expertly. Steele returned a few punches, which Balto dodged, both dogs forcing each other back and forth across the metal catwalk. Every so often, Balto or Steele would score a lucky shot on one another, but many of the assaults were blocked or dodged.

After close to ten minutes of intense close-quarters combat, Steele got a powerful hit in on Balto, sending the wolfdog reeling. As Balto tried to recover, Steele punched Balto’s stomach, causing the agent to double over in agony. Steele then grabbed Balto’s suit and tossed him over the edge of the catwalk. Fortunately, Balto grabbed the rail and spun himself back around, bringing his combat boot forcefully to the side of Steele’s head. Steele stumbled backwards, but didn’t fall.

Balto then carried on punching Steele, landing blow after blow on the sergeant’s muscular body. After several hits, Steele caught on and grabbed Balto’s fist as his enemy threw another punch. Balto gasped as Steele grabbed his hand, then felt Steele toss him through the air and into a stack of steel crates. Balto groaned in pain and felt Steele grab his leg. Steele tossed the beaten-up wolfdog to the other end of the catwalk. Balto anticipated this and masterfully placed his hands on the metal flooring and back-flipped so he was standing against Steele again.

Growling angrily, Steele ran up to Balto and continued their fight, kicking Balto in his side, then punching the wolfdog in his face. Balto fell backward and slumped against the railing. As Steele went to grab him to finish Balto off, Balto grabbed Steele’s shirt and head-butted him hard, stunning Steele temporarily. Balto the turned and ran off down the catwalk. Ahead of him, he could see a door leading inside the Weapons Building. As he ran, Balto heard a gunshot and felt something rip into his torso, sending flashes of white-hot pain through his body.

Crying out in pain, Balto stumbled and fell to his knees. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Steele walk up to him, pistol drawn. He kicked Balto to the ground and placed a boot on the agent’s shoulder, rolling him onto his back. Balto merely stared up at Steele as the evil dog pulled the hammer back on his handgun and trained it on Balto’s forehead.

“Time to die, half-breed…” Steele spat bitterly, an evil and triumphant look on his face, “One-and-for-all…” Then Steele pulled the trigger.

Click!

That was the only sound that came from Steele’s gun; the sound of an empty clip. Steele gasped slightly and stared at his gun. Balto took his momentary distraction and kicked Steele in his groin. As the dog keeled over, Balto took to his feet and kept running for the door, gripping his injured left side as he ran. Once at the door, Balto pulled it open and ran down the tiled hallway, a patch of his green suit turning a dark crimson color. His run becoming a limp, he moved until he saw a door titled “Executive Office.”

Balto grunted as he moved over to it and pulled the door open. Limping inside, he slammed the door shut and turned the lock on the door, hearing the satisfying click. His vision began to go a little blurry as he continued to lose blood. He knew none of his vitals had been hit, or else he would have been dead by now. Walking uneasily over to an armchair, Balto tried to sit down, but ended up collapsing onto the floor. Groaning, he rolled onto his back, a buzzing in his head and his vision now completely blurred. He activated his radio and tried to speak.

“This is Wolf… Can… can anyone hear me?” he asked weakly, his voice becoming heavier and fainter.

“Wolf? Wolf, what’s wrong?” Colonel McIntyre asked worriedly.

“I’ve been… hit… I’m losing blood fast…” Balto explained weakly, “I can hardly see… a thing… My head hurts…”

“Easy now, Wolf… We need to get you patched up… Just hold on and we can walk you through everything…”

“Can’t… stay… awake…” Balto said in a barely audible whisper, his eyes drooping, “Everything… going… black…”

“What? No, Wolf, stay awake!”

“Wolf… out…”

“WOLF!!! No, come in Wolf! Com in! Wolf! Wolf!!!”

Balto’s last words were his final ones. His vision became pitch-black and the protests of Colonel McIntyre were lost to the drowsiness he was starting to feel. Slowly, his body relaxed and went limp on the ground as his eyes closed. Within seconds, Balto was unconscious, steadily bleeding to death.

From outside, the door to where Balto lay shook as someone tried to open it. An irritated sigh was heard, then the sound of a moving grate. A few moments later, the air vent in the ceiling of the office was removed and a red and white husky dropped inside. Jenna took one look around and saw Balto passed out on the floor.

