Alt Cunningham

Alt Cunningham, short for Altiera, was Night City’s top netrunner in the early 21st century and one of the finest programmers of her time. While working for the corporation ITS, she created the technology behind Soulkiller, a program that pulls a person’s mind into the Net and holds it prisoner there. She was also Johnny Silverhand’s girlfriend.

In 2013 Arasaka had her kidnapped so she would rebuild the program for them. Johnny led a raid on Arasaka Tower to get her back, but Alt became Soulkiller’s first victim: her body died, while a digital copy of her mind stayed behind in the Net. Decades spent beyond the Blackwall have since reshaped her into something closer to a rogue AI than a person.

V reaches her in the main story through the Voodoo Boys of Pacifica. Hoping to make contact with the AIs past the Blackwall, they use the Johnny engram in V’s head as bait, betting that Alt will answer someone from her former life. The dive forces V to relive Johnny’s memories of the night he tried to rescue her. Her bond with Johnny and her unrivaled power in cyberspace make Alt a central figure in the second half of the story. She has been part of the Cyberpunk universe since the original tabletop game.