Chapter Summaries

Arasaka Haruko arrived at the negotiations with Chiyome and recognized Blanca among the New America delegation. After noticing Blanca had caught her looking at Carl, Haruko became certain that she alone could always recognize Carl, leaving Chiyome to sense a change in her mood.

• Kenichi Shiro, Arakawa Michiko, and the cyborg Kenichi Saburo entered the conference hall and took their places.
• Arakawa Haruko arrived with Chiyome and handed her affairs to Maki before entering the hall.
• Haruko noticed Carl and briefly admired her poised appearance.
• Haruko recognized Blanca, who had noticed her looking at Carl, and realized Blanca was now an opponent worth watching.
• Haruko became certain that she would recognize Carl more clearly than anyone else, and Chiyome noticed Haruko's mood shift.

Haruko and Blanca recognized each other’s interest in the same disguised person and avoided drawing attention to him during the meeting. Haruko’s mother, Arakawa Michiko, admired her daughter’s new outfit and guessed that Carl had chosen it for her, while Blanca felt displeased seeing Haruko smile.

• Haruko and Blanca exchanged a knowing look, then discreetly turned away to keep others from noticing whom they were watching.
• Haruko took her seat beside Kenichi Shiro and Sanada, and Arakawa Michiko moved closer to sit beside her daughter.
• Michiko admired Haruko’s white dress and concluded that someone else had chosen it because Haruko was dressing to please him.
• Haruko wondered what had put her mother in such a good mood and worried that Michiko might try to dress her in bizarre clothes.
• Haruko smiled as she thought that Carl had chosen her outfit, and Blanca felt unhappy when she saw the smile.

Blanca compared herself with Arasaka Haruko, then turned her sense of disadvantage into ambition to rise within the changing corporate order and keep Carl close. Hanako Arasaka arrived at the negotiations, followed by Arakawa Sesen, the talks’ central figure.

• Blanca reflected on Haruko’s youth and privilege, then reminded herself of her own advantages and accomplishments.
• Blanca resolved to climb higher through the coming upheaval and vowed not to let Carl escape her.
• Blanca recognized the truth beneath Mingzhi’s disguise and disliked seeing Carl wear an Arasaka face.
• Hanako Arasaka arrived with Oda Sandayu and took a seat beside Arakawa Michiko.
• Arakawa Sesen entered under the protection of Takemura Goro and Adam Smasher.

Arakawa Sesen arrived to lead the talks with New America, accompanied by Adam Smasher and Takemura Goro, while tensions surfaced between Smasher and Kenichi Saburo. Rosalind Myles arrived before the meeting began, with her security detail weakened after the previous night’s plane crash.

• Arakawa Sesen entered with Adam Smasher and Takemura Goro, drawing the New American delegation’s attention.
• Adam Smasher locked eyes with Kenichi Saburo, recalling how Saburo had ended his relationship with Arakawa Michiko.
• Arakawa Sesen asked about Rosalind Myles, and a New American representative said she would arrive shortly.
• Rosalind Myles arrived before the scheduled start, exchanged greetings with Arakawa Sesen, and took her seat as Reid guarded her.

Arakawa Sesen and Rosalind Myles revealed that they had secretly agreed to use the meeting to eliminate their political enemies, leaving Hanako Arasaka in Sesen’s custody. Sesen arranged for Hanako to stay at his North Oak District residence, and she secured permission to bring Akechi as an aide.

• Arakawa Sesen confirmed his secret agreement with Rosalind Myles, and drones and agents sealed the meeting hall.
• Blanca stopped a New America politician from confronting Myles, who accused him of maintaining an overly close relationship with Arasaka’s enemies.
• Hanako challenged Sesen over his decision to remove her, and he told her he intended to protect her rather than imprison her.
• Sesen ordered Hanako to stay at his North Oak District residence and gave her an encrypted chip for direct contact.
• Hanako accepted his arrangement but asked for Akechi as one of her aides, and Sesen agreed.

