Chapter Summaries

Carl and the others debated how to deal with Digital Saburo, who challenged their belief that Johnny was truly Johnny Silverhand. Arakawa Sesen took the device, planning to have Takemura Goro dispose of it, and Digital Saburo realized Takemura would not hesitate to destroy him.

• Carl asked the group how they should deal with Digital Saburo, and Oliver, V, Jack, and Johnny each suggested destroying it themselves.
• Digital Saburo argued that Johnny was no different from an engram, but Johnny and the others said Johnny chose to face the world while Saburo hid and sought control.
• Johnny said an inheritance came from ideals and spirit, not clinging to life or forcing obedience.
• Sesen took the device and said he would leave its disposal to Takemura Goro, whom Digital Saburo expected to treat the engram as not being the real Lord Saburo.
• Sesen shut off the device, stating that it was merely a digital engram, while Digital Saburo understood Takemura would strike without hesitation.

After Arakawa Sesen and Hanako Arasaka’s victory over Arasaka Saburo, Carl received a notice promoting his Akechi Goro identity to head of the Action Department. The new team assignments placed V’s group and Carl’s former subordinates under his authority, leaving Carl to consider whether Sesen was giving him an independent foothold inside Arasaka.

• Oliver suggested celebrating at the Afterlife, and Jack asked David to invite Maine and the others.
• V reassured David that the operation had ended without bloodshed, while Oliver and Johnny joked about confronting Arasaka Saburo again.
• Carl and V discussed how Sesen and Hanako might consolidate control of Arasaka, and Carl noted that whoever acted fastest would determine the outcome.
• Carl received an Arasaka notice promoting Akechi Goro to head of the Action Department.
• Carl saw that V’s group was assigned to Action Team Two and his former subordinates were assigned to the other teams, and he wondered whether Sesen was granting him independent authority within Arasaka.

Carl and the others left Arasaka Tower after killing Arasaka Saburo and met up with Maine’s crew, who had been waiting as backup. As the group headed off to celebrate, Sesen stayed behind to discuss the Arasaka succession with Michiko.

• Maine explained that Carl had hired him under the identity of Akira to stand by and provide support, and David relaxed when his crew arrived.
• Sasha thanked Carl for helping her sister Stella and brother-in-law Bill resolve their trouble in Dogtown and move into the Assistance Division.
• Rebecca admired David’s free guard gear, while Jack told Maine that Arasaka Saburo was dead.
• The crew argued over whether to celebrate at the Afterlife or the Afterlife bar as Carl looked back toward Arasaka Tower.
• Sesen watched Carl’s group depart, then turned to Michiko and said they would discuss the matter of the Arasaka Heir before meeting Hanako.

Arakawa Sesen proposed that Haruko and Carl marry and inherit Arasaka together, making them central to reshaping the corporation and Night City. Haruko overheard the plan and confirmed she supported it, leaving Carl as the one Sesen still needed to persuade.

• Arakawa Sesen told Arakawa Michiko that he wanted Haruko to inherit Arasaka and named Carl as her intended husband and co-heir.
• Arakawa Michiko questioned whether Carl would accept and warned that the Clan Elders and Board of Directors might resist.
• Arakawa Sesen explained that he trusted Carl to shoulder responsibility for changing Arasaka and wanted its factions to remain capable of opposing one another.
• Arakawa Michiko said Haruko would not object to the engagement, and Arakawa Sesen planned to persuade Carl.
• Haruko entered after overhearing their conversation, summarized the marriage and inheritance plan, and declared that there would be no mistakes.

Carl and Oliver intercepted a smuggling van carrying Cyberpsychosis braindance recordings for the Night City Police Department. Carl discovered the shipment contained poor sequels rather than the original recordings, and the guards’ advanced equipment left her puzzled.

• Oliver and Carl waited through the hot night in Santo Domingo for the shipment to arrive.
• Carl confirmed the delivery van was their target using an informant’s sensor signal.
• Oliver and Carl ambushed the van, incapacitated its two occupants and two armed cargo guards, and bound them.
• Carl opened the secured case and verified that its contents were Cyberpsychosis braindance recordings.
• Carl found that the recordings were lousy sequels, then remarked that the guards were qualified to join the Special Operations Team.

