I stepped through the gym door to find myself walking into a small café and coffee shop. There was no one else there yet, except for a barista behind the counter. I ordered a cup of coffee, liberally doused it with cream and honey, and took a seat at a table in the back of the room facing the door so anyone there could see me and I could see them. The first person through the door was a string bean of a kid. He looked maybe sixteen, with unruly blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He stood about five foot eight if I was any judge, and had to be maybe 120lbs soaking wet. I had known women larger than he was. His movement wasn’t very fluid, but instead cautious steps and an attention to where every part of his body was in relation to obstacles.

I raised my cup to him in greeting and he came towards the table. Before he sat I said, “Grab a drink, they actually taste real.”

He nodded and ordered a tea drink of some kind and a croissant before rejoining me and introducing himself as Jacob Magnusson. After my introduction I saw the next pair come through the door together; a man and woman in their mid to late twenties. The man was a few inches taller than me, and built like a professional body builder. He had dark hair in a crew cut and grey eyes to go with tanned skin of someone who spent a great deal of time outdoors. The woman was as tall as Jacob, if not a little taller, and had a dark brown hair and eye color that looked like someone had dipped her head in milk chocolate. Her skin tone matched the man with her, and they had similar sharp features that lead me to believe they were related.

The woman said something to the man before walking over towards us, while he went to the barista to place an order, and saying in a rich voice, “I’m Rebecca Schmidt, and that’s my brother Jerome.”

Jacob and I introduced ourselves; as the fifth, and final to my knowledge, potential team member stepped in. This was another woman looking about my own age, with rich red hair and green eyes that darted about like she was trying to absorb anything and everything around her. She stood about five six or five seven and had a similar slender frame to Jacob, hers however was corded with muscles one earned through a lifetime of gymnastics or dancing. She waved at us before she collected a half dozen pastries and a cup of hot chocolate from the barista. She balanced those easily and came over to us before sitting down and saying, “Hi, I’m Arya Holt.”

The rest of us greeted her before I decided to get the ball rolling, “So if I understand this correctly, and let me know if I’m wrong, everyone of us is testing out the Alternative Second World System for some reason right?”

Everyone nodded; Arya did so while she munched on the pastries like a chipmunk. I don’t know how she pulled it off but she looked cute doing it. “Okay, so I don’t know how much information everyone here has; but what I do know is that two of you are game for teaming up from the start of beta testing, and two of you are on the fence,” I continued.

Jerome asked, his voice deep and with a slight Texan accent, “What about you, what are your thoughts on teaming up?”

“I suggested the idea to my coordinator, who passed the word up the line. I thought that if we worked with others using the system we could compensate if one of the team wasn’t used to certain activities for whatever reason,” I answered.

He nodded and his sister asked, “Good plan. My brother and I were all for the idea of starting with a group, yours was just the first one that offered. Your reasoning is better than ours though.”

I cocked an eyebrow at her, but it was Jerome that answered, “We played a few other games growing up. We found it easier to do most things as a group right out of whatever tutorials we had to do. Since she and I would usually play together we tended to compliment each other’s style.”

I met the Arya’s and Jacob’s eyes before asking, “What reservations do you two have?”

Arya was still attacking the pastries like they were going to run away so Jacob, after a nervous glance around the table, answered, “It would be easiest to explain my disability first. I have Osteogenesis imperfect, brittle bone disease.”

His voice had a slight northern European accent, German or Norwegian I thought, and in a very precise almost scholarly tone. The disease also explained his movement habits, if he broke easily than he would be used to being extremely cautious so as not to inflict crippling injuries on himself. He continued speaking, “My reservations were more in that you wouldn’t want someone on your team, particularly for a game of superheroes, who wasn’t more physically sure of himself.”

It was a reasonable statement, I was going to speak but Arya stopped eating her sweets long enough to ask, “What kind of powers did you choose?”

“A technology and gadget based hero. The offensive techniques I picked were primarily crowd control in nature, along with some drone analogs for actual combat,” he answered.

I caught the direction of Arya’s question, “So not one from front line conflict resolution, but potentially a game changer in chaotic situations. In most of the literature the tech heroes were also the ones who supplied their teams with cool toys.”

Arya snorted, spraying some crumbs into a quickly raised hand as the brother and sister laughed. Jacob just looked confused and asked, “Literature? Was there a study on superhero behavior that I missed in my research before the game?”

The siblings continued to chuckle, unable to catch enough breath to reply. Arya though answered, “Comic books, fiction novels, movies, or any other source of entertainment that used superheroes.”

“Those aren’t literature, well technically novels are, but they aren’t scholarly articles and tests,” Jacob replied.

I smiled; this kid was going to be interesting to work with. He had obviously focused on brain over brawn since his body didn’t want to work with him. I interjected, “No, but for a fictional world, with abilities that we can’t replicate outside of a game; can you think of a better source for information than fiction that is, to an extent, source material?”

He nodded, clearly reexamining his argument, before replying, “Your argument has validity. If you have no objections I would like to start the game with your team.”

Arya piped up, “Yeah I’m in. I just didn’t want to work with a group of fuddy-duddies that were all pity party for the blind girl.”

My gaze shot back to her, and I blurted “Come again?”

