sweep across the hallway before nodding to Kodi who followed in behind him. The two of them slowly and quietly made their way down a hall, following a sign marked Control Room.

Balto felt the soft soil beneath his combat boots and sighed heavily. Beside him, the wolf, his mentor, chuckled slightly and detached his parachute from his rucksack.

“Now was that all that bad Balto?” he asked, grinning at him. Balto slowly shook his head.

“No, I thought it would be a lot worse, actually!” he admitted sheepishly, “But I guess all your teaching and encouraging really helped me out… Thanks Brad…”

“No problem Balto…” Brad replied, drawing out his handgun, a Colt M1911A1, and motioning through the jungle, “Now the base is about ten miles north of here… We’d better get moving if we want to get there before nightfall… Not that we’d have many problems… I’m a wolf and you’re half wolf, right?” Balto nodded and drew his Beretta, making sure it was loaded before following Brad through the jungle.

“Yeah… I’m part wolf, part husky… I was teased a lot for being a half-breed…” he admitted softly, gripping his handgun tightly as memories rushed to him. Brad placed a hand on his apprentice’s shoulder and smiled.

“What’s wrong with being half-and-half?” he asked, “You get the best of both worlds, right?” Balto smiled slightly and nodded slowly.

“Yeah… Best of both worlds…”

“That’s the spirit… Now c’mon… We’ve got a long walk ahead of us…” Brad then went off in a sweeping direction while Balto proceeded forward, eyes and ears alert for any enemy soldiers…

Surprisingly, the hallways were completely desolate, not a single guard in sight. Balto and Kodi sidled along the walls nonetheless, eyes dead-set down the farthest ends of the blank white halls. Upon rounding a corner, they found themselves staring at a gray metal door with the words Outer Platform on it. Balto walked around to it and silently opened it, pushing his gun through first then himself, scanning for any enemies. None were in sight, so he walked through and placed his back to the wall, shortly followed by Kodi.

Now outside in the dark night, their stealth suits blended perfectly with their surroundings. They slowly slinked along the railing at the edge of the platform, the sounds of the waves crashing against the side of the oil rig moving in a hypnotic rhythm. As they rounded another corner, they found a huge metal platform area, drums of oil pretty much everywhere and many guards patrolling back and forth through the aisles of barrels. Balto growled softly and looked around, spotting a door on the far side and turned to Kodi.

“Alright Kodi, see that door over there? I’m gonna give you a clear path to the door… Just give me fifteen minutes…” Balto replied, looking up at a window 100 feet above him, “I’ll be right back…”

Before Kodi could ask what Balto had in mind, Balto ran up against the opposite wall, hiding in the shadows. He pulled out his grappling gun and fired it, latching onto the steel wall just above the window. With a slight salute to Kodi, Balto pulled the trigger and shot skyward at a rapid speed. As soon as he was within range of the window, Balto stopped his ascent and swung back and forth for a moment before pressing the button and flying toward the window, smashing through it and pulling out his handgun, holding it up and scanning for enemies.

Balto was now in a bathroom, and from the sounds of things, he was alone. He pressed the button on the radio on his chest.

“Alright Kodi, I’m in… I’ll find a way to create a distraction for you…” Balto said into the microphone on his headset, releasing the button and slowly walking toward the door out of the bathroom.

However, as the wolfdog reached the door and went to open it, he heard bootsteps approaching and quickly ducked behind the way the door would open. As soon as it did, he grabbed the guard who walked inside. The dog gasped sharply and yelped, but was silenced when Balto put his hand over his mouth, his hand around the dog’s chest and his combat knife to the guard’s neck.

“Listen to me, I’m not a rookie to this kind of stuff… I will cut you open unless you stop making noise and start telling me something that’ll interest me… understood?” Balto asked in a low, fierce voice. The dog nodded and Balto let go of his mouth, “Now, where’s Niju Suarez?”

“H-he’s in t-the Oil Processing Area… T-that’s where I last s-saw him…” the soldier said, voice shaking with fear, “P-please don’t kill me!”

“That’s up to me to decide…” Balto replied, pressing his knife harder against the dog’s throat, “Tell me, what’s the name of your group and why are you doing this?”

“I-I don’t know why we’re doing any of this! I’m just a mercenary soldier hired by Mr. Suarez! I don’t know, honestly!” the guard answered, whimpering softly, “H-he calls us the Falcons… I don’t know why. Maybe he just likes falcons!”

