"Per the Special Anti-Terrorism Measures Act, we now place all terminals in the designated area under Public Security's electronic control." ""Give back our water!"" "Anticipating that cyberterrorism against Harimadara Heavy Industries will lead" " to a shutdown of operations, Home Affairs has..." " HQ to Squad 357." "Transfer command to Section 9." "This is Priority One." "Murderers!" "Murderers!" "Give back our water!" " Give back our water!" " Despite increasingly fierce protests, a contract has just been signed" " Despite increasingly fierce protests, a contract has just been signed between a Kuzan water company and the Japanese giant Harimadara." ""Give water to the war orphans!"" ""Give water to the war orphans!"" "It's starting." "All channels within the revised limits are clear." "All Home Affairs and MLIT lines now under our control." "Ready for domination." "Begin." "All lifelines, surveillance, etc." "for the building and roads now dominated." "Profiling cyberbrains and terminals of 4,022 people in the area." "1,102 require follow-up." "Aramaki!" "I'm not giving you my crime scene!" "This is Section 6." "Who said you could infiltrate our comm lines?" "!" "We need to prevent casualties, not play departmental musical chairs!" "Or will you take the fall when we can't even pin down their means of attack?" "!" "Chief Aramaki, explain yourself." "Vice-Minister Kitahara." "I thought you were attending the celebratory banquet?" "What you warned me of is happening, then?" "We got an anonymous tip that a Qhardi group mobilized three hours ago." "Anonymous?" "Can you trust it?" "Yes." "The Yotsubashi Building area is definitely the target." "The old ape's sure fired up, considering we're flying blind here." "Batou, this is the outfit we've been after ever since the cyber-contamination at Harimadara four months ago." ""We"?" "You mean you." "Did you make this, Major?" "It ain't a toy, rookie." "It's a military-grade virtual comm link." "It's almost impossible for hackers to listen in." "Section 9 forced the domination through." "We'll have orders soon." "Nab one of the terrorists." "I want bait to draw out our prey." "Is it that super-wizard-class hacker, Fire-Starter?" "Isn't that just what you want?" "We don't even know if there's really someone pulling the strings." "What I want is to formally establish my spec ops team." "If you're scared of unknown enemies, drop out." "Piss off." ""Corporate Killers"" "Our status as an independent offensive unit is riding on this." "Public Security handles the incident, and we handle what caused it." "Go." "The enemy just gave the go-ahead." "Capture them!" "You deserve this..." "Greedy rich-country bastards!" "Today, we've followed the principle of free trade to maintain fair prices that will spur postwar economic recovery." "This was his only weapon." "Something's fishy." "The riot squad opened fire?" "!" "The west team's slaughtering protesters." "Some are even shooting other cops!" "It's the biggest simultaneous Ghost Hack ever." "It's crazy, but it's the only explanation." "There's no tech that'd control 100 people at once." "The perps on my watch are all dead, too." "Check the riot squad's lines and find out what caused the attack." "There's a log that might be Starter's, but..." "Then this isn't hacking." "It's a virus." "I don't see one in the sequence." "It's a self-destructing Stuxnet-type." "Someone must be sending packaged actions meant to control groups." "You,eh?" "I made a deal with the devil for the sake of rebuilding and independence!" "Just like you wanted!" "And it invited a second slaughter by water and e-money to follow the first slaughter with guns!" " You said cyberbrain tech and the prosthetics industry" " I want a media blackout now." " Would build us a future," " This is Priority One!" "But hope wasn't what they brought to Qhardistan!" "They merely sowed the seeds of betrayal that would grow to bleed away my people's pride!" "Have a taste of what that felt like!" "Then you'll have no choice but to grant me asylum!" "Because this is a civilized, pacifist nation!" "Oh, is it?" "Optical camouflage!" "You can't stop Fire-Starter." "Someone hacked my line?" "!" "Major?" "!" "Saito!" "Shit." "Hello!" "Give me a weapon!" "Okay!" "Major, I'll be right there!" "Don't be stupid." "Go after the one who hacked me!" "On your knees!" "I'll shoot you dead if you resist." "That was outta nowhere!" "This was your job, moron!" "Sorry!" "That was an accident." "Equip some handrails!" "Do it, Saito." "I let him get away, sorry!" ""Section 9 Office"" "You finally take the job, and then you execute someone on the national Net?" "Who, me?" "You have no proof." "Are you claiming you had no choice?" "You're a super-wizard-class hacker in an ace unit." "Was the Army overestimating you when it rated you five stars?" "Tell me about the virus and that heavy cyborg girl." "No cyber-virus was detected." "The girl's name