The sound was suffocating. Her ears hurt, No, forget hurt…she didn't WANT to hear. She gripped her head, frantically clawing at her ears.

No more…

She was on all fours, her elbows dug into the cement as she held her ears tighter.

Sweat ran down her face and neck the blood from her ears mixing with it.

STOP!

She couldn't take it. She held tight on her head, tried to shut down her hearing.

No matter what she did she could still hear it.

That piercing scream; it had dug into her cybercomm, whirling in her cyber brain with the rest of her thoughts

They'd warned her, they'd told her not to do things without help.

She wanted to work alone, this was what she got.

"Help…..me…." She whispered; she wanted someone, something to hold onto. Her body hurt so badly.

She screamed; it was the last thing she could do. She screamed as loud as she could, echoing the shrieks that bound her to such a fetal position. She curled up again, around her body. Her knees pressed into the cold cement as with the rest of her body. Her voice hurt her ears worse so she went silent. Her hands pressed over her ears, but she could still hear it.

She couldn't escape…

Right now, she wanted to die.

She couldn't, something was holding her down.

Arms, someone grabbed her, picked her up.

Wha...what's going on?!

She panicked, but realized she couldn't move.

"Motoko? ...Motoko…please, if you can hear me, open your eyes…"

She wanted so badly to respond to the voice, she knew who it was.

Yoko…

She forced her eyes open, looking up into the other woman's brown eyes.

"Prime……Minister…?"

"Shh…it's okay now." Her voice was soothing, reassuring.

"You can go back to sleep, everything's going to be okay…."

The sound was coming back…it was starting again.

No…No…No….

Her eyes snapped open and quickly she sat up, a familiar white trench coat framing her body.

Was she dreaming?

She took a deep breath and touched her ears.

No blood.

She let out a sigh of relief and glanced at her pillow. Sure enough, Luca lay asleep, all stretched out.

A smiled tugged at the edges of the Cyborg's mouth.

He looked so cute.

Slowly she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.

She was still herself.

She was Still Motoko Kusanagi.

Even if it was a different body…

She found her reflection in the mirror, she looked tired.

Hands found the long purple hair that framed her face and ran down to brush her shoulders

Her white trench coat folded and stretched pending on how she moved.

Wordlessly she headed into the kitchen, wanting a drink.

She didn't get so far.

Major? Are you there? It was the Chief. What could he want?

I'm here. What is it? ...You sound…Stressed She let her curiosity show. It wasn't often that he contacted her since she left Section 9. He'd only started to call on her again recently.

You're needed….Something has come up, and I'm sure it will interest you.

Interest her?

Well…it wouldn't KILL her to take a look.

Alright, I'll be there shortly.

She left food for Luca and walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind her.

She was on full alert, she felt almost paranoid, and didn't see why she should be.

No, she did.

Something was coming.

Something….she wouldn't like.

Dreams are just a fictional Reality…Unless…it wasn't a dream.

She would soon find out….

The heavy elevator doors slammed behind her as she left them. More familiar voices started up as she walked down the hall.

"Major Major! Look! It's the Major!" This from the Tachikomas. Motoko smiled at them as she passed, watching them wave hyperly back at her.

I guess they were happy she was back.

"Major."

Motoko turned, her eyes meeting Togusa's.

"Togusa." Her greeting was curt, just a name and a nod. He nodded back and motioned for her to follow him.

She did so.

He led her through the familiar hallways. Nothing had changed, and she doubted it ever would. They passed the break room where a few Operators where chatting. About what she didn't know.

"It's been a while since any of us, or them, have seen you." Togusa spoke so suddenly it startled her.

"I guess I should have come by to visit more often hm?" She said, an edge of sarcasm twisting in her voice.

"Yea, The Tachikomas and the big guy miss you a lot. Frankly speaking, well all do." He said as he knocked on the chief's door.

"Come in" was the reply he received.

Wordlessly the brown haired man opened the door and stepped aside, letting Motoko walk in first.

"Nice of you to show, Major." A voice said to her right.

"Thanks for such a wonderful greeting, Batou. I almost expected you to jump up and kiss me." Motoko replied back, smirking.

Batou laughed and shook his head. "You never change."

"If I did, I wouldn't be me." She stated as she walked past him to lean on the chief's desk. "So, what's so important that you had to call me out in the middle of 3am?"

Aramaki looked up at her, his eyes holding that same look he always had.

"Some insane company is trying to create artificial banshees." This from Ishikawa.

Artificial….Banshees?

"Beg your pardon?" Motoko asked, shifting her view to look at the older man.

"You heard me. Artificial Banshees." He repeated, fingering a panel. "We're not sure who the company is. No one's got a name on them yet…But, there has been some strange attacks," He hit a button and the screen lit up, showing them pictures of a crime scene.

"…they bled out…though their ears…" She said slowly. Ishikawa looked at her solemnly.

"You've heard of this?" He asked her. She nodded slowly and moved to sit up on the desk.

"So, what are you planning to do?" She asked, "Try and stop them?"

"We need your help to do this, Major." Togusa said, "The Prime Minister has requested your presence."

Oh.

She nodded. "Fine, I'll help."

"Anyway," Aramaki started, "The Prime Minister does want to see you."

Motoko sighed; she'd gotten in more trouble with that woman than anyone else.

"She'd like to see you ASAP." Ishikawa said.

Oh, ASAP huh? Guess I better get moving.

She slid off the desk and walked past the group. "I'll see if I can get more information while I'm at it. You all should try and get some rest, really." She said as she left.

She was sick of sleep.

She body jumped when she got back to her apartment.

She wanted to be someone familiar to Yoko, not her other persona.

Upon standing up, she had a bit of trouble since she wasn't all that used to her old body.

Seems she'd spent far too long as her other self.

It was time to go back to the original.

She smirked as she flung her black trench coat around her body and made her way down the hall a second time, this time, as her real self.

She'd have to go see the Prime Minister now.

Sighing she got into her car a third time.

She'd been trying hard to avoid this.

She guessed she was in for a yelling.

What she got…was a bit of a surprise.

Even to her.