At an airport, a jet is landing. Kusanagi walks down a hallway as we hear a voice over of a news report. It is reporting about Marcelo Jarti, a Jenoman military adviser and the leader of the democratic revolution. The report says that Marcelo was attacked and assassinated. Kusanagi talks in voice over about how this man was a war hero, and guided his country to a successful revolution. After the revolution, he showed no interest in politics, and currently was thought to be helping rebels in neighboring nations with their own revolutions. He survived 5 previous assassination attempts, which made his hero status even greater in his country.
Kusanagi is in a private viewing area of the terminal, the only other person in the room is a man with some serious heavy duty cyborg equipment on his eyes, a man she refers to as Inspector. The Inspector alerts Kusanagi to someone coming off the plane, Kusanagi uses her binoculars, while the Inspector uses his equipment to zoom in and scan the man coming off the plane. The Inspector analyzes the man, the analysis reveals the man is Marcelo Jarti. The way the man walks shows his legs are cyborged (this matches Marcelo's file.) He also strokes his right arm, which is cyborged, this shows that the man has a ghost, and is not a simple android replacement. Other behavior patterns show matches to the databank of the European police, indentifing the man is Marcelo. Kusanagi does not seem surprised Marcelo is actually alive, and reveals that Marcelo has been entering the country repeatedly. She contacts Togusa, telling him that she's going to follow Marcelo, and he is to take over in 13 minutes.
Back at Section 9 HQ, Kusanagi, Batou and Aramaki watch a new news report that states the country of Jenoman has announced Marcelo is alive and well, and survived the assassination attempt. Aramaki turns it off. Batou says everyone is being fooled by a double. Aramaki says that this was the sixth assassination attempt, and the past have all failed because every previous target was a fake. Batou wonders if there's any way to prove that the man Kusanagi is following is the real one. She says there's no way to prove it, it's just a matter of probability, that the inspector's scans indicate he is, but there's no way to prove without a shadow of a doubt he's the real one. Batou thinks this is all a lot of trouble, and they should just ghost hack him to find out. Kusanagi tells the others Togusa is following Marcelo's taxi and will report back soon. Aramaki wants them to locate Marcelo's hideout and put it under 24 hour watch. He says Marcelo has been spotted entering the country twelve times in the past five years, about once every five months. The police have noticed this, but Foreign Affairs has no idea what he's doing in Japan. Aramaki explains that this is why they're on this case. Foreign Affairs wants them to find out why Marcelo is entering the country so frequently. Batou sarcastically asks if it just might have something to do with the fact Marcelo is a drug baron in South America. Kusanagi says that it's very unlikely Marcelo would risk coming here by himself, just for a drug trade. Besides, Marcelo deals in natural drugs, and the Japanese market is much more interested in cyberbrain drugs. Batou gets excited, wanting to take out Marcelo if this truly is the real one. Aramaki disappoints Batou, saying Foreign Affairs want him to return home this time. Togusa contacts Kusanagi, telling her that Marcelo is hiding out at the New Port Hotel. Kusanagi tells Paz and Borma it head over to the New Port Hotel.
At the New Port Hotel, Borma, Paz and Togusa are now all investigating. Borma has a drink at a table, and tells Kusanagi that nothing is happening now, he looked through the guest list, but Marcelo is not on it, but he got off at level 33, where the VIP rooms are. Togusa waits outside in the car park, and watches a limo pull up to the hotel entrance, a thin man with grey hair and a moustache steps out. Up in the sky, Ishikawa flies a Section 9 helicopter, with Kusanagi on board, while a Tachikoma with Batou inside it is attached to the bottom of the helicopter's fuselage. Kusanagi asks Batou if he's ready, and jokes about if he likes high places. Batou jokes back, saying he certainly does like high places. With that, the Tachikoma is released, free falling to the New Port Hotel. It uses it's cable line to attach to the side and safely on the side of building, level 33.
Batou uses the Tachikoma's sensors, and gets up some sort of thermal scan on Marcelo's room. He can see he's in there with a few visitors. Batou can hear a cart coming towards the room, meaning a maid android is coming. Kusanagi says this is good, as she can hack in and borrow the droid's eyes and get a better view of the inside. The maid droid stops at the guards outside the room, and announces room service. The guards let her in, and Kusanagi then hacks into the droid's sight. Marcelo is inside with the man that Togusa saw arrive at the hotel. There are also two women with them. Kusanagi asks Ishikawa to look up the other man. It is Kanekichi Gondou, a man who controls most of the cyberdrug flow in Japan, and practically owns this hotel.
