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Hello everyone,

I have been in and out of the Balto community since TheBaltoLeague first began way back in 1999. I decided (at that time a middle schooler) to write a fanfiction about the characters from Balto, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Road Rovers, and White Fang. After seven parts, it was over, and all of a sudden I was a sophomore in high school. I ended up posting it all over the internet in places that no longer exist (Thanks to Greykitty, Zykwulf, Silver Husky, and Acanis, wherever you guys are). I went by the alias Ragingwolf51 if that rings a bell for some of you.

Anyway, after an unplanned viewing of Balto by my nephews, I decided to stick my neck back in and say hello and I also wanted to say how happy I am that the Balto culture is still alive and well. I hope to see some new and old faces.

Artwork will come soon, but for now here is all 7 parts. Enjoy them. I see I can't post Microsoft Word files, so I will post them as text. The stories really start to mature starting with Part 4, and all of the original deadlines at the bottom are still there.

Thanks,
BaltoLEO

NYPD Balto Part I

Starring:
Balto
Jenna
Charlie Barkin
Sasha Barkin
Hunter Raven
Exile Chernobyl

“COME ON EXILE WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!!” It was 8:30 in the morning and Hunter, who lived down the block from Exile, came to pick up Exile for their training day. They both had to be at the 51st Precinct at 8:45 and Exile was still hobbling around the house trying to get his pants over his boxers and his shirt on. Finally, after 2 minutes of hassling by Hunter, Exile got dressed, grabbed a quick cup of coffee, and ran out of the house. These two dogs had a lot of common. They loved the ladies, but more importantly, they were former Road Rovers who risked their lives to save the world. They joined the NYPD after a horrible accident at Road Rovers Central Command. Both are very likable, and each had their own sets of super powers. Exile was born in Chernobyl, Siberia. This Siberian Husky could freeze anything that he stared at for more that 5 seconds. Hunter had super speed and was super friendly, which got him very far in the Gulf War.

Balto and Jenna’s story begins in Nome, Alaska. After his last run in 1999 serum run Balto started to get a strange feeling. When he went to New York City to see his statue, he felt better so a year later he moved to the middle of Manhattan with a beautiful view of the World Trade Center complex and a distant view of the Empire State Building. Balto and Jenna arrived at the office at 8:40. Balto was the chief officer of his division, so his job was to train the rookies and show them the lay of the land. Charlie Barkin and Sasha Barkin were highly ranked officers out of San Francisco. They all worked in the same unit and were all good friends. “BOOM”. The door flies open and Hunter and Exile come barging through. “We’re here for our training day Balto and Charlie.” “Good”, the both division leaders replied. Charlie was a good officer with nothing special, but Balto was unique because of his wolf heritage. “Let’s go.”

Parked out in front of the lot was a very powerful Chevy Tahoe. “I’ll take the wheel.” Balto said with a very enthusiastic voice. First stop was a stakeout at a local Friday’s. 3 hours into it, Hunter said “I REALLY need to go to the bathroom” and quickly barged out of the SUV. Hunter began walking past all the tables, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He figured it was a waitress passing him and just happened to nudge him. With a quick shrug of his shoulders he waltzed into the bathroom and once again there was a tap on his shoulder. He spun around only to be confronted with a .44 magnum pistol fully loaded pointed directly at him. Hunter froze. “Listen, I don’t want any trouble.” The 6 foot tall Labrador fired two rounds into Hunter’s bulletproof vest that was tucked under his jacket.

“OFFICER DOWN, OFFICER DOWN!” Hunter screamed into his walkie-talkie. Balto noticed a man fleeing and gave chase on foot. Jenna hopped into the driver’s seat and hit the siren. The Lab looked back and the last thing that he saw was a flash of blue and red lights, and a brown body with fangs. Exile watched in horror as he saw Balto unleash his wolfish side upon the criminal. Then Balto slapped the cuffs on him and threw him into the back of the Tahoe. At the 51st Precinct, the Labrador was given a quick onslaught of offenses including assault and attempted murder of a police officer. Hunter took off the vest that just saved his life and put it in his duffle bag. “Good work Balto.” Jenna said, and she gave him a nuzzle. What Hunter and Exile saw was not only an arrest, but also a very powerful image of what cops can do when they are pushed and when fellow officers go down.

“Let’s go guys it’s time to go back out on the streets and let’s hope the rest of the day goes uneventful.” Balto couldn’t be more wrong……..

Balto hustled the other 5 dogs into the Tahoe and quickly gassed it up, floored the accelerator, and they were on the lower east side of the Bronx. It was getting dark and already it was 5:00. This was prime time for drug transactions and criminal activity. Balto knew these streets too well because of the training he received as a rookie. Balto let the truck slowly pace down the streets. Gangs and people were giving the officers the evil eye, and Exile was getting very uneasy. All of a sudden a car rocketed past theirs and Jenna hit the siren and they were off in hot pursuit. It had three bullet holes in the back and Charlie saw that the car was leaking fuel. Balto hadn’t noticed because he was paying attention to his surroundings because they were flying by everything at close to 90 mph.

Nearing the Cross Bronx Expressway, Charlie and Sasha knew that this chase would continue and that this maniac would outrun them if Balto made a mistake behind the wheel. It started to rain and the gasoline was creating a slippery effect on the wheels and Balto could feel the truck jostling and hydroplaning every so often. With red eyes and a sudden rush of adrenaline, Balto slammed on the gas pedal. 95..100..110.. and the speedometer kept rising, then Exile’s eyes grew wide, very wide.

This car that they were chasing was a mobster car and the New York City mafia had set up a roadblock that consisted of two Hummers and a limo to close off the road. They were set up and Balto noticed it, but it was too late. He slammed on the brakes and managed to bring the Tahoe to 65 before broadsiding the limo. Without a seconds hesitation, the mafia opened fire upon the wrecked Tahoe sending bullet holes and glass flying through the air. Exile decided to return fire first. He sent an entourage of bullets into the air and managed to hit three mobsters and sent them bloodied against the cars they were brought in. Sasha also opened fire and together the two officers brought the situation down to a stand off. Neither side exchanged shots because they ran out of ammo.

Hunter began to stir from his state of unconsciousness and he sent his 11 rounds into sides of doors and into 4 mobsters. Jenna, who got the passenger airbag, was awakening and when Hunter, Exile, and Sasha ran out of ammo saw the shotgun in the carrying case embedded into the roof. She loaded it up and started her assault on the most dangerous people in New York City. She was successful in leveling the rest of the playing field. All that was left were the shot up cars and the untouched car that they gave chase to in the first place. It was still leaking fuel, but it was drivable. Exile arose and shook his head in disbelief. 20 dead, 6 wounded, and 4 wrecked cars. Balto was still unconscious from the blow he received. Exile quickly rushed to the undamaged car and began freezing the oil and gasoline. Then he repaired the leak and started the engine. It started and Hunter carried Balto over his shoulder and into the car. The car was just enough to get back to the precinct and to get Balto into the precinct’s hospital bed.

One week later Balto arose from his coma to a warm welcome. He had broken his arm and suffered a minor concussion, but that was all. He was all healed up and ready for a day of work. “You both passed. You both will get a medal of valor and heroism and courage for your actions. Welcome to the 51st precinct, New York Division.” Everyone clapped and applauded their heroism and a veteran’s awakening. “C’mon, it’s back to my place for some beers, chips, and a Jets vs. Giants game on the big screen.”

TO BE CONTINUED……………………………….

NYPD BALTO PART II

Starring:
Balto
Jenna
Exile Chernobyl
Hunter Raven
Charlie Barkin
Sasha Barkin

It was a romantic evening that hot and humid summer night. Tonight was especially warm due to the warm front coming in from the south. New York City was in the middle of a heat wave, but the six police dogs didn’t care, tonight was their one night off where they could do whatever they wanted. No walkie-talkie’s or badges or uniforms. In fact, the only police related thing each of them had on was their gun. All of them were just on Balto and Jenna’s patio, and the two couples were laying next to each other, while Exile and Hunter went inside to watch the Jets vs. Giants Super bowl game. They both wished they had girlfriends to smother with kisses and share their love and one day raise a family.

After a while Hunter and Exile went home, and the two couples stayed there a little longer. Soon after, Charlie and Sasha went home to watch late night television. Balto and Jenna had about the same plans. Balto kissed Jenna’s neck and went to bed. The next morning, Jenna’s belly was wider. Balto thought maybe it had been the Big Mac she had for lunch earlier yesterday. Balto and Jenna went over to Sasha and Charlie’s house for brunch, only to see that Sasha had gotten a little wider around the waist as well. Balto finally realized it hadn’t been the Big Mac, but rather she was going to have a child. Soon After, Exile and Hunter came over to Charlie’s house. They said they had gotten a call that someone was atop the World Trade Center ready to commit suicide. They left and the two couples continued brunch.

The next day the six police dogs were back on the scene. All of a sudden, they saw a car whiz by at over double the posted speed limit, but then lost control on the rain slick road, going into a ditch. The vehicle rolled ¼ of the way over, leaving the driver’s side up. The suspect rose up from the car and fired several rounds aimlessly into the open, and surprisingly the person had shot out the police dog’s driver’s side tire, deflating it instantly. After Hunter had the suspect in custody, Exile called the towing company, and had their vehicle towed away. Exile brought another car back, a Ford Explorer. It took a while for Balto to get used to the different controls, but soon he had the car in his paws.

One day Exile, Hunter, Balto, and Charlie went on duty while the two girls were in the hospital getting an ultrasound. Balto was doing a steady 60mph, when all of a sudden they all heard a tear and Balto lost complete control. The Explorer hit a highway support pole and slid on it’s roof across four lanes of traffic, was clipped by an oncoming vehicle, causing the car to come off it’s roof, and finally come to rest against a tree. All of them were lying unconscious inside the now demolished vehicle. One of the other drivers called 9-1-1. Minutes later crash detectives and rescue teams were on scene helping the dogs out of the car and were rushed to the hospital.

Jenna and Sasha had just come out of the hospital when both received a phone call to return to the hospital because their husbands had been involved in a serious car accident. Jenna and Sasha walked over to the four badly hurt dogs. Balto had received head trauma, ripped skin, and two broken legs. Exile also had head trauma, as well as two shattered wrists. Hunter had severe skin abrasions as well as a broken arm. Charlie had only a broken ankle and some minor cuts. The doctor told Jenna that Balto had received the worst injuries because his side had the exploded tire. Exile also had nearly the same injuries because he was in the driver’s side back seat.

The car crash detectives found the problem. The Explorer was equipped with the infamous Firestone Wilderness AT tires. The front driver’s side tire had torn to pieces and slid off of the rim, causing Balto to lose control. The explosion also caused the car to flip onto the driver’s side, so the car really was not flat on its roof, but rather sliding on a 30-degree angle. Jenna burst into tears and at this Sasha also cried. They couldn’t possibly patrol the busy streets of New York together. They needed the guys to help them. But all they could do was watch and wait for the boys to get better. In a week all four dogs were back to health, and the two girl dogs were eligible for temporary leave due to their pregnancies. There was one temporary bothering thought in Balto’s mind. He was afraid to drive a car that was either a Ford or that had Firestone tires.

Exile was ready to wipe out any crime that was on the streets. As Hunter pulled up with the Chevy Tahoe, they were off. As they approached the city amusement park, they all said to each other, why not? They all went into the park and played some games and rode some rides. As they went onto the roller coaster ride, they saw a person stalking a woman. The mysterious man pulled out a knife and ordered the woman to clear her purse of anything valuable and give it to him. Hunter jumped off of the coaster as it slowed down and tackled the criminal to the ground. They engaged in a vicious battle and as Hunter landed a devastating punch, he brought the suspect to his feet and told the suspect to empty his pockets. More than $400.00 fell out of his pockets. When Hunter gave the money back to the woman, their eyes met. The two dogs fell in love immediately and the girl’s friend came over to see if she was ok.

Now Exile was lured into a deep love trance. She was of the same species. Finally Exile had found his dream girl. A beautiful Siberian husky, pale in color. Exile walked over to the husky and their eyes met. Both started talking in their thick Russian accents, and the two new couples engaged in conversations. Finally each of the single dogs had a mate.

TO BE CONTINUED….

NYPD Balto Part III


NYPD Balto Part III

Starring
Balto McCanine
Jenna McCanine
Charlie Barkin
Sasha Barkin
Exile Chernobyl
Hunter Raven

Balto drove everybody home, and the two girls who
Exile and Hunter just met followed them in the NYPD
Chevy Tahoe patrol truck. The car the two ladies
were driving was an old Ford Mustang convertible.
As the Tahoe and Mustang pulled into Balto’s
driveway, everybody grew tired and Balto told the
girls to stay, but only for a little while. They
all talked for a little while, and at about 9:00 in
the evening, everybody went home. Balto saw Exile
and Hunter, however, get into the Mustang with the
two girls. “I think they’re hitting it off”, Balto
said to Jenna as he got dressed for bed. “I think
so too.” Jenna replied.

With a new day came several new tasks to perform.
Jenna was nearing the end of her pregnancy, and
Balto had to perform 2x the work, as did Charlie
because Sasha was too on a “sick” leave for her
pregnancy. Balto picked up Charlie, and then they
went over to Hunter and Exile’s house, but they
weren’t there. They thought “Oh well.” As they
drove on they completed their line of work, and at
the end of the day; Balto dropped off Charlie and
decided to go back to Hunter and Exile’s house to
see if they were back. Balto parked the Chevy and
walked to their front doors. In both houses, there
was no response. When Balto kicked down Exile’s
door, he saw a letter that was hanging from the top
of the ceiling. Balto jumped and grabbed the
letter. It said, ”Go to the answering machine and
check the messages.” Balto went to the machine and
checked the first message. On the first message,
were Hunter and Exile’s girlfriends. “If you ever
want to see your partners again, come to Hunter’s
house.

Balto ran to the Tahoe, started it up, and drove to
Hunter’s house as fast as he could. Hunter’s house
meant you had to go through the Midtown/Queens
tunnel, which was jam-packed with traffic around
this hour. After waiting 10 minutes, Balto couldn’t
stand in traffic when he knew something was so
terribly wrong. He turned on the siren and traffic,
as packed it was, managed to pull over, leaving one
lane open. He weaved his way through traffic to get
to the open lane, and sped though the open lane at
70mph. At the exit, he made a hard left to get on
51st street, where Hunter’s apartment was located.
He stopped the car, and without shutting off the
siren or the car, charged his way up 3 flights of stairs.

He kicked the door down, and made his way into
Hunter’s apartment, gun drawn. He entered the
living room, and there he saw what he was hoping
for. He saw Exile and Hunter all chained up, but
they were alive. Balto couldn’t pick or break the
lock. He went over to Exile and told him to look
away, so he wouldn’t get any metal in his eyes from
the exploding lock. Balto held the lock away from
Exile, and pulled the trigger on his gun. The lock
exploded and Exile was free. Balto’s hand had metal
embedded in it, and a piece of the bullet had
clipped one of his veins in his hand, causing it to
bleed. Exile was trying to free Hunter, when the
two ladies came back. They rushed Balto for an easy
catch, and Exile managed to escape.

