(W) Shirow Masamune, Junichi Fujisaku (A) Yuki Yoshimoto. Hackers attempt to assassinate a politician during a speech preaching the advantages of cybernetic prosthetics. Fortunately* Togusa is there to whisk her to safety* and the investigation leads Batou to a suspicious factory in the artificial islands in southern Japan. Meanwhile* Chief Aramaki hears of a disturbing discovery at the other end of the country: dozens of artificial bodies* illegally dumped near a village where an anti-cyberization sect conducts their training and "rites." Among the empty shells is one formerly inhabited by the woman who embodied Section 9 until she left it behind and disappeared: Major Motoko Kusanagi.