Major. Hey, Major!
What was that? Virtual reality?
I'm on vacation. Don't be so casual about entering my cyber lobby.
My condolences. There's been a terrorist bombing in Nishinouchi.
The vies were an executive at a foreign-owned water company,
a Trade Ministry official, and a domestic weapons manufacturer.
The top-priority entry in the terrorism prediction list
you gave Public Security was right on target.
I assume they were in a secret meeting to agree on water prices.
Everything's in smithereens, including some Foreign Affairs guards.
There was also an explosion at the Yamanote Dam, by the way.
The dam?
Dunno if it's related.
But it essentially belongs to a foreign-owned water company,
and there's a retired Trade official on staff.
The bureaucrats' turf wars are intense in that industry.
So, who asked for us?
Section 9, as usual.
They failed to put your list to good use, but they did track the preps.
They say they can't secure 'em, though. Too outgunned.
Call everyone in. I'm coming too.
Work calls?
I'm sorry.
Five hours, seven minutes. That's a record-length vacation for you.
Are you consulting for the police today? Or the Cyberbrain Development Bureau?
I'll make it up to you.
Don't forget what we talked about.
Are you serious?
Of course.
You should get going. All your customers are impatient types, right?
Yes.
Wow, you've been with that guy for three months! That's a new reorder'.
Don't be so casual about using that Ghost infiltration key.
Your precinct ID'd him as Detective Naoharu Mizuki.
Is that right?
Yeah. He's my senior.
Is this all he had on him?
His holster was empty.
His piece must've been washed away or stolen.
It's hard to believe the gun under his jacket would get washed away.
And it'd be odd for someone to steal his gun but leave his wallet.
A prosthetic specialist...
He sure doesn't look cyborg.
Lieutenant, your guys rounded up all the unclaimed property in the area, right?
Let's look for something else that ties back to him.
You want me to be your errand boy?
If the darn incident was really an accident, yes.
Lieutenant! I found something odd.
What are these?
They look like prosthetic, but...
Mermaid's Legs...
Report.
Lots of injured cops. Six perps still going strong.
They're on their way to Ward 4.
They see right through the police strategy.
They secured an escape route ahead of time.
This group is highly trained.
They have a commander somewhere out there. lshikawa!
I picked up their line!
The seventh one. This is their leader.
This is a cutting-edge ghost lock. Don't waste time resisting.
I'll make him order his friends to surrender.
lshikawa, run a forced recognition program.
Roger.
Abort the operation. Throw down your guns and surrender.
Repeat." Abort the operation and surrender.
Huh?
Aw, no shootout?
I captured one!
Hey, you're pretty useful!
We got the last one.
Good. Hand them all over to Public Security.
A virus alert?
It's the man you captured!
This pain...
The ghost lock released?
Major?
Shit. Saito!
Don't kill him!
No more of that!
Damn, it feels gross having someone infiltrate my Ghost-even the Major.
Truer words...
Your fault for aiming for the head.
Don't hand them over yet. We'll take them to a lockup with cyber facilities.
You telling me to play interrogation partner?
I'm not interested in fake memories.
Memories?
I'm interested in their contaminated Ghosts.
Sorry I had to call you down here.
It's my civic duty.
I understand you're in charge of the dam. Let's see...
Dr. Zhinzhee Bekka Arr Thied.
Please, call me Thied.
You've got quite the tough-looking secretary.
He's very reliable.
The conflicts continue in the Republic of Kuzan, where you're from.
I hear the Qhardi ethnic minority in particular is still waging a war of independence.
It's a heartbreaking war.
You're Qhardi, correct?
Yes. Like the majority of my comrades, I wish for a peaceful solution.
So, the explosion at the darn...
I'm told it was a valve malfunction.
Your company sells water, right? For what type of use?
It's for precision machinery businesses. That industry relies on 100% pure water.
Precision machinery... Prosthetic manufacturing, for example?
Yes.
Chief...
You idiot!
The Trade Ministry got them invited to set up a plant here!
You want to make an enemy of the local precinct, too?
But...
Stop, that's evidence!
I'm very grateful to you for finding the goods stolen from our warehouse.
Please, take them with you.
Chief!
Back off!
A detective died, sir.
You think I don't know that?
You go to Nishinouchi and get me information.
Nishinouchi? What's there?