Just then, a group of five men get off the elevator at the 33rd floor and storm out. They stop outside the room, and the leader announces they are the police, and are looking for Gondou. A guard tries to get rid of the police officer, but the officer promptly knees the guy in the groin. Kusanagi, still watching from the maid android's eyes, asks Aramaki what this is all about, he tells her to hold on while he checks. Across the hall, there is another man in the corner, he is also guard, he walks up to the lead police officer. This man is huge, the police officer doesn't even reach his shoulder height. The police officer rudely asks why the guy wants, cursing at him. The big man clenches his fist, and punches the officer very very hard. The police officer flies across the room, hitting the ground after several meters, and continues rolling until he hits a wall, he is dead, and covered in blood. The other police officers just stare, stunned, as the man starts yelling, then pulls an Uzi out and starts firing, hitting one of officers several times. The man continues his battle cry as the other officers dive for cover. When the man's clip runs out, the police officers peak out from behind their cover, shooting the man several times in the stomach. The man continues to fire as his strength drains. Just then, the maid android is shot in the cross fire, Kusanagi loses the feed, and the fire fight continues unwatched.
Aramaki finds the information he's been looking for. The police are there in a drug raid, they actually have no idea Marcelo is involved, they are just looking for Gondou. Unfortunately, if these police find Marcelo in there, then this will cause terrible problems with Section 9's investigation, and so Aramaki orders Section 9 to help Marcelo escape from the police. Kusanagi informs Batou she's going in, and so he uses the Tachikoma to shoot out the windows of Marcelo's room. As soon as this happens, Gondou suspects a big police raid, and so decides he and Marcelo need to leave. He orders the two women and the guard in the room to stay and hold off the police. Kusanagi jumps down from the helicopter on a line, and enters the room. She encounters the two women and guard, who don't look scared of her at all. One woman points her finger at Kusanagi and says "Bang!" before she jumps at Kusanagi and engages in hand to hand combat. The woman is good, but Kusanagi is better, after a short while, she's put out of action. The other woman is no more skilled, and Kusanagi dispatches her as well. The last guard is surprised, and starts firing at Kusanagi with his Uzi. Kusanagi dodges the bullets, running up a wall, landing upside down with her pistol drawn and quickly dispatches the final guard with a few shots. Marcelo and Gondou are in the parking garage by now, they quickly get into the limo, and speed away as quickly as possible. Togusa, still waiting outside, follows them in his car. Back in the hotel, Kusangi is the only survivor, the hallway is full of dead bodies. She comments on how messy they were.
In the limo, Gondou is getting nervous and jittery, he's worried about how the cops must now be on to him and how he's finished. Marcelo (who is driving) looks in the rear view mirror, and notices Togusa is following him. Togusa contacts Kusanagi and informs her that he's following them. Kusanagi lets Togusa know that Paz and Borma will take over in eight minutes. Now trying to figure out where they'll be headed, Kusanagi asks Aramaki to research how many facilities Gondou has in the region, and also to look at camera data from the past five years and see where Marcelo has been spotted. The limo pulls into a commercial area parking lot, and Togusa follows. He drives past the limo and notices the door open. He decides to get out of his car and to pursue on foot. As soon as he gets up to the limo though, he notices it's empty, and he hears screeching tires - Marcelo and Gondou have jumped in another car, and are headed right for him. Marcelo aims a gun out the window and starts firing, Togusa ducks behind the limo, which gets shot up. Gondou and Marcelo keep on going and escape. Togusa contacts Kusanagi to let her know he's let them escape. Luckily, Paz and Borma have already found them again.
An Operator has searched the nearby area's camera records of the past five years, and found Marcelo is frequently spotted on the highway service area that goes near the mountains. They cross reference this with places belonging to Gondou, and find a giant warehouse. Ishikawa looks up data on this warehouse and finds something interesting - during time when Marcelo has been spotted in the country, the electricity levels for this building have been abnormally high. Borma tells everyone that Morcelo and Gondou have left their car and headed on foot up the roadway. Unable to follow without drawing suspicion, Borma and Paz send a Tachikoma in thermoptic-camo. Section 9's helicopter drops Batou and Kusanagi off near the warehouse, and they head there on foot. Togusa has also now reached the back of the warehouse. The Tachikoma is on the roof of the building, and spots Marcelo and Gondou out in the front. Kusanagi explains that once Ishikawa has control of the building's electricity, they will detain Marcelo.
