Sean had been staying at Miles’ place for about a week after he’d gotten kicked out of his own house by his soon to be ex-wife. She had immediately locked down all their mutual accounts and Sean hadn’t received his first UBI payment yet so he was living off his friend’s kindness for the moment. As bad as all that was, the thing that had galled Sean the most was that Julie had obviously used her sway at work to get his good friend Kevin fired as well.

He'd known that the wealthy were much more powerful than the average person on an intellectual level and he’d even seen some of that play out with the interactions that Julie had with her father. But it was one thing to know about something that didn’t really affect you and it was another to experience it directly. Sean rued the fact that he hadn’t really considered their relationship’s fallout before it had happened. It wasn’t like there hadn’t been signs that their marriage was on the rocks, but it had been too difficult for Sean to cope with their rocky relationship in addition to his ongoing depression. Some days he didn’t even want to get out of bed to play Champions, which he loved doing more than anything else. How was he supposed to handle losing the person who was supposed to support him and care about him more than anything else?

Sean thought back to when they had first gotten married seven years ago. It seemed like a lifetime away: they had both been successful professionals, they both shared a passion for gaming, and the way that they’d both had to face down their parents to make the relationship work brought them together in a way that had been magical. Two years ago, Julie’s elder brother had passed away in a freak boating accident and Julie suddenly became a potential heir to the Terrazon Corporation. Her father, Joe, had started prioritizing Julie’s role in the marketing department and frictions between Sean and his father-in-law intensified. Sean and Julie started fighting about things that had seemed so trivial in the past that would have only gotten mildly annoyed them before. Things had come to a head when Sean lost his job about a year ago. Julie hounded him about it constantly, while Sean slipped further into depression and into the game world that protected him from the vagaries of being an adult in a modern world where the gap between the haves and the have nots had grown to historically abnormal proportions.

The grumbling in his stomach reminded him that he needed to get off Miles’ couch and go find something to eat. Miles had a typical one-bedroom bachelor’s pad except for the fact that these days most single bachelor’s would have had to take a roommate or three to have a place this big all to themselves. Rents in the late 21st century hadn’t gotten any cheaper and UBI alone was a pittance to live on.

Although Miles had also been laid off in late adulthood from his formerly prestigious while-collar job, it hadn’t stopped his friend from finding a new path to success. While he’d been running most of his adult life, Miles had turned his passion into a professional gig by winning several races in the last two years. In fact, he had just placed third at the Western States 100, which was still one of the classic long-distance runs that really helped bring in the sponsorships.

Miles had grown up with a lot less than Sean and he wasn’t moping around at noon trying to find some pathetic instant noodles to stuff his face with. Sean laughed to himself at that thought. There was so much technology and wealth available in society and yet poor guys like him were still lucky to eat instant ramen. It was the only thing that remained cheap in a world that had marginalized the masses nearly to extinction.

Sean finished nuking his instant meal and was waiting for it to cool when he received a call from an unknown number. It was probably Julie’s lawyer – yeah this was going to be a bad day. With some trepidation Sean finally managed to pick up his phone on the fourth ring, “This is Sean,” he said listlessly.

“Mr. Cullers. We understand that you are looking for a job. We’re looking for a team of MMO gamers with a reputation for getting things done. If you are interested meet me in one hour at the JPWalmart building downtown. Tell the front desk you are there to meet Craig Tiel,” the man said and then hung-up.

A million thoughts buzzed through Sean’s head all at once but the one that cut through the noise was the fact that the billionaire Craig Tiel was interested in hiring the Misfits. Was this a prank? If it was, Sean was going to fall for it because he needed some good news today and he wasn’t about to pass up the chance that this might be the real deal.

He quickly texted Miles and asked him if he’d received a mysterious message from a Mr. Tiel. Miles responded with a voice message that told Sean to meet him downstairs in the lobby in ten minutes and they would drive over together. Miles had been out visiting his aging mother who was recovering from a heart replacement. Typically, this was a quick outpatient surgery; however, there had been some complications so they had to hold Mile’s mom overnight. Sean hoped that she’d pulled through but Miles hadn’t indicated anything to him in the voice message.