A bombing, apparently by Qhardi terrorists.
Now listen: You consult your superiors before any moves on this case.
Terrorism?
If the explosion was intentional, and he wasn't a victim...
What?
Yes, sir! I'm on it!
Don't make any trouble!
They're a Qhardi weapons smuggling gang. I met them on an undercover op.
Their goal is to send weapons to their comrades back home.
They've got no reason to attack this country.
Their statements were crystal clear:
They're against the pricing agreement, so they bombed the meeting site.
Are you telling me those are planted memories?
I'm betting they're all infected.
And that the virus interfered with my ghost lock.
Well done. You subdued them brilliantly.
We could do it even more easily if you adjusted your comm standards to ours.
I read your report.
A false memory virus that can infiltrate, hack,
and brainwash simultaneously?
It's a self-destructing Stuxnet-type.
Other than the symptoms at its onset, it leaves no trace.
Electronic manipulation of memory is incredibly difficult.
No one in the world has been confirmed successful.
And yet past incidents tell us a maker and a broker clearly exist.
Yes. Somewhere out there is the super-wizard-class programmer
known as "Fire-Starter" who created this high-level cyber-virus.
But until now, no organization in the world had uncovered his identity.
Did you?
A clue, anyway.
What's this?
All the terrorists had the same tattoo.
It's a symbol used by Scylla, the hero who once led the Qhardi Separatist Army.
I've heard of him. Word is he's a master of cyber warfare.
Is he Fire-Starter?
No way. He died during the war.
You're going to find out whether that's true.
I'll authorize limited access to Section 9's database.
Read the details there.
That's all?
You're complaining?
I gave you all the Logicomas I have, plus our weapons and permission to use them.
Any lists I make are meaningless if the organization can't act.
And?
I want special authority and an approved budget.
And make your flimsy comm lines backward compatible with ours while you're at it.
Enough! Your team isn't regulation size, and I'm graciously turning a blind eye!
This unit is standardized to the perfect specs.
We don't need more people.
Then the whole unit will go down the second you get hacked.
Just like those terrorists did.
Your "perfect specs" don't merit my trust.
If you want authority and a budget, get at least one more member
and accept cooperation from someone with different specs.
If they won't give us money, we're stuck in this garbage dump for a while.
I'm just glad we've got a lab to use.
Yeah, high prosthetic performance takes superior maintenance...
We'll have to pay for upgrades out of pocket. Costs a lot, though.
Training ground instructors make pretty good money.
Top-quality maintenance facilities, authority-we'll get it all.
Stop wasting time bitching and solve our case!
His nationality's unknown.
He uses multiple bodies to conceal his identity,
earning the name Skulla, aka Scylla.
That's the name of a monster from Greek mythology.
A pro at warfare who led a separatist army, and whiz hacker...
Huh, his specialty is tunnel ops.
"Tunnel ops"?
That's when you bomb someplace's lifelines
and then infiltrate them electronically during their restoration.
Ultimately you wage a destructive cyber-attack from inside their defenses.
The forces who tried to prevent independence took a major hit instead.
But Kuzan joined forces with advanced nations
to manipulate the Qhardis in order to contain its neighbors.
It was a throwaway war of independence, and this country was especially involved.
No one recognized the Qhardis' independence after the war,
and the guerillas were disbanded and slaughtered.
But their dead leader was actually alive,
and he developed a special virus ahead of all the world's research institutions,
then changed his name to Fire-Starter and began his revenge...
I follow the logic, but is it really possible?
In a conflict zone, you can do all the human experimentation you want.
It's no wonder, really.
Scylla is dead.
A successor of his, then?
Either way, the broker isn't peddling it without knowing what it does.
So he wanted to use those guerillas to repeat his old tunnel operation here?
It bothers me that no one was carrying a detonator.
Borma, check out the crime scene.
Roger.
Paz, you and Saito pay the gang a visit. I want to know who trained them.
Batou and lshikawa, you look into the possibility of a tunnel op.
Do you plan to dive into the guerillas' cyberbrains
looking for the virus?
I'll get a tune-up on my body first.
A tune-Up?
It's her boyfriend. He's an ex-military prosthetics tech.
No, isn't he a Navy sailor?
That was the last one.
They fought on a date,
and she kicked his ass hard enough to put him in the hospital.
