Virtual Reality to change his destiny

Brad awoke in a sitting position. At least, he thought he was seated. He felt his naked body supported on his buttocks by the same cool plastic and metal that seemed to be surrounding his entire body. But his arms felt like they were floating aimlessly in the air. When he opened his eyes, he saw only distant stars and galaxies slowly lilting diagonally downward. He moved his head around but couldn't get oriented. He stood up but that sent all the stars speeding faster. He became disoriented and fell. He felt no impact, but only kept falling. His eyes saw a broader expanse of stars lilting beneath him. He moved his arms and legs in front of himself but couldn't see them.

Ms Kyoto chuckled in his ears but as he whipped his head around, he couldn't see her -- he only made himself dizzier. Suddenly her face faded into his view, but only her face, not the rest of her body.

"Good morning, Brad," she said. "You're wearing a virtual reality suit. Your body is floating in an anti-gravity chamber, but I've switched on the program so you can't see what the room around you looks like. All you need to know is what the VR suit tells you. For you, the real world has melted away. When next you see it, it will be completely different. You see, I'm going to change your world."

"Hrrrmmm nnnnndddtt," Brad mumbled unintelligibly, the VR helmet flush with his lips, preventing him from speaking coherently.

"Aa, aa, aa," Ms Kyoto chided, a finger suddenly popping into view to wag scoldingly at him. "Speaking's not part of this introductory part of the VR program. You may get to speak later. For now, just listen. As you know, I used a MindSifter to map Rocketgirl's mind and copy it into a clone. If she hadn't escaped, I'd have used it again to reshape her, carving out bits of her that I don't like and writing in new personality traits. It's a time-consuming, expensive process. The female mind is an exceptionally powerful tool and requires a great deal of effort to overcome.

"You, on the other hand, will be easy to reshape. You're all muscle and no brains. Just look at you now: strap you into a simple VR suit and you haven't a clue where you are or how to escape. This technology is older than you, and it set me back less than a day's pay. And yet it's all I need to reinvent Lone Wolf -- and Brad. Care for a demonstration?"

Brad shook his head but the spinning stars made him nauseous. He tried swimming or jumping to propel his body to the floor of the anti-gravity chamber so he could make a run for it, but the only movement he could detect was in the infinite void of the VR environment. Frantically he reached for the VR helmet to try to pry it from his head, but his invisible fingers could find no latch or opening. He sighed in frustration. From outside the chamber, Ms Kyoto watched the floating superhero's shoulders slump in defeat.

"Let's begin," she said with a smile.