15 Miles: The Heist
Season 2: Shadows Rising
By Rapwizzy Debaron
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Chapter 78: Season 2 – Episode 21
The Archive
15 Miles: The Heist
Season 2: Shadows Rising
By Rapwizzy Debaron
---
Chapter 79: Season 2 – Episode 22
Saros Rising
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The red hue of emergency lights drenched the Archive chamber in a sinister glow. The first being—tall, lithe, and alien in presence—stood calmly before Julian, its starlit eyes unreadable.
Behind him, Eve's voice trembled through the comms. "Julian… readings are spiking. The others are waking up."
Reese checked his weapon's energy levels. "Then we've got maybe two minutes before this place becomes an alien hellscape."
The being tilted its head. "You are afraid."
Julian narrowed his eyes. "You have no idea."
"No," it responded, "but I can learn."
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The Awakening
Across the chamber, containment pods hissed and cracked as more of Saros's kind emerged. Some glided to their feet. Others fell, confused, disoriented—others screamed in frequencies that weren't meant for human ears.
Eve clutched her head. "They're communicating… through sound waves, not speech. My implants are shorting!"
Julian pulled her behind a console, shielding her as Reese raised his rifle at one of the beings approaching too fast.
"Stand down!" Reese barked.
It paused… looked at him with mournful eyes… and collapsed to the floor.
Maya's voice echoed over comms. "That one… didn't survive the stasis. Half of them won't. But the ones that do—Julian, they're not just intelligent. They were soldiers. Weapons."
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A Memory Recovered
As chaos brewed, Julian's visor flickered and suddenly displayed a new feed—his father's logs, hidden deep in the chip.
> "Saros wasn't an enemy when it arrived. It crashed here centuries ago. We were the ones who caged it—out of fear. Out of power-hunger."
> "What we didn't know… was that it wasn't alone."
Julian's hand clenched into a fist.
"Then the Wraiths… Project Zero… they were just pawns in something much bigger."
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The Council of Saros
From the chamber's shadows, five of the surviving beings circled around the first. Unlike the others, they wore fragments of ancient armor — tech-laced, pulsating with unknown energy.
One of them, taller than the rest, finally spoke. The words echoed both aloud and inside Julian's mind:
> "You are the Heir of the Gatekeeper. You have trespassed in the place of Judgment."
Julian stepped forward. "I didn't come to trespass. I came to understand."
Another Saros stepped closer. "Then understand this — the prison you have opened… was sealed for your protection."
Behind Julian, Eve was rapidly analyzing data on her wristpad. "Julian… these beings… they predate recorded history. They've been here longer than we've existed."
The first being touched its temple. "And now that we are free… the ones who hunted us will come."
Julian's heart sank. "There's more?"
The chamber trembled.
Reese's eyes widened. "Tell me that's not what I think it is."
The ceiling above began to crack. Rocks fell. The entire Archive was under seismic stress.
Maya's voice returned. "Julian! Something's inbound from orbit—fast. It's not human!"
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Collapse and Escape
Julian turned to the beings. "If we help you… will you help us fight what's coming?"
A pause.
Then the leader nodded. "One war ends. Another begins."
Julian motioned to the others. "Fall back! Get everyone topside!"
They ran, boots pounding against metal, alarms screaming. Behind them, the newly awakened Saros formed a protective line — preparing for whatever threat now raced toward Earth.
They burst into daylight just as the ground split open behind them. From the sky, a blinding pillar of light struck the Archive ruins… and something began to descend.
Not human.
Not Wraith.
Not Saros.
Something else.
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Later That Night – Resistance HQ
Julian stood over the map table, drenched in sweat and ash.
Reese poured him a drink. "So… we woke up ancient aliens to help us fight newer, meaner aliens."
Eve frowned. "They weren't the enemy. We made them enemies. But now… maybe we've got a chance."
Maya entered, pale. "Julian… we intercepted a signal from the object that just landed."
Julian turned. "What did it say?"
She showed the screen. In pulsating red glyphs, the translation read:
> "We are the Architects. Return what is ours… or perish."
