Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Season 2

Following nuclear World War III and non-nuclear World War IV (also referred to as the Second Vietnam War), Japan passed an act known as the Refugee Special Action Policy, inviting war refugees from all across Asia to enter Japan. Hundreds of Asian refugees took Japan up on the offer to enter their country and have taken low wage jobs handed out to them by various companies looking for a low wage work force.

A formal investigation into Mr. Todoko has yielded evidence that he may be managing former Secretary General Yakushima's assets. This prompts the government to launch its own investigation into the allegations, but there are two problems: Todoko's vault is state-of-the-art; only he can access the assets in the vault. The other more immediate concern is that a hacker and thief by the name of Cash Eye plans on infiltrating the vault during an exclusive high-society party.

The largest live fire exercise ever conducted by the Japanese Self Defense Force is currently underway in advance of the Prime Minister's planned announcement of the repealing of the Refugee Special Action Policy. As part of this exercise, a group of soldiers with Ground Self Defense Force have staged a 5:30 AM practice raid against a building where a simulated refugee terrorist group is alleged to be keeping a think tank.

Prime Minister Kayabuki has formally renounced the Refugee Special Action Policy, a move that has drawn much criticism from refugees all over Japan. While on a tour of the Dejima Island, a massive refugee population center, the Prime Minister receives an assassination threat and Aramaki is summoned to Fukuoka to offer his insight. The cabinet wants Section 9 to protect the Prime Minister, a role the team reluctantly agrees to.

The prime suspect behind an attempt to blackmail the Ministry of Energy has turned up dead in Nihima City. Originally presumed to be a victim of a tragic accident; however, a more thorough examination of the body turns up evidence of homicide. Togusa follows up on the death of the suspect and obtains "photographic evidence" that the man had intended to use against the Ministry of Energy. Unfortunately, Togusa finds the film piece has been exposed to light and subsequently turned completely black.

Aramaki is summoned to the Prime Minister's office after plans to ship plutonium from the Uchikon 7 district of the Shonjuku Refugee District were leaked to terrorists. Despite a Coast Guard raid that managed to halt a weapons sale to the terrorists, there are lingering worries that the refugee terrorists may still attempt to capture the plutonium. To counter this, Section 9 is covertly assigned the mission of escorting the material out of the refugee district.

Tired of being manipulated by Gohda, Aramaki decides to take the initiative and conduct his own investigation on the Individual Eleven case while simultaneously looking into the Cabinet Intelligence Agency. Section 9 is split into two teams, one focused on digging up additional info and the two aforementioned cases, and the other tasked with locating an ex-GSDA officer identified as a person of interest in a series of shootings at a local TV station.

The failed attempt to secure the ex-GSDA officer for questioning has proven to be the straw that breaks the camels back, as Major Kusanagi decides to go directly into the Cabinet Intelligence Agency database to determine what Gohda is up to without all the added wires and strings. With the help of Tachikomas, who mounts an assault on the building's defense barriers, The Major (as Chroma) hacks into the Cabinet Intelligence Agency Server Decatoncale to uncover Gohda's motives.

On his way home from work, Togusa becomes involved in a domestic dispute between Yukadi Shisharow and her boyfriend when the lady suddenly trips in front of Togusa's car and screams for help. In an effort to protect the woman, Togusa fires several rounds into the man's prosthetic limbs in an effort to disable him; despite this, Togusa fails to prevent the young lady's death. Since the shooting occurred while Togusa was off-duty a preliminary hearing is convened to ascertain the facts in the case.

Batou and Togusa are testing eight potential new recruits for Section 9. Each man is paired off to create four different teams, and each team is tasked with tracking the Major; however, the Major proves to be a difficult target to track, and eventually she loses all four teams attempting to track her. Shortly after losing the last team, Kusanagi is unexpectedly hacked, leaving her in a seemingly empty street with no communication links.

The Tachikomas locate a stealth gate that can only be accessed through the European Satellite system. After passing through the gate, Boma recovers a suspicious file believed to be the virus that infected The Individual Eleven. Ishikawa and Boma attempt to figure out how the virus in the file affects its victims by using the external memories of an infected Individual Eleven member.

Aramaki calls a briefing to discuss the events surrounding the sudden appearance and murder/suicide of the members of The Individual Eleven. The techs briefing the team think the sole survivor of the group may be using a unique face created by a face sculpture with an artistic background. Only two known people in the area have the skill to create a face of that caliber, making Section 9's job somewhat easier.

Representatives from the American Empire have arrived in Japan to discuss a new security treaty and Section 9 is one of the various groups assigned to secure the building where the talks are taking place. In their off-time, members of the security teams strike up a poker game, but so far Saito has won every hand. Intrigued by this, the Tachikomas assigned to the security truck shift their discussion from the reason for the new security treaty to the reason why Saito is consistently winning a game of chance.

