War Games! (private)

OOC:

The battle was not going well. Four hours in and the walls still hadn't been breached. Their skirmishers had been repelled, the catapults destroyed, and the cavalry was getting seriously beaten up on the Fields of Mars. Their plan to fill up the ditch and demolish the palisade was getting nowhere. Tldr; Operation Philippi was in dire straits.

Cameron was one of the last few dozens soldiers still fighting. Her legionnaire armour had a few dents, but she was overall rather unscathed - safe for a gash on her arm. Currently engaged in a stand-off with two of the defendant's infantrymen, she had little time to regroup with the rest of her team's forces.
Which, anyway, were all scattered to the corners of the battlefield. Whenever the centurions tried getting them back into a formation, they were intercepted by a shower of arrows. She spotted Valeria somewhere to her side, desperately trying to shout commands over the cacophony of the battlefield. Everywhere she could see, first aid eagles were zooming in and out, getting the injured to safety.
She narrowed her eyes, an idea forming in her mind. Of course! The eagles...

But first, she had to get rid of those pesky hastati. She managed to knock one out with the pommel of her gladius while blocking the other guy's attack with her shield. The imperial gold weapons collided with a metallic screech. She used the power of the impact to push back against him and slammed a roundhouse kick into his ribs. His armour dented under her steel-capped boot. He doubled over with a groan, holding his side, which was the perfect invitation to ram her knee into his face.
For once, she didn't wait around  to finish the job. Jumping over him, she sprinted as fast as she could towards Valeria, holding her shield up for protection. Those archers on the watchtowers were killers. Thunk, thunk, thunk. Every arrow digging into her shield sent shockwaves up her arms.
She skidded to a halt next to Valeria, who was helping Nate back to his feet. An arrow protruded from his shoulder, right in the armour's weak point. How the archers had managed to hit that precise spot from such a distance, she had no idea. Apollo's kids were ruthless maniacs.
At that moment, a shadow fell over them. A medic had apparently spotted Nate from his giant eagle and decided to come help out. Cameron immediately turned to Valeria.

"Round up whoever you can and get them in formation right now," she quickly told her.

"What do you think I've been trying to do, genius?"

"Get them in front of the doors as soon as possible. Kill if you need to!"

Yes, Cameron gets very invested in the War Games. The medic landed next to them and jumped off to tend to Nate's wound, which gave Cameron her opening.

"Don't mind me," she said and jumped into the saddle.

"Hey! What in Asclepius' name do you think you're doing?"

But Cameron was already in the air. The medic's protests were soon drowned out by the howl of the wind, and the daughter of Pax banked towards the enemy's stronghold.
From above, the fortress looked even more impressive - perfectly symmetrical, manned from top to bottom, with the leader's purple tent right in the middle. Cameron almost got teary-eyed at the sheer beauty of all this Roman-ness.
The eagle gained altitude, giving her an ideal view over the battlefield. She could see the cavalry wings getting repelled by onagres and ballistae, the infantry scattered by hastati, and the archers shooting off whoever was left. This was as bad as it could get - at this point, it was obvious that they had pretty much lost. But if Cameron was known for one thing, it was her inability to back down and call it quits. She was easier to bait than any Greek child of Ares (don't say that to her face though unless you want her to break your face).

But for once in her life, her primal urge to pick fights with absolutely anyone and anything was going to come in handy. Her strategy perfectly laid out in her mind, she made her eagle bank towards one of the watchtowers, taking her feet from the stirrups. As the eagle dipped to one side, she launched herself off the saddle with a powerful jump, her body as tense as a bowstring, and landed on the watchtower's roof in a crouch. Was that a reckless thing to do? Absolutely.
Especially since the guys from the other watchtowers had realized she didn't look like a medic. In a split-second, Cameron took in the map of the fortress - the formations, the yard, the defences. The aquila, the eagle standard they had to get, was as usual held in the leaders' tent. She slid down the tiles, arrows digging themselves into the precise spot where she'd been just a second ago. Hooking her hands on the edge of the roof, she swung herself into the watchtower, knocking one of the guys back with her feet.

