"I'm amazed we got permission to exhume the body." "It's backwards." "They disregarded our investigation by burying him to begin with." "a military cemetery..." "It's ridiculously expensive to dispose of a prosthetic body that can't be reused." "we can recover the cyberbrain." "Where are the engineers?" "Drawing straws at HQ." "Apparently connecting to a dead criminal's cyberbrain is "creepy"." "We don't know yet that he's a criminal." "Chief Aramaki!" "then take it back to headquarters." "What are you waiting for?" "Put it down!" "sir!" "Don't open that coffin!" "This is from your unit." "Are you military?" "with Public Security Section 9." "We're investigating Lieutenant Colonel Mamuro's murder." "I'm seizing his cyberbrain and prosthetic body as evidence." "and we're investigating that too." "Public Security has no right to ransack this place." "We'll bury him again when the case is closed." "or fabricate evidence?" "The military is in the middle of its first major shakeup since the war." "It would be more suspicious if this only got an internal investigation." "Mamuro would have been the first to say so." "You knew him?" "back when I was an Army man." "There's not a soldier in the world more squeaky-clean than he was." "Your name and unit?" "Unit 501." "501?" "So you were his subordinate." "Open it up." "Can I ask your rank?" "I was in the old Investigations Section." "That's all." "They sold off whatever wouldn't fit in the coffin to a junk shop." "That's not his body!" "Get down!" "you delinquent?" "Why did you authorize Public Security's involvement?" "!" "I had no choice." "Unit 501 should be investigating this!" "The higher-ups told us to stay out of it." "Someone set a trap at his grave." "Ignore it." "His cyberbrain is gone!" "This isn't the time to stir up a hornet's nest." "Then you believe that he was taking dirty money?" "He got mugged downtown." "That much is fact." "maybe he got lucky." "too." "Concentrate on your work for now." "Work?" "I distinctly remember asking you to analyze that infected hardware." "you know." "True enough." "I'll do the assignment." "give me leave to go off-base and authorize direct debit." "Such a problem child." "I'm only going to find out who set the trap." "Very well." "I'll take care of it in Mamuro's place." "Kurutsu." "Don't forget your meeting with the brass." "was murdered on the fifth of this month." "1010)}Lieutenant Colonel Mamuro is suspected of taking large bribes... 829)}Niihama police say the investigation into his possible corruption is ongoing." "1011)}...while serving as a security official in Harimadara's weapons export" "Access records of his movements on the day of his death and all data from city surveillance cameras." "He was tailed." "Scan anyone who traveled the same route he did before time of death." "Three..." "A fourth?" "Three men and a mobile land mine were following him?" "327.6)}Funds transferred." "327.6)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 560 229 l 570 338 1056 309 1071 306 1090 304 1134 298 1165 293 1233 315 1364 210)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 594 240 l 611 332 858 317 872 305 886 304 897 293 903 270 909 241)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 610 248 l 629 324 767 317 783 248)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 605 252 l 630 329 781 320 785 248)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 610 248 l 629 324 767 317 783 248)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 607 254 l 626 321 792 309 793 288 813 264 837 252 856 259 1315 201 1273 316 1111 252)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 614 247 l 633 324 760 321 784 321 788 301 799 271 828 266 842 249 1297 196 1249 292 1108 244)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 609 252 l 638 321 791 318 798 280 804 254 816 242 1281 187 1269 299 1132 244)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 614 252 l 648 328 756 330 761 290 769 272 784 260 1216 210 1260 326 1174 296 1114 274 1064 250)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 612 252 l 634 322 756 329 768 298 776 281 1169 214 1265 306 1246 322 1184 301 1032 253)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 613 246 l 636 322 684 329 697 298 709 284 741 285 776 252 1205 224 1254 282 1217 289 1201 318 1177 349 1046 304 965 257)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 