Carl discussed her raid on the illegal braindance trade and her refusal to destroy or sell JK’s final work. A news report about a deadly assault on a Biotechnica construction site led her to suspect that the attack was connected to the biological laboratory she had investigated for Mr. Blue Eyes, and his call came through as she wondered why anyone would risk war for its research.

• Carl told Jack that her raid had disrupted Night City’s illegal braindance trade but had not found the goods she wanted.
• Carl explained that she would neither sell nor destroy JK’s final braindance, despite its having been made to slander her.
• A breaking news report announced that armed attackers had inflicted heavy casualties at Biotechnica’s Pacifica construction site.
• Oliver and Jack doubted the NCPD’s suggestion that the dead were homeless laborers, and Carl recognized military-grade equipment among the bodies.
• Carl recalled finding a biological laboratory at the site during a job for Mr. Blue Eyes and questioned why someone had launched such a costly attack to seize its research.
• Mr. Blue Eyes called Carl.

Carl spoke with Mr. Blue Eyes about an assault on a biotechnology genetic research laboratory and agreed to have the KK Squad investigate the unknown force behind it. The mission also gave Carl a chance to decide what to do with the resurrected dodo, the only successful specimen, and she accepted the job.

• Mr. Blue Eyes called Carl after news of the laboratory assault and said the attack had been an accident neither side wanted.
• Carl agreed to discuss business and Mr. Blue Eyes asked the KK Squad to investigate the professionally equipped assault squad.
• Mr. Blue Eyes revealed the laboratory had resurrected a dodo, its only successful specimen, and explained that its research would be difficult to reproduce.
• Carl established that the squad could eliminate the attackers and keep its findings secret, reporting them only to Mr. Blue Eyes.
• Mr. Blue Eyes offered five times the payment for Carl's previous job, with half in advance, and left the dodo's fate to her.
• Carl accepted the job.

Carl, Jack, and Oliver investigated a precisely targeted attack on a Biotechnology construction site and discovered strange glowing residue leading underground. Carl arranged to enter the unstable laboratory ruins with Jack and Oliver, while disguising her investigation as a Special Operations Team member’s recording.

• Carl showed her consultant credentials and led Jack and Oliver past the NCPD cordon into the devastated construction site.
• Carl and Oliver noted that no Biotechnology representatives were present, and Carl suspected the corporation was protecting its other sites and dealing with casualties.
• Carl found unfamiliar glowing residue that formed a trail toward the underground laboratory, and Jack said he had never seen anything like it.
• A Special Operations Team member warned Carl that the collapsed entrance was unstable, but she persuaded him to lend her his action recorder and identification code.
• Carl altered the recorder to conceal her identity, then led Jack and Oliver into the darkness beneath the site.

Carl, Jack, and Oliver explored the ruined underground laboratory and discovered that an experimental creature had escaped its pod. They found themselves surrounded by nine cybernetically enhanced raptors, which attacked as the chapter ended.

• Carl led Jack and Oliver through the demolished laboratory toward its core and spotted a damaged experimental pod.
• Carl examined glowing biological slime and claw marks, then suspected the creature had escaped its pod and might attack intruders.
• Oliver spotted movement in the shadows, and a raptor rushed past the group.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver realized Biotechnica had created raptors enlarged with metallic implants and glowing red eyes.
• Nine raptors surrounded the three mercenaries with synchronized movements, then lunged at them.

Carl, Jack, and Oliver fought the combat-implanted raptors and discovered that destroying their heads shut them down. When the underground ceiling collapsed, they chose to split up and search the ruins for evidence rather than escape immediately.

• Nine raptors attacked Carl, Jack, and Oliver, who spread out after realizing the creatures were not fast enough to corner them.
• Jack killed a raptor by tearing off its head, while Oliver shot another in the chest and found its core.
• Carl explained that the raptors' heads held their surveillance and identification cores, and that headshots could stop them.
• The underground space shook, and the ceiling collapsed, crushing a raptor and burying parts of the laboratory.
• Oliver suggested escaping with the Sandevistan, but Carl insisted they search for traces before the evidence was buried.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver split up and entered the still-collapsing ruins.

