Ghost In The Shell Fan Fiction ❯ What's Next? ❯ Closure ( Chapter 1 )

What's Next?

 

Author: Ilze

 

Rating: PG13

 

Category: Drama

 

Summary: When the huge Megatech conglomerate closes due to a bad public reputation, the value to cybernetic Megatech-made bodies raises in the black market and people begin hunting for these cyborgs. If that isnt enough for Section 9 to handle, the number of recent ghost hackings is beginning to rise.

 

Note: This story takes place a couple months after Kusanagi merged with the Puppet Master. Batou kept everything a secret and Motoko was just considered dead.

 

Disclaimer: I own no part of Ghost in the Shell, characters, or trademarks.

 

Chapter 1: Closure

 

Togusa sat silently in the dimly lit armored van owned by Section 9. He yawned as he read the headlines to the newspaper that sat in his hands. Most people simply used the net to find out the latest news but Togusa, who had never been to crazy about computerization and such, still prefered the black and white newspaper.

 

Quietly, Togusa skimmed the front page. He glanced up at the glowing monitors that sat in front of him before looking back down at the paper and seeing the top headline. He read over the words once more before he leaned his head back and bit and smirked. "Hmm..."He thought in his head.

 

"What's up?" A familiar voice said through the network implants in the ex-cop's brain.

 

Tougsa scratched his head in slight suprise, "Sorry about that. It's nothing, Bateau." He'd forgotten that he had an open link to his Section 9 partner. "Say, have you heard the news? Megatech's finally closed down."

 

"It's was just a matter of time." The slightly scrambled voice said through the network, "Ever since the Puppet Master incident awhile ago, they've been getting a bad rep. I heard that they manufactured their last cyborg last week."

 

 

"Yeah. Nothing special about it, I guess. Probably specially ordered by the military or something."

"No doubt." The voice paused for a moment and Togusa recieved a bit of unwanted static before he heard the transmission once more, "All right. I'm at the spot." Another short pause. "No one's around but a bum and he aint gonna say anything. Looks like he's been passed out for awhile. Why dont you check the cam?"

 

"Hold on a sec." Togusa put the paper down and looked to the glowing screens in front of him. He gazed into the screens and waited as the recording played. He watched it as the hidden camera recorded the phone that was station at the street corner. Nothing happened. The entire recording played with Togusa watching and no one made a single call. The agent leaned back and bit his lip, thinking. "Nothing."

 

Bateau came on, "What do you mean nothing? The guy used this phone. The usage records say it was in use just about five minutes ago."

 

Togusa thought a few more minutes then it hit him, "Hold on." He interfaced with van's AI a moment and had the recordered played over again. The same thing, nothing happened. Finally, he had the recording played again only this time, he zoomed in on the actual booth. The tape played for a few minutes, then it happened. The recieved was picked up by an invisible figure and floated for a few moments then it was set back down.

 

Togusa chuckled, "It was used a few minutes ago by someone. I couldnt tell what the guy looked like. He was using Thermoptic Camoflague. Pretty good quality too. I can even see a bit of an outline."

 

"Nice job. I'm guessing we're not gonna be meeting our hacker today. I'll meet you back at the office. I'll contact Ishikawa on my way back and see what he knows about this camoflague. Talk to ya later, Togusa."

 

Bateau's voice dissappeared from Togusa's mind and the link was finished. The ex-cop stretched leisurly as he turned around and sat at the steering wheel, "Ahh, yes. The job never let's up, does it." He chuckled as he started the military issued, armored-van and started for his way home.

 

Bateau sat calmly in Chief Aramaki's office. He'd just returned from his most recent mission in failure. He, and Togusa, had been sent to the area of a expected ghost hacker's next hit spot to investigate. They werent expecting the hacker to have in his possession 2900 Thermoptic Camoflague. According to Ishikawa, it was the newest level of thermoptic camoflague. Not even anyone in Section 9 had the camo. It certaintly was a suprise.