Exile jumped down all three flights of stairs and
got into the police truck and drove off. As Exile
drove off, Balto said to the two mystery girls
“You’ll never catch him, he’s one of our best
drivers.” “You’re so simple, we’re going after
him,” One dog replied. Just for talking back,
Exile’s former “girlfriend” hit Balto across the
face with his gun, knocking him out cold. “I can’t
believe I got tricked by you girls,” Hunter said.
Hunter’s “girlfriend” said, “Shut up” and smacked
him across the face so hard it knocked him out as
well.

Exile was going south on the Cross-Bronx expressway,
when he saw a red Ford Mustang GT in his rear-view
mirror. Immediately, he turned around into the northbound lanes and revved up the engine. The
Tahoe responded and burned out, siren blaring, to
alert the other drivers of the danger behind him.
He knew he couldn’t out-run the two girls in their
Mustang, because with the police package, his
horsepower only topped out at 350. The Mustang had
a top horsepower rating of 419, so they caught up
with him quickly, ramming his rear bumper. This was
pretty stupid considering the enormous weight
advantage of the Tahoe, outweighing the sports car
by 660 pounds, so the truck didn’t budge.

Up ahead, he saw a construction site filled with
potholes and off-road terrain under the Brooklyn
Bridge, a great place to lose the low-to the-ground
Mustang. Exile made the turn onto the site, and
immediately saw the advantage that was now in his
power. The Tahoe had a ground clearance of 6.1
inches, compared to the 1.2” of space between the
bottom of the Mustang and the ground. The slippery
ground had the Mustang at its knees in seconds. All
the potholes the Tahoe cleared, the Mustang scraped
with its undercarriage, sending pieces of the bottom
of the car flying through the air, ricocheting off
other objects. The girls stopped chasing, and Exile
managed to escape.

Fifteen minutes later, Exile dared to go back to the
lair where the girls were keeping his partners
hostage. He was astonished to find them unprotected
by the girls. He went to the bedroom where Balto
and Hunter were at, and untied them both. They all
rushed downstairs and got into the truck, unknowing
they had surprise visitor behind the building they
came out of. Exile put the truck into drive and pulled away. He repeatedly kept looking in the
rear-view mirror looking for that red colored sports
car, and finally saw it re-appear.

They were both on the same road, so Exile went to
the same off-road territory he went before. Exile
took the same path again, but the girls learned
their lesson and put hydraulics on all four
suspension springs, allowing ground clearance of 6.3
inches, so now the advantage in horsepower and
height were in the Mustang’s favor. The weight
advantage the Tahoe had was now useless to them.
Exile quickly took the chase onto wet grass and
turned the AWD system to “High” so there would be no
slippage of the wheels. Finally Exile saw the
moment he wanted, the Mustang didn’t have AWD at
all, so the wheels kept spinning out. Exile
made a hard, controlled left near the Hudson River,
and the Mustang reluctantly followed. At 20mph, the
Mustang slid out and the right front wheel “tripped”
over a rock and caused the Mustang to roll over on
its roof, and slid on its roof by the edge of the
Hudson. The two girls were trapped, and the Tahoe
was parked in front of the driver’s side door so
they could not escape the flooding car.

Exile and Hunter dragged the two women out of the
other side of the car and put handcuffs on each.
They were driven to the 32nd Precinct jail for 10
years. “Good work guys, let’s go home.” Balto said.
“Good driving skills, Exile”, Hunter added, and
they all went home. One month later, Jenna gave
birth to Bobby McCanine, and Sasha gave birth to
Rover. Uncles Exile and Hunter watched in awe, and
all was well in New York.

To be continued………….

NYPD BALTO PART 4

This is dedicated to the heroes of 9/11/01, and to my Aunt and Uncle’s recently deceased Siberian Husky at 14 years, Nequila.

Starring:
Balto & Jenna with their daughter, Aleu
Charlie Barkin & Sasha Barkin with their son, Frankie
Exile Chernobyl
Hunter Raven
White Fang

Guest Appearances:
Steele
Star
Nikki
Nequila

It was a blustery fall day at John F. Kennedy Airport, and it was a joyous day at that, because Balto and Jenna were awaiting the arrival of Aleu, who had just graduated from Alaska University. After Aleu had gone off with the wolf pack, she made a living for herself as a nurse in an Alaskan hospital, as a member of the Emergency Room team. Sasha and Charlie were also awaiting the arrival of Frankie, their son who was just coming home from the fight in the Middle East. The four adult dogs were not showing any signs of age, and were vigorous and energetic as ever. Exile and Hunter were back at the Precinct working until they solved a murder case with a very difficult witness. One plane made its way to the terminal, the doors opened, and then the four police dogs saw her.

She had grown furry and beautiful. She was dark and light shades of tan with baby blue eyes, and she inherited the yellow eye tinting from Balto’s wolf ancestors. From Jenna she inherited the beauty and her smarts, and from Balto her cleverness and agility. She could not be classified as a dog by any stretch of the imagination, save for the wolf like teeth and paws Balto’s ancestors had given her. She was part dog, but it had nothing to do with her physical makeup. Her personality was filled with determination and the willingness to succeed, and she treated every task she undertook accordingly. She had straight A’s when she graduated from Alaska U, and had even had a boyfriend or two, but those were lost when they found out about her extensive wolf heritage. She was single wolf dog who was always out for a challenge and a good time.
Balto greeted her with a warm hug and many kisses, because even though she wrote, she hadn’t seen Balto since she floated away on the iceberg 2 years back, and she hadn’t seen Jenna since she ran away from home. After 2 years of not seeing her child, Jenna stood there in complete awe. Both women stood still looking at each other for about 5 minutes. A tear rolled down Jenna’s eyes as she hugged Aleu. Aleu started to cry tears of joy, and Jenna did the same. They hugged for about 5 minutes, and both sat on an airport bench talking to each other, reminiscing about what has happened.

15 minutes later another plane arrived, and out stepped Frankie. Frankie was all dog, because unlike Balto, neither Sasha nor Charlie had an ounce of wolf blood in them that may have been passed down to them. Their parents and them were born and raised in San Francisco, so Frankie’s all dog heritage followed him through Sasha and Charlie’s genes. He was strong, but not muscular. He looked scrawny at first sight, but he could carry his own weight, literally. He was the United States Army’s top bench presser and even tried to enter the World’s Strongest Dog competition. Frankie had some of the characteristic moles that were passed on by Charlie, but he acquired his rusty reddish fur from Sasha. He had a large brown spot on his back, but his Air Force jacket he now wore, along with the rest of his clothing covered that. Frankie was a romancer as well, but he couldn’t keep a relationship together long enough, so he was between girlfriends most of the time.

The two dogs continued to greet their parents as Exile and Hunter got to the terminal. They were both talking angrily about the case and the witness that they had been interrogating. They had no idea that the witness was one Balto knew all to well. As they walked they saw Aleu and Frankie. Both of their jaws were now laying on the floor in complete amazement. They only remembered Aleu and Frankie from the baby pictures, but they remembered, scarcely. Hunter and Exile greeted the two grown up dogs with intense emotion. “Come on all of you, let’s take you home” were Exile’s words to the whole group of happy dogs.

They made their way into the parking garage, and two cars sat there instead of one. Since the police pack was so big, two cars were needed to fit all of the hard working bodies. In one parking space stood the all-new 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe police unit, with a heavily modified 474 horsepower V-8 engine. In the other space stood an undercover 2001 Chevrolet Blazer. This two-door car was surprisingly roomy, and under it’s hood also was a 474 horsepower V-8 engine. It was very stylish and the paint glistened as the parking garage lights hit it. It had a prominent street presence with a body kit and 20” archer rims that gave the appearance that the car was clawing into the New York asphalt. The group of dogs got into both cars with ease, and began their journey South to Lower Manhattan.

Much talking was done throughout the ride as the car slowly paced the streets at a meandering 12 miles per hour. Traffic was somewhat heavy, but nothing a flash of lights and a wailing siren couldn’t handle. Balto repeatedly flashed his bright lights and siren, and traffic moved over for the two vehicles. 10 minutes after that the ride was over, and Balto showed everyone upstairs, and Aleu was eager to see what was inside with eager eyes.

Balto opened the door to the luxurious apartment and at the flick of a light switch the halls were a bright with color and texture. Aleu began to wander around the house, asking questions about where her old stuff was and what some of the new stuff is. The outside view was beautiful, and she saw the entire World Trade Center complex and the entire Upper Manhattan skyline. Aleu stood breathless and overtaken with awe, and Frankie also looked at the two massive buildings and the view. Charlie and Sasha took Frankie home and Aleu began to take off her hefty clothes and slip into her pajamas. Balto and Jenna went into their bedroom, allowing Aleu to pass out on the couch.

Aleu woke up at the smell of fresh eggs and pancakes that Balto was happily preparing at the stove in the kitchen. She turned over to the other side of the bed and the clock read 6:30. Aleu was angry the she was woken up, but the thought of Balto’s breakfast cooking made her eager to get out of bed and to the breakfast table. Jenna was already vigorously eating some of the eggs and pancakes Balto had lain on the table. “Jenna calm down, otherwise I’ll have to go to the store just to make some for Aleu.” Jenna started to chew at a regular pace as Aleu sat down to eat. Balto put 3 eggs and 2 pancakes on Aleu’s plate. Not even half a minute passed before Aleu was licking her plate clean. Balto stared in confusion. It was like she never chewed or swallowed. With her experience in the forest with the wolves she learned to eat her portion quickly, otherwise the rest of the pack would devour it. Balto shook his head, cooked up two more pancakes and sat down, newspaper in paw.

After finishing breakfast, Balto and Jenna went down to the Precinct at about 7:00 ready for a hard day’s work. Charlie and Sasha joined them, and with the coming of the black Blazer came Hunter and Exile. An FBI Crown Victoria was parked at their Precinct, and the sound of pain coming from one of the interrogation rooms meant that someone was not talking, and Exile and Hunter both knew whom it was.

He was a short little dog with a big mouth. Balto and the others barged into Interrogation Room 3, where the FBI agent was torturing this little dog into talking. (From NARC MOVIE-DEAD COPS GUN TYPE INTERROGATION) He was an accomplice in a series of robberies and murders as a driver. Balto approached the ferocious agent. Balto tapped the agent on the shoulder, and the agent turned around with eyes so maddened with rage that Balto backed away. Suddenly, the eyes returned to their baby blue color, and the agent introduced himself. “Hello, my name is FBI agent White Fang. I have been sent here to investigate the crimes that this dog had involvement with, as well as to find the ringleader.” Balto and White Fang shook hands. As Balto shook hands, he looked White Fang up and down. “From your looks something tells me that you have a strong wolf background, is this true?” asked Balto. White Fang solemnly responded, “Yes, I am ¾ wolf straight from the Arctic. I was a prized fighter, known as ‘The Fighting Wolf’. When a member of the FBI saw my potential power as a crime fighter, they asked me if I wanted a job and I gladly walked away from my cruel and ugly boss, Beauty Smith.”

“Here, let me show you the witness”, White Fang said with a sort of growl. He turned the bloody and tear run face to Balto, and Balto grinned at the sight of the suspect. “This is Star, he used to work with me on a sled team. Last time I recall he was good, but hung out with some pretty nasty dogs. Their whereabouts still remain a mystery to me.” White Fang nodded. Balto just spit out more information about this suspect in 5 seconds than the suspect had spitted out to White Fang in 2 days. Jenna also looked at Star with a curious eye, and murmured an unfriendly “hello”.

Star thought with Balto here he could be a little bit more relaxed, and he was right. Balto, Charlie, and White Fang all sat at a table and handed Star a glass of water, and cleaned him up a little bit. Balto asked the first question, “Tell me why you’re here right now”. Star politely answered (NARC CD-TRACK 1 10 SEC) “I moved here about 3 months ago to work as an advertising agent, but that was cut short after I failed the exam. I had nowhere to turn because I didn’t really have a social life, so I turned to petty stealing. That’s when I discovered a talent for driving, and soon I was hired to drive away from bank robberies and other criminal acts, as well as hold a second job as a limo driver.” Star sipped some of the water and continued, with the three police dogs vivid attention “That’s when I was hired by this guy. He was tough looking and I knew him from somewhere. He had someone with him, also a tough guy, but nowhere near as tough as his boss. This boss meant business, and slowly I started to earn my spot as their top driver. He constantly wore thick glasses to disguise himself somewhat, and so did his partners. They also gave me a pair, but I never bothered to wear them because I couldn’t see anything, plus the windows on the limo and all the cars he supplied me with were tinted so deeply no one could see in. Finally this boss decided to ‘payback’ some of his enemies, and so it was to be that I drove him to the destination, he plant a bomb, and we were to drive away unscathed and undetected. But this wasn’t so. One of their doormen saw us and started to fire. We quickly scattered. He ran on foot and I drove away. He hopped a fence and I never saw him again. (SLOW MOTION TO NARC 1MINUTE 8SEC) Minutes later I was surrounded by the NYPD and I’m here now.”

White Fang had been taking notes the whole time, and flipped a page while asking “Did you call him boss or did he have an actual name?” Star shook his head, to White Fang’s great disappointment. “No one ever knew his real name, and when he signed checks he signed them in such messy handwriting I could never make out a name.” Charlie began to think for a minute, and then it hit him “You know, if Star could spot one of these checks if we pulled one, maybe we could dust for prints and make out a positive I.D.” Balto liked the idea and said, “Alright, let’s go to the bank and check it out!” The time was now 7:50 in the morning. (STOP NARC TRACK 1)

Balto, Charlie, White Fang, and Star began to walk out of the police station, when Sasha and Jenna confronted them. “Where are you going?” Jenna exclaimed. “Officer we’re going down to the city bank to look at some checks to make some sort of identification to the kingpin who’s behind all of these horrible acts.” At that White Fang stepped away from Jenna and Sasha and out the door. Balto and the others followed, but not before Balto kissed Jenna goodbye, at which Jenna happily smiled.

It was a beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky. Balto took in the crisp air and stood there for a few seconds just to take a little time out from his busy but happy life. Right now he was frozen in time, just standing there as the 2 or so minutes went by him as he calmly looked up and outward at the magical city that had given him food, water, shelter, and an occupation the moment he arrived. “SOMETIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE!” White Fang and Charlie both yelled in a friendly but sarcastic manner. Balto merely chuckled, and jogged down to the parking spaces where the three other dogs were standing. White Fang put Star in his Crown Vic, while Charlie and Balto took the undercover Blazer, and both were off to the bank in a matter of minutes.

(MIND PLAYING TRICKS ON ME AS BACKGROUND 2MIN 13SEC) Meanwhile, Exile and Hunter were playing a game of paper football with the little free time they had on their paws, as Sasha and Jenna, as well as some other police dogs, looked on in puzzlement and joy. Some of the female police dogs smiled, they thought the two former Road Rovers were like kids trapped inside adult bodies. The kid inside both of them still flourished and would probably continue to flourish until the day they were both lain in their graves. Just then the commanding officer of the precinct stepped out of his office, and Exile and Hunter hid the paper football and pretended to work on something. The chief sternly nodded and said “Hmph, that’s the way it should be around here!” The grumpy old bulldog slammed the door to his office, and Exile and Hunter breathed a sigh of relief, because usually those that came out of his office were no longer wearing a badge.