After the collapse, Carl survived in a cramped pocket of rubble and investigated evidence that a professional team had killed a Biotechnology security officer with specialized armor-piercing rounds. As tremors began again around her, she recalled Misty's warning to avoid enclosed spaces and looked for a way out.

• Carl sheltered beneath a metal frame during the collapse, then checked herself and found her shoulder slightly dislocated.
• Carl tried contacting Jack and Oliver but received only static, then searched the buried corridor for a way through the debris.
• Carl discovered human blood, armor-piercing bullet holes, and a deformed round that suggested a professional team had attacked someone.
• Carl found a dead Biotechnology elite security officer and reasoned the attackers had taken his weapon to prevent their hacking traces from being exposed.
• Carl heard a familiar tremor, remembered Misty's warning about enclosed spaces, and concluded there were still ways out.

Carl fought an armored Triceratops and two Deinonychus in the ruins, using her weapons and quick thinking to defeat them. Standing on the fallen Triceratops, she wondered whether she could swipe it.

• Carl spotted the armored Triceratops as it burst through the rubble and charged at her.
• Carl slid beneath the Triceratops and wrapped Monomolecular Wire around a weak seam in its neck.
• Two armored Deinonychus ambushed Carl while she attacked the Triceratops.
• Carl broke one Deinonychus's claw, swung above the attacks, and shot both Deinonychus with her gun.
• Carl drove an EMP Knife into the Triceratops's skull, causing it to collapse.
• Carl stood atop the fallen Triceratops and wondered if she could swipe it.

Carl investigated the underground complex and found evidence that the attackers had fought the Triceratops before retreating with data and test subjects. She identified Dogtown as a likely source of the attackers’ mismatched equipment, but had not yet confirmed who they were.

• Carl concluded the attackers likely left records and equipment behind after the Triceratops disrupted their operation.
• Carl found a dead attacker near the ecological park and recovered a bloodied Data Chip from his body.
• Carl decoded fragments of the attackers’ communications, which mentioned breaching the perimeter, encountering a heavy biological defense unit, and retreating with data and test subjects.
• Carl noticed the dead attacker’s weapons and cyberware came from mismatched sources, suggesting they had been deliberately chosen to hide the operatives’ identities.
• Carl ruled out Night City’s largest equipment companies as likely sources and identified Dogtown as a possible origin of the attackers’ gear.

Carl, Oliver, and Jack compared clues from their investigation and suspected that remnants of Ninja Hundred and another professional squad were involved in activity linked to Dogtown. Carl concluded that the King of Dogtown might be the ninjas’ new master, but she doubted why he would target Biotechnica’s experimental subjects despite their existing partnership.

• Carl returned to the surface and gave the operation recorder to a Special Operations Team member.
• Oliver and Jack showed Carl a fragment of a kunai, which they identified as a standard-issue weapon of Ninja Hundred.
• Carl described traces pointing toward Dogtown, and the three investigators considered whether Ninja Hundred remnants and another squad had acted together.
• Carl explained that the fugitive ninjas might reject Yorinobu’s offer of low-ranking security jobs after losing their former status and privileges.
• Oliver suspected that the ninjas had found a new master, and Carl concluded that the King of Dogtown was the likeliest candidate.
• Carl questioned why the King of Dogtown would seize Biotechnica’s experimental subjects despite cooperating with the company.

Carl, Jack, and Oliver reconsidered their investigation after Carl suspected Hansen might be preparing a move against President Myers. They avoided the Dogtown stadium and went to the Comfy Club to meet Hanz, a source of information arranged through Mr. Hands.

• Carl discussed Dogtown’s chaos and Hansen’s priorities with Oliver and Jack while they drove through the district.
• Carl speculated that Myers might soon use extreme measures against Hansen, and that Hansen could already be acting in response.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver agreed to avoid the stadium because asking questions there could alert Hansen’s informants.
• Carl contacted Mr. Hands, who arranged a late meeting at the Comfy Club.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver reached the club and prepared to use the elevator code Hanz had provided.

Carl and the KK Squad met Hanz at the Heavy Hearts club to obtain intelligence about Dogtown, but Hanz proposed a broader partnership instead. Carl accepted Hanz’s offer of support, reasoning that Dogtown belonged to Pacifica and therefore fell within KK’s territory.

