The courtyard of the Exodus building had been meticulously cleared of snow by its maintenance crew, but the Vertibird still kicked up a hurricane of flakes as it landed. Becky covered her eyes as she disembarked and hurried to the relative comfort of the main building. It could hardly be called warm, but it was better than outside.

As she strode purposefully to the basement elevator, Becky fired off instructions to the aides who were following her, “Tell the armory that I need a complete list of how many suits of power armor we have that we can comfortably spare by 0900 tomorrow. Did they get back to us on how many .50cal rounds we had in storage?”

“Only around a thousand still in useable condition,” one of the aides replied.

“It’s better than nothing. Have them packed up with the AA gun and sent to Rivet City with tomorrow’s crystal shipment. And make sure that the upgrades for the Rainbooms’ Pip-Boys are sent with it,” Becky told him. “Also, tell Medical to ease off on the magical biogel research and expedite production of the Scorched vaccines instead. The report that the Brotherhood received from the Regulators about strange goings on around Vault 112 are a little too familiar for my taste. Do we have any updates on the altered Deathclaws?”

One of the aides checked their clipboard. “The last of the Deathclaws had their control modules removed last night. They’re all recovering well, and the regimen of positive reinforcement coupled with clothes imbued with Kindness magic for the trainers is so far keeping them non-violent, though not particularly co-operative.”

Becky snorted softly. “I don’t think we can blame them for being grouchy. Either way, as long as they’re not eating anyone, and Fluttershy isn’t going to be breathing down my neck, I’ll call it a good outcome.” The sight of the elevator ahead gave her a small sense of relief. “I’m heading downstairs now. Remind the scientists stationed at Rivet City to send daily reports, or I’m sending Tara to kick their asses into shape.”

The aides all assured the President that they would and dispersed as she stepped into the elevator, Agent Drops following behind. Only when the doors had closed and the elevator was moving did she let out an exhausted sigh and sag against the wall. “How did past presidents find time to keep up with all of their scheming and backstabbing on top of all the rest of this shit?”

“They had more staff, and they usually didn’t bother forming diplomatic ties with any outside parties or factions,” Agent Drops replied. “That, and more than a few of them were habitual users of performance-enhancing chems.”

Becky chuckled humorlessly. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me as much as it should.” She straightened up and placed her hand on her hips to stretch out her back. “Okay, is there any news that I should know about?”

Agent Drops nodded. “The perimeter around the Greener Pastures site has been completed, so the parasprites aren’t going to be a problem. Also, Lieutenant Colonel Strong received the first report from the fireteam stationed at Galaxy News. Three Dog is still complaining loudly about Enclave presence there, both on air and off, but on the plus side he has admitted, begrudgingly, that you, quote, ‘might not be a total dick’.”

“That’s the nicest thing he’s ever said about me,” Becky noted.

The rest of the elevator ride was spent in idle chatter. When they finally reached the bottom, Agent Drops stepped out first as always, then Becky took the lead when her bodyguard was sure that it was safe.

The basement was much busier than usual, with technicians and maintenance workers hurrying about carrying all sorts of things. Becky supposed that they were busy clearing away the unsalvageable scrap from the portal and bringing in spare parts. Of course, their efforts would be futile unless another SDT-1 could be found, but even a half-working portal would be better than none at all.

“Alright, let’s do what we came here for.” Becky drew in a deep breath to compose herself, then asked a passing technician to tell Tara to head down to Horrigan’s maintenance room. To her surprise, the technician told her that Tara was already down with Horrigan, so Becky nodded her thanks and headed for the main corridors.

“Do you think he’s still alive?” Agent Drops asked quietly as they walked.

“I sure as hell hope so,” Becky replied. The oversized brute had been in a vegetative state since the fall of the Citadel. Horrigan might have been a raging psychopath, but he was straightforward, loyal to a fault and, frankly, he composed a large part of the Enclave’s remaining strength. His loss would be a terrible blow.

The two fell silent as they passed more personnel. Becky had no idea how much any of them knew about Horrigan’s precarious state, but she wasn’t about to risk damaging their morale any further. Luckily, the number of personnel passing by diminished the deeper into the facility they went, until finally it was just the two women walking alone.

Sienna and Tara were both waiting in Horrigan’s room when Becky arrived. They turned as soon as they heard the door open, but she only gave them a perfunctory nod before looking over at Horrigan.

The Enclave’s greatest soldier was propped up in his repair frame, utterly lifeless. “How’s he doing?” Becky asked.

