Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Memory Failure- ABERRATION, 3rd Iteration

by Ironraven
edited by quiren

Section 9 and it's operatives aren't mine.

---

"Major, we've found the rogue. It just shot up the maintenance hanger at the office."

"What? Cheif, how did it get in?" The Major worked at the controls of the Uchikoma. They weren't as smooth as the ones on the Tachikoma; those had moved with barely more than a thought.

Batou joined the conference, "It must have had residual memories of the building. What did it shoot with? It shouldn't have had any ammunition."

"We were sloppy. Any of us could have had a Tachikoma watching when we oppened that ammo locker. The Uchikoma didn't stand a chance." Ishikawa sent to them both the video, showing the action in compressed time. Every green machine that had been in the maintenance bay had been systematically and precisely crippled with small arms fire to the joints and sensors, before having their brainboxes stove in with a prybar.

"That is one very pissed off think-tank." Batou swerved around a microvan full of flowers, speaking the words barely above the whisper both in the link and aloud. "Is it still in the building?"

"Negative, it's out on the street. The office androids are sweeping the building, to be sure, before we land." Another security camera feed came up. It was the main exit of parking garage, and that was defiantly a Tachikoma. "It looks like it took a spare ammo load and rummaged through other storage lockers before leaving."

"Roger, Chief. Batou and I will start there; everyone else, make sure the building is secure and then drop off the Chief."

----

Tachikoma crouched in a narrow alleyway, hidden under the cover of darkness. The executioners at the lab had removed his thermoptic system, the shroud net was missing, the control sockets empty. He'd tried to reach the others, but he couldn't find them. They didn't respond to hails by cybercomm frequencies that the data ghosts said they secretly used among themselves, nor could he reach them on the control link to the remote server. The server wasn't even there any more. He went into the boards, looking, reading accounts of the fighting in Dejima. If the refugees really had had nuclear weapons, he might be the only one left. He found the news footage of Sections Four and Nine, at the bridge. There had been no Tachikoma. They must be dead.

His arms went up, trying to cover his auditory sensors. Voices, his but not, higher pitched, almost female, called to him. They were telling him he had to stop. There was another with them, human, determined, commanding. The voice reminded him of his half memories of the Major. They had been talking at him since he'd shot the intruders to Section 9. The front of his sensing and control pod rhythmically thumped against the wall. The voices, they weren't his. They were a memory, a dream. It had to be a hack underway, his barriers were holding back all but a few threads. He was the first. He was the last. He would avenge the others.

He hurt.

A light flared in his vision. He'd kept an eye turret on the mouth of the alley, watching the heat of passers by. A voice, human, aggressive, followed the light. "Is there someone in there? Is there a problem."

There were two heat signatures. They carried communications equipment, and wore light armour. They stepped into the alleyway. One rested his hand on his sidearm. Tachikoma recognized the threat. They must be with the humans back at the lab, the ones who invaded his home. They were looking for him. They were his enemies. He identified himself with two-round bursts from the gun in his arm.

More would come, this was a poor position. He grabbed the pack of ammunition and tools he'd taken from the lockers at Section 9 with his non-gun arm. Crouching, spun a web toward the building across the street. He would have to strike and move to survive.

The enemy came quickly, even before he'd moved eight hundred meters. Their vehicles were equipped with flashing lights. If he'd been human, he'd have snorted at their brashness. He let them look at the bodies of their fallen comrades before he put a grenade into their unarmoured vehicle, walking a long burst across them in the mouth of the alley with the MG. He raked the sidewalk and far wall, making sure that the ricochetes would be able to criss-cross along it's length, just in case any enemies were still alive.

There was an increase in scrambled comm traffic on a band reserved for government aviation, and others on those used for ground units. It was time to leave.

As he made his way across the city's roofs, he tried to track the signal the voices where using.

---

Batou watched the ambulance pull away. It didn't bother with lights, much less sirens. The patients could wait. "Major, do you know who's memories were used to create it's tactical programming?"

"Yeah." The woman's eyes were on the foam covered remains of the police cruiser. The forensic techs had already confirmed that the explosives had been Comp B, the same as used in 40x53mm rounds. That fit the pattern of the shrapnel scars. The Tachikoma's main gun was chambered for that shell. She crossed her arms as she followed her subordinate's gaze to the white and blue van. Her voice was oddly quiet, almost regretful. "You and I."

There was a delay before the muscular man could speak. "Damnit, Major!" Batou felt his body tighten with twisting emotions. "Where you planning on telling me? The others?"

"No. I thought that it would be better if you didn't know." Batou spun on his heel, stomping towards his Uchikoma, furious. He didn't even want to look at her, see her, hear her. The Major's voice, a sharp bark, brought him up short. "I didn't tell the others because they would doubt themselves, try to think like us when they need to think like them. That machine isn't us, it isn't going to be as predictable as we are to people who know us."