Chapter Summaries

David and Lucy entered the Badlands race alongside Maine, surviving a violent start and several armed attacks on the road. As David’s Mackinaw neared an enemy armored vehicle, Legend joined the race in a heavily modified pickup truck.

• David and Maine prepared to race, and Lucy warned David they would only take part in the first leg.
• Gunfire and a missile started the race, and David and Maine sped onto the road as a Viper was destroyed.
• David and Rebecca evaded a machine-gun attack from a Heavy-Mod Crowd member, while Maine forced an out-of-control vehicle into a ditch.
• David used the Sandevistan as high-explosive armor-piercing rounds destroyed an Emperor Ragnar, and he narrowly kept control of his car after a landmine exploded beside it.
• Legend charged onto the road in a Heavy Pickup Truck and entered the race.

The Legend Mackinaw chased down the Badlands Track contestants while Lier assessed their weapons and Jackie fired back. After surviving a direct hit from an Anvil-2 missile, the Mackinaw left the contestants racing to escape it.

• The Legend Mackinaw slid around mines, rammed a Colby Mule into them, and survived a barrage of weapons from the other contestants.
• David watched the Mackinaw charge across the Badlands as Lucy struggled to help in the fast-moving fight.
• Jackie pushed the Mackinaw past its safe speed limit while Mano explained that it was still adapting.
• Lier identified three Anvil-2 missiles carried by a Columbus truck belonging to the Midnight Sudden Death gang, and Jackie fired at the gang members.
• The missiles struck the Mackinaw despite its active defenses, but it emerged from the smoke with only slightly blackened armor, prompting the contestants to accelerate.

Militech and President Rosalind Myers investigated the Legend Mackinaw after it survived an Anvil-2 missile strike. The Legend’s crew continued the race, destroying a rival vehicle as the surviving driver wondered whether the contest was really over.

• President Rosalind Myers ordered Stout to uncover every detail of the Legend Mackinaw’s defense system, and Stout joined a Militech task force to investigate it.
• The Legend’s AI disrupted the Anvil-2 missile with an active-defense projectile and maneuvered the vehicle’s armor to deflect the blast, though the impact damaged its electromagnetic locking module and suspension.
• V and Jackie recovered from the violent impact, while Lier warned them to watch for snipers from Midnight Sudden Death.
• Jackie fired the Legend’s autocannon at a pursuing Mackinaw, and the blasts sent it crashing into a roadside ditch.
• The Legend caught up with the Colby Mule and destroyed it with two autocannon rounds, leaving its surviving opponents shocked.
• The crashed Mackinaw’s driver looked toward the darkening sky and said the race might not be over.

Lier, Jackie, and V drove the Legend Mackinaw through a sandstorm as mines and wrecks turned the race into a close-range fight. The chapter ended with Legend striking a car and both vehicles hitting a land mine and launching into the air.

• V asked MaiMai to open a firing window and shot at a pursuing sniper, striking the window frame beside him.
• A sandstorm swept across the road, and a sniper's shot damaged Legend's machine-gun stabilizer and aiming system.
• Lier ordered MaiMai to recall the Drones, activate the Sensor and recording system, and switch to special driving mode.
• A burning car tumbled toward Legend, which was then shaken by the impact as Lier urged the others to rely on instinct.
• Legend rammed a car ahead, and Lier called to Jackie as both vehicles hit a land mine and leapt into the air.

Lier sent Jackie and V after the Blood and Tears gang members planting mines, while the Legendary Mackinaw endured repeated blasts. Jackie and V attacked the gang’s vehicle and vanished into the sandstorm as the Mackinaw moved to overtake them.

• A land mine launched the Legendary Mackinaw, and V killed two Blood and Tears gang members who tried to grab its hood.
• The Mackinaw struck another mine, damaging its chassis and suspension as Lier warned that more mines lay ahead.
• Lier told Jackie and V to use the motorcycles to pursue the mine planters in a Thorton Colby Vulture.
• The Vulture’s crew celebrated their advantage, unaware that Jackie and V were approaching through the storm.
• Jackie and V attacked the Vulture from their motorcycles, killing its crew before turning aside and disappearing into the sandstorm.