614 251 l 649 324 688 324 694 312 725 307 756 267 796 270 1259 230 1259 283 1214 296 1204 332 1196 355 1051 312 1001 294 931 260)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 616 252 l 636 321 667 321 680 291 700 289 719 290 748 251 1134 220 1142 295 1145 331 1096 331 1020 303 934 251)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 609 249 l 644 324 657 324 665 313 693 310 708 283 729 264 999 225 1016 284 1022 315 1001 308 966 286 905 254)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 616 256 I 636 308 650 305 660 295 688 296 724 251 993 208 1014 294 1025 315 961 283 915 259)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 605 255 l 625 313 649 315 682 312 681 298 714 260)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 612 253 l 634 308 644 306 653 299 665 295 680 294 700 273 721 250)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 612 253 l 627 306 644 317 663 313 675 313 675 298 692 272 709 260)}Funds transferred." "327.6)\clip(m 610 257 l 632 304 645 297 659 294 670 294 689 272 708 250)}Funds transferred." "What is this?" "Any pain?" "no." "It's similar to the phantom pain particular to cyborgs but that should not affect you." "Could be a bad contact in your nervous components." "Any other abnormalities?" "No." "We should do a full-body checkup to be safe." "but I have a meeting to go to." "you have visitors." "They announced themselves as Public Security Section 9." "Say I'm not here." "As both a Special Cyborg and a recognized wizard-class programmer new regulations apply to you under the revised Weapons Act." "The Prosthetics Maintenance Rule now applies to issuing identification or other ownership of assets." "In Lt. Col. Mamuro's letter on my reclassification he guaranteed my financial autonomy." "he'll receive a dishonorable discharge and all such documents will be void." "You expect me to endure a position where I have to file paperwork every time I open my wallet?" "The cost of prosthetic bodies far exceeds standard health insurance payouts." "You ought to do your duty to the government which guarantees your right to life." "This is the consent form for your monitoring and custody post-restructuring." "Make an effort to understand your circumstances." "Japan allocated a sky-high budget to promote cyborg development." "Did they tell you to become Army property to foot the bill?" "There were large deposits made to Mamuro's accounts." "someone withdrew all that money." "What do you want?" "of Unit 501." "No criminal record." "You work with the Army and Public Security as a special consultant." "You specialize in solving cybercrimes." "I request that you track down the missing money and analyze the coffin records." "you should get leave to go off-base." "What's the pay?" "as a civilian." "you know." "A soldier famous for his integrity being shot to death in secret is a bigger issue." "Hey!" "How dare you?" "!" "I'll send you a liaison who'll double as a bodyguard." "Think she's in?" "She's as in the dark as we are." "she'll have to find out the truth." "Still don't want the 501 to investigate?" "and our unit could get dissolved." "Public Security offered me an assignment." "Will you accept?" "Lend me a hand." "you'll be at the end of the line." "No one else will be able to protect you then." "Being protected isn't what I learned to do here!" "I learned to make the most of my strengths!" "I'll grant permission for you to use Server 6." "Thanks." "Just don't forget the job I gave you." "List the people working on the case." "But this is clearly related to the LTC's mugging!" "We know he met up with the prostitute." "We need a warrant for her cust" "It's military jurisdiction!" "You keep out of it!" "you hear me?" "That's an order!" "dammit?" "!" "311.6)}Mamuro was being followed." "What?" "!" "Hey!" "St-Stop right there!" "There you are!" "if it isn't the little tomboy from the lab." "The one who infiltrated me... is in that car...!" "Ow!" "You fool!" "That makes you a deserter!" "Raizo!" "Kusanagi?" "Instructor Ibachi..." "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you were Mamuro's favorite!" "Your selfish actions put the whole unit in danger!" "That's enough!" "I'll be the one to lecture her." "That bitch only survived as a test subject." "The number is a fake." "He's a slippery customer." "at least." "What