Silver Elite

The recruits are paired off for Fallen Soldier drills, in which one recruit acts injured while the other gets them both to safety. They have 46 seconds to navigate a smoke-filled hallway to the exit. Wren and Lyddie are paired for this drill, but both fail. At the mess hall afterward, Wren learns that many other recruits passed the drill by leaving their fallen soldier behind. Ivy explains that the Command views compassion as a weakness; recruits are expected to abandon the wounded to save themselves. Wren refuses to accept this, and when the test commences again the next day, she becomes determined to pass it without abandoning her partner. She is partnered with Kaine the second time, but she can find no way to pass the drill without leaving him. Everyone who failed the first time leaves their partner behind the second time, including Kaine and Lyddie. Wren is the only one who fails.

Wren is summoned to Cross’s office, where he informs her that she has one more shot to pass Fallen Soldier. When Wren insists she won’t leave a friend behind, Cross implies she’s misplaced her loyalty. However, she believes that Lyddie and Kaine are loyal to her. Before she leaves, Cross admits that he thinks of her often, but Wren keeps the strict boundaries between them. Later, Wren notices that her Fallen Soldier score has changed from Fail to Pass without her having to retake. That night, the recruits are dragged from their beds and rendered unconscious by injections to the neck.

Wren wakes in a dark, abandoned train car with Roe and Ivy. They determine that they have entered the Resistance to Interrogation portion of the Program. Initial torture is minimal but escalates as the days pass. They are doused with water when they fall asleep, are forced to relieve themselves in a bucket in the corner of the room, and are starved and beaten. To distract themselves from the excruciating experience, Wren asks Ivy and Roe questions about themselves.

All three pass interrogation without revealing any information about the Command. When they return to base, they are given four days off. The recruits are all given two leisure passes, except for Wren, who is still not allowed to leave. Wren feels immense loneliness trapped on base while her friends take advantage of the freedom. After the four-day vacation, the recruits gather to obtain their final scores for the Program. Eleven are cut, and the remainder are inducted into Silver Block. The inductees check their sources to determine whether they’ve been shortlisted for the Silver Elite. Among the shortlisted candidates from Black Cell are Wren, Kaine, Bryce, Kess, Jones, and Anson. Roe is not shortlisted. Everyone celebrates the end of the Program with a pit night. Wren wears a fitted red dress she hopes will catch Cross’s attention. However, their interactions for the night are cut short when Roe challenges Cross to a round in the pit. Roe is no competition for Cross, who beats him effortlessly and leaves him lying in the sand.

The 12 soldiers shortlisted for the Silver Elite gather the next afternoon in the gym. Cross reveals that there are six spots in the Silver Elite. Two candidates will go into a room, and only one will come out. They will have the opportunity to tap out while inside, and he assures them that even if they do so, there will be a spot waiting for them in Silver Block. Meanwhile, the victor will ascend to elite. Wren is paired with Bryce. Bryce’s high-profile father has come to watch his daughter either succeed or fail. When Wren gains the upper hand, she urges Bryce to tap out, but Bryce refuses. Wren realizes Bryce would rather die than fail. Wren cannot afford to lose either, so she continues fighting, accidentally nicking Bryce’s femoral artery. Bryce bleeds out in the room, and Wren becomes the victor.

Wren leaves the room in a daze, and Kaine comforts her as she tells him what happened. Cross reassures her that she did what she had to do and sends her to Medical to get her wounds stitched. Wren learns that Kaine, Kess, Anson, and Jones also made it into the elite. All graduates of the Program move into private rooms in their respective blocks. Later, Cross visits Wren’s room and distracts her from the trauma of her day through sex. They plan to keep their trysts a secret, but Ivy witnesses Cross leaving Wren’s room.

