Chapter Summaries

Blanca arrived at Carl’s Christmas gathering with a copy of Don Quixote, and the party’s guests included several prominent Night City figures. After Oliver and Jack returned, Takemura Maki arrived as another of Carl’s final guests.

• Blanca gave Carl a copy of Don Quixote, and he happily accepted the gift.
• Blanca surveyed the gathering, recognized Kerry Eurodyne and other notable guests, and went to speak with Mrs. Welles.
• David realized he had forgotten to bring a gift and felt he had let Carl and the others down.
• Oliver returned with his sister, Jack came back with alcohol, and Takemura Maki arrived at the gathering.

Maki arrived at Carl’s gathering with the Christmas cake she had made and recognized David, embarrassing him by mentioning his braindance work. A landing request interrupted the conversation, and Carl let an aerodyne land; the guests recognized it as a Rayfield Excalibur.

• Maki greeted Carl and brought the Christmas cake she had promised to make.
• Blanca observed Maki and considered her appearance unremarkable.
• Maki recognized David as a former Arasaka Academy student and mentioned his braindance business, embarrassing him in front of the guests.
• A notification announced that an aerodyne had requested landing clearance, and Carl approved it.
• The guests watched the aerodyne approach and recognized it as a Rayfield Excalibur.

Arasaka Haruko arrived at Carl’s Christmas gathering with her bodyguard, Chiyome, shocking the guests and especially Blanca. After formally introducing herself, Haruko joined the others at the table, sitting beside Mrs. Welles and Blanca as they prepared to eat.

• Maine and Jade watched a Rayfield Excalibur dock on the rooftop and wondered who had arrived.
• Haruko descended from the rooftop with her bodyguard, Chiyome, and the guests recognized her as an Arasaka heiress.
• Blanca felt that Haruko had noticed her, while the other guests hesitated over how to greet someone of Haruko’s status.
• Maki broke the awkwardness by telling Haruko that everyone was waiting to eat the cake.
• Mrs. Welles welcomed Haruko and offered her a seat; Haruko praised her fries and sat beside her and Blanca.

At a Christmas dinner, Blanca and Arasaka Haruko recognized each other as rivals for Carl’s affection, and Blanca resolved not to lose the life she had found in the sunlight. The two women left their intentions unspoken while Carl and Maki shared the remaining cake.

• Blanca studied Haruko’s appearance and gentle attention toward Carl, then recognized her as a threat and recalled her determination to never return to the darkness of her childhood.
• Blanca considered Militech CEO Lucas Harford and the possibility of rising to power outside the Arasaka Family.
• Maki served Blanca and Haruko Christmas cake, and Blanca introduced herself to Haruko as Carl’s friend.
• Haruko called herself Carl’s friend too, and both women understood that they had their own intentions toward him.
• Carl and Maki teased each other while dividing the last two pieces of cake.

After a holiday break, Carl returned to the Afterlife Bar and caught up with Claire and Maine while considering new work. Rogue approached him with a job meant for him alone, leaving him to ask what it involved.

• Carl listened to Night City's news at the Afterlife and ordered fried chicken bites after Claire explained Rogue had expanded the bar's food offerings.
• Claire told Carl that Jack and Oliver had helped save her other half's racing career and that the city's new champion had come from their circle.
• Maine arrived to look for work and told Carl he had spent several days recovering after drinking too much at Carl's place.
• Carl told Maine that the others were working temporary jobs for the Night City Police Department, and Maine asked him to recommend him for the work.
• Rogue approached Carl and said she had a job for him alone, prompting him to ask her to explain it properly.

Rogue hired Carl to publicly teach Maelstrom boss Brick a lesson for stealing her cargo, killing its transport crew, and ignoring her warning. Carl accepted the job’s terms and negotiated payment, while refusing Rogue’s expensive life insurance.

• Rogue gave Carl a data chip containing the job details in full view of the Afterlife.
• Carl learned that Rogue wanted him to humiliate Brick and restore her reputation, not kill him or spark a prolonged conflict with Maelstrom.
• Carl pretended the solo mission was too difficult and asked whether he could kill Brick, but Rogue explained why Brick needed to remain alive.
• Carl agreed to discuss payment, and Rogue offered him life insurance that he rejected as a bad deal.

Carl took Rogue’s private gig to teach Maelstrom boss Brick a lesson and asked T-BUG to locate the gang’s base. After dinner with the squad, Arakawa Sesen received a transmission that brought him closer to finding what his biological father had hidden.

• Carl asked T-BUG to find Maelstrom’s base and layout, and T-BUG agreed to help by the next morning in exchange for a proper meal.
• Oliver offered to provide cover for Carl, but she said she only planned to teach Brick a lesson, not kill him.
• Jack and V discussed Maelstrom hijacking Rogue’s cargo, and V revealed that he and Panam were together.
• Carl advised Jack to tell Misty before taking jobs, and the squad joked about Oliver’s claim that no job could stump them.
• Arakawa Sesen received a transmission that helped him continue his search for the thing his biological father had hidden.

