hands fly up as it was shot.

“Ah-ah-ah! No touching the rifle, wolfdog!” Kaltag shouted to Balto, grinning mischievously as he looked through his scope, taking aim at Balto’s rifle again.

Growling, Balto slowly took a few steps back. With a silent prayer, he ran forward and dove for his rifle. His hands grabbed the barrel of the sniper rifle and he rolled with it behind cover just as he heard another shot rip through the air. Landing safely behind a box with his prize, Balto grinned widely and ran off to find a good spot to shoot from. The fight had now become an all-out sniper duel.

Kaltag gritted his teeth a she reloaded his empty rifle. Once he shoved the new clip in, he glanced around the hangar for his opponent. Balto, on the other hand, was trying to find a suitable sniping point. Finally finding one situated between two boxes, he wedged himself between them and gazed through his scope, scanning the area for Kaltag. Everything was dead-silent for the longest time. After a moment, Balto got a sight on Kaltag and smirked to himself.

Victory is mine… he thought to himself as he leveled his sniper rifle and trained the sights on the scope on Kaltag’s head. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Kaltag saw him and stood up, trying to aim as rapidly as possible. However, Kaltag’s aim was off and he hit Balto’s rifle instead of Balto, sending the gun into the air just above Balto. The rifle smoothly fell down and into Balto’s hands as he raised his rifle again to fire as Kaltag trained it on Balto’s head. Then both snipers pulled their triggers.

Kaltag felt something strike him in his chest and glanced down. Balto had hit him straight through his chest. The tan husky chuckled weakly, dropped his rifle, and fell from the box to the concrete floor. Balto dropped his rifle as well and ran toward Kaltag; Kaltag’s shot had missed a lethal hit by an inch and instead hit the crate behind him. As Balto approached his fallen enemy, Kaltag lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He chuckled as he saw Balto and stared up at Balto.

“You know something, it’s funny…” Kaltag said, his voice choked and a little raspy, “I was trained as a sniper… Yet here I am… I’ve been sniped… Isn’t it ironic? A sniper ended by a sniper… I thought I was good enough to live through any battle… But I guess I was wrong… I’m just weak…”

“No… You’re not weak…” Balto said, kneeling down beside Kaltag, “You fought well… You put up a tough fight for me… A much better battle than Star did… I wasn’t sure who was going to win… I just got a lucky hit… You’re not weak… You’re strong; stronger than most other snipers I’ve seen… You didn’t flee from combat. You stood your ground to the death… That’s the spirit of a true soldier…”

Kaltag smiled slightly and chuckled. Balto knew his enemy didn’t have long to live and decided to at least make such an honorable soldier and sniper die with respect. Kaltag looked over at his rifle and motioned to it.

“My rifle… May I have it?” he asked weakly, glancing up at Balto again. Balto nodded and picked up Kaltag’s fallen weapon, placing it in the husky’s hands. Kaltag held his sniper rifle across his chest, his white suit quickly turning a deep red color from Balto’s inflicted wounds.

“What’s you name, agent?” Kaltag asked softly, “I need to know the name of the dog who bested me…” Balto hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell the dying dog.

“Balto…” he answered slowly, “My name’s Balto…”

“Steele’s the one who’s holding all the chips…” Kaltag told Balto with what energy he had left, “Most of these soldiers… They didn’t want to be here… But Steele knew things… things that got them to follow him through this rebellion… They’re as much prisoners as everyone else… They die because he says so… All because he says so… Ya know, I’m glad you’re the one to kill me… I… I shot Jenna by mistake… I saw the green uniform and thought it was you… If you didn’t take me out, Steele would have… Just end all this…”

Kaltag glanced up at the ceiling, then back at Balto. A puddle of blood had begun to spread across the concrete floor beneath him and his breathing had become much heavier and forced. Nodding to Balto, Kaltag closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

“Alright Balto… Finish me off…” he said dejectedly.

Sighing softly, Balto rose to his feet. Slowly, he pulled out his handgun from its holster on his belt and pulled the hammer back. Gradually, he raised it until it was trained on Kaltag’s forehead. Kaltag gave Balto a small smile and closed his eyes once more- and Balto pulled the trigger.

Bang!

And Corporal Kaltag was finished.

            The next order of business on Balto’s list was to locate Jenna and the super weapon, then take out Nikki and Steele. Walking through a metal door on the far end of the Weapons Hangar, Balto found himself in another hallway. Slowly and warily walking down it, Balto eventually found himself facing another pair of metal doors.