What about that rich one from the Cyberbrain Bureau?
He didn't last two weeks.
So this is the sixth in six months? She's got a sickness.
No, it's instinct. I never sleep with the same woman twice either.
Because you always end up a hostage or a target for revenge?
No, because it's my policy.
At least do background checks on them! What if one of them's a trap?
It's better than hearing, "I want a family".
Yeah, after all, you could die at any time.
This is no job for a family man.
So the late detective's gun wasn't found?
If Detective Mizuki had fired his weapon,
it would prove this was a crime, and not an accident.
You think someone wanted it to look like an accident?
The cause of death was drowning, but he lost a lot of blood antemortem,
and some of his bones are missing.
So the body's too damaged to tell, but he may have been shot.
Detective Mizuki was investigating weapons smuggling.
His most recent meeting was with a Qhardi organization.
I suspect he was killed because he found proof.
You feel the dam explosion was intentional, set up to bury evidence?
You've got a great imagination.
You're turning me down, sir?
No, I like it. I'll allow you to investigate.
Try to find a connection between the incidents.
All alone?
You're complaining?
I appreciate it, sir!
Humans can never perfectly reproduce movements.
A slight slope, our distance from our target, a few milligrams' weight difference...
The brain calculates all these things to create yet-unknown movements.
You have the most original brain I know of,
and you understand the beauty of uniform standards.
You're exaggerating.
There's nothing wrong with you.
It still hurts?
Try moving your right leg.
Lovely.
What's "lovely"?
Your leg.
The pain is gone now.
Send me a bill.
I'll give you a discount. In return, don't forget our promise.
You're a strange man.
Not as strange as you.
Hey, you. You're blocking my scan.
Oh, sorry.
What good are your natural eyes in the cyber age?
It's not normally this hard to find the epicenter.
You know a lot about the combustion process?
I learned the basics overseas during the war.
I see.
Are you a full cyborg?
Yeah, pretty close.
I'm no expert, but unless you get a specialized skeleton,
aren't the basics the same as a human body's?
But his hands stayed open after he burned...
What?
When a natural human burns to death,
his muscles contract, so he forms fists and he bends forward.
The fetal position, or, you know, the boxer's pose.
Heat rigor? Well, what about it?
This guard's corpse is standing up straight, hands open.
Must be some property of his prosthetics, or of the bomb.
Prosthetics?
Hello?
Oh, a checkup?
Two weeks?
Got it. No, I'm working right now, sorry.
"Checkup"?
Sorry to bother you.
C-4 and dynamite, glycerin, and chemical fertilizer...
It's a hideout straight out of a book.
Definitely a bomb maniac vibe... but I've got no clue what they actually used.
Orders coming down their line!
Someone calling himself Scylla just ordered some "Second Army" into action.
Damn bastards! Public Security's moves are being leaked!
The Waterworks Bureau's server blew, and took out the whole floor.
What did they use?
The accelerant at the Nishinouchi crime scene
is spread all the way to the ceiling, even the ducts.
We're talking omnidirectional blast. The air itself blew up.
A fuel-air explosive?
Then this is a dummy hideout. They've got a more advanced bomb lab somewhere.
Damn guerilla hero is issuing a challenge.
The Waterworks Bureau is starting repairs. Odds are the hacker's already in!
Figure out their next target.
Don't let them dig any more tunnels.
I appreciate your cooperation.
I'm used to police questioning.
There've been a lot of prosthetics thefts recently.
"Mermaid's Legs", eh?
Not a very artistic name, but it's easy to understand.
My female customers quite like it.
Do you recognize these legs?
They appear to be the mass-production model.
Look at the tag.
"Ariel".
I've asked around, and there's no such model on the market.
I don't carry it, either. It must be a licensed designer's brand name.
Designers use the mass-production model as a base
and then innovate to meet customer demands.
Any ideas?
I'll give you my list. One moment, please.
Thank you.
Cops love lists. He'll be conveniently absorbed in it for a while.
Public Security took our dummy safe house.
Are the comm lines here safe, Colonel Hozumi?
Don't worry. It's one of intelligence's independent lines.
Why haven't you killed that detective?
He's an odd duck, but he doesn't have any powerful backers.
The real issue is that Ariel's been leaked.