Carl went to the All Foods Factory to take a job against Brick's Maelstrom group, but found the site strangely unguarded. After hearing gunfire inside, she cut through the shutter and took control of the factory's defensive autocannon.

• Carl recalled her history fighting Maelstrom and accepted a job targeting Brick's group despite the gang's dangerous reputation.
• Carl traveled to the All Foods Factory in Watson District, where Brick's group had been operating and producing synthetic food.
• Carl found no signs of surveillance or guards around the factory entrance and wondered whether T-BUG's information was wrong.
• Carl heard gunfire deep inside the factory and cut an opening through the steel shutter with her Monomolecular Wire.
• The factory's defensive Autocannon turned toward Carl, but she took control of it and entered the building.

Royce led a surprise attack to overthrow Brick as Maelstrom’s boss, defeating Brick’s loyalists and capturing him. As Royce prepared to take control, KK appeared at the All Foods Factory and asked whether the fighting was over.

• Brick fought back against Royce’s surprise attack and regretted not acting on Ellis Carter’s warning sooner.
• Royce explained that he had sent Maelstrom squads away to attack transport convoys so they could not reinforce Brick.
• Brick’s outnumbered fighters fell until Royce’s men captured Brick and the netrunners disabled his cyberware.
• KK watched the battle from a steel beam, then spoke to the surviving Maelstrom members.
• Royce recognized KK and forced out his name.

Carl entered Maelstrom’s factory to carry out Rogue’s job against its boss, after Maelstrom members interfered with Rogue’s cargo. Royce, caught between denying his new position and facing Carl, declared himself boss and opened fire on her.

• Carl jumped into the middle of Maelstrom’s encirclement and asked the gang to admire its insignia.
• Carl said Rogue had hired her to teach Brick a lesson for interfering with Rogue’s cargo, but she would target Royce if he had become Maelstrom’s new boss.
• Royce realized the Maelstrom teams he had sent to ambush transport convoys had damaged Rogue’s reputation and caused her to hire Carl.
• Carl waited for Royce to say whether he was Maelstrom’s boss, prepared to attack either him or Brick.
• Royce declared, “I’m the boss!” and fired at Carl.

Carl used Monomolecular Wire and a Laser Cutting Grenade to kill Maelstrom attackers, then dodged gunfire by landing on a factory beam. He spotted Royce retreating and began running along the beam to stop him.

• Maelstrom members charged Carl while Royce fired at him.
• Carl dodged Royce’s bullet, killed attackers with Monomolecular Wire, and set off a Laser Cutting Grenade.
• The remaining Maelstrom members aimed at Carl as he hung in the air.
• Carl spotted Brick being held by Royce’s men and Royce moving toward the rear.
• Carl used a steel crossbeam to evade the gunfire and ran along it.

Carl pursued Royce through Maelstrom’s factory, where Royce connected himself to a Centaur exoskeleton and challenged Carl to a duel. Royce destroyed the entrance to keep his men out, and Carl drew his Kenshin pistol as they prepared to fight.

• Carl threw his remaining grenades at Maelstrom members while pursuing Royce through the factory.
• Royce reached a Centaur exoskeleton and connected himself to it as Carl watched nearby.
• Carl hacked an automatic Autocannon to hold off the Maelstrom members chasing him.
• Royce challenged Carl and fired a charged blast that destroyed the Autocannon and collapsed the entrance.
• Carl drew his Kenshin pistol, confident he could defeat Royce before Maelstrom broke through.

Carl fought Royce in the factory and killed him before realizing Rogue had only asked him to teach the Maelstrom leader a lesson. He was left staring at Royce’s corpse, wondering whether the dead man could still be saved.

• Carl fired Qianxin at Royce, but Royce blocked the bullets with a shield on his exoskeleton.
• Royce fired his charge gun at Carl, but Carl dodged the beam with ease.
• Carl moved behind Royce and shot him under the jaw, killing him instantly.
• Carl realized he had acted too quickly and accidentally killed Royce, despite Rogue’s request not to kill him.

Carl killed Royce and took control of the situation at Maelstrom’s warehouse, then broke Brick’s leg to complete her mission for Rogue. After sending Rogue proof, she asked Brick to show her the Militech equipment Maelstrom had hijacked.

• Carl shot seven Maelstrom members who rushed at her after Royce’s death, leaving the rest too frightened to move.
• Carl ordered Maelstrom members to bring Brick to her and asked whether he still wanted to be the boss.
• Brick insisted he had always been Maelstrom’s boss and said his people would recognize him now that Royce was dead.
• Carl told Brick the mission was to teach Maelstrom’s boss a lesson, then broke his already injured leg again.
• Carl sent Rogue a photo of Brick with a thumbs-up, helped Brick up, and asked to see Maelstrom’s hijacked Militech equipment.

