Black and Silver Chapter 31 - Obligatory Exposition Dump

November 2nd, 2023. 04:20am - Los Angeles

Before we get to today's chapter, I want to say a few things. This is now the exposition dump. I had to do it at some point. But I do want to make it clear that I pulled none of this out of my ass at the last second. All of what is being discussed here was alluded to all the way back in Black Dawn. Does it matter? Probably not to most, but it matters to me. The story takes a steep turn to different direction here if compared to the previous chapters, but yes, this was always the direction, even before I started writing Black Dawn a year ago or whatever it was. I apologize for the fact that not much "happens", but this is probably the most important chapter yet. I'm taking a risk, but I hope people who have enjoyed this stuff so far stay with me.

"And yes: the 4:20am is intentional, considering the theme of the chapter.

Adam jumps out of the helicopter, intent on taking out the MIBs with his rifle, but just like last time, they simply move too fast and seemingly avoid every bullet heading their way. Kevin stays at the chopper and has an equally hard time landing a shot. The MIBs move so quickly, it's inhuman.

The frustration of not being able to hit the MIBs for some reason is quickly replaced by an even stronger feeling of bewilderment as Gwen leaps onto one of the walls of the alleyway using it as a surface to rebound off of, jumping sideways to shoot at the MIB at the other end and then making a mid-air turn to fire at the other.

A lucky shot pierces through the head of one of the other one, but the other one only gets shot in the leg.

As Gwen lands, Adam aims at the remaining MIB on the ground, but before he can take a shot, Gwen elbows him and sends him behind a trash container to take cover.

"No, get down!"

The MIB slowly climbs back up to his feet.

They have a staredown with Gwen to see who blinks first.

At the exact same time, they fire.

Adam watches as Gwen moves like the MIBs do, dodging the bullet, as her bullet flies through the MIB's head.

Adam and Kevin have no idea what just transpired. But both of the MIBs are down.

Adam gets up and Kevin jumps out of the helicopter.

Gwen is still standing still and breathing heavily with her arm extended. She's not one to show it, but she was extremely scared and the adrenaline rush is starting to fade.

She's jumpy as Adam places his hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

Kevin joins in on the rather odd but oddly casual conversation.

"Are they dead?"

Gwen keeps looking just to be sure.

"I think so."

It's been a long day and Adam feels it's finally time for some answers.

"What the hell were those things? I think it's time you and I had a talk."

Gwen agrees. She was told not to, but she agrees. She walks towards the wall and sits down to let the adrenaline settle down.

"I agree. I think it's time you knew some things."

Adam and Kevin look at each other and nod. But there's something Kevin especially is curious to know.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"What they did. The way you moved. You dodged a damn bullet."

Adam feels Kevin is being too pushy and settles him down to go for a more calm approach.

"Kev."

Adam sits down next to Gwen on the ground.

"First of all, what's your name? Your real name."

"You can call me Alexa."

"But that's not what I asked. What's your name?"

She breaks a slight smirk at Adam's smarts which she underestimated. She still sticks to her answer, though.

"You can call me Alexa."

"Fine. I've never seen anything like those guys. The way they moved, their strength, they didn't seem-"

"Human? At their core, they are."

"But?"

"They were MIBs. Special agents of the Order. There's... so much you don't know."

Kevin gets impatient and butts in on the conversation.

"So, why don't you start talking, Gwen, Alexa, whatever the fuck?"

Adam snaps back at him.

"Kev!"

But Alexa agrees.

"No, it's okay. They're augmented agents. I'm sure you've both heard of the Supersoldier project?"

Adam and Kevin both nod, Kevin knows more about it than Adam.

"Manipulating humans through gene therapy to become better soldiers?"

"Right."

Adam has also heard of the project, but thought nothing ever came of it.

"I heard the project was scrapped."

"It was. The US government decided the project wasn't worth the money and effort, but they found a buyer."

Kevin pieces it together.

"Silverman. The Order."

