(Author's note: For anyone unfamiliar with Ghost in the Shell, the team members have sub-brains which allow them to communicate without speaking. Now we all know they can, I can tell you anything in 'single quotations' is sub-brain communication and differentiated from "double quotations" which represents, as usual, regular speaking.
Update: This document has been edited from its original form, for the curious, I changed the spelling of Batou and Borma's name to accurately reflect the spelling in the SAC credits. I also changed Eagle-Eye to Hawk-Eye in line with the english language dub of the show.)

A small back-room attached to a warehouse in the industrial part of town was an unlikely setting for a high-level diplomatic meeting. Likely or not, Ayato Hamada sat in a collapsible chair nursing a glass of sake and looking across the cheep folding table on which the bottle stood at his obviously American host. The man was large, broad rather than tall, his light blonde hair cut in a military style crop that didn't quite fit with his tailored suit. He had a rugged face which looked as if he shaved with a serrated blade and his bulk was severely testing the strength of the seat below him. Unlike Ayato who seemed nervous, even flighty, he was smiling broadly as he enjoyed his drink. Below the table a briefcase stood between them. It was a standard government issue case; metallic with a low pulsing red light engrained in the handle to signify sensitive contents.

"To a greater cooperation between our nations," the seated figure proposed and raised his glass in an obvious toast. He waited for Ayato to return the gesture before he added, "even if it is of a slightly unorthodox nature, eh?" With that he downed the glass and set it down. Ayato for his part took one nervous sip and returned the glass to where he cradled it between his hands, turning it constantly between them to have something to do.

Another American stood slightly behind the seated figure. Larger even than his evident superior this silent figure was obviously his muscle. Probably a cyborg, Ayato mused. Human or not, he was certainly armed. There was no subtlety about the sub-machine pistol slung from his shoulder even if it was mostly for show. The weapon hung loose at his hip as the man stood with his arms folded, observing. This one looked even less comfortable in his suit still. Whilst still exquisitely tailored, the material had trouble moving with the heavily muscled shape within it, creasing and stretching in peculiar places across his upper arms and chest. The dark mid-length hair and sunglasses only added to the imposing presence.

The only other person present stood behind the intelligence analyst. Although not as intimidating in appearance as his counter-part, Togusa was Ayato's muscle. Roughly average build, light brown hair, a grey suit and a 9mm pistol in a shoulder holster and Togusa could have passed for a civil servant. Specifically he was an official bodyguard.

Approximately two months beforehand, Ayato's own department within Section 7 had uncovered a plot to kidnap one of their agents. Further investigation had indicated he himself would be the one at risk. Meanwhile, Togusa's own Section 9 had also learnt of the plot and had quietly worked him into the position of Ayato's bodyguard. That sort of inter-office manipulation was frowned upon but the chief of Section 9, Aramaki Daisuke, had always taken the 'what they don't know won't hurt them' view of lesser agencies.

Of the four, only Togusa knew that there was a lot less privacy in the room than the others' present could have guessed. Togusa, though mostly human, did have at least the minimal sub-brain implant which allowed him to communicate with the other members of Section 9. It also allowed him to broadcast what he could see and hear which is precisely what he was doing.

Batou was on the roof above him, receiving the transmission. He was posted there with Motoko Kusanagi, the two of them ready to provide backup if the situation should turn. Across from them, on the roof opposite, Borma was also eavesdropping. He was partnered with Saito. The sharpshooter was lain down, his .50 calibre sniper rifle laying in its bipod and resting on his shoulder whilst Borma stood and took in a more general view of the situation. Lastly, The Chief himself and Ishikawa were tuned in from Section 9's headquarters. For such a small room, Togusa thought, it was rather crowded. 'I don't think this is a hostage rescue situation,' he observed.

'I agree, Chief,' Batou added, 'Hamada's obviously turning over to their side. Why don't we turn this over to Saito and get it over and done with?'

