Chapter Summaries

Maine and David killed an Arasaka Security captain in the cave, but Maine lost his left arm in the fight. David helped Maine toward the rubble opening to seek treatment, and Maine judged that even the captain’s strength was far from enough to defeat them.

• Maine sacrificed his left arm to block the captain’s Mantis Blades, then slammed his armored forehead into the captain’s unprotected face.
• David shot the captain in the face and killed him while the man staggered backward.
• Maine praised David for saving his life, and David apologized for freezing up and causing Maine’s injury.
• Maine reassured David, comparing his lost arm to another teammate’s loss of both hands, and David injected a hemostatic agent into Maine’s shoulder.
• David supported Maine toward the opening in the rubble, and Maine recognized the dead captain’s rank before thinking their strength was still far from enough.

Adam Smasher arrived on the battlefield as Arasaka’s reinforcement and began attacking Militech’s force. As Militech’s vehicles exploded and its soldiers panicked, one soldier fired at a shadow and aimed at his comrade.

• Ten minutes after Arasaka went to war with Militech, Adam Smasher arrived aboard an unmanned aerodyne, shocking both sides.
• Adam Smasher leaped from the aerodyne as Arasaka’s section chief ordered his men to retreat and Militech ordered its soldiers to fire.
• Militech’s armored vehicles unleashed machine-gun fire, but the bullets failed to penetrate Adam Smasher’s steel body.
• Adam Smasher vanished after landing, then destroyed Militech’s armored vehicles in a series of explosions.
• A terrified Militech soldier fired his Ajax kinetic rifle at a passing shadow, aiming at his comrade.

Carl and her team found Maine’s location and descended on the cave, where Arasaka personnel had gathered after defeating the remaining Militech forces. The Counterintelligence chief recognized V among Carl’s companions and realized the former Arasaka Second Operations Squad captain was with her group.

• Oliver questioned why Adam Smasher had personally come to the battle, while Carl described his strange but still rational mindset.
• T-BUG located Maine after he opened access to his location, and Carl’s team recognized the coordinates as the cave where they had previously rescued a Militech engineer.
• Carl jumped from the AV and landed before Arasaka personnel, who dropped their weapons rather than risk fighting her.
• Jack, Oliver, and the others followed Carl down from the AV, and the Counterintelligence chief recognized V as the captain of Arasaka’s Second Operations Squad.

Carl’s group recovered Maine and David after Arasaka Security withdrew, then helped Maine summon Trauma Team for treatment. As Adam Smasher arrived seeking a fight with Carl, Carl and his companions prepared to face him.

• Carl stopped the Arasaka Security personnel from leaving until they retrieved their weapons, and they fled after collecting them.
• Carl’s group entered the cave, cleared the rubble with T-BUG’s help, and found Maine and David.
• Carl gave Maine the chip he had requested, and Maine used his Gold membership to summon Trauma Team.
• Maine told Carl and the others that Faraday had betrayed his crew, then Trauma Team took him away for treatment.
• Adam Smasher arrived, and Carl accused him of using his authority to track Carl’s communications and confront him.
• Carl drew his Monomolecular Wire as V, Oliver, and Jack readied themselves, and he challenged Adam Smasher to fight.

Jack, V, Carl, and Oliver fought Adam Smasher after he unleashed his rockets, while Oliver pulled David out of the blast zone. The battle continued with V and Carl drawing Adam Smasher’s attention, and Jack ended the chapter firing his charged shotgun at him.

• Jack threw David away from the battlefield, and Oliver used his Sandevistan to carry him farther from the rockets’ blast.
• Adam Smasher launched all his rockets at Carl and his companions, then blocked V’s Thermal Katana strike and kicked at him.
• V used Monomolecular Wire to force Adam Smasher to turn aside, avoided his kick, and pulled the Thermal Katana from his arm to slash his face and shoulder.
• Adam Smasher lashed out at V and Carl, forcing them back, as Jack arrived with his charged Sadala Tech Double-Barrel Shotgun.
• Jack fired steel flechettes at Adam Smasher and reminded him that another fighter remained.