We retrieved the sample before it was analyzed, and the factory is taken care of.
I didn't expect you to panic and blow it up.
We're lucky Ariel was mounted in time. You almost seriously hindered our plan.
Ariel is a way to smuggle explosives to the Qhardis! It's not for suicide bombers!
Circumstances have changed.
If previous overseas weapons development becomes domestic,
distribution channels will vanish.
The Qhardi soldiers are just sacrificial pawns?
We're upgrading. Fire-Starter can create all the soldiers we want.
Get the unit that was arrested released.
I won't give you the data until then.
They aren't even your compatriots.
Scylla would never abandon them.
Very well. There are three more usable Ariels.
One of them is in your court.
It really has to be her?
Have you developed feelings for her? Activate the woman's Ariel.
Release our allies first. Understand?
Ride with me.
You haven't told anyone that you and I killed Scylla, I trust?
No.
That op is a stain on both our records.
It would be highly inconvenient for it to come up again now.
I see you dived happily into the power games as soon as you made LTC.
They used the military-industrial complex to profit from death.
I'll wipe them out, make domestic weapons engineering big,
and shut down their trade routes to foreign cartels.
Lt. Col. Mamuro wanted that.
I won't play your game.
Scylla is a game you can't quit. She has to stay dead.
You used this before.
Bury it and whoever's using Scylla's name-permanently this time.
Or else the brass will bury you, and that op with you.
Becoming independent of the system doesn't make you free.
You're like last century's programmers, who expected too much from the birth of the Net.
Even Section 9 is only letting you have your own way to test you.
When they need to, they'll restrain you with a Ghost infiltration key
and dispose of you.
I have no intention of letting anyone infiltrate my Ghost again.
No matter who they are.
That woman is Motoko Kusanagi?
Yes, your senior. Can you win?
If you wish.
You really came?
I did promise.
I haven't prepared anything.
I figured.
But first, we'll take care of this.
I checked out the Qhardi gang, but there's no trace of their tactical commander.
Ah, but I've got the rental server they used.
Multiple invaders into a public facility...
Bastards have made good progress on their tunnels.
Do you know where they're going yet?
It's someplace to do with water and precision machinery.
78 places in the city fit that description.
Check them all.
Damn... I'd make easier money being an Intelligence subcontractor.
So, still in your "tune-up"?
Yes. I'm dropping this connection for a while.
I can hear noise. Your coworkers are in and out of your lobby nonstop, huh?
I ran them all off.
You think I'll ever get to be in your lobby?
If you work with me.
If I said I needed one more person, would you come?
Tuning you up whenever I want is an attractive proposition,
but I don't get involved with the military or the police.
Oh.
I did some first aid on your sensory components.
Let's do the detail work in the lab.
The pain is gone. I'll do the rest myself.
Then let's get started.
I remember when I first met you, you know.
All the other engineers said you were the queen of customer complaints.
Is that why they handed me off to a freelancer like you?
Nope. The truth is, I asked them to.
What?
You couldn't decide whether you should treat your body as a thing or a person.
That made me interested in you.
At the facility I was in before,
they thought I was an oddball for wanting to sleep in a bed and take showers.
When I was prosthetized on the battlefield, they told me,
"A cyborg doesn't need everyday life; he needs equipment."
That's why I switched to prosthetics engineering.
I wanted to be a tech who'd treat cyborgs like humans.
As a kid, they gave me everyday-living training outside the facility.
So I'd learn how to be more human.
I don't really remember it. Everything was so bright...
I remember I came back ahead of schedule.
But... That day I decided to make my body orthodox.
I wanted to look human.
Your prosthetic body isn't a thing. It's your real body.
It mustn't be treated as a thing... not by anyone.
Not by me.
I do wish that were true.
I'll show you proof.
Proof?
It's a surprise.
We're missing the key piece: the bomb.
How did they get it into a heavily guarded meeting place?
What about the perps?
They say they're the ones who blew it up.
Despite the fact that they have no memory of the bomb.
They're fall guys. They probably have nothing to do with the bomb.
We'll monitor all 78 locations until we can narrow down their target.
Are you serious?!
Contact me if something happens.
You're wearing heels-
Should we assume the ex-military prosthetics tech is joining the team?
Maybe that's actually for real.
This is what you wanted to show me?
They're regular customers of mine.