“Nothing has changed,” Sienna replied in a flat monotone. “Most of his vitals are perfectly normal, but no matter what we do, his brain activity is almost non-existent.”

“Even infusing him with magic didn’t work?” Agent Drops asked.

Tara shook her head despondently. “We’ve tried giving him samples of his own magic from before the battle in every variation and dose that we can think of, but nothing works. It’s as if his body is rejecting the magic.”

“What about using different magic?” The other three looked at Becky in blank confusion, so she elaborated, “Well, that rainbow blast that the Rainbooms use is meant to purge dark or corrupted magic, right? Horrigan was resurrected in the first place by a combination of a bunch of different kinds of magic, so maybe he needs a boost with just the good stuff?”

Tara and Sienna shared a dumbfounded look, then both sighed heavily.

“I swear, if this actually fucking works…” Sienna muttered as Tara rushed out of the room to find other magic.

“Will you honestly be upset to have him back?” Becky pressed.

Sienna scowled at her. “No, but I will be annoyed that this fucking Equestrian magic apparently runs on some fairy-land happy-go-lucky crap. I spent ten years studying to become a medic, and now I’ve got to deal with this baby-brained bullshit.”

“You need to get laid,” Agent Drops said bluntly.

“I’ve got batteries, what I need is a drink and some fucking sleep,” Sienna countered.

“You can have both as soon as we’ve tested this,” Becky assured her.

At first, the group waited patiently, but as the minutes dragged by, the three women grew increasingly restless. All in all an hour passed before Tara finally returned, carrying a metal box that held seven different colors of magic.

“What took you so long?” Sienna asked grumpily.

“Sorry, I had to do a bunch of paperwork to get hold of most of this,” Tara replied. “Every drop of magic here is being strictly monitored while we rebuild the portal.” She dumped the box on an empty table and set about preparing the magic, emptying each bottle into special vials connected to Horrigan’s armor via tubes. As soon as the last vial was filled, Tara nodded with satisfaction and hurried over to the control terminal. “Here goes nothing.”

The whole group watched with bated breath as the liquid magic flowed through the tubes and into Horrigan. Nothing happened at first, but, slowly, a faintly glowing mist started to seep from the joints in his armor, though this time it was a deep, sparkling blue instead of acid green.

“It worked! I’m starting to see an increase in brain activity!” Tara excalied eagerly.

Sienna squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fuck me sideways.”

Commander Jabsco had seen his fair share of snow over the years, but this winter was something else. He watched impassively as his subordinates exhorted the slaves to tightly pack the snow around the chain-link fences around the fort, sealing the gaps in the perimeter walls with barricades of solid ice. Jabsco didn’t particularly like snow, it slowed business down, but he wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to shore up the fort’s defenses, even if only temporarily.

“Commander? The Overmaster is here to see you.”

Jabsco rolled his eyes and turned to see his second-in-command leading Shephard to him. He repressed a shudder at the sight of the hulking Super Mutant and asked sardonically, “Given yourself a new title, have you?”

“It is appropriate,” Shepherd replied in its shockingly soft voice. “All of the Super Mutants of the Capital Wasteland are now united under my command.”

“I bet you had to crack a few skulls to get that to happen,” Jabsco said with a snort.

Shephard nodded. “A few, but that is not why I am here.” It crossed its arms and fixed Jabsco with a look that made him want to run screaming. “Keep Lightning out of the tunnels beneath the D.C. ruins.”

“What? Why?” Jabsco asked incredulously. “She’s our best weapon against those damned ghouls. We’re having enough trouble keeping their battles from spilling out into the Mall as it is. The last thing we need is them swarming the Capitol Building, or worse, those damned red things laying siege to it.”

“She’s too reckless, and it’s starting to become a liability,” Shepherd countered. “If she gets infected by either side, then we’re going to have bigger problems than holding the Capitol Building. I’ll send another Behemoth to the Mall, so don’t worry about the ghoul war spilling out of the tunnels, just get that fool out from under our feet before she puts us all in danger.”

“Can you even spare another Behemoth? What about the assault?” Jabsco asked.

Shephard chuckled dangerously. “Evidently, I’ll have to lead that myself.”

Rivet City’s lowest decks were, quite simply, a Siren’s playground. The metal trees and their limbs were so thick and numerous that simply moving through the corridors was a challenge, but magic pulsed through the walls, the floor, and even the air itself. Every breath Sonata took made her insides tingle. Any magic-munching beast or shoggoth would be able to live comfortably down here, but it wasn’t enough for her. Not nearly enough.