Adam Smasher unleashed his full arsenal against Carl's team, then targeted Carl with a crushing melee attack. Carl dodged his first blow with her modified legs, but Adam Smasher immediately closed in to strike again.

• Adam Smasher activated his Berserk system and used his Armor Regeneration Matrix to repair damage to his body.
• Adam Smasher fired a missile at Jack and swept V and Carl with his shoulder guns, forcing them to evade.
• Adam Smasher used his jump boosters to rush Carl and swing both fists down at her.
• Carl used her Reinforced Tendons to dodge the blow, but the shockwave and flying dirt battered her.
• Adam Smasher closed in as Carl lowered her hands and swung an iron-hard fist toward her.

Carl used forced control over his Reinforced Tendons to evade Adam Smasher’s seemingly unavoidable punch, then struck Adam with a Monomolecular Wire and disabled his left eye. He named his new ability Absolute Control and moved in to continue the fight.

• With no time to dodge Adam Smasher’s incoming punch normally, Carl hacked his own Reinforced Tendons and forced them to stop supporting his legs.
• Carl collapsed into a half-crouch to evade the punch, reclaimed control of his legs, and moved beside Adam Smasher.
• Carl lashed Adam Smasher’s left eye with a Monomolecular Wire, shutting it down and sending an electrical current into his brain.
• Adam Smasher attacked Carl while his shoulder guns kept V and Jack at bay, but Carl stepped back and avoided his sweeping arm.
• Adam Smasher asked Carl what he had done, and Carl called it Absolute Control before vanishing forward with a knife concealed beneath his palm.

Carl used an EMP Knife and Monomolecular Wire to blind and disable Adam Smasher, while T-BUG hacked his cybernetics. Oliver took aim from a distant slope and fired a Kitsune Sniper Rifle at Adam Smasher's head.

• Carl activated his EMP Knife, slowing Adam Smasher and embedding the knife in his chest.
• Carl pulled out the knife and struck Adam Smasher's right eye with Monomolecular Wire, blinding him and creating a data link for T-BUG.
• T-BUG used the opening to hack Adam Smasher's cybernetics and trigger Movement Blocked.
• Oliver praised T-BUG, aimed his Kitsune Sniper Rifle at the immobilized Adam Smasher, and fired at his head.

Carl's team wounded Adam Smasher but withdrew rather than risk a deadly counterattack. Adam Smasher let Carl escape, and the battle ended with the two anticipating a future one-on-one fight.

• Oliver's Tungsten Nail Round pierced Adam Smasher's outer skull but struck a second layer of protection over his brain.
• Carl judged that Adam Smasher could still kill several teammates and ordered Jack, V, Oliver, and David to retreat to their aerodyne.
• Adam Smasher asked why Carl had not attacked, and Carl said he feared Smasher would take him or his companions down with him.
• Carl promised to face Adam Smasher alone in the future and vanished as he withdrew.
• Adam Smasher chose not to pursue Carl, thinking of Morgan Blackhand and comparing Carl and Haruko to figures from his past.

After surviving their fight with Adam Smasher, Carl and the others discussed the battle and learned Maine was recovering, though he might need a prosthetic arm. They planned to connect Maine’s Crew with Old Captain as they prepared to deal with Faraday for betraying them.

• David excitedly praised Oliver, Jack, Carl, and V for nearly killing Adam Smasher and regretted not recording their battle.
• T-BUG revealed that she knew Oliver watched braindances because his virus-infected purchases repeatedly caused minor intrusions into his room.
• David told Oliver and Jack that Maine was recovering and might need a prosthetic arm, and Jack offered to buy him a drink.
• David said Maine’s Crew would deal with Faraday, who had sold them out, while Carl and the others decided not to intervene directly.
• Oliver offered to give Maine Old Captain’s contact information to help Maine’s Crew.

