Liam remained calm while Mrs. Gallaghar continued her tirade. Her voice was sharp and piercing, but Liam knew better than to react. He waited for a pause, and when it finally came, he spoke up.

  "Mrs. Gallaghar, before we proceed with this, I think it's only fair to shed some light on the entire situation," Liam said, his voice steady. "I happen to have something that might be of interest to everyone in this room."

  The Principal raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Mr. Woodworth?"

  Liam reached into his backpack and pulled out his phone. Tapping a few times, he brought up a video and turned the screen to face the Principal.

  "This," Liam said, "is video evidence of your son, Mrs. Gallaghar, selling drugs on school premises."

  The room went silent. The color drained from Mrs. Gallaghar's face, and the two men sitting next to her looked equally stunned. Even the three students standing behind them glanced at each other nervously.

  "What... what is this nonsense?" Mrs. Gallaghar stammered, her voice trembling. "You're making baseless accusations!"

  "I assure you, it's not baseless," Liam said, tapping play on the video.

  The footage clearly showed Mrs. Gallaghar's son exchanging small baggies with another student behind the gym. The transaction was quick, but the faces were unmistakable. The video also captured the other two boys standing nearby, acting as lookouts. While they weren't directly involved in the deal, their complicity was evident.

  The Principal watched in silence, his expression growing grimmer by the second. When the video ended, he leaned back in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh. His time in this school might end much earlier than he had expected.

  "This doesn't prove anything. The packets might not even be drugs, just random things he might have given or sold to them," Mrs. Gallaghar said.

  "I knew this topic might come up if the evidence reached court, so here are some of the images where your son was taking the same items from some random guy on the streets. I am not sure who he is, but I am certain if the New York police were sent this package, they would love to have a talk with the gentleman in the picture—and your son," Liam said, showing them various pictures.

  "Mrs. Gallaghar," the Principal said, his tone measured but firm, "I think we need to have a serious conversation about this."

  Mrs. Gallaghar's outrage turned to panic. "This... this must be a mistake! That's not my son!" she exclaimed, though her voice betrayed her disbelief.

  "Oh, it's definitely your son," Liam interjected.

  "Mrs. Gallaghar, Mr. Carpenter, and Mr. Taylor, the school will investigate the video, and until then, all of your sons will be expelled. Now, please leave my office. I've had enough shock for one day, which might not be good for my old heart," the Principal said.

  The six individuals promptly left without another word. They were visibly embarrassed.

  Liam also wanted to sneak away, only to be called out.

  "Not you, Mr. Woodworth. You stay behind," the Principal said.

  Liam could only sigh, finding himself alone in the room with the old man.

  "I have seen the video. You went up to them and started this fight. I also know they have been bothering some of the students in your class. Was that the reason you confronted them?" the Principal asked.

  "Since you know the whole plot, why are you asking me?" Liam replied.

  Though Liam loved his school, he wasn't overly fond of it. School was his stress relief, but he could find the same relief in the real world, easily. In his previous life, he had been a nurse at a local hospital in California, so he wasn't hungry for knowledge.

  And school wasn't helpful for his career anyway, as this world wasn't normal to begin with.

  "I can see you have resentment toward our school. The school administration will do its best to teach our students to avoid such behavior. We also promise to sever ties with drug peddlers and provide care and attention to those who have suffered. The school thanks you for your valuable input," the Principal said.

  "Yeah. Can I go now?"

  Liam didn't want to deal with this old politician, who was clearly hinting for him to stop fanning the flames so he could retire in peace without his name being tainted. So much for honor.

  These kinds of people disgusted him. Maybe he was also a Hydra agent.

  Liam promptly left and went straight to his class. Some of his friends, hearing he was called to the office, were curious, thinking he might have gotten detention. But seeing Liam's happy face, the notion was dismissed.

  By the end of classes that afternoon, it was announced that the three students had been suspended, pending investigation, and some students from various classes were called to the office. Liam knew that since the ordeal was now public, the administration would take action.

  These three students had been bothering his small circle of nerdy friends. At first, he wanted to teach them a lesson, but he knew that doing so would prompt a negative response from the school, as public schools were known for such reactions. Thus, he followed them and gathered evidence, as it was rumored these hooligans dealt with drugs and had ties to dangerous gang members.

  After proper investigation—which was an easy job for Liam, thanks to his stealth skills from the Titanfall 2 world—he discovered some of the rumors were true, while others were exaggerated. For example, their "dangerous connections" turned out to be just a dealer selling them drugs, while Mrs. Gallaghar's son sold them at school to earn a bit of money.

  He roughed them up because he expected the school to respond, and he wasn't disappointed. It took less than four days for them to act. Liam didn't return home from school but went straight to the garage.

  When he entered the place he was stunned because the coincidence of a situation happening in front of him wasn't something he had expected. Not even in his wildest dreams.

