Disclaimer: I do not own GITS nor any reference to other games, anime or movies which may come up in the future.

note: The character's name is spelled correctly just in case you are wondering. There is method to the madness I assure you. Please enjoy reading

08:00

The hotel

She woke in the room suddenly drenched in sweat from a bad dream or more so a night terror. Pain and screams of agony ringing through a cold dark cell with wires hanging about. The smell of blood polluted the air like cheap perfume mixed with cigars and pleas for mercy were drowned out by a mad laughter on top of the sounds of drills. The laugh still echoed in her head as she sat up looking out the window.

'It doesn't look half bad in daylight here' she thought, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Giving a long yawn and stretching, she arched her back until her head looked to the ceiling. The various cracks and water markings above reassured her feeling of just how much of a gutter hole this really was. Not the prime candidate locale for an international trade for components of mass destruction weapons one would think. Then again, this was some jerk off Yakuza rapist trying to save his neck by getting immunity in another country while fattening his pockets. In other words, protect his neck. 'He deserves this, that asshole bastard.' she thought getting up from her shitty excuse for a bed to shower.

The hot water rolled off her creamy skin causing her to moan slightly as it felt so tantalizing to her senses. Oddly enough, for a mercenary, she didn't have any scars from her previous jobs and still had most of her original organs intact. Other than the implant hubs along her spine and the small one on her chest along with the 'stream' markings on various areas of the body which were only visible when activated, she was flawless. That was the one thing she had to thank science and genetics for. Her smooth skin glistened slightly as the soap rolling from curve to curve, purifying her from the dirt of the mattress which had not been changed since who knows. 'Definitely 5 star quality' The tile floor was cold, even after a 30 minute shower, making her shiver slightly while streaking her hand along the mirror. Looking into umber eyes for a moment then examining herself, even admiring her beauty. Touching her implant hubs along her spinal column, she sighed thinking how much of a pain tore through her body as she was given this 'gift' which she cursed the idea of not being able to wear small strap shirts or even go shirtless if she so chose to. The thoughts made her chuckle in a twisted sense, reminding her just how much a woman she really was no matter how harsh her life was.

Shifting thoughts to her mission, she jogged her memory for the information obtained through a brief run in from Section 9's systems. The information only mentioned the transaction occurring in this hotel, which worked to her advantage somewhat, and a meeting with one of the buyers would occur at 20:00 in one of the rooms. In order to find out the exact room there were a few options. She would either have to know the name of the party renting the room which would require a bribe also or run an audio sweep from the outside to cycle through various conversations using keywords and phrases and mapping it down that way or ask the local Yakuza guard standing around looking suspicious. Knowing the options laid before her, audio sweeping was the only option and setting up the relay equipment was easier said than done. If she set up the audio filter and attach an optical relay positioning switch to give a rough layout of the locations, where would she hide it, could she equip it with thermo-optical cams to avoid detection by anybody who happened to be sneaking about the area and what angle would be best suited for location. There were too many factors involved and more to consider.

Outside or inside? The vantage point would be the determining factor for striking the opponent. If she went head on in the hallways how much time would elapse before her target escaped. 'So many factors to sort through' she noted putting on her underwear followed by her long sleeve black fitted shirt. She gave a heavy sigh again, reminding herself why she hated this part of the job and why she requests so much at a time for a nuisance like this. Perhaps the air vents would be an option as well. She would need the blueprints of the hotel in order to plot the route around once she found the room location. Buttoning her low rising jeans and boots, complete with the buckles which made a jingle noise with every step, she put on her sun glasses and ruffled her hair, trying best to look like a broke tourist trying to look fashionable. "Oh well. Can't think on an empty stomach" she whispered disappearing into the busy streets.

09:30

"Major, is everything alright?" No Response. Togusa pressed the accelerator a bit further, keeping up with the pace of traffic. They were working against a time schedule, less than 12 hours to the transaction yet the Major was spacing out. "Major?"

"I'm ok." Turning a gaze to Togusa then to the front window she began to drift in thought again slightly again. Something was on her mind, but she wasn't the type to indulge others in the complex trains of thoughts intersecting then parting again at certain junctions until a solid line of thought remained. It was only until she felt that she would give some insight as to what was trains were running the tracks. "I wonder. If Angelis will be competing with us over Yakumara Mizuno, do the Yakuzas realize he's holding plutonium and high grade uranium."

