Chapter 39: So Close!
Xavier leaned back in his chair, arms folded, his jaw ticking with barely restrained impatience. The dimly lit room smelled of burnt wires, stale coffee, and something vaguely metallic, like old blood. The air was thick with the low hum of servers running in the background, a steady noise that matched the rhythm of his own growing frustration.
Across from him, Miles slouched in his chair, legs kicked up onto the cluttered desk, hands lazily twirling a screwdriver between his fingers. He was a scrawny thing, barely twenty, with dark, curly hair that looked like it had never seen a comb and the kind of tired, knowing eyes that came from staring at screens for too long. The glow from his monitors bathed his face in a sickly blue light, making his already pale skin look
