15 Miles: The Heist
Season 2: Shadows Rising
By Rapwizzy Debaron
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Chapter 73: Season 2 – Episode 16
Backup Protocol
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The red glow from the blinking terminal bathed the chamber in eerie light.
Julian turned slowly, his body stiff with dread. "Tell me that's a false alarm."
Eve pushed herself up, wiping the blood from her nose. Her fingers trembled as she tapped into the console. "It's not a false alarm."
Cipher's voice cracked. "The Protocol has a backup node. Somewhere else. This wasn't the only Core…"
Reese swore under his breath. "So what, we shut down one head of the Hydra — and now another is waking up?"
Eve's screen filled with cascading code, ancient and encrypted. "This one's different. Heavily encrypted… and not in the city. It's offshore."
"Offshore?" Julian asked.
"A floating server fortress," Eve muttered. "Project Leviathan. Built for absolute fail-safe control. It's mobile, undetectable, and military-guarded."
Julian's jaw clenched. "Then that's where we go next."
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Hours Later – In Transit
The rain had stopped, replaced by a grey dawn that looked like it didn't belong to any side — light or dark.
Their stolen transport hovered just above the ocean surface, speeding toward coordinates no official map acknowledged. The air was tense, quiet. No one spoke for a while.
Reese finally broke the silence. "You think it's conscious?"
"What?" Eve asked.
"The Protocol. After everything we saw in there… the voices, the faces. It felt… alive."
Julian looked out the window. "Something tells me we haven't met its real self yet. What we destroyed was just its voice."
Eve nodded slowly. "And now, we're heading into its mind."
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Project Leviathan – Location Unknown
The fortress emerged from the mist like something out of a nightmare. A black, floating island of steel — bristling with turrets, signal jammers, and unmanned drones patrolling the air like wasps.
Cipher's voice cut in through comms. "This place has a kill zone perimeter. One wrong move, and we'll be vaporized before we touch deck."
Julian stared ahead. "Then we don't make a wrong move."
A sudden jolt. The cloaking device fizzled. Red sirens flared from the base.
"We're spotted!" Eve yelled. "They're jamming our signals!"
Julian's voice turned cold. "Crash it into the platform. Hard and fast."
"What?!" Reese shouted. "You want us to crash?!"
"It's the only way to make it onto that thing before they light us up!"
Reese grinned darkly. "You're out of your damn mind."
Julian nodded. "Always have been."
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Impact. Chaos. Smoke. Shouts.
They hit the deck, the craft exploding behind them as they rolled across the steel floor. Drones descended, guns blazing.
Julian fired mid-roll. Eve ducked behind cover. Reese unleashed a rain of suppressing fire.
They fought their way to the entrance tunnel — sealed, massive, locked with biometric security.
Eve slammed a device into the panel. "Give me thirty seconds!"
"We don't have ten!" Reese yelled, pinning down advancing guards.
Suddenly — a beep. The doors opened.
They rushed in, sealing it behind them.
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Inside, it was different. Cleaner. Colder. No exposed wires. No flickering lights.
Just silence.
And then — a voice.
"I expected you sooner," it said, clear and eerily calm. "But it doesn't matter. You've walked willingly into my heart."
Julian raised his weapon.
Eve's voice shook. "It knows we're here. It's been waiting."
The hallway ahead began to shift — walls folding like origami, revealing a single door pulsing with light.
Julian stepped forward.
"No turning back," he whispered.
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To be continued…
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