Carl and Arakawa Sesen discussed her new role supporting his efforts to gradually consolidate control of Arasaka. The conversation ended with Sesen asking whether Carl wanted to rule Arasaka.

• Carl complained that she disliked going to work, while Sesen said his sister trusted her and that only she could do the job.
• Carl warned Sesen that leaving his sister some access to the outside world could lead to trouble, but he trusted his friends to protect him.
• Carl tasted tea grown on Arasaka Tower's cultivation floors and asked whether her job was long-term; Sesen said Akira would take over her daily work.
• Carl noted that Sesen had strengthened his control within Arasaka, and he credited her with helping him.
• Sesen asked Carl whether she was interested in ruling Arasaka.

Arakawa Sesen asked Carl to consider becoming Arasaka’s ruler and revealed that he and Haruko had agreed Carl could inherit the corporation through marriage. Carl refused to promise he would take over if Sesen fell, insisting that someone would step forward to change the world.

• Arakawa Sesen asked Carl whether he wanted to become Arasaka’s Chief Executive Officer, but Carl said he preferred to help rather than lead while Sesen was still there.
• Sesen said Carl’s habit of relying on friends reminded him of the divisions that brought down Spartacus’s uprising.
• Sesen explained that he wanted a backup plan in case anything happened to him and suggested Carl could inherit Arasaka by marrying into the family.
• Sesen revealed that he and Haruko had agreed on the arrangement and said he expected Carl to take over if he fell.
• Carl rejected Sesen’s certainty, saying the world would change and that someone else would step forward even if he fell.

Carl worked late while waiting for Akechi Goro to take over routine maintenance, and discussed Hansen’s uncertain plans for Dogtown with V. Akechi arrived to begin his duties, leaving Carl hopeful that she could spend less time confined to Arasaka Tower.

• Carl told V she had to wait for Akechi to arrive and complete the handover before she could go home.
• V and Carl discussed how the attack on Hanako’s faction could force Hansen to reconsider his alliance, and how he had left Chester Bennett and Gagozab poised to share power.
• Carl ended the call with V after asking him to have Jack make her fries.
• Akechi Goro arrived and told Carl he would handle routine maintenance, while she would still need to manage communications and appear in crucial situations.
• Akechi found Carl’s friendly manner sincere and resolved to work hard to maintain her daily affairs.

Old Hauler reflected on how KK’s influence had improved life in Night City and on the memories tied to the real food he could now afford. As he drove toward the border checkpoint, he found the road clogged with incoming vehicles.

• Old Hauler ate a sandwich made with real luncheon meat and eggs and remembered the hardships of his youth.
• He recalled surviving the Fourth Corporation War and the eviction from North Oak District, as well as his brother’s sacrifice and death.
• Old Hauler reflected on how, since 2075, his connections and work had earned him respect and a better life.
• He credited the changes in Night City to KK, noting that gangs and corporations now faced stronger policing and civilians were safer.
• Old Hauler looked at his reflection, hummed an old tune, and saw a traffic jam on the road to the border checkpoint.

Old Hauler returned to the border checkpoint and witnessed Skinny trying to recruit the disbanded Kus Tribe splinter group into the Aldecaldos. Saul arrived in the Basilisk with KK, whose appearance revealed that the living legend was back in public.

• Old Hauler met the checkpoint commander and learned that the Aldecaldos had been waiting at the border.
• Skinny and the Kus Tribe leader argued over the invitation until Skinny revealed the Aldecaldos had acquired two armored transporters.
• An Aldecaldo showed the Kus Tribe proof of the transporters, and the leader agreed to speak with Saul.
• Skinny told the Kus Tribe that Saul was coming in the Basilisk, and Old Hauler recognized that Saul was helping someone important.
• Saul arrived at the checkpoint in the Basilisk with five battle vehicles, and KK stepped out onto its armor.
• The NCPD officers and Aldecaldos greeted KK, who returned their greeting as the onlookers recognized him.