'No,' Aramaki insisted, 'This situation is too complicated to be solved so simply. If Ayato is indeed planning on defecting to the American Empire it is more imperative that Section 9 find out precisely how wide this net is cast. '

The Major smiled at Batou with a little shrug, raindrops swelling and falling from strands of her hair. She hadn't expected The Chiefto let him have his way and she suspected that if he was honest, Batou didn't either. 'Besides,' she added, 'he might not have been forced there but he doesn't look entirely happy either does he?' Motoko bit her lip in amusement when she caught sight of Batou's wounded expression. It might have been cruel to deliberately wind him up but it was true. 'Still,' she continued, deciding to show a little faith in her colleague after all, 'being ready never hurt. Saito?'

'I'm here, Major,' the sniper replied, glancing from his scope to the woman standing on the warehouse opposite him.

'Switch to Hawk-Eye. Might as well keep a bead on him.' The Major was Section 9's field leader in situations like this so the call was hers to make and Batou nodded with a soft sound of approval at the compromise. It was close enough to gratitude for Motoko.

'Yes, Ma'am,' Saito acknowledged. He shifted his weight slightly, wrapping his right hand around the rifle's pistol grip and settling it firmly in his shoulder. There was a slight smile on his lips as he felt the stock press into his shoulder. It wasn't that he relished the prospect of killing, it was merely that people tend to take pleasure in what they can do well and when it came to marksmanship, Saito did very well indeed. He was a natural shot but that wasn't all. His left hand moved to the cover on his blind left eye to uncover the Hawk-Eye targeting system, the augmentation that let him target with the pin-point accuracy afforded him by GPS satellites. 'Switching to Eag,' he began and froze mid-word.

Saito's hand stopped, his sub-brain ceased broadcasting, he became as lifeless as a statue and Borma inhaled sharply beside him. 'Saito's cut out,' Borma confirmed for everyone as he yanked connection wires from the dummy barrier he wore around his neck. The dummy barrier stood between his own sub-brain and anything he plugged into acting as a firewall to protect his delicate systems. 'I'm going to dive in and see what's happening, if he's been ghost hac,' then he was as swiftly silenced as Saito. Almost instantaneously as the wires made contact with Saito's sub-brain it was enveloped in blue lightning-like sparks that destroyed the connection. Almost. There was enough time for the virus that had infected the sharp-shooter to jump through the barrier and straight into Borma first, however.

Togusa never knew about the fate that had befallen Saito and Borma. He never heard their broadcasts and although he didn't know it they weren't receiving his either. His own sub-brain had been isolated from the rest of the team. At the same moment Saito had frozen his own broadcasts had been silenced.

'Major, Batou, what's going on? We've lost Togusa, Saito and Borma!' Ishikawa was at Section 9, monitoring the broadcasts of the entire team's sub-brains, or had been before the signal from three of them had vanished. Ishikawa rarely lost his cool, so even the slightest sign of a shaken composure was enough to make Motoko share a concerned glance with Batou as he watched the scene across from him with his augmented eyesight.

'Looks like ghost hacks,' he informed those few agents still connected to the network.

'Ghost hacks?' Ishikawa never meant to sound as if he didn't believe Batou, he did, it was just that ghost hacks against Section 9 agents weren't common. In fact they were so rare that he was startled to hear it. There was one person whose opinion he'd trust over Batou's in these matters, 'Major?'

'He's right,' Kusanagi confirmed flatly. 'Good too, whoever it is.' She looked at the still forms of Saito and Borma, turning to Batou with narrow eyes. Hacking a member of Section 9 was hard enough, through a dummy barrier it was virtually unheard of. Batou was worryingly still, face turned downward and unmoving. For just a moment she thought he had been taken too until he spoke.

"I see him, Major." He looked back to Motoko and pointed to a car in the street. Hearing him, not just receiving his broadcasts, caused a strange shiver to go through the Major after so much silence and she blinked once before glancing where he indicated. Batou's enhanced vision zoomed back in on the car and he might as well have stood 10 feet away. "Male, mid 20s," he continued. The man was thin, pale with a shaggy mane of dark brown hair. His eyes were shut fast and he sat rigidly in the driver's seat. It definitely looked like he was diving. He looked up again to the Major but the space she had occupied was nothing more than a disturbance of falling rain as Motoko Kusanagi's therm-optic camouflaged form flipped gracefully over the edge of the building.