Balto and the others arrived at the city bank with high hopes. They walked in, flashed their badges, and were into the check vault in a matter of minutes. Inside they looked around, and inside they found a pile of organized checks sorted by color and name. White Fang took his handcuffs of off Star and Star began to search for the familiar check. Into the room walked a Postal Inspector. “Greetings gentlemen, I am Nequila, Postal Inspector from the Church Street Station division.” Nequila was very friendly and shook everyone’s hand, including Star’s. White Fang quickly informed Nequila about the whole situation.

He understood, and gave the go ahead to search through every check in the bank. Nequila looked smart. He was a pure bred Siberian Husky, with a orange tan blend and also looked at the world through baby blue eyes. He had a white underside, which also covered some of his face, especially around his eyes. (NARC TRACK 9 FROM 30SEC) “I found it!” Star held the check up in the air and got Balto’s attention. On the check stood a picture of a sled team and the trail Balto had to follow to when he went searching for the lost team. The signature was very messy, but Nequila was trained to look at the first letter and then try and make out the rest. “The first letter is positively an N, and then there are a pair of consonants which look like K’s. Signature looks short; I’d say about 5 letters or so. I can’t figure out the 2nd and 5th letters though.” Star pictured the letters in his head as if he were playing a game of hangman. To him it looked like N_kk_. The answer clicked as he looked at the check again.

“The dog who signed that check was Nikki.” Star couldn’t believe what he had just said, he froze, still trying to come to grips that one of his best friends was a member, and possibly the leader, of all of this death and crime. “He is a stubby Chow-Chow, and talks with a heavy New York Italian accent. I hate to sound like a snitch, but I think he is somewhat responsible. He told me once before I left to come here that we would see each other again and that he would have everything taken care of for me. He talked about owning a restaurant in Little Italy near his grandmother, who rest in peace, died a couple of weeks back.” Star continued. “He said also with a malignant kind of voice ‘Then I’m gonna take care of it.’ The way he said it kind of made me cringe, as I knew he was talking about you Balto.”

Balto’s eyes started to get more yellow and his pupils started to turn into a reddish color. “What do you mean by take care of me?” Balto, thought for a minute… “Nikki wants to put me to sleep!? Why would he want to do that? I have done nothing to him to be on that kind of list.” “Oh Balto you’re wrong. After we came back from our run, you got all the credit remember?” Balto nodded. “When they treated you like a king, you spoke and said ‘I couldn’t have done it without my teammates, Star, Kaltag, Rudy, Brian, Dizzy, and most importantly Boris my lifelong pal, Muk and Luk for their heroics in saving my life, and Jenna, who was my spirit when I was down and my light when I was lost.’ You mentioned practically everyone except for Steele obviously, but Nikki as well. Nikki was troubled by this, and he wondered why you thanked Kaltag and I, but not him. We were all members of that little gang, but you still mentioned us, and since you mentioned us he thought you’d mention him, but you didn’t. After this, he declared a vendetta against you.”

Balto needed to sit down after hearing this. He couldn’t believe he forgot about Nikki. Nikki was so supportive of Balto, especially when he climbed the mountain with the medicine. “I feel terrible. I can’t believe I forgot to thank him. He never really went with Steele in his persecutions, although he was a member of Steele’s gang that had tormented him for so many years. “I guess we’d better go find him then, do you have any idea what Nikki would call his restaurant?” Before Star could answer, Charlie spoke out “There’s a place in Little Italy called ‘Ristorante Nikki”. Despite being so obvious, Balto sighed and motioned all of the dogs to get out of the vault. The handcuffs were slapped back onto Star and Nequila took custody of him. The dogs walked out of the bank, and headed to Little Italy. The clock now read 8:16 a.m.

Little Italy and the 3 star rated Ristorante Nikki was 2 blocks away. It wasn’t even 1 minute before they were entering the fancy but little restaurant and asked to speak with the manager, who was supposedly Nikki. After waiting what seemed to be an eternity, but was really only 7 minutes by Charlie’s watch, the manager came out. Not to blow all of their cover, Balto hid his face with the menu, and Star put his paws under the table as to not reveal the shiny handcuffs he still had on him. The manager approached the table “Good morning gentlemen, can I help youz with sumtin’?” Balto recognized the thick Italian voice immediately. “Listen, dere, will youz kindly tell me how I can be of service to youz?” Nequila spoke. “Yes, I am Postal Inspector Nequila, and me and some of my colleagues would like to have a word with you.” Nikki nodded and led him to his office. Nikki led the group of officers, and for cover’s sake, the handcuff keys were secretly handed from officer to officer so that the officer at the end could undo Star’s handcuffs so it would appear that he was free, even though he was surrounded by officers.

The officers were lead into a nice inconspicuous room. All of the police dogs took a seat with Balto hidden in the far back, and Nikki calmly said “Now how may I help youz?” Nequila put Nikki’s check on Nikki’s desk and Nequila politely said “Is this yours?” Nikki shook his head and smiled, as Nequila lied to Nikki and said it was reported stolen to be fraudulently tampered with. White Fang noticed something however. With his years of fighting experience, he could detect fear that an enemy was feeling. Nikki was sweating profusely and stumbling over his words. White Fang also saw a closet door, which was not decorated like the rest of the room. White Fang took out a bag of mini bones and started to eat like a pig. Then he purposefully dropped one and stepped on it and then spilled the bones all over himself. Charlie started to smile as he too saw the mysterious closet, and saw the purpose in White Fang’s actions. White Fang thought if he asked for a broom, then he might be able to get into that closet. He got up and said “Sorry about my manners, I was starving. I accidentally dropped one of my bones onto your floor, mind if I get a broom from that utility closet over there?”

“No, that closet is for employees only.” “O.K. then, can you please get me a broom so I can clean up this mess?” White Fang kindly but firmly responded. White Fang could sense the amount of tenseness that Nikki was feeling. He could sense that something was up. He quickly pulled his gun on Nikki and said “If a federal agent suspects any kind of misdemeanor or acts of suspicion he or she has the right to a full and extensive search. I will get into that closet Nikki, now hand me the keys to the locks on that closet door!” The other officers in the room smiled a little because, like White Fang, they knew of no such law or right, but continued to let White Fang lie his way into the closet. Nikki folded his arms. “Alright, then let me open the door my way.” White Fang shot the locks off and opened the door. What he saw was what he was looking for.

(NARC TRACK 2 FROM START) White Fang began to look around the room, and found weapons, money, and also in the process found a muscular dog speedily counting cash and putting it into suitcases. White Fang put the barrel of the gun to the dog’s head and said “Don’t make a single move that I haven’t instructed you to do. First, drop everything in your hands.” The dog cooperated and put the wads of cash down on the table. “Second, turn around very slowly with your hands in the air.” The dog obeyed, and then the White Fang saw who he was looking for. The dog had a rubbery mask on that fit the proportions of his face. It was also colored in different patterns that matched the colors of his skin. Just then, White Fang sensed the feeling of cold steel on the back of his neck.

Nikki had quietly snuck up behind White Fang and pulled out a hidden revolver that was concealed deep within his suit. The only reason Nikki was able to come this far was that he wielded the gun on the police dogs in the room, and confiscated their weapons leaving them unarmed and unable to help their colleague in trouble. “Run boss, run!” were Nikki’s words to the dog. The “boss” wasted no time in getting away. He tried to open the door but it was locked. The next thing Nikki knew he was on the floor. Charlie had been so quiet he had run up to Nikki and punched the Chow-chow in the head, knocking him to the ground. Balto bolted by after the masked dog. The masked dog crouched low, and dropped both suitcases, enabling the use of his paws in self-defense. Before he could get ready for Balto’s attack completely, Balto knocked him to the ground. Balto subdued the masked dog, and pulled off the mask. He couldn’t believe who was under it.

(NARC TRACK 15 FROM START) Balto looked straight into Steele’s eyes, and became instantly maddened. His eyes turned red, his teeth were bared, and Balto let out a snarl and growl that would make any dog cower and stay away from what was now a mad wolf dog. Balto started to punch and bite Steele with intense fury. Steele screamed and howled under the kind of a beating he was now receiving by a wolf-dog that he had punished and tormented and beaten several years ago. Balto unleashed all of his hatred and malice towards him with every blow to Steele’s face he took. Balto picked Steele up and dragged him outside. Steele was thrown into dumpsters and anything else in the alleyway. Everyone was outside watching this pummeling performed by Balto, and even White Fang cringed a little at some of the things Balto did. Nikki was looking on and Nikki now knew what Steele, himself, Kaltag, and Star were doing to him. They had turned a nice wolf dog that meant no harm and had persecuted him so that they had made a terrible but silent enemy, just waiting to explode on the dog that tormented him the most and had made his life into a living nightmare.

Suddenly Balto pulled back, leaving Steele alone. He started to turn normal again, and his eyes returned to their normal color. As he walked up to Nikki, Nikki started to sweat again and became intimidated. Balto put his hand out to Nikki and said “Sorry I didn’t thank you for all of your support during the sled race. I should have remembered you.” Nikki was stupefied. How could a dog that was just a demon turn back into such a nice dog in the span of 10 seconds? Nikki nervously put his hand out and shook Balto’s hand. Nikki was expecting punishment, but none came. Balto let go of the handshake as Steele began to get up.

“BALTO!!!!” was his first word to his enemy in 2 years. Balto’s eyes began to get red again, and Steele’s aggressiveness turned to assertiveness. “Yes, Steele?” “Listen Balto, if you had a score to settle with me, why not fight fair and not ambush me like the flea bitten low life wolf you are?” “O.K. Steele, if it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you get.” Balto turned into the raging wolf he was from before, and prepared to fight to the death, and Steele knew this and started to get angry and prepared himself for the immense challenge that was to come. Before either could throw a first punch, a terrible and loud noise echoed through the alleyways.

Nikki shouted “Look to the sky dere, isn’t that plane a little bit low?” (UNBREAKEABLE SOUNDTRACK-VISONS FROM START) Balto couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This huge plane was cutting across the New York City skyline. He saw the plane going through angling motions, as if to attempt to target something. Balto’s eyes grew wide, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the World Trade Center complex. He mumbled a “Dear God” milliseconds before this huge jumbo jet crashed into the North side of World Trade Center Tower 1. Steele was wondering why Balto looked so worried, and then the sound of an explosion and the radiance of a heat struck all of the dogs. The plane exploded upon impact and burst into a giant fireball. “There is no time to waste, we have to get down there now!” Nequila said as he ran for his car and bolted off. While catching Steele off guard Balto handcuffed him, shoved him inside the undercover Blazer, and headed for the 51st precinct with Star. They were headed for jail, and the others were headed for the now burning tower.

Balto put on his siren and lights and drove to the precinct with amazing speed. Since the precinct was on the way, he could just drop them off and go. When he got there Jenna was crying and looking at the burning tower. “Jenna, are you O.K.?” She nodded and aided Balto in putting Steele and Star in their own cells. Jenna had no trouble, and purposefully knocked Steele’s head against the prison door and shoved him in. Nikki was also put into lockup, but was treated with more respect. Now that that problem was in order, Jenna went back outside, where Balto was bringing around the Tahoe and taking out the rear two rows of seats. As Jenna went down to help him, she said “Why are you doing this?” “Just in case I have to bring any victims here.” Balto replied. Balto rushed around to the driver’s side door. “Balto, be careful.” “I will, Jenna, I will.” With that Balto passionately kissed Jenna goodbye and drove off.

Getting to the World Trade Center was now a little bit difficult, because he was going towards it, and all of the people who were there were running away from it. After putting on his siren he was there a lot quicker, but the tower had already been burning for a good 5 minutes. It looked like the tower had survived the attack, but the fire was a big problem. Balto parked the truck right in the middle of the street, thus blocking any means of traffic that was to come by the building. It kind of worked. Drivers were starting to turn their cars around, and soon the only vehicles that were anywhere near the complex were fire trucks and rescue trucks. Balto got on his walkie-talkie and told everyone to meet him in the lobby. Exile and Hunter heard the call, and they also rushed down there. As of now, the tower had been burning for 12 minutes.

Soon the all of the dogs were in the lobby, which included Balto, Exile, Hunter, Charlie, Nequila, and White Fang. After he got everyone’s attention, Balto said “It’s going to be a long way up, as I’ve just been informed the lowest floor affected was the 91st.” Each one of you has a way of communication between each other right?” All 6 dogs nodded, and with that the dogs made their journey up the many stairs. White Fang went to the intercom that went throughout the building, and calmly said “To all who are listening, an immediate evacuation is in order. Fire crews and police officers are on their way upstairs to the floors of impact. The elevators are not working, but it looks as if Stairway A is NOT blocked. Stairway A is your means of exit for everyone above the impact point. Leave this building now.” Slowly people started to come down, showing that White Fang’s plan had started to work.

Getting up the tower was a big hassle, because while they’re going up to save lives, lives that have been saved are coming down. It’s almost like trying to swim against a current. You can get through, but it requires a lot of exertion and a lot of energy. This was the feeling for the 6 dogs going up and the many people trying to escape. It thinned out as they went up the floors, and by the 80th floor it seemed as if no one was coming down. The amount of heat increased as they went up, and at the 85th floor it became almost unbearable. They couldn’t see anything as they got to the 90th floor, one floor below the point at which the Boeing 767 struck the building. Balto started to scream “Can anybody hear me?” One dog screamed, but Balto couldn’t get to her. The heat was so immense and Balto didn’t have a fire suit on, leaving him only to fight the blaze with his fur. The woman started to cough, and Balto knew she was slipping slowly away due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Balto screamed at the top of his lungs “ANYBODY WHO CAN HEAR ME, STAIRWAY A IS NOT BLOCKED, YOU CAN GET OUT FROM ONLY STAIRWAY A.” More dogs could now be heard, and Balto heard one “O.K”. Slowly he saw people go down the stairway, and the message was carried throughout the top floors.

Charlie tapped Balto on the shoulder and said “Look at the metal, it looks as if though it is melting.” Nequila said “This building is made of high strength steel, but it’s biggest design flaw is starting to show itself. This entire building was fitted with trusses, which are very susceptible to fire.” Balto looked at one truss and saw it start to bend and distort. “Exile, can you freeze that fire, because when the ice melts it will turn into water.” Exile tried, but the fire kept going. The ice and water vaporized before it even touched the fire. “Let’s get out of here, and let’s do it quickly.” The 6 dogs made great haste in getting down the stairs. Suddenly they heard a giant rumble when they got to the 30th floor, and pieces of the South tower started to fall. Balto looked at his watch, it said 9:06 a.m. This was no accident; the United States of America was under attack.

Aleu was watching the whole thing unfold from the window facing the complex. She saw both planes go in, and after a piece of the engine hit the apartment complex, she put a mattress over herself to protect her from any more flying debris. With her sharp eyes she captured everything in great detail. She saw many people leap to their deaths from as high up as the 106th floor. Aleu started to cry at the sight of this. She felt such sympathy for these people she wouldn’t have known if they passed her by. Suddenly the phone rang, and Aleu rushed to the phone to pick it up. It was Jenna, who was worried sick about her. She told Aleu to come down to the police station to help out with the treatment of incoming people sick with inhaling too much jet fuel fumes and carbon monoxide.

