Angel and Xavier left the dealership with the contract sealed and the car set for its insane three-day build. The sky outside had shifted into that late-night glow where the neon hit the wet pavement just right. Angel nudged his arm once they stepped into the street.

"There's a place around the corner," she said. "Good food. Quiet. Let's eat before you drag me into more chaos."

They walked the short stretch and slipped into a restaurant tucked behind a line of holo-billboards. Small tables, dim lights, warm smell of spice drifting out from the kitchen. They sat across from each other, menus untouched because neither one needed them.

Angel leaned back and grinned. "Didn't expect this to be a date."

Xavier didn't blink. "It's not a date."

She lifted a brow. "Then what is it?"

He took a sip of water, calm as hell. "A date starts when I get you on a bed and make you moan my name."

Angel choked on air for a second before breaking into a laugh that earned them a few stares from nearby tables. "Yeah, okay. Sure. Keep dreaming."

The food arrived—some grilled meat, noodles, and a platter Angel ordered without reading because she already knew the place. They ate for a few minutes before Xavier spoke again, voice quieter, not heavy but serious enough to shift the air between them.

"I'm killing Lucas soon," he said. "Once that's done, I'm leaving Earth."

Angel put her chopsticks down. "Leaving as in traveling? Or leaving as in not coming back?"

"Not coming back."

She watched him for a long moment. No judgment. No shock. Just thought. "And you want me to come with you."

"Yeah," he said. "Join me. Build something out there. Might need your help when shit gets messy."

Angel let out a slow breath and tapped her knuckles on the table. "I can't leave right now. I've got unfinished business, debts, people I promised I'd deal with. But…" She pointed her chopsticks at him. "Give me a few months. I'll join you then."

Xavier nodded. "I can wait."

She smiled. "Good."

Then her expression shifted into suspicion. "You got a plan for leaving the planet? Or are you going to jump off a spaceport and hope someone catches you?"

He shrugged. "I know a few things."

"That means you know nothing."

"I'll learn," he said. "I pick things up fast."

She leaned forward. "Do you have a spaceship?"

"Not yet." His eyes narrowed like he was already three steps ahead. "But I will soon."

"Oh?" Angel asked. "And how's that happening? Gonna steal one?"

"No. Someone named Bull— a pirate, whatever—he was arrested months back. His ship went missing after that. I got the coordinates. And I have sent someone to recover it."

Angel stared at him. "Please tell me you didn't send someone who's dumber than you."

Xavier grinned. "He's reliable."

"That means yes."

He ignored that. Angel held out her hand. "Send me the reports. The ship model. Registry. All of it. I'll check the data and verify the ship's legit. The last thing you want is some dead engine drifting in a junk yard."

He sent the files. Her wrist-screen lit up, and she scanned through the details.

"Okay," she said. "This might actually be a good find. But listen—space isn't like roads. There's traffic control, patrol routes, station tolls, customs checks, docking fees. You need licenses, clearance, modules, training. If you screw up, you get fined or blasted. Not always in that order."

Xavier nodded once. "There's a space training chamber at the academy. Simulators. Zero-G systems. Flight instructions. I'll start training for real tomorrow. I'll take cases. I'll learn everything I need."

Angel pointed a finger at him. "Good. Because once you leave the planet, there's no rewinding. If you mess up out there, you die out there."

"I'll handle it," Xavier said.

Angel smiled at him. "You better. I don't want you dying before I get to ride that expensive hovercar."

They kept eating, talking over routes he could take, what spaceports were safer, which stations would scam him, which factions patrolled which sectors. Angel listed dangers like she was reading from a worn guidebook—solar storms, debris fields, pirate zones, broken lanes, bad AI-run stations.

Xavier listened to all of it.

Angel was halfway through her drink when Xavier leaned back in his chair and fixed his eyes on her, the way he did when he was trying to put pieces together.

"How do you know all this?" he asked. "Even if you're a hacker, there's no way you should know this much. Space routes, black-market docks, patrol networks, clearance laws… that's not stuff people learn scrolling feeds. And hacking doesn't give you half of that either."

Angel twirled her chopsticks, not looking at him.

"And," Xavier went on, "you talk about space like you lived there. Not like you studied it. Like someone who's been out there. So tell me—have you been to space?"

Angel didn't dodge it. Didn't try to pretend. She just said, "I wasn't 'in' space."

Then she lifted her eyes to his.

"I was born there."

Xavier stilled for a moment. Not shocked—just processing. Then he asked, "Then who are you? Really. Other than a hacker."

Angel didn't answer.

She poked at her food. She didn't look angry. She didn't look scared. She just shut down that part of the conversation like someone closing a door that had stayed locked for years.

Xavier breathed out. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me. I get it. Everyone has—"

Before he finished the sentence, Angel shoved a mouthful of noodles straight into his mouth, pushing his face back with her palm. He muffled a noise and glared at her while he tried not to choke.

She leaned in, eyes sharp. "Don't say that. Don't say it's 'fine.' Don't just let me keep secrets because you don't want to push me. You should force it out of me."

Xavier chewed the food slowly, swallowed, wiped his mouth, and looked at her with a calm she didn't expect.

"Oh, I can force it out," he said.

Angel blinked. "Yeah? How?"

Xavier leaned forward, voice dropping low. "I know the perfect way to make you confess everything."

Angel raised one eyebrow. "And what's that?"

He didn't smile—but the tone did it for him.

"I'll show you when you're on your knees on the bed."

Angel stared at him, chopsticks frozen mid-air, lips parting just slightly.

Then she muttered, "You can try."

After their dinner ended, they went to a five star hotel and rented a suite for the night.