Balto: Countdown

Balto, Jenna, and other characters are property of such and such, blah blah, you know, all that copyright crap. Just imagine I wrote all that junk, okay? Oh, and 'Tyrell' we used by permission of LoneWolf_fanwriter. Thanks dude.

(Here's a little tip. To help you get a better idea about this fic and what's going on, it would help to have seen 'Flightplan'.)

( Seattle 2007)

Balto Tyrell was walking toward the little cafe' that the airport had inside for a cup of coffee. He hated having to wake up at 5 in the morning so he could get here on time. As he walked up to the cafe', he noticed that his co-pilot Jenna Parker was already there drinking her own coffee.

“Morning Jenna.”

She looked up from the newspaper she had been reading. “Morning Balto.”

“Since your here already, when's our flight time?”

Jenna looked at her watch. “In about half an hour. It's six o'clock right now.”

“Half an hour? That's it?”

Jenna nodded.

Balto sighed. “I am going to need a lot of coffee to wake myself up enough. I'll be right back.” Balto went over to the counter to get his coffee. “Morning to you too Doc.”

The old Saint Bernard who owned the cafe' smiled and said “Your usual?”

“Yeah.”

Balto had been working as a pilot for this airline for about 2 years. After his and Jenna's little incident on that island a few years back, they needed to lay low for a little while. Jenna managed to convince Balto to go work for a big airline so he could put his skills to work. That and no one would have believed that an Alaskan redneckbush pilot would sit at the controls of a jet plane. They also took the extra precaution of changing their last names.

After Balto had gotten the job, he showed Jenna how a big plane worked. And he didn't even play AC/DC while doing it! After one lesson Jenna got interested in flying herself. She went to a flight school and started taking lessons. Balto quickly became Captain of a 747. He got a copilot by the name of Kodi. Unfortunately, Kodi had died a year ago. He was flying a plane through the Rocky mountains in Colorado when hisengines suddenly went dead.

Now, this is bad. Not as bad as you would imagine however. You can glide the plane for a while as you search for a place to take the plane down.

There are however, very few flat landing areas in the mountains. There hadn't been much of the plane left when they found it. As such the airline hired a new pilot. Balto gave a suggestion and a few weeks later, Jenna was his co-pilot. She has been his first mate for almost a year herself.

“Here you go Balto” Doc said bringing Balto back out of his thoughts.

“Oh thanks” Balto said taking the coffee.

As he sat back down at the table, he looked at Jenna and asked “Are you nervous?”

“Yeah. Maiden voyages are a little more nerve racking than normal flying.”

The two of them had been flying 747s most of the time they worked here. Today however, they were going to be flying a brand spanking new aircraft. The 818. It was two decks high, and 8 aisles across. It also had crew quarters and a fully stocked kitchen. It even had a bar.

Oh, and the plane was around 300 feet long and carried 600 passengers. One news reporter had called it, at it's unveiling, 'a flying city'. And rightly so.

Balto sighed slightly. “Yeah I know what you mean. I guess we'll just have to give it our best shot.”

Jenna clicked her paws as if she just remembered something. “This will ease some of the pressure on us. Guess who's going to be on the plane?”

“I don't know. The Dixie Chicks? They just won several Grammy Awards by the way.”

“ I heard. No, this person is a little more popular.”

“Um, Elvis?”

“Even more famous.”

“Than Elvis? Wow. Um... James T. Kirk? Marilyn Monroe? Mick Jagger? James Bond? Kevin Bacon? Phil Collins? Freddie Mercury? Eddie Van Halen? Ah! I know! Jimi Hendrix!”

“President Buford Hognasal.”

Balto's eyes bulged. “President Hognasal!? What is the President of the United States doing on my plane!?”

Jenna held up her handsdefensively. “Hey don't look at me I didn't do it. I think it's one of those things where he's trying to drum up support for the new election.”

“Joy of joy's.”

Jenna looked at her watch again. “Well, we should probably head out to the plane. We've got to get it ready for the President.”

Ten minutes later, the two of them were sitting in the cockpit of the plane doing there preflight checks.