"Maybe they want revenge more than the plutonium. Maybe the Yakuzas that he murdered were family members to a boss or something."

"Or maybe they want to cut off the head and orchestrate the body under their will. How loyal are Yakumara's men to him and is he holding more than what we know?"

"If they wanted him dead, then they would have had one of his own men kill him, right?"

"Then that would mean putting yourself between a rock and a hard place. What happens if someone were to find out and kill you? What if they went back on their deal because of loyalty questions? There is far more involved in trying to have someone's man assassinate him so it's easier to hire an outside party who has no ties with them other than money and bloody hands. And to cut the man's right hand off and deliver it is requires far more cunning skills and boldness, not to mention a great deal of ruthlessness to commit. So it doesn't come as a surprise that none of his men would attempt to kill him."

Smirking for a second in thought, she remembered reading the cases of Angelis. For an amateur he created some demand amongst various governments. Or was it because he was the only one who had the balls to take on the cases. Either way, he was an interesting character with morals, not just money hungry like the average mercenary. "You know, I cross referenced some of Angelis' victims through various databases. I found something interesting."

"Oh really? Other than a body trail and money, what could possibly be interesting about another mercenary?"

"Out of the 18 people he killed, the 10 were international criminals wanted in many countries for violation of peace treaties along with misdemeanors of rape. The other 8 were cases where the victims were small children who were raped by most wanted serial rapists."

"So the families paid him, right?"

"That's not the case." Watching as Togusa turned on the exit, she placed her hand on her head and gave a sigh, though one would say it was more of a giggle than a sigh. Smirking at him, she continued her findings. "According to one family, Angelis offered to deal justice if the case did not go through for no money. The family agreed and Angelis victim was the son of a well known government official."

"You mean? That case where some official was sentenced to a political prison for numerous conspiracy, tampering of evidence and, you get the picture."

"The same one." Togusa nodded his head in realization. A mercenary killing criminals, terrorists and rapists. Wouldn't that make him like Public Security in a sense? Judging from the look on Togusa's face, he was starting to question in his own way the workings of the system while trying to grasp the idea of a mercenary in his short experience with Section 9. This made the Major mentally chuckle to herself. "What really defines us from a mercenary? The fact that we uphold the government security and they, whoever pays them for their services? The fact that our paychecks are written by the government and theirs by outside sources? Maybe because we're issued guns, clearance and augmentations legally and they have to seek other means of their augmentation, clearance and weaponry. The line is broad. Perhaps we are nothing more than mercenaries employed by our country. Who's to say?"

He sighed, taking parking the car near the hotel. "Now you're getting philosophical on me, Major."

10:00

She scanned through the area carefully, going along with the flow of people like a school of fish. There was more here than food. Everything from archaic dvd players, to beta (whatever those were) to ramen noodles, even the occasional chip cards which were most likely outdated or hot. Still no amount of electrical gadgets nor old relics of the past were going to help the cause for her stomach almost eating itself. And Ramen was just too heavy of a meal right now to eat. Listening carefully to the chants of the vendors, something caught her attention and peeked her interest.

"Apples. Get your apples."

Approaching the vendor carefully her cold gaze examined various apples in the bunch. Some where too ripe, some under ripped and a few were rotting. The little man shook slightly, feeling as though a cold dark aura encompassed the woman refelecting a past of hardships and war torn sentiments. Easily giving into something without closely observing was simply unnatural to her state of mind. Simply glancing at him for a moment then taking an apple from the basket he held in his hand, she carefully the coloration while feeling the weight. Placing some cash down on the table, she walked away taking a bite. 'Not bad' she thought, licking the juices from her lips.

Looking about, she took mental notes of her surroundings. Geography, Landscape, Buildings, street names, traffic layout, even the traffic lights themselves were mentally etched into a drawing inside her mind. 'Section 9 could rush through the front but that would draw too much attention and would alert the target. They could set up in the back of the hotel giving them the surprise element, but how would they find him? Hmmm...' Looking above there were only 2 rooftops a communications tower remotely close to the hotel that would allow ample enough signal for the scanners that could cut through all the concrete and background noise. Looking to the building and calculating the distance, view point and stealth ability, a sniper wouldn't be needed in a case scenerio such as this one due to time of day and the extraction process. It was too risky for this case. 'Roof operative would be their option to find him.'

Next on the agenda was finding a good escape route. 'That's in the works while I eat' she thought halfway finished with the apple.