Aleu rushed down to the police station, where she was introduced to Jenna’s friends. One by one paramedics who couldn’t get into the hospital were pulling up to the precinct, unloading victims, some of which were burned very severely. Just then Frankie walked up to the station where Sasha greeted him. He too got involved in hospitalizing and taking care of patients. His Air Force training also included extensive first aid, so he was put in charge of the medical team at the precinct for the time being.

Balto and the other 5 police dogs rushed out of tower one. They counted each other up and started to head into tower 2, which had now been burning for 26 minutes. As they got in, they rushed up those stairs, and had learned a few more lessons since being in tower 1. One officer would stay behind and direct people down, while the others went up to help the victims at the impact point and spread the word. Charlie volunteered to stay behind because he felt nauseated. “We’ll keep in touch” were Charlie’s words to Balto and the others. Already Charlie was directing people down to the ground floors and expediting the evacuation.

Balto and the other 4 dogs continued up to the last accessible floor, which was the 77th. Balto again yelled the same thing as before, and people started to come down. Once again Stairway A was open, because the plane went in at an angle. People started to come down safely but shaken. Nequila took a look at the trusses, and they were even weaker than in tower 1, because the lower the impact, the more weight above the tower has to carry. One truss failed and the floor angled down. Nequila shot down the stairs, but suddenly stopped. He was grabbing his knees and screamed. His arthritis was kicking up, and now he moved very slowly down the stairway, with the other dogs rushing up behind him. “Nequila, are you O.K.?” asked Balto. Nequila shook his head, and Balto responded by picking up Nequila and in support Exile grabbed his legs carefully. They were rushing down the stairs as they knew if more trusses fell, the whole structure would collapse around them. Then it happened. As the dogs reached the 5th floor, a rumbling sound was heard as each floor smashed above them. The dogs rushed down and got to the lobby just in time as the South Tower dropped to Earth in 11 seconds.

The force of the impact was phenomenal. The ground shook, causing Exile to loose his footing. Before they could get up, Exile, Nequila, and Balto were all engulfed in a cloud of dust. After this White Fang, Hunter, and Charlie never looked back. As the cloud of dust caught up with them, Hunter noticed an open shop and opened the door, getting everyone inside seconds before the cloud of gray and black smoke shot past them.

Five minutes passed, and the smoke left behind by the South Tower started to clear. Exile was the first to get up, and Balto soon followed. They immediately began to throw up because they had breathed in so much of the smoke it made them sick. Soon Nequila was up and he too started to throw up. He was on his knees because his arthritis was still at its peak, but at least he survived what could’ve been his last moments if it weren’t for Balto and Exile. They were all covered in soot and dusted themselves off as best as they could. Balto got on his walkie-talkie and tried to call up Charlie. It worked! Charlie radioed back and said “Are you O.K.?” “Besides being a little nauseous, I think we’ll manage. Where are you?” “Hunter led us into a restaurant, let me go see the name. It’s called Yi Ling restaurant, see if you can find it.” “I know where that is, I’ll meet you there, so just stay put.” “Alright.”

Finding this restaurant was no problem, because Exile knew where it was, in fact he was one of their best customers. All the time he would go in there for Chicken Chow Mein, so the most difficult part of this quick find was how to see the street signs that were covered in soot. Nequila motioned to Exile and Balto that he still needed help in moving, but at least he could stand up. Exile had a remote idea of where he was, so he helped Nequila walk and Balto helped too. They began their journey through the barren streets, and slowly Exile had a remote idea of where they were. They took two right turns and the flashing neon sign shined through the soot, and the words Yi Ling started to come into vision. Exile stepped inside, with Balto and Nequila following slowly. The fresh and clean air conditioning hit their faces, and they felt suddenly refreshed.

“Jeez guys, you look like you’ve just taken a walk through hell.” White Fang said in a comical way. “You could say that. You wouldn’t believe what it’s like out there. I think it would be best to get back to the precinct where Jenna is, drop Nequila off, and then head back to help whoever is buried in the rubble.” Balto said. With that Balto ran outside to get the Tahoe. He was at the site in a matter of minutes, but now since everything was buried his car blended in with the rest of the dust and soot covered cars. Balto pressed the “panic” button on the key chain and the siren flashed and the headlights went on. Balto went to the noise, and under a pile of some bricks and metal was the Tahoe. Besides having a broken in windshield, the truck was in pretty good condition compared to the cars and trucks in the surrounding area. He saw one fire truck’s roof completely caved in under a pillar that had fallen from the building. Balto dug through the rubble to get to the driver’s side door, got in, and started it up.

The Tahoe had a hard time backing out, because the rear suspension was being pressed down so much the back tires had way too much friction and weight pressing down on them. Balto practically stood on the gas, and finally the Tahoe broke free. Balto put the truck into drive and made his way back to the Yi Ling restaurant. Driving was a little more difficult because he had to be careful of bricks, metal, and glass that would puncture the Tahoe’s tires. Also, the soot was nearly knee deep, so the truck might get stuck in some places. In a wise decision he turned AutoTrac on and the wheels clawed into the dust and soot. After 5 minutes of traveling, Balto saw the Yi Ling restaurant and picked everyone up. Since only the driver and front passenger seats were actually available, so 4 dogs rode the way tossed around in the back, but all arrived safely at the precinct, where Sasha, Jenna, Aleu, and Frankie were waiting with worried and open arms. Exile, Balto, and Nequila were barely recognizable as they stepped out because they were so dirty and dusty. Exile and Balto took Nequila into the precinct clinic and gave him 2 Advil and 1 Bayer to calm and relieve his arthritis pain.

“Excuse me, can I have everyone’s attention, please! There has been an attack on both World Trade Center towers, and already the South Tower has collapsed. The North tower is still burning, but it remains standing. The radios are buzzing with help calls for extra officers and fire fighters, so I would advise that anyone who is in good health get down there and start helping and start digging dogs out. Thank you.” White Fang took a breath after stepping down from one of the desks. The response to his speech was clear, as officers were grabbing shovels, picks, bottles of water, canine treats and extra food, and were all getting in their squad cars heading for the World Trade Center complex. Aleu walked up to White Fang and introduced herself. “Hello, pleased to meet you, I am Aleu, daughter of Balto and Jenna.” “Pleased to meet you Aleu. Your parents named you after one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the Pacific Northwest.” Aleu started to blush, and White Fang smiled. Aleu started to speak again, and slowly said “I hope this doesn’t turn you off, but I am almost all wolf, he he.” “That’s perfectly O.K., I am ¾ wolf, and I know the feeling of being an outcast. The other Indian dogs persecuted me for this reason, so I decided to fight back. If some dog messes with you about it, keep your head high and ignore it, because we have the benefits of our wolf ancestors and they don’t.” Aleu smiled and both dogs started to laugh. “O.K., I have to leave and get down there, stay here and do the best you can in helping survivors that we bring back. Aleu nodded.

Frankie snuck up behind Aleu and whispered “Aleu’s got a boyfriend, Aleu’s got a boyfriend!” Aleu playfully hit him in the stomach and went back into the clinic, leaving Frankie keeling over looking at the fist marks Aleu left him with. Right now the precinct was pretty calm, but soon people would be coming in need of assistance, so Jenna, Aleu, and Frankie set up all of the medical stuff and cleared away some of the office supplies and brought out some of the beds. As they finished up they saw Balto and the other police dogs finally leave in the Blazer and off to the remaining World Trade Center building. They took the Blazer just in case debris fell on the car and would fall onto the windshield and not them, as the Tahoe windshield no longer existed.

Getting there was now no problem, because there were no more people in the streets. Balto parked the Blazer behind a wall facing away from the building, so if that wall of dust and debris came back around, the truck would be accessible and protected from further damage. The dogs got out and once again started toward the tower. As Balto rushed up to it, Hunter pulled Balto back, and Balto saw why. The top of the tower caved in on itself, and the whole 107-story structure came plummeting ¼ mile to the already dusty and barren ground. Balto started to run and was the last to get around the corner and into the Tahoe. Balto couldn’t have closed the door sooner. Out of the windshield everybody saw the stampede of smoke go by, and some of the debris actually rounded the corner and started to bombard the Blazer. Balto turned on the windshield wipers and turned on the fog lamps to see if he could see anything, but to no avail. The high-powered lights only bounced off of the smoke, leaving the dogs sitting there blinded watching the smoke go by. After Balto thought the worst was over, he started to drive toward the remains of both towers.

It felt as if though they were driving into a war zone, as metal, concrete and glass were everywhere. Balto opened the window and listened for any forms of life. Beeping was heard, and Charlie heard the patterns and knew what they meant. “Those beeps are distress signals. When that starts, that means a firefighter hasn’t moved for five minutes or more.” Balto stopped the car right next to the ruins, and opened up the back of the Blazer to find shovels and other digging tools, including a wheelbarrow. They started to dig frantically towards the beeps and hopefully their friends, and in their first section of searching they found one of their fallen colleagues. “Hunter, find two other dogs and drive them to the precinct. Exile and White Fang helped, and they dug with both their shovels and hands. They did find two dogs, but both, sadly, were dead. They had no pulse, and a couple of bloody bricks explained the way they died. “Hold the work for a second” White Fang sadly said. “Let’s take time to remember these two brave officers for their heroics.” Five seconds of silence and 2 rounds per officer were carried out as White Fang ordered. Their nametags were collected and put into the storage compartment of the Blazer for safekeeping and to make sure they weren’t lost. More dead officers were found, and after their moments of silence were recognized and their rounds of remembrance were fired into an endless sky, White Fang gave the order to take the one surviving victim to the precinct to be cared for.

Exile looked at his watch, it was 11:00 in the morning. He couldn’t believe how the world just changed. Most dogs were still sleeping and just starting to wake up, even though it was a workday. This was truly a dark Tuesday, and this day would be remembered as a day of terror and despair, one of darkness and loneliness and of sorrow. Hunter drove fast to the hospital, crying the whole trip there. He unloaded the officer, where Aleu was waiting with a hospital bed. Nequila, feeling better, had his hands in his pockets watching the whole thing with sad and wide sympathetic eyes. “I’m feeling a lot better Hunter, let me take your place so you can sit for a while, I’ll go to the site and help out the others. How many have you found so far?” Hunter sobbed “1 alive so far, 7 dead already.” Nequila patted Hunter on the back and said “Stay here and freshen up. Better yet go take a nice long walk and calm yourself. When you feel ready just let me know.” Hunter did as he was told, and started to walk down Liberty Street, disappearing in the smoke, which now flooded the streets.

Nequila drove down to the site now dubbed by reporters as “Ground Zero” and started to pitch in on the rescue effort. Slowly the bodies began to pile on, and again the Blazer was filled with only one victim, and Nequila drove to the precinct with only one survivor. When Nequila returned, the amounts of people helping were numbering in the hundreds. Firefighters and police dogs were scanning mass amounts of rubble to find some forms of life, but for the most part life was never found and the hopes of the rescue teams was starting to fade. Soon the amount of people they found dead was numbering in the hundreds, and the pile of dead victims started to become a mountain of body parts. The work carried out through the day, and by now the rescuers were looking for dead victims, not survivors.

At 6:30 in the evening, White Fang told everybody something so shocking and startling that many people could barely stand to stomach it. “Rescue dogs hear me. We have done a terrific job so far, but we haven’t found a survivor in over 5 hours. If we don’t find another survivor by midnight, I will give the order for all ambulances and available trucks into body hauling units, which will send bodies to morgues and their families notified. I am very sorry to have to say this, but we have a lot of work ahead of us, and I promise you it will not be pretty.” White Fang stepped down from the high rubble he stood on and sat down on the street. “White Fang, the smell of body parts is starting to make us and some of the other dogs sick, what should I do?” “Nequila, I want you to remove all possible seats from the Blazer and start loading bodies into it, and start heading for the city morgue.”

Nequila looked at White Fang sternly, and gave a prominent “Yes” before loading bodies into the truck. He carried them by himself, and after fitting 10 bodies, he drove 17 miles to the closest city morgue. He had to open the windows just to catch some sort of fresh air. It grossed him out, but he endured it so others wouldn’t have to. After dumping the bodies off, Nequila went back to the site, only to load more bodies into the truck. He went back four or five times, each time more horrible than the last. On the sixth time Nequila came back and got out of the truck in a hurry. He went over to the sidewalk and started to throw up. It was really dirty and sick work, but somebody had to do it otherwise the entire place would turn into a giant burial ground. White Fang gave Nequila a rest while he cleaned out the back of the Blazer. It did indeed smell bad, and White Fang had to cover his muzzle with his shirt in order not to get queasy. After he was done he sprayed the whole inside of the car with Lysol and gave Nequila some air fresheners to take with him. White Fang walked over to Nequila and handed him the keys.


Nequila was still keeled over and coughing, but when push came to shove, Nequila was usually the one to go in feet first, so his will and determination to get a task done took over and he took the keys from White Fang’s paw. More bodies were hauled into the back of the Blazer and after the 10th trip the clock struck midnight. It was then White Fang gave the order to start shipping bodies in mass amounts to different morgues. Ambulances were used, as well as the Blazer and even cars and trucks that were buried underneath the rubble. Now the bodies were being hauled away more efficiently and progress was being made, until the construction crews came. The lead dog for the project stepped out of his dump truck and walked over to White Fang. “Hello, we have been sent here by the Port Authority of New York to excavate the wreckage.” “Thank you, but until we get all the bodies and body parts out of here no excavator or any piece of construction equipment will touch this site, do you understand?” White Fang said in a stern voice. “O.K., have it your way wolf, but be prepared to speak with my boss about this.” White Fang nodded and said “I’d be more than happy too. Come back in a week, by then we should have at least one section completely clear of any dog remains.” The construction leader pouted away, and the rescuers kept pulling body parts out of the rubble.

At 2:00 a.m. every dog was ready to drop dead, including White Fang. He told every dog to go home and get a good night’s sleep. Nequila had already checked out, so without a ride White Fang, Balto, Exile, Hunter who had returned to help, and Charlie walked down Liberty Street and back to the precinct. It was a crisp and breezy night, and all of the dogs could see their breath as they exhaled and walked down the dusty and rubble covered streets. Balto wasn’t even looking where he was going, instead he was looking at the ground, trying to spot some sort of keepsake that he could find. As he walked, he spotted a piece of paper. He picked it up and started to read it.

“102nd floor, Canus Associates law firm, 1World Trade Center, New York, New York 10048 9:00 a.m. To all whom it may concern, I may not be coming home from work today because a jumbo jet airliner has just smashed into the floors below me. It is very hot and it looks as if all means of escape are blocked. Dogs are crying, howling, and screaming for help, but so far none has arrived. I have seen with my own eyes dogs from the floors above and below me leap to a certain death as their body parts scatter all over the ground. We can only pray that the fires are put out and that the building doesn’t tip or crumble. If anyone picks this up or finds this document on the ground, please call 516-333-2010. I will always love you Robbie, Cherie Brooks.” Balto stood there and started to cry after reading this note, as Charlie comforted him, he looked the note over. It had no burn marks on it, nor was it damaged. “Someone dropped this note while the building was burning. I think you should call the number on the note and inform the residence of the house that Cherie Brooks has lost her life in the attacks from today.” “I will do it tomorrow Charlie, put it on my desk, I’ll catch up to you guys, keep on walking.”