Balto looked out the window and groaned. “Here comes his Majesty and all his bodyguards. Oh, on a totally different topic of conversation, where are we going?”

“I thought you were supposed to be the pilot.”

“I didn't get enough coffee. My brain isn't working right because of it.”

Jenna grabbed the flight book and started flipping thru it. “Let's see, ah, here we go. We are going to Chicago, Illinois.”

“It'll probably be a 4 or 5 hour long flight. Not too bad.”

“Speak for yourself. I don't like Chicago.”

Balto rolled his eyes. “Oh come on. So you had two or three bad experiencesthere.”

“May I remind you that they were not 'bad' experiences, they were terrible ones! What self-respecting husky would want to go on a date with a psychotic polar bear, and then get asked out by his brother!”

“Okay, I agree. I know that I wouldn'tgo on a date with Muk. Or Luk!”

Jenna sighed for a second and then suddenly looked at her watch. “Oh Crap!”

“What?”

“We where supposed to be at the boarding ramp 10 minutes ago!”

“Well let's get moving then.”

The Secret Service guards were not very happy about the delay. The minute Balto and Jenna walked up to them, one named Alex Lifeson started complaining about how the President had been exposed to unnecessary danger from terrorists because he had not been safely on the plane.

'Yeah. Whatever' Balto thought.

He ignored the rest of the protests from Alex and the other security guards and walked up to the president.

“Mr. President. It's an honor to meet you.”

As much as he hated politics, Balto was honored to shake the paw of the President. “And I hope you'll enjoy the ride.”

“I never liked flying very much. But I can make an exception. I'm sure you'll do a fine job.” Buford smiled and turned to Jenna. “And you are...?”

“Jenna Parker. Mr. Tyrell's co-pilot.”

“I would keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't try anything to fancy.”

Jenna smiled. “I will Mister President.”

One of the Secret Service guards was talking on his walkie-talkie and walked up to the President. “Excuse me Mr. President. I would just like for you to know that the plane is secure and we are allowing the other passengers on board.”

“Thank you Sparky. Now, if you two will excuse me, I wish to go meet the other passengers.”

Balto and Jenna gladly ducked back into the cockpit and shut the door.

Balto leaned back in his seat and sighed happily. “Safe. Safe from the politicians.”

“Oh, how do I agree.”

Little did anyone know that they were not safe at all.

Within 20 minutes all the passengers were on the plane and seated.

“Flight 815 you are clear for takeoff.”

“Thanks control. Flight 815 beginning our way down the runway.”

Balto switched on the 'Fasten seat belt' light and began to taxi down the runway. He approached the straight stretch and started to rev the engines. He looked over at Jenna for confirmation as to when he could begin going down the runway.

Jenna looked back and nodded.

Balto blew his breath. “Okay. Here we go.”

He reached over to the throttle and started pushing the lever up slowly. The plane started moving forward. He kept pushing the throttle forward and the plane started picking up speed. Jenna said “Okay we are now going fast enough to generate the lift we need.”

Balto nodded. “Raising flaps.”

It took a moment or so, but the plane started leaving the ground. Balto waited until they were almost thirty feet off the ground when heradioed the control tower. “Flight 815 has flown the coop.”

“Good luck 815. Have a safe journey.”

They were on there way.

They had only been flying for half an hour or so when a stewardess brought up some drinks. Balto smiled at the dog and thanked her. Jenna was reaching over for a drink as well when Balto heard some commotion going on behind him. At first, he thought a couple of passengers were arguing over something. Then he heard what they were saying.

“Hey look out!”

“Somebody stop them!”

“Help!”

Balto spun in his seat and looked thru the open door and his heart lept into his throat. Several dogs were charging toward the cockpit!

He stood up and yelled to the stewardess “Look out!”

BANG!

The lady never knew what happened. Balto watched in horror as her body fell to the floor. He looked back up in time to see a fist coming at him. He felt a sharp pain and fell over backwards, luckily not falling on the controls. Jenna was starting to stand up when a gun pointed in both their faces.

A large brown German Shepherd stood there holding the gun. “Both of you get up. Now.”