• Hanz welcomed Carl, Jack, and Oliver in person and served them Egyptian Spice Tea before discussing business.
• Hanz said money was not enough payment for the intelligence, and Carl rejected the idea of taking on a special job for it.
• Hanz praised KK’s work in Pacifica and proposed partnering with them again over Dogtown.
• Carl accepted Hanz’s offer of support and considered Dogtown part of KK’s territory.

Carl and Hanz uncovered Hansen’s secret deployment of elite Chimera soldiers and suspected it was connected to Biotechnica’s underground laboratory and Hansen’s plan to defeat Rosalind Myers. Hanz asked Carl to have KK guide his operatives as they investigated the deployment’s destinations and schedule.

• Carl decided Dogtown needed to change and agreed to hear Hanz’s intelligence about Hansen.
• Hanz revealed that Hansen had secretly sent at least three tactical squads of veteran soldiers out of Dogtown, bypassing the normal chain of command.
• Carl, Jack, and Oliver connected the soldiers’ covert movements to the mysterious squad and Biotechnica’s underground eco-park laboratory.
• Hanz reported that the last signal pointed near Dogtown’s edge and that the soldiers carried signal jammers and deep geological scanners.
• Carl concluded that Hansen was secretly preparing to defeat Rosalind Myers and asked Hanz for the soldiers’ destinations and timetable.
• Hanz asked Carl to have KK guide three of his operatives as they investigated Hansen’s deployment.

Carl Taylor had risen within Barghest to oversee the Gemini Blue Hotel branch armory, where she reprimanded her subordinates for mishandling grenades. After she ordered three soldiers to move the grenades into isolation, one of them addressed her with an ominous greeting.

• Carl Taylor had become a trusted senior officer in Barghest and was known by the rank Captain.
• Carl entered the branch armory and found her seven subordinates had piled grenades beside RPGs.
• Carl reprimanded the soldiers, singled out three for repeated mistakes, and ordered them to move the grenades into the isolation room.
• After setting down a crate, the three soldiers exchanged glances, and one smiled at Carl and said it was a coincidence.

Carl, Oliver, and Jack searched a Hellhound satellite armory and found a modified Ajax Kinetic Assault Rifle matching the weapon used in the attack on Biotechnica’s underground laboratory. Captain Carl-Taylor’s reaction confirmed the equipment was under higher command, leaving the trio to investigate where the weapons had gone and what Hansen was planning.

• Carl, Oliver, and Jack used Hanz’s planted recruits to isolate the ordinary Hellhound member while Oliver jammed the isolation room’s cameras.
• Carl searched the explosives crates and found an unlabeled crate containing a heavily modified Ajax Kinetic Assault Rifle.
• Carl, Oliver, and Jack compared the rifle’s construction and concluded it matched the weapon seen at Biotechnica’s underground laboratory.
• Captain Carl-Taylor hurriedly claimed the crate was special equipment under higher command, then locked it away.
• Carl, Oliver, and Jack concluded Hansen’s people had used weapons from the armory in the Biotechnica attack and set out to trace the weapons and Hansen’s operations.

Carl, Oliver, and Jack investigated the sub-armory for the missing special weapon while maintaining their cover among Barghest personnel. Carl found a handwritten record pointing to Vault 70, just as Captain Karl Taylor received a call from the colonel.

• Karl Taylor treated his subordinates to lunch and comforted Carl, whom he mistook for a recruit who had made repeated mistakes.
• Carl, Oliver, and Jack discussed how to find the missing weapon without involving Karl, then focused on the armory’s handwritten logs.
• Karl explained that special equipment had to be recorded by hand as well as in the system, revealing that some items had no digital records.
• During the afternoon shipment, Oliver disrupted a camera while Jack and other Hanz operatives blocked the passage, allowing Carl to inspect and memorize the logbook.
• Carl found an entry showing four special modified Ajax assault rifle sets had been sent to Chester Bennett under Kurt Hansen’s authorization, with the destination listed as Vault 70.
• As Carl restored the logbook, Karl received a phone call displaying the name “Colonel.”