The snow was beautiful. It was inconvenient, disruptive, and deceptively dangerous to ordinary biological beings, but Unity had to admit that it was beautiful.

There was just something about seeing thousands of tiny white flakes gently falling from the sky to settle in smooth blankets across the landscape, coating the world in a thick layer of glittering perfection, that was utterly entrancing. Even the irradiated grey-green waters of the Potomac somehow looked enchanting and mystical instead of toxic. The only things that could spoil the view were the Vertibirds hovering ominously over the ruins on the other side of the river.

Unity sighed and turned away from the window. Elder Lyons was standing dutifully behind her, flanked by his daughter and Colonel Autumn, with the spindly form of Eden perched on his shoulder. All three of the humans had blank expressions on their faces. “How are the preparations coming along?” Unity asked. She already knew the answer, of course, but she found that she enjoyed the mundane theatrics of asking a question verbally and having someone answer.

“Everything is as you ordered,” Elder Lyons replied in a haggard voice flecked with phlegm. “The remains of your fallen crystal followers have been broken down and spread through the courtyard, as you commanded, and the rest of your loyal army is stationed around the Citadel in case of infiltration.”

He finished his little report with a hacking cough that made Unity purse her lips. The old man was clearly ill, but she couldn’t figure out why. Even the medics had been too incompetent to help. They kept diagnosing the Elder with a nasty cold, and that he needed warmth and rest, so Unity used her powers to make his brain think that he was nice and toasty no matter the weather, and made sure that he had little to do beyond stand around impressively and occasionally talk. However, despite her best efforts, Lyons’ health was deteriorating rapidly. Unity was beginning to understand why her father had wanted to improve all humans with FEV; ordinary humans were infuriatingly fragile.

Turning her attention away from the sick old man, Unity glanced at Sarah and the Colonel. “Do you still agree that staying here and waiting for the Enclave to come to me is a good idea?”

Both of them nodded. “The Enclave deployed sentry bots to the purifier as part of our agreement with them, and Liberty Prime will have been stationed there since your takeover of the Citadel,” Sarah Lyons replied in a toneless voice. “There are limited avenues of attack from the ground. Without artillery or air support, a ground-based attack force will be exposed and vulnerable. Your army would suffer heavy losses since you cannot mind control the robots as you do us.”

“Guide. I guide you. I’m a messiah, not a tyrant,” Unity stressed irritably. She let out a disgusted groan and gave the group a mental command to meet her in the courtyard, then strode past them and headed towards the inner wall.

It wasn’t fair. Unity was working so hard to create a perfect world for humanity, free from fear or war or despair, and yet most of the wretched humans were struggling so hard against her powers that she almost wondered if they didn’t want paradise. The Rainbooms were the worst of them all. Rainbow Dash in particular was a nightmare, fighting against Unity’s control with every waking breath, but she wasn’t the only one being difficult. Two of the Rainbooms in particular were entirely smitten with each other, but when Unity had used her abilities to try to get the pair to consummate their attraction, they had both resisted to a phenomenal degree, trampling on Unity’s kindness and forcing her to stop or risk losing control of the others. The girls were truly ungrateful brats.

Unity put the annoyances from her mind as she entered one of the unused offices overlooking the courtyard. Heedless of the fact that the office was on the third floor, she stepped over to the glassless window, hopped up on the sill, and calmly dropped to the courtyard below. Solid concrete cracked beneath her feet as she landed.

Unity used a little mental effort to blast dust off her body, then glanced around at her surroundings. She noted with satisfaction that the courtyard had been mostly cleared of snow, save for a light dusting over the ground that had been carefully patted down to an almost icy consistency, and the empty crates that had once contained samples of magic had been stacked carefully around so they didn’t get in the way. A rhythmic pulsing below her feet told Unity where the magic had been buried, along with the remains of the few crystal beasts that had perished.

A cold smirk twisted Unity’s lips at the thought of all that magic hidden beneath the snow. It functioned as an amplifier for her powers, allowing her to devote some of her energy to fighting without compromising her control over her army, and would also serve as a secret weapon should Horrigan be deployed against her. Unity idly tapped the other secret weapon that dangled from her neck. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it, but if push came to shove, her Geode would prove to be a devastating tool in her arsenal.

In the event of a worst-case scenario, Unity even had another trick up her sleeve. It would make her almost unstoppable, no matter what the Enclave or Brotherhood threw at her, but the drawbacks meant that she could only use it as an absolute last resort.

Rejoice, for this is the last of the 'Resolve" chapters! This arc has been dragged out a lot longer than I had originally planned, but now, there will a single special chapter next week (you'll see what I mean when it's posted, and the week after we'll be back to actual plot!

The first chapter back at plot will be another small one, but now that I've finally managed to get back into actually writing decent amounts on the regular, we'll start getting back into decently sized chapters every week, aka no more <1000 word bites!