A greasy rain was falling from the dirty sky and the stars were obscured by the powerful glare of artificial lighting. Red and blue lights of police cars flashed in the dirty streets of a Nihama entertainment district. Garish neon signs flashed on and off, some were sparking and flickering in the steady drizzle. Officers were clustered around a smaller back alley, already working to pull yellow warning tape across the entrance. With the mournful howls of police sirens and the background chatter over their cybercoms, they failed to notice a black car pulling slowly up alongside them.

"Section Nine. Give me a detailed report of what went down here."

Several officers started and spun around, their captain approached the tinted windows and saluted. "Sir, the crime scene is secure. All suspects have successfully eluded arrest and we are left with minimal incriminating evidence."

"You don't say," came the sarcastic response. "I guess you've even widened your search net to try and salvage what little pride you guys have left?"

The captain remained at attention, his helmet obscuring his clenched jaw. "Search parameters remain unchanged for now, there was no evidence of additional suspects." He hesitated before adding, "Sir."

"Still looking for same old guys? Well good luck with that! File a detailed report to my superior and in the meanwhile, clear this place up, get a forensics team in there and bag a sample of everything you can find. If you think you can find anything with your helmets strapped on that tight."

"Yes Sir, we've already-"

With a screech of wheel-spin, the car accelerated down the narrow alley, throwing its rear end out into the brightly lit main street. Various window displays flashed past as the car sped down the road and and joined the busy expressway. For a moment, no-one spoke. The only sounds were the steady rumble of the tarmac and the barely audible thrum of the engine. The man in the passenger seat released his death-grip on the door handle and turned to the driver.

"Seriously Boss-man, did you have to be so tough with them? They're only doing their jobs you know."

The driver's eyes didn't register that he had heard the comment. In fact, the eyes of this particular man seldom registered anything, merely reflecting whatever he looked at. He responded in a gruff voice. "Look buddy, I'm not suddenly going to take pity on those morons until they start doing their damn jobs properly. We're not going to corner these sons of bitches with those posers running around sticking red tape over everything!" He swerved off the expressway as he said this, veering onto a slipway and heading for downtown. "Besides, weren't you one of them once? Doesn't it piss you off to see how much they dance around playing super police?"

Togusa sighed and rolled his eyes. "I was a detective, not one of those guys. Sure I dealt with their cases but I never got down to their level. Don't go comparing me with them." His lip twitched. "Or the Major will chew you out again big guy."

"I can handle the she-ape's wrath, don't you worry."

Togusa covered his eyes with his hand and sighed again. "Not the reaction I'd hoped for Batou."

Their car approached a huge skyscraper, the upper reaches of which were invisible in the rain, which had increased to a steady downpour. They rolled swiftly down the entance ramp into the car lot. Togusa watched with an air of detached interest as Batou carefully selected a parking space and nonchalantly double parked, blocking in someone else's car. His.

"Oh real nice Batou, you think because you're having a bad day we should all stay here and comfort you? I have kids at home you know."

Batou turned to look at him, an expression of mock confusion on his face, before relaxing and favouring his colleague with a goofy grin. "You're the one who said I had some grilling to look foward to from the Major right? At least now, you'll have the honour of burning right next to me." Batou swung his heavy legs out of the car and stretched. "Damn government issue models. Crammed with the latest tracking software but completely devoid of leg room. Next time you can drive buddy."

Moments later they were in an elevator, rushing towards the upper floors where the conference room was located. At certain intervals the elevator would emerge on the outside of the building, flashing a night-time vista streaked with raindrops, which blurred and fragmented the various lights of the city. Rain pummelled the glass windows, cutting off abruptly as the elevator retreated back inside the building.

Togusa stood in silence, staring blankly at the floor. "Something up big guy? You don't seem your usual self today." He looked up at Batou. "It's not like you to lose your cool over something as trivial as the cops."

The doors opened and Batou stepped out, heading towards the meeting room. "Don't worry about it." he said. "Let's see what the old ape has for us this time."

With a buzz of static and white-noise, the visual feed from the crime scene expanded into the minds of the people assembled in the conference room. It was taken from the eye-view of a low-ranking policeman who had stumbled onto the scene during his daily patrol. They beheld a sparsely furnished room; a simple concrete block with nothing much inside. A voice echoed through their heads.

We've managed to ascertain that this was indeed a back-street hideaway. It most likely functioned as an illegal cyberisation chop-shop for the local mob, unfortunately the room's little more than a cell now; they'd obviously moved out before they were discovered.

Batou was slouched in his usual chair, gazing idly at the ceiling. His large arms were thrown over the back of his seat and he tapped his left leg irritably. "So we got nothing this time. What a surprise! Anyone else having deja vu here? This is one big dead-end for us."

Seated opposite the heavy-set cyborg was a woman, who sensing the antagonism in Batou's voice, sat up. She fixed Batou with a stare from under her thick bangs of dark hair. "Pay attention Batou, don't let your disdain for the regular police spill over into this meeting. Let Ishikawa finish."

Scowling, Batou returned his gaze to the ceiling, while the older man who had been interupted shifted a little in his seat and continued.

On first inspection, this room betrays nothing. It's nearly identical to other facilities we've stumbled across. We're only able to identify what equipment they had running here due to the holes they drilled for power and waste disposal. An inventory began to scroll slowly across everyone's eye view, detailing various pieces of machinery.

