Before being captured, Hozumi claims that she had successfully packaged the Fire-Starter virus with cyberbrains and could create all the soldiers she wanted. meanwhile an unknown figure uses a translucent sphere to blow up a passenger flight 381 as it flies overhead by exploding an Ariel prosthesis implanted in Tei Musrsaka, an undercover US agent infected with the Fire-Starter virus. When Kusanagi's team go to investigate his apartment because of a link to Fire-Starter, they find US agents are already there. In Aramaki's office Kusanagi meets Jeril, from American Army intelligence who is also hunting the Fire-Starter broker they have code-named Pyromaniac. Kusanagi's team agrees to Aramaki's request to work with them on the condition she can question Hozumi who is also a target of Pyromaniac. Ishikawa finds that Musrsaka was following Galves Garcia, a cyber-drug dealer. As Kusanagi is about to transfer Hozumi from the Army Medical Center to the courthouse, Pyromaniac strikes causing chaos and confusion. Kusanagi traces him to the same building, where they capture a man apparently being used as a proxy. The prisoner escapes, revealing himself to be the Pyromaniac, and acquiring security codes. Kusanagi deduces that Pyromaniac had inside assistance, confirmed when he attacks the convoy transporting Hozumi from a helicopter gunship. Pyromaniac hacks into Kusanagi from outside and they meet in a virtual world that looks like a Kuzan battlefield. He states that he is a vessel for the Ghosts of Galvez, and Emma, and Murasaka. Kusanagi argues that he's just a construct of false memories of the Fire-Starter virus to eliminate threats to its continued existence and she traps then erases him. In the real world, Pyromaniac also dies, and Kurutsu, head of the 501 Organization, retrieves the translucent sphere from him and dumps his body. Meanwhile, Kusanagi's team and the Tachikoma fight off forces controlled by the Fire-Starter virus. In the aftermath, little useful is retrieved from Pyromaniac's cyberbrain and Kusanagi is congratulated by the prime Minister for catching the terrorist who downed flight 381. Elsewhere, Kurutsu quietly states that she has finished refining the virus.