"Momentum," Mr. Harrison said, circling the word. "Mass times velocity. If the object is heavy, and it is moving fast... it is very hard to stop."

Alex rested his chin on his hand. He knew about momentum.

Arsenal had momentum. They had beaten Chelsea. They had saved the team. For now.

But momentum... it works both ways. If you stop moving, you crash.

The bell rang.

"Mr. Finch," the teacher called out. "Don't forget. Your project on 'Forces' is due Friday."

"I am working on it, sir," Alex said. "I am studying... collisions."

"Excellent. Practical experiments?"

"You could say that," Alex smiled.

He walked out of the school. It was raining again.

Mark was waiting. He was not in the green car. He was in a giant, black SUV. It looked like a tank.

"New car?" Alex asked, climbing in.

"Milo rented it," Mark said. He was wearing a helmet. A bicycle helmet.

"Mark... why?"

"We are going to Germany," Mark said, tapping the helmet. "Dortmund. The Yellow Wall. Bastian said they throw things. I am protecting the asset. The asset is my head."

"Take it off, Speed," Alex sighed. "We are going to the airport, not a war zone."

"Yet," Mark whispered ominously.

The flight to Dortmund was tense.

The "Suit"—the man from the ownership group—was on the plane. He sat at the front, typing on a laptop. Every click of his keyboard sounded like a countdown timer.

Alex sat with Jude.

Jude Bellingham knew Dortmund. He had played there. He was a legend there.

"It is loud, Professor," Jude said, looking out the window at the German clouds. "Louder than Anfield. The Südtribüne... the Yellow Wall... it is twenty-five thousand people standing. Screaming. Jumping. It feels like the stadium is alive."

"They will hate you," Alex said. "You left them."

"They will whistle," Jude smiled. "I like whistling. It helps me focus."

He looked at Alex.

"But you... they don't know you. They will try to scare you. They will try to make you small."

"I am small," Alex said.

"Then be a pebble," Jude said. "A pebble in a shoe. Small... but painful."

Wednesday Night. Signal Iduna Park.

It was yellow. Everything was yellow.

The stadium was shaking before the warm-up even started.

Alex stood in the tunnel. The noise was a physical weight. It pressed against his ears.

He looked at the Dortmund players. They were young. They were fast. They were hungry.

Their captain, Emre Can, looked at Alex. He frowned.

"Kindergarten is closed," Can grunted in German.

Alex understood. He didn't reply.

Mark was bouncing. He was not wearing his helmet, thankfully.

"They are loud!" Mark yelled over the noise. "I want to race them! Their winger... Adeyemi... they say he is fast. I want to race him!"

"Focus on the ball, Speed," Steve, the manager, said, walking down the line.

Steve looked serious.

"This is match two of our survival month," Steve said. "We lose... the Suit gets angry. We draw... the Suit gets nervous. We win... the Suit stays quiet. I like quiet."

He looked at Alex.

"Professor. Kill the noise. Control the tempo. Make them silent."

"Yes, coach," Alex said.

The whistle blew.

The Yellow Wall roared. It sounded like a jet engine taking off.

Dortmund came flying out.

They were fast. Incredibly fast.

They played "Heavy Metal" football. Pressing. Running. Tackling.

Alex got the ball. Three yellow shirts swarmed him.

He passed to Jude. Jude was booed instantly. The sound was deafening.

Jude held the ball. He was strong. He shrugged off a tackle. He passed back to Alex.

But Arsenal couldn't get out. The pressure was intense.

In the 12th minute, Dortmund broke through.

Adeyemi, the sprinter, got the ball on the wing.

Mark was watching from the other side. "He is fast!" Mark yelled. "But his form is terrible!"

Adeyemi didn't care about form. He burned past the Arsenal right-back.

He crossed.

Fullkrug, the giant striker, was there.

He smashed it.

GOAL.

One zero. Dortmund.

The stadium exploded. Beer cups flew into the air. The noise was so loud Alex couldn't hear his own thoughts.

The Suit, up in the VIP box, probably closed his laptop.

Alex stood in the center circle. The vibration of the crowd was coming up through his boots.

Bastian walked over. He looked calm. He was used to this.

"They are excited," Bastian shouted. "They are running on emotion. Emotion... runs out of gas. Logic... does not."

Alex nodded. Logic.

"We need to slow them down," Alex said. "They want a race. We have to give them a lecture."

The game restarted.

Alex changed the rhythm.

When he got the ball, he didn't pass forward immediately.

He put his foot on it. He waited.

A Dortmund player sprinted at him.

Alex passed sideways. To Antoine.

Antoine held it. He did a little circle. He passed back to Alex.

Alex passed to Jude.

Short passes. Boring passes.

The crowd whistled. They wanted chaos. Alex gave them geometry.

Pass. Move. Pass. Move.

The Dortmund players started to get frustrated. They were running, but they weren't touching the ball.

"Boring!" a fan screamed from the front row.

"Effective!" Alex whispered.

In the 40th minute, the Dortmund press slowed down. Their lungs were burning.

Alex saw it. The gap.

