While at an international police conference in London, Aramaki drops by to visit an old flame who's now in the wine brokering business. She asks him to help her put a stop to the corruption in her company, but he tells her that it's out of his jurisdiction. Just then, however, two thieves break into the building and take them hostage.

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

=A hacker and thief by the name of Cash Eye plans on infiltrating a vault during a party, and Section 9 is called in to prevent it. But there are a number of strange elements in this case that don't all add up.

An assassination threat has been made against Prime Minister Kayabuki; Section 9 is called to serve as bodyguards Meanwhile, investigation on the Individual Eleven turns up some interesting history.

While field testing new recruits, the Major finds herself hacked, and an old woman tells her a story from her past.

With the latest Individual 11 incident still fresh in the public's mind, Section 9 discovers that only a skilled face sculptor could have created Kuze's prosthetic face. Since only two artists fit that description, they quickly locate the craftsmen and go to question them.

Following a tip, the Major conducts an undercover investigation of Kuze in Taiwan. While there, she saves a boy running from the Mafia.

Section 9 heads to Etorofu in search of Kuze. During their investigations, the Major finds an interesting floppy disk on the body of a dead addict.