Unbeknown to her, other observers were looking at the same areas as she, making similar notes with different purposes. "So are you going to do rooftop surveillance and scans?" Togusa inquired keeping up with the Major as she walked through the numbers at the market. Her attention was focused on the buildings as well as the landscape and angle of the building. Accessing the city plans, she carefully combed through the building's layout letting a few children bump passed her. "Do you think Angelis will take him head on?"

"Highly doubt it. Taking on that many guards is suicide no matter how strong the body may be." Looking to Togusa she asked, "Think about it. What would be the best possible way to infiltrate a hotel with a high stakes transcation occuring in a high traffic area to avoid detection?"

Well rooftops of course."

"Now think, wouldn't a mercenary want the same vantage point?"

"Ah, I see. What about an escape route?"

"Maybe he's trying to figure that out now." Her eyes traced 20 meters from her position, fixated on a figure in dark clothes who was walking about the market with the flow of people. She felt as if the past was coming to life when they began to come closer to one another within walking distance. Then it happened.

They passed each other line whispers in the wind, the crowd seemed to part from them like a school of fish from a disturbance until crimson brown eyes met one another. As white hair and dark hair ruffled with the wind's passing, a silent conversation began between them with a mere glance. Stepping further and further away from one another the crowd and buildings disappear, leaving behind a blank white void containing the two of them. The Major watched as the other woman's eyes seemed to narrow slightly and a small smirk slowly drew itself on her face like those of familiars meeting for the first time after years have passed . Major's eyes widened, flashing back to some distant past before Section 9 during time when war and death surrounded her. Surrounded them. Who was she? She could feel she was someone familiar yet her memories did not pull anything on her face recognition programming. Who was she? Opening her mouth to ask her name, she heard 'Kira' whisper faintly through her cyberbrain. The hiss cut like hot knives through her core, jerking the Major back to reality, hearing Togusa call her name over and over again.

"Major are you alright?" Looking back in the direction where the woman was she had disappeared, like a ghost. She scanned the area even more but could not find anyone that matched the image of that woman. She sighed heavily, turning back to Togusa. "Who's Kira?" She simply gave a quick gaze, continuing with work.

She went about her business as well, looking at manhole covers, sewer outlets, alleys, landings, even street routes, carefully planning her escape route.

18:30

The sun began to set on the land, blessing this place with her orange halo. She pressed her forearm against the window, resting her head on it. She went through the plan over and over in her mind. There wouldn't be much room for error nor a big window of opportunity for her to finish the contract and leave before section 9. Striking too early meant he could escape and alert hotel security causing a big mess. Striking too late, well the obvious end would be the run in with sector 9. She sighed looking out, wondering how smoothly this would go until her laptop beeped. Sliding open the touch tablet, her scanners managed to pin point the room location and floor the target was staying on. 10 floors above on the side closest to the tower.

Hacking through an architectural database for the hotel blueprints, she began to slowly decipher through lines and vector points. It would seem the guest of honor fancied the suite style rooms, reserving the whole floor for himself and his men. Scanning through the layout of ventilation system, elevator shafts and exits, she began to plot her route of entry and escape. Adjacent to his room was a suite connected by the emergency exit, which would be heavily guarded, and an air vent located in the shower portion of the room. using the scanner again to pan over to the room, it appeared that it was vacant without a trace of heat signature in the passed 30 min to an hour. With the showers back to back with one another, it wouldn't be hard to simply slip over to the other shower and attack from that point. 'That wouldn't be fun, now would it?' Shifting back to the layout of the floor, she discovered the locale of the door in reference to the living room area of the suite. It would provide the element of surprise if the lock could be opened or rather frozen off as opposed to kicking down the door, alerting the guards and watching her paycheck escape.

"Go through the ventilation shaft to the adjacent suite. Unlock the suite door. Take out any guards with a silenced hand gun, dash for the game, take the kill. The window would be the best route of escape. Deliver the goods. Sounds like a plan..."

Looking to the clock then back to her back, piece by piece she began putting on her armor. She sighed, grabbing a hypodermic needle gun full of some kind of opaque fluid and injecting the fluid into a small oval shaped 'hub' on her chest. Feeling the fluid rush through her veins rapidly, the trails on implants slowly started to throb a bit receiving the serum then glowing a faint hue of purple. "And it starts" she muttered to herself, placing more of the fitted armor plates and thermo-optical camouflage on.

