CHAPTER 2

Shortly after the teacher arrived and started the class, everything seemed old and new at the same time, the schools were relatively different when compared to his original world. Still, it was all an interesting experience, listening to the questions, watching the teacher write the formulas on the blackboard, listening to the other students having trouble solving a problem that he only needed a few seconds.

Martha occasionally looked at Harrison again, they didn't have much time to talk and because of that she was still curious, she didn't understand why the boy never answered the professor's questions, even though he solved them in a few seconds.

Everything stayed the same for a few hours when they finally had their first break. Harrison sat down on one of the cafeteria benches and watched people go back and forth. Somehow, everything seemed surreal, life was like a box of surprises, it was amazing that in a world like this, where so many things were destined to happen, people could have such a... simple life, but that was not so different from his past life, that is probably how everything works. You never wait for problems until they knock on your door.

"Harrison."

Turning to look, he realized that Martha had sat on the same bench he was on.

"What do you watch so much? You seem as intrigued by people as you were with your calculations. " She gave him a curious look, before opening her lunchbox and pulling out a sandwich.

"I don't watch people, I watch the stillness before the storm, Murphy's law." He replied with some dismay.

"Are you that negative?"

"I'm not negative, I'm just pointing out facts, if I could, I would like to change them, but I don't have that power."

She sighed and started eating her sandwich, but after a few seconds, they heard a commotion.

At the entrance to the cafeteria, two people started fighting, one was a strong boy wearing the school football team's shirt, the other was a skinny boy wearing glasses.

"See? I told you, I just watch the stillness before the storm. "

She looked at the scene and frowned.

"Shouldn't we do something?"

He watched the scene for a moment and said.

"Everything in this world is based on cause and consequence, if you interfere, you can get involved in a bigger problem. Do you really want to do that? "

She looked at the boy being teased by the bully and answered. "Evil triumphs when the good do nothing. Maybe you're right about what's going to happen, but I would rather act than stay here doing nothing. "

She got up and went towards the bully. Harrison still wasn't sure how she intended to do this, but he knew that she probably would and that something bad could happen if he didn't go along.

'Evil triumphs when the good do nothing. The problem is that the good guys always acted, but there were never any results...'

Putting his hands in his pocket, he took out a glove with a small piece of metal attached to a battery and some other components and put it on. He got up and followed her from a distance, taking care not to be seen by the bully.

"Hey, you!" She shouted at him.

The bully stopped tormenting the skinny young man and turned to Martha.

"Uh? What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy? "

"Drop the boy now!"

The bully smiled as he looked at her, he released the boy and laughed before saying. "What now? Do you want coffee too? " He started walking towards her.

Martha frowned and spoke. "Don't come near me!"

"And who's going to stop me?" He gripped Martha's arm tightly, making her struggle and try to break free.

"Don't you touch me, asshole!" Martha slapped the bully's face freeing herself.

The bully put his hand on his face to wipe the blood that dripped from the corner of his mouth, clenching his fists he looked at her angrily and said. "Bitch! I'll teach you to never hit me again!"

He was about to run towards her, but someone touched his shoulder, making him turn around, but before he could do anything, he just heard a word, "Hello.", And felt an electric current running through his body, making him fall to the ground knocked out.

Martha and the other students just looked stunned at the scene without understanding what happened. At that moment when everyone was distracted, Harrison put his glove away and brought Martha out of the crowd without them noticing.

When they were in the halls, she stopped for a moment and looked at Harrison in a daze.

"What was that? Did you... kill him?! "

Startled, he turned to her and said.

"What? No, I just knocked him out with an electroshock glove."

"But what about that way you moved, I didn't even notice you walking through the crowd!?"

"I'm used to avoiding the attention of others ..." in his mind, however, he thought otherwise. 'I am used to hiding for my life ... '

"Forget it, let's go to the classroom, there are only a few minutes to go until the end of the break, oh and if I were you I would buy pepper spray and start learning to fight, who knows if that guy will not going to try anything against you. " He shrugged and walked towards the classroom.

Nothing else happened in the rest of the day, besides of course some more boring classes, like literature and history.

At the end of class, he said goodbye to Martha and went home on foot. On the way he couldn't help but observe the streets of the city and its inhabitants, the crime rate was impressive, after reading the comics you usually think that these villains only exist because of the heroes, but apparently things were not quite like that, it is more likely that it is precisely the criminals who cause the birth of the heroes after all the crime rates were really high.

Entering his home, he closed the door and went to the kitchen, his mother was wearing casual clothes and talking on the phone, on the table there were two plates, cutlery, and a pizza box.

He washed his hands and sat at the table, after cutting a piece for himself and his mother, he started eating while waiting for her to finish talking.

"... Yes, I know father, don't worry, I'll tell him ... Hm, maybe, at the end of the year? Okay, rest assured. Take care!" She hung up the phone and sat down at the table.

"Were you talking to Grandpa?"

She bit a piece of her pizza and sighed before answering. "Yes, he wanted to know when we are going to visit him."

Seeing that Harrison said nothing, she continued.

"I agreed to go there at the end of the year, he will be very happy to see you." She smiled.

"Hmm ..." Harrison murmured. He got up and after putting the plate in the sink said. "I'm going to my room, if you need me, just call."

She nodded and went back to eating.

Lying on his bed, Harrison looked at a photo with watery eyes, in the photo it was possible to see a child, a younger version of his mother, and a man wearing a military uniform. He put the photo on the shelf and turned to sleep.

Behind the photo, it was possible to read the sentence, "For my greatest gifts in this life, my son Harrison, and my wife Caitlin."

5 months later...

Time passed really fast, in a blink of an eye several months passed. During that time, Harrison became friends with Martha, they always did group work together and always helped each other when there was a need, for example, the times that some of the school bullies tried to tease her, he was always there sneaking in the shadows to knock out the assholes.

To Harrison's surprise, she was as smart as he was, the two took over as geniuses of the class, getting top marks in all subjects. They even worked on some science projects together from time to time, the two practically saw each other as brother and sister, and from time to time they went to each other's house to work on scientific projects, yet Harrison never met Martha's father. According to her, he was always busy with his work at Oscorp.

Today was the last day of school before the summer break. Harrison couldn't wait to get rid of the school bummer, so he could focus on his particle accelerator, he has already done all the necessary calculations, at the moment the only thing left for him to perform a test, is to acquire the materials and a safe place to do his job.