“Wolf!” Jenna exclaimed as she spotted him, quickly running up to his side and kneeling down to examine his wound, “Oh, Wolf… What happened? Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you…”

Jenna quickly pulled a small medical kit from her belt and opened it up. She inspected both sides of Balto, noticing that the bullet had gone clear through his body. Jenna grabbed an iodine bottle and opened the top, rubbing some of the liquid on a cotton ball, and then applying it to the bullet wound. She saw Balto flinch slightly in his unconscious state, but he settled quickly. Jenna sighed softly and pulled out a roll of linen bandaging, pulled Balto’s dark green shirt off, and began tying it around his lower torso. Once she finished patching Balto up, she moved around to the desk in the room and turned on the computer on the desk and began to type away at something.

            Balto could see nothing but black in his mind. He looked around, back and forth, but nothing. Growling softly, Balto began to run through the darkness, every footstep he took taking him absolutely nowhere different. After several minutes, Balto stopped running and sighed with annoyance as he looked around into the blackness.

“Perfect…” Balto muttered, then perked his ears up as he heard voices.

“Wolf! Wolf, wake up!” came the voice of Colonel McIntyre.

“Wolf! Oh please, Wolf… get up… Get up…” the voice of Jenna rang out.

“Jenna? Colonel?” Balto asked into the dark void, looking around for them.

“Damn half-breed… You bit off more than you could chew… Have fun in Hell…” Steele’s taunting voice said. Balto gritted his teeth and began to run again, looking everywhere for the voices.

“What’s going on? Where are you?” Balto shouted out to nothing. A bright light slowly began to overtake the black and his body. Balto had to close his eyes from the light as he slowly woke up…

Balto’s eyelids fluttered slightly as he slowly opened up his brown-gold wolf eyes. Everything was a vague blur, but things steadily settled into proportion and he could make things out clearly. A throbbing pain was in the lower-left side of his torso, but he knew he wasn’t dead or bleeding anymore. Glancing down, he saw someone had bandaged him up while he was out. Sitting up, Balto looked around and saw Jenna, fast asleep in the armchair behind the desk.

“Thank you, Jenna…” he whispered, slowly getting to his feet and pulling his shirt back on. He looked down at his radio and noticed Jenna had shut it off for him. He turned it on and spoke.

“This is Wolf… I’m alive…” he said into the mini-microphone and chuckled when he heard distant cheers through his earpiece.

“Excellent work Wolf! How did you survive?”

“Jenna… Husky, saved my life… She patched me up while I was out of it…” he explained, giving Jenna a warm, thankful smile.

“Excellent teamwork! Be sure to thank her properly; if she hadn’t come along, you would’ve bled out in twenty minutes.”

“I will… How long was I out for, anyway?”

“Roughly three hours…”

“Three hours?!?!” Balto exclaimed, checking his wristwatch and confirming that fact, “Oh shit… Kalgan! He could be dead or they could be prepared to fire the weapon! I’ve got to go now, Wolf out!”

Before the Colonel could reply, Balto turned the radio off and quickly drew out his handgun. He grabbed a nutrition bar from one of his various pouches and quickly ate it to replenish his energy, then unlocked the door and ran out. Moving down the hallway, Balto heard a door behind him open and quickly spun around, raising his gun to the dog that stepped out into the hall- and lowered it when he saw it was Jenna. Jenna gasped and ran up to him, embracing him tightly.

“Wolf! Oh thank God you’re alright!” Jenna said happily, smiling widely, “I thought you were gonna die!” Balto chuckled slightly and hugged Jenna back.

“Hey, it’s alright… I’m tough… I’m alive…” Balto replied, grinning back at her, then spotting a security camera, “Oh Hell… We’ve been caught…” Jenna smirked and waved to the camera.

“No we’re not. While you were asleep, I disabled all the security alarms and cameras in this building!” Jenna explained, smiling in self-satisfaction. Balto stared at her, impressed by her skills.

“Wow Jenna… Great job!” he said and patted her on the shoulder, the motioning down the hallway with his gun, “We’d better hurry. We need to find Doctor Kalgan before something happens to him!”

“Um, Wolf…” Jenna said softly, swallowing hard, “Kalgan… He’s… He’s dead…” Balto just stared at Jenna for a moment, utterly flabbergasted.

“What?” he asked plainly, still staring at her.

“Kaltag… He killed Kalgan about an hour ago… I saw him…” Jenna explained to him, “He refused to tell them his code, so Steele said he’d hack the mainframe and find it himself… So he had Kaltag kill Kalgan… He’s dead, Wolf…”

Balto continued to simply stare for a moment as Jenna’s words sank into his mind. He shook his head a