shook his head a little, then chuckled weakly. He turned and faced down the hall, a look of disbelief on his face. Growling slightly, Balto punched the wall and shouted in irritation.

“No! Come on!” he shouted to no one, “Can’t things go smoothly for once today?!?!”

“Wolf, calm down…” Jenna said softly, placing a hand on his back, “It’s alright… He wasn’t a necessary objective, was he?” Balto sighed softly and cooled down, turning to face Jenna.

“No… No he wasn’t…” Balto replied, turning back down the hallway, “Where does this hallway lead?”

“To an elevator that’ll take us to the Weapons Hangar down below… It’s a large hangar filled with various weaponry…” Jenna said.

“Alright let’s go there… C’mon…” he said and led the way down the hallway.

The two agents proceeded down the long hall and took a right turn, spotting the metal doors of an elevator. Balto pressed the button beside them and the doors opened, revealing a glass elevator. Balto and Jenna stepped inside and Balto pressed the Down button. The elevator began its steady decline and through the glass, both dogs could see a huge concrete and metal hangar loaded with crates of various sizes.

Balto stared in amazement at the amounts of crates and Jenna gasped in surprise. Once the elevator reached the bottom, the doors opened and both dogs stepped out into the hangar, walking around and inspecting for any enemies. Above them, the metal catwalks were silent and the ground around them was eerily still. Balto glanced around and began to get worried as they walked between the crates.

“Something’s not right here…” Balto said, stopping as he raised his handgun.

“Yeah…” Jenna replied, “Where are all the guards? You’d think there’d be more, especially here…”

Balto turned to say something to Jenna, but froze. Jenna stared in confusion at Balto and he motioned to her chest. Glancing down, Jenna saw a bright red dot in the center of her chest. Slowly, it moved down to her knee and Jenna gave Balto a worried look.

“Wolf?” she asked softly, her voice shaking slightly.

Before Balto could answer, a loud gunshot pierced the silent air. Jenna’s knee gave way in a spray of blood as the bullet hit her and she went down. Instantly, the laser sight moved to her other knee and fired again, bringing Jenna down, then shot her left shoulder, sending her down to the ground. Balto quickly moved behind a crate, then turned the corner, firing off five random shots to scare their assailant before hiding again as another round pierced the corner of the crate where he had been only a second before.

“Damn it!” Balto swore angrily as he ejected his empty clip and loaded a fresh one into his gun, “Jenna, hold on…”

“Don’t come for me…” Jenna said, breathing heavier as she lay on her back, a pool of blood forming beneath her, “It’s… It’s Kaltag… He’s the only sniper in the lot… He’s using me as bait to lure you out… It’s the- oldest trick in the book…”

Jenna chuckled weakly as she lay there, wincing from the sharp pains filling her body. Balto gritted his teeth and pulled his rifle from around his shoulders, firing off the entire clip at every catwalk, hoping to find Kaltag. As he emptied his clip, another round was fired from a snipe rifle and Balto’s rifle was thrown from his grip. Not wasting any time, Balto dove behind cover again.

“He’s on the fourth catwalk down…” Balto said to himself, then glanced at Jenna, “Hold on Jen… I’m gonna get you outta this… Just hang on for a little while longer…”

Jenna slowly nodded to Balto and winced once more. Balto silently swore to himself for being so careless and began to weave around the crates, searching for one specific crate. After several minutes of searching, Balto found the crate he was looking for to save Jenna and win the fight. Sighing with relief, Balto pulled out his combat knife and pried open a crate labeled ‘Sniper Rifles.’ Balto pulled one out, grabbed a clip of ammo, loaded it, and ran back to Jenna- only to find she was gone.

“What? How?” Balto asked himself, then decided to worry about it later.

Balto peeked around the corner and could just barely spot the outline of a tan husky lying prone across one of the many metal catwalks overhead. Balto lay down and slowly peered out, rifle pointed out in the direction of Kaltag. Looking through the scope, Balto could see the husky’s head, shoulders, and his rifle. Balto fired, but his bullet missed Kaltag’s head by an inch, instead striking a bolt holding the catwalk up. The catwalk creaked, shuddered, then collapsed, sending Kaltag twenty feet down to the concrete floor.

Kaltag shouted out in surprise as he plummeted down to the ground, then scrambled behind a box, clutching his rifle close to his chest. He pulled out his handgun and fired three shots off in random directions, hoping to scare Balto off long enough for Kaltag to get into a better position. Balto heard the shots and saw them miss completely. Grabbing his sniper rifle, Balto ran toward Kaltag until he came to the crate Kaltag was behind. Climbing on top of the crate, Balto stared down at Kaltag and raised his rifle to the tan husky’s head.