Balto slowly got up to his feet. He was both furious, and scared out of his mind. “What do you want?”

The big dog laughed. “I'm holding the gun and you're the one asking questions? I don't think so.” Balto saw another fist flying at him. He turned his head to minimize the impact. But the dog wasn't aiming for his face. He hit Balto in the side. “AAHH!”

It was the exact spot where he had been shot when him and Jenna were escaping from that island.

“Leave him alone!” Jenna shouted.

The rest of the passengers stared with their mouths open.

Balto painfully got back up onto his feet. He tried again. “What do you want? Who are you?” He paused for a second then said “And how did you get guns on the plane?”

The dog looked at him for a second. “Alright. I'll tell you. I am Fifi and I am hereby assuming command of this vessel. Answer to question number three. I got the guns on here with a little bit of 'outside help'. And why am I doing this? I don't think I'll tell you why yet but I will tell you, if someone doesn't cooperate, I will begin to pick off one your passengers when each order is disobeyed. And now, as proof that I'm not kidding, I am herebyterminating both of you. I hope you enjoyed the flight.”

Balto couldn't believe it! 'Fifi?! What kind of a German Shepherdis named Fifi?”

Fifi was turning his gun toward Balto and Jenna when a passenger kicked Fifi as hard as he could. The action startled him, making him look around and lowering his gun a little.

Balto didn't waste any time. He grabbed Jenna had hurled himself down the aisle. He didn't bother looking back when he heard Jenna kicking out at the dogs. In fact, he didn't turn around the entire time he was running.

He did try to duck when bullets started flying in his direction.

The passengers had started jumping at Fifi and his dogs in an attempt to take them down. They remembered September 11 all too well.

They were just about to get the upper hand when Fifi shouted above the racket. “Everyone stop or we all die!”

Everyone looked at Fifi. He was pointing is gun at one of the windows.

“If I blow out this window, do you know what will happen? This plane is traveling at a speed of around 800 or more miles an hour. Back on the ground, 70 miles an hour can blow you over. Imagine 800. This entire plane will depressurize and will crumple up like a pop can. Now then, shall I pull the trigger, or will everyone calm down and behave?”

Reluctantly, the passengers started to sit down. Fifi smiled at his victory. “Thank you. Refreshments and drinks will be out soon.”

Balto and Jenna had run into one of the bathrooms on the plane.

Jenna looked around. “Now what?”

Balto looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “Watching all those action movies really pays off.” He got up on the sink and started messing around with a little hatch. “See this?” he said to Jenna. “This is how we're getting out of here.”

Jenna laughed despite the situation they were in. “Balto, that's the ceiling. And how are we going to get out of here thru that?”

Balto started looking around. He thought of something. He reached into his pocket and felt around for a quarter. “A screwdriver.”

“Balto” Jenna said, shaking her head.

“Annnd, to our escape.”

Jenna gasped in surprise as the hatch popped open. Balto climbed up and reached down to help Jenna up. As Jenna climbed up, she took a quick glance around. “Oh, Balto. It's filthy up here!”

“Yeah” Balto agreed. “Filthy.” They looked at each other and tried as hard as they could to keep from gagging.

Fifi was sitting in a chair behind the two pilot's chairs. He knew absolutely nothing about how to fly a plane. And unfortunately, it seemed that neither of the two dogs he hired knew how to do it either. This is what it sounded like.

“Okay. Which one is the throttle?”

“I think it's this button here.”

“Of course that's not it you idiot! The throttle is right here.”

“Then why did you ask for it ya lemon?”

“A lemon? I'll show you I'm not a lemon!”

“Oh yeah? How?”

“I'm going to make us go faster by flipping this switch right here.”

He flipped the switch.

“Hahahaha! You turned on the windshield wipers! Just what we need on a sunny day like this!”

“Shut up!” Fifi yelled. “You two obviously know absolutelynothing about how to fly a plane! You said you did when I hired you! What happened!?”

The dogs mumbled nervously. “Um, we lied?”

Fifi leaned back in his seat and growled. “Obviously.” He got up and started walking out.

“Where are you going?” asked one of his companions.

“To talk with someone.” he growled.

