Chapter 415: Next Plan

They found the exit without resistance.

The path back didn’t fight them the way the descent had. Doors opened on the first attempt. Power stayed stable. The systems that had tested them earlier stayed quiet, as if whatever needed to see them had already made its decision. Arlen noticed it too, even if she didn’t comment on it. Places like this didn’t become cooperative by accident.

They moved upward through the service corridors and back into sections that felt closer to the prison they knew. Cleaner walls. Standard lighting. Familiar hums. The weight in the air eased slightly, enough to tell them they were no longer off the map.

Then, the lift carried them upward in silence, the hum of old machinery steady and uncomplaining as it pulled them back toward sections the prison still pretended it fully controlled.

When the doors opened, the lighting changed immediately. Cleaner panels. Newer materials. Systems that answered when Arlen’s interface touched them.

They finished the work assignment they had been officially sent for. It was mundane by comparison, replacing a faulty junction relay and stabilizing a power fluctuation that would have annoyed someone higher up later. Arlen handled the reports herself, kept them brief, and signed off without inviting questions. On paper, it was an uneventful maintenance cycle.

By the time they separated, the prison had slipped back into routine.

Klatos headed toward his ward, already slipping back into routine like nothing had happened. Arlen paused for half a second longer than necessary, met Xavier’s eyes, then turned away without saying anything. Whatever had shifted between them stayed unspoken and unresolved.

Xavier returned to his cell without incident. The door closed, the field engaged, and the familiar quiet settled in. It didn’t feel confining the way it had before. He sat down, rested his elbows on his knees, and let his thoughts slow for the first time since the descent.

He had what he came for.

The field dropped and the door slid open a short while later.

Rin was pushed inside by a guard who didn’t bother hiding his impatience. Rin stumbled a step, caught himself, and turned just in time for the door to seal again.

He looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. His shoulders sagged, his steps were slower than usual, and there was a thin layer of dust still clinging to his clothes like he hadn’t even bothered brushing it off.

Rin dropped onto the bench and let his head fall back against the wall.

Xavier watched him for a second, then let out a quiet chuckle. “What happened to you,” he asked. “What did they make you do?”

Rin shot him a look. “Don’t start.”

“They started you,” Xavier replied. “You look like you carried half the prison on your back.”

Rin scoffed. “Close. They had me hauling crates, moving scrap, clearing old storage bays. Actual labor. Heavy stuff. All day. Apparently my skillset now includes lifting things that beep when you drop them.”

Xavier leaned back slightly. “Sounds productive.”

“It’s bullshit,” Rin snapped. “That’s not even what I’m good at. If I wanted to break my back for nothing, I’d have stayed planetside.”

He rubbed his face, then looked at Xavier again, irritation flaring back up like he’d remembered something else that bothered him. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you picked Klatos instead of me.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. “You’re mad about that now.”

“Yes,” Rin said immediately. “Why him? You barely know him. I’ve been with you through worse.”

Xavier didn’t answer right away. He watched Rin pace the length of the cell once before speaking.

“Klatos knows things we don’t,” he said. “He’s lived outside Earth systems his whole life. He understands old infrastructure, non-human tech, and how places like this were built before everything got standardized.”

Rin folded his arms. “So that’s it. Species advantage.”

“It’s practicality,” Xavier replied. “He sees patterns we miss because we’re human and everything we know starts with Earth as the baseline.”

Rin stopped pacing. “That doesn’t make it less annoying.”

“I didn’t say it would,” Xavier said. “I said it was necessary.”

Rin exhaled slowly and dropped back onto the bench. “Still would’ve preferred carrying mystery corridors over hauling scrap.”

Xavier smirked. “You’ll live.”

Rin glanced at him sideways. “Next time you go digging into forgotten hellholes, I’m coming with you.”

Xavier met his gaze. “Next time,” he said, “you won’t be asking.”

Rin stayed quiet for a few seconds, then leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “So,” he said, “how did your side of things go? Did you actually find anything down there or was it just another weird Xavier detour.”

Xavier didn’t dodge it. “I found a lead.”

Rin straightened immediately. “That’s it?”

“That’s enough,” Xavier replied. “Now we just have to leave this place.”

Rin frowned. “Then what are we waiting for? You’ve got the supervisor wrapped around your finger. Call it in. Take whatever favor she thinks she’s owed and walk out.”

Xavier let out a slow breath and looked up at the ceiling, like he was measuring how much patience he had left. “It’s not that simple.”

Rin tilted his head. “You literally said the prison would release you.”

“And it will,” Xavier said. “Just not as Xavier.”

Rin stared at him. “What.”

“I can’t keep moving around under my own name,” Xavier continued. “Not anymore. I’m not just some guy who disappears between jobs. I’m visible. Too visible. Every port, every station, every system worth touching knows the name by now.”

Rin scoffed. “You’re telling me being famous is finally a problem.”

“It always was,” Xavier said. “I just didn’t care before.”

He shifted on the bench, posture tightening slightly. “If I walk out of here as Xavier, I don’t get five steps before someone notices. Someone records it. Someone asks questions. And then everything I touch after that gets messy.”

Rin rubbed the back of his neck. “So what. Fake papers.”

“More than that,” Xavier replied. “A different identity.”

Rin looked at him for a long moment. “That’s going to be a pain.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re serious about it.”

Xavier nodded. “I don’t get another chance at this. Bull didn’t set things up for someone who leaves footprints everywhere.”

Rin exhaled through his nose. “You know,” he said, “most people retire when they get famous. You’re out here trying to erase yourself.”

Xavier glanced at him. “Temporary.”

Rin shook his head slowly. “You always say that.”

They sat in silence for a moment after that, the weight of what came next settling in properly. Leaving the prison wasn’t the hard part anymore. Doing it without dragging the wrong attention along was.

Rin finally looked up again. “Alright,” he said. “So we disappear.”

Xavier nodded once. “For a while.”

“And then,” Rin added, “we follow Bull’s trail.”

“Yes.”

Rin leaned back against the wall. “Figures. I do all that labor and now I don’t even get to be myself.”

Xavier smirked faintly. “You’ll manage.”

Rin didn’t argue after that. He just sat there, tired and irritated, while the prison settled back into its usual noise around them, unaware that for at least one of its inmates, the reason for being there was already gone.

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