was dressed to the nines. He was perfect and he would stay this way for ever!Â