From the corner of his eyes, Kaltag spotted Balto and raised his rifle at the same time. Both dogs fired, each one striking the other’s sniper rifle and throwing it from their hands. Balto jumped down and kicked Kaltag in his chest. Kaltag stumbled backward, but regained his composure and got into an attack position.

“I should warn you… I’m expertly trained in hand-to-hand combat…” Kaltag said, grinning arrogantly. Balto assumed a similar attack stance and glared at Kaltag.

“So am I…” Balto replied in a mutter, then lunged at Kaltag.

Kaltag blocked every attack Balto sent his way. After a moment, Kaltag caught onto Balto’s momentum and grabbed his enemy’s fist and twisted Balto’s arm behind his back. Balto groaned as he was spun around and felt Kaltag kick him into a crate. Balto collapsed, but got up again, going at Kaltag with all the strength and speed he could muster up within his body. Kaltag was taken back by Balto’s sudden rejuvenation. After a few seconds, Balto got a shot in on Kaltag, slamming his fist into the tan husky’s muzzle and sending him flying backwards into a pile of crates.

Balto glared at Kaltag as his enemy slowly rose to his feet again. Both dogs were at it again a moment later, both dogs fighting fiercely. Though Balto had more strength and stamina, Kaltag was faster and had a more finessed technique of combat. Kaltag gave a quick kick to Balto’s stomach, then to his head as Balto started to double over. The wolfdog fell onto his back and panted heavily.

Damn… he thought to himself, Kaltag’s certainly an expert fighter… But I know one way to beat him…

Not hesitating for a moment, Balto leaped to his feet and threw a quick jab at Kaltag’s side, landing the blow and stunning him temporarily. With that moment, Balto reached for his handgun and Kaltag did the same, both dogs pointing their weapons at one another, point-blank. They stared each other down, a fire burning in either one’s eyes.

“What now, Corporal?” Balto asked, “You gonna pull the trigger? The recoil will cause me to pull the trigger as well…”

“I’m not gonna shoot you, wolfdog…” Kaltag responded, “I’m gonna do this.”

Kaltag spun and kicked Balto’s gun from his hands. He had moved so fast that Balto hadn’t had the time to react until it was too late. As Kaltag regained his composure, Balto grabbed the husky’s arm and hit him in the elbow, causing Kaltag to drop his handgun. Balto then dove for his gun a few feet away on the concrete floor. Kaltag noticed Balto’s move and used his boot to kick his handgun into the air, grabbing for it as Balto wrapped his fingers around his gun. Hitting the ground and spinning, Balto lay on his back and pointed as gun at Kaltag as Kaltag trained his pistol on Balto. Then both dogs fired, the sounds of two simultaneous gunshots echoing through the hangar.

For a moment, time stood still. Everything seemed to freeze the way it was. Balto didn’t know who had hit who, or if anyone had been shot at all. After a moment, things seemed to move again and he saw the concrete beside his head explode and saw a red splatter appear on Kaltag’s side. Kaltag shouted in pain and reeled backwards, knowing he’d missed and Balto had hit. Grabbing his rifle, Kaltag quickly limped away through the hangar. Balto rose to his feet and gave chase, but as he turned the way Kaltag had gone, his target had vanished.

“Damn it…” Balto murmured, looking cautiously around, “Where’d he go?”

Slowly, Balto stepped in between boxes and crates of weapons, looking around for Kaltag. He kept his handgun raised, poised to fire at the slightest hint of movement. As he stepped behind a box, the wood beside his head exploded and splintered as it was shot. Not wasting any time, Balto ran back the way he came and knew where Kaltag was now.

“Come out agent!” Kaltag shouted, his voice echoing from everywhere, “It’s easier to die, but if you’d prefer to hide, then I’d enjoy the fun just as much! This will be the most exciting, the most thrilling, the most heart-pounding-”

Before Kaltag could say anymore, Balto fired off a shot near Kaltag, hitting the crate beside where the sniper lay in wait. Kaltag flinched slightly and shut up. He glanced through his scope again, scanning between the crates he could see, trying to find Balto.

I need to find my rifle… Balto thought to himself as he weaved between boxes.

After searching for a few minutes, Balto spotted his rifle lying out in the open, right where he’d left it. Quickly scrambling for it, he reached for it and saw the concrete right in front of his hands fly up as