Section 9's Tachikoma fleet is down for routine maintenance. While the technicians inspect the fleet, the think tanks begin a philosophical discussion on the Individual Eleven case and the implications and motives behind it. Gradually, this discussion shifts to the topic of the self and the reason why the Tachikomas have felt the sensation of looking down on themselves. Meanwhile, Togusa, Batou, his personal Tachikoma, and the Major report to Spring 8 to gather evidence collected by the staff from the 11 deceased members of The Individual Eleven.

The Prime Minister calls a meeting of her cabinet to discuss the refugee situation. During the meeting several cabinet members attempt to separate themselves from the problem, while top-ranking military officials and local law enforcement voice their concern over the sudden influx of refugees to Dejima Island. When a recess is called, the Prime Minister meets with Aramaki and Kusanagi who alert her to the existence of cyberbrain hubs.

Following Ishikawa's intelligence reports, the Major heads to Taiwan to investigate a lead on Kuze. She learns that he had a powerful effect on the refugees and is believed responsible for the creation of a narcotics and explosive smuggling ring. As she prepares to leave the police station, the detective discloses that her plane will not leave until tomorrow, giving Kusanagi some much needed free time. While on the streets Kusanagi meets a street kid with aspirations to make it big by dabbling in the drug trade.

A patient undergoing a routine medical procedure unexpectedly takes a turn for the worst and the medical staff mount a frantic effort to save him. During the operation it becomes necessary for the Doctor in charge of the operation to look into the man's external memories, at which point he discovers that his patient is in fact the terrorist Angel's Feathers, one of the world's most wanted men.

On Dejima island, a crisis is brewing. The refugees have moved away from Japan in an effort to create an autonomous region they can call their own. The Cabinet Intelligence Agency is exploiting the situation in an effort to fan the flames of separatism. With Dejima now cordoned off by officers in riot gear, Section 9 decides to launch a surgical strike against the militant refugees which aims to capture Kuze.

Section 9 regroups from the fire fight and the body of their dead teammate is airlifted out of Dejima. Desperate for information on where a mob/refugee deal would go down, Aramaki pulls some strings and learns that the probable location for such an act would be Ororastafu Island. Section 9 is therefore dispatched to the island with the objective of stopping the deal while a request is formally made for a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force security net to catch Kuze if he happens to evade capture.

Batou confronts Kuze in an effort to stop him from leaving with the plutonium, but Kuze proves to be a better fight than Batou and ends up disabling Batou's right leg and left arm and putting Batou out of commission. When Kusanagi arrives at the scene, she and the Tachikoma assigned to her destroy the other GSDA combat suit, and manage to locate Batou, who informs them of Kuze's escape.

A tactical nuclear device has been discovered in the Kyushu Telecom Tower in the Japanese capital of Fukuoka and some 35 million citizens are subsequently evacuated over a five-day period to allow the Ground Self Defense Army to safely diffuse and remove the device. The assumed culprits behind the bomb are militant refugees, but Section 9 thinks otherwise, and with the Prime Minister's permission, enter into the hot zone to investigate the bomb first-hand.

Prime Minister Kayabuki meets with her cabinet to discuss the Fukuoka nuclear bomb incident, but the cabinet has already decided to deploy the army to retrieve the remaining plutonium supposedly hidden on Dejima Island. Reluctantly, Kayabuki agrees to the plan and returns to her office to report the decision to Aramaki. After mulling over the available options, Aramaki suggests that the PM put in a request to the United Nations and ask that their nuclear inspectors be dispatched to Dejima to collect the plutonium.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary formally relieves the PM from her ministerial duties for her decision to call in the UN to mediate the Dejima crisis. Along with Aramaki, Proto, and Togusa, the PM is moved under guard to an abandoned room of the building. Although PM and her Section 9 escorts are split up they are not out of the fight.

The Tachikoma units, through the use of a satellite, have spotted an American Empire ballistic missile submarine carrying nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles off the coast of Okinawa. The discovery has the Tachikoma tanks concerned and they are unable to hack into the submarine's computerized equipment to determine the vessels orders. To make matters worse, the SLBM's carried by the submarine are designed to go clear into the stratosphere before returning to Earth.

The JMSDF lets loose with another round of naval artillery fire and missile strikes as refugees on Dejima attempt to evacuate the island aboard makeshift rafts and boats. In an attempt to save as many refugee lives as possible, Kusanagi orders the Tachikoma units to secure as much space as they can find on the net to store the refugees' memories and ghosts. Unfortunately, the Tachikoma units disregard these orders and take matters into their own hands.