Carl and his companions learned that recordings of their fight with Adam Smasher had spread across Night City, making them famous and turning the footage into a popular braindance. The chapter ended with Carl discovering the braindance’s overblown title and cursing its dead director.

• Old Captain greeted Carl and his companions at the Afterlife Bar as the Night City Dragon Squad and told them the city knew about their fight with Adam Smasher.
• Carl worked out that Arasaka operatives had recorded the battle and sold copies of the footage to a braindance producer.
• Old Captain explained that the producer was killed after the recordings leaked, and the braindance spread throughout Night City amid gang disputes and shootouts.
• Carl asked Old Captain to send him a copy of the braindance, and Old Captain sent him a delivery form.
• Carl read the braindance’s extravagant title and learned that its dead director had named it, then cursed the director.

Carl met Rogue at the Afterlife Bar and received an assassination contract aimed at the NCPD’s new commissioner. Rogue explained that the commissioner had switched his allegiance from Arasaka to the Lazarus Group, and Carl identified Lazarus as the likely force behind the job.

• Rogue told Carl that the Afterlife was celebrating her team’s encounter with Adam Smasher, while Carl downplayed their escape.
• Rogue explained that people seeking to target Arasaka had begun looking to Carl’s team as a replacement for Morgan Blackhand.
• Rogue sent Carl an unusually lucrative assassination contract and asked her to complete it within a few days.
• Carl read that the target was the NCPD’s new commissioner, whose policies benefited private security companies and gangs.
• Rogue revealed that the commissioner had left Arasaka’s favor for a new patron, and Carl connected him to the Lazarus Group.

Carl’s team discussed how to assassinate the NCPD commissioner without exposing themselves or triggering the Psycho Squad, then chose a close-range approach and had T-BUG investigate him. T-BUG quickly found a detailed personnel file, including the commissioner’s unusual sexual preference.

• Oliver warned that killing the NCPD commissioner would bring a much more serious investigation than killing a gang leader, while T-BUG explained why corporations would avoid doing it themselves.
• Carl and Jack discussed how the commissioner’s death could create room for Mr. Johnson to gain authority, and the team agreed to take the job for its pay.
• Oliver considered a long-range shot but rejected using his Kitsune Sniper Rifle because it could be traced and would make a poor frame-up.
• Carl argued that a street assassination could bring in the Psycho Squad, so the team decided to kill the commissioner at close range instead.
• T-BUG hacked the NCPD database and found the commissioner’s detailed records in two minutes, including his reptile fetish.

Carl and his companions prepared to assassinate the NCPD commissioner and chose separate ways to travel discreetly. As Carl considered how to get to Charter Hill, Blanca messaged him that she had returned to Night City and wanted to meet.

• Jack and Oliver suggested using Delamain's armed taxis to travel separately, and Carl considered signing up for a membership.
• V told Carl he would contact Regina, find a gang hideout, clear it out, and take a car and scapegoat along.
• Carl watched V contact Regina and wondered how he would reach the commissioner's home in Charter Hill.
• Blanca messaged Carl that she was back in Night City and asked to meet.

Carl rode with Blanca to Charter Hill and arranged a place to hide if her next job drew the authorities. During the drive, Carl considered whether Militech and Arasaka could ever unite, then set the idea aside as Blanca dropped her off.

• Blanca picked Carl up in her Herrera Outlaw GTS, and they caught up while discussing Blanca’s home in Charter Hill.
• Carl asked Blanca to leave her an address so she could hide there if her identity-concealing job attracted the authorities.
• Blanca offered to protect Carl from the Night City Police Department and Psycho Squad, explaining that Militech had influence over them.
• Carl considered whether factions within Militech and Arasaka might cooperate and form a combined corporation.
• Blanca reached the nighttime street, and Carl asked to be dropped between two flower beds.