V and Jackie attacked armed vehicles during the sandstorm as Stanley’s broadcast turned the deadly race into a weapons showcase. The Legendary Mackinaw emerged first from the storm, broke through Militech’s defensive line with help from Nomads, and left Stanley wondering whether anyone else had survived.

• V and Jackie ambushed a Colby Mule, killing its occupants before an explosion destroyed it.
• Jackie planted a land mine in an Emperor Ragnar, which exploded after its driver was killed.
• V and Jackie disabled a Columbus, sending it rolling onto a land mine.
• The Legendary Mackinaw destroyed another armored vehicle with its machine cannon as commentators advertised weapons and equipment.
• The Mackinaw burst out of the sandstorm, survived Militech’s rocket fire, and crossed the defensive line while Nomads attacked the troops.
• Stanley asked over the radio whether the Mackinaw had been the only vehicle to make it through.

Lier and the Aldecaldos evaded Militech and bypassed a Maelstrom ambush, but another group blocked the route into Night City. As Lier chose to detour, he asked V to handle a troublesome job.

• The Aldecaldos used EMP drones to disable Militech's pursuing vehicles and escape.
• Maelstrom members waited in an abandoned town, but an unidentified man killed the card players and lookout while watching the Signal Tower.
• Peter Feldheimer sent messages saying he knew why Holt had made a deal with Arasaka and called out to Moon Command.
• Lier's group bypassed the town, then encountered camouflaged attackers who blocked the overpass and may have planted mines.
• Lier decided to keep detouring and told V he needed her to handle a troublesome job.

V used the Afterburner Thunder Rider to cross a minefield and attack the Mercenaries’ barricade, while Lier and MaiMai helped her control the bike’s trajectory. She landed after a seemingly impossible midair maneuver and stopped beside the guardrail.

• Mercenaries prepared to stop the Legend Mackinaw with chained trucks, land mines, and an Electromagnetic Cannon operated by a full-body Cyberware user.
• De'ao and the burly gunner saw V approach on a Motorcycle instead of the Mackinaw and realized she was crossing the pressure-activated minefield at extreme speed.
• V rode the explosions’ shock waves across the minefield as the Mercenaries struggled to aim at her.
• V fired an RPG-7 toward the gunner, while Lier used his Sandevistan to send his Computing Power to MaiMai and assist her calculations.
• V’s Motorcycle spun through the air, slowed sharply, landed on both wheels, and skidded into the guardrail.
• Lier shouted that V’s stunt was badass.

Lier and V’s crew smashed through a mercenary ambush with the Mackinaw’s autocannon and missiles, while V was left dazed by the extreme maneuver. After the crew escaped, V recovered and lunged at Lier in anger.

• Lier watched V’s risky maneuver succeed and praised Jackie as the Mackinaw charged through the roadblocks.
• The vehicle’s autocannon and miniature missiles destroyed the ambush, killing the mercenary captain and his heavily cybered friend.
• The Mackinaw rolled over the captain and used its Octopus Arms to retrieve the damaged Electromagnetic Cannon and other parts.
• V remained dazed beside the smoking vehicle, and Lier checked her condition before Jackie packed her and the Motorcycle into the car.
• Little Octopus checked V as the vehicle drove off, and V recovered enough to lunge at Lier and threaten to strangle him.

A Sixth Street ambush destroyed a heavily armored car, but its occupants survived and began striking back. The Sergeant gathered battlefield data and prepared his recruits to move as Burger King headed toward the marked vehicles.

• A mercenary crew raced through dark Colorado the Farm before the Sergeant’s forces ambushed them with gunfire, a rocket, and an anti-vehicle mine.
• The car broke apart in the explosion, but its occupants survived, and one of them shot a sniper in the head.
• The Sergeant injected the dying sniper with a Tyger Claws drug, connected a Personal Link, and read the man’s Battlefield Recorder data.
• The Sergeant reported that 48 vehicles had been spotted, 37 had broken down, and many survivors were high-tech; Burger King replied that he was on his way.
• The recruit identified as Adan Pound asked the Sergeant to question him about what it felt like to be an A, and the Sergeant told him to steady his gun and prepare to move.

Lier and his crew cleared out the remaining racers in Colorado the Farm, using the Mackinaw’s armor-piercing rounds against heavily cyberized opponents. The last opponent’s tampered Samson cyberware detonated after Lier triggered its cooling-system backdoor, and the Mackinaw braced for the blast.

