Set in 2034, two years after Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, Public Security Section 9 has grown larger under Togusa's command while Motoko Kusanagi has resigned to pursue her own investigations. Section 9 opens a case into a wave of suicides among refugees from the Siak Republic, a thread that pulls Batou and his colleagues toward a cyberbrain hacker known only as the Puppeteer. This feature-length special stands on its own while continuing the Stand Alone Complex storyline.