The other guy quickly got over his surprise. After a few moments of struggle, she hooked her foot behind his ankle and threw him against the bulwark. The impact made him lose his bow, arrows spilled from his quiver. Cameron quickly snatched them before he could get back up and immediately recognized the red feathers - those were programmable arrows! That made her job slightly easier. Setting one to Explosive, she nocked it and took aim for the large door. If she could blow it up, it could allow the rest of her team's forces to come in. The tide could still turn.
Thunk. An enemy arrow embedded itself into the wood right next to her face. She ducked for cover, but kept hearing the arrows hitting the spots around her. Getting out of here wasn't going to be easy. Especially with the watchmen recovering from her blows... By Mars, they didn't look happy.

Fck it. She had no choice. She rose back up, but instead of firing at the door, she fired straight at the other watchtower. The arrow exploded with a deafening boom, sending the top of the tower into the air like a champagne cork. Medic eagles dove in to catch the flying legionnaries.
But Cameron didn't stick around to watch. The moment the arrow had left her bow, she had already nocked another programmable one and fired at the opposing ramparts. The arrow hissed, a rope materializing from thin air. Cameron grabbed it and jumped, abseiling down into the yard. From here, it would be easy to have a clean shot. But as her feet touched the ground, she hesitated. Should she blow up the door or go straight to the tent? I mean, it was right there. She was so close! All she needed to do was take the eagle standard and they would win.

Her hesitation took a split second.

She made a run for the tent. Arrows hissed around her, soldiers came from the sides. They weren't many, but they were fresh fighters. Unlike Cameron, who was sweaty and bruised, they had been lounging around, confident in their victory, waiting for their team to wipe out the others. There was no way they were letting someone from the loser squad steal their triumph.
For once, Cameron didn't focus as much on beating people up than on disarming them or temporarily stunning them. She didn't have to win, she just had to inconvenience them long enough to get to the tent.
And it seemed to be working. Parrying, stabbing, kicking, her gladius spinning around her, she was perfectly focused. The possibility of having an actual shot at turning this around by herself pumped adrenaline into her system. With a last strike to someone's windpipe, she rolled into the tent.
And that's when she realized this was going to be much more difficult than she'd anticipated.

Standing by the aquila stood Romulus, the ex-centurion of the First. On top of being Primus pilus, he was one of the rare legionnaires who'd gotten all the possible distinctions and medals in the Legion. Last she heard, he'd left Camp Jupiter to become a Marine. What was he doing back here now?
But those were questions for later. Her surprise lasted a split second before turning into a spirit of competition. She had always admired Romulus, just like she admired anyone who embodied the ideals of Rome. But that didn't mean she would back away from fighting him. Quite the contrary. If anything, she was glad to have an opponent worthy of the title.

OOC:

The war games of Camp Jupiter were a tradition as old as the camp itself. The cohorts split into two teams, a defender and an aggressor. In this skirmish it was the second, fourth, and fifth against the first and third as defenders. The objective of the aggressors was simple in theory. Acquire the aquila, the eagle standard. A roman take on Capture the Flag. In practice it was not so easy, the standard would be guarded in a multitude of different ways that changed depending on who was leading the defense. There could be catapults, ballista, scorpions, archers guarding watchtowers on a walled off area, and of course the members of the Legion themselves.

The individual leading the defense for the First and Third Cohort today was none other than Romulus Emanuel Mercury. A very well hidden secret by the two cohorts. Romulus was the ex-Centurion of the 1st Cohort, the Primus pilus, who had served his ten years in the legion with honor and distinction. At eighteen he took the ASVAB and scored a perfect 99. He would spend the next two years finishing his service to the Legion as well as beginning his service for the United States Marines. It had been a difficult and daunting task for the Son of Quirinus, but he had never been one to back down from a challenge and met the task with flying colors as any true son of Rome would have.

The previous two years after his ‘graduation’ had passed by in a blur, he had traveled to a multitude of different places during his short tenure and had even recently achieved the position of Special Operations Officer in the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command. It was here that he learned that not everyone in the government and military were blind to the things going on in the supernatural world. A revelation that made sense when the 1st. Lieutenant thought about it, as he most definitely was not the first Legionary to look to military service. It was due to this that he was allowed to have a bit of leave before he’d be given his next assignment, and was how he ended up back in New Rome. A visit to his mother had garnered the attention of the current Praetors which led to the talks of testing the Cohort’s and thus Romulus leading the defense of his ‘old’ stomping grounds.

