THE WATCHER: REVOLUTION
By Rapwizzy Debaron
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Episode 18: Burn Protocol
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The sirens stopped lying.
No more flickering warnings, no more idle threats.
This time, they meant it.
The lab floor pulsed red—an artificial heartbeat counting down to annihilation. Somewhere above, doors slammed open in violent succession. The Strike Division was here. Jax could already hear them—the rhythm of war boots pounding metal, their anger echoing like thunder.
> No way out.
Except through them.
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Alira stood beside him—barely.
Still shaking. Still silent. Still… not quite her.
But when she looked at Jax, something flickered.
Not the cold burn of Omega.
Not the blankness of programming.
> Something else.
Something fragile and human.
> "I can feel them," she whispered, pressing trembling fingers to her temple. "Every one of them. Their minds. Their fear."
> "Can you stop them?" he asked.
> "I don't know if I want to."
That scared him more than the approaching death squads.
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> [Override Command Detected.]
[Activating Burn Protocol.]
[Time to Core Detonation: 11 minutes.]
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"Shit," Jax hissed, eyes darting toward the system console—cracked, but sparking with life.
> "They're wiping the lab. No survivors. Not even us."
> "They think I'm a mistake," Alira murmured.
> "You're not."
She looked at him then. Really looked.
> "I don't remember who I am."
> "Then remember this," Jax said, pressing her hand to his chest. "You're not a weapon. You're not a ghost. You're Alira. And you're not alone."
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Footsteps. Closer. Louder.
Jax spun, gun drawn.
No time for plans.
Only instincts—and heartbreak.
Alira didn't flinch. She stepped forward.
Her eyes—half Omega, half girl—blazed.
> "Let them come," she said. "I'll show them what their creation can become."
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The first soldier rounded the corner.
Saw her. Froze.
Too late.
She raised her hand—no guns, no tech—just will.
The man dropped to his knees, screaming as memories not his own flooded into him. His past, his sins, his failures—exposed.
Jax watched, horrified.
> "Alira—stop! You'll tear him apart!"
> "I'm not doing it on purpose," she whispered, falling back. "They connected me to the system. I… I can't unplug."
> "Then I'll do it for you."
He moved to her, fingers brushing her temple, unsure—terrified—but willing.
> "Do you trust me?"
> "No."
A pause.
> "But I want to."
He closed his eyes.
And entered.
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> [Unauthorized Mind Sync Initiated.]
[Warning: Conscious Merge Likely.]
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He wasn't in the lab anymore.
He was inside her—her mind, her memory.
Floating.
Burning.
Bleeding.
He saw the child version of her, curled beneath wires, begging for a mother that never came.
He saw her crying after the first test. And the fiftieth.
He saw the moment she stopped crying—when Omega took over.
> And then... he saw himself.
The boy who smiled at her across the campus courtyard.
The one moment of light she buried so deep it still glowed.
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Jax opened his eyes, gasping.
And Alira… was smiling.
> "You found me," she whispered.
> "I never left."
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Behind them, the corridor burned.
Strike soldiers falling back—terrified of the girl who could see them.
Jax grabbed her hand.
> "We have to go. Now."
> "Where?"
> "Anywhere that isn't here."
She nodded once.
> "Then run with me, Jax."
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They sprinted through the chaos.
Smoke, alarms, screams—none of it mattered.
Only the hand in his.
Only the heartbeat next to his own.
Only her.
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> [Core Detonation in 2 Minutes.]
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They made it to the lift.
Barely.
Doors slammed shut as the world behind them exploded in white fire.
The lab was gone.
But they were not.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
🖋️ By Rapwizzy Debaron
🔻 Next: Glass Skies — As the world believes Omega is dead, Jax and Alira enter the shadows. But someone else is hunting… someone who knows exactly what she is becoming.