Arya met my gaze with a smirk, “Couldn’t tell could you? Well I guess this place would make it harder since I can actually see.”

Rebecca pointed out, “Arya, you’re in better shape than most of my old squad. How did you manage that if you couldn’t see in the real world?”

She shrugged, “My father was a lawyer, and an avid comic book collector. He used to read me some of the stories and described one blind hero that was capable of incredible things because he was unable to see. When I was little I started trying to do handstands on my bed frame, so I would land on the bed if I fell. He caught me and said if I was going to try and break my neck he would at least have a professional teach me. I’ve been studying gymnastics since age five and aikido since age seven.”

Aikido was one of the soft martial arts from old Japan that emphasized redirection of force. Many of the techniques could start after physical contact was made, which would allow someone without sight to easily accomplish them, and if her father had been a fan of the comic series I thought he was, than she probably had honed her other senses to the point that she was more aware of her surroundings in an enclosed space than the rest of us.

Jerome motioned to his sister and himself, “We both were injured in a car accident, spinal damage. Military discharged us after that since we couldn’t serve any further, but we were able to get test results from our old CO. Turns out he had mentioned us to the company during their talk on another project.”

I nodded, “Mine was more minor. Lost my leg and had some damage to most of my body during an incident at my old school. It’s only been about three months for me so I’m transitioning in the game easier, though I almost fell on my face yesterday.”

Jacob asked, “Your disability seems relatively minor compared to the other test subjects, may I ask how you were selected for this project? Considering the end goal of the project I suspect there is a story there.”

This kid didn’t miss a trick as I thought about my answer. His comment about end goal of the project had me wondering, so I asked “What exactly do you mean by end goal?”

“Isn’t it obvious? This is either a test for digitization, cybernetic replacements, or reconstruction. Why else would they allow for those with disabilities to test out a new system with potential long term immersion,” he responded.

Arya was watching me closely as the siblings stared at Jacob. He wasn’t wrong, since William had already told me the end goal. I couldn’t admit to that though. Arya though pointed at me and said, “You know more about the project don’t you? You a company plant or something to see how the test subjects are doing?”

“No my dear, he is in the project as a personal thanks from me,” William O’Brian’s voice came from the door.

We all looked over to see William and Savira step into the café. Most everyone stared at the pair as they collected coffee and sat down at another table before pulling out files and notebooks. They were clearly having a working coffee break, which didn’t make sense as that didn’t require immersion.

“Mr. O’Brian, sorry to interrupt, but why are you immersed in the system?” I asked.

Jacob sucked in a sharp breath when I mentioned William’s name; I guessed the kid had some information about him that I hadn’t been able to find. Arya looked back at me and asked, “Personal thank you? You do him some kind of favor that he needed to repay you with something like this so there wasn’t any leverage?”

William spoke up, “No Ms. Holt, there will forever be a debt I owe Mr. Cayne. Go ahead and give them all the details.”

I cocked my head and asked, “Of how we met, or the project?”

“As much as you are comfortable with,” he answered.

I sighed, part of me thinking this was a test, and explained, “The incident where I lost my leg involved me getting between a terrorist with a bomb and a little girl. His little girl, if you couldn’t guess he’s a bit of a big shot in the company running this little project.”

Jacob interjected, “More than a big shot. William O’Brian is the brains behind over half of the technological development of Pandora Interactive. While rumors say he does less hands-on work in recent years, he is still credited with most of the ideas and leaps the company has made, and you saved his daughter?”

I shrugged and, while trying to play down my role as it might seem like I was bragging, said, “It was the right thing to do at the time. Maybe she would have been fine without my intervention.”

William’s snort gave away my attempt at being humble. It was Rebecca that asked, “What about the project goal?”

I shook my head and said, with a note of finality, “I won’t betray a trust. If he wants to explain it he can. I won’t tell secrets that were entrusted to me.”

Surprisingly no one argued with me regarding holding someone else’s secrets. Personally I suspected they were waiting to see what William did. I could see his smile from my seat and he spoke up, “I will likely fill you all in as we get closer to that stage of the project. For now we just want you to beta test the new system.”

Everyone nodded and Arya said, “Well I have a character to finish, I think I spent too long going through costume ideas while trying not to be a peacock.”

Jacob added his own commentary, “Mine is complete, but I want a chance to use the test environment features.”

The siblings looked at each other and then Jerome asked, “Since we are starting as a team, we can create our characters to fill whatever role is needed. We haven’t gotten creation done yet as our apartment was a bit more of a fix for us due to our needs.”

I shook my head, “Don’t think of it like a typical game with the standard trinity of roles. I have a feeling going outside the standard methods of problem solving will be more useful than having a tank and a healer. I would say play up whatever your strong points are.”

Arya nodded, “That or what you wish you could do. So far the only person who has said what they are doing is Jacob, let’s keep it that way until Monday and have fun with the experience.”

We all agreed and I rose, “Well I’m going to go log out early and do some more research into what I might be able to setup as power techniques I’ll see you all on Monday, if you want to chat before then send me an email, your coordinator should be able to route it.”

With that I walked towards the door before anyone else could ask anything. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why Savira and William had shown up, but I was starting to feel a little paranoid.