Balto and Jenna were walking around the cargo section of the plane. “So what are we going to do now Balto?”

“I don't know. We need to find a way to take back over the plane.”

“What about some of the passengers? We could ask them for help.”

Balto thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. That could work. What deck is President Hognasal on?”

“Um, I think he's on the second deck.”

“Yes! This means that if we can get to him, we can tell him about what happened and get his Secret Service guards to help us. This is great!”

“What do you mean we can tell him what happened? Wouldn't he know already because of the gunshots and the running around?”

Balto tsked. “Jenna, Jenna. You didn't notice that those guns had silencers on them?”

Jenna glared at him. “Sorry Captain but I don't really inspect guns when there firing bullets at me.”

“Okay good point.”

Jenna looked around for a second. “I don't want to burst your bubble but how are we going to get to the second deck?”

“Easy. The way we got here.”

“You mean dropping in thru another bathroom?”

“Yeah. What's so bad about that?”

“Let me think about that for a second.”

“Oh come on. Let's go.”

Jenna sighed. “If we run into somebody, you are going to do the explaining. Say, why did we run up here if we're just going back out again?”

“Dummy, so we could away from the hijackers. Remember those guns that were going off at us?”

They failed to notice the little red light blinking no more than five feet from them.

It took them a little while but they managed to find one of the hatches that led into a bathroom.

Balto looked over at Jenna and said “Ladies first.”

Jenna looked back at him. “I don't think so.”

“Phooey.” Balto looked at the hatch and rubbed his paws together. “Okay. I hope it's a Men's room.”

He mentally prepared himself for what may happen, and opened the hatch. The restroom was empty. Balto was very happy with that.

“Okay. It's clear.”

He gently lowered himself down and then reached up and helped Jenna.

She was just about to open the door when she realized something. “How are we going to explain to the passengers what is going on when both pilots walk down the aisle from inside a bathroom?”

Balto thought about that for a minute. “I don't know.”

Jennagritted her teeth. “Your help is overwhelming.”

“Well, what did you want me to say!?”

“I don't know. Something that Confucius might say.”

“Who?”

“Never mind.”

Despite her better judgment, Jenna walked out of the bathroom. She started walking down the aisle and looked back towards where Balto was. He quickly walked out and joined her. Some of the passengers looked up with a confused look on their faces but most didn't pay any attention. They were either looking at a book or magazine, or looking out the window. Or sleeping. Balto was extremely envious.

Balto and Jenna walked around looking for the President thinking that he would be easy to find. But no luck. Balto glanced around for a second and saw a Secret Service guard standing nearby. Even though they were supposed to be 'Secret' Balto found that they were the easiest dogs to find. Wearing a 'Men in Black' suit with sunglasses and an earphone makes one easy to spot.

He walked up and said “Where is the President? I need to speak with him on an urgent matter.”

The guard stood still. “Sorry. I'm afraid you can't speak with him right now. He met all the passengers several minutes ago.”

Balto was losing his patience. “Do I look like a passenger to you?”

“What else would you be?”

“How about the pilot? Do all the passengers wear uniforms like this?”

This time the guard reached up and took off his sunglasses. “Oh. I guess these sunglasses are a little too dark.”

Balto tried again. “Can I speak with the president?”

The guard put his glasses back on and said “No. I'm afraid not.”

“And why not?”

The guard pointed behind Balto. “Nature called.”

Balto turned around and found himself looking at the bathroom opposite of the one he and Jenna had come down. His face turned a bright red. “Oh. I guess we'll be going then.”

The guard nodded. “A wise course of action sir.” The dog looked around and lowered his voice. “The president has been know to occupy a restroom for an unusually long time. He took a book too. 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.' And, he just went in.”

Balto turned around and went back the way he had come. He took a quick,thorough glance around to make sure no one was watching. Then, him and Jenna slipped back into the restroom they had originally come from.

They stood there for a moment in silence. Jenna spoke first. “So now what?”

“Let's go back up into the plane. I don't think anyone else would be up there so we should be safe. Then, we can think of a plan.”

