He must have passed out because he was woken up a little later by a message going to his HUD.
Hey! I got here a little early to test out a new gun I've been tinkering with, but if you wanna head over now I'll see you here!
David felt emotionally exhausted as he pulled himself off the couch, throwing his mum's EMT jacket on. But in a way, he also felt a bit peaceful. Having the opportunity to decompress a little had apparently done him some good.
But still, his little nap had made it so he would be late. Or at least, he would have been, if he didn't have the Sandevistan.
Moving over to the mirror, he checked to make sure that he was at least semi-presentable, scrubbing his face a little where he'd apparently drooled during his short nap. He took a second to wipe the sleep out of his eyes as well, and by the time he was done, his eyes didn't look so red anymore.
Once he was done with that, he hopped up into the vent in his apartment that he'd mentioned to Becca and used his Sandevistan to blitz his way out into the hallway. It didn't actually make it take less time for him, but it was probably best not to waste time and be caught climbing through the vents.
He left the Sandevistan on as he hit the ground, weaving his way through the crowds of people that populated the hallways of the apartment building he lived in, sliding into the elevator.
The world clicked back into real-time, and the doors closed on their own, the elevator already heading down to the ground floor. 'Someone must have called it from downstairs, lucky me.'
As the elevator touched the ground floor and the doors opened, David turned the Sandevistan back on, jogging his way towards the NCART station, reaching it well before the next one rolled up. The world became normal speed again as he sat down on a nearby bench and waited for the NCART.
It hadn't slipped him that he'd just used the Sandevistan 3 times in quick succession, but he'd also noticed something. Ever since his little 'reboot' and subsequent gaining of the Sandevistan's 'Level Up' system, he'd felt exactly zero strain from using the Sandevistan.
He knew that he already had an abnormal tolerance for cyberware. The fact that he had been able to activate it as much as he had on the NCART with Lucy, even before the 'Level Up' system kicked in had shown him as much.
But even then he'd been able to feel the strain. That surge of power that used to shoot through his nerves and muscles, speeding him up but also promising to tear him apart if he overused it. But now? Now… he didn't feel that strain at all.
The Sandevistan had mentioned that he had been ready for 'integration', and now that he'd been using it for a few days, he could reasonably believe that whatever bullshit allowed the Sandevistan to do its system bullshit was also protecting him from the strain now that he was 'integrated.'
And while the idea of being integrated with an unknown experimental piece of technology was a little worrying, David had found nothing but upsides to it so far. And if it really was protecting him from the strain, that would mean that he didn't have a limit to how many times he could use it per day.
And if that was true, then he couldn't wait to get to the gigs and jobs that would actually require him to use it. A grin formed on his face as he imagined his rep rising astronomically quickly.
'I wonder what will they call me? The Speester from Santo? Eh, that's a little lame, probably will have to shut that one down if it happens. Hmm, maybe Martinez the Swift? Nah, that's worse…'
His daydreaming was interrupted by the ringing of a bell as the NCART arrived at the station he was going to, and when the NCART's doors opened, he allowed the Sandevistan to activate again, this time sprinting through the green-tinged world towards Megabuilding H10.
[+1 Athletics]
A quick look at his HUD's clock told him that he was technically early, it was only 4:57 pm, so he would probably be fine. Plus, Becca had mentioned that she was already there to test out a gun, so she would likely be ok with him being a minute or two late. If he was going to be, that was.
With the Sandevistan activated, it was easy to work to weave his way through the crowds of people walking the streets in between the NCART station and Megabuilding H10, but he was forced to drop out of the Sandevistan's super speed to call the elevator, not wanting to wait the eternity it would likely take if he kept it on.
As the elevator rose through the floors, he felt like he could start to hear the sound of gunshots, but they were incredibly muffled, which honestly piqued David's interest even more. This was apparently a well-built gun range, and if they had splurged on soundproofing materials for it, then David was inclined to believe Becca about the quality.
Hell, the sound of gunshots was such a prevalent part of Night City life that some of the gun ranges he'd walked past before hadn't bothered soundproofing altogether.
The elevator opened up as he got to the right floor, and he stepped out of it, his eyes darting to the side and spotting some guy doing a boxing spar against an old-looking training bot. He turned and watched for a minute, kinda impressed by the fact that this guy had a working 'Mr Punchy.'
After a second or two, though, he moved on, heading towards the big '2ND AMENDMENT' sign hanging over a doorway, and the source of the now slightly less-muffled gunshots. And when he entered…
Well, he would admit to being a little surprised.
The 'new gun' that Becca had been tinkering with wasn't a pistol or something he'd have expected from someone as short as she was.
Nope, it was a fucking modified Carnage shotgun.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS THING KICKS LIKE A FUCKING TRUCK!"
There was a wall of see-through material between what David assumed was the 'shop' section and the 'shooting range' section of the store. And even through the presumably sound-proofed material, David could hear Becca's hoot and shouts of joy as she fired a gun almost half her weight and height.
"Hey there, kiddo. You here to buy some Iron? Got a good selection of guns back here if you're interested."
David turned away from watching Becca shoot her shotgun to see an older man eyeing him from behind the counter. He was a bit on the chubby side, and he had a handlebar moustache that put some movie stars to shame.
Smiling at who he guessed was the owner of this franchise, David nodded his head over towards the shooting range. "Maybe another time. I'm actually here on an invite from Becca. Do I need to pay to use the range?"
The guy almost seemed to sigh at the fact that he wasn't buying anything, but perked back up at his question about paying. "Uh, yea. 200 eddies to go in. You'll have to buy extra ammo at full price if you run out of your own, though."
David nodded at that, quickly sending 200 eddies over to the store owner, and a second later the guy gave him a thumbs up. "Alright, you're good to go. Just be careful around her, alright? She's a spitfire, I worry sometimes that she's testing the range's limits with the weapons she brings in to test fire."
David laughed at that, glancing back over at the monster shotgun that Becca was wielding. "Yea, I can definitely see that. But it should be fine. She's just gonna help teach me the basics on how to use a pistol, should be fairly basic stuff."
The store owner clicked his tongue. "Damn, a newbie, 'eh? Well, kid, the name is Robert Wilson. You and Rebecca are welcome to come and practise whenever you want, as long as you go the eddies of course!"
Robert waved him off after that, and David walked over to the door of the shooting range, letting it slide open for him. The second it did, the sound of Becca's modified Carnage shotgun grew insanely loud, causing him to back out for a minute, turning back to Robert.
"Hey, choom, you got any earplugs I could grab? Just remembered that guns are loud as shit."
Robert burst out into laughter at that, before quickly nodding. "Of course mate, of course. Here, I got a pair of ones you can connect to your HUD for your time here, they let you modify what stuff gets silenced at will. I'll let you borrow them free of charge, seeing as it's your first time."
David grabbed the earplugs Robert was holding out, a grateful smile on his face. "Fuck'n Nova! You're a lifesaver, choom."
Waving him off, Robert smiled. "Yea, yea. Now, go shoot some shit! Or attempt to, at least. You might suck pretty bad. Hope you don't, though!"
David couldn't help but agree with him. He definitely might be really shit at this. But he also knew that he was a quick study, and relatively smart, if his straight 'A's were anything to go off. So with a smile on his face, he headed back over to the door of the shooting range.
"I'm sure I'll be fine! I usually pick things up pretty quick!"