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To be continued…
🔥 The Architects have arrived.
The Saros are awake. The final war begins now. Don't miss Episode 23 of 15 Miles: The Heist – Season 2: Shadows Rising by Rapwizzy Debaron.
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Rain poured over the city like judgment from the heavens. The hybrid was gone—destroyed within the Ghost Protocol vault—but the war was far from over. The data chip Julian now held in his hand vibrated with encrypted energy. His father's voice echoed again in his head:
> "If you're hearing this… then the hybrid was only the beginning."
Julian stood inside Maya's tech hub, the light from dozens of holo-screens dancing across his weary face. Eve and Reese hovered close, listening intently as Maya worked to decrypt the message.
"The encryption is deep," she murmured. "Buried beneath triple-layered firewalls… DNA-locked and time-gated. Your father didn't want just anyone seeing this."
Julian nodded. "He knew what he was doing. He was trying to protect something."
"Or hide it," Reese muttered.
After a final keystroke, the screen blinked—and a new file began to play.
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A Holographic Message – Archive Room Access Code: 0915-ZETA
Julian's father appeared, not as the haunted man he remembered in his final years, but younger… stronger… eyes burning with purpose.
> "Julian. If this reaches you, I'm likely dead… or worse. What we created under Project Zero was not a defense program. It was a resurrection."
> "There is a place… an archive buried deep beneath Blackridge. It's where we kept the original intelligence—something older than the hybrid. Something… alien."
Julian's breath caught. "Alien?"
> "It called itself Saros. It was never supposed to wake. But I feared it might. I left you a map. If you go, go prepared. Because if Saros wakes… it won't want to share the world."
The message ended, leaving a silence more deafening than the hybrid's scream.
---
Eve spoke first.
"You're telling me we fought a cybernetic ghost, and now we're going after something worse? Something extraterrestrial?"
Reese loaded a fresh clip. "At least I won't run out of people to shoot."
Julian studied the map projected in front of him. The coordinates pointed to a restricted dead zone—Blackridge, a collapsed facility thought lost during the first AI uprising.
Maya stepped forward. "If Saros is awake… then the hybrid might've just been its scout. A decoy."
Julian clenched his jaw. "Then we finish this. We go to Blackridge."
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Two Days Later – The Edge of Blackridge
The facility loomed like a graveyard. Entire buildings had collapsed inward, devoured by nature and war. The team, now equipped with pulse rifles, thermal visors, and armor-grade tech, stood before a giant sealed vault door hidden behind rock and rubble.
Eve scanned it. "Still powered. Just barely."
Julian stepped closer. "Then we knock."
Reese planted a disruptor charge. "Let's wake up hell."
BOOM.
The doors groaned open, revealing a yawning black corridor filled with dust and silence.
They moved in, lights sweeping across rusted rails and shattered containment pods. Symbols on the walls glowed faintly—no language they recognized.
Eve whispered, "These aren't Wraith markings."
Julian nodded. "They're Saros."
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Deeper into the Archive
The team found themselves in a central chamber—massive and circular, filled with tubes suspended in liquid. Some broken. Some still sealed. And inside them… not machines, but living organisms — humanoid, but not human.
Maya's voice came through comms. "Julian… I've accessed the archive records. This wasn't a lab. It was a prison."
Eve read the pulse monitors. "Some of them… are still alive."
Suddenly, one of the chambers hissed.
Steam poured from the edges.
Something moved inside.
Reese raised his rifle. "Contact."
The chamber cracked.
Then shattered.
---
Out stepped a being. Pale. Luminous. Eyes like galaxies.
It didn't attack. It simply looked at Julian and spoke—clear, direct.
"You are not your father."
Julian didn't flinch. "No. I'm better."
The being nodded once. "Then prove it."
Alarms blared across the facility.
More chambers lit up.
Saros had awakened.
---
To be continued…
🔥 Saros is real. The prison is open And the war has only just begun. Stay locked in for Episode 22 of 15 Miles: The Heist – Season 2: Shadows Rising by Rapwizzy Debaron.