The others got back to the precinct with no problem, and Balto soon walked in behind them with tear marks down his face. Jenna ran up to him and hugged him and rubbed his back in moral support. Balto started to cry and Jenna did the same. Many officers were crying, and this was too much for the canine officers who had just walked in. Aleu was sitting in a chair with her hands over her eyes and sobbing. “Will you be O.K. Aleu.” White Fang said in a sad and already cracking voice. “No.” Aleu sobbed out. White Fang hugged Aleu and she buried her head into his chest and cried. White Fang couldn’t take anymore, and slowly he began to cry and howl on Aleu’s shoulder. Exile and Hunter also began to cry, and Nequila put his head down onto a desk and sobbed. Sasha ran to Charlie and they started to cry for two reasons. First of the attacks themselves, and secondly because they were together and all of the dogs who had left that morning were safe. They were all in a state of shock, and for this moment the entire city mourned for all who were lost. After a good 15 minutes of letting out all of their emotions, work slowly returned to normal and officers went back to their families who had been worried sick about their loved ones the entire day. Some officers went back to full families, and others went back to families that were missing fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, children, and other relatives that made life special and sacred, and put a little more joy and kick in the holidays. Balto, Jenna, and Aleu went home, as did the other officers. Exile agreed to lock up, and by 3:00 a.m. the precinct was barren, ready for the challenges for the next day.

With a new day brought new horrors, as the size of the mess became clear. Some parts of the building still stood like ghosts in the middle of the plaza, but it was no more than 6 stories high. Balto checked in the earliest with Jenna and Aleu, and Hunter and Exile came in just after them. Charlie and Sasha were surprisingly late, as was almost everyone else that showed up. Nequila and White Fang were already down at the site shooing away construction workers and marking their territory. As one section was cleared, construction crews began to dig. The cleanup was already starting and a lot of progress was being made. White Fang was in charge of the operation because out of everyone there he was the highest ranked and most respected. Even though he knew nothing about construction work he always found a way to solve even some of the toughest problems. He always had a positive outlook on things and always made room to accommodate incoming plans. As Balto and the others arrived they were immediately put in charge of different sections of the wreckage making sure that everything was done extensively but carefully, and also that the construction crews kept their distance. At lunchtime, Balto got out the piece of paper and called the number that was on the bottom of the note on his cell phone. It started to ring.

“Hello?” a male dog answered. “Yes, this is officer Balto of the NYPD, and I am sad to say that one of your relatives died in the attacks yesterday. She wrote a final note, which I picked up near the remains of the buildings. Can I please speak to Robbie, because it is personally addressed to him.” “This is Robbie.” “I am sad to say that your wife has died in the attacks.” The voice on the other line started to cry, and Balto wrote down the address of the victim and agreed to mail the letter in the condition it was in. Balto hung up and joined the other dogs for some New York pizza. The work continued throughout the day, and at around 12:00 a.m. most of the dogs went home, but Nequila decided to stay back and continue to search in order to help out. Exile turned and said “Alright Nequila, stay if you want, but make sure to bundle up because it’s going to be nippy tonight. Just a piece of advice from Husky to Husky you know?” Nequila smiled and nodded, and Exile left Ground Zero.

Nobody had any idea what Nequila was doing. He was working night and day, nonstop in order to help with the rescue efforts. He even handled the construction equipment that the construction crews left behind. Each morning Nequila looked worse and worse due to lack of sleep, and as a result more and more coffee cups were found around the area where he was working. Balto went up to Nequila and tapped him on the shoulder, “Nequila, go home and get some rest. You’ve sped up the recovery and excavations tremendously, and right now we’re ahead of schedule. If you won’t do yourself the favor of getting some rest, do it for the rest of the dogs and me. You honestly look like hell, man. I got you something for all of your efforts.” Balto pulled out a ticket for a massage parlor for one free massage and put it in Nequila’s paw. “Take this and use it in good health, Nequila, you really deserve it.” “I can’t take it Balto. My country needs me now and I am giving back to the country which has provided me so much.” Balto smiled. “At least let me get you something to eat. I have to stop at the precinct first, though.” Nequila nodded and finally said “O.K.”

With that they were off to the precinct because Balto needed some extra file folders. Balto and Nequila got out of the truck and headed up the steps. They both walked into the office. Nequila sat down in a seat and not 30 seconds later he was fast asleep. Balto walked over to Jenna and said “Jenna, I want you to take him into the clinic under “exhaustion” and keep him there until I think he’s good and rested. He looks terrible and has been staying up countless hours without sleep to help out with the rescue and excavation project.” Jenna nodded, and soon Nequila was put into a bed and he trailed off into a deep slumber, while Balto went back to work at the World Trade Center.

Balto went back out to Nathan’s for a bite to eat and then back to the World Trade Center site and worked in the rubble for the next 7 hours. It was extremely exhausting, but more progress was being made and as of now that was all Balto cared about. More families were getting the closure they needed, and that was all Balto could ask for, and that was to make everyone happy. Nearly half asleep, he got into the Blazer and made his way to the precinct. He could barely make it up the steps, and just managed to open the door before falling into a chair. He immediately fell asleep, only to be woken up by Jenna. “Balto, you look so tired. I haven’t seen you this tired since you lost sleep after having those dreams.” “I know, once I get into bed I’ll probably be out cold, because thankfully it’s Saturday.” Jenna helped Balto up and Balto (Kenny Loggins- For the first time) accidentally tripped over his own feet, but Jenna caught him. He fell into her arms and their lips touched. Nearly everyone was gone, and now you could hear a pin drop. White Fang could be heard, however, talking with Aleu. As Balto and Jenna hugged each other, Jenna finally saw Aleu and White Fang.

They were holding hands and walking together, and in Aleu’s other hand was a batch of flowers White Fang had bought for her. With joyous and teary eyes, Balto and Jenna looked on as White Fang held the door for Aleu escorting her out as Balto had done for Jenna many years back at the boiler room. Jenna saw tickets to some sort of event, and she knew White Fang and Aleu had hit it off. Amidst all of the chaos, Balto and Jenna finally knew that at least for the time being, someone or something would be O.K.
TO BE CONTINUED……….

NYPD BALTO PART V

Starring:
Balto
Jenna
Aleu
Nequila
White Fang
Hunter Raven
Charlie Barkin
Sasha Barkin
Frankie Barkin


Guest Appearances:
Steele
Star
Kaltag
Boris

Balto and Jenna watched White Fang and Aleu walk out the door in each other’s arms. They came home to a trashed house, thanks to the debris from the former World Trade Center. Balto and Jenna were so dreary eyed they passed out onto their respectable sides of the bed.

Morning. Balto awoke first, because even though yesterday brought tragedy, there was still, if not more, work to do. He made his way to the window with his coffee and took a look at the horribly revamped skyline. Smoke was still bellowing from the ruins. Aleu was not home because her and White Fang slept at White Fang’s house. Balto was getting changed to go to work while Jenna was just starting to wake up. He walked into the bedroom and kissed Jenna goodbye before heading out the door, then proceeded to the exit of the apartment, the door slamming behind him.

Balto made his way to the parking lot, where the Blazer was sitting, but there was someone in it. Exile rented a room right across from Balto’s apartment complex, so he “offered” Balto a ride. No tragedy could damper Exile’s mood, and it was no different on September 14th, 2001. There was one problem though; the Blazer wouldn’t start due to all of the dust and debris that had now turned the air filter into a block of dirt. Good thing that they had a spare of just about everything in the back. They quickly replaced the filter, and they got the engine to turn over. Exile put the truck into drive and they were off to the precinct.

If they thought the chief was mean before September 11th, they had no idea what they were going to get today. The chief was waiting by door, venting out his rage on all of the officers, including FBI agent White Fang. He was getting very annoyed at the chief, and when Balto and Exile walked in, the chief gave them an exceptional display of “affection”. The chief yelled so loud half of New York City could hear him. This was too much for White Fang. He walked up to the chief, got 2 inches from his face, and said,

“Listen to me, if you vent out one more time at one more officer, I will have you driving a street sweeper instead of a police car, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? These officers, including myself, have been working to save lives and have nearly died trying to save those innocent people in the World Trade Center, while YOU watch it on television from the comfort of your office.”

White Fang’s red eyes and baring teeth added to the intimidation factor. The chief was now two inches off the ground due to White Fang’s grasp on his shirt. White Fang had such an impression on the chief, he resigned and gave White Fang his badge. As the chief walked out of the double doors, the entire precinct applauded, and Balto, Exile, Charlie, and Hunter were all laughing with such power they started crying. White Fang started to smile, and he started laughing as well. After the mini celebration, White Fang was sworn in as the chief of police for the 51st precinct.

The first order of business is to deal with the situation at the World Trade Center.

“I will split the department 75%-25%. 75 percent of you will go to the disaster site, and 25 percent of you will be on assigned cases. At 3:00 in the afternoon, the percentages will shift, giving everyone a chance to not sit behind a desk.”

Everyone nodded at the division and the assignment for today. At that everyone was off and running and taking care of his or her own business. Exile and Hunter took a regular squad car and soon the whole office was clear except for 10 or so people. Jenna and Sasha walked in, and both were assigned cases. They were at their desks as usual, conversing and cracking a few jokes while they typed up some police reports.

Down at the World Trade Center, things were moving very quickly, as garbage and debris were being hauled off to the wreckage site in New Jersey. Everyone was pitching in and helping out, with Balto leading the rescue project. Only 5 survivors were pulled from the wreckage, and by 3:30 it was time to head over to the precinct to get assigned to a case, and to finish up any work that the early morning shift hadn’t yet cleared. White Fang himself went over to the World Trade Center, and Jenna was now in charge of the precinct for the time being. Exile and Hunter were put on a case, and Balto and Charlie were put on another. Balto and Charlie were assigned to find Steele, and Exile and Hunter were assigned to a murder case.
“When I find Steele, it will finally be over”, Balto said with a state of calmness and firmness. Charlie agreed, and they started at Nikki’s restaurant once more. The only reason that they were on this case is because when the buildings were collapsing, Steele and Nikki managed to get away. They didn’t even know that they had left the station, neither did anybody else. When they got there, it looked just as it did 3 days earlier, perfect. The encounter with Nikki this time, however, would be different. Balto and Charlie loaded up their guns and approached the door. They broke it down and went in, where Nikki was counting money. Before Nikki knew what hit him, he was on the floor, face pressed into the carpet so hard he was making an imprint in it. Just because Balto had made peace with him on a mutual standpoint didn’t cancel out the fact that he pulled a gun on White Fang and the rest of the officers.

“Where is Steele, Nikki?” Balto said to him as the handcuffs were being put on once more. He nodded his head, indicating he had no idea where the hell Steele was.

“Where is Star?” Balto got the same nod as before, and for this Charlie hit Nikki upside the head with the barrel of his gun. This knocked Nikki out and made him easy to handle. He was thrown inside the squad car, and once at the station, put him into a solitary cell. At least that situation was handled. The objective now was simple, to get Star and Steele and put them behind bars.

Balto and Charlie combed the streets for hours, trying to find these two dogs. It was kind of reverse of what Star and Steele did to Balto; they would find him and then make his life miserable. Now it was Balto’s turn to find Steele and Star and make their lives a lot more miserable, because as of right now they had two options ahead of them, jail time, or death. There was no positive outcome to this, and all four dogs knew it.

Days turned to weeks, and Halloween was upon the precinct. The month and a half flew by like it didn’t even exist. Balto and Charlie were beyond confusion about the Steele and Star case. They were guessing that they had skipped town, or worse, the country. It was time to call in the big guns. Balto called White Fang and asked a favor, to call the Federal Bureau of Investigation to commence a manhunt. Balto then went to his desk and put his hands over his head, rubbing it profusely. He was lost, just like he was in Nome when he was, coincidentally, looking for both dogs he was after today. Balto’s forehead hit the desk, and it stayed there for a good 15 minutes before Jenna and Aleu started to ask questions.

“I don’t know what to do guys, I really don’t. The World Trade Center is a mess, Steele and Star are nowhere to be found, White Fang is on the verge of collapsing, and as for both of you, I haven’t spent any time with either of you, and I am terribly sorry for that.”

Tears were rolling down his face, the salty droplets of his emotions dripping on the piece of paper that was lying on his desk. Jenna rubbed him back, and Aleu rested her head on her father’s shoulder. She went over to White Fang, who was staring into space, his paws rubbing around his eyelids and forehead.


“Aleu, I don’t know what to do. I haven’t had any time to myself or you, and I feel I haven’t been the wolf I was since 9/11 and since becoming the chief of police.”

Aleu wrapped her arms around White Fang’s chest, bent down at eye level with him, and kissed him on the cheek. She then walked through the doorway, and quietly said to him, “You’ll always be the wolf you were to me, and as long as both of us know that, I’m happy.”

White Fang started to smile. He caught up with Aleu and together they walked out of the station, hands clasped so tightly White Fang and Aleu’s knuckles were turning white. Balto and Jenna did the same, and on the ride home, Balto and Jenna talked and talked, from their first meeting to then. Balto knew that everything was all right between them, and it made Balto feel better about him.

Balto and Jenna made their way upstairs, laughing and talking, the energy between them so powerful it couldn’t be pulled apart. Balto unlocked the front door to the apartment, but held Jenna back.

“After you”, he said in the same way as in the boiler room when they were in Nome. Jenna went inside and headed straight for the bedroom. Balto eagerly followed. Jenna entranced him with her soft voice, still talking about how powerful they were together. She then handed him her bandana, and Balto grasped it firmly in his hands. He then threw it on the table and crawled under the covers with his wife.

Morning. Balto was up early this morning, and positive energy immersed him and surrounded him. Then he read the morning newspaper.

“MASKED DOG MURDERS WOLF-DOG.”

Balto’s hands started to shake. Those four words made him chilly. That headline was atop his newspaper, in this city. Balto loaded his guns and prepared for the unexpected. He was about to open the door to the apartment, but he went back for one other thing, Jenna’s bandana. He tied it around his belt next to his handcuffs. He opened the door and walked out the door, and into a 65-degree day.

He walked the streets with his head held high as he made his way to the already running Blazer, Exile behind the wheel.

“Comrade, did you read the headline? I think it’s that Siberian you arrested a month ago.” Balto put on his winter gloves and told Exile to drive. The station was full of pumpkins, candy, and trick or treat bags. White Fang and Aleu put them up to get everyone in the holiday spirit. It definitely worked, because everyone, including Balto, smiled.

“Great work guys, you really do know how to put a smile on everybody’s face.” White Fang and Aleu both nodded. The fun wasn’t to last, however. Channel 7 news was reporting that 3 more murders had taken place, and they all had one thing in common. All of the murder victims were wolf-dogs, and across each victim was a letter in Balto’s name, with the first beginning with a B, then ALT. All the masked dog needed was the O and he was finished, or so they thought. This told Balto two things, that Steele wanted to kill him, and they’d better find out where he was before one more wolf dog was murdered.

Steele’s pattern was random, but if Steele was to make the biggest fool of Balto, why not deface the statue in Central Park? The whole precinct was arming up for this, but Balto stopped them.

“This is my fight, and I don’t want anybody else in it. If you want to watch, go to Channel 7.”

Balto walked out of the station that day a hero. Some of the other officers thought he was foolish, others were placing bets against Steele, others were in shock, and others were in tears. They had no idea how this was going to turn out.