• Lier examined the broken EMG-85 and sent V and Jackie the plan to clear the remaining enemies.
• Lier drove the Mackinaw through Colorado the Farm and used its armor-piercing rounds to kill the cyberpsychos and other racers who resisted or tried to flee.
• Jackie hesitated to shoot a kneeling opponent, while Lier identified the Samson full-body cyberware as tampered with and revealed its cooling-system backdoor.
• Lier used Little Octopus’s remote-control devices to disable the man’s cooling system, causing his Samson cyberware to overheat and explode.
• MaiMai reported the incoming impact as the Mackinaw switched to explosion-defense mode.

Lier’s crew survived the explosion that destroyed Samson and pursued the Sixth Street gang members who had escaped. Sergeant helped kill a pursuing cyborg and ended the chapter trapped in a wrecked car, arguing with Adan as the Legend Mackinaw urged him to keep moving.

• Lier estimated the blast from Samson’s destruction and told Jackie to strip Tie Chui for ammunition.
• Sergeant fled in a damaged Colby C125 while a heavily cybernetic woman chased the car across rooftops.
• The woman overturned the Colby, but Jackie and the others attacked her with an Achilles Tech Rifle and RPGs.
• Sergeant shot the downed woman in the head with his Tech Revolver, killing her.
• MaiMai honked for Sergeant to keep up, while Adan mistook Sergeant’s blood for his own and begged for drugs.

Muramasa analyzed Lier’s formidable vehicle and concluded that a Rogue AI powered its electromagnetic armor system. It devised a plan to disable that system with a pulse gun, and Masamune proposed blowing up a bridge in Santo Domingo to begin the attack.

• Muramasa marveled at Lier’s vehicle, which combined advanced technology, a dormant Powered Armor, motorcycles, and a skilled three-person team.
• Muramasa and Masamune discussed how human society had lost its creativity and relied on salvaged tools rather than understanding or inventing technology.
• Muramasa analyzed the vehicle’s armor and concluded that its force-dispersal system relied on electromagnetic controls directed by a Rogue AI.
• Muramasa reasoned that a pulse gun could exploit a brief gap in the Faraday cage to disable the electromagnetic targeting system, leaving the armor vulnerable to armor-piercing weapons.
• Masamune said Santo Domingo had been cleared out and suggested blowing up the bridge, and Muramasa agreed to start.

As Lier’s Mackinaw approached Heywood, attackers destroyed the bridges linking it to Santo Domingo, forcing the race toward a dangerous jump. Sixth Street built a ramp on the burning overpass, and the Mackinaw drove backward toward it as the chapter ended.

• Samson cyberware brutes charged into a building and exploded, while viewers focused on the autocannon mounted on the Mackinaw.
• Thornton Corporation went silent after being hacked, and Network Watch agents began cleaning up the battlefield and investigating the combatants and weapons.
• Lier reached the bridge to Heywood as the Sergeant followed in another Mackinaw, recovering from injuries caused by a 15 mm Cyborg weapon.
• Two Quadra Type-66 cars waited across the bridge, and explosions tore gaps into every road connecting Santo Domingo to Heywood.
• Sixth Street members carried heavy planks onto the overpass and built a ramp for the Legend Mackinaw to attempt a 43-meter jump.
• The Mackinaw drove onto the ramp and then headed in the opposite direction.

Lier attempted to cross the broken bridge in the Legend Mackinaw while Jackie, V, and Night City viewers watched. The overloaded Electrostatic Adhesion System let the truck escape the collapsing bridge and launch off the road.

• Sergeant’s crew reinforced the ramp with armor plates and cars as the bridge continued to shake.
• Lier turned the Mackinaw around and accelerated to over 350 kilometers per hour toward the ramp.
• The Mackinaw struck the ramp and jumped across the 43-meter gap as another explosion made the far end of the bridge sag.
• The truck landed on the tilting bridge, but its Electrostatic Adhesion System overloaded and kept it from sliding off.
• The bridge collapsed behind the Mackinaw as Lier drove upward and launched off the road.

Lier and his companions launched the Mackinaw off the collapsing overpass and crushed one of the mercenaries’ Quadra Type-66s. As the truck was hit by the other car, Hi-Hammer attacked it with a rocket-powered hammer.