"Yup. Those MIBs were a result of the project being resurrected. But not in its original form. Originally, it was intended to increase American security and its military presence. It was intended to allow soldiers to stay awake and alert for longer; to better their senses. Stuff like that. But Silverman had other plans. He was obsessed with understanding what it was that made someone a soldier. He was especially obsessed with a particular soldier. The one considered by many to be the greatest soldier of the 20th century."

Alexa turns to look at Adam as if to suggest he should know what she's talking about, and he does.

"My father."

"Yes. The original codename Black. AJ and Silverman were best of friends. Silverman looked up to AJ like no other. He idolized him, wanted nothing more than to be just like AJ. Silverman was a POW in the old Soviet Union during the Cold War, and AJ saved him and took him in. I guess Silverman considered him a big brother of sorts. They were so tight, people called them Black and Silver."

The unexpected irony of Adam sitting here with the silver-haired Alexa is obvious to him.

"And then something happened?"

"As the Cold War went on, they started to have a falling out. Silverman began to develop a sort of... arrogance. He wanted the Cold War to end, and viewed the people responsible as being sort of below him. As well as the voting public who allowed for those circumstances to occur. He developed a disdain for humans as a whole. He was always extremely intelligent, and could not stand stupidity. And did not view stupid people as worthy of having 'agency'. AJ was loyal to the American government, and wanted to protect the people. Silverman became more and more anti-war, and the two grew distant."

Adam feels weird to be told these sort of detailed, personal things about his father by someone who is still largely a stranger.

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I do."

Kevin pulls out his gun and directs it at Alexa's forehead.

"If I were you, I'd change my attitude right about now."

Instead of being scared, Alexa smiles.

"I have nothing against you, Kevin, but trust me when I tell you: I'll slap your face with that gun twice by the time it takes you to pull that trigger."

Adam grabs Kevin's gun and lowers it.

"I think she's telling the truth, Kev."

This turns Adam's wheels and brings him to a conclusion.

"You're like them, aren't you? Augmented."

"Yup. The MIBs you just witnessed are more advanced models, though."

"How did that come about?"

"Silverman's reverence for AJ never subsided; he just began to hate the fact AJ didn't share his anti-war sentiments. Or something. In the mid-1980s, Silverman had disappeared. AJ was on an assignment in the Persian Gulf, as I'm sure you know."

"When he almost died in that explosion."

"Right. That explosion was no accident."

"You're telling me Silverman was behind it?"

"To a degree. AJ spent months in that coma. Only Silverman and The Order know for sure what took place, but what began that day was something that became known as the Son of AJ Project."

"The what?"

"Silverman believed that he would be able to - seclude, to isolate - whatever it was that made AJ so skilled in battle. And he wanted to be able to transfer whatever it was to his offspring. To raise him and make his-"

"Own AJ?"

"Uhm, sort of. Silverman and The Order used the Supersoldier Experiment to ensure that AJ's child would be a soldier equal to AJ."

Adam has a tough time taking this all in, but Alexa tries to be as straightforward as she can.

"You were the first Supersoldier, Adam. But you're different from the rest of us. Your augmentations are biological. But unfortunately for The Order, your mother had twins. There was no way of telling which one of you, if either, was the successful experiment."

"I don't understand."

"Think about it, Adam. Ever wondered why you're that much faster than the rest? That much stronger. Why, even after almost 24 hours, you're still going after I broke you of prison where you ate nothing but prison food for 18 months? Why you were always the best during military training. Why you're even still alive, despite having stared death in the face for years? Somehow, you've always managed."

"Well, I can't move like those guys."

"Because no one's ever told you that you can. You can't do what you don't believe in."

"This is rich."

Alexa dismisses Adam's predictable retort and proceeds.

"AJ protected you both so much from all of this. You and Derek. The fact that there were two of you was a blessing. When AJ found out, that's when he confronted Silverman and thought he had killed him."

"But he didn't."

