Chapter Summaries

Carl fought off an Arasaka combat squad using a monomolecular wire, an EMP knife, and a laser grenade. After defeating them, he discovered their bodies combined Biotechnica technology with machinery and flesh.

• The Arasaka combat squad killed an agent and opened fire on Carl, who dodged their shots and drew The Final Night.
• The squad split into two groups to encircle Carl, and he threw a knife into the lead fighter on the right while attacking the five enemies on the left.
• Carl used a monomolecular wire to kill one attacker, then hurled the severed head to make the others blink as the knife's EMP disabled five combatants.
• Carl threw a modified fragmentation grenade that carved the four remaining attackers on the left into pieces with cutting lasers.
• Carl noticed that the combat squad captain's cybernetic eyes recovered unusually quickly, then killed him and examined the body, confirming it combined Biotechnica technology with machinery and flesh.

Carl met Kenichi Shiro on a rooftop after climbing up an elevator shaft to escape an attack, then gave him a note and described a symbol linking the stolen items to Steel Dragons and Arakawa Sesen’s faction. She asked to borrow his Rayfield AV to pick up V in the Badlands, and Kenichi agreed.

• Carl told Kenichi Shiro that attackers had blown up the elevator and that she had climbed the shaft to reach the rooftop.
• Carl gave Kenichi Shiro the only paper she had recovered and described the Rhomboid Wood Block, bird statue, and markings.
• Kenichi identified the pattern with the Steel Dragons, leading Carl to connect the attack to Arakawa Sesen’s faction.
• Kenichi put away the note and prepared to return to Arasaka Tower to investigate it.
• Carl asked to borrow Kenichi’s Rayfield Durandal to pick up V in the Badlands, and Kenichi lent it to her for ten days.

Carl, Jack, and Oliver flew out of Night City in Kenichi Shiro’s hovercar to search for V, while T-BUG joined by voice through BallBall. The chapter left them hurtling upward and then accelerating wildly under Oliver’s control.

• Oliver and Jack admired the view from the open hovercar door as Carl checked the route to V’s last known location.
• Carl offered Oliver a chance to try manual control, and Jack activated the hovercar’s assisted controls.
• Oliver connected to the control system and shut the door by thought, while T-BUG asked him to accelerate toward their destination.
• Oliver accidentally sent the hovercar climbing rapidly, then accelerated at high speed, pinning Carl and Jack in their seats.

V searched an abandoned town for food and car parts after his vehicle broke down and he lost contact with Carl and the others. When Maelstrom members arrived to scavenge, V killed one and attacked the two inside a house.

• V found his car broken down near an abandoned town and decided to search for supplies while waiting for Carl and the others.
• V found cereal in an old store and returned it when he heard a vehicle approaching.
• V recognized the arriving group as Maelstrom and watched nine members split up to search the town.
• V sneaked up on a Wraith and killed him without making a sound.
• V entered the house where two Wraiths were searching, and his Copperhead began to hiss before they could react.

Oliver, Jack, and Carl searched for V in the Badlands and followed his trail to a town where he was fighting Maelstrom members. They rescued him with the hovercar, and V reunited with his friends as his gloom over leaving the clan began to fade.

• Oliver, Jack, and Carl reached V’s last known location but found only his parked Viper and footprints leading toward a distant town.
• Oliver identified the footprints as V’s, and the group heard gunfire from the direction he had gone.
• The friends flew to the town and saw V fighting Maelstrom members.
• Jack fired from the hovercar and killed the Maelstrom members below.
• Carl greeted V, and he reunited with his friends as they came over to him.

V learned that his self-built car could be dismantled and carried to Night City in Carl’s hovercar, while Carl wondered what might happen in the city within ten days. In Night City, Faraday offered Maine a risky job tied to the Cyber-Adamant and tempted him with the promise of fame.

• V told Carl and the others that his car had an engine problem, and Jack proposed dismantling it and transporting its usable parts to Night City.
• Oliver offered to introduce V to a parts-shop owner, and Carl said the borrowed hovercar could carry the parts.
• As the hovercar descended, Carl considered Kenichi Shiro’s insistence that it be returned within ten days.
• Faraday called Maine and asked whether he remembered the Cyber-Adamant job he had received from Carl.
• Maine recognized the danger of another mission involving Arasaka but hesitated when Faraday promised that success could make him famous across Night City.
• After Faraday ended the call, Maine realized the offer was a trap but wondered whether he could give up the chance to become a legend.

Carl learned that Kenichi Shiro had given her the aerodyne and proposed that the team live together on the apartment building’s top two floors. T-BUG and V agreed to join the move, and the group secured the floors and rooftop landing pad for a manageable rent.

• Kenichi Shiro told Carl to keep the aerodyne and suggested she buy the top-floor apartment for easier access.
• Carl told Jack and Oliver about the aerodyne, and Oliver proposed renting both top floors as the team’s shared home and landing area.
• Carl invited T-BUG to move in, and T-BUG agreed after weighing the cost and security benefits.
• V agreed to join the move because he valued staying with his friends and saw the two floors as a tribal camp.
• The team cancelled the next month’s room renewals and arranged to rent the top two floors and landing pad for thirty thousand eurodollars a month.

