Black Ops

Black Ops is the fourth in a series of Alter Nation short stories released by Panda Mony Toy Brands. In it, GK Delta encounter the paranormal phenomena of Black-Eyed Children.

## Plot

The story starts with El Ray reporting on disciplinary action against Daart for having smacked Albert VII (and momentarily paralyzing his face). El Ray discovers that the altercation started with Albert VII taking a practical joke too far; Albert VII tricked Daart into reprogramming his own talking Iron Stomach action figure in such a way that the audio would play a recording of Albert VII mocking Daart and be broadcast throughout Naval Base San Nicolas Island. El Ray, wondering why this particular prank set Daart off, is able to get Daart to explain that, not only is Iron Stomach is a source of inspiration to him, but that he took exception that, since he was tricked into reprogramming his own toy, the prank was initiated by Daart and made him look like a fool on multiple levels to everyone on base.

The two are called a way to a meeting with the rest of GK Delta by Commander Stone. They learn that Sham has gone missing while investigating missing children in Portland, Oregon. Details, such as why local missing children would be investigated by the CIA and why they are prevented from communicating with base, are restricted from GK Delta; they're allowed only what they need to recover Sham.

The team follow a series of clues taking them from Sham's hotel room to a local television station. After listening to a suspicious infomercial broadcast, Albert VII goes missing. El Ray, reluctant to split the team up, relents to Quillroy's request that they do so in order to investigate two more locations simultaneously, one mentioned in the informercial recording, and another in an address belonging to the pseudonymous person who purchased the informercial. Quillroy investigates the former, El Ray and Daart the latter.

El Ray and Daart find the location to be an abandoned television factory and, presently, discover Quillroy and a pack of children heading into it. After El Ray speaks to Quillroy via radio, his eyeballs suddenly turn fully black. Daart is stunned, both figuratively and literally, because El Ray attacks Daart with an electric jolt, knocking him unconscious.

Daart awakes inside the TV factory, being dragged by El Ray. He's able to escape and finds that V.Y.R.U.S. is behind the phenomena. Toxica enlisted the help of Dr. Syd, in his first ever story appearance, to create an army under mind-control initiated by radio waves. Once a target is under its influence, the person acts as a relay allowing V.Y.R.U.S. to control even more people. It's revealed by their conversation that the mind-control frequency has its best effect when the target is young people or the target is surrounded by multiple relays.

Daart nearly succumbs to the mind control, but is able to break its spell by, a somewhat humiliating act of, using his Iron Stomach toy to broadcast Albert VII's embarrassing message. The Delta's are freed long enough to free the children and destroy the broadcast equipment, causing a fire. In the chaos, V.Y.R.U.S. escapes.

## Themes

The mind-control broadcasts are a metaphor for propaganda. In the story, their two key features are that they're more difficult for young people to resist, and more difficult to resist the more people repeat them to a subject. Further, V.Y.R.U.S., as anti-technology revolutionaries, are perfectly willing to compromise their luddite principles in order to achieve their goal. In this way, they're a metaphor for organizations who compromise their principles in order to gain power.