Their average age is 70.
They're all full-body cyborgs...
The affluent elderly are at the core of cyborg development these days.
Not soldiers.
They want prosthetic bodies to give them second lives, and fulfilling lifestyles.
More and more foods for cyborgs are being developed to meet their needs, too.
Try it.
It's good.
Is it your first time allocating memory to your sense of taste?
The new bride is pregnant, by the way.
Exciting, isn't it? A new world of humans that don't distinguish
between prosthetic and flesh.
You really are strange.
Some people reject the future. And some are left behind by it, too.
I want to bring the cyborg future to the third world.
Will you come with me?
You should use your power freely, not work under a bunch of master manipulators.
The war is over, you know.
No, it's still going.
The nations it grew inconvenient for pulled out, that's all.
I have things to do in this country.
I see.
Do you have free time later?
If we share a lobby, we can meet whenever we want.
I might touch your Ghost.
I'll let down my barrier.
- Are you sure? - If you infiltrate me, I may fry your brain.
It might be worth it.
This is your body.
These are your hands.
Motoko, run!
Akira!
Are you all right?
Yeah...
I'm sorry. This is my fault.
My condolences.
Paz is with Section 9 inspecting the scene.
Your attacker was a pro, even if he did mess up.
It's unclear whether this was tied to the bombing,
but we'd normally give you police protection at this point.
I don't need it. How is he?
We'll send him home as soon as we're done questioning him.
I'll assign someone to him, so don't worry.
I see.
The military authorities won't give me any information on Scylla.
What's your connection to him?
Call me whenever you need help.
Scylla's revenge, eh?
Good thing your boyfriend's a civilian. We don't have to suspect a leak.
They got us.
Number Three: a materials control center on the coast.
I picked up a go order in Scylla's name 30 seconds before the explosion.
Then the whole line disappeared. At this rate, there's no point in surveillance.
Find a weapons engineer on their customer list who's connected to this.
Weapons engineer?
Get info from the first victims, too. Hurry up.
Find something. The virus, the bombs, the tactical commander,
where the messages from "Scylla" come from-I don't care what.
How about you finally tell us why you're so sure Scylla's dead?
Excuse me.
You!
I was told I could find Major Kusanagi here.
What is it?
State your business.
The list I got from him was a fake.
And a detective working a weapons trafficking case
was killed right after getting info from him.
Techs get blamed for prosthetics-related incidents all the time.
And the manager of the dam that exploded the other day...
Hose outfitted her bodyguard, too.
So what?!
How did you feel, watching your lover get attacked in front of you?
You're angry at the perp, and you feel guilty.
You think it was your fault he got attacked.
He was the same way. Anger and guilt.
He's hiding something.
The dam, the dead detective, the prosthetics, and even you, Major...
Everything links back to Akira Hose.
You're just a cheap detective snooping around with flesh eyes!
Never show your face here again!
Ouch.
You're an idiot, Colonel!
An attack barrier!
Keep calm.
If the domestic faction takes away your arms industry rights,
you'll be killed by the cartels.
Yet you're in a rush to kill me off and steal my data?
So, you act like a heavyweight, but you couldn't get my people released?
Where is the data?
Our deal is over. I'm thankful for the info on her
and for Scylla's revival, but I'm leaving this country.
You do the same.
No need.
We've successfully packaged the virus with cyberbrains.
We'll use your cyberbrain for the final upgrade.
Become Scylla, just like you wanted to.
"His hands stayed open after he burned", eh?
It's just like the call said.
Two Public Security officers killed, and Akira Hose's whereabouts unknown.
The Major wasn't the target?
Hey, look at this list.
It's only a guess, but I think the FAEs were the prosthetic limbs themselves.
There was another full-cyborg guard in that part of the building.
The limbs' admin records have the same signature on them...
What are you doing?
Who is this man?!
My attack barrier expands every second.
If you don't want your brain fried, tell me!
He'll die!
He gave us power... He's the new Scylla!
It was like magic. A battle-learning program left to us by the dead Scylla...
He gave it to my cyberbrain, along with the virus.
I'd never been trained, but now I can fight even your people!
Give me a name.
Akira Hose! He's Japanese, like you!
Hose escaped. Any idea where?
Why ask me?
What are your eyes looking at right now?
