Death in the Shell - Epilogue

Epilouge

Very rarely would pieces of an op fall into place, sometimes the op would be blown and sometimes it would be the fault of a rookie or sometimes it would be mis-information from a bad snitch tip. But the Ghost Organization never took chances with any sort of fuck-ups. The night when Eve and Roarke rested up before their return to the NYPSD, Motoko, Batou and The Ghost Organization had kept tabs on Clarissa Branson, B. Donald Branson and Robert Lowell and where they've been holding their secret meetings.

Where Motoko sat was at a rooftop penthouse suite listening to the conversations of three criminals trying to rebuild their plans of mass destruction after they had already failed without trying. She was actually smiling to herself when she heard them debating over how those bombs planted at those New York landmarks could have been found and deactivated so quickly. What amused her more was how they couldn't figure out that two of their people outright snitched on them.

Below her, Lieutenant Eve Dallas and the New York Police and Security Department were positioning themselves to infiltrate that fancy hotel building where the Cassandra group was hiding out at. Their S.W.A.T teams were called in to help infiltrate to the top of the penthouse suite to apprehend the Cassandra ringleaders, knowing that there may have been a strong chance that they would violently object to being arrested. A chance that Motoko and Eve were not willing to take.

Eventually she heard Batou's voice on her Ghost Link: Major Kusanagi, Lt. Dallas' unit is in position and ready to move in.

Motoko: Copy that, Batou, I can also confirm that the Cassandra group has not moved an inch since I kept eyes on them, and I can also confirm that there are up to four bodyguards in the room.

Batou: Four hours of watching, Major, and you're not dealing with loose wires or a period?

Motoko: I'm too old to have periods, smartass.

She then proceeded disconnect the wires from the back of her neck and then began to stand up and strip her leather overcoat off to reveal her naked body to the cold February night.

ooooOOOOoooo

During the day when Lieutenant Dallas had planned her op with the NYPSD, her aide Officer Peabody had arranged to meet with the Lieutenant in her office, when the plans were set in stone. It had definitely been an awkward moment for them at first, but Eve expected the awkwardness because of their angry exchange at Radio City Music Hall.

Flashback

"You probably still hold some resentment towards me, don't you?" Eve asked breaking the cone of silence between them.

"To tell you the truth," Peabody said before taking a deep breath. "At first I was holding the type of anger where I was more mad at you, but the entire time you were gone, I just couldn't bring myself to hate you."

"And I imagine that you hadn't talked to Mira about your feelings have you?" For Eve it was more a statement than a question.

"No sir, I've mostly been using Charles for that job," Peabody simply replied.

Eve nodded in understanding, even though it normally made her queazy to have her Aide talk her feelings to a gentlemen who worked as a male Licensed Companion, as long as her officer was talking with someone, it wouldn't bother her. But what bothered her more, was what she was going to say to Peabody.

"I will say that your anger towards me the other day, was completely justified," Eve began to say, "So I was doing some thinking on the ride over here, and you're free to say yes if you want, Officer."

"Depends on what you're offering, sir," Peabody replied.

"If you feel the need to be transferred to a different trainer, or if you want to stay on as Detective Baxter's aide, I just want you to know that I don't blame you if you do..."

"No," Peabody said before Eve could continue.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no, sir," Peabody repeated before controlling the conversation. "I wish to stay on as your Aide, until you deem me ready to take part in the Detective Exam in the future."

"So what you're saying is, you're willing to reconcile with me?"

Peabody didn't verbally answer at first, instead nodded her head. "But make no mistake, sir, if you do abandon us again...I'm going to be the one to shove a boot up your ass."

Eve had to laugh at that statement and said, "Well when you put it that way, let's say you and I get ready to kick some serious ass tonight."

End Flashback

Tonight Peabody was standing alongside the Lieutenant, who had just gotten some body armor wrapped around her chest and was already in the process of putting her long overcoat back on.

"Sir?" Peabody began to talk with Lieutenant. "I just gotten notification from the Prosecuting Attorney that our request for a warrant has been approved."

"That's good, Peabody," Eve replied. "It should give us a clean entry to infiltrate their penthouse. I also just gotten notification from the SWAT Lieutenant that the building has been cleared out of regular citizens."

"But aren't you concerned about the consequences when The Ghost Organization interferes with our police work?" Peabody asked while getting her own body armor on.

