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Cyberpunk 2077 brings you into the life of V, a mercenary that gets involved with multiple factions and shady figures of power throughout Night City. In a place like this, full of saints and sinners, you will get involved in a conflict between the Maelstrom gang and a corporate agent from Militech.

Related: Cyberpunk 2077: How To Buy And Upgrade Your Apartment

Most of the main story quests you will do during the beginning of the game probably felt pretty linear, but The Pickup completely changes that. This quest has tons of branching narratives and can be completed in a vast number of ways to trigger a wide variety of different outcomes.

Updated April 26, 2023, by Santi Leguiza: We've overhauled this guide to enhance readability and ensure that all of the information is accurate.

Cyberpunk 2077 The Pickup Main Quest

Dum-Dum receiving V and Jackie in the Maelstrom Base, in Cyberpunk 2077.

"The Pickup" tasks you with heading to the All Foods warehouse in Northside, which is currently occupied by the notorious Maelstrom gang. Your objective here is to retrieve the Flathead, a weird and expensive spider-bot device that Dex DeShawn paid for but has yet to receive.

Before you go to All Foods, though, you'll be given the option to meet with a Militech agent called Meredith Stout. This is optional, meaning you can ignore Stout if you want, but it's important to remember that your decision here will ultimately affect the outcome of the entire quest.

The Pickup - Meet With Stout

Meredith Stout Considering whether to kill V or not, in Cyberpunk 2077.

Once you meet with the paranoid Corpo, she will do an aggressive background check. Any dialog choice will have the same result, with Meredith offering you to pay for the Flathead with a loaded credchip.

The thing is, the credchip has a virus on it, which means you can refuse to take it from her. Whether you refuse or accept the chip, you will still have to negotiate with the Maelstrom gang, and the only difference will be the number of possible outcomes.

Obviously, you have the option to forego meeting with Stout entirely. There are two different routes you can go down here, but both result in the same outcome, with Gilchrist getting promoted while Stout is killed.

The Pickup - Negotiating With Royce

Dum-Dum standing on a couch in Cyberpunk 2077.

Once you enter the Maelstrom base in the abandoned All Foods building, you will watch a tense cutscene while sitting on a couch. Once the Maelstrom boss Royce shows up, different things can happen.

If You Refused The Credchip

If you refuse the credchip, you will have two different possible outcomes.

Choice

Outcome

Shoot Royce

  • If you refused the credchip from Stout and don't want to blow your own Eurodollars, you'll need to shoot Royce, which obviously kicks off a fight against the Maelstrom, and you'll need to battle your way out of All Foods in order to complete the mission. Stout will be promoted, and if you tell her that you want to work together again, you'll be able to visit her in the No-Tell Motel later on, for a romantic encounter.

Buy the Flathead with your own money

  • This option will allow you to finish the mission without having to fight the Maelstrom, meaning you can avoid conflict entirely. Stout will lose her job, and be killed by her own people offscreen, while her rival, Gilchrist, will be promoted in Militech.

If You Accepted The Credchip

While there still are two outcomes here, there are five different avenues you can go down to reach them.

Choice

Outcome

Shoot Royce

Buy the Flathead with Stout's credchip

  • Royce will immediately notice that the chip has a virus on it and you will need to fight the Maelstrom. Unlike the violent encounter mentioned above, however, Royce will still be alive, and he's a very tough boss, so if you accepted the credchip from Stout, I'd be pretty wary of using it.

Buy the Flathead with your own money

  • Weirdly enough, this isn't the same as buying the Flathead with your own money if you refused to take Stout's chip. Essentially, if you take the chip and don't use it or shoot Royce, you will end up needing to face off against Militech with the Maelstrom as your allies, and Militech will bring two mechs to the fight, but Royce and Dum Dum will take them down easily.

Buy the Flathead with Stout's credchip but tell Royce about the virus

  • This has the exact same outcome as buying the Flathead with your own money.

Buy the Flathead with a cracked version of Stout's credchip

  • You can do this regardless of the lifepath you choose, but the choice will only be made obvious for Corpos. Going into the inventory and choosing to crack the chip will remove the virus, meaning you can use a legit credchip to purchase the Flathead from Royce. Doing this triggers the Militech conflict encounter, like the previous two options.

Saving Brick From All Foods

In the Northern corner of the warehouse on your map, Brick will be locked behind a door, left here since Royce took over. Luckily getting through the door is pretty simple - just scan the terminal to the left of the door, and use the Remote Deactivation hack option, which will quickly shut down the lock and open up the door.

If you haven't specced into hacking abilities, you can still get Brick out. There's a computer in the next room with the code to get the door open - 9691. Next, you will need to either disarm the laser mine itself or if you return to the room where you found the door code, you will be able to also find a detonator that you can disarm.

Of course, you could also kill Brick by detonating the mine yourself, or just leave him to wallow in his cell until the surviving Maelstrom members take pity on him. Your choice.

Next: Cyberpunk 2077 Complete Guide And Walkthrough