Zhinzhee Bekka Arr Thied.
She's boss of a Kuzan water company, and most likely the weapons ring's sponsor.
So this is the tunnel exit!
A domestic weapons company- Harimadara Heavy Industries!
The execs are touring Factory One with the Senior Vice-Minister of Defense!
Recommend a barrier, and give the data to Section 9.
Paz, Borma, Saito, get over there.
Call the bomb squad and a prosthetics tech.
A destructive cyber-attack is more than likely.
What's the meaning of this, Chief Aramaki?
Evacuate immediately.
You and this facility are targets.
Wh-What's going on?!
It's a bomb! Run!
- Damn. - Shit!
Paz, Borma! This way!
Help me! Help me!
Crap, the fire's closing up my throat.
Mine too. That was close.
Vice-Minister, are you all right?
I'm fine.
- Log/coma. - Yes, sir!
That's one of our products...!
Away from the windows!
That's all the info on Colonel Hozumi.
That's fine. We get a card, and you get a grace period.
Please tell me what she has to do with Scylla!
Find out from her. Your contaminated brain is intriguing,
but I'm cutting our connection before the infection spreads.
Goodbye.
Contaminated, eh?
I'm being bankrupted by a special tax on foreign companies?!
How can this be allowed?!
It's the kind of thing the domestic faction would do.
What do you plan to do? Kill the colonel?
She's all washed up. And so are you and I.
Escape, and obey the domestic faction.
Your company will be crushed under the pretext of this nation's taxes.
You'll be killed by the cartels if you don't do something.
You okay, Major?
No problems. You go with that detective and subdue the guards.
I'll take care of Scylla.
Jeez, so stubborn. That's a scary lady.
What? A Mateba, in this day and age?
What's wrong with that?! It's the gun I trust the most.
Blood traces. Someone was shot.
A bullet...
Ariel. So these are the prosthetic bombs.
That wasn't you just now. Who the hell infiltrated my vision?!
Don't move!
In that quagmire of a war, Scylla was the only soldier I could empathize with.
I've always wanted to ask you why he was killed.
You didn't kill Scylla. I finally realized that.
Go home. Or your Ariel will activate.
Even I can't stop it.
What's going on here? That bastard infiltrated my vision exactly the way you do!
Answer me, Major!
What's taking the Army so long?! We'll all die like this!
It's been seized.
It won't stop until we shut down whatever it's packaged with.
Transplanted memories.
What?
The packaged cyberbrains are the virus's hosts.
They converted the tactical program I set loose in Qhardistan to memory.
My COPY-
What the hell are you saying?!
Motoko.
I came after you, but in the end, you captured me.
It was my cyberbrain that was packaged.
If you pull the trigger, you and your comrades will be saved.
What you fell in love with was this world.
Just keep on going, until the day you're betrayed.
Scylla...
I'm glad I met you.
What?
It stopped...
It's ironic.
They manage to survive a world war, then get stuck in an endless one,
and finally end their own lives.
Apparently there's no other way they can stop.
Weren't you the same?
Scylla was you.
You helped the separatist army, then faked your death.
Later, the guerillas you led were all killed.
I can see why you wouldn't want to remember that op.
Since then, I've stopped switching bodies so often.
It gives me an identity crisis. I lose track of who I am...
...and then I want someone to tell me I'm not a robot.
Is that why you insist on making original tweaks to your mass-production bases?
It's amazing you even managed to control so many bodies in such a short time.
I'm going to sleep a little. You can go.
Call it cyborg solidarity.
I'll keep watch and make sure they don't fit you with any sketchy parts.
All right, suit yourself.
You could at least say "thanks"!
The bullet at the scene was fired from the lieutenant's gun.
I also found Mizuki's weapon at the lieutenant's home.
There was a huge deposit into his account, too.
Good work. You can go.
Arresting a fellow cop will make you some enemies.
You'll be shot from behind by the guys at his local.
I'll be sure to watch my back. Did you come just to say that?
Will you join my team?
It's an independent offensive unit with top priority.
Oh, excuse me.
Hello?
What?! I thought it'd be another two weeks!
No, sorry, got it. I'll be right there.
This is big! Her water broke!
Huh?
We're gonna have a baby!
Just wait, I'll be right there!
We'll talk another time.
I'm coming now!
Natural, married, and a father?