After using his 'screwdriver' again, they both climbed back into the 'underbelly' or fuselage of the plane. They were about to start making their way back towards the front when Balto suddenly heardvoices.

“Shh.”

The two of them started making their way toward the talking. They got close enough to see Fifi and another figure talking. Fifi was clearlyvisible. The other person was however, a shadow. This is what they were saying.

Fifi: We'll be in Chicago in four hours. How are we supposed to get off the plane with a dead president in our arms?

(The shadow): You'll see. I have things prepared, it's no concern of yours. You just need to keep everything under control. By the way, I never authorized you to take extreme measures.

Fifi: What extreme measures?

Shadow: Let's see. Killing the stewardess, andtrying to kill both pilots!

Fifi: Okay the flight attendant was a reflex. I didn't mean that one. I saw her, instinct took over, and you know the rest.

Shadow: (sigh) Okay, I understand that one. But what about killing both pilots?

Fifi: I was going to make an example of them. Besides, I have two dogs who are qualified to fly a plane.

Shadow: Ha! That's not what I hear. Speaking of the pilots, why didn't you go after them?

Balto had been wondering the exact same thing.

Fifi: Not part of my job. Remember, I'm only supposed to keep everything under control.

Shadow: Fine. (Balto couldn't clearly see, but the 'Shadow' appeared to check it's watch) I need to head back to my seat. But for future reference, don't do anything else unexpected.

Fifi: Okay, fine.

Just then, something exploded. Very loudly.

Balto and Jenna had never run so fast in their lives. Normally theywouldn't be running as fast when they heard an explosion.

But, they were the pilots of the largest plane ever built, it had 600 passengers on it including the president of the United States, and an explosion on an airplane several miles above the ground was something to be worried about.

The two of them quickly climbed down into the bathroom that was now sofamiliar. With a slight change.

Someone was in it this time.

And this dog was not a passenger but one of Fifi's goons. So Balto didn't feel all that bad about it. The dog looked up in surprise. Balto jumped down and hit the dog. The goon was momentarily disoriented and gave Balto enough time to grab the goons pistol and hit him over the head with the butt end of it. The goon had a nice little nap. And a rather large 'goose egg' on the back of his head.

Wasting no time, he and Jenna burst out of the bathroom and ran toward the cockpit. Fifi was there and quickly raised his pistol. Balto raised his faster and fired first. The bullet struck Fifi right in the chest and threw off his aim. As he went down he pulled his own trigger. That bullet got Balto right in the left arm.

He hardly felt it due to the amount of adrenalinepumping thru him. He quickly pulled the trigger five more times, drilling the four other goons standing guard. All fell to the deck. Then before the two who currently sat in the pilot and co-pilot chairs could do anything, Balto had them in his sights. “Get out now!”

The two dogs quickly stumbled out of the cockpit.

All of this happened in under 10 seconds. As he walked by Steele and his goons, he noticed that they were still breathing. He bent down and tore off the jackets they were wearing. He looked up at Jenna and explained.

“They'rewearing bullet proof vests. They'll be unconscious for a while but that's all. Here, take this.” He handed the pistol to Jenna who quickly aimed it at the two would be pilots.

Balto took a look out one of the windows and groaned.

“What is it?” Jenna asked.

“The engine. That's what blew up.”

“We still have five more.”

“Yes. We're okay for the moment but we won't get to a landing strip for quite a while. This could become serious.”

“More serious than you think.”

Balto spun on his heel and looked at who was talking.

There were six dogs standing there.

“Are you more of Fifi's goons?”

The lead dog laughed. “No. We are much more serious than him.”

The dog demonstrated that when all six of them pulled out semi-automaticrifles.

The dog continued. “These are capable of pumping out over a thousand rounds a minute. Top of the line. And we have no qualmsover who is in the way when we pull the trigger.”

Balto was now very nervous. “What do you want?”

“You like that question a lot don't you? We, like Fifi, want the plane. But for a different purpose.”

“Oh so you know why Fifi wanted the plane? Why did he?”

The dog shrugged. “Ask this guy.”

Alex Lifeson, the Secret Service man, came down. Behind him, two more of the dogs carrying semi-autos came, dragging the president with them.