is Emma Tsuda." "Apparently she's famous on the Net as a game app maker." "Nine hours after her arrest, that's all you've got?" "I guess a former Special A Rank inspector for the Army like you gets to have lots of talented subordinates." "My people's dedicated effort got multiple perps captured alive." "Wow, great work arresting some mindless packaged drones." "We could've stopped it if we'd had special authority." "Then stop playing gangsters and join Section 9." "Unless you work directly for Home Affairs, you do get official oversight and you don't get secrecy." "Can you guarantee I'd be able to stay myself?" "Cutting-edge equipment can protect cyberbrains and prosthetic bodies." "And my Ghost?" "My beliefs?" "Depends on how skilled you are." "I'll even consider a budget." "Create an international counterterrorist agency for us with the same budget as the Rangers." "I'm gonna go eat." "Aramaki, it's been a while." "Colonel Hozumi." "What brings Army intelligence here?" "I'll take the girl now." "Care to explain?" "They're from a squad I trust." "Ex-major Motoko Kusanagi, of the 501." "Hated your master so much you became a stray, eh?" "Your intel's dated." "They recreated my rank." "The cyber-virus used is crucial for us to investigate." "Explain why it's crucial, please." "It's a triple package of brainwashing, Ghost infiltration, and false memory creation." "False memory?" "Last I checked, the government doesn't admit that's possible, despite all the reports." "Virus units entered this country via a certain broker." "Trust me:" "You won't even manage to indict that girl." "Unfortunately, she's been transferred to Unit 501." "When?" "The moment I agreed to their request for cooperation." "I've never thought you were clever, but this?" "You'll regret any foolish stubbornness." "Terror by false memories..." "Your claims are finally proven, Major." "So is the existence of a virus that enables Ghost-hacking." "Here's your next job:" "Escort the girl to Unit 501." "What?" "There was really a request?" "Signed by the Defense Minister." "Now give me one of your men in exchange." "Did your scary ex-colleague make you want a guard?" "I want information sharing." "Go renew old workplace friendships." "Can I ask one thing?" "What is it?" "Assuming I did shoot her why didn't you use my Ghost infiltration key to stop me?" "I can't answer hypothetical questions." "I see." "This is Dr. Zhinzhee Bekka Arr Thied, the one the Major killed." "She's Qhardi, but she graduated from Kuzan Royal University as Valedictorian." "A big player in Kuzan water importation since the provisional government days." "But she supported terrorism when she realized the world would forsake her people, eh?" "She's smart and she's got motive, but she's not a hacker." "Someone else packaged this." "What about the girl we captured?" "Her name's Emma Tsuda." "A 17-year-old war orphan." "She makes hit cyberbrain games, which she copyrights under the name "Tin Man"." ""Tin Man"..." "As in The Wizard of Oz?" "What's that?" " In spite of everything, I still believe" " Supposing she's a teenage super-hacker, how does she fit in?" " that people are really good at heart" " Don't tell me she's the one you're after?" " I wish to go on living even after my death." " I'll know when I dive into her Ghost." "Ishikawa, stay on the virus and the girl." "Saito, you go to Section 9." "Paz and Borma, you release the bait." "Batou, Togusa, and I will escort the girl." "We're starting the second round." "Suggestion for you, Miss "Hothead Who Charges In Blind"." "How about I become team leader and lead us in a sensible retreat?" "Brave thing to say in my cyberbrain space." "Step outside and let's fight!" "Whoa, knock it off, you guys!" "He's finally on the move." "Thought I'd die of boredom!" "It might be cool if we could ride in you." "The Major requested a personnel transport shaft from the Maintenance Department!" "Will we pilot you from inside?" "Isn't that our mobile arsenal?" "Where would the weapons go?" "We can just resupply each other." "If we armed this guy, he could be our backup." "Backup,eh?" "Why are we using an outdated Logistics model?" "Ape-Face couldn't get the budget the Major wanted, so he gave us these bots." "Neurochip-type Als are hard to hack or infect, anyway." "So basically, it was us or the junkyard?" "What?" "Not good enough for the ex-cop still wearing a necktie?" "My late father said looking classy shows faith in yourself." "Watching you, ex-Ranger, I see what he meant." "Bold words, kid." "Mr. Batou suggested modifying us so people could ride us!" "I think it's a really great idea!" "What do you think, Major?" "Don't talk nonsense." "I hate machines who pretend to have personalities." "She's here." "Did you hack my line to deliberately get yourself caught?" "What is "Fire-Starter"?" "Is it really the name of a hacker?" "Intelligence wants you." "Military courts don't do plea bargains, you