An eerie silence lay over the Wasteland, as if the earth itself was shocked at what had just transpired.

Everyone who had managed to escape through the gate was gathered on the old bridge over the Potomac. No-one was talking. Even Liberty Prime wasn’t saying anything, instead just maintaining a silent vigil as he surveyed the horizon. It was probably just as well; most of the Knights weren’t in any condition to set up a perimeter, let alone defend themselves if the need arose.

Sunset was sitting on the hood of an abandoned car, shivering violently and coughing up droplets of water after her unexpected dip in the river. The Praetor had undoubtedly saved her life by getting her underwater, shielding her from the worst effects of the orbital bombardment, but the sudden submergence had almost drowned her. Thankfully, she had managed to get rid of most of the water she had taken in, and the Praetor was dutifully standing next to her, radiating heat from its armor to keep her from freezing to death in her wet clothes.

Glancing around, Sunset spotted Lily and Pinkie both sitting on Horrigan’s unconscious form, Twilight was leaning against Liberty Prime’s leg, and Fluttershy was calmly tending to Rainbow Dash. Applejack and Rarity were leaning against the wall a little distance away, both looking miserable and awkward. The rest of the Knights, along with a handful of Scribes and Squires, were either looking back at the horrible mess that they had left behind, or staring at the floor to avoid seeing it. Reluctantly, as if her body didn’t quite want to cooperate, Sunset followed their gaze back down the road.

The Citadel was gone. Parts of the outer walls were still standing, but little else remained beyond some smoldering rubble piled around a smoking crater. Unity had been stopped, but the cost had been immeasurable.

Snow crunched as the last few people walked up onto the bridge.

Grief and exhaustion lined Sarah’s face. She was doing a good job of trying to keep her expression neutral, projecting an air of stoic resilience for the sake of her subordinates, but there was no hiding the tear-streaks that cut little tracks through the blood and grime of battle. Cross kept pace beside her, with Eden hitching a ride on her shoulder, a slight frown the only outward indication of the absolute whirlwind of emotions that she must have been feeling.

Sunset couldn’t help but wonder what the Brotherhood was going to do now. The vast majority of their personnel, military and otherwise, had all been gathered at the Citadel when Unity had taken over. Now, including the Rainbooms, there were barely fifty survivors recuperating on the bridge. There was a small number of other Brotherhood troops stationed at certain outposts around the wastes, but it was still a grievous blow.

Sarah glanced back at the burning ruins of the Citadel, sighed, and turned back to the others, raising her voice so they could all hear her, “Alright, people, let’s regroup at Project Purity. We can figure out what we’re going to do next there.”

It wasn’t much of a plan, but Sunset supposed that it was better than nothing. She gratefully let the Praetor pick her up and place her on its shoulder, Liberty picked up Horrigan and one of the more heavily-wounded Knights, and the group began the long trudge back to Project Purity.

The mood in the meeting room was worryingly somber. Becky had gathered Andrew, Senator Prince, and Senator Devall together to discuss the situation with the Brotherhood. It had barely been an hour, but the news that the Citadel had been destroyed was already spreading through the Enclave like wildfire, and Becky wanted to try and get ahead of the rumors and solidify her position before some idiot tried to take advantage of the situation.

“Horrigan wasn’t enough in the end, then,” Andrew said quietly.

“Unfortunately not,” Becky replied. “As far as we can tell, he did attempt to force Unity outside so Liberty Prime could deal with her, but she was just too powerful.”

“Are we sure that she’s dead?” Devall asked anxiously.

Becky nodded. “Our Vertibirds are surveying the remains of the Citadel. They’ve found some crystal fragments, but they’re all inert. She’s done for.”

Devall sighed with relief. “I suppose we should be grateful that Elder Lyons was willing to hand over his half of the Bradley-Hercules code so readily. He saved a lot of lives there.”

“Yes, it was a noble deed,” Prince added. “Unfortunately, the Brotherhood has been critically weakened by this turn of events, and there are already whispers among the civic sector that we should use this opportunity to wipe them out entirely.”

Devall winced and lowered his gaze. “I hate to admit it, but I had people asking me if that was your intention while I was on the way over here.”

“Of course it’s not,” Becky said firmly. “Elder Lyons was no fool, he would have known that there would be elements in the Enclave that would want to take advantage of the Brotherhood’s weakness, but he still chose to trust us in favor of taking down Unity. The least we can do is live up to that trust.” She let a slight smirk play about her lips. “Besides, the Brotherhood may be weakened, but Liberty Prime is still completely unscathed, and the Enclave no longer has any way of combating him. If any personnel still want to attack the Brotherhood of Steel, tell them they may take their grievances to the walking superweapon at their earliest convenience.”

That got an amused snort from Andrew. “So we’re all in agreement that we’re not going to backstab the Brotherhood of Steel. In that case, what are we going to do?”

Becky frowned and hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose the first thing we should do is contact Sentinel Lyons, or Elder Lyons now, I guess, and see what the Brotherhood wants us to do. Ideally, I think the best way forward would be for the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel to integrate fully into each other, but I doubt they’d go for that.”

“Not unless their pride has been utterly crushed, and I believe the new Elder will be more stubborn than that,” Prince put in.

“I agree, in which case we’ll just offer whatever we can.” Becky wrote down each point as she thought of them. “They’ll need a new base of operations, facilities and resources for maintaining both Liberty Prime and their power armor, food and medical supplies. Anything else?”

“A new source of ammunition; either trade-based or manufacturing their own,” Andrew added.

