[HIATUS] The Tide Rises

Chapter 12

"Find anything cool yet, Crys?"

The days had been rather uneventful in the week following the battle at The Authority, though if she had to be honest, Aura was always bored. Her brother had gotten lost some time after the flood hit, and digging for gold was no fun without him. Scavenging for neat junk on the cluttered beach had to suffice, she supposed, and it was more fun with a friend.

"Not really," Crystal called over, maneuvering through piles of metal and debris washed up on shore. Nothing of interest seemed to be lying around, and they had already been poking around for about an hour with nothing to collect. "Maybe we should find another shore, it doesn't look like there's anything exciting around here..."

Aura picked up an empty bottle, examined it, and threw it out into the ocean. "You can get a head start, then," she replied. "I'm gonna keep looking over here for a bit."

Crystal decided to take her stroll south, scanning the roads for anything noteworthy as she eventually made it to the opposite side of the town. As she reached the southeast side, finding another island of debris, she stopped in her tracks as something glinted in the corner of her eye. She snuck over, hoping to take a closer look, and paused at the corner of the boardwalk as she realized what it was: a suit of golden knight's armor washed up on the shore, and by the looks of it, someone wearing it, unconscious.

She jumped as someone suddenly grabbed her shoulders, and turned to find Aura with a smirk on her face. "Found something?"

Without giving her a chance to respond, Aura hopped off the boardwalk and approached the suit, her eyes lighting up as she examined the gold. She kneeled down and ran her fingers along the metal, before abruptly tearing her hand away, narrowing her eyes as she felt... movement. "It's alive?" She questioned, glancing at Crystal, who only shrugged.

Aura stood back up and nudged the figure with her foot, turning them over to the back. As they sprawled out on the ground, she could indeed tell there was a woman donning the armor, and she had obviously faced some sort of mishap to end up washed up along shore.

"Should we call someone?" Crystal asked, and Aura kneeled down one last time, carefully placing her hands on the helmet and pulling, seeing if she could remove it. It wouldn't budge.

"I call dibs," Aura said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out an earpiece. She placed it in her ear and pressed her fingers to it. "Hey, there's a situation at Sweaty Sands. Probably need a medic, someone washed up here, maybe send a few people to investigate?"

She nodded a few times, listening to the voice on the other end, before muttering "thanks" and returning the gadget to her pocket. "Sorry Crys, we'll have to cut this one short. I'll stay behind when GHOST forces come. You'll, uh, you'll have to go so they don't suspect anything," she said, and Crystal nodded, knowing exactly what she meant as her hand hovered her pocket, which contained an earpiece of her own. "But we can-"

Crystal had already begun to walk away, and she smiled. "Tomorrow?"

Aura smiled as well. "Five o'clock. Don't be late, nerd."

~•~

"Think it's another person lost from the flood?"

The E.G.O soldiers stood in a circle just in front of the vault. Tek had called over Remedy in particular after receiving Aura's call of concern, and the rest had decided to join in. They had already listened to it and determined the threat; all that was left to do was decide who would tend to the issue.

"Not sure, but that's most likely the case," Turk responded, glancing at the coordinates on screen. "All she said was someone's washed up there, no details."