Introduction
“The Pickup” is one of the first major branching missions in Cyberpunk 2077, offering multiple ways to complete the objective and setting the tone for the game’s emphasis on player choice and consequence. It introduces the player to Night City’s dangerous gang dynamics, corporate interference, and the subtle art of negotiation when bullets could fly at any moment.
This mission follows “The Ride” and is directly tied to the job being organized by fixer Dexter DeShawn.
Mission Objective
Dex wants V and Jackie to acquire a Flathead, a high-end military-grade combat bot needed for an upcoming heist. The problem? The bot is currently in the hands of the Maelstrom gang, a violent and heavily cyber-modified group operating out of an abandoned factory. They originally agreed to sell the Flathead to a man named Meredith Stout of Militech, a megacorporation — but since then, the gang has undergone a leadership change, and the deal is in question.
Your job: retrieve the Flathead, by any means necessary.
First Decision: Meet With Militech?
Before heading to the Maelstrom hideout, V has the option to meet with Meredith Stout, a Militech agent desperate to recover the stolen bot. This optional meeting introduces a corporate twist to the mission and opens a new path forward.
Stout offers a Militech credit chip loaded with infected eddies (money laced with a virus). She wants you to use it to pay Maelstrom, which would allow Militech to track and punish them. How you use (or avoid using) this chip will significantly alter how the mission plays out.
The Maelstrom Encounter
The main action takes place at All Foods, an industrial complex taken over by Maelstrom. Inside, V and Jackie meet with Royce, the gang’s new, unstable leader. How the conversation unfolds depends on your earlier choices and dialogue options.
There are three primary ways to resolve the situation:
1. Pay With Your Own Money
If you choose to pay Royce directly with your own eddies (around 10,000), the exchange goes smoothly — no firefight, no betrayal.
2. Use Meredith Stout’s Chip
If you hand over the virus-infected Militech chip without removing the malware, Royce eventually realizes the trick and turns hostile. This leads to a gunfight with the entire gang. Alternatively, if you hack and clean the chip before using it, the transaction might proceed without violence.
3. Refuse to Pay or Intimidate Royce
You can also reject any deal and try to take the Flathead by force or intimidate Royce, which almost always leads to a full-blown shootout.
Optional Boss Fight: Royce
In most combat outcomes, you’ll face Royce in a mini-boss battle. He’s heavily armored and uses advanced cyberware, requiring good aim and quick movement to defeat.
Outcomes and Consequences
Depending on your choices, several things can happen:
- Militech Raid: If you used Stout’s chip, Militech forces may storm the factory during or after the firefight.
- Royce Survives or Dies: You can kill Royce or let him live, which may influence minor events later in the game.
- Stout’s Role Changes: If you sided with her, she may become a contact. If you didn’t trust her, a different Militech agent (Anthony Gilchrist) might take her place in future references.
This mission is one of the earliest examples of how Cyberpunk 2077 allows for multiple valid approaches to a single objective — diplomacy, stealth, hacking, or brute force — each with its own branching outcomes.
Conclusion
“The Pickup” is a standout early mission in Cyberpunk 2077 because it encapsulates the game’s core values: freedom of choice, high-risk negotiation, and morally ambiguous outcomes. Whether you walk away with the bot quietly or leave a burning warehouse behind you, the mission ensures that your decisions carry weight — narratively and mechanically.
It also firmly places V into Night City’s brutal ecosystem, where corporations, gangs, and mercenaries all play dirty to survive.