The woman leaned fowards slightly with her hands poised beneath her chin, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. "So what do we have now that we didn't have before? Was something else left behind?"

Ishikawa nodded. "Yeah, there was something we found that gives us a lead. Something refreshing for you Batou." he cocked his head at the larger man. "Material evidence"

Suddenly interested, Batou fixed his attention back on the briefing. "What, like a weapon?"

This time it was Ishikawa who covered his eyes with his gnarled hands. "Always with the weapons! It's something far more interesting than that!" He looked back up at everyone, rubbing his hand through a scrubby brown beard. "Residue."

"Residue?" came an older voice from a high-backed black chair at the head of the room. "Please explain yourself more clearly."

"Yessir. We're the first ones to have access to this information, but we dispatched some techs to check out the scene in greater detail, given the police's tendency to run off without conducting a thorough examination. What our techs found was something that the police hadn't even noticed, or to be more accurate, had literally stepped in."

A small section of the floor was enlarged and as the details were smoothed out and brought up to resolution, Batou frowned as much as his cybernetically enhanced eyes would allow him to. "A puddle?"

"Not just any puddle. The cops assumed this was from a leak in the water main and tramped right through it. So much for our crime-scene." He paused, and glanced at the woman in front of him. "It's brain fluid, to be more specific, it's artifical brain fluid used in the cyberisation process."

The woman known as 'The Major' spoke to the room at large. "Someone has just dropped a piece of incriminating evidence into our lap?"

Togusa nodded in agreement. "You've got to admit, it's fishy. Surely if they'd cleared out already, they'd have been a bit more thorough with their clean-up? We shouldn't take this on surface value Boss."

The chair swivelled around, revealing Chief Aramaki. He addressed them in his customary authoritative tone, his hands were steepled in front of him and his wrinkled eyes flicked from person to person. "Naturally, anyone on first inspection would assume this residue to be that of a criminal who had undergone some unspecified illegal modification of his cyberbrain. That's enough for the police at any rate." He gestured towards the Major with a finger and continued. "What discounts this theory is that the residue was found to contain genetic material which doesn't match with anyone in our current criminal database."

Batou raised his hands and exasperation laced his voice. "So why's it so important? If it doesn't match up with any lowlife we haven't bagged yet then how does it help us? Waste of time!"

Togusa glanced at Batou out of the corner of his eye. The cyborg seemed even even more... impatient than usual. Batou looked back at him and he quickly blinked, averting his gaze.

Frowning sternly at Batou, Aramaki toggled the main viewer on. "I said that it didn't match any known criminal profile, I never stated that it matched no-one's profile. Observe." The assembled team turned to look at the display, as countless faces flashed and blurred before halting on one person. It was a young girl.

"This girl went missing one month before we discovered our illegal clinic. Police had conducted preliminary investigations to establish any possible motives for kidnap but immediately discounted them due to this girl's virtual anonymity, as well as that of her family, who aren't wealthy enough for ransom, nor powerful enough to influence anyone politically. She is unremarkable in that she has no cybernetic implants, lacking even a basic e-brain. The trail went cold immediately and the girl was listed as dead. Until now, we haven't seen any sign of her. Ishikawa, continue if you please."

Ishikawa rose slowly to his feet, his knees audibly groaning from days of non-stop net-diving. He entered a few select commands into a recessed keypad, changing the display to show various genetic records. "Our missing girl has just re-appeared, in the form of that residue. We tested some and the results were 98 percent conclusive. It matches her DNA, leaving us to look at a more sinister picture."

The Major looked grim and spoke with obvious distaste. "Such as how the contents of the girl's head ended up on the floor. Considering what the room was used for, I assume partial or complete installation of a cyberbrain?

"It's likely yes," said Aramaki. "As for motive, we're no better off than the police are." He rose to leave. "This meeting is concluded for now. Major, I'm leaving the investigation to you. Pick your team and get started." He gathered up a few papers and walked from the room.

Standing, Major Motoko Kusanagi began issuing her orders. "Ishikawa, I want you to begin digging. Start searching for any and all instances of forced cyberisation, coupled with instances of kidnap and, if necessary, don't hesitate to snoop on the police department's files. If they have any additional information we'll need it."

"Roger."

"Togusa, you're with Batou. Go back to the crime scene and branch out from there. Assess the current mob layout and see if anything grabs you."

Togusa nodded and motioned to leave, but Batou remained seated.

"Boss-man? You still in real-time?" Togusa quipped.

Batou gave him with a blank stare, got to his feet and moved for the door. On passing the Major, he paused for a moment, before disappearing out into the corridor. Togusa began to follow but the Major pulled him aside.

"Togusa, I want you to monitor Batou. Don't say anything for now, but note when his behaviour changes and report back to me. Say nothing to the others, and don't let him know that you're watching. I know it always seems to be you that we ask, but there's a good reason. He trusts you, regardless of how he acts. It's unlikely that he'll lie outright, even if he chooses not to mention every little detail."

"Understood. Uh, Major?"

She turned with a questioning look in her ruby eyes.

"Mind if I ask what's going on? You seem clued up on something that the rest of us aren't."

She shook her head and spoke softly. "Nothing big, just old memories of a bad place."