Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Season 2 (2nd GIG)

Tachikoma 1:
Are these the people they refer to as perverts?

Tachikoma 2:
Yeah, but maybe we should refer to them as eccentric.

Tachikoma 1:
If I understand it correctly, zen is not so much a religion, but rather it is a means of freeing human karma from worldly thoughts, right?

Tachikoma 2:
For us, maybe it correlates to deleting data from our cache when it's full.

Tachikoma 1:
Yeah, maybe it's similar to that, and having our data synchronized, too.

Tachikoma 2:
Wow, if that's true, maybe we could link up with someone who's meditating , and download enlightenment!

Tachikoma (all):
Yeah!

Batou:
You son of a bitch; who the hell do you think we are?

Gohda:
The real question you should ask is, who do you think you are? An elite special unit of the handpicked chosen few? If your little group had been confronted by an angry mob of refugees and they had come at you with those smuggled weapons, you know you couldn't have stopped them! Try to rein in your ego and be thankful you got to play the role of decoy under my direction.

Kusanagi:
Thanks for telling me the story. I'll bet that even now, that girl is still searching for the first boy she ever loved.

Male Reporter:
Hey, Are you getting this? What did he say? Get him on camera!

Batou:
What the hell?!

Male Reporter:
Swords! They're swinging swords and- [horrified yell] Their heads! They just chopped off each other's heads! Each of them, they-they killed each other! What a unbelievable sight! [grunts] THESE MEN WHO APPEARED ON THE ROOF AND MURDERED ONE ANOTHER WITH SWORDS!

Saito:
[the rookies with whom he's playing poker are lashing out at the Tachikomas] Now don't take it out on those two just because you're losing.

Ishikawa:
The key to survival on the battlefield isn't courage or weapons. It's caution.

Motoko:
Cover us! Snow and I will storm the building!

Batou:
So, what am I? Her backup?

Ishikawa:
Look on the bright side, pal: this means you've earned her trust now.

Saito:
[narrating his confrontation with the Major] In that fleeting moment when I was facing off against the Major, I envisioned the outcome of our exchange of fire, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. After assessing the situation and taking all the factors into account, my experiences as a sniper led me to one conclusion: I was about to die.

Kid:
[When Motoko gets into bed that night] I have a question. When you're full prosthetic, can you have sex?

Major:
care to find out?

Guy With Gun:
The real deal. With these, we can mount a war.

Kuze:
We didn't buy them for the purpose of fighting a war. These oughta give us enough power so we won't have to fight.

Motoko:
Sounds like Dejima's declared itself an autonomous region.

Daisuke:
Hmm.

Batou:
You figure Kuze's behind it?

Daisuke:
So far, there's been no evidence of Kuze himself, but it's a safe bet it's him. He's cleverly making affected use of the net to divulge the refugee's intentions to the media.

Togusa:
He's the Che Guevara of the refugee residential district. At least that's what the Nonial Press is calling him.

Batou:
Great, another intangible hero. The thing I don't get though is, Kuze started it as one of the Individual Eleven, correct? Why did the refugees welcome the guy with open arms? Does he really have some kind of special ability like investigations of The Major and Ishikawa suggested?

Motoko:
To get the answer, we'll just have to capture him and ask him in person. You also have to realize it's only due to his involvement that we can even step in here like this.

Daisuke:
That's right. The first order of business is to put the bricks on this situation by apprehending Kuze, the suspected leader of the refugees. We'll worry about getting the authority to challenge the C.I.S. afterward.

Ishikawa:
In cases like this, it's always the ones whose backs are up against the wall that pull together and take action the quickest. The actions of our own citizens are an opposition to the government agencies at this point.

Togusa:
It's a mass trend toward individualism. No, it's more like a peace at any price movement growing within the population. Even though this is basically a declaration of war from the refugees.

Motoko:
Batou, you and the others go on ahead and gather information on how extensively the refugees are armed. Ishikawa and I will dive the refugees' net and rendezvous with you after we've pinpointed Kuze's location.

Batou, Ishikawa and Togusa:
Roger!

Batou:
Section 9, looks like things are starting to turn ugly here.

Police:
The top brass don't seem to think so. I admit we're always hard up here on the field. More than a few of them are itchin' to pass operation command over on to the self defense army. I'm guessing you guys are here as part of them right?

Batou:
We just came as part on an independent op.

Police:
Huh, must be nice to pick your jobs with no strings attached.

Bateau:
You'd think but we gotten haul our own ass' out of the fire.

Motoko:
We'll hack a refugees' brain. Kuze's cyberbrain seems to be accessible to them at any given time. We won't require any back up until we get close to his ghost line.

Ishikawa:
Understood.

Togusa:
It's a lot livelier here than I had heard.

Batou:
The refugees have been building up this high rise slum for over twenty years. That's why I don't find it strange they refer to the place as their castle.

