Chapter Summaries

Blanca told Carl about her childhood in Alcázar and the years she spent confined to an attic while her parents worked with Militech. Carl spotted surveillance devices and protected Blanca from a sniper, leaving the two of them facing an armed opponent.

• Blanca described growing up in Alcázar before her parents took her to Málaga, where she was kept hidden in an attic for years.
• Blanca explained that she learned to use electronic devices in the attic and later gained access that helped her review surveillance footage.
• Carl asked Blanca to lower her head, then used Monomolecular Wire to catch and cut apart two mechanical ladybug surveillance devices.
• Carl warned Blanca that she was being watched and noticed a targeting flash from a Nekomata sniper as bullets and sound shattered the restaurant window.
• Carl slowed time, pushed Blanca's head down, and spotted the sniper on a building four hundred meters away before asking, "What number are you?"

Carl and Blanca were attacked by a sniper, and Carl discovered that Blanca was the intended target. After taking a wound, Carl left to confront the attackers and protect Blanca’s subordinates, while Blanca questioned whether resisting Night City’s brutality was madness.

• Carl warned Blanca that a sniper was targeting them and used her movements to confirm that Blanca was the target.
• Carl carried Blanca to cover, where they found the restaurant’s chef and waiter hiding in the kitchen.
• Blanca offered to hide Carl and said her subordinates were holding off the attackers, but Carl refused to leave them in danger.
• Carl admitted the sniper had wounded her arm and left to seek revenge and protect Blanca’s people.
• Blanca watched Carl go and recalled a passage from Don Quixote as she wondered whether accepting Night City’s reality was itself madness.

Carl fought Militech attackers who had ambushed her in Night City, with T-BUG locating them and warning her about their equipment. Carl reached the building and rushed inside, where she confronted an attacker and struck with her Monomolecular Wire.

• Carl called T-BUG for backup after Militech drivers ambushed her and her team.
• T-BUG located three attackers and warned Carl about their exoskeletons and EMP-firing axes.
• Carl advanced under fire, destroyed an Ajax Rifle with two shots, and learned the third-floor sniper had moved.
• Carl told T-BUG to alert Rogue about the damaged exoskeletons and said she had called the NCPD.
• Carl threw a non-exploding grenade through the window, kicked open the door, and attacked the first-floor assailant with her Monomolecular Wire.

Carl killed Number Four and Number Ten after Number Three had already fallen, wiping out the Militech squad. She noticed a control chip among Number Ten’s remains, suggesting he had not known it was installed in his head.

• Number Four waited in ambush on the third floor while Number Ten prepared to attack from below, and Number Four reflected on the squad’s betrayal by Militech.
• Carl silently reached Number Four from the open third-floor balcony and killed him with a rear naked choke.
• Number Four warned Number Ten to run before he died, and Number Ten charged upstairs with his twin axes.
• Carl shot Number Ten in the head with The Final Night before he could use his electromagnetic interference grenade.
• Carl noticed a control chip among the remains and wondered whether Number Ten had been unaware it was implanted.

Carl completed the job of eliminating Blanca’s attackers, and Blanca prepared to retaliate against the Research Department. The date ended, but Carl stayed at the restaurant to order food for his friends and told them their commission was complete.

• Blanca confirmed that Carl had dealt with the last of the people who held a grudge against her, completing their commission.
• Blanca left to handle the company’s traitors and ordered her secretary to make them pay for the attack.
• Blanca offered to cover the restaurant’s food for the night, and Carl happily accepted before she drove away.
• Carl learned the restaurant had property insurance, then ordered everything on the menu while the chef and her husband resumed work.
• Carl told Jack and the others that their commission was complete and they could choose their Militech cyberware.

On Christmas Eve, Carl, Oliver, V, and Jack headed to a Watson District workshop to collect the expensive cake Mrs. Welles had ordered for the Afterlife gathering. As they made their way there, they checked on their friends’ plans and learned that some of Jack’s Valentinos friends were keeping watch over him because of tensions within the gang.

