slowly.

“My name’s Balto…” Balto answered, smiling at Jenna, “Nice to meet you, Jenna…”

Jenna laughed, then grinned at him. She leaped on him and knocked him to the floor, lying on top of him. Leaning down, Jenna gently kissed Balto, their lips locking for a few seconds before she pulled back. Both dogs smiled at one another before the door opened and a soldier stared at the two of them.

“Um, who are you?” the soldier asked Balto, then turned to Jenna, “And aren’t you Steele’s girl?”

“Nope,” Jenna corrected, drawing her pistol and shooting the guard, “I’m Balto’s girl.”

Balto chuckled as he watched Jenna take down the dog and slowly climbed out from underneath her. He got to his feet and helped Jenna up as well. He pulled the body into the closet and shut the door, running down the hallway with Jenna by his side.

“Come on! We have to stop Steele before he activates that weapon!” Balto exclaimed as he dashed, “If he fires it, then it’s game over for us, for the government, and for the whole United States!”

Chapter 5

            Balto and Jenna wasted no time running back into the hangar where the weapon was. Looking around, Balto spotted his handgun lying on the floor a few dozen feet away. He dashed for it and wrapped his fingers around it, a wide smile coming across his face as he retrieved his weapon. Nodding to Jenna, both agents ran up the stairs and shot the new guards posted on-duty. From the control room, Steele saw everything and watched as the two of them came closer and closer to him.

Just as Balto was about to run into the control room, Steele pressed a button on the main console and the door was sealed by a metal shutter. Growling, Balto ran back around to the catwalk in front of the control room and glared at Steele as the dog smirked behind the glass. Swiftly raising his gun, Balto fired, the bullet striking the glass right where Steele’s heart was- but nothing happened. Balto lowered his gun and stared in confusion as Steele burst into laughter.

“Foolish half-breed! You can’t kill me!” Steele said mockingly into a headset he wore, his voice being projected throughout the hangar, “This window is made of bullet-proof glass, those doors made of titanium-alloy! There’s no way in hell that you’re getting in here!”

“We’ll see about that…” Balto muttered, then turned to Jenna, “Keep an eye on Steele; I’ll be right back… I have a plan…”

Jenna nodded and watched Balto run back down to the ground floor and into the hallway before vanishing from sight. She turned her gaze back to Steele and glared at him, tightening her grip on her pistol. Steele smirked at her and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Hello Jenna…” Steele said coolly, “Well, here we are…”

“Don’t try any of your tricks on me, Steele!” Jenna snapped back, giving him a poisonous glare, “I’m stronger than I look! I’m not gonna fall for anything!” Steele chuckled softly into his headset, still giving Jenna a cool, calm look.

“Strong girl… But how strong are you really?” Steele asked evilly. He pressed a button on the console and the shutter opened up and Steele stepped out into the open.

As Jenna raised her gun to fire, Steele raised his pistol and pulled his trigger first, sending Jenna’s gun to the other end of the catwalk. Smirking, Steele re-holstered his handgun and removed his headset, letting it drop to the metal flooring. He slowly advanced on Jenna, cracking his knuckles with every step.

“Let’s see just how strong you are…”

Meanwhile, Balto pushed through the door and into the boiler room. He carefully looked around for any remaining Claymore mines and sighed with relief when he spotted no others. Several of the boilers and furnaces had been destroyed in his battle with Nikki, but many remained intact. Walking over to a panel with several thermostats, Balto searched through them all.

Spotting one that was labeled “Control Room,” Balto grinned mischievously. Balto chuckled as he turned the temperature up from 65 degrees to 100 degrees.

“Have fun with that sauna, Steele…” Balto said to himself as he began to walk back to the hangar, “It’ll only be a matter of minutes before Steele will have to open that door!”

Once Balto arrived back into the hangar, he grinned victoriously as he walked up the stairs. He didn’t hear or see Jenna on the catwalks and began to worry. Quickly, he ran back to the control room and saw the door wide open. Looking inside, he saw no one and the laptop Jenna was using to hack with was gone.

“Jenna?” Balto called out, his voice echoing around the silent hangar, “Jenna?!?!”