know." "I smell seawater." "We aren't even allowed near the sea." "Programmers are like weapons:" "We're forbidden by law from moving freely." "So you are the group's hacker." "What are you after?" "Long ago, glassblowers had no freedom, because glasswork funded the state." "If they left the country, they were blinded first." "You're a refugee?" "That's why you started a massacre?" "Do you think cyberbrains make people happy?" "Are your memories trustworthy?" "Or were they planted by someone?" "When micromachine-based cyberization came to pass, experts worldwide warned us:" ""False memories will be used to commit crimes"." "Every organization wants that technology." "My technology." "You mean you successfully made memory-manipulation tech?" "Your memories might even be..." "I'm diving right here, right now!" "Saw that coming." "We don't know what this virus is." "What if you're infected?" "I'll blow it away, and her cyberbrain with it." "A hacker who commits mass murder just to escape deserves assassination." "During your dive?" "!" "Your cyber warfare style is twisted." "I prefer the term "super-wizard-class"." ""Wizard"..." "Magician." "Magician who can't go home..." "I'm diving straight in through her line." "Uh-huh, ignore protocol." "Hey, something's weird." "You're being hacked!" "They're doing it through her cyberbrain!" "What's going on?" "This isn't just backfire!" "Emma..." "Danger..." "Emma..." "You..." "Major!" "I'm sorry, Emma..." "I'm sorry." "It's okay." "I wanted this." "Don't cry, Brinda." "There are two Ghosts in there?" "I heard about Section 9's meddling." "You couldn't have shot her before she started blabbing about asylum?" "That shooting is currently under investigation, Deputy Director Amagata." "I can imagine the profound effects this incident will have on the Next-Generation Weapons Review Committee you serve on." "The year-end industry fair has been cancelled." "And thanks to pressure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we won't be unveiling our prototype weapons, either." "It's shaking the foundations of the company." "I hear you're pressing for large-scale water sales even after Dr. Thied's death." "I have a duty to fulfill my contract." "And effective use of resources is key for an international company." "There are some out there who can't even secure drinking water." "If you just want to criticize my economics, I'm going back to work." "You're not cut out for government work." "Start an NPO and go live in some refugee camp." "He's annoying." "He's a classic ex-politician, and he owes me one from my intelligence days." "Which means he's a reliable source." "NPOs, camps... and Foreign Affairs?" "The council on weapons development!" "Was that the objective behind the cyberterrorism against Harimadara?" "Lately there's a debate about whether next-gen weapons should be produced domestically or developed abroad." "The overseas faction'd be thrilled if a domestic manufacturer got attacked." "Here we go: an NPO that "treats cyberization disorders"." "They disseminated cyberization and learning devices in refugee camps in Kuzan during the war." "And domestically?" "Got a hit on that girl in the same NPO's treatment records." "Cyberization rejection syndrome." "Apparently she ran away from a war orphan facility because she rejected being cyberized." "Not wanting a cyberbrain means you're sick?" "The white paper on cyberization the MHLW released after the war classifies it with anorexia." "That's news to me." "The cyberization business is insanely big money." "Pretty predictable that people who don't want it get treated as sick." "Could she be a genuine multiple personality?" "The prevailing theory is that personalities split but Ghosts don't." "The issue is, what did that NPO have to do with a business deal motivated by military development?" "Go at the military-industrial complex from both ends: soldiers and companies." "It's me." "The others got caught." "Don't worry, you'll see them in the afterlife." "Hello!" "Y-You a cop?" "L-I prepared a confession." "Let me call my lawyer" "You're not getting that chance." "You killed our bait, so you're gonna tell us everything." "Started to miss your old home?" "I'm only hereto bring in your witness, Lt. Col. Kurutsu." "Tsumugi is standing by." "Dive if you want to." "Assuming she has a Ghost, that is." "What do you mean?" "I'm stepping out." "As a member of the committee, I need to be at Harimadara's product inspection." "Still obsessed with getting promoted?" "It's something you ran away without doing." "Nice to see you, Kusanagi." "I didn't think we'd have another chance to work with you." "Are these your men?" "Yes." "Batou and Togusa." "This is Tsumugi Dokuro." "They're both cyber warfare tactical officers." ""Both"?" "Are they sharing a body?" "She says they're two identical twins in one conjoined body." "I dunno how they move." "The world's full of surprises." "Let's