December 23, 2012 — Gotham City, Saint Swithun's Elementary School.
I have three words to describe my current situation:
What. The. Fuck.
I looked around, still a little overwhelmed. Kids sat at their desks in a slightly shabby classroom, while the teacher's voice droned about something I hadn't managed to focus on.
As if sensing my distraction, the teacher suddenly stopped and fixed her eyes on me.
"Max? Did you pay attention to what I just said?"
She had a short red hair and sharp black eyes behind her glasses. Her frown was tight, her expression questioning as she studied me.
The other kids turned my way—some surprised, others grinning for reasons I couldn't place.
As her gaze sharpened, time seemed to drag. The world slowed, every second stretching thin. My eyes drifted to the blackboard behind her. One second to notice the subject written there. Another to analyze, absorb, and sort the information neatly into place in my mind.
I looked back at her and smiled.
"Yes, Ms. Amber. You were explaining about cells…"
Her brow lifted as a small smirk tugged at her lips "Anyone could tell that. But if you were really paying attention, then can you tell me this- why do plant cells have a cell wall, but animal cells don't?"
A flicker of unease passed through me—and the world slowed again.
Animals. Plants. Biology. Cells… Threads of knowledge snapped together in one moment.
I suddenly felt my mouth open on its own "That's because the presence of a cell wall in plant cells is an evolutionary adaptation to sessility the inability to move from place to place. since plants must remain anchored in one location, they require both structural rigidity and defense against osmotic stress, the cellulose-based cell wall provides mechanical strength prevents excessive water intake under hypotonic conditions and establishes a fixed morphology that enables efficient sunlight capture through leaf architecture.
Animal cells, by contrast, abandoned rigid extracellular walls in favor of a dynamic cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix. This allows motility, phagocytosis, neural networking, and the capacity for tissue specialization far beyond what rigid-walled cells could achieve. Essentially, plant evolution optimized for structural endurance and autotrophy, while animal evolution optimized for cellular plasticity and interaction.
The difference isn't arbitrary, it's a fundamental divergence in evolutionary strategy, stability and energy self-sufficiency versus mobility and intercellular complexity."
Only when I stopped did I notice her mouth shaped into an "O." The chalk had slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the desk. She stared at me in surprise.
A few kids whispered among themselves, confused.
"What just happened… did he get it right?"
"I don't know… it's not in the textbook."
"The answer was that plants need walls to stay up since they can't move. Animals don't, 'cause they have bones and muscles and stuff."
"Well, did he get it wrong then? He used a lot of big words—he's probably pulling it out of his ass."
My stomach sank. Shit… did I go too far? No twelve-year-old should sound like that.
But then Ms. Amber smiled, eyes soft with admiration.
"Wow, Max! That was amazing! None of that is written in the textbook—you must have studied it on your own, right? That answer was really impressive!"
I blinked, heat rising to my cheeks. "Oh—tha… thanks?"
Her smile lingered, but she raised a finger in mild warning.
"Still, try not to drift off in the middle of class. You might miss something important. Understood?"
I nodded quickly. "Yes."
She returned to the board, resuming the lesson—though not before giving me one last impressed look.
I could feel some of the kids sneaking jealous and annoyed looks my way, but I ignored them trying to piece together what, where, and who I was.
A dull headache throbbed as flashes of information and memories slammed into me at once, each one more absurd than the last.
Disbelief bled into astonishment.
I… was in DC.
***
'Grey'
That was my first impression of Gotham.
No seriously did someone mess with texture of this place? why is it so depressing?
I was sitting in the lunchroom, still rattled, but at last I managed to piece things together.
I was in the body of max carrow, a twelve years old elementary student in Gotham. He lived in an orphanage co-funded by the Wayne Foundation, his parents having died a year ago in some sort of accident.
They'd been comfortably wealthy, which explained why the staff treated him a little better than the other kids since they thought he'd remember their "kindness" when he grew up to inherit his parents' money. Max himself being a polite, well-educated child helped for sure.
That being said, none of this explained why I had taken over his body. He hadn't been dying or anything which happened usually in most transmigration novels i used to read about…
But I had an idea.
Before falling asleep last night, I was sure I'd been playing some kind of CYOA a friend had sent me a build-your-character game, almost like a D&D sheet.
And since the background, the time, and the location all matched, i can only relate it to that...No—it was definitely because of that.
I rubbed my hair and sighed.
So what now?
I was in a world with an alien with god powers, a dude that can travel faster than light itself, and a demi-god Greek princess walking around… with a world-ending disaster happening every couple of months.
Let's not forget about all the cosmic gods, the Endless, angels, devils, and… whatever the Presence is.
On top of that, I was in the worst imaginable place on Earth… Gotham City.
Aside from the demonic multiversal Bat God, the evil warlock sleeping underground for forty thousend years cursing the land, the magical resurrection swamp on the outskirts and the literal portal to hell in Arkham's basement.
It was unironically ranked as one of the worst fictional cities to live in—I would rather live in Cyberpunk's Night City than here, with a ton of criminals and gangs and corpo at least night city didnt have lunatic supervillains breaking out of Arkham Asylum every Monday.
I sighed again. There's no point in thinking about this now.
I needed to get the fuck out of there, fast.
Not Gotham—the planet.
Why?
