Riordanverse One Shots

Champion of Neptune (Greco-Roman)

Requested by: nobody
This is the first appearance of one of my Roman OCs, Mia Taylor. She was inspired by a post I saw on Instagram.
Edit: Due to changes made to my OCs, this one shot can no longer be considered fan-canon. However, I will leave the chapter up for those who enjoyed it.

Mia was a bit nervous as she entered the praetors' room. She was aware that she was a far cry from the exemplary soldier and that she was anything but popular with most of the legion. She blamed her father for that.

Neptune was always seen with mistrust by the Romans. If there were any disasters that could be tied to the sea god, he would always be the prime suspect. There was a reason why Camp Jupiter didn't have a navy.

It also didn't help that the powers she inherited were very destructive and unpredictable. Most times she didn't mean to destroy as much as she did. But she had a very loose hold on her temper and it was easy to get carried away by her anger.

The result was still the same. The only cohort that even talked to her was the fifth. All the others avoided her like the plague.

Still, she hoped that the reason the praetors had summoned her wasn't to reprimand her. Especially because one of them, Caroline Jones, used to be her centurion in the fifth cohort and had helped her get settled in when she had first arrived. Mia definitely didn't want to disappoint her.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before entering the room. The two praetors turned towards her.

"Legionnaire Taylor, thank you for coming." Caroline greeted.

"You wanted to see me?" Mia said, making an effort to maintain formality.

"Yes, we did." confirmed the second praetor, a muscular teenager with dark brown hair named Troy Killian.
"As you are certainly aware, there have been some complications regarding your performance within the legion."

Mia gulped and gave a light nod, not trusting herself to say anything.

"Most of your faults lie in your connection to your fellow soldiers." Troy continued.
"You rarely communicate, you don't work well with a group, you don't coordinate your attacks with the rest of your cohort and you have broken formation during battle several times. Furthermore, your centurions have complained often that you are insubordinate and don't follow the orders given by your superiors. You constantly ignore instructions to pursue your own objectives. And your aggressive approach in battle has caused some uncertainty when it comes to avoiding... collateral damage."

Mia clenched her fists and gritted her teeth in an effort to contain the her anger. It wasn't her fault that her centurions gave her needless restrictions, or that the rest of the cohort couldn't keep up. But unfortunately, those weren't valid arguments. So she kept her mouth shut.

"Don't get us wrong though. You have shown plenty of times that you are a very capable fighter. And your exceptional abilities make you a valued member of the legion." Caroline assured.
"But your fighting style is very individualistic. A trident and a net are not exactly adequate to the traditional legionnaire style. And of course, your powers do include a big risk for those in a formation around you. Overall, you might be an exceptional warrior, but you're not an exceptional soldier."

Mia bit back any of her sarcastic remarks and angry replies. Instead, she trained to maintain her voice as neutral as she could.

"Yes, I am aware. Is that all?"

"No." Troy said.
"We have a proposition for you."

"It has become increasingly clearer that you don't do well in a large group. So we decided that perhaps it would be best to eliminate the group component all together."

Mia was confused.

"What are you saying?"

"We are going to remove you from the Fifth Cohort."

Troy's words made her blood run cold. If they were removing her from her cohort, that could only mean one thing.

"Are... are you expelling me from the legion?" she asked hesitantly.

Caroline's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"No! Gods no! We are simply going to offer you a new position within the legion. One without a cohort."

"Throughout the history of Rome, there have been multiple accounts of exceptional people. Warriors who didn't fit in the conventional military structure. These warriors were still part of the legion, but they were given permission from the praetor to act more freely. It is one such position we offer now." Troy told Mia.

"You would not be tied to any cohort. You would be barred from participating in the war games, but you would receive your own sleeping quarters. You would be independent from all cohorts, you wouldn't be restrained by formation tactics and you would be free to take whichever approach you prefer in battle. You would be the equivalent of a centurion, your only orders coming from us.. You would be able to take part in any quest, no matter who leads it." Caroline explained.

Mia thought about it for a bit. It sounded like a very good offer, especially the part about having the freedom to approach situations the way she wanted. If there was anything she hated, it was feeling restrained.

"What would my position be?" she asked.

"You would be the Champion of Neptune." Caroline told her with a smile.

Champion of Neptune. Mia liked the sound of that.