Jenna jumped forward. “What?!”

One of the dogs aimed his rifle at Jenna and said “Back off.”

She did.

Alex said “You know, ever since President Hognasal came into office, I couldn't stand him, and I made that public. Well, being the head of the Secret Service, I found out about these guys who were planning to hijack the very first 818 on it's maiden flight. Obviously, this plane. Rather than arresting them, I made a pact with them. We would pull a double whammy. Not only would they hijack this plane, I would convince the President to go on the plane.”

Baltocouldn't believe what he was hearing. “What was the purpose of getting him on this plane?”

Alex smiled in a way that made Balto's blood run cold. “Remember 9/11? We're going to make another one. Only better.”

Balto realized what the dog meant. It was the most awful thing he had ever realized in his life. A life, that would not be lived much longer.

Balto had lost hope. They were going to assassinate the president, and then crash the plane into something. What they would crash into, he didn't know. Balto hung his head and sat down in a seat, waiting for the inevitable.

This mood had alarmed Jenna. She hadn't heard what Alex had said to Balto but it apparently wasn't good. She had gone off in search for a first aid kit to bandage Balto's gunshot wound. She had found one luckily and had started to bandage his arm. She asked him,

“Balto, what did he say to you? I've never seen you act like this before.”

Balto turned to her. She noticed uneasily that he was on the verge of crying. “You don't want to know.”

“Yes I do Balto.”

“Okay, here's everything as far as I can figure out. Alex was the shadow we saw talking to Fifi. He hired him and his goons to take the plane, but he also hired some terrorists to crash the plane into something.”

Jenna was too stunned to talk. “Wh... what are we going to do?”

“Nothing.”

“What!?”

Balto looked at her again. “Jenna if we try to take the plane, six dogs are going to fill us with more lead that you can possibly imagine. And, some of the bullets might miss and hit an innocent passenger.”

“We have to do something.”

Just then, the dog in the lead of the terrorists called to Balto from the cockpit. “Hey you. Come here.”

Balto sadly got up and walked over. “What do you want?”

The dog turned to look at him. “I was just going to tell you that we normally kill the pilots of the plane we hijack. But, I'm going to make an exception for you. I'm going to let you see what we are going to hit. That's all. Go away.”

Balto turned and walked back out of the cockpit. He sat back down next to Jenna. As soon as he sat down Jenna said “Well, any ideas of how we are going to take back over the plane?”

“Let it go Jenna. I don't think there's anything we can do.”

Now Jenna got mad. “Come on! You're the captain of this plane! Six hundred people put their lives in your hands! And now when they really need you, you aren't doing a thing! If you can't get up the nerve to at least try and help these people, then you don't deserve to be their captain.”

With that, she started to get up but then turned around and whispered angrily to Balto “Get this thru your head. If you don't do anything, we die. If you do do something, we might die. But at least we were doing something beside sitting on our butts.” This time she walked away.

An hour or so passed and Fifi and his goons had woken back up. This put a little more strain on the terrorists now that they had even more dogs to watch. When Balto noticed this, he thought that maybe he could do something. He started thinking harder. He got up from his seat, and began putting together a plan. He explained everything to Fifi. Fifi had clearly not realized that the plane was to be rammed into a building, and was not very happy with Alex.

Balto said to Fifi “Okay, you don't want to die, right? Well, if we work together, we just might survive. So, can I count on your help?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good. Here's what you do...”

Another two or three hours passed and Balto was still busy thinking. His thoughts were interrupted though when the lead terrorist spoke up. “Hey you. Yeah you the pilot! Come up here!”

Balto got up and walked over. “What do you want now?”

“Take a look.”

Balto looked out the windshield and saw the city of Chicago. “And?”

The dog laughed. “Take a close look.”

Balto looked again. And this time he noticed it. “Oh,no.”

The plane was turning.

Balto kept on looking and noticed what the plane was turning towards.

The one, the only...

Sears Tower.

Balto's fur started losing color as he saw the plane straighten out, and saw that the Sears Tower was starting to get bigger.

