By The Schaft division manager meets with the commander of 3S and outlines the mission: capture Utsumi and regain control of the Griffon. A 3S carrier drives along the highway and forces vehicles out of its way, including an ambulance transporting Kumagami. Utsumi and Kurosaki attempt to leave a Schaft building and are detained by company security. They pretend to comply and then attack the guards, allowing them to break free and Kurosaki to pull out his gun. They head to the maintenance hangar, where Utsumi tells them they have to leave before 3S arrives. Utsumi’s trucks then smash their way out of the Schaft campus, where Matsui and Kataoka have come to investigate. Goto gets a call from the police in Chiba and interrupts dinner with news that the Griffon didn’t crash and that fragments were deliberately left around the crash site. Ota wonders why they’d do that, and Goto says it bought them time because the police stopped searching for the Griffon. At a highway rest stop, 3S deploys in smaller vehicles to pursue Utsumi. The division manager worries that Utsumi will take the cargo ship Sangria from Port Kashima, and just then Utsumi calls and declares that he’s coming back to Tokyo to show them what the Griffon can really do. Kurosaki points out that they’re being followed by Matsui and Kataoka, but Utsumi says to ignore them. At night, Kumagami pulls a gun when Kanuka enters her room. Kanuka is impressed, and Kumagami says she never expected they’d meet like this. Kanuka tells Kumagami that 3S is closing in on Richard Won and asks if he’ll use the Griffon, to which Kumagami responds that he will. Kanuka promises to get revenge for Kumagami, but Kumagami says there’s no need for that because she never considered Wong an enemy. Elsewhere, 3S plans to load two Abrahams onto a ship and catch Utsumi at Babylon’s Castle Gate, located between the artificial islands Kisarazu and Kawasaki. Kanuka tells Goto and Shinobu that the Castle Gate is similar to the gates of the Panama Canal and is the Babylon Project’s strategic point. Kanuka thinks that if Utsumi gets to Kashima he’ll be attacked by 3S at the Castle Gate because it’s in open water and they can avoid the police.
Goto makes a call for help and promises to take care of the paperwork. Noa makes tea for the mechanics who are working overtime. Sakaki asks if there’s any news, and Noa says the next time they deploy, the fight will be hand-to-hand combat. The alert siren goes off, and Goto tells them the Griffon hasn’t been spotted yet, but they’re heading to Kawasaki to intercept it. Goto tells Asuma to get some rest, and Asuma asks if he won’t let a wounded man stand by his comrades. Goto says he understands how Asuma feels, but there are special circumstances. Asuma begs Goto to let him come along by using a sad face. Asuma gives Kanuka some advice on how to work with Noa, but Kanuka says Noa might be tougher than he thinks. Asuma tells Noa that he can’t come along, and Sakaki unlocks the weapon locker the Ingram riotgun. Goto tells Noa that he wants her to be as prepared as possible, which makes Ota jealous that Unit 2 is in the shop. Bud tells Utsumi that he’ll win for sure this time, and Utsumi answers that they have no choice. The Griffon activates, and 3S deploys its Abrahams as the Sangria approaches the Castle Gate. Kanuka asks Goto what they should do if Utsumi reaches Tokyo Bay. Even without Unit 2, Ota wants to fight and has strapped an Ingram revolver to a command car. 3S sets a fire near the Castle Gate to draw away Babylon Project guards, and Goto concludes that Kanuka’s guesses were right. The Sangria approaches the Castle Gate with the Griffon exposed, and the 3S commander tells the division manager that they won’t be able to handle things quietly now. Bud beheads an Abraham and rips off one of its arms, forcing the pilot to abandon the unit. A TV news helicopter spots the battle in progress and starts filming. Goto tells his people that Utsumi is landing on the Kisarazu side. At the SV2 station house, Shinobu and Division 1 prepare to mobilize. The command cars and Unit 1‘s carrier move out to intercept the Griffon.
This episode is a bit more slowly paced than the previous one because it’s mainly setting up the conflict between Utsumi, 3S and SV2. Utsumi has now gone totally rogue in his desire to prove the Griffon’s superiority. It’s amusing that he finds such satisfaction in telling off his former boss over the phone. Asuma and Kumagami are out of the game this time, but it was interesting to see Kanuka and Kumagami meet face-to-face. I find it odd that Kumagami doesn’t think of Utsumi as an enemy, even though she was shot by one of his underlings. You almost have to feel bad for Ota since the riotgun is being deployed and he doesn’t get to use it. Bud makes pretty short work of some of the 3S forces sent to capture him, which means the fight will be shifting to Noa next time.
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