The Dortmund midfield was flat. They were tired.

Alex got the ball from Bastian.

He looked up.

He saw Jude making a run. Not a fast run. A powerful, driving run through the center.

Alex hit the pass. A firm, ground pass.

Jude took it. He was back in his old home.

He drove at the defense. The Dortmund defenders backed off. They were scared of him.

Jude got to the edge of the box.

He faked a shot. The defender jumped.

Jude didn't shoot. He slid a pass to the left.

Antoine was there. The Magician.

Antoine didn't smash it. He curled it.

It went around the keeper. It kissed the post.

GOAL.

One one.

The Yellow Wall went quiet. Just for a second.

Antoine ran to the corner. He put his hands to his ears.

Alex ran to him.

"Silence," Antoine grinned. "It is the most beautiful sound."

Halftime. One one.

Steve was happy.

"You killed their energy," Steve said. "You made them chase shadows. Good."

He looked at Mark.

"Speed. They are tired. Their legs are heavy. Adeyemi has run five kilometers already."

Mark grinned. He knew what was coming.

"Second half," Steve said. "We stop being boring. We start being fast. We unleash the Arrow."

"Finally!" Mark yelled. "I was falling asleep standing up!"

The second half started.

Dortmund tried to press again, but they were slower. The fire was dimming.

Alex got the ball. He felt the space.

He looked at Mark.

Mark was on the halfway line. He was bouncing.

Alex didn't play short. He turned his body.

He hit the Hurricane pass.

Long. High. Over the top.

The Dortmund defense was playing a high line. It was a mistake.

Mark exploded.

He was fresher than them. He was faster than them.

He ran past the defender like he was standing still.

He was one on one.

The keeper came out.

Mark didn't panic. He didn't do a trick.

He just touched the ball around the keeper.

He ran after it.

He tapped it into the empty net.

GOAL.

Two one. Arsenal.

Mark ran to the corner flag. He didn't shush the crowd.

He did something else.

He pointed at his wrist (he wasn't wearing a watch). Then he pointed at the pitch.

My time. My house.

It was arrogant. It was brilliant.

Jude ran over and grabbed him. "You crazy kid! You just told eighty thousand Germans this is your house!"

"I am renting it!" Mark laughed.

Dortmund was desperate now. They threw everyone forward.

The last ten minutes were a siege.

The Yellow Wall was screaming again. They wanted blood.

Alex was the Shield. He blocked. He intercepted.

He was tired. His history essay was still in his head.

Force equals mass times acceleration.

A Dortmund striker broke through. He was big. He was fast.

He was running at the goal.

Alex was the only one back.

He couldn't tackle him. He was too far away.

But he could... disrupt him.

Alex ran. He ran alongside the striker.

He didn't trip him.

He just... leaned. He used his core strength. The "stable" training.

He leaned into the striker. Just a nudge.

It was physics. A small force, applied at the right moment, disrupts the balance.

The striker stumbled. He took a bad touch.

The ball rolled to the Arsenal keeper, Ramsdale.

Ramsdale picked it up.

"YES PROFESSOR!" Ramsdale roared. "GOOD PHYSICS!"

The striker looked at Alex. He was furious. "You pushed me!"

"I just... occupied the space," Alex panted.

The final whistle blew.

Arsenal 2. Dortmund 1.

A massive win. An away win in the Champions League.

The Suit, wherever he was, had to be happy.

Alex fell to the ground. He was exhausted.

Jude walked over. He helped Alex up.

The Dortmund fans were whistling Jude. But then... they started to clap.

They respected him.

Jude clapped back.

Then, he put his arm around Alex.

"Come on, Professor," Jude said. "Let's go home."

Mark ran over. He had swapped shirts with Adeyemi.

"I told him I was faster," Mark said, holding the yellow shirt. "He said 'maybe'. That means yes."

Alex laughed.

They walked into the tunnel.

Milo was waiting. He was wearing a yellow suit with black stripes. He looked like a giant bumblebee.

"THE HIVE!" Milo screamed. "WE STOLE THE HONEY! ALEX! THE LEAN! THE NUDGE! I AM CALLING IT 'THE SHOULDER OF JUSTICE'!"

"Please don't," Alex said.

"Too late! It is trending! Also, I have a deal with a helmet company for Mark. 'Safety First, Speed Second'!"

Mark's eyes lit up. "A gold helmet?"

"Diamond!" Milo winked.

Alex sat on the bus. He was safe.

He checked his phone.

A text from the Suit.

It was short.

"Two weeks down. Two wins. Keep going."

Alex sighed. It wasn't a "well done". It was an order.

But then he got another text.

From Mrs. Gable, his math teacher.

"I watched the game. The angle of your pass to Antoine was 45 degrees perfectly. And your nudge on the striker... simple mechanics. A minus. See you in class."

Alex smiled.

He looked out at the German night.

He was tired. He was sore. He had homework to do.

But the Hurricane was still blowing.

And they were still together.

"Next stop," Harry Kane shouted from the front of the bus. "Manchester City. The League Cup."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.