"If you guys just outright arrest those bastards, there's no doubt in our minds that those 'toy makers' will just lawyer up and get ready to leave the country without a trial," Batou replied to Peabody before Eve could. "But don't forget, we're the Ghost Organization, we'll clean it up. We're the ones who get our hands dirty."

Just then Eve began to see the hand signal coming from the NYPSD Swat lieutenant telling her that everyone was ready.

"It's time now, Peabody, you're in front with me."

ooooOOOOoooo

As Eve began to rendezvous with her SWAT team, Motoko had been in the process of holstering two weapons on her harness. She had also began to attach two chords at her neck, the sole purpose was to help keep her from falling down to the ground. Taking one final look at New York City and it's steel landscape, Motoko turned her back as she began her dive to the penthouse window. She didn't need to worry about the fact that they wouldn't see her through the privacy screens, but she could definitely see them.

ooooOOOOoooo

Eve's SWAT team began to make their move through the now empty skyscraper. Eve and Peabody were running side by side with a group of heavily armored cops behind them, with some members taking the elevators to join alongside the Lieutenant making her way to the top of the building that house the penthouse.

The thrill of being back in an op with the NYPSD was actually nothing compared to the fact that she also got to close a case that had been cold for eight years. It pained her to know that Feeney wouldn't be beside her to look Robert Lowell in the face as he died, but during their talk before the op, Feeney told Dallas that the collar for Lowell was all hers and that he'd be fine with just watching through her live bodycam.

ooooOOOOoooo

In the penthouse of Clarissa and Donald Branson along with Robert Lowell, there was originally a brief pause in their conversation about formulating their alternate plans of mass destruction, when all of a sudden one of the five bodyguards began to whisper something in Donald's ear.

"The police?!? Here?!?" Donald asked in shock.

The reaction was immediate as the rest of the security team began to convert their fake briefcases into machine guns and without much command from Cassandra, they began to fire at the closed doors without provocation, knowing that SWAT teams were safely away from the doors being peppered with bullet-holes.

"STOP!" Donald shouted at the team. "Who gave you idiots permission to shoot, put your guns down immediately!"

Suddenly one door was smashed through as a SWAT member yelled "FREEZE!"

The second door was smashed through as a female SWAT yelled "HANDS UP, NOW!"

"I demand to know why we're having members of the SWAT team break into our penthouse without probable cause?" Donald asked as the three criminals held their hands up to diffuse a violent situation.

"Oh there's plenty probable cause for us to infiltrate your safehouse, Mr. Branson," Eve replied. "Like how we found out about Clarissa's letters from both her father and William Henson. And we also got Zeke Peabody to talk about how you were planning to target the Statue of Liberty, the UN building and the One World Trade Center."

Eve then held up not one but three arrest warrants, "Enough probable cause for us to not only search your main houses and offices at Branson Tools and Toys, but to also have all three of you arrested for conspiracy to commit terrorism and mass murder."

"You searched through our homes without talking to us?" Clarissa asked defiantly.

"The evidence we found was enough to where we didn't need to talk to you," Eve replied cooly.

"Even if you were to arrest all three of us," Robert began to say. "Our lockups will be all but brief."

"Is that so?" Eve asked knowingly.

"It is," Lowell said simply. "We have arranged with all of our attorneys to create a self-termination contract. It will stand as such, if you were to arrest us right now, the certification will override even criminal charges. Neither the State nor Global will supersede an individual's right to die. And, of course, it saves all of us some considerable expense. So..."

"So let's say we take care of fulfilling that contract for you," came a female digitized voice out of nowhere.

Suddenly the privacy window smashed into pieces, and out of nowhere a total of twelve bullets hit Clarissa Branson, Donald Branson and Robert Lowell all at once. And all but instantly, their bodies exploded like a dynamite had exploded on three pinatas.

"THE WINDOW," Eve hollered after ducking on the floor, "SHOOT!"

Like clockwork, the NYPSD Swat team fired their high grade stunners to the direction the bullets came from. The force was powerful enough to break the windows as if they were being pelted by real bullets.

When Eve got up and walked towards the shattered windows to see that the SWAT team missed and she witnessed Motoko making her descent from the skyscraper full of penthouses. Motoko's body was already blending with the city like a Chameleon would in a desert. Eve and Motoko silently exchanged smiles as The Major made her face disappear with a simple swipe of her hand.