Cyberpunk: Edgerunners- Why did Kiwi betray her crew?

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners features many fascinating characters, most of which are of Maine’s crew of mercenaries. In the world of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, brawns and weapons aren’t going to cut the mark, and that’s where netrunners come into play. Netrunners are defined as ingenious hackers who possess a cybernetically augmented interface system implanted into their bodies.

In Maine’s crew, Lucy and Kiwi were the only two netrunners, but the latter was more efficient and experienced. Kiwi being a team player, helped her crew achieve the common goal with her abilities and watched everyone’s six. However, by helping Faraday, she betrayed her entire crew, and fans are still baffled at why she turned against her people.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

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Money wasn’t the only thing that made Kiwi sell her crew out in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

Kiwi was one of the longest-running members of Maine’s crew, who played an essential role by contributing her netrunner abilities to accomplish the group’s task. Though she mostly appeared taciturn and aloof, she watched the backs of all the crewmates. Kiwi’s betrayal by joining hands with Faraday came as a shock to every Cyberpunk: Edgerunners fanatic.

Even Bartosz Sztybor, Jan Bartkowicz, and Łukasz Ludkowski, the story writers of Edgerunners, haven’t revealed the actual cause behind Kiwi’s actions. However, looking at some of the essential aspects of the storyline, the exact cause of her betrayal would look obvious.

As Maine was the head of the team, each member looked up to him, including Kiwi. Everything went downhill for the latter when the former almost killed her with his early stages of going Cyberpsycho. After Maine and Dorio’s death, Kiwi became a little hostile to her group.

Later, David being appointed as the new leader caused Kiwi to think about her own safety following in Maine's footsteps, and he also got chromed up. David became more volatile than Maine because he received multiple augmentations on top of possessing Sandevistan, putting him at risk of going Cyberpsycho any second.

Kiwi could’ve abandoned her crew, but that simply would have gained her nothing. She joined hands with Faraday to help him catch Lucy, and successfully managed to lead David, Rebecca, and Falco to a pre-planned deathtrap. However, they managed to escape efficiently.

In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, it was apparent that Kiwi once cared for Lucy a lot, and she often explained to her never to trust a single soul in Night City because everyone turns on each other at some point. She never planned to double-cross Lucy, as she often used to give her heads-up stating that she shouldn’t trust others blindly.

Kiwi eventually realized she had made a big mistake after witnessing her entire crew fall apart. As she didn’t hold exceptional combat prowess like Maine and David, she made a smart move by telling Faraday she would no longer work for him. Faraday had to eliminate Kiwi as she was aware of the Cyberskeleton and how he was double-crossing Militech and Arasaka for his benefit.

Moments before she was killed by Faraday’s accomplices, Kiwi helped David by sending Faraday’s coordinates to Falco and Rebecca. Though she made a wrong choice by trusting a turncoat like Faraday, in the end, Kiwi was just looking after her own survival.

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