At their first Silver Elite briefing, half the team is absent—already on assignment. Cross outlines their main target: a smuggler named Jasper Reed, who deals drugs and provides stolen supplies to the Faithful—people with Old Era beliefs, who live far from civilization. Their broader objective is to dismantle Reed’s operation piece by piece. Wren and Kaine are tasked with accompanying Ford to Ward C the following morning to chase a lead about where Reed might be storing the medical supplies they’re pilfering from the Command. Meanwhile, Cross will be taking Anson and Jones to Wren’s home village of Hamlett. Cross believes there are Uprising conspirators in the location, and he intends to root them out.

After the meeting, Wren links with Declan to deliver information. She informs him about her mission concerning Jasper Reed and the stolen medical supplies. She also warns him about the mission in Hamlett and requests they inform Griff and Tana of the impending danger. Declan insists they’re already aware, but Wren believes he’s underestimating the threat. When she states that she will warn Tana herself, Declan orders her not to. He tells her that her loyalty belongs to the Uprising, not to anyone else. However, after he severs the link, Wren decides to warn them anyway.

In Ward C, Wren and Kaine wait while Ford speaks to various informants. Days pass before they receive actionable intel. They accompany Ford to a hospital Reed is rumored to be moving his contraband through. Inside, Wren comes across a ward filled with Mods who have developed mental illness; Ford explains that their minds have become fragmented because they were unable to withstand their gifts. Noting the blood vials in the freezer across the room, Wren is horrified that the Mods are being experimented on. While Ford calls in a unit to dismantle and block off the supply stash they find in the hospital, Wren contacts Adrienne telepathically to tell her of the fragmented Mods. Adrienne is aware and informs her that this occurs all over the Continent. Adrienne mentions that the Uprising is looking for the inciter who interrupted Jim’s execution, but Wren is not a suspect.

Cross calls for backup while Wren, Kaine, and Ford go to Hamlett. Wren learns that Tana and Griff were captured while fleeing. She blames herself for warning them against Declan’s orders. It was their decision to flee that caused their capture. She urges Cross to send them to labor camps instead of executing them. He agrees to do so only if they reveal the location of the secret tunnels used by the network. Wren panics further when she learns that Anson is watching over Tana at the inn. He’s a sadistic predator, and she worries about Tana’s safety.

Wren uses her power of incitement to force Griff to give Cross the location of the tunnels. However, she is pulled away when Tana calls for help using their link. Wren excuses herself and rushes to the inn, where she finds Anson dead from a bullet wound to the head. After witnessing his state of undress and Tana’s ripped clothing, Wren infers that he assaulted her friend. Wren stages the room as if she were the one who shot Anson in self-defense. She then reports the incident to Cross over the comms. Cross doesn’t believe Wren’s cover story but doesn’t question it after seeing the state of Tana’s clothing. He correctly assumes that Tana must have killed Anson. After hearing about the deal Wren made with Cross for Tana and Griff, Tana feels betrayed. Though Wren feels guilty, she convinces herself it was either the labor camps or death. When they return to the base, Wren attempts to link with Tana but is ignored. Wren struggles with shame and guilt; the lines between sides are blurring, and she doesn’t know right from wrong. She feels lonelier than ever.

Two months pass, and Wren barely hears from Tana but checks often to confirm she’s alive. Wren delivers to Adrienne the coordinates for a Silver Block weapons cache in the west. Though Lyddie is busy in intelligence and Wren with the Silver Elite, they manage to have breakfast together some days. Soon, Wren is summoned to the war room with the rest of the Silver Elites on base. They are informed that the Uprising bombed one of their weapons caches but missed, so the damage was minimal. Ford is amused at this information and pokes fun at the supposedly famously talented pilot the Uprising has working for them. Kaine guesses it was a rookie, as the famed pilot is rumored to never miss.

The Silver Elite are all ordered to report to Medical for routine checkups led by the powerful healing Mod who healed Wren’s wrist—Ellis. He offers to heal Wren’s burns, but she refuses, insisting that while the scars might be ugly, they are an important part of her and symbolize the hardships she’s endured. That night, Cross visits Wren’s private room. They have sex, and he assures her that her scars are beautiful. Afterward, he stays the night. It’s a vulnerable thing, but Wren allows it since she’s still resolved to keeping emotional distance between them.