does Kurutsu say?" "Ignore it." "Is your prosthetic body acting up?" "I don't know." "another visitor." "You've got a strange one here to see you." "What is this?" "It uses signal lights?" "How old is this thing?" "come with me." "Construct your learning base yourself." "nice to meet you!" "I'm an autonomous-follower logistics system-- a "Logistics Conveyer Machine"." "You're Section 9's "liaison who'll double as a bodyguard"?" "Chief Aramaki calls me a "Logicoma"!" "Major Kusanagi." "No synching." "Explain things orally or as data." "Um..." "Any Army case information on the group identified as illicit arms dealers would be very useful to Chief Aramaki in tracking down a mobile land mine!" "The Army?" "Arms dealers?" "sir!" "You disappear." "I'll take it from here." "Order acknowledged!" "Optical camouflage?" "Stay here and guard my bike." "Right!" "we're almost there." "Hi there!" "Come on in." "and this guy's three sheets to the wind!" "okay?" "get it together!" "Sit straight!" "I fold." "Gonna go hit the can." "no fair!" "But you had a great hand!" "There." "Warning!" "Warning!" "extremely close!" "Don't move." "Who sent you?" "!" "Were you the ones who killed Lt. Col. Mamuro?" "Huh?" "Are you Public Security?" "Answer me!" "Ops H2976 code name Paz!" "You're undercover?" "!" "the group I'm in with was hired for a hit." "They said the target was a full cyborg so we'd use mobile land mines." "Three of 'em." "And I'm talking military-grade." "Lt. Col. Mamuro's murder?" "Who knows?" "Apparently somebody beat our guys to it and we let the mines get away." "Where did the mines come from?" "Maneuver Area 6." "That place is a joke." "Might as well set foxes to guard a henhouse." "Feel like proving it with me?" "but I can't just drop it." "and I'd cause trouble for my CO." "Is your CO trustworthy?" "Used to be." "I see." "Thanks for your cooperation." "I wish I had your freedom of movement." "You can't analyze it?" "It might just be noise." "No full-body cyborg gets to leave this organization and go independent." "You're just a girl with a little talent for cyber warfare." "Mamuro's death was an inevitability." "or I'll take you out." "Kurutsu and Ibachi can't shield you from me." "An inevitability... all right." "All that's left is to connect the dots..." "I've got authorization!" "And all I'm gonna do is ask questions!" "Take your complaints to the station." "dammit..." "This is bullshit!" "They're not even he-- sorry." "I'm a special investigator with the Niihama police." "I was told I could find these two here." "I have some questions for First Lieutenant Moto Seta and Captain Amuri Noto here" "Thanks." "You just connected some dots." "And I see some others just connected." "How about showing yourself?" "Batou the Ranger?" "Long time no see." "Gotta say I didn't figure you for this one." "What do you mean?" "The man you killed seven days ago was a comrade of mine!" "I just got back to Japan three days ago." "really?" "!" "I've told you your sleepless eye's weakness is how easy it is to infiltrate." "Still afraid of taking friendly fire out in the jungle?" "I'm an electronic warfare specialist too!" "I can't believe you infiltrated me in the middle of a fight!" "You're just about the only one who'd infiltrate me." "why are you after me?" "Don't play dumb!" "You're the one who got this place's mobile land mines!" "What the hell?" "!" "Wait!" "Don't shoot!" "Run!" "Don't!" "Those guys aren't with you?" "!" "what are you talking about?" "look!" "They found us!" "They want to eliminate us here." "And their excuse will be "a training exercise accident"?" "I can't stop 'em with this puny gun!" "We'll just have to run!" "Now we climb!" "Climb this?" "!" "Damn straight!" "so get moving!" "fine." "Hello!" "What's that?" "!" "We're surrounded." "move it!" "I know!" "Get in!" "I thought you "couldn't drop it"?" "This makes a nice change of pace." "You asked the military police for help?" "To escort a suspect." "What's this about?" "This makes no sense." "Major Kusanagi." "And second: the bullet you fired on the mobile land mine at the graveyard matched the one that killed Lt. Col. Mamuro." "a prostitute here in town was shot to death." "The bullet matched the one that killed Mamuro." "and according to the other working girls he was asking questions about one of her clients." "one of my fellow