A Day on the Job

"This is stupid," Jake grumbled loudly. 
Mason gave his younger comrade an amused side glance. "You're going to have to be more specific if you're trying to start a conversation."
Jake slouched against the side of the entrance, frowning. "I hadn't even skipped sentry duty for like a month."
Mason raised a brow, trying not to smile. "Did you expect a reward for doing what you're supposed to be doing?" he asked wryly, having become used to Jake by now. "And stand up straight." 
Jake sighed and stood back up, placing a hand on his gladius for the sake of putting it somewhere. 
"If it wasn't for stupid Roger, I wouldn't be here--"
"Doing the sentry duty you're supposed to take part in anyway." Mason gave Jake another side glance. "Badly, I might add."
Jake crossed his arms. "It's not my fault sentry duty is so boring. We're just standing here doing nothing." 
"We're supposed to be guarding New Rome. And don't whine to me when things get too exciting for your taste." 
Jake scoffed. "Anything would be better than this."
Mason looked up at the sky with an exasperated expression.

Terra looked back, the snake was still on they're tail. Daquiri had led them this far, and now even Terra could sense they were getting close. Except then the giant snake had attacked them and now they were running for their lives. The monster had attacked them almost out of nowhere, and it was too big for them to be able to fight it, or at least not, on their own. Terra knew the only chance they had was to get to New Rome, where they hopefully could find some other Demigods to help them fight this thing.

Terra stopped when she saw they seemed to be over a highway. There were cars down below, and Terra had a strange feeling there was a tunnel below them; she knew that they had to get down quickly, too. Y'know, since they still had a giant snake chasing after them. She gave Daquiri a panicked look. "We need to find a way down."

They were so close. So freaking close. But of course, demigods' luck sucked, so it wasn't possible for them to make it anywhere without getting attacked by some giant, slimy reptile. A serpentine dragon, to be specific. But who was keeping track?

  As in shape as she was from hiking across the entire country, wolf-style, Daquiri was becoming tired and short of breath, and her legs were starting to burn from their exertion. She glanced behind her to hear the Python crashing through the trees up the hill, and she almost ran into Terra when the girl stopped. She exchanged a look with Terra, and she let out a curse at the other demigod's words. She knew they were close to their destination--she could feel it pounding through her entire body. It was like it was right under her nose; so why couldn't she see it?

  Her mind racing, she scanned the top of the hill, trying to find some kind of exit. But it was more of a drop off than anything, and it would take much too long to pick their way down the steep hill. Giant lizards tended to have much less of a problem with things like that. That was when she saw something that looked suicidally promising. If they could get it just right, it could work. Although, she wasn't sure if Terra would agree to it if she knew what they were doing.

  "Terra," she said seriously, her voice slightly breathless. "I need you to trust me. And brace yourself. Right now." Hoping the girl was a quick enough thinker to do as she asked without question, Daquiri grabbed the girl's arm, waited a moment for the van she had her sights on to reach just the right point... and then jumped, pulling Terra with her as she heard the Python's roar behind them. Thank gods for mortals that strapped mattresses to the top of their vehicles for going on vacation.

  The mattress only served as a cushion for their initial fall, which at least got them much closer to the ground. The unfortunate part was that it was next to impossible to grab onto a mattress going 60 miles an hour after you'd just jumped off a ledge from 10 feet up. Needless to say, they immediately bounced off the top and tumbled over the side of the vehicle--luckily onto the side of road, rather than the middle of traffic. But as soft as the mattress had been, it felt like Daquiri's bones had just been jarred out of their sockets--and when they landed on the ground, Terra practically on top of her, the red-head half grunted, half cried out as pain shot up her arm from her wrist. That probably wasn't a good sign.

((Derp, sorry for all the action without waiting for your reaction, but I figured Jake needed more prompt to respond than just Daquiri waiting for Terra to jump... And if you hadn't noticed, I couldn't come up with a very realistic way to get off of that cliff without some kind of sled. So... jumping. At least she didn't push Terra. Yay for unsuspecting vacationers?))

((Mind if I join? Or is this a staff-only entrance?))

((Lawl, I say go ahead.))

(You might have to come up with a pretty good reason for being up here, since you're in a different cohort and wouldn't be on sentry duty with Jake. Perhaps we're near the change in guard? Or Fifth Cohort is posted further in right now?)