“Thanks… You’re free to go now…” Balto replied, letting go of the guard and delivering a swift, powerful strike to the back of the dog’s neck, dropping him to the floor before hiding him in a stall and locking it.

Turning on his heels, Balto replaced his knife in its sheath and pulled out his handgun, walking out into the white hallways and saw a guard a few dozen feet away. Before the mercenary could even raise his gun, Balto pulled the trigger twice, the silenced shots barely making a noise as the bullets hit their target in the chest. The guard shuddered slightly and fell to the ground. Balto ran up to the body and took the FAMAS assault rifle from him, stashing the body in the bathroom like the other one.

Slinging the assault rifle across his shoulder, Balto carried on down the hallways, eyes peeled for any guards. A few moments later, he heard someone approaching from both sides of him. Eyes darting around for a way out, Balto spotted a ventilation grate above him. He jumped up and pulled it off, climbing inside and sealing himself in. Below, he watched as two guards crossed paths before going back to patrolling.

With a soft sigh, Balto crawled his way through the ventilation shafts, looking for a way to create a distraction for Kodi to slip inside as well. After searching, he reached a grate that led outside. Balto kicked it out and climbed out and landed on a steel catwalk outside, 100 feet above the Outer Platform where he’d left Kodi. Balto stowed his Beretta and pulled the FAMAS from across his shoulder, walking to the railing of the catwalk and aiming down below. He fired off several rounds, managing to hit one of the guards and kill him before the others took cover and began to return fire.

Balto ran down the catwalk, firing back blindly at the enemy soldiers below him. During the shooting, Balto hit one of the many barrels of oil, causing a large explosion. Kodi watched and as soon as the explosion happened, he ran forward, heading for the door Balto had pointed out. As he reached the door, it opened up and a single guard spotted Kodi. Kodi kicked the guard’s gun out of his hands and delivered a round-house kick to the dog’s head, knocking him against the wall and watched him crumple to the floor before running in and closing the door.

Once Balto was sure Kodi was safely inside, he ran to the end of the catwalk and pulled open the door, rushing inside. Balto ran down the hallways until he found an elevator. He pressed the button beside it and waited for it to arrive. As soon as the doors opened, Balto pointed his handgun at the emptiness inside. He moved inside and pressed the button for the 1st Floor, watching the doors close and feeling the elevator descend.

Kodi slowly slinked through the hallways, keeping his handgun raised in case anything came out at him. Now that he was able to be seen, without his father beside him, Kodi felt a little bit nervous. However, he kept his wits about him and carried on going until he passed by a row of elevators. As he walked by one, the doors opened and Kodi pointed his pistol and a dog who pointed a similar pistol at him. It was Balto. With a sigh, Kodi lowered his gun and smiled at his father.

“Dad… You gave me a scare there…” Kodi said, “That was a smart idea, shooting at the guards like that Dad… Thanks for helping me inside…”

“Not a problem son… You did well back down there…” Balto said, patting Kodi on the shoulder, “Now come on, we need to find the Oil Processing Area… That’s where Niju was last seen…” Kodi nodded and Balto looked at the directory beside the elevators. The Oil Processing Area was on the 3rd Floor. Balto nodded to Kodi and both agents walked back into the elevator, going up to their selected level.

Once the doors opened once more, Balto and Kodi, guns raised and ready to fire, stepped out into the hallway, each one aiming down the other end of the hall. When they saw the same barrenness as the other halls, Balto nodded to Kodi and followed the markings on the walls to their destination. As they rounded a corner, Balto ran into a guard and stumbled slightly. The guard recovered first and went to shoot Balto, but Kodi reacted faster and pulled his trigger four times, each bullet striking the dog in a different part of his torso. Kodi watched as the guard fell dead to the floor, a shocked look on his face.

“Well done, Kodi…” Balto said, looking from the dead guard to Kodi, giving him a thumbs-up, “First kill… Don’t worry about it though… It was necessary…” Kodi only nodded, still shocked as he looked at the handgun in his slightly trembling hand. Balto patted Kodi on his back before motioning down the hall with his gun.

“Come on, we have to go…” Balto said softly, leading a shell-shocked Kodi onward…

Balto pushed through the