0X01 The Ghost in The Shell

The Ghost in The Shell, also known as Manhunting, un-officially called "Pilot" is the 3rd episode of Project Zero-X. This episode took place 2 weeks before the first episode chronologically, hence this episode is the first episode.

Plot
An unknown drug dealer sets a deal on The Feather Casino & Hotel Complex Suite with The Triads, after multiple data scouted by Uchino Hakazaki matches the data they acquired 72 hours prior.

After the briefings, "The Boss" then switches the topic and introducing a new member for the team, Yamada Kyoko.

As for the tradition for joining SONARTac, all newly recruited personels must passed a "Selection" test before approval; however due to rushing hours and under powered personel, Ayato Tokouryo, the leader of the team, accepted her into the team, with a condition that if the whole thing fails, she will not be acquired, and will be "booted" immediately, as he is taking the operation as a test.

At 8:30PM that same day, 2 teams (1 top infiltration unit and 1 ground unit) were dispatched, with the new recruit on Ayato's unit (includes Ayato, Uchino).

2 minutes later, 2 white vans with no license plates got into the underground parking lot, where they completely lost track.

Uchino then hacked into the camera system to look for the van, but it was nowhere to found.

Feeling suspicious, Ayato signals the ground unit to recce the area for the package, while with tolds Yamada to infiltrates from the top with him.

When both reached the 5th floor, camera signals were lost, and Uchino told him on comms that something is wrong, and warns him to stay cold.

As they reached the location, the white van was founded, but the wheels and engines were ripped out of the van, along with 2 dead bodies. Shortly after, the situation went hot, as one of the vans rams the door tries to eliminate Ayato, but he quickly dodged and shot the wheels, only to found it's bulletproof.

"The Boss" asked for sitrep, to which Ayato calls a Bravo team for assistance, and told Akagi Kichiro to looks for the white van with 3 military age males.

The scene then switches to Akagi, where he founds the van speeding on Tokyo A66 Highway, Section 106+11km, 1km south to Minato, Tokyo, then switches back to Ayato calling for assists while Uchino is in shotgun seat on a requisited car. Recruit, now on the shotgun ride with 2 more personels of the team, Anna Novackova (driver) and "Marcy", whom sits on the backseat shoots a tailing vehicle, but one of the tires in the car were popped, force them to halted, leaving Ayato to handle the chase.

Ayato founds the van, which was speeding on Youki-11 Intersection Bridge to Minato, but the van was almost out of gas. The van however were to reached the van, before rams it into a small alleyway, almost killed a hobo that was sitting next to the van.

The mission was a "success", as both acquired the intel, but the driver was dead.

Trivia

 * The scene when Ayato drifts the car sideways before signals Uchino to shoot is a homage tribute to the bike drifting scene in "Akira", while including hints and easter eggs from "Initial D" series.
 * The car that both of them confiscated resembling the designs of Toyota Trueno AE86, the car that was driven by the main character of Initial D, Takumi Fujiwara. Uchino calls it "tofu drifter", referencing the origin plot of Initial D.
 * After the chasing scene ends, and the car returns scenes begin, the NID of the person retrieving the car is named Shuichi Fujiwara, a tribute to Initial D's author and the main character of the series, respectively.
 * When Ayato skips the gear on the Kato Kuruma, the drivetrain suddenly "hoops" before revving normally to match the engine's speed, causing the wheels to temporarily lower its RPM, with makes it sounds like "somethings was stucked in the engine".
 * The suspension were compressed by the momentum too much, that the interior suddenly "hoops" with it.
 * One of the cars in the parking lot of Zero-X Headquarter is modeled after the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, and the license plate is named "Kuruma", a reference to Grand Theft Auto Online's Vehicle of the same name, Karin Kuruma, which was modeled based on that same car.