• The three mercenaries prepared to escape in their Quadra Type-66s as the Mackinaw roared toward them.
• The collapsing bridge launched the Mackinaw down the slope, and MaiMai steered it onto a Quadra Type-66, crushing the car and its occupants.
• Jackie recalled pulling a plane, and V praised Lier’s driving before MaiMai reported that her electronic control platform was overloaded.
• The other Quadra slammed into the Mackinaw, while the surviving mercenary Alpha leapt onto its roof with a rocket-powered hammer.
• Power Dance Company’s Hi-Hammer struck the Mackinaw’s armor with a devastating blow.

Jackie and the giant-hammer man fought after the Legend Mackinaw escaped their initial collision, while Night City’s broadcasts and streets erupted into chaos. Jackie killed his opponent and returned to the Mackinaw, which continued toward the race’s main stage.

• Hi-Hammer struck the Legend Mackinaw at over 800 kilometers per hour, but MaiMai activated the escape program and the vehicle slipped away as the giant-hammer man crashed to the ground.
• Night City’s live broadcasts were hijacked by IEC salesmen promoting the Alpha Enhanced, and explosions spread across the city.
• The Skill Shard activated and the giant-hammer man swung Hi-Hammer at Jackie as Jackie leaped from the Mackinaw to counterattack.
• Jackie dodged the hammer and the man’s sweeping kick, then fired the remaining rounds in his Scorching Knuckles and finished him with a point-blank blast.
• Hi-Hammer smashed into a Quadra Type-66, and Jackie returned to the Legend Mackinaw as it drove toward the race’s main stage.

Lier, V, Jackie, and MaiMai assessed the damage from their fight as the Mackinaw drove into Heywood. The vehicle was hit by a wave of human bombers, leaving the crew caught in a massive bombing attack.

• Lier repaired the Mackinaw while warning that the powerful hammer blow had badly damaged its systems.
• Jackie praised the hammer wielder's toughness, and Lier explained the risks of using such a weapon in close combat.
• MaiMai spotted an attack from above as the Mackinaw entered Heywood.
• A poor father watched his cybernetically augmented son break through a window and jump out wearing a device labeled "Midnight Sudden Death."
• People leaped from nearby buildings and detonated around the Mackinaw, setting off explosions across the street.

Lier, Jackie, and V were caught in a coordinated ambush that combined suicide bombings with an electromagnetic pulse attack, disabling the Mackinaw’s electronic armor system. After Jackie and Lier helped the vehicle fight off pursuing motorcyclists, an Anvil-2 rocket targeted the opening in its rear cargo compartment, leaving the crew in danger.

• Suicide bombers damaged the Mackinaw’s armor while the Brain Maggot Gang’s hidden pulse guns struck it with an electromagnetic attack.
• The EMP disabled the Mackinaw’s electronics, and Lier began rebooting MaiMai while telling Jackie and V to unlock the armor and prepare for a chase.
• Motorcyclists attacked the Mackinaw, and Jackie used armor plates and a detached Tie Chui-30 barrel to fight them while V took cover.
• MaiMai came back online, and the Mackinaw rammed one motorcycle as its Mantis Blades and Octopus Arm helped defeat the remaining attackers.
• An Anvil-2 rocket launched toward the opening in the Mackinaw’s rear cargo compartment, and the damaged active-defense system failed to stop it.

Jackie, V, and MaiMai fought their way through a crowded street ambush, with Jackie using Kronium armor plates to survive an anti-tank missile and V attacking pursuers. The battle escalated when an armored Mackinaw rammed their Legend Mackinaw while towing a Powered Armor armed with a Plasma Cannon.

• Jackie used the XS-1 Powered Armor to hold Kronium plates as a shield and survived an anti-tank missile strike.
• Caseless rounds pierced a sports car’s front armor and wounded its driver, while the driver realized the Valentinos had blocked their escape routes.
• V tore into the sports car, threw a corpse into a pursuing vehicle, and leaped clear as the cars crashed; Jackie threw the Afterburner Thunder Rider, and MaiMai caught V after she landed.
• MaiMai spotted rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles in a nearby apartment building, and V used the motorcycle’s thrusters and Silk Shooter to enter it.
• An armored Mackinaw collided with the Legend Mackinaw, and Jackie saw that it was towing a Powered Armor equipped with a Plasma Cannon.