Xavier reached the Midnight Club and went straight to the same room on the first floor—the one they’d used before.
Angel was there, lounging on the couch like it was her damn base. And yeah, it probably was.
Xavier greeted her with a nod. "Yo."
Angel gave a lazy wave. "Back already? How was the trip?"
"I’d rather not go on one like that again," Xavier said, dragging out a chair and sitting down with a sigh.
Angel chuckled. "Can’t imagine why."
Xavier looked around. "Where’s Oliver?"
"He should be on his way," she said, stretching her legs out and glancing at her wrist screen. "You called him, right?"
"Yeah, said he was on the way. Figured he’d be here by now."
Angel didn’t comment. Instead, she pulled a small black card out of her pocket and tossed it toward him.
Xavier caught it mid-air. "What’s this?"
"Your membership card," Angel said. "Welcome to the Midnight Club."
Xavier studied the sleek card. "Can I upgrade this? Like, highest level or something?"
Angel scoffed. "This ain’t your average loyalty program. You can only buy your way up so far. After that, you earn points—fixers hire you, you do gigs, you rise."
"Too much work," Xavier muttered. "Not interested right now."
Right then, the door opened, and Oliver strolled in.
"Finally," Xavier said.
Oliver grinned. "Traffic."
They did their quick bro-hug, then sat around. Oliver leaned back and asked, "Jason coming?"
Angel shook her head. "He’s underground champion now. In the ring almost every day. Not easy to catch him outside."
"Fair," Xavier said. "By the way, is the fake report ready?"
"Did my part," Angel replied. "Sent it to a contact—she’ll polish the details and make it airtight."
Xavier exhaled through his nose. "Once Dominic gets that report, he’s going to try and kill me."
Angel smirked. "Maybe you should get a bodyguard."
Xavier reached into his coat and pulled out a slim glasses case. He handed it to Oliver. "Here."
Oliver opened it. "What’s this?"
"Smart AR specs. Got one for myself too."
Angel leaned forward. "Let me see."
Xavier handed his over.
She checked it out, raised a brow. "This isn’t the latest model. The new one dropped just last month—it’s got better UI, sleeker frame, a few added features. You missed out."
Xavier nodded. "I saw that. But I still chose this."
Angel tilted her head. "Why?"
Xavier leaned back and crossed his arms. "This model’s raw performance is higher. The new one’s just a software optimization patch with reduced core power. Company’s called HexoVision—they locked all the good software behind proprietary chips, claiming it’s ’optimized for better thermal sync’ and some other PR garbage."
Angel blinked. "What?"
Xavier kept going. "HexoVision nerfed the hardware so they could upsell software features. The newer model runs cooler and smoother, yeah, but they stripped it down to push you into their ’visionOS Prime’ subscription. It’s flashy. Not functional. This one’s still got the dual-threaded AR overlay and 3D neural sync driver they removed from the new version."
Angel stared at him. "How do you even know this?"
"I checked the specs. All the review videos were the same: ’best model ever,’ ’a leap forward,’ blah blah blah. Sounded fishy."
"So you figured it out just like that?"
"I cross-checked all the info. No one said it outright, but it’s all there if you actually read. I just... used logic."
Angel tossed the glasses back to him. "You’re telling me you cracked through all that fluff and figured this out, and you’re not even an engineer or a tech guy?"
"I’m just not a sheep."
She blinked. "Okay, I’m officially not surprised anymore."
Xavier looked at her.
Angel laughed. "Is there anything you can’t do?"
Xavier smirked. "I can’t relax. That’s for sure."
Angel leaned forward again, eyes still on the glasses in Xavier’s hand.
"You know," she started, "if you want... I could softbreak those specs and install a better OS. One made by a friend of mine’s team. Custom built. Not that commercial crap you got stuck with."
Xavier looked at her, head slightly tilted. "And what’s the benefit?"
Angel smirked, like she was waiting for that question. "For starters, no more restrictions. Full access to hardware potential. You get real-time deep scan, multi-threaded live render mapping, encrypted audio decryption, facial trace bypass, and the cherry—infra-red 3D motion prediction overlay."
Xavier blinked once. "That sounds fake."
Angel grinned. "It does, right? But it’s not. Her team’s cracked the neuro-sync drivers on the backend. Thing can highlight people’s weak points if you’re fighting. You get real-time heat maps and threat levels. Plus, you get something called ghost trail mapping—it lets you track where someone walked within the last five minutes if you’re in a high-emission zone."
"...What."
"Oh, and they patched in voice mimic and translation layering. You hear someone talk? You can replay it in any accent or language. On the fly."
Xavier narrowed his eyes. "What about data? It all gets stored locally or sent to some sketchy cloud in god-knows-where?"
Angel leaned back. "Local server. Yours or mine. Your choice. And it never uploads unless you say so."
"Damn," Xavier muttered. "Alright, what’s the catch? You’re not offering this outta kindness. What do I have to do in return?"
Angel chuckled.
The kind of chuckle that made Oliver slowly shift his weight like he already sensed bullshit incoming.
"Knew you’d catch that," Angel said, resting her elbow on the armrest and her chin on her palm. "Okay, nothing illegal. No missions. No killing. I just want you to do one little favor for me."
Xavier stayed quiet, waiting.
"So, are you up for it or not?"
"Depends on what it is. If it’s something I can do, then I would be glad to help. You have done so much for me, so it only makes it fair for me to treat you the same way."
Angel’s grin widened. "I want you to go on a date."
Xavier blinked. "A... what."