The Major grabbed hold of a convenient drain pipe as she fell, controlling and slowing her descent. She wasn't particularly concerned about hitting the ground. Her cybernetic body could take tougher shocks than that. Had taken considerably tougher. Still, that kind of weight hitting the street with terminal velocity would have put a dent in road maintenance bills.

'Why do they always run?' She shared with Batou in grim humour as the vehicle abruptly started and sped away. How he'd seen her coming was a mystery; between his concentration on the ghost hack and her camouflage she should have been able to snap his neck before he ever knew she existed. How didn't matter though, only that he not get away.

'Major, wait!' Batou turned and slammed open the roof-access door, charging down the stairwell as he didn't share the Major's fondness for graceful and fearless descents. He knew it didn't really matter what he said, of course. The Major had the capability to keep pace with most cars and had a habit of proving it, back-up or not.

Today was no exception as clouds of water droplets were shocked airborne from the water slick street by the unnaturally heavy footfalls of a cyborg approaching 50mph in pursuit of her suspect. The Major could run her suspect down without even breaking a sweat, an advantage of a complete cyborg body augmentation.

By the time Batou emerged onto the street neither the car nor the Major were in sight. 'I've lost her, Chief.'

'Find her.' The Chief sounded unnerved which, Batou reflected, was never a good sign.

'We've lost her too,' Ishikawa explained.

If his eyes had been natural, they would have widened. As it was his eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly. There weren't many hackers Batou would have given odds against the Major's cacophony of attack barriers and intruder mazes. Ishikawa maybe, a couple of category A's Section 9 had encountered in the past, but no more than he could count on one hand. Batou ran.

Motoko knew she had been cut off. That's all it was though. She hadn't been breached, her security was still intact. The loss of communication with the team was still disconcerting though. The hacker's biggest mistake was to give the Major any reason to be angry.

She launched from the street, falling towards the trunk of the car with her fingertips out, driving them through the metal. As her feet hit the ground and the car found itself dragging far more weight than it was designed to the sheet metal of its body work creased like paper behind her fingers, crumpling and rucking up until she latched onto something solid.

Water evaporated into steam and rubber squealed as it found tarmac and the car went nowhere. Shifting first one hand then the other under the body of the car, the Major lifted it, engine howling as its full force was suddenly unopposed and the wheels span free, but only for a moment. As quickly as she had raised it she powerfully drove it down, smiling a little as a satisfying crack signalled a severed axle.

Fleetingly, the Major considered that she'd been lucky that the car was rear-wheel drive. That the driver would no doubt have continued rear axle or not had he been able. Such thoughts were pushed aside, however, as she took the door off its hinges and dragged the young man out onto his back. She put a boot in his chest to keep him down and levelled her side-arm at him aiming squarely between his eyes.

A cyborg, even an attractive one, shivering out of therm-optic camouflage with you in her sights and her foot on top of you is a terrifying sight for most. This time, though, there was no terror apparent. Instead, her victim laughed. The laugh was hollow, humourless and brief. After laughing, the young man simply died. Motoko's arm relaxed, the pistol falling, unfired, to her side as she stared at the dead body under her. She lifted her foot and took a half step back. 'He's dead.'

With his death, the ghost hacks ended. Saito's hand flicked open the cover of his Hawk-Eye and he focussed on his target. The target was gone. Togusa lay bleeding against the door of the store room, his 9mm still clutched in his hand. 'Man down, man down. Saito broadcast urgently. Togusa's wounded, targets missing.'

Batou stopped sharply in the street, glancing back. Somewhere behind him was the warehouse but he and the Major had pursued the car so far and so blindly that even with his augmented eyesight it was too far to see a thing. He turned back to Motoko, standing beside the wreck that had been the dead man's getaway car, between its discarded door and the corpse. She looked back to him and he zoomed into her expression. What he saw left no doubt she had realised the same thing he had. Between Togusa, Saito and Borma being hacked and this car leading the two of them across the industrialised district, no one had been watching the warehouse. It was the very best distraction the American Empire could have possibly devised.

"The chief is not going to be happy."