Chapter Text
Everything was black. It wasn't until the sharp ringing in her ears that Val realized where she was - and what had happened. Just an hour ago, Cobra team was sent outside of ONI sword base to neutralize the Covenant threat. It seemed like an easy task, it was just a few patrol groups. What the Spartans failed to realize, was that it was a trap. The Spartans were ambushed, and eventually outnumbered, even for them.
The last thing Valerie remembered was the bright light, one that she had assumed was a glassing beam. But...she was still here, so that couldn't have been the case. After pushing the rubble off of herself and retrieving her cracked helmet, she made her way to where the battle had been. There was no sign of anyone, a few Covenant corpses at the most. As her MJOLNIR systems came back online, her HUD displayed on her visor. It didn't take her long to look at the vital signs displayed in the corner. Her eyes scanned the data, before she completely stopped in her tracks.
Her display only showed four vital signatures...not six. It read that Mac and Kimball were MIA, and she knew better than most what that had meant. Her own vitals were in the red, with Carter, Maverick, and Buck's all showing yellow. It did nothing to ease the sudden pressure in her chest. She knew her team. She knew how skilled everyone was. She knew that there was no way that Mac and Kimball could've died...yet she knew what MIA meant. After all, Spartans never die. They just disappear.
It wasn't hard for Valerie to ignore the pain shooting through her body, or the wounds that were slowly opening back up with every step she took. She had tried to contact the others...but her armor was busted, only some systems were working. Val knew she had no other choice but to come back to Sword base, she could only hope the others manage to make it back. That voice in her head, the only that always speaks when her team is in danger, told her that she needed to find them herself, she needed to make sure they came back home. But Valerie knew her limits...and she was seconds away from collapsing and bleeding out against the concrete.
Valerie kept moving, with only one thought in mind: Survive.