Kusanagi jumps up the side of the building and enters it through a window on the roof, the inside looks like a pretty average typical warehouse. Both Togusa and Batou enter through different ways. Gondou is in the bathroom, using a urinal and muttering to himself about how he's finished. Just then, above the urinal, the wall panel slides back, revealing Batou. Batou smiles, says hello, and then grabs Gondou, pulling him up over the urinal and through the panel. We hear Batou knock him out and wish him sweet dreams. Togusa creeps through the various hallways, peeking around every corner with his revolver drawn. He sees Marcelo down the hall, and tries to contact Kusanagi to let her know. Unfortunately, there seems to be some interference on the line. Motoko notices a raised section on the warehouse which appears to be jamming radio waves, this is not normal, and must be what's causing the interference. Just then, she also notices Marcelo walking down the hall. She tells Togusa to attack on her mark, as they have a good chance of taking him down together. Kusanagi contacts Batou, telling him that they've found Marcelo, and asking for help in capturing him. Unfortunately, Batou can't hear her through the noise on the line.
Kusanagi orders the go command to attack Marcelo, and runs down the hallway where she saw him heading. But as she's running, Marcelo appears behind her, surprising her and kicking the gun out of her hand. We cut to Togusa, and see he's found Marcelo, but this is a different Marcelo, he's wearing different clothing, and they're in a different section of the warehouse. He orders Marcelo to freeze, Marcelo turns around slowly, then pulls out a gun. Togusa shoots, hitting Marcelo in the arm, he falls onto his knees, and looks up at Togusa. Togusa wonders where Kusanagi is, he expected them to engage together. Kusanagi and the other Marcelo are engaged in hand to hand combat. Marcelo is very strong, but Kusanagi is a little faster. After disorienting Marcelo with several punches to the head, Kusanagi is able to deliver a strong spin kick to Marcelo's face, and he goes down hard. Kusanagi walks up to the incapacitated Marcelo, but is suddenly grabbed from behind by yet another Marcelo. He has wrapped his arm around her neck, and squeezes her tight. Kusanagi is totally trapped and begins to panic. She lets out a scream, kicks her legs up and pushes off hard on a crate, this pushes back on Marcelo, causing him to fall backwards, as Kusanagi flips over his head. She quickly gets up, and delivers a hard punch to Marcelo's face, sending him back a few feet and knocking him out. She contacts the others, wondering why there are two Marcelos. Batou responds, confused, he tells her that he's already caught Marcelo. Batou is sitting in a room, his gun pointed at Marcelo on a chair. Togusa also chimes in and tells them he's caught Marcelo as well. That's a total of four.
Kusanahi looks up at the mysterious raised area of the warehouse she noticed earlier, and decides to go take a look, hoping to find some answers. As she walks into the room, she sees two rows of tanks, each row has over a dozen tanks. In each tank, there is a Marcelo. She walks between the two rows, and to the end of the room, at the very end, there is another Marcelo, hooked up to a ghost dubbing device.
A few days have now passed, we are back at the airport. Marcelo is leaving the country. The Inspector watches him, while in the company of Togusa and Aramaki. He does an analysis, the same he did when Marcelo arrived, and gets the same results as he did before. He's cyborged from the legs down, and the way he strokes his false arm shows the existence of a ghost. His behavior patterns match those gathered for Marcelo from the European Police databanks. Kusanagi and Batou stand outside on a viewing area, and discuss the case. Batou talks about how this Marcelo claims he's real, and wonders if Aramaki's decision to not tell any organization about the incident is ethical. He jokes about what a stud Marcelo must be to survive three ghost dubbings. They talk about how after the original Marcelo died, several copies were made, but they kept having to bring the current Marcelo back to update the memories, to keep all the copies current, in case they would be needed as a replacement. Batou wonders why they'd have Marcelo cross a dangerous bridge in the first place, why not keep him safe so he'd never need replacing? Kusanagi responds, it's because he's their hero. The plane takes off. Batou wonders what will happen when the citizens find out the hero they admire is nothing but a doll. Kusanagi says that a hero that doesn't function correctly is better than a doll that recites dreams.
Trivia/Did You Notice?:
Marcelo looks an awful lot like the ghost hacked character in the movie (the one Batou and Kusanagi engage in the market place.)
Marcelo flies on Rossini Air Lines. The only famous Rossini I could find is Gioaccchino Rossini, an opera composer. An Italian airline? maybe, though it's colors aren't red, white and green (of course, airlines don't always match their country's offical colors.)
The Inspector, and just who he is, is kind of a mystery. You actually can see him briefly on Section 9's aircraft as they monitor the New Port Hotel.
Gondou's file lists him as having a "bad face" as a distinguishing feature. Rather odd. Also, in Marcelo's file, the eye colour is misspelled as "glay" instead of "gray."
For those that don't know, the name "New Port" is also used in the Masamune Shirow manga, Dominion Tank Police, which has a New Port City.
