When Valkyrie opened her eyes, she was being dragged across the ground. Plasma bolts and tracers streaked overhead, some coming a little too close for comfort. The other Spartan left her behind the wreckage of the wraith and returned fire. Her immediate reflex was to check that her rifle was loaded, and the second was to reboot her shields.<br/><br/>Suddenly Gladiator grabbed her by the arm and pulled her upright, shoving her away from the vehicle. Valkyrie's skin crawled and the ground lit up bright blue as a small sun descended upon the soil, nearly throwing the two away with the resulting blast. She glanced back and saw the other spartan's armor glowing from an overcharged shield, when another round seemed poised to land between them. She hurled herself into the alley and landed with a roll, shortly before Gladiator did the same, his shields expended.<br/><br/>"Armor lock, hm?" Valkyrie remarked. It was another thing the S-III program had generated, and one of the upgrades she never had time to install given the months of hectic fighting. Oh well.<br/><br/>A series of beeps told the spartan her shields were back up. She gave the other Spartan a nod. "Thank you." Valkyrie darted out of the alley, firing her MA-5K as she did. Being caught off guard like that had embarrassed her, made her focus more. And what was important right now was maintaining momentum so the covvie had no time to regroup.<br/><br/>"Target their commanders if you can." She whispered into the comms. When the MA-5 clicked on an empty chamber, Valkyrie darted behind cover and locked the bolt open. A fresh magazine was slapped into the rifle in a second and the bolt sent home with a ratchet. A pair of jackals were attempting to close in with the soldier, shields raised. Valkyrie calmly squeezed the trigger, sending a hail of rounds into the legs of the chicken-like covenant.<br/><br/>Valkyrie took one of her precious few smoke grenades and popped it over her cover. The little grey canister started to spew white smoke and dispense chaff, blocking thermal imaging through the cloud. The spartan crept from her cover and stepped over to the two wounded kig-yar. She executed each one with a few rounds to the skull, removing the portable shields from their wrists. Pausing to don one, she took off toward the last position of the Wraith at a hard run. The occasional plasma bolt sizzled off the blue disc, protecting the Spartan as she sprinted across the cratered ground. Valkyrie burst from the smoke cloud, shooting past a confused squad of grunts and a single elite. Valkyrie turned to lob a single grenade into their ranks before ducking into the nearby rubble in a zigzag pattern.<br/><br/>Confused barks and shouts preempted the thunderclap of a grenade blast. The Spartan unslung her M19 as bolts from the Wraith's plasma repeater raked the ground behind her. She clicked off the safety as she sprinted past the side of the armored vehicle, escaping the turning radius of it's gun. When she brought the launcher to bear, there wasn't a thing to block the shot. Valkyrie fired.<br/><br/>The 102mm warhead leapt from the launcher and lazily sailed over on a column of flame. It careened into the main cannon with a loud crunch, showering the gunner with molten plasma as the gun overloaded. Valkyrie watched as the weapon sputtered, then faded entirely as the driver decided to kill the power source. As the covvie tank attempted to reboot, Valkyrie took aim at the exposed cowlings at the rear of the vehicle.<br/><br/><em>"Sierra six three six offering aid. Anyone out there?"</em>Valkyrie reflexively keyed her comms, lowering the weapon. Before she could reply something slammed into the spartan, knocking away her weapon as it threw her into the concrete. Valkyrie rolled off her shoulder and rose to a crouch, simmering at the interruption. The air to her direct front had a shimmer to it, and Valkyrie reflexively unloaded a burst, causing the thing's shields to flicker before it darted away.<br/><br/>The Spartan backpedaled as she fired, knowing every second this thing kept her delayed, the longer the tank had to get operational. But eventually the rifle ran empty and Valkyrie dropped it, ripping her sidearm from its holster. The shimmer stopped. It flickered as its user decloaked, revealing a sangheili warrior clad in grey and purple armor, with a distinctive armored helmet. It flicked one arm out, igniting a plasma sword. Off all the covenant soldiers that Valkyrie had to run into, fate would deem a special operations elite the proper choice. "Shit..." Valkyrie muttered. "Sierra six-three-six, sending you map grids. In a bit of trouble right now." She killed the comms.<br/><br/>It charged with a roar. The three slugs she managed to fire only weakened the elite's shields and she barely managed to roll out of the way. The warrior was quick on his recovery however and drove a fist into Valkyrie's helmet with bone-breaking force, slamming her into the concrete. He raised his blade for the kill, but Valkyrie didn't make it easy. She drove a leg explosively into the enemy soldier before climbing to her feet. She fired again and again, each round just angering her opponent.<br/><br/>He feinted and dodged to the side. Valkyrie's fingers held the elite's arm with the blade mere inches from her face. The elite barked in surprise as she drove the pistol into its gut, unloading the magazine as its shields flickered and failed entirely. She scowled as the weapon ran out of ammo and slammed the gun into the elite's face. She threw the sanghelli viciously against a nearby wall. The blade fell from its hands and fizzled out.<br/><br/>Valkyrie released the elite and reloaded her M6D. She didn't notice the warrior's eyes flit at the discarded magazine, or one arm reaching behind its back. She was about to finish the sangheili with a bullet when it exploded from the wall with a horrific growl, tackling the spartan around the waist with a live plasma grenade sizzling in it's hand. To Valkyrie, everything seemed to happen slowly afterward. She locked stares with the defiant covenant warrior. Did he really want to die this badly?<br/><br/>She didn't. She didn't think it did, either.<br/><br/>Valkyrie used her free arm to slam an open hand into the side of the elite's skull, concussing it for just a moment. She kicked hard off the ground, breaking free of the elite's grip and leaving the sizzling grenade sitting on the ground between them, a moment away from tearing both to pieces.. She glared at the elite and dropped onto the grenade, activating the shield on her arm at the same time. Perhaps the covenant didn't understand humanity, but they all understood the basic desire to survive, and what sacrifice was.<br/><br/>There was a brilliant flash of blue.<br/><br/><br/>((OOC: I have a follow-up segment ready to go. So please nobody puppet valkyrie or the spec ops elite for now.))