Sean quickly got cleaned up and dressed. He didn’t have any suits anymore – it’s not like he expected to ever go on a job interview and he’d been kicked out of his house a week prior. Instead, he put on his cleanest tee-shirt and jeans and hoped for the best. It’s not like he was interviewing for an IT or Accounting position anyway – this was something to do with the guild although he had no idea what Mr. Tiel had in mind.

About an hour later they arrived at the JPWalmart building. JP Morgan and Walmart and a dozen other firms had merged in the 2040s to become one of the five mega-corporations that ran the world. They oversaw a piece of every industry imaginable but of course were best known for their complete dominance in the banking and retail space.

Mr. Tiel’s office was on the top floor of a one-thousand story building. Fortunately, technology had advanced at such a rapid pace in the last ten years that the elevator ride took mere seconds and yet neither Miles nor Sean could sense a rapid acceleration nor deceleration. Sean wasn’t an engineer so he had no idea how it worked – it might as well have been magic like in their game. The elevators opened up to a small waiting room which was manned by an old-school looking robot attendant. The attendant asked that everyone sign in and once the rest of the guild arrived they were escorted to Mr. Tiels’ office.

Sean’s first impression was that Craig Tiel was an incredibly organized man. His office could only be described as Spartan; however, it wasn’t lifeless. There were a few glass cases along the wall with business awards, mementos and the like. A couple of tasteful paintings adorned the walls. A large couch had been arranged in the middle of the room as well as a separate rocking chair. Finally, there was a single large wooden desk and highbacked executive’s chair. Sitting at the desk was a middle-aged man with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair only marred with a couple of grey streaks.

“Have a seat,” he said gesturing to the couch. The Misfits sat and after they had arranged themselves Sean spoke up.

“Can you explain a bit more about this job?” Sean asked.

Mr. Tiel’s eyes assessed the group carefully before he responded, “Certainly. My firm has developed AI technology that will take VRMMO gaming to the next level. We have run the program through a series of tests and we are ready to conduct human trials. I’m looking for a group to beta test the program.”

“What makes this VRMMO tech better than the one Champions or other games use? And why do you need an elite set of gamers to test it?” Kevin replied quickly. He was often their negotiator in-game as well. Kevin had a built-in B.S. detection system from so many years in sales.

Mr. Tiel just smiled before he said, “Aeon, the AI that we’ve developed for the sole purpose of creating this VRMMO has the capability to manipulate objects in the real world. Additionally, it is such an immersive environment that one cannot discern the difference between it and the real world.”

If that were true both of those facts would make this VRMMO more advanced than any other. It was incredible to think that it had the power to manipulate objects in the real world. Also, scary as hell. Add to the fact that there were no discernable differences and that added up a serious technological breakthrough. Champion’s module paled in comparison.

Miles spoke up, “And what do you plan to have the Misfits do with this breakthrough technology that affects the real world? I’ll just let you know up front that we aren’t interested in becoming terrorists in a game of corporate espionage or destabilizing world leadership.” Miles was always the moral compass of the group and he made a good point. With all of the power these five corporations could wield, corporate espionage and attempts to take world power had become more frequent. It was nothing that the Misfits wanted to get caught up in.

“I applaud your forthright integrity and our intent isn’t to develop real-world interactions for disreputable purposes. Primarily, the intent behind the real-world interaction with Aeon is to allow for certain space jobs to continue to utilize some human elements,” Mr. Tiel replied. “Also, we are heavily regulated with FRNC compliance from the Chinese Government when it comes to these activities. But I can certainly understand your concern and we take every precaution to eliminate the possibility for abuse of real-world interactions.”

That definitely made Sean feel a bit more comfortable. Even still, Sean knew the power of these corporations and it wouldn’t surprise him one bit if the FRNC was firmly in Mr. Tiel’s pocket. Still, the offer of work that actually would let him game was highly tempting.

“What can you tell us about why you need the Misfits then Mr. Tiel?” Sean asked.

He took a sip of water from the glass at his desk and replied, “I’m interested in developing the best MMO for strategy. My understanding is that your group has routinely found unique ways to get around intended game elements and use them for unconventional purposes. I’d like you to help Aeon understand how you think and play. Of course, to do that I’ll be willing to pay you a very generous compensation package to essentially do what you already do all day – play games.”

That was enough to sell Sean that they should take the job. Looking around at the group he didn’t see anyone who wasn’t equally or more excited about it than he was.

“Ok, when can we start?” Sean replied.