Everything had been going exactly as planned; it was only natural as Romulus planned for every possible scenario. Most of the current modus operandi of the legion he had written or at least learned and perfected. There were few surprises, and the ones that did come he was able to route and stomp out before they became bothersome. His helmet sat on the edge of the war table in his tent showing the current state of affairs of the battle raging outside. Enchanted so courtesy of a child of Hekate. It was not one hundred percent accurate and at times could be confusing to understand but it got the job done and allowed Romulus (or whomever was leading the defense) to try and lead from inside; and what he was currently seeing was very interesting.

He had just enough time to clear the table, position the aquila near the rack of spears, and strap his helmet upon his head when the Legionnaire rolled in. He turned to face her, moving to stand in front of the spears and aquila, when in rushed two of his own men. “Stabit,” he called a hand raising in a fist, “I will deal with this one. Return outside, deal with the defense.” The two younger legionnaire’s looked at each other in confusion before nodding their confirmation and returning outside to help their brothers and sisters in arms. Removing his imperial gold Veretum from were it rested and moving to face the legionnaire who had single handedly penetrated his defenses and made their way into his war tent. “Infigo. Cameron, is it not? I heard your name come up quite a lot when I still served. Continue to impress me.” He spoke moving into a defensive stance with his spear and waiting for the inevitable clash that was to come. He was not the ‘First Spear’ for nothing.

"I'm going to impress you even more when I take the aquila from you, centurio," she retorted, swinging her gladius at his side.

Cameron's fighting style was peculiar. No, she doesn't 'fight like a dancer' or any of that nonsense. Her attitude was relaxed and non-aggressive. She only parried when she absolutely had to, otherwise evading attacks by leaning back, ducking, or turning just a few degrees to the side. It looked random to an untrained eye, but she acted with meticulous precision. The first thing she'd learned in martial arts classes was that nothing frustrated an opponent more than to hit the air repeatedly.
And the second thing she'd learned was that a frustrated opponent makes mistakes.
Obviously, Romulus was nothing like her usual sparring partners. He would not get easily thrown to the ground or take kicks to the throat. But she was extremely light on her feet, with reflexes to match and a martial arts career that went back to her toddler days. This could get interesting.

If there was one thing in the entire world that Romulus was good at it was fighting, the art of war. He was an expert martial artist, armed and unarmed, from his days at the Wolf House, to his legion service and now with the training of the Marines. The things he knew and how quickly he learned could be considered supernatural. He was a gifted fighter, a brilliant tactician, and trained constantly, but what truly set him apart was his supernaturally given ability of adoptive muscle memory. While not perfect it allowed him to perfectly replicate another’s movements after only observing it once and the better he understood the application the better he could replicate it. It helped if his body was also capable of producing the feat, thus keeping in constant shape. He had never seen Cameron fight but he was certain she legion trained with a bit more thrown in.

He could have bull rushed her, overpowered her, used her strengths against her. All things he had learned in the marine corps martial arts program, judo, sombo, and muay thai. That wouldnt be satisfying though. He wouldn’t learn anything about her, wouldn’t be able to learn what she did, to see her in action. To understand how one person was able to fight their way past all of his defenses and make it here relatively unscathed. That and his Roman Spear Fighting didn’t exactly necciate hard, strong, overpowering strikes. So, instead he quickly moved from his defensive stance of holding the spear two handed into pulling it up with only his right hand, above his head and around at her midsection in a wide arc. It was deliberate, an obvious attack even a beginner could see coming. He wanted to test her defenses. Push her out of her comfort zone. There was no need to speak. No snappy one liners. Their movements and actions would speak for them.

Cameron moved in perfect sync with the spear. As it came down on her, she ducked low and stepped out to the side, letting the verutum brush past her with a hiss.
Her strategy was twofold: (1) evading Romulus' blows and (2) using those movements to step closer to the aquila. Cameron was arrogant, but not stupid: she knew that fighting Romulus was not going to be a walk in the park. He was an élite both in the Legion and in the mortal military. There was no way this fight was going to be done anytime soon. But her team was practically decimated and she had the opportunity to turn this around. Fighting on two fronts like this was the best shot she had. This was a marathon, not a sprint.
Never breaking eye contact, she used Romulus' attacks to let her footwork slowly bring her closer to the aquila. If she could just get close enough, she could grab it and dash out through the back of the tent. Make a run for it. But that didn't seem like the best solution, especially since people who run away make really great spear throwing targets. Cameron bit her lip, calculating her options as she leaned back to evade yet another blow.