• Carl, Oliver, and V discussed the Christmas crowds and outfits in Night City while Jack urged them to focus on collecting the cake.
• Jack said Mrs. Welles had ordered a costly Christmas cake for the Afterlife gathering and warned that cake robberies often led to shootouts.
• Carl checked messages from T-BUG, Old Vic, Jade, and Mr. Johnson, learning who would attend and what gifts they had sent.
• Oliver said he wanted to make sure Misty got her cake, while Jack explained that his gang-member friends had declined the gathering and planned to keep an eye on him.
• Carl learned that some Valentinos members did not get along with Jack, and the group arrived at the workshop.

Carl returned to the Afterlife with V, where his friends welcomed V and gathered around Carl as they worried about his upcoming guard assignment at Arasaka Tower. Oliver and T-BUG urged Carl to flee if danger arose, and the chapter left him feeling embarrassed but happy that so many people cared about him.

• Carl returned with V, and Mrs. Welles, Old Vic, Jack, and Misty greeted V at the Afterlife.
• While frying French fries with Oliver, Carl discussed his guard assignment at Arasaka Tower the next day.
• Oliver warned Carl to run if danger broke out, explaining that the team could not support him inside Arasaka Tower.
• T-BUG arrived, sampled Oliver's fries, and also cautioned Carl about going to Arasaka Tower.
• Jack, Misty, and Mrs. Welles joined the others in expressing concern for Carl, who felt embarrassed and happy to be worried about.

Carl arrived at Arasaka Tower to work as a bodyguard and passed two rounds of security checks. He learned he had been assigned to protect Mr. Kenichi Shiro, who was waiting on the first floor.

• Arasaka security stopped Carl outside the tower and confirmed he was on the list of trusted personnel for the event.
• A second security team verified Carl's identity by checking his fingerprint against the data for his custom cyberware model.
• The suited Arasaka officer welcomed Carl and told him that Mr. Kenichi Shiro was waiting on the first floor.
• Carl realized he had been assigned to guard Mr. Kenichi Shiro and went inside, amused by the possibility that Shiro could defend himself with a Sandevistan.

Carl accompanied Kenichi Shiro to an unusually high-security Arasaka executive meeting, where Kenichi warned him to keep his gun ready. They arrived on the 132nd floor and greeted Adam Smasher as they prepared to continue to the meeting.

• Kenichi Shiro told Carl that Fujioka Kaoru, a Dove, had become interested in Chiyome after seeing her at Arasaka Tower.
• Kenichi Shiro warned Carl that the meeting would require him to keep his gun ready.
• Carl asked why the directors were meeting on the 133rd floor, and Kenichi Shiro explained that the floors above were reserved for the Arasaka Family and Lord Saburo.
• Carl and Kenichi Shiro reached the 132nd floor, where Adam Smasher met them.
• Carl greeted Adam Smasher as he followed Kenichi Shiro out of the elevator.

Carl accompanied Kenichi Shiro to an Arasaka executive meeting, where the branch’s power structure and new director Susan Abernathe were introduced. The executives were stunned when a kimono-clad figure arrived, apparently not the expected Mrs. Michiko.

• Carl followed Kenichi Shiro to the 133rd floor, where nine Arasaka executives and their security teams awaited them.
• Kenichi Shiro told Carl that the two vice presidents could manage Night City affairs and mobilize Arasaka forces, while the seven directors lacked that authority.
• Carl recognized Fujioka Kaoru’s apparent elder among the directors and noted his position.
• The vice presidents spoke with Kenichi Shiro, and one introduced Susan Abernathe as Night City’s new director of special operations.
• A kimono-clad figure entered with a ninja-dressed woman, leaving the other nine executives shocked because they had expected Mrs. Michiko to preside over the meeting.

Haruko arrived in place of her mother and took charge of the Arasaka meeting. After Kenichi Shiro revealed that a traitor had sold Arasaka intelligence to Militech, Haruko ordered Carl to act, and Carl crushed Matsudaira’s skull.