get started." "So, only the body came back." "What do you mean?" "She's a technical officer in Lt. Col. Kurutsu's command." "She was investigating a hacker with a special neurochip-type cyberbrain." "He's known as "Scarecrow", and he's a suspect in the terrorist attack on Harimadara." "Another Oz character?" "Huh?" "Our conclusion is that he's a special spy based on postwar tech." "Emma was the one who reasoned it out." "She hypothesized a hacker with the same disorder she had." "Someone who had to incrementally replace his brain with neurochips and prosthetize his body to survive." "She had that disorder?" "Personality attenuates, and self hood can't be retained without auxiliary cyberbrains." "Emma transformed her impairment into her signature trait, as did Scarecrow." "Emma regularly used advanced cyberization to structure her self hood, but Scarecrow is different." "To compensate for his attenuated personality, he dubs the Ghosts of others, steals their bodies, and assumes their identities." "Like the scarecrow who can't think inserting a false brain into his head." "Seriously?" "In other words, this is..." "The body is Emma's, but it's being operated by a man's brain which is only one-third the normal size and cyberized with neurochips." "So what I dived into was the girl's dubbed Ghost." "What happened to her brain?" "Ghost Dubbing would've degraded it." "It's either in the trash or sliced up in his research lab." "That's awful..." "Poor Emma." "I'm sorry." "It's okay, Junior." "Don't be afraid." "I know the lions will come." "The people with courage..." "Who are you?" "Tell me who you work for." "I am a scarecrow." "My brain is fading away." "I am tin." "My heart is fading away." "Is that Emma talking, or her dubbed Ghost?" "Tin Girl, give me the scarecrow man's name." "His name is Brinda Jr." "Please, don't blame him." "Got a hit at a postwar nursing home./ And the same NPO is involved with it." "Brinda Jr., age 32." "After he was cyberized, he became an accountant at an employment agency." "His personality's thin, but he memorized a ZOO-digit number in two seconds for an IO fest." "That's textbook for someone with special cognitive abilities." "Find out' which organization set' him up as a hacker." "Roger." "I'm diving into that man's Ghost." "There are only a handful of proven double Ghosts in existence." "We don't know the dangers." "I want to know which Ghost has motive." "You're doubting Emma?" "She's the victim here." "Then I'll confirm that." "Batou, be my backup in case they back-hack me." "Two against two, eh?" "Togusa." "Get all the records copied." "Roger." "Oh, here..." "Sorry, it's a call from my dad." "Hey Dad, it's been a while." "Yeah." "Batou!" "Restrain Togusa!" "Got it." "I'll become the Lion." "A Mateba, still?" "Don't move!" "Major!" "Let's go." "This is crazy!" "I found a Starter log on his comm-it's the virus!" "He must have kept the virus inactive within his neurochips." "His infiltration was unexpectedly quick." "So, it combines victims' memories of past hostility with objects in front of them to plant instantaneous false memories?" "I can get deadly, right?" "That was your last breath if you don't." "Don't underestimate me!" "The scarecrow is the virus's host and Togusa's brain is the package, right?" "Yep." "But the infection route's disturbingly selective." "Only people around you are being infected." "Does that mean the onset can be regulated?" "That'd be impossible without a third party to switch it on." "Which I guess means it's a virus whose damage can be controlled." "Then it's military." "Reanalyze yesterday's infection data." "We don't want to chase the virus;" "we want to chase the enemy in possession of it." "I wish to go on living even after my death." "Hidden data?" "For these 620 reasons, we oppose cyberization without free choice." "Reason:" "We submit that software within the cyberbrain is vulnerable to third-party tampering." "Reason:" "Electronic alteration of memory causes abnormalities in the totality of our independent will referred to as the "Ghost'"." "Do you actually think a world without infection and infiltration is possible?" "!" "Tsumugi!" "You alive?" "I'm running a sim of the scarecrow's brain." "Help me." "You have Emma Tsuda's Ghost infiltration key, don't you?" "Make me a backdoor." "I see, you're going to use Scarecrow's cyberbrain structure to approximate a vaccine?" "Reason:" "There are currently seventeen possible ways to alter our memories." "Shit!" "Major!" "Why won't you use my Ghost infiltration key to stop this?" "!" "It's no use." "Brinda won't let her." "I will become anyone." "I've inputted and erased many Ghosts." "I disappeared, too..." "Who am I?" "Was Unit 501 a target, too?" "Aren't you a victim after all?" "!" "There was no other way." "What are you after?" "Don't disappear, Emma." "Let's go on living after our deaths, together." "They're here." "An attack