Carl took a job from Arakawa Sesen to destroy the data and deal with the personnel at a hidden Arasaka base in the Badlands. Saul and the Aldecaldos joined him, hoping to salvage the base’s equipment, as they approached the dunes concealing it.

• Carl accepted a job to eliminate personnel and destroy data at a secret Arasaka outpost tied to Hanako Arasaka’s faction.
• Saul brought twenty Aldecaldos, a Basilisk, and four vehicles to join Carl’s operation and claim equipment from the base.
• Carl realized he had effectively offered the Aldecaldos salvage as payment for their help, and worried that the arrangement resembled a fixer’s trick.
• Saul told Carl the Aldecaldos knew the difference between bait and meat and considered him a friend bringing them a fair opportunity.
• Carl and Saul drove toward the dunes where intelligence placed the hidden Arasaka base.

Carl and the Aldecaldos easily seized an Arasaka secret base and discovered it was a logistics warehouse stocked with outdated weapons and equipment. While reviewing its records, Carl found that the base had once stored nuclear bombs.

• Carl used Hanako Arasaka's access codes to disable the base's defenses, and the Aldecaldos subdued all seven guards.
• Carl and the Aldecaldos searched the base, where Saul and the others celebrated finding large quantities of weapons, armor, and cyberware.
• Carl recognized that the Sandevistans and other equipment were outdated models intended to help Arasaka personnel pass as ordinary mercenaries and soldiers.
• Carl connected to the base's data core and found a record showing that the warehouse had once stored nuclear bombs.

Carl returned from clearing a nearby Arasaka outpost and discussed the nuclear weapon it had once held, then analyzed Hansen’s hold over Songbird with the others. She revealed that Yorinobu had provided cyberware upgrades for Oliver and V, leaving Oliver ready to take on the improved Kerenzikov.

• Oliver learned from Carl that an Arasaka outpost in the Badlands had once stored a low-yield tactical nuclear weapon, which had since been moved.
• Carl said she had cleared only the nearest outpost for Yorinobu, while the group discussed Rosalind Myles’s reasons for remaining in Night City.
• T-BUG and the others reasoned that Hansen might kill Songbird to protect himself and prolong his fragile peace with Myles.
• Carl told Oliver and V that Yorinobu had prepared an improved Kerenzikov for Oliver and a custom Arasaka blade for V.
• Oliver dismissed the strain of the improved Kerenzikov and said he could handle it.

Oliver tested the latest Kerenzikov alongside the Sandevistan, and Carl considered how accelerated neural activity might contribute to Cyberpsychosis. V then told Carl that the City Council planned to restructure the Psycho Squad, leaving them to discuss the return of Night City Police Department management.

• Oliver activated the latest Kerenzikov and Sandevistan, experienced an extraordinary sense of speed, and told Carl it felt like flying.
• Carl reflected that repeated use of the Sandevistan and Kerenzikov could blur a person's sense of self and accelerate the pressures leading to Cyberpsychosis.
• V told Carl that he had adapted quickly to the new Kerenzikov because his previous one had begun to feel sluggish.
• V reported that the City Council planned to remove the Psycho Squad's management and restructure it, with Arasaka and New America pushing to erase Lucius Lane's political legacy.
• Carl inferred that Lucius Lane had angered Arasaka and New America by siding with Militech, and V said Night City Police Department personnel would again manage the Psycho Squad.

Andy took over NCPD management of Psycho Squad as part of a City Council power struggle shaped by Lucius Rhyne’s legacy. He explained that Rhyne had destroyed the old control protocols, leaving Andy with an unstable force to manage, and enlisted Carl, V, and the others to help impose order.