• Haruko entered the meeting and took her mother’s seat at its head, telling the executives to begin.
• Haruko stopped the elderly vice president from presenting the agenda and said she had something to announce.
• Kenichi Shiro announced that someone present had sold Arasaka intelligence to Militech.
• Matsudaira secretly contacted others and reached for the pistol hidden beneath the table.
• Haruko called for Carl and ordered him to act, and Carl crushed Matsudaira’s skull before he could finish speaking.

Carl killed Matsudaira after Haruko identified him as a traitor, while the executives and their bodyguards submitted. When Matsudaira’s loyalists began breaching Arasaka Tower, Kenichi Shiro sent Carl to eliminate them, and she encountered someone equally eager to fight.

• Matsudaira’s bodyguard and the other guards surrendered after Carl killed Matsudaira on Haruko’s order.
• The elderly vice president asked whether Matsudaira was the traitor, and Kenichi Shiro confirmed it while privately warning Carl that the old man had likely helped expose him.
• Carl let Matsudaira’s body fall onto the conference table as the surviving executives recognized her deadly skill.
• Hackers were attacked and security alerts reported breaches on several floors of Arasaka Tower.
• Kenichi Shiro told Carl to deal with the intruders, and Haruko’s nod confirmed that she should kill them all.
• Carl headed downstairs and met the gaze of someone just as eager to act.

Carl and Adam Smasher descended into a floor seized by Arasaka traitors, where they fought through the security personnel and ninjas blocking the elevator. After comparing their killing skills, Carl treated the battle as a chance to measure himself against the legendary Adam Smasher.

• Carl asked Kenichi Shiro why he could not remotely shut down the traitors' cyberware, and Kenichi Shiro explained that Matsudaira's subordinates had stripped away their permissions.
• Adam Smasher asked Carl whether he and Haruko were close, but the elevator arrived before Carl could answer.
• Adam Smasher tore open the elevator doors and charged into the Arasaka Security personnel firing outside, while Carl used his Monomolecular Wire to kill those Smasher missed.
• Adam Smasher intercepted and blasted a ninja, while Carl killed another with The Final Night.
• Carl and Adam Smasher traded remarks about their fighting, and Carl said he intended to test himself against the legend.

Arasaka executives watched Adam Smasher and Carl rapidly clear floors 79, 78, and 77, while Kenichi Shiro noticed flaws in Carl’s fighting transitions and grew frustrated with Chiyome. Carl headed down in the elevator, hoping to join Adam Smasher in clearing more floors, after Haruko messaged her that she would lose.

• Hackers reported that Adam Smasher and Carl had cleared floors 79, 78, and 77 in minutes, leaving Susan Abernathe astonished by their speed and power.
• Kenichi Shiro judged Carl’s combat skills as excellent but saw brief sluggishness between her movements that could give him an advantage.
• Kenichi Shiro noticed Chiyome watching the projection instead of guarding Haruko, while Chiyome mistook his glare for a threat and moved to shield Haruko.
• Haruko watched Carl and Adam Smasher on the projection, then sent Carl a message saying she would lose.
• Carl rode the elevator down and said she hoped the other floors would not be cleared too quickly so she could join the fight.

Carl finished clearing his assigned floors in Arasaka Tower and compared his kill count with Adam Smasher, whose warning about Haruko led to a tense exchange. Carl arrived on the tower’s 140th floor and found Haruko after her meeting, just as a holographic call with a blue-haired woman ended.

• Carl counted sixty-four defeated Arasaka Security personnel and boarded the elevator, where Adam Smasher reported that he had taken down 102.
• Carl reflected on the gap between their abilities and planned to study combat footage, pursue major jobs, and select weapons and cyberware.
• Adam Smasher asked whether Carl and Haruko were close, then warned him against becoming attached to her.
• Carl thanked Adam Smasher for saving his life and vowed to spare him if he ever defeated him; Adam Smasher threatened to kill him next time.
• After Carl’s elevator rose, Adam Smasher tore open the elevator shaft doors and watched it climb before leaving.
• Carl reached the 140th floor and found Haruko waiting after a meeting, with a fading holographic projection of a blue-haired woman behind her.