Channel 7 followed the Blazer all the way to Central Park, where Steele was, as Balto predicted, defacing the statue. Steele turned around; his face still badly bruised from Balto’s previous beating that was given to him. Steele said to Balto, “We finish this now. Only one of us will walk away!”

With that, Steele drew a shotgun and fired at Balto. Balto dodged the pellets and returned fire with two police issue Berettas. Steele ducked behind some bushes and prepared to return fire. He was putting another shell into the breach, and that’s when Balto saw the perfect opportunity to destroy the weapon. Balto aimed for the breach, and hit the shell directly, causing the gun to explode in Steele’s hands. Steele’s right hand was badly burned. Balto, with his guns drawn, told Steele to stand right where he was. Steele submitted. The precinct and the rest of New York were on the edge of their seats. Channel 7 was getting the whole thing on live television.

Balto told Steele to lay face down on the cold concrete with his hands completely visible. Steele obeyed. This didn’t seem right to Balto, because usually things with Steele were a lot tougher than this. Balto heard something. He slowly turned around, and at that his eyes grew dangerously wide. His heart began to race, his mind began to blur, because Balto was looking down the barrel of a gun.

TO BE CONTINUED, WILL BE DONE BY NOVEMBER 2003…………….

NYPD BALTO PART VI

Balto’s spine tingled and his hairs rose up, his heart pumping at higher and higher levels.

“Balto, drop both of your guns and face me! Just because I apologized doesn’t mean I am not on Steele’s side.”

He dropped both guns and turned around and had to look down, because Star was about a foot shorter than him. Balto couldn’t believe it, and Steele just watched, as Star was about to pull the trigger. Balto began to shake is head in disbelief and accepted the fact that the barrel which was now pointed at his head was to be the last thing he would see.

“POW!” The gun went off, but it wasn’t Star’s, it was Steele’s! Star’s forehead was penetrated with a single bullet. Star fell to the ground and Star was officially out of the picture.

“I don’t need someone to do my dirty work for me, I can do it myself. Now, pick up your guns and let’s finish this now!”

Balto was stunned. He couldn’t believe that Star was double-crossed by Steele and that Steele was giving Balto a chance for once. He picked up both of his guns off of the cold New York sidewalk. He pointed them directly at Steele, but Steele had disappeared. Then, Balto’s breath became short and rampant. A steel pipe was cutting off his air supply because Steele had it wrapped around Balto’s neck. Balto struggled, but it wasn’t long before he came up with an idea. With his fingers he turned the barrel of the gun around. Before Balto could fire a round into Steele, Steele dropped his grip and with a baseball swing he knocked both guns out of Balto’s paws. In this process Steele had broken one of Balto’s fingers and Steele was clutching his hands due to the sting of the metal club hitting the metal guns.

Balto took advantage of this and rushed Steele. His tackle alone knocked the wind out of Steele as both of them hit the hard concrete. Balto climbed on top of Steele’s chest and sat on him. He took his time taking out his car keys and putting them into the gaps of his knuckles. Steele covered his face as Balto began to unleash the punches. The keys cut open flesh all over Steele, and his blood was beginning to run down the side of his arms. Finally, after throwing a dozen punches, Balto withdrew, the keys covered in fur and in blood.

Steele was slow in getting up, but when he did, he was furious. He drew a spare gun that was concealed in his back pocket. It was pointed into the back of Balto’s head as he felt the touch of the cold steel. In a last act to save his life, Balto pulled a fast 180 and with his fist he knocked the gun out of Steele’s hand.

Precinct 51 was watching this unbelievable battle for the comfort of a warm office. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the TV screen as Channel 7 was broadcasting this live on New York City televisions. Nobody could look away or say anything. The only things being spoken were that of prayers from all different religions. Jenna and Aleu were crying. White Fang calmed them down.

“Listen, I have a good feeling that Balto is going to win. I am almost sure of it.” With that he threw on his coat and walked out the door.

Back in Central Park the fight was getting even. Steele was trying to battle back and to try to gain an upper hand. He then saw his opportunity. Steele started timing the traffic light to see when it would turn green on 67th street. He would rush Balto and dropkick him into traffic. He would have to make sure that the cars weren’t just getting off the line either so that the cars had some speed when they ran Balto over. Then Steele put his plan into action. The light on 67th street turned green, and they were 100 feet from the intersection.

Steele began to rush Balto with a series of light kicks and punches. As planned, Balto blocked each punch and kick while backing up at the same time because he needed space in case he needed to counter attack. Balto’s heels were 3 feet from the curb as traffic whizzed by at 30mph. Steele looked out of the corner of his eye and saw what he was looking for. A GMC Yukon was approaching where Balto and Steele were. Steele then faked Balto out and kicked him in the stomach. Balto was keeled over as Steele backed up and rushed. He flung himself into the air with both feet sticking out right at Balto. Balto caught this at the last second and rolled on his back and propelled Steele into traffic. The last thing Steele saw was a shocked driver and a windshield. Balto got up and looked at Steele’s mangled body. Balto drew his gun that was concealed in his ankle holster and fired one last shot into Steele’s head making sure he was dead.

“It’s over Steele, it’s finally over. I’m sorry it had to end this way, but you weren’t exactly the craftiest dog I knew.”

Balto got to the sidewalk, picked up both of his Berettas, and walked across the street. The light was clearly red, but an unmarked Ford Econoline van was about to shoot through the intersection. Balto tried to get out of the way, but he slipped. He stared at the grille of the van and he prepared for the crash. He heard a siren and a horrific sound of metal on metal. The van spun around and ran Balto over with its backside.

Channel 7 got it all on tape. Everyone was in shock. Channel 7 zoomed in on the now wrecked NYPD Tahoe and the driver who was clearly unconscious. As the zoom got closer, the face of the driver became familiar. White Fang had plowed into the side of the van slowing down its speed, but not its velocity. Instead of hitting Balto squarely, the van’s backside had hit Balto with a directional speed of 25-mph. Balto lay on the ground with his eyes closed. The camera then zoomed into the cabin of the van, and the driver was identified as Nikki. It was an attempted hit and run that was foiled by White Fang. In the end, Nikki was dead and White Fang and Balto lay near death on the streets of New York.

Nearly 20 minutes later, all of Precinct 51 had made it to the accident scene, along with 2 ambulances and a fire engine that was now showering the burning van. Jenna rushed over to Balto while Aleu rushed over to White Fang. Aleu rubbed White Fang’s head and kissed it repeatedly. The paramedics pushed Aleu out of the way and slowly put White Fang on a stretcher. White Fang’s eyes were partially open, and he clasped Aleu’s hand.

“How is your father? I was notified about the hit while on the way to help him and I watched the whole fight from the car. I saw the van and I know I had to do what I had to do. I don’t know how Balto is or if he’s alive or not.”

The paramedics once again pushed Aleu away as White Fang was hauled into the ambulance. As one of the paramedics closed the door, he said that White Fang was going to live.

Now Aleu ran over to Balto, who was lying motionless on the ground. Balto looked up and saw his daughter and wife who were by his side. He was happy, and used some of his reserve strength to crack a smile. All of them knew that Balto was slipping away, so they did their best to try and make it as peaceful for him as possible. Balto used his index finger and thumb to pull Jenna down so that Jenna’s ear was right next to Balto’s lips.

“Jenna, listen to me and listen good. Take good care of Aleu and yourself and make sure White Fang and the others are O.K. I will always be watching over you, always.” Balto pressed his lips against Jenna’s, her eyes starting to tear. She could no longer feel or hear him breathing. Balto was gone. She buried her head in Balto’s chest, which was now idle, not a single motion came from his body. Aleu rubbed her hand over Jenna’s back and she began to cry as well.

Two days later, almost the entire police force of New York gathered for Balto’s funeral. There were those who cried, those who prayed, and those who gave tribute to one of the most hard working and nicest wolf dog that ever joined the NYPD. Nequila was there, as well as Exile, Hunter, Jenna, Aleu, all of Precinct 51, and many civilians, including those that worked at Ristorante Nikki. White Fang was to do the eulogy.

“Friends, fellow workers, and family. I stand before you with the honor of reading and writing the eulogy of one of the greatest cops the NYPD has ever seen. He came from the same background as me, part wolf and part dog. Most people were too shallow to see through that, like Steele, Star, Nikki and Kaltag. These dogs were to end such a great life that Balto had. He had many people beside him, such as his beautiful and dedicated wife, Jenna, his equally wonderful daughter, Aleu. They both carried him through his struggles and in the end saw to it that they were there until the very minute that he died. I don’t think that anyone in this congregation could ask for more. I know I couldn’t. Balto always had a smile on his face and was always there to comfort, to humor, and to protect. He died not with blood, not with sadness, not with vengeance, but with honor. That, to me, would be the perfect way to end such a great existence.”

Applause and cheer and several howls were heard. White Fang stepped off of the stage with his head raised high. His eyes shimmered against the clear blue sky. He saw a cloud that looked like Balto’s face, and he stared at it for a few seconds. He then pointed to it a thumbs up, and a smile.

NYPD BALTO PART 7
(Westbury, Long Island, is a real place. I used to live there. Type in 527 Davie Street. I used to live at that exact address.)
CHARACTERS:
Jenna
Aleu
White Fang
Exile Chernobyl
Hunter Raven
Kaltag
Charlie Barkin
Sasha Barkin
Frankie Barkin
Nequila
Blitz
Boris Goosinov

White Fang put his thumb down, still looking at the cloud. He sat down in his chair and held his tears in. Aleu started to cry, and White Fang put his arms around her and held her tightly. He rubbed his paws all over her back in an effort to calm her down, but it was to no avail. Jenna sat through the ceremony and thought about how she would go on without Balto by her side. She cried as well. Some of the media called it “The most moving funeral ever held for an NYPD officer.” There was to be a moment of silence in New York City when the clock struck 12:00AM. It was three minutes away, and the riflemen were loading up their guns, ready to conduct the salutations worthy of such an officer. The flag was being unfolded as the minutes went by. Finally, noon fell upon the city of New York. Drivers not only stopped their cars, they turned off their engines. Pedestrians stopped walking, cash registers stopped ringing up prices, meetings were halted, cops stopped giving out tickets, and nobody said a word. The entire city of New York was completely silent. Jenna looked up and tried to pick up a single sound, but could not. She wept at the fact that Balto was so appreciated, finally finding his place in the city that never sleeps. A minute later everybody resumed what they were doing, and the 21 rounds were fired. People started to leave, and were all carried out of the cemetery in limousines.



“Let’s go home, Aleu.” White Fang said to Aleu, who was still crying. He wanted to get her back to the house as quick as possible, so she could grieve in peace. They opened the door to their Long Island home. Westbury was a peaceful community about a half hour from Manhattan, and it was suitable for the couple. The good thing about it was that Charlie and Sasha were a block away.

Charlie helped Sasha out of the car and carried her inside. They took showers, got into bed, and quickly fell asleep. White Fang and Aleu did the same thing.

Frankie lived three blocks over from them in a smaller house with a backyard and an outdoor pool. He had been chilling out and had been taking in his new surroundings in the suburbs. In fact, he had been taking in his new surroundings for so long his house was turning into a mess. Cans of all kinds were strewn all around, but at least he had taken out his garbage when it was due. Today he was finally getting off of his *** and began the process of cleaning up the house. He got all the cans and threw them in the recycling bin, took out the vacuum and did the whole house, and even topped it off by spraying apple cinnamon carpet freshener into all of the carpeted rooms. He then put everything away and passed out on his couch.

In the heart of the Bronx lived Exile. He returned from the funeral a dazed and tired Siberian husky. Instead of going into his bedroom, he went into his liquor cabinet. He pulled out a bottle of vodka, and filled two shot glasses. He lit a candle, put it on his dining room table, and put a shot glass where Balto always used to sit and play cards. He lifted his glass and said in Russian, “This is to you, my comrade.” He drank the shot and slammed the shot glass down onto the table. He left the candle lit and the glass right where it was. He then went to sleep.


Lastly, there was Hunter, who came home a wreck. He was falling into a depression so deep that not even a crane could pull him out. He lay face down on his bed, thinking about how to vent both his anger and his sadness. He couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how hard he tried. He tossed and turned until his alarm went off at 5:30 in the morning. He woke up groggy and cranky. He wasn’t mad at anybody, except for himself. Hunter grabbed all of his guns, fired up his 1964 Pontiac GTO, and drove away from his house. He raced to the precinct and opened the doors. He went over to Balto’s desk and grabbed all of his case files and began to sort through them. Most of them had been cleared, but some were still open. He grabbed about half of them and started to get to work.

Everyone was back to normal, and all of the officers started to work at a pace that was much faster. The tempo of the precinct was upbeat, and they were clearing cases faster and faster. By the end of the day, Hunter had cleared 8 cases, but there was never a smile on his face. Exile walked over to him and said, “Take a break, you deserve it.” Hunter actually cracked a smile, and said, “I will, but first I have to go apprehend this last suspect and take him in to be interrogated.” Hunter left the precinct and made his way to the eastern part of Manhattan. Waiting there for him was an ignorant suspect with a loud mouth. His name was Blitz, and boy was he annoying. He was a sly German immigrant who was wanted for not paying his speeding tickets. Hunter walked upstairs, and found Blitz. Their eyes met, because Blitz used to be on the Road Rovers with Exile and Hunter before they were shut down. Blitz got out of his chair and said, “Oh boy, same Hunter, different uniform. How have you been?” Hunter shook his head, and said “Listen, I have to take you in because you haven’t paid 3 speeding tickets. One for doing 74 in a 45, one for doing 22 in a 15, and the last, and my personal favorite, doing 154 in a 60.” Blitz blushed and chuckled, “Oh yea, that was fun. Could’ve gone faster in my Porsche Carerra 4 if I hadn’t hit traffic. It was nice seeing you again Hunter.” Hunter looked at Blitz “You do know I still have to take you in, right?” Blitz nodded his head and walked out with Hunter.

They went downstairs and into the parking garage where the undercover Blazer was sitting, and put Blitz in the back seat. The ride to the precinct went without incident, and Hunter’s mood was finally being transformed into a good one. Hunter and Blitz walked into the precinct laughing their asses off, to everyone’s amazement. Hunter put Blitz into an interrogation room and took the handcuffs off of him. “You wait here, let me just get the paperwork.” Hunter left the room, leaving Blitz all by himself. Blitz looked all around the room, looking for an escape. His face turned grim as soon as the door closed. He got up and walked around, looking through the one-way glass. By cupping his hands he could see that nobody had yet entered, and the tapes were not running. He quickly grabbed a chair and slammed it into the window, but to his disappointment the window was shatterproof. He quickly smashed his own head into it, causing him to bleed. Just as he fell, Exile came running through the door.

“What the HELL has happened here?” Exile’s eyes were turning red, and 3 of the officers surrounding the interrogation room all shook their heads. “Get me EMS in here and get him to the hospital, I can interrogate him there. I want this room analyzed from top to bottom, you understand!” Within a few minutes EMS was on the scene and they had Blitz on a stretcher. On the way, Blitz woke up, faking his unconsciousness the whole time. He got the driver of the ambulance in a headlock. The van swerved from side to side, and ran over an open manhole. The dip snapped the front axle and one of the wheels came off, causing the ambulance to flip. It was a mess, pieces of the van all over the road. Blitz quickly got out of the van and grabbed the gun out of the driver’s holster. He pointed it at the other medics and threatened to shoot. He was in such a rush to get out of the ambulance he forgot a needle containing met amphetamine was still connected to him. The needle snapped, half on the road, half still embedded in his arm.