barrier!" "Major!" "Colonel!" "They fought each other with attack barriers." "One of them got forwarded." "I can't believe it was stronger than ours..." "You were infiltrated for a moment." "Delete all relevant operational headquarters from the cyberbrain Net." "Go after Brinda." "There's nothing left to do here." "Damn stray dog..." "Looks like we pulled it off." "The host and Starter are still active." "We can see the ocean, Emma." "This creeps even me out, Major." "Report." "Col. Hozumi from Army intelligence was the one to recruit Brinda Jr." ""Scarecrow" is an op cooked up by their old Investigations Section during a period when they were working on Ghost Dub devices." "Hozumi got on the Next-Gen Weapons Review Committee through Foreign Affairs." "But she wasn't there long, and Kurutsu of Unit 501 took her seat at Vice-Minister Kitahara's recommendation." "Unit 501 got a hold on Hozumi through military musical chairs, eh?" "Reason." We can prove that false memories" " compel us to commit murder, suicide, and other criminal acts." " Which one built the pod?" " compel us to commit' murder, suicide, and other criminal acts." "Unknown." "But Army intelligence decided to rally by interfering with the Review Committee." "I'd guess that somewhere in there, the two hackers became aware of each other." "The attack on Harimadara is the connection?" "There's no evidence they did it." "But Hozumi is in the overseas weapons development faction, and Harimadara's a domestic faction stronghold." "Who shot our bait?" "A Kuzan water cartel hit man." "Hozumi's playing with serious fire." "She used the pretext of wartime industry to interfere in Kuzan's affairs while she was stationed there during the war." "If she can't subdue the domestic faction and give the cartel the profits she promised, it'll retaliate against her." "Starter analysis results?" "Couldn't pin down the trigger, but I got my answer from the fact that we couldn't find the infection route into the building even though Section 9 had domination over it." "It was a C4ISR network." "A military communications system." "Things are starting to come clear." "Col. Hozumi's the one who activated Starter and patched the virus through to infect the VIP room's security." "She was after the woman the guard shot." "Senior Vice-Minister Kitahara, who's with the domestic faction." "That massacre was a smokescreen for one murder?" "!" "Guess she's a born war-lover." "Why snipe Tin Girl?" "That was a bluff." "She must've wanted to get rid of us and get Tin Girl safely to the 501 ." "So her little visit to Section 9 was a smokescreen, too?" "She backed down so easily because she was after Unit 501 from the start." "So she could set up anti-cyberbrainist Emma Tsuda as the massacre's ringleader." "Harimadara, the Vice-Minister, the 501 She had a threefold plan to take them all out!" "What about the Ghost of the girl who got dubbed?" "If she does have her own will, why'd she knowingly let Hozumi use her?" "Just from the circumstances, the scarecrow is the one you've been after." "He didn't necessarily write the virus." "Hozumi said there was a broker." "If she told the truth, someone out there made and sold it." "That's who I'm after." "This is all speculation." "Right now, there's only one way for us to get proof." "I assume you have Togusa's location." "We'll meet en route." "We're going to capture both Ghosts- the scarecrow's, and the girl's." "Togusa's the problem." "Blowing a married teammate's brains out ain't my job." "We know for sure this infection plants false memories, right?" "You saw him talking to his dead father." "There should be a shared form." "I'll get infected, so you ID it and version up your makeshift vaccine." "You want to mirror your own brain?" "Worst case scenario, blow my brains out." "So that's my job?" "If you don't like it, make me the leader." "A checkpoint?" "You're on the wanted list as a suspected terrorist!" "Shit, it's Section 9!" "The ape used to be in Army intelligence." "He cut a deal with Hozumi, and he's framing us!" "She may just want us to think so." "I'll send Section 9 our intel." "After all this, you're still relying on him?" "!" " No." " Why, then?" "!" "My Ghost is whispering that I should do it." "Wait!" "Where are you going?" "!" "Stop!" "We promised we'd go far away." "Goodbye." "I released the package!" "I'm going on ahead." "I told you to shoot if things went south!" "Take a damn gun with you..." "Major..." "She's in pieces!" "If she's a neurochip version, she's still alive." "We'll go on living." "It's a Ghost Dub, not a transfer?" "!" "That's a Harimadara prototype!" "Major!" "Two Ghosts have been dubbed into that thing." "We're going to stop it!" "Logicomas, give me everything you've got!" "Yes, sir!" "Where the hell would they abandon their own lives to go?" "The ocean." "Huh?" "They're not going anywhere!" "This ends here!" "Next-gen weapon or not, its brains are rookies." "Aim