Carl's team visited Viktor's clinic to install cyberware for V, Jack, and Carl. Viktor discovered that V had exceptionally high cyberware compatibility, matching only one other person in Night City, and V realized that person was Carl.

• Carl's team arrived at Viktor's clinic to collect Militech cyberware and arrange installations for V, Jack, and Carl.
• Viktor examined V and found that his cyberware was crude and old but not seriously faulty.
• Viktor discovered that V had exceptionally high cyberware compatibility, allowing him to install cyberware with little risk of rejection.
• Viktor said only one other person in Night City had compatibility like V's and glanced meaningfully at Carl.
• V understood that Carl was the other person with exceptional cyberware compatibility.

After getting new cyberware, Carl and V moved from their fourth-floor apartment to the top floor, where Jack, Oliver, and T-BUG were preparing their future home. Carl stepped onto the top-floor carpet, beginning a new chapter of their life in Night City.

• V carried crates for Carl as she packed, despite her new Reinforced Tendons making her legs feel stronger and lighter.
• Carl recalled that her Reinforced Tendons could enable double jumps and planned to learn the technique with braindances.
• Carl checked on V after he installed a Kerenzikov, Smart Link, and Militech Sandevistan, warning him to report any discomfort and return to Old Vic if needed.
• Carl and V left their fourth-floor apartment and rode the elevator upward toward their new home.
• Jack, Oliver, and T-BUG welcomed Carl and V at the top floor, where they had arrived early to prepare the space.

Carl’s team returned to work, and after choosing a small job for V, they discovered it involved an illicit braindance collection featuring a surgically altered lookalike of Carl. The chapter left them preparing to deal with the chop shop behind it.

• Old Captain called Carl to ask him to save future jobs for the team, and Carl agreed.
• Carl fielded calls from several fixers while V prepared a Badlands-style breakfast of grilled pork skewers.
• Carl shared the available jobs with the team, and the members let V choose his first official assignment.
• V chose Father’s job to destroy a braindance chop shop, and Carl accepted it after the team raised no objections.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver read the job details and learned that the chop shop was pirating a Cyberpsychosis Carl collection using a surgically altered lookalike.

Carl and his companions headed for an illegal braindance workshop that had used his likeness in explicit recordings. On the way, a truck ambushed a sedan, but a bomb suddenly exploded in the truck and sent flames surging toward the Hella.

• Carl, V, Jack, and Oliver learned that nine former Scavengers were producing pirated Black Braindances using Carl’s face and planned to raid their workshop in Heywood.
• T-BUG revealed that the workshop’s bestseller was a pirated braindance from the James Norris job and promised to trace the footage’s source after the raid.
• Oliver saw a truck ram a sedan and block the road, then he and Jack bet whether the armed attackers wanted a person or cargo.
• The attackers forced a suited person into the truck and took something from the sedan, leaving Oliver and Jack to conclude that both had been targeted.
• Oliver spotted a blinking red light in the truck’s cargo compartment and warned everyone before a bomb exploded and flames surged toward the Hella.
• Oliver activated his Sandevistan as the fire swept toward the car.

After a roadside explosion, V salvaged weapons and a fireproof storage box from the wreckage. Carl opened the box and found an undamaged chip inside, leaving the group to discover what it contained.

• Oliver, Jack, Carl, and V carried Hera into a passageway to protect it from the explosion.
• A hostage’s hidden bomb exploded, destroying the hijacked truck and setting the road ablaze.
• V rushed through the flames using the Sandevistan and recovered several guns and a metal object.
• Carl identified the object as a KENDACHI storage box designed to withstand explosions, fire, and water.
• Carl pried open the warped box and found an intact chip inside.

Carl and his team finished a job against former Scavengers illegally recording braindances, while Carl remained curious about an unknown chip. They reunited with Andy, who had helped dismantle a trafficking operation with Mr. Johnson, and Carl left him with a warning to become a good inside man.

• Carl and V discussed the unknown chip, and Carl decided to wait until they could examine it with equipment.
• Jack confirmed the job was done, and Carl praised V for taking out seven enemies during V’s first official team job.
• Mr. Johnson arrived with Andy, who explained that he had killed four people involved in trafficking and sunk their leader in the river.
• Andy said Wakako had helped cover their tracks, and Carl told Andy to work as his inside man and help bring down Mr. Johnson if he became commissioner.
• Mr. Johnson noticed V had joined Carl’s team and told Andy to follow him into the building and get used to the work.

Carl and the crew cracked a chip containing KENDACHI manufacturing templates for four weapons, but they lacked the equipment to make them. They agreed to seek a buyer who could provide finished samples, and Carl contacted Kenichi Shiro.

