Chapter 14

It was the next day at Megatech and Batou had rested peacefully. The presence of Kusanagi made him rest well; knowing that she was safe and well-supervised, though he had not seen her since their one-of-many spats yesterday. Batou was in his normal clothes and was currently tying his boots. He had slept in one of Megatech's many spare rooms which were located next to the quarantine center.

There was a knock at his steel door and he replied calmly yet audibly, "Come in."

Ishikawa opened the door and had a tired look on his face. He greeted him with a weary smile as he closed the door behind him.

"Everything okay?" Batou seemed to take notice of his friend's appearance.

"Yeah…more or less…" He shrugged and rubbed the back of his own neck.

"What do you mean?" Batou straightened up a bit.

"Major she…she's a little different but nothing to be alarmed about!" Ishikawa carefully chose his words.

"'Different'?" The look on the cyborg's face hardened.

"Just…try not to talk to her…the partial extraction of the virus didn't work so she's a bit…irritated and quiet…actually, she may not be so different after all…"

Batou was surprised by the news and he stood, "Where is she?"

"C'mon, I just told you that you shouldn't…" Next thing Ishikawa knew, the big man was heading out the door.

Batou passed by technicians and nurses until he finally used sound waves to detect where she was. Kusanagi was in the garage area and was loading up weapons with Borma and Saito. Her back was to the door and though she was wearing a full-covering combat uniform, it was easy to see that she still was very sick. She turned and looked back at Batou. The circuit board pattern had intricately covered the sides of her face. Her irises were a deeper green color and her skin was still pale. She turned back to what she was doing, not saying a word to Batou.

"Motoko…" He said quietly.

"That's 'Major' to you." She replied strictly without looking at him as she was adding a magazine to her Seburo C-26a.

He walked over to her and stood beside her. He looked down at the table in front of them, examining the weapons. He turned his head and looked at the side of her face. There was something definitely different about her (besides her appearance) and for some reason; it was hard for him to tell if she was even the same Major.

"What do you want?" She asked as she scooped up some ammunition. Her tone definitely seemed irritated.

"I wanted to see how you're doing."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"My body, my business," Kusanagi grabbed a pistol and aimed straight ahead, testing her field of vision with it.

Batou huffed and felt like he was being ignored despite receiving responses from her. He then decided to try something so he asked with a raised brow, "The other day, I had made us some soup...but I can't seem to remember what kind it was…"

"Since when did you start cooking for me?" She asked and had a somewhat confused look on her face. She picked up a bag of weapons and loaded it into what looked to be one of Megatech's delivery trucks.

Batou couldn't believe it, "It was Udon…" He muttered to himself. He turned and looked back at the door where he entered and there stood a shrugging Ishikawa. He trudged over to the man and asked with almost a growl, "They wiped her memory?"

"Only some of it!" Ishikawa backed up, waving both hands in front of him.

"What do you mean by 'some'?"

"Some as in the past few days…since she was hit by the truck…however, she knows that she is infected and is going to take down Hypnos," Ishikawa replied and tried to reassure, "But it's all good! Once he's gone, we can safely transfer her-…"

Batou did not want to hear anymore. He knew they were going to wipe her memory and he was pissed off that they did. She does not remember being in his apartment, eating his food, or even sharing their conversations. Usually memory wipes did not bother him too much but this time it hit him hard because of how personal it felt.

"Alright men, listen up." Kusanagi announced. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "Ishikawa and I will be at the mission location. Borma and Saito, you will be on standby. Togusa you work with Pazu to bring in any recent victims of the virus. Batou, you are to stay put at Section 9 and whatever you do, do NOT answer any calls regarding this mission. If I ever were to cry for help, ignore it. If you hear a report of a tragic accident that happens at the location, ignore it. If the boys are crying over my lifeless body, ignore it. This is all for your own safety…any questions?"

The men shook their heads yet Batou gave no reaction. Her words were cold as ice and obviously he could not accept them. No matter how much she may try and push him away, he would always run to her aid; No matter what.

The Major turned and hopped into the delivery truck. The stretcher with the black sheet from yesterday appeared again, being carried by the same technicians. Batou still had no idea who or what was under the sheet but it was too late to ask questions. The back doors closed and Ishikawa opened the driver's side of the truck before entering. All Batou could do was stand and watch the car drive away as the garage door slowly closed. He didn't want to wait around at Section 9 but he had no other choice.

Batou returned to headquarters and sat on the large blue couch in the lounge area. None of the guys were around of course so it was simply him and a few operators occasionally walking in and out of the room. Aramaki was in the middle of a meeting so Batou was rather bored. He was on the brink of putting himself into sleep mode until he received an email on his phone. He assumed that it was just going to be some random advertisement yet when he opened it up; the first sentence he read was "It's me, Mia".

He sat up and continued to read the message.

I have been meaning to tell you this sooner…but I was afraid…the guilt has been building up so much inside that I could not take it anymore…I am absolutely certain that it is my fault that Motoko is sick. I remember the day that she had come by to see me. She brought me flowers and a box of Chinese tea after one of my shows. She could not stay due to work but her gesture made me very happy. After she left, I danced one more show before heading back to the dressing room. There I met a mysterious man in a black hood. His eyes were covered so I could only see his nose and mouth. He must have overheard me asking my friends about where Motoko and I should go for our next date because he told me, "You should visit the Dream Bar". He explained to me what it was and suggested what machine for cyborgs to use there for "the best quality dreams and memories". He never told me his name but I thanked him for the suggestion (and of course, that is where this virus- mess happened). The last thing I remember him telling me was "She has a very beautiful body" before disappearing through the crowd of girls. It's funny to look back and imagine how jealous I was that he didn't compliment MY body since I was the one dancing…but now I realize that he was probably there the whole time, watching HER and waiting until she left to speak to me. I should have told you all of this much sooner. I am sorry. She doesn't deserve any of this and I am truly sorry for dragging you down as well. This is perhaps the last time either of you will be hearing from me.

-Farewell

Utter guilt was laced in the email. Batou felt sorry for the girl since all she wanted to do was have a fun date with Kusanagi. He lingered on sympathy for a moment before realizing that her message contained some new information. The "mysterious man" Mia described was certainly Hypnos. He told her where to go and exactly what machines to use. He must have already implemented the virus into the machine so the first victim who used it was simply the "test subject". Hypnos wanted Kusanagi to get infected; she was not some random victim or a lucky toss of a coin. He had probably been stalking her for a while before finally taking action. This angered Batou.

He took a moment to relax and when he finally did, he replied to her email.

Thank you for telling me what you know. I have some new information to work off of so the only person you need to blame is that man, not yourself. I am going to make things right. I promise.

-Batou

After sending the message, Batou was curious of how she was able to get his email but then remembered that he was perhaps another emergency contact for the Major's girlfriends. This realization gave him the idea to begin researching Motoko's boyfriends who were in their criminal database. She always had a thing for finding the wrong guys to date so that would be a good place to start in finding the identity of Hypnos. He could probably be a jealous ex of hers because he would describe her body as "beautiful". Obviously, Batou agreed with the statement 100% yet he did not like to hear it from any man except himself (at least, if he were to say it aloud).