  "Hey man, you okay? You seem like you have seen a ghost."

  One of the customers who was of about 5 feet 11 in height, quite chubby with blonde hair with a pattern that could only be seen among college students, looking like a typical young New Yorker came forward and asked. Aside him was a man of around the same age wearing dark shades and carrying a white stick, signifying that the man was blind.

  "Uhh... I am alright," Liam reacted after a second of being dumbfounded.

  "Oh, you haven't met my confidante here before. Mathew Murdoch..." Yup, the chubby man was Foggy, and the blind man was Matt—or as we know him, Daredevil. The blind, hypersensitive superhero. Well, he wasn't a superhero yet, as he was still in university, and maybe he was still dating Elektra. Thus, both of them looked quite ordinary.

  "That was an exaggeration. Hello... You can call me Matt," Matt replied as he extended his hand to shake with Liam. Liam hesitated for a second before shaking hands with him. As Liam and the two future lawyers were talking, Liam heard a man speaking from behind.

  "Liam, I heard that you have been selected by the school to represent us in the Science Expo in LA." The man was wearing a good suit, with a receding hairline but looked quite fit for his age—or maybe it was the good black suit that made him look classy. Liam knew him. In fact, many of the people who had followed the MCU would know him.

  Phil Coulson. He was here for his Lola.

  "Yes, it is a small device I made that could send back a 3D sonar picture to the person controlling it. I have already applied for the patent," Liam said. The reason Liam was dumbfounded was not because he met Matt or Phil. It was just that both of them were at the same place at the same time. That was what caught Liam off guard.

  "3D sonar, huh... Maybe our department will be interested," Phil said.

  "You mean your department of the FBI? Why would the FBI need it?" Liam knew the actual situation and thus teased Phil.

  "Well, in many home invasions and bringing down bad guys, you never know where the enemies are hidden, so your device might come in handy," Phil said.

  "You are talking as if you have already seen the device," Liam said.

  "We have... Or at least we have seen the patent. But we want you to make one, and following that, we will proceed with the future plans. Your device, if it works, will be quite useful for us, and that is also the reason why private companies haven't called."

  "If I didn't know better, I would have called you a stalker," Liam said.

  "Hahaha. We only look for potential people around. You are a genius, Liam. I hope you and our department can cooperate. Of course, our department will compensate you with enough money and maybe invest in your future inventions if they are helpful for us. Oh yes, bring the receipts of all the parts of the device you made. It will help us as we can accurately estimate the price since costly items might make your device less helpful for us," Phil said.

  Liam could only roll his eyes at that. You guys have a flying aircraft carrier and multiple ones at that. Or at least they are in production. Money is the least of your concerns. Foggy and Matt felt a bit awkward as they didn't understand what was going on.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Thankfully, his father, Mason, was here, and since Foggy was a regular customer, he happily and proudly spoke of the invention his son had made. Liam felt a bit embarrassed, as this was actually not his own invention. Just like his knowledge of cars, this came from BT too.

  He had this idea when he had been using the Pulse Blade. The Pulse Blade was a throwing knife that emitted a radar pulse and allowed one to see the outline of an enemy through any terrain, within a limited range. This was quite useful for a soldier or even police who wanted to invade a place. Thus, he had asked BT how it functioned and even asked BT to give him a blueprint.

  Of course, it was a cheaper blueprint and not the one that was small and less efficient. BT didn't actually have the knowledge, and it was from other NPCs that were on his team. BT just simplified it for him, and thus he was able to make his own small sonar device.

  He had shown its usefulness to the school and even asked his father to apply for a patent with the help of his lawyer. Both the school and the lawyer were thrilled with what Liam had built, and thus this year's Science Expo for teenagers was going to be held in LA.

  This was also one of the reasons why the principal of his school didn't call his parents after the bullying incident. He was too good for the school to be let go—or at least that was what the principal thought.

  After a brief introduction and encouragement from Phil, he left, followed by Foggy, as his car needed maintenance, while Phil was taking his Lola out. Liam then started to work and helped his dad and his employees.

  Liam was back again at the control station of the Fold Weapon. He had thought deeply about how he would tackle the laser weapon, and that was by dodging long before she could fire the gun. Those guns were heavy, but they also had a drawback: each fire required a recharge after a few seconds. That could only be done if BT counted down the time and dodged by itself, not waiting for Liam's response.

  "BT, count down the second she needs to recharge."

  [Affirmative, Jack.]

  Of course, in order to count the second, he and BT would have to die for the first time. And that was what happened in the end. They died. Not before seeing the countdown on the side.

  Nine seconds.

  It was rare for Liam to smile after coming from that godforsaken world. He was close to the end goal now and he couldn't wait to see the first rewards. Even though the mental torture was horrible, he did gain physical flexibility, strength and being aware of the surroundings from the game world.