Rangers along with his family." "too." "it led me to the major here." "she says she got back to Japan three days ago but Immigration records say it was seven days ago." "The three mines my group was supposed to use were the same model as the one Section 9 dug up at the graveyard." "Assuming one of those three was buried and another killed the Ranger there's one more left unaccounted for." "all the clues point to you murdering Mamuro and stealing his money." "I got a message and an attaché case from him." "Major Kusanagi." "I doubt I'll be in this world much longer." "I wanted to get justice." "I've left your recommendation in someone else's care." "You're the most promising squad member I know." "I wish you luck." "I found data on an internal weapons exportation racket and this gun." "You've moved a lot of money in the past few days." "Who are you sending it to?" "The widow of the man who raised me." "but she's in a nursing home now." "What's her name?" "What is this woman's name?" "huh?" "your brain never forgets the original." "Pain in the ass." "I don't have an "original" body." "What?" "Have you heard of Doctor Bakeru's emergency medicine system?" "That thing where someone with a full prosthetic body uses their life-support system on somebody else?" "The person who raised me used it on me while I was in my mother's womb." "Supposedly a chemical weapon killed a large number of civilians way back when." "A pregnant woman and the man assumed to be her husband both died." "We don't even know their names." "Because someone with that particular lifesaver happened to be on the scene the fetus's brain alone survived." "You're saying you were made a full cyborg at birth?" "!" "I lack any memory of a body." "created by false memories." "This is surveillance footage from Maneuver Area 6." "Your subordinate is in it." "If you refuse to hand her over" "I'll present you with a summons signed by the Defense Minister himself." "I'll submit a written report at a later date." "I can't hand her over." "Vixen." "I'll make you regret this." "That's Shujiro Kanzaki." "He's in charge of Maneuver Area 6 and he leads a team of special agents." "He's also the Army's dirty go-between with the Ministry of Defense." "Don't worry." "I'll protect you." "What's wrong?" "It's nothing." "It's been empty from the beginning?" "Then where's the gun?" "!" "Why did I think there were whistle-blowing documents in it?" "!" "And the lieutenant colonel...?" "What's real?" "What's the truth?" "Where's the lieutenant colonel's cyberbrain?" "Kusanagi." "Calm down." "The hardware Kurutsu had me analyze matched his Net synch pattern." "weren't we?" "With something hypothesized to be a cyber-virus." "We speculate that it's a self-destructing Stuxnet-type which causes unknown dysfunction." "Unknown dysfunction"..." "You mean false memories." "It was purely a hypothesis." "until we checked into your behavior." "you know." "True enough." "When did I come back to Japan?" "seven days." "And yet you continue to claim it was another day altogether." "Route of transmission?" "It must have been contact with Mamuro's cyberbrain." "Which is still with his prosthetic body." "His coffin was a trap." "And the records Public Security got of his burial show no signs of tampering." "So that's how it is... synch with me." "Are you sure?" "Just get on with it." "Record my field of vision and play it back in real time." "Roger!" "I see things that shouldn't be there." "I don't see things that should be there." "the whole time...?" "103)}"Special agent" "The LTC is innocent" "This is a warrant for Major Kusanagi's arrest." "Surrender her immediately." "103)}"Special agent" "The LTC is innocent" "What happened to this room?" "!" "The records weren't tampered with." "They just buried the truth under a lie." "I've found it..." "My reality." "Drive." "The lieutenant colonel came to you to blow the whistle." "Vice-Minister of Defense?" "Yes." "But you ordered a cover-up." "Because it couldn't be made public!" "We ignored treaties and sold arms to Third World countries during the war to relieve its financial burden on us." "That's governmental weapons smuggling!" "and as their security official what's the matter?" "Lt. Col. Mamuro found out about the illegal trade." "Vice-Minister!" "What is it?" "Do you realize how much" "He's in danger!" "the missile