Disclaimer: Shirow Masamune owns the rights to GITS and all it's iterations. I own the rights to any free thought that comes out of my mind. However, since I am borrowing his characters to exhibit these thoughts, I may receive no material value for this work. I do take payment in the form of reviews, they're free, and good for the soul (even the flames). Please enjoy.

Chapter 4: ATTACK!

"Talking"
Thinking
(Cyberspeaking)
(Figure it out)

Doctor Akai gave me yet another inspection, and I was again cleared for duty. Today was going to be busy. As the second day back at Section 9, we had a lot of cleanup to do. Sure the androids had cleaned the floors that had been converted to a battlefield; but there was a mountain of data recovery and organization to be done as a result of the dark ops team rifling through our data banks.

None of us really felt like talking, the impact of the hell we'd just been through still weighing heavily on our minds. Ishikawa took a break around 2pm and came over to bug the piss out of me. I really couldn't blame him. I'd spent the day working on fixing our physical security systems and the Major spent it fixing firewalls and protection programs. Ishikawa had the complex task of re-establishing all links and syncs that had been severed during the attempt to cover up Section 9's exposure of a higher political game.

I was leaned over a thermal incendiary device, hands gently maneuvering firing mechanisms back into place, when a large hand clamped down on my shoulder. After I finally got my heart put back in my body, I turned to glare at the offender.

Ishikawa crossed his hands over his chest and shuffled his feet. "Geesh, stop already. I was working on linking in this area and knew you were in that machine. I disabled it before I came down here."

Optic implants are NOT effective at displaying great emotion. "You fuckwad, I'm damned glad that you did disable it, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" I looked back at my right hand, the only real part of me left. It was trembling too greatly to resume my task. "When you get ready to leave, be sure to step over the puddle at my feet." My only satisfaction was in watching him do a double-check to see if I was telling the truth. When he realized I'd lied, he turned and walked out, hands in his pockets and whistling some pachinko tune slightly off key.

sssss

Just like ants, we didn't get to rest very long. Less than twenty hours after we got all of the systems online, we were back out on duty. Thursday faked us out by starting like a normal day. I was working out in the training room, still trying to prove to myself that Megatech's physical strength capability number was only a guideline. Saito and Pazu were both running diagnostics on various cyberware they had recently installed to upgrade their internal systems, and Boma and Ishikawa were both hooked into the net looking for trouble.

I had just gotten 400lbs above my head, no mean feat if you consider one of my arms is still flesh, when the Major came over my cyberlink.

(I need everyone to assemble in the ready room immediately, there has been a level 2 event.)

I had dropped the weight in surprise when she linked in, and it was sitting very uncomfortably on my chest. After getting it back on the bar…okay I cheated, I pushed it off of me with my cyber arm, then picked it up with the same arm and put it back on the rack…I headed upstairs. Everyone was assembled, and no one except smart-ass Ishikawa even appeared to notice my sweats. He just raised an eyebrow before turning back to Aramaki.

"Batou, we have just received a report on an explosion at the Palace of the Prime Minister. We suspect it is linked to the recent reappointment of the PM's cabinet. Now you're caught up with the rest of the team." He took a deep breath before starting in again. His voice authorative enough for us to realize the seriousness of the situation. "Boma, I need you to work the van while Pazu investigates. Ishikawa, I want you here looking into things. Saito, provide cover for everyone, and Major…" He looked at me for an unblinking moment. "Take Batou. Keep him out of trouble." Everyone was dismissed to head off on our assignments.

Motoko is specifically enthralled with sky jumps. Although I'm not a huge fan of heights, I'm by no means terrified of them. That's how I found myself hanging out the door of the chopper and dropping her on to the roof of the scraper closest to the PM's palace. I could see Saito on the roof of a smaller building and Pazu and Boma had just arrived with the van. The Major turned to make eye contact, her purple hair blowing in the gust from the choppers. I gave her a thumbs-up, and the chopper was out of there.

Although I'm okay at stealth, that's Motoko's forte. I'm better known for my sheer firepower while Saito provides the precision work. I don't worry about precision as much as making sure all the bastards are dead. I think Saito gets off on making them sweat the next shot.

By the time we landed and I had gotten out of the chopper with my heat, the Major had secured the area and was standing at the opened gate, one hip cocked saucily. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry, I had to stop by grandma's house to drop off a pie." She grinned and we started into the compound.

The PM's compound is a maze of buildings. Like the streets of Washington DC, the PM's residence was designed to confuse visitors and provide a safety net by requiring intruders to wind in and around in order to get to the important buildings. As we reached the bombed out building, which had housed the security staff, we heard Pazu enter the compound. He was distracting the guards by trying to obtain press access, while we walked through the building.

(Explosive residue, type RDX-4) Motoko was bent down looking at a smear on the wall.

(Yeah, took out three mecha suits and two security personnel on this side) I was standing on the other side of the wall that had been destroyed.

(They're dead?)

I took a second sweep. (Completely off-line)

(Boma, Pazu, give us about three more minutes, we're just about done.)

(Roger Major)

(Batou, what do you think they were after?)

I was walking around the perimeter of the other room, using my foot to move body parts and other light objects to see if there was anything underneath. (I'm not sure, but there's an outline of a box on the wall right here. The explosion blacked the area, but there's a box-shaped clean spot. I'm guessing that was their target.)

(Ishikawa, see what you can find out about high-level documents being stored at the PM's security facility.)

(Will do Major.) I could almost see Ishikawa's finger's furiously typing as he started delving into the darker sections of the net.

I turned over a desk, making sure we had everything, when that ever pervasive voice came back. (RUN!) Not thinking twice, I jumped through the hole in the wall and grabbed Motoko around the waist, pulling her out of the building.

"Batou, what the hell…" She didn't get any further before we started getting strafed by sniper fire.

(Saito, what the fuck!) I didn't know where it was coming from, but it was heavy ammo. I could hear the sounds of ejecting shells ricocheting off of the buildings. (That's no .375, that's a Martin-Henry or a .585 Nyati round!)

(Guys, get the hell out of there, I've just located the shooter, and it's a tank. I'll do what I can, but get out now!) Saito started shooting at the direction the bullets were coming from.

We ran for the gate, doing our best to keep something solid between us and that monster. Saito was yelling out directions the entire time. As we rounded the corner, Pazu drove up and Boma reached out, pulling both of us into the vehicle without slowing down. We could hear the security personnel running towards the scene, but we could provide no assistance with the meager heat we packed.

"What happened back there?" Boma was the best at keeping us calm. No 'what the fuck' drama. Just "What happened?" I couldn't say what prompted it, but it made me laugh. I howled as everyone looked at me as if I was crazy. We'd stopped and picked up Saito a block over before I could stop.

"What's his deal?" Everyone shrugged and Saito waited along with the others for me to crack, or explain.

"We just about got our asses wiped by a thermoptically camouflaged mecha tank, and all Boma can say is…'What happened?'" I smacked Boma on the shoulder. "You're always so calm. It just rubbed me the right way this time, I found it to be cosmically ironic."

I can't say everyone understood me, but at least the Major smiled. We were back at Section 9 before anyone could think of anything else to say.

A/N: Hope everyone had a great week! See ya later. -TK