 

The door opened and Togusa entered. The two exchanged greetings as the humanoid officer sat down next to him in a chair in front of the Chief's desk. Aramaki himself sat behind the large piece of furniture and regarded two of his agents warily. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "Bateau already briefed me. It definatly is a shock at what that hacker had."

 

He leaned back and sighed. Over the last couple of months, the Chief of Section 9 had aged greatly. Ever since the second-in-command of Section 9 had been unexpecedly killed while on a mission, Aramaki had been given a even larger amount of stress than usual. Now there was only five members of Section 9 and they were missing their most valuable field specialist.

 

The Chief continued, "but we'll talk about that later." He leaned foreward once more, "I take it both of you have heard the news of Megatech's closing, correct?" The agents nodded, "I thought so. You both know that Megatech has contirubted to Section 9 a lot. All of our agents, except for Togusa and myself, were given their cyborg bodies at Megatech. Now that the company is finished, we have no more source for such bodies but..." He smiled lightly and rocked in his chair, "I spoke with the president, well. Former President of Megatech and he has agreed to give us possession of the last manufactured Megatech cyborg. He will fill the gap of the late Major Kusanagi which we desperatly need to fill."

 

"When is he set to arrive?" Asked Bateau.

 

"A few days. We transferred him from the military and his ghost is being put into the cyborg as we speak. I'll give you guys the low-down on our newest agent." He reached into his desk and pulled out a plain data disk. A script of words began to play for the Chief, "Name: Chigako Yoko. Age: 37. Occupation: Military Officer." He stopped and looked up, "That's all the needed info. Now, onto more pressing matters. The hacker."

 

The door behind them opened as if on cue and Ishikawa entered the office. The bearded man strolled across the floor in his usual calm way and stopped and few inches from the Chief's desk. He recieved a nod from Aramaki and spoke, "I found a couple useful facts on this guy from The Net. He's a newcomer to the hacker setting. He hasnt done too much so far. Actually, he started here in Newport City and hasnt gone anywhere else as of so far and I doubt he will. There's a whole profile on the Section 4 Network. I've talked to the chief down there and he agreed to leave the network open for you guys. Check it out whenever you get a chance." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, "He should be an easy catch."

 

Togusa frowned and leaned foreward, "What about that camo?"

 

"I said it 'should' be an easy catch but there's a problem. The guy isnt originally from around here. The Republic of India is his original home and the guys over there want him back. The RoI isnt exactly the most peace loving nation and we do not want this giy to fall into their hands."

 

"What's the plan, Ishikawa?" Bateau was listening intently to the intelligence officer.

 

"Simple." He said with a brief chuckle, "The hack is planning on meeting with a represenative from the RoI within the next two days in order to talk and finally get the hell out of here and back home. The plan is to catch the guy while he's meeting. What'd I say? Simple, huh?" He smirked, "Section 5 is already working on the case. As I'm sure you guys know. Our relationship with those hot heads isnt that great. If they catch us using our methods to fix this problem, we're in trouble so we gotta get there before they do." He pushed off from the wall and started for the door, "I'll have the low down on where the meeting is taking place and when we gotta strike in a while. Just relax and stay ready. We'll probably need the whole group for this plan."

 

Bateau turned around and stopped the oldest member of Section 9, "Why's that? We usually just go in groups of two or three."

"Yeah but usually we dont have Section 5 on our tails. What we're gonna have to do is get to the meeting for they do, nuetralize the situation, then clear up the evidence." A smile spread under his beard, "When I say clear up, I actually mean blow the shit out of the room. We're gonna need two of you guys to infiltrate and kill the targets, preferably Bateau and Saito. I can program and detonate the explosives from the ground and Togusa's our driver. Sound good?" A shrug was enough for Ishikawa, "Alright then. We'll probably be going through with this within the next few days so stay alert. Later."

 

To Be Continued...

 

Note: Yes, That was short and not very well done but I'm tired and I just sort of wanted to get this thing started. The plot will be deepened starting with the next chapter. Just keep reading and R&R please.