He hijacked a Ford Taurus SHO and took off, completely paralyzed by the drug. NYPD gave chase all over Manhattan and into Queens. The met amphetamine was taking its toll on Blitz. He was losing control of the Taurus, and the sirens started making him paranoid. Exile saw a school ahead and saw the children were having recess. There was a corner with a speed limit sign, which was marked “Slow, Children at Play: 20MPH”. Exile was horrified at what his speedometer read. His wide eyes gazed at the numbers, in sequence, “1-1-4”. He then watched the Taurus try to bank the turn in futility. All that was saving those children from this 114MPH bullet was a steel fence. He watched in slow motion the brake lights go on, the tires squeal, the car slide, the children still playing. Seeing that he was coming up on the exact same turn, he slammed the brakes and went on the grass and pulled a 180, as not to try to attempt what Blitz could never do, and that was make that turn safely. Being turned around, he had saw what had happened in his rear view mirror.

The SHO was upside down, the children gathered around the car. A basketball hit earth, landing in a small puddle of transmission fluid. Exile ran up to the SHO, gun drawn, but the gun was to be of no use today. Blitz was unconscious for real, but had suffered no apparent injury. The met amphetamine had knocked him out just before the SHO had flipped. He called to dispatch, “We need a medic out here. It appears like a single car accident, one victim….” Just then he looked down at the transmission fluid, which had turned from green to a dark red. His eyes slammed shut, and mumbled an “Oh no.” His heart skipped a beat, and then continued the radio call: “Dispatch, it appears we have a second victim, approximately 12 years of age. Status…. deceased.” Exile couldn’t stand any longer. He fell to his knees and sobbed. His eyes turned red. He went over to the stretcher Blitz was on. He took out his gun and struck Blitz repeatedly, crying with every blow he brandished onto Blitz’s beaten body. “THAT WAS A KID YOU KILLED, A GOD ***** KID!” He collapsed and looked toward the sky, where two helicopters circled, both from news stations. They had caught everything on tape, everything.

They had to haul Exile away in an ambulance, because he wasn’t fit to drive at all. They helped him out of the van and up the apartment stairs. He fell into bed and cried himself to sleep. Over and over his dreams played over the accident. Every last detail, and every time it would end right before Exile saw the speed limit sign, and Balto would say, “You have a choice Exile, you have a choice.”
The next day brought an investigation of the crash and the prosecution of Blitz. This was also a day for the NYPD to mourn, as well as the family of the little girl. Exile walked into the precinct a tired a broken man. Charlie, Sasha, Hunter, Jenna, Aleu, and White Fang all came to Exile’s aid. They kept saying to him that it was not his fault, and Exile kept denying it. The conversation wound up in Exile’s office. Charlie closed the shades. They brought Exile to some sort of sanity before they heard a knock on the window. Sasha answered it, and had to look down. Standing at about 5’0” was a goose. “Hello, my name is Boris Goosinov, a detective for the National Traffic Safety Board. I am here to question the chasing officer and the witnesses. Exile, may I have a moment of your time?” Exile soberly nodded his head and told everyone to get out of his office.

“I have already background checked you and you seem like a very dedicated officer. You were trained by one of the best; Balto was a very good friend and an extremely capable officer. All I need to know is why you didn’t back----”

“I DID BACK OFF!” Exile slammed the desk in fury. This rustled all of Boris’ feathers. Exile managed to calm himself down a bit. “Sir, I did manage to kill my lights and siren, but I will admit I didn’t do it in enough time. I knew that I couldn’t bank that turn, so I pulled a 180 in the grass to halt my vehicle, which I did successfully.” Boris looked at Exile, and said; “I know this is upsetting you, so I will leave you alone. I have to get back to the wreck yard to get whatever is left of Blitz’s vehicle. Have a good day.” Exile put up his hand to acknowledge that he heard what Boris had said, because his face was buried in the desk.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Sasha were on patrol, walking up and down the streets of Manhattan, tipping their hats to everyone who smiled at them. After September 11th, the cops were getting a new reputation as the good guys. Some of the people on the streets saw the black tape on their badges and saluted them or told them that they were sorry for all those they lost. It wasn’t a very interesting day for them, but it was a totally different scenario at 90 Church Street, which was one of the locations where the United States Postal Inspection Service was. Nequila was being overworked as usual, investigating check fraud and mail theft.

“Man, this has been a hell of a day.” Nequila checked out and walked into the parking garage where his car was. He was beginning to unlock the door, when he saw Charlie and Sasha. Sasha noticed him immediately. “Hey Nequila!” Nequila slowly turned around, and could see through his blurred vision Charlie and Sasha. He dropped his suitcase and walked towards them. Nequila spoke to both of them. “How have you two been managing?” They both shrugged their shoulders and said that they were O.K. Charlie looked at the tremendous bags under Nequila’s eyes. “It would be better if we asked how you were doing.” Nequila told them that is was work as usual. He said goodbye and went back to his Crown Victoria, unlocked the doors, and drove out of the parking garage. Charlie and Sasha continued their daily rounds around the office building, and for them today was an easy paycheck, no action whatsoever. They walked hand in hand back to the precinct.

The precinct was emptying out, and White Fang was heading home. He was anxious to get home, to sit down and eat dinner, and to see his wife, Aleu. He walked out to the front of the street, and listened to the hustle and bustle of rush hour traffic. He proceeded to his 1986 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, depressed the clutch, and turned the ignition. The rumble of the 8- cylinder engine renewed his vigor and wanted to get home even faster. He put on his lights and siren and made his way through traffic. He was out on the island within a few minutes, and into Westbury.





He parked the car and went inside. The lights were dim, and the table was candle lit. Aleu came out of the doorway in a solid black dress. White Fang grinned, which turned to a smile. He couldn’t believe that she was doing this to him. He took off his jacket, revealing a suit and tie. He walked over to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Shall I escort you to your table madam?” She put out her paw, and White Fang twirled her around and pulled out the chair. He then went around to his seat where his table setting was. On the plate was a 12oz New York strip steak with Aleu’s special marinade. On her plate was the same thing. White Fang was about to take a bite, when he saw that both glasses were empty. He chuckled, and poured some wine into Aleu’s glass. He then sat back down and they began to eat. White Fang talked about his day, and Aleu discussed hers. During this whole time he smelled perfume, and he was delighted at the scent. After dinner, he helped Aleu out of her chair. White Fang then went over to the CD player and popped in a CD. He set the track number to 5, and waited for it to queue up. He grinned and said, “Shall I have this dance?” Aleu curtseyed, and the speakers started playing their song. Kenny Loggins was coming through crystal clear. They began to slow dance around their living room. White Fang closed his eyes and began to sing the chorus. “For the first time, I am looking in your eyes. For the first time I’m seeing who you are. I can’t believe how much I see, when you’re looking back at me…” Aleu continued, “Now I understand what love is, what love is.” They both sang the last line of the chorus “For the first time.” They drew closer together, and White Fang caressed her hair and kissed her. They continued to kiss as they danced around the floor. The song ended. White Fang drew her close to his mouth and whispered to her, “I love you.” She began to tear up, and held him close, her firm grip on his back. They made their way to the bedroom, where White Fang laid down his badge, and Aleu laid down her dress.

10:00AM. Easter was great. White Fang had his bathing suit on, as he was ready to go to Hunter and Sasha’s place. Hunter was throwing a barbecue, and everyone was invited. Frankie was already there setting up tables and bringing in cases of beer from his Silverado SS. His military salary and competitions had paid off, and now he had a 345HP truck to show for it. He was lugging it into the backyard, when White Fang and Aleu arrived. They were hand in hand, and were both ready to party. Exile came next with his inner tube, and Hunter soon followed with his own blend of spare ribs. The party was getting underway, when the phone rang. Charlie picked it up. “Hello?” The phone went silent. “Hm, that’s really odd.” He looked at the caller ID, and saw it was his next-door neighbor. He put on his sandals and grabbed his gun. Exile grabbed him. “What’s going on?” Charlie shrugged his shoulders, and said “Oh, just checking on the neighbors, I got a weird phone call.” Exile nodded and continued stuffing his face.

Charlie looked around the house, but there was nothing. No car in the driveway, no activity whatsoever. That made Charlie suspicious, because his neighbor had a 1972 Corvette, and it was nowhere to be found. Charlie looked in the windows and around the house, and still nothing. He knocked on the door and jiggled the handle, only to find it unlocked. He opened the door, gun at his side. “Hello? Mr. Arlington?” Dead silence. He checked out all the rooms, and found nothing. All that was to be found was silence. He went out the back way to make sure there was nothing in the house, and, in fact, there wasn’t. Charlie was almost satisfied, but still couldn’t piece together why Mr. Arlington’s car wasn’t there. He took a quick look in the garage, and it was there he found his mystery.

Two high school dogs were inside the Corvette trying to hotwire it. Charlie laughed, but the two dogs’ were frightened. Charlie ordered the two out of the Corvette, and both obeyed. “Listen, since I’m having a good day, I’m going to let you two pups go, but the next time I see you around here I’m going to arrest you both for what crime you commit, AND charge you both with this little incident. The two dogs nodded their heads. “All you two have to do is answer me this one question… where is Mr. Arlington? One of the dogs looked real confused, while the other dog gave him the answer. “Mr. Arlington was picked up by his cousin to go to the airport. He won’t be home for 4 days, so we thought we could take it around the block to show our friends; they have a video camera.”

Charlie nodded his head. “OK, you two show me your friends and you both walk. I obviously am not in uniform, so they won’t know I’m a cop, which means they won’t run away. Both of you walk in front of me so I can keep an eye on you. Just then, Sasha came out of the front door. “What’s going on?” Charlie just said “Just taking care of some water balloon throwers. They were trying to hit cars.” Sasha nodded her head and went back inside. Charlie turned around, only to find the pups gone. He looked around, but they were nowhere to be found. “Oh *****! He ran around the corner and saw the two dogs get into a car. He took down the license plate. He then went back inside and told Hunter to get a hold of dispatch. Hunter radioed it in. “Westbury police, this is NYPD officer lieutenant Hunter Raven. I have a vehicle for you to stop. Charges are evading an officer.” Charlie then whispered to him another line. “And a futile attempt at Grand Theft Auto. The car is a 1993 Eagle Talon, with a wing and side skirts. License plate number is from New York, reading Bravo Niner Fiver, Tango Justin Gregory (B95 TJG). Within a minute or so, he heard the sirens of not the Westbury police, but of EMS. Charlie used his radio and called in for an update. “I need a status on the Talon.” A Westbury PD officer replied. “Talon spun out and hit a light pole. No injuries.” Charlie murmured a thank God, and then continued. “Bring them to your station, I’ll be there in a minute. This is Sergeant Charlie Barkin, over.”

Charlie went back to his party and told everyone what happened. The party went on as usual, while Charlie made his way through the streets of Westbury. The police station was located on Salisbury Park Drive and Old Country Road. Charlie stopped in and saw the boys in a 7x7 cell. He asked for permission to enter, and was granted it. “Why did you pups run? I told you that I would’ve let you go, but NO! You had to take me away from my barbeque by running. Now, did you two just try to steal this for someone, and please be truthful.” The pups confessed. “Yea, this foreign dog wanted it. I remember his name; it was like something to do with sports.” It clicked. Charlie radioed to Exile. “Hey Exile, you want that dog in the SHO, you can grab him. He’s somewhere in Westbury.”

Exile got the message, all right. He was already in his police cruiser. He combed the streets up and down. He desperately looked high and low, and blocks turned into miles. Finally, he saw his target. There was Blitz, coming out of a Subway, eating his fill of a meatball sub. He looked up and saw Exile, and ran. He got into a green SHO and fled. The chase was long, and Exile was thankful he filled the cruiser up with gas. He chased him all over Long Island, and even made it’s way back to New York. Blitz lead him all the way back to that street. That fateful street that had caused Exile so much pain. They were getting close to that corner, and there were the school children. The fence wasn’t even replaced yet. Exile looked down at his speedometer, and there read the numbers 1-1-4. He was shocked and paralyzed. He heard Balto’s voice. “You have a choice Exile, you have a choice.” Exile thought about it. The cars were still heading toward that curve at 100 plus. Exile mashed the gas and was only a few centimeters from Blitz’s left read bumper. He then did the unthinkable. At 120MPH, Exile performed a P.I.T. maneuver, and spun Blitz out in the direction away from the school. Blitz’s bumper had locked with Exile’s, and were both sliding into the empty parking lot next to the school. Exile had to get free, because the first parking stopper they hit would disintegrate both vehicles. Exile grabbed his gun and fired into the fiberglass fender panels, and managed to break free. He immediately hit the brakes, but it was too late. Before the parking lot came a fence, and before that came a dip. Both cars were still heading about 90MPH when they hit the dip, and were now propelled into the air. Exile watched as Blitz’s SHO fell short of the parking stoppers, crashing into them. He saw the airbags deploy, and the front end rip off from the rest of the chassis. The car then tumbled over and over, finally landing right side up.

It was now Exile’s turn to be at the mercy of gravity. He closed his eyes as the car lifted off the ground. He felt weightlessness. The next moment he was on the ground, but didn’t experience any tumbling. Exile had cleared the stoppers…. sort of. The front of the cruiser cleared the stoppers, but the back axle had caught it, snapping it from the chassis. Exile had no back wheels. Too bad his car was rear wheel drive. With blood dripping down his face, he had his gun drawn. Once again it would come to no use. Blitz’s impact was so great, his head was pressed through the steering column and through the airbag, and his knees were embedded in the bottom half of the dashboard. Blitz was clearly dead. He realized, however, that he died painlessly. There was no blood inside the vehicle, which meant that he was killed on impact, because Exile knew that once you die, you cease to bleed. “I hope there are speedways in heaven, but get there safely.” Exile walked away from the car, and then surveyed both the car and himself, to find only a scratch. He then looked up at the sky. “Thank you Balto, thank you.”

9 months passed. Exile had recovered from his injuries, and Aleu had given birth to a son. They called him Balto, in memory of Aleu’s father. White Fang was now running the precinct, and Hunter was promoted to Captain. Charlie was given the rank of Inspector, and Sasha was given the rank of Lieutenant. Frankie continued to sit on the couch, and cleaned his place on a regular basis. Cases came and went, and Precinct 51 had become quite a place to work. That was, until Kaltag came to town. He was the last little remnant of Steele’s gang. He came in on a plane from Alaska, and didn’t want to see the sights and sounds of New York. All he wanted to see was Jenna, and Jenna alone.




