

In their van, the Major dresses in armour as Togusa drives, they discuss the Puppetmaster. Batou and Ishikawa are in a car tracing the signal, the Major goes to rendezvous with them.

Aramaki suggests someone called the Puppetmaster is trying to disrupt the talks with Gavel by turning her into an assassin. She is the Foreign Minister's Interpreter, and has been cyber-brain hacked since 23 minutes earlier while on the phone. In a lab a group of red-suited techs and Major Kusanagi are studying an unconscious woman, trying to access her brain. He also thanks Section 9 for helping with the programmer defection, as this way the diplomatic corps was able to keep their hands clean. Maless if he had a good political excuse.

The Foreign Minister admits he'd like to deport Col. Gavel has a new revolutionary government and the leader of the old ruling junta is seeking asylum in Japan. They discuss a secret meeting with the Gavel Republic planned for the next day. The Japanese Foreign Minister leaves the aircraft and begins talking to the waiting Aramaki, the head of Section 9. A VTOL twin-rotor craft lands on the roof of a tall building. She awakens from sleep in a dark room, looks pensively out the window then gets dressed in a combat suit and leaves her apartment. Major Kusanagi ascends from a pool of liquid. Title sequence begins showing a cyborg female body undergoing a genesis. The police fire at the windows, Nakamura goes to a smashed window to see Major Kusanagi falling and becoming invisible as her thermoptic camoflage turns on again. Suddenly a voice speaks out and assaults the foreigner, an invisible attacker rips the man apart. However, the young programmer has signed a request for asylum. Nakamura, the head of Section 6 enters to say that taking a programmer out of the country is an offense. The older man of the group tells the others to stop shooting and as the police storm the room he claims diplomatic immunity. Inside a room four men are surprised that the police have arrived and two draw their weapons and go to the door to start firing. A group of armed and helmeted police enter a building. She does a back layout fall from the top of a tall building. Major Motoko Kusanagi disconnects wires from the back of her neck and stands up, takes off her overcoat. A voice reports Section 6 is ready to move in. A figure studies a night-scope green image of men talking about programming bugs and Project 2501.
