Following the events of the "RE-VIEW", Togusa has been rushed to the hospital. Just before he goes into surgery, he passes what he has learned to the rest of his team.

As he fights for his life, his colleagues at Section 9 take over the case to find the vaccine recipient ledger and the person responsible for taking it. However, others in the government are not happy about this investigation. The Drug and Narcotic Suppression Squad, the same unit that had shot Togusa in the previous episode, is again dispatched by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare in order to find the thief and the ledger before Section 9 does.

The Laughing Man returns and, just as he did six years ago, kidnaps the President of Serano Genomics without being detected. Section 9 arrives too late and sets out to find him.

Meanwhile, the Laughing Man and Mr. Serano discuss what happened six years ago. The stakes are much higher this time, and for the Laughing Man failure is not an option.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is put on full display. A Japanese National named Gino, who suffered through the horrors of Non-Nuclear World War IV, the Second Vietnam War, now passes his days as a helicopter pilot for the chairman of a media conglomerate. His cushy job, however, does not take away the sheer internal pain that Gino is facing.

As he moves through his isolated existence, Gino leaps between reality and fantasy. However, he keeps his dementia solely to himself. Having no one to help him, his condition continues to worsen.

During a visit to the Dejima Refugee Residential District off the coast of Nagasaki, Prime Minister Kayabuki receives a bouquet of flowers that is accompanied by an envelope stamped with the diamond seal seen in "NATURAL ENEMY". The envelope contains a letter that promises an attempt to take the Prime Minister's life.

At a meeting of the Prime Minister's Cabinet, Aramaki is shown the letter and told that so far the stamp on the envelope has turned up in eight other terrorist incidents. The Cabinet calls for Section 9's assistance. However, much to the unit members' chagrin, Section 9 will not be deployed in an offensive role.

A highway accident involving a large commercial truck has left a fully prostheticized man dead, his body torn apart from the impact. Togusa is summoned by Aramaki to delve deeper into the matter as the dead man had recently tried to blackmail the Energy Ministry.

The dead man's name was Kanji Kotan and he had recently arrived to Niihama by way of Tōkyō. Due to the rest of Section 9 guarding the Prime Minister ("INDUCTANCE"), Aramaki can only send Togusa, with a Tachikoma as protection, to dig up what he can about the man's recent activities before he died.

Togusa aids a woman who has been chased by a man through the streets of Niihama. With his Mateba, Togusa is able to disable the man's prosthetic body. However, he does not secure the man's pistol. When Togusa helps the woman up, the man has enough movement left in his body to aim his gun and fire at the woman, killing her instantly.

The murderer is brought to trial. However, due to the events that occurred immediately following the murder, Togusa is brutally cross-examined by the murderer's lawyer.

While on an assignment guarding the Prime Minister, Saitou and the Tachikomas pass the time playing poker with a few policemen who are also assigned to the case. Much to the chagrin of the other men, Saitou wins hand after hand.

The Tachikomas take notice of Saitou's uncanny accuracy and start to comment. Their constant chattering quickly gets on the other player's nerves, so to smooth things over Saitou recounts his time working as a sniper for mercenaries in Mexico.

Much to the chagrin of Batou, Motoko, and the rest of the team, Kuze and the refugees manage to escape in one of the camouflaged boats. They are further hampered when an explosion causes heavy losses, leaving them unable to follow the fleeing boat.

Regrouping, the team decides to refocus the investigation to the events surrounding Kuze. They start a secret investigation into Sagawa Electronics, the company responsible for the nuclear material transaction, and find that Gouda was involved. Meanwhile, as the boat heads for Dejima, Kuze makes his own unsettling discovery.

Kuze and the Major come up with a plan to save the refugees, but the chances of its success are slim. Realizing this, the Tachikomas disobey the Major's orders and come up with a plan of their own. Batou has also disobeyed the Major's orders to go to the bridge and is desperately searching for her in the ruins of Dejima. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is frustrated with being spurned by the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Determined to be remembered as more than a mere figurehead, she takes matters into her own hands.