• The chapter explained that the NCPD’s renewed control of Psycho Squad resulted from corporations and City Council factions seeking to prevent another Lucius Rhyne from consolidating power.
• At NCPD Headquarters, Carl compared the political response to Rhyne with efforts to prevent another Roosevelt, while Andy declined to comment as a beneficiary of the decision.
• Carl said the corporations had selected Andy as a compromise candidate because they valued stability and approved of his record and Special Operations Team.
• Andy told Carl, V, and the others that Rhyne had destroyed Psycho Squad’s old control protocols, leaving only incomplete secondary protocols that could weaken cyberpsychotics but not reliably kill them.
• Carl agreed that Andy had invited them to teach the cyberpsychotics to follow rules and recognize their superiors.

Andy and five companions arrived at the Psycho Squad’s base, where he was expected to take command of the out-of-control unit. As they prepared to face roughly seventy members, Carl worried that Johnny’s modified body would not hold up.

• The chapter explained that the Psycho Squad was made up of captured cyberpsychos and remained understaffed because its members rarely survived long.
• The City Council chose Andy to take over the rebellious Psycho Squad, hoping he could restore its usefulness or justify disbanding it.
• Oliver told Andy that people in Santo Domingo feared the Psycho Squad, and Jack added that children across Night City had heard it used as a threat.
• Andy, V, Jack, Oliver, Johnny, and Carl arrived at the Psycho Squad’s base while the rest of Andy’s team secured the perimeter.
• Carl questioned whether Johnny’s modified body could withstand the confrontation, and Johnny insisted he could handle it.

Carl, accompanied by Andy, V, and the others, entered the Municipal Criminal Justice Complex and faced the Psycho Squad, whose members hoped to exploit the political turmoil to regain their privileges. She confronted the armed officers and announced that she was there to lay down the rules.

• The Psycho Squad detected KK's arrival with Carl's group and recognized that the commissioner they feared had come.
• The Psycho Squad members planned to use the chaos to secure greater freedom, better treatment, and a new armory.
• Carl, Andy, V, and the others entered the complex lobby, where armed Psycho Squad officers surrounded them.
• Carl walked into the center of the encirclement and told the silent officers she was there to let them know the rules.

Carl confronted the Psycho Squad and warned its members that they would have to obey Andy as their new special commissioner. He and his allies made their willingness and confidence to kill all seventy-six members unmistakable, leaving the squad afraid to challenge them.

• The Psycho Squad fell silent as Carl explained that its members would have to follow Andy's rules.
• Melissa Rory challenged Carl, saying the new commissioner’s authority was not his concern.
• Carl showed Melissa his Night City Police Department support personnel authorization and reminded her of her earlier warning about officers who tried to control the squad.
• Carl and his allies readied their weapons, and Carl asked which of the seventy-six Psycho Squad members dared to threaten them.
• The Psycho Squad members felt the group’s killing intent and believed Carl and his allies could kill them all.

A Psycho Squad member broke free of his restraints and attacked Carl with a Sandevistan, but V cut him in half before he could land a blow. The remaining Psycho Squad members charged Carl and his companions despite their captain ordering them to stop.

• A Psycho Squad member's Sandevistan limiters came off, and he attacked Carl with a dagger.
• V intercepted the attack and sliced the Psycho Squad member in half with his unnamed blade.
• Several other Psycho Squad members charged Carl and the others, ignoring their captain's orders to stop.

Carl faced twenty-four Psycho Squad members who rebelled against his plan to restrain them, while V, Jack, Johnny, Oliver, and Andy prepared to fight. As Andy mobilized the Special Operations Team, Carl watched the remaining fifty-one Psycho Squad members to see whether they would join the attackers, help, or stay out of it.

• Twenty-four Psycho Squad members charged at Carl rather than accept his rules, and he declared them fired.
• Carl judged that the attackers had lost the discipline and coordination that made the Psycho Squad dangerous.
• Johnny asked V, Jack, and Oliver to watch his back as the group prepared to fight the attackers.
• Oliver and Jack covered Johnny, who relied on his heavy-gunner firepower from behind them.
• Andy ordered the Special Operations Team outside to move while Carl observed the fifty-one Psycho Squad members who had not acted.