The jeep lurches to the right, spinning out in the snow. The right side slams into a building, before the pig-tailed driver rights it and blazes forward at a rapid, lurching pace, gunfire falling all around them. The messy haired man on the jeep fires back form a turret, and the one in the scarf stares contemplatively at a rough piece of paper.
 
"God damn it, Emi, can't you drive this stupid thing? Even without legs, you should be able to figure out how the pedals work!"
 
"Well, excuuuse me, Mr. Legally Blind! Why don't you take the wheel?"
 
Hisao sighs, exasperated at the two of them. "If the two of you don't make nice, I'm leveling this turret at both of you! Now Kenji, are we almost there, or what!?"
 
Kenji frowns, and contemplatively looks at the vague coordinate map they sketched based off what Hisao and Emi saw from the air and what Kenji saw from the ground. "Yeah, dude, their officer's building is about a quarter mile up this way, on the right. Big pointed roof, and a radio tower. Might be office space inside, too."
 
"Could be a useful place to get some intel." Emi chimes in. "Maybe figure out what the hell this 'Manafall' thing is you're talking about."
 
Kenji frowns. "I'll tell you more once we're inside. I'm not in a sharing mood while I'm being shot at."
 
A loud explosion rips one of the buildings into stone dust and fire, and as the receding sound of bullets pop at random, Hisao smiles. "Found the armory. Also, radio tower at 3 o'clock!"
 
Emi slams the brake, and all the jeeps' occupants lurch forward uncomfortably. When they right themselves, the jeep has skidded several feet, bringing it close enough to the officer's building. Kenji takes position next to the door, crouched and ready. Hisao, having grabbed an assault rifle, lines up behind him. Emi lifts her leg straight up in from of the door, and the sound of a pneumatic piston goes off as her leg suddenly surges forward and knocks the door off its hinges. Kenji stares for just a second, admiring the technology in the advanced prosthetic.
 
Hisao leans in and begins firing the assault rifle into the compound, taking loose aim at shadowy figures that clamor around in the slowly settling dust. Kenji turns in as Hisao retreats to reload, and takes careful aim at several guards who have come into view, dropping each one with a single bullet. Finally, Emi runs in, slides behind an upturned desk, and blind-fires into a hallway up ahead, ripping through the chests of two more guards.
 
As Emi holds her position, Kenji and Hisao move in concert, carefully scanning the dead. The bodies of men in winter-camo are mixed with those of women, who wear the stark, olive drab dress uniforms of the MJFF. The rank insignias are colored light blue, which stands out starkly against the olive uniforms, as well as the blood all over the place. Kenji sets his jaw warily, before they get to Emi's position. Together again, the three of them move on ahead into the building.
 
Suddenly, Hisao puts a finger to his lips, and curtly nods towards one of the rooms ahead. The sound of a scuffle and of raised voices chills Kenji to the core.
 
"So tell me Yuuko, how long were you a spy for CIRO and the IID? How long did you know? And, how long have you been gathering inside information?"
 
"I swear, Kimi, I had no idea any of this would happe-"
 
"SHUT UP! You knew that garlicky chauvinist from forever ago! I should have known you were going to turn us in when he came back on the scene."
 
"I would never!"
 
"Oh yeah, Yuuko? Then explain your interrogation questions! Because, you went very, very far off-script..."
 
Kenji, overcome with protectiveness, slams open the door to the room with his shoulder, and draws the Beretta up to firing stance. In the room, Yuuko is being held from behind by a MJFF officer with a gun to her head, and another is standing closer to the door, berating her and holding a keyring with three memory sticks on it.
 
Kenji fires, placing three bullets into the chest of the officer with the keyring, before turning to the struggling Yuuko. Pausing for less then a second, Kenji begins to exhale, and fires a single bullet at Yuuko...
 
Which finds its home in her captor's head. The body jerks back, and Yuuko drops to the floor a split-second before the other gun goes off. As the body falls behind her, Yuuko, crumpled to the floor on her knees, begins to sob uncontrollably.
 
"K... Kenji..."
 
Rushing over, Kenji embraces her, holding her tightly as if to keep her from melting into the floor. "Shh, Yuuko, it's alright now. I'm here."
 
Yuuko looks up at him, her teal eyes finding his behind his lenses, despite his clouded spectacles.
 
"I... I love you, Kenji."
 
Kenji smiles fondly, and brushes a stray hair from Yuuko's face.
 
"I love you, too, Yuuko."
 
Kenji tenderly moves his lips to hers, and they meet in a gentle, steady kiss. Passion, desire, and love, covered by years of denial, burst forth for both of them, and they deepen the kiss, overcome by the catharsis of their suppressed emotions. Only a cough from behind them breaks their revelry.
 
Hisao and Emi stand there, observing the two. Emi's eyes are wide with excitement, whilst Hisao's are calmly examining the keyri9ng of memory sticks. "So... remember how we're in enemy territory, and have to get the hell out of here?"
 
Emi frowns at Hisao. "But, it's so romantic!"
 
Hisao frowns back. "But, we'll be so dead if we stay here."
 
Yuuko and Kenji stand, not quite sure about letting go of the other. Yuuko breaks away first, and faces Hisao, bowing deeply.
 
"Sorry! Sorry. You are right. Shirakara, Yuuko, CIRO Operative 183722-3. Passcode honeymuffin. On those memory sticks will be information regarding Manafall, MJFF territory information, outpost data, and all interrogation records from this location. There are no back-ups."
 
Hisao smiles. "You know, you don't have to bow so deeply, Yuuko."
 
She fidgets with the end of Kenji's scarf. "Well, yes, but, being undercover for so long, it's... nice. To be able to return to being me again."
 
As the four walk out of the meeting room back into the main building, Hisao stops them, turnign from point position to address them. "Look, you've got to tell me, because it's killing me. What is Manafall?"
 
Yuuko frowns, her displeasure evident. "We'll keep it brief. Manafall basically is a large-scale global computer virus, spread via cookie files on the Internet."
 
Kenji taps his glasses, and then continues Yuuko's dialogue. "The goal of Manafall is to strike non-MJFF affiliated nations directly at their power sources, disrupting government from the highest office to the simplest of citizens."
 
The group has kept moving, and have left the officer's building. The attack jeep is waiting, covered in a light layer of snow. Though obscured at a distance, they can make out the shape of it in the slowly-escalating storm.
 
"The reason they call it Manafall..." Yuuko trails off, letting Kenji pick up the explanation again.
 
"... is because it strikes us right where it'll hurt - any kind of regulated energy station. Coal, oil, hydro - and especially nuclear."
 
Hisao and Emi nod, keenly aware of how dangerous a virus targeting nuclear power plants could be. "Then, we definitely need to get out of here. CIRO, Japan, and the world needs to know about this imme-"
 
A large explosion behind them cuts Hisao off, and the four of them collapse to the ground, thrown slightly by the force of the explosion. The building behind them is no more than rubble remains, barely a frame left standing from the prefab architecture. A large refurbished Soviet T-80 trundles over the wreckage, crushing down anything in its way. As it comes to a stop, a mounted loudspeaker crackles to life, and an all-too familiar voice cuts in over the sparking sounds of the flames.
 
"Wahahahaaa~!"