The DEA attempts to destroy Section Nine on behalf of the prime suspect in the Corporate Conspiracy involved at the heart of the Laughing Man case.
Despite the head of the organization being arrested for murder, members of the Narcotics Suppression Squad continue their assaults on Section Nine by attempting to frame Aramaki for drug trafficking using a story about his homeless brother. Batou manages to rescue him, though, at the last minute.
Major Kusanagi is also almost killed on the operating room table by an NSS agent masquerading as a doctor while she was uploading herself into a new body. The Laughing Man rescues her at the last minute, though, giving her a chance to subdue to the assassin.
- Call-Back: Kanzaki helps Aramaki in gratitude for rescuing his daughter.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The drug squad are able to outmanoeuvre Section 9 with their ability to infiltrate and disguise themselves, knocking out Kusinagi's friend and taking over when she's in the middle of switching bodies, and gaining Aramaki's trust by pretending to know (and giving him information) on his brother. Luckily, the former is saved when The Laughing Man drops in to give Kusinagi control of her body again, and the rest of the team are able to find Aramaki to rescue him. The end result? The fake doctor is in an operating theatre with a very angry military trained and specified cyborg, and the rest of the squad find themselves knocked out and placed in the very same Frame-Up they had in store for Aramaki.
- Distress Ball: Aramaki goes to investigate what happened with his brother personally, and is Lured into a Trap.
- Homoerotic Subtext
- Kurutan gets quite excited over the illegal modifications of Kusanagi's new body.
- When Kusanagi is getting a new cybernetic body she finds herself the subject of some unsubtle come-ons by a Hospital Hottie doctor. Despite being Ambiguously Gay she's unimpressed.
- Fan Disservice: Girl on Girl Is Hot becomes a Creepy Physical then an attempted assassination.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Section 9 find pictures of the new faces being worn by the corrupt drug squad. Two of them are the homeless guys talking to Aramaki, the other is the doctor who has Kusanagi Strapped to an Operating Table.
- The fake doctor has one when she sees the needles keeping Kusanagi immobilised have been removed.
- Passive Rescue: Aoi might be able to move unseen and hack any system he wants, but he's not much use in a fight. When he's done chatting with the Major, he restores control of her body so she can deal with the assassin herself.
- Villainous Rescue: The Major is saved by the Laughing Man.