Mason and Jake broke off from their conversation when they heard something from outside and above. They both immediately snapped to ready mode, then exchanged a quick glance. Mason made a small motion for Jake to stay where he was, then hefted his spear and stalked forward to investigate. Jake grumbled a bit as he still had to stay put when something interesting was finally kicking up, but knew it was probably better for the much more experienced Mason to go investigate. And they couldn't just leave the entrance unguarded. That didn't exactly make Jake like it any more, though.

Two girls dropped into view, and Mason rushed forward to check on them. 
Girls were falling from the sky? Jake glanced up for a dubious moment. He gave a bemused scoff. Maybe he should stick around for sentry duty more often. The smile quickly dropped when he heard a distinctly monstrous sound. It was almost a snarl or a roar, but more hissing, like someone had let the air out of it. Mason could see what it was more clearly from his vantage point, and shouted for Jake to join him.

Despite knowing it must be pretty serious if Mason knew he couldn't handle it alone, Jake couldn't help but feel a bit excited to get some real action. He flicked his shield active with practiced ease and drew his sword, making sure to stay alert as he charged out there. He turned to where the monster was and his stomach made a bit of a nervous knot. Well. That was a new one. Big, too. Jake took a breath and stood by Mason, alert for cues from the older Legionnaire. Well, this'll be exciting, Jake thought with no irony intended.

((I was thinking they'd be switching sentry duty.))

"Brace myself for wha--" Terra's question was cut short when Daquiri jumped off the ledge, pulling her down as well. The two demigods' falls were broken when they bounced off of something soft, and it wasn't until after they fell off of it that she realized it was a mattress. The impact was still rather painful, but Terra was just happy it wasn't fatal.

The two landed on the side of the road, both of them grunting rather loudly upon impact. Terra's landing wasn't as bad as she had expected, and in fact felt like she had landed on something that absorbed most of her fall. It took her a few seconds to realize that the something had actually been a someone. Terra rolled off of Daquiri the moment she realized what had happened.

"Sorry," she said, a bit sheepishly, all the while noticing movement from the corner of her eye. With the luck the two of them were having, it was probably another monster showing up to finish the job. Only when it got closer did she realize it wasn't a monster, but a boy clad in armor. He looked a few years older than she was, and a lot more prepared to go into battle. The boy saw the snake, which obviously had caught up with them by now. He shouted to another boy who was standing next to what looked like the entrance to a maintenance tunnel, which struck Terra as rather weird. What were they, miniature handymen with swords?

Daquiri would've given Terra a look that could kill her quicker than the Python, but that said over-sized reptile didn't quite allow for it. The red-head hissed through her teeth in pain as she mistakenly tried to use her injured arm to push herself up off the ground. She wasn't sure if it was broken or just sprained, but either way it hurt like h***. Her only consolation was that it hadn't been her dominant hand.

She looked over at the sound of an unfamiliar voice to see a boy decked out in Roman armor running towards them. Well, that seemed like a fairly good sign. However, she ignored the boy's queries to whether she and Terra were alright and instead unsheathed her dagger as the Python began to close in on them. "Nice of you to join the party," she said wryly, meanwhile trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her wrist. "I'm afraid the entertainment got a little out of hand, though." She was vaguely aware of another person running over to help, but she didn't give him more than a glance. Mister Killer Snake's ugly mug was a bit more distracting than the newcomer.

Campbell was meandering towards the sentries' post. His shift was coming up in a bit, but Campbell liked to go early and talk to the sentries still on duty. They were usually bored and happy for the conversation. Just as he arrived he saw the sentries on duty, Mason and Jake, rush out the entrance, one after the other, hands on their weapons.

Hoping for some excitement, maybe a new arrival, Campbell hurried forward, to see what all the commotion was about, laying a hand on his gladius, Animus, just in case. As he reached and crested the threshold, he saw a peculiar sight. Two girls were in the process of getting up. Both sentries were ready for battle. For a split second, Campbell was confused. The girls didn't look hostile. Than his eyes followed Jake's. There was a monstrous reptile of some sort barreling toward them.

Campbell called out, "Mind if I join you guys?" Hefting his shield and whipping his spear off his back, Campbell fell in line with the others.

(lol, sorry Zach.)

Jake perked up a bit to see another camper rushing up to join in. Mason made a quick glance between the ones present then quickly ordered:
"No, go send out a warning, and get some reinforcements." Mason readied his spear for battle against the approaching snake. "Jake, cover him to the entrance, and make sure to stay between the entrance and the beast."