Because while Earth is considered a non-important backwater planet by alien civilizations advanced enough to cross the cosmos and wield planet-killing weapons, the truth is that Earth is the actual center of the DC universe as a whole.
All gods—whether the Endless or any other kind—are focused mainly on Earth...you don't see a three-eyed octopus in Hell or Heaven.
Aside from all sorts of cosmic forces choosing to interfere there—by picking champions, heroes or villains or the thousands of Gods from different pantheons that live here—basically, Earth is a very, very dangerous place to be beneath the surface.
Somone like me outside of this multiverse being here would definitely attract some unwanted attention from beings like them, that's why i needed to leave as fast as i could...
But how? im in the body of a twelve years old orphan in gotham i can't just access a space ship that easly, i mean i did pick some powers from the cyoa but-
Wait now i think about it i was strangely rational and didn't have problem accepting the fact that im in a fiction universe to begin with...i mean i even started planning and asserting dangers that wouldn't naturally be a normel reaction for such event and then there's this over-complex answer in the the class earlier, i Was never good at biology not that good.
Is that because of—
Suddenly i was cut out of my inner monologue as i felt someone trying to sneak up on me as if it was some sort sixth sense, they slowly came behind me and tried to move their hand closer to me.
"What are you doing?" I asked with a slight smile as i grabbed her own wrist stopping her ice cube filled hand.
She looked at me a bit surprised "Eh? How did you know i was behind you? You usually never catch me..."
I chuckled "Holly, didn't I tell you to stop sneaking ice cubes down my back?"
Holly responded as she pulled her tongue out "That what you get for setting by your self and looking like you just went into a funeral...Also let me go! the ice cubes is starting to freeze my hand! it's really cold!"
"You don't say?" i sighed as i let her go as she throw the ice cubes she planned to use on me in the near by garbage as she rubbed her hand trying to warm it with a painful look on her face.
This girl name is Holly.
From the memories I have, she is an orphan the same age as Max and lives at the same orphanage as him. She is one of the very few that Max occasionally talks to.
She had long black hair and dark eyes. with slightly tanned skin. She was also wearing a shabby red blouse and black jeans.
She looked at me with an annoyed expression. "It's only 15 minutes until lunchtime is over, and I want to play on the swings! So let's go already!" she said, a slight blush on her face as she turned and started walking.
She said it like it was only natural that I would follow her.
Well… it's not in character for Max to refuse. It might raise problems if people notice that I'm acting differently than Max.
I let out a sigh.
Why not? I'll just go with her.
As I walked and followed her, she sneaked a look at me and kept going
But then, suddenly, a screen popped up in front of me.
[+6 Affection with Holly Ashford]
Oh?…
"Hey! Are you coming or what?!" Holly said as she turned back to me.
"Sorry! My bad," I said apologetically, starting to walk beside her.
I turned my focus back to the screen as I noticed it disappear.
Now that I think about it, wasn't that one of the powers I selected?
Well, it's easy to check that.
'Status window'
Another pane snapped into being.
Name: Max Carrow
Age: 12
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral Good
Affiliations: St. Jude's Orphanage, Saint Swithun's Elementary School
Attributes
HP: 10,000+
HP Regen: EX
Strength: 106
Vitality: 100,000+
Dexterity: 221
Intelligence: 1,000+
Wisdom: 834
Charisma: 1,000+
Luck: N/A
Stamina: EX
Powers
Thinker/Trump (HUD), Status Window, Thinker (Bullet Time), Thinker/Master (Organized Mind), Brain Formatting, Striker/Thinker (Book Osmosis), Thinker (Affection Meter), (Mover) Stamina, (Brute) Biological Redistribution, (Brute) Just Won't Die, (Brute/Striker) Captain America, (Master) It's The Thought That Counts, (Thinker) New Personal Record, (Thinker) Two-Face, (Thinker) Twisted World, (Thinker) Enhanced Mastery, (Thinker) Discombobulate, (Thinker/Master) Indoctrination Is Friendship, (Stranger) Nice Guy, (Thinker) Time-Loop, Persisting Growth, Master Martial Artist (One Punch Man), Type Yellow (SCP Foundation), The Hand Behind The Curtain, The Nameless Monster (Monster), Shifting Singularity, Golden One, Algea, Shardless, Essence of a Shard (Vital).
Perks
Olympic, Rapid Learning, Frankenstein, Unity of Mind and Body, Blank, Mental Barrier, Blood-Brain Barrier, Trumped the Trump, Powered Sustenance, Who Wants to Live Forever?, Immortality Failsafe, All-Seeing Precognition, Only A Sith Deals in Absolutes, False Corona Pollentia, Noctis Cape, Savant, Fan Service, Invictus, Well-Adjusted, Patience of a Saint, 'Plot' Armor, Manton Protected, Hidden Strength, Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative, Platinum Kryptonite, Countdown, Protection Against Evil, Serendipitous Luck, Sixth Sense, Beneath Notice, Golden Perks, I Don't Get It, I Get It Now... But Not Really...?, Naturalized Foreigner.
Skills
Adaptable Martial Arts, Thousand Styles Master, Present Perfect, Polyglot.
Drawbacks
Eh, I Can Take You, A Little While Longer (x10), Human Killing Ghost.
Toggles
Blank: ON | Nice Guy: OFF | Absolute Enforcement: OFF | Hidden Strength Masking: ON
Save-Point: SET...
...Eh?
I was stunned.