Prince leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin as he considered. “Perhaps we could offer the Brotherhood a trade; technology and supplies, in return for granting us greater responsibility for Project Purity and the water caravans. They would see benefits to be had by joining the Enclave, and we would be able to vastly improve the wastelanders’ perception of us. Even if the Brotherhood don’t come to join the Enclave fully, we’ll still be forging a stronger alliance.”

“Not to mention strengthening the Brotherhood will benefit us if we face similar outside enemies further down the line.” Becky nodded and added it all to her notes. “Alright, I’ll contact Sarah Lyons and request a meeting. I imagine there will be a fair amount of backlash from some of our own personnel, so I’m relying on you three to help me keep things stable.”

“We’ve got your back,” Andrew told her confidently.

Devall raised an eyebrow. “Incidentally, what about Senator Lily?”

“That, I’ll decide along with Lyons,” Becky replied. She scowled at the thought of everything the Senator had unwittingly caused. “At the very least, she needs to bear responsibility for all the damage her secrets and lies have caused.”

Small flames still burned in the cratered remains of the Citadel. They likely wouldn’t last much longer given the cold and the way the snow was picking up again, but for now, they were stubbornly burning away. The crackling of the flames covered up the faint sounds of masonry scraping as something tiny pushed its way through the debris. The little creature looked like a mouse-sized amoeba, extruding tiny appendages to pull itself through the gaps in the shattered remains of the complex.

Unity silently cursed the Brotherhood, the Rainbooms, the Enclave, and every other aspect of this wretched surface wasteland. She had barely survived the terrifying bombardment that had been unleashed almost directly on top of her head. As it was, she was once again trapped in the form of a shapeless blob, smaller than she had ever been, and her powers had been reduced to the merest shadow of their former selves.

The worst part of the situation was the fact that the Enclave were still surveilling the remnants of the Citadel. Unity could hear the Vertibirds circling overhead, and there were almost certainly going to be Brotherhood and Enclave soldiers alike arriving soon, coming to pick over the ruins with a fine tooth comb.

Unity had to escape before they arrived. Escaping, however, was easier said than done.

Moving too quickly was a bad idea. A lot of the rubble was balanced precariously enough as it was, and the Vertibirds were probably inspecting every single pebble that shifted. Unity was terrified that the hovering watchers might have some sort of magical detection equipment as well. She had managed to keep hold of her Geode by simply engulfing it with her tiny body, but even that wouldn’t help much if the Enclave found her in this state.

And so, Unity crept. She stayed under the surface of the debris as much as she could, picking her way through the cracks and crevasses, all the while making her way up and out of the crater.

The area near the top of the crater was the most nerve-wracking. There was much more debris to hide under, but being that much closer to the Vertibirds grated on Unity’s nerves. The urge to just bolt for cover was almost overwhelming, but Unity forced herself to stay calm, moving slowly and cautiously towards what little remained of the outer walls. She froze in fear as a Vertibird stopped almost directly overhead. The Vertibird stayed in place for almost a full minute, each second of which Unity spent in a state of almost total panic, but finally the Vertibird moved on and left her behind.

Sighing internally, Unity moved into the shadow of the wall, found a suitable crack to slip through, and pushed on until she was out of the Citadel entirely. Shattered buildings and mounds of debris rose above her, all covered in a thick layer of snow; a nightmare for ordinary humans to cross, but a veritable haven for a creature in Unity’s predicament. She paused to listen out for Vertibirds before she scuttled into the nearest building and slipped into the massive piles of debris.

Unity wasn’t sure whether the next part would be tricky or not. Hiding in the old city ruins around the Citadel would be easier than in the Citadel itself, but the Vertibirds would almost certainly be on the lookout for any suspicious movement in the surrounding area. The thought of being shot at by Vertibirds, or worse, getting targeted by another orbital bombardment, was enough to give Unity the chills.

Still, despite Untity’s concerns, the journey through the ruins was almost entirely uneventful. She did have a minor scare when she stumbled upon the diamond radscorpion, having apparently escaped the destruction of the Citadel, but the creature was thankfully occupied with its meal of an emerald Super Mutant.

Unity was quick to leave the creature in peace.

Finally, after a unbelievably tense trip, she emerged from the ruins and into the wasteland proper. Unity only knew that she had left the ruins because the piled debris covered in snow turned into a flat road covered in snow, but she was still glad to be out of it and free.

Now that she was away from the Enclave, all Unity had to do was make her way back to Raven Rock; crossing the vast expanse of the wastes, avoiding predators and pursuers, then finally sneaking past the Enclave and Brotherhood cordon in the process. Oddly, Unity wasn’t particularly worried about this final journey. It would take a ridiculously long time, but the deep snow would actually work to her advantage. All Unity had to do was burrow through it like a mole. After all, the cold wouldn’t bother her in the slightest, and she would be utterly hidden from view, meaning that she was safer now than she had been since leaving Raven Rock in the first place.

Secure in the knowledge that she was out of danger, Unity set off on her journey. Raven Rock glowed like a beacon to her magical senses, so there was no danger of her getting lost, and the vast reserve of magical crystal there would allow her to reconstitute her form in no time.

Lost in dreams of regaining her power, Unity didn’t realize that she was being stalked until a dark purple aura flashed into life around her and snatched her out of the snow. She caught a brief glimpse of purple eyes shining in a bowl-shaped helmet, but before she could react the power flashed again, and the world around her disappeared entirely.

Next Chapter: Chapter 149 - An Elder, a Zombie, and a Rainboom... Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 51 Minutes