  Liam thought that knowing it was 9 seconds would allow him to finish the campaign. But he was so wrong. It took him a month to finish the last campaign. Yes Liam had finally finished the campaign. The ending was bitter sweet for Liam.

  Fighting in the Titan didn't help Liam learn some new skills physically but it did allow him to learn time management in the mission. It was a horrible run for Liam with constant titans coming after him and also deal with Slone and Blisk. At the end BT sacrificed itself and Liam had to make a run to save himself.

  It was a long process. But at the end Liam was finally able to complete the whole game.

  [Congratulations on finishing your first game.]

  "Yeah .. Yeah.. By death more a hundred times." Liam said as he mumbled under his breath on his bed. He had just finished the whole campaign and he felt sad. He had lost BT, his one and true helper.

  But it was not the time for grief as he had known this would happen by the end. He wiped the non existent tears in his eyes and then asked the system for rewards.

  [After completion of each game. You would be given three rewards. The quality of rewards range from D- to SSS level which is depending upon how you fared in the whole campaign]

  "So what evaluation did I get this time?" Liam was excited as he was waiting for the reward.

  [The evaluation is C-]

  "You gotta be kidding me." Liam almost cursed instantly hearing that evaluation. He had died for a year everyday only to hear that he was C-. It was almost D. This was terrible.

  [But since the host has entered the game world for the first time and didn't know any better. His rewards will be equivalent to A category.]

  This made Liam almost jump in joy. When he heard of the evaluation he knew that he wouldn't be able to receive S class as he had been quite naive in the beginning. So having A class was already a win for him.

  [The three rewards for the completion of the game Titanfall 2 are

  1. A self rechargeable Pilot suit with all the the gears and abilities, and unlimited supply of Pulse Blade [ P.S. The host will be allowed to use one blade and only after the previous blade is destroyed or incapacitated would the next Pulse Blade will be supplied to the host ]

  2. A fully functional Vanguard class Titan with rechargeable ammunitions for the missile launcher (once a day ) and a PR-01 Plasma Railgun with 20 rounds ( once a day )

  3. A Hornet.

  P.S. Along with this the host will be provided with 9x9 grid space where your Titan and aircraft Hornet had been placed. You can put it inside and pull it out of the space anytime you like it but regular items bigger or heavier than the host itself can't be placed inside the space. A single item could be stacked 99 times of the same item.

  ]

  Liam was dumfounded. He had expected that the rewards would be good but he hadn't expected to be this good. The Hornet was aircraft fighter in the world of Titanfall 2. It was at least few generations ahead of the current fighters of US Airforce. It even had capabilities to fight and maneuver in space, much more stealthy and all in all a great fighter. It could even do a VTOL (Vertical take-off and Landing).

  And the amazing part was the fact that Liam knew how to pilot this shit. When he started training, he came across one Hornet and since he was allowed to move around in the game freely at checkpoints, he learnt piloting this beast.

  Now he was happy that he learnt it because at that time he learnt to pilot the Hornet was to make his mission easier and just kill his enemies. At the end he had give up the dream as he needed to do mission inside of structures where his plane couldn't go and sometimes finesse was more important for the mission.

  Now he was thanking the stars that he learnt it. He asked more questions about the rewards and soon got to know that he wouldn't have to manually wear his pilot suit and the system would just place it upon his body.

  Well at least the 'suit-up' wouldn't be embarrassing!

  The 9x9 space was also quite useful for his everyday life. Since it was night he sneaked out of his window at night and went to a secluded place. He summoned his pilot suit and then started used all of the abilities given by the Pilot suit and was amazed to see that every gear worked and though he wasn't invincible in this suit, it at least allowed him to move side ways among humans.

  That was a start. After playing around and getting a handle of his suit, he returned after an hour. Of course he had made sure that none of the cameras were able to capture him. He was an anomaly in this world and would need to hide his presence as much as possible.

  At least till the SHIELD and SWORD is clean enough.

  But he also knew that he wouldn't be able to use two of the rewards at the moment. In a few months he would leave for LA and there would be space enough to try out his rewards. Though he could do the same with the outskirts of the city but he would have to be away for a lot of time.

  Plus, it was not like he was dying to use them. He had used and played with them in the game world. Thus he wasn't exactly dying to be united with long lost friend.

  "System, when will the next game start?"

  [Tomorrow]

  "System do you have a name?"

  [No]

  "Why don't I give you one."

  [Not required]

  Liam was very happy and thus engaged in an one sided conversation with the system for no reason.

  May 25th, 2008

  Los Angeles

  "The security check was so wild. Sheesh," Chris said as he boarded the plane.

  "I don't care. I am finally in LA. This is a dream come true. Thank you, Liam," Bonnie said as she slightly touched Liam's arm, which he ignored.

