Motoko Kusanagi's new unit, put together under Daisuke Aramaki, is sent after a Qhardi separatist cell whose members all carry the same Scylla tattoo and whose ghosts show the marks of tampering by a programmer known only as Fire Starter. Togusa works a separate death: a Niihama detective blown up at a dam while carrying prosthetic legs made by the Mermaid's Leg corporation. Off duty, Motoko is seeing a prosthetics specialist named Akira Hose. This third Arise film continues the run toward Public Security Section 9.