business has helped our country's finances?" "!" "The lieutenant colonel learned of your cover-up and investigated." "The prostitute you frequented." "The Ranger who escorted you." "he decided to blow the whistle on you." "So you ordered Captain Kanzaki to kill him." "I just ordered him to solve the situation!" "but I don't know who killed Mamuro." "maybe he really was mugged." "You claim even you don't know?" "and I don't want to!" "That arms dealing will be purged during restructuring anyway and we're deliberating next-generation weapons to replace missiles." "But this mess kills the job Harimadara has lined up for when I leave office!" "You're quite the chatterbox." "A desire to confess?" "you'll never tell anyone!" "Stop!" "Someone help!" "Should've blown him away." "Wasn't being more than a killing machine the whole point of getting out?" "I had no place to go." "They traced us through the remote control." "They're coming." "You go on." "They're mine." "There are two of them." "Fine with me." "We'll see who's the better killer." "Take care." "You too." "but they're not the only ones to benefit from his death." "Yes." "Thank you." "You're the ones who killed the lieutenant colonel!" "I'd take you out." "That's enough of that." "Kusanagi." "Raizo and Ibachi were luring the enemy here with the money as bait." "We've eliminated six spies." "That's plenty." "I moved it... and you used it." "That's right." "The gun used on the prostitute was the beginning of the enemy plot." "the phony bribery..." "All the blame was placed on Mamuro." "And he intended to bring the Vice-Minister down with him." "It was the worst possible choice." "Unit 501 would have gone on the Army purge list in retaliation for the scandal." "So you let him die." "All of you." "maybe we could have saved him." "the only option was to secure and the money before he got blown up." "But what neither we nor the enemy accounted for was you." "I went after the lieutenant colonel." "And you were infected by his cyberbrain." "you were continually losing memories." "101)}"The LTC is innocent" "What organization developed the virus?" "Unclear." "All we know is that a foreign broker brought it here and that people call it "Fire-Starter"." "Was it a foreign power that cooked up the scandal?" "Our enemy is the global military-industrial complex itself." "What would dragging down one vice-minister accomplish?" "Did you take the disc he left me?" "I did that to protect you." "You used me as bait for the enemy!" "I did that to protect the organization." "Why did you stand back and watch him die?" "I did that to protect myself." "Kusanagi." "I'll build a future for you." "The pain is gone now." "Section 9 and the review committee have formally cleared Lt. Col. Mamuro of suspicion." "we will implement it." "we also grant you the post-reorganization major rank." "in accordance with the will of your late legal guardian you'll receive a testamentary trust." "It's an inheritance from the person who raised you." "A portion of it is earmarked for the purchase of your prosthetic body." "Which means that your body is now your property and is outside Army jurisdiction." "You're quite sure about this?" "The virus may be an unknown but we've identified the architecture of the false memories." "Do it." "Very well." "We'll attempt memory eradication." "Will you go?" "Yes." "Make sure to pay your respects to your parents." "Thanks." "I'm going." "We'll find a replacement." "Want a ride?" "Consider it my thanks for telling us the location of Mamuro's cyberbrain." "I'll take the bus." "Then I'll just give you the results." "Captain Kanzaki was replaced." "Mr. Sadamoto will be tried in closed court." "I promise to make the lieutenant colonel's findings public one day." "I see." "By the way-- are you the one he gave my recommendation to?" "Hard to say." "A man in my position gets a lot of those." "one of them outlined plans to create a new special unit within the international rescue team." "I'd like someone who's got experience as a special consultant." "but I don't want to work under a man who digs up people's graves." "You dug up something even deeper." "you should have your own team." "The regulations say a unit needs a minimum of one commander and six members." "I'll keep that in mind." "but for taking the offensive." "huh?" "whom shall I scout...?"