After helping Brick defeat Royce and the rebellion, Carl accepted Brick’s offer to take goods from Maelstrom’s warehouse. He chose the Flathead combat robot, despite the risk that Militech might trace its stolen shipment to him.

• Brick thanked Carl for helping him and promised to keep Maelstrom away from his territory, while Carl warned that he would kill Brick if they became enemies.
• Brick offered Carl anything from Maelstrom’s warehouse as payment for saving his life and settling the internal rebellion.
• Carl inspected the Militech goods and recognized their connection to Meredith Stout’s missing shipments and Blanca’s plans to replace her.
• Carl opened a crate and learned that it contained Flathead, a modified Militech prototype combat robot.
• Carl chose to take Flathead, and Brick warned him that Militech was tracking the shipment.
• Carl said he would watch out for Militech.

Carl and the KK Squad prepared to take Netrunner Oversight’s covert-assault job against the Voodoo Boys, deciding to modify the Flathead before heading to Pacifica. Meanwhile, Arakawa Sesen watched a hidden laboratory in the Ogasawara Islands as his tracking neared its end.

• V tested the Flathead while Oliver and Jack watched, but T-BUG dismissed it as unnecessary beside BallBall.
• Carl received Netrunner Oversight’s message that the Voodoo Boys job was ready and shared it with the squad.
• Jack proposed servicing their cyberware at Old Vic the next day and going to Pacifica the day after, and Carl agreed.
• V volunteered to modify the Flathead for combat support and planned to weaken its neural synchronization system.
• Arakawa Sesen watched the hidden Arakawa laboratory from a submarine and believed he was close to obtaining the real thing.

Netrunner Oversight briefed Carl and the KK Squad on the Voodoo Boys and asked them to locate the gang’s hidden leaders in Pacifica. After identifying a church on Sloan Street as a likely gathering place, Carl agreed to investigate discreetly and strike before the leaders could escape.

• Netrunner Oversight explained that the Voodoo Boys were a Haitian gang skilled in netrunning and that they had explored the Blackwall.
• Netrunner Oversight showed the KK Squad an aerial view of Serenity Bible Church on Sloan Street, and V recognized the location.
• Jack described the church’s nightclub-like interior, while Carl suggested the Voodoo Boys used Christian appearances to conceal their beliefs amid prejudice.
• Carl concluded that the church was a likely gathering place and that the squad should begin its search there.
• Netrunner Oversight explained that he could not trace the Voodoo Boys in cyberspace and had hired the KK Squad to find and attack their leaders in the real world.
• Carl accepted the job to locate the Voodoo Boys’ trail and deal with their leaders before they escaped.

Carl and KK Squad devised a plan to pose as mercenaries seeking work from the Voodoo Boys so they could locate the gang’s secret base. With Maine’s Crew away on a trip to the moon, the squad borrowed their identities, leaving V to disguise himself as Lucy.

• T-BUG explained that the Voodoo Boys hired mercenaries as Disposable Pawns and suggested using that practice to infiltrate them.
• Carl proposed posing as famous mercenaries, and Maine’s Crew agreed to let the squad use their identities while they were away on a moon trip.
• Carl disguised himself as David, while Jack and Oliver chose Maine and Pillar.
• V realized Lucy was the only remaining identity and agreed to disguise himself as her.

Carl’s team prepared to infiltrate the Voodoo Boys by posing as Maine’s Crew and enlisted Mr. Hands to arrange a job. Mr. Hands secured them a meeting at Serenity Bible Church, where they would contact the Voodoo Boys the next morning.

• Carl’s team disguised themselves as Maine’s Crew and altered their NCPD movement records to withstand scrutiny.
• Carl and V chose Mr. Hands as their intermediary instead of Dexter DeShawn.
• Carl told Mr. Hands that the Voodoo Boys would be eliminated and promised to kill anyone who knew Mr. Hands had arranged the introduction.
• Mr. Hands agreed to help, provided every Voodoo Boy who knew of his involvement died.
• Mr. Hands arranged for the team to meet the Voodoo Boys’ contact at Serenity Bible Church on Sloan Street at seven the next morning.

Jack and his crew entered the Quiet Bible Church disguised as Maine, David, Pillar, and Lucy to meet the Voodoo Boys about a job. Their contact sent them to a butcher shop, where Placide waited after confirming their identities.

• Jack led the disguised crew into the church, where a hooded Voodoo Boys contact approached them.
• The contact directed Jack and the others to a butcher shop and told them to ask for Placide.
• After the crew left, the contact reported that Maine, David, Pillar, and Lucy had arrived, with the rest of the crew likely standing by.
• Placide lowered his phone inside the butcher shop, beside a bloodied chopping block and a pointed knife.