"No. Silverman was responsible for your father's disappearance. Derek was able to piece this all together and thought he was starting a revolution against The Order, but ended up being just another puppet."

"What do you mean?"

"The incident in Washington. 18 months ago. It was designed to test which one of you would emerge as the victor. Brother against brother. From the very start, Derek played right into their plans. It was designed to lure you out from hiding and take on your own brother in a battle to the death. All of it was orchestrated. By them. You were both used, Adam."

Adam is quiet for a moment. It dawns on him that he was manipulated to kill his own brother by these people. All of it was just a convoluted ploy. Both he and Derek were played with like toys in some weird experiment to see who would be the better man.

Kevin was there, too, and thinks of something.

"Derek was trying to amass his own army of augmented soldiers, wasn't he? To go against The Order. I infiltrated that operation in order to get my hands on Silverman. My two objectives were to make sure Adam gets to Derek, and to secure a vial of some sort of serum from Derek for Silverman. That serum has something to do with those augmentations, right?"

"I would venture to guess Derek wanted to study and understand it. And Silverman needed to make sure that wouldn't happen. What's your stake in this?"

"Silverman killed my wife."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Alexa and Kevin haven't really connected much, but sharing something like that immediately brings two people a little closer to each other.

"Yeah. A car bomb. She was a reporter, connected to some pretty hardcore conspiracy nuts. I guess one of them struck gold for once and she got note of something called The Order - and Simon Silverman. They eliminated her before she would get too close. I tracked those guys down for years, the only thing I would ever think about was putting a bullet through the man who killed Jessica."

Adam takes out the memory card from his pocket.

"And this little chip contains the names of the people running all this?"

Alexa takes the card.

"That's what we're hoping."

"We?"

"People loyal to your father. Loyal to AJ. People who he told the truth to. Who he taught to fight."

"The truth about all this?"

"And more. The truth about the world. That we're controlled. By them."

"Controlled how?"

"Did you know that in 1983, 90% of American media was owned by 50 different companies. Now in 2023, they're owned by three."

"Never paid attention."

"I know, and that's just it. No one does. And it's not just the old form of media. Everything changed in the early 2000s with the advent of social media. Do you remember the Y2K crisis?"

"Vaguely."

"It was all a ploy to trick just about every computer in America to download a piece of software that was sold to them as a way to prevent Y2K - which was never real, to begin with. That eventually gave birth to something called SYON."

Adam recalls what was on the software he examined on the memory card.

"SYON. That's what the program on the card said. What is it?"

"What you were using was not SYON itself, just a part of it. SYON is a massive data processor and creator. Or something like that. Well, it's a software."

Adam notices Alexa stumbling over her words a little.

"You don't know exactly, do you?"

"To be honest, no. But I do know that it was designed to learn as much as it could about people. Through their internet use. Social media in itself was designed based on SYON's discoveries. It's not an accident at all that social media is more addictive than heroin. It was built to be that way."

"In order to do what?"

"To control. In time, people got comfortable with social media, they started to get their news from social media. They started to trust social media. Every fascist dictatorship in history used the same failed tactic to control people with an oppressive boot; Silverman and The Order were the ones to realize that you don't control people by making them miserable, you control them by making them comfortable. They control the algorithms, the news feeds, everything. They can shape a person's entire worldview just by controlling what appears on their social media. They can create any narrative they want, and as long as the culture of the masses adopts that narrative, they can control an entire country as they see fit. And no one is the wiser because everybody knows the 'truth'."

Adam doesn't even know where to begin to process all of this, but he also doesn't have the time to as the conversation is interrupted by a phone call from an unknown number.

"Excuse me. Who is this?"

"Who I am is irrelevant. But unless you deliver Silver Fox and the memory card to me and do exactly as I say, your ex-fiancée and her father are dead."

One of the MIBs is holding Maria and Bruce at gunpoint in Maria's apartment, and Adam finds himself in a painful déjà vu situation.