Motoko:
Now then, what would be the shortest route to Kuze?

Tachikoma:
Major! I found a duty roster for a Dejima police station showing that a female officer no else is of full percent is on duty right now!

Motoko:
Alright good work. Give me a visual.

Tachikoma:
Here you go!

Motoko:
Hmm they sure seem bored.

Tachikoma:
Maybe they're on alert for terrorist attacks.

Motoko:
OK, we're going to borrow this woman's cyberbrain.

Tachikoma:
Roger!

Motoko:
Ishikawa, I want you to run a trace back from gate 5 on the net and try to find out what draws these people to him.

Ishikawa:
I'm on it.

Kusanagi Motoko:
Tachikoma, inject maskarae I'll cross his ghost line using my corma file.

Kuze:
It's me.

Refugee:
That you, Kuze? Something happened?

Kuze:
I'm sorry, but there's a good chance that you'll be raided by the police or a military special ops soon. There's no need for you to fight them. Hide the weapons and avoid combat as much as possible. Don't throw your lives away.

Motoko:
Batou.

Batou:
What's up?

Motoko:
We have Kuze's location. It's a camouflaged harbor on the north east edge of Dejima. There's a retro-fitted fishing trawler anchored there. He's probably aboard it.

Saito:
That's not like you, Major. Are you sure?

Motoko:
He spotted me at the last minute. We're currently circling above the harbor. He hasn't gone anywhere yet. We'll grab him before he escapes. Meet up with us at the harbor ASAP.

Everyone:
Roger!

Refugee:
You came here to capture Kuze.

Motoko:
What the hell.

Refugee:
You're idiots. Kuze will never be caught by the likes of you. He's the real thing, he's a legend.

Batou:
Major, what the hell's going on? You never screwed up like this before. Kuze's not here, and we've just lost one of our own damn rookies. In an ambush by a handful of armed refugees!

Motoko:
I know. Sorry, because he was never even here to begin with.

Batou:
Huh?

Motoko:
Kuze is securing a deal with the Russian mafia for plutonium. He's in Etorofu.

Batou:
[holding Kuze at gunpoint] You're overconfident of that P.K.F. body of yours.

Kuze:
It's exceeded its product lifespan. It no longer gives me an edge.

Batou:
[furrows his brow] But you think you're gonna beat me anyway? That pisses me off!

Saito:
What the hell's up? How long has this guy been running around without his frontal lobe? Does he ever stink.

Kuze:
Just as water runs downhill, the human heart also tends to revert to its basest instincts.

Man in Car:
Ishikawa of Section 9 I take it. I came here to take that off your hands.

Ishikawa:
Oh, you mean this?

[Ishikawa motions to the plutonium hanging from his shoulder.]

Man in Car:
That's right.

[Ishikawa punches him in the face through the car window]

Ishikawa:
Don't screw with us punk, Section 9 practically invented dirty tricks and information warfare.

Motoko:
Kuze?

Kuze:
Yes?

Motoko:
Do you know how to fold origami cranes?

Kuze:
Cranes?

Motoko:
That's right, and only using your left hand.

Kuze:
With the correct control software, anyone can do that.

Motoko:
No, that's not what I mean.

Kuze:
Can you do that, fold left handed?

Motoko:
Now I can.

Kuze:
It sounds like you've endured your fair share of loneliness too. I never asked, but who are you? What's your name?

Motoko:
Don't recall, I do have a pseudonym though. It's the same thing with you, isn't it?

Kuze:
I see, you're right. The refugees have given me countless names. I joined forces with them with the intent to save them. But maybe the real reason I united with them was to keep the loneliness at bay.

Motoko:
Yet in the end you couldn't make it go away, because others could rely on you, but you couldn't rely on them.

Kuze:
Do you have someone you can open yourself up to?

Motoko:
I suppose I do.

Kuze:
I see, I've been looking for mine, for a long long time.

Gino:
[Describing the Major in a hooker's body] Her beauty is an undeniable truth. A beauty that makes no attempt to hide the fact that she's a living creature. A purity that accepts pleasure for its own sake and possesses nothing except that which is necessary for survival. A single glance tells you this body is a full prosthetic. Perfect physical form indistinguishable from a being that's specialized for pleasure. This is true beauty. She's the only one that I can be certain is human. I see something in her, something I connect with. It's as if she's stubbornly trying to protect her humanity just like I am. Everything else pales before her spirit. Even if you obtain her body through the power of money you could never possess her will, her beauty, or her truth.

Motoko:
[Describing Gino, after learning his assassination plan is just a fantasy] He's just one of the countless number of pitiful souls who harbor faint dreams of greatness and is frustrated by reality. He'll never carry out his plan. He's a member of the proletariat who is pathetically out of touch with reality.