• T-BUG cracked the chip and revealed that its defensive ICE was designed to destroy the data if someone breached it.
• V and the others discovered the chip held templates for a Neurotoxin Knife, an Electric Katana, a Serrated Katana, and a Thermal Katana.
• V and Oliver wanted weapons made from the templates, but Carl pointed out that they lacked specialized manufacturing equipment.
• T-BUG suggested selling the chip in exchange for finished weapon samples, and Carl agreed after the team voted.
• Carl called Kenichi Shiro, the only contact he knew at the Japanese company.

Carl met Kenichi Shiro to discuss blueprints for four melee weapons, but he commissioned her team to investigate the death of a subordinate and recover a missing note. The business card he gave her directed the team to the missing security personnel, and Carl found the word “Clouds” written on its back.

• Kenichi Shiro gave Carl his subordinate’s business card and told her to contact the subordinate about minor matters in the future.
• Kenichi Shiro explained that his people had recovered six Rhomboid Wood Blocks, but the sixth contained no note and a loyal subordinate died while transporting it.
• Kenichi Shiro hired Carl’s mercenary team to investigate the missing security personnel and retrieve the note or its contents.
• Carl read the location written on the back of the business card and saw the word “Clouds.”

Carl’s team prepared to investigate Cloudtop, the Tiger Claws-controlled sex doll club in Megabuilding H8. Oliver and V arrived in Japantown with BallBall, ready to infiltrate while T-BUG provided remote support.

• Carl recalled that Andy’s sister had been abducted by the Tiger Claws and trafficked to Cloudtop, and doubted the club had changed since Andy’s slaughter.
• The team chose Oliver and V to pose as customers because Carl and Jack were too recognizable, while T-BUG needed to provide support remotely.
• Oliver assured the nervous V that he had experience, and T-BUG teased him about his lack of real sex doll club visits.
• T-BUG instructed Oliver and V to take BallBall to Cloudtop’s floor so she could hack the local network, control the cameras, and alter their visitor records.
• Oliver asked T-BUG to find an easy target to knock out and block activity around the room so they could investigate secretly.
• The team’s Rayfield Hera arrived beneath Megabuilding H8, where Cloudtop occupied the twelfth floor.

Oliver and V entered Clouds and used T-BUG’s access to disguise their identities during the venue’s guest verification. After confirming their safewords, they prepared to be matched with dolls.

• Oliver and V reached the Clouds reception desk, where the blue-haired receptionist asked them to connect to the identity-verification terminal.
• V noticed a camera and a small spherical object behind them while Oliver distracted the receptionist with flirtation.
• T-BUG took control of the local network and disguised Oliver and V’s identities as the receptionist checked their profiles.
• The receptionist saw Oliver’s profile as wealthy young master Quinn and V’s as his hired bodyguard.
• Oliver explained safewords to the confused V, then chose “Sniper” while V chose “Sun.”

Oliver and V entered Clouds under cover, where the matching system paired Oliver with Sky Blue and V with two dolls, including Evelyn. V chose Evelyn so T-BUG could use his access to reach the VIP area's local network, while Jack and Carl moved into position nearby.

• The Clouds matching system paired Oliver with Sky Blue and gave V two matches, Blue Sky and Evelyn.
• T-BUG explained that V's unusual scan results had nearly matched him with a third doll, Angel, who was a man.
• The receptionist described Evelyn as Clouds' elite attendant, and T-BUG told V to choose her because the VIP area was near the manager's office network.
• V paid for Evelyn, surrendered the weapons he could not bring inside, and headed to the second-floor VIP area.
• Oliver stayed at the bar chatting with the receptionist while Jack and Carl reported that they had reached the stairwell and were ready.

V tried to keep Evelyn occupied while T-BUG faked the VIP room’s camera feed. Evelyn’s seduction nearly distracted him, but he subdued her as soon as T-BUG finished.

• T-BUG warned V about the hidden cameras and told him to stall Evelyn while she created a fake feed.
• Evelyn approached V with a flirtatious manner, then shifted to a tender, vulnerable act when he remained indifferent.
• V struggled to keep stalling as Evelyn’s performance nearly won him over.
• T-BUG announced that the fake feed was ready, and V grabbed Evelyn by the neck and subdued her.

Carl's crew searched Clouds for former Arasaka Security personnel while Oliver and V infiltrated the management area by different routes. V reached the neighboring room using his Sandevistan, but learned he still had more of the difficult exterior climb ahead.

• Carl and Jack reported that they had cleared the upper and lower floors, while T-BUG found no trace of the missing security personnel in the accessible camera feeds.
• Carl reasoned that the conflict was likely Arasaka infighting rather than Militech spies fleeing into Tiger Claws territory.
• T-BUG opened a ventilation duct for Oliver and directed him to crawl toward the second-floor VIP area.
• V climbed along Clouds' exterior despite his nervousness, slipped, and used his Sandevistan to reach an open window in the neighboring room.
• T-BUG told V that he had only completed the first short section and needed to continue climbing toward the management area.