Jake gave a sharp nod and glanced to check where the other guy was real quick, careful not to look away from the monster for too long.

(lol, I'm seriously sorry for sending you away as soon as you arrive, but tactically, it makes the most sense...)

Another boy came from the maintenance tunnel carrying a sword, but the older boy said something to send him away. Terra heard the word 'reinforcements'. Thank the gods, she thought. She wasn't exactly sure who these guys were, but she assumed based on the fact that their armor and weapon seemed to be the same material as Daquiri's dagger and her spear, that they were demigods.

She noticed Daquiri had her dagger out and was planning to attack the snake, even though she was obviously injured. "You're not seriously going to charge into battle like that are you?" Though the snake obviously didn't feel like giving them a choice either way, and decided to encircle them, blocking the maintenance tunnel which Terra assumed was really the entrance to some kind of camp.

Daquiri gave Terra a cool sidelong glance. "Would you rather stand on the sidelines and wait to get eaten? Because by all means, be my guest." It'd get you to stop talking, at least, she added, grumbling to herself silently. To tell the truth, her wrist was really starting to bother her, and was making it slightly hard to concentrate. But she'd be d***ed if she was going to let a couple other demigods she didn't even know save her a** by themselves. It only made it worse that they were all guys; if there was something she wasn't, it was a damsel in distress that needed rescuing. No sir, it wasn't going to go down like that.

  The red-head considered smirking when the Python blocked off the exits right after the older of the two first guys sent the newcomer off to get more help; like monsters ever played things by the rules. However, considering how huge this thing was, reinforcements probably would've been rather helpful. Seriously, the backend of the reptile's tail alone was as thick around as a semi-truck. Which was, in fact, probably what the mortals thought it was since its butt was sticking straight into oncoming traffic. If the situation hadn't been rather dire, Daquiri would've found the panicking mortals ramming into the things tail a bit amusing. As it were, though, it probably didn't make Python feel very good.

  The giant serpent had been eyeing them with its malignant yellow gaze for several minutes now as it closed in on them, but apparently it had done enough sizing up of its meal. It lunged, probably purposefully going for the demigod that appeared to be most intimidating--the older-looking guy with all the orders.

((There. Action.))

((No problem, friend ))

Campbell nodded as he raced back inside, shouting, "Sound the alarm! Monster at the gates!" Seeing Charlie, his sentry duty partner, he yelled at him, "Get reinforcements! Two newcomers and monster! There's only the sentries on duty to greet them!"

Seeing Charlie race away towards the barracks, Campbell turned back to the entrance to find it block by a mass of green scales. He ran up to it and rammed it with his shield, to no affect. He stabbed at it with his spear, which broke the shaft, but managed to dislodge a scale or two. Encouraged, he drew Animus, and hacked away at the damaged scales, occasionally striking flesh beneath.

Mason calmly sidestepped the monster's lunge, turning on his heel to stab the monster with his spear as it shot past him. 

Jake had moved forward a bit behind Campbell to give himself plenty of room to maneuver but still be close enough to assist. It was a good thing that he had, because the giant snake whipped around, blocking the entrance, and with the distance he gave himself he had time to quickly roll to the side. Though, now he was in an awkward position on the other side of the snake from the main group, but outside of the tunnel, and dangerously close to the highway. Which begged the question, what did the vanilla's think of this scene? Jake brushed that thought away-- they either saw something ridiculously coincidental or were too focused on texting to notice. Drivers here were kind of crap. 
Jake went to work hacking away at the monster's side, but quickly found that giant snakes have incredibly sturdy scales. It made sense, scales were a fairly good for minimizing blunt trauma, and also provided significant protection against piercing and slashing. And this thing was huge. Jake frowned to himself. This wouldn't make much progress with just the three of them hacking away at it, and would still take a while even with reinforcements. There had to be a better way of taking this thing down than slowly wearing down its hp.

Terra attacked the snake with her spear, but the blow just bounced off the Python's armor-like scales. The creature seemed to hardly feel it. She continued talking, trying to do the impossible task of convincing Daquiri to step aside from the fight; after all, if her spear was barely even able to tickle the creature, then the dagger probably wouldn't even scratch its scales. "You're still injured," she said to the red-head, keeping up her guard against the Python. The snake was still coiled around them, cutting off any escape options they might have had. "Just... try to be careful."

((Mind if I join?))