  The project was a group project, and thus Liam had to include at least two people. The first was Chris, who was kind of Liam's favorite buddy in school. He was a single-parent child, and the situation around him had forced him to be mature and aware of his surroundings, which made Liam closer to Chris.

  The other was Bonnie. Bonnie was a Chinese-American, and her family had been living in America for the last two generations. Liam could clearly tell that Bonnie was into him and probably had a crush on him. Liam might not be the most handsome man in the school, or maybe even the class, but he always carried an air of charm and mystery.

  The way he walked felt like he was always on his tiptoes—silent and deadly. Even though Liam wore baggy clothes, one could see the outline of his well-armed body. Liam was a nerd, but a hot nerd. Many of the women in school had a crush on him, especially when the school announced that he had been selected to represent them at a nationwide Science Expo. He had even applied for a patent.

  Liam didn't have any delusions of having romantic relationships at the moment, at least not now. But among the girls he had come across and been forced to interact with, he found Bonnie likable. She was intelligent, mature, and on the good-looking side of the spectrum. Having died at the age of 30 in his previous life, a part of him found it criminal to like any girl under 20 years of age.

  "It is because Tony Stark has been missing," Liam replied as they were checked more thoroughly at the airport. Though he didn't understand the connection, he could tell that Tony's kidnapping had thrown many agencies into a dustbin of headaches.

  "I read on the Internet that most countries around the world don't like him," Chris said as he pushed the trolley through the exit.

  "You mean the countries that can't afford to buy his weapons and ammunition," Liam corrected him.

  "Hahaha... Not all countries have the money to buy his bombs," Chris said. Before they could continue, his phone rang. His father had called to know if he had landed safely. Seeing this, both Bonnie and Liam called their parents. Soon, they were on their way to the hotel that the organizers had booked for them.

  The next day

  Chris and Bonnie helped Liam organize the small space they had been allotted, where they were supposed to showcase their invention—or, in this case, their new invention. This wasn't like Liam's previous world. Here, for some reason, there was a greater craze for new inventions and inventors. They were much more idolized than any Hollywood celebrity. There was a reason why Tony Stark was so famous.

  It wasn't only because of his weapons but also because of his other small inventions. Stark Industries had its hands in other industries too, especially automobiles, energy, and space tech. It was also the reason why Tony could simply say he would shut down weapons manufacturing and still hold on until he was able to supply green energy, which made Stark Industries go further than ever before.

  So this Science Expo was a big deal for the country, almost equivalent to an Oscar party. Apart from NASA and other think tank industries, many capitalists would show up and take their time to see the inventions. This world also had Elon Musk. Though Liam wasn't a huge fan of his in his previous life, one couldn't deny that he had the money in this world too.

  Soon, the Science Expo started, and Liam had trained Chris and Bonnie to say what they needed to say when questioned. It was Liam's invention, but if his "assistants" were duds, it would be an embarrassment.

  Liam demonstrated the usefulness of his invention to those around, and it soon became clear that what he had created could be helpful for many industries, even for automated vehicles. Elon Musk was the first to ask if his invention could detect vehicles too.

  "Yes, I made the software so it can be changed to detect vehicles and solid objects in 3D," Liam said.

  "Excellent. I would like to invest in your invention. I assume you have already registered a patent for this," Elon asked.

  "Yes," Liam said. Elon's words made Bonnie and Chris very happy because Liam had promised them 1 percent of the shares in the company if they ever got an investment. Elon wasn't the only one interested, though.

  Justin Hammer also showed up and promised to invest to supply for the industry. Liam was busy talking to other rich venture capitalists, and Chris was more than happy to handle Hammer and explain.

  "Dude, I talked to Justin Hammer... The Justin Hammer... Can you imagine?" Chris was over the moon. Justin still had a name for himself in the world. He might not be as big as Tony, but he was still up there.

  "He was so cool," Bonnie said, also very happy.

  "Eh... He's alright," Liam said, not that impressed. Knowing the future, he couldn't ally with someone who would go to any lengths to get ahead. That kind of greed wasn't what he was looking for.

  "Of course, you'll say that since you got to talk with Elon Musk," Chris complained. Liam just rolled his eyes.

  "I bet you wouldn't say the same if Tony Stark were here," Bonnie teased.

  "He wouldn't have been here even if he weren't kidnapped," Liam said. Tony was notorious for throwing parties and was rumored to mock others during visits to such expos or MITs, claiming he could do better. One had to be really good to earn his approval.

  This made the two sad. Nobody from Stark Industries came to the Expo, and it was more of a hot topic among the attendees than the Expo itself. What really surprised Liam was that people from SHIELD showed up, and the one who came was none other than Brock Rumlow.

  "Hello, you must be Liam. Coulson spoke quite positively about you."