He stood speechless for a moment. Then Jenna's voicestarted drifting thru his head. “If you can't get up the nerve to at least try and help these people...”

Balto realized now was the time to spring his plan. He signaledto Fifi, who pulled out a gun he had concealed, and fired a round at the two terrorists who were guarding the cockpit door. Both of them were wearing bullet proof vests as well but the round was enough to knock most of them over. The passengers then lept into action. Balto grabbed on the semi-autos from the man that was just shot, then he burst into the cockpit and clobbered the one sitting in the pilot's seat. As he struggled to get the unconsciousdog out of the seat, the lead terrorist grabbed at him from behind. Balto ignored him and reached for the controls. The other dog hit him in the side in an attempt to slow Balto down. It didn't. Balto mustered all the strength he could manage and shoved his elbow back.

Hard.

He heard a crack and a grunt. The dog fell over. And wouldn't wake up for a little while, and when he did, his ribs would hurt reallybad. Balto turned back and looked out the windshield.

He saw the Sears Tower. And it filled the whole windshield. Rememberingthat he was going over 500 miles an hour he yanked the control stick as far back as it would possibly go. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked and saw Jenna sitting beside him pulling back on her control stick as well. Balto held his breath.

He could see that the plane was heading up, but he wondered if it would be enough. He saw the building angling away from him and blew a sigh of relief. Then he remembered just how big the building was.

They continued turning up. The plane eventually ran parallelwith the tower. He hoped that no one was in the building though he knew that to be unlikely. Because of how close they were to the tower, the engines, because of their power, would be busting windows.

He finally saw the top of the tower and blew another sigh of relief. They were going to make it! Then the stall light came on.

The momentum they already had would take them up several feet but not enough to completely clear the tower. He waited a few precious seconds and then shouted to Jenna “Level out!”

Jenna didn't argue with him when he used that tone of voice. She leveled out. Balto shut his eyes when he heard the straining of metal. The plane was scraping the top of the building! He opened his eyes in just enough time to see the two massive antennason top of the building looming up in front of him. 'I hope we hit at the right angle so the windshield doesn'tbust!'

He heard a louder crashing noise than before. The plane tore thru theantennas while the bottom of the plane was scraping against the top of the building. Balto had never heard a more beautiful sound.

That sound was no sound at all. They had finally cleared the building! That's what Balto found so beautiful. He quickly looked for a landingstrip. There was one!

“Ground control this is flight 815 coming in for emergency landing!”

The reply was swift.

“Permissionundoubtedly granted! We didn't think you would clear the Sears Tower! I'm looking at you thru some binoculars. Don't try to bring out your landing gear! It's smashed from the incident with the tower!”

“I hear you!” Balto reached over and switched on the speakers so everyone on the plane could hear him. “Attention everyone! This is your Captain speaking! As you are all aware, we are going to be a having a very rough landing! Brace for impact! Thank you.” He clicked off the speaker for a second. He came back on and said “By the way, there will be NO drinks served during this point of the flight.”

Balto watched as the landing strip got closer and closer until...

These noises occurred.

BANG! BAM! SCRRREEEECCCHH!

This was followed by a large amount of bumping. It seemed to last forever before the plane finally came to a stop.

Balto looked over at Jenna and said “I agree with you. I hate Chicago.”

The very next day Balto and Jenna were heroes. The newspapers praised them as if they were gods that had come to earth.

(There was actually a newspaper that complained that they were a menace to the city. They had after all, done thousands of dollars worth of damage to the Sears Tower. The editors name was J. Jonah Jameson if Balto recalled correctly.)

(1 month later)

Due to the immense popularity Balto and Jenna got, they began receiving tons of job offers at various airports and companies. They turned most of them down, because they could easily end up in the same circumstance, being hijacked, etc. Finally, they got one that sounded risk-free from a man named Steele Karrzon. He worked for a company that was expanding into California, and he was the director in the branch in San Diego, and he needed two pilots for his private jet. Soon, though, they realized it wasn't quite a risk-free job.

THE END

Okay, what can possibly happen to poor Balto and Jenna this time? Find out in the next sequel, our adaption of ABC's LOST.