Slash, stab, move, interpose, twist, short hack. The two combatants moved gracefully and quicker than most could keep up with. She was fast, more so than Romulus had originally given her credit for. That said if their current line of movement kept up she would tire out before he would or would slip up and it would be over for her. He was well rested, prepared to keep this up for as long as needed. To hold her off and keep her here and distracted until his legionnaires outside the tent defeated her brothers and sisters in arms. The advantages in this fight were all in Romulus’ favor. She had already lost but did not yet know it, or if she did she continued to fight in hopes of victory. It was admirable but her tenacity would not help here in this situation.

He had already mapped out her plan of movement early on in their dance. She was attempting to move him further away from the rack of spears that the aquila currently sat in front of. It was a good choice, move him out of the way, grab the eagle standard and get out as quickly as possible. A glaring flaw in her plan was that she would have to turn her back to him to run away; and if she didn’t she’d be slowed down considerably. Either way she’d be a near perfect target for his spear to hit her and even then he would just call in his men outside. Making it into the compound was much easier than making it out would be.

The second flaw in her plan was that Romulus had planned for that. He wanted her to try and go for the aquila. When he noticed her moving an inch closer to it, he made his move himself. A long overarching slice from his Veretum, deliberately missed Cameron. Instead it slashed into the rack holding the spears sending them tumbling down into the aquila and they all went tumbling into the ground. The noise and distraction that came with it was all Romulus needed to manipulate the mist. Altering the appearance of the aquila into that of the spears that now lay around and on top of it. Mixed in with other identical copies. His eyes and body language left no indication that he had done anything and he gave Cameron no time to react to the change as a forward strike was sent out at her left leg, intending to slice into a tendon.

Cameron should've known something was wrong when Romulus aimed a wide hit. The son of Quirinus was famous in the Legion for his quasi-mathematical precision. The guy just didn't miss.
She didn't even need to move, the verutum clashed past her.... and into the spear rack. Cameron shielded herself in time, barely catching the aquila's discrete transformation in the corner of her eye. Quid? What just happened? The split-second she took to look to the floor and try identifying which spear was in reality the aquila was all Romulus needed for an opening. Fortunately for her leg, she saw the imperial gold flash at the edge of her vision and reacted on instinct. Her gladius dove down just in time to twist the javelin's blade away with a circular motion. If she had hesitated one moment longer, her tendons would've been gone. Everything had happened so quickly. Her eyes snapped back up and she glared at Romulus with renewed determination. Oh, he wanted to play that game? Cameron was more than happy to oblige.
Without missing a beat, the daughter of Pax went straight into pencak silat. The time for simply evading and dancing around blows was over. Now she went for the real fight. It was what she did best, what she loved more than anything. And she was ready to show it.
There were two words to describe this new fighting style of hers: cunning and straight-up audacity. When challenged, Cameron instinctively went for daring moves - jumping into kicks, twisting armlocks, angling strikes and blocks in rapid succession. She strung together a wide array of techniques, even including other martial arts like muay thai and krav maga, while focusing sharply on Romulus' every move. There was no way she would be taking her eyes off him now, even if he struck down the entire tent. Her hypervigilance often got her called paranoid but in combat, it got her medals. Today won't be any different, she thought, twisting into a side-kick.

She was distracted just enough to break a look towards the clattering spears, but not enough that she was unable to react to his veretum heading for her tendon. The blow was blocked by her Gladius before she brought it back up into a reverse grip. It was a stance he recognized, from the Indonesian fighting styles of Pencak silat. It wasn’t something he himself had mastered or practiced though and that grabbed his attention. This was a learning experience for the Marine and ex-Legionnaire. With his eyes changing to a blanketed silver he backed up and in one smooth motion returned his Veretum to its sheath on his back while at the same time kicking up one of the discarded spears.

Breaking the spear down the middle over his knee he spun the two pieces so that he had one in each hand, with the one with the spear head actually pointed down towards the ground. Kali may not be the best counter for her new fighting style but what he did know of silat was that it was a deadly, violent martial art. He would let her go, block her blows, maneuver out of the way of her grapples or slap her back with a back handed blow from one of his improvised escrima sticks. To even the most well trained of martial artists it would appear as if Romulus was either waiting for his opening or trying to tire Cameron out, and while partially true it was not his main goal. No, his main goal was to learn. His now fully grey eyes were indicative of his use of Adaptive Muscle Memory, an ability he gained from his godly parents that allowed him to learn and copy the movements of an opponent. He wanted to know everything Cameron could do, and was pushing back against her onslaught with his own in an attempt to bring it out of her.