David couldn't move.
It felt like his eyes were being held open as he stared out at Night City from what looked like the point of view of an Aerodyne… but David could never afford to have an account with whoever the fun ran the Aerodyne's, let alone hire one, so how the fuck was he getting bird's eye view of the city?
His answer came a few moments later when his vision faded slightly, and the sight of Night City was replaced by the sight of some fucking landfill out in the middle of nowhere as if he was lying in it.
He didn't get it. Maybe if he was a techie, or if he'd stayed at Arasaka Academy long enough to learn about engineering and shit he'd know what the fuck was going on, but right now he was just going with the flow.
Alongside the randomly shifting… photos? Camera feeds? Whatever they were, the only other thing in his vision was a red bar that was slowly filling in the top right. From what he could tell, he'd only be stuck in this rotating gallery for about another 5 minutes.
Which meant he had a bit of time to think.
Something was very clearly happening with his Sandevistan. Or… the big guy's Sandevistan. Nah, it was his. Even if he had to use it to escape the cyberpunks, he was keeping it. It was sort of a… the last gift from his mum, something from her that he would never be able to replace.
Sure, she had only had it because she klepped it off some cyberpsycho, but that didn't really have anything to do with his current situation.
Anyway, the red lines, the numbers, the fact that the Sandevistan had talked and then just… 'rebooted' David to complete whatever 'integration' was with him… He may be new to chrome, but even he knew this wasn't normal.
What had the big guy called it? Experimental-grade tech? This was probably the reason. Checking the red bar, he guessed that he only had about 2 minutes left until whatever the Sandevistan was doing was done.
While he was worried about the fact that he was currently unconscious in a room filled with people that were willing to flatline him only 5 minutes ago, he could feel himself becoming more and more excited as the bar got closer and closer to being completed.
What else could this thing possibly have in store for him? Running around in slowed-down time was already cooler than anything he'd ever done, and the Sandevistan seemed to have another tool in its repertoire.
As the sight of Night City from above disappeared again for the last time, David's vision stayed black as the bar finished, and David heard a small melody of beeping noises coming from inside his head.
He could feel himself being dragged back into consciousness, but before the Sandevistan's program let him go completely, a message flashed before his eyes.
[You are Level 1!]
[+1 Attribute Point | +1 Perk Point]
[New Quest: Gotta walk the edge before you can run it]
[Convince the Edgerunners to not only not zero you, but allow you to join their crew]
[Rewards: 200 XP | +1 Cool]
David's eyes flew open as his entire body went cold.
A gasp escaped him as he felt ice-cold water falling down on top of him, and he barely had a chance to think before the world went green again, and he quickly pulled himself out from under the shower he'd been stuck in and back out into the living room of Lucy's apartment.
Luckily the cyberpunks had apparently just chucked him in there, clothes and all.
The world was still green as David rushed around the apartment, collecting pretty much every blanket he could find, and by the time he shut his Sandevistan off, he was bundled up on the couch he'd be thrown on earlier in almost 7 layers of blanket.
As soon as the Sandevistan shut down, however, he found himself once again with guns trained on him from all angles, this time even Lucy having activated her Monowire, holding it like a whip.
He gave them a shaky smirk as they stared at him, still shivering from the cold but at least warming up because of the blankets. "Sorry, that shower was cold as fuck and I needed out as soon as possible."
He saw the cyberpunks glance at each other before the tall one with the long arms just whistled. "Fucken oath, choom. First, your Sandy goes all fucking weird and fucking shorts you, and now you can just… use it again? Shit, even most military gonks can get up to 11 times a day with a top-grade Sandy."
There was a snort to David's right, and he looked over to see Lucy retracting her Monowire, a smirk on her face. "I told you he was special, and that was before the Sandevistan pulled some weird shit and claimed him or whatever it just did."
The big guy snorted, looking David up and down as he huddled in his burrow. "Thought you'd died, kid. Was getting worried I'd have to explain to Gloria why you went after her so soon when I finally kicked it."
David gulped, his lips thinning. "Well, I'm not dead. I actually feel really great, to be honest. And now that I'm ok… did you think about my question while I was out?"
As the question left David's lips, he felt his body tense up as he mentally prepared himself to dodge with his Sandevistan if Iron was pulled on him.
Silence followed his question, as everyone's eyes shifted to the boss of the crew, whose face was too blank for David to really get a read on him. Then the boss stood up, only needing a single step to be right in front of David.
The Sandevistan on his back almost felt half-activated from the tension as the boss stared at him for a second, before they shot one of their hands out in front of them, a feral smirk on their face.
"The name is Maine, Kid. And you know what? I think I'll give you a shot. Any punk that can beat the world record for Sandevistan uses in a single day can at least get a shot at running the edge."
A smile grew on David's face as he stood up, grabbing the gigantic hand of Maine's gorilla arms and allowing the Edgerunners to shake them. "I promise, you won't fucking regret this!"
The smirk on Maine's face deepened as he looked over his shoulder at his crew, nodding his head over to the door, sending them out of Lucy's apartment.
"Alright then, tomorrow morning at 6:30 am, we're gonna head down to our home base and introduce you to all the people who are gonna be in charge of your gonk ass for the next month."
[Quest Completed!]
[200 XP | +1 Cool]
[You are Level 2!]
[+1 Attribute Point | +1 Perk Point]
Even as a grin plastered itself on David's face as he followed Lucy, Maine, and his crew out the door, he sighed internally, knowing that he was probably going to have to figure out what the fuck his Sandevistan was doing tomorrow, as all he wanted to do now was go back to his apartment and sleep after an incredibly stress filled day.
At least the weird messages were encouraging.
'Alright Sandy, time to tell me what the fuck you're doing to me.'
He had been shoved into the backseat of the shittiest shitbox car he'd ever seen, which was saying something, as Maine chatted with the large woman from his crew.
They hadn't addressed him since he'd gotten into the car, so he was focusing on trying to figure out the weird messages he'd been seeing.
'Alright, it mentioned I was… Level 2, and that I'd gotten some sort of points? How do I see what that's all about?'
As the thought ran through his head, a beep went off, and a large box overtook most of his vision, causing him to panic slightly for a second.
"You good, kid? Not getting cold feet now are we?"
David couldn't actually see Maine at the moment, but he shook his head anyway. "No sir, no cold feet, just… excited."
Maine just snorted and David heard him shuffle around, presumably to face the front of the car again. Now that he wasn't distracted, he could take in what the box was showing him.
[Body: 6] [Perks]
[Reflex: 7] [Perks]
[Technical Ability: 3] [Perks]
[Intelligence: 3] [Perks]
[Cool: 4] [Perks]
Attribute Points Available: 2
Perk Points Available: 2
David… didn't really know what he was looking at. He assumed this was some sort of readout on him, but why did it exist? And why could he add stuff to it?
He was staring at the menu, trying to figure it out, when a vague memory floated to the top of his brain, of him watching a friend playing some pre-collapse game once when he was little.
'Now that I think about it, older games like that had "Levels" and stuff with their playable characters, helping you get stronger and stuff.'
The obvious implication of such a memory hit David like a ton of bricks as he looked at the menu that had overtaken his sight.
'Holy shit.'
'Holy shit!'
He was interrupted when he heard the car rolling to a stop, and David almost instinctively willed away the menu, and it faded from his vision instantly, leaving him with the sight of a run-down warehouse out the window. Still, as he stepped out of the car and followed Maine into the building, his mind was racing.
'Is this Sandevistan somehow able to make me level up and shit… in real life?!'