Silver Elite: Chapter 24-25

[penwalla]

Wren is sitting in the infirmary with her fucked up wrist. Cross comes to see her, then summons a myterious Aberrant to see her. This happens directly after Wren tells him she'll need eight weeks to heal, so obviously this is a person with the ability to heal her immediately. But Wren does not immediately clock this.

Once she's healed, she trudges back to the barracks in despair.

I slide into bed, truly exhausted, ready to forget the entire world. But then I feel the poke in my mind, and I realize the world has not forgotten about me.

For the first time in weeks, since the night I arrived in the Point desperate to rescue Jim, I hear from Declan.

The network has decided to grace me with their presence.

I squeeze my eyelids shut, every muscle in my body trembling. That’s how angry I am when I open the link.

“You fucking asshole! You left me here to rot!”

God, she's insufferable.

Declan tells her that there will be a vehicle ready to collect her at midnight tomorrow, and then disconnects.

And then the chapter is over! Fuck this book, truly.

We'll do another one.

In the evening, Wren sneaks out and follows Declan's instructions as she makes her way out of the base.

The book really wants us to be sympathetic to Wren here, and feel like it's unfair no one wants to rescue her, but she's also demonstrated that she is a massive liability and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a rebel movement. I completely understand why the Uprising has been ignoring her.

Her outrage has simply not been earned. She has never demonstrated that she was a significant asset to the Uprising. And since Wren has spent a good portion of this part of the book singing her own praises, her anger here just makes her seem wildly out of touch with reality. Which could be good as a character flaw, but I don't think the author is self-aware about it--I think this is just bad writing.

“We’ve got jammers up. Nothing’s being recorded, and the cameras are on a loop within a two-mile radius. I’ll link with you if I decide you’re worth my time.”

I try not to let my irritation show. “What can I do to convince you?”

“Make it into Silver Elite.”

That startles me. “Why?”

“Because we have a hole to fill. We just lost one of our best operatives.”

For a moment I’m confused. Then a gasp gets stuck in my throat as it dawns on me, the pieces clicking together.

“Betima.”

Adrienne’s lips curl. “I told them not to send in an empath, but I was outvoted.” She makes a disparaging noise under her breath. “They’re too much of a liability. Extreme emotions can spontaneously trigger their abilities.”

Adrienne, this Uprising operative, is here to recruit Wren, since their previous operative is now dead. If Wren can make it into Silver Elite, she will work for the Uprising. Wren is pissed at this offer, largely because Adrienne is a huge dick about it.

“I don’t take blind orders.”

“Then you don’t belong in the Uprising.” She starts to turn away.

“Wait.”

She turns back, eyes flashing with irritation. It’s too dark to tell what color they are. “I risked my ass to come here tonight, and I don’t need some twenty-year-old novice questioning our protocol. You don’t have any say here. None at all. Fucking zero. You don’t get to make a single decision. You don’t get to use your brain to do what you think is right. Unless it’s to improvise on an op so your cover isn’t exposed. But the missions, the objectives—those are handed down to you by the adults, and, like a good little girl, you implement them. Your only job is to do whatever the hell you’re asked.”

Now, Adrienne has to be a dick, because in this genre of novel women can only either be obstacles or sycophants to the protagonist, no inbetween. But also, this is stupid. Adrienne is here to recruit Wren--why wouldn't she have prepared an argument that was actually convincing? The Uprising should have an idea of Wren's character from their previous interactions. Why all the hostility to someone she is trying to recruit?

There's plenty of things she could say. She could play on Wren's relationship with her uncle, carrying on his legacy, making his death not be in vain. She could actually acknowledge Wren's distress about not being rescued and say, hey, I get it, we live in an imperfect world and we don't have the power to save everyone, but help us make a better world with your position. 

But no, she's just an asshole. The Uprising have taken risks to make contact with Wren in person (and I don't know why, because presumably they could conduct this conversation telepathically) and they admit they are down an operative and need Wren to fill the gap. Being a dick to Wren is bad tactics even if she does suck.

Wren once again pauses to admire Adrienne's looks in a backhanded way, calling her not beautiful but not forgettable.

But what is there to go back to?

The ranch is gone. My village is being watched. People like Betima are being executed by an eighteen-year-old prick who’s scared of her. Because that’s what it comes down to. They can spew all the horseshit they want about our blood being toxic and how we’re abominations who shouldn’t exist, but the truth is, they fear us. That’s why they’re trying to get rid of us.

I won’t let that happen.

I won’t watch anyone else I care about get executed.

So. Silver Elite, it is.

This is such a boring, anti-climactic way to have this revelation. It would be so much more impactful if Wren had reached out to the Uprising herself and offered to take Betima's place, for example. Or if she'd turned them down before and reached out to change her mind after seeing Betima die. But no, the plot happens to Wren. She hardly ever does anything meaningful. She just reacts badly and the book carries her along.

And that's the end of this fucking chapter! Incredible.