You can never take a reference too far!

He was getting really fucking tired of the little shits- well, one in particular. He could see it, could tell. The rest were hanger-ons. The corpo-in-training was the most promising of said hanger-ons, but they were all really being dragged along to success by her.

'Agent Kusanagi,' she'd said. She'd had a smirk on her face, highly amused, as if sharing a joke only she understood. As if fighting him was the funniest thing in the world. Based on the odd glances her minions had given her and their uncomfortable shifting, the gray suits weren't a regular wardrobe choice. Similarly, her odd method of speech likely wasn't how she normally spoke. She was presenting or, rather, playing a character.

From what little he had been able to put together about their group's history, this wasn't their first operation together, but Kusanagi did more solo work than she did group operations, and what group operations they had done were few in number. It was entirely possible she had decided they would wear the suits as uniforms and present themselves as "Agents" when they worked together.

It was entirely possible (and far more likely) this was done specifically for him. He didn't understand it, had no idea why she was presenting herself like that, talking like that, but the bugs he'd managed to sneak in to his target's refuge revealed she only spoke like that when joking or talk to him.

He dug up as much as he could, searched through both his own history and what he could find of hers (respectable, he begrudgingly admitted, if it was accurate), any possible links that led to this performance she put up.

He'd found nothing. Nothing that made sense, anyway.

And now, here he was, trying to check in with his daemons. He'd wasted too much time on a search that had led nowhere. He'd gotten distracted, and he needed to get back to the job. He had to.

And if this "Agent Kusanagi" and her "Section 9" stood in his way, he'd kill them, too.

So he entered the net and-

"Mr. Anderson. Welcome back."

There she stood. In the net, her appearance was different. A black suit instead of gray. The earpiece was missing. The sunglasses had changed, too.

And there she stood as well. All of her. Multiple of her, all standing around him, staring at him, faces still and emotionless.

And before the one who had spoken was a daemon. His, he assumed. She had 'stabbed' a 'hand' into it, and the daemon's 'body' was 'covered' in 'goop'- the code was changing, being overwritten. A virus? Maybe.

The daemon's appearance was changing, too. It was shrinking, matching her 'size.' Then it matched her 'shape,' and it had the same 'clothes,' as well. She reached out her hand and fixed the former daemon's 'tie.' She nodded to her self, and she and the daemon, now another Agent Kusanagi, turned to face him.

What he assumed was the original Kusanagi was the only one to emote, to move and gesture, the only one to imitate humanity beyond appearance in this cyberspace.

She smiled at him, raising her 'arms,' gesturing toward her duplicates.

"We've missed you."

He didn't respond. He was too busy trying to figure out what the fuck she had done, and how she'd done it. And maybe how to undo it. He didn't recognize the code, couldn't make out what did what. He was very confused.

And very concerned.

"You like what I've done with the place?"

The space changed, it was a road- empty. Tall office buildings all around him, on into the horizon with the road. It was... 'raining.' The 'rain' made 'contact' with him, and did nothing. He hadn't had to counteract anything. Why have the rain if it wasn't going to do anything?

She was staring. Expecting a response. He didn't trust himself not to let anything slip if he didn't focus on the job. So he spoke aloud the words he had said to himself as he prepared to achieve his vengeance.

"It ends tonight."

She stared at him, frozen for a moment, doing nothing- no hacks or attacks of any kind, and she 'shook.' A giggle slipped out. She was laughing, and he wasn't sure why.

"I- heh- I know it does." She took a moment to regain her composure. "I've seen it."

Seen what? Was this a claim of seeing the future? An odd claim, far more likely she'd run a combat sim or something along those lines...

"That's why the rest of me is just going to enjoy the show."

The over-written daemons lined the sides of the road, 'heads' all turned to stare at him. Emotionless. Was- was one nodding at him? He ignored it. He stepped forward.

"We already know that I'm the one that beats you."

And the battle was met.

I couldn't resist.