He asked around, got information, and finally, a month later, decided to walk into Precinct 51 and see Jenna. He brought a bouquet of flowers, and a smile on his face. He strolled in and asked where her desk was, and Aleu pointed to it, seeing that she was back in action at the Precinct. Jenna was looking at Balto’s photograph, when Kaltag put his paw on her desk. “Excuse me, madam.” She looked up at Kaltag, and he looked down at her. She was spellbound at his appearance. After all these years he showed up, and since Steele, Star, Nikki, and Balto were dead, she knew he might be all right. “I wanted to come here to pay my respects to Balto, because I heard about what happened to him. I am so sorry.” Jenna looked at him and said, “He was the only true wolf I ever knew, and loved.” With the word “wolf” came a bristle from Kaltag. He started to twitch for a second. Jenna looked at this with disgust. “Kaltag, I would appreciate it if you left my office. Nice to see you again.” Kaltag walked out of the office a little shaken. His face turned morose, and he threw the flowers onto the road, where they were run over by a New York City cab. He took one last glance at the precinct, and then got into a rental Chevrolet Colorado. The 3.5 liter 5 cylinder grunted as he put it into drive and drove off.

Inside the precinct, Jenna was shaken and stirred. She finally saw what was inside Kaltag. He was as vicious as Steele, and he was rotten under that yellow/tan fur coat. Aleu walked over to her mother. “Mom, are you OK?” She pulled Aleu closer so that her ear was close. “Listen, if he comes back in here, ask him to leave. If you see him on the street, take no chances. He is as evil as the men who killed your father.” Aleu stood up tall again and nodded her head. White Fang had seen the altercation and had listened to Jenna with his sensitive ears. He reeled back the security camera footage. He enlarged the picture, and posted it up on the Precinct’s bulletin board. After White Fang was done, he called attention to the whole Precinct. “Officers of Precinct 51, we have a tiny situation. Any officer who sees this dog is advised to escort him off the premises, or if he gives you trouble, put him in containment. I want no chances taken with this man. He is related to Steele in some fashion, and I know you all are well aware of his type. Thank you, now continue with your work.” Everyone continued working, and kept a close eye on the door.




Finally, 5:00PM. It was time to check out, and for all of the dogs to go home. White Fang and Aleu walked out and went home, as well as Hunter, Exile, Charlie, and Sasha. They all had their talks outside the parking lot, and at about 5:30 they all got into their cars and made their trips back to their places. Jenna, on the other hand, stayed. She finished typing up a few police reports or so, and then grabbed her coat. She shut the precinct lights and locked the door. It was a little bit chilly outside, and January of 2004 brought a little bit of cold to the city. She found it delightful, and decided to sit down on the steps to the precinct. The cold air hit her face, and she closed her eyes. She flashed back to Nome, and how she came across Balto. She remembered the day that he brought back the medicine, the day that they moved to New York, and the last night they spent together. She smiled and stood up, reached for her purse, and got her car keys. She walked to her car, which was originally Balto’s. It was a 1967 Camaro Z/28, with a push button start and a rebuilt 302 cubic inch 8 cylinder. This was Balto’s pride and joy. She pressed the button that Balto had labeled “Wake up”. The rumble of the V8 and the warmth of the heat coming from the heater made her comfortable. She closed her eyes again, and there was Balto, lying face up in the driveway under the very car she was sitting in. She remembered that final day when he completed it. He took her out to the driveway and made her close her eyes. He sat her in the passenger’s seat, while he took the driver’s. He then turned the key, depressed the clutch, and pushed the button. She remembered him helping her with her seat belt, and him getting out and removing the manual top. That day was particularly nice, and she remembered Balto shifting the gears, her hair waving in the spring breeze.

She opened her eyes. The engine had finished warming up, and she put it into the reverse gear, pulled out of the parking lot, and drove home. It was such a pleasant drive. She unlocked the keys to the apartment and walked in. She got undressed and took a shower. Afterwards, she prepped herself for bed, and was about ready to crawl into bed, when she heard a knock on the door.







She roused herself and went to the door and unlocked it. Bad decision. In rushed Kaltag, knife drawn. Jenna lost color, and her pupils got small. She was terrified beyond belief, but her composure remained. Kaltag told her he wanted her, but Jenna told him that he wanted him OUT OF THE HOUSE! She repeated this to him, and still refused. Finally, she slapped him across the face and put one of her knees into his stomach. He fell to the ground, but got up fast and agitated. Jenna was nowhere to be found. Kaltag quickly checked all the rooms, but Jenna was nowhere to be seen. He made his way around the floor, and saw the door to the stairs close with a bang. He rushed with his knife and chased Jenna. She tripped and fell down one flight. Jenna was down, and couldn’t move. She had broken one of her legs, and Kaltag took notice of this as he caught up to her. Jenna kept screaming for help, but everyone was eating dinner. Kaltag ripped her nightgown off, completely exposing herself. He began to suck her neck and was about to penetrate when one of the neighbors was walking up the stairs ever so silently. The old wolf looked at the two. Kaltag looked at the old man, which gave Jenna enough time to wield her gun. Kaltag looked down, to find the gun pointed straight into his chest, perfectly aligned with his heart. “Stay right where you are.” She then grabbed her walkie-talkie that she grabbed before she left the apartment, and called Hunter’s frequency. “White Fang, come to my apartment, I have a situation. I am between stairway 6 and 5. I think one of my legs is broken. Over.” She put the radio down and kept the gun right on Kaltag. “Get up against that wall, and don’t make a sound.” He obeyed and zipped up his fly. He then slapped the gun right out of Jenna’s hand, hitting her in the face, almost knocking her out. He ran past the old wolf and made his way down the stairs.

White Fang arrived about 5 minutes later. Jenna was lying in the cold stairwell, but was aided by the old wolf. He had brought her a cup of tea, which she drank slowly. He had also brought her one of his wife’s nightgowns for her to put on, and even helped her on with it. The old wolf was kind and generous. White Fang made his way up the flight of stairs, where he saw them both. Jenna had mascara marks of where she was crying. She was a total wreck, but at least she was all right. Hunter and the old wolf helped her down to an ambulance, and loaded her in. The EMS truck drove away, and White Fang turned to the old wolf.




“I would like to thank you for your actions. Here is $20 for all of your suffering.” The old wolf put out his paw and refused the money. The old wolf stared into White Fang’s eyes. “ I see a good soul, but you have trouble dismissing problems too quickly. I see a torn wolf.” White Fang looked right into the torn, glazed over eyes of the old gray wolf. “Only in the spirit is a person truly happy, and my spirit is content. I give generosity, and generosity is given to me. I give a quarter, but expect none in return. Only then is my spirit completely whole, and my conscience is clear. You have to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences” White Fang stared at the old wolf in awe. The old gray wolf then turned his back and walked back up to his apartment. White Fang mumbled to himself, “At least there is one truly good person on this Earth.”

Daybreak. White Fang got out of bed, and thought over what the old gray wolf had said. He decided to do whatever he needed in order to keep Jenna safe. White Fang went to a Hertz station and rented an old beat up Oldsmobile Cutlass. He then drove to the precinct and went up to Jenna. He saw her concentrating on a few documents. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked her if she was O.K. She nodded, but deep down he knew that she was unstable. White Fang went over to Sasha. “Keep an eye on Jenna. If you see her getting a bit dizzy or lightheaded, bring her to my office.” Sasha nodded. He then went over to Exile, who had his feet up on his desk. White Fang smiled and nodded his head. “You’re too much, you know that?” They both started to laugh. “Listen, I need all the information you can get on this ‘Kaltag’ guy. Get the Alaska DMV on the phone and ask for the guy’s license picture. I will put up ‘Wanted’ pictures on the streets. We’d better pray that he used a credit card to pay for it, that way we can get a number and see where he is. I want this information by the end of the day, O.K?” Exile nodded, and now knew what he had to do. He looked for a good 45 minutes, and came up with a driver’s license with picture, but had paid the $10 fee with legit cash. White Fang got a hold of this new information. He looked at the address, and then proceeded to call the credit card companies about the address. First, he tried Wachovia, then American Express, and then landed on MasterCard. The representatives were really nice, and gave White Fang a list of all of Kaltag’s recent purchases. The most recent were a package of condoms, some groceries, and a series of hotels. The latest was a Comfort Inn, near the Queens/Manhattan border. White Fang had a trail.



He got into the Cutlass and took off. Making his way through normal city traffic. He finally saw the Comfort Inn, and parked in the parking lot. He got out of the jalopy and went inside with a picture of Kaltag. White Fang showed his badge, and lay a picture of Kaltag on the front desk. The hotel manager gave him a room, directions, and told him that Kaltag was in his room. White Fang got into the elevator and saw a security camera. He put his hands behind his back and cocked the gun that was hidden in the seat of his pants. White Fang went to Room 204 and knocked on the door. A voice answered. “Who is it?” White Fang calmly answered. “My name is Walter Philasio from the New York City census; I just need to ask you some questions regarding your status as a citizen.” It was a perfect lie, and it was true that White Fang was a good liar. Kaltag cracked the door. It was then that White Fang made his move. He put his foot in the door and grabbed Kaltag by his hair and slammed him repeatedly against the top door lock, his neck being more cut with every slam. White Fang let go of Kaltag, at which he dropped to the floor. White Fang used his powerful teeth and jaws and bit the top lock, snapping it in half.


He opened the door and dragged Kaltag into the room. White Fang sat on top of him. “So, you like to take advantage of women, huh? You like to rape women when they least expect it, right? That’s your way of making yourself bigger. Yea, that’s your motive.” White Fang was putting all the pressure of his body onto Kaltag’s sternum. Kaltag moaned and started to cough up blood. With a gurgle, he said, “You got nothing, you WOLF!” He threw White Fang over, but he held on. He managed to get both handcuffs on him, and dragged him out of the hotel. Kaltag winced in pain, and he left a trail of blood all the way to the Cutlass. White Fang threw Kaltag in the trunk and raced over to the police station. By the time he got over there, Kaltag was near death. White Fang dragged him up the stairs and opened the Precinct door. His eyes were red, his fangs were dripping. Kaltag started to scream as he was being dragged on the floor to the containment cells. He then threw Kaltag into cell 1 and walked away. As he walked, Kaltag screamed, “YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS WOLF, YOU’LL PAY.” White Fang did not get angrier. He started to laugh, and turned around to him. “You go ahead and try that. You know what, I’ll give you at least 30 years to think about how you’re going to do me in.” He then walked to the door that separated the officer sector from the cellblocks. He then looked at his watch. “Your time starts now.” White Fang slammed the door and walked away, never turning back.
He walked into the office, and knelt down next to Jenna. He held her hand and caressed her neck with his thumb. He then whispered to her, “I’ll make sure that he never sees the day that he once again becomes a free dog.” Jenna looked up at him and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you White Fang. You have made my life a lot easier by doing this.” White Fang looked at her, and calmly said, “That’s my job, and nothing more.” He got up and went into his office and grabbed a tennis ball. He repeatedly threw it at the ceiling, but never hit it. As he did it, the thought of how to make a substantial enough case against Kaltag.

One year later the trial came. This was especially good in White Fang’s favor, because all of Kaltag’s wounds had healed. He had hired a lawyer just weeks before the trial, and not a good lawyer at that. The case was, in the end, a no-brainer. The jury, after only a few minutes of debate, came out with a verdict. One of the jurors spoke. “In lieu of all of the evidence against him, the great State of New York finds the plaintiff, Kaltag, guilty of attempted rape, harassment of a police officer, and resisting arrest.” White Fang and Jenna breathed a sigh of relief. He then heard the sentencing from the judge. “It is in my power that I give the plaintiff a minimum sentence of 35 years, with a possibility of parole in no less than 30 years. He is to be extradited back to the state of Alaska, where he will serve out his sentence. Next case.” At the crack of the gavel, wolves and dogs started to clear out. Jenna went out to the car relieved. White Fang walked past Kaltag, at which Kaltag grinned. White Fang smiled back, and said, “I told you so.”

Aleu was home, taking care of Balto, when White Fang walked through the door. He kissed her on the cheek and went inside and prepared some chicken cutlets. Balto was learning how to walk, and made his first attempts at standing up. He succeeded. Aleu then crawled to the other side of the room. She motioned for Balto to come to her. One paw went in front of the other, and he slowly but surely made his way across the room. He went faster and faster. White Fang managed to come outside and see. He was watching something that he created make progress, and was marveled at Balto’s speed. “It looks like he’s going to become a runner, just like his grandfather.” Aleu began to well up. She couldn’t believe the resemblance of her son to her father. They were nearly identical. Eyes were the same, body was the same, and colors were the same. He was almost an exact replica of Balto himself. By now Aleu had begun to cry tears of joy as Balto made his way into Jenna’s arms. He hugged her, and she held him tightly.
White Fang moved over to little Balto and picked him up and carried him to the dinner table. He sat him down and put the bib on him. He served to him chicken cutlets, all chopped up so that he wouldn’t choke on anything. White Fang and Aleu ate the same thing, and all three of them enjoyed their dinner together.

The years passed. Balto was about 6 years of age, and had already started 2nd grade. He was very good at Math and English, to which his teacher saw as astonishing. He excelled in athletics and in academics, but there was one problem. With White Fang being ¾ wolf, and with Aleu being half wolf, Balto had roughly 60% of his wolf ancestry in him. He was teased and picked on, but was not bullied. His fighting abilities given to him by White Fang helped him out, and after he kicked the *** off of the toughest dog at school, Balto was a leader. All the other dogs could do was speak, but could never throw a punch. Balto was maturing into a playful, strong, smart, and athletic wolf dog. He made his parents proud, and the whole gang came over to the house every Sunday to see them. Exile was always teaching Balto how to say something in Russian, and Hunter would always let him play fight in the backyard. Charlie and Sasha had conceived again, and now Frankie had a very little brother. Vinny was about 5 years old, and the two dogs made great friends. Frankie was just crowned Mr. New York, and had revamped his whole lifestyle. Nequila had found much more time since he was promoted to team leader of the 67th division of the United States Postal Inspection Service.

At one of these get togethers, Balto had found his way into White Fang’s closet. He pulled out his police hat, his unloaded gun, and his badge. Balto had managed to pierce his skin a few times with the badge, but it was nothing. He walked out into the living room where everybody was. The hat covered his eyes, and he tripped over and fell on his side. Nobody said a word. When Balto got up, he saw everyone looking at him. Nequila looked at the picture of Balto on the mantle, and then looked at the Balto that stood before him. He then finally broke the silence. “Aleu, White Fang, he looks just like his grandfather.” White Fang began to form tears in his eyes. He then spoke. “You look great, son, you look great. Why don’t you give me my stuff back, and go to your room and grab your baseball mitt. I’ll meet you outside.” Balto acknowledged, and White Fang grabbed his catcher’s mitt. Charlie asked White Fang, “What are you going to do with him?” White Fang cracked a smile, and in a choppy voice, said, “I’m going to have a catch with my son.” Balto came back with his glove and the two went outside. White Fang threw the ball to Balto, and in front of everyone he tossed it back. The pace increased, until they leveled off. Everyone watched as the two tossed the ball back and forth, and, finally, all was well in New York.

THE END.

Bump! Picture added. If this format is hard to read for some of you, I can send you the original files.

BaltoLEO

yeah man, I remember you well, I have the original files and all, I used to go by the alias Midnightfire24 back then, long time no see. good to see you around again. I loved this fic then and I still do to this day. excellent!

I am very glad that you still like it. I actually signed back in to TheBaltoLeague on Yahoo! Groups under a new alias (if you go on, you'll see it). Acanis, Markpast, and John Pullinger even managed to resurface.