Strange that there’s still no guards… Balto thought to himself.

Balto pressed the buttons beside the metal doors and watched them slide open. Stepping inside, Balto saw a large boiler room, furnaces on every side of him and the blistering heat was almost unbearable. In fact, as soon as Balto stepped inside, he began to sweat profusely. Wiping his brow off, he carried on walking through the hot room. As he stepped through the gigantic room, Balto heard a sharp beep and gasped. Not hesitating to think what it was, Balto jumped backwards just as the furnace beside him exploded in a fiery ball.

“What the hell?” Balto asked no one as he landed and looked around. A deep laugh echoed around him, coming in clear over the hissing of the furnaces.

“So, you’re the one who killed Star!” came the voice of Nikki, “Well, you’re not gettin’ outta here alive!”

Nikki… Balto thought as he cautiously proceeded through the boiler room, Gotta look out for his traps… Balto warily stepped around pipes and furnaces, keeping his ears perked and his body on high alert. After a few more moments, another beep was heard and Balto rolled forward and out of the way of another explosion. Gritting his teeth in irritation, Balto grabbed his handgun from the steel floor and slinked through the room, hunting down his quarry.

As he walked, Balto heard the sound of a machine gun being loaded and glanced to his left. He saw Nikki holding an M-16, a large grin on his face.

Shit… Balto thought as Nikki pulled the trigger. Balto dashed like mad as the rapidly firing bullets pierced the metal wall just inches behind him. Dropping, Balto skidded behind a furnace and sighed with relief, reaching for his M-16- only to find it wasn’t there.

Damn, that’s right… I left it back when I was fighting Kaltag… Balto thought, mentally chastising himself for his stupidity. Cocking his pistol, the gray-brown wolfdog rose up and pressed his back to the wall, slowly sidling across the cold metal surface as he searched for Nikki. As Balto was about to put his foot down, he saw a small black box on the side of one of the boilers. Grinning, Balto bent down and pressed a few buttons, disabling Nikki’s Claymore mine.

“Nice try, Nikki…” Balto muttered to himself.

“Thanks…” Nikki replied to Balto’s side and the agent gasped. Without having to look, Balto hit the floor as dozens of bullets whizzed over his head.

Balto heard Nikki’s assault rifle run dry and heard the dog eject the empty clip. Balto quickly raised himself to a kneeling position and shot Nikki twice in his chest. Nikki laughed and grinned slyly at Balto.

“A bullet-proof vest… Made of flak and a composite base of steel and aluminum!” Nikki announced proudly, jamming a fresh clip of ammo into his rifle.

Balto gritted his teeth as he ducked in cover again as Nikki unleashed a hail of bullets above Balto again. Growling in anger, Balto silently crawled on the ground just out of sight as Nikki continued to fire off rounds where he previously was. Once Balto was far enough away, he rose to his feet and circled back around to where Nikki was. As he saw the back of his enemy’s unarmored head, he raised his gun and took a step forward to get a better shot.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, another beep was heard and Balto closed his eyes, muttering a silent profanity as the boiler in front of him exploded, sending him flying through the air and slamming against one of the metal walls. Balto grunted and groaned as he hit the floor. Above his head, sparks flew as Nikki shot through the smoke of the explosion in an attempt to finish off Balto. Balto grabbed his fallen handgun and scrambled behind cover. He peered out and fired three more shots at Nikki, hitting his torso.

“Come on!” Balto shouted and hid again, ejecting his empty clip and replacing it with a fully loaded one.

“No chance, agent!” Nikki shouted back and fired off a few rounds at the boiler Balto was behind to startle him.

Balto glanced around the corner and spotted Nikki standing beside a boiler. On one side of the boiler was one of Nikki’s many Claymore mines. Grinning, Balto figured out a way to kill Nikki. Mentally preparing himself, he moved around behind Nikki, silently circling to his side. Once he was at Nikki’s left side and the Claymore mine was in view, Balto cocked his handgun and grinned widely.

“Hey Nikki!” Balto shouted, catching Nikki’s attention as the dog turned to face him, “So long!”

As Nikki began to raise his M-16 to Balto, the wolfdog agent aimed his pistol at the Claymore mine and pulled the trigger. Another explosion was heard and Nikki was tossed through the air, landing on the floor