“Jenna can’t hear you…” came the evil voice of Steele, “She’s been beaten…”

Balto quickly turned around and saw Steele standing on the control platform. In his hands was the laptop Jenna was using, and laying on the metal floor of the platform was an unconscious crimson-and-cream color husky. Balto growled and took two steps forward, raising his handgun to Steele’s body.

“Steele, I swear, if you’ve hurt her I’ll make you wish you hadn’t!” Balto snarled, receiving a wicked laugh from Steele.

“Ooh fighting words, agent… or should I say ‘Balto’?” Steele asked, chuckling when he saw Balto’s surprised look, “Oh don’t be so shocked… Jenna was whispering your name just before she passed out… Have you ever seen someone pass out from lack of oxygen? It’s rather interesting…”

Balto growled angrily and pulled the hammer back on his handgun. Steele smirked and laughed at Balto again. He glanced at the laptop’s screen for a moment, then back to Balto.

“You wanna shoot me? Shoot me…” Steele responded haughtily, “But if you do, this platform will explode… A neural link is connected to a pound of C4 underneath this platform. As soon as my brain shuts down, the bombs go off and Jenna dies…”

Balto continued growling furiously and lowered the hammer on his gun, but kept it level with Steele’s head. A soft ping was emitted from Steele’s laptop and he glanced at the screen- and grinned triumphantly. He glared at Balto, the same grin still on his face.

“Guess what that just was…” Steele said to Balto, “That was the sound signaling America’s doom… That sound means Jenna’s job is done… I now have the activation code to this magnificent super weapon! Now, I can show the US that Sergeant Steele is no push-over! Now the US shall give in to every demand I make once they see just how much power I can release with one blast!”

Laughing manically, Steele walked over to the console on the platform. Copying the code on his laptop, Steele input the code into the terminal and grinned as the words “ACCEPTED” flashed across the screen. Slowly, the platform began to rise away from the catwalk as the weapon prepared itself to fire. Balto stowed his handgun and ran across the catwalk and jumped onto the rising platform just as it pulled away completely.

Steele turned around and glared as he saw Balto pull himself up onto the platform as it moved up the side of the weapon to halfway down the barrel. He punched Balto hard as the agent got to his feet, sending the wolfdog down to the floor again.

“Stupid half-breed! Don’t you see? It’s too late!” Steele said proudly, “You can’t stop me from firing this weapon! You can only deactivate it with the cardkey!”

Steele pulled out a chain from around his neck, revealing a shiny-silver card. Steele then tucked the cardkey back inside his shirt and pressed a few buttons as Balto got to his feet. The cannon shuddered and slowly began to rise towards the ceiling. Balto growled and watched as Steele climbed on top of the barrel of the large cannon as the weapon leveled itself out. Above them, the roof began to move aside, revealing the dark Alaskan sky above.

Balto climbed off of the platform and onto the weapon, facing off against Steele. The two dogs glared at each other as the cannon slowly rose up into the open, the cold air whipping around them. Steele glanced at the laptop still in his hands and pressed the Enter key, starting a countdown timer.

“Ten minutes, Balto…” Steele said over the wind, “Ten minutes is all you have to disarm this weapon before New York City turns into a smoking crater…”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Steele tossed the laptop off the edge of the cannon, watching it fall hundreds of feet to the hangar far below. Balto’s eyes followed the portable computer until it left his sight, then turned back to Steele. Quickly dashing up to Steele, Balto engaged Steele in combat, throwing one punch after another. Steele simply smirked as he blocked Balto’s attacks, then returned one right into the side of the wolfdog’s muzzle.

Balto grunted softly and took a few steps back from the recoil, almost losing his balance when a powerful gust of wind blew across the cannon. Steele laughed evilly and slowly advanced on Balto.

Not good… Balto thought as he glanced around the open air, With the winds up here, one punch could be fatal… Gotta get this weapon back into the hangar, and fast! Balto raised his arms defensively, blocking a powerful jab right at his face. Steele kept trying to break Balto’s defense, but Balto stayed firm in his blocking.

“Why won’t you just give in and die, you stupid half-breed wolfdog agent!” Steele snarled, “Just DIE!!!”

Balto didn’t reply to Steele, instead avoiding and blocking Steele’s every attack. After