Sonata had wanted to come down here for days, but this was the first opportunity she had had. Luna had wandered off somewhere with Sunset, Trixie had fallen asleep in their room, and the rest of the Rainbooms were busy with whatever dumb stuff they got up to. It was the first time that the Siren had been unsupervised since they had left the Air Force Base.

After a quick glance around to make sure that she was alone, Sonata squeezed between two thick brass tree trunks and paused to get her bearings. Somewhere just ahead, she could hear water sloshing around. Sloshing meant a current or some other movement, so at least the water wasn’t stagnant. More importantly, the faint sound she had been hearing for the last few days, one that no-one else seemed able to hear, was slowly getting louder and louder.

Grinning, Sonata moved on, clambering through the corridors until finally she found herself at the top of a heavily overgrown stairwell. Deep, faintly glowing water obscured the bottom of the stairs.

“Huh. I guess I’m swimming.” Sonata started down the stairs, then stopped just before reaching the water as she realized that she didn’t have a change of clothes. She hesitated for a moment, considering her options, then shrugged and stripped down to her underwear, leaving her clothes in a pile at the top of the stairs.

Sonata hissed as she put her first foot in the water. It was surprisingly cold, even by her standards, though not enough to bother her too much. She lowered herself up to her chest into the water and looked around as she acclimated. The deck wasn’t fully submerged, but the mess of roots reaching down from the ceiling and disappearing into the water would make navigating tricky.

Once she was acclimated to the cold, Sonata’s next problem was figuring out which way to go. She pushed out into the room, doing a gentle breaststroke as she searched through the maze of roots.

One door had been pushed open and bent out of shape by a thick tree limb. Sonata dipped her head underwater so she could swim under the root, only to hear the same song that she had heard from her tiny magical crystal ringing clearly through the water, coming from somewhere behind. Twirling around, Sonata pushed off a root and eagerly swam in the direction of the song. On the other side of the room she found another door, this one open wide and clear of any roots.

The corridor beyond was mostly uncluttered. There were several roots along the sides, but the middle was clear save for a few thin things that were bent and warped.

Beyond the corridor, Sonata came up for air in a long room lined with strange machinery. Weakly flickering lights provided only the barest level of illumination. Idly wondering what the fishy smell was, she ducked back underwater and swam to the end of the room, following the song. There, at the end, she saw something glinting in a pile of mud and odd white shapes. Sonata quickly grabbed the shiny thing and surfaced.

The crystal was perfect. It was almost the size of her palm, deep blue and shot through with sparkling ruby-colored veins, exactly like a larger version of the one she had picked up at the Enclave’s headquarters. Pure Siren magic in solid form.

Hypnotized by the crystal, Sonata almost didn’t notice the dark shape looming up out of the water in front of her. She watched, uncomprehending, as the shadow let out a weird burbling clicking sound, like some sort of oversized crab. Realization struck at the very last second, making Sonata yelp and throw herself backwards right as the mirelurk thrust a claw at her, missing her nose by mere inches.

Sonata shrieked and flung herself away, swimming harder than she had since she left Equestria. She had no doubt that the mirelurk was following, most predators didn’t give up that easily, so she didn’t dare to slow down as she sped through the corridor and into the stairwell. Sonata dodged between the tightest gaps between roots, hoping that going around would slow the mirelurk down. As soon as she reached the steps she grabbed the vine-encrusted rail and hauled herself out of the water.

Glancing back as she ran, Sonata saw the mirelurk push through a gap in the roots and charged after her.

Sonata squealed in fright and belted up the steps, pausing just long enough to snatch up her clothes, then sprinted full-pelt down the corridor. Metal rang as the mirelurk gained on her. When she finally reached the brass trunks that nearly blocked the corridor, Sonata tossed her clothes through before squeezing between them herself. Barely a second later there was a loud bang as the mirelurk crashed into them.

Gasping for breath, Sonata looked back at the mirelurk angrily shoving its claw through the gap in a vain attempt to reach her. “That was close.” Sonata chuckled and gathered up her clothes before giving the mirelurk a victorious smirk. “Hah! Nice try, you dumb crab!”

In response, the mirelurk slammed itself bodily into the trunks, making Sonata yelp and scamper away back to a safer deck.

Next Chapter: Chapter 162 - Winter Wasteland Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 22 Minutes