Appleseed: Ex Machina

Two years after the Olympus incident, Deunan Knute and Briareos rescue a group of EU officials from cyborg terrorists. They complete the mission and return to Olympus, where Briareos is hospitalized and considered out of action while he recovers. Deunan continues ESWAT work, and she begins to adapt to a new partner in the field.

Back on Olympus, Deunan is paired with Tereus, who looks like Briareos in human form. A tour of the new Bioroid production facility reveals that Tereus is a prototype designed to be a fearless soldier with no negative emotions. It is also disclosed that Briareos' DNA contributed to Tereus' design.

Deunan, Lance, and Hitomi visit Briareos in hospital and discuss a pattern of terrorist incidents seemingly orchestrated via remote signals to cyborgs. An emissary is sent to Prime Minister Athena to address Poseidon's alleged involvement, intensifying geopolitical tensions. The tension foreshadows a broader security crisis.

Hitomi hosts a birthday party that Briareos attends after recovering. Briareos meets Tereus for the first time, which makes him uncomfortable, but the two eventually accept each other. Deunan, however, grows unsettled by the resemblance between Tereus and Briareos and storms off, only to be joined later by Tereus.

Athena and world leaders discuss creating a global security network by merging satellites. ESWAT and Olympus police set up barricades around the conference hall. An unknown signal is broadcast, followed by a chaotic assault by various attackers; Aeacus appears as Halcon, kills an engineer, and destroys an ESWAT transport.

As satellites come online, Briareos stops a hijacked unmanned vehicle but then goes berserk, hacking a public terminal and crashing the main satellite control. Olympus switches to a backup system, Briareos is hospitalized again, and the mysterious signal is ruled out as the cause. Briareos grows suspicious of his cyborg doctor, Richard Kestner.

Hitomi investigates Kestner's background and discovers he once worked with Halcon Laboratories, with records of his project mysteriously erased. Briareos escapes to confront the truth and continues the search for answers about his own condition.

Briareos tracks down Kestner and confronts him, who admits a plan to 'unify' humanity by erasing individuality. He reveals that Briareos has been secretly injected with nanites intended to seize control during adrenaline spikes and then commits suicide. Deunan arrives with an antidote designed to suppress the nanites.

The virus in the backup network takes control of satellites and compels Connexus-linked people to riot against Olympus. Believing Poseidon holds crucial information, Briareos, Tereus, and Deunan track a Poseidon convoy to Halcon to uncover the Halcon signal's origin.

They discover Halcon Laboratories orchestrated mind-control experiments, and Elizabeth Xander has been resurrected as a cyborg to control Connexus. Poseidon’s past interference is revealed: Xander had been killed in an earlier accident, fueling Halcon's renewed control over events.

Deunan briefly frees Xander from Halcon control using the antidote, but Xander reignites control over the enthralled before Deunan must kill her to end the immediate threat. The trio fighters through the fortress' defenses as the situation grows increasingly volatile.

The heroes escape the collapsing Halcon fortress and make their way back to Olympus, bringing with them the hard-won antidote knowledge and a fragile sense of relief as satellites begin to return to normal. The city braces for ongoing political and security challenges.

With Halcon's mind-control exposure and the antidote in their hands, Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus confront a fragile peace as Poseidon and other powers respond to the revelations. The Connexus threat is contained for now, but the world remains wary of future manipulation and the balance between humanity and bioroids.