((I don't see why not, but I'm not sure of a reason for Kyain to be here. I suppose she could be one of the reinforcements, but I think it's already been established that she wouldn't be much use fighting... So you might have to come up with a plausible reason for her to be there. xP))

(Could I join also?)

(Technically, I suppose the sentry that Campbell sent would have brought reinforcements. You'd still need to bring up why your character is there. Your character will be stuck, inside the maintenance tunnel, which isn't extremely wide, with Python blocking off the entrance and blocking most possible attacks save the hard scales that are directly in front of the entrance. This topic already has four people to begin with, and it's really starting to get full....)

(Then never mind)

Campbell kept hacking away at the beast's hide. After one particularly solid strike on the monster's flesh, the wall of scales rapidly withdrew, leaving Campbell to stumble, off-balance, through the service tunnel, out into the light.

Looking up, Campbell saw the serpent rearing its head back, to strike. He quickly ducked behind his shield, thinking, This is going to hurt. A lot.

Moments later he felt an enormous impact on his shield, lifting him up into the air and propelling him backward. Luckily, he lost his grip on the shield and fell away from it as it was crushed to splinters in beast's jaws.

His feeling of relief was short-lived as he slammed into the wall, directly above the tunnel. He fell to the ground, stunned, likely with multiple broken bones.

"I just got injured, thank you, and it's not even that bad," Daquiri lied. Her attention was only half on arguing with Terra, however, since it looked like the fight was now fully underway. She mentally winced when she saw one guy get thrown against the highway tunnel wall. That couldn't have felt very good. Looking at her own weapon, she knew she wouldn't get very far with it--it would only end up with the Python enjoying her as a nice demigod meal and then using her dagger as a toothpick.

"Terra," she said abruptly, "we need to distract it." Studying the scene from their position off to the side, she saw that most of the other demigods--as she assumed they all were--were all in fairly crucial fighting points around the monster. She figured that was their training showing through. They would all be trying to find an opening simultaneously, which was all well and good, but Daquiri had a feeling this thing had handled a lot more than a gaggle of demigods before. If they stood a chance, the best option she and Terra had at the moment was trying to get the monster's attention away from the main fighters. She imagined the group had tactics and formations that she and Terra would have no clue-in to, and would therefore be virtually useless if they tried to join it. No, it was best to go for the unexpected--the element of surprise that not even the experienced fighters could plan for.

"C'mon," she told Terra, jogging towards the tail-end of the Python. "We need to find some way to get onto that thing's back."

Jake ducked and pressed against the wall with the maintenance tunnel as the giant snake whirled around, apparently peeved at whatever the people inside had been up to. Its tail had whipped over where he had just been standing and sent a truck swerving out of control. Mason had rushed up to attack and keep its attention outside of the tunnel instead of inside. 
This was stupid. 
Hacking away at thick scales against a huge enemy like this--they couldn't get anywhere soon with this few people. And anything longer than 'soon' would mean fatigue and easier targets for the monster. Jake stood for a moment and examined the area. There weren't any spikes or obvious terrain advantages. Mason had its attention at the moment, and he couldn't see where the two girls were from this vantage point. He worked his jaw and clenched his gladius. 
They needed a plan. 

Jake stopped, then glanced over his shoulder. In the closer lanes sat a large SUV, looking battered like it had rolled completely over. That could work. He shoved his sword back into its sheath and rushed over to the truck. The driver was blearily trying to get out, and Jake helped the guy out as quickly and as carefully as he could, then immediately turned his attention to the truck. He quickly noted the features and layout of the interior, and struggled to recall the specs of the model. He glanced up at the Python through the windshield. 
This could work. 
He just needed to make some adjustments. 
Preferably earlier than 'soon'.

Terra normally probably would have questioned the idea of climbing onto the back of a giant, ancient, snake of death. Only she knew it wouldnt get her anywhere, Daquiri was too stubborn for that. Also the fact that she could see why the redhead was saying this. These guys must have had years of training for things like this, and still they didn't seem to be doing very well against the Python. If they could divert it's attention, maybe the other demigods could find an opening of some kind.

It seemed more like suicide, but Terra had learned to trust Daquiri's judgement, even if the plan seemed as crazy or stupid as this one. Still it was better than getting in the way of the other demigods or standing there waiting to be eaten. So after giving a brief nod of understanding, she followed the redhead towards the snake's tail. All the while trying to avoid looking like a tasty demigod flavored snack.