[HIATUS] The Tide Rises

Chapter 1

Ocean always knew her name was her destiny. For as long as she could remember, the island's waters called to her, and nothing else mattered but the feeling of exhilaration as she skied the almost stationary waves of the island or caught speed with a boat down the rapid channels in between. She could rarely recall the times she could be found anywhere else but the shorelines of Sweaty Sands or Craggy Cliffs. Ocean: her name was indeed her purpose, and who would be more qualified to lead a base on the water than her?

Brutus had tracked her down by the earpiece that she never actually kept in her ear, and she had agreed immediately when he had given her a simple task: taking charge of The Fortilla, a fortress sitting in the corner of the island where the storm didn't quite reach. The debris it was constructed with had flowed from the wreckage between The Shark to The Rig, and she remembered quite clearly that she had helped GHOST plan out its structure. She may not have been an engineer like the one she heard had betrayed them, but she sure had a vision.

Some short time after the floodwaters had reached its highest point and submerged half of the island under, she had been there to witness when its finished structures had first swayed among the waves. Despite their new base, not only GHOST, but the entire island was left at an inconvenience. To Ocean, the flood was a paradise. With more room to swim and bigger waves to ride, she couldn't wait to explore the risks of being in charge in such a dangerous environment. New opportunities, new species... in particular, sharks.

One lurked near The Fortilla one day, and she was ecstatic as millions of ideas flew through her head. She threw on her lifejacket, grabbed a pair of water skis, and pulled a fishing rod from one of the dozens of barrels sitting around. The end results were killer, as she would say—she rode circles around the apartments and slipped between the buildings of the base... until the shark leapt into the air, destroying part of the mall.

That was when Ocean realized that being in charge didn't mean doing whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. As she watched henchmen try to salvage some items and listened to Brutus's reprimandations, she realized there was more to the job that she still didn't quite understand.

They put down the shark soon after. A team of agents cornered and killed it, but it didn't die without leaving her something in remembrance. Lodged in its jaws was a burst assault rifle—her favorite—and after a few upgrades, she always patrolled her routes with it.

When all was done, however, she walked the docks with a little less bounce in her step. With SHADOW's new reign over the island, GHOST had to lay low for a while, and now she was their highest target as their leader. Being confined to The Fortilla was anything but fun, and suddenly, Ocean didn't like the flood anymore. Swimming the same waters was getting tiresome, and now she had to keep track of so many new responsibilities that sometimes she could barely comprehend.

With an exasperated sigh, Ocean kicked a bottle into the water and watched it float for a minute. Turk had been sitting a short distance away on the dock; he was passing the time as usual by fishing. He couldn't be found doing anything else lately. Upon hearing the plastic fly into the sea, he looked up and behind at her. Taking notice of her frustration, he reeled in his rod and lowered it. "Everything alright, ma'am?"

Ma'am. The formalities everyone addressed her with now made her cringe every time, but by this point, she had learned to grow used to them. After all, it's what they were most comfortable with around their former leader. She shook her head and sighed again. "I want to do something. Sitting around here's wack, the sharks don't come around anymore because we kill them the second they do, and now there's nothing to do."

Turk chuckled. "You sure are different from Midas." His smile sunk a little at the mention, but he masked his disappointment quickly. "He was impatient, sure, but he wasn't this restless."