Carl infiltrated the luxury apartment building where the NCPD commissioner lived while coordinating with his team and messaging Mr. Johnson. After Carl sent Johnson his location, Johnson recognized the address and ordered a squad to move out.

• Carl slipped through Charter Hill and entered the commissioner's apartment building by manipulating its surveillance camera.
• T-BUG explained that the upper floors had identity verification doors and said Oliver, Jack, and V were already handling their parts of the operation.
• Carl messaged Mr. Johnson, teased him about Andy's rank, and said Johnson could start considering his power-grabbing plans.
• Carl sent Mr. Johnson his current address, and Johnson recognized the location, grabbed his jacket, and ordered his squad to move out.

Carl and his crew infiltrated the empty twenty-first floor and broke through the commissioner’s security to reach him while he was immersed in a braindance. The chapter ended as Carl’s group confronted the NCPD commissioner and a bullet left a gun’s chamber.

• Carl learned that the NCPD commissioner had forced the twenty-first-floor resident to abandon the apartment and planned to use it for guards.
• Carl climbed the stairs while Jack and Oliver crawled through a dusty vent, and V arrived by elevator with a captive.
• Jack and Oliver argued about their vent route before the group regrouped and headed for the commissioner.
• Carl’s group bypassed the commissioner’s reinforced door, machine guns, and proximity mines without delay.
• The commissioner woke from his braindance when the security alarm sounded, saw a gun barrel through the opening door, and a bullet fired.

After the newly appointed NCPD director was found murdered, Carl, Jack, and Oliver stayed at the scene while Mr. Johnson and his team handled the investigation. Johnson said Andy would be promoted to captain and lead a new special response team as the Deputy Director prepared to take over the department.

• News Channel 54 reported that the newly appointed NCPD director had been murdered at his private residence, with Captain Johnson leading the investigation.
• Carl ate the director’s food at the crime scene while Jack and Oliver returned from the bathroom, and Johnson told them to behave like assistants.
• Oliver asked for a spare NCPD uniform, and Andy brought uniforms for him and Jack.
• Johnson told Andy that the team would credit him with arresting the director’s killer, paving the way for Andy to become a police captain and lead a new special response team.
• Johnson explained that the Deputy Director was expected to become director and wanted to replace the Psycho Squad’s influence with his own people.

Carl waited while her crew helped set up the scene, exchanged messages with contacts, and learned that Arakawa Michiko would return to Night City the day after tomorrow. The chapter left Carl preparing to honor her agreement with Haruko when Haruko's mother arrived.

• Carl received the rest of her payment from Rogue and waited as Jack, Oliver, and the others handled their work.
• Maine told Carl that Faraday had fled Night City after Maine's Crew confronted his men.
• Carl deduced that Old Captain had frightened Faraday into fleeing and told Maine to wait for news.
• Old Captain informed Maine that Faraday had fled toward Dogtown, and Maine set out after him.
• Carl replied to messages from Jade and several fixers while keeping in touch with her contacts.
• Haruko told Carl that Arakawa Michiko would return to Night City the day after tomorrow and asked whether Carl remembered their agreement.

Carl and Takemura Maki drove to Haruko’s North Oak residence so Carl could accompany her as a friend when she met her mother, Arakawa Michiko. They arrived amid heavy Arasaka security, where Carl recognized Kenichi Shiro at the gate.

• Carl met Maki outside her Megabuilding, and they set off together in a Herrera Outlaw GTS.
• Maki recalled how Michiko’s distinctive fashions had repeatedly inspired new trends, while Carl wondered if people followed them because of Michiko’s status.
• The two discussed Michiko’s achievements and traveled to the North Oak District, where Arasaka drones and security personnel guarded the route to Haruko’s residence.
• An Arasaka guard stepped in front of their car to inspect it, and Carl recognized him as Kenichi Shiro.