19:45

She sat along the rooftop waiting. 'Where are you hiding, Angelis and where will you strike?' Scanning through carious rooms and conversations, the feeling that they were too late crept upon her while she scanned. Then it happened. From the 25th story, shards of glass shattered as two bodies ejected themselves into the air, gun shots ringing behind them moments after their departure. Pulling the ports from her neck, she watched as a long blade disappear into the bottom body, silencing the pleas for help. Quickly she switched to cyber link mode, leaping from her standby point.

'Batou!'

'I heard, Major. We're moving in!'

Firing shorts at the gunmen as she descended and landing on a 20th story balcony, she focused switching from normal vision to modified to thermal vision. No reading were found both optically and thermally. 'Dammit he's using thermo-optical camouflage '

Free falling from the balcony, she landed with an earth shattering crash, rushing ,camouflaged mode, to the crowd that had just gathered to the scene. She found Yakumara Mizuno with his right hand missing and part of a bushido blade completely lodged through his cranium, the other piece of the blade within 5 meters of the body. Judging from the impact, Yakumara managed to rip a strap from his assassin prior to his demise, he left hand still clenching the freshly emptied 9mm stained with blood.

"Dammit..."

'Batou, report!'

'Major we've secured two cases along with several guards and one suspect believed to be the buyer. Nobody saw nor heard anything until they heard a scream then the breaking glass. It looks like he entered through the suite door using something to freeze the mechanism to break in. The guards inside the room were shot in the head. We've located the gun used to kill the guards, a 9 mm with a silencer on the barrel using hollow tipped bullets. it looks as though there were 3 rounds fired assuming the gun was fully loaded.'

She distanced herself from the steadily growing crowd gathered around Yakumara's remains, she rushed to the nearest alley thinking that would be the assasin's route of escape. 'Secure the cases and call the clean up crew. Yakumara is dead and as I would imagine there's going to be quite a bit of media coverage on this.'

'Understood, Major'

Looking to the the alley, she was greeted by the all too familiar sigh of homeless derelicts hunched over in their drunken hopelessness. She sighed heavily, turning her eyes to be buildings above upon exiting the alley. There was an eerie calm about them, even with the noises of the district. It was an interesting victory and defeat. This Angelis had completed his objective without any trace of his presence in the past 30 minutes. Perhaps there was something, some kind of clue in area, but knowing this kind of assassin, the only clues they would find would be the strap in Yakumara's hands and blood which wouldn't give them a picture ID in any database most likely.

"We've underestimated you. Seem like you're more than a mere amateur after all."

Oddly enough a small smirk appeared on the Major's face as her intrigue with this Angelis flared a bit more. He was indeed damn good at his job, a challenge indeed and she enjoyed a good challenge. Making her way to the checkpoint, her mind replayed the scene over and over again, much like the predator spies on their pray.

'Major! There's a problem.'

'What is it?'

'We've recovered the case with high grade scrap uranium, but the case supposedly containing the Plutonium is empty.'

'I'm on my way! Ichikawa, keep an eye on all hospital admission files of any unusual gunshot wound victims popping up.'

'Roger that, Major.'

22:00

"Boss. A courier is here."

Tanaka turned his chubby head towards his subordinate, taking a puff from his cigar. "Send him in."

The courier shook nervously with each step taken, knowing that he had entered into the belly of the most feared beast in Japan. Moving slower to Tanaka, almost to tears, he stopped 5 feet of this great man, falling to his knees ready to piss at any given moment. Boss Tanaka looked down at the boy, wallowing in his fear as he blew smoke with each word spoken. "Well. Do you have something for me?"

Gingerly taking the box from his satchel, he held up the black box to the yakuza boss. "T-T-T-This w-w-w-w-was reques-s-s-s-sted to be s-s-s-sent t-t-t-to you, s-s-s-s-s-sir." Motioning to his subordinate, the slim man grabbed the box and opened the lid. Inside with a note reading 'As you requested' was a present: A right hand.

"That's his ring alright. Secure the other half to him."

Bending down in his chair, he tossed a currency chip to the courier. "Hurry up and leave. You were never here." Hastily the boy got up from his spot, running like hell out of the den. Boss Tanaka laughed, watching the kid almost knock himself out running up the stairs.

"Daddy was that really necessary?" Boss Tanaka turned to his daughter who stood behind him, simply giving her a smile as the box was secured inside an end table amour. "Sometimes, my dear, you have to do these things. You will understand someday."