After Haruko wrapped up the meeting, she gave Carl a knife containing a miniature EMP and directed him to Kenichi Shiro’s armory to choose weapons. Carl set aside the idea of supplying the NCPD and prepared to test-fire the available weapons.

• Haruko told Carl the meeting had been postponed and that nothing remained for him to handle.
• Haruko gave Carl a knife with an authorized miniature EMP device concealed in its handle.
• Carl rode down to the forty-fourth floor, where Kenichi Shiro showed him an armory stocked with Arasaka and Tsunami Ashura weapons.
• Kenichi Shiro warned Carl that giving Arasaka weapons to the NCPD could endanger his friends.
• Carl asked whether he could test-fire all the weapons.

After returning from Arasaka Tower, Carl met Jack, Oliver, and T-BUG at the Afterlife bar and told them she had acquired weapons and cyberware for the crew. She invited them to Old Vic's place to inspect the gear, while V was away with his clan.

• Mrs. Welles dried Carl off after she arrived at the Afterlife bar soaked by the rain.
• Jack told Carl that V had returned to his clan for a meeting and had left Night City.
• Carl said she had obtained weapons and cyberware at Arasaka Tower and left them with Old Vic to check for backdoors.
• Carl revealed she had acquired Oliver an Ice Storm sniper rifle and picked weapons for Jack and T-BUG, including a Kang Tao A-22-B Super Smart Pistol for T-BUG.
• Carl invited the crew to Old Vic's place to inspect the weapons and cyberware.

Carl and his team visited Old Vic’s clinic to check the weapons and cyberware they had brought back, then discussed Carl’s loss to Adam Smasher. After several fixers sent them jobs, Carl accepted the work and the team set out to keep building their strength.

• Carl and his companions arrived at Old Vic’s clinic, where Old Vic said he had cleared tracking programs from some weapons and checked the new cyberware.
• T-BUG went to inspect the weapons, while Jack and Oliver reviewed the cyberware list and Carl warned them to choose carefully to avoid Cyberpsychosis.
• Carl told the group that he had competed with Adam Smasher at Arasaka Tower and lost badly in clearing efficiency.
• Jack and Oliver encouraged Carl, and Jack vowed that their team would someday defeat Adam Smasher.
• Several fixers sent Carl job offers, and he accepted them and told the team it was time to get to work.

After weeks of nonstop jobs, Carl’s team decided to take a break and learned that V was safe and returning to Night City. The Barker Family had kicked V out after he opposed its new leader’s plan to join Snake Nation, leaving V to start over in the city.

• Carl’s team celebrated finishing a string of jobs and agreed to pause work for a few days.
• Carl, Jack, Oliver, and T-BUG discussed their recent cyberware upgrades and plans to rest and handle repairs.
• Carl told the fixers that the team would not take small jobs during their break, then received a message from V saying he was safe.
• Carl explained that the Barker Family’s new leader planned to join Snake Nation and had thrown V out after V opposed the decision.
• Jack and Oliver reacted with anger and concern, while Carl said V was preparing to make a living in Night City.

Carl asked Blanca about the two cyberware implants she had promised as a mission reward, and she offered him a chance to install Militech’s newly developed experimental Sandevistan. The implant, named Apogee, was available for testing in exchange for additional compensation.

• Carl asked Blanca what grade of cyberware she could obtain through her authority.
• Blanca said she could provide cyberware more advanced than the Falcon Sandevistan and described how she had gained control of Militech’s experimental department.
• Blanca explained that the experimental team had used combat data from James Norris, former trainers, and Carl to develop a new Sandevistan.
• Blanca offered Carl or a teammate additional compensation for installing the implant and providing test data.
• Blanca named the new Sandevistan Apogee.