for the eyes and legs, and it's a piece of cake." "For real?" "!" "Got you now!" "What's that?" "It's Army intelligence!" "The bastards requested an artillery strike!" "You've cut off your sensory system?" "!" "Crap!" "You discarded intensity regions..." "Recognition systems, memory fields, the Net that maintains your architecture..." "You even jettisoned your own Ghost!" "You want a life you've stripped all meaning from?" "!" "Goodbye." "It's over." "Return to base." "We're going to Kuzan, by way of Benares." "The world's cyber economy has only just begun." "I'll pay whatever it takes to reconcile with the cartel" "On your knees, hands in the air!" "Oh, the wanted poster." "Told you so." "You're just like that Section 9 chief." "Never happy unless you're digging up what's dead and buried." "It's something you ran away without doing." "Nothing's going to change, Kusanagi." "We're an independent offensive unit." "We stand independent of the system, and we have truly discrete personalities that don't get packaged." "When we're officially approved as top priority, we'll root out all the sorry bastards who conspire because they're afraid of a scandal." "And you count me as one of them?" "I never changed your channel." "Contact me whenever you want to come home." "You're free to go." "We voided the wanted notice Col. Hozumi put out." "Vice-Minister of Defense Kitahara wants to thank you." "Is that some sort of joke?" "A political one." "Section 9 just went through Col. Hozumi's possessions and confiscated a Ghost Dub device and an outline of the Scarecrow op." "They couldn't arrest her, though." "No-but then she confessed." "Her chopper was shot down with Kuzan weapons." "She's afraid enough of the cartel's revenge to request protective custody and a plea bargain." "So she'll get let off scat-free." "I'll make sure she doesn't." "The NPO she worked with is a front for dirty cyberbrain business." "Not only that, we've detected Starter in her cyberbrain, just like your intel said." "She got a lot of people injured or killed, and I'll make her pay for that- even if I can't take her to court yet." "Where did she get the virus?" "Through a broker, she says." "She claims to know nothing about its author." "I see." "Was it really the cartel who tried to kill Hozumi?" "Even if it was someone who wanted to prevent us from investigating her," "I'm sure any trace of them is long gone." "Major." "All of you came?" "I didn't know I had such admirable subordinates." "You could've been attacked while in custody." "We've been keeping an eye on all the suspicious characters who came by." "One more thing." "I told the Minister of Home Affairs that your team contributed to deterring the virus." "Use your vaunted cyberbrain to read Public Security Commission report N2077." "As of tomorrow, you get special authority." "Without official oversight." "This case isn't over." "Investigate the high-level hacking virus and any organizations involved, and plan to attend plenty of funerals along the way." "I shot Thied." "You must have had a hunch that an intelligence bigwig was behind this, meaning you would've wanted an intel advantage at any cost." "So why didn't you stop me?" "!" "Because I don't have your Ghost infiltration key." "No organization will ever have it." "I promised your late commander that." "Bottom line, all we figured out was that someone out there used a couple of anti-cyberbrainist hackers and a miserable water company chick." "We may be looking for a crime worth sacrificing lives over, but all we have are money-mad war profiteers and a man and girl obsessed with casting things away." "For now, that is." "Which one had agency, the man or the girl?" "Did they even have real will?" "When they blocked my infiltration, at least." "But they fled with nowhere to go, then had to transfer into that weapon." "That think-tank's cyberbrain had a massive output system." "Hmm?" "What if the reason they cast away what made them themselves was to output the last thing left into the Net?" "You think that's where they were going?" "Pouring the last shreds of their Ghosts into the Net..." "Is that even possible?" "It's been researched, but it's impossible to prove." "But in the moment their Ghosts were lost, I got the feeling they'd fused." "That two lives had become one..." "That isn't like you." "Ghosts are the most independent things in this world." "Even the ones being controlled are fundamentally, eternally standalone." "Like our squad, yeah?" "Yeah." "Well?" "The floaters are all ready." "I got a set of two." "Even someone with a titanium skull wouldn't drown." "You seriously want to swim in the ocean in midwinter?" "Gotta shake off those memories of almost drowning." "Plus it ain't too often I get to see you in a swimsuit." "That's your real goal?" " Huh?" " Unbelievable." "No, no!" "I'm doing this all for you!" "I'll take a rain check." "I'm telling you, you got it all wrong!"